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Brass was already sitting opposite Nick Hill at the table in the interrogation room, an officer standing by the door. Hill was leaned back in his seat with a smug grin on his lips, hardly talking to the Captain.

"Greg, good. You're here," Brass said as he turned around. He noticed right away that something was going on, Greg's teary eyes being the biggest hint.

"Excuse me sir, I need to see your I.D.," the officer said to Ralph as he walked in behind the CSI.

"Of course, sorry," Ralph said calmly. But instead of flashing any I.D., he opened fire at Nick Hill. Both Brass and the officer ducked as they drew their weapons, pointing it at Ralph. But neither one dared to shoot, as Ralph had a tight grip around Greg's neck, placing him in front of his body. He whispered something into the CSIs ear as he pointed the gun on his head.

"Brass," Greg said with a shaky voice, "He wants you to get paramedics... for Hill."

The Captain frowned confused. "What?"

Hill was lying on the floor screaming. His shoulder and leg had been hit and he was bleeding profoundly.

"Yeah. You need to save him."

"...What the hell's going on, Greg?" Brass asked as he called for paramedics.

Greg meant to answer, but when he tried, Ralph hardened the grip around his neck for a moment, then Ralph whispered again. "...Just get Hill out of the room so that the paramedics can work on him. He needs to get to a hospital."

Ralph and Greg were in the interrogation room together with Brass for almost two hours now. Ralph had loosened the grip around Greg's neck the moment the officer had left the room, and was only holding him by his arm by now. They were sitting on the ground right now, with Greg placed in front of Ralph, to serve as a protective shield.

Brass was sitting at the table, his hand on his gun that was lying on that desk. He was trying to talk Ralph into giving up for the last hour, but realised there was no point to it – Ralph refused to talk before he got an update on Nick Hill's condition.

They had to wait another hour before Brass got a call from the hospital. "Hill's out of surgery, he's in a stable condition," he said quite reluctanlty, not knowing whether or not this was the kind of news Ralph was waiting for or not.

Ralph nodded with a thoughtful look, while Brass was mentally preparing himself to shoot him. The gunman started to laugh quite uncontrollably as he loosened the grip around Greg's arm. He handed the CSI his gun as he wiped away the tears rolling down his face.

Greg quickly got up to give Brass room to arrest Ralph, watching the scene in confusion and relief. He handed the gun over to the first officer hurrying inside, his hands shaking as he walked out of the interrogation room. He had a look of horror and fear on his face, looking around nervously.

"Greg, we're so glad you're okay!" Spencer said as he walked up to hug him, but Greg couldn't stand his tight embrace right now, so he pushed him away from him. "Greg, what's wrong?"

"...Sorry, I just... I need to get some fresh air." He hurried outside, leaving the officers standing around confused.

Greg was sitting at the side of the building with his head in his hands, trying to digest the situation he just got out of.

"...Greg?" Nick asked as he walked over to him. "I almost didn't recognize you, what are you..." He stopped talking as he noticed the tears on his friend's face. "...What is it?"

"...Are you in a hurry right now?" Greg asked as he sobbed.

"No, not at all. Why?"

"Can you... Can you sit with me here for a moment?"

Nick nodded in confusion as he sat down next to him. They sat in silence for almost a minute before Nick decided to ask once more, "So what's wrong?" He had been at a crime scene for the last four hours and had no idea what was going on inside the police station in that time.

Greg looked at his friend but couldn't answer right away. He just gave him the saddest smile before he said, "I'm sorry. You were right."

"...About what?"

Brass walked up to the two. "Nick, good, you're here." He patted him on the shoulder. "Greg, the paramedics should take a look at you. They'll be here in a minute."

"...Paramedics? Are you hurt?" Nick looked him up and down, instantly noticing a few bruises on him. "Brass, what's going on?"

"Didn't you hear, Nicky? Ralph Serling shot Nick Hill in the interrogation room. Greg and I were with him for the last three hours until he finally gave up."

"...Wh-What? Greg, what... Why didn't you... Are you okay?"

Greg slightly nodded. "He didn't want to kill him, he just wanted to injure him. I tried to stop him, but... He would've killed me." He sobbed. "...I should've done something."

"Greg, it's okay. Nick Hill will live and you're fine, right? Did someone else get hurt?" When Brass shook his head, he went on, "See? It's okay. You did your best, that's what's important."

"I was naïve, Nick. I trusted that he wouldn't hurt anyone. He was grieving, I thought he'd realise he was about to make a mistake. But... He would've killed me and anyone who came in his way, I'm sure."

Two paramedics walked up to the three.

"But he didn't. Now let the paramedics take a look at you so that we all know you're alright, then we'll go home."

Normally Greg would've protested against being checked out by paramedics, but he was too exhausted to do that. He just let them do their job.

Nick and Greg arrived at home almost two hours later. Greg had to give his statement about what exactly happened with Ralph. While he knew it was important to give a statement as soon as possible, he would've preferred to get home earlier. He just wanted to go to sleep, but Nick didn't let him just yet. "Do you want something to drink? Water, tea?"

Greg shook his head as Nick walked into the kitchen. He meant to go to his room, but Nick stopped him. "Are you sure you're alright?"

He nodded. "I will be after I get some sleep." He gave him a tired, faked smile.

Nick sat down on the couch, it was obvious that he wanted Greg to do the same, so he did. "I don't know what to say, man. I'm so glad you're okay."

Greg nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. It took him a moment to build up the courage to say what he was about to say. "I'm not okay, Nick. I mean, physically, sure. But... I felt like I needed to trust this guy. I needed to trust that he wouldn't be able to kill me. ...Sure proved me wrong..."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "...But why? Why did you need that?"

He sighed deeply. "Because I can't stand being around deceitful, murderous people anymore. There has to be someone every now and then that proves to me that not everybody is capable of murder."

"And this someone has to be Ralph Serling?"

Greg shook his head as he released a laugh. He knew he was sounding like a naïve idiot right now. "Of course not. But it would've been nice, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, sure. But that's not how our job works, you know." He thought about it for a moment. "...Do you think about quitting?"

"No, I'm just frustrated right now. I love my job. ...Most of the time, anyway. But I just wish we'd get something positive out of it more often, you know?"

"I think we do and we did in this case. Nick Hill will be on trial for Erin's murder soon, that's something."

"Yeah." Greg sighed. "But Ralph will be on trial for shooting him. He's not exactly a good guy in this story, but he wasn't a bad guy, either."

"It's not black and white, Greg. He did something bad and he'll have to bear the consequences. He was aware of that and went through with his plan, anyway. You shouldn't be concerned with his future, he sure as hell wasn't with yours." Nick shrugged. "Now come on, let's go to bed. Things will look different tomorrow."