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"So I heard Greg knew the victim?"

Russell nodded. "Yeah, he was a close friend." He said, not sharing any other information which he didn't need to.

"Oh boy" Morgan said sadly, "That must have been a hard sight to see."

"Yeah, I've sent him home. Greg told me that his name was Danny Foster, 30 years old and confirmed that he was gay, so we can play this as a hate crime."

"Okay, well Hodges just ran the swabs I sent him, gave me some results. Although he was found naked, there was no sexual assault, and the fiber that Doc Robbins found in the vic's teeth was this…" She passed her case file over to Russell "a rare type of cotton, only manufactured in a few factories and sold in just as many."

Russell smiled. "This should help us narrow down who our killer is."

Morgan held up her hand. "That's not all, turn over."

Turning over the page, Russell smiled again. "Karl Burnet. Where'd you get his DNA from?"

"Blood, found in the victim's hair, on his scalp." Morgan explained.

"Great work. Let's bring this guy in and close this case as soon as possible."

"Brass is already on it." Morgan said as she smiled and walked off.

X

Beep. "Hey Greg, I just thought you'd want to know Danny's SAE kit came up negative. Nothing happened. We're working this case as fast as we can for you buddy; you just look after yourself alright? See you later." Beep.

Greg listened to the message Russell left him but didn't pick himself up off the floor, from where he was leaning on his sofa. He had a blanket draped over him and a picture of Danny hugged to his chest.

His tears had long dried out, but the tear stains could still be seen on his cheeks.

There was a knock at his door which made him jump and Greg turned his head around to look at the door silently.

"Greg? I know you're in here, your car's outside." Greg didn't say anything in hopes that Sara would leave.

"Open up Greg, I want to talk to you. I want to see if you're alright."

Greg was debating getting up but decided against it. "Sara, can you come back at another time, I don't wanna talk." He then heard her try to get in.

"Come and unlock the door. I'm not going anywhere."

Sighing, Greg pulled himself up off the floor and walked to the door.

Sara smiled at him as he opened the door and gave her a small smile. Letting herself in she said, "How you holding up?"

"I'm alright." Greg told her, clearly lying.

She sat on his sofa and pretended not to notice the picture on the floor. "Morgan told me you knew the victim. I'm sorry."

Greg sat next to her and gave a sad smile, "It's alright. He was a good friend; he didn't deserve what happened to him." He looked down and sighed.

Sara grabbed his hand. "I know this probably isn't… the best time, but there's something going around at work. People are saying that you're… gay, Greg. Now, I don't know if that's true and I don't care. But I just want you to know that if you are or not, I'm here for you whenever you wanna talk, or just hang out. I'm only ever a call away you know that right?"

Greg looked up to her with watery eyes and nodded. "Who said that?"

"Err, a few of the lab techs have mentioned some things, but don't worry I told them to keep their mouths shut." She told him with another smile and a wink.

Greg nodded and felt more tears well up until they finally fell. Sara pulled him close and enveloped him into a hug and he let his tears fall once again.

"I didn't want anybody to know." He said into her shoulder.

Sara's heart broke for him. "So it's true." She said, stating the fact. "How did they find out, Greg?"

"Nick." He told her and pulled away. "I told him I was gay and he shouted it to everyone. They all looked at me and now they know."

"Nick told them all?"

Greg nodded. "Catherine said I should tell him, so I did and now he hates me." He put his head down and shook his head.

"Hey, he does not hate you-"

"Sara, you didn't see him. He was crazy. I've never seen him like that before." Greg interrupted.

Sara didn't say anything for a moment.

"You know Nick, sometimes he just doesn't think before he acts. And sometimes people get hurt because of it, but every time something happens, he sorts it out. He will this time too." Sara explained.

Greg shrugged. "I don't know, Sara. I don't think he's ever going to forgive me."

Sara frowned. "Greg, forgive you for what? Being gay isn't wrong it's who you are."

"But if I were normal this would have never happened." Greg argued.

"There is no such thing as normal, okay? So don't talk like that, not ever."

Greg smiled at her. "Right."

"Do you know anything about the case?" Greg asked after an awkward silence fell between them.

Sara shook her head. "No, I'm on a new case now so I've not heard anything. Sorry."

"It's okay. I just want whoever did this to be behind bars."

"Yeah me too, the teams working really hard. It won't be long before the scumbag's where he belongs."

Greg looked at Sara and nodded, hoping she was right.

X

Nick was sat in Russell's office, waiting for him to get back from wherever he was. It was only a few seconds later that Russell arrived.

"Hey Nick, what you doing in here?" he asked as he sat down, took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I don't wanna work this case."

Russell frowned. "Really? How come? I'd have thought you'd want to since the guy was a friend of Greg's."

Nick's jaw twitched. "Yeah, I just don't want to work it."

"Is everything alright? You don't usually want to swap cases." Russell told him leaning forward.

"Everything's fine, can you just let me work on something else. Please." Nick said agitated.

Russell nodded slowly. "That's fine, here you go." He said as he passed Nick a slip of paper.

"Thanks." Nick said before standing up to leave.

"Nick" Russell called as he got to the door.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you want to work this one? Huh?"

Nick sighed. "I don't think I should. I can't do this one."

Russell nodded and without another word Nick left.

X

Sara had gone after staying with Greg for a few hours as he shared stories with her about himself and Danny. As soon as she left, Greg went straight to his bedroom, exhausted.

He quickly stripped his shirt off and his jeans soon followed. But then, just as he moved the covers back ready to jump into bed, a hand curled itself over his mouth.

He froze in fear as two men came out from his on suite to join the other man holding him.

"My, my, aren't you a sweet thing to look at?" One of the guys said as they stepped forward, licking his lips.

Greg tried to struggle with the man who had his hand over his mouth as his right hand travelled down his bare chest, getting to the waistband of his boxers.

"Hey Greg, why are you putting up such a fight? Danny was as submissive as they come." The third man said.

Greg tried not to let the words effect him as he continued to try and get free. However, he soon stopped when a gun was pulled on him and put against his left temple.

"Your boy got lucky, we hardly even touched him, but you… we can have all sorts of fun together." The man said with a mad smile.

Greg shook his head, and the rest of him began to tremble as the hand on his stomach went under his waistband and into his boxers.

He reached up, and to his surprise, was allowed to move the hand from around his mouth.

"Please… you can take what you want… I won't tell anyone you were here."

Laughter erupted throughout the three men. "We aint going anywhere, boy. Now get on the bed."

Greg didn't move from where he stood, the gun was still pressed to his head.

"You need help?" The man with the gun said.

"Please don't do this… I can get you money… anything…"

"We said get on the bed, now move." A guy interrupted.

Greg slowly made his way over to his bed after a not so gentle prod by the guy who had previously had his hands down Greg's underwear.

His covers were removed, so all there was left was the mattress and under sheet. He sat down slowly on the edge of the bed.

"Lie down."

He slowly swung his sock clad feet up onto his bed and laid down. One man grabbed his arms and lifted them up to tie his wrists together and Greg began to struggle again, as if only just realizing the seriousness of the situation.

A second man climbed on top of his waist, making his struggles feeble and useless.

The same man bent down for a kiss and when Greg moved his head away, he was punched harshly in the face.

The man tried again, but Greg wouldn't go down without a fight, so the man punched him again. "You can keep fighting, but you're just making this harder than it has to be."

Greg felt tears well up but refused to let them fall as he continued to resist. But soon all the blows to his head and face took their toll and he was unable to fight any longer.

X

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