"I'll catch up with you later Gil; I've got to do something," Brass said heading for his own car. Grissom nodded and headed off in search of the band manager.

Brass knocked on the apartment door.

"Who is it?" a child voice asked, Brass frowned.

"Detective Jim Brass, LVPD," he said rechecking his notes to make sure he had the right address. He heard a security chain being slid across, Greg opened the door ushering the girl behind him. He eyed Brass warily and didn't move to let him in.

Brass sighed.

"Greg, I'm not here to have a go. I wanted to apologise – I was out of line at the hospital, I'm sorry. Can I come in?" Greg chewed on his lip for a second before nodding and stepping aside. Brass let out the breath he hadn't been aware of holding and glared at the officers outside the door.

"This time you don't go anywhere, understood?" he snapped, they nodded looking properly chastised; Brass nodded and stepped into the apartment. Greg looked nervous he had his arms wrapped around his waist Brass cringed knowing he'd added to the kid's anxiety; Greg seemed to snap out of his frozen stupor and indicated that they should go into the kitchen. It wasn't what Brass had expected. The room was clean, tidy and organised. A small breakfast bar was set in one wall, Greg indicated for him to sit and pulled out two coffee mugs, he looked at Brass questioningly.

"Sure, but are you supposed to be drinking coffee?" he asked

"No he's not," came a voice from the door, Brass turned and smiled, a small girl stood in the doorway her arms folded across her chest, looking disapprovingly at Greg. She was wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt, her long brown hair was plaited and hung down her back. Brass frowned.

"Weren't you wearing black jeans a minute ago?" he asked the girl, she smiled condescendingly at him.

"No, but Luna is," she said, as she spoke Luna appeared and walked over to Greg.

"Gecko, I'm hungry…" she whined, Greg smiled and reached into a cupboard he pulled out two bags of crisps, he handed the ready salted to Luna and held out the salt and vinegar for Solaris to see. She nodded and he tossed that packet to her.

"Thank you," Luna said and wandered out. Solaris stared at Brass before asking Greg something in Norwegian; he stopped making the coffee for a second and gave her a nod. The girl smiled at Greg, glared at Jim and left the room. Greg placed a cup of coffee in front of Jim and sat opposite him. Brass sighed.

"Now I feel like and even bigger jerk – at the hospital I was frustrated with not getting anywhere and I knew you hiding something. I'm sorry I never guess you were trying to protect your family," he said feeling like a ham. Greg smiled and raised his coffee to his lips, but before he could take a drink a hand covered the cup and pushed it down. Greg sighed heavily causing Brass to laugh. Arissa sat down next to Greg and stole his cup.

"Detective Brass, I'm Arissa – I'm Greg's twin and if you think Papa is bad when he's pissed I promise you ain't seen nothing yet," she glared at him. Brass winced, he knew that Hampton had stirred up a hornets nest with both the Mayor and the Sheriff; he had both of them on his back warning him to lay off the kids and find out who was behind the attacks. He had been chewed out daily by both for the lack of progress. He pushed that thought aside, it was not Greg's fault – in fact he had a feeling that Greg would be appalled to find out the high-power wrangling being done on his behalf.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said before turning his attention back to Greg.

"Did you – either of you - see Johnny Lloyds at the show?" he asked

"No, but he's broken his arm, I doubt he would have been stupid enough to be in the pit and quite frankly from the stage you can't see the rest of the auditorium. How do you think I ever convinced Gecko to get up there?" she nudged Greg's arm as she finished – Greg glared at her in response, Brass nodded and sighed again.

"Well it was a long shot," he said resignedly sipping his coffee. He took the time to study Greg; the bruising on his face had become a mottled purple mess, the bruising around his neck stood out starkly against the pale pallor of his skin.

"So how you holding up kid?" he asked genuinely curious. Greg shrugged and smiled weakly at him.

"That's Greg language for 'I'm in pain, humiliated, in need of reassurance from my friends as well as my family but I don't have the confidence to ask for it'" Aris filled in. Greg glared at her again and bolted out of the room. Arissa didn't seem phased by his sudden departure; she just shrugged and sipped her stolen coffee.

"He's embarrassed, sorry but I get so mad at him sometimes, he won't ask for what he needs. At the moment he doesn't have much of a choice so I'm trying to get the point across to him that his friends actually do give a damn. I think I might have to use a jackhammer to get it into his thick skull…" she trailed off as if actually considering it.

"He thinks we don't care?" Brass sounded aghast.

"Well, Catherine blew him up, Grissom made him subject to a humiliating procedure, Sara barely gives him the time of day, Nick calls him a wannabe, you all treat him like a flake and you interrogated him as though he was a suspect. So, I guess the question is, do you?"

"Of course we do!" he snapped angrily, Arissa raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"Then why are you still in here?" she asked casually, Brass went to reply but changed his mind and followed Greg out. He found the lab tech curled up on the sofa, his knees drawn up to his chin. He looked up as Brass entered the room. His eyes went wide and he jumped up, the wince giving away that he shouldn't have done that, picked up a notepad, scribbled on it and handed it to Brass.

:I'm sorry she shouldn't have said that:

Brass read the note and looked back at Greg who was once again looking nervous. Brass flicked though the pad, it seemed to be the way Greg communicated with the girls.

"I take in the kids don't sign, huh?" he asked handing the pad back to Greg. Greg shrugged before writing another note and handing back.

:Not yet:

Brass laughed.

"Fast learners too?" Greg nodded; Brass went back to the apology and reread it, in a swift movement he tore the page out. He gently placed the pad on the table.

"You don't ever need to apologise for your family – especially when they are just looking out for you," he said screwing the note up. Greg nodded but avoided eye contact with the detective. Brass moved closer and lifted Greg's chin with his fingers as he had seen Grissom do at the hospital. It was only then that the Captain could feel the tremors running through the lithe frame.

"Jesus, Greg. You're safe you know I'm not going to hurt you right?" he whispered, Greg closed his against the embarrassment, inwardly still cursing the drugs that took away his ability to control his emotions, and nodded. Brass looked at the young man in front of him. For the first time he realised that Greg was a similar age to Ellie. Similar in age but he'd turned out so differently – the thought propelled Brass to do something he would never have considered under different circumstances. He wrapped his arms around the lab tech and pulled him against his own body. Greg tensed when he felt arms tightening around him and tried to resist the hand that was trying to coax him to lay his head on a broad shoulder. Greg could feel the tears welling up in him and fought to maintain the shred of control he had.

"Greg, let go, you don't have to face this alone," Brass whispered, he felt Greg nod against his hand before pulling away. Brass felt disappointed that the young man didn't trust him enough to drop he defences. Greg picked up the pad.

:I'm okay. Thanks Brass:

Jim sighed and took that as his cue to leave.

"If you need anything phone… text me or any of us- we'll be here," he promised him solemnly. Greg nodded and walked him to the door. Brass turned to him and pulled out a card, he wrote his home and mobile numbers on it before handing it to Greg.

"24/7 Greg, even if you just want to talk – when you're voice is back anyway," he locked eyes with the younger men to make sure that Greg knew he was deadly serious. Greg took the card and nodded; Brass reached up and ran a hand through Greg's abnormally flat hair.

"You get a paper cut I want to know about it, okay?" he said. Greg nodded turning the card over in his hands. Brass nodded as though reassuring himself of something before opening the door and leaving.

Greg leant his head against the door and sighed loudly. Arissa appeared and studied him.

"You need to let to trust them, Gecko – without exception, every one of your friends I've met loves you," she said with certainty. Greg turned to face her.

:Maybe, but it should have been my choice, not yours. Don't make decisions for me; you of all people should know how that makes me feel: Arissa gathered him into her arms.

"I know and I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you Greg," she whispered, he nodded but pulled away from her. He need time to think, time to breathe and sort out what had happened to him. He needed time to himself and that was the one thing he couldn't seem to get. Arissa sighed and watched as Greg quietly left and disappeared into his bedroom. She felt the tears form in her eyes; she knew that Greg desperately wanted to be alone to lick his wounds but she also knew that if he had it he was fix his walls and put his mask back on and never deal with what happened. That didn't mean however that being around his messed up twin sister and her daughters (themselves a reminder of unpleasant events, however much they loved them) was a good thing either, she reached for her phone and with shaking hands dialled Nick's number.

"Stokes,"

"Nick?"

"Arissa? Are you alright?"

"Nick, I need your help," she hated how weak her voice sounded.

"Aris, you're not making any sense- are you alright? Has something happened to Greg?"

"Yes, no, sort of. Nick, I have to go home – the girls, they're too much for him. Oh God, I don't know what to do I can't leave him alone but we're hurting him being here," she was aware she was becoming hysterical but couldn't stop herself.

"Aris…Arissa! Calm down, breathe, girl, you're going to make yourself ill. I'm on my way over,"

"No, Nick, listen Greg can't be alone, but we can't stay. He needs someone he trusts and someone who can understand him," Arissa explained trying to get herself under control. She could feel the tears falling and collapsed onto the couch. She was immediately engulfed by a set of small arms; she looked down only now realising that Solaris was in the room. She smiled at her and hugged her back.

"Alright, listen Aris I'll sort something but I think that Greg isn't the only one in need of support,"

"I know that's why I'm going home"

"No offence, but the last thing you need right now are your parents,"

"I have no where else to go,"

"Stay with me,"

"Nicky, I can't do that to you,"

"Look, I have a spare room, it'll be tight with four of us but it'll work,"

"No, Nicky, I can't put you out like that,"

"It's no problem Aris; I'll pick you up at the end of shift ok?"

"Okay, I'll see you later,"

"'Bye Aris, get some rest…"

"'Bye Nick…" she hung up the phone and looked down at her daughter. Solaris handed her a tissue.

"Thanks kiddo. I'm sorry this has been rough on you guys too," she said brushing her fringe, Solaris smile at her.

"Yeah but we'll manage – we're almost as tough as you," she said still smiling. Arissa kissed her forehead.

"Tougher, but I wish you didn't have to be,"

"Yeah, well, that's you motto isn't it? 'Life sucks',"

"It does indeed. Look, you've got a choice you and your sister can come with me to Nicky's place or you can go home," She told her daughter.

Solaris frowned.

"Okay… so why did you bring us?"

"Because I want you with me, silly! But I understand that you miss your home and your rooms. It's not fair of me to keep you moving especially with virtual strangers,"

"I want to go home, mom, I love you so much so does Luna, but seeing you and Gecko in so much pain…it's hard…"

"Oh sweetheart, you don't have to explain I'll call mama and have her come pick you guys up,"

"Will you call us?" Solaris asked in a small voice.

"Oh honey, I'm not leaving you! It's just until we get well. Of course I'll call you- you won't be able to stop me,"

"I know, I think I can explain it to Luna, but you know what she's like – if it can't be dissected she doesn't get it,"

"Don't be mean to your sister,"

"I'm not, sorry. Look, let me go find her and we'll pack- again. I think you should talk to Gecko – he needs to get ready too," Solaris hopped up and left Arissa alone to wonder exactly when her daughter got so smart. Know that she was right Arissa grabbed her crutches and went off to find Greg. She slowly opened his bedroom door. He was curled in the middle of the bed in the foetal position. He was deeply asleep; she glanced at the bedside table. After three days it looked like he had finally taken one of the sleeping pills the doctor had prescribed. She crept back out, knowing that if she woke him he would feel bad as the drug would still be in his system. Instead, she phoned Katy and made arrangements for the Girls. In another half hour it would be safe for her to pack Greg's stuff for him. Then, all she had to do was wait for Greg to wake or Nick to arrive – which ever came first.