Thank you for the reviews Marymel and 9Laura8! They really are appreciated! I know it's been a long time since a new chapter and I apologise, but unfortunately work has to come first :( But, here's the next chapter so please enjoy it! x

Greg had been sat in his car for twenty minutes after he'd drawn his own blood with the syringe he'd got at the pharmacy, but he still made no attempt to get out.

He was at his apartment's car park and knew this was the last place he should be. Those people knew that he lived here. But where else could he go? He had no intentions of going back to Nick's anytime soon and Russell would be at work. He'd considered going to see if Russell's wife, Maria, was at home but chose against it.

He cautiously got out of his car and made his way up the stairs to his place. Once he was there, he quickly opened the door and locked it behind him. He could have sworn there was someone following him, or was he just being paranoid?

Greg shook the feeling away and went to sit on his sofa. He reached into his jacket pocket and took out the white powder. He tipped some out onto his coffee table and then quickly whipped out his wallet. He opened it up and pulled the first note he could find and then made a line with the drugs he'd put out. Quickly rolling the note up with shaky fingers, Greg leant down and inhaled, with a finger pressed against one nostril.

Just after it had all gone, Greg picked his head up and froze. He definitely heard something. Someone was trying to break into his apartment. He watched in fear as his door handle jiggled up and down. Breathing heavily, he got up, trying to be quiet, but he knocked the coffee table with his leg, making the drugs spew over the table. He screwed his eyes up and mentally kicked himself.

He got out his iphone and dialled. "Nick?" He whispered as soon as they picked up.

"G? What's wrong, why are you talking so quiet?"

"I need your help. I think they're trying to get into my apartment!" Greg told him in a panic, still trying to keep his voice down. "I don't know what to do, I need your help." He said again.

"Who are? Don't worry I'm coming over, alright?" Nick told him.

Greg blinked a few times to clear his vision; the drugs were kicking in.

"Greg?" Nick called him when he got no response.

"Yeah... What should I do?" Greg asked him. He was feeling light headed and wondered if he'd taken more of the drugs than he thought.

"Go and wait in your bedroom. I'm almost there."

Greg went to his bedroom as quick as he could, but swayed on his feet as he went down his hallway. He half fell into the wall and slumped down to the floor. He looked up wide eyed and looked around. Why was he on the floor... he pushed himself up and stumbled the rest of the way to his room, Nick still on the line, calling his name.

"I'm here, I just tripped." He lied.

"Right, I'm just outside."

"Okay, Nick... be careful." Greg told him quietly.

"Don't worry, alright, I will be. I'm gonna' hang up but listen out for me, okay?"

The line went dead just after Greg had acknowledged him. He sat on his bed listening carefully. He couldn't hear anything.

He kept listening and soon there was a knock.

"Greg? Let me in, it's just me." He heard Nick shout through the door.

He shakily got up and stood for a second, making sure he wasn't going to fall.

He unlocked the door nervously and sighed with relief when Nick was the other side.

"Hey."

"Hey, man. You alright?" Nick asked as he walked in.

"Yeah." Greg told him, blatantly lying.

Nick looked at him and went to sit down. "You taken more drugs?" He asked looking down on the table.

Greg sat down with him and looked at him sadly. He didn't need to say anything and Nick just nodded at him.

"No one was there." Nick spoke up.

Greg frowned. "What?"

Nick looked at him and shook his head slightly. "When I got here, there was no one." He explained.

Greg shook his head. "There was, I heard them, they were trying to get in." He argued.

Nick shrugged. "Do you think it was maybe the drugs?"

Greg looked down at them on the table, powder everywhere.

"How far is this gonna' go, huh?" Nick asked him as calmly as he could.

Greg sighed, still not believing that there was nobody there.

"I never thought you'd take drugs, Greg. You know that?" Nick said disappointedly.

Greg looked up to him and then back down. "It's not the first time." He mumbled.

Nick's ears pricked up. "What? When?"

"In college." Greg told him. "Apparently being smart isn't cool. I used to get bullied a lot." Greg told him quietly. "I thought when I got to college all the bullying would stop, but I guess not. People didn't like me, thought I was weird, dressed funny..." Greg said, drifting off thinking of the bad memories.

"I'm sorry, G. I didn't realise." Nick apologised.

Greg turned to look at him slightly and smiled. "It's not your fault. People are mean, you know? I... I overdosed once."

Nick frowned sadly. "Deliberately?"

Greg nodded to him. "Yeah. I was fed up with everything. Things were messed up at school, things were messed up at home... nobody wanted to listen. I tried telling my Chemistry teacher but he told me to stop wasting his time. He was the only person I thought would listen."

"What was wrong at home?" Nick asked him.

"What wasn't wrong at home?" Greg asked with a slight laugh which quickly died down. "My dad drank. He hit my mom; sometime he hit me if I got in the way. My mom went out all the time, I still don't know where she went, but one day she never came back. So it was just me and my dad. He got more violent once my mom left and took all his anger out on me.

"I couldn't take it anymore, people would look at me in college because of all the bruises I had on me, and they'd make up rumours of how I got them. So, eventually I took all the drugs I could in my dorm and prayed for no one to find me. One of the teachers found me when they were doing a dorm check... someone had drugs on the premises." Greg said with a smile and looked up to Nick, who laughed slightly.

"They obviously sent me to the hospital and my Papa Olaf came to get me. He took me back to his and my Grandmother's house. They looked after me and soon enough I was back at college, a different one. Luckily my Grandparents had enough money to send me, I've never repaid them." Greg finished with a sad smile.

Nick smiled back. "I think you have, you became one of the best lab techs anyone could have and you're a great CSI. I bet they're proud of you."

"Mmh, I think they could be prouder." Greg shrugged.

"Maybe you should stop with the drugs, now. If they found out that you're on them again, how do you think they'd feel?"

Greg sighed. "I'll try."

"No, you will. I thought you'd stopped already; it was just a onetime thing, but obviously not. You can't carry on like this; you'll lose your job, you friends..."

"Right, right, I know." Greg said, stopping him mid sentence.

"We all care about you, Greg. You just need to realise it."

X

Please review, please review, please review! Thanks for reading :) x