I'm glad you liked the first chapter, hope you'll enjoy the following, too! :)
Greg was only kind of right about the woman not bothering Nick again. Mrs. Douglas stopped contacting Nick, but his relationship with her didn't end yet. The case was still open and Greg was working on it. He was at Mrs. Douglas' house while Nick was on his way to a crime scene when he received a call. "Stokes. What are you talking about? What? But... Alright, I'll be over in half an hour. I'll hurry."
Nick drove over to Mrs. Douglas' house because Greg had asked him to over the phone. "Where is she?" he asked his younger colleague as he walked in.
"In the bedroom. She said she won't open the door until you're here." Greg walked Nick over to the bedroom. It was the room where her dead husband was found in.
"What happened? Why is she in there?"
"I don't know, I... We talked about the case and... My phone rang. When I came back she was gone. She then cried and screamed in the bedroom, said she needed you here..."
Nick raised an eyebrow. "What the hell?! You asked me to come here for this drama?!"
"I think she's having a nervous breakdown or something, Nick. What was I supposed to do? Just leave her like that?"
Nick gave Greg a look as he rolled his eyes and proceeded to knock on the bedroom door. "Mrs. Douglas, it's me, Nick Stokes from the crime lab, I..."
He couldn't even finish his sentence, she quickly opened the door when she heard his voice. "Thank god you're here..."
"...Why don't you come out?" He said as he reached out his hand to her.
She grabbed it and pulled herself close to him, hugging him. She started crying again. "I was so scared."
They stood there for a moment before Nick pulled back. "What scared you?"
She didn't answer, she just looked over to Greg rather terrified.
"...Him?"
She nodded.
"What?!" Greg said outraged. "What are you talking about?!"
"Can you send him out?" she asked.
"Uh... Sure... Uhm, Greg, could you give us a moment?"
"But I..." He sighed defeated. "Whatever."
While he walked out, Nick and the widow sat down on the couch in the living room. "Would you mind telling me why you were scared of him? He's a nice guy and a great CSI."
"Yeah I know that... but all those scars on his arms... What's up with that?" she asked as she slowly scooted over closer to him.
"He's been through a lot in the past weeks, it's not his fault and nothing you should be worried about," he explained, a little shocked she was frightened by this. Some scarring on his wrists remained from the Neil Novak martyrium he had to endure. Some bruising was still visible on his face, as well, as it had only been a few weeks since he was saved.
She gently put her hand on Nick's knee. "Well it just reminded me of the horrible things that happened to my husband..."
Nick looked at the hand she placed on his knee. It slowly went up to his thigh. "...Mrs. Douglas, it's nice to see you're fine. Me and my colleague will give you some space now, alright? ...You need some rest." He wanted to get off his seat, but she kept him from doing so.
"I don't feel tired..." She put her other hand on his chest. "...at all."
"Yeah but..." He gently grabbed her hands to get them off of him. "It's time for me to go." He got up, grabbed Greg's kit and walked out.
"What did you two talk about?" Greg asked as the two were walking towards their cars.
Nick shook his head as he handed Greg his kit.
"Is something wrong? Did she tell you why she was scared?"
"You reminded her of her husband and what happened to him."
"How did I do that? We hardly got the chance to talk about him."
Again, Nick shook his head. He didn't want Greg to know what just happened.
"What? Tell me."
Nick opened the door of his car. "You want to keep working this case, right?" When Greg nodded, he went on, "Then stop asking, you don't want to know."
"Greg!" Mrs. Douglas said from behind while Greg was on his way to the police department.
He turned around in surprise. "Mrs. Douglas...? What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to apologize for what happened on Tuesday... I didn't mean to be rude."
"...It's alright," he said, not knowing what actually happened. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah, thank you. Now that I know what happened to you I feel much better..."
"...What do you mean?"
"You know... The rape-thing."
"Excuse me?" Greg had a confused look on his face.
"This horrible man raped you. I saw it on the news but didn't know it was you back then." She laughed. "What am I saying? I didn't even know you back then."
Greg felt almost sad and disappointed. And also a little embarrassed. Nick talked to her about it? "He didn't... rape me, he..." His feelings were evident in his face.
She gently put her hand on his arm. "I assumed you tried to kill yourself, something like that! That would've been horrible! But when Nick explained to me that this was you they were talking about on the news... "
"Mrs. Douglas, what can I do for you?" he asked to make her stop talking about this. Not only did she have no clue of what actually happened, he also didn't feel comfortable talking with her about this. The fact that she knew was enough for Greg to consider dropping the case.
"I'm sorry, I kind of got carried away." She laughed. "It's just, when Nick said these things... It's so hard to believe your best friend would do something like that to you! And they didn't say anything about that on the news."
"...Best friend? What..."
"This guy who raped you. Nick said you used to be good friends with him."
Greg had a shocked, disbelieving look on his face. "...I gotta go..."
She grabbed his arm to keep him from leaving just yet. "If you ever need someone to talk, you know where to find me."
"Uh... Thanks but... Well, thanks."
She cleared her voice. "So... Your colleague, Nick... He's not answering my phone calls. Is he alright?"
"...Y-Yeah, he's fine... Why?"
"I was so worried! He said he'd call me. Why else would he ask for my phone number? And when I didn't hear from him I called him up... He's not answering. I thought something might've happened. He has a dangerous job, after all. You of all people should know, right?"
"N-No, he's fine... Don't worry about him." For now, Greg thought. He was so angry at him for telling these strange lies, he had no idea what he'd do to him once he found him.
"I'm so relieved!" She quickly hugged Greg. "Could you do me a favor and give these to Nick?" She handed him an envelope.
"...What's this?"
"Oh, nothing. Just a little something I made to show my gratitude. He saved my life, you know..."
He nodded. "Sure... I'll make sure he gets this..."
"Is he in there?" she asked, pointing at the police department.
"I-I don't know, I don't think so, he's..."
"Ah well, I'll drop by the lab later, alright? Thank you, Mr. Sander!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked away looking quite happy.