Happy Halloween, guys! I planned on doing a short Halloween-story but didn't have enough time or ideas... ;) hope this chapter will make it up to you! Enjoy!

Greg didn't know he was actually right when he said Russell needed him at the lab. "Greg, you're early! Good!" Russell said ironic as he grabbed his arm and walked him into the office, where Brass was already waiting for them.

"What's going on?" Greg asked as he sat down.

"How's Nick doing?"

"Fine, I..."

Russell interrupted him. "Good. Here's the thing... Mrs. Douglas claims it was all self defense..."

"...What are you talking about?"

Brass cleared his throat. "She claims that Nick was the one leading her to the lake house and attacked her there... Her friend, Travis Felton, was beating him to save her, she says..."

"What? That's ridiculous. It doesn't even make any sense. She really wants to got with that?"

Brass nodded.

"But we found Nick's car. It was nowhere near that house. There were signs of a struggle!"

"Robin checked the blood for DNA... It wasn't Nick's... It was Mrs. Douglas'," Russell explained with a serious look on his face."

"...So?" Greg was angry and it showed. He felt like Russell was suggesting Nick was not the victim in this, but in fact, Mrs. Douglas was.

"We found his car in South Vegas. He had no business out there..."

Greg hastily shook his head. "I don't need to hear this. This crazy woman attacked Nick after she tried to frame Neil Novak for attacking me and you're actually considering she's innocent?!"

"Nobody said that, Greg." Brass chimed in. "But her story sounds quite believable..." When Brass saw the look on Greg's face, he quickly went on. "...Except that we all know Nick better than that."

"...Why are we even talking about this? Nobody's gonna believe her anyway, right?"

Russell and Brass shared a look. "It's a little complicated."

"...How?!" Greg got off his seat. "She's nuts, Nick's not. Spencer and I can testify to what really happened! What's complicated about that? Sounds pretty simple to me!"

"Nobody's gonna care what you and Spencer will have to say about this." Russell's serious look got even more serious when he said that.

"...What?"

"I told you to stay away from that case. You were a victim in this, you had no right to be there!"

"...I couldn't just leave this to some cops, I had to be there for Nick. I..."

Russell interrupted him. "I can already see Mrs. Douglas' lawyer claiming you and Nick wanted to get back at her."

"Nobody's gonna believe that."

"Don't be too sure about that. It's starting to make sense to me."

"Russell, you can't possibly be serious! You think Nick and I would be able to do something like that?"

"I think we're all a bit upset at the moment..." Brass tried to cool them down a bit. "We're not helping matters if we start attacking each other. We all know Nick would never do anything like that. And Greg wouldn't, either, Russell. You know that. And neither would my guys, Spencer's innocent as well."

"Russell, I didn't mean to hurt the case or Nick. I just couldn't sit around doing nothing knowing that this woman was about to hurt him... I couldn't have known that this would happen."

"...Well, that's what rules are for, Greg. They can protect you from things like that." Russell was still angry with Greg but knew he didn't do anything wrong, except for not obeying his orders.

"Russell, I heard them talk about Nick. They attacked me and Spencer. They planned this."

"The DA believes them. At least enough to look into this."

Greg rubbed his eyes. "What can I do?"

"The DA's gonna ask you some questions. Answer truthfully. There's nothing else you can do at the moment."

"Is it true that he felt responsible for Randall Worthington attacking you?" the DA asked Greg while they were sitting in the DA's office. Brass and Russell were there, too.

"...Where did you get that from?" Greg asked surprised. Right before Nick got missing, the last conversation him and Greg had was about Nick's guilt.

"Just answer the question, please."

"He did mention it, but..."

"When?" the DA asked, interrupting Greg.

"Two days ago, but..."

Again, Greg was interrupted. "You mean the day he got missing?"

"Yeah. The day he was found beat up and drugged up in Mrs. Douglas' lake house," he added with a sarcastic tone.

"Please just answer my questions."

"...But..." He looked rather helpless to Brass and Russell. "You wouldn't even let me finish my sentences. It's important to note that..."

Once again, he got interrupted. "Alright now, listen. There's no case. Everyone knows about Mrs. Douglas' mental state and the evidence you found against her in the kidnapping case. Judge Hamill, Randall Wortington's uncle, however, wants this case in court. He asked the DA's office for this favor. We agreed to look into it because he's a very well respected judge, but other than that, I'm on your side." Greg, Russell and Brass all looked surprised but relieved. But they were a little too quick with that positive reaction. The DA went on, "However... If we don't do something to help his nephew he assured me that Mrs. Douglas would keep pursuing the sexual harassment suit."

"It doesn't matter, Nick's innocent, he..." Greg got interrupted by Russell.

"What does he want?"

"He wants us to drop all of the drug charges, but will confess to battery. Prison's off the table."

After thinking about it for a second, Russell nodded.

"...Did you just agree to that?" Greg asked shocked.

"Whatever will help Nick will be done, Greg."

"That's what, up to 20 years in prison this guy will never have to face? I want to help Nick as much as you do, but he didn't do anything wrong, Mrs. Douglas has absolutely no evidence to back up any of her stories!"

"No prison, that's fine with us. Tell that to judge Hamill and his nephew." Russell had a bitter look on his face as he said that. He hated this as much as Greg did, but knew it was the only way to make sure Nick would be alright.

On their way out, Greg made sure to walk fast enough for Russell and Brass to have a hard time keeping up. "Wait for us, will you? We have to talk about this!" Russell yelled after him.

"I don't have anymore to say to this, Russell!"

Russell caught up with him. "Well I do!" He grabbed Greg's arm. "I get that you're angry. I am, too. It sucks that we had to negotiate with this piece of crap to get Nick out of this sexual harassment suit. It also sucks that he'll probably get off with a fine. But Nick's not going to have to go to court. We just lifted this weight off his shoulders in a few seconds, that should count for something, right?"

Greg shoved Russell away without saying a word and walked out of the building.

For the next two days, the mood at the lab was quite unusual and weird. Everyone could feel the tension between Greg and Russell and they all had a hunch what it was about, but neither one of them had the guts to ask them about it. And no one knew enough to be able to fix things between them. Greg knew how to fix it, though, and was finally ready to do so. He knocked at Russell's door before he walked in. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." Russell offered him a seat, but he refused to.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I was out of line the other day. You said we needed to trust you with your decisions and that's what I'll do." He sighed with a faint smile.

"Thank you. I didn't want to make you feel betrayed, I was just trying to look out for Nick."

"I know... It's ju..." Greg stopped himself. "So... are we good?"

Russell nodded. "What did you want to say?"

"Nothing, it's just... I feel like there's no justice, you know? Randall Worthington's gonna get away with this. Scot-free, with a slap on the wrist, while... while I have to live with the consequences of his deeds." Greg sat down on the seat Russell had offered him before. "And now Nick will have to, as well."

Russell put his glasses down. "Randall Worthington going to prison wouldn't help you deal with this any better, would it? And we spared Nick at least one consequence to live with."

"I know. And I'm glad we did. It's just..." Again, he sighed. "I hate to admit it, but I've gotten vengeful. I thought I was over it since Neil Novak is in a coma, but I feel these feelings again. I want Worthington to pay for what he did. And these feelings are strong enough for me to consider letting my best friend go through exhausting court hearings... I feel horrible about this, but I just can't change it."

"You need to cut yourself some slack," Russell replied in a calm voice. "Nobody's expecting you to feel a certain way about these things. We all feel vengeful sometimes, it's human."

"I do it all the time! Remember the suspect a few weeks ago? We thought he murdered his mother and all I could think was that he deserved to rot in jail for it. It turned out he was innocent."

"So? We're all wrong sometimes. It's not like you'd ever act on these thoughts, right? You'd never go on a killing spree, killing everyone you think would deserve it."

Greg chuckled a bit. "Of course not. But I didn't use to think about revenge like that. I believe in second chances, at least I used to. But now..." Greg shook his head in desperation. "I don't want to feel like that. It makes me miserable."

Russell took a moment to look into some paperwork on the desk. "You know, Nick took the next two weeks off. I don't know if he's up for company or if he'd rather be alone right now, but you could take some time off, too, and spend some of that time with him."

"I don't know, Russell..."

"Or go and see your family. I just don't think you should be here for the next few days. Get your mind off of all these things, see if it helps."