DeIce

They aren't mine. I make no money off this.

I wrote this a while back and wasn't thrilled with it, so
I'm making major changes and reposting it, this time in
chapters as it's going to be quite a bit longer than
before. This is Greg/Sara. An interesting conversation
following Iced leads to even more interesting changes in
a friendship.
NC17

DeIced Chapter 1

I honestly don't know what got into me that day. Greg
and I had just closed our case, and it had been a
wild one - exploding toilets, dry ice, and a horny jock.
We'd worked our butts off, and now we were on that
euphoria that comes when a tough case gets cracked.
We were also starving, so we'd stopped at Roy's Cafe.
We were the only customers, and we were sitting at the
back. I glanced over at Greg. He was just looking at
me, smiling that strange, kind of Mona Lisa smile he
gets when he's pondering something perplexing.
"Penny for your thoughts."


"Just thinking about that guy's sex diary. He had
more sex partners during the month of October than
I've had in my entire life."


"That's kind of why he's dead, Greg."


He sighed. "Still. It's like they weren't even people,
just objects to be used."


"It was exactly like that. I take it that bothers you."


He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it does."


I squeezed his hand. "That's because you're a
lot more of a man than he was."


He smiled. "Sara?"


"Mmm-hmm?"


"What's a trip around the world?"


I frowned. "You mean how much does one cost?"


"No, I mean what does the term mean? The diary?"


"Oh, um, that's when someone kisses you all
over. Everywhere."


"How about Russian?"


"Between the boobs. The guy puts it between the
womans boobs and they, ummm, they do it like
that. Doesn't work unless she has pretty big
ones." He was blushing vividly, so I kept on. "I
doubt I could do Russian."


He glanced speculatively at my chest. "I
think you could if you wanted." His gaze
lingered for a few more moments before drifting
back to my face.


Now I was blushing. "Greg, can I ask you
something really personal?"


"Um, sure. What do you want to know?"


I leaned forward. "How old were you your first
time?"


He looked down at the table. "Twenty-two." He
almost looked ashamed. "We'd been dating for
a while. I really cared about her. It was, um, it
was awkward, but it meant a lot to me. The next
afternoon I stopped by her house with flowers,
but she didn't come to the door. Her car was
there, and so was my roommate's. I looked
into her bedroom window. You can figure out
what I saw." He sighed. "I never said anything
to either of them - just gave notice at the lab
there, got a job here, then moved to Vegas
the next week."


"Hope you took your half of the rent with you."


He grinned. "Yeah, and the TV and most of the
furniture was mine, so I loaded up while Brian
was at work. Didn't give him any notice - just a
note on the counter telling him why."


I sighed. "I haven't had sex in a year and a half."
I heard him gasp, but continued. "After Hank, I
realized I needed to get over Grissom before I
started seeing anyone new. That was why I
dated Hank, to forget. That's also why I picked
Hank and not you - you're a good person. You
didn't deserve to get used like that. Anyhow,
I've gotten way past Grissom, but I'm
still sleeping alone."


He chuckled. "It's been longer than that for me.
I go out now and then, but I don't really go to
bars that much any more. My last relationship
ended pretty badly. I dated this girl about
three years ago, and things got heated for a
while. She dumped me for a guy who worked
out at her gym. He was a musclehead, dumb as
dirt, no respect for women at all, but he had a
better body than me. Evidently that was what
counted. Since then, I've had a couple of
one-night stands." He wrinkled his nose
distastefully. "I've learned I'm not a one-night
stand kind of guy. -+"


I stirred my coffee. "Greg, do you ever...." I
trailed off, lacking the courage to continue.


"Do I ever what?"


"Do you ever think about me like that any
more?"


A huge silence hung between us. Finally he
spoke. "Yeah, Sara, I do. Every day, actually."


I took a deep breath. "I think about you like
that too." I waited for his reply, but none came.
"I just thought you should know."


Still no reply, but a warm hand gently covered
mine, and a finger tilted my chin upward. He
studied me, his gaze intense. Finally he spoke.
"What are we going to do about this?"


I shrugged. "I don't know. I'd like to see where
this goes, but you're my best friend, the only
person I let this close. I suck at relationships.
More than anything I don't want to lose you. At
the same time I'm tired of fighting it, tired of
always sleeping alone."


He turned over my hand and idly started tracing
patterns on the palm. "So stop fighting," he said
quietly, his voice husky. "Explore the possibilities.
I don't want to lose you either, but what's more
likely to make that happen - turning to one
another or one of us ultimately turning to
someone else? Life doesn't stand still, Sara. You
know that."


I nodded. "And possibilities vaporize like dry ice
if you don't seize them. I don't want that to
happen to this, to us." I licked my lips and
swallowed hard. "I want - I want to try, to see
where this could go. "


He picked up both our tickets and helped me
up. "Come to my place, Sara. Let's get to know
each other in a different context. We can take it
as slow as you like, but let's move in a
direction."


I put my arm through his. "Okay. Let's go,
then."