Disclaimer; I do not own CSI or the characters in the show which are the property of CBS Broadcasting Inc and Alliance-Atlantis Communications. No copyright infringement is intended. Nor money made. – This does go for the entire story!
AN: With special thanks to my beta reader: Missing Fairy, love ya loads. And final warning this IS SLASH and it does have DARK THEMES! You have been warned don't like you know where the back arrow is!
Greg took one more look in the mirror and shook his head – he looked like he was turning tricks and he knew it. Sure he was alternate but this was way beyond slogan T's and studded bracelets. He sighed only one person in the world could convince him to do this and even then only by resorting to emotional blackmail.
"Last time, Aris," he vowed to the mirror. He grabbed his wallet, stalked out of his bedroom and went into the living room to face his audience. The look of joy and excitement in their eyes almost made him forget why he was mad at them. Aris jumped up and clapped her hands
"You look amazing," she enthused, he glared.
"I look like a street walker," he griped at her. She shrugged.
"Gecko, come on you look like…" she shrugged. "Yeah you look like a streetwalker but on the plus side you're going to have your pick of anyone in the place." She finished with wide-eyed innocence. Greg rolled his eyes not convinced. Aris looked over at Katy for support, Katy shook her head affectionately.
"What's the problem Gecko? It's not like anyone from your work is going to see you is it?" she asked sounding reasonable.
Greg caved with a groan, "You know I wouldn't do this for anyone else don't you?" he stated in his defence, Aris hugged him.
"Yes but we're your sisters and you love us, so you'll wear the outfit and do the show because we need you" she said proudly tugging him towards the door.
Greg swallowed the last of his beer and glared hatefully at the guitar in front of him, he heard a chuckle and looked up; Katy was standing there leaning against the wall. She had grown her hair since he had last seen her – it fell halfway down her back, she hadn't dyed it recently so it was a very light brown colour.
She smiled at him, "You'll be fine Gecko, besides you look great," she reassured, Greg smiled back at her.
"Just tell me once more how I got roped into this again?" he half teased, trying to hide his nervousness. Katy saw straight through it, she had years of practise and stepped forward pulling him into a hug.
"You got roped into this because you can't, never and will never be able to say no to Aris," she whispered into his ear, she gently ran a hand through his overly spiked and sprayed, dyed multicoloured hair. She let go of him slowly taking hold of his hands.
"Come on, the party can't start without us," she said leaving the green room. Greg sighed and mustered his courage before grabbing his guitar and waiting for his intro.
The band was greeted by huge cheers as they came on stage, even Greg who was only filling in as the regular lead and singing had broken his arm in a motorcycle accident. The band played metal and hard rock, they wrote some of their own material but also did some covers of others, throwing in the odd Nightwish song just so Aris could prove she could do more then screech. The concert shook the roof, as a local band they had quite a group of fans that hit all their concerts wherever they were. Coupled to that they were developing quite a cult and underground reputation so people were beginning to fly in to see them play. By the end of three encores they were finally allowed off stages even with the fans cheering for more, Greg was surprised he had expected them to take offence to having someone temping, but it seemed like they were just glad the concert had gone ahead anyway.
"You were amazing!" Aris shrieked at him as he entered the green room, she was still bouncing off the walls from the rush of the performance. She barrelled into him and locked him in a bear hug that knock the air from his lungs. Greg blushed under her praise; Aris was never one to mince her words so if she thought he had sucked then she would have let him know.
"Yeah kid, you can play with us again anytime, I gotta say I prefer you to J…" Dan – one of the drummers said pushing a beer into his hand when Aris finally saw fit to let him go. Greg's blush became more apparent going from pink to red.
"Aww, look we're embarrassing him," Katy cooed making the others laugh, Greg bumped her elbow playfully.
"Knock it off," he muttered. Katy grinned at him and winked.
"Why? You go such an endearing colour when someone pays you a complement. Hey perhaps I should phone the crime lab, let them know…" she mused, but a look from Greg convinced her that it would be a bad idea. Greg went to respond, but whatever he was going to say died on his lips as the green room went dark.
"What the…?" the rest of the sentiment was cut off by the sound of gunfire. Pandemonium broke out as the band tried to escape the phantom shooter. In the chaos Greg lost track of both his sisters, he never even saw the first punch before it connected with his jaw, he fell to the floor and felt the first kick; the second had him curling into a protective ball, the third to his head finally making him lose consciousness…
Aris made it to the back door and yanked the handle- it was locked. In a surge of adrenaline she kicked the door as hard as she could, she repeated the kick screaming first in frustration and secondly in surprise as the door gave way, her momentum caused her to fall; she landed badly and heard something snap in her ankle.
Katy never made either of the exits, the bullet impacted her shoulder and she fell where she stood.
