"Greg was helping us investigate a possible double-homicide at Julie's house." Catherine laid down the photos of the things Greg had documented. "Here's the catch. He found hints of abuse in the house. Greg couldn't put two and two together just then."

Nick leaned on the light table as Sara and Langston joined them. "So, what you're saying is that Greg stumbled across something in that house?"

Sara reached out and touched Nick's elbow. "Hey, I don't know if it helps, but he was doing his job and he was doing it well."

"After Greg processed the house, he sent all his evidence to the proper people to be tested and analyzed correctly. All the evidence points to Julie. She's not as innocent as she seems."

"That's because she's not a girl." Sara put her file down and flipped it open to a jail record. "Julie isn't her real name. Her son, Ivan, lives with her and she's nearly forty-seven-years-old. Meet Alexis Brown from North Las Vegas. She's got hypopituitarism. She's been a child virtually all her life. She's also been put in Juvenile since she was nine. Ivan is her only son from her late husband who had a form of dwarfism. She has a history of killing birds, cats, neighbors' pets, and sending boys or males to the hospital."

Nick felt his throat close up, but the words came out. "Was it her?"

The silence was overwhelming and they all looked down at the innocent face of Alexis.

There was a knock and everybody looked up.

Brass shrugged. "Thought I'd tell you, we found something. Julie turned up at a bus stop."

-Greg-

He finally had the strength to reach around him. He could feel the smooth, uncut surface of the metal around him. He felt his hands find his space to be made of harsh metal. It reminded him of the time Nick had been buried alive. He could still see it clearly, how scared Nick was when they pulled him out.

Greg was finding his own fortress within his own mind, but he couldn't reach out to move off his back. The space was too small and the metal was starting to feel warm from his body heat. Oxygen was slowly dying, but he knew he'd be okay.

Somehow.

He decided to cross his arms over his chest and take a deep breath.

He could hear Nick laughing at something. Catherine was scolding Hodges or Greg about something. Mandy was hollering from across the hall at him. Archie was tacking away at his keyboard with his earphones in and drumming to a beat with his feet. He could hear the sounds of Doc rolling his dead friends about.

It was amazing how easily Greg could remember the sounds. But his mind went fuzzy on specific details about their faces or emotions.

Suddenly, he saw his house. Walking up the pathway, into his house. The spotless home he'd come to live in. The plain hallways, the white-washed kitchen with the white tiles, appliances, drapes over the window, and even the counter and cabinets. He passed into his washroom with his detergent still sitting on the top. He picked up his folded laundry in it's basket and made his way passed his study and writing space and into his bedroom.

Everything was just as he'd left it. The pictures of his closest friends.

But under his lamp was the only picture he wouldn't let anybody touch. The picture he'd taken of Nick snoozing away at work.

It was the only thing he could see right now. The gently slope of Nick's back, the way his lips were parted just so. The way his face looked so relaxed. How the hand with the class ring was tucked under the opposite arm. How Nick's dark gray shirt fit tightly to his harsh shoulders.

It was clear as day and it was back in Greg's second week of working at the lab. When nobody knew his name nor cared if he was alive or not. He knew all their names, but nobody knew his name, well, not really.

It seemed like Nick kind of knew who he was. He would try and remember Greg's last name. That made Greg take the photo. Somebody would care if he disappeared or if something happened to him...

-Nick-

He stepped out of his car as the officers parted.

Alexis was kicking her feet back and forth as she let her hands press into the bench on either side of her. She was wearing a plain, flowered dress and a pair of white Mary-Jane's that matched the white bow in her hair.

"Alexis?"

She turned, her face going from innocent and happy to enraged and shock. "Who? Me?"

"I know you're name is Alexis Brown."

She sighed and crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

Nick approached her, tension obvious in his movements. "Where did you put Greg? We can't find him."

"Away. He didn't want my poor son, so, nothing but anger for him there." Just as before, she gave Nick a perky smile. "You should've promised him you'd always let him die."

Nick's heart constricted. She'd been overhearing his promise to the unconscious Greg. She'd been around when Nick wanted that time alone with Greg. "Why?"

"Because he's not very bright and didn't seem to notice your pass at him. Most men and women would." Alexis leaned back, against the mesh backing of the bus stop. She smiled at Nick. "If you were hoping to be his first, you're wrong. Though, you can still have his kiss. Greg hasn't kissed anybody with all his heart." She looked Nick right in the eye. There was steel in her heart that made her colder than ice.

It was taking everything Nick had not to strangle the girl. Greg was the closest thing he had to a brother this far from home. It was also the only thing Greg and Nick could have without Nick making it obvious how much he loved Greg.

It hit Nick like a sack of bricks.

"You figure it out?"

Nick turned to one of the officers. "Get CSI Willows on the line!" He looked back at Alexis. "You wouldn't really...?"

"Oh, no. I have." Alexis smiled. "He's been buried in the desert somewhere. Ivan was done with him and just threw him away along with the other bodies of boys he's had who didn't want him. The promise was that if they can give him what he wants, then Ivan can set them free. The freedom is more of a freedom of death."

Nick knew what she meant and ran to the officer who had got Catherine on the line. "Catherine, we need to get out, into the desert! Greg might still be alive!"

"What?"

"Well, he might be dead soon." Nick looked over his shoulder at Alexis who was being handcuffed and thrown into one of the cruisers. "Alexis said Ivan buried Greg int he desert somewhere."