Okay, I didn't plan to upload a new chapter for the next few days, but since it's easter today... ;) Enjoy!


"Now that we took a nice tour through the house," Spencer said jokingly, "You got any idea what could've happened in here?"

Greg startled a bit. He didn't notice Spencer following him inside the room, he was already deep into his work. He sighed. "No, I couldn't really concentrate on any detail, yet, you know?"

"Mhm..." Spencer walked up closer to Greg and started looking over his shoulder. It annoyed Greg.

"You know... You don't have to watch me, I'm sure it bores you."

Spencer shook his head smiling. "Not at all. Besides, I'm keeping an eye on you."

"...Huh?"

"That came out wrong." Spencer laughed. "I mean, I'll protect you."

"...From what?" He probably said that a little more fearful than he intended to. Luckily for him, Spencer wasn't the kind of guy to notice these things.

"From anything. I mean, sure, I cleared every room, but you never know."

"That's nice, but... listen..." Greg tried to be as polite as possible, but he had to say it. "Next time you think you hear something, there's no need to... pin me against a wall and put your hand over my mouth."

"...What?"

"I mean... No other cop does that. They just tell us to be quiet so they can pay attention to any noise and... That's it, you know?" He smiled, hoping it would keep Spencer from getting this the wrong way.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry."

Greg shook his head. "Don't sweat it. It was just a bit... unusual. And with everything that happened to me lately, you know..."

Spencer walked up even closer to Greg, despite being too close for Greg's comfort zone, anyways. "Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

Greg looked baffled. He shook his head, staring at Spencer. "N-No need to, just... Don't do it again, alright?"

"Did I scare you?"

"...What?" Greg laughed nervously.

"The look on your face. Were you scared?"

Greg shrug a shoulder. "I was just surprised. Really, don't sweat it, alright?" He took a few steps back while having a stupid, uncomfortable smile on his face.

"I didn't even think about the Neil Novak case and what happened to you. It was inconsiderate." Spencer took some steps forward to keep up with Greg. He gently rubbed his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, really."

"...You're not in love with me, right?" Greg asked. He played this in his head a thousand times and he never asked him as straightforward in his mind as he did now in reality. When he realized what he'd done, he quickly laughed fake and nervous. "I should get back to work..."

Spencer had a weird look on his face. Not as surprised as Greg thought he would be. It was more of an embarrassed look, but not quite exactly. "It's nothing like that."

"Alright..." Greg turned around embarrassed as he blushed. He still couldn't believe he asked him. He felt stupid. "You know... I forgot something in my car, I..."

Spencer grabbed Greg's arm as he tried to walk past him. "It's just..."

Greg stopped, staring at Spencer. What had he done? He could hit himself right now for saying what he did. "No, it's alright, you don't need to..."

"It's just your smell..."

Greg thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head from the shocked look he had on his face. Of any replies to his stupid, way too straight-forward question, this was the last one he expected. He hated himself for saying anything at all in the first place. He didn't even pay attention to what Spencer said, and he was talking a lot. But Greg only heard the last sentence. He was too busy hating himself for saying that.

"...and you're a really nice guy, I just... like being around you."

Never had Greg been as embarrassed as he was right now. He was speechless, a state he's seldom been in. "Barry, I-I..." he stammered.

Spencer was still grabbing Greg's arm. He pulled him closer to him to give him a long, tight hug. Greg was too shocked to do anything, he just let Spencer hug him. "I'm so glad I could finally tell you!" Spencer said with a relieved smile on his face. "I hope this won't change anything between us, right?" He gave Greg a pat on the shoulder and walked out. "I'll wait downstairs for you to finish your work!"


That crime scene took Greg a lot longer than they usually do. It was hard for him to concentrate after what happened with Spencer, but he finally managed to finish. Spencer was acting towards him like usual, but Greg couldn't put this past him just like that. He walked into the DNA lab where Nick was standing in, talking to Robin, the DNA tech.

"I need to talk to you," he said to Nick while handing Robin some evidence she was supposed to process.

"Just a minute, we're in the middle of..." Nick said. He got interrupted by Greg grabbing his arm and pulling him away.

"This can't wait!"


"What is it that's more important than my case, man?" Nick asked a bit annoyed as they walked into Russell's office. Since Greg had to fill in for him, he knew his office was empty.

"Spencer told me... his feelings... you know?" Greg stuttered. He was kind of embarrassed and upset.

Nick laughed a bit unbelieving. "What? …He did? What did he say?"

"I don't feel like repeating it, but... he said it."

"So? What did you say?"

"Nothing! I couldn't say anything, it was... just... weird."

"And now?"

"He said he hoped it wouldn't change our relationship, he acted perfectly normal."

Nick nodded as he leaned against Russell's desk. "Well then, don't let it change your relationship."

"...Are you insane? How could this NOT change anything? He said... he liked my smell... That's weird, isn't it?"

Nick laughed. "I don't know, maybe a little. Relax, why are you so upset about this?"

Greg shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, it's weird... And I can't help but think about Julian... and Novak."

Nick stopped laughing at Greg once he realized he was scared by this. "They were both very sick individuals. Spencer's not."

He sighed. "I know, it just makes it hard for me to trust Spencer now that I know this..."

"He doesn't want this to change anything between the two of you. Don't let it."


Greg tried his best not to let Spencer's confession change anything between them, but it did. Greg caught himself keeping more physical distance with him than usual. Whenever he tried to tell himself he was acting ridiculous, he got physically closer to Spencer. Then he thought this might give him a wrong impression. He was in a dilemma. Sometimes, people noticed his discomfort while being around Spencer, but not everybody who noticed knew why he was showing discomfort.

Russell was one of the people who noticed but didn't know what was going on. He asked Greg to come by his office and talk about it. Of course, Greg didn't know what Russell wanted to talk about.

"Have a seat," Russell said when Greg went in.

He did. "Is this about the broken wall cupboard? Because I..."

"What broken wall cupboard?" Russell asked, raising an eyebrow.

"...Just kidding," Greg replied, obviously lying. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"You know, whenever I sense that one of my colleagues is not feeling well, I offer them to talk about it."

Greg nodded. He had no idea what he was talking about, since he was sure nobody would notice anything.

"So... How are you?"

"I'm fine." He smiled.

"I told you a dozen times, Greg. I know when you're lying. And we'll have to talk about the broken cupboard later, but right now... this is about you."

"I appreciate your worries, but I'm fine. Really."

"So nothing's wrong between you and that officer? Spencer is it, right?"

Greg looked like he'd been caught doing something wrong. "Why do you ask?"

"Maybe because I'm not an idiot and notice when you're uncomfortable around somebody?"

He sighed. "It's nothing. He just... likes me a little more than I do, is all."

"I thought you two were friends?"

Greg shrug. "We are, but it's not that easy at the moment. But I'll work it out somehow."

"Just make sure you can work with him, alright?"