Thanks for your constant support, it means a lot. I decided against rewriting the last chapter, but I promise you will get those flashbacks. Major quickie here, so I hope it's good! Setting up for some major angst times, peeps.

To those asking what is my obsession with torturing Greg, I have no idea. For me, Greg angst writes itself! Sorry for those who don't like it.

Read. Enjoy. Review.

Chapter Thirty Seven # Safe or Sorry? #

"Pancho? Wake up!"

Nick groaned. "What?"

"You're wanted on the phone."

"Okay..." Nick grumbled, taking the phone from his father. "Hello?"

"Nick? This is Andrew, Greg's dad. Is Greg with you?"

"What? Uh, no he's not." Nick sat up in bed. "What's going on? Have you called Morgan?"

"Greg ran...he ran away. I've called everyone I can think he would go to, you were the last call."

"Wha'...what happened?" Nick stammered. Greg? Run away?

"I told him, I told him some things and it was too much for him to take in. He just bolted. I tried to follow him but I didn't get very far."

Nick swallowed. "Where did he go?"

"He was headed to the park; I lost him in the trees."

"Okay, do you want me to come look?"

"No, no, it's midnight; I can't drag you out at this time, but in the morning if we haven't... If he hasn't come home, would you."

"Okay, sure, sure." Nick nodded, his heavily beating heart turning to ice. "Bye."

Instead of getting into bed, Nick called Sara. "Greg's missing." They said at the same time.

"You don't think..." Sara swallowed.

"I don't know. I'm gonna go look for him, I don't care what any of our parents say, if that...If those people have anything to do with this then it's my fault, I'm going."

"What? Your parents-"

"Don't know. I'm gonna climb out the window."

Sara hesitated. "You still at the ranch?"

"Yeah."

"Pick me up on the way?"

"Yeah, I will. What about the others?"

"I'll call the girls, you call the guys?" Sara suggested. "See who can make it."

"Sure thing, see you in a little bit. How tired are you?"

"Well seeing as we slept until one not very. A couple of energy drinks and we'll be fine."

"See ya." Nick finished quietly, scrambling into his clothes.

He pulled his dressing gown over the top and ran the phone downstairs.

"Night!" He yelled, running back into the room he was sleeping in.

He shrugged off his dressing gown in exchange for a coat, snatched his phone off his bedside table, bolted the door and opened the window. He sat on the ledge and took a deep breath, looking around carefully before twisting and sliding down, dropping to the floor.

Suddenly he frowned. If he started up his car everyone would hear.

A horse whickered softly and Nick felt like a light bulb should appear over his head. Then he paused. Was it legal to ride a horse through Vegas?

If the worst came to the worst he could tie him up in his garden...

He raced to Muse's stall and started to tack him up. Then he slipped up and flicked the reigns gently, allowing Muse's soft hoof beats from the walk to quietly fade out of the house' range of hearing before jolting Muse into a gallop.

He turned slightly into the woods that he knew backed near Sara's house. When he reached the edge he tied Muse to the fence and stroked his neck gently.

"I'll be back in a sec, Muse." Nick murmured and leapt over the fence, sprinting to Sara's house. Knowing that stones would be too loud, he threw a small bouncy ball at Sara's window.

Within seconds she appeared at the window and opened it. She silently sat on the window ledge and took hold of something, before leaning back and almost jumping out of the window.

Nick almost screamed as she plummeted from the window, stopping short about one and a half metres above the ground.

"Jesus!" Nick hissed barely audibly. "Sara!" Sara held onto the rope dangling from her window with one hand and unwrapped the soft belt from her waist, disconnecting herself from the rope.

"A little help?" She whispered. Nick lifted his arms up and held Sara's legs. She let go of the rope and allowed Nick to lower her to the ground. Then she pulled a small remote that looked like a car control from the bag on her hip. She twirled around the controls and the rope disappeared back into her bedroom.

"How'd you do that?" Nick hissed.

"A quiet remote control car I got for my ninth birthday and never threw away. Add a little maths and physics-"Sara murmured back.

"Ugh! Sounded fun until maths and physics."

Nick and Sara nimbly ran out of the garden and raced away back to Muse.

"You brought Muse?" Sara cried.

"Just to get back to Vegas. I'm gonna leave him in my garden."

"He'll freeze!" Sara cried. "No he won't, he can stay in the shed, the back one. We put it there in case one of the horses gets sick, so we can keep an extra eye on them if they do. It's warm, dry and has food, designed for emergencies...If this isn't an emergency now it's looking to be one soon."

"Okay..." Sara murmured. "Tali and Morgan are in."

"So're Warrick and Ryan, Archie can't get away from his parents, and his window's impossible to get out of." Nick added as they mounted the horse.

The strong horse easily took their weight and Nick led them through the forested outskirts for as long as he could, before flying through the practically empty streets until he reached his house. They quickly tucked Muse up in the shed and grabbed a couple of bikes from the shed.

They cycled through the cold night air to Warrick's house first, then to Ryan's, followed by Morgan and finally Tali's. As soon as they were out of earshot of Tali's house they all stopped.

"So what have we got? What's the plan?" Nick asked almost rhetorically.

"Greg ran away when his parents told him something, I don't know what, his mom wouldn't tell me. He could be anywhere by now, he could be fine, but his mom promised to call me on my mobile as soon as he turned up, no matter what time it was." Morgan said nervously, rubbing her arm. "I mean, he's probably okay, right?"

"Sure." Warrick said confidently. It was what they all wanted to hear. He was closest to Morgan and wrapped his arms around her small, shaking frame comfortingly.

Her coat was thick, the shaking wasn't from the cold.

Nick took a deep breath. Greg ran away. That meant that Jason and Maria couldn't have him, didn't it?

Unless something happened, unless they...

"Where would he go? If he was headed to one of us he would have got there hours ago." Tali bit her lip.

Ryan folded his arms. "We better actually find him because climbing out of the window of an apartment three floors up was not easy or fun. It was difficult and terrifying."

No one responded. Ryan's feigned anger at Greg was just there to cover up his anxiety, and they knew it.

"So what do we do? Just waltz around and hope that we find him?" Tali asked.

"I got torches, chocolate, water, a first aid kid and some scarves." Sara shrugged. "Here..." She passed them around.

"Guys?" Everyone paused to look at Morgan. "What if...what if we don't find him? I mean, what if something's happened to him, or..."

"We're going to find him." Tali insisted, twisting her hands around her bicycle handles. She and Warrick had been able to sneak their own bikes out, but Ryan didn't own a bike and Morgan's was locked up in her back yard, so Tali was giving Morgan a ride and Warrick was helping Ryan.

"Where do we look?" Morgan asked, tears brimming in her eyes.

Tali twisted around and put a hand on Morgan's shoulder. "We'll find him. Start in the park, go from there."

Nick nodded. "And keep looking."

CSIVCSIVCSIV

Greg moaned softly and stretched out. He opened his eyes and froze to find himself in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. He frowned, trying to remember how he got there. The door opened and a vaguely familiar man walked in.

"You're awake, thank god. My wife and I were beginning to worry."

"What am I doing here?" Greg stammered, scrambling into a sitting position.

"I brought you in out of the rain, last night. Do you remember?" When Greg nodded the man continued. "You fell asleep; I brought you in here to get some rest. I've been keeping an eye on the news in case you're reported missing or something. Do you wanna tell me what happened?"

"Not really." Greg mumbled, wondering why he hadn't been woken up.

"You did fall asleep in my house, young man."

Feeling slightly guilty, Greg went red. "My dad told me he's going back to Afghanistan."

The man, Jason, if he remembered correctly donned a look of absolute sympathy, raw and genuine. "You an army brat too?"

Greg nodded.

Jason sighed. "My dad was in and out of the army from the day I was born. Felt like he was never there for me when I needed him."

Greg nodded. The man's sympathy was reassuring. "He's been lying to me my whole life. Apparently I have a sister..."

"And your parents never told you?"

"No."

"I'm sure they had a good reason..."

Greg shrugged and glanced at the clock. "Uh, I probably should go... My parents'll be worried."

"I think that's a good idea." Jason nodded. "They're probably very upset."

"Yeah. My mom overreacts a lot. She probably thinks I've been kidnapped. She refuses to believe that I can look after myself."

"Well it is a very dangerous world out there." Jason nodded, holding the bedroom door open for Greg, who walked past.

"It is seven am. Do you want some breakfast before you go?"

Greg considered, his stomach rumbling. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Not at all. I can give you a lift home if you want. That rain hasn't stopped."

"Thanks." Greg smiled genuinely. He liked Jason, and surely if the guy was gonna hurt him he would have done so already.

After snaffling a piece of toast Jason led Greg outside. Greg noticeably cringed when the cold water soaked him, and Jason started to steer him towards a black car. Dimly, Greg could hear someone yelling. He turned to see Nick and the others standing about two hundred meters away with a small fleet of bicycles.

"Greg! Don't get in the car!" Nick and Sara screamed.

Instantly Greg froze. The others stared at Nick and Sara in confusion as Nick started to race forward.

"Greg!"

"Get in the car!" The man ordered. Confused, Greg turned back to Nick who was quickly closing the distance.

"Nick?"

"Get in the car!" The man yelled, opening the door.

Stimulated by the fear in his friends' eyes Greg bolted towards Nick but the man wrapped his arms around Greg's waist, lifting him clean into the air.

"Put me down!" Greg yelled, fear flooding his own veins.

"Put him down!" Nick and Sara screamed. Nick reached the car just as the man tried to stuff Greg's flailing limbs into the car.

"Stop! What're you doing?" Greg screamed. "NICK!"

Nick's hands found Jason's collar and he wrenched the man away from Greg with every ounce of strength in his body.

"Run, Greg!" He yelled as Jason's fist smashed across his jaw. Greg tried to scramble out of the car, but Jason pulled out a gun and fired two shots into the air, before shoving his gun into Nick's cheek.

"You move and I'll blow his brains out!" Jason growled.

Everyone froze and Jason smiled.

"You swore!" Nick whispered. "You swore you wouldn't!"

"You think I'd really mean anything I said to a little faggot like you?" The man laughed.

"Leave him alone!" Greg cried fearfully, confusion flooding his veins.

"That I will do. I'll leave him all alone. Eventually."

"Nick, what's going on?" Greg cried.

"You walked right into my house, Greg, literally. If Nick had just been a man and told someone, you would still be perfectly safe.

"No!" Nick yelled as Jason stood up and slammed the car door shut, gun trained on Nick, encasing Greg inside. "Don't!"

"Nick!" Greg screamed from inside the car. The man opened the door and clambered on top of Greg, shoving the gun into his neck and a chloroform soaked cloth over his mouth. His muffled cries reverberated around the park even as they stopped.

"Stop, please!" Nick screamed, unable to move. If that man, that monster, shot Greg...

"Or what, Nicky-Boy? Bye-bye now." The man saluted and jumped in the car screaming away as Morgan screamed at the top of her voice.

"What the hell just happened!" She shrieked.

Nick felt like his universe was collapsing. He looked at Sara. "This is all my fault."

"Our fault." She corrected tearfully.

"I should have told before." Nick shook his head, tears squeezing out from the creases in his eyes.

"Nick?" Warrick asked, stunned. "What are you talking about..."

"It's all my fault." He stared up at the sky. "God, I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry..."