CSI: Alone: Back In The Lab
A/N: This is the second, and final part. Please let me know what you think. Comments, suggestions, corrections are all welcomed. Flames are not. Thanks! And I'm really hoping you like it!
Greg stepped out of the Denali in the CSI parking lot, with Nick close behind as he grabbed all the evidence bags he and Warrick had collected earlier.
When he walked into the building he felt like a new man. He dropped the evidence off at the respective labs and everyone stared at him as he walked by. There was a smile on his face and he felt stronger, more in control of himself, all those things Nick had said he was.
He went into the evidence layout room and began sorting through the rest of the evidence they had collected. Nick sat on a chair in the corner, saying nothing as he watched Greg at work.
"Hey, Greg, I found that blood spot you were talking about. Got it in DNA right now," Warrick said, coming in. "So, how did you know it was there?"
Greg smiled, looking over at Nick. "Let's just say I had a little help, a little divine intervention."
"Are you ok?" Warrick asked, concern in his voice as he picked through the personal items of their vic on the table. He looked at Greg out of the corner of his eye.
"Couldn't be better."
"If you say so."
"Hey, Greg, I've got something over here," Nick said, peering at some of the evidence from where he sat, just as Greg dumped a jewelry box on the table and found an interesting diamond ring with an inscription on the inside.
"What have you got?" he asked, forgetting that Warrick couldn't see Nick.
"There's a picture in that garbage can you snagged. Looks like the vic and some guy, probably her husband, cause they're holding each other close. But the picture is torn in half."
"Well, I found a ring, with an inscription on it, looks like the vics name and a man's. Probably the same guy."
"That's great, Greg," Warrick said, eyeing him suspiciously. "But who're you talking to?"
"Oh," Greg looked up and almost laughed. "Sorry. No one. Would you mind checking that garbage can for a picture of the vic and her husband. I think it's torn in half."
Warrick stared at him a moment before putting down a journal he'd been reading to do as Greg asked.
"A little divine intervention. Right. What's going on here? Are you just not picking up evidence, Greg? Making me do all the leg work?"
"Oh, come on, picking a picture out of the garbage was hardly taxing at all."
"Yeah, well it brought me out of a very good journal entry our vic wrote about her husband threatening to kill her."
"Oh, really? That's interesting!"
Warrick's pager went off. "DNA results are in. I'll go get it. Here, busy yourself reading this and tell me what you think when I get back."
"Sure thing."
"It sucks to be the only one who can see me, doesn't it?" Nick asked once Warrick was gone.
"Just a bit. But, baby, that was funny!" Greg grinned at his boyfriend
"We got it. Looks like the husband did it," Warrick said, coming back. "That blood sample you told me about was the husbands and his skin was underneath her nails. With the rest of this evidence we've got here, that journal, picture, and other stuff we found, I think we've got enough to convict him. You ready to get Brass?"
"Hell yeah! Let's go."
They found the husband just pulling his car into his sister's driveway when they arrived. He looked around at all of them wildly, surprise on his face at seeing them. But that wasn't the only thing on his face. Dark red jagged stripes lined both cheeks, the same marks a set of nails would make as they clawed their attacker.
"She died so soon, that he didn't even have time to get his face cleaned up," Nick commented as he, Greg, and Warrick stood back and let Brass's men make the arrest. "I'm proud of you Greggo. You did a great job."
"I had help."
"Na, it was mostly you," Nick said. "I hardly did a thing."
"You talking to yourself again, Sanders?" Warrick asked.
"Yup. Sure am," the ex-lab rat said with a grin.
Warrick only shook his head and went back to the Denali. "You coming, Greg? Everyone'll be on break soon!"
Back at the lab Greg found himself standing in front of his locker, alone in the room except for Nick's hazy form.
"What are you thinking, G?"
"My hair's all wrong."
"What's wrong with it?"
"It needs gel. It needs to be spiked!"
Greg grabbed the old bottle of gel he hadn't touched since becoming a real CSI and dumped a handful of the goop into his hands and ran it through his hair, remembering what it was like to style his hair every morning so meticulously.
"God, I've missed this for so long," he said.
Nick smiled. "I like it that way. It looks good on you, Greggo. You look good."
Greg beamed at his boyfriend and put the gel away. As he took his hand out of his locker it brushed against something else on the top shelf and he stopped. It was black and hard. He knew what it was.
Nick said nothing, only watched to see what his boyfriend would do.
Greg took it down and slowly ran his hands over the standard issue 9MM. Tears sprang to his eyes yet again, remembering how he'd acquired it. It wasn't his. He'd been issued one, but refused to carry it, let alone take it in the first place.
"You found that in my night stand," Nick's voice was a low whisper.
Greg nodded, "I didn't want to get rid of it because I knew you believed in its safety so much. You were always telling me to carry, and I wouldn't. When I found it, I guess I saved it...you know...just in case..."
"Greggory Hojem Sanders," Nick caught his attention with his full name, as Greg looked up at him. "Open your eyes. That's all you've got to do, Baby. You're a CSI. You're smart. You're strong. You know what to do," he paused for a moment. "And I would be honored, if you'd carry it for me now."
"Are you sure?" Greg looked from Nick's shining eyes to the weapon in his hands and back to Nick again as the older CSI nodded.
He thought about it for a second as a seriousness came over him. "Then I would be happy to carry it for you, Nicky."
Greg felt different as he walked through the halls of the CSI lab. He was walking straighter, and he felt happier, better. A smile came over his face as Nick walked beside him. His only wish now, was that he could hold Nick's hand as they walked. But having his boyfriend there with him, was still good enough.
Archie, Mandy, Hodges, and other lab techs looked out their windowed walls to see him walking past and stared in awe. It was different than earlier that night when he'd first came in with the evidence. This time it was obvious that Greg was a new person wholly and entirely. As he passed they poked their heads out of their labs and exchanged glances with each other.
"My Baby has turned into eye candy," Nick smiled. "Well, at least to them. You always were to me."
Greg beamed.
Turning into the break room he found the rest of the CSIs on their break sitting around the large table with their food.
"Yeah, but Greg..." Sara stopped mid-sentence when Grissom's eyes told her to shut up. She turned around to see Greg in the doorway.
"So you were all talking about me, eh? I hope it was good juicy gossip!" he joked, trying to lighten the mood a little before bringing in the bomb shell he was about to drop on them. "I'm not going out with Hodges again, am I? Cause that was not fun when someone said that last year."
"You spiked your hair, man!" Warrick said, surprised.
"Yeah! You like it?"
"Greg, you're carrying!" Sara exclaimed in surprise.
Their supervisor looked over at Greg to confirm what she'd said as everyone stopped to stare.
"When did this happen?" Grissom asked. "You didn't accept the gun you were issued and I don't remember giving you another one."
Greg closed the door behind him and bravely stood before them as Nick walked around to the other side of the table to face Greg, giving him a supportive smile.
"It's not mine," he began. "Well, it wasn't," he corrected when he saw his boss's questioning look. "Until now," he paused, trying to find the right words to explain everything.
"What do you mean?" Catherine asked.
"It was Nick's."
"But I thought..."
"He didn't take it to work that night."
"Then, why didn't his parents say something or bring it in when they cleaned out his apartment?" Sara asked.
"Because they didn't clean out his apartment."
Questioning looks came from all around. Nick just nodded his approval for Greg to continue.
Greg looked down at the handmade embroidery floss bracelet he'd been wearing for over a year and fingered it for a second before holding it up for everyone to see.
Nick already had tears in his eyes as Greg began to speak again, "No one ever noticed when I got this a little over a year ago. No one ever noticed that I never took it off. To this day, I still don't, and I never intend to. This is my world, right here." Greg gulped and looked up at Nick across the table.
"You're doing fine, Baby," Nick whispered.
With renewed strength Greg continued on, "The man who made this for me meant the world to me. I loved him with everything I had. And I believe, no, I know, he loved me the same. We made and exchanged bracelets to be together forever, the way straight people exchange rings and vows at a wedding. But ours meant so much more. The colors don't represent gay pride, like most people would think. Instead, they represent our love, our life, the good and the bad, every part of it. The fact that we will always be there for each other, no matter what."
Now, Greg's eyes had latched onto Nick's for full support as he continued.
"The reason I carry Nick's gun with me now, the reason I left after his death, is because Nick was that man in my life."
Shock radiated throughout the room. No one said a word for several minutes as the truth sank in.
"I think we should all quit. Right now," Catherine said. "We make great CSIs if we didn't even know you two were together."
Greg soldiered on, smiling slightly at Catherine's joke, knowing there was more he needed to tell them, "We were together for three years, living together for two of them. Nick didn't want to tell you, not because he was afraid of how you'd react, but because he didn't want our schedules to be changed here, for us to be split up. He wanted to always be there for me throughout this grueling job, to be able to support me whenever I needed him, the same as I wanted to do for him."
Sara looked from Greg to Grissom her mouth wide open. She looked back to Greg again and then back to Grissom.
"Gil! You can't just let that go! It's against department policy! They should have been split up!"
Grissom shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry Sara, but I can't reprimand a man that's not here."
Sara huffed and turned back to Greg. "I'm sorry," she said to him. "It's not that I'm not happy about you two being together. It's just that you know it's against department policy and all."
"I know," Greg said with a smile.
He wanted so bad to be able to tell Grissom that yes, Nick was there, standing at the end of the table, but he knew no one would believe him. And besides, he also wanted to keep that a secret between Nick and himself. Why share something when you didn't have to? It wasn't like they could see him anyway.
Catherine stood up and wrapped her arms around Greg in a warm hug.
"I'm glad you told us everything," she said. "I can't imagine what you've been going through keeping that a secret from all of us. I'm glad you've decided to start carrying and, Greg," she pulled away from him to look into his eyes. "I love your hair, even if the gel hasn't dried yet."
Everyone laughed and got up to hug Greg too.
"Can I suggest that when this shift is over we all go out for breakfast together?" Warrick asked.
"Only if we can visit Nick first," Catherine said, squeezing Greg's hand.
"Yeah, yeah, I'd like that," Greg said, his eyes on Nick still on the other side of the room.
Nick blew him a kiss. "You're in good hands, baby. I'll be waiting for you on the other side." Nick stopped and looked at him as if memorizing his every detail. "I love you, Greg," he finally whispered.
"I love you too, Nicky," Greg whispered back as he watched his boyfriend's hazy form fade into nothing. "I love you too..."
A/N: I'm sorry for the sad ending, but I love it sooo much. It nearly made me cry just writing it and thinking about it. There were so many ways I could have written this last scene, it was the hardest to write. So, I hope you like it, and please post reviews, I would really like to know what you think. Thanks!