"I already made plans for the weekend, I can't!" Nick was desperately arguing with Russell as he was walking alongside him through the lab's halls.
"I'm sorry, but it comes with the job, you know that. Sometimes we have to cancel our plans and help out a little." Russell was trying to be sympathetic but needed Nick to fill in for Sara.
"I know. It's not like I never helped out before. We're all being in here much too often when we aren't supposed to be and I'm sick and tired of it. I want a life outside these walls!"
"I'm sure Sara appreciates your help. You don't want her to miss her great aunt's funeral, do you?"
Nick sighed. "Of course not. But... What about him?" Nick pointed at Greg who was just walking past them.
The younger CSI stopped and turned around to them with raised eyebrows. "What about me?"
"Do you have any plans for the next weekend?"
"Well, I was planning to get out of town for a few days and..."
Nick quickly interrupted him. "See? He's got time."
"I didn't say that, I..."
"No." Now it was Russell who interrupted Greg. "You have seniority, Nick. And Greg filled in the last few times you or Sara took time off. Now's your turn."
Nick gave both men a sad look. "But Russell, I..."
"That's my final word," he said as he pushed some files into Nick's hands.
When Russell walked off, Nick gave Greg an annoyed look before walking away from him.
"...What? It's not my fault, don't give me that look!" Greg walked away quite angrily.
After both walked a few steps in opposite directions, Nick decided to run after Greg. "Come on. You can get your getaway weekend any time."
"And you got something important to do?" Greg snickered.
"As a matter of fact, I do. I planned a special romantic weekend with Lauren. It's our anniversary."
"...You've been dating for what, two months?"
"Three." Before Greg could roll his eyes, Nick went on. "She's into that kind of stuff. I planned this three weeks ago!"
"Well maybe you should've reminded yourself that it's a bad idea to plan that far ahead with your job. You never know what's going to happen and..."
"Spare me the preaching. Russell did it already. I'm asking you as a friend. Please help me!"
"Russell also told you that I filled in the last few times. I haven't had a free weekend in six weeks."
Nick sighed annoyed. He knew Greg was right, but he also wanted to be able to enjoy his weekend with his new girlfriend Lauren. "Fine. Whatever."
Nick and Greg didn't run into each other for the next few hours until they met in the break room. Nick was sitting at a laptop as Greg walked in. "What are you doing?" he asked while making his way to the coffee machine.
"Canceling my trip." Nick didn't show too many emotions in his voice, but Greg knew what was going on inside his friend.
"Where did you plan on going?"
"Long Beach."
"...Sounds nice."
"We planned to stay at a great hotel, relax on the beach all day, you know?"
"Mhm..."
"She's never been to the beach before. I'm sure she would've loved it."
Greg was starting to feel bad for Nick. He liked Lauren and wanted the relationship to work, after all. He sighed deeply. "Nick, stop what you're doing."
"...Why?"
"Because you're going. I'm sure I'll hate myself for this but... I'll tell Russell I'll fill in for you."
"Well, I guess it's just us today..." Russell sat down at the table in the break room opposite Greg. "You know I don't agree with your choice, right? I don't think it was smart to help Nick out again."
"I know, but I felt sorry for him and Lauren."
"Yeah but you're painfully overworked."
Greg shrugged. "I can take it. I got Monday and Tuesday off."
"I hope so. I don't want your work performance to suffer because of it."
The younger CSI shook his head.
"Alright, then... You'll get the easier case. Murder in prison."
"Easier?"
"Yeah well, there's only so many suspects inside a prison, right?" Russell smiled. "But we can trade if you want to. Robbery turned murder at a gas station."
He quickly shook his head again, smiling. "No thanks, I'll stick to the prison murder, then."
Russell nodded. "Take Hodges with you. You could use a hand and he's been getting on my nerves for the last few days. It'll do us all good if he stayed away from the lab for a few hours."
"Can't you hurry it up a bit?" Hodges was nervously walking up and down inside the prison cell Greg was processing. The victim was still lying there.
"I'm working as fast as I can. I don't plan on staying here any longer than needed, either. Relax, it'll only be half an hour or so."
"...Another half hour?! We've been here almost two!"
"We have to wait for David to be able to move the body. He's stuck in traffic."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Hodges was getting more and more tense.
"You know what? Here, take this to the lab. You're only making me nervous, too." He handed Hodges a bag full of evidence.
"I'm making you nervous? Not the small cell or knowing that the criminals are only a door away from here?"
"It's not my first time investigating a crime in a prison, you know. You get used to it."
"Yeah well there's some things I don't want to get used to. Like being in a small room with a dead body..." The lab tech walked out while shaking his head.
Greg was more relaxed himself as Hodges left. The jitteryness of the lab rat had been very distracting and actually slowed down Greg's work. "What was he in for?" Greg asked the prison guard standing outside the cell.
"The prison warden has his files ready for you in his office. Robert Leigh. He was a drug dealer and snitched on many of his inmates to lower his own sentence... Wasn't a very popular guy." The guard went on to give Greg a little more backstory of the victim as they heard noise coming from the cafeteria, where most of the inmates were gathering at the moment.
"What's going on?" Greg asked with raised eyebrows as he walked closer to the guard.
As the noise was getting louder, the guard put one of his hands in front of Greg. "Stay right here. Whatever happens, don't come out that cell, you got that?"
"...What's wrong, I..." Greg had a lot of questions, but the guard hurried into the cafeteria, leaving the CSI alone and confused. Too nervous about the noises to go back to work, he waited for a few minutes until the doors to the cafeteria opened again. But instead of the prison guard, several inmates walked inside as the emergency sirens started blaring. The inmates seemed to be walking up to Greg's cell, but the door closed before they reached it.
Knowing he was more or less safe inside that cell, he tried to stay calm. Trying to listen to what the inmates were yelling at him, some of the things he could decipher as typical cop-bashing. Others, however, seemed to be yelling the order to hand something over. He just didn't know what it was.
They calmed down, but it only took a few minutes until some of them started yelling again. "Where is it?! Hand it over or we'll kill you!"
"...I-I don't know what you're talking about. What do you want?" Greg asked frightened.
"The key!"
"...What key?"
"The snitch had a key! Where is it?!"
Greg had collected a key earlier. He had no idea what kind of key it was but knew it was suspicious for a prison inmate to have one in the first place. Because he had been meaning to ask the prison warden about it, he kept it instead of sending Hodges away with it. He wasn't too sure whether or not this was a good idea now. He didn't intend to give the prisoners the key without knowing what it would open, after all. "...I didn't find a key!"
"Liar!" one of them yelled as he threw a plastic cup. "We know you have it! Hand it out!"