It's the last chapter already! I sincerely hope you enjoyed this story, the next one's going online in a few days/weeks, i hope you'll read it, too.

Leave me a Review if you like, i love reading them!

Thanks and have fun with the last chapter!

Big Love,

pikapikatchu

Abrams didn't tell Brass and Russell anything, not even after they confronted him with the information about the DNA profile. Just like Simon, he just sat there, staring into space. But it didn't matter, they didn't need his confession. They took another DNA sample and compared it to the sexual assault cases and finally got a hit. The case would prove to be quite difficult in court later, as it was hard to explain to the jury how the DNA profile could've been deleted and switched, but Abrams would get convicted eventually – the jury believed Greg's testimony.

Greg felt pretty good today – Abrams was arrested and Archie and the FBI were able to get the names of all the other chat room users. The CSI felt like this horrible ordeal wasn't completely in vain as it helped put away a lot of perverted criminals.

"Hey Greg," Nick greeted him as he walked into the locker room, where his friend was getting ready for work. "I owe you an apology."

"For what?" he asked as he sat down on the bench in the room.

"I doubted you when I shouldn't have. I should've believed you when you said you knew who attacked you. I'm sorry."

"You really didn't have a reason to believe me." Greg smiled. "But thank you. Everything turned out alright, after all."

"Yeah... But how about you? Are you alright?"

Greg nodded. "My wounds will heal and I've heard the victim Abrams beat into a coma woke up yesterday and is on the way to recovery. Couldn't get much better, right?"

As Nick nodded smiling, Cole walked in. "...Hey Greg, can we talk?"

Nick patted Greg on the shoulder as he left, leaving the two alone.

"I don't know what to say, I'm still in shock. I've known him half my life, I thought I actually knew him. Never would've imagined he could do something like that."

Greg nodded. "He probably spent a great deal of his life trying to cover this up."

Cole sighed. "I should've seen the signs. He was so interested in the Novak cases... too interested in seeing pictures. He volunteered to research the victim's families and... you. I'm really sorry, I don't know how to make it up to you."

Greg had left for his crime scene while Nick was working inside the lab on his case from yesterday. Cole knocked on the opened door of the evidence room. "Hey Mr. Stokes, do you have a minute?"

Nick sighed as he put his work down. "Alright." They walked into the break room. "What is it?"

"I just apologized to Greg for Ed and... I feel like I owe you an apology, too."

Nick shook his head. "I appreciate it but it's not necessary."

"I think it is. I'm sorry for not questioning his involvement enough. It's not easy to accept the darker sides of our friends, especially when it's... that dark."

Nick nodded. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry your friend disappointed you."

"Thanks." Cole smiled. "Anyway, that's not all I wanted to talk to you about..." He grabbed a USB stick out of his messenger bag. "I found this in a hidden space in his office desk... The police didn't find it when they searched his desk. I once watched him store a USB stick there, he claimed it had a story on it he was writing on and didn't want anyone to see. I believed him. But now..."

Nick grabbed a glove out of his pocket to take the stick. "Did you use it?"

Cole sighed as he nodded. "I know I shouldn't have, but... I just needed to know. I needed to know if I could've done something about it had I just been a little more nosy... If I just would've looked at that USB stick when I found out about it two months ago... You know?"

Nick nodded. "...So what's on it?"

"Don't show it to Greg. If at all possible, don't let him know about this, alright?"

After Cole had left the lab, Nick and Russell took a look at the USB stick the filmmaker found in Abram's desk. "That's disgusting..." Nick whispered as they clicked through a picture gallery. The gallery showed pictures of wounds taken from the internet, but also pictures from his victims.

"I think it's a good idea to keep this from Greg." Russell was as shocked as Nick. Some of the pictures were highly disturbing material, even for experienced CSI like the two.

"He even kept some sort of diary and... protocols, I guess, about the attacks." Nick clicked through the files. "This one's dated from half a year ago... He planned to attack Greg for six months."

Russell shook his head. "That's sick. But it'll be useful in court."

"Wait..." Nick was able to detect an invisible word document on the stick. "That's... he planned another attack on Greg." Nick couldn't bring himself to read the detailed description of what Abrams had planned to do to Greg. "He can never find out about this. You have to talk to the D.A. about this, they can't discuss this piece of evidence in court when he's there to testify."

Russell sighed. "I don't know if that's possible, Nick."

"Just do your best. I don't think he would handle this very well."

For the next few weeks, Nick and Russell were able to keep their little secret from Greg. As these weeks went by, the D.A. was ready to prosecute Ed Abrams. The court sessions were the first times Greg faced the other victims – he preferred not to talk to them. They all made a full recorvery and were able to get questioned by the D.A. and defense lawyer. While it wasn't easy for them, they all did pretty well.

Russell was able to convince both the D.A. and the judge for the case to keep the USB stick from Greg. Since the supervisor knew Greg wouldn't want to sit and watch all the court sessions, anyway, it was quite easy for them not to talk about the stick while Greg was present. When both lawyers were done asking Greg questions, he was allowed to leave the witness stance. He walked out of the court room together with Nick. "You did great, man." He patted Greg on the back.

"Thanks." He released a deep sigh. "How about we go get something to eat and then watch the rest of the court hearing?"

"...You want to watch the rest of it? No, come on, that's boring. Let's just head home."

Greg shook his head. "No, I want to be there when they tell him his sentence."

"Since when are you that vengeful? He'll get what he deserves, no need to stay and watch. Now come on, let's..." Nick grabbed Greg's arm, trying to pull him away from the court room door.

"No, Nick. Wait. I regret not having been able to face Novak in court like that, you know? Testifying against him was the hardest thing I ever did and I was glad when it was over, when I was allowed to leave the room. I think I need to do this, you know?"

As Greg was giving him a smile, Nick sighed. "I don't think it's a good idea, but if you really want to... We should talk first."

Nick and Greg went out to eat some lunch while the older CSI filled Greg in on the USB stick. "I didn't think it would help you or the case if you knew, Russell and I agreed to keep this away from you."

Greg nodded understanding. "...So it's bad?"

"I didn't get myself to read the whole thing so I don't think you should even try. Do yourself a favor and don't listen to every little detail this sick bastard had in his mind. He made an effort to keep these details hidden so even he knows how perverted they are. Just be glad he got caught in time and forget about it, alright?"

Greg thought about it for a moment. "I really appreciate what you and Russell were doing but..." He stopped himself. "Thank you." He smiled. "You're right. I don't need to prove myself that I can handle this. I don't have to handle this."

Nick looked a bit surprised. He expected his friend to react a little different. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'm not even sure I meant what I just said about Novak. I regret that I wasn't in the emotional state to deal with the court hearing but... I don't think it's bad I didn't go. It's okay, right?"

"...Well, yeah. Sure, of course." Nick couldn't help but look quite impressed. "You know, realizing that you don't need to put up the strength to watch the hearing proves a lot more strength than forcing yourself to do anything you're not ready for. I'm proud of you."

Greg smiled again, but this time a bit sheepishly. "You know what? Let's head home. These court dates are boring, anyway."

"Are you sure?"

Greg nodded as he pulled his wallet out to pay for their food. "Let's eat up and then go home. Maybe watch a movie or something, keep our minds off of everything."

Greg knocked on Nick's door with a relaxed smile on his face, holding a DVD in his hand. "Hey. Look what I got."

Nick invited Greg in as he smiled at his friend confused. "Hey, what's going on?" He was quite surprised about Greg's good mood. It's been a while since he had seen his friend with such a carefree attitude. It was a fresh breath of air.

"The movie's finished."

This surprised him even more. "It is? ...Why are you smiling?"

He put the DVD on the coffee table as he made his way into the kitchen. "I thought we could watch it."

"...You're not serious."

"Yes I am." Greg chuckled as he walked back into the living room with two beers in his hand.

"But... why? Why the sudden change?"

Greg shrugged as he opened the bottle. "I've had a lot time to think about it, you know? You were right, it doesn't have to change anything. Not making the movie won't undo what Novak did, and making the movie doesn't change anything, either. And Cole promised me it's a tasteful, informative piece of art... His words, not mine."

Nick put the DVD in the DVD player a little insecure. "If you say so... But we can stop at any point, alright?"

"I'll be fine. I'm trying to take this as it is, you know? A part of my past. It doesn't also have to be my present." He smiled as he sat down.

"...Alright." Nick was still quite unsure, but he was willing to be at Greg's side if he couldn't handle watching the movie, after all.

"Besides, I told my mom about it and she thinks it's cool a movie's being made about me. ...I think she didn't quite understand the movie was actually about Novak, but whatever."

Nick smiled disbelieving. The man sitting by his side right now was nothing like Greg had been the last few weeks following Ed Abram's vicious attack.

The two kept talking while the movie was playing. They didn't pay too much attention to it, but concentrated on it more at the important scenes. Greg's mood changed a bit when he saw pictures of the scene being shown while the voice-over told what happened in Robin's apartment that night. He was able to keep his mood carefree and upbeat shortly after the scenes. While it wasn't easy to watch it, experiencing the scene from a different perspective had something therapeutic – he felt a lot better about it after the movie.

Ende.