Sorry it took me so long to update. Here's a long chapter to make up for it. Hope you guys are still interested in this story! ;)
Greg wasn't sure what to think of Brass' offer. He agreed that Spencer needed professional help to guide him through these hard times, but he wasn't sure the officer would accept this offer as gladly as the captain assumed. He was afraid to ask Spencer about it, but he didn't want Brass to take over, either.
Instead of going over to the officer's place, he decided to ask him to have coffee with him in his lunch break. He chose the diner around the corner, where lots of police officers were present most of the time – even though he didn't trust them as much as he used to at the moment, it gave him some feeling of security.
Spencer greeted the CSI with a hug. He had a big smile on his lips as he patted Greg's shoulder. "Hey, how are you doing?"
"Uh... Good," he replied rather confused. "You seem to be in a great mood."
"Well, I am." They sat down in a booth. "I realized something, you know? It's like I told you, I didn't even know Turner. I only knew who he posed as. Where's the point in grieving over a stranger's death?"
Greg wasn't sure whether to be worried or impressed. He got where Spencer was coming from, but he had a hard time believing he was sincere. "Yeah but..."
"No 'but', Greg. Life's too short."
"So... Have you decided whether you want to attend the funeral or not?"
"I think I'll go, but only because most of the guys will be there."
Greg frowned. "Spencer, I'm happy if you found a way to cope but... this all sounds a little weird, to be honest."
The officer shrugged. "I know, but I prefer feeling like this to how I've been feeling the past few days."
"But it's okay to grieve and..."
"Stop it, alright?" He kept his smile on his lips. "I'm fine. You wanna come to the funeral with me?"
Greg's confusion only grew. "What?"
"I don't know, I figured it might be important to you. You're a sensitive guy, I get that."
The CSI hadn't thought about that, yet. He did offer to accompany Spencer if needed, but he wasn't too eager to attend this man's funeral. "Here," he finally said quite clumsily, handing him the number of Dr. Foster. He needed to change the subject and didn't know a smoother way to do that. "You should give him a call."
"Who's that? A shrink?"
Greg nodded quite insecure. "You're obviously going through something right now, I think it would be a good idea to get some professional help, you know?"
"Look, I know you've been seeing a shrink for a while now and I'm glad it helps you, but I don't need it, I'm fine."
"...No one needs to know about this, Spencer."
The officer raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean? That I should be embarrassed if I went?"
"No, of course not." He hastily shook his head. "Just promise me you'll call him and go to a few sessions. Maybe ten."
"Ten? What the hell is going on, Greg? I don't need this."
"Yes you do. You don't have a choice." Greg didn't mean to say this, it just slipped out. "I mean, you..."
"What are you talking about?"
The CSI sighed desperately. "This isn't my idea, alright? It's Brass'."
"...You talked to Brass about me?"
"No, he talked to me. Did you know everyone's talking about what happened between us? He heard some rumors and forced me to tell him what happened. I tried to shield you from any consequences, but Brass only agreed to it if you go see a therapist."
"...Consequences?" It took the officer a moment to realize what Greg was talking about. "...Jesus christ..." He took the paper out of Greg's hand. "Thanks, Greg. I-I'm sorry, I'll call him."
He couldn't believe how easy it was. "Really?"
"Yeah, I mean... Yes, I think I'm over Turner's death but... Maybe I need to deal with the fact that I hurt you just because I was frustrated."
Greg shook his head. "No, you didn't hurt me, alright? And you were more than just frustrated. I don't want you to feel bad about it. Just... do something for yourself. Go see that therapist. It'll make getting over all of this easier and quicker."
Turner's murderer had been identified, but he hadn't been found yet. They knew he was involved in several other murders one way or the other, but it would be a while before they'd find him. Greg and Spencer had to live with that – knowing that this person was still out there. They both tried to be rational about this – if he wanted to kill them, he would've done it back when he had the chance to. Both were living in fear for the next few weeks, either way, because rationality wasn't something their minds were relying on right now.
Greg was feeling quite uncomfortable in the black suit he was wearing today. He stood around awkwardly in the doorway of the hall where Turner's funeral was held at. Most of the guests had already gathered inside, grieving together over this man's death. Not as many people attended as had originally planned, many were too distraught after learning he was involved in some very shady business, even tampering with evidence in several cases. But his family and closest friends showed up, thanking everyone from the station who came.
Greg tried not to draw too much attention on himself, slowly sneaking in. He knew Turner's family was aware of who he was so he tried to avoid them.
"Hey Greg!" Spencer yelled from across the room, instantly making people turn their heads at the two. "I didn't know you'd show." He walked up to him with a smile, which only caused more discomfort in the young CSI.
"...H-Hey Spencer. It didn't feel right to let you go by yourself but... Seeing you're not alone, maybe this was..."
Spencer put an arm around Greg's shoulder. "Hey guys, look who showed up," he exclaimed joyful as he turned Greg to a group of police officers he knew very well, not only from the job, but he also recognized some of them as the officers who stood outside the interrogation room and watched as Spencer assaulted him.
He gave them all a faked, sheepish smile. "Hey guys."
They nodded acknowledging, but were a bit surprised he came.
"I... I just came here to..." He was struggling to find the right words – he wasn't even sure there were any right words to say right now.
"Here, just have a drink," one of the officers said as he handed him a glass.
"...Thanks." He took the drink and sipped from it, surprised how strong it was.
Greg didn't know how, but Spencer talked him into going out for drinks with him and the guys after the funeral. He came home several hours later, drunk and tired, sitting down on the couch with a confused look on his face.
"Greg?" Nick asked as he walked out of his bedroom. He noticed he was wearing a black suit. "I thought you didn't want to go to the funeral."
"I changed my mind, I don't even know why..." He sighed as he tilted his head back. "This was one weird night."
Nick looked at his watch. "When was the funeral?"
"4 p.m."
He frowned. "You realize it's almost midnight?"
Greg nodded as he chuckled. The chuckle was a desperate-filled one. "I went out for drinks with Spencer and some of the guys from the station afterwards."
"...Really? How was it?"
Greg shrugged. "Weird. They kept pouring out drinks and... I'm quite drunk to be honest."
Nick laughed. Even though there was quite a heavy look on Greg's face, he didn't seem as strained as he did the last days. "So you really worked things out?"
He nodded as he closed his eyes. "This was such a weird day. You should've seen Turner's family. They avoided me as much as I avoided them. Spencer talked to them a lot, but it was obvious they didn't want to talk to him."
"Classic Spencer, huh?"
Greg smiled, but only for a moment. "I really worry about him, you know."
Nick nodded as he sat down next to him. "He'll be fine. You gave him that shrink's number, didn't you? I'm sure he'll be able to help him get through this."
"I hope so..."
"And since we're already on this subject... What about you?"
"...What about me?"
"You said your appointment with Dr. Reyes is next month."
"So?"
"What date?"
He gave Nick a look. "What does it matter?"
"You're worried Spencer might not get over this. I worry you might not."
"No need to worry, I'm fine."
"Stop repeating that lie, Greg. How could you possibly be fine after this? I'm not fine after this and I wasn't even present."
"...I'm just trying to be strong for Spencer."
"Well, he's not here and you don't have to be strong for me. You can tell me what's on your mind."
"Nick..."
"What, do you need another drink before you're able to talk?"
Greg laughed. "No, please. Another drink would be torture. Look, what do you expect me to say? Of course I'm not fine, but what does it help reminding myself about it?"
"You know, we never really talked about what happened in the interrogation room..."
"What's there to talk about, Nick? It was an ugly scene. I've never seen Spencer like that."
"You know he'll be back to work soon, right?"
"...So?"
"So... will you be okay with that? Will you be able to trust him with your life?"
"Nick, nothing really changed. To be perfectly honest, yes, there might be some doubts in my mind, but that's only because I had trust issues prior to that. If it wasn't for Novak and... everything else that happened, this would've been nothing more than a bad argument with him. He's still this nice, overprotective guy who's great at his job and saved my life more than once. He's still the same guy."
Nick took a deep breath as he got off the couch, patting Greg's shoulder. He wanted to tell him how naïve it was to believe that this traumatizing event didn't change Spencer, but he realized there was no need to point that out.
Several weeks after the murder of officer Turner, Greg and Spencer found themselves working a crime scene together again. While Spencer was stoked about this, Greg wasn't as euphoric as his colleague was. He was able to forgive Spencer and acknowledge that he only attacked him because he'd been in a great deal of stress and that his actions from that day don't represent who he is as a cop or a person, but there was still some insecurity on the CSIs part. He tried to leave this ordeal behind but was struggling with it.
Greg had been processing this backalley for almost two hours now, sending some evidence to the lab while he was still working the scene. The body's been in autopsy for a while now, too.
"Greg, can I talk to you?" Russell walked up to him.
It came as a surprise. "What are you doing here? Everything alright?"
"Not exactly. Finish up with this and follow me, please."
Greg quickly did what he was asked to and hurried after his supervisor. "What's going on? I still have at least an hour of work ahead of me."
"You don't, you're off the case."
He frowned. "What?"
"Your victim was a police officer with the Boulder City Police Department. Some of the evidence you collected links this case to Turner's death."
Greg looked with worried eyes over to officer Spencer. "Does he know?"
"I'll tell him now."
"C-Can I do it?"
"Are you sure you want that?"
He nodded even though he wasn't sure at all. He just felt like he needed to do it.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Greg asked Spencer as he stopped at a red light. He had offered to give Spencer a ride back to the station, since his new partner needed to stay at the scene with their patrol car.
"Greg, stop asking. Sure, it ripped open some fresh wounds but... It was bound to happen. A guy like this... Turner sure as hell wasn't his first kill and it makes sense he's not his last."
"We don't know yet that this was the same guy."
He gave Greg a look. "Come on, what connects the two cases? Some evidence they found at the scenes. Whatever it is, it probably was some trace from the guy. I don't like the thought of him running around in town again, either, but..." He shrugged as he looked out of the window.
"Are... Are you scared?" Greg asked after some hesitation.
"No. He had the chance to kill us and didn't take it. Besides, I'd be happy to face him again, show him what I'm capable of when I'm not incapacitated."
The anger in the officer's voice made Greg uncomfortable. He was relieved when the lights turned green and he was able to drive again.
"Stop!" Spencer grabbed the wheel to stop Greg from making a left turn.
The CSI hit the breaks in shock. "What are you doing?"
Spencer noticed - but ignored - Greg's fearful response. "Isn't that him?"
"...What? Who?"
Spencer pointed at a man crouching in an alley several feet away from them.
"Him? You mean... I-I don't know, I don't think so."
"Yeah, it's him. You got your gun with you?"
"...What?"
"Your gun, do you have it?"
"Spencer, we're not going out there. If you think this might be him I can call for backup but..."
"No." Spencer grabbed his gun. "You can call for backup, but I'll go after him."
Greg put his hand on Spencer's arm as he opened the door. "Please don't."
The officer was quite touched by Greg's worries, but it didn't change anything about his determination. "I'll be fine. I'll get this son of a bitch, don't worry. Just stay here and make sure you're safe. If anything goes wrong, just drive away, don't try to help me, alright?"
"This is madness, backup will be here in a few minutes... Spencer, please!" It was too late, the officer had already made up his mind. He sneaked up to the man he suspected to be Turner's murderer.
Greg didn't have his gun with him and even if he did – he was terrified of that man and wouldn't dare to stand face to face with him again. But he worried about Spencer, feeling helpless right now. He watched the officer approach the man while he called for backup. Knowing it would be safest to stay in the car, he did just that, but contemplated driving closer. But before he could make up his mind about this decision, Spencer was already on top of the man as he pushed him down against the ground.
Greg felt safe enough to drive closer once he had handcuffs put on him, but backup was already arriving, too. "Spencer, are you alright?"
The officer was breathing both excited and exhausted as he handed the man over to his colleagues. "It's him. I can't believe it, it's him!"
The man had his head down low, he didn't look at Greg.
"It's him." Spencer had tears in his eyes as he walked over to Greg to hug him.
"Why aren't they putting him in the patrol car and driving him away?" The CSI asked as he got out of the embrace. Just now did he notice bloodstains on the officer's uniform. "Are you hurt?"
"No, he is. I'm fine." He panted exhausted. "I'm fine." He smiled at Greg.