Unseen

D.B. Russell made his way down the hallway, a bag of trace in his hands to take to Hodges.

He tapped on the glass and smiled to himself as the tech didn't seem to notice him, and was instead talking to himself. D.B. caught some of the words and he deduced that the man was trying to figure out what to say to Morgan the next time he saw her.

Those two worked well together, they balanced each other out…and they liked each other, though they would both deny it.

"Hodges."

The man's eyes snapped up, and he quickly recovered by saying, "Boss man. What've you got for me today?"

He handed Hodges the bag and quickly explained.

"Some recovered material from our vic's wound. Some sort of metal, it looks like, but we're not sure. Hoping you could run a trace analysis and see what kind of murder weapon we're looking for. Might help us narrow down our search radius."

Hodges nodded, placing the bag on a pile of other evidence bags.

"I'll see what I can do. I've got dayshift's backlog, and Greg's coming back to help me. Says he doesn't mind helping out in the lab on his own time…"

D.B. nodded and smiled.

"Yeah…I think Sanders misses it sometimes, though he'd never say it out loud."

Hodges let out a small laugh and nodded. "You got that right. He left the lab and went out into the field, and that's where he'll stay. He loves it too much, you know. All the action, the glamorous life of being out there in the thick and thin of things."

Russell smiled again and then motioned with his hand as he asked, "So, Greg's still here, then?"

Hodges nodded.

"Yeah. Most likely in the locker room, changing for his shift."

D.B. thanked him and then headed back to the locker room, determined to catch Greg before he got to working with Hodges. He had a couple of theories he wanted to run by him before he got started on working the trace with Hodges.

He then remembered that Nick was just getting off shift, same as Greg, so he could also catch him there as well.

Good. Maybe the two of them could grab some breakfast after work.

Russell had been trying to make friends with his employees…though he hated thinking of them in that way. They were more like a family to him, and he wanted to know them more, as he realized that even though they were all close, he didn't know them as well as he would have liked.

Take Hodges and Elisabetta, for example…or Sara and Grissom, for that matter.

He arrived at the locker room and heard Greg and Nick talking and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Those two were a great team and great friends to each other. They had been there since the beginning, and it was obvious that they knew each other well. D.B. hoped that he could eventually have that kind of rapport with them, and for them to feel comfortable enough around him to let him in.

He started to walk into the locker room and saw them standing close to each other, though they still couldn't see him.

Nick was already changed from his previous clothes, and in place of his plain pants and shirt, he now wore worn out jeans and a faded dark blue button-up. Greg looked as though he was just about to change as he was still wearing his clothes from earlier in the day.

Russell was about to speak up, but stopped when he saw Nick place his left hand on Greg's waist and start to talk to him in low tones.

He then was able to catch some of their words…

"So, you're pulling extra work with Hodges tonight?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah, dayshift keeps on piling on their extra caseloads onto him. I remember what it was like, and I figured he could use some help. It may look easy, but it really isn't, and it's not really fair to Hodges, you know?"

Greg then shrugged and lifted his left hand and wound his fingers around the back of Nick's neck.

They rested their foreheads against one another.

"I guess that means you'll be home late, then, huh?" said Nick, his voice so low that Russell almost didn't catch it.

Greg nodded and then their boss watched in shock as Greg gently pressed his lips to Nick's. He continued to watch, shocked and amazed by what he was seeing…and also upset with himself that he hadn't ever noticed it before.

Their kisses turned heated, however, and Nick soon had Greg pushed up against one of the lockers, their lips still fervently locked together.

Unable to turn away from what was happening, Russell watched as the younger man pressed his hips against the Texan's and he silently shook his head at the sight.

After several long heated moments, they pulled back from each other, their hands on each other's waists, foreheads touching.

D.B. then heard Greg mutter, "I'll see you when I get home, elskling."

Nick had a grin on his face as he said, "I'll be waitin' with IHOP blueberry pancakes, mi amor."

They parted with one last brief kiss on the lips and then D.B. saw that Nick was headed in his direction, so he quickly made his way back to his office, making sure that Nick didn't notice him, the entire time inwardly shaking his head at what he had just witnessed.

He ran into Sara as she was heading in the opposite direction, towards the locker room, he guessed, as it was the end of her shift as well, and he gently grabbed her arm, catching her attention.

"Hey, Sara…how long have Nick and Greg known each other?"

She shrugged and said, "About 13 years, why?"

D.B. did a slight double take at the large number and then asked her, "And how long have they been together?"

She gave him an odd look and let out a chuckle.

"Well, if that's your odd way of asking how long they've been in the field together, then about, uh, four years? Five? Look, I've gotta run, Russell. Grissom's in town, and I promised I'd meet him at his hotel, and I really have to go if I want to be on time…"

Russell waved her off.

"Yeah, go, have a great time. Give my best to the husband."

She flashed him a smile and he gave her one in return, shaking his head at the fact that she had no idea what was going on, and she'd known both Nick and Greg just as long as they'd known each other. Strange. He then wondered if anyone had actually noticed anything between the two of them.

Curious, he turned around and made his way back over to the lab and caught Hodges attention once more.

"Hey, Hodges…gotta question for you."

He groaned and said, "Okay, shoot. But if you keep distracting me like this, I may never get to that trace, you do realize that, right?"

Russell nodded, and then asked him what was on his mind.

"Nick and Greg…how long have you known them?"

"Long time. Why?"

D.B. hesitated, unsure of how to word his question without sounding like an annoying boss who paid way too much attention to his employees' personal affairs, but it was truly driving him a little crazy to think that he might have been the only one to notice.

"Well," he started, being careful with his words. "Have you ever noticed anything…oh, I don't know…anything, uh…"

Hodges let out a bark of laughter and filled in the words that Russell wouldn't say.

"You mean have I noticed the fact that they're in a secret relationship and have been living together for the past two and half years and that no one on the team has noticed except for me and Doc Robbins? Yeah, I've noticed."

D.B. let out a short laugh and gave Hodges a look of incredulity.

"You mean, no one, and I mean not even when Catherine was here, have noticed their…connection?"

Hodges shook his head.

"Nope. Kind of sad, really, when you think about it. They've been dating since Grissom was around and no one ever noticed it, or if they did, they assumed it was just a best friend sort of thing. Why are you so curious? How'd you find out?"

Russell flushed slightly and said, "Well, they must be getting lax because I wouldn't say making out in the locker room at work is low profile, if you know what I mean."

Hodges laughed and threw his boss a smug grin.

"Did you call them on it? Did Sanders go all stuttery and did Stokes try to defend his boy toy's honor?"

Russell laughed and shook his head.

"No, nothing like that…in fact, they don't even know that I saw them, didn't even know that I was there at all." Hodges looked disappointed, but then Russell clapped a hand on his shoulder and gave him a stern look. "Whatever you do, don't bug them about it."

Hodges held up his hands in defense.

"Hey, they don't even know that I know about them, and it's going to stay that way…" He then slyly added, "…Until I need to use it as blackmail for a favor from either one or the both of them."

D.B. smiled again.

"Just don't let me know about, alright?"

Hodges nodded, and Russell walked back to his office, nodding at Greg as he walked past him and into the lab. He saw Nick headed for the door and quickened his pace to catch up with the Texan and then put his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Hey, Nick…want to grab some breakfast?"

"Sure," he said, slightly confused that his boss wanted to hang out with him outside work.

Russell ushered him towards his office with his hand still on the man's shoulder and said, "Great, just let me clock out and get my stuff. Does IHOP sound good? Blueberry pancakes?"

Nick let out a choked sound and his boss laughed, throwing his file on his desk and grabbing his coat from his office.

"Blueberry pancakes it is, then." He then winked at Nick. "Don't worry…we'll save some for Greg."

THE END!

A.N. - First Nick/Greg story, as well as first Slash story, as well as my first CSI story! Tell me what you think!