Title: Cowards - Part 4
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Nick/Greg Slash
Word Count: ~2000
Warning: Sexual Content, Violence, NonCon
Disclaimer: This story is complete fiction. They don't belong to me - I just play with them a little.
Summary: Nick honors Warrick's memory by finally being true to himself. It's a lot harder than he thought and he learns that his family is a much bigger issue than he ever thought. And so does Greg. AU, there are spoilers but the plot is mostly mine.
When Nick pulled into the parking lot of Greg's apartment complex he recognized Brass' unmarked car and one of the lab's Denali's. He immediately felt bile rise in his throat as he recalled walking upon Warrick's scene - seeing Grissom holding the dead body of his best friend. Something inside of Nick screamed that he was about to face loss again. Nick ran across the lot and up several flights of stairs to reach Greg's apartment. The door was open. He stepped into the apartment and yelled - panicked. "Greg?"
Grissom stepped from the hallway and stopped Nick from entering the apartment further. "Nicky, you need to leave."
"Gris? What are you doing here? Where's Greg?" Nick's heart was racing from fear.
"Greg's been attacked, Nicky."
"WHAT?" Nick lunged toward the hallway to get to Greg. "Where is he?"
"Nick! Stop!" Grissom pushed Nick back, almost all the way to the open door of the apartment. "Listen to me, Nicky. You need to leave. Now."
"Is he okay?" Nick's eyes were wide with fear and confusion. "I need to be with Greg. He needs me."
"Nick. Did you just get off shift?" Grissom asked.
"Yeah - Cath and I got stuck with some contradicting evidence. It took us a while to sort it all out." Nick explained while looking over Grissom's shoulder toward Greg's bedroom.
"You just left the lab?" Grissom asked.
"Yes. Gris. What the fuck is going on?" Nick's fear melted into anger.
"Nicky. I'm not sure. What I know is that Greg has been assaulted - brutally - and he..."
"WHAT! Gris! I need to be with him!" Nick tried to push past his boss.
Grissom held Nick back - he was much stronger than he looked. "Nicky. You can't be with Greg right now. Not until we sort this out. I need you to leave the scene and stand down until further notice."
"Why? I don't understand." Nick's voice was frantic.
"I'm sorry, Nicky. But Greg has identified you as his attacker." Grissom looked at his young colleague sympathetically.
"He...he what?" It barely came out as a whisper. "But...I don't...WHAT?"
"You need to leave the property until this gets sorted out, Nicky." Grissom spoke slowly and clearly while he gripped Nick's biceps to keep him centered. "Until you are cleared you're on administrative leave."
"I need to see him." Nick's only concern was Greg. "Assaulted? What happened to him? Gris, please let me..."
Grissom looked heartsick. "I can't, Nicky. We're working as fast as we can to get this cleared up and then you'll see him. But for now go home. Greg's in good hands. We'll take good care of him."
"Fuck!" Nick couldn't think of anything else to say. He left the apartment as the paramedics were entering with a rolling stretcher. He trembled as he made his way down the stairs to get to his truck.
A tall, thick man passed by him quickly in the stair well. Nick grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Whoa there, Sparky. You can't go up there, it's an active crime scene." It stung to say those words about Greg's home.
"My lover lives up there, I need to make sure..."
"You'll need to check on her later." Nick pulled him toward the opposite direction.
The man yanked his arm free. "Fuck you."
"Sir." Nick easily fell into CSI mode. "You'll need to come with me or we'll have to sit you in a patrol car. Now come on, Man."
"Just tell me...is Greg Sanders okay?" The man almost begged.
Nick could feel every hair on the back of his neck bristle. "How do you know Mr. Sanders, sir?"
"I already told you!" He screamed. "He's my fucking lover!"
"Are you Paul?" Nick's voice was suddenly edged with rage. "You sick bastard! What the fuck did you do to him?"
"Who the fuck are you?" Paul crowded the smaller man.
Nick stood his ground. "I'm the guy who knows Greg's NOT your lover and you're a fucking coward who beats up guys half your size when you don't get your way."
Nick pushed Paul down the stairs hard. Luckily, there was a uniformed officer heading up who caught the man before he tumbled down the stairs.
Nick grabbed Paul and shoved him face first into the wall. "Cuff him, Logan. He's now a person of interest in the assault of CSI Sanders."
"What?" Paul screamed as the cuffs were locked into place. "You fucker!" He screamed at Nick as the officer led him away.
"Stokes!"
He heard Brass yelling from below. Fuck! He started talking fast as Brass approached. "He's Greg's abusive ex-boyfriend who has been stalking him. He was here last night and beat the crap out of him. Jim, you need to hold onto him until we know what's going on here."
"You're off the case, Nick." Brass was not even trying to be calm. "Hell, Stokes, you're not on ANY case until we figure out why Sanders is ID-ing YOU as his attacker. Get out of here before you fuck up the investigation!"
"Just hold him. Ask Greg about the other night - can you hold him if Greg tells you about what that prick did to him the other night?" Nick wasn't above begging. "Please, Jim. That guy could have..." His voice caught in his throat. "...god...what happened to him, him? Is Greg okay?"
"Nick, I can't talk to you about the case..."
"Damn it, Jim! Greg's not a fucking case! He's...he's my...I..." What the hell are we to each other? Nick deflated. "...He's my friend, Jim. I...I care about him."
"I know. We all do." Brass Gripped Nick's shoulder supportively. "Okay. I'll ask Greg about the tank as soon as he can complete a sentence. Until then, I'll put a 12-hour hold on him as a person of interest Now leave, Nick. Before you give his lawyer enough to get him walking before he's even charged. Go. Home."
Oh god. What happened to him? He shook off Brass' touch. "I'll be at the lab."
"Nick..." Brass' tone warned.
"I'm a person of interest, too. Remember? I'll make it easy for you and stick around the lab." Nick stomped away with tears slowly rolling down his cheeks.
Brass sighed. The weight of the situation was unbearable. More than that it was unbelievable. He couldn't imagine a man like Nick Stokes doing what Greg had accused him of doing. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed.
"Cath? Yeah, it's me. Do me a favor and keep your eye on Nick today. Until you hear otherwise, he is your only assignment." He said before he filled her in on the gruesome details.
By the time he made it back into the bloody bedroom, he had finished his conversation with a very distraught Catherine Willows. He carefully stepped into the room. "Hey."
Grissom didn't look up from the blood splatter he was swabbing. "It's just you and me, Jim. I promised Greg. So can you do me a favor and start taking pictures so I can start collecting?"
"Sure." Brass sounded weary. "Willows just alibied Nick."
That got Grissom's attention. "What did she say?"
"They've been tied up at a scene all night. Nick just left the lab less than an hour ago." Jim explained. "What the hell is going on here?"
Grissom turned back to his tedious work. "That's what we're here to find out, Jim."
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Nick sat in his truck. He couldn't even remember how he ended up here. The position of the sun against the building offered him some slight relief from the heat by shading his section of the parking lot. The truck was still sweltering, but he was too far gone to think through the process of opening his window.
What the fuck happened? His imagination came up with hundreds of horrifying scenarios. He needed to see Greg. He needed to touch him - make sure he was breathing. Nick needed to find out why Greg believes he was the man who attacked him.. I can't believe this is happening.
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, trying in vain to stop the visions of a battered, broken Greg. He couldn't stop the image of a very large, angry Paul beating the beautiful man he hoped would be his boyfriend one day. When the passenger door opened, he didn't even hear it. He didn't hear it close either.
"Nicky?" Catherine said as soothingly as she could. "Are you okay?"
Nick's face contorted with the tears he had been holding back for the last hour. "No."
The sight of it broke her heart. She reached for Nick's hand and pulled him into her arms. "I could tell."
As he tried to gain some control of his cascading emotions, he spoke into Catherine's shoulder. "No one will tell me anything. What happened? I just need to know he's okay."
"He's..." She couldn't lie, Greg was far from okay, but she knew what Nick needed to know. "...it's not like Rick."
She felt his body melt from relief. "Ohthankgod."
"I just talked to Brass." Catherine kept her voice calm. "Greg's at the hospital now. His injuries aren't life threatening."
Nick pulled himself from Catherine's embrace. His eyes were clouded and his head was aching from the clenching of his jaw. "They said he...when Gris asked him...they said he identified me..." Nick caught a sob in his throat. "...how could he...I don't understand...Cath?"
"I don't know, Nicky. Greg's been through a terrible trauma. He may be confused or...I just don't know." Cath stroked his arm gently. "But you were with me all night, Nick. We know you couldn't be responsible for..."
"But HE thinks I did it. HE believes I hurt him. I don't even know what happened to him - but he thinks I did it!" Nick was almost screaming. "Please tell me what happened to him!"
"Nicky..." She was interrupted by her ringing cell phone. She looked at Nick apologetically before she answered. "Willows."
Nick listened to her side of the conversation hoping he could figure out what happened to Greg.
"Are you sure?" She said. "That can't be. Run it again." She barked. "I don't care if you ran it three times - run it AGAIN!"
After she hung up she sat in silence - staring at nothing at all.
It made Nick even more nervous. "Cath?"
"I shouldn't be talking to you about this...but I just can't believe...I mean you and I were together all night. There's no way you could have..." Catherine turned to look at her friend. "The Quick-Run DNA came back compliance. How the fuck did your DNA end up inside of Greg?"
That answered a lot of questions. Nick felt sick. "In...inside? Ohgod...Cath...was he...did someone...rape Greg?"
"The evidence says you raped Greg." Cath said without accusing. "How is this possible, Nicky?"
"There's got to be a mistake..." Nick said while still grappling with the new information about what Greg had endured.
"She ran it three times, Nick. Ecklie's going to blow a gasket - that's expensive testing." She looked at Nick pointedly. "The specimen taken from Greg matches your profile of record. So unless your original sample was contaminated..."
"Oh no." Nick froze. "This can't be happening again." His gut clenched as he tried to keep the bile from rising in his throat. Ohgodno.
"What?" She gripped his arm hard. "Nicky, if you want to keep that pretty ass out of prison you better start talking."
"I think I know what's going on." Nick almost choked on his words as a fresh and steady stream of tears started rolling down his face. "It's all my fault." He pulled his phone from the cup holder. "I need to make a phone call."
TBC