AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is a beast in comparison to the rest. Also, this chapter was a really hard one to write. Sorry for any OOC-ness you may read, but I rewrote this chapter quite a few times before I ended up with this. Hope you like it!

Questions will be answered, controversy will begin to brew, people will be left hurt...and some may end up without a job.

Krazy - - well, what can you do?

- : - : - : - : - : -

director covallo called me into his office. and before i even saw the door, i knew he was pissed.

i was still putting off telling anyone what happened, and people were beginning to get mad.

nick was especially, since he knew greg was not supposed to be out in the field. not after the stunt he - - well both of them - - pulled.

you would think that him, grissom, covallo, and most of the team would be over it by now. it was over a month ago, but everyone still carried a grudge.

according to the cops at the scene nick and greg were at, nick threw the first punch. supposedly, greg provoked nick to do so.

when grissom asked greg for his account of what happened, greg said nick should have been minding his own business and let him do his job.

well, neither of their accounts of the fight flew well with anyone so both were off of field work - - nick just had a weeks probation, but since greg was not an official CSI, he was banned to his lab until further notice.

and to think all that trouble was over a mysterious substance found on a doorknob.

i don't know why cath and warrick were mad at greg, but it was only until after he was hospitalized that either of them dare apologize for giving him the cold shoulder.

nick apologized to me first, because he knew that after he got greg in trouble, it must have been hell for me back home.

i told him it was - - i had to drag greg to work everyday. his black eye was no battle scar, and neither was his busted, swollen lip.

in the middle of the night for the first week after it happened, i could hear him either crying in the kitchen, or beating the hell out of the punching bag in the extra room down the hall.

he tried apologizing to greg, but it was before greg's brain began to respond to anything. so nick felt like he had to apologize again once greg started responding to voices and stimulation, and again when greg woke up.

i finally reached director covallo's office and all he did was stare at me as i silently sat down at the chair in front of his desk. he drummed his fingers against the edge of the desk, staring me down.

'miss sidle,' he greeted curtly.

i nodded. 'director covallo. grissom told me that you wanted to talk to me.'

he scoffed at me. 'i don't just want to talk to you. do you realize what you have done, miss sidle, but not telling anyone what happened out in the field?'

i just continued to stare at him, blinking as less as humanly possible.

'don't you have anything to say?' he asked.

i sighed. 'what do you want to hear?' i asked.

now he was the one staring. 'i want to know what happened, since you won't tell your supervisor. and let me tell you, grissom is at his breaking point with you.'

'fine!' i shouted, throwing my hands up in the air. 'you want to know what happened?'

i am sure my screaming startled him, but he just continued to stare at me.

'i turned my back for two seconds.'

my voice was already giving away. 'and i know he wasn't suppose to be out in the field with me, but it was an interesting case with suspicious circs and thought it might help with his training.'

i could feel my eyes beginning to sting with tears.

'we were in this weird hotel, where they had a back staircase that led from the top floor, where all the suites were, to the back entrance to the hotel. just so anyone who was rich and famous enough to stay in them wouldn't have to deal with the public.'

i tweezed the bloody hair off the railing. it looked like there was a skin tag...

'i was examining evidence. greg was looking for more evidence...'

'don't go far!' i ordered. 'stay close and look for anything out of the ordinary.'

'...and at first, i didn't notice the emergency exit between me and him - - he was three or four flights down and around a corner...'

'greg?' i called after i heard the door slam. i guess he must have gone out the door, so i go down a flight to check. when i open the door, the hallway is long and empty. 'greg?' i call his name again.

'...i called his name again then hear the gun go off.'

i rush down the stairs after i hear him scream. the next thing i hear is his delicate, spiked head crashing down each step. i scream once i realize i can't hear him screaming anymore, and all that can be heard in the long stairwell is his head hitting the cement steps.

'and i saw him head hitting the last five steps until the landing. to this day i am surprised he wasn't dead by the time he hit the landing.'

i realize i am crying.

director covallo wears a serious expression but his eyes show sympathy and not knowing what to do next. 'where was he shot?' he asks.

'in the left shoulder,' i reply quickly.

he clicks off a tape recorder that i notice for the first time. 'you can go,' he says in a monotone voice.

later, nick has to come pick me up at the copper penny, because i am too drunk to see straight.