Nick threw open the door and saw the large, half naked man thrust a knife into a body he leaned over. "Stop or I'll shoot!" Nick yelled out. When he saw the man about to take another stab at the body below him, Nick and Jack both fired upon him. His hand fell open and the knife dropped to the brown carpet, blood covering it. The man slowly turned around before falling over, crashing on to the floor next to the bed.

That was when Nick saw the body and all the blood, his worst fears coming true as he ran over to the naked man covered in blood. "Greg, oh Jesus, no!" He quickly went to feel for his pulse at his neck when he saw that he was breathing.

He pulled the gag ball out of his mouth. He looked his body over and just saw blood streaked all over it with one major stab wound in his stomach area. "We need an ambulance now, Jack, Now!" He yelled out.

His partner was checking to see if Frankie Delano had a pulse. He was dead. He looked up and saw the blood all over Greg's body. He called for help as he ran to the bathroom and grabbed a couple of towels. He came back and held them against the major stab wound in Greg's chest. He looked around the room. It was hard to believe anyone ever actually rented these rooms out. It was disgusting. He noticed the table and saw some powder on it. "Looks like there are some drugs, probably Coke, over on the table there."

Nick looked over briefly to where Jack was talking. He looked at Greg's arms to see if there were new bruises or needle marks. He didn't see any but it didn't mean there weren't any drugs in his system.

Nick took out his knife and cut the rope that bound Greg's hands to the headboard. His wrists were raw from the rope he had to have been struggling against.

Jack cut the ropes that were around his ankles. He got a better look at his partner's boyfriend and realized with horror what the blood was actually from. "Nick, I know why he is so cut up," he said cryptically. Nick looked up at him standing at the foot of the bed. "Yeah because Frankie is a sick sadist."

Jack took a deep breath before telling him what he saw. "Nick, he cut words into Greg's chest." Nick's eyes opened wider and looked more closely at his boyfriend's cut up body. He stood up slightly to get a better look. He felt weak suddenly seeing what was written in Greg's own skin and blood on his chest.

"Oh God! Oh my God!" He suddenly felt nauseated and had to run to the bathroom to throw up. All he could picture was what he saw cut into Greg, Cop's Whore. It was aimed at him but taken out on Greg. Greg…the pain he had to suffer from that and the horror if he knew what was being done to him. At this time he was not sure if Greg was conscious during it or not but knowing Frankie was a sadist, he assumed Greg was conscious for it.

He looked up in the mirror and again thought of what was basically carved into Greg's body. He closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths to gather his wits. Greg was still alive, he had him still. He had to go out there and be there for him just in case he did wake up. He had to let him know he was going to be okay but he knew that would not be true. He knew that even if he did recover from the wounds, the damage was done if he was awake during all of that. Hell, he somehow prayed that he was in a drugged out haze and didn't know what was going on.

He went back into the room and saw Jack watching him as he was holding pressure against the larger bleeding wound on Greg. "I told them the extent of the injuries when you were away. The ambulance should be here any minute," Jack told him.

Nick nodded and went back to Greg. He noticed that Jack had also pulled up a blanket to cover the bottom half of his body to give him a little dignity. Nick refused to cry but it was getting harder at seeing Greg in the condition he was in. He now noticed his face was bruised and upper lip cut. He didn't even have a chance to see the welts on his back yet.

He looked at the bedding and noticed it was red from all his blood. "He's lost a lot of blood." His voice came out shaky. Jack looked at Nick now and could see he was barely holding on to his emotions. He couldn't blame him. He had grown to accept Greg but still had his doubts about him but he had tried to change his life around. He knew this was horrendous what was done to him.

"I can hear the sirens now. They'll be here any moment," Jack said as he heard them in the distance. Nick just nodded his head and gazed down at Greg's face. He really prayed that he was not awake for what was done to him.

The paramedics came in with a few additional officers. Nick and Jack's Captain came in and Jack went over to him right away while Nick talked to the paramedics about Greg's medical history as they worked on stopping his bleeding.

"Jack, is it as bad as it looks?" His Captain asked, seeing the blood all around. Jack shook his head. "No, it's worse." Jack filled in their Captain on the details. The Captain looked at Nick as he followed the paramedics out with Greg on the stretcher. He knew Nick since he was a CSI. He also knew Greg when he was a CSI. He couldn't believe the bad luck that seemed to follow those two. He did wonder if either one would get through this without no ill effects. He didn't think so.

Nick was going to ride in the ambulance with them to the hospital. He didn't want to leave Greg's side if he could help it. He heard the paramedics calling ahead to the hospital to advise them of the need for B negative blood, which Nick had told them was Greg's blood type. He looked down at Greg's pale face, which now was partially covered with an oxygen mask. They said the stab wound looked to be close to his lungs but seeing as his breathing was fairly unlabored, Frankie must have missed it. Still he had lost a lot of blood and they weren't sure if the knife had hit any other organs.

As he looked down on Greg, whose chest was mostly covered in gauze now, he thought about what he saw and what it said. Frankie obviously knew about their relationship and perhaps that was part of his anger. He almost wished they had not shot Frankie dead. He would have loved to torture him like he tortured Greg. He hoped so much that Greg was not conscious for most of the cutting into his skin because he didn't want to think about what effect that would have on him.

When they arrived at the ER, the medical team took him in immediately. Nick had to sit outside and wait. He realized Greg was probably already an emotion wreck when Frankie took him. He had to have been wondering if Nick would take him back and if he was going cold turkey off heroin, it would have made him a mess. Then this guy grabs him. He wondered if Greg knew that he was the serial killer. If he knew, he would have assumed he was going to be killed. "Oh jeez," Nick moaned aloud as he buried his hands in his face. He just prayed Greg lived and he would do whatever necessary to help him heal. He just didn't know what kind of real damage was done to his already fragile emotions.

Nick didn't know how long he had been sitting there waiting, the worst thoughts going through his head when he heard his name called. He looked up and saw it was Jack. Jack sat down next to him. "Hey buddy, have you heard any news on his condition?"

Nick shook his head. "No, the paramedics actually warned me it might be a while due to all the cuts. The doctors might do stitches or if they are worse, they would possibly have to do skin grafts."

"I would think skin grafts might be better to cover the cuts permanently and not leave that scarred onto him," Jack said to him. Nick had not even really thought of that, that the words could become scars on his body, something he would always see. Nick rubbed his hands over his face. "This is worse than any nightmare."

Jack placed his hand on Nick's shoulder for some kind of comfort. He didn't know what to say because he felt the same way. He knew if Greg had problems before, they would be multiplied ten times worse now.

A couple hours passed by before a doctor in scrubs came out looking for Nick. Nick stood up when he called his name. The doctor looked weary. "Mr. Stokes, I'm Dr. Williams. Mr. Sanders will be moved to a room in ICU soon. He lost a lot of blood and it took a long time to close up the lacerations to his chest. Some were deeper than others and required a little more work. I am sure in the future he might be interested in getting some skin grafts for some of those other ones. Luckily the major wound didn't hit a major organ, but it was deep. It took some time to stop the bleeding. We also saw some lesser lacerations on his back, but none of those required stitches."

"Was there anything else you noticed, I mean obvious signs of sexual assault," Nick asked even though he knew there had to have been seeing Frankie and Greg's history.

"Yes, there were indications of rough sex and a swollen throat. His toxicology results will be in soon to see what drugs might have been in his system still since you advised he was using heroin. I need to check in on other patients now. I have notified his Psychiatrist, Dr. Keyes about what happened. He will be coming by. He anticipates he will be needed once Greg wakes up."

"Thank you, Dr. Williams. I believe he will need Dr. Keyes too." The doctor advised Nick that a nurse would be by to notify him of what room Greg is in once he was able to have visitors. Nick sat back down, feeling a little better knowing Greg was going to live. Jack had to leave an hour earlier to file the report at the police station on their behalf. Nick knew he would have to give his statement too since there was an officer involved shooting but his Captain said it was not an urgent matter.

Jack had told him that when the CSI's searched Franklin Delano's SUV, they found blood in the back. They were sending samples to the lab to see if it was Greg's or one of the other victims. The knife was also being compared to the wounds made in the others. Nothing solidly connected the crimes yet, but they were pretty sure once the tests came back it would be confirmed that he killed the other two male prostitutes.

It was about 45 minutes later when a nurse saved Nick from going crazy and told him he could go see Greg now. He went to the room on the 4th floor and walked in. He looked better than he had back in the motel room. He had a little color in his face again, probably due to the blood transfusions. He was under the sheets and blanket and looked peaceful. Nick prayed he was at peace for a little while. He knew once he woke up that things might be very different. Actually he had no idea what to expect when Greg woke up. Would he even remember what happened to him? He kind of prayed he wouldn't but he knew there were no head injuries to cause memory loss.

He took the chair by the bed and pulled it up closer. He looked at his hand and saw that they had wrapped a bandage around his wrist that had bad rope burns on it from his struggles. Just seeing that made him realize he had to be fooling himself if he thought that Greg wasn't conscious during most of the hell he went through. Even his ankles had been chaffed from the ropes he remembered seeing. He looked at Greg's face and saw the bruised cheek and cut lip. The worst of the damage was hidden under sheets, hospital gown and bandages. He could see it again in his mind, the words 'Cop's Whore' cut into Greg's chest surrounded by blood.

He'd been holding it in but could not hold it in anymore. He cupped his hand over his mouth and started crying. Suddenly it just all came out and he couldn't stop. He was grateful Greg was still out of it. He didn't want him to see him such a wreck over him. He knew that Greg would read it wrong, somehow.

It was a few minutes before he gathered himself together again. Just in case Greg woke up soon, he didn't want him to see he had been crying. He sat back in the chair and closed his eyes. The exhaustion from the last two days was finally taking its toll on him. He ended up falling asleep even though he didn't intend to.

x

Consciousness began to come to Greg. He slowly opened his eyes. He had no real thoughts in his mind except waking up. He looked straight ahead and saw a wall with a small TV up on it. He heard some beeping. He tried to move and that was his first sign that something was wrong. His whole body felt sore. He looked to his side and saw the sleeping man. Nick was there. His mind was foggy. He lifted his hand and saw a bandage around his wrist. Something started to flicker a panic in the back of his mind. He looked down at himself in the bed. He was all covered up but he could feel a dull pain all over his chest with each breath he took. With a rush all the memories came back to him. "Once a whore, always a whore," the chant repeating in his head. He looked over at Nick, his cop; Cop's Whore. He looked around wildly. Was Frankie around to do more cutting? He was finding it hard to breathe and put his right hand to his chest as it felt like it was on fire.

Nick heard some noise and woke up. His eyes opened wide when he realized Greg was awake and seemed to be freaking out. He leaned closer to him. "Greg, you're safe. Frankie's dead. He can't hurt you anymore," he tried telling his panicked boyfriend. It was not working though. Greg only seemed to get more worked up as Nick moved to touch him. Greg tried to move away from him.

A nurse came running in. "Mr. Sanders, what's going on?" She came over to him and asked Nick to back away a moment. She looked at the patient. "You are having a panic attack Mr. Sanders. I need you to try to calm down. You are safe here in the hospital. Nothing can happen to you here." Greg didn't really hear her though. All that kept playing in his mind is the gleeful voice of Frankie and his chant as though he was right there again cutting him.

Nick looked on, feeling completely helpless once again. First was in that dingy motel room and now in the sterile hospital room. He couldn't do anything to help Greg. If anything he seemed to make him worse when he got close to him.

A man in a doctor's coat walked in the room. Nick recognized him immediately and hoped he could help Greg. He went over to the nurse and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad I got here when I did," he said at first. He looked down at his patient who was looking back at him. "Greg, I think you know who I am. You need to try to calm down. We are here to help you. No one wants to hurt you here."

Greg stared up at the doctor. He did know his face and he knew he helped him before. Tears started to come to his eyes as he tried to calm down. Dr. Keyes could see he was starting to breathe more normally. He asked the nurse to leave them. He knew Nick was standing off in the corner of the room still and motioned for him to stay there while he tried to talk to Greg.

Greg was quietly sobbing, avoiding eye contact with either man in the room. Dr. Keyes took another moment before talking to him. "Greg, do you know what got you so upset?"

Greg was mumbling something as he looked off at nothing in particular. "What's he saying?" Nick asked Dr. Keyes. Dr. Keyes told him to be quiet as he leaned down closer to hear what Greg was saying. After listening for a few seconds and realizing Greg was in his own little world now, he stepped aside with Nick.

"What did he say?" Nick asked worriedly when he saw the grim look on Dr. Keyes face. The doctor sighed heavily. He had been filled in on all of what had happened and what was done to Greg.

"He keeps repeating the same phrase over and over again, 'Once a Whore, always a whore.' I'm going to step out and get some medication for him. I'm going to try to help him, Nick. I promise," he said when he saw Nick's face turn dreadful.

"No, no he's not. You're not Greg. You're not!" he said louder. Dr. Keyes stopped Nick from going closer to Greg. "Look, he's in his own world right now. I can see it in his eyes. I'm going to get him a sedative to sleep some and then try some new stronger anti-depressants for him. Just because he is like this now doesn't mean he will be this way later on. He just woke up after the traumatic events he went through. It's going to take some time. Just don't force anything from him. It might drive him to shut down more."

Nick looked lost. "Are you saying I shouldn't go near him?" Dr. Keyes shook his head. "No, just be there for him. Just let him know you are there, no questions." Nick nodded that he understood. Dr. Keyes could see Nick was a wreck too. "I'll help both of your through this."

"Thanks," Nick said to him before he left him alone in the room with Greg. He walked over and slowly sat down in the chair. Greg eyes were fixed on something he was not sure of. As he looked closer, he felt a chill at how empty those usually so expressive eyes were. He also heard the almost whisper of the chant that broke his heart.

"I'm here Greg. I'm not leaving you. You're not a whore, you're not a whore," he told him as tears fell from his own eyes.