Chapter Twelve: Fathers and Sons

"Dad?" Greg rubbed his eyes open, catching his father trying to tiptoe out of the room. He struggled to a sitting position, realising his father had tucked a blanket around him on the sofa.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Daniel whispered, taking a seat beside his sleepy son on the sofa. "Your mother told me you were in here. She said you seemed quite upset." He carefully put his arm around his son's shoulders, pulling him closer against his side. "Anything you can tell me about?"

"Not really." Greg shook his head, closing his eyes against his father's chest. "I'm not sure that I should either." He was referring to what happened to Nick's son. There was no way he was telling either of his parents about the panic attacks, they wouldn't let him out of their sight if he did.

"You can tell me anything." Daniel clutched his son a little tighter, pressing his lips to his forehead. "You used to tell me everything."

"My problems didn't used to be so serious." His son whispered, breathing in his father's familiar comforting scent. "This one isn't even mine to carry."

"You can tell me, I'm not gonna tell anyone." Daniel assured him. "It must have been pretty serious to make you run home. Did Nick hurt..."

"No." He quickly cut his father off, knowing what he was going to say. "He'd never hurt me. I just spoke to him at the hospital . . . he found his son, Bradley." Greg started; glad that his father was clutching him tightly, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get his words out. "Bradley tried to kill himself. Nick found him... he told me he could feel his life slipping away from him." He sniffled against his father, feeling like a child in his arms again. "I wonna be there for Nick, but I'm not strong enough."

"Yes you are."

Greg shook his head, wiping his hands across his eyes. "Bradley's in the hospital. They found signs of physical... and sexual abuse. Nick's in pieces. They won't even let him see his own son. They think he coulda done it. They don't know him like I do. He'd die for his kids. He cares more about them, then I've ever cared about anything in my life."

"He's a father." Daniel whispered, resting his head against his son's, feeling their hearts beating together as he pulled him closer. "I'd do anything for you and your sister too. You don't always have to be strong for him, sweetheart."

"But I should. He needs me."

"You can be there for him when he gets back." His father gently smoothed his hand up and down his back, feeling his son's chest hitching against him.

He remembered the feeling from when Greg was a child, falling off his bike and grazing both his knees. He hurried towards the crying little boy, sweeping him up into his arms to comfort him through his pain.

Daniel remembered hoping that all of his son's pain could be that easy to comfort him through. Unfortunately, he found out that there were worse things than a few grazes out there to hurt his son, a lot worse.

"I'm gonna kill you!" The angry Texan yelled, fighting against the tight grip the police had on him. "Get off me! I'm gonna kill you!" As soon as he got one arm free, ready to lunge for Gary again, the bigger officer quickly grabbed him, pulling him down to the ground.

"Hold him!"

While they had him on the ground, they quickly cuffed his hands behind his back, wanting to get him in the car.

During the commotion, the police left their original suspect unguarded, allowing him to go back into the house. He started clearing up the mess Nick had made in his study, while the man was trying to choke the life out of him, for what he had done to his son.

"Where are you takin' him? Stop! He didn't do anythin' wrong!" Samantha tried to stop the officers, watching them loading Nick into the back of their car. "He's a CSI, you can't do this!"

Jumping at the sound of a loud bang, Samantha turned her head to look back at the house.

"Stay there." The larger officer ordered her, hurrying inside the house with his partner. She watched them drawing their weapons at the doorway, suddenly remembering that Gary's gun was on the floor, when the officers burst in to drag Nick out.

Samantha thought that she would feel relieved once it was all over, but as the officers stepped out of the house, she felt her heart starting to ache inside of her chest. She could tell just by the look on their faces that he had killed himself, leaving her son with nothing.

Holding his head in his hands as his leg anxiously twitched beneath him, Grissom felt as though his heart was about to stop. He had been listening to doctors and nurses delivering bad news to the other people waiting for the past few hours, making him even more fearful to find out about Sara.

Susan and Jason across the hall had just received news that their baby had a clot on her brain. Another couple just down the hall, were waiting to hear if their four week early baby boy was going to survive the night, while the young woman in the room beside them, was trying to make that difficult phone call to her husband, telling him their baby was still born.

After what seemed like hours, the surgery doors finally opened. Grissom quickly climbed to his feet, hurrying towards Sara's doctor. "What's wrong, what happened?" He demanded to know.

"A... minor complication." She explained, ushering him over to some chairs, sensing he needed to sit down to hear the news. "As you know, your wife had a bleed, so we had to open her up to see what the problem was. When we opened her up, we found..."

"What, what was it?" He panicked, not even bothering to correct her on the 'wife' part.

"Another baby." She spoke softly. "No one knew that she was pregnant with triplets. The scans we took were only of the two baby boys, but the third baby's placenta ruptured, causing the bleed. Unlike her brothers, your baby girl was in breech, so she couldn't get out the same way."

"Third... baby?" Grissom looked at her wide eyed.

"Yes, a baby girl." She smiled at him. "She's been taken through to intensive care. Her lungs aren't quite as strong as her brothers, but she's a little fighter. We're afraid that she might have an infection. But she's held on this long. She's very tiny; no one even knew she was growing in there."

"But she's okay?"

"Yes, she's doing fine. I'll take you through to see her in a minute. Would you like to see your boys, while you wait for your wife to wake up?"

"Three babies?" He asked again, trying to get it through his head. "Does Sara know?"

"No. You can give her the good news when she wakes up." The doctor gave him a smile, before she climbed to her feet, taking him through to see his twin boys.

"You're gonna need to calm down, Mr Stokes." The larger officer warned him, uncuffing the man outside of the open cell door.

"I need to see my son." He continued to protest, rubbing his sore wrists. "Did you call Captain Brass from the LVPD like I said?"

"Yes, into the cell please, sir." He ushered him inside.

"What did he say?" Nick demanded to know. "I need to get to the hospital to be with my son."

"You shoulda thought about your son, before you tried to choke the life out of another man." He gave Nick a shove backwards, before he pushed the cell door shut, locking the man inside.

Nick angrily slammed his fists against the door, before he turned to look at the small room he was trapped in. He was relieved to see that he had the room to himself. It was a little bigger than the coffin he had been trapped in, but not by much, making him feel more than a little uncomfortable.

"Fingerprints match." He heard the larger officer reporting to his supervisor. "His name's Nicholas Stokes, he's an LVPD criminalist. You want me to make the call?"

"Stokes?" His supervisor stepped around the table, taking a look at the man's ID on his computer. "Nicky Stokes, all grown up. Hold that call, I know his father. Keep him in the cell for now." He warned him, grabbing his car keys off his desk.

The officer nodded, taking his seat at his desk. He looked through the bag of the man's personal affects, finding pictures of two kids inside of his wallet, reminding him of his own children that he hadn't seen in months.

"Miss, I told you..."

"I want to see, Nick." Samantha pushed past the younger office, towards the arresting officer sat at the desk. "You don't understand. I called you, but not to arrest Nick. He didn't do anythin' wrong."

"Ma'am, when we arrived on the scene, he was chokin' the life out of your husband." He reminded her, dropping Nick's things onto his desk. "Your husband may not be here to file the assault charges himself, but that man assaulted your husband."

"He had good reason to!" She defended him. "Gary hurt my son."

"Your personal problems are none of my business, Ma'am. Your friend Nick has been arrested for assaultin' another man, and until my supervisor says so, I will not let him go. Now unless you wonna join him in the cell, I suggest you get back to the hospital to be with your boy."

"This is ridiculous. Gary attacks my son. Nick defends him. Nick gets arrested, possibly charged, and Gary gets off free. Where's the justice in that?"

"Your husband is dead." He reminded her, ushering her towards the door. "You can't get better justice than that. If you have any more questions or complaints, call this number." He handed her a calling card with Supervisor's number on it, before he opened the door for her, ushering her out.

"Oh I will." She warned him. "But I won't be callin' your supervisor; I'll be callin' my lawyer."

"If you must."

He closed the door behind her, before he returned to his desk, hearing the woman shouting, "PIG!" from the hallway.

"He always sucks his thumb in his sleep when he's unhappy." Jean whispered to her husband beside her, handing him the extra coffee from her hands. "Those therapists say it's a sign of comfort. Regressing to younger behaviour patterns in their time of need. What's wrong with him?" She turned to look at her partner. "And don't say nothing. I haven't seen him sucking his thumb in years."

"He... made me promise not tell." Daniel pulled the door shut, giving his wife a small smile. "He's alright though. We talked it through."

"Men don't talk about things." She giggled, leading the way back to the kitchen. "Not the way we women do. Sure men bring up the subject, but they don't talk them through. They say as little as possible, then suggest grabbing a beer or something."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" He laughed, leaning against the counter. "We talked, Jean. We men do talk, despite what you might think. Greg and I talk all the time. Why do you think he came here?"

"For his mother."

Daniel laughed at the statement, "Don't get me wrong, sweetheart. You are an amazing mother to our kids. But Greg doesn't always need his smothering, overly protective mother, especially now that he's grown up. He needs his father. There's some things that a son just can't tell his mother."

"I knew having a boy would be a bad idea." She sighed, leaning against the other side of the counter from him.

"Whys that?"

"Girls are easier, especially for mothers. We relate better, because we go through the same thing. But mothers and sons, we don't have anything in common. Greg has never wanted to do anything with me. He wanted you to teach him how to ride a bike. He wanted you to hold him his first time on the swing. He was a part of me, and he always wanted you."

"He's a part of me too." Daniel pointed out to her. "It's not a competition, sweetheart. He just relates to me better, like most fathers and sons do. You don't think that I wish I could relate to Mackenzie better? She was my little angel until she became a teenager, then she wanted nothing to do with me. One minute she was my little girl, the next she's a grown woman with two children of her own."

"That's exactly how I feel about, Greg... only he's dating men, with children and more problems than a shrink can count. He's only talking to you about his problems, and he's not my little boy anymore."

Daniel smiled at her, resting his chin in his hands. "A right pair we make, huh? Too afraid to let our grown children explore the world. We always knew we'd have to let them go one day."

"My mother never let me go." She pointed out the woman's house, stood at the bottom of their own garden. "Why do I have to let my children go?"

"Because your mother didn't have anywhere else to go, and they're elderly, so we can't exactly kick them out." Daniel smirked. "Gregory and Mackenzie have their own lives. We're supposed to be happy and supportive of them."

"I am." Jean smiled back at him, taking her husband's hands into her own. "I just can't bear to see them hurting."

"Me either."

Glancing up as he heard footsteps coming down the hall, Nick quickly climbed to his feet, seeing his father appearing the other side of the cell door. "Nicholas."

The Judge already sounded disappointed, as he stopped in front of his son's cell. Nick hadn't seen his father since he came out to him a few months ago, so he didn't expect their second meeting to be a very happy one.

"You didn't think that findin' out my son was a fag is punishment enough, you decided to come back and try to kill somebody. Not just some random guy either, the man who married your college girlfriend. Do you know how embarrassin' it is to have someone I've known for years, tellin' me that my son's been arrested?"

"It can't be that embarrassin'. You've bailed Chuck out more times than I can count."

"There's a difference, Nicholas." He snapped at him. "Your brother was just a kid; you're thirty five years old. A father, a crime scene investigator... and I thought you knew better. I'd expect somethin' like this from your brother, but not from you."

"Do you even care what happened?"

"They told me that they found you chokin' the life out of someone. A man who is now dead..."

"I didn't kill him. The son of a bitch killed himself!"

"Thankfully." His father placed his hands against the bars of his son's cell, looking him in the eye. "This is the last time I come to your rescue, Nicholas. Considerin' the circumstances, I can get you off pretty easy. You're lucky that your boss doesn't want to suspend you because of this. Yes, I spoke to Mr Grissom, he seemed a little preoccupied, but he didn't seem to care what you just did."

Nick rolled his eyes, taking a step closer to the cell door. "Do you even care what Gary did to my son? If the circumstances were different, and it was your son in Bradley's position, what would you do?"

"I certainly wouldn't go around threatenin' to kill people." The Judge pointed out to him. "Although, you should have been expectin' this, from the way you choose to live your life."

"This didn't happen to Bradley because of me!"

"Really, is that what you believe? Because it looks to me, like he's his father's son after all." His father snidely remarked. Nick angrily slammed his hands against the cell bars, alerting the officers down the hall. "It's okay." The Judge signalled to them. "You really need to get that temper of yours under control, Nicholas. Once they release you, I want you to go back home, and don't ever come back. You hear me?"

"As if I would."

"Good, then I won't have to tell your poor mother about this. She was heartbroken the last time you came over..."

"Whatever. I don't even care what you think of me anymore. I'm sick and tired of tryin' to get your approval. Honestly, I'd rather be an orphan than your son. I'd do anythin' for my kids. I'd lay down my life to keep them safe, it's a shame the same can't be said of you."

The Judge paused a moment to look at him, before he gave him a nod and turned for the door. He spoke to the officers outside; telling them to make sure Nick was out of there, within the next twenty four hours, before he left to get back to his golf game.

"I wish I was there." Greg spoke softly into the phone, hearing the commotion of the police station in the background. "Do you need me there? Because I'd fly over in a heartbeat to be with you."

"No, I'm okay." Nick shook his head, leaning against the wall beside the phone. "They're processin' me out now. They're not chargin' me with anythin'." He wiped his eyes, trying to stop himself from crying in front of the Dallas police force. "I guess I should be grateful to my father for that."

"He was there?"

"Unfortunately." Nick muttered. "And don't feel guilty about dumpin' Tayla with her Aunt, Greg. I really don't mind. I shouldn't have dumped her on you anyway, it wasn't fair."

"I really didn't mind looking after her." Greg assured him, not wanting to tell him about the panic attacks. After Warrick drove him home, he didn't feel up to looking after Tayla, so he left her with her Aunt's, while he drove over to his parents in California, wanting to get away from it all. "Its kinda like being around a miniature you. We get along really well . . . I'm just not so good at the whole parenting thing. At least with her Aunt, she gets to be with her baby sister. She didn't really like me leaving her with Maya to go to work anyway."

"She never does." Nick whispered, looking at the ink stains on his fingertips, from the Dallas police force booking him in. "I don't know what to do now, Greg. I thought that once I had... Gary, it would suddenly make it all better. In a way, I'm kinda relieved that he's dead. Bradley won't have to point him out in a court room, and tell people what he did to him. But if he's dead..."

"He won't be punished?" Greg finished his sentence for him. "I never thought of you as the eye for an eye type."

"Maybe I am and I never knew it either."

"Are you okay?" He knew it was a dumb question, but he just had to ask.

"I don't know." Nick shrugged, staring at the blank wall in front of him. "I'm not sure how I feel. I wonna go to sleep, but I still have to go to the hospital to see, Bradley. I'm gonna have to tell him what happened."

After a moment, Greg whispered, "I think you'll do what you always do," getting back to Nick's original worry. "You'll be there for him. It's all you can really do. There's no easy fix it cure for this. He's just gonna have to live with it, like you did."

"There's one difference." Nick spoke softly. "Bradley won't have to go through it alone. I never want him to feel ashamed like I did."

"I wish I had known sooner, it wouldn't have changed anything between us, I just... wish I'd known." Greg listened to the older man's breathing, trying to picture him, as he closed his eyes. "Nicky, when you get back... and when you're ready, I'll always be here for you. Whatever you need me for."

"Thanks, I'm not sure what I need at the moment."

"Mr Stokes." The officer processing him out, called him over to him.

"I gotta go, Greg. I'll call you later."

"I love you." Greg managed to slip it in, hearing Nick still on the other end. "Never forget that. I love you more than anythin' in the world. I'd do anything for you, baby."

"Thanks, Greg." The older man's voice broke with emotion. "I'll see you soon, Gorgeous."

Greg smiled into his phone, waiting for Nick to hang up, before he put his own phone down. He looked towards the door as he heard a noise, spotting his mother spying on him. "What?" He called out to her.

"I made you a sandwich." She held up the plate. "But I saw you were on the phone, so I was waiting for you to finish. Do you really have to go back to Vegas today?" She complained, handing him the plate, acting as though she didn't hear any of his conversation. "You only just got here."

"It was just a one day visit." Greg took the plate off her hands, taking a look at what she had put inside it. "Thank you. So, did you hear everything?"

Jean innocently shook her head, taking a seat beside him. "Your father won't tell me anything, but I know something is up. But I'm not gonna pressure you for answers, because your father told me not to. But honey, you've gotta tell me something. I'm worried. I know you love Nick, but whatever's going on..."

"How'd you know it was Nick on the phone?"

"There's only one person in the world who you would ever say 'I love you' like that to." She pointed out to him, realising she had just landed herself right in it. "Okay, I only heard the last bit, and whatever you were giving him advice for, really seemed like it would have worked. If I knew what it was about... which I really don't. Wish you had known sooner about what?" She queried.

"Mother, are you prying?"

"No, I just wanted to know what you wished you had known sooner about. I'm worried about you, honey. It's not every day that you come running home."

"Don't be, I'm fine. I have to figure out what I'm gonna do or even say to Nick, when I'm face to face with him now." He climbed to his feet with his sandwich in his hands, hurrying away, before his mother could ask him anymore questions.

Brushing his fingertips across his son's forehead, Nick inhaled a deep breath, wishing he could be lying in his son's place and take all the pain for him. He hated himself for letting this happen to him. He started to hate himself more than he hated Gary, even though he knew the blame belonged with him.

"Dad?" Bradley turned his head towards him, struggling to reach out for him, as his wrists had been restrained to the bed.

"I'm here, baby." His father slid his hand into his own, gently resting his other hand on his forehead. "I'm here."

"Dad . . . I'm sorry."

"Stop sayin' that." He whispered to him. "You have nothin' to be sorry for. I'm sorry; I should have answered your calls and taken better care of you. I'm your father; I'm supposed to protect you from things like this."

Bradley looked up into his father's eyes, whispering, "I didn't wonna tell you. I thought you'd be mad. I just wanted to stay with you."

"I'm not mad. I could never be mad at you about anythin'. And you know that you can tell me anythin', bud. I told you that." Nick brushed his hand across his son's hair, looking down into his innocent little eyes, reminding him so much of Greg, as they were so full of life and pure innocence. "I told you before that there's nothin' you could ever say or do that would make me think any different of you. I'll never stop lovin' you. You mean the world to me."

"I thought you'd be ashamed of me."

"Never." Nick shook his head, trying to keep back his tears. "You have nothin' to feel ashamed about. This isn't your fault. It's mine, I shoulda protected you."

"Can't protect me from everythin'." Bradley repeated the phrase his father had used a few years ago, after breaking his arm.

He was nine years old, climbing the trees at the ranch where Nick grew up. Nick had warned him not to climb too high, but Bradley wanted explore, reaching the high branches that couldn't support his weight. A few seconds after Nick's warning, his son came crashing down, breaking his arm as he hit the floor. Unlike his own father, Nick didn't rush over to his son saying 'I told you so'. He rushed over to him, sweeping him into his arms to protect him.

"Dad, I wonna go home."

"The Doctor can't discharge you for..."

"With you." Bradley interrupted him, not caring about what the doctors said.

"He can't hurtcha anymore, darlin'." He whispered, brushing his fingertip across the boy's forehead.

"Please, Dad. I wonna go home with you. I hate it here."

Without a second thought, Nick answered, "Of course you can." He carefully took a seat on the edge of his bed, tightly gripping his hand in his own. "I promise you that nothin' will ever happen to you again. I won't let it."

"Daddy... can you stay here with me?" His vulnerable child pleaded.

Nick checked that there weren't any nurses passing by, before he unstrapped his son's wrists, shifting himself on the bed to lie beside him. Despite the pain of his bruises, Bradley snuggled up against him, closing his eyes as his father protectively wrapped his arms around his body.

"I love you, kiddo." Nick whispered against his ear, cradling the boy's body against him. "Never forget that."

"A little girl?" Sara looked at him surprised, adjusting herself against the pillow behind her. "I was pregnant with three babies? I knew I felt fat. Everyone was telling me I was far too big for twins. I shoulda figured it out. Can I see her?"

"Not right now." Grissom shook his head, perching himself on the side of her bed. "She's... in intensive care. They've got her on a ventilator and things, but she's a little fighter, just like her mother." He smiled at her. "They'll take us to see her in a bit. I guess we're gonna have to buy more things, we only got furniture and things for two babies."

"We need to think of another name too." She smiled up at him, taking his hands into her own. "We've got our William and Benjamin, what are we gonna call our little girl?"

"We did choose our favourite girl name." He reminded her, brushing his thumbs across the backs of her hands. "Vivian." He whispered. "Vivian, William and Benjamin."

Sara smiled widely at him, feeling as though those names were made for her children. "Vivian, William and Benjamin." She repeated their names. "Can you go and ask them when we can see, Vivi?" She gave her daughter her first nickname. "If I can't go, can you take a picture of her, so I at least know what she looks like?"

"Yeah." He gave her a smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'm gonna go find the doctor. I'll be right back."

Pounding his fist on the apartment door, the man called out, "Greggo! C'mon, you can't avoid me forever." One of the neighbours were kind enough to let him in, so he didn't have to directly talk to Greg to be buzzed through, but now he was trapped in the hall, as Greg didn't appear to be answering his door. "Greg." He tried once again, giving the door another forceful knock.

Sighing heavily, the man pulled his cell from his pocket, hitting Greg's speed dial.

"Hello?" The younger man sleepily answered, without looking at the caller ID.

"There you are, why aren't yah answering your front door?" He shouted through the hall. "Look Greg, we really need to talk. Let me in."

"Warrick?" Greg looked round at the time on the clock, rolling his eyes at the man through his phone. "First of all, I'm not at my apartment, I'm at my parents' house in LA, so I can't open the door to you. Second of all, it's the middle of the day. I should be sleeping. And third, we really don't need to talk, because there's nothing more for us to talk about."

"Last time we talked, you were under the impression that I was in love with Nick though." Warrick pointed out to him, making his way back to the elevator. "I'm not." He quickly clarified.

"Uh huh, I heard yah the first fifty times. Even if you were, which I'm sure that you aren't, you're really not Nick's type. I mean, look at me, I'm his type. He doesn't like hunky black guys, who may or may not be bigger than me. Size doesn't matter to Nicky."

"Greg." Warrick cringed into his phone. "And I'm gonna forget you called me hunky. You better not tell Nick any of this."

"Why are you so worried? You think I want my former boyfriend to know that someone else in the lab has a crush on him? He'll probably be flattered, and a little surprised that it's you, but he still loves me. You don't have the same kind of chemistry that Nicky and I have. It'd never work out."

"Greg, I'm not trying to come between you and Nick, I swear." Warrick assured him, hurrying towards his car once he was out of the elevator. "I just... I think you got the wrong impression. Yeah I like the guy, but I'm not in love with him."

"Obsess much?" He smirked into his phone. "Okay, I get it Warrick, you don't love Nick. Can I go back to sleep now?"

"No, because you don't sound like you believe me." He refused to let him hang up on him, until they got this thing cleared up. "I'm not part of your club or anything, I don't go for guys."

"I never actually became a member." Greg thought out loud. "There's so many clubs I've missed out on. The mile high club..."

"Greg!" Warrick shouted into his phone, hearing him getting off topic. "Just... promise me that you won't tell Nick."

"I promise. Now may I pleeeaaase go to sleep?"

"Yeah." Warrick nodded into his phone, dropping into the driver's seat of his car. "Get some sleep, Greggo. I'll see you later."

"Careful Warrick, someone might accuse you of actually caring about me."

"I do care." The older man assured him. "There's nothing I care about more than this team. You guys are my family . . . which is why I was so worried about you and Nick dating. Romances within a family usually breaks it."

"You got your wish." Greg spoke softly.

"I didn't want this to happen, Greg. Anymore than you did. I admit, I took it badly..."

"Badly doesn't cover it."

"Okay, I took it really, really bad." Warrick changed his statement. "I'm only human, Greg, you've gotta give me some credit. I just found out that... my brothers were dating. Nick's been lying to me since day one about his sexuality, and he was sneaking around with you... behind my back."

"Grissom and Sara were behind your back, they were sneaking around. You're not mad at them." The younger man pointed out to him. "Warrick, have you ever considered the possibility that this is really brothering you, because you really do have stronger feelings for Nick than you think? Don't think about his gender, think about him."

"Greg, I'm not..."

"No talking." Greg cut him off. "You're supposed to be thinking. Nick's gorgeous, he's funny, he's caring. He always puts other people before him... and, he has this warmth in his eyes. When he looks at you, you can feel it in your heart. Like he has a soul made of solid gold or something."

"I believe that's what you think of him." Warrick laughed it off, trying not to think about it too much. "The thing about Nick is, he's a guy. I don't date guys. I like women. I'd sooner date Sara than Nick."

"Fine, deny it all you like. These kinds of feelings don't go away. Trust me."

Warrick pulled the phone away from his ear as Greg hung up on him, wondering why the younger man kept persisting that he had feelings for Nick, when he didn't. He was sure that he didn't. Whenever he thought about him in that way, it made his stomach churn, so he was sure he wasn't attracted to him.

"He's sleepin'." Nick spoke softly, seeing Samantha in the doorway.

She gave him a slight smile, before she took a step closer, looking at her sleeping little boy. "He hasn't sucked his thumb in years." Taking a seat on the spare chair opposite Nick, Samantha brushed her fingertips across her son's forehead, before she reached for his hand with her own. "He looks just like he did when he was a baby. He couldn't sleep without one of us with him, until he was three, remember?"

"Yeah, I used to worry that I'd crush him in the night." Nick nodded to her, missing the days when his son was small enough to protect. "At least that's all I had to worry about then."

"Yeah." Samantha released her grip from her son's hand, feeling as though this was all her fault, as she looked at his fragile little body. "What are we gonna do now, Nicky? I can't just take him home and pretend everythin's alright..."

"Actually, he asked if he could come back with me." Nick spoke softly, nervously biting his lower lip, as he looked up at her. "If that's..."

"It's fine." She interrupted him. "I don't think I could go back to that house anyway. I can't believe that I've been married to him three years, and I never knew... this side of him. I used to love him; it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about that. Did he tell you," She looked up at Nick. "How long?"

Nick gave her a slight nod. "This was only the first time that... he forced himself on him."

Samantha held her stomach, feeling as though she was going to throw up. "What'd he do to him before?"

Nick didn't want to say it out loud; he was having a hard enough time dealing with it inside of his own head. "Bradley told the social worker that it's been goin' on for the past three years, since you married him. He never forced him to have... you know, until the other day, when Bradley ran away."

"I should have known." She blamed herself again.

"It's not your fault."

"Some part of it has to be. I brought that man into our lives. I married him. I trusted him, and he did this... to the most important person in my life." She touched her hand to her son's head, watching his chest slowly rising and falling with each breath, just like she used to when he was baby. She used to find herself counting his breaths while he slept; amazed that such a little person even existed. "I still can't believe he said 'Dada' first." She smiled up at Nick. "I was with him all the time; sounding like a parrot the amount of times I tried to get him to say 'Mama'. Then the first word out of his mouth is Dada."

"Yeah, but he eventually got bored of that and started sayin' no to everythin'." He smiled at the memory of his three year old taking a stand against no more baths and no more naps, insisting that he was a big boy now. "Greg sucks his thumb." He suddenly thought out loud, making Samantha look up at him surprised. "Not all the time, obviously. That would be weird. I mean, sometimes... after he's had a bad day or when he feels really vulnerable, I catch him doin' it at night. Only a couple of days a month, but he did it almost every night after he got out of the hospital. The first time that was. I didn't see much of him the second time."

Samantha smiled across the bed at him. "Sorry, I just can't picture a grown man suckin' his thumb."

"He's a child underneath it all." Nick spoke softly, gently brushing his thumb across the back of Bradley's hand. "I broke his heart. I still remember the look on his face when I did it. He looked like a child who had just found out there's no Santa. He begged me to tell him what he did wrong. He said he'd do anythin' to fix it, anythin'."

"Why'd you break up with him? You still love him, don't you?" As Nick gave her a nod, she asked, "Then why? Guys like Greg don't come around very often."

"I thought it was best. I'm always doin' what I think is best for other people, but it's not. I broke Greg's heart, his spirit and his trust, now he'll never trust me again." He looked down at his son a moment, thinking of how much he reminded him of Greg again. "I want him back. But I suppose the right thing would be to let him go, so I can't hurt him again."

"Let him go?" Samantha looked at him confused. "Why would you want to let someone like Greg go? He's lovely. He loves you. He's pure of heart, and he'd never do a thing like this." She pointed to their son. "You'd be making the biggest mistake of your life, if you ever let him go. You must know that."

"I don't wonna hurt him again. I do enough of that to my family."

"You'll hurt him more when you tell him that there's no chance the two of you will ever work it out and get back together again. I certainly know how stupid I was to let you go, but lettin' you go was the right thing. You don't love me the way I wanted to, and trapping you with your responsibilities as a father, wasn't fair on any of us."

"I coulda protected him better." Nick whispered, looking at their sleeping son between them.

"Don't go blamin' yourself, Nick. If anyone is to blame here, it should be me. I'm the one who married him. I'm the one who was too stupid to not notice that anythin' was goin' on. I should have noticed. I should have done somethin' to protect him better. You hear about this sort of stuff happenin' all the time, but you never think that it would be goin' on in your own home. The mothers of those children used to make me sick. I used to wonder how they couldn't know that somethin' like that was happenin' to their own child." She laughed at herself, dabbing away the tears from her eyes. "Now I'm one of them. Another stupid mother who married a monster, letting him do this to my baby."

"You didn't let him." Nick shook his head. "Abusers always hide it well, and the victim..." He brushed his fingertips across the back of his son's hand, whispering, "They hide it out of shame or fear. They think that somehow it's their fault, and if people found out... it would only make things worse."

"He shouldn't have to deal with this, he's just a child."

"I'm actually glad that he doesn't have to go through the court process. He won't have to point out the man who did this to him or tell a room full of strangers what he did to him. At least I can protect him from that."

Thanks for reading, please let me know what you thought of it!

~ Holly