Second Chances?
Clarity
Scifiroots
Disclaimers
apply.
Pairing: Gil/Greg
Summary: As part of the au_abc challenge, we take a visit to college days where one
Gilbert Grissom happens to be a guest speaker for one of Greg’s classes.
(un-beta’d May 24, 2006)
“Yo, Greggo! Wake up, man, we gotta
get to class!” With that, Greg’s sheets and comforter that had been holding in
the heat were yanked away.
“No...” Greg
groaned, burying his face in the pillow.
“Hey, no skin off my back if you’re dropped from the class because
you’re always late.”
Greg lifted his
head and looked around blearily. “Fuck, is today Thursday?”
“Yeah, now come on.
We start a lab today!”
Scrambling out of
bed, Greg muttered incoherent apologies. His roommate rolled his eyes and
walked out. Greg stood in the middle of his shared, messy room. The mess was
all his, Nick tended to sleep over at his girlfriend’s more often than not. That
meant he had the room to himself most of the time—nice, especially considering
he was only a sophomore and that usually meant being stuck in the cold,
salmon-painted, cramped dorms on the edge of campus.
If only he could
find clean clothes... there! In the corner he spotted a pitiful pile of “clean”
laundry tossed haphazardly over textbooks from last semester.
“Shit, I need to
sell those.”
Greg hurried into
the bathroom, regretting that he didn’t have time for a shower. He did his
best, considering his time limit, to fix his bleached hair in a familiar
“Greg-do.” He brushed his teeth quickly and then ran out into the small common
room. Warrick and Nick were both waiting. Nick waved a granola bar in the air
as Warrick tossed Greg his book bag.
“Thanks, guys.”
Greg snatched the granola bar from Nick and bit into it immediately.
“See you later,
Jim!” Nick yelled before they left.
Warrick locked the
small apartment’s door and they headed off. “You’re getting better, Greggo,” he commented. “Used to be it would take a small
miracle to get you up and ready in under an hour.”
Making a face, Greg
responded, “I can’t fuck this up—I need this class. I want this class!”
Nick punched his
shoulder lightly. “You got in just fine and you’re shaping up your act. You
shouldn’t have any problem keeping up.”
“Don’t give him a
big head, Nicky,” Warrick warned. “He’s got enough of an ego boost being the
youngest in the class.”
“I’m not that full
of myself!” Greg protested. “And I just figured out what I wanted to do faster
than you guys.”
Warrick and Nick
were both seniors, although this fourth year would not be their last since both
had decided only the year before to major in criminal investigation. Greg would
be majoring in forensic science, with a focus on DNA analysis. Nick’s
girlfriend, Sara, would actually finish before him. Like Greg, she had gone
into college with an idea of what she wanted to do. She was currently in her
junior year and taking all honors courses along with the required classes for
her forensic major.
“We might actually
get there early today, surprise, surprise,” Nick remarked with a glance at his
watch.
“Don’t jinx us,
buddy,” Warrick said.
~ * ~ * ~
The approach of
spring break made everyone restless. Even though Greg loved his forensic
investigations seminar, he found it hard to focus on the professor’s voice. He
had some hope for the day’s class since a guest speaker had been slotted to
speak for two and a half hours on current forensic methods used in criminal
investigation in the state of
“Hey,
Greg!” Sara greeted,
waving him over to a seat in the third row.
He joined her,
asking, “Why are you here? Don’t you have a class now?”
Sara waved her hand
dismissively; she looked about to burst with excitement. “I talked to my
professor—I just had to be here for your speaker! He came to my class last year
and he’s...” She widened her eyes and made some hand motions that Greg guessed
he was supposed to interpret.
“Yeah? Who is he?”
“Dr. Gilbert
Grissom,” she said, eyes alight with anticipation. “He
currently woks at the LVPD. He used to be in
The rest of what
Sara said went in one ear and out the other—he saw his professor enter the
lecture hall with the speaker. As they came farther into the room, Greg felt
his world narrow to focus in on a disturbingly familiar Dr. Grissom.
Oooookay. The guy had
said his name was Gil, hadn’t he? Shit. They’d never exchanged full names, that
hadn’t exactly been important at the moment. The only really important thing at
the time had been to get into one another’s pants. Not that there hadn’t been
any conversation—because there had been, and Greg was intrigued enough to leave
the guy his phone number and chance asking for a “real” date including
conversation and dinner, or something. He’d been really hopeful about it, too,
since Gil had looked interested and kissed him goodbye— But
that was three months ago and there had definitely been no follow-up.
“Hey, guys.”
Warrick jostled Greg out of his daze as he sat down. “Taking in the sight of
Nicky’s rival?”
On the other side
of Sarah, Nick protested, “Hey! Whose side are you on?”
Greg gave a weak
smile. “Well, she was just going on-and-on about him.” Nick mumbled something
along the lines of “tell me about it.”
Warrick nudged Greg
with an elbow and leaned in. Quietly he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Ah... nothing
really,” Greg said, deciding on partial truth. “I just didn’t expect to
recognize him.”
Sara jumped on
that. “He has a number of articles published in several forensic journals. You
might have seen his picture in one of those. Or you might have caught him on TV
during a big case, he usually doesn’t speak to the press but he can be seen in
the background.”
“You’re obsessed,
Sara,” Warrick said calmly. “Give Nicky a break.”
Sara frowned and
turned to her boyfriend. Warrick and Greg exchanged a look.
“Please get
yourselves settled and we’ll begin. It is my pleasure to present to you Dr.
Gilbert Grissom from the
Oh fuck. Greg
realized that Sara had picked their seats for its prime location directly in
front of the podium, at just the right height for the speaker to see if he
looked straight ahead.
~ * ~ * ~
Despite his
anxieties of running into a one-night-stand in a most unlikely situation, Greg
found himself unable to hold back. He brought attention to himself by asking a
series of questions, drawing Grissom into a mini-lecture about the ability to
extract human DNA from the blood consumed by certain insects. After the lecture
closed, Greg took his time putting away his notebook and pens, only partially
aware that Sara was doing the same and that Warrick and Nick had settled back
in their seats expectantly. The other students of the class filed out, a
handful stopping to talk to the teacher or Grissom.
Finally they were
the only ones left as Grissom collected his notes and shut down his computer.
“Dr. Grissom!” Sara
called as they stood up.
Heart in his
throat, Greg watched as Grissom looked up, his expression suggesting that he
hadn’t realized they were there. There was a moment of confusion and then a
flash of something that looked like wariness crossed his face before his
expression closed, politely blank. Greg swallowed painfully, wishing he hadn’t
stayed.
“Miss Sidle, I
believe?”
Sara’s smile had to
be hurting her cheeks, Greg thought as he hung back.
“Just Sara is fine,
Dr. Grissom.”
“Nice speech, Doc.
I’m Nick Stokes, her boyfriend.” Nick offered his hand although the set of his
shoulders radiated tension and his eyes were flinty.
Warrick quickly
stepped in. “Warrick Brown.”
“You can drop the
‘doctor’ if you like, but please don’t resort to ‘Doc,’” Grissom said with a
mild smile. He shook both men’s hands, his eyes flickering to Greg.
“Um,
uh... yeah. G-Greg
Sanders...” he managed to mumble, sticking out his hand awkwardly, glad that it
wasn’t shaking.
Was it his
imagination, or had Grissom’s smile warmed a bit?
“Yes, we’ve met
before, right?”
“Y-yeah...” Greg
stuttered, carefully taking back his hand and not sure what to do with it. He
stared at the hand dumbly, completely lost.
“You didn’t tell
me!” Sara accused, her gaze settling on him like a physical weight.
“Well, we never
were formally introduced. It was more of a... passing acquaintance.”
Greg was glad he
wasn’t watching as that was said. He grimaced to himself and quickly pulled his
hand back against his body, folding himself in to take as little space as
possible. He’d love to get out of here if he wasn’t afraid of raising suspicions.
It seemed like the
world was plotting against him—
“If you have the
time, would you mind having lunch with me? I’m interested in hearing more your
feedback and would like to hear about the methods you’re learning.”
Greg stuffed his
hands in his pockets, glancing quickly at his friends from the corners of his
eyes. Warrick was frowning at him in concern; Sara’s attention was on Grissom
so Nick’s attention was on Sara. God, lunch was the last thing he wanted to do.
“I’d love to,” Sara
gushed.
“I think I should
get to work on a report,” Warrick said, shifting slightly so that he stood
closer to Greg. “What do you think, Greggo?”
Lifting his head
up, Greg chanced a look at Grissom and was stunned to find a look of
desperation aimed at him. More confused than he’d been in a long time, Greg
decided he shouldn’t ditch yet.
“I think it can
hold for an hour,” he told Warrick.
“If you’re sure...”
Greg gave the guy a mental thanks. Warrick was a good friend and incredibly
perceptive—that should help him out in his future career.
“I guess,” Nick muttered.
“There’s a great
soup and sandwich place across the street,” Sara decided.
“That sounds fine.”
Grissom turned back
to his stuff and finished putting things away.
“Need some help?”
Greg asked, deciding to try a bold front.
Grissom
quirked a smile. “Which
would you like?” He indicated his laptop bag and briefcase.
In response, Greg
grabbed the laptop. “Lead on, fearless leader!” he said to Nick. He could see
Warrick shaking his head at the edge of his vision.
~ * ~ * ~
An hour later, Nick
insisted on walking Sara to her next class. She seemed to finally catch on to
his unease and agreed with little protest. Greg was still mulling over a piece
of chocolate cake, hoping to get a chance to talk to Grissom alone. Throughout
the meal he had been picking up on some rather hopeful signals. Problem would
be getting Warrick to take off...
“You have another
class today, right Greg?”
Hoping he’d take
the hint, Greg answered with a smile, “Just a night class. You know I get back
to the room late on Thursdays.” He glanced sidelong at Warrick and was relieved
that his message seemed to have gotten through.
“Right, I’m mixing
up my days. That means I’d better get back to that report, though.”
“Okay, see you
later.”
Warrick stood up.
Before he left he gave a quick wink.
“I hadn’t thought
you might be in a class with Sara.”
Greg shrugged,
demolishing the remains of his chocolate cake by mashing his fork through the
frosting. “Fair enough, I had no idea you’d be showing up in the classroom one
day.”
“I picked up on
that,” Grissom said with a slight smile. “I didn’t imagine our next meeting
would be like this.”
Greg dropped his
fork and leaned over the table. “Really? What did you
imagine? ‘Cuz it wouldn’t have taken more than a phone—“ he
sighed, cutting off his bitchy rant. He laughed self-consciously. “Um, sorry. It’s just... I had been looking forward to
seeing you again. ‘Figured that wasn’t going to happen by
this point.”
“You have every
right to be angry, and I apologize. I ran into a tough couple of cases, one of
which involved a friend’s family. As things were calming down, I didn’t have
any idea what to say if I did call. By the time I finally worked up the nerve
to make the damn call, I couldn’t find your number.”
Shaking his head in
wonder, Greg chuckled. “Are you serious? I decided that I’d struck out and
found a guy married with kids who went off on the weekends on occasion to get
his kicks.”
Grissom looked
appalled. “I hope you’re joking.”
Greg grinned. “Nope. But now that things are getting cleared up, you want
to tell me how you imagined our next meeting would go?”
Grissom looked at
his watch in consideration. “Hmm. I’m not sure I’d
have the time now... I need to get some sleep before shift. What time are you
done with classes tomorrow?”
Hearing the tone of
someone trying too hard to play innocent, Greg decided he’d play along. “By three-thirty. Why? Did you have an idea?”
Grissom met his
challenging gaze with a smirk. “You might say that,” he agreed. “How about I give you my number so that you can call me when you’re
ready. We’ll head across town for some dinner.”
“Breakfast for you,
I suppose,” Greg said, the tingle of excitement racing along his nerves.
Grissom shifted
closer and Greg caught his breath. “Of course, the food will only be a part of
the evening’s plans... After all, I owe you a detailed explanation of what I imagined, correct?”
Mouth dry, Greg
licked his lips. “Yes. That would be... great.”
Another smirk and
then Grissom was close enough that his breath tickled the surface of Greg’s
ear. “Tomorrow, then.”
Greg’s eyes
fluttered shut. “Sounds perfect.”
~Fin~