Oh yeah life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone

A few minutes later Grissom found Greg on the rooftop, standing very close to the edge.

Now that he'd finally caught up with Greg, Grissom had no idea what to do. Like always, Grissom was already playing the choices out in his mind. He could do:

A) Sneak up on Greg, grab him and pull him very, very far away from the edge and drag him down stairs and then demand to know what was wrong.

B) Announce his presence by word of mouth or by stepping loudly before he approached Greg.

C) Do neither A nor B but stand here and wait for Greg to acknowledge his presence or finally,

D) Walk calmly over to Greg and hope that the boy does not go over the edge.

Grissom had finally decided on option D when Greg's voice rang out.

"Why did you follow me?" Greg whispered, not even turning around and facing Grissom.

"You aren't fine Greg, I had to make sure that you were okay," Grissom said, walking closer to Greg, "I guess I was right though, seeing you there."

A shudder past through Greg's body and Grissom knew it was either from fear or sadness. Although it was the middle of the night in the Las Vegas, they did in fact live in the middle of the desert. It probably wasn't cooler than 85 degrees right now.

Greg shook his head softly, whatever he was thinking he did not voice it in words.

"Greg, don't-"

"You'd think I'd actually jump Gris?" Greg asked, turning and facing his boss for the first time since Greg had acknowledged Grissom's presence.

"Greg, you were almost crying downstairs and I come up here to find you standing on the edge of a building, looking down. That would cause a bit of concern in most people," Grissom said looking at Greg.

"Yeah, but you're not most people. You're Grissom."

Greg looked at Grissom for a few more moments before turning his back on him once again.

"You know," Greg said, his voice quiet and remorseful, "When they were hitting me," he paused, all the pain of that night flooding his memory, "There was a second when I though I was a goner, I mean, 'never going to open my eyes and see the world' goner. I'd seen the other guy they had killed and I imagined what my face would look like when you guys finally found me. But that wasn't even the scariest part."

The way this story was going, Grissom was starting to like it less and less. He was also becoming more and more uncomfortable having Greg so close to falling.

After the brief pause, Greg took a deep breath. He'd never wanted to tell this to anyone, no one knew about his past, but right now, Greg felt more vulnerable than he had in a long time.

"The scariest part Gris, was that I was okay with it. I remember wanting to die and there has only been two other times I've felt like that before. I-I-I was so scared after I felt that Grissom. I was so scared."

"Greg I-"

"Who wants to die Grissom?" Greg asked, his voice raised, looking back at Grissom, the tears flowing from his eyes once more, "I know a healthy person doesn't think like that, in fact, most psychos don't think that way. What would that make me then?"

The last question seemed to be more of Greg talking to himself that actually asking Grissom. Suddenly, Greg shifted his weight and almost gave Grissom a heart attack. Stay calm, stay calm, Grissom kept repeating to himself. He had to stay calm. For Greg's sake as well as his own.

"Greg please step away from the edge," Grissom said softly, as if he were talking to a small child.

"Oh," Greg said, "Don't' worry about that, I don't think I would have the guts to jump, although I have thought about it. But that was a long time ago."

"Greg," Grissom said, almost pleading, "Please."

In one quick motion Greg stepped away from the edge, all the while not turning around and facing his boss.

Grissom took a few steps closer to Greg and gently laid his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"It's going to be okay Greg," Grissom whispered, not knowing what was wrong but believing that it would be okay.

"No Grissom," Greg said turning around, his eyes watery, "You don't understand, it hasn't been okay for a long time. I don't see that changing any time soon."

And with that, the tears started to flow and heart-wrenching sobs came from Greg's mouth as he leaned on the man, who he saw as a father, and cried.

And Grissom could do nothing but hold the boy, who he saw as his son, and wait for the tears to stop.


A/N: Sorry that this chapter is alittle short. the next few will probably be bigger. Thank you all that reviewed or added my story. I was really surprised at home many people liked it. Most updates should come every other day. School for me starts next week and when that happenes the MOST time that will come in between each update is three days. I'm almost done with the next chapter so, please, keep reading and review. Oh, and the quote is from a John Cougar Mellencamp.