Abby sat at her computer, internet meeting software running and waiting for her collaborator to join her meeting. She had never done a joint journal article before but found herself looking forward to working with the DNA tech from Las Vegas.

Most people didn’t “get” her, especially other’s in her chosen profession. Before they met her in person they would praise her work, but all too often once they met her they showed disdain for her choices in clothing or music… Greg was the first of her peers to actually share many of her personal likes and dislikes. As much a rebel in his own way as she was.


She was really happy that Tony had introduced the two of them. She never would have guessed the G.H. Sanders, the author of several articles on DNA processing, was nearly her age. She had admired and respected his work for the past few years, ever since he started publishing.

Once they had met and hit it off so well they decided to collaborate on a new article. Abby had authorization to use the labs at NCIS for research during any down time she had. The agency more than happy to fund her research if it resulted in a published scientific article which would increase the prestige of the organization. Greg also could run some experiments but his down time was limited. The Vegas crime lab was very busy and he didn’t often have time to work on his own projects. If it came down to it Greg had said he was certain he knew a place they could get a grant.

The web meeting software would allow them to collaborate even over the 2500 mile distance between DC and Vegas.

Abby checked her watch. It was pretty late in DC but the goth scientist would have no problem staying awake. She had laid in a good supply of Caf-Pow and was waiting for Greg to wake up and sign on. With the time difference he should be getting up soon. They had agreed the best times for their meetings was just as he woke up in the evenings which would be just prior to Abby going to bed. They also agreed to meet during Abby’s lunch time which would be about the time Greg would be getting home in the morning after stopping for a meal or running a few errands.

Abby took a slurp of her drink and settled in to wait for her new friend.


****************************************

Greg stretched in his bed, scars on his back pulling a little with the movement. He felt the warmth of his partner in the bed. Greg lay in the bed for a moment about to snuggle back in for some more sleep when he suddenly remembered he was supposed to start his project with Abby tonight. He had set the software up on his desktop and laptop this week in preparation.

He quickly left the bedroom and went to the living room where he left his laptop. He had spent the day at his lover’s home, but he had yet to add the collaborative software to the computer there.


Abby was really cool. For most of his career he had been the kid. The bright one who was just a little too weird to be taken seriously even if he was smart and he was able to publish articles in his chosen field that were at times used as the standard for certain DNA procedures.

There had been another well known published scientist who he had always wanted to meet, A. Scuito. The journal articles from that author were always concise and informative. Strange that his friend Tony not only knew her but worked with her.

Once he met Abby, he knew he had to try and convince her to publish an article with him. She loved loud music and was as much a non conformist as he was. He would love to bring her to his lab in Vegas for just one shift to see the CSIs react to her and her goth appearance. He would pay good money to see Sara’s reaction to Abby, her clothes, her exuberance, her caffeine addiction and her music.


His laptop finally finished warming up and he opened the meeting software cuing the camera and donning the headset with the mic.

He could see her there waiting for him in a private meeting room.

“Hey Abby! Sorry I’m late. I have this idea about pulling DNA from keratinized specimens... I think I can wash out the keratin and….”

Nick walked into the living room; he had just gotten off shift and went to his boyfriend’s home. He was lonely looking for his love, but Greg was nowhere around. His lover’s laptop was on the coffee table however and it was obvious the younger man had been working on the research for his journal article recently.


Greg had met a “soulmate” in Abby Scuito. Oh not in a romantic sense. According to Greg the young woman was exceedingly bright. He had shown Nick several articles about processing DNA and other forensic evidence, which she had authored. Greg had mentioned that they had similar, though not the same, taste in music and an unconventional way of dressing though Greg had not elaborated on that topic.


Nick had yet to meet the Federal forensic scientist. Greg had met her through one of his Ex girlfriends, meeting her while on a visit to Mel and her family.


Nick was aware that he was jealous of the relationship that Greg maintained both with Mel and her family. He wasn’t really sure why he was jealous. He knew. at least he thought he knew, that there was nothing between Mel and Greg anymore. He had an inkling that at least part of the jealousy was the fact that the whole family treated Greg as a part of them and they knew he was bisexual and had no problem with it. They had even met Nick and liked him. Maybe it was that acceptance, and acceptance he knew he would never get from his own family that made him so jealous. It didn’t help matters that Mel’s family’s personal fortune and political clout made his own family’s seem like the bush league. It also made him more than a little nervous that her parents knew his. They had met at several functions over the years. Thankfully not often, as his parents rarely traveled outside of the state of Texas for social occasions.

What made it worse was the fact that Nick actually liked Mel as a person. She was a cop with NYPD. Several members of her extended family were also in law enforcement. NYPD, ATF, FBI, CSIs in various cities, it made for great discussions and debates when the group was together.


Initially he had gone on the trips Greg took to visit them. One when Greg went to Florida to heal from his burns and then another trip to Florida for a short vacation. After those 2 initial trips Greg had gone by himself for the visits. While Nick had had fun on the trips, it was easier on their relationship if Nick stayed home since he tended to fight with Greg when they both went to visit Mel’s family. He knew he was the one who instigated the arguments and it didn’t sit well with him. Generally he was an easy going guy. They rarely fought with each other at other times, so Nick thought it would be best to spare themselves the drama and just forgo the trips.


It also made hiding their relationship easier at work. The two trips were easy to explain away, Subsequent trips they would probably not be as lucky. If he had kept going it would have raised some questions with their friends. Each man had a reason they did not want their coworkers to become aware of their relationship. Nick’s was because he was firmly in the closet. Greg’s reason was much more complicated. His close friends knew he was bi. All except for the ones he worked with. He had been 21 or so and still dating Mel when Tony was nearly beaten to death while working in Peoria. All because of his bisexuality. Tony had made all of his closest friends, especially the ones who worked in law enforcement or a supporting career, promise to never place themselves in a situation that would allow them to become vulnerable to their coworkers because of their choice of bed partners. Greg had started to explain it to Nick once but the older man had distracted Greg with kisses until the thread of the conversation was lost to passion. All Nick really cared about was the fact that they agreed to stay in the closet even with their friends at work.


Nick was curious about this Abby person. Greg was always very friendly and outgoing but rarely sang the praises of a peer, in the manner that he had about Abby.



Greg was taking the collaboration in this article very seriously. He had quizzed Archie about the best Internet meeting software available, downloading and paying for the subscription of the client. They had been working together for a few weeks. It was interesting because for a change Greg was running occasional experiments in the lab, though he did not ask for samples from his coworkers as Grissom was wont to do.

Nick approached the laptop thinking at the least he could check his e-mail. The laptop was in sleep mode and he toppled some keys to bring up the screen. The top program was the Internet meeting software with several notes, notations, theorems, experiments and results noted on the white board. Nick was impressed with the amount of work both parties had contributed thus far to the article and research.


Then Nick noted the audio video feed for the software was open. There was a young woman on the other end of the connection. She had black hair so dark with her complexion that it was obviously dyed. She wore dark clothes but he couldn’t get a good look at them due to the camera angle. He saw hints of what looked like a spider’s web tattoo on the side of her neck. Her mouth was moving so he picked up the headset to hear what she was saying to him. Once he placed the earpieces on he could hear some sort of loud rock music, similar to what Greg played in his lab but not exactly the same.

He knew this had to be Abby. He could see without speaking to her what attracted Greg to her. They were quite a like in many ways aside from their obvious mutual love of science.

“Hey,” Nick said into the built in microphone. His accent was heavier than normal. Meeting new people even over an impersonal device such as the internet tended to make him nervous since he had been stalked by Nigel Crane a few years ago. It was like he couldn’t trust them if he hadn’t met them face to face. This meeting was only slightly easier for Nick because Greg knew the woman on the other end of the connection.

“Wow!” exclaimed the voice in his ears, pale green eyes going wide. “You must be Nicky.”

Nick ducked his head at the use of the nickname in slight embarrassment.

“I’ve heard so much about you. You’re cute.” Abby babbled on.” I bet you are looking for Greg. I know he was off last night and should be awake now but we stayed online all night and he crashed about an hour or so ago. I thought when the program became active again he was logging back in. Nice to meet you though.”

@@@@@@@

The lab had been quiet today. No new cases for Gibbs team. She had been running sims of the experiments they wanted to run to see what the computer predicted the outcomes would be. Abby was wired on Caf-Pow having stayed up all night or most of the night working with Greg over the computer.



Greg had left their “chat” session to catch some sleep about an hour or so ago. Abby didn’t expect to see him online again until the evening. She had just the question for him in their own personal version of name that chemical compound. She had taken to asking Mary about the chemical compositions of unusual drugs. It was the only time she came even close to stumping the DNA tech.

Once the chat started running and the camera engaged Abby could see that Greg was not the one to open the computer back up. Abby looked at the tall dark haired man on the computer screen. She babbled at him going so far as to tell him how handsome he was. She was sure he wasn’t online to hang around and talk to her.

“When you see Greg tell him that the formula I left on the whiteboard for him is for him to solve… if he can.” She had a slightly evil glint in her eye.

“Solve?”

“Yeah, and oh the category is medications.”

Nicky quickly brought up the whiteboard took a look and silently whistled. The chemical equation was huge. He could tell it was an organic compound but that was it.


“Wow” he said aloud to the camera.

“Yeah” she grinned back. “He introduced a group of us to this game back in NY. We play one another to relieve stress, but we have been getting the answers too easily so we have been looking for more complicated compounds.”

Nick was a little disappointed. He thought that Greg only played that game with him… Well he was pretty sure the prizes were different when Greg played with him.

Abby really put him at ease. He could understand why Greg was so drawn to her. He just realized that she knew about him and Greg, knew they were a couple and she was cool with it. He also realized he wasn’t hyperventilating over that news. Prior to today he could count the number of people who knew on his fingers and have digits left over.

Nick yawned it had been a long night and he really wanted to join his boyfriend on his bed. “Sorry ‘bout that, long night. Nice chatting with you Abby. Hope to talk to you again soon.”

He signed off the computer without getting a chance to check his emails. Thinking of the prizes handed out for their personal game of name that chemical compound had made him anxious to go and find Greg, and if the younger name was sleeping he could wait til he woke up later. He had time.