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Nick did what Camille had asked him to a few hours later, when him and Greg were getting ready to go home in the locker room.

"...Anything else?" Greg asked as his friend was finished.

He shook his head. "Did you expect more?"

Greg shrugged as he closed his locker. "I'm not sure there's anything else she could say. I mean, I know it's not her fault but..."

"...You don't trust her anymore?"

He nodded with a sad look on his face. "I can't do anything about it. I keep telling myself that she didn't want this to happen but..."

"It's okay, Greg. That's how you feel, you need to accept that."

"But it's stupid. She didn't have anything to do with it, her feelings towards me don't change because of what happened. Why are mine changing?"

Nick gave him a look that let him know what his friend was thinking right now.

Greg sighed as he sat down on the bench. "It's normal, right?" he said sarcastically.

"I know it's not what you want to hear, but yeah, I think so. The situation triggered you."

"But Camille wasn't in the situation. She wasn't the one attacking me, she wasn't even in the room."

"...Robin and her girlfriend weren't the ones attacking you, either. That doesn't change the fact that you didn't trust them afterwards."

Greg rubbed his eyes over this realisation. Nick had opened his eyes. "You're right. Damn it, you're right."

"But unlike Robin, Camille had no clue what was going on. She interfered the moment she realized what was going on."

"...Yeah."

"Look, I'm not saying you should forget about it and go on like nothing happened. But maybe you'd regret cutting all ties with her in a few days. Or weeks, maybe. This isn't urgent. Just sit it out for a while, make your decision when you're ready."

Greg took Nick's advice and did nothing for the next two days. On the third day, when Camille was working the same crime scene as Greg did, there was no way to avoid her anymore.

"Hey, all alone?" she said with a smile on her face. "Where's Russell?"

"He's finally stopped supervising every single step I take." He smiled back at her, quite relieved that she wasn't acting weird around him. "How are you?" he asked as he stopped in front of the hotel room the crime took place in.

"I'm good." Her smile got bigger. "You seem to be doing well, too. Your bruises are healing good, huh?"

"...Yeah." He smiled a little embarrassed. "They should be gone in a week or two."

"Good." An awkward silence followed. "Uhm, Greg... Any chance we could talk later?"

"S-Sure... When do you get off tonight?"

"I actually have to pull a double, so maybe we could grab a coffee in a break?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Great." She smiled as she gently squeezed his arm. "Now come on, I'll show you the scene."

When Greg and Camille talked about their potential future over a cup of coffee, it went much better than expected. Greg felt like Nick was right. All he needed was some time. He didn't feel like he couldn't trust Camille anymore and he wanted to continue dating her.

After ten minutes into their talk, Camille received a call from Captain Brass – she had to leave to a scene instantly. "I'm so sorry, Greg. We'll continue this later, alright?"

"Of course, it's alright." Greg knew that the job always needed to come first, something they both agreed on. He smiled as she left, feeling quite confident about their blooming relationship. After finishing his coffee, he got up and left the diner they had been sitting in.

On his way out, he received a text message by Hodges, saying that the lab tech had found a result on the trace evidence from the CSIs case. As that case was an important one, Greg's steps got bigger. He was quite excited about those news and wanted to reach the lab fast.

"Hey there," Nick said with a smile on his face as he passed his friend on the streets.

"Oh, hey Nick. Out for a coffee run, too?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah. And you? Did you get a chance to talk to Camille?"

"Not exactly." Greg shrugged. "She had to leave for a case, but... we'll get there." He smiled.

"Good." Nick patted his friend's shoulder. "You look like you're in a hurry. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, Hodges has some interesting results for me, is all."

Nick smiled. "Well then, good luck with that."

The two parted ways and Greg kept on hurrying to the lab. But he wouldn't reach it just yet.

"Hey you!" Ed, Camille's ex, yelled as he crossed the street to walk up him.

Greg frowned quite nervously. "...W-What are you doing here?"

"Just came here to say hi." He had a smug grin on his face. "I don't think we ever really introduced ourselves. I'm Edward." He reached his hand out, but Greg didn't shake it.

"...Greg. Was nice meeting you," he said with quite a sarcastic tone as he meant to walk away, but Ed put his hand on Greg's chest to keep him from doing that.

"Not so fast."

Greg tried to hide the terrified look on his face, but he only kind of succeeded in doing that. "...What do you want from me?"

"Just wanted to... thank you for not filing a report. Smart decision, really." His grin got bigger. "You should've put ice on that, would not look as bad now."

"...I did." As much as he was scared, Greg was also getting annoyed by this arrogant man.

Ed released a mean laugh. "Yeah, I figured. Does it still hurt?" As he was constantly getting closer to Greg, he touched the CSIs bruised face, causing him to wince a little as he took a step back.

The intimidation tactic sure worked on Greg, he felt helpless and scared by now. He tried to just walk away without saying another word, but Ed pushed him against the wall behind him.

"Where do you think you're going? I wasn't finished yet."

"...Back off!" Greg reached his hands out in front of his body in defense, but all this did was show Camille's ex that his hands were shaking.

"Heh, I have no idea what she sees in you. You're not her type, she likes a real man. A brave man, not some sorry little wuss, unable to defend himself. I bet I could start beating you right now and all you'd do is roll up in a ball, taking every single hit I swing at you, right?" He grabbed Greg's face as he stared into his eyes. "Right?"

"...Hey!" Nick stormed over to the two, flashing his CSI I.D. "Get your hands off of him!"

Ed rolled his eyes, still grinning. "Move along, that's none of your business."

"I said get your hands off him!" Nick pushed Ed away from Greg. "Now you move along, or I'll arrest you!"

"...Nick, stop it," Greg whispered embarrassed.

"Do you really think it's a good idea for a CSI to arrest a cop?" Ed took his badge out. "But go ahead, if you want to committ professional suicide, be my guest."

Nick meant to take a step towards Ed, but Greg put his hand in front of him to stop him. "He's not worth the trouble, Nick. Just let it go."

"Yeah, listen to your friend, bodyguard." He laughed. "Now get lost. We're not finished here." He took a step towards Greg.

Nick stepped in between the two. "You are finished here. Leave."

Ed pretended to turn around to leave, but instead turned to Nick to push him to the ground. This angered the CSI and he got as quickly off the ground as he was down, storming towards the officer.

"No!" Greg stood between the two, keeping his friend away from Ed as good as possible. He needed to use his whole body weight to keep Nick back, he was furious.

"Get out of the way, Greg!" he yelled angrily.

"No, stop it! Nick, stop it!" Greg pushed him back twice before Nick stopped.

Ed shook his head laughing as he walked off. "See you soon, Greg," he said before leaving.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Now Nick pushed Greg back, causing his friend to tumble for a moment, needing to catch his breath.

"Nick, he was provoking you. He wanted you to punch him!"

A dozen scenarios of what might've happened had Greg not held Nick back started playing in the older CSIs head. "You're right. ...I'm sorry, Greg. So sorry. I shouldn't have... I lost my temper. Are you alright?" He looked Greg up and down quite concerned, realizing he might've hurt him himself.

"No, I'm fine..." The spots where Nick had pushed Greg did hurt a bit, but other than that, he was fine. ...Let's just get back to the lab."

"What?" Nick frowned. "How about we go to the police station first?"

"And tell them what? That he pushed you and violated my personal boundaries?"

The mocking tone in Greg's voice angered Nick again. "So that's all he did, yeah?"

Greg sighed. "That's all they'll believe happened."

"Do you really think Brass is gonna protect a guy like that?"

"No, of course not. But someone will. He's got friends in the department, they'll probably misplace the report or something. It's not worth the trouble."

Nick looked rather repelled at his friend. "What, this guy's getting away with this behavior because you're too lazy to do anything about it?"

"...That's not what I'm saying, it's just..."

As he looked at the empty, faked and insecure smile his friend put on his lips, he calmed down again. "You're scared of the guy, aren't you?"

The smile faded, but it was still obvious how insecure Greg was right now. "...He tracked me down just to threaten me, that's not someone I want to get involved with in any way."

Nick nodded rather thoughtful. "Yeah, he intimidated me, too..."

Greg knew his friend was lying right now, but he appreciated it. "...Can we get back to the lab now?"