Abusive

Prompt for: Just Me: Greg gets abused by a coworker

Enjoy!

Everyone liked the temporary CSI filling in for Sara, Richard Tylers, except for Greg. It wasn't right off, at first the blonde thought he was kind of cool, like another Nick. But the guy acted weird towards him and it was only when no one was around. When people were around, he would be over the top nice, but alone…that was another story. He didn't know why the guy hated him so much, he seemed to get along just fine with Nick and Warrick and the other lab techs. Maybe something was wrong with him. He tried to get on the man's good side, but that made it worse apparently. So now Greg's goal was to steer clear of him.

"Hey Greggo," Rich said in a chilling voice as he entered the break room. It was just him and Greg.

The blonde turned around, grinding his teeth. "Don't call me that." Only Nick could call him that name.

"Why not?" Rich shrugged. "Nick does. We're all friends, right? Oh wait, you don't have any, because they all hate you…especially Nick."

"Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?"

"I'm not doing anything. Everyone just realized how fucking annoying you are. You don't deserve to work here."

Greg trembled in anger. "Shut up."

"No. You don't get to tell me what to do. I'm gonna tell you what to do." He got up in Greg's face, harshly poking the man's chest. "You're gonna stay away from Nick and Warrick, alright? I'm their new best friend and you aren't. Soon enough they will hate you so much you'll have to quit. Maybe even kill yourself. Got it?"

Greg breathed heavily. It sounded like Rich was threatening him. Not wanting to piss the guy off even more, he nodded. "O-Okay."

"Glad you understand. Now Nick is coming down the hall. I want you to leave."

Rich let Greg go and the blonde ran out of the room just as Nick entered.

"Hey G- whoa. Guess he was in a hurry to get somewhere."

Rich grinned. "Yeah, I guess so."

The next day wasn't any better. Greg was changing his shirt in the locker room when he was roughly shoved up against the lockers, the metal handle digging into his back.

"Ah!"

"I saw you talking to Nick yesterday, Greg, specifically when I told you not to."

"It was for a case, I couldn't just ignore him!"

A fist suddenly punched him in the stomach, causing him to double over.

"I. Don't. Care. Do it again and I won't be so gentle next time. I'm always watching you." Rich let go of Greg, letting him fall to the floor. "God, you're fucking pathetic." He walked out of the room while Greg was gasping for air. Tears formed in his eyes as he took a deep breath. Work was supposed to be the place he loved coming to…but now Rich was ruining that for him. Maybe he should tell somebody.

"Hey Greg."

The blonde looked up from the ground to see Catherine looking at him in confusion. Rich didn't say he couldn't talk to her.

"Oh…hey."

"What are you doing down on the floor?"

"I, uh, l-lost a contact."

"I didn't know you wore contacts."

"Yeah…well, that's why you never see me wear glasses." He cleared his throat and stood up. At least his breathing was back to normal so it wouldn't look suspicious. "Anyways, can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"Something isn't right about Rich."

"The new guy?" Catherine frowned. "What do you mean? He's great."

"No, he's not."

The woman chuckled. "You jealous because Nick hangs out with him more now?"

"What? No. Rich has been-"

"Hey Cath!" Rich poked his head in the doorway and Greg felt his entire blood supply drain from his body. Had he heard everything? God, if that was the case he was so screwed. "Brass is bringing in Matt Rotes, he had the victim's blood all over some clothes he was trying to ditch."

"Great! Let's go talk to him." Catherine turned, but then remembered Greg. "What were you about to say, Hun?" Her back was turned to Rich so she couldn't see the menacing face he was making at Greg.

Eyes wide, he knew he had to keep his mouth shut. He was probably already dead for trying to talk to Catherine about Rich in the first place. "N-No, never mind. You're right, I was just jealous."

Catherine smirked, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. No one could forget about you." She left the room and before Rich left, he glared at Greg again and the blonde knew he had to watch his own back from now on. No one was going to believe him. Rich was trying to push him out of the group…and it was working.

~+CSI+~

The end of the day arrived extremely slowly and Greg just wanted to go home. It was dark when he trudged out of the building and towards his car; by the time he got there, he was so exhausted that he didn't see the dark shadow jump out from behind another car until he was roughly thrown to the ground.

"Hey! What the-"

"Hello, Greggo."

Greg gasped when the moon illuminated the parking lot, showing Richard's Cheshire grin.

"Rich…please just leave me alone," he whimpered. "I said I wouldn't talk to Nick or Warrick anymore."

"Well, I decided to change the terms after I heard you speaking to Catherine about me." He kicked Greg in the stomach making the younger man curl in on himself in pain. "If you tell anyone about what's going on, you will regret it." He kicked Greg again, this time in the face. Blood dribbled from the blonde's lip and he choked a sob. "I'll kill you…I've done it before and I'll do it again."

He kicked Greg a few more times before disappearing into the darkness. Greg lay on the ground, crying and bleeding and terrified for his life. After a few minutes, he stiffly pulled himself to his feet and got in his car. Once he got home, he cleaned up, put ice on his aching ribs and cried himself to sleep. He called out the next day, but no one probably even cared or noticed. After all, they all liked Richard more anyways. He was nothing now. When he did end up going back, he avoided Nick and Warrick like they were the plague. He gave results to Catherine so she could give them to the two CSI's, he'd leave the break room when he saw either one of them coming, and when Rich was around, he would remember those horrible words and have to leave so no one would see him tear up.

A week later, Greg couldn't take it anymore. He was sure Rich had come into his lab when he was away and messed with his things, because he couldn't find Catherine's evidence.

"I swear…it w-was right here on the top of the pile," he stuttered, Catherine standing next to him with hands on her hips.

"Maybe you took it to another desk?"

"No. I just went to the bathroom for two minutes…now it's gone!"

"Greg, you probably just misplaced it. You look exhausted and ill. Maybe you should go home."

"No!" He looked past Catherine through the glass windows and saw Rich pass by with a smirk on his face. That bastard had done something with the evidence and now he was paying for it.

"You know I'm gonna have to tell Grissom about this."

"Catherine, please don't. I'll find it."

The woman raised an eyebrow and sighed. She felt bad for the kid; something was up with him. "Fine. You have an hour to find it. After that, we're gonna have to tell Gris."

"Okay," Greg breathed and collapsed in his chair when the supervisor left. He was done with this. He couldn't keep living his life in fear, always having to look around the corner to make sure Richard wasn't there. Wiping his face, he glanced around seeing that the man was nowhere in sight before heading for Grissom's office. He would believe him, especially after he saw the bruises. Just as he reached the supervisor's door, his phone buzzed with a text message. It was from Nick.

"Hey bud, can you come out to the back and help me bring in some evidence. 'Rick had to go make a call and I'm only one person."

Greg took a shaky breath and scanned the area. Still no Rich, but the guy promised he was always watching. But if he didn't go, Nick would either be suspicious or hate him more because he didn't want to help.

"Sure. I'll be right out." Pocketing his phone, he headed outside to meet the Texan.

Rich grinned evilly as he put away Nick's cellphone. He was not getting fired from another job. Not because of the little blonde runt. He was gonna make sure he stayed quiet…for good.


Nick searched high and low for his phone. He had left it in the Denali, because he forgot something from his kit and ran back inside. He only noticed it was missing when he got to the crime scene. He didn't see a point of going back to get it, but now that he returned, it had mysteriously disappeared. He walked down the hall with a deep frown on his face, making his way to the break room. While passing, he saw Richard at the counter, looking down at something that looked a lot like his phone. That couldn't be right. Curious, he stepped inside.

"Hey, have you seen my phone?"

Richard whipped around, a started expression covered up with a forced smile. "Oh, yeah I just found it on the counter," he held it out and the Texan grabbed it, still apprehensive. It didn't look like Rich had "just found it," more like he was messing with it.

"Thanks." Nick turned around and left the room and when he was away from the other CSI, he unlocked it and knew he had a good reason to be suspicious. A message was asking permission to be deleted. "Huh." Pressing cancel, he read the text and his heart dropped.

"Hey bud, can you come out to the back and help me bring in some evidence. 'Rick had to go make a call and I'm only one person."

He sure as hell did not send this message to Greg. He didn't even have his phone half an hour ago. He paused in his tracks, deciding whether or not he should go confront Rich about it, but he didn't have anything solid to start accusing people no matter how weird the message sounded. Why did Rich need to see Greg and why didn't he just use his own phone? At first, Rich was cool, but over the weeks he started getting weird…almost clingy. He was also really worried about Greg; the kid had been avoiding him, he was a lot quieter and he didn't joke around anymore. One time, he swore he saw the kid hunched over like he was in pain. He was about to go see what was wrong, but Richard had stopped to talk to him and he got distracted. Sighing, he decided to call Greg, but when he did there was no answer.

"Weird." Nick walked around the lab, but Greg was still missing. Now he was getting a little freaked out. He tried the phone again and this time he heard it ring…in Rich's hand. The other CSI looked down at the phone, his eyes going wide. And when he looked up to see Nick, he froze. The two shared a long look before the Texan angrily charged at him, tackling the man to the ground.

"Where's Greg! Where the hell is he?! Why do you have his phone?!"

"Nick!" Someone shouted behind him, trying to pull him off Richard.

"What the fuck did you do to him?" He growled just as he was being hauled away.

"What the hell is going on?" Catherine said, pushing past the crowd.

Nick realized Warrick was holding him back and he jerked away, panting angrily. "He had Greg's phone…and he sent him a message from mine saying to meet him out back…now I can't find Greg."

"Nick, I'm sure he's just in the bathroom or-"

"No, I checked everywhere. He's gone and this bastard did something to him…I know it."

Catherine shared a look with Warrick before exhaling. "Alright, put Richard in interrogation until we clear this up."

An officer led Rich towards an interrogation room while the other three CSI's went to security to look at the tapes.

"Where and what time?" The guard asked.

Nick exhaled. "Back of the building around five. That's when Greg got the text." God, he hoped the kid was okay. The guard typed on the keyboard for a moment before the screen stopped, showing the back of the building…with Rich and his car there as well. They all watched as he finished texting on Nick's phone and a smiled formed on his mouth. And not a good smile either. They waited a few more seconds before Greg appeared and he seemed shocked and terrified. He tried to go back, but the door had locked behind him. Before they knew it, Rich pulled out a crowbar from the truck and whacked Greg across the head, the kid immediately crumpling to the ground.

"Oh my god," Nick seethed yet his legs were feeling weak. "I'm gonna rip that son of a bitch apart."

Rich picked Greg up and carelessly threw him into the trunk. He looked to make sure no one had heard them before slamming the hood down and getting into the car, peeling out of the lot…out of sight from the cameras. So now they had no idea where they had disappeared to. Only Rich would be able to tell them now.

Half an Hour Earlier

Rich dragged Greg to the small storage unit he had rented awhile back, just for these occasions. The kid had blood dripping down the side of his face and was still out cold…which sucked, because he really wanted to see him struggle. When he reached his unit, he unlocked the door and lifted it up and bringing Greg inside. It smelled bad for a second, but he was so used to the stench of decomposed body that it didn't faze him that much anymore. He threw Greg roughly to the ground, not caring about the sickening thump his head made when it connected with the concrete. He tightly handcuffed the blonde's wrists together and ducked taped his ankles as well as his mouth, wrapping it a couple time around his head. He grasped the kid's face when he was finished and turned it to face him.

"You're gonna die in here, Greg," he chuckled and surprisingly Greg's eyes slowly flickered open. "Oh you're awake…good; now you can feel yourself slowly die alone, losing air in the hot heat."

Greg's cries were muffled and it just made Rich laugh and stand up straight. "I'll be back after work to clean up your body…then again, maybe I won't as you can tell I didn't with my last victim."

Greg glanced over to the other corner of the small area and his heart stopped. There were bones…human bones with handcuffs still around the wrists. Oh god, I really am gonna die here because of this psycho. He tried to scream, but the tape wouldn't allow him.

"Goodbye Greggo," Rich chuckled darkly as he hid Greg's form behind a couple boxes before shutting the door and locking it. He put away Greg's cellphone and walked away with a smirk; mission accomplished.

Present

"Where is he?" Catherine hissed. She and Warrick were interrogating Richard while Nick was forced to wait outside because she knew he would probably kill the man for hurting Greg.

"I'm never telling you," Rich grinned. "But he's gonna die soon."

The two CSI's shared a wary look. "What are you saying?" Catherine asked.

"I'm saying that even if you do find that pathetic piece of shit, he'll already be dead. Where he is, it's cramped, hot and little to no air. Also he's chained and gagged, so he won't be able to call for help. I give him…twenty minutes at the most."

Catherine and Warrick stood up straight and quickly left the room. Nick was pacing restlessly, running a hand through his hair. "You gotta let me in there," he said.

"I can't do that, Nicky. Now, we just have to figure out-"

"We don't have time to figure anything out! You heard what he said, Greg has twenty minutes to live!"

"And running around won't do anything to help. We need to see what properties or buildings Richard has rented or own."

Nick sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead. "Okay, okay."

It didn't take long, but the only thing that Rich had rented was his apartment.

"Dammit," Catherine said, glancing down at her watch. They were running out of time.

"Guys!" Archie shouted as he ran into the room. "I think I know where Richard brought Greg."

"Where? How?" Nick said.

"I used the traffic cams to follow his car. He went pretty far out, but I managed to figure out where he went before there were no more cameras. There's a small storage unit outside of town, only ten people have lockers there, but there's no name under Richard Tylers."

"Well, it must be under a different name," Warrick said. "But this is our only chance, we can't make a mistake and we only have ten minutes."

"He's there," Nick said. "I know he's there." God, he prayed he was right.

Catherine glanced at him and then nodded. "Alright, let's go."

By the time they got there, they had five minutes left and everyone was becoming agitated. "There are dozens of units," Nick said, looking at the list of names. "How the hell are we supposed to find Richard's if he didn't even use his name? Plus it looks like everyone paid in cash."

"Guess this place was meant for dark secrets," Warrick grumbled. "And who knows a how many Rich has."

Nick didn't even want to think about it. "Greg! Greg, answer me!"

Everyone started yelling Greg's name, but they knew it was a longshot if Rich had the kid tied up and gagged.

"Greggo!" Nick was losing hope; Greg was going to die if he wasn't already and it was his fault for not seeing how corrupt Richard was.

"Guys," Grissom said, coming from the manager's office. "I had Mandy fax over Richard's file and I compared his signature with the names here. The unit is under a Brent Coolidge, locker number 186."

Nick bolted down the hallway, everyone else following until they reached the locker.

"Greg! Hang on, buddy we're gonna get you out of there!"

Warrick brought over the bolt cutters and clipped the lock. Nick lifted the door up and they gasped in shock. The stench was horrible, yet they all recognized it. A dead body.

"Oh god."

"Nick, it's not Greg," Catherine coughed. There's bones."

"Right, but where is he?"

"Start moving stuff; Richard must've hid him behind the boxes."

"Greg!" Nick shouted in the small room, throwing the boxes out of the way. "Greg, come on where are-" And then he found him. "Over here!" Nick fell to his knees, choking a sob as he saw the condition of his little brother. The blonde was handcuffed and chained to the floor, duct tape wrapped around the back his head and covering his mouth. His face was ashen white and shining with sweat while bright red blood ran down the side of head where Richard had hit him with the crowbar.

"Greg?" Nick held his breath as he pressed his fingers to the kid's neck. There was a pulse, but it was extremely weak. He unlocked the handcuffs, and gently took off the tape, hoping he wasn't hurting his friend. When it was off, he put his ear over Greg's mouth and his pounding heart calmed down. "He's barely breathing, but alive. Call an ambulance."

"It's already on the way," Grissom replied. "Let's get him out of this hellhole."

"You said it." Nick cut the tape holding Greg's ankles together and then carefully picked him up, taking him out of the room. The room had been stuffy and unbelievably hot…and Greg had to endure that.

"I'm so sorry, Greg," he whispered.

Greg suddenly groaned, his forehead creased.

"Greggo?"

The blonde flinched. "P-Please…don't hurt me," he mumbled.

Nick frowned. "Greg, it's me, Nick."

The lab tech whimpered before going quiet once more. The Texan knew something was wrong…like something bad had happened before all this shit. "What the hell did Richard do to you kid?"

~+CSI+~

They had gotten to Greg just in time; a little longer and they wouldn't have been bringing him to the hospital. Just the thought of that made everyone sick. Greg came out lucky; he suffered from dehydration, fever, and a concussion. The doctors had also found old wounds like broken ribs and bruises all over his torso…like he had been abused. Nick had a feeling Richard had been hurting Greg long before this incident, but once the kid woke up, he would make sure to get the whole story. He watched Greg breathe in and out hoarsely, his face still a little pale but doing relatively better.

"I'm sorry this happened, man," he sighed, resting his hand on top of Greg's.

There was a sudden knock on the door and he turned to see Grissom stepping into the room.

"How's he doing?"

"Better. I'm just glad we got him out of there in time."

Grissom pursed his lips sadly. He felt guilty that he hadn't seen this sooner…that he had no idea who Richard Tylers really was.

"So Richard…he wasn't who he said he was."

"No, really," Nick said sarcastically.

Grissom ignored the comment and looked down at a file. "Richard, before he came to the lab, was Doug Carmen, fired and arrested for assault on another co-worker in 2003. Before that, Joe Parker, fired and charged for tampering with evidence in 2001 and before that, Peter Watson was suspected of a kidnapping and possible murder of his boss, David Fox in 1998. They never found Fox's body so he was released."

"Jesus. How did we not see this in his background check? Greg could've gotten killed."

"They were censored and buried."

Nick just shook his head in disbelief, feeling nauseous. Greg had almost become another one of the man's victims.

"He'll be okay, Nicky."

"I hope so."

Two Hours Later

Nick was dozing off in the chair when he heard a small moan come from Greg. Sitting up, he squeezed Greg's shoulder.

"Greg?"

Slowly, the blonde's eyes blinked open and he tiredly scanned the room.

"Greggo."

Greg suddenly gasped, his chest heaving as he became frantic. Rich was still there…he was gonna kill him. He thrashed around as someone grabbed his shoulders. He didn't wanna die.

"Greg! Easy, buddy, easy. It's me, Nick!"

"N-Nick?" He gulped.

"Yeah, man. You're alright."

He looked around the room; Rich would hurt him again if he started talking to Nick.

"W-Where's Richard?" He trembled.

"That bastard is being arrested and thrown in jail…for good. You're safe now."

Greg finally seemed to relax. "Good."

"Greg…what happened?"

The younger man looked over at Nick, his eyes sunken and haunted. "I tried to be nice to him when Rich when he first came to the lab…I must've done something wrong or…or offended him in some way for him to hate me so much."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, none of this is your fault, Greg. Rich is a repeat offender. He's killed and done stuff like this before. You were just unlucky. His name's not even Richard…he has so many personas I don't know which one he actually is."

"Seems that I'm always unlucky. He kept telling me that you guys hated me and wanted me gone. He told me not to talk to you anymore and if I did he would hurt me…I made the mistake of talking to you for your results and he attacked me in the locker room…punching me in the stomach. When I tried to tell Catherine, she thought I was just being jealous. Turns out Rich-or whoever he was- heard me and beat me up in the parking lot after work. That's why I didn't come in last Thursday. I was scared for my life. No one would believe me, but then he took some evidence for Cath and made it seem like I screwed up. I decided to go tell Grissom but that's when I got a text from you…I only realized it wasn't from you when I got outside. I was stupid, I should've known you weren't even back from your scene. Before I could escape, he hit me over the head and the next thing I knew…I woke up in the storage unit while Rich was tying me up. He told me I was gonna die…and I really thought I was. It was so hot and I couldn't breathe." A few tears shone in his eyes. "And that dead body…"

"Greggo, it's-"

"Please," Greg choked. "Please don't call me that."

"What-"

"Richard kept calling me that. It sounded so wrong coming from him."

"God, Greg…I'm so sorry." Nick was shaking with rage. Richard had been abusing his best friend right under his nose. He was threatening him and now he ruined the nickname he always called the kid.

Greg wiped his face. "It's okay."

"It's not okay. We all feel horrible that we didn't see any of this. We're CSI's and we should've seen what was going on. You're my best friend, my brother and I'm supposed to protect you. And I'll make damn sure this never happens again, I promise. And I'll make it up to you."

"We all will," a voice said. It was Catherine. She, Warrick, and Grissom came into the room, happy Greg was awake. Cath went over to Greg and hugged him lightly. "I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you Greg. I can't believe I didn't see this happening."

"It's over now. I don't blame you. I had no proof that Richard was a killer. And you guys don't have to do anything…except one thing maybe."

"Anything Greg," Catherine and Nick replied in unison.

"Just promise to do better background checks on future co-workers," he grinned.

Nick smiled back and squeezed Greg's arm. "Oh don't worry. I'll make damn sure to go over their files with a fine-tooth comb."

Greg chuckled. "I don't doubt that. But, yeah, I'd feel a lot safer if you did."

"We all would," Catherine smirked. "Now get some rest, kiddo. Warrick and I are gonna go deal with that piece of shit, Richard or Peter or Joe or whoever he is."

"Either way, I'm still gonna beat the crap out of him," Warrick grumbled. He went up to Greg and pat him on the shoulder. "I'm glad you're alright, man."

Catherine kissed him on the forehead before the two left.

Grissom smiled. "I apologize Greg. Next time we will definitely be more careful when we hire someone."

Greg nodded, smiling back. "Thanks."

"Now I gotta go talk to the day shift; they're the ones processing that locker." Once he left, Greg turned to Nick.

"Why aren't you leaving? I thought you wanted to rip that guy's head off, too."

"I do, trust me, but I'd probably get fired. Plus, I'd rather hang out with you." I'm not leaving you alone after all this.

"And do what?" Greg questioned, sitting up straighter.

"I brought my Xbox, some games and a couple movies. You choose."

"How about we play some Call of Duty?" Greg smirked. "I'm a pro at it."

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that," Nick chuckled, setting up the console to the TV provided in Greg's room. "Prepared to get your ass kicked, Greg, because this is all I play when I get home."

"No dates? Losing your touch, huh?"

"And you think you're better?"

"Well, before all this, I had three dates a week."

"Damn…when you get out of here I'm gonna make you my wingman. Now, ready to be taken down, buddy?"

Greg chuckled. "You're on."

FIN!

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