iluvroadrunner6 | Greg and Archie

i'm going to be working on some things that aren't "Crossing the State Line" for a while because a) i need to seriously sort out where both cases are going, and b) i feel like it's swallowing my life. so, i'll be finishing/working on some things i had sitting on the back burner for a while like, for example the ficathon i'm supposed to be finishing!

Title: New York, New York
Author:

iluvroadrunner6
Rating: FRT
Characters: Greg Sanders and Archie Johnson
Prompt: Ragna's CSI Vacation ficathon (stolen wallet, late flight, lost hotel reservations)
Content Warning: N/A
Summary: This was not Archie's week to go on vacation.
Author's Note: Written for

goddess_loki. I actually felt bad for Archie while I was writing this. I didn't mean to pick on him the whole time, but I did. I'm not sure if this was what you had in mind, but here it is. Oh, and I know that somewhere in his history that Greg supposedly lived in New York for a year, but when I wrote this, I kind of pretended that didn't happen. I love AU.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of CSI or CSI:NY. They're owned by CBS. However, Archie's brother is of my own creation, so please don't steal him.

“New York, New York”

Greg was bouncing like a kid on caffeine as he and Archie sat in the airport, waiting for their flight to New York to come in. Archie chewed briefly on his gum as he then gave his friend a look.

“I’m beginning to regret asking you to come with me on this,” the Asian man replied, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Sorry, man,” Greg sighed, flashing the man a grin, “I can’t help it. I’ve never been to New York before.” He managed to calm himself for a second, but then he was back to bouncing off the walls again, “We can go see Central Park, and see a Broadway show, and the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty and—”

Archie had asked Greg if he wanted to come with him to visit New York City, when Archie went to visit his family over the summer. Archie had expected Greg to say yes, but he hadn’t expected this younger, overly excited version of Greg to take over and not let go. He wasn’t sure he wanted Greg to meet his brother like this.

“Look, man,” Archie sighed, “I don’t know if we’re going to have time to do all that. We are only going to be there for a week. And I do want to spend time with my brother and his family.”

“Oh,” Greg replied, his face falling slightly. He glanced around for a second, rubbing the back of his neck as though uncomfortable, “Can we still go see a Broadway show?”

“Sure, Greggo,” Archie replied, “We can still go see a Broadway show.” He watched as the smile returned to the man’s face, and he was back to being the caffeine crazy kid that he was all of two minutes ago.

This is gonna be a long week.

***

Five hours later, their plane was sitting on the runway, still haven’t taken off yet. “Yeah, man,” Archie sighed into his cell phone. There was some kind of technical problem with the motor of the plane, and they weren’t going to be taking off for a while, “We’re still in Vegas. God only knows when we’re gonna be getting in.”

“Well, don’t worry about it, Arch,” Mike Johnson said to his brother, “You guys are staying in a hotel, right? So call me when you get in, take a cab to the hotel, and I’ll meet up with you there.”

“Alright,” Archie sighed, “I’ll see you when we get in.”

“See you then,” Mike sighed as he hung up, and Archie’s eyes fell on Greg. Despite the five hour delay, Greg had not, in anyway, lost his bounce.

“It’ll all work out,” Greg told his friend, patting him on the shoulder, “Always does.”

“You’re optimistic.”

“We’re going to New York, man. Greatest city in the world. How could things not work out?”

Archie didn’t have the heart to tell Greg that not all New Yorkers were not going to share this sentiment. He knew New Yorkers could be somewhat brutal when they wanted to be.

“Greg, just be careful when we get there, alright?” Archie sighed, running a hand through his dark hair, “New York’s like Vegas. People think they can take you for a fool they will.”

“I know that,” Greg replied, “But still. There’s something about—the idea of New York. It’s magical.”

“Uh-huh,” Archie sighed, having heard people say the same thing about the casinos in Vegas.

“Thank You For Flying…”

Three hours later, they were in the air over Vegas. Greg had fallen asleep the minute the plane had taken off, and Archie was wondering how he did it. All the energy he had had in the terminal, and he was out before Archie could even blink.

“Everything to your satisfaction, sir?” the stewardess asked, stopping at his row.

Would have been if the plane had taken off on time, Archie muttered in his head, “No. Everything’s fine.”

“Would you like a pillow?”

“I have one, thank you.”

“A blanket?”

“Yes, I have one.”

“A cool refreshment?”

“No, that’s alright.”

“Something to eat?”

“No, ma’am. I’m fine.”

“Peanuts?”

“NO!” Archie practically shouted at the woman, and she jumped back in shock, before muttering a quick ‘enjoy your flight’ and disappearing into the first class area of the flight.

Archie took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves before deciding to follow Greg’s example and get some sleep. As he settled himself into his seat, Greg shifted slightly, stirring quietly out of his seat.

“But I wanna go to Central Park,” he mumbled before rolling over and going back to sleep.

Oh yeah. It was definitely going to be a long trip.

***

By the time Greg and Archie actually arrived in New York City, it was close to two AM. They reached the hotel around two-thirty. Archie was still arguing quite loudly with the man at the front desk around three.

“What do you mean you don’t have our reservations?” Archie growled, “I called and checked the confirmation twice! Twice! We are in the damn computer.”

“Sir, please, lower your voice,” the man replied calmly, “We do have guests here who are sleeping. And I’m very sorry, but your name isn’t in our computer. Do you have a confirmation number of some kind, or maybe it’s under another name?”

“We’ve been over this,” Archie replied, “No, I don’t have a confirmation number, no it’s not under another name, and yes, I’m certain that we are in that computer.”

“Look, Archie, just relax, OK,” Greg said, pulling his friend away from the desk, “Look, sir, we just got off a very long flight, we haven’t gotten much sleep. Do you have any rooms available for us to have for the night, and make another accommodations tomorrow?”

The man at the desk studied the two men carefully, before nodding his head. “I’m afraid it only has a double bed, though.”
“We’ll take it,” Greg said quickly before Archie could object, Greg put the room on his card, grabbed the keys, and pushed his friend in the direction of the room while whispering, “If it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll sleep on the floor or something, but we need somewhere to sleep, alright?”

Archie shook his head, “It’s fine, Greg, it’s just—this is really frustrating, ya know?”

“I know man, but it’s late. Let’s just get some sleep and we’ll start fresh in the morning.”

Yeah. He’ll call his brother in the morning, they’ll find a more permanent place to stay, and things will all be better in the morning.

Hopefully.

“And This Just Keeps Getting Better”

“I thought you said you confirmed the reservations,” Mike complained through the speakers of Archie’s cell phone as he and Greg rode the subway over to his cousin’s apartment.

“I did, the damn computer lost them,” Archie replied, “We managed to get a room for just the night but we need a place to crash until we find something else. And you know how hard that’s going to be in this city.”

“Why don’t you just let them stay here, Mike?” a woman’s voice drifted through on the speaker, and a grin crossed Archie’s face.

“Why don’t you listen to your girlfriend, Mike?” Archie nudged, and he heard his brother let out an exasperated sigh.

“Fine,” he said, “You know how to get here right?”

“Yeah, I know how to get there.”

“Well, I’ll see you in a few.” As Archie hung up the subway car lurched forward, and the man standing behind Archie lurched into him, pushing the thin Asian man into the pole he was holding onto.

“Sorry about that man,” he mumbled, pulling himself off Archie, and Archie shrugged it off.

“No problem.”

It wasn’t until later, when Archie was fumbling around in his pockets searching for his wallet that he realized what the man had done.

“Asshole stole my wallet!” he raged.

Greg quickly paid the man for the hot dogs, and then escorted his angry friend down the street in the direction they had been heading, talking him down as they proceeded to his brother’s apartment.

Once they got there, Archie wasn’t as angry, and Greg had called and reported the wallet stolen, while Archie called and cancelled all his credit cards. Mike had been quite amused by poor Archie’s plight, and had teased him about it since he found out it had happened.

Mike’s girlfriend, Kaile Maka, had been significantly more sympathetic than her boyfriend. The three of them got to talking and making plans of things to do about the city once the whole mess got sorted out and they were actually able to enjoy their vacation.

***

“C’mon boys, let’s go!” Kaile shouted back into the guest room as there was a knock on the door. “God, I feel like I’m their mother,” she whispered to Mike, who laughed as he went to answer it. The four of them were getting ready to go out to dinner, and then possibly to see a movie. Greg had tried talking them into a Broadway show, but they dismissed it, saying maybe later in the week.

Mike frowned when he pulled open the door to find two detectives standing there. “Mike Johnson?” the taller one asked, pulling out his notebook from his pocket.

“Yeah?” he said, the frown deepening.

“This is Detective Flack,” the shorter one began, “I’m Detective Messer, we’re from the New York crime lab. May we come in?”

“Kaile—” Mike said, turning as Kaile came to the door.

“There a problem guys?” Kaile asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Mr. Johnson, this isn’t exactly easy to say,” Messer began, as Flack stepped off to take a phone call.

“Not easy to say?” Mike frowned, utterly confused.

“Spit it out, Messer,” Kaile said, her hands landing on her hips, “What the hell is going on?”

“Well—” he began, but Flack cut him off, whispering something in his ear, before Danny continued, “Just dropping by to inform you that we located your brother’s wallet at a crime scene, and although we do need to hang onto it for evidence purposes, we would like to make sure everything is intact, just in case the perp may have gotten rid of some of his belongings.”

Kaile cocked her head the side, studying to the two men, “You thought Archie was the vic, didn’t you?”

Danny shot Kaile a look, “If you understood the details of the case, you would know that this was not as idiotic as you’re making it sound.”

Kaile shook her head, before turning back to the direction of the guest room. “Hey Archie! They found your wallet.”

“Are you serious?” Archie said, as he came around the corner, he recognized the brown leather sitting in Danny’s hand, and he nodded, “Awesome!”

“They also thought you were the vic in their case,” Mike added, and Archie blinked at the two men in front of him for a second. There was a long pause before Archie spoke up again.

“Do you need anything from me in regards to my wallet?” Archie asked, and Danny nodded.

“We just need you to—”

“Viva Las Vegas”

“—You know, this vacation turned out to be not so bad,” Archie nodded as they sat in the airport terminal next to Greg, “Despite it’s train wreck of a start, everything turned out OK.”

Greg was sitting next to him, elbows on his knees, chin in his hands, pouting like a kid who’s mother told him he couldn’t have any candy. Archie turned to him, and when he saw his friend’s posture, he frowned.

“What’s wrong, Greggo?” he asked, “Sad we’re going home.”

“No,” Greg pouted, not looking over at his friend, “We didn’t see a Broadway show.”

Archie rolled his eyes before leaning forwards so that he was looking at the man, “Tell ya what? When I come out here for Christmas, I’ll bring you with me, we’ll go see a show, how does that sound?”

“Really?” Greg perked up, “Ya mean it Archie?”

“Yeah, Greggo, I do.”

The smile that crossed his face was so bright, Archie couldn’t help but smile with him. Then, the Greg from the beginning of the trip returned, the one bouncing up and down like a kid on caffeine. Archie felt a strange sense of déjà vu wash over him, and then groaned as the announcement came over the loud speaker.

“We’re sorry ladies and gentlemen but flight 825 non-stop New York to Las Vegas has been delayed for approximately two hours. Again, we’re sorry for the delay, but your flight has been delayed approximately—”

“Oh, God,” Archie groaned, burying his face in his hands, “Here we go again.”

Greg and Archie - New York, New York

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