Hello my dear readers!

CSI is now officially over, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop publishing my stories :) I still have a few finished ones and another few in progress! I hope you'll enjoy them!

So here's my latest one. It's quite short and a quick read!

Have fun!


Greg set foot into the lab with a heavy look on his face. It was a Sunday night and he had a secret he didn't feel like sharing, yet it felt wrong to keep it from anyone – especially Nick. He walked into the break room, greeting his friend with a faked smile on his face as he made his way to the coffee machine.

"How was it?" Nick asked as he did some paperwork for his latest case. He was called in early today because the police had arrested a man who confessed to committing the crime the CSI was working on.

"It was fine. How about you? Did the guy really do it?" Greg sat down next to Nick at the table.

He nodded. "Yeah, and he's remorseful, too. How many people were there tonight?"

"Nine, I think. So the case is closed?"

Nick gave him a look as he smiled. "Stop trying to avoid the conversation. I want to know everything about it. Did you enjoy it?"

The younger CSI sighed. "It's not something you enjoy, Nick."

"I know, I know. Sorry. You know what I mean. Does it help?"

He shrugged. "I don't know yet."

"Did you tell your story yet?"

Greg shook his head as he looked down on his coffee mug. It embarrassed him to admit that.

"Did you talk to anyone there?"

"Not really. There's one guy who tried to talk to me a few times, Rock, but he kinda freaks me out."

"Why?" Nick grabbed Greg's mug and took a sip out of it.

"Well, for one, he calls himself Rock." Greg gave his friend a look. "And his story is... I don't know, it's just..."

"You're just not used to listening to other victims telling their stories in that setting, Greg. I'm sure it's something you need to adjust to."

"I don't know it's something I want to adjust to. I know Dr. Reyes thinks it's a good idea for me to go to a self-help group, but I gave it a try and didn't like it."

"No, that's not true. You went there three times, that's not giving it a try. This needs time, you need time to be able to trust those strangers to tell your story."

"And then what? Watching them pity me is supposed to be helpful? How?"

"Who says they're going to pity you?"

"Oh Nick." Greg sighed. "I watched their reaction whenever someone told their story."

"You're just making up excuses not to go there anymore. And you know what? You don't have to. You're an adult, you can do whatever you want. But when Dr. Reyes suggests something, you know there's something to it. She's never been wrong about anything like that before. Go or don't go. It'll only be your loss."


Greg thought that Nick was quite harsh on him, but he knew he was right. He didn't feel like a self-help group was the right way to deal with his issues, yet it took a lot of strength every time to make himself go there. He thought about it the whole shift until he came up with an idea he hoped would help him with it a little better.

Nick walked into the evidence room, where Greg had been working in for two hours. "You look tired. Go take a break, I'll take over."

"Thanks." He gave him a sheepish smile as he put his gloves off. He walked towards the door, but figured this was a good moment to ask Nick about his idea. "Hey Nick. I thought about what you said about the group."

Nick put a lab coat on as he smiled. "Yeah?"

He nodded. "Would you... would you accompany me to one of their meetings?"

Nick had offered to go with Greg to the first meeting, anyway, so getting asked really made him happy. "Of course."


Greg was pretty relieved that Nick agreed to go to one of the self-help group's meetings with him. He figured it was the perfect opportunity to tell him his secret, being quite confident that his friend would be understanding instead of judging.

Nick was coming into work early the next day, since another man confessed to the case he thought he could already close. This man was staying at a motel room Nick just processed. He bagged several pieces of evidence, he needed to walk to his car and back inside twice to carry them all out. He grabbed the last three bags and his CSI kit and walked out. He almost dropped what he had in his hands as he spotted Greg five doors away, standing in front of a motel room. A woman was standing in the doorway, gently smiling at the CSI and stroking his arm as he walked in.

Nick didn't even put the evidence bags into the car, he just dropped them inside the motel room and walked over to the room Greg just went into. He knocked on the door furiously – almost violently.

After a short moment of silence that felt like forever for the agitated CSI, the woman he had just seen walk in asked from inside, "...Who is it?"

"LVPD, open up!"

After taking a look through the door spy she opened up – quite reluctantly. "...How can I help you?"

Nick slammed the door open, causing the woman to jump back quite scared. "Greg?"

"...What the hell, Nick?!" Greg asked shocked as he was walking out of the bathroom.

"You know him?!" the woman asked confused. "Greg, what's going on?"

"I do. Allison, I'm sorry about this. We'll leave."

"You bet we will." Nick grabbed Greg's arm and pulled him out of the room.


Greg let his friend drag him out of the motel room, but once the door was closed, he pushed him away from him. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"...With me? Are you serious? What were you doing in there?!" Nick yelled at him.

"None of your goddamn business!" Greg turned away from his friend and walked towards his car.

"Hey! No, stop! You have a lot of explaining to do!" He ran after him.

"Get lost, Nick!"

Nick grabbed Greg's arm again to turn him around, but was surprised that his friend pushed him – very aggressively – away from him. After he looked into his shocked friend's face, Greg calmed down a bit. "You had no right to do that," was all he said before getting in his car and driving off.