A/N- Yes, it's been awhile but I do have another chapter. Maybe even two tonight...we'll see. Enjoy and thanks for the reviews.

Greg had decided to go back to sleep upstairs but only slept about an hour before a nightmare work him up again. He ended up taking a nice long shower before heading downstairs again.

He rummaged through Nick's DVD collection. He realized there were so many movies he wanted to see. The only time he saw TV was when he was in the community room, which typically he spent waiting for a chance to get on one of the few computers that had internet access. They only got 30 minutes at a time on it. He usually spent the time printing up new journal reviews to bring back to his cell to read. Of course, everything they printed was looked over by a prison official for approval. After a while, they barely checked what Greg printed since it was always from the same sources.

He had to admit his later years in prison were easier once he was moved and the guards on this side liked him. They looked out for him but he had grown on his own and was not taking shit from other prisoners.

He pulled out a few of the Marvel movies and decided to start watching them, seeing as they had come out just after he was put in prison.

He was just starting another movie when he heard a phone ringing and realized it was his cell phone. He grabbed it from the coffee table in front of him and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello! Is this Greg Sanders? This is Thomas Gaylor calling." Greg just realized this was it. He was about to find out if he had a job or had to keep looking for one.

"Yes, this is Greg Sanders. How are you Mr. Gaylor?" He had to be proper and make small talk, but all he really wanted to know what if he got the job or not.

"I am very good, Greg. So I am calling to let you know that we are prepared to offer you a job." Greg felt his heart leap in joy at the news.

"Wow, thank you," he said quickly.

"Well, you might want to wait until you hear the offer before thanking me. We would want you to start next week. We do two days of orientation and then the rest of the week you will be shadowing one of our senior chemists. After the first week, you will be working in the DNA lab. We will see how your progress is and if all goes well, we might move you into our newer subsidiary company, FreChem. The office is still here in town, just not in our main building. We will start you at $25.00 an hour and if you end up being moved to FreChem, your wage might go up."

Greg's mouth hung open hearing what the starting rate was. That was at least $8.00 more an hour than he made when he was a lab tech, which paid more than a CSI did. "$25.00 dollars an hour, really?!"

"Well, you will probably be able to get some overtime too, so that can help supplement. You would be under our Medical and Dental insurances after 90 days. So what do you think?"

Greg could barely respond. It was a far better offer than he ever imagined how could be say no?

"I'll admit I'm a bit in shock. I never expected any of this so quickly after… Well I mean yes, I accept the offer," he said quickly, not wanting make him wait for an answer.

"Great! We can't wait to have you working for us. Would you be able to come by tomorrow just to fill out some paperwork? I do have to let you know you will have to sign a confidentiality contract. Any new drugs we come up with have to be considered confidential until thoroughly tested and ready for FDA testing," Mr. Gaylor told him.

"Yes, I understand. We had similar type rules in the Crime Lab."

"I would think so," Mr. Gaylor laughed a little. "So just stop in tomorrow between 9am and 3pm and ask to see Jill. She will have the documents for you to sign and walk you through them. She will then instruct you on the orientation that you will start next week."

"Yes, I can be there during the day. Thank you again Mr. Gaylor."

"Greg, please call me Tom. No need for formalities. We are glad you are joining us. I'll probably see you on Monday for orientation. Good Luck and enjoy the rest of your day!"

"You too, Tom. Thank you again. Goodbye!"

Greg disconnected the call and jumped up, punching the air with his fists. "Fuck yeah!" he exclaimed.

He sat back down and cupped his hands over his mouth, still in disbelief. He was not sure how much Nick made these days but it was quite possible he might end up making more than him.

He wanted to call Nick and tell him the news, but then he figured he probably would be home soon anyway. He would just have to contain his excitement until he got home.

In the meantime, he decided to look up this subsidiary company Tom Gaylor told him about. He used Google on his cell phone and typed in FreChem. He found their website. He did not see anything obviously saying it was subsidiary of Freedom Laboratories but that did not matter as much. It said they specialized in creating new, affordable drugs for those who did not have insurance. It seemed that they ran a lot of clinical test studies, asking for people who wanted to come in and get paid a minor fee to try their medications. He knew this was a common practice for a lot of drug companies and labs.

He now saw where it was located also. It was in an older, poorer part of the city. He guessed it made sense seeing as they were aiming for people who could not afford nor had insurance through their work.

He just hoped he was strictly going to be in the lab area and not having to work with the locals that came in. He knew a lot of those people might know who he is and what he did. Of course, he knew that was bound to happen if he started going out more anyway. One of the reasons he had not left the motel or Nick's house much since he was free.

He heard the door open and the alarm buzz. He knew Nick was home when the alarm code was punched in.

"Greg, you up?" He asked this time as he entered the house. Greg leaned out over the coffee table a little so Nick could see him in the living room.

"Hey, I thought you might be sleeping," Nick said as he came in and threw his keys on the kitchen counter.

"I took a small nap and have been watching movies since, basically," Greg said a little too quickly. He was trying to contain his excitement. He wanted to seem calmer when he told him the news.

Nick looked at the coffee table and saw a few of his Marvel DVD's out on it. "Ah, good action films to kill the time. You'll love them."

"Yeah, I've already got one and a half in."

Nick smiled and sat down. He noticed Greg seemed a little hyper. "You got something to tell me? You seem eager about something."

"Damn and here I am thinking I'm acting all cool. Yes, I do have something to tell you. I got the job!"

Nick eyes opened wide. "You got the job? Really?! Well that's fantastic Greg!" He wanted to go over and hug him but he refrained.

"Yes, he just called me a little while ago and told me the news," Greg told him excitedly.

"Wow, well tell me all about it!" the Texan was eager to hear about the call. Greg filled him in on all of the details. Nick had a huge smile on his face as did Greg when he talked about the call.

"I'm so happy for you Greg, I really am. That pay is amazing. You might end up making more than me. I think we need to celebrate," Nick told him.

"Yeah sure. What are you thinking?" Nick looked at the time and thought a moment. "Well, maybe not right now but after I get some sleep I can take you out to dinner."

"Well, you know I think I rather celebrate here. I mean we can get delivery and I can continue to enjoy the movies as we eat," Greg said nervously.

Nick narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Why don't you want to go out to dinner, Greg?"

Greg ran his hand over his short hair, quickly trying to come up with a valid sounding reason and not the real reason. "I mean, I don't even have anything decent to wear. I put my nice pants and shirt in the wash since I will need it for tomorrow."

"We don't need to go anyplace fancy. You can wear something I brought you from storage," Nick told him.

"Yeah, but some of that stuff is tight now," he was pulling at straws now and he knew Nick was not buying it anymore.

"I know what's going on. You can't stay out of public places forever. You're going to have to be working and until you can get a car, you might have to take public transportation if I can't take you into work. I mean didn't you already take the bus a few times? That was public."

Greg moaned. "Yeah, but that was different. I mean no one pays attention to who gets on and off the bus. You're talking about a restaurant. It's just…I can't yet. I'm sorry." His happy mood was starting to turn sour with this conversation.

Nick was about to argue with him but decided against it. It was not worth it right now. He could tell that his excitement about the job offer had dampened a lot. "Okay, fine. We'll order in." Nick stood up. "Look, I really am thrilled for you. I knew you would not be jobless long unless people are just that dumb. That all being said I am really tired. Do you mind if I cut out and get some sleep? We can talk later."

Greg nodded. "Yeah sure. I'm probably going to finish this movie and then maybe try a nap again. I am probably going to have to get back to trying to sleep when you are at work since it sounds like I will be working days."

"Yeah sounds like it. See you later." Nick smiled at him again before heading up to his bedroom.

Greg exhaled and sat back. He was glad Nick dropped the subject of going out to eat. He needed a little more time to adjust to being free and the public possibly now recognizing his face when he went out. He was not sure how people might react to seeing him free. Nick had told him his release was not as big of news. He was glad for that. He hoped most had forgotten about him or seeing as he had served time, let him be.

For now, he decided it was time to finish his movie and then try to get some sleep again.

He was standing in a lab that was all white and clean. The tables and machines were all white. He had just put a DNA sample into the DNA sequencer machine and was waiting for its results. An eerie music played through the lab. He thought he heard someone behind him but when he turned around he did not see anyone. He turned back to his work on the table in front of him.

Suddenly he was pushed down, his head slamming against the table, Items bouncing from their spot on the table from the force. An unknown face bent down next to his, as he felt his body being pressed against the table by this man's. "You just think you're free, but you're never going to be free of us," he man's warm breath against his ear.

He felt paralyzed as his pants and underwear were being pulled down.

"No! No, don't do this!" He tried screaming, even though his face was smashed against the cold metal table. But instead he heard the man unzipping his pants. "Nooooo!" He screamed out.

He felt his body being shaken. "Greg!" he heard a voice scream.

He suddenly shot up in bed and saw the concerned eyes of Nick Stokes staring at him. "Greg, it's okay. You're okay. You're here at the house."

Nick had been woken up by the screams coming from the bedroom down the hall. He ran in to see Greg writhing about in his bed and screaming. He tried yelling his name several times but to no response. Finally he started shaking him as he called his name out and that was when he snapped out of it.

Nick could see that this nightmare really shook Greg. His hands were trembling and his eyes showed his fear. "Greg, are you with me?" He asked him, seeing as he had not said anything.

Greg looked around the room and realized he was in the bedroom in Nick's house. He briefly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Shit! I'm sorry to wake you up again, Nick."

Nick grabbed his chin. "Hey, look at me. Don't apologize about it. Do you want to talk about it?" He saw his eyes immediately look down.

"Not really." Nick exhaled slowly. "Do you think you will ever be able to talk to me about this stuff that happened to you?"

The younger man lifted his head and shrugged a little. "I don't know." He watched as Nick sucked in his lower lip in thought.

"Do you at least talk to Dr. Muller about these things?"

Greg nodded some. "Yes, I do. He's been the only one so far that I do. It's not easy to talk about but I've become mostly comfortable talking to him about what happened and the nightmares." He looked down at his still slightly trembling hands. He held them up for Nick to see. "This and the nightmares are basically some form of PTSD I suffer from, hence why I am on the anti-depressants and anxiety meds."

"Are you going to be okay for now?" Nick asked him cautiously. The former CSI put his hands back down on his bed and nodded. "Yeah, just give me a couple minutes to calm down."

"This one seemed to shake you more than others," Nick commented.

"Yeah, I guess because it was different than the more memory based ones. It was new surroundings and unknown face. It almost felt foreboding," he told him with a haunting in his eyes.

Nick put his hand on his knee and he did not flinch away from it. "Your mind is just playing tricks on you. Like you said, the mind can be an evil place."

"Yes, it sure can," he frowned. He looked down at Nick's hand on his knee and placed his own hand on top of his. He looked back into his former lover's eyes. "Thank you for being here for me. I don't know what I did to deserve you to be by my side like this after so long, but I am very grateful."

Nick gave him a small smile. "You've been through hell you never deserved. Like I told you, I just want you to have a brighter future. Now just think, you're probably going to be raking in more dough than me in your new job. I think that is pretty bright for a future."

Greg thought of the location it the nightmare and suddenly pulled his hand back from Nick. "Yeah…hopefully."

Nick took notice and started to think that this nightmare perhaps had something to do with this new job. "You said this dream was almost foreboding. Did it have something to do with these labs?" When he saw Greg shudder, he knew it did.

Greg abruptly swung his legs out of the bed and stood up. He looked over sadly at Nick. "Yeah it did and that's all the more I'm saying about it."

Nick got the message, he wanted this to be dropped. "Fine. Are you hungry? Do you want to order out now? I've slept enough."

Greg was thankful Nick was not going to push him anymore. "Sure. I do have a request for food, if it's okay with you?"

Nick smiled. "Of course, this is your celebration meal. What do you want?"

Greg smirked a bit. "Chinese." Nick nodded with a big grin on his face. "Of course, I should have known better. You probably have not had it in ages I bet either."

Greg nodded. "Correct."

"Let's go downstairs and I will pull out the menu from Mr. Woo's and you can get whatever you want." He saw Greg smile and he knew he had survived a bit of a wave.