A/N: So it's been over a year since I've published on here, and even longer since I've posted a CSI fic (my other one was a Nick/Greg). So I may be a little rusty, so please bear with me while I get all the kinks out. Now, with that said, this is an AU fic in that some of Greg's background isn't completely canon and obviously the relationship. I also haven't watched CSI in a long time, I used to be an avid watcher, and as such this story probably won't follow canon that much; it's not really about the lab stuff anyway. I may reference things that happened in the past in the show but that's probably it. However, if you see a really blatant error that goes too much against canon, let me know. I do admit that I can make mistakes in terms of that. Oh, I did add Norwegian and stuff because I want Greg and Nikki to speak it, but it will always be translated and I want use it much so it shouldn't interrupt the flow. I just want everyone to be aware they speak it regularly with each other, I most likely going to have it play a part later in the story. Please read and review!! I love reviews! And read the author's note at the bottom, I need opinions! Enjoy :)

Disclaimer (for all remaining chapters): I do not own CSI or anything affiliated with it, except some DVDs and an Episode guide for seasons 1-3.

"Come get your coat, Nik," Greg yelled down the hall to his daughter.

"I'm coming, Pappa," Nikki said back as she grabbed her backpack from the floor by her bedroom door.

Greg was rushing around the house like a madman making sure everything was set to send his daughter off on the bus to school that morning. Most mornings were always like this, crazy. He would come in from his graveyard shift around 6 am. Just in time to start breakfast and wake Nikki up at 6:30 to get ready for school. He would help her pick out an outfit, though she was becoming more adamant by the day about picking her own clothes, get dressed and eat breakfast. After breakfast she would brush her teeth and make sure everything was packed for school. Greg would make sure she had a nice lunch, and then get her out of her room, into a jacket and out to the bus stop at the corner of their town house. Mornings were always hectic, especially the mornings Greg came home late because his shift ran long, or the day shift tech arrived late.

"C'mon, Nik the bus is going to be here any minute."

And with that he heard the patter of little Sketchers on the hardwood floor as his 8 year old daughter skidded to a halt in front of the coat rack. Greg smiled as the small brunette in pigtails zipped up her pink jacket and headed for the door.

"Vente på meg," (Wait for me) Greg said as he opened the door for the small girl.

"Du er så langsom, Pappa." (You are so slow, Daddy.)

They made it to the bus stop just in time for her to hop on the yellow bus parked outside. She giggled loudly when she saw her friends waving at her from inside the bus, and skipped towards the open door.

"Bye, Pappa!"

"Bye, Nik," Greg yelled back as he watched the school bus pull away from the curb. He thought it was supposed to get easier putting her on the bus to school every day, but it never did. Greg sighed and walked back into the house, ready to crash from the long shift.

He made it to his bedroom, pulled off his clothes and climbed into bed, clad only in boxers. Just as he was about to start dreaming of Manson concerts and summers in Oslo, his cell phone buzzed on the bedside table. He considered ignoring it, but he resisted the urge and picked it up.

"Sanders."

"Hey G, how's it going," came Nick's Texan drawl.

"Not good since I've just been denied my very necessary beauty sleep. You know it's how I look so devilishly handsome, right?"

The Texan laughed on the other end, "I was hoping you'd say that. Want to come over?" Greg smiled.

Nick lived ten minutes from his house. Greg decided losing a few extra minutes of sleep was worth the drive over to climb into bed next to his lover. "Give me ten minutes."

"I love it when you say that," Nick replied.

"See you soon."

Greg got out of bed, found his sweats and pulled them on. He quickly cleaned up in the bathroom, not ready just yet to show up at Nick's place completely unkempt. He pulled his overnight bag out from inside the closet. It was already half packed since these sleepovers were becoming more frequent between him and Nick. So he added a set of clean clothes, grabbed his cell phone and keys and headed out the door. His silver Jetta pulled into Nick's driveway ten minutes later, and Nick had the door open right away.

"Were you watching out the window for me to get here, cowboy," Greg teased as he clicked the alarm button for his Jetta.

"I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of a certain someone, yes, but that doesn't mean I was pathetically waiting at the window. It was just a coincidence."

"Sure it was." Greg greeted Nick with a small kiss before following him inside, their hands intertwined. They had perfected this routine; Greg showed up, Nick met him at the door, and they walked back into the bedroom, crashing together in a tangled mess of limbs and blankets.

At 4 o'clock Greg stirred to find the bed beside him empty. He took a minute to regain consciousness when the delectable smells of a home-cooked breakfast reached his nose. 'Mmm,' Greg thought as he untangled himself and walked down the hall to the kitchen.

"How did I get this lucky?"

"I'm not sure, it may have something to do with your incredible charm," Nick laughed as he flipped three slices of French toast onto the plate along with a few slices of crispy bacon.

Greg digs in, shoveling bite after bite into his gaping mouth. "Mm, just the way I like it."

"Slow down or you'll choke."

"Thanks, Mom," Greg said as he obliged by at least chewing a few more times than he had been.

"Greg."

Greg looked up from his plate, mouth full of food, using his eyes to tell Nick to continue.

"You know, these past few months have been really amazing. I haven't been with anybody who makes me feel as happy and comfortable as you do. I can't imagine my life without you by my side. I know where I stand in this relationship. I'm ready to settle down, be with one person forever. That's what I'm looking for; that's what I want. And I want it with you."

Greg swallowed. He did not expect such a proclamation right now, today. He had been having a great time with Nick too. He really enjoyed his company and he could see he was falling hard for him. But he had spent many sleepless nights thinking about his situation. He had a daughter that no one knew about except for Grissom, who had promised to keep it quiet until Greg was ready to make it public. He hadn't told Nick yet about Nikki. He kept his dating life separate from his life with Nikki. He didn't want her life to become complicated and difficult because he had a never-ending parade of guys in and out of the house. He wanted Nikki's childhood to be as smooth and calm as possible. It was hard enough for her to be raised by a single dad, whose parents still lived in Norway, and have to realize that her mother never wanted her.

"Nick, are you positive that's what you want," Greg started slowly.

"Absolutely positive."

"I want it too. I've had such a great time over these last few months, but I have something that I've been hiding from you. Please let me explain completely before you say anything. It's a long story, and I want you to hear all of my reasoning before you get upset or change your mind or whatever your reaction might be. And remember, this is really hard for me and something I don't take lightly."

"Greg, you can tell me anything."

"I'm sure you've noticed that we have never gone to my house to spend the night or hang out after we go out. Well, it's because I have someone who lives with me, someone who is really special to me, the most important person in my life. She's 8 years old and she's wonderful. Her name is Nikki, and I had her with my old girlfriend back in Norway. We were 18. We had just broken up when she found out. We broke up because I told her I was gay. She was deadset against having the baby, and had already made an appointment for an abortion. In Norway, you can get a legal abortion up to your 12th week, after that you have to apply and it's usually more difficult. I ended up convincing her to keep the baby and go through the pregnancy. The deal was that I took the baby immediately and never bother her ever again. It was terrible. She waited long enough in the hospital to make sure she was okay to go, and left, not even asking if Nikki was going to be okay. We stayed in Norway for two years until I came here to Stanford. She was five when we moved to Vegas. I have never wanted to bring the men in my life into her life because I don't want her to feel unsettled. I have to know that he's going to last so that she can learn to trust him, count on him the way she counts on me. In her short life she's already had an extremely important person walk out on her. I vowed to never let that happen again," Greg exhaled as the weight of his secret was lifted from his shoulders.

Nick sat on the other side of the kitchen table in complete shock. He had noticed that they never spent the night at Greg's, but he definitely didn't think a daughter was the reason they never did.

"Nick, say something, please. I can't stand sitting here in silence. Please."

Nick heard the begging in his voice, "I noticed that we didn't spend the night at your place, but I would never have guessed this would be the reason."

Greg looked crestfallen.

"But this doesn't change what I said before," Nick started, "I understand where you are coming from, keeping Nikki separate from your love life. I completely respect that choice, and think it was the best choice you could have made, and in the end Nikki will be so much better for it. But, you didn't have to hide the fact you had a daughter. I would have understood if you wanted to wait before I met her or before we went over there. I'm not mad, just shocked and surprised. I want to meet her. I'm not going anywhere, Greg. This, you and me, we work, it's working. We are perfect and I don't want to sit here in this weird middle ground anymore. I want the next step, a committed relationship, completely. Which means, no more secrets, our lives start to become one."

Greg digested this before responding, "Okay. I'm ready for the next step too. No more hiding anything. You ask, I tell. I want you to meet, Nik. Oh god, I do! You'll love her, she's a complete sweetheart. I didn't tell you at first because of the usual reason; no guy wants to hear hey I have a kid on the first date, even the second. But by the time it would be okay to tell you I was too nervous. I was worried that with us being friends for so long you would have expected me to tell you a lot sooner. She's at after-school right now. In fact, her carpool should be getting home in about half an hour. Would you like to meet her tonight? We usually eat dinner and we spend some time together before I get her ready for bed and get ready for work. And I have a nanny that comes and stays overnight with her; she has her own room that she sleeps in, and she leaves when I get back from work."

Nick was startled; he never thought Greg would let him see her so soon. "Okay, that sounds great. I'll help you cook dinner. Wait, you actually cook?"

"Yeah I do. I'm pretty good, too," Greg smirked as he sauntered back to the bedroom to get dressed.

"Then why the hell have I been cooking for us these last 6 months?"

"I think, maybe, my incredible charm."

A/N: So, I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of my story, there will be plenty more where this came from. Now, to my question. I originally was going to start this story with Nikki being older, a teenager, and that's where most of my plot bunnies are hiding, in her teenage years. But I decided the best way to open this story would be with Nick finding out about Nikki and giving some background information, especially since I went off a canon a little bit. So the next chapter will include Nick meeting Nikki for the first time, but after that I need everyone's opinion. Should I skip right to her teenage years and start the bulk of the story there, or progress to there, having some chapters with the significant points between now and when she's a teenager. Keep in mind this story is going to be based mostly on the family as a unit and their lives together, there will be separate scenes with individual members of the family, but it's mostly based on their family as a whole. So please read and review, let me know what you think, and tell me what you think the best way for this story to progress is!