The next shift had arrived and Nick and Greg were sitting in the break room, waiting for Catherine to assign them to a new case. Or for a new lead in their old case, whichever came first.
They were sitting next to each other, talking, laughing, having fun, when Julian came in.
"Hello guys... Did you have a nice day yesterday?" he said with a weird voice and look on his face.
"Yeah..." Nick said with a rather sardonic smile. "We had a good time."
"So what'd you do?"
"Something called 'None of your business'", he replied.
Greg gave Nick a look. "We were just hanging out, playing some video games, that kind of stuff, you know."
Julian looked at the two. "Yeah... I guess it's that kind of thing you can't do when there's three people, right?"
"No, we just..." Greg was interrupted by Nick.
"Yes, exactly."
Again, Nick received a look from Greg. At the same moment, Catherine entered, wondering what was going on between them.
"Greg, Nick, we found out that Charlene Thompson had a sister. She lives in Sunrise Manor, maybe she can tell you where the husband could be hiding. You have to go on your own, though, all the detectives are busy."
They both nodded. "That's okay."
"You're carrying your gun today?" Nick asked Greg surprised. "We only want to TALK to the sister, Greg," Nick said teasing.
"Well I thought I should take it with me more often, and by carrying it with me when I know I won't need it is my way of getting used to it, you know?"
Nick just looked at Greg.
"Stupid idea?"
"Yeah, kinda," Nick said smiling.
They knocked on the sister's door. Her name was Mira Smith and she's already been informed about her sister's death.
A rather distraught looking woman opened the door. "What do you want?"
Nick was surprised to see her like that, although he was aware that she already knew her sister had died. "Mrs. Smith, I'm Nick Stokes, this is Greg Sanders, we're with the crime lab. We're very sorry for your loss... But we'd like to ask you a few questions."
"I don't know anything about it..." She said, ready to close the door.
"Please, Mrs. Smith. Your brother-in-law is missing. Do you have any idea where he might be?"
She shook her head and started to cry, whispering, "Leave."
"You could also come down to the station with us, we could drive you there. We just really need to talk to you..."
Reluctantly she said, "Come in...", opening the door for them to enter.
When they came in, the first thing they saw was the end of a shot gun pointing at them. They immediately stopped, looking scared and confused.
"What's... going on here?" Nick asked, raising his hands. Greg did so as well.
"What do you want?" the man with the shotgun said, looking desperate.
"Take it easy... Who are you?" Nick said with a calm voice.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" the man yelled.
Greg recognized shotgun. It was the same that Mr. Thompson had in his hands when he drove off with his wife's car. "We're from the crime lab, we're here to investigate in the murder of Charlene Thompson..."
"Murder?" the man asked a bit more calm.
"We believe she was murdered by her husband."
"...You think he did it?" the man now looked a bit relieved.
Greg nodded. "Where is he?"
The man now looked surprised. "How...? He's in the living room..."
Nick looked confused. He didn't know what was going on.
"Sir, I want to go in and take a look, alright? Would you stay here with Mr. Stokes?"
"What's going on, Greg...?" Nick whispered to him.
The man nodded, slowly putting his shotgun down.
"Would you hand me the gun first?" Greg asked, reaching out his hand slowly.
"Okay... okay..." the man sighed and handed him the gun.
Greg took the shotgun shells out and handed Nick the gun. "I'll just take a sec..." He walked into the living room with his gun drawn, leaving Nick confused with Mrs. Smith and the man Greg just disarmed.
They could hear Greg talking in the living room, but couldn't understand it.
Nick was dying to join Greg in the living room, see what's going on and check if he was alright, but he had to stay with the two.
After what felt like hours, but was only a minute, Greg still wasn't back and Nick got nervous. "Greg, are you alright?"
"It's okay, Nick, I called for backup and an ambulance, we just have to wait for them!" Greg said from the living room.
"An ambulance? What's going on here?" Nick was getting nervous. He couldn't see what Greg was doing, why didn't he just come back and wait for backup here with him?
After a few minutes, backup and the ambulance arrived. Nick asked the arriving officers to stay with Mrs. Smith and the man and went into the living room, followed by the paramedics.
He found Greg applying pressure to someone's gunshot wound. Getting closer to him, Nick realized it was Mr. Thompson who was lying on the couch wounded, and Greg trying to stop the bleeding.
The paramedics rushed to Greg to take over from him and started treating Mr. Thompson.
"Greg!" Nick went over to him. "Could you FINALLY tell me what the hell is going on?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't think it was a good idea to talk about it in front of him." Greg looked at the man who threatened them with the shotgun. "I knew Mr. Thompson would be here, it was his shotgun. I figured he wanted to hide at his sister-in-law's. Things probably got out of hand when they realized he killed his wife and the man shot him, hopefully in self defense..."
Nick sighed. "Jesus, Greg, you really scared me!"
"I'm sorry." He smiled.
"I think I have to ban you from the field!" Catherine said jokingly while welcoming Nick and Greg with a hug.
"We solved the case, caught the bad guy and had a little action while doing it, same as usual!" Nick said with a smile on his face.
"I can't worry about you all the time, guys," Catherine said laughing.
"We'll make it up to you! Drinks, on us!"
Greg and Nick went into the DNA lab laughing and joking. They felt good about today, they were able to finally catch Mr. Thompson. He was brought into the hospital and the doctors said he'd make a full recovery. The shooter – it turned out he was Mrs. Smith's husband – won't be charged for attempted murder or aggravated battery since he obviously acted in self defense. The CSIs had to prove that, but knew they would be able to. All in all the case was a success.
Looking forward to celebrate it with their colleagues, they wanted to drop off some evidence they collected in Mira Smith's house and from Mr. Thompson at the hospital.
"Hey Julian, we need that processed." Nick put the evidence bag on the table Julian was sitting at.
Julian stood up and walked over to Greg. "Thank GOD you're okay!" He hugged him.
The hug came as a surprise for both Nick and Greg.
While still being hugged, Greg patted Julian on the back and gently got out of his tight embrace. "Thanks... But we weren't really in any danger..." he said sheepishly.
"Archie said someone threatened you with a shotgun! How's that not dangerous?" Julian said indignant.
"Because the guy never wanted to hurt us. It's fine, really."
"Hey guys, we leave in five!" as quickly as Hodges showed up in the lab to tell them, as quick was he gone already.
"Where are you going with Hodges?" Julian said interested.
Nick and Greg looked at each other a little helpless.
"Uhm... Nowhere, we just... we're giving him a ride home..." Greg said insecure.
Another DNA technician walked in. "Hey Julian, sorry I'm late, but you can go home now."
"Great! Could you guys give me a ride home, too? I came with the bus today and my home is on the way to Hodges', it wouldn't be a detour." Julian asked with a smile on his face.
Nick rolled his eyes. "Sure... Get ready, as Hodges said, we leave in five."