Happy Halloween, guys!

Since I don't have a Halloween-themed story for you I thought I just publish the new chapter to give you a little treat! Enjoy!

"I'm sorry I have to say this, but I'm not comfortable with that." Mandy took a sip from her coffee cup as she tried to avoid eye contact with Greg. He had gathered the lab rats inside the break room.

"Oh come on, don't be a wuss. It's exciting. It'll be our secret," Charlotte chimed in while giving Greg a sexy smile. They had hit a rough patch after he turned her down, but everything was good between the two, now. "Count me in, sexy."

Greg gave her a sweet, but also a little sheepishly, smile. "Thanks. So how about you two?"

With their friendship still being a bit rocky, Robin felt like she had no option but to agree. "Sure. I'm in, too."

Hodges looked around the break room to watch his colleagues. Mandy and Robin were showing a lot of discomfort while Charlotte was as confident as always. "Ah what the heck. There isn't much excitement around the lab these days, anyway. Let's do this."

"...Really? You want to do that?" Mandy asked surprised. "We don't have to, you know. In fact... we're not supposed to."

"Yeah but how are they gonna find out? We're allowed to discuss cases. There's no law that forbids us to talk about this case with him, right?"

"I still don't have a good feeling about this, Greg. I'm sorry." Mandy shook her head.

"Alright." He sighed, knowing that fingerprints wouldn't get him much further to the truth in this case, anyway. "But please don't tell anyone we had this meeting."

The lab rats went back inside their labs, doing their part in trying to figure out what had happened inside the diner. While he was waiting for some news from them, Greg kept working on the case Russell had assigned him to. He was working non-stop for two hours when Charlotte walked into the evidence room. "Bullets from three different guns."

Greg looked up from the evidence he was working on. "Three. Nick's gun, Astin's gun and an unknown?"

Charlotte nodded.

"Where was Nick's bullet?"

"In the door. Seems consistent with Astin's story, huh?"

Greg nodded, looking a little lost in his thoughts. "How about the angle?"

Charlotte shrugged. "I only processed the bullets and the guns. That's the CSIs jobs to find out, really."

"Alright, thanks. Maybe the others will find more."

"I'm sorry, Greg. Wish I had better news..." She left.

Greg went on to work on his evidence when Mandy walked in. "Okay. Just shut up and listen. I know I said I didn't want anything to do with this, but I found this confusing evidence I don't know any other way to deal with."

"Okay. So... what did you find?"

She sighed. "I found Astin's fingerprint on Nick's gun."

Greg raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How did they end up on Nick's gun? Doesn't make sense."

"It does if Astin was the one firing the shot that came from Nick's gun," Charlotte chimed in as she walked back inside. "I just looked at a picture of the crime scene. When you asked for the angle I figured it couldn't hurt. Look here." She showed Greg the picture.

"It's an upward angle. He couldn't have been standing up when he was pulling the trigger."

"If he even was the one pulling it."

"But why would Astin do something like that?"

"Oh come on, Greg. Use your imagination. He walks in while Nick has his gun drawn. Maybe even pointing it at him because he got startled when he heard the door open. Without wasting a second to think or ask any questions, Astin pulls his trigger. Twice. Nick goes down, he sees the CSI vest, panics and decides to stage it all, making Nick the irresponsible one."

Russell walked in with a confused look. "What's going on in here?"

While Greg and Mandy tried hard to keep a poker face, Charlotte knew exactly how to react. "Russell, just the man I was looking for! I got something for you!" She put her hand on Russell's back to lead him out of the evidence room, giving Mandy and Greg a chance to relax.

"Come on, how long will it take?" Greg was talking on the phone to David. He let his annoyance over the fact that the autopsy of one of the shooting victims was taking much longer than expected show.

"I don't know, I'll call you when I know anything."

"Fine, whatever..." As he finished that sentence, he felt a hand on his shoulder, slightly pressing it. "...What the...? Oh, Russell..."

"Who are you talking to?"

"No one. Just... David. Because of my case, you know?"

"Oh yeah? Did he find anything unusual?"

Greg shrugged. "Nah, not yet."

"Leave it alone, Greg." Russell walked past the CSI.

"...I am!"

"Oh come on. Mandy told me. If there's anything I feel you should know about the case, I'll let you know. But don't pressure the lab rats into giving up confidential information."

"I wasn't!" After he received an ironic and annoyed look by Russell, he confessed. "Alright. I'm sorry. I just want to help. I can't stand sitting around doing nothing."

"...You are supposed to work, not sit around and do nothing."

"...That was a figure of speech. I am working."

Russell rolled his eyes. "But too slow. You need to solve your case. You need your concentration for it, you can't keep yourself distracted with Nick. He'll be fine. He's innocent, he's got nothing to worry about."

"Yeah right..." Greg said sarcastically under his breath.

"I'm serious. Just relax. This will all be over soon."

Greg decided to take Russell's advice for a change. He really wanted to let it go, try to relax and let other people handle the case. He wanted to have faith in the system.

When he drove back to the lab after talking to a witness in his case, his car broke down. He opened the hood to take a look, hoping to be able to find out what was wrong as well as be able to fix it on his own.

"Need some help?" a familiar voice said from behind.

"I'm not sure yet, I..." Greg turned around to look at the good samaritan. He was surprised to find officer Astin walking up to him. "...You."

"CSI Sanders. We finally get a chance to talk."

Greg raised his eyebrows. "I'm not sure it's a good idea for us to talk."

"Why not? I just want to find out how your friend Stoke's doing."

"He's great, thanks for asking. Want me to tell him anything?" He gave him a look.

Astin grinned. "No. I'm just glad he's alright. My lawyer told me he doesn't remember what happened."

"For now. His memory loss might as well be just temporary."

"If not imaginary." the officer chuckled.

Greg was getting really angry but knew it wouldn't be a smart idea to let it show. "You know, some people would call this harrassment."

Astin started laughing. "What? We're just making small talk while I'm offering to help. It's my job, you know."

"I don't need your help."

Astin took a quick look under the hood of Greg's denali. "Judging from the looks of this, you need somebody's help. But suit yourself. Have a nice day." He walked off, still grinning.

Astin was right, Greg did need some help. But he would've rather walked all the way back to the lab by foot instead of taking this man's help. He came back to the lab an hour later than expected. "Greg, where have you been?" Russell asked annoyed. "I was starting to worry."

"Sorry, my car broke down and I had to wait for the tow truck." He sighed as he walked into the evidence room.

Russell followed him. "Are you alright? You look upset."

"Officer Astin drove by and asked if I needed his help. He said it was a great opportunity for us to talk." He rolled his eyes.

"...Did he say anything about the case?"

"Of course not! Do you think he would confess?" Greg walked out of the evidence room with an annoyed look on his face.

Again, Russell followed him as he walked into the break room. "We need to be careful with this. Going up against a police officer can end badly."

"We need to clear Nick. I don't care about the officer."

"He'll be fine."

"Oh come on." Greg turned around to fix himself a cup of coffee. "They'll be looking for someone to put the blame on. Who do you think it's going to be?"

"They won't just blame someone for the sake of it."

"Oh believe me, they will." Greg had an idea of what it was like to be in Nick's position right now. They were looking for a scapegoat in the Demetrius James case, too.

"Come on, Nick. You need to stay here. You're safe here," Sara was desperately trying to convince Nick to stay at the hospital when Greg walked into the room.

"Hey. What's going on?" he asked with a smile, not knowing about Nick's plan.

"He wants to go home!" Sara said annoyed. "You deal with this, I can't take this stubbornness anymore!" She stormed out. Everyone was on edge these days.

Greg watched her leave in confusion. "What is she talking about? You can't go home, Nick."

"Why not? I feel good enough." He moaned in pain while sitting up in his bed.

"Come on. Why do we have to do this over and over again? Stay in the hospital until you feel better."

"I am feeling better."

Greg walked up to him. "Don't make me do it."

"...Do what?"

"Prove you that you're not healed yet."

Nick sighed. "You know I don't like hospitals."

"Who does? But they're necessary sometimes. Plus, we can make sure you're safe in here. Do you want a police officer move in with you to assure that? With your luck, it's probably going to be Spencer!"

Nick chuckled. "Wouldn't want that."

"So how about you stay another few days and I'll visit you more often?"

"More often? You're already here twice a day!"

"We'll make it three. I can spend my lunch break with you."

Nick sighed. "Alright. I'll stay."