"Rochelle, it's Nick. Something's happened. I need you to call me now!"

Nick rushed through the doors of the hospital and almost crashed into the receptionist's desk. "Greg Sanders, please, tell me where he is," he gasped as his heart pounded in his chest.

"He's in trauma room three on the fifth floor," the receptionist said as she typed on her computer, "But only family is permitted to see him right now."

"I am family," Nick said, holding up his left hand, "He's my husband."

The receptionist's eyes grew wide as the light danced off the gold band on Nick's hand. "Oh, well then, I'll just need to see some ID to confirm you're his…um, his life partner."

Nick sped through the stairs in the hospital, not bothering to wait for the elevator. He hurried through the halls, stopping a random nurse to ask for Greg.

"Please ma'am," he choked as tears formed in his eyes, "I'm looking for my husband and my little girl."

The middle aged nurse looked at him with a soft expression. "Ok honey, what's his name?"

"Greg Sanders, and my daughter's name is Lucy Sanders-Stokes."

"Alright, follow me," she said, gesturing him to walk with her, "Lucy's downstairs in the children's wing. She's fine, just a little shook up, that's all."

"What about Greg?" Nick continued to press as the tears finally rolled down his cheeks.

She looked at Nick with a sorrowful expression. "Mr. Stokes it doesn't look good. We think your husband was a victim of a hate crime. He has multiple broken bones and lacerations, including a cracked skull, along with a punctured lung. He's currently in a medically induced coma in hopes of reducing the swelling in his brain. We don't know what kind of condition he's going to be in once he wakes up."

A straggled, pained noise escaped Nick's lips. He stopped and leaned with his forehead against the wall. He cried for several minutes as the nurse tried to comfort him.

"Mr. Stokes would you like to see your daughter first?" she quietly asked.

Nick shook his head. "No, I'd like to see Greg, please ma'am," he whispered, "I just need to see that he's still alive."

She smiled at him reassuringly and gently led him down the hall. "Well he's definitely alive, that's for sure. The man's got a strong will to live."

Nick felt his heart stop as he walked into the trauma room. Greg's lifeless body laid in the bed, multiple tubes and monitors hooked up all over his body. A ventilator was stuck down his throat and thick bandages covered most of his head.

Calleigh sat in a chair next to him crying silently. She stood at the sight of Nick and ran to his side, embracing him in her arms. She sobbed loudly as they stood there together.

"I'm so sorry Nick," she gasped between sobs, "I'm so sorry."

"It's ok Calleigh," Nick quietly mumbled, "He's going to be ok."

Calleigh pulled back and looked into his chocolate brown eyes. "I'm sorry Nick, I can't believe this is happening," she said quietly, now more under control.

"Calleigh what are you doing here?" Nick quietly asked.

More tears poured down Calleigh's face as she looked back at Greg. "I'm here to process his body," she whispered.

Nick nodded his head. "Alright, then I'll leave you to your work," he said as he turned to leave. Calleigh grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards her back into the room. "No Nick," she quietly said, "You need to let him know you're here."

"But Calleigh I could compromise evidence," Nick sadly replied.

"Doesn't matter," Calleigh insisted, "You need to talk to him. He needs you Nick."

Nick sat on the edge of the bed. He gently held Greg's cold hand and looked at his battered face.
"Hey G," he whispered, "It's Nicky, but you probably already knew that. I just want you to know I'm here for you." Nick's voice cracked and he squeezed Greg's hand. "I love you Greg and I need you to keep fighting. I'm not ready to live in a world where you're not there. I'm not ready to be a single father or a widower. I love you G and I need you to pull through. I know you can do it. You're strong G, and you're a fighter. You keep on fighting and I'll keep fighting for you. I'm going to find out who did this to you and I'm going to personally arrest them for what they did to the man I love." Nick leaned down and gently kissed Greg's cheek. "I love you Gregory Sanders and I always will no matter what happens."

Nick stood from the bed and walked towards the door. Calleigh wrapped her arms around him and held Nick close as he cried against her shoulder.

"He's going to make it Nick," she whispered, "He's going to be just fine."

"Thanks Calleigh," Nick whispered, secretly wondering if she was right.

Lucy looked at her father as he walked into the hospital room. He sat on the edge of her bed and leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Hey Lucy-Lou," he whispered, "How are you?"

Normally the rhyme would have made Lucy smile but it didn't this time. This time she just felt empty.

"Those men hurt Daddy," she whispered.

Nick slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, they did," he whispered. "I hear you were very brave though. The police told me you scared them away."

Lucy looked at Nick, her emerald eyes empty. "I killed a man, how was that brave?"

Nick looked at his daughter and felt his heart twist inside his chest. "Sometimes that's just what we have to do Lucy," he whispered.

"Have you ever killed someone?" Lucy asked.

Nick hesitated but nodded his head. "Yes, I have Lucy."

"Did any of them try to hurt Daddy?"

"Yes, they did."

Lucy looked at Nick as tears poured down her cheeks. "Is this how you felt?"

Nick felt his own tears roll down his cheeks. He pulled Lucy against his chest and buried his face into her hair and cried. "Yes, I did, every single time."

Horatio held back tears as he looked at his eldest son's body in the hospital bed. His heart hurt as he watched Calleigh scrap under his nails.

"How is he Calleigh?" Horatio quietly asked.

Calleigh looked up from her work and then darted her eyes away as tears formed in her eyes again. "He's alive, that's all I can ask for," she whispered.

"Calleigh are you going to be able to handle this case?"

"If you're asking if I'm going to let my emotions get the better of me, then I don't know." Calleigh said, "Greg's my friend and I care deeply about him. I want to find the men who did this to him, Horatio. I want to bring justice to my friends."

Ryan cried out as he walked into the room. Walter helped him sit in a chair next to Greg's bed.
"Oh god," he muttered, "Oh god no."

"Everything's going to be ok, Ry," Walter soothingly said.

"Oh god, Greg," Ryan muttered, "Oh god, please don't let this be true."

Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle rushed into the hospital room. They stopped at the sight of Greg's body in the hospital bed. Horatio Caine and another young man sat next to his bed. They knew the second the young man looked up at them that it was Ryan Wolfe, Greg's half brother.

"Catherine," Horatio said as he stood from his chair, "How did you get here so fast?"

"Nick called and when he said Greg was in the hospital we booked it out of Vegas on the next available chopper," Catherine explained, "And let me tell you, you almost got the entire Vegas grave shift here to boot. I allowed Sara to come along."

"Is Grissom coming, too?" Horatio inquired.

Catherine nodded her head. "He didn't have as easy a time catching a plane. He'll be here either tonight or tomorrow morning."

"Horatio, can we see him?" Sara asked, her voice small and timid.

Horatio nodded his head. "Of course," he said, leading them over to the bed.

Ryan stood and allowed one of the other women to take his seat. Catherine and Sara stared at Greg awe struck.

"I can't believe this," Sara said, "Who would do this to Greg? I mean he's just a harmless, puny geek. He doesn't even carry a gun out in the field half the time, and if he does he doesn't use it."

Catherine grasped Sara's hand gently. "I'm ranting again, aren't I?" Sara asked.

"Just a little," Catherine gently said.

Horatio's phone rang and he excused himself to answer the call. "Caine," he said into the phone.

"H, it's Natalia," the voice on the other end said, "I've got some result you'll want to hear."

"Alright, hit me," Horatio said.

"The skin samples Calleigh collected from under Greg's nails came back as a match from the break in case he and Ryan were working," Natalia explained, "Along with that it also matched the DNA samples from two of the other break in cases along with three other hate crime cases from other states, including Texas, Connecticut, and Montana."

"Wait Natalia, did you say Texas?" Horatio interrupted.

"Yeah," Natalia said. Horatio heard keys pounding on a keyboard. "It's from a case back in 2003 where a young man was beat to death."

"Natalia, what's the name on that case?"

Horatio heard papers shuffle and Natalia say something to someone in the room. "Oh my god," she muttered, "Matthew Stokes."

Nick's eyes watered over when he walked into Greg's room and found Catherine and Sara sitting next to Greg's bed. They stood and each embraced him, quietly giving their condolences and encouragement.

Nick sat next to Greg's side and carefully encased his hand within his own. Catherine sat next to him and gently touched Nick's shoulder. "It's worse than the last time, isn't it?" she quietly asked.

"The last time?" Ryan asked, worry filling his voice.

"Greg was a victim of a gang bang about five years ago," Sara explained, "It wasn't related to anything like this. Greg was just a witness there at the wrong time who tried to help and it just ended with…" her voice trailed off as tears formed in her eyes.

"That's kind of how Nick and Greg in avertedly came out to the lab," Catherine said, "Only Grissom, Warrick, and myself knew they were together."

"How did that happen?" Ryan quietly asked.

"Nick went ballistic," Catherine explained, "He punched a civilian, was really snippy, and at one point yelled something about his husband being in the hospital." Catherine sighed and shook her head. "That was the beginning of the longest Internal Affairs battle I've ever had to deal with."

The same middle aged nurse walked in and began checking Greg's monitors and took his temperature. "How is he?" Nick asked.

"Mr. Stokes your partner seems to be doing fine," she said, "But we need to do another MRI, it seems the swelling in his brain isn't going down as fast as the doctor wants it to."

A single sob broke through Nick's lips and he buried his face in his hands. Catherine wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him gently as he cried.

Horatio blushed slightly at the sound of his phone interrupting their silence. He looked to see Calleigh's number flashing.

"Calleigh, what do you got for me?" he said as he answered.

"Ballistics results," Calleigh said on the other end, "The round recovered from the man shot in the head matches the striations on the rounds I test fired from Greg's glock."

"So Greg shot him?" Horatio inquired, rather confused.

"I don't know Horatio," Calleigh said, "I swabbed his hands for GSR but it came back negative, and when I tested his clothes for gun shot residue I got nothing again."

"What about eye witnesses?" Horatio asked.

"Well we got a lot of 911 calls but it seems no one really wants to step forward and talk, which is terribly unfortunate." Calleigh sighed, "We've got a couple of people who are willing to talk and none of them have mentioned Greg shooting a gun. Plus the glock was found about four feet from Greg's body and the angle he was shot at would be impossible for Greg to accomplish. I really don't know what's going on Horatio. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright Calleigh," Horatio said, "Just go back to the scene and try to recreate what happened the best you can with what you got. We're missing something, something major."

Horatio hung up his phone and walked back over to Greg's bed. He looked down at the young man who was his eldest son. He knelt down and gently stroke Greg's battered face. "Please Greg," he whispered, "Tell me what happened."

"It was Lucy," Nick quietly muttered.

Horatio looked at Nick confused. "What did Lucy do?"

"Lucy shot the men," Nick said, "She told me those men started beating up Greg and she knew she had to protect her Daddy. She ran upstairs and jimmied the lock on the gun safe and grabbed Greg's glock. Then she shot at them to try and scare them away."

"How did Lucy know how to use a gun?" Sara asked shocked.

Nick shook his head. "I don't know, Greg and I are really strict about our guns. Lucy's only allowed to touch them when they're unloaded, and that's usually when we're cleaning them and she's helping. We've never taught her how to operate one and I have no clue how she jimmied the lock on our safe. We bought one that's full proof, one that we knew Lucy wouldn't be able to get into."

Catherine held his hand and gave him a reassuring smile. "That's one clever girl you've got there Nicky," she said, "She must take after both her fathers."

Nick smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "Thanks Catherine," he whispered.