„Ray is getting the case ready for the D.A." Nick said to Greg who was already working on the next case.
„Great. I'm sure we'll get a conviction." Greg was cutting a round piece out of a bedsheet.
„Isn't this one weird case? A guy who abuses women gets raped because of it and the guy who rapes him gets beat up for it?" Nick said with a confused smile on his face.
„Well you know what they say..." Greg looked up from his work to Nick. „An eye for an eye..."
„I saw you talking to Brass after we left the hospital. You two are good?"
„Yeah..." Greg said, smiling at his older colleague „I know I overreacted and I apologized to him and Catherine and they both accepted my apology."
Nick padded him on the back and smiled at him, noticing Greg's discomfort. „Greg are you alright? I mean, is everything good between us two, too?"
„Of course, why not?" He said, turning to Nick, trying to hide his insecurity with a smile.
Nick sighed. He wasn't sure he should drop this or try to find out what's bothering Greg. „If I did or said anything that hurt you, you need to tell me." He sat down opposite Greg and gave him a serious look.
„Nick, I..." Greg scratched his head nervously.
„No, no, it's okay. We're friends, you can talk to me."
„You didn't do anything, we're good." Greg kept on cutting the bedsheets.
„Do you want to talk about something? You know, it's been five weeks and I feel like you're taking this one harder than anything else that happened in the last years.
Greg looked away nervously, putting the scissors down, sighing. „I am talking about it. I'm seeing the department shrink."
„Come on, Greg, I've seen him, too, and it's good you are, but he can't replace the comfort friends can give you, can he?"
As Greg looked at Nick, Nick could see the shame in his eyes but didn't know where it came from. What was it he was so ashamed of?
„You know, seeing a shrink is nothing to be ashamed of..." Nick continued.
Greg laughed a bit „I know it isn't, but what about you? You're not talking to him anymore although he recommended you did."
„Not because I'm embarrassed, I just don't need therapy. I'm fine." Nick tried to explain himself. After shooting that young bomber months ago he did change a bit. Not enough for others to notice, but he knew he had a hard time accepting what happened. Still, he didn't think a therapy would help him much. „What is it then?"
„What do you mean? I'm fine. And the only way you guys can help me go through it is if you stop mentioning it... I just want to forget about it and go on with my life." A few hours ago he told Sara the same, but with an angry face. Now he was calm. He didn't want to pick up a fight, he knew it would only resolve in Nick worrying about him again.
„Okay... You think the best way to deal with this is trying to forget it ever happened. That won't work. It did happen and you need to process it. It's not healthy to keep all these feelings inside. And I know these feelings because it happened to me, too." Nick was talking in a calm and convincing voice.
„It's different... I can't even imagine what it must've been like being buried alive... And... I feel embarrassed making such a big deal about what happened to me when I know you had it so much worse..." Greg looked down. Of course this wasn't the only thing he was embarrassed about, but he just wasn't ready to tell Nick the whole story.
„It's not a contest, Greg." Nick smiled at him „You had to go through living hell, too, and you have every right to feel whatever it is you're feeling, okay? Just let it out somehow. You don't have to talk to me about it, your shrink, or someone else from the lab. But find a way to deal with it or it'll eat you alive." As he finished his speech he touched Greg's arm, trying to comfort him. But Greg pulled away, giving Nick that embarrassed look again.
„Why do you keep doing this?" Nick finally asked.
„Doing what?" Greg hoped Nick didn't notice that he wasn't feeling very comfortable whenever some of his friends touched him.
„At first I thought it was a coincidence that it happened twice in a row, but now again... And Ray noticed something like that, too..." Nick started to analyze Greg's body language whenever someone came physically close to him. He didn't understand why he reacted that way whenever Nick touched him, but was drawing his own conclusions. „Are you... afraid I would hurt you?" He asked.
„What? No!" Greg jumped off his seat „What makes you think that? You're reading way too much into this."
„So there is something to read into?"
Greg was getting nervous. He didn't want his friend to know what happened. He wasn't even sure why, but he just didn't. „I should get back to work..." He took the bedsheet and the scissors and turned around to another table. He sighed.
For a moment Nick was just standing there, really worried about his friend. He thought about how he could help him so he decided to leave him alone and give him some space. After Nick was found buried alive, Greg would give him lots of space, he never pushed him to talk about his feelings. He helped him in different ways. Help him keeping his mind off it, just giving him the feeling he's there for him when he needs him, but he let Nick decide whether or not it was Greg he needed. And he did, but they never really talked about what was going through Nick when he was buried.
„Alright... See you later..." Nick finally gave up, realizing it would be best to be there for Greg like he was there for him. Trying to make him feel better and avoiding to touch him for the next few weeks, knowing he didn't feel comfortable with it. Nick still believed it was because of how badly he was beaten up when he was taken hostage. He figured Greg was still jumpy whenever someone raised a hand, like children who have been abused by their parents. And Nick didn't really care if it was the real reason or not. If Greg wanted him to know, he would tell him, he thought.