Hope you're all doing okay! No new ep of CSI tonight, so I figured you need a new chapter now more than ever, right? :)


Two days later, Nick and Greg were talking to the victim's husband and brother. They visited them at home with the intention to search the house for evidence. The husband was very cooperative, the brother not so much. Nick was downstairs, processing the living room and kitchen, while Greg was upstairs taking care of the bedroom. The husband was downstairs with Nick, the brother was watching every step Greg was taking.

"What are you doing?" the brother kept asking.

"I'm looking for hairs, fibers, anything to help us..." Greg replied while taking a good look at the bed.

The brother had his arms crossed and was standing in the doorway. He looked a bit nervous, but the victim's loved ones often did.

"What is it? Did you find something?"

Greg looked up. He was annoyed, but also knew that some people liked to stay with the CSIs while they did their jobs, it just didn't make it any easier for him. He picked up a hair with a pair of tweezers. It was blond. Both the brother and the husband, as well as the victim, had dark hair. He bagged it.

"Why are you taking this with you? It's just a hair."

"But it's blond. Neither of you have blond hair, so it might help us to find out what happened." He kept on processing the bed. He was preparing the UV-light to check the bed for any signs of sexual activity.

"What... Wait. Is this what they use on TV to look for semen and stuff? What do you need that for?"

Greg sighed. As much as he understood the brother's curiosity, as much it annoyed him. "I'll be done in a few minutes, why don't you go downstairs while I finish here?" He walked over to him, grabbing the door knob. "I'll let you know about my findings."

The brother stepped into the room, Greg had to step back. "You think she had an affair, right? She's a decent person, she loves her husband! She'd never do that to him!"

"Sir, please, just let me do my job. I'm not suggesting anything, but it's procedure to process the bedroom." He tried to calm him down. "Please, step out."

"I'm not going anywhere and you're not going to make it out as if my sister was a slut!"

"No one's saying that, Mr. Griffin. We just need to..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the brother grabbed a night lamp and threw it against the wall. "Whoever did this is still out there and you're here wasting our time!" he yelled aggressively.

"Sir, I assure you, we're doing our best. This is necessary." Greg stayed calm. He was still trying to calm the brother down. He knew he was just angry over the loss of his sister, not at him. He didn't think he was a threat to him. "Now please... would you step out?" Greg grabbed the UV-lamp, hoping the brother would let him do his job already. The brother just stood there. Greg walked over to the light switch.

"No!" the brother said. He hastily walked over to Greg and took the UV-lamp out of his hands, pushing him against the wall. He had his grip on Greg's collar, pressing him against the wall. "Who the hell do you think you guys are to come into my sisters home and stick your noses into their business, huh?"

Greg tried to get him off by pushing him away, but he failed. The brother was quite a big guy and he was a lot stronger than Greg was.

"Let go of him." Officer Langley, the officer who was giving his 'advice' to Greg a few days earlier at the crime scene, was now in the room with his gun drawn and aimed it at the brother. "...Now!"

The brother hesitated for a moment, but then let go of Greg. He started crying. "You're ruining his life... He loves her..."

Another cop walked in and walked away with the brother.

"You alright?" officer Langley asked Greg rather emotionless.

He nodded. "...Thank you..." he said sheepishly.

Langley gave him a look and turned around.


"At least it's good to know they'll still do their job, right?" Nick said, trying to see the positive in the situation. They were on their way back to the lab.

Greg shrugged. "Yeah, but the look on his face... Made me almost think he regretted intervening. They resent me. I need to do something to turn this around. Maybe I should talk to Spencer..."

"What? No! Stay away from him, Greg."

"They still don't have any proof he has anything to do with the murder, why can't I just talk to him?"

"Just... Don't. You'll regret it afterwards, trust me."


The bullying didn't exactly stop, but it seemed to be getting less for the next few days. Maybe his rant at the station helped, he thought. Maybe they were just getting tired of it, too. He didn't really care why it improved, he was just glad it did. He was walking to his car in the parking lot when three officers approached him. One of them was Langley. "Hey, Sanders!"

He turned around with a worried look on his face. What now, he thought.

"How's your hand doing?" one of them asked with a grin on his face.

"What do you want?" Greg asked rather annoyed. He was long over the phase of trying to be nice to them, hoping they'd be nice to him in return.

"Come with us," they said, pointing at a car.

"...Excuse me?"

"Get in there, we're making a little road trip."

Greg laughed humorlessly. "What, are you trying to kidnap me now? No, thanks."

"Okay, fair enough. We might've taken the whole blame game a bit too far with you, but we're cops after all. We're not going to hurt you, you can trust us."

"Trust you?" He asked sarcastically as he turned around, trying to get to his car.

One of them grabbed his arm. "Spencer asked us to drive you to him."

"...And he couldn't just ask me to meet him instead?"

"He was afraid you wouldn't want to see him."

"Well he was right about that!" He tried to walk away again, but the officer's grip got stronger.

"Come on."