Here we go again!
After getting a few hours of sleep at home, Greg decided to walk over the police station to find out if there had been any progress concerning the attack already. He was greeted by a few police officers as he walked in, while some others looked at him quite shocked over his bruised face, graced with a big band-aid over the cut on his cheek. "Hey Brass," he greeted the Captain as he walked into his office. "Any news yet?"
"Not exactly." Brass offered him a seat. "How are you holding up?"
Greg sighed. "A little sore, but other than that, it's fine."
Brass nodded as he smiled at him. "You know, there's a few follow-up questions I'd like to ask you." Right after the attack, Brass didn't get a real chance to talk to Greg, he needed more medical attention than Ackles, so the Captain concentrated more on him and decided to let the much more experienced CSI get some rest before he interrogated him.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Did these guys say anything to you?"
"I don't think they wanted to make any small talk," he replied sarcastically.
Brass nodded, still smiling, as he wrote something down. "So nothing?"
"No... Why are you asking?"
"Because they seemed to be very talkative with Ackles."
"...Really? What did they say?"
"Well, giving Ackle's statement, we might know their motive."
Greg's heart started beating a little faster now. He was quite nervous about finding out why they got attacked. "...Yeah?"
Brass cleared his throat as he handed Greg some files. "Ackles said they thought you two were a couple. They made some homophobic remarks."
Greg read the files. "...A couple? They did this because... they thought we were gay?"
"It appears so."
"But they took our wallets."
The captain shook his head. "Actually, just yours."
He took a closer look at the pictures in the files. "Ackles has, like, three bruises. Why did they... They were all over him, there was only one guy with me. Why... Why did they... They spared him. Why?"
"I know what you're thinking, Greg, because I'm thinking it, too. They were quite inconsistent, but... There's no explanation for that at the moment. Maybe Ackles had a little more luck than you."
Greg sighed as he leaned back. "Luck, huh? It's about luck?"
Brass shrugged. "I'm sorry, I know this isn't satisfying at all, but that's what it is."
Ackles walked into the crime lab that night with quite a weird look on his face, trying to avoid talking to people as much as possible. He succeeded until he ran into Henry, who was just trying to be nice and ask him how he was. The lab tech received a rather harsh response he was quite surprised by.
As Ackles made his way into the break room, he was shocked to see Greg sitting there and writing something. "...What are you doing here?"
Greg looked up from his paperwork. "It's been piling up for days now, I figured I could use the opportunity to get some of it done."
"...But... Didn't Russell say you would stay home until you're healed?"
He nodded. "I'm not really in the mood for field work, but I'm fit enough for paperwork."
"...Oh, alright, then..." Ackles turned around.
"Hey, wait. How are you?"
"...Huh?" He turned back around to Greg. "I-I'm okay."
"Why'd you leave the hospital without telling me?"
"I-I couldn't find you and I just wanted to get home. I'm sorry."
Greg nodded. "It's alright." Before Ackles walked out, Greg added, "I'm fine, by the way."
"...What? Oh, uh... Good. I-I meant to ask you how you were doing..."
Greg watched Ackles very carefully. "Why are you feeling guilty?"
"...Excuse me?"
"Look, I'm a CSI long enough to see the signs. You avoid eye contact, you're nervous."
Ackles was only getting more nervous as Greg was talking. "Greg, I don't... I'm not..." he stammered.
"You did nothing wrong, alright? You were surrounded by three or four guys, there was nothing you could've done to change the outcome of this."
"...What?" Ackles looked quite surprised. It was not what he expected Greg to say right now.
"I hate to sound like a chliché, but it's normal to feel that way. I do, too. But there's nothing either one of us could've done differently."
"...Yeah. You're right."
"Don't feel bad about it, okay?" He smiled at him. "We're both going to be fine."
Nick made quite an effort to spend as much time with Greg as possible ever since he switched shifts. It wasn't always easy, but they somehow made it work. They were at Nick's place after Greg's third shift since the attack, eating some breakfast Greg had brought with him. Nick was telling Greg a story from his recent case but he soon realized Greg wasn't really paying much attention to the story and hardly ate anything. "...Hey, you okay?"
"Huh? ...Uhm, yeah. Sorry."
"Something wrong with your pancakes?"
"What?" Greg looked down on his plate. "Oh, no. They're okay."
"How would you know? You haven't eaten anything."
Greg sighed as he put his plate down. "It's just... Yesterday I gave Ackles the 'don't feel guilty' speech, and now I can't help but feel like I should've done more to protect him."
"Like what?" Nick bluntly asked as he took another bite from his breakfast.
The younger CSI shrugged. "Anything, really."
"As far as I can see, you did everything right. You two came out of that situation alive, that's all that matters."
"I think he's traumatized, Nick. He's nervous all the time and given how scared of criminals he was when he came here... I hope he'll recover from this."
"Of course he will."
Greg sighed. He knew Nick only meant well, but he wasn't really helping him with this. "I just want to help him overcome this somehow. I feel like it's my responsibility to help him, but I don't know how."
"You've been in his shoes a bunch of times yourself. What would've helped you?" Nick walked into the kitchen to get some sugar for his coffee.
"Well, I..." Greg felt something under the cushion he was leaning on. "Whoa." He picked it up and showed it to Nick while he walked back inside.
"...Hey!" Nick hurried over to grab it out of the young CSIs hand. It was a black bra.
"Oh Nick, I thought you broke it off with Erin. She's got a boyfriend, she..." Greg stopped talking. The perfume on the bra had triggered some memories. "...Is this... This doesn't belong to Erin, does it?"
Nick looked away, rubbing his neck. "It's not what it looks like."
"Yeah, sure." Greg got off his seat. "It never is, is it?" He walked over to the door.
"What? Greg, where are you going? Let's talk about this! Let me explain."
"What is there to talk about?! I got it all figured out already, sure brings things into perspective."
"What are you talking about? I get that you're angry, but..."
Greg stopped him as he turned around again with a furious look on his face. "Did it make it easier to be off the graveyard shift to continue seeing her or couldn't you suffer my company while you betrayed me like that?"
"...Greg, don't..."
Greg slammed the door behind him, not letting him finish his sentence.