Title: Sanctifed
By: Caroline Crane
Rating:                          PG13
Status:                          new
Archive:                        yes to list archives
Series/Sequel:              nope
Other websites:            http://desiderium.slashcity.net/
Notes:                           This is my first sojourn into CSI fic. Not sure

that has any bearing on anything, but there it is.

I've been wanting to slash Nick and Greg for a long time, but I never had any real reason until they started having a conversation in my head this morning. They wouldn't shut up until I wrote it all down. I had to name one of the nameless minor characters from "Crash and Burn"; if the show gave him a name I can't find it anywhere, so if you know it please let me know.

Warnings:                     spoilers for "Crash and Burn"

***

 

*It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it.*

Greg swung out of the way just in time to avoid the lab door slamming open on him, nearly dropping the samples he was carrying in his effort to avoid getting hit. He watched the other lab tech on duty storm out of the lab with a more pinched than usual look on his face, staring at Murphy's retreating back for a moment before he shrugged and let himself into the lab. He was just as glad to find himself alone for awhile; between the workload lately and Murphy's weird control issues, work had been less than fun all day. Most of the time he loved his job, but some days he wasn't really sure why he showed up to spend eight hours a day getting treated like a grunt.

He set the samples down on his workstation and let out a heavy sigh, scowling when he realized Murphy had turned off his music while he was gone. He rolled his eyes and reached for the radio, but a sudden movement from the center of the room distracted him. He looked up with his hand still poised above the radio to find Nick bent over one of the microscopes, scowling at the sample he was examining.

The sight of Nick completely focused on the task at hand was not what he needed right now; he had a hard enough time working side by side with someone he didn't stand a chance with, but after the long, miserable day he'd had he wasn't sure he could deal with Nick's sarcastic banter. There was nothing he could do about it, though – it wasn't like he could tell the other man he was having a bad day and order him out of the lab. At best Nick would just laugh and go right back to whatever he was doing, and at worst he'd interrogate Greg until he finally caved and admitted exactly why he couldn’t handle Nick right now.

"Need an expert opinion?" he heard himself ask, telling himself that if he had to be around Nick then at least he could distract himself with work.

"I am an expert," Nick reminded him, glancing up long enough to frown at him. "Where'd you come from?"

"What, I'm supposed to be chained to the lab all day long? Just waiting around for you to give me a little attention, bring me a sample to analyze? Meanwhile you're two-timing me with Murphy. I saw him storm out of here, don't think you're fooling me."

Nick rolled his eyes and looked back down at the sample, but Greg caught the corners of his mouth twitching a little as he looked away. "You weren't here and I needed to take another look at this sample. You'd think I'd asked for a loan or something with the way he acted when I asked him for the slide."

"Yeah, well, he's got control issues. What's the deal with you two, anyway?"

"Deal? There's no deal."

Greg rolled his eyes and sat down on the stool next to Nick, leaning close enough to get a look at the label on the slide before he pulled away again. He hadn't really meant that to come out the way it had, but now that he'd said it he couldn't take it back. The best thing to do was make a joke out of it; everybody usually assumed he was just messing around anyway, and he knew if he laughed it off Nick probably wouldn't even notice. "Of course there's a deal. There's *always* a deal. You think I don't see how tense you guys are around each other? Is there something going on I should know about?"

That got Nick's attention; he straightened up and looked right at Greg, flinching a little when he realized how close the other man had gotten while he wasn't looking. "Are you kidding? Me and Murphy? Come on, do I look that desperate?"

Okay, so he hadn't mentioned the fact that Murphy was a guy. That didn't necessarily mean anything, but it gave Greg just enough hope to fuel his fantasies for the next few nights. "No," he answered, pausing for dramatic effect until Nick's stare got a little too intense. Finally he had to look away, pretending nonchalance so the other man wouldn't see how nervous he was about what he was about to insinuate. "I mean all those soulful looks you're always giving Warrick, that's probably some investigator thing a lowly tech like me wouldn't understand."

"I do not give anybody 'soulful looks'," Nick shot back, but his cheeks flushed a little and Greg knew he'd hit a sensitive spot.

"Whatever you say."

Nick frowned and shook his head, looking back down at the microscope. "You don’t know what you're talking about. Warrick's a friend, I look at him like I'd look at a friend."

"Wish I had a friend like that," Greg muttered under his breath. So his suspicions about Nick and Warrick had been right all along; that was supposed to make him feel better, or at least feel less pathetic than he would if he'd developed a crush on a straight guy. But that didn't change the fact that Nick had a thing for Warrick, and Greg was definitely no competition for him.

"What?"

"Never mind," Greg said a little too quickly. He sent up a quick prayer that Nick really hadn't heard what he'd said and shifted on his stool, forcing himself to relax enough to sound like he was still just messing around. "You know, for being so focused on the job, it's amazing all the things you miss around here. Do you ever notice anything that doesn't have something to do with a case?"

"I noticed you're really starting to annoy me."

A derisive snort of laughter escaped Greg's throat, and he watched Nick's lips curve into a full-blown smile this time. It wasn't the signature Nick Stokes smile that always made him weak in the knees, but it was close enough to make him want to push his luck. "So is that why you've got a thing for Murphy? He's less annoying than me?"

Finally Nick looked up again, his expression a mixture of shock and horror. "What…? For one thing, Murphy's way more annoying than you. And I don't have a thing for anybody. You're the one with the thing."

"I don't have a thing," Greg shot back, straightening up a little as he tried to tell himself he wasn't that obvious. There was no way Nick could know that he had a crush on him, was there? He'd played it as cool as possible, he'd even flirted with some of the women on the staff to throw Nick off. No, he couldn't know. He was just being a smart-ass because Greg was deliberately trying to get under his skin, that was all. He was already annoyed at Murphy before Greg showed up, so it wasn't that much of a stretch to really piss him off.

"Does the name Sarah ring any bells?" The question jolted him out of his momentary panic attack, and for a second he was so relieved that Nick didn't know that he forgot what they were talking about. The smug look on the other man's face was so cute that he had to fight not to lean forward and show him exactly how wrong he was, but he managed to restrain himself and get back to the conversation at hand.

"That's not a thing. I just flirt with her to make her feel better. You know, let her think I've got a crush, boost her self-esteem. Chicks eat that stuff up." The truth was that he just flirted with her so the whole staff wouldn't notice the way he flirted with Nick, but he wasn't about to admit that. He wasn't admitting anything until he didn't have any other choice; they might be investigators, but he'd learned a trick or two on the job about avoiding direct answers.

Now Nick just looked confused, and that was even cuter than smug because it made those little wrinkles in the center of his forehead stand out. "Why does she need you to boost her self-esteem?"

"The other woman usually suffers from low self-esteem. Didn't they make you take psychology for this job?"

"Didn't they make you take some kind of mental health test?"

Greg couldn't help grinning at that; out of all of the investigators on staff Nick was the only one he knew actually liked him, and if that was all he was going to get he was willing to take it. Besides, Nick didn't really mean anything when he implied that Greg was crazy, in a way it was the closest to affection that he was going to get from the other man. "Passed with flying colors, thanks for asking. And if you stopped making puppy eyes at Davis for a minute you'd know Sarah's boyfriend has another girlfriend. Don't you guys ever listen to gossip?"

Nick heaved a long-suffering sigh and for a second Greg thought he might turn back to his sample, but instead the other man switched off the microscope and lifted the slide out and back into its container. "We're usually too busy doing our jobs."

"All work and no play are starting to dull the senses a little, doncha think? I mean don't get me wrong, you look pretty hot when you're being all 'focused crime scene guy'..."

"Wait. You think I'm hot?"

And okay, he definitely hadn't meant to say that, but it wasn't like he could take it back. He wasn't going to blush or get all flustered just because he'd admitted something he shouldn't have; anyway, if Nick didn't mind being accused of making eyes at Warrick then Greg could admit to being able to appreciate an attractive man. "I said 'you look hot'. It's a fact, not a judgment."

"A lot of people would argue with you on that one," Nick said, and Greg was sure he imagined the way the other man leaned a little closer. Nick's voice hadn't dropped either; it was all in his head, because that was the reaction he wanted. Sure, he flirted and Nick usually took the bait, but he probably didn't even realize he was flirting back. That was just the kind of guy he was, it didn't mean anything.

"No way," he answered, his voice a little less steady than it had been a minute ago. And maybe he was a little crazy after all, because Nick definitely seemed to be getting closer. "You're definitely hot. It's not debatable, anybody could see that."

"Oh." Yeah, he'd definitely imagined it, because now Nick's voice sounded the same way it always did. He told himself he wasn’t disappointed; he hadn't been expecting anything, so there was no reason to be disappointed. "Well…thanks."

"You're welcome," he said, managing somehow to sound almost cheerful. "So you really don't have a deal with Murphy?" he added, grinning at the disgusted look that clouded the other man's features at the mention of the other lab tech.

"Greg?"

Nick leaned into him again, and this time he knew he wasn't imagining it because he felt the other man's hand brush against his. He glanced down at his own wrist, his eyes widening a little when he saw that Nick's thumb really was resting against the back of his knuckles. "Yeah?"

"If you mention that name again in the next five minutes I'm out of here."

For a second Greg wasn't sure what Nick was talking about, but by the time his mind had rewound the conversation enough to figure out what name Nick meant it didn't matter anymore. The hand that had been resting against his wrist found its way to his neck, Nick's other hand landing on the lab station behind him to effectively trap him in place. Not that he had any plans to try and make a break for it; some of his best fantasies started out this way, and there was nothing in the world that could have dragged him away before he found out what Nick was planning to do.

The wait felt like an eternity, but finally that smile he'd been waiting to see all night was directed at him, bright and sexy and somehow managing to make Nick look a lot more innocent than Greg suspected he was. He barely had time to register the fact that Nick was smiling at *him* before the other man leaned forward, or maybe he pulled Greg forward on the stool. It was hard to tell who moved first, but the next thing Greg knew Nick's mouth was on his and his own fingers were flexing and relaxing against Nick's shirt. And there was definitely no danger of him mentioning any names that Nick didn't want to hear, because he couldn't even remember his own name while Nick's tongue was in his mouth.

He'd always figured Nick would be a good kisser, but the weird thing was that when he finally found himself actually being kissed by Nick, it wasn't the kiss he was focusing on. The kiss was nice, sure, but what really got his attention was the way Nick's fingers stroked through the hair at the back of his neck. The only word to describe it was 'caress'; Nick's touch was soft and sure, but just tentative enough to let Greg know that he hadn't really planned on this. And in a strange way that was reassuring enough to stop him from panicking when Nick finally pulled away.

"Five minutes?" he panted, a mischievous grin disguising the nervous tension balling at the pit of his stomach. "That's not a lot of time."

Nick's mouth quirked into a grin that Greg had never seen before – a mixture of amusement and affection, and when Greg realized that the affection was for him he was so startled he almost fell off the stool. "I'm not planning to fuck you in the lab, if that's what you mean."

He did slip off the stool a little when he heard that, but before he could hit the floor Nick's hands landed on his shoulders to steady him. He knew he probably looked dumbstruck – or possibly just dumb – but he couldn't bring himself to care because Nick was still grinning at him. "Oh. So does that mean you are planning to at some point?"

Nick shook his head and for a second Greg had the sinking feeling that he was about to let go, but instead he just laughed and shifted a little closer. "Are you always this weird?"

"Pretty much, yeah. It's a genius thing." He laughed a little breathlessly, not even caring that Nick was already rolling his eyes. None of that mattered anymore, not the weird looks people gave him when he got a little overexcited about something or even the way some of them acted like he was just some intern instead of a fellow professional. He didn't care about any of that as long as Nick understood him. "So are you?"

"Am I what?" Nick asked, his smile fading a little as he tried to figure out what Greg was talking about.

"Planning to fuck me."

And he was not blushing; they were both adults, and besides, Nick was the one that said it first. He was smiling again, though, and if Greg didn't know better he would have sworn the other man's cheeks were a little flushed. "I'm still thinking about it. Is that cool with you?"

"I'll take what I can get," he answered, hoping that sounded more casual to Nick than it did to him.

"That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for my charms," Nick said, frowning and running a hand absently through Greg's hair.

Greg swallowed hard and let his eyes fall closed, focusing on the sensation of those amazing fingers against his scalp for a long moment before he forced his eyes open again. "Well I never thought I'd get this much."

"Coulda had it awhile ago. I didn't know we had a thing." Nick's smile was teasing, but there was a gentleness in his voice now that made Greg's heart skip a beat.

"Oh, we definitely have a thing," he said, reaching out to close his fist around the front of Nick's shirt. He pulled the other man forward, forgetting about the fact that they were both on the clock and anybody could walk in on them. If he had thought about it that might not even have stopped him, because there was a small part of him that was afraid his was never going to happen again. It was possible that Nick was just flattered by the attention, or maybe he'd come to his senses as soon as he left the lab and realize that he could do a lot better.

Only Nick wasn't kissing him like he was planning to forget anything, and when they finally came up for air again Greg couldn't remember why he'd been so worried in the first place. "So you really don't have a thing for Warrick?"

That earned him a reproachful glare, but he just shrugged and smiled as innocently as possible. "What? I didn't mention Murphy."

 

The End