Chapter Eleven – Going Places

Sighing softly, Greg let his head hit the table in the empty conference room where he was set up, wishing he could just head home and get some sleep. Unfortunately, he didn't have that luxury right now. He was still trapped at the world's longest shift, on the world's longest phone call with his anxious mother.

"Flowers are flowers. Why does it matter to you so much which flower sits in the centrepiece of our table arrangements?" The whole concept sounded so bizarre to him. He could understand it if they were something that would last or even something that they could eat, but he doubted people would remember the flower arrangements over the fact that they got married that day. "Mom please," Greg cut her off before she started another 'importance of the flowers' speech. "I really don't have the head space to deal with all of this today. Can't you just call Mrs Stokes?"

"You say that like I have her number." His mother sarcastically remarked.

"I know you do because I gave it to you less than three hours ago when you called to ask me for their guest list."

"Well I didn't need to call her in the end because Nicky emailed me the guest list. Have you seen the size of it?" She fetched the sheets of paper from her husband's printer. "Currently there are seventy six people coming to this wedding from their side alone. I doubt half of them are even close family like we originally agreed either. She only did it because we only have twenty one coming from our side."

"Small wedding," Greg reiterated what they had all initially agreed. "We only have seating for thirty people tops, so that means less than fifteen people each. Not including the people that Nick and I are inviting from the lab."

"You didn't get the latest from your soon to be mother in law, I see." His mother sucked in a sharp deep breath. "We've had to change venues. We now have seating for one hundred people, so she's trying to fill it to the rafters."

"What? We can't change venues this late in the planning." Greg groaned, lifting his head from the table.

"Believe me; I tried to tell her that, but it's all about the image we want to project for her gay son's big wedding day. She's a very shallow person. Every decision she's made so far has been for her and her image to these people that she calls family. She hasn't taken Nick's feelings into account at all."

"And I suppose we don't get a say in it?" He groaned.

"I told you that you'd regret letting your future mother in law plan your entire wedding."

"Mom, I'm not in the mood to talk about this right now."

"Don't snip at me, Gregory." His mother scolded him. "This is your wedding I'm planning here."

"Is it really my wedding anymore?" He couldn't hold his temper. "This whole thing is getting ridiculous. It's supposed to be all about Nick and me getting married. Not about you or her. There are way more important things to deal with than flower arrangements." Greg heard the line go dead, dropping his head to the table again. He had really done it now and he didn't have the time to call her back and grovel for forgiveness right now.

Closing the open file in front of him, Greg pushed it across the table just out of his reach, before he dropped his head to the smooth wooden surface with a thud. He ran his fingers back through his hair, wishing this shift would end soon. He was in desperate need of some sleep and he hadn't eaten in over twelve hours now. The painful grumbles of hunger rumbling through his stomach were starting to make him feel nauseous, but he didn't want to make small talk with the people in the break room right now.

"Hey Greg," Sara poked her head into the conference room he was hiding out in. "Are you busy? We just got a ton of evidence back from the second crime scene and I could really use a hand processing it."

"Busy as a bee actually."

"Really?" With a smile, she noted, "Is that why you've been sat here yelling at the phone and staring at the same piece of paper for the last twenty minutes?"

"There happened to be a lot of words on that piece of paper." Greg playfully protested. "And I didn't mean to yell. It was my mother. They've changed venues without consulting us first. I seriously hate weddings. I'm tempted to drag Nick in front of Elvis to marry him rather than going through anymore of this."

"It's not like you to snap at your mother."

"I know… I got this today." He presented the letter he had been staring at. "They've set a date for Demetrius James' coroner's inquest."

"Oh," Sara let the door close behind her, reading through the letter herself. She realised why he hadn't been his usual bubbly self around the lab today, prompting her to give him some reassurance. "It'll be alright. You did nothing wrong. You stopped a brutal attack and helped put away multiple violent offenders. You just have to make them hear your side of it. The other victims who survived will have their say too and Sofia's speaking on the stand." She dropped her hand to his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Try not to worry about it too much. It'll be fine. Working will take your mind off it. We've got a ton of evidence to keep you distracted."

"Did you hear anything about the Myers case yet?"

"Nothing yet." Sara shook her head. "Cases like this take a while to process. She's home safe with her mother. You did that for her." She gave him a smile. "C'mon, work will take your mind off everything."

"I should really wait for my mother to call me back, but work seems good right now." He pushed himself to his feet. "Is Grissom alright with you processing evidence from an arson case in your current condition?"

"Grissom doesn't really get a say in what I do with my own body. Nor should anyone else for that matter," Sara placed a hand on her protruding stomach. "I plan to work right up until my maternity leave. My doctor said lab work won't do any harm to the baby as long as I avoid inhaling toxic chemicals. I think I should be able to tell if I'm well enough to keep working or not."

"Alright then," He sorted his paper work into a neat pile. "You know, you never did tell me how you told the father of your unborn baby that he was going to be a father. He doesn't exactly look like a guy freaking out about his future."

"I told him." Sara ushered him across the hall. "Give me a hand and I'll tell you all about it."

"You're resorting to blackmail now? Your daughter is going to be such a rebellious teen." Happy for the distraction, Greg followed her across the hall, hoping that time with his friend would put his worries at ease. "You're going to be a great Mom, Sara. This kid is lucky to have you as a mother."

"Thanks." Sara watched the younger man glove up, before she handed him the first evidence bag. "How about you? Are you doing okay? It hasn't been that long since things just started to get back to normal for you."

"Define normal." He cracked a smile, standing himself opposite her. "I'm okay. I am. The dreams aren't so bad anymore and waking up in a sweat isn't so bad with Nick in my arms."

Sara giggled softly, opening the first evidence bag. "I heard that our missing girl, Harper sent you a gift basket. Have you heard from her lately?"

"Yeah, her Mom brought her by. She hugged me pretty hard. Her Mom not Harper. I don't think I've ever been hugged by a Judge before. She hand baked all the chocolate cupcakes in our gift basket too. Nicky had three before she even left."

"Good thing he's not worried about fitting into his wedding attire." She giggled softly. "And have you told Nick about the court date?"

"How could I? I haven't seen him in eighteen hours."

"You counted?"

"Of course," Greg giggled, "You're telling me that you honestly don't know when you last kissed your significant other?"

"No, I know exactly when it was." Making sure the coast was clear, she admitted, "It was in the car this morning."

He chortled out another laugh.

"In all seriousness, Greg." Sara's tone of voice dropped. "You can't deal with something like this on your own. After everything that you've been through, the last thing you need right now is solitary confinement away from the people who love and care about you."

"I'm not." He protested.

"Is that why you shut yourself in the conference room?"

"Am I not allowed a moment of peace and quiet in the middle of a busy shift? If you're not careful, Sara, your daughter is going to start rebelling at the age of ten with that attitude." He shook his finger at her, moving to the other table to get to work. "How many crime scenes are we up to now?"

"Four." Sara checked her notes. "Warrick, Nick and Wendy are currently processing the fifth."

"Wendy is out in the field again?"

"Worried she's going to upstage you out in the field?"

"Oh please, no one could upstage me in the field." Greg flashed her a grin. "For the record, I'm really proud of her for following her dreams. She said I inspired her, you know. She even called me a role model."

"You are you know. You've even inspired Floyd our youngest recruit. He reminds me of you when I first arrived at the lab."

"He does not look like me." Greg protested for the hundredth time. "I don't think he even knows how to use shampoo and he's scared of everyone. He's terrified of the morgue. He thinks Doc Robbins is going to cut him up in his sleep. He can't even talk to Wendy without tripping all over himself. The boy is completely incompetent. He wouldn't last five minutes if I wasn't here to watch his every move."

Sara cleared her throat a little too late, motioning the other man's attention towards the door.

"Oh shit." Greg caught Floyd just disappearing out of the door. "How much did he hear exactly?"

"I think from shampoo. Greg," She stopped him from running after him. "I think five arson cases take priority over chasing down a love struck teen."

"He's hardly a love struck teen."

"Greg, he's completely infatuated with you." The woman giggled softly. "He's terrified of Nick finding out how he really feels about you. He trips over himself around you because he adores you. You have to shut him down for both your sakes before it goes too far. Honestly, I kinda feel sorry for him. He's got the Greg vibe bad. He asks everyone about you all the time. Everyone except Nick of course. I even caught him writing your initials on his notebook. He's exactly like a love struck teen."

"Wow," Greg felt a little dizzy from the revelation. "I didn't know." He stopped in the doorway, a smile tugging at his lips. "He really likes me? No one ever likes me."

"Um excuse me, aren't you about to get married to a man who likes you a lot?"

Lost in thought, Greg gave her a confused look, "Hm?"

Sara cracked a wide grin. "I'll give you a hint. It starts with an N."

"Oh right, I meant no one used to like me." He corrected himself, joining her round the evidence table. "It might be hard for you to believe this Sara, but I wasn't exactly the suave popular guy in high school. I think I only had one real friend in the last few years and she only really liked me because I helped her do her homework to keep her in school and I kept lookout for her while she smoked behind the science lab. I had plenty of crushes and close calls with the gorgeous Nick type guys, but I was nothing more than something they wanted to scrape off their shoe. Please don't tell Nick I said that. In fact, don't repeat it to anyone."

"My lips are sealed." Sara playfully threw away a key. "Speaking of marriage, you're not really going to drag Nick in front of Elvis are you?"

"I'm tempted to. I probably wouldn't even have to drag him."

"Is the wedding planning really going that bad?"

"Don't ask." He sighed heavily as he gloved up. "I think we might end up eloping just to avoid anymore drama at this rate. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff our mothers have fought about so far. Apparently the flower arrangements my Mom decided on don't fit in with the table settings that Mrs Stokes picked out. And don't even get me started on the cake."

Sara giggled softly, a little relieved that her parents weren't involved in her relationship. She dreaded to think what her mother would make of her having a baby with her boss out of wedlock.

"Greg was really the first guy you slept with?" Stunned by the man's confession, Wendy blurted the secret a little too loudly. She gave the man an apologetic look, before she shot a look at the deputy guarding their scene. "Don't you have something better to do?"

The man grumbled something under his breath as he moved away from them, wishing he was out chasing suspects rather than guarding two nerds trading gossip about their boyfriends.

"Sorry." She gritted her teeth together. "I completely forgot he was there."

"Hey, it's okay." Crouching down to get a closer look at the burn pattern, Nick smirked, "A few months ago I would have had a full blown panic attack tellin' someone that. Now that everyone knows about us, it doesn't feel like that big of a deal. Honestly, I don't know why I was so worried that anyone would find out about us."

Wendy gave him a smile, handing him another evidence bag from her collection. "So you were saying about the burn pattern," She got back to their case. "How can you tell it didn't start in here?"

"You tell me." They had already worked two arson cases earlier in their shift. He wanted to see how much she had taken in following them around to learn more about being a field CSI.

"Alright," Wendy pursed her lips together as she examined their scene. "Oh, the cone shape pattern over there. The fire started in the kitchen just like the last house."

"Yep, what can you tell me about this one?" He motioned towards the wall.

The woman stepped closer to get a better look, realising she still had a lot to learn. She just saw a blackened wall that would take hours to clean. "It almost looks like something was splashed on the wall."

"Good." Nick joined her side. "That'll be our accelerant. If we can match it to our last scene, we've got our suspect dead to rights." He looked down at his phone as it buzzed again, seeing another text from his mother about the wedding. He really didn't want to deal with more of his mother's drama right now, so he left the text unanswered again.

"Mother in law again?"

"Nope that was my mother." He smirked, getting back to work. "We have both of our mothers plannin' our entire weddin' for us, but they won't talk to each other about the details, they always go through us. She probably wants me to ask Greg's mother somethin' about the flowers."

Wendy sucked in a sharp breath. "You're not even married yet and they don't like each other?"

"They've never actually met in person. We want them to meet before we get married, but they both keep delayin' it. I think Greg's mother is worried that my mother won't like her. And I already know that my mother won't like her. She speaks her mind. She's way more eccentric than Greg. Frankly, I'd be terrified of leavin' the two of them alone together."

Wendy giggled softly, spotting Warrick finally returning. "Hey, did you snap some photos of our onlookers?" She saw a few members of the press still trying to capture a juicy pic for their front page story, but most of neighbourhood had given up trying to get a look after the fire went out.

"I did. Check this out." Warrick joined Nick's side with his camera, zooming in on a guy in the crowd. "Look familiar to you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Nick recalled where he last saw him. "Three days ago. He was the neighbour of our second arson. He was really torn up that their dog didn't make it out of the fire."

Warrick smirked out a laugh. "Yeah that was the guy. You know he filed complaints against their pooch three years running, before that house fire. And the dog was the only victim."

"That was the second fire. We're up to our fifth in four days. Why isn't he in jail?" Wendy gave the two of them a curious look.

"Our Mr Davis had an air tight alibi." Nick explained. "He wasn't even in Las Vegas for the first one. Security cameras picked him up at work durin' the start of his neighbours house fire and he was in an interrogation room with Brass and Grissom when the third one started."

"Doesn't mean he wasn't involved though," Warrick quickly added. "He's still our prime suspect because this guy has a history of showing up around house fires. We just need the evidence to finally put him away behind bars. I texted Archie outside, asked him to check out Catherine and Greg's photos, see if he showed up at any of our other crime scenes. Brass is out there having a friendly conversation with him now. He's already protesting harassment."

Wendy nodded softly, taking a look at the pictures for herself. "Arsonists really like to stick around to admire their work?"

"Oh yeah, it's like a drug to them." Nick didn't miss an opportunity to teach her something new. "For some it's a way for them to relieve tension or stress in their lives. Others use it a chance for instant gratification. They get off seein' the flames or the destruction that they can cause. This guy Davis was in the foster care system as a kid. He burned down two of his foster homes before he was even thirteen."

"Gris is convinced this is our guy just from the way he spoke to him in the interrogation room." Warrick checked out the burnt out window, trying to see if he was still talking to Brass. "He's bound to slip up sooner or later."

"Does he know all the victims?" Wendy lowered the camera, feeling a shudder running down her spine. "We must be able to do something to stop him from doing this to someone else."

"That's why we need all the evidence we can get." Nick handed her an evidence bag to label up. "The fire destroys anythin' the arsonist leaves behind. Then the fire department come in and destroy it a little more with their hoses. There's no chance we're gettin' prints off anythin' he touched and most of our evidence has been turned to ash or hosed down with a flood of water. We don't have a lot to go on and he knows it."

"Yeah, it's why he feels comfortable enough standing right outside." Warrick rolled his eyes as the man stayed put.

Hearing loud music blasting from inside one of his labs, Grissom rolled his eyes, finding Greg right at the source of it. He forced the door to the tech lab open, going straight for the system across the room. He grimaced as he got nearer, finding the stop button to finally bring peace and quiet back to his lab. "Didn't we talk about this once before, Greg?"

"Actually," Sara raised her hand. "I'm the one who turned the music on. We needed a distraction."

Grissom kept his eyes narrowed in on Greg, an accusing glare that sent shivers down the younger man's spine. The angry supervisor folded his arms across his chest, making his way over to the younger man to watch him working. "Well, what have you found?"

"A gas container." Greg motioned towards it. "From our latest crime scene. As the heat melted the plastic, it formed pockets, trapping the gasoline inside. And if Hodges can isolate any unique compounds from the gas, you know, like, gas DNA."

The older man's brow twisted into a frown. "Gasoline comparisons are only credible if you have pure samples. Otherwise there's too many variables."

Greg rolled his eyes, sick of always being treated like a rookie. "I know that, Grissom. What I've extracted was never exposed directly to the fire. So, if we can identify either a dye or a unique compound and match to a particular station then we might be able to prove whether our suspect, Carl Davis set the fire."

"It's a long shot." Grissom's frown didn't fade. "We shouldn't be wasting our time on something like this. I need to connect Mr Davis to these fires before he starts another one. We're fortunate that no one has died, yet. We all know that arsonists only escalate if they're not caught."

"It'll work." With a sigh, Greg made a move for the door. "I'll get this to Hodges." He shuffled out the door to get away from his disappointed father figure, wishing someone around here would just have a little faith in him for once.

"Greg's got the coroner's inquest coming up." Sara informed her significant other. "He's been under a lot of stress. Maybe you could be a little nicer to him."

"I am nice." Grissom grabbed the door to the lab. "I just want to nail this guy. Five fires in three days makes me nervous. In the interrogation room he asked me if I could ever watch the ones I loved melting in front of my eyes." He looked at Sara and the bump that was almost visible beneath her top. "I don't want him anywhere near you."

"Nothing will happen." Sara assured him. "I'm safe in the lab. We just need a little more time."

"Hey Nicky," Catherine greeted the man on his return to the lab. "How goes the teaching?"

"Really well actually," He smiled proudly. "She's got a knack for this. Wendy also found us a match book just outside the house completely untouched by the flames. I figure Mandy might be able to get some prints off it if he wasn't smart enough to glove up."

"Nice work. Grissom will be pleased. He's taking this one a little personally ever since the interrogation room with this guy." She unlocked her office door, remembering the message she was supposed to pass on. "Hey make sure you stop by and see Floyd, he's got something for you."

"Will do." Nick waved her off, continuing his journey towards the print lab to drop off his evidence. He scanned the lab for any sign of his fiancé during the hand off, but it looked as though they had just missed each other again. Nearly twenty three hours since he last kissed him now. He almost felt like a drug addict, desperately craving his next fix with Greg. These long shifts were torture on his soul. The weekend couldn't come soon enough. They were finally off shift at the same time, giving them some much needed quality time together.

"Alright," Mandy got to work. "I'll call you if I find anything."

"If you get a match to Carl Davis, make sure you call Grissom first. Thanks Mandy, I appreciate it." He headed for the lab next door, surprised that it was completely empty. Floyd didn't usually skip out in the middle of a busy shift, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

Standing in the lobby of the lab, Greg waited for the receptionist to finish up her last call, before he stepped forwards with a smile across his lips. "Hi Judy, have you seen Floyd recently? I've swung by the lab a few times but I keep missing him."

"Last I saw, he was heading down to autopsy."

"The morgue? We don't have any bodies today."

"No, I think it's for swing shift. I heard it was a husband wife double homicide." Judy lifted an envelope from her desk. "While you're down there, can you give this to David? A messenger just brought it over from the hospital. Something to do with your burn victim from yesterday." She gave him a smile. "Thanks Greg, you're a star."

"I'm glad someone thinks so."

"Are you brewing a pot of coffee anytime?" She waggled her empty coffee mug. "I've been jonesing a cup for a few hours now."

"I'm all out." He gave her a sheepish smile, backing himself up towards the elevator. "I could really use a cup too. This shift seems like it's never ending and I'm only running on three hours of sleep from the last one."

"I don't know how you do it." She snickered, before she professionally answered another call. "Hello, crime lab."

Greg pushed the button for the morgue as he stepped inside the elevator, preparing his deeply apologetic speech for Floyd. He couldn't even remember half of what he said he was so exhausted. He knew it was bad, but he was convinced he could talk himself out of it if only Floyd would just give him a minute to explain.

Once he reached the morgue floor, he searched around for David, before he dumped the envelope on his desk. He saw no sign of Doctor Robbins or any bodies in autopsy, leading to another dead end. He thought as a CSI he should at least be able to track down one DNA tech in a lab, but it was proving to be a lot harder than he initially thought.

"Oh," Greg clutched his chest, not ready for someone to burst through the door beside him. "Hey, David."

"Hi, Greg." The man wheeled the body on the slab out into the hall. "Do you need something?"

"No… oh, I dropped something off on your desk for you. Arson case related. Have you seen Floyd? DNA tech, spiky hair…"

"Yeah, he's taking a break outside." David mimicked a cigarette in his mouth. "Believe me I have tried to explain to him exactly what he's doing to his lungs every time he sticks one of those cancer sticks in his mouth, but he has the typical response of someone with cognitive dissonance."

"Cognitive… what?" Greg gave him a confused look.

"Cognitive dissonance." After pushing his glasses up his nose, David explained, "It occurs when someone's beliefs contradict with their behaviour. Floyd is a smoker that knows what he's doing is unhealthy and potentially life threatening but he still continues to smoke because his brain has rationalised it as something he can't do without. Next time we get a smoker on the table, I'll bring him down to take a look at the inside of their lungs."

"Do you really think shock therapy is the answer?" Greg didn't want to admit that he used to smoke back in High school. He knew it was unhealthy, but he needed something to make him cool and for a while, he thought the cigarettes gave him an edge.

"Sometimes seeing the outcome of your decisions can help your brain to force a change."

"Yeah, but we don't want him to quit the lab or maybe even report you to HR." He pointed out to him, heading for the exit. "I'm just saying."

"Don't stand too close!" David called after him. "Second hand smoke kills."

When Greg stepped outside into the cool midnight air, he spotted Floyd quickly disposing of the evidence against the brick wall of the building. He tossed it to the ground once it was out, folding his arms across his chest as Greg approached. "Hi." He awkwardly greeted him, wishing the kid would at least make eye contact with him. "So, I owe you an apology. I didn't mean what I said."

"Yes you did."

"I didn't." Greg protested, fanning his hand in front of his face to rid himself of the second hand smoke wafting around the younger man. "I was a jerk. I admit it. I didn't mean to say that and I definitely didn't mean for you to hear it. Not that saying that out loud really makes it any better." He sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I'm really sorry, okay. I should know better. I used to be in your shoes and people thought I was a joke. I still can't get them to take me seriously now."

"Hodges respects you."

"Ha!" Greg squeaked a little too loud. "Seriously are we talking about the same David Hodges here?" He shook his head in denial. "He either said that to mess with you or he was being sarcastic. I don't think there's anyone in this entire city that hates me more than Hodges does."

"What about Wendy and Mandy? Henry called you a role model for the lab techs around here."

Greg gave the younger man a slight smile, wondering how this went from an apology to the wronged party trying to convince him that he was worthy.

"I'm not really an outdoorsy person, but if I had your courage, especially after what you went through, I would love to join the field team."

Grateful to see the smile back on Floyd's lips, Greg admitted, "I'm not exactly outdoorsy either. I just… I couldn't stand only seeing the smallest part of these cases. Lab work is really important, but to me, it was just a tiny slice of this big world that I wanted to be a part of. Honestly, I'm still terrified of being out there on my own, but I know I have a team behind me who will back me up in any situation. I really am sorry about what I said. Next time, feel free to call me a jerk before you run off. I deserve it."

Floyd's smile spread a little wider.

It was short lived though.

A shiny metallic object swung out of the darkness, catching the side of Greg's head. He fell against the wall, before hitting the floor with a thud. Floyd lurched backwards to get away, trapping himself against the wall. He gasped for breath as a man appeared, pointing a gun at Greg on the floor.

"Make any sound and I put a bullet in your boyfriend's head." A sinister grin spread across his lips. "Get in the van pretty boy. No sudden movements or I shoot. Go on. Move it."

"O-kay, okay," Floyd frantically nodded, moving slowly towards the van. He never saw it pull up. He didn't even hear an engine.

As he got closer, he saw the 'Mortuary' sign on the side. He gulped hard as he climbed inside, relieved there wasn't an actual corpse inside, but it did make him worried that he would soon be its new addition. He leapt back against the wall as the man threw Greg's limp body inside. He only had a second to see the blood drips running down the side of his head, before the van door slid closed putting them in complete darkness. He heard the engine starting up, before he lost his footing and fell to his knees.

"Greg," His hands found his way to the other man's shoulders in the darkness. "Greg, wake up. Please wake up."

Happy New Year! Sorry about the dark chapter for the New Year, but I've been writing it all over Christmas and finally got it to where I wanted it. Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know if you did.

~ Holly