[for warrick and karen]

[formerfratboy]

While Nick didn't spend as much time in the lab as his coworkers and other lab-type friends did, he still let the honor fall to him to show Warrick around the place.  He had the nagging feeling that he was supposed to be somewhere, but he couldn't quite remember what he was supposed to be doing.  So instead, he walked Warrick through the lab, talking to him about the various projects and tasks they had going on at the moment.

"And... that's pretty much it," Nick said, gesturing at the lab after he'd given Warrick the walk-through.  "If we were living back in 1980 or something, this would have been pretty cutting edge."  He leaned up against a counter, crossing his arms over his chest.  "And now, we just... make do with what we've got."  At least their lab seemed to be staffed by the best of the best.  Nothing to complain about there. 

He paused, hooking his fingers in the beltloops of his jeans, and cocked his head to the side, then, as if remembering something.  That thing he was supposed to be doing?  He remembered what it was now, and he was going to have one mildly annoyed girlfriend if he didn't get out to her hut soon.

"Hey, man," Nick said, looking over at Warrick, "I've got to run over to Karen's, I left my binoculars over there and she said she was going to start spying on the neighbors if I didn't come get them soon.  You gonna be cool here?"

Comments

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

I know that look. It's one part pussy-whipped and one part oh shit. Now, I'm cool here, and I could let him go, but what's a best friend for if not to get a guy in trouble with his lady, you know?

So I give him the aw, man, you're not leaving me here eyes, and say, "Nah, I'm thinking it's time I meet your lady." Then I pause a beat, smile wicked, and add, "I promise not to call you 'Baby' in front of her."

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

Nick made a face. He knew where this was going to wind up, and it was only going to result in trouble for everyone. There was a reason that he kept most of the women he dated in Vegas away from his coworkers. First, meeting the coworkers was practically like meeting family, which was always weird. And second, they all had way too much dirt on Nick.

"I'm really just going to be there for a couple of minutes," Nick said, trying to reason with Warrick. "Just, you know, grabbing my stuff and going, so it's not like, chatting time. You're, really, you're welcome to just chill here in the lab, I'm sure Griss'll put you to work or something."

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

I shake my head sadly. If he'd said sure thing, bro I mighta let him skate out of it, but now it's a matter of principle.

"That's perfect, man," I tell him. "I meet her, she meets me, we exchange hugs... I say 'hey, thanks for taking care of Nicky for me', and we're outta there before things get awkward." Wrapping an arm around Nicky's shoulders, I steer him toward the door and add, "Then she and I can get together for coffee or something, you know. Get to know each other."

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

"Oh, god," Nick groaned under his breath, letting himself be steered towards the door. "That's just what I'm afraid of." It was bad enough that Karen and Greg got together for, like, Nick-gossiping coffee-parties or something (well, or at least, he imagined they did). Greg was socially awkward and a little weird at times. Warrick... was Warrick. He could get information out of a rock, so Nick was fairly sure that he'd charm Karen and they'd wind up as best friends always talking about Nick's cute little quirks over lunch and, hell, he was doomed. Doomed.

They made their way outside, and despite his better judgement, Nick found his feet carrying him to Karen's hut. "You know, she might not even be home."

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

I can hear Nicky thinking a mile a minute about how bad this is gonna go, and I almost feel bad for him. Almost. But it's way too good to pass up.

This is lady who stole my best friend's heart. I'm honor-bound to make his life miserable, you know, dish the dirt to her. Find out if she's good enough for him, but you won't catch me saying that part.

We walk, and I shoot him a sly grin. "You just go right on hoping, Romeo."

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

The walk's long, but not long enough, and before Nick knew it, they were standing in front of Karen's hut. "Well," he said, grimacing and taking a step up to knock at the door, "here we are."

Everything would be fine. He would knock on the door, introduce Karen to Warrick, no one would say anything embarassing, and they could all go on with their lives. There was nothing to worry about.

Nick took a deep breath, then knocked at the door.

[callofkaren]

Karen didn't really know what had gotten into her, but she'd chosen today as Clean the Hut Up day. Not like she had an entire apartment in there, but a year of stuff still built up into clutter.

It also gave her an excuse to stay away from the compound and, apart from some rounds of Rock Band with Serena, Chuck and Roger, away from Newbie's PS3 when he wasn't around to play it anymore.

When she heard the knock, she gladly abandoned the slowly growing pile of books she'd collected (and she was going to kill Nick for Juicy Mangoes ending up in her hut for some reason, let alone an actual mango she found hidden in a corner) to answer the door.

"Hey," she said happily when she saw Nick, and after tiptoeing up to give him a quick kiss, she caught sight of the other guy behind him. "Hi."

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Nick said, smiling at Karen, one hand settling lightly at her waist. "Figured I'd finally swing by and pick up my binoculars, before you turn into some creepy peeping tom and I wind up having to investigate you."

He looked back over his shoulder, nodding at Warrick. "And this is Warrick, most recently of the Las Vegas Crime Lab and now of Tabula Rasa. Warrick Brown, Karen Filippelli. So, uh, I'll just take my crap and get out of your hair so you can get back to whatever you were doing, right."

No need for long drawn out conversations and chats. Less potential for... well... anything that way.

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

First impression: the lady's fine. Not as pure hot as Kristy, but more Nicky's usual type than Little Red in the diner. She's real happy to see him, too, doesn't even notice me before she lays one on him. And right there's reason number two I know my boy's whipped, because it's sweet, hey, I missed you, not let's get sweaty.

Damn, Nicky, I think. You are a boy scout.

Then she's saying hi, and he's doing introductions, and hustling us out. I clap a hand on his shoulder. "Whoa, hold up, Nicky, my man. What's the rush? We just got here. You wouldn't want Karen to think you're ashamed of me or anything, now would you?"

I push past him to hold out my hand for Karen, and pull up a warm smile like she's about to be my sister-in-law. "Hey, Karen." I nod at her. "Nice to meet you. Nicky's been talking about you nonstop since I got here." Lie, but I figure I owe him one.

[callofkaren]

Karen's eyebrows rose in surprise at first with Nick babbling like he couldn't wait to get away, but it quickly turned to amusement when Warrick introduced himself properly.

She couldn't help but smile happily back as she shook his hand, and not just at the way Nick looked like he wanted to get away. Mostly, Karen was glad that a friend had shown up, because she didn't care how much Nick tried to pretend he was all right about Greg disappearing.

"It's nice to meet you too," she said, and gave Nick a smug, questioning look at that little admission.

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

Nick grinned a bit awkwardly at Karen and shrugged his shoulders. Of course he'd been doing nothing but telling Warrick how great she was. Right! He could go for that!

"Great, so!" He clapped his hands. "This is great. Real nice. I'm glad we're all, uh, here. Together." Not saying anything embarassing or incriminating. "Friends. Awesome. That's awesome."

Awesome in the way that any story that would involve the words hey, did Nick ever tell you about the one time... could possibly be.

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

I shoot Nicky a pained way to be smooth look, then open my eyes wide. Chill, man. Then I turn my attention back to his lady, smiling and shaking my head a little, sorta sympathetic.

"So, Karen, you're gonna have to tell me about yourself. All I can get out of Nicky, here, is 'amazing', 'gorgeous'--" I catch the sunlight shining off a plaque on her door and tap two fingers on it. "And Regional Manager. He's real proud of that."

You owe me hard for this one, Nicky.

[callofkaren]

Karen had to bite down hard on her lip to keep in her amusement at how uncomfortable Nick seemed to be, and as Warrick talked, she thought she had an idea of just why he was.

Of course, when he tapped on the plaque, a small burst of laughter escaped her, and Karen turned an overly sweet smile on Nick. "Thanks, sweetheart. I didn't know you felt that way."

That was about all the teasing she could get in before she'd started laughing again, so Karen headed over to a small pile of stuff on her bed and picked out Nick's binoculars.

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

Nick shot Warrick a glare, that tried to say something to the effect of you're laying it on a little thick there, buddy.

"Oh, of course I do," Nick said with an awkward grin. "You know, always chatting you up to my friends about how... great and managerial you are."

Fail, Nick Stokes. Fail.

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

Nicky's glaring and it's all I can do not to laugh like his lady, there, when he starts in on how managerial she is.

"Think you're looking for the word 'bossy', man," I say, tossing a smirk at my boy. "'Course he means that in the best possible way."

Karen hasn't exactly invited us in, and the huts aren't that big, so I'm leaning in the doorway, watching her and thinking Nicky picked a good one. Or since it's Nicky, she picked him with one soft look from eyes he could drown in. He probably rescued her from some damned thing.

[callofkaren]

"Of course he does," Karen agreed, though there was nothing but good nature behind it. She held the binoculars in her hand, not ready to hand them over to Nick, knowing he'd try to get out there with Warrick as son as he could.

There was probably good reason for it, too. "So, Warrick? How long have you known Nick?"

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

Nick reached out for the binoculars, but he knew that look from Karen. That look said you can't have this until I'm ready to hand it over.

Fabulous.

This was going to go real well.

"I wouldn't say bossy," Nick said, then turned to Karen. "I don't think you're bossy. I know bossy. You're not bossy."

She was too freaking cute to be bossy.

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, she's all right, 'cos my boy's acting like he left his brain in a jar in the lab, and she's still smiling at him like he's the best thing since sex. Or maybe it's the sex, but I'm so not going there.

I watch him figure out she and I are in this thing together and he's screwed six ways to Sunday, then I slouch into my lean. "Me and Nicky go way back. The math on that's kinda complicated, since he's been here a year and a half but the date he left from is two years ago for me. So--" I pause and think it over. 1997, huh. "Eleven years for me, ten and a half for him."

'Cos I'm feeling it, and I can, I grin at Nicky and punch him in the shoulder. "Since he was just a baby CSI, all chubby cheeks and peach fuzz."

[callofkaren]

Eleven years is a long time, full of what had to be hundreds of great stories to hear. The possibility of now being able to hear them filled Karen with nothing short of glee.

Of course, she was definitely happy Nick had Warrick around now, but some things were just important.

"Please," she said, managaging the most innocent look she could, "tell me you have pictures."

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

Nick had a snappy retort all lined up about their early days as CSIs, but then Karen said pictures.

And his jaw dropped.

"Please tell me you don't," he said, looking imploringly at Warrick. It wasn't that the possibility of pictures was bad -- well, if you didn't mind late 90s fashion -- it was ...yeah, it had to be a violation of the man-code or something.

"And I never had chubby cheeks," he insisted. "If anything, y'all should have been force-feeding me sandwiches."

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

Damn, Nicky, no sense of self-preservation. He sets himself up again and again. It's almost painful to watch. Not so painful I can pass this up, it's too rich.

I give Nick the saddest look I can manage when I'm biting the side of my tongue to keep from laughing, then turn back to Karen. "You know, I don't. I had some." I kinda shrug, hang dog. "But when he broke things off between us last year, I just couldn't stand to look at them anymore," I say, and put just enough bitch into it to make it questionable.

[callofkaren]

Karen was pretty sure Warrick was still going on with teasing she so approved of, and she almost lost it for a split second before biting down had on her tongue and keeping a straight face as she turned to Nick.

She didn't even say a word — she'd lose it if she tried to speak — and just gave him a questioning look.

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

Nick, meanwhile, was staring at Warrick with a look that only could be compared to a deer in the headlights.

He knew that the whole buried-alive thing fucked him up -- he wasn't having an easy time of it here, and he'd made plenty of missteps and had a ton of setbacks, but he didn't quite imagine him going that much off the deep end as to do, well, that.

Warrick's statement had caught him so off-guard that he didn't really even have the time to think that his friend was simply messing with Nick's head. Instead, all Nick could do was be really, really confused.

"What the hell did I miss?" Nick asked, eyes wide.

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

Damn, Nicky. What did I miss? I'm working hard to keep it off my face 'cos that's not a conversation a man wants to have with his best friend in front of his lady.

It's not a conversation a man wants to have with his best friend at all.

I clap my hand to my chest, playing it for all I'm worth. "It pains me that you don't remember--" I skip the 'Baby'. I did promise. "--Nicky."

Shooting Karen a look and a wink, I say, "After Griss and Sara, Greg and Cath, Wendy and Hodges...we were the only ones--" Then I punch Nick and shake my head, laughing roughly. "Don't mind him, Karen. My showing up like I did knocked him straight back to stupid."

[callofkaren]

Karen's shoulders shook with laughter she was doing her best to contain, and she shook her head at Warrick.

Actually, she was pretty sure she couldn't talk without bursting into laughter again, so she moved over to Nick and handed him the binoculars. She barely resisted patting him on the cheek.

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

Nick took the binoculars blindly, still staring at Warrick, mouth hanging open while he processed what Warrick said.

It was the Greg and Cath that clued him in.

Cath would eat a kid like Greg for breakfast, then move on to someone a little more... well, the polar opposite of Greg, pretty much.

"You've got to be bustin' my chops, man," Nick said slowly. "You've -- I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that, or anything, with, you know, but --" He cocked his head to the side. "Warrick, come on, man, either my life took some weird left turn or -- man! You're totally playin' me, you have to be."

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

"Nick," I say, eyes closed and head shaking. "My friend, that is just sad."

In more ways than one, but right now I'm not letting myself think about how hard it must've been for my boy, dealing with what happened here on the island instead of at home. I'm not sure I could've done it, man, and that's the stupid thing about Nick. He thinks I'm strong. Boy's an ox.

A'ight, Brown, pull your head back to the game before you lose it, yo.

I do. I shoot him a disgusted look. "And I honestly can't say what's sadder. That you're still not sure, or you actually think I'd be so hard up as to need to tap your ass." Craning my head to look around him, I pretend to look him over. "Not that it's not a fine ass. It is a fine ass, don't you think, Karen?"

[callofkaren]

Karen was half caught between wanting to sit down and laugh for a good long while and half wanting to pull Nick aside and let him know how adorable he was. Actually, she could probably do both later.

She also decided right then and there that Warrick was alright. "I'm gonna have to agree, Warrick."

[formerfratboy.livejournal.com]

Nick's head reeled with the conversation bouncing back and forth. "We're talking about my ass now," he said, almost making it to a question.

He shook his head, finally bursting into laughter when he thought back over the conversation. "Man, you are ... you are something else, Warrick," he said, grinning. "You -- oh, man, just you wait." No one played Nick Stokes like that without at least getting.... some sort of nerdy retribution.

[alaspoorwarrick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, yeah." I mime his gums flapping with my hand. "All talk and no play, Nick. All talk and no play."

Now baiting Nicky is not the best idea. Most of his stuff is pretty played out, but my boy's a nerd. And I never met a nerd who didn't bring his A-game when it came to revenge.

But, it's worth it, you know what I'm saying? 'Cos I got to bust my boy's chops for awhile, and none of us are standing around scuffing our toes in the dirt not meeting each others' eyes while doing the 'who does he love more?' dance. Now? We're all old friends, and me and Karen are gonna get on real fine.

So I sling my arm around Nicky's shoulders, reach out with the other hand to muss his hair, then turn a smile on Karen that'd melt butter in a freezer. "A'ight, Miss Filippelli, you and I gotta make a deal, here. You tell me what my boy's been getting up to on the island, and I'll tell you..." I smirk at Nick. "Anything you want to know."

Within reason. There are some things a man won't dish about his bros. But Karen? She's cool, and I'm guessing that won't be a problem.

[callofkaren]

That was an offer Karen couldn't really refuse. Not entirely anyway; it wasn't like this was the one and only time she would talk to Warrick, she was making sure of that. Nick couldn't be around all the time.

"Nothing interesting to report," she said, giving Nick a look that said he was getting off easy for now. "Unless you count the war the jukebox has on Nick, anyway."

And she was keeping it light, because the rest wasn't her place to say.