Title: Come On, Uncle Nick!
By: postnotice
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Note: I just. I don't even. I'm not sure if I should apologize or not. When Nick says, "You're sure? You can still back out of a boring, grown up love story and hear a fairy tale," I considered following it with Greg saying something along the lines of it still being a fairy tale. But I didn't. If you find mistakes, feel free to point 'em out. Just. Nice, please?
Summary: Nick tells his nieces and nephews when he met the love of his life.

"C'mon, tell us a story!"

"Yeah, a story!"

Nick Stokes groans like telling children a bedtime story is the worst possible thing to endure. The kids just tug at his arms and legs, ignoring his distress in favor of trying to win him over.

"Pleeeeeeeeease? Pretty please with sugar on top?"

"Come on, Uncle Nick!" A pair of big, brown eyes look up at him hopefully and Nick feels himself give in before any words make it out of his mouth.

Laughing when they shout with happiness, Nick ushers the children into a large bedroom and tucks them in, one by one. "What do you want to hear? I think your grandma has a bunch of fairy tale books—"

"No! I wanna hear a true story!"

Nick gives his niece Amanda a puzzled look. "A true story? I don't think I know any good true stories, sweetheart."

Amanda squirms in bed until she's comfortable, scrunching up her nose and looking at her uncle. "How about when you met Greg?"

Half-smiling when the rest of the children agree, Nick sits down on the edge of Amanda's bed and says, "You're sure? You can still back out of a boring, grown up love story and hear a fairy tale."

"It's not boring," a voice behind him says playfully. Nick turns around and to see his boyfriend leaning against the door frame. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Nick moves over a little so Greg can sit next to him. "You wanna tell this story?"

Greg shrugs his shoulders and sits, uncrossing his arms and grinning at Nick's nieces and nephews. "Nah, I'll just interrupt whenever you get something wrong."

"Start the story!" Brandon says with a yawn, even though he's still bouncing in his bed.

"Alright, alright… It was a love story nine years in the making, from the moment our eyes met. I wouldn't go as far to say 'love at first sight' because I don't believe in that, but that first glance started everything," Nick begins, purposely starting it with an overwhelming amount of mush just to make his nephew gag. He bumps his shoulder against Greg's. "My boss Grissom was showing him around on his first day. It was already a really stressful day, we had way too many cases to solve and a lot of people to talk to, and Greg really couldn't have started on a worse day."

Greg rolls his eyes and says, "Gee, thanks."

With another smile, Nick continues, "But we needed a lab tech and Greg was due to transfer in anyway, so it wasn't like the lab could turn him away. Grissom was making his rounds and introducing him, but at the time I was still out at a crime scene, so I didn't get the pleasure of meeting him until later."

"Grissom said there were a few others I'd yet to meet but I didn't think anything of it, just thought they might've been a bunch of people who were workaholics," Greg adds, grinning at Brandon, who giggles a little.

Ignoring him, Nick smoothes down the blankets on Amanda's bed and continues. "Anyway, when I got back I had all this evidence to drop off so I could go back out to another scene."

Greg says with a wink, "And my first impression of Nick was right. He was a workaholic. Still is, actually."

"Anyway, when I got to his lab, he was dancing around in his lab coat with one of those Cat in the Hat hats, you know, the really tall ones that are red and white striped?" Nick demonstrates with his hands. The children giggle. "And he had these really big sunglasses on. They covered most of his face. And when I walked in, Greg kept dancing, and inside I could tell what he was dancing to. Black Flag."

"Black Flag?" Brandon asks.

Greg interjects, "A band your parents won't let you listen to until you're much older, kiddo. So when he walked in I didn't know he was there, and so I just kept dancing. Eventually, the hat fell off and when I turned to pick it up, I saw him. Just standing there, watching me."

He pauses to look at Nick, and Molly whines, "Aaaand!?"

"And he smiled."

"And?!"

Nick laughs. "And then I told him who I was and welcomed him to the lab. I didn't comment on his bad music taste, of course—"

"They are not bad music!" Greg protests. "You're one to talk even if they were bad music with your fake cowboys singing about getting drunk and going fishing and, oh what's that terrible one, with the chicken fries—"

"—because that wasn't how you welcomed somebody to the lab, even though that's what everyone else had done to him."

"In my defense," Greg mutters, "Grissom mentioned something about it being interesting and Sara said there was probably a deep, psychological reason for my listening to them."

Nick smiles but still ignores him. "He stuttered a while, said the hat and sunglasses weren't actually his but he got them from the lost and found, and when I gave him the evidence, our fingers brushed."

Brandon, Molly, and Amanda gasp and Amanda says, in a quiet voice, "What happened?" as though it were something magical.

With a shrug, Greg says, "Nothing. Except that's when we knew. Well, I knew. I'm not sure about Nicky here."

"What did you know?"

Nick turns to Greg again and softly says, "Knew we'd spend our lives together?" Brandon gags a little, but he's still smiling along with Amanda and Molly.

Greg's eyes twinkle and he stands up quickly, clapping his hands, eager to leave the children and get some much needed alone time with Nick. "Well! That's our story!"

"Aww, come on! Tell us about when you guys first started going out!" Molly suggests excitedly.

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!" Greg says as he sits back down, interested in hearing Nick's retelling of their first date, but Nick shakes his head.

"Maybe another night. It's already way past your bedtime; your parents are going to have my head."

With a yawn, Amanda protests. "No! Come on, you couldn't give us any ice cream, you have to tell us another story!"

"Come on," Greg says under his breath. "What's the harm in telling them another story?" Nick opens his mouth to answer but Greg begins before he can start. "Well, it wasn't anything fancy like most first dates are. Nick had rented Pretty in Pink by accident from Netflix and ordered pizza from Dominos on our first date." The kids giggle and Greg sees Nick blush a little out of the corner of his eye. "And he kept apologizing but after eight years of waiting for him to finally make a move I would've watched the Discovery Channel with him if it meant we'd finally get somewhere."

Brandon giggles a little. Nick notices Molly's already asleep and nudges Greg to inform him.

"Anyway, the Pretty in Pink DVD was messed up and turned out the pizza was not only cold, but not what we ordered, so it turned out to be a bit of a disaster."

"It wasn't a disaster," Nick says, unsure how to continue when three sets of eyes look at him. "It just… wasn't how I planned it."

"So we ended up watching some TV movie about this kid who really hated living with his parents and ran way only to befriend this homeless guy who had mixed feelings about the whole situation. And it was okay. I mean, not all first dates are spectacular, "feel-it-in-your-toes" amazing, but ours didn't really have to be."

Nick smiles when he sees Amanda sleeping as well. "Not that part, anyway. When I brought Greg back to his apartment, it was the "feel-it-in-your-toes" amazing we'd been waiting for. And there's really not much else to tell you. Every night when I come home, I still get that feeling, and every time I see him at work I get that feeling." Nick stands to tuck Brandon in.

"Your uncle's a sap," Greg whispers to the last awake child. "A big, romantic, sap." Brandon giggles and yawns, snuggling up with his stuffed elephant and sighing happily.

"Goodnight, Uncle Nick," he mumbles, already half asleep.

"Goodnight, Brandon."

"'Night, Greg,"

"Sleep tight, Brandon," Greg says back softly, standing up from Amanda's bed and taking Nick's hand when he offers it. Nick shuts off the light and closes the door behind them.

"You're gonna make a great father someday, y'know that?"

"You, too," Greg says back, stealing a kiss. "But you're gonna be the mean one who tells them to do their homework and go to bed and take a bath and I get to be the fun one, right? Who comes home and plays video games and teaches them chemistry when their teachers can't but that doesn't matter because I make science fun?" he says, following Nick towards his old bedroom.

Nick chuckles as they pass the living room where the rest of his family is still sitting, talking quietly. "So I get to be the dad they yell "I hate you" to and you get to be the one they run crying to?"

Greg grins, letting go of Nick's hand and falling onto the bed on his back. "Yeah, that sounds about right." Nick crawls on top of him. "You have a problem with that?"

"Mm." Nick smiles back. "I might."

They're silent for a while, just looking at each other, until Greg breaks the silence with, "We gonna do this?"

"Do what?"

"Have kids."

Nick studies him for a moment before he says, "Yeah. I think we are," and leans down to kiss him.

"White picket fence, 2.5 kids and a pet? Or maybe a pet for each kid?

"I'm not having four pets in the house."

Confused, Greg asks, "Who said anything about four kids? I said two and half."

"The first three kids, because you know the point-five is a load of crap, and you."

Greg playfully half-smiles, eyes twinkling again. "Oh so I'm a child?" Nick nods. "You're gonna pay for that, y'know."

"Raincheck? Not sure I want you to be taking payment in my parents' house." Nick winks and Greg shakes his head.

"You're horrible, you know that?" Greg kisses him again. "I'm thinking it's part of the reason I love you so much."

"Funny, I was just thinking the same about you."

Nick's only reply is a pillow to his face.