Title: Wood and Trees
Author: Dee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1692
Pairing: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom and Nick Stokes
Warnings: V.fluffy and AU.
Spoilers: V.minor for Grissom's exit from CSI.
Disclaimer: In my dreams they are like, totally mine!
Unbeta-ed: All mistakes will be mine.
A/N 1: Thought about this last night just as I was dropping off to sleep. I'm a bit relieved to write something brand new because whilst I've got 10/12/more WiP's, I've not been writing (or finished, more accurately) anything new for ages so this little fic is just a bit of respite from The Enemy!

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Prologue

For the first time in his life he was sick and fed up of bugs. Never before had he become bored...or may be irritated was the right word...with the search, identification and study of bugs.

He lay in the tent and could hardly breathe. It was about the same temperature as Vegas but whereas Vegas had humidity of seven or eight percent, this was eighty or ninety percent or more. He could hardly breathe. He was hot, sweaty, tired, bored, irritated and any other uncomfortable adjective he could think of to describe his life here.

He'd had such high hopes. Going to, and being with, Sara seemed like it would be a life changing experience; and it was life changing alright. But not for the better. Even the sex was boring, uncomfortable, unsatisfactory and posed more problems than providing relief and comfort.

Maybe it was because he was older; but not wiser, that was for sure. Sleeping under canvas in the heat and the excitement of undertaking research had been fun when he was younger. This was not fun. It had been fun for a week...or two. That's when he started missing his bed and his air-conditioned bedroom. That's when Sara had started irritating him. Not by doing any in particular...just being Sara. You can take the woman out of Vegas and put her in the jungle in Costa Rica, but she's still the same woman. And she'd irritated him before...except he didn't realise until he'd been with her again for a week...or two.

Shit. He had to leave. He flopped onto his back and the cot rocked and the tent moved and the heat and the sweat was relentless. He would tell her tomorrow, make his apologies to the team and walk to the village. The ferry visited every Wednesday. It was Tuesday tomorrow.

She took it badly. He hadn't known what to expect really because she seemed as bored with him as he was with her. He wasn't an overtly verbose man, or so he thought, but he enjoyed a conversation about anything as long as it was interesting but they hardly spoke to one another. They spoke to their colleagues more than each other. But her temper at his decision was solely based on her being seen to have gained a reputable lover only for him to dump her very publically; her who was now deserting her in front of her peers. Gil Grissom was her trophy lover, the esteemed entomologist. He was there for her kudos. But not anymore.

The Story

It took him nearly a week to get back to Vegas. He'd been away for eleven weeks. It seemed like an eternity. He dumped his stuff, put on the water heater, stripped off, made up his bed with fresh bed linen and adjusted the air-conditioning and when the water was hot he showered until the water ran cold and slipped, still damp, between the crisp white cotton sheets.

The term, "˜slept like a baby' came to his mind when he awoke eight and a half hours later. He was certain it was the best, most restful sleep he'd had in his entire life, let alone as a baby. He took another shower, decided to shave off his beard and then decided he must shop for groceries but first he would treat himself to a Vegas all-day breakfast. Maybe at Ruby's...their coffee was great.

His truck started with the first turn of the key and he was off. He knew he'd come back to Vegas some time but he'd had no idea it would be so soon. He sauntered into Ruby's and a young waitress showed him to a table for two, but as he went to sit down he thought he recognised the back of the man sitting alone at another table for two.

"Nick? Is that you?"

The man swung around and laughed. "Hell, yes." He stood up and offered his outstretched hand to Gil. "What are you doing here? Catherine said you were in a jungle." He paused and then laughed again. "Unless she meant a concrete jungle."

"She was right I was in a jungle...a rainforest to be exact. But now I'm back in the concrete one. Have you had your breakfast?"

"No, just ordered. You on your own?"

"Yes."

"Then sit down and let's catch up."

The waitress provided coffee and water and he ordered the big breakfast. And then they sat in silence, suddenly tongue tied. They sipped at their coffees to compensate for the silence. It was Nick who eventually spoke after some minutes.

"Ray Langston's just joined the lab as a CSI one. He's very enthusiastic. I got promoted."

"At last." Nick frowned at Gil's reaction. "You were due to take on the Lead CSI role...years ago, but they pulled the funding. You must remember."

"Oh yeah. That was years ago...six, maybe. Anyways, Catherine made me Assistant Supervisor."

"Congratulations, you deserve it."

"Thanks, Gris. But she gives me all her paperwork...something about payback she said." He laughed.

"Ah. For me passing all of mine to her?"

"You got that right."

"How is it?"

Nick looked into the distance and didn't answer immediately. "Okay, I guess. Not the same."

"Change happens."

"Yeah, it does. How's Sara?"

"Good. Still in Costa Rica...we broke up, again. But for good this time."

"Wasn't it for good last time?"

"I don't know. Was it?" Gil looked perplexed. He was genuinely unsure just how they stood after all the comings and goings. Her kidnap, her leaving, Warrick's death, her arrival, her leaving. All her...

"You didn't know? Seriously?"

"No. But it's over now; definitely."

"I was surprised, you know?"

"That it's over?"

"No, that it started in the first place."

"Why would you think that?"

Nick was silent for a long moment then looked up directly into Gil's eyes. "I thought you were gay...when I first arrived in Vegas."

"Really? Why did you think that?"

"Because you... Well, you kind of..." Nick was stuck and his cheeks were turning pink.

"You're half right." Gil smiled at Nick's expression somewhere between "˜shocked' and "˜I knew it'. "I don't like labels but I have always been attracted to both sexes. The person rather than the gender, so I could be labelled bisexual."

"Okay."

"But it's been years...I mean Sara was the only...person I've shared my life with for many years."

"Not Lady Heather then?"

"Doctor Kessler and I are good friends but I brought her in for questioning and it was never the same after that. No, only Sara, and now after the years we were together, off and on, I must question whether it was because I was just...lonely, bored or whatever else. Warrick's death shook me to my foundations, Nick, and I returned to Sara...quite wrongly it turns out, for some comfort."

Nick laughed with a real tinge of bitterness.

"Why the laugh?"

"Sorry." Nick looked across at Gil and smiled apologetically. "No, I am sorry; it's just that she doesn't seem to me to be the comforting type."

"No. she's not, you're right. I was looking for something that wasn't there. A way out of here..." He gestured around him meaning Las Vegas and Nick nodded his understanding. "...I guess. And it didn't work, not when we were together twenty-four, seven."

"So you're back and planning to leave again?"

"I'm not planning anything at the moment. Just going to take some time...even more time..." He chuckled. "...to decided what to do next. There's no hurry, I can manage for a few months...longer really but I do need to do something."

"Perhaps it's the time angle that's holding you back. Maybe you should do something impulsive for a change." Nick chuckled because Gil Grissom equalling impulsive was an unfathomable equation.

"You could be right..." Their breakfasts arrived and Gil's eyes lit up. "...I have sooo missed these." He tucked into the food with gusto and they ate in silence for some time until Gil put down his fork and looked at Nick.

"How's this for impulsive? You want to go on a date?"

Nick huffed and smiled around a mouthful of food and then swallowed it. "You guessed."

"The evidence was in front of me all the time; what were you going to say when you said you thought I was gay?"

"That you pinged my gaydar."

"I think you did too...if I remember back to the fresh faced Texan boy but back then I had scruples and didn't mix business with pleasure...or should I say I had business but no pleasure. So, Nick, a date?"

"Why not?"

"Why not indeed."

While Gil walked the aisles of the supermarket he reflected on his arrival back in Vegas. It was far too soon to make any predications but maybe what he was seeking was right here in Vegas and had been all the time. Now he had a date with Nick for the following night he felt happier and calmer than he had...in a long time. Years. For all those years he hadn't been able to see the wood for the trees.

Epilogue

Eight months later Gil was trying to sleep in a cot in a tent on the bank of the mighty Amazon; he was hot, sweaty and very happy. This was a six week expedition and he'd completed four weeks. He been able to text, e-mail or Skype with Nick nearly every day and he was so supportive and enthusiastic.

They'd been living together at Nick's house for about three months and were still flying under the radar. They'd had some great times...and some fights; spectacular shouting matches but had cleared the air and got on with living their lives together. It was so refreshing and exhilarating and Gil was annoyed for missing out on the opportunity to be with Nick for so long. But Nick was so wise; he'd said their time was right, right now. And, of course, he was right!

Gil turned over in his cot and settled as he started to fall asleep...hoping to dream of Nick...and that special Rhino beetle he'd found that day...it looked as if it was an albino...

The End

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