Title: Back to Life and Reality III
Author: Esynnaj
Email: Vebesahshalarc@sbcglobal.com
Permission to archive: WWOMB, CSI Slash. All others please ask first
Fandom: CSI Las Vegas
Genre: Slash, Het (just a bit)
Disclaimers: no ownership rights and no money made
Pairing: Warrick/Nick/Catherine, Warrick/Grissom
Rating: FRAO
Spoilers: Minor ones for Who Are You?, Lady Heather's Box, Grave Danger and Gum Drops
Summary: The healing has begun and is almost done. Now it's time to have a little serious fun.
Warning: Threesome, including a female

BACK TO LIFE AND REALITY III

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Stop looking at me like I'm a specimen you're examining under a microscope, that what."

"Why?"

Turning his head toward her, Warrick smiled wearily at Catherine. "Honestly? Because you're the only one who gets the real me and the real me happens to be feeling like a real bastard at the present time."

"What's bothering you? Getting divorced? That is not so bad, Warrick. I did it and got over it. Think of it like this. You had an itty-bitty marriage and now you're having an itty-bitty divorce. You got married for all the wrong reasons but you and Tina are still good friends. That's more than what I can say for me and Eddie after we split up. We went through all kinds of changes right up until he died. I'm still going through changes because we had a kid together. Lindsey misses the hell outa him."

"Sure she does. The kid's got the right. I never knew my father and I'm a grown man now, but I still miss mine. It doesn't matter what wrong between you and Eddie. I don't care what a man does, when he loves his daughter the way Eddie loved Lindsey, far as I'm concerned, that's a big point in his favor. It's a good thing that she gets to miss him. You wouldn't want her to feel about him the way Sara feels about her dead dad, would you?"

"Oh, hell no, no way in the world would I ever want that. That nut messed Sara up for life. I blame Sara's Mom for part of that. I just can't generate much sympathy for her. It's always better to get out of a terrible marriage like that one before it comes near starting to fuck up the kids involved right up into their adulthood. I'm on the side of instant divorce, Las Vegas style, every single time."

When Warrick just casually shrugged at that comment and said nothing, Catherine recognized her guess as to his recent divorce being what was bothering him had been incorrect. "Is what's bothering you more about what's going out between you and Nick than what's going out between you and Tina?"

Throwing a popcorn kernel into the waste basket near the counter in the break room, Warrick sighed and said, "That'd be it. Things are gettin' all mixed up, Cath. Nick doesn't love me and I don't love him. We care about each other and the sex, man, that really is. great. Living with him is fun. Tina's never had any problems with that. With us having been more former fuck buddies in the past, and our marriage being all about her gettin' citizenship, she was cool with me staying with Nick after we got married. And I had to, cause Nick went all spastic when I first told 'em I'd gotten married and was thinkin' about moving in with Tina. He acted like we'd had some long time, established relationship and I sorta was betraying him by thinkin' about leaving him."

"Well, you did help get him through some really rough times by staying with him and he may not feel he's ready let go of you yet. I know damned well he's not ready to be by himself yet."

"Cath, he's good. He's gotten himself together. You know how he's been lately. He's handling himself now better'n he did before the shit went down with Gordon. That toughened him somehow. Gil's been giving him cases to do alone and he's done 'em all without any sort of complication. Look how he's been with Cassie. He saved her life and still been checking regularly so be sure her and her sister's making out okay. Helping them get it together is helping him to get it together. Maybe it doesn't seem like it, but he needs that sort of thing more than he needs me."

"That still doesn't mean he doesn't need support on the homefront, Rick. You stabilize him. He doesn't wanna give that up."

"But, it's time that he does. He doesn't really need me anymore, just thinks he does. The worst thing about it is Nick doesn't ever wanna be alone in his own apartment anymore, not since Crane, and he's gotten especially bad about that with what Gordon did to 'em. That's really why he doesn't wanna let go. It's not really me he wants. He's just gotta have somebody around and it's me who's been around. Know what? Here a few months ago, at the Christmas part Ecklie had, I caught 'em in an empty office making out with one of the 911 operators. I thought it was funny as hell. Man, I was relieved. I thought that meant he was starting be ready to let go of me. But I was wrong. I tried to explain it was no big deal, but he was panicked, thinkin' I was gonna leave 'em. So I dropped the matter. Now, I wish I hadn't, cause he's wrapped up in me too much. It'd be different if we were really in love or something but we're not. He's hanging on to me like I'm some kinda security blanket for him and I'm not gonna let 'em keep doin' it. I can't. That's not healthy for either one of us."

Catherine smiled. "Actually, I understand where he's coming from. You've got a strong, manly thing going for you, Rick, some sort of masculine spirit that's touched by tenderness prompting the emotionally needy come to you for comforting. You've sure comforted me during some really bad times in my life. And I'll tell ya, that, as well as the sex, made it hard for me to let you go."

"But you did let go. You've done just fine without me or any other man in your life."

"That's just what you think. You know that song Smoky Robinson did, the one called "Tears of a Clown"?"

"Sure I do."

"Well, that's me. I hide my pain well. I do it too well sometimes. I. remember when we had a thing going on, Rick. I still fantasize about it. That's why I had those few real rough minutes when you first told me you'd gotten married. I was missing what we could've had and what we had once had. When we were down in the drain, that day awhile back and almost kissed, I was honestly looking forward to us starting up again and being about more than what we'd had before."

Warrick grinned. "Don't gimme that bullshit, Cath. You may be alone but you're not lonely. If you wanted there to be anything startin' up again with us, you know just as well as I do, that'd be about the sex, which I happen to remember was good as hell. I know you, lady. That's what you really miss with you and me."

With her smile turning into a wide grin. "Umm, actually, you might be right about that. You're better in bed than Eddie ever was and the sex was what kept him and me together as long as we were."

"I wasn't better. I was different and there when you needed somebody."

"Uh-uh. That wasn't ever all there was to that. You were so much better. You were better because, when I was with you, not once, not one single time, did I ever feel like I was only some receptacle for a man to dump his seed. Most Eddie ever really wanted was to get a nut off inside me. That it felt good to me was accidental. He'd never cared about that like you did, wasn't at all into foreplay. He liked to hit it and quit it. You never did with me. You always checked to make sure what you did was what I wanted you to do. You always made me feel like I was loved even it was about just the sex. Believe me, I can see why Nick wants to keep you around. You've got lovemaking techniques that never left anything to be desired. You must be doing the same shit for him that you used to do for me."

"Aw, Cath. I don't need this kinda conversation right now."

Laughing and ignoring his comment, she said, "You didn't mind this kind of conversation the night I came over a few weeks ago before you and Nick took off to go visit his family in Texas. It was cool then." Folding her arms on the table and leaning toward him, she drawled, "If I recall correctly; and I believe I do; neither of you minded when we had that little competition and I took turns sitting on your laps to decide which of you were the better kisser. Nick sure got into it. He didn't have any problems when I was on you and I don't remember you having any when I was on him."

"Cath, it had been a hard night and we'd all got real drunk. We let loose more'n we should've. It wasn't normal."

"Well, it felt normal and it was definitely fun. Nick thought it was funny as hell when you lost that game of strip poker. He was laughing just as hard as I was when you took your clothes off, grumbling the whole time."

Still trying to keep things light and humorous, Warrick said, hoping she would pay attention, "Hey, know what? I really don't wanna talk about this."

"All right, that's okay with me. Let's talk about something else. You remember that day as I was trying to explain why it was logical that bitch who had accused Eddie of raping her had vaginal bruising and you came right out and said it was because Eddie liked it rough? Remember the blank look Gil got, the one he always gets when he's trying to absorb some information he didn't expect to hear, so it takes him a second to make sense of it? Do you remember that day?"

Looking at her, his grin fading, Warrick growled, "Yeah, I remember it and you know why."

Catherine's little smile returned. "Yeah, I remember too. That was the first time we ever got it on. That little discussion got me so damned hot. I pulled you into a closet right here at work and you fucked the living daylights outa me."

"Catherine, don't do this to me," Warrick said warningly. "Everything's already complex enough with Nicky. So don't you go gettin' all nostalgic on me and dig up old shit neither one of us wants to reopen."

"Sorry, I'm already there. I'd backed off, with you taking care of Nick then getting married and you still seeming like you're still getting over that thing you'd started with Gil last year that seems to have simply petered out." His head snapped around to her with his eyes glittering emerald fire as he snarled, "What the fuck thing are you talkin' about?"

"Oh, don't think I haven't been seeing it. You and Gil had been dancing around each other forever and finally must've actually did the dirty, because both of you stopped acting so proper around each other and got a glow to ya at the same time. The two of you were walking around like you were gonna become a couple. Then Gil started talking to me about how difficult relationships were without telling me who he was involved with and had to have performed his usual fade out on you. So, next thing we knew, both you guys were wired up and avoiding each other like crazy, you especially. We all saw that and I knew something bad must've went down because you just about quit to work someplace else. Instead, you ended up living with Nick and getting married to Tina while Gil just goes back into his shell again.

"You and Gil being in a relationship would've made me cool my jets permanently. If you'd gotten with him, that would've been a helluva hard bond to break and might've been all about love. But I've been keeping an eye on you with Nick and Tina because I'd never thought you had any big love thing going on with either of them. Now, it looks like all those loose ends with him and her that had kept you and me apart are tying themselves off. As soon as you get shit straightened out with Nick, I want back in the picture, Rick. I've always wanted to get with you again. You back in my bed would make my day."

Warrick had not been able to continue their talk, work out the issues Catherine had raised to further complicate his life, because Nick and Sara had come into the break room. Catherine had brightly joined in with the now four way conversation but Warrick had barely been able to maintain the thread of it and had been forced to keep his mind from wandering back to what she had said. Their time together had been memorable. Any man would be fortunate to have a woman like Catherine Willows to call his own. Even Eddie, although he had messed up so much it had ended up with them divorcing, had known that. Until the day he died, he had kept trying in a ridiculously errant way, to get back into Catherine's life. She was a helluva sexy woman and a man would've had to be made of stone to resist her when she turned the heat up. He sure hadn't been able to resist her. There had been two extensive episodes between them. They had been mere fuck buddies for months after that time in the closet and that had just died out on its own, leaving them friendly and comfortable. But she had needed someone right after Eddie's death had ripped her up and she had called him to help her through it. Once she had gotten back on her emotional feet a few fast weeks later, they had made the mutual decision to end it again and he had thought that had been the finish for them. Apparently, he had been wrong.

He became increasingly uneasy as Catherine's blue eyes kept merrily locking onto him, boring into him as she seemed to inflate so those bountiful but trim breasts filled his thoughts and vision. That sensuality in her grin was startling and exciting him whenever he happened to glance over in her direction as it had not done in months and that was occurring, against his will, more than he could stand. Finally, unable to withstand any more of his building inner tension and afraid the physical signs of the lusty fantasies he was beginning to have might soon be visible, he stood up and said, "I'm gonna go change and go home. See ya when you get there, Nick."

He was pensive during the ride home and couldn't shake his gloomy mood after he got home, even after three beers. He was watching a college football game when he heard Nick come in whistling, nodded in greeting and watched him bopping through with a frown, irritated by what was apparently his pleasant frame of mind. But, after some studying of Nick's ensuing constant and twitchy pacing back and forth for more than half an hour, he realized it wasn't Nick's usual good humor he was seeing but restlessness and pointless, nervous activity. Finally, once he'd seen Nick walk from the kitchen to his bedroom at least four times, and for no real reason, Warrick called out to him, "Hey man, you got a purpose for that crease you're putting in the carpet?"

Nick came to a halt without saying anything and without looking at Warrick. Then he faced him, put his fists on his hips and frowned at him, still without saying anything to him. After just standing there a good two minutes with Warrick patiently waiting on him in silence, he abruptly said, "I've been looking for another apartment. Staying in this one's gonna drive me nuts. Every time I look at where Crane came through the ceiling or at the place on the floor where he killed that psychic, I get the shakes. I have really got to get the hell outa here."

Gazing straight at him, very calmly, still looking very patient, Warrick just said, very quietly, "All right."

"I've already looked some places and seen three or four that I liked. You wanna go look at 'em with me?"

Sensing the aggressiveness in Nick's voice, guessing at its origination and honestly not minding it at all, Warrick shrugged. "Yeah, if that's what you want me to do."

"What in hell is that supposed to mean, if that's what I want you to do?" Nick snapped. "Do you wanna come with me or not when I move?" Very slowly, Warrick grinned. "That's something we should talk about, isn't it?"

"Not if we're in love, it isn't."

"Are we in love?" When Nick didn't answer the question, Warrick's grin didn't lessen but widened and turned softer and more tender while he chuckled, patting the sofa next to him. Tilting his beer up to finishing it off, he slumped lower as Nick sat down, running his fingers through his hair with a forlorn sigh. "Don't feel bad, man. If this is about you trying to say you're ready to be on your own again, it's no big deal. I knew that time was gonna come one day. Don't worry about it."

"Well, I am worried about it. You gave up your place to move in here with me and you ain't got no place else to go."

"I'm a big boy, Nicky. I can take care of myself. Just like you're about to find an apartment for yourself, I can find go out and find one for myself." Leaning over toward Nick, Warrick tousled his hair for him, just as he had just done for himself. "It's not a problem at all."

Nick turned his head to look at him. "Are you really okay with this?"

"Man, I've been okay with this. I've been waiting for you to come to this. When you got around to saying something like this was when I'd know you were healthy again and wouldn't need me around as much. We could get back to being friends like we used to be."

Hesitantly, Nick asked, "Is that what you want, for us to be friends like we used to?"

Warrick smiled. "Um, well, I doubt if it'll be quite like that, since we weren't fuckin' each other before. That might make a little bit of a difference."

Nick grinned back at him, looking relieved. "Yeah, I want that difference. I don't wanna give that part of it up."

Warrick laughed. "Gotta admit, neither do I. But what part of us being together do you wanna give up?"

"You really want me to be honest about that?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, no insult intended, man, but I really got goddamned sick and tired of you complaining about my kind of music. That was one thing. I mean, your jazz and R& B is good and all. But you always made me feel like country was sappy and a step down from what you listened to."

"Okay, all right, what else?"

"You're a neat freak and I never expected that from you. You're almost a compulsive. Almost every time I come home, you're here before me and cleaning shit up and moving shit around so I can't find anything. It's gettin' so I have to always ask you where my own things are and I wanna stop having to do that."

Still grinning, Warrick nodded. "That's righteous. I really do that. I'm sorry. I'm organized. That's the way my Grandmother raised me. I gotta have things in their proper place and you couldn't care less about that on the homefront."

"That's the way I was raised. In my family, with there being so many of us, it was organized, in a way, but it was still a messy, chaotic kind of organization and we were real comfortable with that. What's there about me that bugs you?"

"Besides all that twangy country bullshit you like? Well, there's how you bounce all the fuckin' time. You never just cool out and take it easy. Here's the scene. A man's come home. He's put a couple of couple of CDs on full of slow jams, downed a few brews and stretched out with his eyes closed when his partner breezes in, jumps on the muthafuckin' couch right on his belly, which naturally scares the shit out of 'em along with about two years of life, turns on the TV, turns off the stereo and goes into an hour long litany on how the house's too damn quiet."

"Yeah, yeah, that has been the case," Nick admitted. "I've never liked too much quiet, not even before Crane and Gordon, and they knocked whatever little quiet I could take right outa me. I don't think I'll ever like quiet again. I might get used to being alone again, but I'll never like quiet again." As he sighed, while lying down on the sofa and putting his head in Warrick's lap, Nick said, "This separation thing isn't as hard as I thought it was gonna be."

Running his fingers through Nick's hair once more and watching it fall over his forehead, Warrick asked, "How long have you been thinking about this separation thing?"

"You want truth? I'd been thinking about it nearly since we got back from Texas. I know my family. With 'em having met and accepted you, they'll be laying in plans to have us married and tied down to each other forever. My Mom would end up trying to get us to do the surrogate mother thing so she can finally have grandkids to carry on the Stokes family name."

"Suppose I'd wanted it to be the Brown family name?"

"Nope, that wouldn't work. You don't wanna fool around with a Texas female when it comes to her grandkids. My Mom wouldn't be havin' that for our first kid. Maybe the second could be Brown, but there'd be hell to pay if we tried to surname the first one anything but Stokes." Nick turned onto his side toward Warrick and nuzzled his mouth against his stomach then lifted his shirt to put his tongue into Warrick's navel. Hearing Warrick breathe in deep and softly moan, Nick grinned and said, "Oh yeah, I like the sound of that."

"We are not," Warrick said, breathing out slowly, "acting like a couple who're about to split up."

"So? You and Tina never acted like a couple who were married and you're not acting like a couple who're getting divorced. You've both acted just the same from when I first met her as you do now."

"We were friends at the beginning and we'll be the friends to the end."

"Like me and you, huh?"

"Yeah, man, like me and you." Nick had flipped over onto his belly, unzipped and opened Warrick's jeans to pull certain parts of his anatomy from them, while his mouth was gradually moving lower, causing Warrick to stiffen and whisper, as his fingers ran roughly and restlessly through Nick's hair, "Aw, Jesus Christ, Nicky, what're you trying to do to me?"

"It's not what I'm trying to do, it's what I'm gonna do and that happens to be about getting you hard so you'll fuck me, man. What the hell else does it look it? Then we'll talk some more about us finding separate places to live." As he hissed slightly and his body arched up into Nick's mouth, allowing Nick to tug them about his hips, so he had more room to do what he was doing, Warrick gave a shaky laugh. "Man, this world would be one helluva better place if all relationships ended like it seems ours is gonna be ending." Both of them were so busy with what Nick's mouth was doing, neither heard Catherine when she quietly entered Nick's apartment with the spare key he had given her before he had left work. When she heard Warrick's soft humming and groans as counterparts to the television, she smiled then laughed softly to herself when she heard the wet sounds of Nick's industrious fellatio. After making sure she had locked the door, stepping quietly, she walked further into the living room to set down the two six packs of cold beer and plastic bags of chips, dips and playing cards she had brought with her behind the couch on which the two men were. It was not until she reached for the remote control on the stand by Warrick and clicked off the television that he knew she was there and his head snapped around, her presence startling him. Then, as she leaned to dim the lamp on the stand, leaving them in semi-darkness, his green gaze turning on her with shock in them, Catherine rested a knee on the couch's arm to lay a lingering, luscious, luxurious kiss on him that brought back every remembrance of the good sex they had once had together.

After she had forced his head down onto the back of the sofa, she gripped his chin to hold him still, lifted her head and released his mouth as she whispered, "Just relax, Rick. Don't go losing what Nick's already got goin' on for ya down there. You, him and me are gonna have a lot of fun here tonight. This is gonna be even better than it was that first time around. We were too drunk and passed out before I got the chance to fuck either one of you. Nick and me, we talked tonight after you left. It was a lot about you and him then a lot about you and him and me. We came to an agreement before we left the lab that we're gonna remedy that particular oversight tonight."

"Without me, you did that."

"Uh-huh. Without you, we did that."

"I don't have any say in the matter?" Catherine grinned then kissed him again. "None at all, baby. This has definitely got to be, so why don't you just relax and let it be. I happen not to be drunk this time and finally get to get a real taste of both you guys since you're lifting your exclusivity and letting me come in from out the cold. Therefore, maintain the famous cool that you and I know you have, that you're known, far and wide, to have, while I get this show on the road."

Nick, well aware Catherine was there, successfully reinvigorated his effort to keep Warrick's excitement level high when she moved away to the stereo to spend a few minutes putting on some soulful music with a deep, dark, thrumming backbeat. Then she turned back to him and came closer to begin removing her clothes while holding his gaze. It was not a classic striptease. She did not put all the moves into it as she once might have when she had been an exotic dancer. But Catherine was a naturally graceful and sensual woman whose casual movements could easily incite the libido of any man. Swaying to the rhythm of the music, she completely disrobed before she came back over to the sofa and leaned down for another kiss. Then she tapped Nick on a shoulder, murmuring, "Nicky, I claim the right of seniority. I get' em first. You haveta back off for me, honey."

Grinning, Nick sat up and Catherine immediately straddled Warrick. With her sapphire blue eyes gazing straight into his emerald green ones, she gripped the cock which had been thoroughly dampened by Nick's mouth and slid it into her thoroughly moistened body, drawing a hoarse moan from him and a smiling hum from her. So slowly, by tiny increments, she sank down on him, causing Warrick's eyes to flutter closed and his head to lie back weakly on the edge of the sofa. Because he'd already began to pant, Catherine murmured while wriggling about until she was settled on him and she had gotten him as deep inside her as she could get him, "Now, we're gonna do it slow and easy. I've been with you enough to know exactly how long you can last. I wanna get mine, but you've still got Nick to take care of and I've really got to watch you do that. That's a fantasy of mine you're gonna make real for me. So you just relax and let me do make this good for both of us. Since I already real well know what you're capable of, I'm gonna do all the work this time. But next time though, that'll be all for me and I'm gonna work the shit outa you."

However, Catherine wasn't truly concerned about making it good for Warrick even this time. He recognized that when he opened his eyes to see that hers were closed, her head had tilted dreamily to the side and she was lazily lifting and lowering herself on him. Her hands were resting on his shoulders and he waited for them to begin a rapid shutting and opening that was still familiar to him and the pace of her breathing pattern to quicken before he slid a hand between their plastered together bodies, so he could insert two fingers into her. She started hissing with her teeth clenched and her fingernails cutting into his shoulders as he gently stroked against her clit just how he recalled that she liked it, beginning to move his fingers swifter when she demanded in a harsh, guttural whisper, "Harder. I want it faster. Go deeper."

Sitting up, his own breathing becoming more irregular, he put an arm around her slender waist and pulled her even nearer while his other rhythmically worked inside her, would have joined her up and down thrusting if she had not urgently pressed down on both his shoulders to still him. Obeying Catherine' silent command, Warrick rested his head on her breasts as she sat down all the way on him, head turning up to the ceiling as her mouth opened into a circle releasing long, drawn out moans and a series of shuddering quivers cut through her. With her vagina tightening up on him and its warmth driving him to move, he muttered, "Shit!!" and a litany of other curses because his own treacherous body was tying to seek what Catherine had been denying it. Biting his lower lip, he made every possible effort to preserve that vaulted nonchalance of his like Catherine had told him to do. However, he was positive it was going to be a failing attempt.

But Catherine knew different and nearly frustrated him past his endurance by giving him a swift kiss, jumping off him and saying to Nick whom Warrick had completely forgotten about, "It's your turn now, Nicky. Have a good ride." She leaped over the sofa, slipped her arms under Warrick's to pull them back so he could not use them whatsoever, causing Nick's instant replacement of her on his lap to come as something of a surprise. His head snapped back and he hollered out, "God!!" as Nick, even more expertly than Catherine had, slipped Warrick's cock into his previously well lubricated anus. Warrick had no idea when Nick had done that or when Nick had taken off his clothes and could not care. Nick had mounted and Nick's ride him was much faster, harder, deeper and more furious and frenetic than Catherine's had been. Warrick's cries never ceased, especially as Catherine's tongue went into his ears or gnawed at his lobs while her fingers nipped and tweaked at both his and Nick's nipples. When both men began loudly, and helplessly, screaming out their mutual pleasure, Catherine began gaily laughing and was enthralled as Nick creamed all over his own and Warrick's chest and torso. Finally having been released from the restriction of movement Catherine had insisted Warrick obey, a restriction lifted when she let go of his arms, he wrapped them about Nick then bounced the smaller man furiously and brutally as he became orgasmic. Weakened by his climax, Nick could only hang on the best he could until Warrick was done pouring his essence into him. It was a wet heat that made Nick cling to Warrick, whimpering ecstatically as he felt the seminal pumping and he constricted his rectal muscles to get a better feel from the surging pulsations of the other man's copious discharge.

Catherine bounded back over the sofa like a young girl and delightedly hugged the men while Warrick slumped back against the sofa and Nick collapsed on him, both of them panting hard in their exhaustion. She was already fresh as a daisy once more and obviously ready for a second round while she heatedly kissing one then the other as she caressed them wherever she could reach. Laughing wearily, Warrick said, "Woman, you're still just as insatiable as you used to be, aren't you?"

"Yep, I am," Catherine admitted. "Always have been and, hopefully, always will be. I'll have you know that, sexually, as a woman of a certain age, I happen to be in the prime of my life. That said, let me add, I did not come here to get one nut. I plan to get two or three and possibly more outa you guys. So don't either one of you dare go telling me you young bucks aren't gonna be able to get it up and keep it up."

"Well, problem is, Cath," Nick drawled while easing up from Warrick, both grimacing as Warrick's cock fell out of him, the coolness not to Warrick's liking and a sudden sensation of emptiness not much to Nick's liking, "being men of a certain age, statistics say we're already past our primes. Sorry, but the fact is, men start going downhill about the same time we reach the end of our adolescence."

Yawning and stretching, Warrick protested lazily. "I wouldn't go so far as to say all that, Nicky. Whatever we lose by gettin' older, we compensate for by gettin' better. Any loss in stamina, you replace with know-how. Then nobody misses whatever you ain't got. At least, that's been my experience."

"First of all, Warrick, your stamina's just fine. I haven't noticed you having any problem with that," Catherine assured him.

"Nope, me either," Nick agreed.

"Second of all, we're all of an age to have experience and that works in our favor. While I was still young myself, I got tired of young guys a long time ago, who had this tendency to stick it in, cum two seconds later then climb off, lay back with a self-satisfied smirk and ask had it been as good for me as it had been for them. That stupid shit was damn irritating. If it goes on too long in a relationship, it makes a body lose her ladylike ways and turn into a shrieking bitch from hell. And some men never get away from that, no matter how old they get. They just never learn. In those cases, a woman doesn't get frigid because she doesn't like sex. She'll get frigid because her man wasn't sexing her up right."

Nick laughed, "I can see you still remember your sexuality and psychology classes from college."

"You're goddamn right I do. I got that plus a little added on common sense."

"Betcha that frigid thing's never happened to you," Warrick said with a grin. "You're as far from being frigid as a fuckin' oven turned as high as it can go."

Going over to retrieve the beers and bags of snacks she had brought with her, Catherine grinned at him over a shoulder, said as she was walking back, "I am taking that as a compliment, basically, because it's true. I'll never deny liking sex. I truly do think it's the greatest invention." After Catherine had set her goodies on the coffee table and handed each of them a cold beer, she flopped down between them with a happy sigh, forcing them to move further apart, popped the top on one for herself and said smugly, "Gentlemen, I've got plenty of stuff here to keep your strength up. Some of it's healthy, some of it's not. But I got caloric sweets devoid of nutrition that've been designed for the delivery of instant energy mingled in with the healthy stuff that offers a slower, longer lasting return. If we mix this shit up right, it should be just enough to keep the two of you going all night."

Nick asked, "You plan to keep this up all night?"

"Oh, hell yeah. You didn't really think I showed up here for a one off, now did you?"

"Hey, lady, it shocked the shit outa me that you showed up at all. It's been a night of surprises for me."

"The biggest one being, I suppose, that you and Nick have decided to move outa here and into separate places." When that was met with an abrupt silence, Catherine's laugh was totally at odds with the men's ill at ease, lack of the same. "Oh, don't clam up on me. Both of you've been talking about the same thing apart from each other. Now it's time for you to talk to me while we're all together. I think it's great. Both of you had some healing to do. You, Nicky, from that trauma Crane and Gordon's put through and you, Warrick, from whatever went down between you and Grissom. I think you've done that healing and you're both ready to move on with your lives. And I really don't think it'd be a bad thing for your lives to take divergent paths."

"Why?" Nick asked. "Cause it'd be advantageous for you to get back into Warrick's life?"

"Aw, Nicky, no, that's not it. We were never in each other's life. Him and me, we had episodes together that worked at particular times, especially for me. Admittedly, I dug the sex. That was definitely down my alley. But I think sex with you is gonna be down my alley, too. I've been thinking I wanted a piece of you for a long time but I never could time gettin' it on with you right. Now, it looks like, without any interference from me, the time's just gotten right. So, if I'm taking advantage of anything, that is it, which must have something to do with that country boy, down home, Texas charm of yours. Shit turns me on just as much as the cool in Warrick.

"But that happens not to be the most important point. Neither of you have been happy being together lately, so you need to get away from each other. But what you still don't seem to need is to be too far away from each other. You've got too good of a friendship going to do that. You support each other too well to do that. And you both still need each other. There's also the fact, just from what I've seen here, you both love having sex with each other. You'd miss that. I don't recommend giving that up, I really do not. I can't imagine anything more fun that having a friend you can fuck without any emotional entanglement. I get the feeling you two can come to that."

Catherine leaned forward to put her beer on the coffee table. As she leaned back, she reached over to take in hand from either side of her an exposed penis and began to massage it, gently and expertly masturbating Warrick and Nick as she continued to speak in a calm, conversational tone of voice. "I also get the feeling I can come to that with you, which would be absolutely outstanding. See, Nicky and Ricky, what I really want is both of you, I really, really do, sometimes together, sometimes apart. I want us to become fuck buddies, like how Warrick says he used to be with Tina before he married her to help her get rid of a few of the problems she had troubling her life. I honestly believe this could work for us. Do either of you have a problem with us giving the matter a bit of additional scientific analysis and exploration intermingled with a helluva lot of good times and no heavy duty emotional attachments?"

"Oh, God," moaned Nick, easily, comfortably and happily sinking beneath the effects of her expertise, "I could get with that." After smiling at him, she turned to Warrick, who was leaning back with his eyes closed, enjoying Catherine's ministrations but still with a mildly troubled look on his face that she recognized as coming from a source not connected with either her or Nick. Kissing him on the cheek, she whispered, "Whatever you're worried about, let it go, for now, and worry about it in the morning. While the night holds, all this girl wants to do is have a little fun."

And Catherine did do that. She loved, more than even the sex, which was terrific, the juxtaposition of Nick against Warrick. She very much enjoyed the large difference in their physicality and personalities, Warrick's darkness that was only skin coloring but also his moodiness and quick flaring temperament that was in direct opposition to Nick's tendency to simmer rather than become explosive and Nick's preference for conciliation rather than confrontation. Even with the too many traumatic events he'd had in his life, going all the back to being molested as child, Nick, from growing up in a rollicking family and protective environment, still had his much sunnier disposition to get him through. As a fatherless only child raised by a hardworking grandmother after his mother died, Warrick had come up tough and become accustomed to using a streetwise masculinity to get him through. Those differences had made a great difference in how they saw the world and they brought their views to bed. As she was treated to their differences, Catherine had a fine time. Both were sensitive to her needs, but their styles were very dissimilar. Warrick would do what she liked because he took wicked pleasure in sexually and skillfully turning her world upside down and inside out, would laugh softly and evilly whenever he'd pushed her into twisting and crying out in ecstasy. Nick would do what she liked simply because he was such a kind hearted person that he liked to please everybody, whenever he could. However, that was not to say he could not stand up for himself and would not avidly take his own pleasure as soon as it was available to him, from either her or Warrick. This, she quickly discovered, Nick would do faster and sooner than Warrick would. Oh yes, Catherine had a wonderful time bedding down and learning about the men she was claiming for her own.

By the time the sun came up, all three, lying tumbled over each other in Nick's queen sized bed, were sated and tuckered out. Warrick was awake with Catherine's arm thrown over his chest and staring at the light beginning to filter through the blinds. She awakened slowly and contentedly, liking the feel of Nick snuggling behind her and snoring lightly while sensing Warrick's wakefulness and pensiveness. Murmuring drowsily, "What're you thinking about?" she began gently stroking him.

"Nuthin' much."

"Liar," she said on a smiling sigh. "Know what I think? I think you should go talk things out with Grissom."

"We don't have anything to talk about."

"You lie again. You've got a lot to talk about. If you and Gil hadn't had so much unfinished business tripping you up all these years, you never would've got with Nick or Tina or me. I'm not complaining about that, since it gave me the chance I've had with you, but Gil and his talk about not messing around with co-workers is just a load of bullshit. Every since he laid that line on you, he's been miserable watching you move on with your other relationships. Believe me when I say this. Just like you and Nick talk to me about your personal problems, he talks with me about his. And, Warrick, it just so happens that you're always the centerpiece of his. If he could get you back, he would. The idiot just doesn't know how to go about saying to you that he wants you back. What's worse, he's so concerned about getting hurt, he never will speak up and say what he really feels. So, if your intention is to wait on him to say anything, you'll never hear anything. You're gonna haveta go to him. I am not saying this to run either his life or yours. I'm just giving you some good advice because I care about both of you." Warrick grinned slowly as he stroked Catherine's arm while she was stroking him. "Lady, you have got to make up your mind. Thought what you said last night was you wanted to keep me and Nick for an on- going menage a trois."

"Hmm, I'm not giving up on that. But I don't wanna wake up with you staring out the window and looking sad like this every morning whenever I'm with you. So you've gotta go work things out with Grissom. Then if they do work out, I'll dance at your wedding. If they don't come to fruition, you know Nick and me will be waiting. Now, get up, take a shower, get dressed and go over to Gil's. He's waiting for you. I've already told him you'd probably come by this morning."

************************************************************* ***********************

Warrick didn't knock hard. He was so unsure about what he was doing that he wanted an easy way out and would have one if Gil happened not to hear his soft knock. But, he did and opened the door dressed casually in a black T-shirt and jeans with his hair a little tousled and his glasses on. Without mentioning how strange it was that Warrick had showed up at his place at six thirty in the morning, he smiled a bit and said, "Warrick. I was just thinking about you."

When Warrick lifted his head, cocking it to the side in disbelief, Gil's smile widened and he added, "I really was. Did you, Nick and Catherine have a good time last night? Before they left work, Nick said they were going to join you at his apartment so the three of you could spend a little quality time together."

Yeah, we had a good time," Warrick said honestly. Then he said with more honesty, "It would've been better if you had been with me."

After gazing into his eyes for a moment, Gil asked, "It would've been better if I had been with all of you or. just with you?"

Warrick sighed. "Gris, don't make this harder than it already is. I meant what I said the way I said it." Very thoughtfully, Grissom nodded. "I was just fixing breakfast. There is enough for two, since Catherine had already told me you'd be over this morning. Come share it with me. Food, I've discovered since you have been gone, like everything else, is always better when you have someone to share it with you."

Trying not to read more into that last remark than there had been to it, Warrick walked in and followed Grissom to his kitchen, asking, "What're you doing up so early? I got the night off, but you don't and should be sleep. Or have you got something to do this morning?"

"No, nothing's really important. I didn't sleep very well last night. I was up and down and finally decided I'd just stay up and wait for you. I was really hoping you'd show up. Get yourself a cup of coffee while I'm finishing up with this omelet."

"You sure you've got enough for the both of us?"

Turning to stare straight into Warrick's eyes, Gil said, "Whatever I've got, I'll always have enough of it for you." Then he turned back to his omelet, saying, "Actually, I have more than enough here. It's a very large skillet omelet. Even though I knew you were coming, I still made more than enough so I could save half for lunch. Don't go worrying that you're eating my lunch. I have plenty, enough that we can have both breakfast and lunch together."

Even as cautious as he was being, Warrick could not mistake what that remark had meant. "Oh yeah? Does that mean you wouldn't mind if I hung out here for awhile? I don't really feel like going back to Nick's right now."

"Really? Why not?"

Warrick said simply. "Catherine's still there."

Gil went still but only for a second or two before busying himself with the omelet again. "I see. Were you there all night too?"

Gazing steadily at Grissom's back, Warrick said, "Yeah. I was. But I had to leave. It got to be kinda. uncomfortable for me, bein' there."

There was a brief silence ended when, without turning around, Gil asked, "Is everything okay between you and Nick?"

There was another silence. Then Warrick said, "Living in his apartment still bothers him, what with that thing with Crane. He's thinking about getting another one. That works for me. My grandmother's tired of paying the taxes on her house and keeping it fixed up. She's moving into this really nice senior citizen complex and has put her house into my name. Said that'd keep me from having to worry about going through probate with it after she dies. It's real small, perfect for just me, and in a pretty good location. Grams and I had been thinking about renting her place out, but maybe it's time I got back out on my own and took it myself with me and Nick at a place where it might be better for both of us if I did move back into Gram's house."

Moving methodically, Gil completed what he had been doing, turned the heat down under the omelet and covered it. Only after he'd done with all that did he finally face Warrick to ask, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"You know why."

"I'm fairly certain that I do but need to hear you say it anyway."

Warrick smiled a bit. "Gris, I've always been the one who had to say shit first then wait while you worked out what you planned to do about it. But that's still all right. If it has to be that way, so be it." He took a deep breath. "You and me, we've still got unfinished business from when you sent me away before. That wasn't right, man. It wasn't right at all. You shouldn't've done that. You drove me into another man's arms and two other women's arms and, now, I'm finding I don't belong with any of 'em. So, I'm divorcing Tina. Catherine's never really needed me and Nick doesn't anymore. He's gotten much stronger. He's strong enough now to do without me. And me, I think. I'm strong enough to finally wanna find out if I can come back into your life. I know that you came and invited me back in once. But then, I was still too hurt by you kicking me out in the first place. I'm over that. If you still want me," Warrick shrugged, "here I am."

For a moment, Gil could say nothing. He was too breathless to speak. The miracle he had been hoping for was truly happening. He was finally getting Warrick back. It had taken forever. They'd had to go through so many changes to reach this point. The fault was mainly his. If he hadn't been frightened by the intensity of that love he'd first felt for Warrick, which had overwhelmed him and made him run to the safety of a loveless marriage with Sara, he might never have lost Warrick to Nick and Tina. But once Warrick had gone to them, he had been faithful to them, given them whatever they had asked of him and turned his back on the relationship with Gil in a belief it was a lost cause. Now he had come back and all Grissom had to do was convince him their being together was most definitely not a lost cause.

Steeling himself to keep from rushing over and hauling Warrick into his arms, he took a single, slow step forward as he whispered, "Of course I want you. I have never stopped wanting you. All this time, all I've really wanted was you. It was stupid of me and unfair to you to push you away before. When I thought you had decided you were going to move and were lost to me forever, I started feeling hopeless. That's why, even though you were married and living with Nick, I tried, one last time, to tell you that I loved you in an attempt to get you to come back to me. When you wouldn't, I nearly died inside myself. But I couldn't complain. I was the one who had said we couldn't be together. You had every right to feel betrayed by me. I deserved that. However, while I may not deserve it, I want and need desperately the renewal of mutual love and caring you're offering me. That is what you're offering, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm offering." Warrick smiled as he said, very softly, "I don't have it now and haven't felt whole without it. I want and need it as much as you do." Gil finally was able to cross the floor between him and Warrick, finally closing the deep chasm that had opened between them, and released a shuddering exhalation as he placed a gentle hand on Warrick's chest. They were still for a time, Grissom staring at the pulse in Warrick's throat, while Warrick's eyes wandered all over Gil as if he had never seen him before. Then Gil's hand went down and eased beneath his shirt, causing Warrick to deeply breathe in as that hand was moving upward to end up caressing his right nipple just before Gil's other hand joined it then was doing the same to his left nipple. Within just a few seconds, Gil began breathing much faster, was impatiently pushing his shirt up to pinch and squeeze both nipples, gathered as much as the skin around them as he could, then restlessly manipulated them into hardened points. But this wasn't enough for him and Gil hurriedly added oral manipulation, his head bobbing back and forth across Warrick's chest as he suckled and licked.

All of that made Warrick start smiling. Finally he asked, with all the rigidity of the tension which Catherine had been so adamant about forcing from him fading, while he lifted his arms to get them out of Grissom's way, allowing the other man to have his way with him, "We're not gonna get to breakfast any time soon, are we?"

"No, I think not," was Gil's answer. "There are other edibles about I'd much rather consume."

A few hours later, Warrick was sleeping much more peacefully than he had when he had been in bed with Nick and Catherine. Gil was not sleeping at all, but was lying next to him, propped up on an elbow to watch the sprawled out, younger man sleep with a smile on his face. Every movement had become just a tad painful, because of an ache radiating from his rectum, but a tingle of delight also radiated through him whenever he thought about why that ache was there. He was contemplating whether he was up to awakening Warrick for a renewal of the actions that had led to that ache, since everything preceding it had been so pleasant, when the telephone rang. He turned over, lunged for it and hastily picked it up mid ring to hurriedly whisper into it, "Grissom here."

It was a sleepy sounding Catherine saying with amusement running through her voice, "Well, that answers my first question. Warrick got there and I'd guess, from how you're trying to keep the noise level down, that he finally must've got to sleep. He sure didn't get much while he was over here."

"You're still at Nick's?"

"Oh, yeah. I woke 'em up, put 'em through his paces then put the tired baby back to sleep. I'd lay odds you've done the same thing with Warrick. Don't ever tell me you can't teach an old dog some new tricks. We might be getting up there in years, Gil, but I'll tell ya one thing. These young bloods can still learn a thing or two from us."

"Catherine, you said your first question was finding out if Warrick was here and now you know that he is. What's your other question?"

"You and him did get it on, didn't you?"

Lying back, Gil smiled. "Not that it's really any of your business, but yes, we did."

"Who topped, you or him?" When Catherine got only a surprised silence, she grinned. "You don't have to answer. I already know and, honestly, we have really got to do something about that. Warrick's way too macho. He doesn't know what he's missing. We've got to show him the joy of being a bottom. I happen to have got some very cute gadgets I'd love to start him out on. Then we can work our way up to the real thing, meaning get fucked by you and Nick."

"I am not going to talk with you about this, Catherine."

"Maybe right now you're not, but eventually you will, him and you both. I can't think of a single reason we can't all be in this thing together. That could be just so perfect since we all respect, love and care so much for each other, don't you think?"

"I'm not Nick or Warrick, Catherine. I'm older and wiser. I'm not talked into things as easily as they are."

"I'm not gonna drop this, Gil, I really am not."

"You are an infinitely stubborn woman."

"I proudly admit that, yes I am, which you know about me, having known me for so long, better than anybody."

"Goodbye, Catherine."

"Uh-uh."

"I'm hanging up now, Catherine."

"Gilbert Grissom, don't you dare hang up on me. If you do dare, don't think we won't be engaging the topic again at a later date. Hell, Gil, we live in Las Vegas, man, the original American Sin City and we might as well take advantage of that fact. Why, it's downright antisocial and criminal for us not to."

With a smile, Grissom hung up the phone, still hearing Catherine talking to him but no longer willing to listen. He much preferred going back to watching Warrick sleep, so he did. He had said everything he wished to say to Catherine for the present time. What he had not informed her was Warrick did have a bit of previous experience with bottoming out. When they had tentatively been attempting an interpersonal relationship a few years before, it'd turned out to be too much of an unhealthy extension of their professional relationship, complete with Warrick's near hero worshipping respect for Gil and Gil's cautious, unemotional authoritative distance trapping them into a mentor/protégée liaison. Whatever Gil had wanted, Gil had gotten without having to give much in return, including doing whatever he had wanted with Warrick's body or heart. Warrick had not asked for very much in return. He had been too glad to get what little he could get.

Gil had rightfully came to the final decision what they had was doing neither of them any good, but Warrick had been giving it his all and still been stunned when Gil had insisted on their break up. Soon suffering from an intensity of loneliness such as he had never known, he had tried to talk Warrick into coming back, which Warrick had made clear was not a possibility. He had been hurt too many times, had been in once burnt, twice shy mode.

Catherine had advised patience, particularly since the situation would not have arisen if Gil had handled matters right in the first place. It'd been a stupid reason, saying co-workers; especially a supervisor and his subordinate; should not have a personal connection. Knowing better than that being the real reason Gil had broken off with him, Warrick had been more upset by the lack of honesty and Gil's obstinate insistence on there being no other motive than he had anything else. This circumvention of the truth had broken Warrick's spirit, in Catherine's estimation. She had counseled how you never break a stallion with a whip, but with patience, love and gentle words. It had taken awhile, but her guidance had been successful. Grissom had Warrick back in his bed and his arms again.

Of course, there had been a few unexpected modifications since their first time around. Warrick had gained some maturity somewhere down the line during those years they had been apart. Already, he had given notice that everything was not going to be on Gil's terms this time. Although Grissom had initiated the lovemaking, after he'd received the renewal invitation from Warrick, and he'd been the one that had led the way to the bedroom, he hadn't been allowed to have control since because Warrick had taken charge from that point forward and never relinquished it. Once bedded and stripped, he had been massaged and fondled all over, lovingly but firmly pummeled during an extensive session of foreplay including heated deep kisses, then turned over and taken so thoroughly and satisfyingly, his throat was still raw from screaming.

That had been most astonishingly and exhilaratingly unanticipated. Like with many managerial types who couldn't easily unbend, being able to surrender control in a safe environment to another who would not misuse such surrender was a relief Gil much appreciated and had never known before. He'd been exhilarated to realize it existed and wanted some more of it.

Jiggling Warrick's shoulder, he leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Warrick, Catherine called. It seems that she wants to change her threesome with you and Nick into a quartet including me."

That instantly brought Warrick wide awake and got his immediate attention. Shaking his head hard from side to side to clear away its cobwebs while pushing up onto his elbows, he demanded, "She wants to do what?!!"

"Oh, it's nothing. Never mind. I just thought that was the fastest way to wake you up."

Groaning, Warrick flopped back down, burying his head in the pillow. "Aw, man, Grissom, don't do that shit. You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," Gil said, rolling partially onto him and kissing his ear. "That's the last thing I want to do. I wouldn't want to do anything injurious to your physical health, because that might impede you doing for me what you did before you went to sleep."

Warrick grinned, "You liked that, huh?"

"Yes. Yes I did."

"All of it?"

"Surprisingly enough, I liked every single bit of it and wish to pursue supplementary experimentation to discover if a subsequent occasion will prove to be as gratifying as the first occurrence."

"God, Gil, ease up. You're talkin' about it like we're doin' some kinda scientific research when all what we're doin' is havin' a couple of quick fucks." After a brief pause, Warrick hesitantly added, "At least, that's what we're doing at this exact moment. Cause we'll be talking about everything else we're gonna do to get it together later on right?" When he got no answer, he turned his head to look at Gil, saying with a suspicious note, "That's right, ain't it, Gris?"

But he was reassured before he even spoke, for the look of love on Grissom's face was answer enough. But he still improved on that look once he had gotten Warrick's full attention by saying, "I lost you once. I won't let that happen again. So there's really nothing to talk about in that regard. All we've got left to talk about is how we are going to alleviate any problems before they arise, starting with us being honest and open with each other. Everything else will come out of that. But I'd like to discuss all of that later. Right now, I'm in the mood to further explore my cessation as a control freak as you and Catherine have both recommended and place such control in your hands. Right now, I want that, nothing more and nothing less."

Turning over under Gil until he was on his back and could get his arms about him, Warrick smiled, kissed him and said, "If me in control is what you want, then, man, it's my pleasure to make sure that's what you get."