Greg

By Morrolan

Email: Morrolan17@aol.comMorrolan17@aol.com

Fandom: CSI/Sentinel

Pairing: Jim/Blair Greg/?

Warning: Ummm...none really, it is AU though.

Rating: PG-13

Archive: Please Ask

Feedback:Â Yes

Thanks to Mick'n'Star for the beta. And a cookie to whoever can find the Douglas Adams reference. Oh yeah…I don't own any of the characters except for Molly and Dr. Kilandre and Eric and Jordan. The rest belong to CBS and Pet Fly: The Sentinel does belong to Pet Fly right....I don't own them....wish I did.


Greg
By Morrolan


Chapter 1

"Hey Grissom! Can I talk to you for a minute? I got some really great news!"

Greg said to a Grissom who for once today didn't look busy.

"Is it about the Mathews case?" Grissom asked.

"No," he replied slightly less exuberantly.

"Then not right now, I'm busy," replied a very unbusy looking Grissom.

"Oh, ok." And he turned and walked away.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Catherine yelled when Greg collided into her almost making her drop a file she was holding.

"Sorry, was distracted, didn't see you," and Greg kept walking.

"Hey Griss, got the Mathews file for you," Catherine said handing the file over to Grissom.

"Thanks."

"Hey, what's wrong with Greg?" Catherine asked Grissom.

"Don't know," replied Grissom without even looking up from the file.

"Huh...I'll ask Nick if he's noticed anything, then I think I'll go have a talk with Greg."

"You go ahead and do that," a totally absent-minded Grissom said.

Catherine walked down the hall to where Nick was taking a nap since it was a slow night. Warrick passed her on his way to the lab with a nod in her direction

*

Warrick walked into the lab.

"Hey Greg. Found these hairs in the vic's house. Need you to process them ASAP. Still looks like suicide though, but you gotta check all the evidence."

Warrick rolled his eyes. "Page me when you're done." And with that Warrick turned and walked out of the lab. He passed Sara who was heading in.

*

"Hey Greggo, how's it going? I need you to process these fibers ASAP. I'll come back in a couple minutes for the info." Sara turned and left without even waiting for a reply from Greg.

*

Greg was getting more and more pissed each minute. First Grissom totally ignored him when he had some very important news, at least it was important to Greg who had finally achieved a very important step in his life. Then Catherine had almost bitten his head off when he accidentally bumped into her in the hall. And finally both Sara and Warrick had pretty much ignored him while telling him what to do. No consideration for his feelings at all. Now all that was needed was for Nick or Brass to ignore him, order him to do something, or snap at him. He was getting fed up with everyone taking him for granted. He was seriously considering the job offer from the Cascade PD Crime Lab. His friend Molly Hutchins just got a job there seven months ago and recommended him for a lab tech. And now that he got his Doctorate he could make more than twice as much as he was making now.

He finished processing the hairs from Warrick. Complete match to the vic with some cat hair thrown in, looked like it really was suicide unless something else turned up. He had just finished paging Warrick and was about to start processing the fibers from Sara when she walked in.

"You got my fibers done yet?"

"No, sorry. I've just started them."

"Damn it Greg! I need those now!"

"Sorry Sara, but Warrick gave me his stuff first. And it's first come first serve unless Grissom tells me otherwise, or if it's a major case. Grissom didn't tell me otherwise, and this is not a major case. I should be done in a couple minutes. I'll page you when I'm done."

"I'll just wait."

"That's nice; please move out of the way. You're standing in front of my microscope."

Sara shot him a dirty look and stormed out of the lab nearly knocking into Warrick.

*

"You paged me?"

"Yep. Got your hair analysis done. These three here belong to your vic, and these others belong to a Siamese cat."

"Great, thanks Greg," Warrick took the printout and the evidence bags and left.

*

"Hey Grissom, the Fiches case, that was a suicide. Greg just finished analyzing those hairs I found and the all belong to the vic and her cat."

"Ok Warrick. Finish up your report and leave it on my desk."

"Ok." Warrick turned and continued down to the break room while Grissom headed to the lab.

*

"Hey Greg, Sara tells me you seem to be having a bit of a temper problem today." Grissom calmly stated.

"Me! A temper problem? Really? Wow!"

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm Greg."

"No, and that's because little miss Sara has you wrapped right round her finger. Sara is the one who came in here all bitchy because I didn't drop everything and finish her fiber analysis first. I did Warrick's first 'cause Warrick was here with his evidence first, but little miss Sara has to have everyone drop everything and take care of her first. And you know what? I'm sick of you letting her get away with it. So you know what I'm going to do?"

"Greg, I think that is a little uncalled for and you need to calm down. I don't want to have to suspend you."

Everyone in the hallway had stopped when they heard Greg start yelling. Sara looked very pissed, Nick and Catherine looked confused and Warrick looked sympathetic.

"You know what! I'm fucking sick of all of you. Miss Prissy Catherine who only ever seems to care about anybody but herself unless she gets to play Mom; Warrick who sometimes cares but the rest of the time acts like I'm not there unless he needs me for something; Brass who always seems to have a problem with the way I act; Miss Sara who doesn't give a shit about anybody but herself, her job, and her stupid crush on you; and then there is you, Mr. High and Mighty smarter than everyone else, and better than everyone else because he's so smart, can't even stop and listen to someone who wanted to be his friend even when he's not busy, even when that friend had something really fucking important to tell him, something really fucking spectacular like the fact that I got my Fucking Doctorate from Stanford! The only one who ever seems to really truly care about me and my feelings is Nick, the rest of you just fucking suck! And I can't work in an environment like this so, since I have vacation for the next two weeks, you can consider this my two weeks notice. And look, my shift just ended, so fuck off, have a nice life, and thanks for all the fish you goddamn uncaring bastards!"

Greg stormed off without even stopping to clean out his locker. He just punched out and headed toward the front doors. He stopped, turned around and said "My letter of resignation will be in tomorrow's mail. And oh yeah, I'll call you and let you know where to ship the stuff out of my locker...or actually you know you could probably just throw it all away. Except for the...no you can just throw it all away. I don't need any of it." And with that Greg turned and walked out of the building. He got in his car and drove home.

The first thing he did when he got home was look at the clock to see what time it was. It was eight so he could call Dr. Kilandre, the Cascade Crime Lab supervisor's office. "Cascade Crime Lab, may I ask who's calling?"

"Hello, this is Greg Sanders. I'm calling about the lab tech position."

"Ah yes, Mr. Sanders, Dr. Kilandre has been expecting your call. I'll put you through. Wait one moment please."

"Good morning Mr. Sanders, so have you thought about my offer?"

"Yes, and I accept on one condition Dr. Kilandre."

"And what's that Mr. Sanders?"

"That I get a slight raise and you call me Dr. Sanders or Greg."

"Congratulations Dr. Greg Sanders." Greg could hear the Dr. Kilandre was smiling. "I believe that we can meet your conditions. You now have a ten dollar raise if you accept the position of Lab Supervisor. You will be overseeing the dayshift trace analysis and DNA labs."

"Really...wow. I definitely accept then."

"Then congratulations again and welcome to the Cascade PD Crime Lab. How soon can you come up?"

"Well, considering the fact that I just resigned from my current job and I have vacation for the next two weeks....how soon do you need me?"

"Hmm...seeing as you will need to look for an apartment I think you can start in two weeks, the thirtieth. That should give you time to pack and get up here... find an apartment and get settled, all that joyful stuff you need to do when moving. But if you could come in the twenty seventh, the Friday before you officially start, I can give you a tour and introduce you to the staff. How does that sound?"

"Great. Just wonderful."

"Good. Now, are you going to be flying up?"

"Yes, but Molly said she'd meet me at the airport and I could crash at her place if I needed to. I just need to call her and let her know the good news."

"Very good. I will see you in two weeks then. Good day Dr. Sanders."

"Good day Dr. Kilandre."

The both hung up.

Greg then called Molly.

"Hey Moll, good news."

"What?"

"I got my doctorate and I've accepted the job. Guess who is going to be the new Lab Supervisor!"

"Oh Greg! That's great, wait till Eric and Jordan hear about this...or do you want to be the one to tell them?"

"No Moll you go ahead and tell them. You just gotta take a picture of them for me so I can see their expressions when you tell them. They've been pushing at me to get my doctorate for so long."

"Can do. Your plane still coming in at six tomorrow or are you going to change it now that you know you're going to be staying up here?"

"Na, I don't have much to pack. Just gotta arrange to have it shipped when I'm done. So yeah, my plane'll still be in at six. I'll just change my ticket into a one-way though."

"When you get up here we are definitely going to have to take you clothes shopping, especially since you still dress the same as when we were in college."

"Well duh Moll, college was only like four years or so ago."

"Yeah but...never mind. You at least have to get a nice tux so I can show you off at the annual police ball, cause believe it or not, us lab geeks actually get to go seeing as we are a, and I quote, 'valuable part of the police department even if we are not police officers, because with out the Crime Lab our officers would not be able to fully prosecute the criminals.' That is from a speech by the wonderful Mayor of Cascade. Ain't it nice to be appreciated?"

"Yeah, it is nice..."

"I'm sorry Hun, wanna talk about it when I pick you up?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Great, I'll let you go so you can pack. Hugs and kisses."

"Bye Moll. Hugs and Kisses back."

Greg unplugged the phone after he hung up. Then he proceeded to grab some folded up boxes that he still had from when he moved in and pack. After he finished packing he plugged the phone back in and called the movers to see when they could come pick up his stuff. They told him they would be able to come in the morning the next day. He then called his landlord and told him that he would be out of the apartment by the end of the month. Then he unplugged the phone and took nap.

*

Grissom was totally stunned; he had never expected anything like this to happen..and for it to be Greg who blew up like that! And the things he had said... Grissom realized that most of them probably did seem true to him even if they weren't. Because Grissom had in fact ignored him on several occasions... and today he hadn't even had a good reason to give him the brush off like that. He hadn't been busy, it was a quiet night, and he had just been tired and had wanted some time alone. And then to hear that Greg had such important news...and he had ignored him, given him the brush off. And later, after Sara had come complaining about how Greg had treated her, he had gone and accused him of loosing his temper just because Sara had said so. Didn't even ask him his side of the story.

And it was true what Greg had said about the way Sara acted, that he did let her get away with it. It wasn't because Sara had him wrapped around her finger though, but because he could see so much of himself in Sara and it scared him. So he tried to avoid dealing with her.

"God, I can't believe that little lab twerp said such things about me!" Was Sara's indignant comment after the silence got too oppressive for her because deep down she knew that what Greg had said about her was true.

Catherine just gave Sara a dirty look. Catherine was hurt by what Greg had said about her, but she also knew that it was partly true. There had been many times when she had given Greg the brush off or ignored him. And today she had snapped at him in the hallway when he accidentally bumped into her.

Warrick also felt hurt, but he also knew that it was partly true. He had treated Greg like the best of friends one day, and then the next he had given him the brush off or totally ignored him. And sometimes at work he would drop stuff off and just hurry away without even stopping to talk. When he came to pick up a report he didn't even listen to what Greg was saying half the time. As soon as he got the information he needed he would either tune Greg out or say 'yeah, ok, gotta go' or something like that.

Nick felt guilty because he felt he had mistreated Greg as well and deserved to be yelled at just as much as the others, and then to hear Greg say that Nick was pretty much the only one who truly treated him like a friend. "I deserved to be yelled at by Greg just as much as the rest of you. I ignored him sometimes too..."

"No Nicky, Greg is right. You are the only one who ever truly showed he cared. You hung out with him, you joked around with him, you listened to what he had to say when he felt like giving a lecture," Catherine said.

"Yeah, but Warrick joked around and everything too."

"No Nick, I never showed him I cared as much as you did. None of us did." Warrick spoke up.

"We should go apologize to him," Catherine stated.

"Not yet, give him time to cool off. We will go Sunday morning," Grissom said.

"How about we go tomorrow afternoon, about four thirty or so?" Nick said.

"You guys can go apologize if you want, but I'm not." And Sara turned to stalk off.

"I was going to recommend that you didn't come with us, he is probably still angry with you." Grissom stated.

"Fine, because I wasn't going anyway," Sara walked out to her car and drove off.

"I need to have a word with her tomorrow night," sighed Grissom

*

The next day when they got to Greg's apartment they got a shock. There were moving people carrying his furniture out. Grissom walked up one of the men.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me were the young man who lives here is?"

"No can do, he left about three or so, mumbling something about bein' late for his plane if he doesn't hurry. So I reckon he's on that plane."

"Do you know where he is moving?"

"Sorry, can't tell you that."

"I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab and I need to know where this young man is moving."

"Oh, I didn't know you were with the police. But I still can't tell you were he's movin' cause I don't know. You'd have to talk to my boss. Ask him where this stuff is bein' shipped."

"And where might I find your boss?"

"He'd be at our truck yard." And the man gave them directions.

*

At the yard Grissom asked to speak with the boss. A short, slightly overweight man came over and introduced himself as Bob Gretchs, the owner of the moving company.

"Can you tell me were you are shipping Greg Sanders' belongings?" asked Grissom.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not supposed to divulge the information even if you are with the Crime Lab. Heck, even if you were police officers I can't tell you without a warrant...I could get sued that way, sorry."

Greg felt kinda bad for what he said about Catherine and Warrick. They didn't really deserve the awful things he had said so he decided to call them Sunday to apologize. Grissom...he still had to think about whether to forgive him or not. Sara..he would apologize to her when hell froze over, or if she apologized for treating him like shit first. But hell was more likely to freeze over than Sara apologize to him. Greg finally fell asleep on the plane.



Chapter 2

When Greg woke up they were just landing. After he got his carry-on bag he got off the plane. When he got to the terminal he looked around for Molly. He spotted her; or rather she spotted him and started waving so he could see her.

"Greg! It's so good to see you!"

"Hey Moll, it's good to see you too."

"You don't sound so happy. We really need to talk about what happened that's got you so upset. Let's go get your bags Hun. Then we can talk about this in the car. How does that sound?"

"Great. I'm so glad you're my friend Moll."

"Oh Hun is it that bad? You need a hug, some hot chocolate and a bitching session where you tell me all about it and then we plot revenge. I think this can wait till we get back to my apartment." Molly gave Greg a big hug and a peck on the cheek.

After they got Greg's bags and drove to Molly's apartment she noticed that Greg was almost asleep on his feet.

"I think we can wait to talk about this tomorrow...I don't want it to seem like I'm putting you off, but Hun you look half dead. I don't think the plane ride was enough sleep for you. You go take a nap and we'll talk when you get up. How's that sound?"

"Sounds fine by me, I feel like I got run over by a truck."

"Ok, you can use the room right next to mine. You remember which one?

Greg nodded.

"Good, go lay down. Don't worry about your bags. I'll just stick them in by you ok? And when you get up we'll have that hot chocolate and you can tell me all about what's got you so down."

"You're too good to me Moll."

"Na, I consider you to be my little brother, one of my best friends, and nothing is too good for my little brother. I'll even help you hide the bodies if it ever comes to that."

Greg smiled and laughed before grabbing his overnight bag and heading off down the hallway.

Molly felt good because that was the first time she had seen Greg smile or laugh so far today and Greg was usually laughing and joking around almost constantly. She knew that something really big and upsetting had happened in Las Vegas and after Greg talked with her and told her who had hurt him she would make them pay. As long as Greg didn't mind, she amended. She didn't want to upset him anymore than he already was.

She looked in on Greg later that night before she went to bed and saw that he was still sleeping. He was curled up in ball in the middle of the bed with the covers down around the foot of the bed. She pulled the covers up to his neck and tucked them in. She smoothed the hair back from his forehead and gave him a little kiss before turning to leave the room. She saw the huge smile he got and heard him mutter "Grissom..." before he rolled over and buried his head under the covers.

Hmm...something else we need to talk about, she thought. She closed the door behind her and went into her own room.

Greg woke up the next morning with a slightly panicky feeling, realizing that he was not in his own bed. Then he remembered that he was at Molly's and smiled. But when he remembered what had happened in Las Vegas Friday, he felt like crying. He wanted to stay and mope in bed forever but nature was calling so he got up and shuffled down the hall to the bathroom. When he was done he went to kitchen where he saw Eric and Jordan.

"Hey Greg!" Eric smiled at him and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Jordan did the same to the other cheek.

"Congratulations Doctor Sanders. We're so proud of you." Jordan said.

"Hey guys, how come you're over here so early?" Greg wiped the smear of jelly the older man had left on his cheek.

"We wanted to say hi and offer our congratulations. Like Jor said, we're so proud of you."

"Plus we wanted the free food Moll always provides us." Was Jordan's comment.

"Thanks guys. That means so much to me." Greg managed to only put a hint of sarcasm in his reply.

"Ah, you know you love us." Eric reached over and ruffled his hair.

Greg made a face and stuck his tongue out at them. "Yeah. Who wouldn't love such annoying dander heads?"

"What're big brothers for? To annoy you, and to beat up anyone else who annoys you. Or hurts you. You just give the word and me 'n Eric will go beat them up."

"Na, I got first dibs guys." Molly said when she walked into the room.

"Hey sis," Eric walked up and hugged her.

"Hey Moll," Jordan said waving from where he had his head stuck in the fridge.

"Hey big bro'" Molly returned the hug. Then she walked over and swatted Jordan on the butt, making him yelp and bang his head on the fridge door. "Hey Jor." She smiled sweetly at him when he glared at her.

"Molly Hutchins, if you weren't Eric's sister I'd beat you right now..."

"Don't let that stop you Jor. I don't mind."

"Eric! I'm going to tell mom on you!"

"That is so frightening...no please don't call her."

"I'll tell her that it was you who broke the vase that day..."

"No! Anything but that! I'm sorry Jordan...I can't let you hurt my sister. She holds to much power over me."

Greg was laughing so hard that he was having a hard time pouring the milk on his cereal and it splashed all over the table.

"You guys are going to make poor Greg choke on his cereal! Out! Out of my kitchen before you kill someone!"

"Oh, I can just see the headline now! Man dies from choking on cereal due to chronic laughing!"

"Jordan Larken! Out! The both of you, before you're late for work. Stop by later and you can help us look through the newspapers for an apartment for Greg."

"Crap, we better ask for overtime." Jordan whispered to Eric.

"I heard that! And just for that you can both go take Greg out tomorrow to look at the apartments we pick 'cause I got to work."

"Now look what you got us into." Eric whispered to Jordan.

"I got a feeling she would've made us do it anyway Eric."

"Out of my apartment now! The both of you shoo!" Molly yelled from the kitchen.

The two giggling men quickly hurried out the door.

Greg nearly did choke on his cereal over that last exchange. Molly had to thump him on the back.

"You want me to make that hot chocolate now and we can talk over this when you're done eating?"

Greg just nodded, the smile disappearing off of his face.

"You'll feel better after you talk it out Hun, trust me. It always worked for me." Molly smiled at him before turning to get the hot chocolate ingredients together.

"I know...it's just that I said some things I wish I hadn't, and some things I should've said a long time ago."

Molly patted him on the head as she went to fill the tea kettle with water. "No talking right now. Finish your cereal first ok? Then we'll talk."

Greg nodded and proceeded to finish his cereal. The kettle whistled just as Greg got up to rinse his bowl out. He sat back down after he put it in the sink. Molly poured the water over the chocolate mix and handed the cup to Greg.

"You ready to talk now?"

"Yeah." Greg listlessly stirred the mix and water together as he started talking.

"I just got fed up Friday, I was tired of being ignored, snapped at, and ordered around. It all started out so nice…It was a pretty quiet night. Only one major case going on, and that was almost totally solved. I had just gotten the news about my doctorate a little earlier..right before my shift started. I was so happy. I wanted to tell Grissom, my boss you know, right away but he was busy so I waited until he was free. At least I thought he was free....he was just sitting at his desk looking through a case file, an old one. So I went in to tell him and he ignored me. Said he was busy, and that nothing I had to say was important unless it was about the Matthew case. I was crushed. And then in the hallway...Catherine snapped at me when I bumped into her, I was just so upset by Grissom's reaction. And Catherine just ignored me when I apologized, just kept walking into Grissom's office after snapping at me. I went back to the lab and Warrick came in, he just acted like he always did, but at that point in time I was sick of it. Then Sara came in and acted like she always did, I am a machine, I just process stuff for her, I'm not important enough for her to talk to, at least Warrick jokes around a little, you know? So, I finish Warrick's stuff, page him and he comes and gets his report. At least Warrick thanked me...but just before Warrick came in Miss Sara came in demanding her report. I told her that Warrick was there first and so his got done first, I was just about to start hers and she gets all prissy with me. She went and bitched to Grissom telling him I had a temper problem. I was nice and polite. Maybe a little sarcastic but I didn't snap at her. And Grissom comes in telling me I had a temper problem. So I was sarcastic with him...he was all Mr. polite and no feelings....so I snapped. I called said Catherine ignored everyone unless she could mother them, I said Warrick used people, Brass didn't like me, Sara was a Bitch who had Grissom wrapped around her finger, and Grissom was a high and mighty know it all bastard. I blew up at everybody but Nicky. He was the only one in that whole place I felt actually liked me. I feel bad about what I said about Warrick and Catherine. I plan on calling and apologizing to them today. Grissom..I'm not so sure about. Sara...never, not unless she apologizes first."

"Oh Greg." Molly hugged him. "That's awful. You shouldn't have blown up like you did, but I'm glad you did because holding all that in isn't good for you. We need to teach you to stand up for yourself. That's what we need to do. And we need to talk about why you blew up the way you did. But not right now. Now you need to drink your chocolate and we need to think up what you are going to say to Catherine and Warrick."

"That sounds like a good idea Moll. I'm glad I have a friend like you."

"Thanks Greg, that means a lot to me, really. And I'm glad I have you as a friend to." Molly hugged a still seated Greg and kissed him on top of his head.

"So, what are you going to say?"

"I don't really know. I figure I'll call them up, say I'm sorry, and see where it goes from there."

"Sounds like a good idea. How soon can you call them?"

"Hmm...Well, Warrick goes to Church with his grandmother some Sundays so he probably won't be home till after twelve, Catherine has Lindsay to take care of so she'll probably be up by now...I'll wait to call her till about ten though. I'm going to go take a shower ok?"

"Now that is the best idea you've had so far today, you reek."

"Hey!"

Molly just stuck her tongue out. "My house. I can kick you out if you mess with me."

"You just wait till I have my own apartment...then I'll get you. Just you wait."

"Hey I just remembered...when do you start again?"

"The thirtieth, but on the twenty seventh Dr. Kilandre wants me to come in for a tour, meet my underlings and all that. Hey, you're an underling! Hello underling."

"Shut up and go take your shower."

Greg just stuck his tongue out at her.

*

Later on after Greg had taken his shower he picked up the phone and started to dial Catherine's number, but then he put it back down and got out his cell phone.

"Greg?"

"Yeah Moll?"

"May I ask why you are using your cell?"

"Oh, Catherine has Caller ID and I don't want her not to pick up because it's out of area."

"Ah, that makes sense." And Moll went back to looking through the apartment listings.

Greg hit the speed-dial button for Catherine as he walked back to the guest room because as much as he loved Molly, this was something he needed privacy for.

Catherine picked up after the fourth ring. "Yeah?"

"Catherine...it's me, Greg. Can I talk to you for a bit, you're not busy or anything are you?"

"No Greg, I'm not busy, and I want to apologize for ignoring you. And for snapping at you Friday in the hall. I'm so sorry I made you feel that I didn't like you."

"Wow Catherine, thanks, that means a lot to me, but the reason I called is I want to apologize to you. I'm sorry I said those things about you, it was totally uncalled for and I'm so sorry."

"It's ok Greg, it wasn't entirely uncalled for. I have ignored you. What you said hurt but it wasn't undeserved."

"Thanks Catherine. You are so very understanding."

"Not at all, you didn't have to quit you know."

"I needed to Catherine. I just couldn't stand it anymore. Grissom is a great guy and everything...but he's just not a people person. And Sara...I couldn't stand her anymore. I had to get out of there before I did something way worse than what I have done."

"Are you happy where you are?"

"I will be. I have a great new job, friends to help support me. In fact my friend Molly is letting me crash at her place while helping me look for a new apartment."

"That's good Greg, that's really good. And if it helps at all, Grissom is sorry. We all went by your place yesterday to apologize but you were gone and the movers were taking your stuff out."

"All of you, even Grissom and Sara?"

"Well, not Sara. Grissom even drove out to the truck yard that the movers are based out of to talk to the supervisor to get the info on where your stuff was being shipped so he could apologize to you."

"Really? Well, they are shipping it to Molly's. She has an extra room I'm putting it all in till I find an apartment. Then my friends Eric and Jordan are going to help me move it in to the apartment."

"That's good Greg."

"Do you mind keeping this to yourself for now? It's ok if you talk with Warrick and Nick, but I don't want Grissom to know where I am right now. I can't deal with talking to him just yet."

"No problem, I understand. Where are you anyway?"

"I didn't tell you? I'm sorry, thought I did. I'm in Washington, the state, not Washington D.C. My new job is at a crime lab they just started up here."

"Good for you Greg. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks. I gotta go now. I still need to call Warrick and Nick."

"Ok, bye Greg."

"Bye Catherine."

Greg then called Nick. He picked up on the fifth ring just as Greg was getting ready to hang up.

"Stokes speaking."

"Hey Nick, its Greg."

"Hey Greg! I'm glad you consider me a friend. And I think quite a bit of what you said is dead on."

"Really? You think so, I didn't mean to say all that, I was just so sick of the way I was being treated."

"Yeah, I mean it, and I'm sorry for all the times I've ignored you too."

"Thanks man. But you never really deliberately ignored me."

"You are to kind to me. So, how are you, and why'd ya quit?"

"I'm great, I think I can actually be really happy here. And I quit 'cause I couldn't stand working like that. I mean half the time I was ignored, and the other half I was treated like a machine, a piece of lab equipment. And it sucked. I just couldn't take it anymore. I was fed up, pissed off."

"Ah, I'm sorry I didn't see that Greg. I would've tried to help."

"Nothing you really could've done about it Nick."

"I see why you kept trying to get in on the field work."

"Yeah, I wanted to be treated like part of the team, to be noticed."

"So, where are you anyway?"

"I'm in Cascade, Washington. I got a job up here at the Cascade Crime Lab."

"Cool, good for you. You'll let me know what your new address is, won't you?"

"Yeah, I will. I got something else to tell you too. I wanted to tell Grissom first;;;but he ignored me."

"Really? Is this part of the reason you blew up Friday?"

"Yeah, I had just gotten the information that my Dissertation had been approved by the panel. I had my doctorate. I wanted Grissom to know first seeing as he is my boss."

"Yeah, that and the fact you got a crush on him. But congratulations Greg. I'm happy for you. Just what is your doctorate in anyway?"

"Huh, you knew I have a crush on Grissom?"

"Yeah Greg. Kinda obvious to me. But your secret is safe with me, nobody else has noticed, I'm pretty sure about that."

"Oh good, good. You're ok with this?"

"Yeah Greg, I'm ok with you having a crush on Grissom. I think it's kinda sweet."

"Ha, so very ha."

"Yeah, I thought so. Anyway, you didn't answer me, what the heck is your doctorate in anyway?"

"Oh, well...that's in chemistry stuff...My whole diss was about the importance of chemistry analysis and how it can help police solve crimes. I used examples from my work at the lab."

"Neat. Anyway, I gotta go Greg, email me ok?"

"Yeah, when I get a new computer or Molly lets me use hers."

"What happened to your laptop?"

"It fell off the roof of Molly's car at about fifty miles an hour."

"Damn, ouch. Well, email me when you can, let me know your address when you get your apartment ok? And I'll miss you around here Greg, just won't be the same without you."

"Thanks Nick, that means a lot to me, I'll email you when I can. Goodbye Nick. And remember, tell no one anything ok, I'll tell them myself when I'm ready."

"Yes Greg, bye Greg."



Chapter 3

After Nick hung up Greg went into the kitchen to get a drink. Then he called Warrick.

"Brown here."

"Hey Warrick. It's Greg."

"Hello Greg."

"Look, I wanna apologize for what I said Friday. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. I was just so fed up."

"Hey man, its ok, I understand. I was a little hurt by what you said but I did ignore you sometimes. And I kinda understand where it was all coming from. I'm still kinda upset with you, but I forgive you. And I ask you to forgive me for all the times I've hurt you."

"Wow, thanks, and you're forgiven. I didn't expect you all to forgive me so quickly..."

"We forgave you almost immediately. We went to apologize you yesterday but you where already gone."

"Yeah, Nick told me about that. That means a lot to me."

"So, how are you?"

"I'm good. I'm glad I left though. I just couldn't stay there any longer."

"I understand, but I'll miss you. You were always good for a joke, made the place a little more cheerful. So, where are you?"

"You're asking 'cause you really wanna know?"

"Yeah, I really wanna know."

"I got a job up in a crime lab in Cascade, Washington."

"I know someone in Cascade. Simon Banks. He's an old friend of my Grandma's. He's a cop for the Cascade PD. If you run into him up there tell him Warrick Brown says hi."

"Can do man."

"Sorry Greg, I gotta go. I'm taking my Grandma out to dinner. Call me when you get settled in, ok?"

"Sure man, but one thing before you go, please don't tell anyone else where I am. Nick is the only other person who knows where I am. Catherine knows I am in Washington State, but not which town. Please don't tell anyone, I'll tell them when I'm ready."

"Sure Greg. Call me."

"Yeah, bye Warrick."

They both hung up.

"Hey Greg, you done?"

"Yeah Moll."

"Good, come here and look at these listings with me, it's your apartment after all."

"Yes Mom."

"You know, I'm letting you stay here out of the kindness of my heart....I could make you stay in a hotel. You can afford it."

"Sorry Moll. Would you like something to drink Moll? Here, have a pillow to support your back, Moll, you look uncomfortable."

"Thanks Greg." Molly smiled sweetly at him. "I'd like a cup of tea please."

"No problem Moll." And Greg went to get her tea.

After several hours of looking at apartment listings Greg needed a break. Molly was asleep on the couch so Greg had to wake her up.

"Hey, Molly...Earth to Molly, time to get up. Greg is hungry and needs food."

"Hmmph...mm...go 'way."

"Sorry Moll. But you need to get up. You're hogging the couch. I'm going to get a nice cold glass of water for you. I'm going to splash that nice cold glass of water on you and get you all wet if you don't get up."

"I'm up, I'm up." Molly sat up and gave Greg a dirty look. "I was having a nice dream too."

"Aw, to bad. I'm hungry, you wanna go out or order in? My treat."

"Oh, I forgot! Eric and Jordan wanted to take you out tonight. 'Sort of a "welcome to Cascade and Congratulations on your doctorate thingy". They wanna take you to this new club their friend owns. I was supposed to ask you earlier but I totally forgot."

"Sounds ok. What kinda club so I know what to wear?"

"Um…I think that you're supposed to dress kinda in between dressy and casual. It's one of those new trendy places I think. I don't remember."

"Great, now I don't know what to wear. What time are they coming by?"

"Um...sevenish, I think."

"Its six thirty already!"

"I'm sorry! I forgot!"

"It's ok, it's ok. Deep breath...I gotta go take a shower. Not enough time...gotta hurry."

Greg ran off in the direction of the bathroom leaving a laughing Molly in the living room.

Greg had just stepped into the shower when Eric and Jordan arrived.

"Hey Moll," they both said after giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Greg ready yet?"

"Um...no, and it's my fault entirely. I totally forgot you guys wanted to take him out. So I only told him about five minutes ago."

"Molly, Molly, Molly." Eric shook his head. "You are such a bad girl. I suppose you forgot what kinda club it is to so the poor boy has no idea what to wear?"

Molly just nodded.

"Jordan, when he gets done in the shower would you help him pick something out?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll just go see what clothes he has." Jordan went off to Greg's room.

"Molly dear, what are we going to do with you? It's a good thing we don't have to be at the club till after nine thirty, and we can show up for dinner anytime we want."

Fifteen minutes or so later Greg was finally ready. Jordan had picked out a dark red dress shirt and black dress pants.

"It was one of the least loud shirts he had," Jordan explained. "Besides, he looks pretty good in it."

"He does look good, damn good." Molly said.

Greg blushed. "Thanks guys."

"I just call 'em like I see 'em." Was Molly's comment.

Greg blushed deeper.

"Good, let's go before Molly makes Greg turn the color of his shirt."

"Eric! How mean."

Greg stuck his tongue out at all of them. "Where are we going anyway?"

"First we are going to our restaurant. Then we are going to Timon'a. You remember Cindy Verne?"

"Yeah."

"She and her husband own it."

"Husband? When did she get married?"

"A couple months ago. She married a Carlos Varguez." Jordan said.

"Good for her."

"Yeah, now we definitely gotta go. Are you sure you don't wanna come Moll?"

"Yes, I'm sure I don't wanna go Eric. I do have to work tomorrow. Unlike some people..."

"Monday's our only day off Moll."

"I know Jor. Now go before you're any later."

"Bye Moll. See you tomorrow." And they all left.


END PART 3