A/N: Sooo frustrating I haven't had time to work on this story, but recently I've put a few hours aside because I'm determined to get this sequel done, drafted where I went it to go, done some rough scenes, now it just needs fleshing out in detail. A million trillion apologies. The next 3 chapters are completely done and will appear periodically, meanwhile I am motoring on with the rest now I'm in a writing vein of mood.

That evening Greg sauntered into work without a care in the world, he felt filled with a new purpose. Some of the staff did a double take, since the abduction, the happy go lucky Greg had slowly but surely started to show glimmers of returning but he hadn't been this chipper for months.

Lab techs huddled together in whispers, they speculated just how could a man who had gone through such unspeakable trauma, leading him to the brink of death, bounce back like that? It was admirable to say the very least but tonight he was practically bouncing as if that fateful night had never happened. It was pleasing but it was also worrying, what had caused such an abrupt change?

"Good evening Mandy" Greg proclaimed, sidling up to the brunette lab lech, even lightly brushing her bottom as he came up beside her.

"Greg!" Mandy exclaimed astonished "What can I do for you?"

"Isn't a guy allowed to just come in and see your beautiful smile?" Greg replied cheekily

"Well no because they usually want something in return" Wendy smiled "Say speaking of which, how was your date last night?"

"Oh don't ask" Greg said dismissively, wincing at the memory.

"Ouch that bad?" sympathised Mandy

"Like I said I don't want to talk about" he said but quickly brightened " but I would like to talk about more exciting things!"

"Such as..." Mandy pushed.

"Such as my imminent trip back out into the field" Greg replied, his eyes sparkling.

"Gosh that's great Greg, I'm really pleased" Mandy enthused genuinely

"Yeah Grissom thinks I'm ready, he consulted with Doctor Lawson and she's happy too, so I guess I'm just waiting for the call" Greg said happily.

"Greg" Grissom said, popping his head in.

"Ah speak of the devil!" Greg exclaimed "Excellent timing Griss"

"We've got work to do" Grissom beckoned to him.

"Good luck" Mandy called after the departing Greg

Greg turned around and made a thumbs up gesture and smile before following Grissom into his office.

Nick, Catherine, Sara and Warrick were already there. Catherine and Sara seated, Nick and Warrick casually leaning against the door.

Grissom was preparing to dole out the assignments. "OK" he said briefly flipping through the notes. "Nicky you're with me on a robbery at a grocery store off the I-15. Warrick ,Sara, B and E turned into a 419 in Henderson and Greg I want you to go with Catherine on a body dump" He squinted to read the finer details of the case "Oh" His brow furrowed at something he read and he looked up at Greg awkwardly. "Actually it's probably best you come with me and Nicky on our case Greg" He quickly corrected.

Greg frowned " Why the change Grissom?"

Gil silently handed the note to Catherine and Greg who read it quickly

" Oh" he said "Okay" looking considerably paler than he had a few moments ago. Catherine rubbed his back in sympathy. "What an awful coincidence" she commented, passing the note to Nick, Sara and Warrick.

"Oh man" Nick sighed reading the case details Body discovered partly submerged in a storm drain. His own personal memories of that night were that it was the worst night ever, when Catherine found him and Greg looked gone...oh he couldn't have even begun to imagine what it had been like for Greg himself, tied up with no idea if anyone was coming for him or even if he could survive that long. And even after that when they finally freed him and he wasn't breathing. Awful, awful memories. The mood had turned immediately sombre in the office on learning the location of that body, what a cruel twist of fate. It was difficult for Greg to think of anything else other than that could have been me.

"Right, okay then, are we all sorted on the finer details?" Grissom said eager to raise the atmosphere and get things moving.

"You ready?" He indicated to Greg.

"Sure am" Greg replied with false brightness. Soon, they were on their way, Grissom quickly debriefing. " One worker at the time, was locked in the storage closet whilst the assailant made their getaway, shots fired but no casualties. Greg I want you to process the scene and Nick will supervise. Brass and myself will be there if needed but I want to see how you manage. The scene has been cleared" He added. "Good Luck" he said touching Greg's shoulder as he got out the car.

Greg blew out his cheeks, it was going to be absolutely fine, confidently he carried in his kit box, with Nick reassuringly at his side and an officer stationed at the door. His eyes immediately swept the small store, his brain quickly kicking into forensics mode.

There was a distressed looking middle-aged female shopkeeper chatting to Brass, the cash register was splayed open on the counter, its contents raided. A few small coins were scattered here and there on the floor. Two bullet holes presumably fired to frighten the woman into submission, otherwise they were a lousy shot, were embedded high on the wall behind the counter.

Greg's keen eyes also spotted a few red drops spattered on the floor, bending to examine the sticky substance it was clear it was blood, Greg frowned, raising himself to his full height. "Miss erm...French?" Greg asked, squinting to read the red name tag pinned to her red uniform. "Were you hurt at all? Was there a struggle?"

Miss French turned away from Brass to regard the man who had just spoke. She raised her eyebrow slightly before replying in an unmistakenbly thick Texan accent.

"My, my ain't you a little young for this kind of work honey?"

Greg felt his cheeks darken slightly but ignored the comment, pressing her, "there's blood on the floor"

"Yes sir there is, that is where I slashed the young hoodlum on his wrist with my knife" She said proudly.

Greg blinked in surprise, apparently the woman was a lot feistier than she appeared.

"You did?"

"Yep, I cut him good on his wrist before he locked me in the closet." Greg shook his head slightly at the have a go heroism the woman had exhibited. Brave but totally stupid, when would people learn they were more than likely to end up dead trying to be the hero than if they just co-operated?

"Okay Miss French, did you get a good look at the man's face?" Greg asked

" He was no man sir, he was just a boy, I didn't get a good look at his face because he had one of those hoodie things all the young ones wear but for sure he was a kid, real nervous and not quite sure how to handle that pistol you know?"

Greg nodded.

"So he told me to empty the cash register and put it in his bag. He fired his pistol into the wall above my head so I darn well did it. Then he told me to move into the store closet, presumably so he could make his getaway but before he locked me in that cupboard I slashed his wrist with a knife I concealed. He called me a f***** bitch and slammed the door."

"Okay then" Greg said digesting the information carefully, "so you never saw how he left?"

"No sir"

"Okay, thank you" Greg smiled.

If she slashed him on the wrist, there should be a lot more blood than what they had already seen. Nick was busy photographing the bullet holes so Greg tracked the blood. Unusually there was none near the door, where the thief was expected to have made his exit or anywhere near that area. The biggest blood pool was near the closet where she slashed him and a few dots here and there, so where did he go?

His eyes fell on a tiny red dot on the restroom door handle. Bingo! Greg looked around, and seeing Nick and Brass still busy, he swung the door open. The small window inside was open and more tiny droplets of blood were spattered on it and the frame. After taking photographs and dusting for any prints, Greg casually swung open the door to each of the stalls, hoping to see if the gun had been ditched as is often the case when assailants panic. His search of the first two yielded nothing but as he opened the third, his heart leapt into his mouth, he had found the gun alright, what he did not count on was the the frightened wild-eyed kid who was still holding it and pointing it shakily right at him.

"YOU COME ONE STEP CLOSER, I'LL BLOW YOUR FREAKING HEAD OFF!" He screamed.

To be continued...