Sara was standing at the light table with a piece of paper in her hand. She managed to reconstruct the burnt paper she found at Ms. Alvarez' apartment.

"Please tell me you got something." Catherine walked in, all stressed out.

"Actually I do." Sara handed her the paper. "It wasn't a suicide!"

Catherine looked surprised. She didn't see that one coming! "But Doc Robbins confirmed it."

"Well he confirms she swallowed that pills and died from it, but who says she wanted to die? The paper is a page from her diary. Ray found the diary under her mattress. These are the missing pages! And it says she was planning to tell the police everything she knew about her boss!" Sara was getting excited again.

"And what did she know?"

"...Well, we don't know that. Yet. These pages only say she knows something. We'll get him, Catherine. I know it."

After their little fight, Greg decided to avoid Nick for a while. He wasn't even sure he wanted Nick to help him on his case anymore. He only asked him for help because Nick didn't have anything else to do, he thought. But he knew that wasn't the only reason. He couldn't even remember why he asked him in the first place. He could've handled the case alone, anyways, he was sure. And now he was alone with the case again and couldn't concentrate all that much because he kept thinking about Nick. What was wrong with him? Why did he yell at him? And what could he do to make him feel better? Where does his anger and frustration come from, anyway? This was not the first case Nick couldn't work on. Greg didn't really care that he was not allowed on the case, so why did it bother Nick so much?

Ray cleared his throat, "Can I come in?"

Greg smiled at him. "Sure."

Ray entered the work room. "Where's Nick?"

Greg smiled nervously. "I'm not sure... I think he's off the case, maybe he went home."

"You don't know?" Ray asked in surprise. "Why is he off the case? ...It's not connected to ours, is it?"

"No, don't worry. I'm still working on it." He smirked. "Nick just... decided not to."

Ray took a seat next to him. "What happened?"

Greg sighed. "I have no idea... He just freaked."

"What do you mean with "freaked", Greg?" he asked.

"Well, you've seen him at the morgue. He was furious that we had to leave! I told him to meet me at the morgue an hour later because David had something to show us. He didn't show up, I think he was still upset. When I later found him and told him about what it was David wanted to show us, he didn't even care."

Ray put down his glasses. "And then?"

"Well..." Greg now had a painful look on his face. "I asked him about it, why he didn't show any interest in the case and, well, one thing lead to another and we had an argument... I tried to diffuse the situation and told him he could take a break and let me handle the case. And he freaked again," he sighed, "I guess I made it pretty clear that I don't want him to help me anymore."

"I think he's just stressed out and tired. We all are. Don't worry about it," Ray said with tired eyes.

"Should I give him some space or reach out to him?" Greg rubbed his neck. "God, I don't know how to help him."

Ray smiled. "Not too long ago I had a similar conversation with Nick about you. You've been in his position. What did you wish Nick did?"

Greg had no idea what he wanted Nick to do when he was in the same situation. Part of him wanted to be alone, but another part of him was longing for comfort. He had no clue what to do. But since he worried about Nick and didn't see him for three hours now, he decided to find him and talk to him. Or not. He wasn't sure what he'd do once he found Nick, but he thought it was a good idea to look for him.

Nick wasn't in his office. Since that was where he saw him when they had a fight, this was the first room he looked for him.

"Hey, did you see Nick?" Greg asked Henry while walking past him.

"Uhm... I think he's in the break room," a busy Henry said while walking by.

Heading to the break room, Greg kept going through empty phrases he might use while being there for Nick. He hated every single one that came to mind. It was clichés people say to you to comfort you when they don't really know you. Like what Ecklie said to Greg after the lab explosion years ago. Or what the undersheriff said to him after he ran over Demetrius James. Well, at least before he blamed him for causing the lab trouble because of it. And way before he was responsible for Warrick's death.

Warrick. That's what Nick needed now, Greg thought. But there was no way Greg could raise the dead for him. To even think about it made him roll his eyes in his mind. What was he thinking? Stay realistic, he thought.

Arriving at the break room, his heart started racing. Why was he getting so nervous? Was he scared of Nick? No, that's not it. He was just scared he'd disappoint him. He wanted to be there for him, but what if he really didn't want him to be there for him? What if Nick was actually angry with Greg? After all, Greg thought, it was his fault Nick was not allowed to work the case. No, don't think that! You've blamed yourself for these events for weeks now, and you KNOW you're not responsible!, he kept telling himself. He didn't believe it, but he tried to convince himself. It didn't work. Then how could he convince Nick, that it's not his fault, nor Nick's, that that's just the way life goes sometimes?

He was now standing in the door, his mind wandering from one thought to another. And then he realized. Nick wasn't here! "Hodges. Have you seen Nick?"

Hodges was drinking coffee. His first coffee break after 6 hours of work. Everyone at the lab was busy. Only Nick and Greg seemed to be having way too much time on their hands since they were not allowed to work the most important case.

"He was here ten minutes ago. He said something about DNA that needed processing and went off." Hodges answered while working on a Sudoku.

"Thanks." Greg went off.

Greg hurried to the DNA lab. Wait, what's the hurry? He didn't have a clue what to say to Nick and yet he was rushing to him? What's that all about, he thought. He reached the DNA lab. Great, Julian's here! This man was taking coffee break after coffee break, he was actually working BETWEEN coffee breaks, not the other way around, but NOW he was working. Just my luck, Greg thought.

Greg took a deep breath, cleared his throat and went in. His heart was still racing, but he tried to ignore it. "Hey guys," he said, trying to act normal.

"Sanders." Julian rolled his eyes.

"Hi Greg," Nick said shameful.

"You're processing DNA-evidence?" Greg tried to act as natural as possible.

"Yup. We're kinda busy here, so..." Julian tried to make Greg leave.

Greg raised an eyebrow.

"Actually, Julian, the evidence comes from Greg's case," Nick explained.

Julian rolled his eyes again. "Neat."

Greg smiled and sat down next to Nick. There, problem solved, Greg thought.

When Julian saw Greg and Nick smiling at each other, he got off his seat. "Your evidence might take some time and I don't want to be part of this love fest, so..." He left.

"You know..." Nick watched Julian leave. "When I was surprised when you acted a bit aggressive towards him? Now I get it."

They both laughed.

"I mean, I'm this close to kicking his ass," Nick said, still laughing.

"Well, you know that I have your back, right? I could take him!" They joked around for some time.

They both really needed a laugh. Greg hoped that this was enough to help Nick deal with all his stress better. But he also didn't want to left some things unsaid. "It really sucks that we're not allowed to work that case."

Nick nodded. "Well, we're busy with our case, anyway, so don't sweat it."

Greg gave Nick a smile and a pat on the shoulder when he realized something. Don't sweat it? What's that supposed to mean? For weeks Greg tried to avoid any conflict. He didn't want to upset anybody, and he didn't want to be upset. He was upset the whole time, anyways, so why rub salt into the wound with petty arguments? But now Nick made him feel responsible for everything that's happened. It's not like he needed anyone to feel that way. He felt like this minutes after he left that video rental store after being held hostage for hours. And that feeling never really went away. But why did it hurt so much to hear this from Nick now? He didn't know, he only knew it DID hurt.

"Wait... what do you mean with 'Don't sweat it'?" Greg asked surprised.

"Nothing." Nick smiled at him until he realized what he just said. "I didn't mean it that way. I know it's not your fault. I just meant, well, don't sweat it. It's not the end of the world."

"What's not the end of the world? That we're not allowed to work the case or that I'm the reason it's that way?"

"Greg, come on, you know I don't think it's your fault. And you know you're not responsible, too, right?"

Greg didn't reply. What was he supposed to say? Yes, of course it's my fault! No, he was too ashamed to admit that, which didn't really make any sense. NOTHING made any sense at the moment. "Okay, I'm sorry. Forget what I just said."

"No, Greg..." Nick tried to talk to him about it when a police officer entered the lab.

They both looked surprised at him. The police officers never went into a lab and this guy didn't look familiar.

"Uhm... Can we help you?" Nick asked.

"Is anyone of you Dr. Langston?" the police officer asked.

"No..." Nick and Greg both gave each other a confused look. This police officer was acting strange. "But maybe we can help you?" Nick asked him.

The police officer closed the door. "Yes you can."

"...What are you doing?" Nick was reaching for his gun, but before he got the chance to even touch it, the police officer pointed his gun at him.

"First of all, keep your hands from your guns. Second, sit down! You first!" he said to Greg and pushed him to the other side of the room, forcing him to sit on the ground. "Now you, cowboy." He kept pointing the gun at Nick and took Nick's gun out of the holster. "Now sit down!"

Nick sat down next to Greg. What the hell was going on? Who was that guy? Are they really being taken hostage by a police officer? This HAD to have something to do with the big case the lab is working on, they both thought.

The police officer sat down a few inches next to Greg. He was taking cover behind a table he pushed over. After all, the lab had glass walls in most rooms!

"Do you know Dr. Langston?" the armed man asked.

Greg nodded, Nick answered, "Yes."

"Give him a call to meet you in here."

Nick hesitated to get his cell phone out, but Greg didn't even react to the gunman's demand. He seemed to be in shock. No wonder, being taken hostage once is hard enough, but twice in a few weeks, that's got to be tough!

"I'm not asking again, do it!" the gunman said aggressively. "And don't let him know I'm waiting here for him, you got it?"

"Alright, man, just calm down..." Nick took his cell out and dialed Ray's number.

"Langston."

"Hey, Ray. We, uh, need to discuss something about our case. The DNA I collected at your crime scene, you should take a look at it." Nick hoped Langston would get the hint. Of course Nick wasn't at Ray's crime scene, Ray knew he was not supposed to discuss anything about the case with Nick.

"What are you talking about, Nick?" Ray asked confused.

"Okay, I'll wait in the DNA lab for you. See ya." Nick hoped this unusual behavior was enough for Ray to understand that something was wrong.