How would he get through his workday? Greg was hungover and felt terrible. Him and Sara were working on a drive-by shooting and Greg was walking down the road, documenting the route and collecting evidence connected to that case.

"You missed this." Sara picked up a cartridge case lying a few feet behind Greg.

"Oh yeah, thanks..." He bagged it.

Sara didn't know that Greg was out with Julian last night, but, of course, she noticed the shape Greg was in. She wanted to talk with him about it, but they were busy with the case. Also, she didn't want to sound too preachy and didn't know what exactly to say. She never saw him like that and was too surprised to handle the situation well.

When they arrived in the lab, Catherine asked Greg to meet her in her office.

"Sit down," she said rather harsh. "I talked to Sara about your performance in the field today. What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" he asked with a tired voice and tired eyes.

"You missed several things at the scene, Sara had to watch you like a babysitter, you're obviously hungover, what's going on with you?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I have no idea how this happened..."

She laughed humorlessly. "Well then, let me walk you through it. You got hammered last night and now it's hurting your performance on the job! I don't care what you do in your free time, but I expect you to be ready for work when you come here."

He was surprised by Catherine's harsh words. He knew it was a bad idea to come to work like this, but what choice did he have? "Catherine, I really don't know how this happened. I didn't even have that much alcohol last night. I didn't even have as many drinks as I had when we all were at the bar, and I wasn't drunk then. I woke up in Julian's guest room, not knowing how I got there! I've NEVER been this drunk before, not even in college!"

Catherine stopped to think about this for a moment. "Okay, I'm sorry... I'm really stressed out right now and I let it out on you, that shouldn't have happened..."

He nodded appreciative.

"But it's irresponsible to work in a condition like that, Greg. I've never seen you like that before."

"Because I never get wasted when I have to work the next day," he said with a smile on his face.

"You did yesterday." She still wasn't sure what to think of it. She knew Greg long enough to know that this wasn't typical behavior for him, but why did he do this now? "Has this anything to do with all that's happened in the past months?"

"What do you mean?" He was confused for a second, and then he realized what she was insinuating. "No, Catherine. I didn't drink to repress any feelings. I told you, I went out with Julian and somehow drank way more than I could handle. I didn't plan this, I swear."

"Alright..." She put her glasses on. "Considering this was the first time this has ever happened, I'll let you off with a warning. But you're still going home."

He nodded. He did feel like it was justified. After all, he shouldn't have had that many drinks. He only remembered the first three drinks, though. The following drinks he had when he was already drunk he had no memory of. "I'm really sorry, it won't happen again..." he said remorseful and went out.

When Greg got home, he just fell down on his bed, without even changing his clothes. He was exhausted, his head was feeling like being locked in a bench vise and he was still feeling sick. He didn't have one bite to eat yet and didn't feel like eating ever again right now.

After sleeping for five hours, he woke up. He was feeling a little better, but not good, either.

9a.m.

He decided to watch some TV when his cell phone rang. Nick called. They chatted for about an hour and Greg tried to give as little information as possible. He didn't want Nick to know what really happened that night, despite not knowing what actually did happen. He just told him he had a bit too much to drink and lost his keys somewhere down the line. When asked where he's spend the night, Greg stuttered a bit, not knowing what to tell him. Then he just claimed him and Julian stayed at the bar the whole time.

"Oh, really?" Nick asked in a cocky voice.

Just about now Greg remembered he already told Catherine he woke up in Julian's guest room, and Nick probably knew now, too. "Oh, I just remember... I might've slept at Julian's..."

"Why are you lying to me, Greg? Did something happen at...?"

"No!" He quickly interrupted him. "He was actually very nice and caring."

"Caring?" Nick asked suspiciously.

Greg rolled his eyes although Nick couldn't see it. "You're a jerk. He just took care of me, made sure I get home safe and stuff..."

"Yeah but you didn't get home."

"It's not his fault I lost my keys. I know he did a lot of stupid things in the past, but we should give him a chance..."

"He hates me. Why should I give him a chance, then?"

"He doesn't... hate you... He's not just too fond of you. Doesn't surprise me, though, with how you treat him everyday."

"He started it!"

Greg chuckled. "Maybe, but aren't you tired of the constant fighting? Just cut him some slack, be nice, maybe he'll do the same for you, then."

"I doubt he will."

"Maybe I could talk to him about it..."

"Don't you dare...!"

Greg chuckled again. "Oh, if you tell me not to, of COURSE I won't, right?"

After continuing the conversation for another ten minutes, Greg hung up. He was finally feeling hungry and went into the kitchen. When he couldn't find anything delicious to eat, he decided to go shopping. He grabbed his keys, opened the door and was ready to go out, when suddenly Julian was standing in front of him. "Hey," he said surprised.

"Hi Greg..." Julian said with an insecure smile on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, but not like the last times. This time he didn't mind Julian coming over, he was just surprised.

"Well I wanted to check up on you. Catherine sent you home and I feel kind of guilty..."

"Guilty? Why? It's not like you forced the drinks down my throat," Greg said laughing.

"Yeah but I talked you into drinking in the first place... I... uh, I brought you some sandwiches. I figured you might be hungry now?"

Greg smiled. "I was actually just on my way out to get something to eat. Come in."

After Julian took care of him when he was drunk, and – as far as Greg knew – didn't take advantage of the situation, Greg saw him completely different. He actually thought Julian was over his crush, or at least could control his feelings now. He felt rather comfortable around him. But he couldn't know that this was exactly what Julian wanted to achieve from getting Greg drunk that night. "I know most people don't drink any alcohol at 9a.m.," Greg said jokingly, "But it's like evening for people working the graveyard shift, right? You want a beer?"

Julian laughed. "Water would be alright."

Greg came back from the kitchen with two bottles of water and sat down next to Julian. They ate the sandwiches, watched some TV and had fun together.

While having a good conversation about a video game, they heard a knock on the door.

"Oh, that's probably Nick!" Greg got up to open the door.

"...Nick...?" Julian asked with surprise.

"Hey, you feeling better yet?" Nick asked with a smile on his face, until he saw Julian. His smile quickly faded.

Greg gave him a look to let him know to try his best to get along with Julian.

Being nice to Julian was the least he wanted to do now, but he thought he could at least try. "Hey Julian. What's up?"

He gave Nick a nod.

When the awkward silence wouldn't pass, Greg said, "Are you hungry? Julian brought sandwiches."

"No, thanks, I'm good."

Julian looked at his watch. "Wow, noon already? Gotta go." He grabbed his jacket and walked towards the door.

"You don't have to leave," Greg whispered to him.

"No, but I want to." He gave him a smile and left.

Greg turned around to Nick and gave him an innocent smile, knowing he would complain about Julian being here.

But instead of giving him a dozen reasons why it would be best to never talk to Julian again, he just sat down on the couch and sighed.

"What?" Greg asked.

"Hm?" Nick asked with the remote control in his hand, zapping through the TV channels.

"You don't want to tell me how much you hate Julian, that you hate me for befriending him and stuff like that?"

Nick laughed a bit. "I don't hate you for that, I just think you're insane."

"Well maybe I am." Greg grinned and sat down on an armchair.

"I just hope you won't regret this... I still don't trust him."

"Don't worry. I might be insane, but I'm not stupid. I'll be careful."