TITLE: Too Far

AUTHOR: Demon Faith

SPOILERS: Scuba Doobie Doo

SUMMARY: Greg heard.

The apartment was quiet, and that alone stopped him in the doorway.

“Greg? Are you home?”

“No.”

The terse reply made Nick jump and the appearance of Greg, angry and radiating pain, made him instantly reach out.

But his hands were slapped away, and Greg stared him down, breathing hard.

“I heard you.”

When Nick’s face remained blank, Greg’s eyes shadowed and he all but snarled “Talking to Catherine. ‘CSI wannabe’.”

Nick closed his eyes and bit his lip.

“We have to misdirect them, you know that.”

“No, we don’t!” The voice was desperate, and it cut into Nick like a knife. “When did we decide this? Grissom knows! Why do we have to keep us a secret?”

Nick sat heavily on the couch. He didn’t want this conversation. But Greg was upset, and Nick knew it couldn’t end well. For several minutes, there was only the sound of harsh breathing, of muffled voices from the outside world, the echoes of their words.

“You’re ashamed of me.”

“No! Never!”

Nick stood then and reached for him again, but he stepped back.

“You can ignore me standing too close, you can repeat ‘friend’ until the day dawns at midnight – but you insulted me to Catherine! I work for that respect, Nick, and I earned it today. And you...you had to keep up appearances.”

Greg stumbled back into their room and emerged again with a holdall. Nick froze in horror. This wasn’t happening, this couldn’t be happening – one conversation with Catherine, a few words out of place...

“Where are you going?” He could hear the panic in his voice, but Greg just shook his head.

“Motel. You need to decide if I’m important enough for you. And if not...” he shrugged and trailed off, and Nick met his eyes. His hollow, glistening eyes.

Nick barely noticed the click of the door; he just sat. Greg had...walked out.

“Leggo my Greggo,” he whispered bitterly.