Catherine fussed around the outside table strewn with covered dishes and disposable tableware. When she had determined where the remaining dishes that were waiting in the refrigerator were going to go just prior to serving, she looked over to the grill where her fellow teacher, Warrick Brown, was manning the charcoal grill covered with a variety of burgers, hot dogs, and chicken breasts. She allowed herself the enjoyable view of his backside as he bent down to check the damper on the bottom of the grill.

"Don't think that's on the menu, Catherine," a lazy drawl chuckled, interrupting her little fantasy.

She turned towards the smiling Texan and grinned right back. "Maybe not your menu, Nicky, but I think I might be able to get a special order from the chef if I ask right."

Nick threw back his head and laughed out loud. "Cath, you better get your order in before the lunch rush, I haven't heard who Doc hired to fill those empty teaching positions, but there might be a 'little hottie' arriving soon with special dietary needs too."

"I can handle a 'little hottie', Nicky. As a home economics teacher I know the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and I've got that covered," she swept her arm out toward the heavily laden table.

Smiling, the brown-haired man just shook his head and nodded towards the driver's education teacher standing by the grill. "A 'little hottie' without cooking experience might take a detour through another body part on her way to his heart, Catherine."

The tall blond gave the physical education teacher a dirty, little smile and flipped her hair over her left shoulder. She started to walk towards the grill, but stopped after only a couple of steps and looking back over her shoulder at her coworker shook her behind tauntingly, "I got that route covered too, Nicky."

Nick raised his beer bottle up in salute and watched her strut over towards Warrick. "Go get him, Cath. He won't put up much of a fight," he whispered to himself as he turned towards another coworker walking his direction. "Hey, Sara. Good to see you back. How was your summer?"

"Frustrating, Nick. How was yours?"

He fell into step along with the dark haired beauty. "Busy. I coached some little league and picked up some hours doing personal training for one of the local gyms, filling in for their vacationing trainers. Didn't you go to San Francisco to participate in a study at the state university?"

They stopped by a cooler and Nick reached in to pull out a beer for his friend. "Yeah, I was doing research with one of the sociology professors there, but his idea of research and mine were two totally different things. I wanted some data to publish a paper, but he only wanted to research a way into my pants."

The Texan grimaced, handing Sara the beverage, "Ouch. I take it that's why your summer was frustrating then?"

Sara took a long pull on the bottle and turned her face away from his questioning gaze, "HE didn't return my phone calls, Nick. I tried several times and then I just gave up. I wasn't even sure I was going to come back this semester, but time got away from me and I didn't want to leave Doc in the lurch this late in the summer."

"Awww, Sara. I'm so sorry. Grissom's just, well, Grissom. He probably got involved with his bugs and forgot you called. You should have phoned me, sweetie, I'd have talked to you about it." Nick put a brotherly arm around his coworker and gave her a big hug. "You want me to stake him out on the football field during practice tomorrow? My front line could knock a little sense into the guy."

Sara allowed herself a moment to feel protected and loved before moving away from his sheltering arm. "Naw, Nick. I can fight my own battles, IF I decide to go that route. Maybe I'll forget about Gil and check out the new meat Doc has lined up for the students this year. I stopped at the school office Friday to check my mailbox and the secretary said there were two new hires. A chemistry teacher and girl's physical education instructor."

"Yeah, I heard there was new phys ed teacher hired. Doc asked me to show her the ropes. Didn't know about the new chem teacher, though. Of course old lady Gribbs could have retired about twenty years ago and still wouldn't have had to take an early retirement."

Sara laughed out loud. "Gosh I missed you, Nick. Maybe I should just give up on Gil and hook up with you instead," she joked as she jabbed him in the arm with her elbow. "On second thought," she paused, "maybe I'll take the chem teacher."

Nick looked down at his coworker and followed her gaze across the yard. Walking towards the gathering of high school teachers was the aforementioned biology teacher, Gil Grissom, and literally bouncing alongside him was a young blond man who had to be the new chemistry teacher. Holy shit, Sara, stand in line, he thought.

The newcomer was lean, but had wide shoulders that tapered down to a narrow waist, wild blond hair that looked as if he had stuck his finger in an electrical socket, and an attitude of confidence that belied his years. As he got closer Nick could see full pink lips and long lashes surrounding the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen. He wasn't dressed to impress, but he looked as sexy as hell and Nick was more than interested.

"That poor boy is going to have every girl in school, and a large portion of the male students, trying to change their schedules to take his classes," Sara announced to no one in particular.

Nick tore his eyes away from the chemistry teacher and looked down at Sara. Damn, she was really interested in the new hire. This was not good. Nick had kept his sexuality quiet, feeling it was just easier when being a high school teacher and coach, but this new addition to the staff might be incentive enough to open that door a little wider. He definitely needed to get Sara back interested in Grissom, and not his new fantasy man.

"Grissom looks good, Sara. Don't give up on him yet. Let's go over there and have him introduce us to the new chem guy. If things go well, I'll help you out by taking the guy off his hands and introduce him around to everyone else. You can spend some time with Gris. Reconnect." Nick hoped he didn't sound too desperate or wasn't acting too transparent.

Sara smiled up at her dark haired companion. "You are so good to me, Nicky. Do you really think I should give it another try?"

"Absolutely! Let's go." He gripped Sara's elbow and closed the gap separating him from the handsome young man and Sara's oblivious love interest.

Greg had noticed the well-built, dark-eyed man immediately when he entered the backyard. He tried to keep his attention on the older man at his side who was extolling the virtues of beekeeping, but found his gaze and thoughts sliding across the grassy expanse towards the wide shoulders and handsome features.

Yum, he thought to himself, before noticing the dark haired woman standing close at his side. He watched the man drop his gaze to the woman by his hip and then saw her gaze up at him with such affection. Crap, he has a wife or girlfriend. Greg felt his hopes plummet with their locked gaze.

Focus, he said to himself and redirected his attention to his new mentor, the head of the science department, Gil Grissom. Mr. Grissom had called him yesterday to welcome him to the department and when Greg had mentioned the cookout today, the older gentleman insisted on picking him up and introducing him around. The blond had laughed silently to himself at the offer. The department head probably just wanted more time to talk bugs with a fellow science geek, but in actuality entomology was not all that interesting to the new chemistry teacher.

"Gil." Greg turned his head towards the voice and found himself looking at the dark-haired couple he had been stealing glances at a few moments before. He noticed that the woman was hesitant in her approach, being prodded by the man at her side, and her eyes were locked on the biology teacher.

He watched the older man make eye contact with the young woman and realized in an instant that there were unresolved feelings between the two individuals.

"Sara, you're back. How long have you been in Vegas?" asked the graying man, staring intently into the face in front of him.

"A week," she said softly.

He appeared taken back by her response. "I thought you would have called. I've been concerned."

Greg could tell that Sara was just barely holding it together. "Concerned! Is that why you didn't bother answering your phone for the past two months, Gil? You're concerned?"

"Sara…."

The young chemistry teacher suddenly wanted to be anywhere else than in the middle of this little domestic dispute and shot a glance at the dark-haired man standing in front of him. He found the other man's eyes already trained on his face with a slight smirk on his face. The dark-eyed man gave Greg a small nod and then inclined his head to the right, indicating that they should move away from the disputing couple. Greg acknowledged the gesture and the two men moved away further into the yard.

Nick couldn't believe his luck. He felt bad throwing Sara under the bus like that, but knew that she wasn't ready to move on with the new chemistry teacher at this point anyway. She was still too emotionally invested in Grissom.

Before their momentum could take them too close to the larger group of teachers surrounding the food-covered table and grill area, Nick slowed and stepped in front of the younger man, stopping their advancement. He extended his hand, "I'm Nick Stokes, boys physical education and coach."

Of course you're a coach with that body, thought the blond stretching his hand out to answer the offer of a handshake. "Greg Sanders, chemistry and physics."

"Nice to meet you, Greg. Sorry you got stuck in the middle of that showdown. Grissom and Sara have a few unresolved feelings that they need to work on. They've been dancing around each other for years. I really thought that a couple months apart would be good for them, you know, the old 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' bit, but I don't know."

"Yeah, relationships can be hard, Nick. Glad I'm not having to deal with that right now. It made the move to Vegas easier." Greg took an inwardly deep breath, I let him know I'm single, I wonder if he's available. Only one way to find out. "I thought at first you were with Sara. You two looked pretty cozy before you walked over to Grissom and I."

"Me and Sara? No way. She's cool and all, but she's like a little sister to me. Not my type," Nick replied.

"Aw," Greg acknowledged nodding his head. I wonder what constitutes his type, he thought. Pressing a little he asked, "Is there somebody here you need to get back to, or could you help introduce me to a few people? It's usually pretty easy for me to talk to people, but if I'm going to be working with these people I want to make a good first impression."

Nick gave the young man a bright smile. "All alone here. I'd be happy to introduce you around. Don't worry about most of these people. They're a great bunch, only a few bad apples, but they're easy to avoid.

"You've met Grissom and, of course, you've met Doc Robbins. He's a great boss, but if you haven't met the superintendent…." Greg shook his head. "Well, let's just say that Ecklie is an acquired taste, and not many around our building have acquired it."

He pointed out Catherine and Warrick standing by the grill. "The blond is Catherine Willows, home economics teacher. This is her house, she throws this little back to school shindig every August. The tall man beside her is Warrick Brown, driver's education. They're dancing the same dance as Gris and Sara, but I have more faith they'll make it as a couple. Stick with them if you have any questions. They won't steer you wrong."

He pointed out a few more individuals before asking, "You ready?"

Greg smiled at the man in front of him, realizing that he would be an awesome coach. He instilled confidence in others and was able to calm fears without seeming to address them. "Yeah, I'm ready, Nick. Lead on."

Nick placed a hand between the slighter man's shoulder blades and gave him a pat. "Let's start over by the food table, Catherine's the best cook ever. Her back to school spread is not to be believed."

After introducing Greg to Catherine, Warrick and several other faculty members close to the buffet table, the two men filled plates and settled at an empty table. They sat in a quiet companionship while they consumed their meal. Wiping his mouth, Greg leaned back and catching Nick's attention nodded over towards a small group of people standing close to tree.

"Who are those people talking to Doc Robbins?"

Nick looked at the trio and shook his head slightly. "The dark-haired guy is David Hodges, teaches math. He's a bit of a blow-hard, but if you can get past his feelings of superiority, he's basically a good guy. I don't recognize the girl, but it might be the new girl's phys ed teacher. Doc told me her name was Wendy Simms."

"She's a looker," Greg commented idly. Moving his gaze away from the trio and scanning the remaining crowd.

"Yeah, she is," responded the phys ed teacher hollowly, bereft in the belief that the young man next to him was attracted to the other newly hired teacher.

At that point Doc Robbins' gaze met Nick's and he waved the other man over to the group. "Hey Greg, Doc wants us to head over there. Are you finished?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

The two men tossed their empty plates into a garbage can and Nick snagged a couple of beers from a cooler as they passed, handing one over to Greg.

"Thanks man."

"No problem."

"Hey Doc. It's good to see ya, boss. How was the cruise?" Nick asked the principal.

The older man leaned on his cane and smiled widely. "Just great, Nicky. How's the team looking this year?"

"They're coming along, Doc. They'll be ready for the first game." He turned toward the dark-haired man standing beside Doc. "Hodges, this is Greg Sanders. He's taking over for Mrs. Gribbs. Greg, this is David Hodges, mathematician extraordinaire."

Greg barely contained a smirk at Nick's introduction. Hodges seemed to puff up and nodded his head at Greg. "Pleased to meet you."

"Same."

Doc motioned to the woman standing silently during the interchange. "This is Wendy Simms. She's taking over the girls physical education program. Wendy, Nick here is our boys phys ed instructor so if you have any questions please check with him before coming to me. I've assigned him as your mentor for the first year."

"It's nice to meet you, Nick," she smiled sweetly. "You too, Greg. It's nice to know I'm not the only new hire. We'll have to get together and have our own little support group."

"Uh yeah, Wendy. That'd be great," he said. He was wishing that Nick had been assigned as his mentor as opposed to Grissom. He was suddenly jealous of the time Nick would have to spend with Wendy over the coming months.

Hodges also was not pleased about the mentoring assignment. He had been enjoying having the majority of Wendy's attention and disliked having the two additional men thrown into the mix. He desperately wanted to regain control of the situation. "Wendy, how about I introduce you to our hostess and we can check out the buffet table?" He was mentally crossing his fingers, toes, legs, arms, eyes…

"Thank you, David, I'd like that. Nice to meet you, Greg. I'll be talking to you, Nick." The men nodded at her as she left with Hodges.

"Keep an eye on her, Nick. She's a sweet young thing and there are way too many single men on this staff right now. I don't want to see her get hurt." Doc tapped him with the handle of his cane. "I'm counting on you."

"Got it, Doc. I'll order the chastity belt as soon as I get home," Nick joked.

Doc Robbins just smiled at the comment and started over toward the buffet table and Catherine.

Greg watched the exchange between his boss and new coworker with a scientific eye. Out of nowhere he made an observation. "I've only just met you and I can already tell by everyone reactions to you that you're a pretty amazing guy, Nick." Greg swallowed deeply. Oh crap, did I just say that out loud?

Nick felt a warm glow at the words spoken by the young man and turned to him with a smile. "Glad I made a good first impression, G. Hope that I can live up to that belief."

The flushed young man shuffled the toe of one of his sneakers in the grass in embarrassment and looking off to the side took a long draw on the slightly warm beer in his hand. In for a penny, in for a pound, he thought. "I haven't seen or heard anything yet that would disappointment me, Nick." He turned toward the dark-haired man and almost melted in his gaze.