Okay, this chapter is a bit shorter. However, I suffered from extreme writer's block that very nearly pushed me to insanity. Okay that was melodramatic, but for a while there the muses had left me high and dry. Thanks to all of you who continue to leave me lovely reviews, and I hope I didn't let you guys down with this extremely difficult chapter!!

Two days after Nick had left him in the diner, Greg sat in the break room, miserably picking at dry piece of leftover pizza. Natalie was still avoiding him in AV, a fact that had Archie staring daggers at him whenever they passed each other. After ten minutes of brooding he gave up on his lunch and threw it forcefully into the trash.

"Hey, that poor little slice didn't do anything." Greg tried to look amused but could only manage a grim smile. Catherine and Sara slide into seats next to him, each with a large take out salad.

"How you doing Greg?" Sara looked at him with eyes full of concern.

"I'm somewhere between crawl under a rock, and kill me now, if you must know."

"Oh hon, things will get better. Things always do." Catherine offered him a smile and took a large bite of lettuce.

"I'm trying to believe that." He replied quietly. Grissom walked in and sat down with a sandwich. While the two women continued to display sympathy, he seemed completely oblivious to whatever dramatics had been taking place in the lab.

"No lunch Greg?"

"I'm not hungry I guess."

"How are you doing with those samples?"

"I'm getting through them."

"I'm sure you are, you do a good job." Greg blinked in surprise. Grissom rarely gave such a blatant compliment. When he looked up, Grissom was looking back at him, a look of understanding in his face. Despite himself, he felt the unhappiness lighten just a little. He let his posture relax a bit, and then he saw her in the doorway.

Natalie stood radiating misery, her eyes bright with tears. He stood up startled by her appearance, and when she wordlessly handed him a piece of paper he felt his insides freeze.

"Nat! What's the matter?" Sara jumped up quickly as she began to sob, but stopped as Natalie held up her hand and shook her head.

"Her father died." Greg answered for her, and folded up the letter and stuffed it into his pocket. He took four quick strides across the room and took Natalie into his arms before she could resist. Grissom was at their side, laying a supportive hand on Natalie's shoulder.

"You just tell me when you need to go for the memorial service, I'm sorry for your loss."

"That won't be necessary. She just needs to go home for a day or two." Hodges came running up the hallway towards the break room.

"There you are!" He stopped when he realized Natalie was crying, wrapped in Greg's arms.

"Hodges, you need to take Nat home. Just let her lay down and make sure she eats something later." He leaned down and kissed her cheek, whispering a few words into her ear. Natalie clung to him, her face pressed against his chest.

"Natalie," Hodges' voice was gentle. "Come on, sweetie I'll take you home." She pulled away from Greg, and for a moment seemed torn between the two lab techs.

"I'm sorry I ran away from you." She said quietly. "I know you didn't mean what you said." Greg smiled sadly.

"I'll come by and see you when I get off work okay?" Natalie nodded and Hodges wrapped his arm around her waist, leading her out of the room. Greg collapsed into the closest chair and rested his forehead against his hands.

"Did he just call her 'sweetie'?" Catherine asked, her voice incredulous.

"That's not the question I would have asked first." Grissom said, sitting across from Greg. "Why won't it be necessary for her to go home for her father's funeral?"

"Because the funeral was two months ago."

"What?" Sara voiced the shock. "What do you mean it was two months ago?"

"Exactly what I said, alright? It was two months ago, and there's no reason for her to go home okay?" Greg started for the door. "And don't talk to her about it, she doesn't need to be reminded." He left in a cloud of fury.

"It doesn't make sense." Sara said quietly. "Why didn't she know her father was dead? Why would she find out via a letter sent to the lab?"

"Does anybody want to tell me why she went home with Hodges?" Catherine was still preoccupied with the strange relationship.

"They're sort of together."

"Ah, of course. It all makes sense now."

"Please don't be sarcastic right now."

"How can I not be? Are you telling me you can honestly say that you would have figured those two to end up together?" It was Sara's turn to sigh.

"No, I can't honestly say that. But they seem to be happy together, I just wish Greg and Nick could find some way to reconcile."

The rest of Greg's shift passed in a blur. Sara tried to talk to him several times, but he ignored her, the anger boiling under his skin wouldn't allow anything civil to be said, so his mouth stayed shut. Right before he left, Nick stopped by. He didn't enter the room, but he stood in the hallway, staring at the lab tech, his expression quite unreadable. When their eyes met, Greg felt a sizzle of pure electricity shoot down his spine. He started to open his to speak, but Nick looked startled and walked away.

"This needs to be fixed." He growled and stomped his way out of the building.

Hodges' apartment was nearly everything Greg could have pictured. Everything was meticulously organized and spotless. Only the shedding cat lying across the couch seemed out of place.

"She's still really upset, understandably so." Hodges told Greg with a miserable look on his face. "I tried to get her to eat something about an hour ago and she just choked down a few bites and went back to bed." He paused, looking like he was collecting his thoughts.

"I'm not here to fight. I want to talk about what happened and try to put it behind us." Hodges looked relieved.

"I'll go wake her up." Greg sat fighting anxiety, listening to the cat's content purring. This is my best friend, he thought. I don't need to be nervous about talking to her. He tried to calm himself down, but as Natalie's voice joined Hodges' quiet murmurs, his stomach flipped. When the two of them joined him in the living room, he felt his heart hammer in his chest.

Natalie was pale and bleary eyed. A pair of sweats obviously belonging to the man of the house pooled around her ankles. It made her look young and helpless. She sat down and only nodded when Hodges said he would get her a cup of tea.

"Nat," Greg began nervously. "I'm so sorry." Her eyes were bright with tears, but she kept her composure. "What I said, it wasn't me, it was jealousy."

"Oh Greg, you have nothing to be jealous of."

"I know. It's just that we haven't seen each other in a few years, and I guess I didn't like sharing." Hodges returned and sat next to Natalie, handing her a mug. She smile at him and drank the tea as fast as the heat would allow her.

"I honestly didn't think it would be a big deal. I mean, you have Nick. I didn't want you to feel like I was smothering you."

"Yeah, I have Nick…" He trailed off and tried to swallow the lump that formed in his throat.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to Nick?" Her voice was alarmed. Greg shook his head.

"No, he's fine. We had a fight. It kind of slipped out about, um, you and I in college." He looked uneasily at Hodges.

"Dave knows that we had a brief affair in college. I told him before we got, uh, serious."

"I was an idiot and didn't say anything, and now he won't talk to me. He's staying with Warrick."

"Maybe I should talk to him."

"I don't know if that would do any good."

"I think if I explain the situation, my past, he might be a little more understanding."

"Nick doesn't need to know what happened in your past! It's my past that's the problem!" Natalie sighed and set the cup on the table.

"Unfortunately, and I don't say that because I regret what we did, your past and mine cross paths." She took Hodges' hand, linking their fingers together. "I know I did some messed up things when I was younger. Believe me, I've spent quite a bit of time working through my issues and accepting that what happened has happened. I can't change it, and now, I don't know if I would want to. Everything has lead me here, and here is where I'm supposed to be." Greg was silent. He looked at the couple sitting across from him and ached for Nick's arm to wrap around his shoulders the way Hodges was holding Natalie.

"That makes sense." He said after a few minutes. "At this point, I'll do anything to have Nick back."