Since the first chapter was kind of cliffhanger-ish, here's the second already!

Greg tried to convince the police officers to arrest officer Astin, but they refused to do so. They were all working at the same police department and were friends, yet didn't even know Greg. They believed Astin when he said he shot Nick in self defense. So when he realized it was senseless talking to them, he drove to the hospital instead. "Russell, there you are!" Greg hurried over to him with a helpless look on his face. "They won't tell me anything..."

"Sara's on her way, I came here as soon as I heard. What happened?"

"I'm not sure, I... We walked inside that diner and there was a lot of blood. I didn't even get a good look inside. I went to call for backup while Nick checked it out..." They sat down in the hospital's lobby. "On my way out, there was this cop. He walked in, too, then I heard shots. The cop claims Nick shot at him first..."

"...How is he now?"

Greg had a hard time holding back his tears. They slowly started falling down his cheeks. "I don't know. They won't let me to him, they won't tell me about his condition, I..."

"Okay. It's okay. Let me talk to the doctors, alright? Maybe I'm able to get an update..."

Russell walked away to find a doctor to talk to. While he was gone, Greg was approached by a detective.

"Mr. Sanders? I'm detective Handler. I was wondering if we could talk?"

Nervously looking in the direction Russell went, he nodded. "Sure." Greg had to go over the story of how Nick got shot again, without knowing what actually went down inside.

The detective jotted down everything Greg said. "Great, thanks. I just have a few more questions. Nick Stokes, he's your co-worker? How would you describe his mental state today?"

"...Excuse me?"

"Did he seem a little sad... depressed, maybe?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I was just wondering if he had any personal problems you know about."

"No. No, he seemed fine up until the point that officer shot him," Greg replied unnerved.

"Mr. Sanders, I'm only trying to shed some light on this event. Law enforcement is always a stressful and dangerous job, after all. Was he troubled?"

"...I hope you're not implying what it sounds like. Nick isn't suicidal." Greg was getting really angry.

"I like this theory better than the alternative."

"...What is the alternative?"

The detective didn't need to answer, Greg could read it on his face. "We're just trying to find out what happened."

"I can tell you what happened. The officer walked into the diner, saw Nick with his gun drawn and shot him without asking any questions. And now he's trying to cover his ass by putting the blame on Nick."

"We didn't find anything that indicates that."

"Oh yeah? And what indicates your lame suicide theory?!"

While Greg was losing his temper with the detective, Russell came back. "Hey. Who are you?"

"Detective Handler. I believe you're CSI Russell?"

"Yeah. Have you figured out what happened yet?"

"Maybe you could give me some information on Mr. Stokes' mental status."

"His mental status? Why...?" As the detective tried to explaine, he got into the same argument with Russell as he did with Greg. "You should leave now. We're not here to question our friend's mental health. We're here to make sure he recovers from the recklessnes of officer Astin."

Nick was out of surgery, but neither Russell nor Greg could go talk to him just yet. "He's in a medically induced coma," the doctor explained while standing outside Nick's hospital room with Greg and Russell.

"For how long?" Russell asked concerned.

"We hope that it won't take much longer than one or two days, but we can't make any promises yet. But he should make a full recovery. It's just a precaution." The doctor gave them a promising smile. "You can see him now. Talk to him, he probably knows you're there."

Greg came back to the hospital the next day before his shift, hoping they would put Nick out of the coma today. The doctors didn't think it was a good idea, though, so the CSI remained in a comatic state for a little longer. Greg spent some time with his friend, sometimes talking to him, sometimes just sitting there with him. He didn't have as much time as he would've liked, though. "Alright Nick. I gotta go to work, but I'll come by after shift. See you later." He walked out of Nick's room and came as far as to his car until he remembered that Sara had asked him to get Nick something from her. She had given him Nick's CSI cap he had forgotten at the lab the day he got shot and she wanted him to have it, so he walked back to do her that favor. "I totally forgot I got something for you," Greg said while walking into the hospital room and closing the door behind him. "Your cap, you forg..." Greg stopped as he turned his head to look at Nick's bed. "...Who are you?" he asked a man standing next to Nick, holding a syringe in his hand.

"I'm sorry, visiting hours are over," the man said in a weird way.

"...Get away from him." Greg walked up to the man, instantly knowing something was wrong. The stranger was wearing hospital clothes, but his behavior seemed weird. "What's in that syringe?"

"I'll be gone in a minute," the man said while taking a few steps closer to Nick.

Greg grabbed his arm. "Get out of here!" He managed to get the syringe out of the man's hand, but the stranger fought back.

He pushed Greg to the ground. "Where is it?! Where's the syringe?!" he yelled, desperately looking for it but unable to find it. He kicked Greg in anger before running out of the room. The young CSI slowly got up, trying to run after the man, but he was already gone. He panted exhausted as he called for a nurse to check on Nick.

"No, I'm okay. I guess you saved his life," Greg said with a smile to Sara while she was searching Nick's room for the missing syringe.

"Well, glad I could help. But why would anyone want to kill him?" She looked concerned at the unconscious Nick. "I don't get it."

"It could have something to do with the shooting at the diner. Maybe it was the shooter, trying to get rid of any witnesses."

"Then why go after him but not you?"

"I don't know. Maybe he was inside and knew I didn't see anything." He shrugged.

"...Found it!" she exclaimed joyful. "Let's see if Henry can figure out what it is."

While a police officer was guarding Nick's room, Henry had the results of the test back. "Insulin," he said while handing Sara the sheet. "More than enough to kill a man."

"Thanks... Anything you can tell me that could lead us to the guy?"

"Well, Mandy says she found a partial print on the syringe but it's not enough to find a match, sorry."

Nick was out of the coma and had to talk to detective Handler befor he was allowed to see Greg. Russell was with Nick while the detective talked to him. When he left Nick's room, Greg wanted to walk in. Russell walked out, keeping his colleague from walking in. "He says he doesn't remember anything."

"Did his injuries cause amnesia?"

Russell shook his head. "The doctors said it could be psychological."

"Well that's no wonder, is it?"

"That's not the point." Russell shook his head. "Officer Astin has his own story how it all went down, you didn't see anything and Nick doesn't remember. It doesn't look good."

"Yeah but come on, we both know Nick's innocent. And he isn't suicidal, either." Greg was fed up with this topic. He knew his friend and knew that there was no way he was responsible for the shots being fired. "Can I go see him now?"

"Greg, hey," Nick said with a tired smile on his face as the younger CSI walked into the hospital room.

"How're you doing?" Greg smiled at him. "You scared us all."

"Sorry." Nick chuckled. The anesthesia was still wearing off. "Did he make it?"

"Who?"

"One of the people in the diner, he was alive when I walked in..."

Greg shook his head. "I'm sorry. They all died."

"Oh. That's horrible."

Greg nodded. "And you don't remember anything after that?"

The wounded CSI shook his head. "It went dark after that."

"Well..." Greg patted Nick's leg. "It's not your job to think about that now, anyway. Sara will be here any minute to keep you company. I have to leave now, but I'll drop by later, alright?"

"Greg," Nick said, slowly sitting up. "You know I didn't do what the detective is saying, right?"

"...Of course. I tried to tell him that, but... I think he's more interested in protecting Astin than finding the truth. But I'm sure they'll find out what really happened. Don't worry."

Nick nodded with teary eyes. "I just don't want you to believe what they're saying."

Greg flashed Nick a sweet smile. "I don't. Not even for a second."