Title: Spaghetti Night
Author: Dixie
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Nothing I tell you!
Summary: Greg makes a lot of spaghetti, Nick and Robin Hood help him eat it.

"Hey, Nick, do you like spaghetti?" Greg asked Nick as they walked through the halls of the lab one particularly slow night.

"Sure, Greg. Why?" Nick smiled, thinking, 'who doesn't like spaghetti?'

"I have the sudden urge to make a whole lot of it. Want to help me eat it?" Greg grinned.

"If you're going to cook something that didn't come in a microwave-able package, I want to be there to witness it," Nick teased.

"All right then, after shift tonight?" Greg waited for Nick's nod of approval, which came within seconds of the invitation.

"Should I bring anything?" Nick asked.

"Just an appetite," Greg said, grinning, which left Nick wondering just how much spaghetti Greg planned to make. After setting a time to meet at Greg's place, they each went their separate ways within the lab.

(*End of shift*)

Greg's doorbell rang exactly five minutes before the time he and Nick had agreed to meet. Opening the door, he found Nick standing on the other side holding a loaf of freshly baked Italian bread in one hand, and a bottle of white wine in the other.

Guiding Nick into the kitchen, Greg chuckled, "I said you only had to bring your appetite, Nick. Not that I'm complaining," he added as he looked the bottle of wine over.

"My mom always told me that it was just good manners to bring something along when invited over for dinner," Nick admitted. Then, looking into the pot Greg had on the stovetop, he asked, "Who else did you invite over, Greg?"

"Nobody. It's just you and me."

"You've got enough spaghetti here to feed a small army," Nick laughed quietly.

"Well... you did say you liked it. And I did say I wanted to make a whole lot of it." Greg explained.

"You're going to be eating spaghetti leftovers for a few weeks." Nick teased.

"Oh, no, we are eating all of this. Tonight." Greg stated.

"You've got to be crazy!" Nick exclaimed.

Greg just shook his head as he drained the noodles before adding tomato sauce and meatballs. He scooped a large helping into a bowl and found two forks. Setting the bowl on the table and handing one of the forks to Nick, he said, "Dig in."

"How very 'Lady and the Tramp,'" Nick teased.

Greg grinned. "I know. I watched the movie last night. And I've wanted to eat spaghetti since then."

"You're kidding me? You have the movie?" Nick asked eagerly as he poured wine into two plastic cups with images of "The Muppets" on them.

"Yeah, I've got all the Disney classics. And some of the not-classics-yet-but-will-be-eventually. I watch them when I have time." Greg said, taking the cup that Nick offered to him.

"What's your favourite one?" Nick asked before he started eating.

"Peter Pan. Because, I will never grow up!" Greg said, lifting his plastic cup to Nick in way of a toast. "How 'bout you? Which one did you watch over and over and over again?"

"Robin Hood. It used to drive everyone else up the wall, but that was the one I always had to see. Of course, my sisters were no better, they always wanted to watch 'Sleeping Beauty' or 'Cinderella.'" Nick waved his fork around absently as he spoke and Greg laughed, watching him.

"What's funny?" Nick asked as Greg continued to laugh.

"Robin Hood. Is that where your need for justice comes from?"

Nick blushed. "Yeah, I guess maybe it is," he said thoughtfully.

Greg picked up his cup and the bowl of spaghetti and headed for the couch in the other room. "Come on, Nick," he said, gesturing with his head, "let's go watch Robin Hood, no sisters here to complain."

Nick followed him and took a seat on the couch as Greg set up the movie. For a few hours there was no such thing as crime, or suffering. For a few hours, all that mattered, and all that existed, were Nick and Greg, a massive bowl of spaghetti, wine in plastic cups, and movies that reminded them both of a time when things were much simpler.

*fini*