I'm not as fond of this one. I'm sorry for the long wait.
2/3
Six years. Six entire years, they'd been together. Nick could hardly believe it. Six years with Greg. He looked down at the mop of hair on the pillow beside him and smiled when a hand reached up to scratch his head. His lover turned over and opened his eyes. "What the hell are you looking at?" he asked, voice raspy. Nick motioned him to be quiet, pointing at the crib in the corner of their bedroom.
"She's still asleep," Greg nodded with a smile, repositioning himself to lie on Nick's chest.
"God..." Greg yawned and snuggled deeper into Nick's chest. "I can't believe we've got a kid, Nick,"
"Yeah..." he leafed through the blonde's hair with his fingers, staring at the crib. Carol had kept her daughter for the first month, just to get her accustomed to the world. After that period, she gave all parental rights to Greg and Nick, instructing them to raise her as their own. Which neither man had a problem with. Nick glanced at Greg's hand. "I can't believe we're married,"
"It's not even recognized in Vegas, Nicky," his lover replied groggily. He sighed contently, glad that Molly hadn't started her routine yet. Nick planted a kiss to the top of his head.
"You think that really matters to me? We're married," he sighed and tapped Greg's head. "We should get up...Molly'll probably..." at that moment, she began crying. Nick smiled before climbing out and rushing to Molly's side.
Nick had plenty of experience with children, though none he knew of to be his own. He felt that maybe people would think it weird that Molly still slept in their room, but she refused to even blink while in her own, which led the two men to let her sleep in their room.
The Texan picked the sobbing girl from her bed and planted a kiss to the side of her head. He heard Greg let out a sigh. "She's got your eyes," he breathed. Nick just let out a light chuckle, glad that Molly had stopped crying now that Nick had picked her up.
"Stokes' trait," he explained with a wink, and grinned. "You know..."
Greg groaned. "Not in the morning, Nick, please..."
"What?" Nick raised his eyebrows, deeply amused by how Greg knew what was coming. "You don't even know what I was going to say,"
"Yeah, I do, we go through this every morning," Greg climbed out of bed and walked to Nick before taking Molly out of his arms gently. Nick kissed the top of Molly's head and Greg before smiling. Nick let him turn around and wrapped his arms around his waist.
"I just...I think it'd complete our family if we had another kid, one that looked like you..." Nick kissed his neck, feeling Greg break underneath him.
"How would we do that, I don't have any siblings,"
"We could ask..."
"Nononononono," Greg said quickly, shaking his head. "I'm not asking Catherine. I mean, I like her and everything, but I don't want to have a child that looks like her...and besides isn't she a little--,"
"Wasn't going to say that," Nick said, biting Greg's neck lightly to keep him from saying that Catherine was old, and pushing him from the bedroom, following after. "I was going to say that we could ask one of my sisters,"
"And be completely incest-y? Um, no," Greg made his way into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle. As he sat down, Nick sat down next to him, watching as he fed Molly.
"Greg..." Nick glanced up at him and smiled a little before reaching across and steadying his shaking hand. "Stop worrying..."
"I just...I don't want..." Greg made eye contact and blinked. "I don't want..."
"I know...but...I talked to Carol about it in the hospital, and..." he trailed off, pulling away and closing his eyes. "She said she'd be happy to, in a year or so," Greg blew the hair from his eyes and studied Nick.
"You're serious?" Nick nodded. The blonde bit his lip and gazed down at Molly, who had pulled away from her breakfast long enough to smile up at him, as though she was agreeing. "I just...Molly's not much right now, but in a few months she's going to be extremely hard to deal with, especially when she starts teething, and..."
"Which is why we wouldn't even talk to Carol about conceiving for another year...I don't want you to get overwhelmed, G," Nick leaned across the table and kissed his lover, smiling when Greg leaned finto it.
"Me getting overwhelmed, you're the one who didn't take a leave of absence for her..."
"Which reminds me, the lab's getting pretty restless..." Nick said, standing up and taking the coffee pot to the sink. "Everyone's dying to see her,"
Greg groaned again. "I don't want her to get sick...there's still a crate of Carol's milk in the fridge, you know how sick she's gonna get when we take her off that?"
"All the better reason to bring her in soon, G," Nick stopped, letting the water fill, and winced. "And...she's, uh, got an appointment for shots on Tuesday," Greg sighed but nodded.
"Do you work tonight?" Nick shook his head. "We'll bring her in tomorrow, alright? Should probably call Grissom, just to let him know..."
"He'll probably put you to work in the lab, you know," Nick warned, though he wasn't sure why. Hadn't he wanted his friends to see her, anyway?
Greg only shrugged, setting the bottle on the counter and going to the closet to find Molly's bouncing seat. (1) Molly cooed as she was placed and buckled in, and Greg brought her back into the kitchen, making sure she was far from the now brewing coffee. "Doesn't matter, I suppose I'll just have to make Archie watch her or something..."
The Texan chuckled, taking the sugar from the cupboard. He knew that Archie would have nothing against watching their daughter, and shook his head, envisioning Archie's reaction. Greg punched him lightly on the shoulder, grin on his face. "Stop having fantasies about Archie," he elbowed Nick out of the way of the sink, and began washing his hands.
"Hey..." Nick said, furrowing his eyebrows and peering over his shoulder. "Was that really necessary?"
Greg grinned again and looked back with a wink. "Need me to kiss it better?" Nick narrowed his eyes and shook his head, betraying smile fading in. "Knew it didn't bother you..." the blonde muttered with a laugh. "Come on, we've still got to paint Molly's room,"
---
A good three hours passed before Molly began crying again, begging for food. Nick left the room with a wink to Greg, who gave him a blank look and continued with the banner going across the wall. They hadn't had time to decorate Molly's room beforehand, and after everything, Molly was still getting used to Greg and Nick's schedule, getting used to Greg and Nick, that they hadn't had time. After all, this was Nick's first day off since Molly was born, and though Greg would have loved to spend it in many other ways, they needed to get her room finished.
Nick returned with Molly, who was sucking on a bottle, intrigued by her new surroundings. Greg smiled and finished the banner before joining them. "Think it's straight?"
Nick squinted his eyes and peered around the door. "Yeah, it looks pretty straight..." Greg looked down at Molly.
"Think she's gonna like it?" he asked. Nick noticed his voice was shaking slightly and caught his attention.
"Of course she's gonna like it, G..." he assured softly, meeting Greg's gaze. Nick watched as Greg flopped down on the floor with a sigh.
"It's not like she's entitled to or anything, I'm not even...not even related to her," he squirmed as he saw a spider move across the floor and squashed it with the plastic. "I don't know, I just want her to like me when she grows up, and not think that I'm a loser,"
"No one thinks you're a loser, Greg," Nick couldn't even sit next to him, Molly still in his arms. "Here..." he handed the small girl to the blonde and smiled, kneeling next to him. He watched as Molly smiled and let out what the two believed to be her own version of a laugh, making eye contact with Greg. "Told you," he smiled when Greg looked back at him, happiness shining in his eyes.
"I love you," he whispered, caught in the moment. Nick's smile grew and he leaned forward, kissing Greg.
"Love you, too...I don't think we should have her in here very long, I'm doubting she could handle the smell," Greg handed Molly back at Nick's outstretched arms, and took her once he was standing. The older man stood as well, running to get the phone when it rang.
Greg made his way out of the nursery, closing the door and turning on the ceiling fan as he did so. Nick's voice floated through the air, slightly angered, his accent rough. Greg nodded; yes, he was definitely angry.
"It's my day off, Griss, first one in over a month...cut me some slack, please?" he was silent as Greg walked into the living room. Nick sighed, covering his eyes with his free hand. "Can't that...new CSI...the one who replaced...She's away in Hawaii?"
"Oh, I've always wanted to go to Hawaii..." Greg mumbled softly. "Could've taken me with, but alright..." Nick shot him a glare, which shut him up. Greg only shrugged, walking into the kitchen and cleaning Molly's bottle.
"Yeah, but we're...no...No...yeah...Of course...You don't have to...No. Yeah. Yeah. You do?" Nick glanced up at Greg, who was currently on his way to grab a diaper. He stopped midstep, noticing Nick was watching him. "What about..." he listened a moment, trying to understand why Grissom was calling him in so late, and just nodded. "We can't just leave her at the lab, Griss. Yeah, I know, I trust Archie with my life, but..." he thought again, nodding as Grissom spoke. Greg raised an inquisitive eyebrow and stared at him, Molly fussing in his arms. Nick motioned for him to stay a moment longer. "Okay. See you in an hour," Greg let out a sigh.
"You were called in, weren't you?" he mumbled unhappily, barely reacting when Nick pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"We're both being called in, Griss wants you to work lab for a while," Greg's eyebrows furrowed.
"What? Why?" Nick shrugged.
"I'm not sure, something about a shortage of people and..." he shrugged again as he headed into their bedroom to change. "Is Molly's bag ready to go?"
"Yeah, for the most part..." Greg was suddenly glad he had dressed only an hour before hand and that Molly had the decency to keep her food down instead of burping it back up. He trooped to the nursery solemnly; it was Nick's night off, Greg had taken a leave of absence...so why did Grissom think he could just call them in?
He packed the rest of Molly's bag, thinking of all the horrible things he could say to Grissom but wouldn't dare. After all, he had to admire the guy; another year had passed and he was still going strong as the nightshift supervisor, even without Sara. Greg shuddered - he had never saw Grissom and Sara coming, not even when it was right in his face. Though, he couldn't really judge them - all the CSIs, excluding Catherine, hadn't noticed a thing about his relationship with Nick - it was something ongoing between the lab rats.
---
The drive there took a good hour, being in rush hour traffic, as well as Vegas. Nick drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, peering out at the cars as Greg sat in the backseat, next to Molly. "This is the first time we've had her out since she came to us, you know," Nick was momentarily sent back into memories.
"Yeah..." he suddenly remembered Carol's face, tears falling down as she gave Molly up for them. She had such a hard time, and only after she had stayed a week more, ensured Nick and Greg would take good care of her, had she left, happily.
Nick was suddenly aware that Greg was watching him in the rearview mirror. "You're thinking about her, aren't you?" he asked softly, not breaking eye contact. Nick nodded slowly, breaking away to make a turn.
"She was just...she was so heartbroken that first night we took her home, Greg..." he shook his head, memories from the night of Molly's birth floating through his head.
"I can't blame her," his lover whispered from the backseat. He looked at Molly, who was smiling as she slept. Greg pressed his fingers softly to her cheek, smiling back at her. "Mother or not, who'd be happy about leaving her?" he rubbed his thumb against her cheek, hoping she wouldn't wake up. She fussed, smile growing bigger before she settled again, barely pressing against Greg's hand.
"I feel so guilty about taking her in, you know? Like maybe I should've invited Carol to stay as well..." Nick continued, shaking his head as he drove closer to the crime lab.
"You did what you had to," came Greg's quiet response, think with emotion. Nick glanced back, Greg still smiling down at Molly. "Carol did what she had to,"
"And what about you?" Nick pressed softly. "What'd you do?" Nick caught Greg's gaze in the mirror again. Greg didn't say anything, his eyes begging for Nick to understand. And he did. It was so much easier for the couple to communicate in gazes; after years and years of flirting and looks to tell the other one how they felt, it seemed easier to look and understand rather than stumble over words that wouldn't end up sounding like the right thing anyway.
They arrived at the crime lab, Nick grabbing the backpack from the backseat as Greg carefully took Molly's car seat from the car. "Stop worrying," Nick consoled wit a quick kiss. "Everything's gonna be okay," Greg could only nod, nerves eating up his vocal cords. He wasn't worried about Molly - she kicked out when he had been holding her and smacked her leg against the corner of a table, and hadn't even winced. Greg beat himself up over it when she got a nasty looking bruise, but she didn't care or even notice.
No no, it wasn't Molly he was worried about. It was the two of them; the lab hadn't ever had a gay couple come in with their daughter, or son, for that matter, and he wondered what everyone would think. He didn't want to endanger any of their lives - more so Molly and Nick than himself - and though he couldn't imagine anyone in the lab hurting any of them for their lifestyle, he couldn't shove the fear from his mind.
"You coming?" Nick asked, already halfway to the building. Greg nodded quickly, walking quickly to catch up, trying not to wake Molly until absolutely necessary. Nick's hand pressed into Greg's lower back comfortingly when he caught up, smile brightening Greg's spirits.
Nick opened the door for Greg, careful of the edges of Molly's car seat. Greg caught Nick's eye, getting the familiar feeling in his gut, the one he always got when he was sitting in a dentist's office. Nick simply nodded, smile still vibrant, and pushed Greg with the hand that had returned to his lower back.
The couple walked to the break room, flashing smiles back at people they didn't know. Nick began to wonder if he came to the right lab when he opened the door and was greeted by numerous yells. A pair of arms wrapped around Nick before he could comprehend what was happening, and people were craning their necks to see Molly. He turned to Greg, who was currently looking more worried than ever, and smiled at him. Greg smiled back, and set Molly on the table, carefully unbuckling her with shaking hands. Wary of her head, he lifted her out, listening to the others talk about how cute she was with a smile on his face. He pulled her to him, laying her head on his shoulder. Nick was suddenly standing beside him, looking very flushed and embarrassed. Greg gave him a quizzical look, Nick refused to meet his eyes and he decided he'd ask him about it later.
"Oh, Greg...she's so pretty!" Catherine said, voice quiet as she pulled her hair from her face. "Molly...right?"
Greg nodded, subconsciously rubbing his cheek against Molly's head. "You wanna hold her?" he asked. Catherine's eyes were begging for it.
"Is that alright?" she asked, already outstretching her arms. Greg handed Molly to her with a smile, turning back to Nick for a moment.
"Hey, what's up?" Nick finally met his gaze, face still red from embarrassment, eyes filling with tears, Greg unsure as to why.
"I, uh...I'll be right back. Bathroom," he turned from Greg, rushing from the room, leaving his confused lover behind him. Greg slowly turned back to Catherine, who was staring after him curiously.
"What's wrong?" Greg could only shrug, at a loss for words. Catherine eyed him. "You can't just let him go, kid. In order to make a relationship work, you have to communicate. Go after him," she didn't hand Molly back, and when Greg opened his mouth to speak, she shook her head and interrupted him. "Don't waste your words on me. Molly'll be fine, I promise I won't let her out of my sight. Go ask him what's up,"
Greg smiled and rushed from the room, looking in lab rooms and even Grissom's office after checking the bathroom and finding it empty. He offhandedly figured out that calling the two in had simply been a plan to see Molly, and he was relieved. He hadn't wanted to keep Molly locked in a DNA lab all night anyway. He peeked into the A/V lab, Archie peering at his computer screen intently, barely registering Greg was there with a 'mmrph...' and typing something in on the keyboard. Obviously Archie hadn't seen him, or else he'd be on his ass with questions about the two of them.
The car. Greg walked from the lab to the parking lot to their car, seeing Nick leaning against it, head against the window. Greg was quiet as he walked up, careful not to scare him when he finally whispered 'hey' a good ten feet from him. Nick looked up, surprised, and Greg was glad that he hadn't cried about...whatever had gotten him upset in the first place. "What happened?"
Nick motioned for Greg to come closer, and kissed the top of his head once he was close enough. "I...I think I was just offered sex by a swing shift CSI..."
"What?" Greg asked, somewhat amused. Something flipped inside of him at the thought of losing Nick to a swing shift CSI and jealousy coursed through him.
"She, uh, said something about how you didn't...weren't my type, and that, uh..." Nick shook his head. "That we could make a prettier child than you and I could," Greg groaned. "I don't think she was...really aware that Molly isn't a product of the two of us...but..."
"You're not going to leave me, are you?" Nick lifted Greg's head, quizzical look on his face.
"Why would I leave you?"
"You just freaked out over someone telling you that they wanted to shack up with you. Either you were planning on leaving or you were scared or--,"
"Or I had to get away from her in order to keep my fists away from her dumb ass," Nick said bitterly, recalling the moment again.
"That bad?"
"That bad." Greg pulled away, taking Nick's hand with a smile.
"Come on,"
"I can't go back in there, Greg,"
"Still scared of the bitch who's trying to steal you away? I'll keep you safe," Greg lost his balance, tripping over the crack in the parking lot, Nick barely being able to catch him.
"Thanks, but I think I'll be the one keeping you safe," Nick pulled him up with a kiss to the tip of his nose.
"Come on, lemme be the guy at least once...Please?" Greg gave him a look as Nick pulled away with a laugh, and dragged him back into the lab. "You never let me in bed..." Nick shot him a look, and at his reaction, Greg grinned.
Nothing had changed since they left, the CSIs and lab techs still fawning over Molly, who was placed back in her car seat. An arm suddenly rested on Greg's shoulder, and he turned to his right, where Nick was moments ago. Archie smiled at him, Nick on the other side. He didn't say anything, just walked past them, heading towards Molly. "Hey, Arch?" the AV lab rat turned back and raised an eyebrow. "What...happened to everyone?" Nick looked at the room, noticing that the nightshift CSIs were no longer with them.
"Homicide. Griss needed everyone he could get, 'cept you guys," he winked and managed to steal a place between Bobby and Henry to admire Molly. Greg turns to Nick, eyebrows raised. The Texan crossed his arms.
"Nice to know we're needed," he finally muttered, put out that he came in to introduce everyone to Molly only to have everyone leave.
His only response was a grin as Greg pulled Nick closer, looking at him with wide eyes. "Happy?"
A kiss was his only response.
---
Molly was based off my nephew. And yes, I believe Greg would be afraid of spiders and dentists. Well...not dentist's anymore...(1) bouncing seat - like a little vibrator chair, kind of gives the illusion you're in a car...My nephew has one, and it settles him down pretty quickly.
Now, for the final chapter (I know, I know...another one when this one took so long for me to update? Don't worry, though, it's more than halfway done...if I like it, that is...), I need a childs name - a boy, preferrably. Right now there's just brackets where his name is supposed to be, so...you know...it's be great if you could help me out.