Foretold by SLynn

Summary: A woman walks into the crime lab only to tell Greg Sanders about her murder, a murder he's going to solve. Is she just playing games or is it something more?

Spoilers: Through 'Gum Drops'

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing and will return them all when I'm done, virtually untouched.

Notes: Again, I must thank my betas Tripp3235 and RivenSky. And, so you know, they tried to stop me.

"In the end, all you'll see is blue."
Henry Baker

Chapter 26: Blue

"I won," Sofia said with a smirk, leaning against her car as Nick got out of his truck.

"You cheated."

"I didn't cheat," she laughed. "I'm a cop. I'm allowed to run a yellow."

"That light was red," he argued, as he took out his case. "Not yellow."

Sofia continued to smirk as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Next time…" he started to say, but was interrupted by David's arrival.

"Hey guys," David waved, looking exhausted.

"Long night?" Nick asked.

"Terrible," David agreed. "Why does everyone have to die on my shift?"

Sofia and Nick laughed as the three of them walked towards the house.

"So you haven't even declared yet?" Nick asked him as they got to the steps.

"No," David answered. "No time. I just left that accident scene."

"Sara is probably going nuts," Nick added.

Sofia and Nick, not needed at the pile-up, had decided to stop by and see how Sara and Greg were doing. Now he almost regretted it. Having worked with Sara numerous times, he knew how impatient she could be, especially if the case was routine. They had to have been on scene for an hour with nothing to do but wait. And while Greg was patient enough, Sara didn't like to wait.

"I'm sure she's fine," Sofia said, opening the door with the flashlight and quickly sweeping the room.

David and Nick followed close behind.

"Hey Greg," Nick called out, "Sara. We're here."

"I'm just going to," David said, indicating the body off to the right.

Nick nodded and walked over with him, but Sofia hadn't moved.

"Where do you think they are?" David asked, as he prepared to get a body temperature from the corpse.

"Might be checking upstairs," Nick said.

He looked up at the staircase, expecting to see Greg and Sara walking down it any minute now, before turning back to Sofia.

She was still standing there in the entry with the beam of her flashlight pointed at the floor on the far side of the living room.

"Sofia?"

"I thought there was only one body," she said.

There was something in her voice he couldn't quite place. Something he'd never heard before. It almost sounded like fear.

"Hey Nick," David said, distracting him further, "I think your guy was strangled. He's got hemorrhages and some bruising on his neck."

Nick looked back at the body, surprised. He hadn't expected it to be a murder.

Sofia was also surprised. She couldn't place it, but there was something wrong; something familiar about this other body, the one in the living room. It was stupid, but she couldn't shake it. How could a body seem familiar when all you could see of it was its shoes?

It's checkered shoes…

"Greg?" Sofia said weakly.

Nick looked first to the staircase. Having heard Greg's name called, he thought that he'd finally turned up. Greg and Sara both.

But suddenly Sofia was moving. Her gun was drawn and she'd crossed the living room at break neck speed.

"Greg," she said loudly, "oh, God. Call an ambulance!"

Nick froze, certain he'd heard wrong. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be.

"Nick," Sofia yelled close to panic, "now! Call!"

David moved first. He stumbled momentarily, but was at Sofia's side in an instant. Nick heard him mutter something under his breath before saying he'd found a pulse.

That did it.

Nick finally snapped to and got on the phone, crossing the room to see for himself.

He dialed with one hand as the other found his gun. Sofia nodded at him before she set off towards the kitchen. Nick didn't need her to say it; the perp might still be on scene.

"He's been shot," David said. "It's bad, Nick. I don't know…"

"Do what you can," Nick told him, finally getting an answer on the other line.

He quickly rattled off all of the information needed but couldn't stay on the line. David was asking for his help and Sofia was still searching the building. It was hard to concentrate; there was too much happening too quickly.

"We've got to roll him," David repeated. "I need your help. We'll go easy on three, okay?"

Nick knelt down opposite David, Greg's back to him. He'd been lying on his side, unconscious.

It felt unreal.

Nick quickly holstered his gun and indicated he was ready.

On David's word the moved him, although not quite as smoothly as planned. The jarring motion roused Greg. The pain and shock of it all sat him partially up, coughing blood. Instinctively, Nick and David each placed a hand on his shoulders and tried to push him back down.

Greg finally relaxed and quit fighting them. Exhausted by the effort, Greg let his head fall back to the floor with a loud thud. Still coughing blood, he moaned in pain as he rocked up on his heels.

Nick, having never been sick at a scene before, thought he might be now. There was just so much blood. He wondered how long Greg had been here like this. The wondering only made him sicker.

"Greg," he said, his voice faltering only momentarily. "Greg, hang on. The paramedics are coming, alright. You need to just hang…"

It was as if Greg finally saw them; finally recognized them. He looked first to David and then to Nick. He tried to speak but nothing came out.

"Greg," David said firmly, "I'm going to have to press on your stomach, alright? It's going to hurt but we need to stop the bleeding."

"Here," Nick said, taking off his jacket and passing it over.

David didn't wait, showed no hesitation. He knew Greg had lost a serious amount of blood already and they needed to do this quick.

Greg gasped when he first applied pressure to the wound, but didn't complain.

"He's gone," Sofia said, coming up behind them both. "The house is empty. I can't… I couldn't… Sara's not here either."

Nick looked up sharply. He'd been so focused on Greg it had never occurred to him that Sara might be in a similar situation somewhere else in the house.

"But where…" Nick started to ask.

"…took… her… "

The words had been barely audible, forced and obviously pained.

"Who took her?" Nick asked Greg.

Greg answered, but Nick couldn't understand. His words were garbled but his eyes were wide. It sounded like 'help her'.

"We're going to help her, Greg, but if you can tell us who…"

But Greg only repeated what he'd said before, this time taking hold of Nick's arm and squeezing as tight as he could, but it still sounded as if he was asking them to help Sara.

Nick knew he was in pain, but he had to get Greg to focus.

"Greg…"

"I don't think he's saying 'help her'," David interrupted.

Greg's eyes moved quickly from Nick to David, almost pleading. David and Nick moved in as close as they could as Greg spoke once more.

"Harper?" David repeated tentatively. "Is he saying Harper?"

Nick sat back in disbelief.

"Detective Harper," Sofia boomed. "No…did he do this? Greg, Saul Harper? Detective Saul Harper?"

Greg managed a small nod and his whole body visibly relaxed.

Sofia was already on the radio, alerting anyone and everyone of the situation.

"Nick," David said, the stress of the situation finally leaking into his voice, "we really need that ambulance."

Nick looked first to David and then to Greg and understood. All of the energy seemed to have gone from him. Greg's eyes were no longer focused, just staring off into nothing. It was as if he'd fought long enough to tell them who was responsible, but couldn't do it any more.

Finally, Greg seemed to have lost it altogether, as his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Greg," Nick practically shouted, "don't do this. Stay awake, alright. Just stay awake a little while longer. Help is going to be here soon."

Greg must have heard him as his eyes fluttered open once more, but it looked like it took a real effort.

"The paramedics are a few minutes out," Sofia said, looking on with concern. "Back-ups on its way and officers are already heading to Harper's house."

"It's going to be fine," Nick continued, taking hold of his hand for support. "Just… hold on and it's going to be fine."

Greg looked at him and managed a very pained smile, squeezing his hand in return but without much pressure.

David caught Nick's attention and shook his head slightly; it wasn't good.

Nick started to say something more when to his surprise, Greg laughed.

"Greg?"

Greg, eyes fixed on the ceiling, laughed again; this time so hard he began to cough blood once more.

"What…"

"…blue…"

"I don't understand," Nick said certain Greg was delirious from the pain.

"…it wasn't… it was never about the case…"

"Greg, it's going to be alright."

"…it was for me… blue… it was for me…"

"Just try and…"

"…no time… it's blue… in the end… it's blue…"

Greg gave another, weaker laugh, still looking up at the ceiling.

Nick finally noticed it too.

The room, once dark, was aglow with light. Blue light. All of it coming from the various emergency vehicles that had pulled up outside.

Nick felt Greg's hand slip out of his own, having finally given in.