Title: Robotics
Author: Dee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2456
Pairing: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom and Nick Stokes
Warnings: Major Character Deaths...
Spoilers: For S3.E13 - Random Acts Of Violence. The one where Warrick calls Gil a robot
Disclaimer: In my dreams they are like, totally mine!
Unbeta-ed: All mistakes will be mine.
A/N 1: I saw this epi on the telly the other day and it made me wonder about Warrick's position on the team...but where the death!fic came from I have no idea...

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Nick got home before him and was preparing a meal for them both.  He heard Gil come through the front door and he left the kitchen and walked out to meet him.

"Hey."

"Hello."

"I was going to ask if you are okay, but you're not, are you?"

Gil shook his head and removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes.  "No."

"Such a senseless death of a young girl.  So fucking random."   Gil nodded again and Nick pulled him into a hug and Gil rested his head on his shoulder.  "I've cooked a couple of chicken fillets and made a salad...but you're not going to eat are you?"

"I couldn't.  I'm sorry.  It's been a bad day, Nick, a bad day."  Nick sensed something more was going on than the death of a child but Gil would only tell him if he wanted to, and then only in his own time.  He knew that pushing him was a waste of time and energy and would only antagonise him and cause him to become even more tight-lipped.

Living with Gil Grissom certainly had its high points but it had a lot of low points too...he would shut himself off and refuse all attempts to open up.  Nick was getting used to it, gradually, and the benefits did just about outweigh the downtime.  But it was an alien atmosphere for him after his boisterous family life with open doors with no secrets kept from anyone.

But he loved the man and he supposed that learning to live with someone so different from himself was just as hard for Gil with him and it was for him with Gil.

"You want a drink of something?"

Gil pulled back and nodded.  "A brandy..."

"...on an empty stomach?"

"Probably not a good idea."

"An herbal tea?"

"Yes, that would be good."

"You go shower and get rid of your work clothes and I'll make your drink."

"Thank you, Nick."  He walked away from Nick towards the stairs and then turned back as an afterthought and spoke again.  "Sorry about the meal."

"That's okay.  I'll eat mine and freeze yours."  Nick smiled; not long ago Gil wouldn't have even thought of apologising for not eating a meal that Nick had prepared, so they were making progress.

Nick put his meal out and ate it in the kitchen, he'd nearly finished it by the time Gil came back down and the herb tea was made and waiting for him.  He didn't speak but took the tea and went out onto the deck and Nick decided to leave him alone.  Not much point in trying to make his mood better...he'd get better when he got better and not before.

Nick finished his meal and cleared up and then went out onto the deck.  "Do you want another drink?"

"No.  No, thank you.  I think I'm going to turn in...it's been a long couple of days."

"Okay.  I've got some work to do...research and some mails to answer; I'll be up in an hour or so."

Gil nodded and wearily pushed himself out of the chair, took his empty mug into the kitchen and then went upstairs.  Nick watched him...he thought Gil was certainly a lot worse this time than he'd been before.  Usually, he was fairly philosophical about death, child or not, but something was not right about this case and that was for sure.

Nick didn't think any more of it although when they got up Gil was still in the same mood and looked much worse.  Nick guessed he hadn't slept much but since Nick had slept the sleep of the righteous he didn't really know for sure.  Gil didn't get any better and Nick just let it be thinking that Gil would come around sooner or later.

It was two shifts later that Greg caught him on his own in the lab.  No one knew that Nick was with Grissom...it just seemed better to keep it under wraps.  So Greg would not have known how his gossip would have such far reaching consequences.

"Have you heard about Grissom and Warrick?"

"Gris and Warrick?  No, what about them?"  Since Greg acted conspiratorially for the most minor titbit Nick didn't think he was going to hear something that would, in fact, change his life.

"They had a huge fight a few nights ago...well...Warrick ripped Grissom a new one..."

"...really?"  Nick still wasn't really that concerned but he now knew why Gil was so withdrawn.

"Warrick thought he knew who'd killed the little girl but there was no substantial evidence so they had to let him go.  Then Warrick found some stuff in the guy's car which he thought was absolute proof of his guilt.  It wasn't and Grissom said so...and Warrick shouted and ranted at Grissom and called him a robot...I heard...the whole lab heard.  Said Gil didn't care that a child had been shot...you get the drift."

"Yes.  I do.  So what happened?"

"Grissom told him he was off the case and sent him home...but..."

"But?"

"Warrick found out where the guy was staying...a secret address for safety's sake...and the child's father followed him and beat him...the alleged killer...to a pulp.  Warrick had already brought the father to the PD...he was a friend of Warrick's...so he'd seen the guy in the corridor and threatened him.  To make matters worse, it wasn't the guy...it wasn't anything gang related as Warrick had thought... it was someone with a grudge against the girl's Dad, Warrick's friend."  Greg finished almost triumphantly.

By now Nick's head was whirling around.  Warrick had messed up big time and was probably going to get fired for this.  He hadn't seen Warrick since before all this has happened.

"So what's going to happen?"

"Happen?"

"To Warrick?"

"Nothing.  Everything seems okay again."

Nick could not believe his ears.  "Nothing?"

"No.  Well you know that Grissom has a soft spot for Warrick...Holly Gribbs..."  Greg left it at that perhaps sensing that he'd gone a little too far.  After all, he thought, Warrick and Nick were supposed to be best buds.

"Yeah.  Okay."

Nick did not know how he managed to get through the shift.  Gil was out with Catherine and Sara and Warrick was on a rest day.  As soon as he could he clocked off and went home.  He was home way before Gil.  He just didn't know what he was going to do or say; the only thing he knew, with any certainty, was that he was going to have it out with Gil...  Enough was enough.   He was pacing and fidgeting and just waiting for Gil to get home.  He could hardly believe what Greg had told him and yet he'd later heard it from another source; two lab rats discussing it when they thought they were alone.  Following the same line of thought as Nick...how did Warrick get away with it...did he have something on Gil?  And expressing their amazement that Warrick was still in a job.  

But for Nick it wasn't just that.  No, it wasn't.

He took a beer from the fridge but could only manage a couple of swallows of the cold liquid since he felt sick to his stomach.  He put on a pot of coffee but left it untouched.  After an hour he decided he was stupid and went to take a shower.  He didn't put his work clothes in the laundry basket but folded them up and put them on the bed.  In his heart he knew why.

He took a scalding hot shower and when he emerged his skin was pink from the heat but he felt a little more relaxed.  He dressed in jeans and sweat shirt and went downstairs to wait for Gil.  He didn't have to wait long...no sooner than he had switched on the TV for something to do...when he heard his truck.  He switched off the TV and stood up.

And as stupid as it was under the circumstances he realised the moment Gil walked through the door that his mood had changed for the better.

"You left work in a hurry...have you got plans?"  His voice was lighter and Nick knew that Gil thought whatever the plans were they included him.

"You're right.  I have got plans."  His tone of voice instantly alerted Gil.

"Oh?"  They stood facing each other in the living room about five feet apart.

"I want to know why you have one set of rules for most members of staff and an entirely different set for me?  I want to know how one member of staff can be so poorly disciplined that he can gamble on work's time, indirectly cause the death of a fellow CSI, insult his supervisor, bend the rules and directly cause a man to be badly beaten...and still be in a job?  Am I missing something?"  Nick didn't shout at all but his voice was cold and calculated and as Texan as it had ever sounded.

Gil hesitated for a few moments and then spoke.  "Yes, of course you are."

"What, exactly?"

"Warrick was devastated at the death..."

"...devastated?  You mean like I was when Kristy died and I was accused of murder and you washed your hands of me?  I was off the clock and she wasn't killed because of me.  Devastated; you mean like when you censored me using ridiculous riddles to judge my performance when you had not one shred of evidence that I couldn't handle murder scenes.  And have I ever cursed you...even in private let alone in full view of the lab?"

"I thought Warrick was your friend?"

"He is...was...is probably more appropriate because I can forgive one mistake...we all make them...but time after time?  What about the next time?  What if one of us is with him when he decides to go off and bend the rules?  What if I was the one that was beaten up would you even bother?  Or just tell him not to do it again and then let him supervise the shift as a reward?"

"Now you're being ridiculous..."

"...ridiculous?   You know what is ridiculous?  That I moved in here with you; that I love you.  But there's only so much I can take and being second to everyone else...your work, okay, I can live with that.  Your bugs?  I'm still okay with that, but the rest of the team and your double standards?  No.  I'm not okay with that.   I'm leaving you Gil.  I think I tried...but I don't think you did for a minute, did you?"

Gil was silent.  He just stared, shocked and seemingly incomprehensively, at Nick.  Nick just knew he wouldn't put up a fight to keep him and he just knew he was better off without Gil in his life.

He turned and went back upstairs and packed as much as he could.  He didn't see or speak to Gil again until he walked out of the door.  Gil was sitting in the corner of his couch looking shell shocked and diminished.

"I'll come back for rest of my stuff when you're not here and I'll leave the key on the kitchen table."  He walked out without a backwards glance and without regret.

It took Nick three weeks to get another job, as a CSI two in Houston; Texas, but not in his family's back pocket.  He was glad to get a job; he didn't mind the demotion.  He dropped his resignation letter into Gil's in-tray when his office was empty.

Only Catherine asked if Nick was okay and he said he'd got some 'personal shit, is all'.

Gil was generally considered to be going through one of his many phases of being particularly ornery and anti-social.  No one batted an eyelid.  He didn't speak to Nick other than about work related matters.  Nick didn't expect anything else...although with their history he would have appreciated a few words.  But no.  Nothing.  He was surprised.

He didn't tell anyone about his leaving until the last possible moment and there was a ripple of shock that reverberated around the lab.  He remained secretive; he was 'going home to Texas' was his standard response.  He still spoke to Warrick but was not particularly friendly.   He declined a party and just left.  No one could quite understand what had happened.

In Houston he immediately established that he was just about the best CSI they'd ever employed and he was quickly promoted to Lead CSI.  He wasn't happy...but he was okay; he managed.

In Las Vegas Gil never recovered from his ornery, anti-social attitude and he was impenetrable...even from Catherine and Jim.  But it was like the heart and soul had left the lab.  They still did their best at work but the real passion they all once had...was gone.

A couple of years later Warrick was abducted by a deranged father called Walter Gordon. When they found the Perspex coffin, Warrick was dead; they were too late, he'd suffocated.

In Houston not two months later, Nick was seen walking towards his truck in the car lot, and moments later there was the sound of one gunshot.   Witnesses said that Nick had been acting strange for a couple of months...someone likened it to acting almost like a robot...he just wasn't his normal self.

In Las Vegas, Gil was walking along the corridor, a man old before his time, stooped, world weary, white haired.  He heard sobbing and wasn't going to stop, but he did, and saw Greg sitting on a bench in the locker room sobbing inconsolably.

"Greg?  What's wrong?"  It was a very unusual personal query from Grissom.

A swollen and grief stricken face looked up at Grissom.  "First Warrick and now Nick.  Nick Stokes.  He's killed himself."

"Nick.  Nick?  Nooo..."  Gil was going to be sick, he was sure, but he staggered backwards and hit the lockers and then stumbled and fell sideways to the floor; the pain in his head, Nick's death...they were both utterly unbearable.  That was his last thought

In Greg's grief he had some difficulty assimilating what had happened to Grissom and it took him several moments to realise that Grissom was making strange gurgling noises.

Gil never regained consciousness following a massive brain haemorrhage.  In keeping with his wishes he was not kept alive, artificially, and seven people benefited from the donation of his organs.  He was cremated without a service...also in keeping with his wishes.

It was Greg who decided what to do and he collected Grissom's ashes from the funeral home and flew out to Dallas.  He spread the ashes over the Nick's grave.  He didn't really know why he had to do it...but it seemed to him that just maybe they were meant to be together...

The End

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