Title: Blood Spatters
By: it-glitters
Pairing: Greg/Nick
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Series: 1) Bewilderment, 2) Take Me Home, 3) Cynics
Summary: Greg is still missing and there is no evidence to help find him.

***

Nick wandered idly up the halls of the CSI building, trying to catch fragments of conversation when they were related to Greg's case. The lab rat's did know everything and he was hoping that maybe one of them would have some sort of clue as to what was happening.

"Stokes!" Nick looked around to see that it was Hodges that was calling him.

"Hey," he tried not to look to dismayed.

"Don't give me that look – you were the first CSI I saw and I figured you would want to see this, it's about Sanders."

Nick's heart was beating a mile a minute as he followed Hodges into the trace lab.

"As far as I know," Hodges started, "there have been no fingerprints found yet – but the card you found on the table has traces of chloroform on it. Meaning whoever handled it had it on their hands, and it's probably what was used to knock him out. They said one of the hand towels was missing from the bathroom..."

"Yeah, so the perp could have broken in and had the chloroform on them, then used the closest piece of cloth to disable Greg – so the perp was probably hiding in the bathroom after they broke into the house."

"Saying they broke in – Greg could have let them in. You might want to catch Sara, I think she's checking on the lock to see if it was tampered with."

"Will do, thanks Hodges," he said as he was walking out the door.

"Stokes?"

"Yeah, man."

"I know that Sanders and I have never been best buds, but you've got to find him..."

"We will."

Nick left and went into the hallway, casting a glance around to see if he could locate Sara. There was no direct sign of her, so he began to make his way to the break room – which is where he found the rest of the CSI.

"There's no fucking trace anywhere!" Nick heard Catherine cry as he walked in.

"We might have something," he said, as he held up the trace report from Hodges. "Hodges found traces of chloroform on the card and the table. We think that if the perp broke in that they may have hid in the bathroom to surprise Greg." He sat down next to Warrick.

"Definitely broke in – pretty bad job, I mean if Greg had a better lock..." Sara put her head in her hands. "Fuck!"

"Do we have anything on the blood on the walls?" Nick asked.

"Not much – cursory glance says it's Greg's – the blood type's a match. We're still waiting for a DNA match and tox results." Gil stated, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Still haven't found what was used to get the blood or what the guy used to write with. He may have taken it when he left the scene."

"So, we got nothing?" Warrick asked. "I mean, there's been no demands, there is no trace. All we have is a possible connection to the Gordon's but nothing to actually link this case to anything! Walter's dead and Kelly's in jail."

"Not exactly," Brass said as he walked in holding a file. "Kelly Gordon was granted parole two weeks ago. Seems like the state didn't feel the need to inform us."

"Not that they had to – she had nothing to do with Nick's case." Catherine responded.

"Not exactly," Gil started. "There were other voices, possible accomplices that were never identified."

Nick felt his head spin, this was the first time he had heard any of this. How many people had heard the tape, or heard what he had recorded? He felt like he was going to throw up.

"Nick, are you alright?" Warrick asked, placing a hand on Nick's back.

"Yeah, I just – I gotta go outside – I need some fresh air."

"You need me to come with?"

"No, thanks Rick – I'm fine." Nick walked out the door and knew that all eyes were on him.

....

Standing outside, Nick tried to organize his thoughts. Kelly Gordon had been released. There had been no warning – no one had told him that there was even the possibility that anyone other that Walter Gordon had been involved in his own kidnapping. Now there were loose ends, someone was still holding a grudge. The notes were starting to make sense. If someone had been stalking Nick, then it would make sense that they would have known about Greg – it would make sense that they would choose Greg to get Nick. But it had happened so fast – Greg's kidnapping must have been a crime of opportunity. Nick thought about it – they must have someone with at least some sort of connections – someone good enough to stalk Nick without him noticing, someone who could find Greg's unlisted apartment. Unless they had followed Greg home after he had left Nick's.

Nick knew he had to go inside and talk to Grissom – he turned to find himself face to face with the man he was about to go looking for.

"Tell me what you're thinking, Nicky."

"Let's say someone was following me – looking for revenge or something. They would have seen Greg come into my apartment. They would have seen Greg leave – they could have followed him from there. He went home to change before shift. They would have had all day to stake the place out, drop the letter, and get in. It would have been fairly poorly planned, but they would've had the element of surprise – that is saying Greg didn't know about the finer details of my case."

"The only people that have heard the tape and me and Archie; Greg didn't know anything."

"So, Greg would have just been a good opportunity for them. They wanted to get back at me, and they took Greg as punishment."

"Nick, we're still not sure that this has anything to do with your case."

"Griss, it has to. There is no other explanation – there are too many coincidences."

"Brass is looking for Kelly Gordon right now. As far as we know, she's been checking in with her parole officer regularly and she hasn't been doing anything out of the ordinary."

"You said there was another voice on that tape. It couldn't have been Kelly's – she was in jail. There is someone on the outside, someone that we know nothing about. We don't even know if it was a man or a woman!"

"You're right, Nicky. I need you to know that I still haven't told the others about you and Greg, but I might have to. If your case and his are connected, I may not be able to avoid it."

Nick looked down sullenly, another piece of his private life about to be lost. He would be outed to the entire department – another black mark on his record – he would be the gay CSI who got himself buried. He figured it didn't matter much now – there was little he could do to help Greg.

"Nick, I know we have questioned you to death about all this, but I need you to go over your case file, I need to know anything that you might remember now that you didn't remember when we questioned you the first time. Anything that may have seemed insignificant then, might be of dire importance now. And we can't ignore the fact that this might be completely unrelated, and that someone was simply after Greg for some reason."

"You should talk to Joe – the bartender at the place we went to. Greg said he doesn't really talk to his family, but he talks to Joe – if anything was up, I think Joe would've been the one that Greg told. Although... I don't know how good he'll be, Joe did mention that Greg hadn't been in for a while."

"You remember the name of this place?"

"No, but I remember how to get there – I'll draw you a map."

***

Next story in series - Hello Mr. Sanders.