Title: Unrequited Love
Author: Carina Scott
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Genre: Slash
Pairing: Nick Stokes/Warrick Brown
Summary: Nick longs to hear three little words.
Spoilers: None, but is set in season 4 (if only in my mind)
Author's Note: Originally this fic was written back in March of 2006 in response to a challenge peja1956 issued on one of her Yahoo Grops. I recently revamped the story because it was so corny and every time I read it it made me cringe. Hopefully this doesn't sound conceited, but I feel I've grown a lot in the 3 1/2 yrs i've been writing fanfic, and this fic really proves it. I'm gonna leave the original up for comparison, but I really feel that the story reads a lot smoother and sounds better now than it did before. Let me know what you think. The original story can be found here: Unrequited Love

Looking for evidence in a sewer is disgusting! Unfortunately, there ain’t always a rookie CSI around to do the digging, so tonight Warrick and I were forced to trawl through the sewer in hopes of finding evidence from our latest case. It wouldn’t be so bad if we had found something. Okay, it would be bad either way. But its worse because we came up empty.

I can’t suppress the shudder as something I refuse to think about slips down my back. God, I really need a shower! I look over at my companion, and from the set of his jaw and the quick stride of his steps towards the locker room, I know Warrick feels the same. I’m stripping almost before the locker room door closes behind us. Normally I would take this time to ogle Warrick in all his glory, but even that holds little appeal to me with the filth clinging to my body.

It isn’t until later, after we’ve showered and are pawing through our lockers for clean clothing, that I allow my eyes to drift over Warrick’s body. He’s already found a clean pair of jeans, which are riding low and unbuttoned on his hips. But he’s yet to find a shirt and I can’t help but look at the beautiful display of skin in front of me. The taught abs, nice pert nipples hardening further as the air conditioner kicks on.

I have to bite back a moan as I feel my arousal grow. This is so not the place for this! I repeat that to myself again and again, but still my eyes are drawn back to Warrick. He’s buttoning up his shirt now; long fingers deftly pushing button through buttonhole. I think of all the pleasure those fingers have given me over the last few months, and I once again find myself forcing those thoughts away.

I hear a soft chuckle and look up to see Warrick staring at me. He saunters over to me with a small smirk and whispers, "You want to do more than look?"

“What?” I reply, even though we both know I heard him perfectly well.

“You could touch.” He moves closer, “Or taste.”

Looking around quickly, I give in to the teasing demand, and plant a soft kiss on Warrick’s lips. “Dammit Rick, you are such a tease! But I plan to do a lot more than just looking when we get back to my place.” At that, I take the risk, and give Warrick a real kiss, one that leaves him breathless and panting. Stepping back, I ignore him completely as I put on my shirt and go back to work as if nothing happened.

I can’t help the smile that breaks free as I hear Warrick’s breathless voice cursing my name.

~*~

I hate not being able to sleep. It throws me off balance and makes me irritable too. But, these last weeks, I’ve gotten used to these semi-frequent bouts of insomnia. It started a few weeks a go when I finally admitted to myself that I had fallen in love with Warrick.

It probably wouldn’t be that big a deal if I knew how Warrick feels about me. I know he cares about me, and I know he’s attracted to me. Hell, we have sex like rabbits whenever we get the chance. He’s my best friend, has been for a while now, so I know he loves me.

But I don’t know if he is in love with me.

And that’s the problem. We’ve been together like this for about five months. Not a long time in the grand scheme of things, and definitely not long enough for me to be expecting declarations of love. But we’ve been friends a lot longer than we’ve been dating, and since I know how I feel about him, I don’t see how he can be so clueless about how he feels about me.

Or maybe he isn’t clueless. Maybe this is only a ‘friends with benefits’ thing for him. Maybe he he’s just biding his time until something better comes along.

No. It’s more than that. It has to be. Warrick would never lead me on like that. We’ve always been pretty up front with each other, if this were only about the sex he would’ve told me that a long time ago.

As I lay there, contemplating life and the pitfalls of love, I feel Warrick stir behind me. Turning over, I watch him as he slowly wakes and looks at me. He blinks at me for a minute, the cobwebs of sleep clearing with each passing second, before those beautiful green eyes really see me. And he smirks at me before leaning in to capture my lips in a soft, possessive kiss.

When he pulls back, I know I’m panting and I probably look slightly dazed, skin flushed with arousal. It’s been like that, for me at least, since our very first kiss.

“You’ve got that look again,” he says, his thumb rubbing small circles on my bare hip.

“What do you expect, when you kiss me like that?” I ask, smiling as his hand moves lower to caress my thigh. He knows how hot his touch makes me. I love the feel of his hands on my skin, the possessive way he maps my body, inside and out, with those long, dexterous fingers.

“You know I love you, right? I know I haven’t said it before, but it’s true. I love you Nick.”

The words are abrupt, seemingly out of no where. As if Warrick only just realized he hadn’t told me that he loves me. Maybe he hadn’t. I mean, I’ve known how I feel for him for weeks now, and I still haven’t said the words aloud.

Snuggling closer, I lean in to kiss him softly on his lips, pulling back with a whisper, “I love you too.”

And just like that, with me curled into his strong embrace, the truth of our feelings finally spoken aloud, I feel a peace settle over me and before I know it, I’m fast asleep.

The End