This story was inspired by Christina Makise (TGW_FTW on Twitter) who posted an idea about a friend commenting on Greg's status from CSI episode 15x08. That got me thinking... and this is what the result of that thinking is! ;) Does contain a few spoilers for 15x08...
Hope you like it, please review if you do! :)

Taking a friend out for a beer

How to spend your Friday night?

That question went through Greg's mind as he checked the orange juice section of the supermarket. He knew it was probably the least fun and most boring thing to do on a Friday night, but the option of not going shopping now would lead to no food tomorrow after shift anymore, something that didn't exactly appeal to him either.

"Hey, Greg!"

He looked up from a bottle of orange juice that was on sale and saw Tom, one of his friends, waving at him.

"Shopping on a Friday night?" Tom grinned. "Wow, you're really living the life now!"

Greg made a face at him. "Thanks for reminding me… Although I could probably remind you you're the doing the same thing!"

"Hey, I have an excuse: my birthday party tomorrow, remember?" Tom said. "You're still coming, right? My twins made me this really cute painting in school, you gotta see it!"

Tom was the father of two little boys. He was so proud of them that he had even changed all of his social media names to TwinDad2.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be there," Greg nodded. He started to walk towards the bread section. Tom followed him. "Good. I was already hoping you'd come because I wanted to ask you something, although I might as well ask you now…"

He stopped Greg from grabbing some bread by blocking his path. "Who on earth are you taking out for beer at 6 AM in the morning?"

It took Greg a few moments to realize Tom was talking about his status.

"I mean, 6 AM!" Tom called out. "Are you both alcoholics or so?"

"6 AM is evening when you work night shifts," Greg simply said. "Would you mind getting out of my way now? I need bread."

Tom stepped aside, but he didn't stop talking: "So you went out with someone from work… Who?"

Knowing Tom wouldn't stop unless he got an answer, Greg told him the truth: "Her name's Morgan Brody, she works on the same team as I do."

"Hmm… Is she cute?" Tom wanted to know, adding a few items to his own shopping basket as they left the bread section.

"Yeah!" Greg couldn't help but smile as he answered Tom's question. Morgan was more than cute, she was beautiful!

"Do you like her?" Tom immediately asked next. Greg fake-smiled at him. "We're friends, that's all! Can you move aside now, please? I wanna finish this before I have to go to work!"

"Hmm… What color hair does she have?" Tom continued as they made their way towards the cash register. Greg didn't see any harm in answering the question and said: "Blonde."

"What color eyes?"

"Blue-green. Sometimes they look more like blue, but with the right light they look kinda green." Greg automatically started smiling as he thought about Morgan's eyes, not noticing Tom was shaking his head. "Dude, you totally like her! I'll bet you couldn't even tell what color my eyes are and we've known each other for twenty years! You're totally into her!"

Greg knew he had walked straight into Tom's trap. He sighed before he admitted: "Okay, I do like her, but she has made it quite clear she just wants to be friends."

"Hmm…"

Greg started to get annoyed with the way Tom said 'Hmm' every time.

"You know what?" Tom looked at him. "Bring her to my birthday party tomorrow. Just tell her I saw your status and I'm curious to meet another person who goes out for beer at 6 AM. I'll see if I can figure out then how she really feels about you!"

"Tom, no…" Greg started protesting, but Tom was already talking to the girl behind the cash register. He simply took his groceries and smiled at Greg. "See you both tomorrow!"

Greg groaned as he watched his friend leave. Now what?

In spite of the thought 'This is a bad idea!', that had been going through his mind since he had watched Tom leave the supermarket, Greg still went to find Morgan during shift that night.

"Hey!" he greeted her. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah, sure!" she nodded, holding up a cup of coffee. "Want some?"

"Thanks!" He took the cup from her and sat down at the table. Morgan sat down next to him, looking up at him and waiting for him to start talking.

"Remember how I updated my status to 'Taking a friend out for a beer' a while ago?" he finally said. "Well, one of my friends… Actually that guy you pointed out, TwinDad2, remember? I told you I had once seen him eat a beer can!"

She grinned at him. "I don't think I'll ever forget that!"

He grinned as well before he continued: "Well, he saw it and he's kinda curious now who I was taking out for a beer at 6 AM. He seems to believe we're some kind of alcoholics as we're going out for beers that early… I tried to explain to him it's different for us as we work nights, but… he won't believe me! Would you mind coming to his birthday party with me tomorrow to tell him the truth? I kinda hate for him to think I'm addicted to alcohol…"

She grinned again and shook her head. "First people recognize you as a cop, now they're thinking you're an alcoholic… Kinda makes me wonder what's next!"

Greg made a face that meant he didn't really want to find out, making Morgan laugh even more.

"But, sure," she then said. "I'll come, no problem! Do I need to bring anything?"

"No, there's no presents," Greg reassured her. "Thanks, I really appreciate this! Should I pick you up around seven, is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure, that's fine!" she nodded. Greg nodded as well, trying not to seem too excited about it. Another evening out with Morgan away from work… Maybe Tom's idea wasn't so bad after all!

The next evening Greg picked up Morgan at exactly seven o'clock.

"Hey," she smiled at him, looking at him for a few moments. "You look different… Oh, I already know, you're not wearing a jacket. I like that!"

Greg looked down at his simple shirt and pants. He didn't think he looked particularly special, but if Morgan liked it, he wasn't going to argue!

On their way over to Tom's birthday party he told her a few more things about Tom, so she wouldn't feel too lost at the party. He also warned her Tom could be a little pushy if he wanted to know something.

"Don't worry, I can handle it!" she smiled at him. She followed him out of the car and up to the door. A woman with long brown hair opened it.

"Hey, Greg, come on in!" she smiled happily before looking at Morgan. "Hi, I'm Eva, Tom's wife."

"Morgan," Morgan said, shaking the woman's hand.

"Just follow the noise, you'll find Tom… somewhere…" Eva said, waving vaguely towards the living room. Greg made his way over first. As soon as he had opened the door, they were indeed greeted by a lot of noise, made by over fifty guests talking to each other.

"Hey, Greg!"

Greg didn't know how, but Tom spotted them immediately in the middle of the crowd. He made his way over to them, accepting Greg's 'happy birthday' wish with a smile.

"Hey, you must be Morgan!" he then said, turning to Morgan. "I've heard so much about you already! Or read, I should say…"

Morgan smiled at him. "I heard something about that, yeah. Greg said you wanted to meet me because of that…"

"Yeah, of course!" Tom said, handing them both a drink. "I mean: normal people are still asleep at 6 AM or just getting up and you two are already drinking beer. Kinda makes me wonder what kind of life you're leading… or what kind of future you have…"

Greg frowned, not sure where this was going. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's simple…" Tom turned to Morgan. "You agree with me Greg's a great guy who deserves a nice girl in his life, right?"

Greg couldn't tell Morgan was blushing because of the suddenness of the question or because of something else.

"Yeah, of course," she softly said.

"Exactly! And yet he hasn't had a girlfriend in years! Why is that, you wonder? Well, it's simple: because he works nights!" Tom continued. "I mean, what kind of relationship would it be if he worked nights and she works days? When he gets home from work, she gets up and leaves for work. 'Hi, honey, bye, honey!' When she gets home from work, he leaves. Again: 'Hi, honey, bye, honey!' How can that possibly be a good relationship? No, I'm telling you: if he wants a girlfriend, he should find someone who works nights as well! Same goes for you, of course, you must understand what I'm talking about, right? Do you have a boyfriend?"

Morgan seemed to feel more uncomfortable by the second.

"No," she softly admitted before muttering something about getting another drink and disappearing into the crowd.

"Dude, I'm telling you: she wants to be more than friends!" Tom said, making Greg turn towards him again. Greg shook his head. "How can you tell? She just said she didn't have a boyfriend, that doesn't mean she wants to be together with me!"

"Just trust me, man, she likes you!" Tom maintained. "Go find her, tell her how you feel! I mean it, man, go! Now!"

Greg hesitated for one more second. Why would he believe Tom? He had only been talking to Morgan for a few minutes, how could he possibly tell Morgan wanted to be more than just friends with him? The past few years she had done so many things that clearly indicated she wasn't interested in dating him and yet now Tom said she was after just a few minutes. How could that possibly be right? Then again, Tom had been right about a lot of these kinds of things in the past, causing Greg to give him the benefit of the doubt. He started looking for Morgan and found her on the terrace in the backyard.

"Sorry, I just needed a bit of fresh air, it's so crowded in there!" she said with a bit of an uneasy smile. That smile suddenly told Greg exactly what he had to do. He walked up to her, carefully placed his hand under her chin and kissed her.

He pulled back quickly, looking at her. "Just tell me to stop…"

Before he could bent towards her again, she had already pulled him close and kissed him again herself. She quickly deepened their kiss, pulling him closer and closer.

When they finally broke apart, both breathlessly, she rested her forehead against his. "Why didn't you do that sooner?"

"I'm sorry…" he simply whispered, making her smile. Gently, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You know, my status still says 'Taking a friend out for a beer'. How about I change it to 'Taking my girlfriend out for a beer'?"

Smiling, she moved closer to him again. "Guess…"

She closed the last few inches between them and kissed him again, a warm, passionate kiss, telling him she'd love it if he did.