A/N- Thanks for the reviews again. This chapter has some strong words in it but again it is for storyline purposes. I hope you enjoy this pretty intense chapter.

Nick woke up, smiling as he felt his lover's arm draped over him. He gingerly slid out from under it, trying not to wake him up. He still required a lot of sleep.

He sat up and looked at the clock. It was eleven in the morning. He left the bedroom, deciding to make some breakfast for them.

He was mixing some pancake batter when he heard a light knock on the front door. Dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a plain back t-shirt, he opened the door. The people on the other side of the door surprised him.

"Mom! Dad! What are you doing here?" He asked in shock.

His mother gave him a hug and kiss and then swept in past him. "We decided to pay our son a surprise visit," she told him.

"Hello Pancho," his dad said as he hugged him. "I have a conference here in Vegas starting tomorrow so we decided to come by a day early and visit you."

Nick's mouth hung open as they both just let themselves in. "I see you have more furnishings in your place now. A bit eclectic I must say," his mother said as she looked around his living room.

He swallowed hard realizing half the stuff she saw was Greg's. Greg! He was in the bedroom sleeping. This was a disaster waiting to happen. He had to tell them now or get them out of there soon. He figured it was just time to tell them…to just dive in.

"Well Mom, Cisco, I am glad you are here. I've been meaning to come home and have a serious talk. There is something I need to tell you about me that I've been hiding from you too long. You might want to take a seat."

"What is it, son?" His mother asked, suddenly concerned.

"Please just sit," he asked them again. They sat down on the couch and he sat down in front of them on his coffee table.

"Pancho, what is it?" His father asked.

Nick fiddled with his fingers nervously. "Ahh, well, huh…I'm in love with someone."

"Oh dear, you're getting married. Oh our boy is getting married," his mother jumped to conclusions.

'That was not the right way to start this,' he scolded himself.

"Uh," he chuckled nervously. "Not exactly. Oh hell, I'm just going to say it. Mom, Dad, I'm gay." He watched their expressions carefully change from joy to utter shock.

His mother's mouth was open while his father's eyes seemed to suddenly burn with an underlying fury.

"Nick, who's here? I heard some…" Greg stepped out of their bedroom, thankfully dressed in jogging pants and one of Nick's Texas A&M t-shirts. He saw Nick's parents and froze in place. He looked to his partner who just shook his head in disbelief of this bad timing.

"You're gay? Since when? What about all these women you claimed to have been with? You're a queer you mean to tell me? And is this your little faggot boyfriend?" Bill Stokes suddenly yelled in a rage as he jumped to his feet.

"Bill, please, don't! What's gotten into you?" Jillian Stokes pleaded with him.

"No Jillian, I want to hear what he has to say!"

Greg edged cautiously into the kitchen, feeling somewhat frightened by Nick's father.

Nick stood up to his father. "I've known I've liked men for years now. The women were just me testing myself. I've just been too scared that you would react like this. And you have no right to call Greg any names. He's been through enough."

"I don't care what you or your little faggot boyfriend have been through. No son of mine is gay. You are a sinner. Did you not learn anything from church when you were a child? You are both going to hell!" He yelled, as his face turned red with fury.

"Bill, please stop this. He is our son," Jillian begged.

"He is a homo, Jill and living with his faggot boyfriend here. They are abominations," he yelled.

Mrs. Stokes started crying. "What's has gotten into you lately, Bill? He is our flesh and blood for heaven's sake."

Nick was about to rip into him when he heard glass break. He turned and saw Greg grasp the counter with one hand and lower his head as he winced in pain.

"Greg?" Nick rushed over to him in a panic to hold him up as he seemed like he might pass out. "Hey take it easy!"

Then he looked at his sobbing mother and his enraged father. "I want you to leave now! Get out!" He yelled at them.

Jillian Stokes was sobbing as she grabbed her husband and pulled him out of the room to the door. "I'm so sorry, Nick," she said in apology to him before she closed the door.

Nick hardly heard her, as his main concern was Greg. He walked him slowly back into the bedroom and sat him down on the bed.

"What's wrong, babe?" He asked, his voice laced with concern as Greg had buried his head in his hands.

"The yelling…it…it makes my head hurt. But…but that's not really it."

Nick could always tell now when something really upset him greatly. He would always his words now. "What is it, G?"

He lifted his head and looked at Nick with terrified eyes. "I remembered something."

Nick put his arm around him. "Tell me."

"I re…re…remember the Backlands from that night. He came in screaming, calling us all faggots and queers and that we were going to hell, going t…to…to die. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Then…I don't know." He looked down shaking his head as tears came to his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay." He held him close.

"Then your dad…I'm sorry I ever pressured you to tell them." He leaned his head against Nick's neck. "I'm sorry," he sniffled.

Nick could not believe he was apologizing for his own father. "No, don't you dare apologize for what my father said. I should be the one apologizing for him. What a total asshole he is. I can't believe he said those things. I don't care what they think. I just want to make sure you are okay. Does your head still hurt?"

"A bit," he mumbled.

"Look, lay back down in bed. I was about to make us breakfast. I'll bring it to you in bed."

He nodded and got back into bed while Nick went back into the kitchen. He picked up the broken glass that Greg dropped. Then he slammed his fist down on the counter in fury at how his father reacted and how it caused Greg pain. They could disown him if that was the way they were going to be. He wanted nothing to do with them in that case.

He came back in with a tray of food with two plates of pancakes and sausage on it, plus 2 glasses of orange juice. Greg sat up in bed and his boyfriend crawled up next to him.

"Pretty crazy morning, huh?" Nick commented as he took a bite of his pancake.

Greg picked at his food but had not taken a bite. "Yeah a bit."

He could tell something was bothering him. "You know my father had no right calling you that," he told him.

"Do you think they might be right? That we're all going to hell? That we are sinners?" he asked softly.

"They are fools, all of them who think that. Who are they to judge us? They are no one. And if we are going to hell so are all of those hypocrites, you can't listen to them. Don't give them credence," Nick told him.

"Maybe you were right in keeping us being a couple a secret," he said while still playing with his food.

"Are you listening to me at all?" Nick asked angrily, getting a bit frustrated.

"I am." He rubbed his hand over his face. "It's just after everything…there are times I wish…I wish I was normal, you know?"

"You wish you weren't with me?" he asked in surprise.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, that is not true." He gazed at his boyfriend. "No, I need you. If you had not been here through all of his, I don't think I would be where I am at now."

"Yeah but what you were saying is if you weren't gay this would not have happened, so that means we would not be together," he explained.

Greg fell back into the pillows and stared at the ceiling. "Geez, Nick. I don't know what I am talking about half the time lately. I'll probably forget this whole stupid conversastion by tomorrow."

"I know this is hard for you. I wish there was more I could do for you," he sympathized.

Greg grabbed his hand and squeezed. "Just being here and listening to my babble is good enough. Oh and cooking me breakfast, that earns you bonus points." He smirked at him and then kissed him on the cheek.

"That's nice to hear. So let's eat then," Nick chuckled. They finished eating and Greg helped him clean up.

Nick drove him to his physical therapy session. He only had one a week, now that he did not need to rely on a cane anymore. He still had strength issues in his right arm and hand that they still worked on though.

x x x x x

When they got home, Greg went to take a nap while Nick tried to keep himself busy reading some forensics journals, but he could not keep his mind off of his father's reaction. He could not believe his father was being so ignorant and horrible to his own son.

There was a knock at the door and he got up and looked out the peephole first this time. He saw his mother. He hesitated on whether to answer it. He did not see his father so he decided to answer it.

"I'm not in the mood, Mother," he growled at her. He could tell she had been crying.

"Nick, please. I came alone. I want to apologize for your father. He's been acting strange lately. I don't feel the way he does, though. Please can I come in? Can we talk?" she begged him.

He sighed heavily but offered his hand to show her in. "Thank you, son. You have no idea how shocked I was by your father's reaction," she said as she took a seat on his couch. He ended up sitting next to her.

"You know I expected him to be non-approving but I was not expecting the slurs out of his mouth," he said honestly.

"He's been under a lot of pressure at work lately. He has not been acting himself. He gets angry a lot lately and acts like he hardly knows me. I mean I know that is no excuse for how he was though," she sighed.

"No, it is not an excuse for what he said and called us," Nick responded angrily.

"I know, I know. My dear son," she caressed his face. "I am so sorry. I want you to know it does not matter to me that you're gay. I know you're still a wonderful, loving man. Speaking of, how is Greg? Your father's words obviously upset him greatly."

Nick bit his tongue to avoid lashing out about just how much it upset him. "You have no idea what he has been through and how hurtful Dad's words were to him," he said with some heat behind his words.

"I know it had to be horrible. Is he okay?" She asked him out of concern.

"No, he is not okay. He will probably never be okay again. He was shot in the head about 3 months ago due to some homophobic asshole that decided all gays needed to die," he told her angrily.

She gasped, covering her mouth. "Oh my God! I had no idea, Nick. I swear," she practically sobbed.

He took a couple deep breaths to calm down. He knew he should not take out all his anger and frustration on her. She was trying to make amends.

"I know, Mom. I'm sorry. It's just been a really rough day since that outburst. Greg had not remembered that evening until Dad called him those things. It took him back to that night. That was why he freaked out a bit. That and the yelling gave him a headache."

"So he obviously survived the bullet, but how is he really?"

"He suffers from short term memory loss, has occasional tremors in his right hand and what has been the hardest for me to adjust to is his moods and depression. Greg was always full of life and mostly positive, but now he is so pessimistic and gets upset so easily. He's the same man I loved for the past 3 years but it just does not always seem like it." He sniffled and lowered his head, ashamed of what he was about to admit. "I miss how he use to be. Does that make me a horrible person?" He looked at her as tears filled his eyes.

"No Son, that does not. It makes you human. I am sure he wishes he was not like this now either," she told him comfortingly.

"No, he doesn't. Every once in awhile he tries to push me away, saying I deserve better. But no matter how he is, he is the only one I want, the only one that really knows me. When I thought he could die, I did not know how I would go on without him," he told her.

"So you've been a couple for 3 years? You were together when you were buried alive?"

He nodded. "It was early in our relationship."

"I remember him hanging back during all the events then. He was very quiet but also very determined to find you," she told him.

"Yeah? We were keeping our relationship secret. I knew he told me afterward he was freaked out about losing me. I know how he must have felt now."

"Yes, but you recovered from that pretty well. From the sounds of it, he is not so lucky," she said solemnly.

He slowly nodded his head. "Yes, and unfortunately we both know it."

"Hmmm, well how are things, uh…physically between you? Gosh I can't believe I just asked that," she blushed.

He chuckled some. "I can't believe you just did either. But to answer your question, we are doing well in that department. I think that is the only time he feels normal and that he can truly still make me happy. Otherwise he too often says he feels like a burden to me," he said sadly.

"It is good that he has such a beautiful, loving boyfriend," she smiled and then laid a kiss on his forehead. "I'm proud of you for standing up to your father. He deserved to be kicked out. I just hope he comes to his senses soon. I know he was sulking because I would not talk to him."

"Let him sulk," he grumbled, choosing rather not to see him again unless he apologized to both of them.

They heard a noise and looked up. Greg came out of the bedroom and upon seeing Mrs. Stokes, froze in place.

"Hey sleepyhead! It's okay, she comes in peace," he said.

His eyes went from her to him and seeing as his boyfriend looked calm he moved again. He came over and sat down in the reclining chair to Nick's right.

"Hi Greg. I'm terribly sorry about the things Bill called you. He had no right," Mrs. Stokes told him sincerely.

He fidgeted in the chair, his uneasy eyes traveling to Nick again. "It's okay," he replied softly.

At seeing his boyfriend's continued discomfort, Nick laid a hand on his knee. "It's okay. She is cool with us. I've told her about what happened."

His big chocolate eyes showed a bit of relief. "Oh."

"It's horrible what happened to you but I am glad to hear you are doing fairly well," she told him.

"Yeah, thanks," he replied, still feeling a bit awkward.

"Relax Greg, she does not bite," Nick smiled.

Greg narrowed his eyes at him a moment before nodding and a small smile coming to his lips. "Okay."

"Are you working tonight, dear?" his mother asked him.

"Actually I was scheduled to, but I called in."

"Why?" Greg immediately asked him.

Nick looked at him. "Because I wanted to make sure you were going to be okay after everything that happened today."

"You don't have to keep worrying about me. I'm doing okay," he groaned.

"I know, but I do worry and after almost losing you I have every right too," he replied sternly.

He rolled his eyes and pouted a bit.

Julian Stokes could not help but smile at the two of them. She could clearly see the affection they had for each other that even showed through their little argument.

"You know, I'm going to go now. I just wanted to stop by and apologize for Bill's outrageous behavior. I really hope he comes around for both of your sakes." She gazed at her son. "I love you, Nicholas and I am very happy that you found someone to love you as much as I can clearly see Greg does."

"Thanks Mom, I really appreciate that," he smiled at her.

She turned to Greg and smiled. "And as for you, I hope we get a chance to know each other better and I wish you the best in your on-going recovery. Take care of my boy," she grinned.

He flushed a bit and nodded his head. "I will and I also hope we can get to know each other better."

"Good, well I'm going to let you boys be. I'll call you next time before I swing by. We are in town for few days for his conference. Hopefully he will grovel for forgiveness by the end of those few days," she smirked. She kissed them both on the cheeks before Nick escorted her to the door to leave.

After she was gone he came back and sat by Greg, who moved to the couch.

"You're glad she came by and at least approves of us, aren't you? You look less stressed," Greg commented as he sat down.

He leaned back and sighed. "Yes, it does make me feel better. Maybe she'll make my dad come around, too. She can be pretty persuasive when she wants too."

"Well I'm happy you feel better about it." Greg smiled as he leaned against Nick.

"Yeah. So you had a nice nap?"

"Yep, slept like a baby," he smirked.

"So since I called in, how about we grab a bite to eat out tonight?" He watched Greg cringe. "Come on, nothing will happen I promise. I will protect you." He got a small smirk out of Greg on that.

"Hmm, I'll go out only if you promise me that I can have my way with you when we get home," he grinned mischievously.

"Oh, well that I can promise you. I will be all yours," he laughed.

With eyes glinting, he responded. "You got yourself a deal, then."