Greg had the leave to go home the next day. The doctor had solely wanted to keep him under surveillance overnight because of his concussion. Nick came by the hospital to drive him as Greg couldn't drive himself due to his broken wrist. He even brought him some sweatpants and a T-shirt from his locker at work, so he could wear fresh clothes instead of the ones he wore yesterday when he was attacked. "Thanks, Nick." Greg changed out of his hospital gown into the clean clothes. Nick turned around to give him his privacy.
Nick cleared his throat. "You're fine to go?" he asked after a few minutes. "Yes, let's go."
Greg sat down on the passenger seat and put on his seat belt. Nick got in behind the steering wheel. The Texan started the car. They drove silently for a while. "I need to apologise," Nick said after a while. Greg looked at him frowning. What would he have to apologise for? He went mad at Grissom, Sara and Brass on his behalf and now he fetched him from the hospital. "I don't understand…"
"For the other night. I 'm well aware I stepped into your personal space. I'm sorry." It clicked with Greg. Nick talked about the night he got wasted. "It's alright, don't sweat it." Greg looked over to him and smiled. It was just like Nick to get worked up about something like that. Greg snickered gently. "For a moment there, I thought you were going to kiss me," he admitted. When Nick stayed quiet, he got worried. Did he cross a line with that comment? "Nick?"
Nick looked torn. Greg could see he was contemplating to say something. "Look Nick, that was a stupid joke. Just forget I said anything." You had to open your blabbermouth, Sanders. How could he be so stupid? It seemed he had insulted Nick deeply by even suggesting he might have thought about kissing him. Hopefully, the Texan could forgive him…however, he still felt slightly hurt that it seemed to be such a crazy suggestion. Greg continued to look at his friend worried.
Nicked sighed surrendering. "Would it have been a bad thing if I did?" His voice was slightly hoarse. Greg's jaw dropped. He had expected his friend to be mad at him, to tell him that he was an idiot and that something like that was out of the question. But definitely not that…
"Beg your pardon?" That was all he could come up with. "Would it have been a bad thing if I kissed you?" Nick repeated, this time louder and with more confidence. "You wanted to kiss me?" Greg was flabbergasted to say the least. Nick shook and nodded his head at the same time. "Yes..I mean..I don't know…" He looked confused and lost for words. During all this time he had kept his view straight on the road. "Talk to me Nick," Greg begged. Whatever was going through Nick's head, he had to know it.
But Nick remained silent for the rest of the trip. He parked in front of Greg's apartment building. He shut the car down and turned to Greg. The look in his walnut brown eyes was intensive. He breathed deeply. "I don't know exactly what has caused it, but recently I realised that you are more to me than a friend, G. I was jealous that night. That's why I got so drunk. To be honest with you, I don't know what I should do about it or how I even feel about it. Warrick said I should give us a try..."
Greg raised his eyebrows. He had feelings for him? He had been jealous? "You told Warrick about this?" Nick nodded. "I had to discuss it with someone. Since it is kinda about you, I could hardly discuss it with you." The Texan took Greg's hands in his. "Of course I know, only because I might have feelings for you doesn't mean you have them for me too. I'm well aware. So you want me to back off, I will. We can even pretend I never said anything…"
Greg didn't know what to say. This was a surprise. He was unsure what to respond. He didn't want to risk their friendship. It was very important to him. He would loath to lose his 'brother' about this. On the other hand, if Nick wanted to give it a shot, why shouldn't he be willing to? He chewed on his lower lip.
"Say something Greg." It was Nick's turn to beg now. Greg smiled and squeezed his friend's hands. "Let's hang out later this week and see where it leads us." He could not call it a date. That felt wrong somehow. "That's all I ask for, G. Thanks." Nick's lips quirked up into one of his adorable smiles. Greg let go of his hands and opened the car door. "Thanks for driving me." He climbed out of the car. Before he walked into his building, he turned to Nick once more. "Thank you for telling me. I know that must have been hard for you. I appreciate it." He waved him goodbye.
The landlord opened the door to Kenneth Miller's flat. "Do you need me for anything else?" the old man asked nervously. He rented this flat out to students for decades and never had any troubles with them. To hear his current tenant was under investigation for murder had left him worried. "No that's everything. Thank you for your cooperation Mr. Turner."
Sara placed her kit in the middle of the room and looked around. Kenneth's room was that of a normal university student. Nothing fancy, slightly messy, with books and papers scattered over the place. Somehow it reminded her of Greg's flat. She smiled inwardly.
She put on some gloves and started to look for that bloody rudist, literally. The murder weapon that killed Prof. Stewart and was most likely also used to strike her friend down. Differently than Nick, Greg hadn't blamed them for what happened. He blamed himself- it was so typically for him. Sara had blamed herself before Nick said a word. She should have offered him to accompany him. Instead she had seen that case somehow beneath her. Seen it as a waste of time. Ohh what a good friend she was, she thought cynically.
Sara started looking in the obvious places: the wardrobe, chest of drawers. When she couldn't find what she was looking for she tried some more unexpected places, keeping in mind she dealt with a early tween researcher. "Eureka," she exclaimed when she retrieved a blood stained piece of rock that had the form of a cone. This had to be the rudist. She tested the red smear. The result showed that it was human blood. At least she was able to catch a lucky break.
Sara returned to the lab where she handed the object to swap it for DNA and subsequently to Hodges in trace. Waiting was the hardest part. She decided to catch up on some paper work meanwhile. Not only was it a good way to pass the time, but also to occupy her bad consciousness.
A while later Wendy entered the breakroom, where Sara was sat down, surrounded by paper scattered all over the table. "I have your results," the DNA tech said vaguely. Sara perked up an eyebrow. She took the report from Wendy's hands. "Okay, so there were blood contributions from both Prof. Stewart and Greg… "So far so good. This was definitely their murder weapon. "There is more Wendy pointed out." Hodges found a hair follicle stuck in the fissures of the fossil. "It doesn't match to Kenneth." Sara was surprised to say the least. The DNA tech shook her hand. "He couldn't be. I can't tell you who it belongs to, but it's a woman's."
Sara arrived at the police department half an hour later. When she wandered through the hallways she spotted Greg sitting in the waiting room. She decided to make a quick detour and talk to him. When she approached him, he didn't seem to notice him. "Daydreaming, Greggo?" she asked a little bit amused. He flinched startled. "Sara…gosh…" he replied and stroked nervously over his forehead. " What are you doing here?" the brown-haired enquired. "You should be at home resting." Greg rolled his eyes slightly. "Sara, I'm fine. But I wanna know….need to know why that Kenneth guy attacked me." Sara nodded. He needed closure. She could understand. She sighed relentingly. "Alright, you can sit in, if Brass gives his okay as well." Greg smiles benignly and followed her to the interrogation room.
Brass had no objections against Greg sitting in. He was even convinced that it will jump start Kenneth's guilty consciousness and maybe he would be more likely to collaborate. "Try to look hurt, Sanders." – "Don't need to try my wrist is actually killing me, Brass." Greg grimaced in pain as to emphasise his statement. "Even better," Brass grunted satisfied.
Greg settled in the back of the room. His presence made Kenneth obviously uncomfortable as Sara realised with grim approval. The redhead was very twitchy. He must know that they had new evidence to confront him with. Interestingly enough he had sent his lawyer away. Was he willing to talk now? Brass spread the pictures of the bloody murder weapon out on the table. "Look what CSI Sidle found in your flat, Kenneth. The fossil that has gone missing when you attacked CSI Sanders. And surprise it has the blood of the good old professor all over it." The captain shook his head. "Doesn't look good for you kid. Maybe you should call this lawyer of yours back." Kenneth nibbled on his nails. "I didn't kill the professor…"he wined.
"I believe you," Sara replied. She put a picture of the hair Hodges had found on the fossil down. "We found this hair stuck in the fissures on the murder weapon. It belongs to a woman." She gave him a knowing smile. "You know who killed him and you want to protect her." Kenneth nodded weakly.
"Do yourself a favour and tell us who she is," Brass advised the young man. Kenneth seemed to be torn. He had attacked a CSI to protect the murderer. He was probably asking himself if that wasn't in vain if he gave her up now.
"Kenneth," Greg spoke up. "I know you think you doing her a big favour…you see yourself as the protector. But think about this: Who is gonna protect you?" His big brown eyes looked at the man who attacked him with compassion. Sara admired her younger colleague for that. She didn't know if she could be that forgiving if she was in his shoes. "You already face conviction for assault. Do you want them to get you for obstruction of justice as well? Do yourself a favour, tell us who killed the professor. No cold-blooded murder who cuts their victim into pieces and stores them in his own fridge is worth destroying your life for." Greg was so right. Whoever committed this crime could not have done so in self-defence. A small smile appeared on Sara's lips when she finally recognised how much her friend had grown in the past month.
Kenneth slumped down on his chair. "Alright, alright I see your point, I'll tell you." He looked at Brass and sighed.
"It's was Mrs. Stewart!"
