Surprisingly despite the evening's events and his mind awash with indecision, Greg had got to sleep relatively quickly, unfortunately he had only been asleep for about two hours when he was rudely interrupted by an almighty crash.

Immediately alert, he sat bolt upright in bed, his torso slick with sweat, a combination of the humid Las Vegas morning and the adrenaline that was currently pumping through him. Luckily as it was daylight, it was clear almost immediately what had caused the crash and his heart rate returned to normal quickly. He moved over to examine the shelf that had somehow mysteriously fell down all by itself and frowned. It wasn't new and he hadn't placed anything heavy on it recently that might have caused it to fall. There was a few small books and a stupid ornament dog that Sara had once bought him as a joke that had shattered into about a hundred pieces. Greg wasn't in the slightest bit upset about that, what was annoying was the humongous box of photos that had spilled out when the shelf crashed.

Knowing it would take him ages to get settled in bed again, he decided to start the clear up now, sweeping up the pieces of the dog and beginning to retrieve the mounds of photos that had fanned out all over the floor, wishing he had took the time to catalogue them into an album. The photos were wide and varied, some highly embarrassing baby/ growing up photos that he quickly stuffed away, afraid Nick or someone would walk in in the next minute, photos of his wild and crazy college years that caused him to smile and photos taken with his lab family. He froze as his hand wavered over one image. If this shelf collapsing wasn't some kind of supernatural sign that he needed to visit Robins, he didn't know what else was. He stared at the glossy image, the big smiles and found some similar ones. He remembered these days well.

Flashback – 3 Years before the abduction

Greg Sanders was one happy man. Here he was finally fulfilling his life's ambition to become a forensics scientist. He couldn't help smiling, so much so in fact it appeared he was freaking his new supervisor out somewhat.

"Do you think, you could perhaps tone your enthusiasm down somewhat?" Gil Grissom said politely. "It's just when we do an autopsy on a murder victim, it's just a little unsettling to see you looking almost happy about it."

Greg immediately painted a neutral expression on his face. " Sorry Grissom, I'm just overwhelmed to be here, I mean just wow! I can't wait to get stuck in to some serious work!"

Sara, a pretty brunette cocked an eyebrow towards him "Really? I wonder if you'll still be saying that by the end of your first week"

"I'm the newbie, I'm entitled to have newbie buzz aren't I?"

"Sure and make your you swing by the breakroom after you finish your first full shift tomorrow, we might have something for you" She winked at him.

"Oh awesome" Greg said again beaming the kilo watt smile they had already become fully accustomed to from their newest lab rat.

The next night:

It wasn't just anyone who got a 'welcome to the team' party in their honour, Nick was even bitterly complaining he hadn't had one but such was the impression young Greg Sanders had had on the team with his boundless enthusiasm in the short time they had known the kooky lab tech they felt obliged to.

"You guys really didn't have to make a fuss you know!" Greg had said as he entered the break room.

"I wouldn't really call some cups of fizzy pop, lame streamers, and some stale cake much of an effort" Warrick smiled

"I know I'm just genuinely quite touched" Greg said "It's not every day that people eat stale cake in my honour"

"We just wanted you to feel part of the group" Grissom said kindly

"Aw thanks you guys. I feel like I've known you all my life" He mock sobbed.

"Hey if we can't have a little party in honour of our newest member, when can we?" Catherine said "It's not the happiest workplace in the world"

Almost as if on cue, the stoic Conrad Ecklie entered, immediately dampening the atmosphere.

"I see you're all hard at work" He said sarcasticly "Anyway I thought you'd all like to meet our newest team member"

"I'm right here" Greg grinned, a mouthful of cake

Ecklie regarded him with some disdain, "not you Sanders, it already feels like you have been here a long time" he added rolling his eyes dramatically.

"No our other newest member, our brand new weapons expert, Jack Robins, I trust you will all pop along to ballistics in due course" He said, before walking out.

"Aw man!" Greg moaned "I bet he hired this dude on purpose just so he could upstage my 'newest member party'"

"I'm sure he didn't" Grissom said diplomatically

"Sure he already decided after less than a week that he HATEs me."

"Ecklie hates anyone" Catherine commented, " Don't take it to heart"

20 minutes of Dr Pepper chugging and stale cake consuming later they were down to ballistics to meet this Jack. Greg took an immediate disliking, Jack was tall and handsome, with defined cheekbones and this lustrous jet black hair, he was also annoyingly nice, it was impossible to really hate him. Nick seemed to form some instant bond with him that riled Greg somewhat as he had made little progress with the brusque Texan thus far.

As they all seemed to fawn over the newest newcomer, Greg found himself sulking somewhat at not being the centre of attention until Catherine shoved a camera in his face and said " let's take a picture of the newbies!"

Greg found himself for once unwillingly thrust in front of the camera, faking a smile with his uncomfortably draped around Jack's shoulder.

It was this image that Greg found himself unable to stop staring at. He remembered the awkwardness between himself and Jack during that photo taking and their working relationship in general but it had got better, in fact he reminisced sadly, Jack and him and had become firm friends.

1 year before the abduction

The whole lab had worked flat out on nailing a serial killer for some time, when they got the conviction they wanted, they had more than earned their right to celebrate. So while Grissom and Catherine had celebrated in their own private ways and retired for the night, the younger party including Greg, Nick, Warrick, Jack and Sara had headed out to well and truly celebrate a job well done.

Of course in their line of work, such obvious shows of celebration had to be avoided, anyone's psycho relative could be listening in so champagne toasts of self congratulations were most definitely out.

The group headed for a table in the corner, beer bottles in hand. It was strictly pleasure, both Sara and Warrick had brought dates with them and were chatting together politely meanwhile the three amigos, as they had come to be known for their close bond, were quickly huddled around the big screen watching some football game.

Greg and Jack had become quickly engrossed in the game, but Nick had just as quickly got distracted by the blonde at the bar, giving him the eye as she coyly flirted with the straw in her drink. Grabbing his beer off the table, all thoughts of the game were forgotten as he went to join her. Greg rolled his eyes at Jack, it was just typical, Nick was like this indestructible pulling machine, he couldn't have even put it down to the accent this time, she never even heard it. Greg was kind of seeing someone anyone, it wasn't serious but he found Carla a lot of fun and he certainly respected her enough not to cheat on with her the first pretty girl who gave him the eye, whilst she was on business. He was certainly never short of offers. The game came to an uneventful end, and Jack and Greg spent a few minutes, bemoaning the team's luck and performance. Jack though had seemed very preoccupied,almost troubled.

"Greg could I talk to you about something?" He said struggling to make himself heard above the rowdy football fans.

"Sorry, yeah, you wanna move?" he indicated, jerking his thumb to the couches in a quieter area. Greg lazily plopped down on one of the sprawling leather couches, Jack perched more uncomfortably opposite him. "So what did you want to talk about?" Greg asked, his eyes not on Jack but at the hot brunette girls getting hot and sweaty on the dance floor together.

Jack quickly gulped down the rest of his beer, checked there was no one in immediate earshot and quickly said.

"Greg I'm gay"

Greg who had been taking a swig of his beer at the time, was momentarily stunned, he forced himself to swallow the liquid to keep from spluttering in Jack's face. He stared dumbly and said "Really?"

"Yup" Jack affirmed.

"Wow" Greg knew he was being stupid and not offering any support or any thing in the way of communication at all, but his brain was whirring, why had he chosen to tell Greg? An uneasy feeling suddenly hit him.

" Erm why did you decide to tell me Jack?" He said awkwardly, almost not daring to hear the answer.

Jack looked at him wide eyed "What? You think? Oh god no, definitely not"

Despite himself, Greg couldn't help being mortified at the 'definitely not' and he guessed it showed on his face

"Oh Greg, I didn't mean it like that, you're perfectly attractive...but I can see I'm not handling this at all well am I?" He said, noting Greg's expression change from mortification to embarrassment and back to mortification again. He laughed because if he didn't he was sure he would cry. Luckily it seemed to lighten the atmosphere. Greg laughed too.

"Well that just did NOT come out right, I suppose what I'm trying to say is as one of my best buddies I wanted to tell you, and while I love you man, I don't love you and you're just not my type. Is that better?" He asked hopefully.

"Much better" confirmed Greg "I'm absolutely cool with it. I always wondered why you and that Sophie chick didn't work out, she was one hottie"

"Not my type" Jack smiled "I'm glad you're OK with it"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Greg frowned

"I don't know, it's just some people don't handle these things all that well, they might treat you differently"

"Not in my family" Greg said defiantly

"Thanks but Greg I don't want anyone else to know yet, if that's cool?"

"Hey it's your life, I won't tell anyone, my lips are sealed" Greg smiled

Just then Nick approached their couch "Hey what are you two looking so happy about it? In fact wait don't move, we need a happy Greggo and Jack pic instead of the usual moody pictures." He grinned grabbing his camera. Greg and Jack chinked their beer bottles together, a secret knowing smile, passed between them.

It was that memory and that photo that Greg held, how was it so possible for a man to change like that? To go from being one of his best friends, who he trusted all his secrets too, who he would once have trusted his life to someone who betrayed him so much, that he actually nearly lost his life as a result of it. It just made no sense. Jack was no casual acquaintance or just someone he worked with, he was a friend and a very good one at that and now he was facing the death penalty. It was the biggest transformation and he just could not get his head around it, even if he hadn't been the victim, he still would have struggled to understand it, Jack was quiet and sweet natured, he wasn't a killer, some mistake surely he would have said but there was no mistake, he had witnessed it all with his own eyes and he was the key player in it all. He scooped up all the photos and haphazardly dumped them back into the box. He knew what he had to do, he couldn't let Jack die without hearing why. He had to understand. He took purposeful strides into the kitchen and clutched the letter, Nicks words came back to him in an instant 'Please don't do it Greg' I'm sorry I just have to. Greg thought grabbing the phone. He took a deep breath, and hoped to God he was making the right decision. "Hello, it's Greg Sanders, I'd like to confirm a visitation order?"