I hope you guys like the story so far. If you do, let me know :*
While Greg's and Ackles' wounds started to heal, both were back to working together on their cases.
At the start of their next shift, they took over a case in Henderson, where a dead body was found in a front yard and another inside the house. The body appeared to have died in the last few hours and they didn't have a suspect yet. "No I.D.," Greg said thoughtfully as he bended down to the victim in the front yard. "I'd say he's about... 30, maybe? Two... no, three gunshot wounds." He looked up to see David walk into the room.
"Hey guys. Look who I brought with me!" He was accompanied by Nick.
Greg looked annoyed obvious enough for David and Ackles to notice. "What are you doing here?"
"I just found out the victim in my case rented this house. He died from a gunshot wound just like your victim," Nick explained.
"So you're trying to take this case away from us?"
Nick frowned. "Greg, come on. We can work on this one together."
The drives from and back to the lab had been quiet in the last few days for Greg and Ackles. Both men had a lot on their minds and didn't feel like making small talk, but Ackles was starting to feel uncomfortable, noticing the anger Greg was feeling right now. "So... Are you and Nick alright?"
"We're fine," Greg replied quite harshly.
"...Why are you mad at him?" The look he received let Ackles know Greg really didn't want to talk about this. "...Sorry."
Greg sighed frustrated. "No, I'm sorry. He just did something that really made me question his loyalty."
"...Oh. That... That sucks."
"It does." The tension in Greg's face faded as he gently smiled. "...I'm sure we'll work it out, though."
"I hope you do. You don't... you don't deserve to lose your friend."
While Nick tried to reach out to Greg the next day, the younger CSI didn't want to hear any of the excuses he thought Nick would tell him.
"Hey Greg, can we talk?" Nick walked into the evidence room, where his friend had been working on some evidence for the last hour.
"...If this is about..." Greg got interrupted.
"It's not. We'll need to talk about that soon, too, but this is important." Nick was carrying files in his hands, which he nervously fumbled with.
"...Okay. What is it?"
"You never told me you scratched the guy who cut your cheek."
"I honestly forgot I did." Greg kept working on his evidence while they talked. "Why do you care?"
Nick inhaled as he rolled his eyes. "Because I'm your friend and I care about you. Greg, while investigating a liquor store robbery, we arrested a guy named Matthew Lowell. The store owner ran after him and was able to subdue him."
Greg was getting a bit impatient. "And you're telling me this... Wait, is he the one I... He attacked Ackles an me?"
Nick nodded as he handed him the file. "He's in a prison cell sobering up, but Brass will interrogate him as soon as possible. I thought you should know."
"...Thanks." Greg stared at the files, feeling a little anxious about the news. Before his friend left, he added, "Hey Nick. I have to pull a double today but... Maybe tomorrow we can talk?"
At the following shift, Ackles seemed to be a bit more relaxed – but he just managed to put on a better poker face. Greg walked through the police station after having a talk with Brass about his latest case. As he passed by the interrogation room, he only briefly glanced through the window, almost missing the scene that presented in that room. "...What?" He looked around, searching for an officer, but none was nearby, so he stormed inside on his own. "What the hell's going on?!"
Ackles was pressing a man against a wall when Greg walked in. He didn't let go of him.
"What's gotten into you?! Let go of him!" Greg tried to seperate the two, but Ackles was quite determined to assault this man. He even elbowed Greg in the process, shoving him into one of the chairs in the room. His elbow had hit Greg's wounded cheek, the pain paralyzing him for a moment. When the pain faded away slowly, Greg got up again and yelled for an officer. The man Ackles was pinning against the wall was fighting back less as the CSI had a tight grip around his neck, almost suffocating him. No officer was coming to help Greg, but he was finally able to get Ackles off of the man on his own. "What the hell are you doing?!" He pushed Ackles away from him.
The man coughed violently as Greg helped him get up.
"Get away from him, Greg," Ackles said aggressively.
"You almost killed him! What's wrong with you?!" he yelled with a terrified look on his face. He wasn't scared of Ackles, but the thought of his colleague trying to kill someone with his bare hands was scaring him.
"I said get away from him, he's dangerous." Ackles was calming down a bit.
Greg gave him a look before turning back to the man. "Sir, are you alright?"
The man nodded his head as he stopped coughing. "Your cheek's bleeding," he said as he started to laugh.
Ackles was getting furious again, pulling Greg aside to be able to attack the man again. He punched him.
"Ackles, no!" Greg yelled frustrated. He tried to get him away from the man again but felt quite helpless while doing so. His colleague showed some strength Greg didn't think he had in him.
Two officers finally heard the noise and rushed in. They were able to get Ackles away from the man.
"He attacked me!" Ackles yelled, struggling to get the two officers off of him.
"...Are you out of your mind? He's handcuffed! How could he have attacked you?!" Greg sighed. "Get... Get him out of here and into the room next door," he said to the officers.
"No! Don't leave him here with you! Greg, get that man away from you!"
Greg frowned exhausted. "What? Who is this guy, even?"
The man in question started laughing hysterically. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of him." He made some vulgar gestures Greg didn't see.
"...Okay, okay. Officer Berkley, get that bastard back to his cell, I'll go in the other room with officer Kane... I won't make any troubles, just... just don't leave Greg alone with him. Please."
Russell greeted Greg in the hospital waiting room. Greg's wound had ripped open and he needed to get it stitched up again. He was nervously seesawing with his leg. "Hey."
"Are you alright?" Russell looked him up and down before putting his hand on Greg's face to slightly turn it to the side to look at the wound. "Did the suspect hit you? Wasn't he handcuffed?"
Greg had a rather fed-up look on his face. He wasn't as much annoyed as he was worried, but he didn't want to show it. "A suspect didn't do that, Ackles did."
"...What?" Russell sat down next to him. "I thought he needed medical aid, too."
"His fist sure does. He broke a finger while using the suspect as a punching bag."
"O-okay, what? What happened?"
"If only I knew. I was walking by the interrogation room when I saw Ackles attacking a suspect. He was strangling him with his bare hands. He hit me when I tried to get him off of the guy. ...I don't think he wanted to hurt me, I don't think he even realized he was doing it..."
"...Did he break his finger when he punched you?"
Greg hastily shook his head. "No, he didn't even turn to look at me when he shoved me away. It was like he was in a trance or something, only concentrating on the suspect... He punched him, that's when he broke his finger."
"Did he say why he did it?"
"...No, he..." Greg stopped talking when Ackles walked up to them.
"...Greg, I'm so glad you're alright..."
"...Yeah, how about you?"
Ackles had his little finger on his right hand in a splint. "I'm good. I don't know what happened, I just... I snapped. I'm so sorry. Russell, I really didn't mean to hurt anyone."
"What the hell has gotten into you?!" Greg got off his seat. He was furious but was trying to stay calm. "I mean, what... why... god! You almost killed him!"
"That wasn't my intention." Ackles was rather quiet, all the anger was gone now.
"...No? Then what did you think would happen when you decided to strangle him?!" Greg wasn't good at keeping his emotions in check right now. The fear was overwhelming him.
"...Greg, let him explain." Russell put his hand on Greg's arm to pull him down, causing him to sit down again.
"He just disgusted me so much."
"Why? Who is this guy?"
"...He's one of the guys who attacked us. He's the one who cut Greg's cheek."
"...He... what?!" Greg jumped off his seat again. "This... He attacked us?"
Ackles nodded. "When I found out, I... I just couldn't... I confronted him about it and all he did was mock me. And... insult us. He had some very obscene and... disgusting things to say. I couldn't take it anymore so I jumped him. I'm not proud of it but... he got what he deserved."
Russell frowned. "How did you know he's the guy?"
"I overheard Captain Brass talk about it. They booked that guy in a robbery case and when they checked his DNA... It matched the sample they took from under your fingernails, Greg."
Greg buried his head in his hands as he sighed deeply. "This is the guy?"
"Yeah, why do you think did he laugh when he saw your cheek was bleeding again? ...Why do you think I insisted on you not being left alone with him? I was looking out for you!"
Greg leaned back. "No matter who he is, no matter what he did... You can't just attack the guy."
"...Am I gonna get in trouble for this?" Ackles asked worried.
Russel nodded thoughtful. "We'll see if he'll press charges. But until then I'll have to put you on desk duty for the next days."