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Cupcake01

Flashback – One week before

"Mr. Stokes! I didn't assumed that you were coming today."

Nick looked nervously at the Doc Wellington's face. The psychotherapist smiled at him friendly and pointed at the couch.

"So, how have you been doing the past three weeks?" he asked the CSI as soon as he positioned himself on the couch as comfortable as possible. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to return...

Nick hesitated. He wasn't sure himself what he wanted to talk about. But the doc was here to help him, wasn't he?"

"I... I'm okay." Nick answered, still nervous. He saw that the doc raised one of his eyebrows and looked at him like he was a child that had just eaten a piece of cake without permission.

"Okay... maybe not that good." he started again. "The nightmares still hadn't stopped..."

"Do you take the sleeping pills I prescribed you?" the doc asked him and made some notes as Nick was answering.

"Yeah, 'course I do... But I still see him, hurting Greg..."

"Have you talked with Greg about this?"

"No... not yet" Nick answered, starring in the air. "I don't want to... I don't want him to go through this again, you know, he already had enough of this. I'm sure he doesn't want to hear about my damn nightmares where he is dying over and over again anyway..."

"Maybe you should tell him... or at least speak with him about the circumstances..."

Nick looked at the doc; he had not wanted to hear that answer.

"How should that help me? Or him? How should it help to make him more upset, and me feeling even more guilty..."

"You know, the kid has gone through the same like you." the doc said. "And I'm sure that the aftermath concerned him as well. It could maybe built trust if you'd tell each other how you feel... or maybe just make you feel better once you get rid of your trauma. It's certainly not going to be easy, but you can only trust again if you prove that you are worth to trust again, otherwise, it will be difficult to rebuild your friendship."

Nick breathed in deeply as if he wanted to inhale the words he had just heard.

He didn't want to admit it, but the doc just said something intelligent. Maybe he should talk to Greg. Maybe.

End of flashback

"Greg?"

Please, leave me alone, I'm sleeping...

"Greg, wake up, you're in the lab..."

Was this Nick? Wait, did he said that I'm in the lab?

Greg felt a hand slightly pushing his shoulder and suddenly, it hit him. Damn it, he was in the lab! Did he just slept in? Please not...

He opened his eyes, seeing, still a bit blurred, the mountain of papers in front of him and jumped up from his chair as he felt Nick's hand again on his shoulder.

"Whoa, easy Greggo... " Nick said to him as he saw his colleague jumping up.

"You obviously dozed off during work..."

Greg calmed down and sat down on his chair as he felt a wave of nausea coming up. He closed his eyes and tried to "think" it away; it didn't help much though.

"Are you okay?... Greg, and don't lie to me, I really can tell that you are a terrible liar..."

Finally, the nausea drifted slowly away and Greg forced himself to think clear. If he had slept in... God, Grissom was going to fire him, without even thinking twice. He opened his eyes, looking desperatly.

"Please, don't tell Grissom..." he whispered and tried hard to avoid Nick's eyes that starred at him in worry.

"Greg, I just want to know..." Nick stopped as he saw the amount of paper work on Greg's desk. Damn it, why didn't he remarked something? The kid probably had been working here nonstop, and now he had lack of sleep...

"Greg, for how long are you here?" Nick suddenly asked with a loud voice. He was so angry... with himself. He had just ignored the fact that his little brother was overworked.

Greg looked at him, not knowing to answer. He wanted Nick to be proud of him, not angry. And if he was going to tell Grissom...

"I... just a couple of hours..."

"Greg, don't tell me that bullshit!" Nick said to him. "I came in here yesterday at 6 p.m, and Cath just told me that she brought you evidence this morning at 8 a.m... and now it is 10 p.m.! And I don't think you want to me to ask the receptionist when you came in, do you?" This wasn't a question, and Greg knew that he had to admit the fact that he was in here for over two days. Without having a pause.

Nick breathed out in disbelief as Greg told him shakily that he had been here for over 48 hours.

"Okay, that's it!" Nick said and lead Greg to stand up. "We both go now down the street to eat something and then I'll drive you home so you can sleep some hours." As Greg was just about to protest, he felt himself being pushed through the door.

"I even don't know why nobody else saw it..."Nick murmured to himself.

"Nick, I can't leave!" Greg stood still. This was not how he had planned the day to end... "I... I have plenty of work to do, you saw cases yourself... and Grissom..."

"Greg, forget about Grissom, I'm sure he wouldn't be happy to hear that you worked hear nonstop... He actually cares, you know? He wouldn't find it good for your health if he knows that you are overworked... Besides, if you're sleeping in the lab, you could as good sit in a restaurant with me and eat something, right?" Nick smiled at him and Greg slowly managed to calm down. Maybe he was right... he was really hungry and coffee alone obviously wasn't good enough to get his body to a workable state. At least for now.

Greg forced himself to smile back, although he knew that it must looked fake, notably because of the worried look that Nick gave him again. He sighed.

"Yeah... okay. I'll go with you, but only if you won't tell Grissom about this..."

Nick looked in his friend's tired eyes. "Alright. Now let's go and get you something to eat."

…...

10 minutes later

The way to the restaurant had been a rather silent one. Nick wanted to ask Greg again if he was okay, as he still looked pale and very tiredly, but didn't want him to push. It was awkward. Ever since they had been with... this bastard, he hadn't actually talked with Greg about this. Maybe because Greg acted as if there had been nothing, he had the feeling to not confront him. Nick himself felt just useless. He had been... and actually still was, a terrible elder brother for the kid. He only felt guilty for not protecting him enough and was even glad that Greg didn't work at the field anymore, since it kept him away from the responsibility. It would have distracted him that he always had to think about the kid, the dangers of the job... Maybe that was why Greg himself hadn't talked with him a lot the last weeks.

"Okay Greg, now that you have at least some bites in your stomach..." Greg looked up from his food; he knew what was coming now. Nick would tell him how sorry he was, how guilty he felt for not recognising that he didn't felt that well... and Greg didn't want to hear it. He was just glad that Nick was here with him, even though it was under those circumstances. He missed the times were he and Nick could just hang around like brothers... Truth was, it was awkward; After the... incidents, he didn't know how to act in front of him. He felt embarrassed for being weak, for not getting him out. And now, he felt even more embarrassed as saw him himself fleeing from the reality and staying at the lab where everything seemed to be save and sound. He just didn't want to confront himself with the fact that there could be dangers out there, and he also didn't like the fact that Nick was working as there had been nothing at all. He was just worried...

"... I just want you to know that I'm glad we actually can hang around together a bit... you know, it's been a while since we spend some time together..."

Nick looked at him and smiled. He'd tell him today. He just had to, he knew that the kid was already pushing himself way to much, and he had to stop it now.

Greg tried to smile back and took another bite of his pizza.

"Yeah, I'm glad too... Sorry for screaming to you earlier... I... I shouldn't have slept in..."

Nick sighed as Greg looked at him in guilt. Damn it, this was going to be tough.

"Greg, you don't have to prove that you're worth working at the field... I know you are, and everybody else as well..."He made a pause and looked in Greg's eyes. "And you shouldn't work that much. You need to think about yourself sometimes, you know?"

Greg nodded, but kept silent. "Nick... can we... can we just not talk about this? I mean, can't we just eat here and enjoy our time off? I'm just glad that we spend some time without having to talk about the job..."

Nick wanted to protest, but saw the look on Greg's face. "Okay... Alright, let's just relax... You know what, I'll be right back, I just have to go to the bathroom, okay?"

Greg nodded again, and he saw Nick standing up and quickly going to the way to the bathroom. Strange, he thought. Why was Nick acting that nervously? Actually, it was him who should feel like that right now.

However, before he could think more about their conversation, he saw a man sitting down onto Nick's place.

Greg even didn't saw really up and murmured something like "This seat is already taken." He really didn't want to talk with a stranger right now.

"I don't think so." Greg looked up, not liking the tone of the man's voice. What was going on here?

…...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand cut :) Wow, that was the longest chapter I ever wrote... My fingers already hurt from tipping that much ;) Anyway, I really hope you liked the chapter and that you are already asking yourself what's going to happen next... I promise to continue soon, just leave me some of your awesome reviews :D

Cupcake01