Chapter Three:

"Ooh... ow... my toe. My toe. My toe. Ow..." Hopping on one foot towards the doorway, Greg clicked on the light, revealing the mini blue train, the cursed object that he had stubbed his toe on in the dark.

If Nick was still living with them, he would have picked up all the boys toys before they went to bed, leaving a clear walkway to any door or light switch. Greg still hadn't got the sense to do that, still relying on a man that wasn't even there anymore to lock all the doors and windows, make sure any electrics that didn't need to be turned on were turned off and picking up dangerous toys that could cause serious injury to unsuspecting toes.

"Ow," He dropped to the edge of his bed, pulling off his sock to see the damage. His little toe was red and throbbing, but it didn't appear to be broken. He rubbed the side of his foot, feeling a wet spot of blood. "Arrgh." He realised the tip of the train had pierced through his skin.

"Greg?" His younger sister, Aza stepped into his brightly lit bedroom, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just stubbed my toe." Putting his arm around her, Greg hugged her tightly against his side, gently combing his fingers through her tousled brown hair. "Why are you awake? It's... three in the morning." He checked the time beside him.

"Why are you?" She reversed the question on him.

Greg gave her a smile, lifting her onto the bed beside him. "I don't sleep much lately. I'm up most nights working anyway. When I'm home, it just feels weird to sleep when it's dark out."

"I can't sleep because Daddy's snoring."

"Oh that's Mom, trust me. Dad doesn't snore, he never has. Mom says it's her allergies, but she's been snoring since I was a kid." Greg crawled backwards on his bed, resting his head against his pillow. His sister did the same, giving him a curious look as she dropped her head to the pillow beside his own. "What?"

"Why wasn't Nick here this weekend?" Their mother had told them that he was away working, but she didn't believe that for a second. She knew that something was up and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Why do you think?"

"Did you fall out?" Aza guessed. "Did he move out? Why? When Zane and Micah fall out, they shout at each other for a little while, then Mom separates them. They're friends again within a few hours." The twelve year old insightfully told him.

"Grownups fall out a little definitely to bickering teens."

"What did you fight about?"

"You ask way too many questions, kiddo." Greg playfully tickled his youngest sister's sides, erupting a giggle from her lips. "Nick and I... it's complicated. It's always been complicated and it's gonna remain like that until one of us is... you know. Things between us have been complicated since the first time he laid eyes on me. I love him. But maybe Mom was right. Maybe I shoulda found some boring normal boyfriend that wouldn't complicate my life so much."

"But you love, Nick, and he loves you. That means you're meant to be together. Shrek and the princesses love is complicated. They live happily ever after though."

"You can't compare me to a cartoon, especially not Shrek. Besides, they're more alike than they think. Their relationship works because they're both ogres. It's only complicated in the beginning, because the princess is conflicted over the curse of the ogre that she has and Shrek is just doing a job to try and get the fairy tale creatures off his front lawn... and don't compare my life to some fairytale cartoon."

"You're only embarrassed because you know the movie too well." Aza giggled, resting against her elbow beside her brother. "The story just builds up to it. Shrek and the princess belong together because they love each and accept each other for who they are."

"Is that what they're teaching in schools these days? Shakespeare is finally out the window, huh? I would have loved to study something like Shrek and the princesses romance back in my day. My old boss continuously quoted Shakespeare stuff, but I never knew what he was talking about. Some of it stuck. Like... a fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. He said it loads of times on different cases. And the course of true love never did run smooth. He quoted that one at a crime scene where a husband had literally bashed..."

Before the word 'brains' crossed his lips, Greg realised that he was talking to a pre teen that shouldn't know things like that.

"Anyway, that one is pretty much a quotation of my own love life with Nick." He caught sight of his younger sister yawning, giving her another playful tickle. "Go on, you should go back to bed. You've got a long drive back home in the morning."

"I don't want to."

"You have to, doesn't matter if you don't want to." He chuckled softly, giving her a playful push towards the edge of the bed. "Go on, I'll see you in the morning."

"It's so unfair." She reluctantly climbed off the bed, pouting her lip out at him. "You're a much nicer big brother than Micah, but you live so far away. Why can't you live closer to us?"

"Because my life is here. You'll understand when you're older. Doesn't mean that we're not a family. We can still see each other whenever we want."

"Not when school starts up again." She climbed back onto the bed, crossing her legs as she looked at her brother in front of her. "Why would you want to live so far away from your family? I bet Nick's really lonely without all of his family."

"Yeah... I bet he is." Greg agreed with her. "But how can I be lonely when I've got you lot traipsing through my house every other weekend." He playfully tickled her, before he pulled her in for a hug. "Go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night." Aza returned the hug, climbing off the bed again. "Hey Greg, if you want Nick back, you have to fight for him. No one in the fairytales just gives up on getting the person that they love. They always fight for them, then they get together and they live happily ever after."

"Because it would be a pretty boring storyline otherwise." He pointed out to her, giving her a smile. "Stop analysing my life, you're twelve. Go back to bed." He ushered her away, getting a smile out of her.

"Night."

"G'night." Greg dropped his head back to his pillow, giving out a wide yawn. He reached for Nick's pillow beside him, still containing the scent of the man he adored. He really did want him back, but he didn't know what else he could do besides begging him to take him back.

After a few minutes of lying in his cold dark, lonely bedroom, Greg decided that he wasn't going to sit on it anymore. He needed his husband to talk to him. He needed to at least know if Nick still loved him. He pushed himself out of bed, throwing his pyjamas across the room on route to grabbing his disposed clothes that he had been wearing all day.

He drove straight to the lab without telling anyone, bumping into Sara the second he arrived.

"You're not on shift tonight."

"Hello to you too." He smiled at her, stuffing his shaking hands into his jeans pockets. "Hey Sara, have you seen Nick tonight?" He followed her through the labs hallways, towards the open door to the trace lab. "He is still on shift tonight, isn't he?"

"Uh... yeah, I think so. I haven't seen him though. He's probably out in the field." She glanced around the deserted lab, before she started rifling through the stack of files on Hodges' desk. "Shouldn't you know if you own husband is on shift?" Sara smirked, stepping around the desk to search through the second pile.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Hodges hurried through the halls, stopping Sara from messing up his system. "You can't just barge in here and do what you like."

"Where's my results then, David? You promised me them hours ago." Sara demanded, giving out a heavy sigh as he started searching through his supposed system for her results. He finally found it, slapping it into her awaiting palm, before he walked away. "Thank you." She took the file with her out of the door, noticing the look on Greg's face. "Miss the old night shift crew?"

"A little." He shrugged, following her through to the layout room where she had her case notes and photos set up. "Wouldn't say that I'm exactly missing, David Hodges. But I miss stuff." He stayed at the doorway of the room, keeping out of her way while she got on with her work. "Sara..."

"Yeah." She cast her eyes towards him, unable to recall the last time she saw him look so nervous. "What's up?"

"Nick and I..." He spoke softly, licking his lips as he inhaled a deep breath. "We're not together anymore."

"I guessed something was up." Sara took a seat at the table, motioning for him to take the empty seat beside her. "Nick's been really quiet the last couple of months. Like really quiet. I know he's usually quiet while he's working, but the silence has been deafening around him lately."

"Really?" He took the seat beside her.

"Yeah, so I guessed something was up. I didn't think it would be this, but it explains a lot. What'd he do this time?"

"It wasn't like that." Greg shook his head, looking down at his hands in his lap. "It wasn't even him, not really. It was me. I kicked him out. I ruined everything we had in a heartbeat. And I hate myself for it. All my life, I've ruined every good thing that came along. I can't even help it, it's just me."

"I wouldn't say that you ruin everything you touch." Sara took his hand into her own, giving him a smile as he looked up at her. "It's not broken completely. You can still fix it. Things between you and Nick." She explained, seeing the confusion on his face. "Granted I haven't known, Nick, anywhere near as long as you have, but I'd say he's definitely still in love with you. He seems a little lost and lonely at the moment."

Looking over his shoulder as she motioned towards the window, Greg spotted his husband making his way through the lab, not even taking any notice of anyone around him.

"Hey," Sara stopped him from standing up. "Maybe you shouldn't do the reunion thing in the middle of the lab. You can talk to him after work or something."

"I just have to see him." Greg pushed himself to his feet, following in the older man's footsteps towards the break room. He reached out for the door handle, ready to walk inside, when a case of butterflies in the stomach suddenly hit him. He watched the man making himself a coffee, missing the simple action of watching him in their own kitchen.

Before Nick could turn around and see him spying on him, Greg made a hasty getaway, returning home to the comfort of his bed.

The next day, he waved goodbye to his family, wishing they could stay a day longer, but they had to get back to their own lives. He woke the boys up to say goodbye to them, before he started getting their breakfasts ready for their long day ahead.

"I wish Nana and Granddad could come round every weekend." Colt stated, looking out the window at the finished climbing frame. There was now a bright blue slide, a sturdy climbing wall with a rope dangling from it and the ladder up to the platform that had a roof on it now. "Can we play outside, Papa?"

"No, we have to get ready for school." Greg lifted his son onto one of the seats around the island, handing him his spoon for his cereals. "You can play on it after school. Eat up, I'm gonna go and get your clothes." He hurried up the stairs, feeling exhausted after no sleep last night. He grabbed a t-shirt and shorts for Colt, before he searched for some things for Jackson in the boys bedroom.

Once they finished their breakfasts, Colt got himself dressed, while Greg lay Jackson on the living room floor to put him in a clean diaper. He had given up trying to potty train him at the moment. It was a lot harder to keep on top of with everything else going on in his life at the moment.

"Dada," The toddler lifted his arms over his head, allowing his father to put his t-shirt on him. "Dada."

"Daddy is picking you up from day care later." Greg lifted him against his chest, pulling up the toddler's jeans over his diaper. "Papa's got to work all day today. You'll spend the afternoon with Daddy though. I think he's taking you to the park."

"Play. I play." Jackson struggled in his arms.

"We've gotta go soon, c'mon. Let's go find your brother." He pressed a kiss to his little boy's cheek, lifting him into his arms as he climbed to his feet.

"Colt, are you ready? Colt?" He searched the house for him, finding him attempting to tie his shoes at the front door.

"I can't do it, Papa." He gave up with a sigh. "I'll never be able to do it. Stupid laces."

Carefully setting Jackson on the floor, Greg knelt down in front of Colt, grabbing for the dangling laces to do it himself.

"Nooo!" His son squealed at him. "You have to show me." He angrily kicked his foot, stopping his father from tying them.

"Colt, we don't have time."

"Daddy shows me. Nooo!" He pushed Greg away from his shoe. "I don't want you to do it. I want to do it."

Throwing his hands up in the air, Greg gave up trying to help him, grabbing their jackets by the door instead. He left his son to his tantrum, leaving his shoes untied as he packed his son's things into his school bag. "Daddy's picking you up from school later. You can ask him to teach you how to tie them again. Are we ready to go?"

"Papa," Colt motioned towards his father's clothes. "You're still in your PJ's."

"I knew that." He smiled at the two of them. "Okay, take your brother into the playroom for a few minutes. I'll be right back." Greg checked to make sure that Colt took Jackson with him, before he hurried up the stairs to his room. He grabbed his work jeans and a t-shirt, quickly dressing himself into them, so they could leave.

He dropped Jackson off at day care first, before he took Colt to school. The first graders classroom was at the back of the school, a separate building from the other years, so the younger kids had their own privacy from the older ones. He led his son to his cubby first, hanging up his jacket for him, while Colt took his bag off.

"You got your lunch, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Colt pulled out his batman lunch box from his backpack. He slid it into the slot of his cubby, before he left his father's side to find his friends.

"Oh, bye then." His father sarcastically remarked, zipping up his backpack again. He gave his son a wave from the hallway, but Colt and his best friend, Max were already too busy to even notice him.

"Hey, your Colt's father, right?" A woman appeared beside him, handing him an invitation from her hands. "It's Cora's birthday party next week. She's invited her whole class. A treasure hunt at our house."

"Thank you." Greg looked over the invitation, rather than the woman trying to introduce herself to him.

"I'm Vicca by the way." The woman motioned over her shoulder towards a pigtailed little girl. "That's my daughter, Cora."

"Greg." He shook her hand, putting the invitation in Colt's bag, so he didn't lose it. He gave her a smile, before he turned towards the door to get to work. He felt really tired after no sleep last night, but he was bound to the lab for the next few days, working on overdue paperwork that the last supervisor left for him.

"Ooh, Mr Sanders," One of the labs newest recruits stepped out of his old lab, handing him a stack of files. She brushed her thick black fringe across her forehead, explaining, "I was here all night processing every DNA sample that night shift brought me."

"Why are you giving it to me then?"

"Because I managed to find an ID on the suspect. He was arrested a few years ago for driving under the influence. I called Brass. They put an APB out on him and he told me to tell you as soon as you get in. Since you're the acting supervisor and all." She reported, giving him a smile. "Welcome back, boss."

Greg returned with a sarcastic smile, making his way towards his office at the end of the hall. He ditched the files on his desk, noticing a posit note stuck to his computer. He peeled it off, recognising the number written on it as his mother's. "Gone less than five minutes and you're already checking up on me?" He spoke to himself, before he gave Captain Brass a call. "Hey, it's me. Where are we at on the case?"

"We're just outside the suspect's house with a warrant now. We might need a CSI on hand."

"I'm game." Greg reached for a pen and some paper. "What's the address?"

After a short drive to the edge of town, Greg arrived at the house related to the night shifts case. He grabbed his kit off the back seat, making his way up to the house, where Brass and one of grave yard shift CSI's, Carla was waiting. She usually worked with Nick, but thankfully, he couldn't see any sign of the man.

"Hey, it doesn't look like anybody's home." Carla ushered the younger man inside. "Do you want me to catch you up on the case?"

"Yeah. I read some of the case notes on the way over."

"Well, the remains of multiple women were found while some construction guys were doing some renovations to a parking lot in town. Oldest set of remains were from at least eight years ago and the most recent body was that teenager that's been on the news a lot lately. As she was the freshest, the suspects DNA on her was still useable and we managed to get a match."

Greg ducked under the police crime scene tape, taking a look around the messy house. "This guy is the DNA match?" He looked over the place, checking to make sure that his husband wasn't in sight, rather than anything that was case related. "I don't know about you, but he doesn't exactly scream 'master mind' behind it all."

"They never do." Carla smirked, showing him to a study that she had been processing. "I found the picture of the latest vic on his desk." She held it up. "Looks like a surveillance pic. He must have been stalking her for a while. At least two or three weeks by the date stamps on these. There's three more there, but we haven't actually been able to identify all the other vics yet. They could be still alive, or they could be... we haven't figured that part out yet."

Greg set down his case, reaching into his pocket for some gloves. "Don't you have a home to go to?" He noticed Carla yawning out the corner of his eye. "I can handle this if you wonna get back."

"Are you kidding? I wonna see this case to the end. Other people might just be able to leave it and head home to sleep, but I like to see how it ends."

Greg chuckled softly, admiring her work ethic. "Okay, just try to stick to the easy stuff. You don't want to compromise any evidence for the case. The trainees are outside. You could always help out by bossing them about if you want. Makes me feel better when I'm tired."

"Excellent." Carla chuckled, rubbing her hands together. "He's not here." She saw the look on his face as she turned towards the door. "Nick. He's gone home already. Give me a shout if you need a hand. Oh, and there's a funky smell in the bedroom upstairs. I took a quick peek around, but didn't see anything case related. You might wonna take a look though."

"Thanks." He gave her a smile, turning his attention towards the desk as she left the room. He retrieved his phone from his pocket, snapping a few pictures of the large map that was under all the papers. He didn't know what this man did for a living, but there were a lot of research papers on trees growing in the local woods. He glanced up as he heard a rattling noise, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from.

Taking a step towards the window, Greg looked out at the tree line surrounding the house, noticing a figure running towards it. He quickly grabbed for his weapon holster, hurrying for the back door.

"Suspect in the tree line!" He called out, hoping the deputies out front would hear him.

"Sanders!" Brass hurried through the house, going as quick as his legs could carry him after the young CSI. "I'm getting too old for this." He panted, reaching for his radio from his belt. "Control, we've got a situation here. Suspect on the scene. He's on foot through the woods. Requesting immediate backup to my location." He radioed it in, running after Greg before he lost him.

The determined CSI hurried after the suspect through the woods for a while, trying desperately not to stumble over the various tree roots, rocks and holes in the ground. He didn't know how long he was chasing him for, but when the suspect finally stopped for a breather, Greg quickly aimed his gun out in front of him, cautiously approaching the man.

"Stop! LVPD. Hands up." He ordered, taking a few hesitant steps towards him. "Turn around. Slowly!"

The suspect slowly turned, revealing his fresh teenage face. He coughed with exhaustion, gulping hard on the lump in his throat as he looked at the gun pointing towards him.

Greg knew right away that it wasn't the right guy. He wouldn't have even been born when the first victim was killed. "Who are you?" He asked, noticing the teen's eyes looking to his left.

The CSI quickly turned his head in the same direction, but it was too late.

The real suspect hit him with what he could only guess was some sort of large tree branch.

Greg went down in an instant, dropping his gun from the hard blow to his ribs. He quickly scrambled through the dead leaves, trying to grab for his gun again, when he felt a second blow to the side of his head.

The suspect kicked him in the ribs, rolling him over onto his back.

All of Greg's self defensive training immediately went out the window. He instantly felt as though he was right back in that alley, completely helpless and alone, while they did anything they wanted to him, leaving him a bruised and battered mess for someone else to clean up.

Thank you for reading, I will try and get the next chapter uploaded this weekend, don't want to leave you hanging on the cliffe for too long. Please let me know what you thought, have a great weekend!

~ Holly