A/N: Hello guys! Wow, a really big response again on the last chapter, thank you so much! I am absolutely shocked and astounded by the fact I have reached over 300 reviews, thank you very much to all of you, as well as those who have followed, favourited or are just silent readers :)

This story is for Csi121099 who suggested Nick getting angry and taking it out on poor Greg. I hope you enjoy!

Summary – One night the job gets to Nick and he takes it out on what is closest to him…Greg.

He Was Just There

Nick was sat on the bench in the locker room, with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together as he thought about the case he had just closed. A six year old girl had been killed by her abusive father, and the sick man was pleading mental instability. It made Nick extremely angry. How many small, broken, and innocent bodies would he have to process? How many more distraught families would he have to tell that they had lost a child?

Greg Sanders came bounding into the room with a smile on his face. He had been back at work three week after the gang attack, and he felt today was the best day he'd had in a while. He had managed to help convict two felons with Sara, and Grissom was talking about letting him go solo again.

"Hey, Nick!" he said brightly. The older CSI looked up in acknowledgment, but he didn't even attempt to smile. Greg frowned "What's up?" he asked concernedly.

"How are you so happy, Greg?" Nick asked solemnly "How can you walk around this place most of the time with a smile on your face?"

Greg shrugged "I don't know, gets me through the night I guess. You won't get anywhere in life just by moping around"

"But, doesn't it bother you?" Nick asked vehemently. Greg got a little nervous, why was Nick getting so worked up? "Being around so much death, and destruction… seeing little kids who have had their lives ripped away."

"I tell myself it's just a smaller body" Greg said quietly, although he knew he had given the wrong answer.

"It's not just a smaller body, Greg!" Nick snapped "This is a child we're talking about, a defenceless, vulnerable child who probably had a future…can you really be that insensitive that you don't care about that stuff?"

"I-I do care" Greg protested weakly.

Nick was making him a little anxious. He could see the anger burning bright in the older man's eyes, and could hear the antagonism in his voice.

"Do you? Because sometimes it sure as hell doesn't seem like it!" Nick yelled as he jumped up off the bench, and Greg took a few steps backwards, his eyes growing wide. "You don't get angry, Greg. You don't think about how these victims' families are being affected, they're just dolls and names on a piece of paper to you…."

"That's not fair!" Greg shouted back, although he sounded shaken and defeated. Nick didn't seem to notice just how uncomfortable he was making the younger man.

"No! Taking the life of a child isn't fear, me being accused of being too empathetic is unfair! You're never going to be a good CSI Greg if you can't understand these things, if you can't get passionate sometimes, get angry! " Nick took a step towards Greg, and the scared younger man backed up against his locker. "And if you can't do that Greg… well maybe you just shouldn't be a CSI at all." The Texan said seriously "And maybe...maybe I was right, maybe you are just a CSI wannabe"

This hurt Greg a lot. He couldn't understand why Nick was so mad at him…well he knew why Nick was mad, just not why the older man was taking it out on him. Greg didn't think he'd ever seen the Texan so mad, not at a suspect, not at anyone. He guessed if you'd been doing this job as long as Nick had, it was all bound to get too much at some point.

"I'm sorry" Greg whispered, and Nick's face immediately changed to one of surprise.

"Don't be sorry, stand up to me!" the older CSI replied "What did I just say about getting angry, huh? You can't keep letting people walk all over you, Greg. C'mon insult me, hit me if you have to, maybe if you'd hit back that night in the alley, none of that other stuff would have happened." Nick said coldly.

Greg's eyes began to brim with tears; he didn't understand how Nick could say something like that. Caring, sympathetic Nick, his big brother, yelling at him and making him feel like a worthless piece of garbage. He never thought he'd be scared of Nick.

"C'mon, you know that was out of line, now hit me!" Nick urged. He wasn't sure what he was trying to achieve, he was too blinded with frustration to see that it wasn't actually Greg he was mad at.

"I don't want to…"Greg whispered, it was almost inaudible.

"Dammit Greg, hit me!" Nick took another step towards the young man and clenched his fist.

Greg let out a gasp of fear and squeezed his eyes shut, flinching away. He was flashing back to that night. Helplessly trapped against the wall, the threatening fists ready to pummel his skin.

Nick's eyes seemed to suddenly open as he looked at his scared young friend trembling and holding his arms tightly around his body in some kind of protection. There tears were streaming down Greg's face as he tried to shy away.

Oh My God Nick thought, absolutely mortified by himself What have I done? He thinks I'm going to hit him…

"Greggo…" Nick said calmly, worried that he would scare his friend away "Greggo I…I'm so sorry…" he went to put a delicate hand on Greg's shoulder, but the young CSI just freaked.

"No! Please don't!" he shouted, terror emanate in his voice. "D-don't hurt me anymore...please d-don't hurt me…"and with that he fled from the room.

Nick slowly moved his shaking body to lean against the lockers and slowly sank to the floor as he buried his face in his hands and began to cry. How could he even say those things to Greg? He was Nick's little brother, Nick was supposed to protect him and support him, not throw all Greg's pain back in his face, not bring up traumatic memories like that. Greg was never going to forgive him.

He shouldn't forgive me Nick thought How could I scare my own little brother like that?

"I'm so sorry, Greggo" the older CSI sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry"

A few hours later, and Greg was sat in the break room alone. He'd been at a crime scene with Sara all night, and she had noticed the red tear streaks in her younger friend's eyes, how he seemed to be disengaged from the scene. Sara had asked if anything was wrong, but Greg said no and plastered on a fake smile, as was expected of him, just to grin and bear it…God, maybe Nick was right, maybe he was just a weak, pathetic little nothing…

The young CSI had been sat flicking his noodles about for the past half an hour or so, not having much of an appetite. Maybe he should go and see Nick, so he was sorry…no, no sorry was the thing that made the Texan mad in the first place. Maybe he should hit Nick… no, that wasn't who Greg was, besides, Nick would probably hit him back harder.

Eventually, Greg couldn't take anymore, as he pushed his untouched food away and placed his head in his arms on the table as he began to cry once more. He didn't care who saw, he just wondered why his life had taken a turn down nightmare lane lately.

"Greggo?" a quiet voice asked. The young CSI looked up through his blurred eyes and saw Nick.

"J-just hit me, Nick" Greg stuttered as he wiped his cheeks "Just get it over with, I don't care anymore, I probably deserve it"

"Greg…I…I wouldn't do that" Nick slowly sat down, leaving a reasonable sized gap between them so as not to freak Greg out again "There are not enough words for me to tell you how sorry I am" he said honestly "I didn't mean any of what I said"

"Yes you did" Greg whimpered "And you were right, I'm not a good CSI….I couldn't even defend myself against that group of kids!"

"Greg, you are an amazing CSI" Nick said, his voice was thick with emotion, he hated himself for seeing the pain in Greg's eyes he knew he had caused. "You're better than I am. You're better because you can keep your emotions under control, and that takes a really strong person when you see the sick things people do to each other every day"

Greg sniffed and looked at his friend. "Maybe, but it's also okay to let it get to you sometimes." He said. "Two years ago, I was sent to process this burn victim at the hospital and… and I cried. After the explosion, I understood how that felt, to feel so scarred and deformed. And I kept thinking…that could have been me…and it scared me. So no, I don't keep it together all the time…and I don't expect you to either"

Nick gave a small smile "Well, thank you for telling me that G, I know it must have been hard for you. But that doesn't give me any right to take my anger out on you, or use something as horrific as the gang attack against you. I'm not asking you to forgive me…I don't know if I can forgive myself for how I made you feel…I just want you to know that I'm sorry"

"I do forgive you, Nick" Greg said with a small smile "It's just…when I was up against the wall like that and you were coming at me, I couldn't help but think…"

"I would never hit you, Greg" Nick said firmly "I'm so sorry I made you feel so threatened but I…I would never hurt you, never even think about hurting you. You're my little brother Greg, and I want to protect you and I hate…" he choked back a sob "And I hate that that night I wasn't there to protect you"

Then, much to Nick's surprise, Greg shuffled forward and pulled the older man into a tight hug.

"It's okay, Nick" the younger man whispered "I'm okay now"

"I'm sorry Greg, I'm sorry about everything" Nick mumbled into his young friend's shoulder, holding Greg tightly and not ever wanting to let him go.

"It's okay" Greg said again, rubbing his friend's back. "I understand why child cases get to you, and sometimes you just need to vent or else you'll explode. I don't mind if you have to take it out on me sometimes, just so long as you'll still be my big brother at the end of it"

Nick pulled away and wiped his eyes "Always, G. I promise I'm never going to blow up at you like that ever again"

Greg gave a small smile "Yah know if you really want to make it up to me, you could take me for a Pizza? I'm sick of this meal for one crap" he said indicating to the abandoned noodles.

Nick smiled "Sure, Greggo, you got it"

The older CSI had never felt so lucky to have a friend like Greg, and would spend the rest of his days trying to make up for his actions is that's what it would take. Nick loved his little brother, and that's all there was to it.

BOO!

Yeah, so obviously there is OOCness on both sides, I'd like to think Nick wouldn't really blow up at Greg like that XD I hope you found it angsty and cute enough!

I love working with these prompts, you guys have some awesome ideas :D

Please Review :) xx