Chapter 10:

Greg was watching the time slowly creep by until break. It was a very slow day, only one murder had been committed so far. The clock finally reached break time and Greg went to his locker. He removed his lab coat as he entered the locker room and was greeted by Nick.

"Hey, someone left you a love note." He joked referring to the note taped to Greg's locker. Greg picked it up and read through it twice. Nick was starting to get nosey. "So who's it from?"

Greg looked up very confused. "You didn't see who left this, did you?"

"Sorry man. What's it say?" Greg passed the note to Nick.

-Stay away from Hailey freak or that explosion in the lab will seem like a little fart compared to what I'll do to you.-

Nick looked up at his younger friend. He had a mixture of fear and confusion written all over his face.

"Who do you think could've sent something like that?" Greg asked. He knew that Catherine had caused the explosion by accident and she would never send anything like that to him. But then again it was on the news, and pretty much all of America had seen or heard about it. He tried to think of anyone that he had upset but he couldn't. He always tried to make the best of things he would never intentionally hurt or upset someone. Then he thought about Hailey. They weren't dating, in fact Nick had gotten closer to her than Greg did, in that department. Granted they would only kiss from time to time it was still farther then Greg would or wanted to be.

"I have no idea. But we can try to find out." Nick and Greg went to the trace lab. Nick had dealt with letters before, ransom notes left at crime scenes, most of the time he could get a print, or smell even, off of the paper, possibly even what type of printer was used.

They spent the whole break hour analyzing the paper and came up with nothing. It was then that he realized the note involved another person. "Do you think we should ask Hailey?"

Greg hadn't thought about that. "I guess it couldn't hurt."

"You should tell Grissom you aren't feeling well. Since it's a slow night I don't think he'll mind sending you home a little early. Besides Chris from days is here, and I don't think you need to be here worrying about this." He said holding up the note.

Greg pocketed the note and went to his supervisor's office. He knocked on the door frame and the elder man looked up.

"You never knock." He stated.

"I need to ask you something." He said as he shut the door and took the seat in front of him. Grissom put his file down and removed his glasses motioning for him to continue, noticing that the lab tech was looking a little pale. "I'm not feeling very well and Chris from days is here and...well I was wondering if I could leave a little earlier."

Grissom studied the nervous tech in front of him. His hands were shaking, and he looked nervous, not to mention the color that had drained from his face. Greg had almost never asked for a day off or to go home early unless he really felt unable to complete his job that day. "It's a slow night, I don't see why you can't go home."

"Thank you." He stood up to leave when Grissom spoke again.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you want to tell me." Grissom asked knowing that the reason Greg felt ill wasn't from a virus.

Greg looked down and shuffled his feet. He could use Grissom's help, especially since he was close to Hailey, maybe he knew something Greg didn't. But then he thought it was best to ask Hailey first. "No sir." Greg left Grissom's office and went to his locker, lucky that he didn't find another note. He put his track jacket on, grabbed his keys and headed for Hailey's apartment. He parked in the visitors parking and took the elevator to the second floor.

Hailey had drifted off to sleep reading her book. When the doorbell rang she sat straight up, ever since the phone call that morning she was on edge. Every little sound, movement, anything could be him. She thought it was over, she couldn't live like this again, being afraid all the time.

The bell rang again. She got up and slowly moved to the door. She placed a hand on the door and looked out through the peep hole. She exhaled the breath that she had been holding and opened the door to let Greg in. He slipped in and locked the door behind him.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked, a little freaked out by his actions.

"We need to talk." He pulled the note from his pocket and held it in his hand, he wanted information. 'Might as well jump right in.' He thought. "Has anyone been bothering you lately?"

He couldn't know, she never told anyone. "No."

Greg gave her a look as if to say 'yeah right'. "Don't lie to me Hail."

She had never noticed how much he was like Patrick. Patrick and Hailey were convinced that they were separated at birth, although they were a year apart. Ryan would call them the twins as a joke. Her relationship with Greg was a lot like that, not to mention they both were overly protective of her, of corse not to an extent that bothered her. Hailey turned around and started to walk away. Greg grabbed her arm to turn her around. "NO!" she yelled holding her free arm up to her face.

Greg was very taken back by this. He had never hit her, or even suggested that he would ever place a hand in anger on her. He immediately dropped her hand down, his eyes full of anger. "Hailey, did someone hit you?"

Hailey dropped her arms, not believing that she would think Greg would be physical towards her, but Jacob had made her so jumpy. The Hailey she knew wasn't around right now, she was back to being the small and frightened Hailey from her past. She couldn't let that happen, she had to be the strong woman she was. "This doesn't involve you Greg." She snapped at him.

He knew something was up and he'd be damned if he let something happen to her. "Guess what Hail, it involves me now." He said holding up the folded paper.

Hailey looked at it. "What's that?"

"This was left for me, taped to my locker." He handed her the note.

She opened up and read it. She knew who it was from and she broke down. She walked over to the couch the note still in her hand, sat down and started to cry. It seemed as if all the tears she had already shed didn't count, she just kept producing more. Greg sat down beside her. "Tell me what's wrong. Please. I can't help you unless you tell me." He said embracing her.

"You can't help me Greg. I thought I had gotten rid of him, but I didn't. He's back and he won't stop until he gets what he wants."

"What does he want?" Hoping to God that he was wrong.

She looked up at him, her eyes all puffy and watery. "Me."