Dead Wrong

Chapter Four: Stress Less

An entire two weeks passed without much to-do on the Preston-Hughes homicide. If the police hadn’t put in much of an effort to begin with -even after the impromptu press conference was held- by now they were being just plain lazy. Media coverage died down to almost non-existent, and even the protestors outside the crime lab stopped showing up after day ten of no big break-throughs. The case was simply considered old news in the fast paced microcosm that is Las Vegas.

In fact, the only people that even seemed to care about the late Mark and Jason Preston-Hughes was Nick and Greg.

And because they cared so much about finding the killer of these innocent men, ultimately, their four-year anniversary came and went without much event, as well. But it wasn’t completely by personal choice that their anniversary was a total bust; because they tried, they really did try to do something that night, but everything just turned out wrong.

First, Greg couldn’t find the right candles for the romantic dinner he’d planned to make for himself and Nick, so he was upset that he had to settle for some cheap tealites his cousin had sent him when he graduated from college.

Eight years ago.

Then, Nick was too tired when he got home from pulling a double at work to do anything more than grab a plateful of food, set a quick peck to Greg’s cheek and head off to crash in front of the TV without so much as saying boo to his partner.

So much for fancy candles.

After that, the night just seemed to get progressively worse and worse, to the point where when Nick woke up enough to even be in the mood, in the end he couldn’t keep it up long enough to do any good. Which only left Greg pissed, unsatisfied, and feeling like an all around failure. Not only because he wasn’t able to make their four-year anniversary into the great, romantic evening he had planned, but because he and Nick hadn’t had sex since they received this damn case.

And while a sexless Nick could be a bear to live with, a sexless Greg was a depressed, whiney Greg. And even more of a bear to live with.

What was worse, Lana hadn’t even called like she said she would in case Shoren showed up to the club she worked at. Which meant he’d either skipped town, knowing he’d be brought in for questioning, or he’d found a new place to hang out and get his rocks off. Vegas was a big town with lots of places to go, after all. They hoped it was the latter.

Nick had pulled up Jeremy Shoren’s criminal files as soon as he got the order to do so, which was about an hour and a half after Miss. Lana Lovely had left the station. Indeed, Shoren’s record confirmed Lana’s story.

He was convicted of attempted rape and sentenced to a ten year prison term, but was let out after only eight years in the slammer after some new evidence came to light that left the court with reasonable doubt. Plus, he was up for parole in only a month, which his lawyer was sure he’d get. Good behavior and all. Interestingly enough, Shoren’s last known residence turned out to be only three and a half miles down the road from Mark and Jason’s house.

Lana’s story had started to look pretty damn convincing to the exhausted CSIs. And at that point, all they really wanted to do was close this godforsaken case and get on with their lives. But as luck would have it, what Nick and Greg wanted, just wasn’t in the cards and the two weeks dragged on like a bad nightmare.

-- -- --

“Do you know we haven’t had sex in like… two and a half weeks?” Greg grumbled to his best friend, his head in his hands and his heart in the gutter. He felt like crying. “I mean, since Nick an I got together, I didn’t even know what it was like to go without sex for more than two days. But over two weeks? Forget about it.”

“Well, you’re both under a ton of stress. That’s bound to screw with anyone’s libido. Including yours, Casanova.” Sara grinned from across the break room table, picking up her sandwich and taking a bite before adding, “Have you tried acupuncture? I hear it’s good for… getting the blood flowing and… stuff.”

“At this point, I’m willing to try anything. Including getting hundreds of little needles stuck in me. Just so long as I’m willing, ready and able to go when he is. Because it always seems like when I’m in the mood, he’s not, and when he’s in the mood…” Greg sighed deeply, the pain and frustration becoming more and more evident in his voice. “I don’t know anymore, Sara. I just don't want to lose him.” he concluded.

The brown haired woman frowned sympathetically and reached across the table to pat her discouraged friend’s hand. “Maybe it’s time you two took a little break from work. You and Nick have got some vacation days saved up, right?”

“Yeah, but Griss will never-”

“But nothing, Greg. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Grissom. You just start planning out what you and loverboy are gonna do with your time off. Okay?” The veteran CSI flashed her famous gap-toothed smile and all of a sudden, Greg really believed she could do anything she said she could; including getting their boss to give he and Nick time off together.

“Thanks, Sara. You really are a lifesaver.” Greg whispered, his heart finally starting to find it’s way back to where it belonged.

-- -- --

Sara made good on her promise; after which, Greg immediately decided to never, ever doubt a woman’s power of seduction or persuasion ever again. And then he actually thought about Sara seducing Grissom, which only caused him to want to give his brain a bath in bleach.

In other words, he was pretty grossed out.

But thanks to Sara and her ‘bring it on’ attitude, Greg and Nick were granted a whole five days to themselves. Free to spend it anyway they liked, far from case files and test results, suspects and murder convictions, the gore and the heartache; and they intended to take full advantage of it.

“This is great, G.” Nick proclaimed as he settled himself into the large Jacuzzi style tub, complete with the jets turned to high and champagne chilling in a cooler beside them on the edge of the spa. “It’s heaven.”

“I thought you might enjoy it.” The younger man giggled, stepping into the whirlpool and immediately snuggling into his partner’s open arms.

For their mini vacation, Greg decided to rent a room at a fairly extravagant hotel on the strip. But since they could only really afford two days living in the lap of luxury, they would be leaving for home after that. Which was totally fine with Greg, because he was pretty sure that was long enough to spend some quality time with the love of his life. And by quality time, he of course meant having hot, sweaty, animalistic, mind-blowing sex.

“How didja ever convince Griss to give us time off together?”

“Oh, c’mon now, Nicky. A guy can’t give away all his secrets, now can he?”

Nick smiled and pressed his lips to Greg’s, initiating a slow, sensual kiss. Greg felt his lover lick at his bottom lip and granted him entrance, opening his mouth to the familiar taste of mint and something he could only describe as uniquely Nicholas Stokes.

When they finally broke apart to breathe, the Texan actually growled into Greg’s mouth. Which Greg, of course, took as a signal to kiss him again. And so, the playful growling and placating kisses continued until both men were panting heavily, their bodies becoming increasingly more aroused with every harsh breath.

“B-bedroom?” Greg gasped.

“Yes, please. And hurry.” Nick answered without hesitation.

-- -- --

“God, that was fucking…” Greg panted against Nick’s sweat slick shoulder as the older man slipped out of his body and collapsed on top of him. “Shit, you know what? I’m speechless. For once in my life, I cannot even describe in words how good the sex was.”

It took all the energy Nick could muster just to smirk and say, “Maybe we should make a habit out of abstaining for a couple weeks at a time. If it's gonna be that good when we finally do it.”

“Don’t even fucking kid about something like that.” Greg shot his partner a look of pure venom, but swatted at his bare-ass playfully. “Seriously, I was really worried that whole time we were all… acting crazy like that, ya know?” he trailed his fingertips up and down Nick’s back, lost in the comfort of the man’s body blanketed over him. For the first time in weeks, Greg felt safe and whole again.

“Me, too, baby. And I’m sorry I turned our anniversary night into a real shitfest.” Nick sighed, eventually lifting himself off of Greg when he heard the younger start to whimper under his weight. “I know how hard you tried to make it special.”

Greg thought back to the hellish night in question and it made him visibly shudder, which in turn, made Nick chuckle and tighten his hold on the other man. “That bad, huh?”

“Yeah, it was pretty terrible, though I think you’ve more than made up for it tonight. But don’t expect me to leave your ass alone for the rest of the time we have off." Greg said sternly. "No, siree. I’m gonna make sure you get your exercise in this week, Cowboy. Lots of cardio.”

Nick nibbled a patch of skin on Greg‘s neck and mumbled a teasing, “Is that a threat?”

“Mmm... more like a promise.” Greg replied with a grin and a buck of his hips. "Giddyup, pardner."