Title: Animal Planet - Nick and Greg chapter 4
By: Serenity
Rating: PG 13
Summary: Greg's POV of the 4th chapter of anmani's Animal Planet.

Greg followed Grissom and the rest of the animals down the long corridor, leaving Nick and Catherine behind. Part of him wanted to turn back and make sure that Nick hadn't been injured in Grissom's assault, but the jealous boyfriend in him was hoping that he'd felt at least a little pain. It had hurt him immensely to see the blatant attraction that was happening right in front of his face.

Nick had flirted with Sofia as if he really was interested in her, not seeming to care that Greg was only inches away. It forced Greg to rethink Nick's behaviour around the female CSI-turned-cop, had he ever flirted with her in his human form? He racked his brains, but couldn't think of such a time. Still, it didn't make him feel any better about the scene he had just witnessed. If Grissom hadn't intervened like that, Greg was sure that Nick would have mated with Sofia.

The thought made him feel ill, and he actually regurgitated a little into his mouth, and coughed it out onto the floor. Without thinking, he lapped it up again and swallowed it. "Eww, gross!" he whimpered when he realised what he'd done. Being a puppy definitely had it's downside, as he was beginning to find out.

He looked up to see Grissom and the rest of the team disappear into the restrooms. His own tiny bladder was rapidly filling up, so he followed, and watched as Grissom sat down in the middle of the room, looking into the stalls. He caught Warrick's eye, and made a nod as he indicated towards the drain at the end of the urinals. He followed panther and stood over the drain, expecting his leg to cock automatically. Instead, rather embarrassingly, he squatted over the drain and relieved himself. Damn puppy anatomy he cursed again. But then the calm sensation of an empty bladder overtook him, and he could feel his little tail wagging uncontrollably.

He could see that Grissom was dying to spray his scent over everybody's urine, pacing back and forth watching and waiting for everyone to finish their business. He wondered why it was so important to the Supervisor to be so in control all the time.

His musings were cut short by Nick entering the bathroom. The collie skulked over to him, but Greg was still angry at his display earlier. He turned his head away and refused to look at the other dog, his stomach twisting as he remembered the dumb, love struck look in Nick's eyes. A look that should have been reserved for Greg alone.

Nick began to whimper and whine, curling his body into a tiny ball, his head low on his front paws and his tail tucked tightly between his back legs. Greg assumed that Nick was trying to apologise for his behaviour and he was tempted to forgive him, but he'd felt so humiliated, watching his boyfriend be so intimate with someone else, even if they were both in canine form. He guessed that he'd remained unaffected by Sofia's scent because he was a tiny pup, but he knew that even if he had been aroused by it, his love for Nick would have prevented him from doing anything about it. OK, he relented. I may have flirted a little……. He looked across at Nick who was now on his back, showing his furry black belly.

Greg's puppy lips curled back in a grin, and he launched himself at the collie. "OK, OK, I forgive you. But please don‘t mate with Sofia, I couldn‘t cope with that." he softly whimpered into Nick's ear. Nick looked at him with those dark brown eyes shining with emotion, and he knew that Nick understood.

Even though the stench of Sofia's urine must have been driving Nick wild, he didn't show it, and Greg was glad of that. His ego was bruised enough as it was. He could see what the scent was doing to both Grissom and Brass. If he hadn't been on edge because of Nick, he would have found their behaviour hilarious, their eyes wide, their tongues hanging out of their mouths as they panted hard.

The group of animals moved on again, out of the bathroom and back into the corridor. Suddenly Vartann made a very strange whinnying noise that was as close to human laughter as a horse could get. Greg looked up to see a large vulture swooping out of Ecklie's office, hovering above the group, looking down on them menacingly. Vartann continued to laugh at the bird as it circled above..

Greg and Nick both hunkered down as the imposing creature swooped low over their heads, and Greg noticed that apart from Grissom and Vartann, the other animals did the same. The large bird was obviously Ecklie.

Greg noticed Sofia was huddling close to Nick again, and Nick had turned around to sniff at her. He whined, but Nick continued his nasal exploration.

Greg huffed, then decided to get Nick's attention another way. Sara was standing next to him, looking thoroughly appalled at the whole affair, so he decided to tease her a little, getting her back for attacking him earlier, while also getting back at Nick. Kill two birds with one stone he thought to himself, then decided to rephrase that given his present company.

He moved to stand in front of the black cat, panting as he tried to get Sara's attention. Sara looked down at him and gave him a warning hiss.

"Wanna have some fun?" he yipped, his tail wagging crazily behind him, purposely avoiding eye contact with the collie but hoping he was watching.

He adopted a playful stance, and waited for Sara's response. She hissed again and clawed at the air in front of her. Greg jumped to avoid the claws, landing on the other side of the cat. He hopped about, teasing her as she became more and more aggravated.

He could hear Grissom barking, and suddenly Nick was at his side, lifting him carefully by the scruff of the neck and taking him to safety as Sara slinked away after Warrick had hissed his own warning to her.

Greg shot Sofia a smug look. He'd gotten Nick's full attention all right. See? Now you have to stay close to me, Nick. Keep an eye on me. he gloated to himself.

The animals continued on their journey and Greg's nose was being assaulted by overwhelming smells of chemicals, the most dominant being formaldehyde and disinfectant. He tried not to breath too deeply as they headed towards the morgue, Nick firmly at his side, not letting the troublesome pup out of his sight.

They came across a large, slobbering Saint Bernhard dog walking from the morgue. It was followed by a large owl, which landed in front of the group and studied them all with large, wise eyes. Greg was positive that the bird was Doc Robbins and was pretty sure the new dog was David by a process of elimination. He sniffed at the hound for confirmation.

The owl hopped around the group as if adding human names to each animal. Greg gave the Doc a big grin and nuzzled Nick as he passed them, and the owl's eyes widened even more, then he moved his head as if in an acceptance of their identities.

Greg looked at the group of animals. As far as he knew, they had accounted for everyone. Now they just had to figure out what the hell had happened to them all.