Nick slowly opened his eyes, immediatly focusing on Greg, who was still asleep in his arms. He smiled slighty and tried to turn his head to his left to look at the clock, but was stopped by something digging into his cheek. He frowned and moved his head to the right, only to be followed by whatever it was.
Nick's sleepy mind quickly swung into full gear. He finally realized something cold and hard was pressing against his face. Something that felt an awful lot like the barrel of a gun.
"Listen carefully." Nick didn't recognize the voice of whoever was holding the gun to his head. "I'm gonna have to ask you to take your hands off of him."
Nick looked down at the still sleeping Greg. He had always wanted to test his theory that Greg could sleep through a tornado. He reluctantly raised his arms above his head and away from Greg. It was then that Greg began to stir.
"Nicky...come back..." Greg's voice was quiet and slurred with sleep.
"Wake up Greg." The man Nick still couldn't see said.
Greg instantly sat upright, eyes wide. "Matt...w-what are you doing?"
"I told you there were consequences of Nick getting in the way of us. I just gotta do what I gotta do. Get up Nick."
Nick slowly stood. His legs felt like jell-o, but his breathing was surprisingly steady, as was his voice. "Do I know you?"
Matt was now holding the gun a few inches in front of Nick's face. He smiled. "No, but I know you." He reached out and grabbed Nick's arm and threw him towards the door. He wasn't as muscular as Nick, but was still pretty strong. He held the gun against the back of Nick's neck and forced him into the living room. Greg stumbled after them.
"Leave him alone Matt!" Greg pleaded.
Matt ignored Greg and spun Nick around. "You took someone away from me that I loved." He reached into his jacket pokcet and pulled out a pocket knife and flipped it open. "You took him from me, so I'm gonna take him from you."
He turned and took a few steps towards Greg, but Nick was faster. He lunged at Matt and collided with him, knocking them both to the floor. After a few brief seconds of a useless struggle, Nick cried out in pain and grabbed his left side. Greg felt like he had been punched in the stomach when he saw blood seeping through Nick's fingers.
Matt got to his feet and threw the bloody knife to the floor. He raised the gun and pointed it straight at Nick's heart and was about to fire when Greg got in the way.
"Move." Matt commanded.
"No." Greg said, shaking his head as he kneeled down next to Nick. He looked down at Nick, unable to hold back his tears.
"Move." Matt said again.
"Greg, please get out of the way." Nick said breathlessly. His stab wound was just below his rib cage and was bleeding profously.
Greg shook his head again. "No. I'm not leaving you."
Nick's eyes were pleading with Greg. "I don't want you to get hurt...please move Greg..." Nick winced at the pain talking was causing. He tried to push Greg away, but he wouldn't budge.
"You always had to make everything so difficult..." Matt snarled as he walked up to Greg silently. Nick opened his mouth to warn Greg, but Marrslammed the handle of the gun into the back of his head and knocked him out before he couldn't force the air from his lungs. "Is he really worth all of this to you?" Matt asked before knocking Nick out with a clip of the gun just above his right eye.
Warrick was panicking, but only slightly.
"Why the hell isn't he answering his phone?" Okay, he was panicking a little more than slightly.
Catherine was doing her best to calm him down. "They're probably sleeping Warrick. I'm sure everything's-"
"Nick and Greg are gone." Grissom interrupted as he walked into the break room.
"What?!" Catherine and Warrick exclaimed.
Grissom took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "The officer that was watching the house...fell asleep...and when he woke up, a car was speeding down the street, so he checked the house...and they weren't there. There was blood on the floor...but not enough to indicate that anyone died."
Warrick shook his head slowly. "You have got to be kidding me." He said soflty.
"We have an APB out on the car right now...but it was dark, so he couldn't-"
"See the car or anything very well." Catherine finished. Grissom nodded.
"We gotta find them..." Warrick said to himself more than anyone else.
Grissom responded nontheless. "We will."
Nick was shivering even before he woke up. Despite the throbbing pain in his left side and above his eyebrow, he slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times to clear his vision. It didn't do much. It was dark, except for when he exhaled and could see his breath. He was lying down on something cold and wet.
He used all his strength to sit up, and that's when he realized where he was. He was in a small metal boat, in the middle of Lake Mead. Frowning, he turned around and looked behind him, regretting it immediatly.
Matt was sitting on the bench at the back, staring at him. He smiled evilly. "Hey Nick."
Nick ignored the greeting. "Where's Greg?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
Matt's smile widened. "You don't need to worry about him anymore."
Nick had had enough. Something inside him snapped. He twisted his body so he was facing Matt and lunged, catching him off guard. They struggled for a bit before Nick gained the advantage and pinned Matt down against the bottom of the boat
"Where is he?" Nick demanded. When Matt didn't respond, Nick shook him and asked again. "What the fuck did you do to him?"
"You mean after I beat him up a little before we fucked?"
Nick didn't think he deserved the right to live anymore. He slammed his head against the metal bottom as hard as he could, instantly knocking him out. He was about to do it several more times when he remembered he needed to find Greg.
Nick looked francitally around for any sign of Greg. His heart stopped as he let his eyes fall to the black water, and the feeling in his gut told him everything he need to know. Without hesitation, he got to his feet and dove into the icy cold water.