Title: Come in from a rainy Thursday
By: quettaser
Rating: PG
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Notes: Nick/Greg for stugal
Prompt: Ordinary World by Duran Duran.

***

There's a book at the back of Greg's bookshelf that he doesn't like to think about. It's just a crappy paperback, some dimestore mystery novel, the edges worn and the spine creased. He must have read it twenty times before, but he can't even fathom reading it anymore; though he could probably recite the first ten pages from memory alone.

He knows exactly why he has it too, and when he had looked back on it, it used to make him laugh. Not now, though. Now it's the last piece of Nick he has left, everything else had hurt too much to keep. The book had hurt too much to throw away.

They were both working a double that night, but the shift had been slow for both of them, even though Greg was helping out with Trace along with running DNA. He'd been complaining to Nick that he'd run out of books to read, and Nick had smiled that smile that meant he didn't believe a damn word of what Greg was saying, but he was welcome to try and convince Nick anyway.

Nick had been on food duty that night, and when he came back, he tossed the book to Greg, telling him to try that. Two weeks after that, Nick had kissed Greg on his couch and Greg had spilled his beer on the carpet in shock. On their second try, Greg actually got to kiss him back.

Every time Greg read the book before going to bed, Nick would smile at him like he couldn't believe Greg still owned it. Greg never had the heart to tell him the writing was crap and the story clichéd.

Their house had been too big afterwards, and Greg knew his demeanor had suffered. He hadn't let it effect his work, that was one thing he was damn sure Nick would have wanted. More than two years after the fact and Sara was right, Greg was wallowing and he had to move on. He'd moved into a decent apartment and sent most of Nick's stuff back to his parents in Texas. The rest of the mementos he'd packed away or thrown out, the daily reminder too much to take.

He doesn't read the book anymore, but every once in a while he'll pull it out and read the hastily scrawled note on the inside flap, Greggo, so you never run out of things to read. Nick. It's the smallest of things Nick's ever given him, but it was the first, and that counts for more than enough.

***