The Retreat
- Thread starter Zan1781
- Start date
quoth_the_raven
Corpse
LMAO :lol: :lol: Greg! :lol: I'm so happy Greg doesn't sleep in my house (well...semi-bummed, too.. 
)! Cute chapter!
)! Cute chapter! Cordelia_GRS_Fan
CSI Level Two
Awww I wuv GSR!!!!
Greg's such a cutie, wanting details :lol:
More please, I love this story!
Xx..::Mia-Sara::..xX
Greg's such a cutie, wanting details
:lol:More please, I love this story!
Xx..::Mia-Sara::..xX
Cordelia, thank you SO much for reading this fic... I've said it before, and I'm not joking that reviews really make my day. They help me keep writing, and they make me squee... for hours at a time. Like... endlessly. Poor Ann has to deal with all of my squeeiness, too. But thank you, again!
And hollie, I'm sorry, but Greg is already staying at my house. I decided!
And hollie, I'm sorry, but Greg is already staying at my house. I decided!
(Thanks for reading, everyone!)
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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS.
Title: Nick’s Story: The Six Musketeers
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Grissom and Greg’s Tent
Early the next morning, Greg rolled over, and tentatively cracked an eye open. Did I…actually sleep through the entire night? he asked himself, slightly smiling. Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle! he grinned, stretching, and sliding out of his sleeping bag. Either Grissom didn’t snore once, or… I’m getting better at tuning him out!
Quietly unzipping the flap of the tent, Greg crawled outside, and froze, when he saw Sara already sitting around the long-dead campfire, reading a book.
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Around the Campfire
“Morning, Greg,” Sara looked up, smiling at him. “How’d you sleep…?” she asked him.
“Not bad, actually,” Greg frowned, running a hand through his dirty hair, and sitting down on the log across from where Sara was sitting. “How about you?”
“I slept like a baby,” Sara admitted. “No snoring issues?”
“Surprisingly, no!” Greg cheerfully told Sara, quietly enough, however, so as not to wake up the rest of the team.
“Well, that’s good…” she replied, setting her book down on her lap, and glancing over at him.
Whatcha reading?” Greg nodded toward the book, yawning.
“Oh… uh… this…?” Sara asked, slightly blushing.
But now Greg’s curiosity was piqued. “Yeah… that! What is it…?” he repeated his earlier question, grinning across the fire pit at Sara. Action? Adventure? Drama? Romance…? he inwardly asked himself, rolling the “r” in romance in a seductive manner.
“You’ll laugh…” Sara mumbled.
“No, I won’t!” Greg assured her.
“I’m reading…” Sara coughed. “I’m reading… Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase...” she trailed off.
Greg raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh at his colleague. “Aren’t those books for… little kids…?”
“What’s your point, Greg?” Sara immediately snapped, trying to hide the book behind her back.
“You’re… in your thirties…” he pointed out.
“But they’re a good read, Greg! They’re short, they’re fast… Nancy is an intelligent, strong, character…”
Greg once again raised his eyebrow. “Does… Grissom know about your… strange reading habits…?”
“Grissom knows everything about me,” Sara told him, smiling.
“Oh… like… what…?” Greg smirked. If I can’t get the details from Grissom, well… perhaps I can get them out of Sara!
“Nice try, Greg!” Sara rolled her eyes at him.
Greg sighed. It was worth a shot. “Hey, Sara?” he then asked. “Would you like to help me make everyone some breakfast…?”
“Sure,” Sara replied. “What were you thinking about making?”
“Chocolate-chip pancakes?” Greg asked.
“Do we… have chocolate-chips…? And pancake batter…?”
“Yup, we do!” Greg replied. “I wasn’t sure if Grissom would let us have pancakes, so… I smuggled the supplies in!”
Sara laughed. “Okay, grab the stuff, and we’ll get started…”
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Nick and Warrick’s Tent, thirty minutes later
“Hey, man…” Nick yawned, stretching in his sleeping bag. “Do you smell anything…?” he asked his colleague.
Warrick rubbed his neck, frowning. “Something good? Or bad?”
“Good!” Nick grinned. “I think I smell some chocolate-chip pancakes,” he mumbled. “But… I doubt its coming from our campsite.”
“What? Why not?” Warrick asked, stretching, and sitting up in his sleeping bag. “It could be…” he shrugged, crawling toward the door, and poking his head outside, with his body still half inside of his sleeping bag.
“So? What’s the verdict, man?” Nick asked, scratching his head.
“Pancakes!” he grinned, hurriedly unzipping first his sleeping bag, and then the tent flap, and quickly stepping outside into the cool, damp morning.
“Really? Who made pancakes?” Nick asked, immediately following him outside.
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Catherine and Sara’s Tent
Catherine cracked an eye open, glancing over to the place where Sara had been sleeping. “Hmm…?” she asked, frowning, as she unzipped her sleeping bag. “Where’d you go…?” she muttered, crawling outside.
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Around the Campfire
“Morning, Catherine!” Sara cheerfully greeted her friend and colleague.
“Morning…” Catherine mumbled, still half asleep. “What’s going on here…?”
“Greg wanted to make everyone something special for breakfast,” Sara shrugged, opening up the syrup that he had pulled out of his bag. “So… I helped him make some!”
“Really…?” Catherine asked, glancing first at Greg, and then at Sara, and then back at Greg again. “Are those… chocolate chips that I smell…?” she whispered, a small smile forming on her lips.
“You bet!” he immediately replied, as he flipped another pancake over. “Does someone want to get Grissom up? That man is sleeping like a lump on a log…”
“On it,” Warrick replied, strolling over to Grissom’s tent. “Yo! Up and at ‘em!” he loudly yelled, chuckling to himself.
“Huh…?” came Grissom’s startled voice. “What’s going on? What?”
Catherine just laughed, walking over to Warrick. “You’re the only one still asleep, Grissom…” she informed him. “And Greg and Sara made us some breakfast. Let’s go!”
“I’ll be out in a minute…” he mumbled, trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes.
---------------
Around the Campfire, thirty minutes later
“That was delicious, man,” Nick smiled at Greg, slapping him on the back in order to show his appreciation.
“Definitely one of the best breakfasts that I’ve had in awhile…” Warrick mused. “And after last night’s shish-kabob fiasco, well… the pancakes just really hit the spot.”
“I’m not actually used to having anyone cook for me,” Catherine told the group. “So… thank you!” she added, delicately wiping her mouth with a napkin.
“This was definitely thoughtful of you two,” Grissom told them, raising an eyebrow. “And this was a great way to start off the morning.”
“Well, I’m glad that everyone liked the pancakes…” Greg smiled. “It’s a favorite family recipe…”
Sara just grinned.
“So… are we ready to continue our discussion from last night…?”
“Grissom…” Nick frowned, biting his lip. “I really don’t want to share…”
“But why, Nick?” Greg asked. “We’re not going to judge you in any way…”
“I know, man,” he sighed. “But… what I like about myself is kind of… silly…” he trailed off.
“I’m sure that it’s not silly, Nicky,” Catherine immediately told him, taking a sip of her coffee. In all honesty, Greg and Sara had thought about everything for this morning.
“Well… it is…” he hesitated, uncomfortably rubbing the back of his neck.
“I could use a good laugh…” Greg announced, trying to hold back a grin. “But just kidding… seriously…” he added. “We’re here to help…”
“Greg…” Grissom warned him, glaring at him from across the fire pit.
“I know…” Greg sighed. “I’m just saying…” he trailed off.
Sara sighed, leaning back on her log. “Honestly, Nick… no one is going to make a negative comment about whatever you have to say. I mean… you don’t have to tell us, but… we’re not going to laugh at you…” Except for perhaps Greg, she thought to herself, staring at the younger CSI… just in case.
Nick bit his lip again, closing his eyes. “I like my sensitivity!” he blurted out.
“Ex…cuse me…?” Warrick asked, a little bit confused. “You said that kind of fast, and… I… didn’t quite catch it.”
Taking a deep breath, Nick sighed in frustration. “I like my sensitivity…” he slowly repeated his words. “I like how I can connect with the victims, and how I can… reach them, so to speak…”
Sara frowned. “I… don’t understand, Nick… what’s so bad about that…?”
“Yeah, Nicky… being able to connect with those whom we are trying to help can be a good thing…” Catherine pointed out.
Staring at the ground, Nick sighed. “Because sometimes I connect with them a little bit too much…” he mumbled, kicking a small pebble away from him with his shoe.
“What… do you mean, Nick?” Grissom gently probed, raising an eyebrow.
“You mean… you get attached to them, Nick?” Warrick cautiously asked.
“Not… exactly…” Nick swallowed, his face getting redder by the moment in embarrassment.
“So… what, then?” Greg asked, glancing across the fire pit at Nick.
“Sometimes the victims make me cry!” he once again blurted out, his face flushing.
Greg tried his hardest, he really did, but he let a small chuckle escape through his lips.
“Stop laughing at me!” Nick yelled, half in embarrassment, and half in anger.
“Nick… I’m really sorry…” Greg frowned, staring down at the ground. “I didn’t mean to… I really didn’t. But with the way that you were talking, that isn’t exactly what I expected you to say. There’s nothing wrong with crying…” he trailed off. “I promise you…” he added, inwardly kicking himself for being such a jerk. I’ll have to find a way to apologize to him later on… he thought to himself. Because I am such an ass sometimes… God, I can be worse than Grissom! he added, feeling absolutely horrible about his comment.
“Yes, there is…” Nick simply replied.
“No, actually, there isn’t…” Catherine agreed with Greg. “Nick,” she sighed, “Our jobs are difficult. You know it, I know it, and these guys all know it,” she nodded toward her colleagues. “And sometimes… we just need that emotional release… so that we don’t crack…”
“I know all about cracking,” Sara quietly informed Nick. “I really do…” she added, marveling at the fact that this year, she was willingly and unhesitatingly sharing so much of herself with the team. “For almost my entire life,” she whispered, “I refused to cry… I refused to talk, I refused to lean on my friends, and I cracked. Repeatedly. Over and over again.”
Grissom raised an eyebrow, listening to Sara speak.
“… And…?” Nick questioned, slowly raising his gaze to meet Sara’s.
“And… that’s just it, Nick…” she quietly told him. “I started to cry… I started to talk, I started to lean on my friends, and I stopped cracking. Well… I stopped cracking quite as much,” she amended. “I still have my break-downs, but…” she shrugged.
“What I think Sara is trying to say, Nick,” Warrick hesitated. “Is that you don’t have to be embarrassed about caring about the victims… or about anyone, for that matter. Forget what the media says,” he continued. “Men can cry. Hell, even I cry…” he added.
“You… do…?” Greg asked. Interesting...
“Yes, Greg,” Warrick rolled his eyes. “I do…”
“Well… in that case, so do I…” Greg simply announced to the group. “I’ve just never… admitted it,” he frowned.
Catherine raised an eyebrow, staring at Nick, Warrick, and Greg. “It’s okay to show your emotions,” she confirmed. “In fact, I would be a little bit concerned if you didn’t…”
But… I don’t really show my emotions, Grissom thought to himself. Do I…? he wanted to ask Sara what her opinion was on the subject, but unfortunately, she was busy paying attention to Nick.
“Well…” Nick sighed, his frustration started to ebb away. “Okay, I guess… I just thought that… you know… crying made me weak, and… a bit unusual…”
“No,” Catherine repeated. “It makes you normal. It makes you human…”
Grissom cleared his throat, glancing up at Nick. “But… crying aside, did you hear what else Sara had to say…?” he quietly asked the younger man.
“Uh… no…” Nick mumbled.
“She said that she talks to her friends, and that leans on them for support…” he pointed out.
Warrick nodded his agreement. “It’s okay to cry, man, and it’s okay to share your feelings. You have my phone number. Give me a call at any time, day or night… we’ll shoot some hoops, check out a movie, or just grab some food…” he told Nick, flashing him a small smile.
“And if you want some help getting the ladies,” Greg added, “You know who to come to…” he grinned.
Nick bit back a laugh. Yeah. Grissom, apparently! “Thanks, Greggo… I appreciate the offer.”
Catherine just rolled her eyes at Greg. Turning back to Nick, she smiled. “But like Warrick said, Nicky, my door is always open to you… always.”
“Mine, too,” Sara added, flashing him her own smile.
Nick started laughing, staring down at the coals of the fire.
“What’s so funny…?” Greg immediately asked.
“Huh…?” Warrick added.
“Share!” Catherine ordered him. “You have to!”
Sara just quizzically stared at him, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“Nick?” Grissom questioned him, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s just kind of… funny…” he mused. “I’m talking about crying, and for the past ten minutes or so, the five of you have been telling me that we’re all friends, and that we’re there for one another… it just…” he grinned. “It just made me think of the Three Musketeers…” he laughed again, the tears starting to stream down his cheeks from the force of his laughter. “You know, all for one?”
“And one for all!” Warrick, Greg, Catherine, Sara, and yes, even Grissom, immediately finished his sentence for him.
This just made everyone laugh even harder, until only the sounds of laughter could be heard throughout their campsite.
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TO BE CONTINUED
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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS.
Title: Nick’s Story: The Six Musketeers
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Grissom and Greg’s Tent
Early the next morning, Greg rolled over, and tentatively cracked an eye open. Did I…actually sleep through the entire night? he asked himself, slightly smiling. Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle! he grinned, stretching, and sliding out of his sleeping bag. Either Grissom didn’t snore once, or… I’m getting better at tuning him out!
Quietly unzipping the flap of the tent, Greg crawled outside, and froze, when he saw Sara already sitting around the long-dead campfire, reading a book.
---------------
Around the Campfire
“Morning, Greg,” Sara looked up, smiling at him. “How’d you sleep…?” she asked him.
“Not bad, actually,” Greg frowned, running a hand through his dirty hair, and sitting down on the log across from where Sara was sitting. “How about you?”
“I slept like a baby,” Sara admitted. “No snoring issues?”
“Surprisingly, no!” Greg cheerfully told Sara, quietly enough, however, so as not to wake up the rest of the team.
“Well, that’s good…” she replied, setting her book down on her lap, and glancing over at him.
Whatcha reading?” Greg nodded toward the book, yawning.
“Oh… uh… this…?” Sara asked, slightly blushing.
But now Greg’s curiosity was piqued. “Yeah… that! What is it…?” he repeated his earlier question, grinning across the fire pit at Sara. Action? Adventure? Drama? Romance…? he inwardly asked himself, rolling the “r” in romance in a seductive manner.
“You’ll laugh…” Sara mumbled.
“No, I won’t!” Greg assured her.
“I’m reading…” Sara coughed. “I’m reading… Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase...” she trailed off.
Greg raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh at his colleague. “Aren’t those books for… little kids…?”
“What’s your point, Greg?” Sara immediately snapped, trying to hide the book behind her back.
“You’re… in your thirties…” he pointed out.
“But they’re a good read, Greg! They’re short, they’re fast… Nancy is an intelligent, strong, character…”
Greg once again raised his eyebrow. “Does… Grissom know about your… strange reading habits…?”
“Grissom knows everything about me,” Sara told him, smiling.
“Oh… like… what…?” Greg smirked. If I can’t get the details from Grissom, well… perhaps I can get them out of Sara!
“Nice try, Greg!” Sara rolled her eyes at him.
Greg sighed. It was worth a shot. “Hey, Sara?” he then asked. “Would you like to help me make everyone some breakfast…?”
“Sure,” Sara replied. “What were you thinking about making?”
“Chocolate-chip pancakes?” Greg asked.
“Do we… have chocolate-chips…? And pancake batter…?”
“Yup, we do!” Greg replied. “I wasn’t sure if Grissom would let us have pancakes, so… I smuggled the supplies in!”
Sara laughed. “Okay, grab the stuff, and we’ll get started…”
---------------
Nick and Warrick’s Tent, thirty minutes later
“Hey, man…” Nick yawned, stretching in his sleeping bag. “Do you smell anything…?” he asked his colleague.
Warrick rubbed his neck, frowning. “Something good? Or bad?”
“Good!” Nick grinned. “I think I smell some chocolate-chip pancakes,” he mumbled. “But… I doubt its coming from our campsite.”
“What? Why not?” Warrick asked, stretching, and sitting up in his sleeping bag. “It could be…” he shrugged, crawling toward the door, and poking his head outside, with his body still half inside of his sleeping bag.
“So? What’s the verdict, man?” Nick asked, scratching his head.
“Pancakes!” he grinned, hurriedly unzipping first his sleeping bag, and then the tent flap, and quickly stepping outside into the cool, damp morning.
“Really? Who made pancakes?” Nick asked, immediately following him outside.
---------------
Catherine and Sara’s Tent
Catherine cracked an eye open, glancing over to the place where Sara had been sleeping. “Hmm…?” she asked, frowning, as she unzipped her sleeping bag. “Where’d you go…?” she muttered, crawling outside.
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Around the Campfire
“Morning, Catherine!” Sara cheerfully greeted her friend and colleague.
“Morning…” Catherine mumbled, still half asleep. “What’s going on here…?”
“Greg wanted to make everyone something special for breakfast,” Sara shrugged, opening up the syrup that he had pulled out of his bag. “So… I helped him make some!”
“Really…?” Catherine asked, glancing first at Greg, and then at Sara, and then back at Greg again. “Are those… chocolate chips that I smell…?” she whispered, a small smile forming on her lips.
“You bet!” he immediately replied, as he flipped another pancake over. “Does someone want to get Grissom up? That man is sleeping like a lump on a log…”
“On it,” Warrick replied, strolling over to Grissom’s tent. “Yo! Up and at ‘em!” he loudly yelled, chuckling to himself.
“Huh…?” came Grissom’s startled voice. “What’s going on? What?”
Catherine just laughed, walking over to Warrick. “You’re the only one still asleep, Grissom…” she informed him. “And Greg and Sara made us some breakfast. Let’s go!”
“I’ll be out in a minute…” he mumbled, trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes.
---------------
Around the Campfire, thirty minutes later
“That was delicious, man,” Nick smiled at Greg, slapping him on the back in order to show his appreciation.
“Definitely one of the best breakfasts that I’ve had in awhile…” Warrick mused. “And after last night’s shish-kabob fiasco, well… the pancakes just really hit the spot.”
“I’m not actually used to having anyone cook for me,” Catherine told the group. “So… thank you!” she added, delicately wiping her mouth with a napkin.
“This was definitely thoughtful of you two,” Grissom told them, raising an eyebrow. “And this was a great way to start off the morning.”
“Well, I’m glad that everyone liked the pancakes…” Greg smiled. “It’s a favorite family recipe…”
Sara just grinned.
“So… are we ready to continue our discussion from last night…?”
“Grissom…” Nick frowned, biting his lip. “I really don’t want to share…”
“But why, Nick?” Greg asked. “We’re not going to judge you in any way…”
“I know, man,” he sighed. “But… what I like about myself is kind of… silly…” he trailed off.
“I’m sure that it’s not silly, Nicky,” Catherine immediately told him, taking a sip of her coffee. In all honesty, Greg and Sara had thought about everything for this morning.
“Well… it is…” he hesitated, uncomfortably rubbing the back of his neck.
“I could use a good laugh…” Greg announced, trying to hold back a grin. “But just kidding… seriously…” he added. “We’re here to help…”
“Greg…” Grissom warned him, glaring at him from across the fire pit.
“I know…” Greg sighed. “I’m just saying…” he trailed off.
Sara sighed, leaning back on her log. “Honestly, Nick… no one is going to make a negative comment about whatever you have to say. I mean… you don’t have to tell us, but… we’re not going to laugh at you…” Except for perhaps Greg, she thought to herself, staring at the younger CSI… just in case.
Nick bit his lip again, closing his eyes. “I like my sensitivity!” he blurted out.
“Ex…cuse me…?” Warrick asked, a little bit confused. “You said that kind of fast, and… I… didn’t quite catch it.”
Taking a deep breath, Nick sighed in frustration. “I like my sensitivity…” he slowly repeated his words. “I like how I can connect with the victims, and how I can… reach them, so to speak…”
Sara frowned. “I… don’t understand, Nick… what’s so bad about that…?”
“Yeah, Nicky… being able to connect with those whom we are trying to help can be a good thing…” Catherine pointed out.
Staring at the ground, Nick sighed. “Because sometimes I connect with them a little bit too much…” he mumbled, kicking a small pebble away from him with his shoe.
“What… do you mean, Nick?” Grissom gently probed, raising an eyebrow.
“You mean… you get attached to them, Nick?” Warrick cautiously asked.
“Not… exactly…” Nick swallowed, his face getting redder by the moment in embarrassment.
“So… what, then?” Greg asked, glancing across the fire pit at Nick.
“Sometimes the victims make me cry!” he once again blurted out, his face flushing.
Greg tried his hardest, he really did, but he let a small chuckle escape through his lips.
“Stop laughing at me!” Nick yelled, half in embarrassment, and half in anger.
“Nick… I’m really sorry…” Greg frowned, staring down at the ground. “I didn’t mean to… I really didn’t. But with the way that you were talking, that isn’t exactly what I expected you to say. There’s nothing wrong with crying…” he trailed off. “I promise you…” he added, inwardly kicking himself for being such a jerk. I’ll have to find a way to apologize to him later on… he thought to himself. Because I am such an ass sometimes… God, I can be worse than Grissom! he added, feeling absolutely horrible about his comment.
“Yes, there is…” Nick simply replied.
“No, actually, there isn’t…” Catherine agreed with Greg. “Nick,” she sighed, “Our jobs are difficult. You know it, I know it, and these guys all know it,” she nodded toward her colleagues. “And sometimes… we just need that emotional release… so that we don’t crack…”
“I know all about cracking,” Sara quietly informed Nick. “I really do…” she added, marveling at the fact that this year, she was willingly and unhesitatingly sharing so much of herself with the team. “For almost my entire life,” she whispered, “I refused to cry… I refused to talk, I refused to lean on my friends, and I cracked. Repeatedly. Over and over again.”
Grissom raised an eyebrow, listening to Sara speak.
“… And…?” Nick questioned, slowly raising his gaze to meet Sara’s.
“And… that’s just it, Nick…” she quietly told him. “I started to cry… I started to talk, I started to lean on my friends, and I stopped cracking. Well… I stopped cracking quite as much,” she amended. “I still have my break-downs, but…” she shrugged.
“What I think Sara is trying to say, Nick,” Warrick hesitated. “Is that you don’t have to be embarrassed about caring about the victims… or about anyone, for that matter. Forget what the media says,” he continued. “Men can cry. Hell, even I cry…” he added.
“You… do…?” Greg asked. Interesting...
“Yes, Greg,” Warrick rolled his eyes. “I do…”
“Well… in that case, so do I…” Greg simply announced to the group. “I’ve just never… admitted it,” he frowned.
Catherine raised an eyebrow, staring at Nick, Warrick, and Greg. “It’s okay to show your emotions,” she confirmed. “In fact, I would be a little bit concerned if you didn’t…”
But… I don’t really show my emotions, Grissom thought to himself. Do I…? he wanted to ask Sara what her opinion was on the subject, but unfortunately, she was busy paying attention to Nick.
“Well…” Nick sighed, his frustration started to ebb away. “Okay, I guess… I just thought that… you know… crying made me weak, and… a bit unusual…”
“No,” Catherine repeated. “It makes you normal. It makes you human…”
Grissom cleared his throat, glancing up at Nick. “But… crying aside, did you hear what else Sara had to say…?” he quietly asked the younger man.
“Uh… no…” Nick mumbled.
“She said that she talks to her friends, and that leans on them for support…” he pointed out.
Warrick nodded his agreement. “It’s okay to cry, man, and it’s okay to share your feelings. You have my phone number. Give me a call at any time, day or night… we’ll shoot some hoops, check out a movie, or just grab some food…” he told Nick, flashing him a small smile.
“And if you want some help getting the ladies,” Greg added, “You know who to come to…” he grinned.
Nick bit back a laugh. Yeah. Grissom, apparently! “Thanks, Greggo… I appreciate the offer.”
Catherine just rolled her eyes at Greg. Turning back to Nick, she smiled. “But like Warrick said, Nicky, my door is always open to you… always.”
“Mine, too,” Sara added, flashing him her own smile.
Nick started laughing, staring down at the coals of the fire.
“What’s so funny…?” Greg immediately asked.
“Huh…?” Warrick added.
“Share!” Catherine ordered him. “You have to!”
Sara just quizzically stared at him, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“Nick?” Grissom questioned him, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s just kind of… funny…” he mused. “I’m talking about crying, and for the past ten minutes or so, the five of you have been telling me that we’re all friends, and that we’re there for one another… it just…” he grinned. “It just made me think of the Three Musketeers…” he laughed again, the tears starting to stream down his cheeks from the force of his laughter. “You know, all for one?”
“And one for all!” Warrick, Greg, Catherine, Sara, and yes, even Grissom, immediately finished his sentence for him.
This just made everyone laugh even harder, until only the sounds of laughter could be heard throughout their campsite.
---------------
TO BE CONTINUED
quoth_the_raven
Corpse
Aww! You never told me you updated! Shame on you, Janet!
And yay! Everyone's happy--!
But what's going to happen..? Ooh, must know!!
And yay! Everyone's happy--!
But what's going to happen..? Ooh, must know!!
(thanks for reading, everyone!)
---------------
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS. The first song is “That’s What Friends Are For,” by Elton John (I think!), and the second song is Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.”
Title: Warrick’s Story: You’ve Got a Friend
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Around the Campfire
“So now it’s my turn!” Warrick sarcastically enthused. “I can hardly wait to share... really…”
Greg just grinned, raising an eyebrow. “On your mark, get set, go!”
Catherine rolled her eyes at Greg, sighing.
Sara, meanwhile, took a moment to glance over at Grissom, smiling. “It’ll be your turn next…” she mouthed to him.
“Fantastic…” he mouthed back, slightly frowning. Because… I really don’t want to go, he thought to himself.
“Okay, Rick…” Nick bit his lip. “We’re all listening… what’s up…? What do you like the most about yourself…?”
“I like my hair…” he grinned. “I definitely, definitely, like my hair!”
“I do, too, actually,” Catherine chuckled, raising her gaze to meet his. “But… somehow I highly doubt that Grissom will accept that as an answer…” she added.
“Yeah… I know…” Warrick sighed. Turning to Grissom, he frowned. “Didn’t you say that the first question was an easy one…?” he asked.
Grissom shrugged. “Well… it’s easier than it could have been…” he told Warrick, raising an eyebrow and flashing him a small smile.
“True…” Warrick mumbled. “Okay… so what do I like the most about myself…really?”
Sara encouragingly nodded at him, as did Catherine. Greg busied himself with staring at the empty fire pit, while Nick glanced through the trees, as if studying… anything other than Warrick. Greg and Nick were paying attention to him, however; they just wanted to give him some personal space in order to collect his thoughts.
“I like my… uh…” Warrick uncomfortably rubbed the back of his neck. “I like… hmm…” he swallowed, fidgeting on his log. “Well… I’d have to say that I like my ability to be there for my friends, I guess… yeah, that’s it. My ability to be there for my friends! Done!” he announced to the group. Shit! Maybe that’s what you’d LIKE to like the best about yourself, but unfortunately, you make a crummy friend.
“Then… why do you look so anxious, Rick…? That’s a great thing to like about yourself…” Nick quietly commented.
“Because I don’t like sharing my feelings!” he immediately snapped back.
“Oh…” Nick mumbled, once again staring down at the ground.
“But… isn’t being there for your friends a good quality…?” Sara whispered. “I mean… I would think that it is…” she trailed off.
Yeah… when you’re actually there for them… Warrick bitterly thought. [/i]Because I sure as hell have been a horrible friend for the past six or so years. [/i]
“Are you… okay, Warrick…?” Catherine gently probed him.
“Of course! Why do you ask…?” he replied.
“You, uh… look… a little bit unhappy…” she cautiously pointed out.
Warrick sighed. “It’s been one year since our last retreat, right…?” he frowned, staring at the empty fire pit.
“One year to the day…” Grissom confirmed, nodding his head.
“Well… all of you have seemed to move on over the past year, and… I’m still fighting the same old demons…”
Greg raised an eyebrow. “You’re still thinking about whether or not you’re a good man…?” he asked, referring back to last year’s conversation.
“Well… not exactly…” he mumbled. “A part of me really believes that I am a good friend, and… I know that I would do anything for one of my friends, but…” he trailed off.
“But…?” Grissom prompted him.
“I still can’t get over the fact that I caused Holly’s death, and that… I’m the reason that Nick got buried alive.”
Nick tightly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Yeah… I really don’t want to talk about this right now… he frowned, opening his eyes a moment later, and glancing over at Warrick. “Man… you didn’t… you didn’t cause me to be buried alive…” he whispered. “It wasn’t your fault…I already told you that…”
“It could have happened to any of us, Warrick…” Catherine reminded him. “Nick just happened to be the person to respond to that particular call…”
“I know, but…” he again trailed off.
“No buts about it, Warrick… do you remember what happened after I… came back home…?” Nick swallowed.
“Uh… yeah…” Warrick muttered, glancing at the sticks and rocks around the fire pit. “I took you out to lunch…”
“You did much more than that, man…” Nick sighed. “You talked to me. You helped me cope with what happened. You were there for me…”
“Okay, so I was there for you. Big deal…” Warrick quietly told him. “So how do you explain Holly Gribbs…?”
“Hold on a minute, Warrick…” Sara interrupted him. “‘Big deal?’ ‘Big deal’ that you were there for Nick…? It might not have been a big deal for you, but I’m sure as hell positive that it meant a helluva lot to him!” she added, her voice starting to rise in anger. “Because I can tell you that friends can make all of the difference in the world!” she sputtered.
“Sara…” Grissom warned. “Calm down…” he whispered to her.
“No!” Sara replied, feeling her face grow warm with fury. “No, Grissom, because he’s a good friend, and he doesn’t even see it!” Turning to Warrick, she yelled even louder, “You don’t even see it! You’re so consumed with Holly Gribbs, that you can’t even see that you’re still there for the rest of us!”
“But Sara--” Warrick tried to say.
“Don’t you ‘but Sara’ me!” Sara vehemently told him. “Because yes, you made a mistake with Holly, Warrick. A big mistake! A mistake that you will have to live with for the rest of your life! But…” she suddenly dropped her voice down to a mere whisper. “But… that doesn’t mean that you haven’t been there for the rest of us…” she frowned.
Grissom shot Sara a look, finally silencing her.
“Sorry…” she mumbled.
Even Greg, normally full of words, stared at Sara in disbelief. I’ve never seen you get quite this angry before… he mused to himself. But you’re right, of course… “She’s a smart woman, Warrick…” he simply told him. “She speaks the truth…”
Nick stared at the ground below his feet, not entirely sure what he was feeling right now. He was worried about Warrick, that much was for sure, but… after Sara’s outburst, he didn’t exactly know how to respond. Although her tone of voice was almost… intimidating, her words rang true. And Warrick had to know that. Clearing his voice, he sighed. “Yeah, man… she’s right…”
Catherine, shocked at the venom in Sara’s voice, bit her lip. “Uh…” she spoke up, raising an eyebrow. “I’d have to… agree with them, Warrick,” she cautiously told him. “Survivor’s guilt is… painful, to say the very least…”
Warrick looked up at her, the sadness very evident in his eyes. “It… is…?” he hesitantly asked.
“It is…” she confirmed. “After… Eddie died, I just… felt very responsible for everything bad that had happened to him. I went through the ‘what-ifs:’ ‘What if I had been a better wife?’ Or, ‘what if I hadn’t kicked him out?’ Or, ‘what if I had found a way to help him get over his drug addiction?’ I felt like I had caused his death… and that feeling stinks, Warrick…”
“Yeah… it’s a bitch…” he mumbled. “And… I just can’t get past my feelings… I mean… I know that I’m there for all of you... or at the very least, I try to be. I wasn’t joking when I said that that is what I like the most about myself, but…”
“But…?” Greg prodded him.
Warrick sighed. “But… I was still responsible for someone’s death, and… no matter how hard I try, I just can’t get over that particular fact.”
Grissom raised an eyebrow, before clearing his throat. “I wouldn’t normally ask this question in front of other people, but…”
“It’s okay, go ahead…” Warrick mumbled. “At this point, it really doesn’t matter anymore…”
“Have you ever… thought about counseling…?” Grissom cautiously asked him.
“Isn’t that… what this is supposed to be…?” Warrick smiled, trying to laugh in order to lighten the mood.
“No, Warrick, I’m serious. Perhaps… you should look into some. I can give you the names of a couple of great people…”
“I don’t know, Grissom… Counseling really isn’t my cup of tea,” he immediately replied. “The whole… laying down on the couch thing, and talking, and just… sharing… I don’t like it...”
“I don’t, either…” Sara trailed off. “But… I see someone, and… she’s really good…” she added. “I could… give you her name, if you’d like. And… I can… go with you for the first time, if that would make you feel more comfortable…”
“Seriously…?” Warrick asked, glancing over at Sara.
“Seriously. Because… you’re my friend, and… you’ve been there for me in the past… and because friends are important to me…”
“I would… appreciate that…” Warrick quietly whispered, staring down at the ground in embarrassment. “A lot, actually. Maybe I’ll give this person a call, as soon as we get home…?” he added, raising his eyes to look across the fire pit at her.
Sara just nodded, smiling.
“But again, Warrick…” Nick spoke up. “I want you to remember that you are there for your friends, regardless of what happened with Holly…”
Catherine agreed. “You’ve definitely always been there for me…”
“And me…” Sara added.
“And me…” Greg confirmed.
“And me, too…” Grissom flashed him a small smile. Well… whenever I let anyone other than Sara be there for me, that is… he frowned.
“Thank you, everyone. I mean it… I really… appreciate your friendship…”
“So keep smiling, keep shining, knowing you can always count on me, for sure…” Greg grinned, starting to sing. “For good times, and bad times, I’ll be on your side forever more, that’s what friends are for…” he sang.
Warrick started to chuckle at Greg. “Elton John? Isn’t that a… love song…?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Ehn!” Greg grinned. “Would you prefer Carole King’s ‘You’ve Got a Friend…?’” he asked.
“I would, actually,” Catherine teased him.
“You got it! Where are my other divas…?” Greg then asked. “Because, didn’t this song appear on that vh1 Diva show awhile back…?”
Sara just raised an eyebrow. “I’m not even going to ask you how you know that…” she grinned. “And I’m not singing along with you!” she added.
“Suit yourself!” Greg shrugged, standing up, and clearing his voice. “When you’re down, and troubled, and you need some loving care. And nothing, nothing is going right…”
Nick started chuckling, as he listened to Greg.
“HEY! I’M WORKING HERE!” Greg jokingly yelled. “As I was saying, ‘and nothing, nothing is going right… close your eyes and think of me, and soon I will be there! To brighten up, even your darkest night…”
“I’m getting that Kumbaya feeling again…” Catherine mumbled, as she resisted the urge to sing along with Greg.
“Must… Not… Sing…” Sara laughed, although she was relieved that the tension was quickly ebbing away from the campsite, thanks, yet again, to Greg’s humor.
“‘You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am, I'll come running, to see you again. Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. All you have to do is call. And I'll be there, yes I will, ‘cause you’ve got a friend…’” Greg concluded.
“Uh… thanks… I think…” Warrick grinned, running a hand through his hair.
Grissom unobtrusively sighed. Great… I’m next… Grissom frowned.
---------------
TO BE CONTINUED
---------------
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS. The first song is “That’s What Friends Are For,” by Elton John (I think!), and the second song is Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.”
Title: Warrick’s Story: You’ve Got a Friend
---------------
Around the Campfire
“So now it’s my turn!” Warrick sarcastically enthused. “I can hardly wait to share... really…”
Greg just grinned, raising an eyebrow. “On your mark, get set, go!”
Catherine rolled her eyes at Greg, sighing.
Sara, meanwhile, took a moment to glance over at Grissom, smiling. “It’ll be your turn next…” she mouthed to him.
“Fantastic…” he mouthed back, slightly frowning. Because… I really don’t want to go, he thought to himself.
“Okay, Rick…” Nick bit his lip. “We’re all listening… what’s up…? What do you like the most about yourself…?”
“I like my hair…” he grinned. “I definitely, definitely, like my hair!”
“I do, too, actually,” Catherine chuckled, raising her gaze to meet his. “But… somehow I highly doubt that Grissom will accept that as an answer…” she added.
“Yeah… I know…” Warrick sighed. Turning to Grissom, he frowned. “Didn’t you say that the first question was an easy one…?” he asked.
Grissom shrugged. “Well… it’s easier than it could have been…” he told Warrick, raising an eyebrow and flashing him a small smile.
“True…” Warrick mumbled. “Okay… so what do I like the most about myself…really?”
Sara encouragingly nodded at him, as did Catherine. Greg busied himself with staring at the empty fire pit, while Nick glanced through the trees, as if studying… anything other than Warrick. Greg and Nick were paying attention to him, however; they just wanted to give him some personal space in order to collect his thoughts.
“I like my… uh…” Warrick uncomfortably rubbed the back of his neck. “I like… hmm…” he swallowed, fidgeting on his log. “Well… I’d have to say that I like my ability to be there for my friends, I guess… yeah, that’s it. My ability to be there for my friends! Done!” he announced to the group. Shit! Maybe that’s what you’d LIKE to like the best about yourself, but unfortunately, you make a crummy friend.
“Then… why do you look so anxious, Rick…? That’s a great thing to like about yourself…” Nick quietly commented.
“Because I don’t like sharing my feelings!” he immediately snapped back.
“Oh…” Nick mumbled, once again staring down at the ground.
“But… isn’t being there for your friends a good quality…?” Sara whispered. “I mean… I would think that it is…” she trailed off.
Yeah… when you’re actually there for them… Warrick bitterly thought. [/i]Because I sure as hell have been a horrible friend for the past six or so years. [/i]
“Are you… okay, Warrick…?” Catherine gently probed him.
“Of course! Why do you ask…?” he replied.
“You, uh… look… a little bit unhappy…” she cautiously pointed out.
Warrick sighed. “It’s been one year since our last retreat, right…?” he frowned, staring at the empty fire pit.
“One year to the day…” Grissom confirmed, nodding his head.
“Well… all of you have seemed to move on over the past year, and… I’m still fighting the same old demons…”
Greg raised an eyebrow. “You’re still thinking about whether or not you’re a good man…?” he asked, referring back to last year’s conversation.
“Well… not exactly…” he mumbled. “A part of me really believes that I am a good friend, and… I know that I would do anything for one of my friends, but…” he trailed off.
“But…?” Grissom prompted him.
“I still can’t get over the fact that I caused Holly’s death, and that… I’m the reason that Nick got buried alive.”
Nick tightly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Yeah… I really don’t want to talk about this right now… he frowned, opening his eyes a moment later, and glancing over at Warrick. “Man… you didn’t… you didn’t cause me to be buried alive…” he whispered. “It wasn’t your fault…I already told you that…”
“It could have happened to any of us, Warrick…” Catherine reminded him. “Nick just happened to be the person to respond to that particular call…”
“I know, but…” he again trailed off.
“No buts about it, Warrick… do you remember what happened after I… came back home…?” Nick swallowed.
“Uh… yeah…” Warrick muttered, glancing at the sticks and rocks around the fire pit. “I took you out to lunch…”
“You did much more than that, man…” Nick sighed. “You talked to me. You helped me cope with what happened. You were there for me…”
“Okay, so I was there for you. Big deal…” Warrick quietly told him. “So how do you explain Holly Gribbs…?”
“Hold on a minute, Warrick…” Sara interrupted him. “‘Big deal?’ ‘Big deal’ that you were there for Nick…? It might not have been a big deal for you, but I’m sure as hell positive that it meant a helluva lot to him!” she added, her voice starting to rise in anger. “Because I can tell you that friends can make all of the difference in the world!” she sputtered.
“Sara…” Grissom warned. “Calm down…” he whispered to her.
“No!” Sara replied, feeling her face grow warm with fury. “No, Grissom, because he’s a good friend, and he doesn’t even see it!” Turning to Warrick, she yelled even louder, “You don’t even see it! You’re so consumed with Holly Gribbs, that you can’t even see that you’re still there for the rest of us!”
“But Sara--” Warrick tried to say.
“Don’t you ‘but Sara’ me!” Sara vehemently told him. “Because yes, you made a mistake with Holly, Warrick. A big mistake! A mistake that you will have to live with for the rest of your life! But…” she suddenly dropped her voice down to a mere whisper. “But… that doesn’t mean that you haven’t been there for the rest of us…” she frowned.
Grissom shot Sara a look, finally silencing her.
“Sorry…” she mumbled.
Even Greg, normally full of words, stared at Sara in disbelief. I’ve never seen you get quite this angry before… he mused to himself. But you’re right, of course… “She’s a smart woman, Warrick…” he simply told him. “She speaks the truth…”
Nick stared at the ground below his feet, not entirely sure what he was feeling right now. He was worried about Warrick, that much was for sure, but… after Sara’s outburst, he didn’t exactly know how to respond. Although her tone of voice was almost… intimidating, her words rang true. And Warrick had to know that. Clearing his voice, he sighed. “Yeah, man… she’s right…”
Catherine, shocked at the venom in Sara’s voice, bit her lip. “Uh…” she spoke up, raising an eyebrow. “I’d have to… agree with them, Warrick,” she cautiously told him. “Survivor’s guilt is… painful, to say the very least…”
Warrick looked up at her, the sadness very evident in his eyes. “It… is…?” he hesitantly asked.
“It is…” she confirmed. “After… Eddie died, I just… felt very responsible for everything bad that had happened to him. I went through the ‘what-ifs:’ ‘What if I had been a better wife?’ Or, ‘what if I hadn’t kicked him out?’ Or, ‘what if I had found a way to help him get over his drug addiction?’ I felt like I had caused his death… and that feeling stinks, Warrick…”
“Yeah… it’s a bitch…” he mumbled. “And… I just can’t get past my feelings… I mean… I know that I’m there for all of you... or at the very least, I try to be. I wasn’t joking when I said that that is what I like the most about myself, but…”
“But…?” Greg prodded him.
Warrick sighed. “But… I was still responsible for someone’s death, and… no matter how hard I try, I just can’t get over that particular fact.”
Grissom raised an eyebrow, before clearing his throat. “I wouldn’t normally ask this question in front of other people, but…”
“It’s okay, go ahead…” Warrick mumbled. “At this point, it really doesn’t matter anymore…”
“Have you ever… thought about counseling…?” Grissom cautiously asked him.
“Isn’t that… what this is supposed to be…?” Warrick smiled, trying to laugh in order to lighten the mood.
“No, Warrick, I’m serious. Perhaps… you should look into some. I can give you the names of a couple of great people…”
“I don’t know, Grissom… Counseling really isn’t my cup of tea,” he immediately replied. “The whole… laying down on the couch thing, and talking, and just… sharing… I don’t like it...”
“I don’t, either…” Sara trailed off. “But… I see someone, and… she’s really good…” she added. “I could… give you her name, if you’d like. And… I can… go with you for the first time, if that would make you feel more comfortable…”
“Seriously…?” Warrick asked, glancing over at Sara.
“Seriously. Because… you’re my friend, and… you’ve been there for me in the past… and because friends are important to me…”
“I would… appreciate that…” Warrick quietly whispered, staring down at the ground in embarrassment. “A lot, actually. Maybe I’ll give this person a call, as soon as we get home…?” he added, raising his eyes to look across the fire pit at her.
Sara just nodded, smiling.
“But again, Warrick…” Nick spoke up. “I want you to remember that you are there for your friends, regardless of what happened with Holly…”
Catherine agreed. “You’ve definitely always been there for me…”
“And me…” Sara added.
“And me…” Greg confirmed.
“And me, too…” Grissom flashed him a small smile. Well… whenever I let anyone other than Sara be there for me, that is… he frowned.
“Thank you, everyone. I mean it… I really… appreciate your friendship…”
“So keep smiling, keep shining, knowing you can always count on me, for sure…” Greg grinned, starting to sing. “For good times, and bad times, I’ll be on your side forever more, that’s what friends are for…” he sang.
Warrick started to chuckle at Greg. “Elton John? Isn’t that a… love song…?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Ehn!” Greg grinned. “Would you prefer Carole King’s ‘You’ve Got a Friend…?’” he asked.
“I would, actually,” Catherine teased him.
“You got it! Where are my other divas…?” Greg then asked. “Because, didn’t this song appear on that vh1 Diva show awhile back…?”
Sara just raised an eyebrow. “I’m not even going to ask you how you know that…” she grinned. “And I’m not singing along with you!” she added.
“Suit yourself!” Greg shrugged, standing up, and clearing his voice. “When you’re down, and troubled, and you need some loving care. And nothing, nothing is going right…”
Nick started chuckling, as he listened to Greg.
“HEY! I’M WORKING HERE!” Greg jokingly yelled. “As I was saying, ‘and nothing, nothing is going right… close your eyes and think of me, and soon I will be there! To brighten up, even your darkest night…”
“I’m getting that Kumbaya feeling again…” Catherine mumbled, as she resisted the urge to sing along with Greg.
“Must… Not… Sing…” Sara laughed, although she was relieved that the tension was quickly ebbing away from the campsite, thanks, yet again, to Greg’s humor.
“‘You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am, I'll come running, to see you again. Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. All you have to do is call. And I'll be there, yes I will, ‘cause you’ve got a friend…’” Greg concluded.
“Uh… thanks… I think…” Warrick grinned, running a hand through his hair.
Grissom unobtrusively sighed. Great… I’m next… Grissom frowned.
---------------
TO BE CONTINUED
quoth_the_raven
Corpse
LMAO :lol: Greg! Greg never ceases to amaze me
He is my sunshine, my only sunshine, Greg makes me happy, when skies are gray... :lol:
He is my sunshine, my only sunshine, Greg makes me happy, when skies are gray... :lol: