Hi Officer Smile!!!! Glad to see you're back! lol, sorry, I couldn't resist using the character name. (For those who don't know, I made Suckerforasmile a minor character in my novel length story Live and Love, who shows up near the end.)
As for Hodges crying during Brokeback Mountain, Catherine did too! They had a conversation about it during Bull, with all the other gay references going on in that ep.
I also agree that things got difficult for them perhaps during season five with everything going on at work, but I doubt they broke up. I mean, I never even thought of it, until someone mentioned it here awhile back and it totally spun my head around.
What I would love, is for the "truth" to come out of the closet when they do. And what I mean by that is this: Say, in the final ep of the show, it comes out that they're in a tight relationship... I want one of them to say that they've been together for years, since season three, or whatever it turns out to be. I think that would be great. So, opposite Sara and Gil, and Warrick and Tina, and Cath and all her boyfriends. Because everyone knew about the other relationships, knew how short they were, and all that. But The Love isn't "public" yet, only subtext, so technically, no one knows about it, and if it's been going on for years, we know they have a solid foundation, and will be together for a long time. That would shock a lot of people. Even a mention or two of how they've helped each other cope during rough times... what more would you need? And I should say, by "a lot of people" I mean, characters as well as fans, of course.
As to who knows about them being together? Who knows? It could be anyone. I can see Warrick confronting Nick about it, getting frustrated, I can also see him a little afraid of it perhaps, but being ok with it in the end. Catherine, I could see her talking to Nick about it, but not Greg, as someone mentioned. She can be like a mother hen, so maybe she does know, but then again, if they've hidden it well, maybe not. Gil... probably not. If he does, he's hiding their relationship from Ecklie. And, maybe he his, because he knows what'll happen if word gets out. Could be why he "pretends" to not know about this stuff going on, because he sees a relationship working, and doesn't want to ruin it. Brass, sure, he could know, and he would be ok with it. Labrats would be cool with it too, though I think Greg would get a lot of teasing for falling for Nick who's in the "upper foodchain" so-to-speak, he was when Greggo was in the lab, and techinally, he still is since he's at a higher rank than Greg. Sara... I dunno. Maybe, maybe not. Because she's been having problems getting together with Griss for so long, maybe Greg wouldn't want to tell her that he got Nick so much easier. Or, maybe he'd want to tease her about that. Um... anyone else I missed? Ecklie? lol... wouldn't that be funny if he knew and never said anything. That would piss Griss off if he ever found out, because of what happened between him and Sara.
And... with that... I'm gonna go work on my fanfic so I can post something before the weekend arrives. I'll be absent from The Fort, WMTDB and well, everything internet over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sorry, you'll have to miss my beautiful face... wish I could say I'll be hangin' with the boys... but I can't. lol. ttyl!