Ciao everyone! This is my first multi-chapter CSI fic, so please, be gentle if you feel the need to tell me it sucks.

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, or anything affiliated with it…I barely own the plot for this fic, as it was most likely cooked up due to the influence of all of the other CSI fics out there, and everything else in my life…and I'm not going to add a disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter, so what I say here goes for this entire fic. Thank you!

Chapter I: Not what he expected…

"Listen, I said things- Oh God! I wouldn't take me back after that, Cath! I said horrible things to him. I hurt him- I hit him!! Jesus, Catherine, just shoot me for fuck's sake! I don't know if I can live with myself after that, I don't think I deserve to…I don't think he thinks so either…"

"Nicky, this isn't me saying that what you did, whatever it was, was ok, but stuff like this, it happens. You screwed up, you screwed up big time-"

"No, Cath. Screwing up means that you can…that it's possible for you to undo the damage that you've done. I can't undo this. You weren't there, you didn't see, you didn't hear, it was awful…I was a…a monster!"

"Tell me, Nicky, tell me what happened. I won't judge, I'm just trying to figure things out, fix this because what you two have is good-" Nick opened his mouth as if to interrupt. "Yes, have Nicky. I may be the only one here to know about you two so far, but even the others see how perfect you guys are for each other. I'm not giving up on the two of you, alright? So spill."

Nick shook his head, but a glimmer of hope had appeared in his eyes, and he began telling his tale.

The sun had only just risen. It was that perfect time of day when the life of the sun was beginning to crackle in the air and the coveting blanket of night had only just been removed from the city. The best of both worlds come together as one, and certainly the best for a man happily humming a rhythmic tune as he turned his key in his condo's front door's lock.

He was obviously impatient and eager to get inside, if the way he was attempting to push the door open at the same time as he turned the knob was anything to go by. Mistress Moon only had a few more minutes before her sister Sun would take over her watch of the world, and she took the time she had to look down upon the small neighbourhood in the city of sin. She decided then that she would pay special attention to it this morning. Perhaps she would even shed a few tears for the young man whom she felt was about to shed many more. Then again, perhaps she would not. She rarely ever did.

She was usually reluctant to enter the domains of the humans she watched over, but she would make an exception for this one, exceptional creature. It was all she could do.

She watched through the moonbeams that she let slide through the cracks in the curtains covering the windows. In the light cast by the strategically placed lamps, the man's features were much more discernable. Mismatched socks-one stripped purple and green, the other a plain uniform grey- covered angular feet that led to knobbly ankles, skin stretched tightly over bone, hiding none of the movements beneath. Denim clad legs- long, seemingly endless showed the way to slim hip and the place where the denim was swallowed by the softer fabric of a cotton shirt. Black in shade, colour splashed across the front, it hung loose on his frame. Two long, thin arms swung back and forth alongside his body, his flesh even more pale next to the dark of the t-shirt.

Full pink lips parted for his lungs to take a deep breath. His face pulled into a grimace as he pushed the air into his cheeks before letting it out completely. His large, deep brown eyes showed a strange kind of hope mixed with disappointment, as if what he had found behind the door that he had been so eager to open had not been what he had expected.

Nevertheless, a smile formed itself on the brunette's lips, reaching up to make his eyes sparkle. He took a step towards the hallway to his left but stopped as another man stepped out. His smile grew.

The other man also had a mop of messy brown hair on his head and a pair of dark brown eyes, but their similarities stopped there. He had naturally tanned skin and a heavier build than the other, and though his legs lacked the illusion that they went on indefinitely, he stood a good few inches taller than his companion. He was not smiling, but that did nothing to dim the brilliant grin on shorter man's face. What did however wipe the sign of happiness right off of his lips was the step backwards into the shadows of the halls he took that matched his own step foreword.

A look of curiosity pushed his right eyebrow to a high point on his forehead, drew his nostrils together, and curled his lips slightly upwards. "Don't worry, Nicky, I didn't have the pleasure of diving through any dumpsters today, or sewers for that matter. I smell a-ok…"

He only began to worry when Nick took another step backwards without him having moved. "Nick?"

His whole demeanour changed immediately. Of their own accord, his arms spread to his sides, exposing the most vulnerable parts of his body- wrists, neck and chest. His already large eyes grew impossibly larger in opposition to his shoulders that hunched inwards in an attempt to appear smaller, less threatening.

"Nicky, baby, what's wrong? What do you need?"

The shaded man did not move, did not speak.

"Nicky, please tell me what's wrong? Let me see you, let me hold you…" Nick only took another step back. "Please, babe, anything you need, I'll get it, what's wrong, love?"

Something was horribly wrong; the younger one could taste it in the air he was taking in with purposefully slow breaths. The feeling multiplied when the taller man finally spoke. "Greg…"

His voice was that of a broken man, a desperate man. Greg took a step toward his lover, but stopped abruptly when Nick called out, "No! Don't-" He broke off.

"Nicky, honey, you're starting to scare me. Let me take care of you, I'll always take care of you, so long as you let me-"

"Well, maybe I don't want to let you." Nick snarled cruelly. The smaller man hesitated at his tone, but if he was angry or scared, he hid it well.

"Alright, if you don't want my to know what's going on, that's ok, I'll just call Sara- or Warrick if you'd prefer-"

"You don't get it, do you? Fuck, I was hoping you'd get it without me having to spell it out for you, but you just have to be as fucking stupid as everyone says you are. You're fucking useless, you know that? The only thing you were even remotely good at was letting me fuck you, but now that's getting kind of boring too, so you're not even good for than anymore." Nick was breathing heavily, like a raging bull.

Greg's throat had closed up with the effort of holding back his tears, and he barely managed to choke out in a pleading voice, "Nicky, God, where is- what happened? Where is all of this coming from?"

"You! This is all coming from you! It's your fault, you caused everything to go bad, everything is fucked up now and it's your fucking fault. I wish I had never met you!"

He had never felt so much pain before. He felt like his heart was seconds away from imploding from all of the pressure Nick was putting on it, and there was nothing he could do other than stare dumbly up at his lover's livid brown eyes.

SLAP!

He couldn't breathe. Whether the world had rushed up to meet him, or he had fallen down to crash into it, he was unsure. The only thing he knew for certain was that pain was shooting up his spine from his lower back, and his cheek stung, but not as much as his soul. As his mind fully wrapped itself around what had happened, he began crawling backwards until he reached the wall, only to curl in on himself, blocking Nick off. His forearms were tucked under his neck and pressed into his chest. Gone was that disappointment at not finding what he had hoped for, only to be replaced with something much worse, something he had never thought he would associate with the man he loved. Fear. Pure, unadulterated fear clouded his senses to everything outside Nick.

"Say something! Don't just fucking sit there and cry, you fag! Explain why you had to fuck things up so bad!"

A few mumbled words escaped the human ball, followed by a whimper as Nick kicked him roughly in the shins. "Speak up! I can't hear your pathetic voice, you little shit!"

"I LOVE YOU!" Greg screamed. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love y- argh!"

Nick had punched him on the head, effectively cutting off his slew of declarations. When he slumped over onto the wall, Nick thought that he had passed out, but the soft shaking of his shoulders betrayed him. The fallen man's muscles were tense as they awaited another blow, but it never came. The door slamming shut was the last thing he heard before darkness engulfed his tired senses.

"Still not going to judge?"

The dry, mirthless humour brought Catherine back to the present.

"No, Nicky, I'm not. Not because I don't think that you deserve it, but because it won't help anything for me to tell you what you already know." She sighed and rubbed her face with the palms of her hands. "I'm just a little…stumped. I…where did that come from? 'Cause it sure as Hell didn't come from Greg, he didn't do anything wrong, you love him. What happened, what could possibly make you flip out that badly?"

Nick sighed. The one question that was sure to come up just had to be the one he least wanted to answer, and the one he could not get out of his head. "I don't know, Cath." He said softly. "I really don't know. I was fine- I was waiting for him to come home, I needed him to come home to me. And then I saw him, only I didn't- I don't know how to explain. I cracked, but I don't get why, and how I could've said things like that when I didn't mean any of it. How could I hurt the one I love so much?"

Catherine looked into his miserable brown eyes and released the breath she had been holding in a single puff. "And you haven't seen or spoken to him since then?"

Nick shook his head.

"Did you call him when he didn't show up for shift?"

He shook his head again. "I couldn't bring myself to, I know I'm a coward but…what if he'd been angry and screamed at me, or worse, what if he'd been crying? I can't deal with that…I got Warrick to call, but no one picked up."

Catherine stood up. "Alright, Nicky. You're lucky that this is such a phenomenally slow night. I'll tell Griss that we'll be gone for the next few hours and that he can call my cell if anything comes up. We are going to Greg's apartment and you two are going to have a talk, but if you do anything other than apologize your guts out, I'm dragging your sorry ass back to the lab for Warrick to beat up. Actually I'm thinking of doing that anyway, but…let's let Greg decide for that…"

As Nick slipped on his jacket, a shudder wracked his frame. All he could see was Greg, curled up tightly to protect himself from the onslaught of hate coming from the one who should have been showering him with love, leaning against the wall, tears running down his smooth cheeks, empty eyes staring up at his lover.

Hey! I hope that everyone like it! Please leave me a review, if only to tell me whether or not you think it's worth continuing. Thank you all for reading!