After these long, sleepless hours, Greg was back in the lab. He didn't really digest what happened with Julian at his apartment yet and he was dreading the thought of seeing him now in the lab. How should he behave around him? Act like nothing happened? And how would Julian behave?
Greg actually felt sorry for what he said to him. He didn't even really mean it. Sure, he didn't consider Julian to be a friend of his, and he annoyed him most of the time, but he was a nice guy. Well, actually he only was a nice guy when he wanted something from someone or when he considered someone to be his friend. But still, Greg thought, he didn't deserve to be treated the way he treated him. Or did he? He wasn't sure.
Maybe he could make it through shift without running into Julian, he thought.
Sitting down in the break room, he waited for the others to join him. They usually started their shifts here, waiting for Catherine assigning them to a case. But right now, no one was here, which made him anxious. Julian could walk in any minute now. With his colleagues around, the situation probably wouldn't be that bad. But alone with him could be awkward, he thought.
And right on cue, there he was. Julian walked in. "Hey Greg," he said while walking towards the coffee machine. "You want a cup, too?"
Greg shook his head, looking a bit astonished. "I'm good."
He was surprised that Julian was able to act perfectly normal around him, as if nothing had happened.
He even sat down on his regular chair, right next to where Greg was sitting. Greg wasn't sure what to think of it.
Julian took a sip, put the cup down on the table and turned to Greg. "Listen... I just wanted to apologize again for what happened... Please don't tell anyone, okay?"
"...Sure..." was all Greg could reply. He didn't really expect Julian to say anything about this incident and wasn't prepared for this, so he didn't know what else to say. It didn't really make the situation any less awkward for him, though.
A few minutes later, Nick and Ray joined them.
When Nick saw Greg and Julian sitting next to each other and Greg's uncomfortable look on his face, he couldn't help but smile. He had no idea what happened between them and just figured it was the usual – Julian flirting with Greg. "Hey guys," he said amused.
"Nicky. You and Greg got a 419 in Henderson." Catherine walked into the break room looking a bit stressed out. She quickly handed Nick a piece of paper with the address. "Ray, follow me," she instructed while walking out.
"You two were sitting real close together. He still doesn't get it, huh?" Nick laughed while driving to the crime scene.
Greg didn't say anything, just faked a smile without looking at Nick.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." He still didn't look at Nick.
"Come on, I'm just teasing you!" Not getting any reaction from Greg, he continued, "Alright, I took it too far. I'm sorry." He reached his hand out to pat Greg on the shoulder.
When he did, Greg winced.
"...What was that?" Nick asked confused.
"What was what?" Greg asked insecure.
"You just winced when I touched you."
"I was just taken by surprise."
Nick pulled the car over.
"What are you doing, Nick?"
He turned to face Greg. "You looked at me when I touched you, it didn't surprise you. What's going on?"
Greg sighed. He told Nick everything, starting with when the fear first showed up again to what happened between him and Julian yesterday.
Nick didn't say anything. He just started the car and turned it around.
"Where are you going?" Greg asked confused and nervous.
"I'm gonna tell him to stay away from you, once and for all!" Nick replied furious.
"What? No! Turn around, we need to get to our crime scene!"
"I need to do this first! Why didn't you tell me earlier? I'll kick his annoying ass!"
"No! Nick! Turn around! He asked me not to say anything to anyone, he must not know that I told you!"
"What? Are you out of your mind? Why should you care about him?"
"Because! Nothing happened. He was depressed and confused and misjudged the situation. It's okay!"
"No. No, it's NOT okay! He crossed a line, Greg! He should be glad he won't get fired for this! You feel that way because of him!"
"It's not his fault, you know that! And now turn around! I don't want your help!"
Stopping at a red light, Nick calmed down a bit. "Why not? I could solve that problem in five minutes."
"I can take care of myself! I already dealt with it. He apologized. It's okay, he won't try anything again."
"But..."
Nick was interrupted by Greg. "Please. I need to do this alone."
The look on Greg's face made Nick realize how important it was for him to deal with this situation on his own. He still thought that someone should put Julian in his place. Greg thought so, too, but he was in no condition to do so at the moment. Right now he felt too powerless and insecure to really face Julian. He just wanted this to go away as quick as possible.
Without saying a word, Nick turned the car around and drove to the crime scene.
Nick stopped the car. They finally arrived at the crime scene.
Before Greg got out of the car, Nick turned to him. "Just say a word and I kick his ass, alright?"
Greg rolled his eyes and smiled. "Thanks, but that's not necessary. We're not in school anymore."
Nick got out of the car. "You want me to believe you beat up kids in school?" he asked amused.
Walking into an apartment, they met David standing next to a bed.
A young woman's dead body was lying in the bed, almost looking as if she was sleeping, despite all of the blood on the bed.
"What do we got here, David?" Greg asked while walking up to him.
"Charlene Thompson, age 32. Apparent suicide. Her husband found her like this and two empty bottles of sleeping pills sitting on the nightstand."
Nick went over to the nightstand and picked the bottles up. "She took all of these pills AND slit her wrists?"
David nodded. "And the husband touched the pill bottles, just so you know."
"Thanks. Did she bleed out?"
"I think so. Looks like she wanted to make sure she really died."
"Did you find a note?" Greg asked while taking a look around the room.
"I didn't see one."
Nick and Greg were walking down the lab's hallway with the bagged evidence in their hands.
"Could you bring this to Hodges? I'll take care of the DNA samples," Nick said while handing Greg the bags he was carrying and taking the ones he had in his hands.
"Wait," Greg said, "You're not doing this so you can talk to Julian about what happened, right?"
Nick stopped and looked at Greg. He didn't say anything, but he made clear what the answer to that question was with his look.
"I told you not to! Come on, it's taken care of, forget it ever happened," Greg said, trying to convince Nick to let it go.
"I can't. I won't be able to think about anything else when I see Julian until I talked to him about it."
"Please, Nick. It would embarrass me if Julian knew that I told you!"
"Why? You really shouldn't care about his feelings, you know."
"I don't. It's not about him, it's about me. Now come on, promise you won't say anything?"
Nick rolled his eyes. He was reluctant to do so, but he didn't want to do anything Greg didn't want him to. "Alright, I promise. But I'm still taking care of this DNA evidence, I'm sure you don't want to see him now, anyways."
"I'll have to see him again sooner or later, anyway... But thanks..." Greg smiled and walked away.