TITLE: Filed Under C for Comfort
AUTHOR: losingntrnslatn (Jennifer, LosingInTranslation)
FANDOM: CSI
PAIRING: Cath/Nick
RATING: NC-17
TABOOS: MILF, Sex in the Workplace
ADDITIONAL WARNINGS: None.
PROMPT: Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered.
DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it from time to time.
Dance Monkeys! Dance!

SUMMARY: Warrick's death brings two desperate and unlikely souls together. Written for the 2008 Dooooooom Challenge, an annual challenge to write taboo fan fiction porn in the Livejournal community of the same name.

A/N: This one could not have been written without the encouragement, prompting, needling, nagging, bullying and downright meanness of one absolutely amazing writer. Smacky30 is truly a brilliant gem in the coal field.

Stress had been her constant companion for a very long time, but this was different. With the death of someone so close to everyone, it was bound to get worse. The fact that the case still remained unsolved certainly did not help. But it was made practically unbearable when McKeen took them off the case completely. He turned the whole thing over to the state investigators, and the entire team felt like they lost Warrick all over again.

With her hands buried in her hair, she gripped her head and fought to keep the burgeoning headache at bay. In the dim light of her closed office, Catherine struggled to keep it all together. She knew people were counting on her, and for once in her life, there was no one for her to depend on when the chips were down. Sam, with all of his faults, would have given her the boost she needed to keep going. Warrick, despite being her junior, had always been a source of comfort and support. Their deaths had cut her to the quick. And while Grissom was still there, she refused to add to his burdens. The man had been in a private hell for many months, and the last thing he needed was her crying on his shoulder.

Drawing in a deep breath, Catherine closed her eyes and worked to find some calm before braving the streets of Las Vegas to make her way home. Lindsey was in Lake Tahoe with her grandmother for the week, and Catherine was not looking forward to the quiet that awaited her in that empty house.

She released the breath in a rush and sat up in her chair. It was time to get going. She opened up the desk drawer to retrieve her purse and saw something catch the light. Upon closer inspection, she found a picture frame stuffed in the bottom of the drawer. Curious, she pulled it out from beneath the folders.

Catherine had expected to find some random picture from a past occupant, or some certificate that nobody wanted to be bothered with. What she found left her gasping for air.

It was a picture some reporter had snapped at a crime scene a few years before. There, in full color, for everyone to see, the whole team, together.

Everyone's backs were to the camera, but she would know them anywhere. The picture was unusable for the photographer that took it, but he emailed it to Greg with some other stuff he had requested for a different case. He told Greg that he didn't have the heart to delete it, because it looked to him like it was an important moment. Greg got prints made and framed them for she and Grissom that Christmas. The picture had been sitting in that drawer ever since.

Even with their backs to the camera, she knew who everyone was. Bewitched by the image before her, she gently ran her finger along the edge of the frame as she thought back to the night it was taken. That picture held a rich and deeply important story. Nick, off to the side and still keeping himself separate from everyone and everything as he struggled to get his life back after the abduction. Greg, not quite joining in with everyone, because he was still unsure of his place in the team. Warrick stood at the back, and from this he seemed to be distancing himself from everyone, as if he feared the pain of loss again. And there she was, just like normal, right beside Grissom, waiting for the signal to proceed. But looking at the picture now, she was bewildered as to why no one noticed the change in the relationship between Gil and Sara. They were already growing close back then, and seeing them standing together like that only confirmed it.

She desperately wanted to go back to that time, to say the things that should have been said, to hold on to that precious moment in all of their lives. And then, without warning, the tears came; streaming down her face into a splattering mess on the glass of the frame. It wasn't long before her shoulders began to shake violently, the sobs of sorrow and regret taking over her body.

It was all just too much to handle alone, and yet there was no one to share it with. She was completely overcome with the grief she had been struggling to keep in check. Collapsing onto the desktop, she wept in mourning of all that had been lost; of innocence, of laughter, of Sam, of Sara, of Warrick, of their team, their family.

Overcome with emotion, Catherine was completely shocked when she felt a warm strong hand close over her shoulder. "Catherine?"

She practically leapt from her chair in shock. "Shit! Where the hell did you come from?" Catherine forgot about her state as she screamed at Nick for sneaking up on her.

Nick raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and answered, "Sorry. You were crying… I was just worried."

"I'm fine…I don't need-…"

"Whatever, Catherine." Nick shook his head and tossed the folder from his hand onto her desk. "Here's the report from my domestic assault. And I'm off tomorrow, so I need to know if I'm gonna be on-call or not."

She took a moment to try and collect herself, looking for the schedule amid the piles on her desk. "Um, yeah…as far as I know we've got the coverage we need for tomorrow, but-"

"But keep my phone charged, just in case. Got it." Nick turned to leave, and with his hand on the knob he paused to offer one last thing. "I know this isn't easy for you, Catherine, but there are better ways to deal with it." He turned his gaze to meet hers again. "And you don't have to do any of it alone."

She struggled to find something to say. When she heard the door handle turn she was finally able to give voice to her thoughts. "I'm sorry." Her words stopped him and Nick twisted to face her once more. "I shouldn't have snapped, and I'm sorry."

Nick leaned his back into the closed door and nodded. "It's okay. I just wanted to check on you, and…" He took a deep breath before he found the strength to finish his statement. "And I wanted you to know, if you need anything, you can come to me."

Catherine regarded him with a weak, but well meaning smile. "Thanks, Nick."

He stepped away from the door and toward her desk once more. "Look, I know Warrick was always your go-to guy when things got rough. And with Grissom all caught up in his own stuff, not to mention the investigation. Well…if you need me, I'm there."

Not until that moment did she realize just how much she wanted to hear those very words. She stood up from her chair and moved to the side of her desk. The weight of her emotions, the burden she felt because of Warrick's death, and the struggles of everyday life had finally worn her down. Catherine tried to speak, to tell Nick everything was going to be fine, but once again the tears began to flow.

Without missing a beat, Nick moved in and wrapped his arms around the obviously overwrought woman. The sobs wracked her body, but there was comfort in the strength of his arms. As she let go of the final vestiges of her control, she felt Nick's sobs matching hers. Their combined pain exploded around them and they wept in each other's embrace.

As the time passed, their embrace slowly began to melt into soothing caresses. Her hands made lazy trails up and down his back, and his soft whispers of reassurance quieted into a warm nuzzle at her neck.

When Catherine turned her head to speak into his ear, she found herself unable to resist the desire to feel the skin of his neck, and she pressed her lips into the space below his ear. The action brought a low and vibrating moan from Nick as his heated breath played over her skin.

Slowly, tentatively, Nick returned her caress. The first feel of his lips on her skin had her clinging to him as her body arched into his.

Catherine could feel his hands working their way up her sides and for the first time in a long while she felt safe. Nick's lips blazed a trail up the length of her neck and along the line of her jaw. Cupping her face with his hands, he finally moved in to capture her mouth. It was all happening so fast, without any thought to their actions. They were only two aching souls in desperate need of human connection to salve their wounded hearts.

His kisses set fire to her skin, but over her mouth they burned into her very being. Hot and intense. She was hard pressed to remember ever experiencing their like before. It literally took her breath away and all she could do was hang on and enjoy the ride.

Utterly lost in the feeling of his body against hers, she marveled at the way it could be both hard and tender at the same time. Her fingers traced the line of every muscle in his back and shoulders, and she was in awe with the strength she found in each one. The energy pulsing through his body practically vibrated through every fiber and she was caught up in the current of their almost electric power.

When his lips left hers and began a slow march along the length of her neck, there was a brief moment of clarity that flooded her mind with the notion that this was wrong. She pulled back just enough that Nick stopped his breathless assault on her neck.

The moment was over the instant she saw the raw lust burning in his haunted eyes. Instead of pushing him further away, she quickly threw caution to the wind. "Oh fuck it." Catherine moved her hands from his heaving chest to his face and planted her mouth solidly over his to return the kiss.

Startled, Nick struggled to deal with the rapid switching of gears, but as soon as her tongue slid over his lower lip he was right back on track. His arms wrapped tightly around her once more, bringing Catherine flush against his chest as he opened his mouth to her.

Catherine twined her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He was holding onto her as though she was the only thing keeping him in the world and she was beginning to feel the same way. Their bodies were so close that she could feel the sweat as it started to soak through his shirt. She was able to smell the evils of the shift steaming off of his skin while his hands roamed over her body.

But even that closeness seemed to fall short of Nick's need. He gripped her ass with his thick fingers and tugged her hips forward, grinding their bodies together. The heat of his broad palms scorched her, even through the material of her pants. Fleetingly, Catherine wondered if later she would be able to make out the ridge detail from his fingertips on her ass.

With every strangled breath, she inhaled the scent of his body, pungent and savory, and completely intoxicating. His lips and his hands were in control of her body as they moved from one spot to another, claiming her, setting fire to her.

When his hands slid up and over her back, her disappointed groan was swallowed by his mouth. She pressed closer, wanting to climb inside his skin and feel the power of his lust. She longed to know what such passion felt like to a man. What it felt like for him to lose control and give in to his primal instincts. Catherine knew only a small part of that feeling, but she wanted to know more and she wanted to experience more of its power.

She tried to give voice to those thoughts, but every word was swallowed by his ravenous kisses. And when she tried to guide him with her hands, he only moved her off balance again, forcing her to hold his neck tightly, or fall over onto the desk. She was practically pinned in place by his solid frame.

The moment she stopped fighting him, Nick surged forward again, bringing her feet off of the floor and leaning her back into the desk. She let go of his neck in time to brace herself atop the many files stacked there. If she had been in her right mind, she might have stopped him to prevent anything from being disturbed on her desk. But as it stood, all she cared about was maintaining her connection to the man setting her entire body ablaze with carnal desire.

Nick loomed over her. His hands left her sides, but she was too focused on his mouth against her skin to even wonder about the loss of contact. When he blazed a wet trail through the valley between her breasts, she realized what he had been doing.

Balancing on one arm, she reached in to find Nick's chin, but when she tried to speak as his gaze finally turned to meet hers, she was again silenced by his lips. Still, she tried to object, tried to share the faint concerns plaguing the back of her mind; the door, the desk, work, files, the way his tongue slid perfectly over hers when he deepened his kiss. Catherine closed her eyes and fought to find the power to voice those dangerous points.

Instead of waiting to find out the meaning of her strangled words, Nick took away the arm she balanced on and pushed her down onto the desk. The only indication that he understood their precarious position came in his barely grunted response. "Locked."

His free hand finished opening her shirt and roughly popped the front clasp on her bra. Just before his eager mouth dove in to capture a pink nipple, he snarled, "And fuck the files."

The hard edge she heard in his barely intelligible words sent a ripple of excitement down her spine. There before her eyes, the Nick she thought she knew was vanishing, and in his place was a man consumed by his needs, his desires. But the part that surprised her more than anything was that she wanted it all.

As he continued to devour the tender flesh of her breasts, suckling and nipping, driving her insane with desire, she found herself desperate to get closer to him. She began to tug and pull on his shirt until the back of it was bunched up in her hands. It must have finally registered to Nick what she doing, because he straightened up in a flash and ripped the shirt off over his head, tossing it onto the floor. For just a second, she had a glimpse of his incredible body and she smiled lewdly in appreciation.

His mouth once again on her breasts, Catherine clung to Nick's shoulders, her fingers digging into the taut muscles, as she arched into him. When he teased one of her nipples with his teeth she was unable to fight the reflex it triggered and her nails tore a trail through those defined lines on his back.

He groaned with the burning pain of her nails raking through his flesh. But instead of pulling back, he ground his pelvis against hers. The only thing Catherine knew at that point was that she wanted more; much more.

Her leg curled around him, as she brought it up from his calf to his hamstrings. She reached the curve of his ass with her heel and brought him tight against her body, grinding against him shamelessly. And each grind of their bodies against one another only served to make her more and more aware of the effect all of this was having on him.

Before he could move his mouth from one breast to the other, Catherine wriggled from his grasp a little and reached down between their bodies to find the hardness buried under a thick layer of denim. She was able to rise up slightly as she stroked the well-defined line of his erection beneath his jeans.

She began tugging on his belt buckle, and he straightened to allow her access. She sat up and worked the leather free of the buckle while Nick returned to nuzzling in her neck, sucking and licking the skin already raw from his stubbled face against her delicate skin. His breath playing over her roughened skin was a decadent distraction, but she was determined to find the source of that thick rigid line exposed through his pants.

The moment she got his belt unfastened, Nick once again invaded her mouth and stole the breath straight from her lungs. His tongue pushed past her lips, delved deep inside her mouth, leaving room for neither air, nor sound. She had only her body for communication, and it responded without bidding at every turn.

Not wasting another moment, he brought her back down to the desktop in a rush, knocking the picture frame into her chair and sending a few more files scattering across the floor. She could feel the freed buckle of his belt pressing into her hip as Nick ground into her once more.

Tearing his mouth from hers, leaving her panting for air, Nick tweaked one aching nipple between his fingers and used his mouth to place a slurping wet suck on the other. Catherine writhed beneath him as his nimble fingers tickled down the length of her body to the waistband of her slacks. At first she thought he was merely going to continue undressing her slowly, but he barely managed to unbutton and unzip them when his right hand dove into the front of her pants and settled over her drenched panties.

The feeling of his long fingers and wide palm over her sex was maddening. It was maddening because she wanted a great deal more. Her wait was not long, as Nick began to stroke her through the sodden silk.

As her body began to move in rhythm with his strokes, Nick used his other hand to start sliding her slacks over her slender hips, and down her supple thighs. Her shoes had been long since kicked away, so when he finally got the pants past her feet, he simply tossed them into the same corner as his shirt.

Each stroke of his masterful hand pressed deeper and harder, until her panties seemed to yield to his touch. He simply pushed the wet panties aside and dipped his middle finger into her dripping folds. Dragging the callused digit through her cleft had Catherine wound up so tight, that the instant he knocked into her clit she nearly cried out. The only thing to save her from screaming was Nick's tongue plowing into her mouth just as his lips closed over it.

When his fingers thrust inward, opening her to him more, she gripped his bare shoulders with all of her might. Her nails dug into his flesh as he slowly worked his finger in and out of her body. Her moans of unadulterated pleasure were lost to the voracious hunger of his kiss.

She writhed with the tension his hands and lips created in her body, and Catherine struggled to find a release. Whimpering in frustration, she brought her heels up along the back of his thighs and hooked them together and brought him in hard against her.

Pulling back, Nick looked down at her. Placing one hand on her hip to hold her still, he began to rock his hips. Catherine gasped in surprise when she realized Nick had managed to push his pants down over his hips and was slowly dragging the tip of his swollen cock over her clit.

The feeling of his hard, weeping prick rubbing against her body was enough to make her muscles spasm in anticipation. Suddenly, she understood that it was really going to happen, right there in her office. She bit down on her lower lip in an attempt to clear her head from the fog of desire.

She tried to draw herself up from the desk, but Nick grasped her hips and yanked her closer to the edge of the desk, pounding their bodies together in the process. His cock was pinned between them and he tilted his hips to stroke it up and down through her slick folds. Instinctively, her hips rocked to meet him, every cell in her body aching to be filled by him.

The agony of his teasing was too much and she was about to demand that he finish what he had started when Nick roughly grabbed her right leg and lifted it up into the air, throwing it over his shoulder. Catherine was abruptly rolled partway onto her side, forcing the last stack of files onto the floor and sending her scrambling for something to hold onto. There was no time to protest his actions before she felt him dragging her underwear aside. Then he was pushing into her, his full weight bearing down with him.

The air left her lungs in a rush as she felt his balls slam into her ass. He was buried deep within her eagerly grasping cunt with one swift move and she could feel her body stretch to accept every inch of his cock. Stopping only long enough to firm up his grip on her thigh, he pulled her up a little more and then slowly began to pump in and out.

Her breathing fell in time with his thrusts, and she struggled to stay on the desk, even with his iron grip on her raised leg. She was sure there would be fingernail marks in the top of her desk from the white-knuckle grip she used to keep from getting thrown off it.

When his pace started speeding up Catherine could feel her walls clamping down on the thick rod drilling in and out of her. The orgasm building low in her belly had her loosening her hard fought grip on the desk.

Just when she was sure she was going to fall, Nick's thrusts slowed and he reached up to remove her leg from his shoulder. Dropping it to meet the other leg on his right side, he had Catherine's whole body turned onto her side. With one more solid thrust he quickly withdrew from her body.

As he pulled out of her, Catherine moaned at the void it left deep inside, but her protests were quickly silenced when he pulled her back further over the edge of the desk and effortlessly flipped her over onto her belly. Her feet had finally returned to the floor, but Nick was knocking them apart as he reached under her to plant his hand low on her stomach, tilting her ass higher in the air. When she felt his other hand lying across the middle of her back she knew what came next, and so she brought her hands out to grip the sides of the desk as she laid her head down upon it.

Even after being fucked sideways, Catherine was still not prepared for Nick's next assault. His weight came down with the hand that rested on her back, and in a blinding flash his cock was once again buried balls deep into her weeping cunt. Her cry was stifled as she bit down on her lip again, hoping the sound did not escape the thin walls of her office.

She felt the most unbelievable need for release building in her body as her walls stretched to accommodate his deeper and harder thrusts. Both of his hands moved to her hips as his pace quickened again and he kept bringing her ass to meet his thrusts, increasing the pounding she received each time. While she knew it was impossible, it still felt as though he was reaching farther and farther into her with every pump of his cock.

Catherine was about to go mad waiting for the climax she could feel bubbling just below the surface. She wanted that moment more than anything else and if she did not get it soon Catherine was sure that she would simply burst into flames.

Just when she was certain that she could take no more, Nick slid his hand down around from her hip and began to tease her clit between his fingers. With each pounding of his cock he would squeeze her nub. In no time she had to bring her hand to her mouth, biting into the heel of it to muffle the incoherent noises erupting from her as her entire body began to quiver and quake with the force of her orgasm.

As she convulsed around him, Nick's stroke became harder, more desperate. He pushed forward, shoving her thighs against the edge of the desk as he continued to drive into her shuddering cunt. When he finally reached the top of his climax his grunted exhales vibrated through his body and rippled into hers, setting off one last sputter of contractions as she milked him completely dry.

His sweat soaked body collapsed over hers in a heap as the last of his strength drained away. Under any other circumstance, she would have shrugged him off, but she was frozen in place by the power of their frantic coupling.

After what felt like an eternity, Nick carefully pulled himself back up to his feet.

Catherine stayed in place until she could hear him fumbling with something behind her, and so she turned her head to get a look. What she saw forced a weary chuff of laughter from her throat; Nick was pulling his shorts and jeans up from around his ankles.

While he fastened the belt on his jeans, Nick scanned the room in search of his shirt and her pants. Slowly, Catherine slid up into a seated position on the desk and tried to find the ends of her bra behind her back so that she could fasten it in the front. By the time she finally had it under control, her gaze fell down to her lap. She was still wearing the same g-string panties, and it made her laugh again. When she looked up, Nick was handing her the pants that had been tossed aside.

"Something funny?" Nick nervously asked as he held out the pants, not once looking Catherine in the eye.

Shrugging, Catherine admitted, "Not funny…just amusing." She took her pants from his grasp and tossed them onto the couch as she shakily got to her feet. Nick instantly held out a hand for her to balance with, and she took advantage of the situation to remove the soiled lingerie.

When she looked up to see his confused expression, she smirked and answered, "I keep extra clothes in my office. I just never imagined I'd need to change them for this."

"Yeah," Nick self-consciously chuckled. "I guess it's a good thing I needed a shower before I came in here, huh?"

Catherine could see the worry on his face, and she felt the waves of uneasiness that were pouring off of her concerned co-worker. In an attempt to alleviate his fears, she stepped into his personal space and laid a sweetly innocent kiss on his cheek as she brought his hand up to rest on his chest. "Thank you… I think we both needed that." A shy smile descended over his face and a blush rose in his cheeks as he looked away once more.

Laying her hand on his cheek, Catherine looked around the mess that was her office and added, "And if there is a next time…"

Nick took in the full scope of the disaster, "No fucking the files?"