



are highly recommended. 


| BRUNSON, EMILY: "Boxing The Compass." No Link* | |
| 01/03/04 188 kb |
Nick
Stokes/Gil
Grissom. Nick discovers he's gay and begins a relationship with Gil Grissom. |
| Tonight,
twelve years later and several hundred miles from
Texas, mostly sober and with plenty of women around, he had
absolutely no
excuses. |
|
| "Oh,
just kiss him already," someone had said at the club,
he had no idea who, and so Brendan had. Enthusiastically.
And yeah, he'd kissed back. Which left him here, in Brendan's
apartment,
half his clothes off and the rest in the process of becoming off, on
his back on Brendan's bed with Brendan's tongue in his mouth. |
|
| Can't quite rationalize this one the way you did in college, can ya, Nicky boy? | |
| As
you'dexpect with anything by
Emily Brunson, this is
very well written and has a sweet emotional intensity. And nobody
will be surprised that there's a whole lot of emotional torture
involved - Emily Brunson
loves to pile the angst onto poor Nick! *Emily Brunson has temproarily taken down her Emland website. |
|
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BRUNSON, EMILY: "Common Hours." No Link* |
| 01/08/05 406 kb |
Nick
Stokes/Gil
Grissom. Six months after Nick left his job in Vegas and headed back to Dallas, Gill visits him there to find out why. |
| The
sudden silence felt as if someone had
thrown a heavy fire-retardant blanket over the room. Now that he was
here, he had no idea what to say. How are you? What’s up these days? He
couldn’t make the words pass his lips. Too empty, too easy and
superficial, even if they were completely and utterly safe. Safe wasn’t
why he was here, was it? Safe would have been not calling when he’d
called. Safe would have been doing the work he was in this colossal
metroplex to do, and getting back on the plane and going back to the
city he preferred, the city where his life was. No, this now, this
wasn’t safe. Anything but. |
|
| This is a
nice romantic
relationship story as Grissom finally gets a clue about why Nick
left. At times, Emily Brunson's Nick is a little too needy for my
taste, but overall I enjoyed this story immensely. *Emily Brunson has temproarily taken down her Emland website. |
|
|
BRUNSON, EMILY: "Hell/ Canada." No Link* |
|
01/03/04 439 kb |
Nick
Stokes/Gil
Grissom. Nick is traumatised after his encounter with his own personal stalker, Nigel. He tries to return to work as normal, but falls apart and flees to Canada. |
| It
was hard to work with Grissom now. Hard to work
with everyone. And when he woke up in the middle of the night,
just
about every night, with broken dreams of black-rimmed glasses and his
own brains spattered all over his walls, he pretty much found it hard
to work, period. |
|
| Catherine treated him like he was made out of spun glass. Way too understanding. Grissom was a fucking Vulcan, without any trace of understanding that Nick could see. Warrick, everybody -- too much. He hated going to work. Not the work itself, but the feeling. Like he had a bull's-eye painted on his back. Two times now. Two endless spans of time spent looking down the barrel of a gun and thinking about exactly what that bullet was going to do to him. Because he knew, oh yeah, crazy Nigel had it right. Nick knew. | |
| "Hell" is the
same as
"Canada" until a pivotal point towards the end of the story when Nick
confronts
Nigel. In
"Canada", there is a quick resolution, but in "Hell", Nick is kidnapped
and suffers horribly at the hands of his kidnapper. I couldn't
read this section of the story - yeah, I'm a wimp - but the rest is
very good. *Emily Brunson has temproarily taken down her Emland website. |
|
| BRUNSON, EMILY: "Greece." No Link* | |
| 01/08/05 20 kb |
Nick
Stokes/Gil
Grissom. After their return from Canada, Gil and Nick encounter some discrimination at work. |
| "Hey,
Eckley," he heard Nick call, a perfectly normal, friendly voice. |
|
| Eckley appeared around the corner. "What?" | |
| "Wanted to ask you something." | |
| Sotto voce, Catherine said, "I don't think this is good." | |
| "Nope," Warrick agreed. "Griss?" | |
| Gil stood up in time to hear Nick ask, that same friendly, just-us-grunts tone: "Was wondering if you knew of a good dentist." | |
| Eckley smirked, and Gil's stomach tensed. "Why, you getting TMJ?" | |
| "Nah." Nick's smile didn't waver, but turned as cold as any Gil had ever seen. "Just thinking you're gonna need one." | |
| If Eckley'd been smart, he would have taken his cue to duck, but of course Eckley wasn't that smart; too full of his own sense of self-importance to think that way. "What?" he asked, and that was when Nick punched him. | |
| This story is
a sequel to
"Canada" and is fairly short with a sweet ending. *Emily Brunson has temproarily taken down her Emland website. |
|
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BRUNSON, EMILY: "Statistics." No Link* |
|
01/03/04 209 kb |
Gen.
Nick is going off the rails and nobody can understand why – and Nick isn't co-operating with anyone who tries to find out |
| Getting
the answer's easy. |
|
| It's figuring out what the question is that's a bitch. | |
| There
is a hint of a possible
relationship developing
between Nick and Gil at the very end of this story if you've got a
great imagination
<g>. Naturally there's a whole lot of Nick angst in this
one, too! *Emily Brunson has temproarily taken down her Emland website. |
|
| CRANE,
CAROLINE:
"All The Places." |
|
| 01/08/05 13 kb |
Nick/Greg. Greg is exhausted but when Nick refuses to drive him home in case anybody notices they are more than just friends, he's furious. |
| He managed to get himself home without falling asleep at the wheel or hitting anything, but when he turned off the engine he just sat there for awhile, staring up at his apartment building. And maybe it was the fact that he'd just watched a family implode today, or maybe it was his own pathetic love life that was bothering him, but suddenly his life felt really empty. | |
| Caroline
Crane is a really
prolific author in this fandom and most of her stuff is very
readable. This story is a nice look at a misunderstanding between
the guys. |
|
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CRANE, CAROLINE: "Cake." |
| 01/08/05 13 kb |
Nick/Greg. It's Greg's birthday but it doesn't look like anyone at work has remembered. |
| That was the weird thing about being out in the field – in some ways he felt like he'd been more a part of the team when he was still working in the lab. He couldn't put his finger on why exactly, but it was almost like they were treating him differently now that he was training to be a CSI. The rookie treatment he'd expected, maybe even a little hazing. But he hadn't really expected the standoffishness from Warrick and Nick, or the weird looks from Sara. Most of the time he got the feeling that none of them thought he belonged out there, and no matter how much he tried to tell himself it didn't bother him, sometimes it got under his skin. | |
| This is quite
a sweet story,
with none of that awful " let's pretend we've forgotten his birthday
until he's so miserable he could kill himself and then we surprise him"
stuff which is not only cliche but also one of my pet peeves. |
|
| CRANE,
CAROLINE:
"Heaven In A Wildflower." |
|
| 01/08/05 13 kb |
Nick/Greg. Nick's always been a little naïve, in Greg's opinion, but then he has to explain liquid lube to him... |
| It wasn't his fault. Most days he could handle it, he could do his job and ignore the fact that he was surrounded by so many really hot people. And he was starting to wonder if there was some kind of attractiveness clause in the Clark County hiring guidelines, because the amount of hotness really was off the charts. | |
| Sara, Warrick, Catherine, Nick...especially Nick, and especially today. Even Grissom could be considered attractive, if you could get past the weird, encyclopedic knowledge of bugs and his unnerving ability to make Greg feel like a complete idiot. And okay, not everyone who worked for Clark County was ridiculously attractive, but the ratio was pretty high considering. | |
| This is
nicely done, although
short and it cuts out before they've even kissed. |
|
| CRANE,
CAROLINE: "Lock
And Key." |
|
| 01/08/05 271 kb |
Nick/Greg. Nick gets all he wants for Christmas. Then he has to figure out what to do with it. |
| He
was wearing his blue lab coat, the one that brought out his eyes, and
there was a string of silver garland hanging around his neck. His hair
sparkled in the fluorescent lights and Nick could only assume he'd
somehow gotten hold of some glitter, and just for a second Nick almost
regretted ducking out of the party when he did. "You look like a
Christmas tree, man." |
|
| "Better than looking like Scrooge," Greg shot back, smirking at Nick's stern expression. "What are you doing hiding out back here? You got something against holidays?" | |
| This has some
of my favourite
story elements in it, including coming out to colleagues. I like
the Greg characterisation in this - not too cocky (pardon the pun) and
not too wimpy but a nice place in between. I do get a little
tired of Greg being the bottom all the time,
but the sex is still hot. |
|
|
CRANE, CAROLINE: "No Great Cathedral." |
| 01/08/05 49 kb |
Nick/Greg. Nick is a young cop in Texas and Greg is a college student on a convention when they meet and have a very sexy one night stand. |
| "You don't have your gun on you, do you?" | |
| Greg's voice was a lot closer now, and it took Nick a few seconds and a couple tries to process the question. "What? No, why?" | |
| "Just making sure you can't kill me for this," Greg answered, voice moving closer and by the time hot breath brushed his lips Nick got it. He surged forward into the kiss, lips parted and when he heard a low groan he recognized the sound as his own. He couldn't make himself care, though, because Greg's tongue was in his mouth and his hand was sliding through Nick's hair and it had been too long since he did this. | |
| I like this
one a lot,
especially the hot sex <g>. |
|
|
NEKO:
"Moerer." |
| 01/08/05 14 kb |
Nick/Greg. The title of this story is the latin word for "grief", which should give away the plot, yes? |
| I feel as though I'm sinking, trapped underwater by some unseen force. Panic tinged voices swim above me, the words lost to the crashing of the waves. I'm not even sure they notice me. In truth, they probably don't. | |
| I'm pretty sure this is someone's idea of a joke. A twisted, sick, completely unfunny joke. Because there is no way he's been shot. I saw him, spoke to him. He was here, laughing and smiling and making plans for breakfast. And that can't have been taken away from me. It can't. | |
| Any minute now he's going to come through those doors, a grin spread across his face. And we'll joke about how freaked Grissom was. And then we'll go out for breakfast, because that's what we always do. And he'll complain about the eggs being too runny. Even though he knows and still orders them every single day. | |
| Because he hasn't been shot. He hasn't. | |
| The language
in this, the way it
unfolds so smootly and naturally, is a joy to read. Another in my
collection of
excellent death stories. |
|
|
NEKO:
"Parchment." |
| 01/08/05 14 kb |
Nick/Greg. I can't come up with anything better than the author's description of the story: "Sometimes it rains in the desert." |
| The first time, he woke up alone. | |
| Stared at the ceiling and listened to the pitter-patter of rain against his window. Soft edge of darkness creeping across the room and he didn't move until his alarm rang. Harsh and deafening in the silence and he threw aside the covers. Made his way into the bathroom and avoided the mirror, knowing what he'd see and not wanting the reminder. | |
| Extremely
well-written story,
the language in this is to die for, not to mention the title and all
that that implies. What a joy to read such a beautifully
constructed story. This one may not appeal to some as it's not
hhjj but I found the endinig satisfying and hopeful for the
future. Highly recommended. |
|
| NEKO: "Something Like Instinct." | |
| 01/08/05 20 kb |
Nick/Greg. Nick and Greg are in the showers at work after a CSI baseball game. |
| He knew it would happen eventually. He just didn't expect this to be the cause. | |
| Because really, there was only so much information a person could process before they succumbed to sensory overload and lost it all. Their brain shutting down as part of some odd defense mechanism and, in the end, all that was left was blissful blankness. Greg always assumed it would happen sometime after he discovered the missing link to the human genome. | |
| This is
basically a PWP - but an
extremely hot one. |

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