Title: Mother, Mother
By: it-glitters
Pairing: Greg/Nick
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Series: 1) Bewilderment, 2) Take Me Home, 3) Cynics, 4) Blood Spatters, 5) Hello Mr. Sanders, 6) Hitting The Wall, 7) Capable Of Murder, 8) The Good Boy, 9) Crying Shame, 10) As I Lay Me Down, 11) Stoic, 12) You Tell Me
Summary: Greg has a nightmare and Nick has only one place to turn.

***

Nick was roused from sleep by the shaking of the bed – Greg was in the throws of a violent nightmare.

"Greg," Nick tried to grab him, but Greg unconsciously punched him in the face. Nick rolled off the bed and felt his nose begin to bleed. "GREG! It's Nick! Please wake up!"

Greg shot up in bed and sucked in a huge breath of air that just couldn't make it to his lungs properly and he fell back on the bed – choking on nothing. Ignoring the nosebleed, Nick climbed back onto the bed and took Greg in his arms, cradling the younger man. "Greg, feel how I breathe? Breathe like me, ok?" He rocked Greg slowly, "Breathe, just breathe."

"He was here."

"No, Greg."

"Yes, he was. He took me there."

"Was that your dream?"

Greg pushed Nick away and rolled to his side. Nick took the break to clean himself up with the tissues on the nightstand. "You wanna know about my dream?"

"Yes."

"I'm cold." No matter what he did, Greg just couldn't ever get warm. Nick got up and got the blanket that he had left on the recliner. He sat on the floor next to the bed so that he could see Greg's face.

"I dreamt that she did what I asked." Greg had made his lanky body as small as he could. He didn't elaborate his last statement.

"Kelly? What did you ask?" Nick watched as Greg pulled the blankets to under his nose.

"She came in to tie me back up and told me he wanted me." Greg words were beginning to falter and the tears were building in his eyes again. "I begged her, Nicky," he whispered from within his haven of blankets. "I begged her to kill me." Nick watched Greg's body shake with sobs. He reached over to touch him, but Greg moved away. "Please, Nicky – I just need a minute."

Nick wanted to stay, but he'd never been in a situation like this. The only thing he could think to do was give Greg what he wanted. Nick went into the hallway and paced violently, tearing at his own hair. He hated the Gordon's; he hated Robert Cohen. He wanted to go down to the morgue and revive the bodies and kill them over again. Over and over again until he could make peace with it. He knew that it couldn't undo what had happened to Greg – but it would make him feel better – at least temporarily.

Nick leaned against the closed bedroom door and could hear Greg's sobs and he realized that while Greg may not have remembered what had happened in the apartment, he absolutely remembered the rape – and there was no way to erase that. Nick slid down the doorframe and sat down on the floor until Greg's sobs were replaced by gently snoring. He opened the door and saw Greg sleeping on his side, drying tears staining his face. Nick watched from the safety of the doorframe and when he was sure that Greg was sound asleep he went into the kitchen to retrieve his cell phone.

"Hey Mama, it's me." He hoped his mom wasn't busy.

"Nicky? Oh, thank God, I was so worried about you. We heard that someone in your department got taken again. What happened?"

"I'm sorry I didn't call, it's just that – it was Greg. Remember me talking about Greg?"

"You called out to him in your sleep when you were in the hospital." Nick hadn't known about that.

"Mama, I gotta tell you something because I'm in deep and I don't know who else to turn to."

"Alright, hold on." Nick could hear his mother closing her books. "You've got my full attention."

"The man who took Greg raped him. I don't know how many times. And I'm here, at Greg's house, trying to help, but he keeps having these panic attacks."

His mother was silent. It had not occurred to Nick how this would effect her – knowing how easily it could have been her own son in Greg's position. He heard her draw a ragged breath.

"Have you talked to his parents?"

"No Mama, they want nothing to do with him."

"Do you need me to come out?"

"I don't know how he would react to that."

"Nicky, are you in love with this man?" If nothing else, his mother always got to the point and Nick was momentarily taken aback. He had never discussed his sexuality – he wasn't quite sure how to answer her.

"Nicholas Stokes, you answer me. And don't give me any of that 'aww, shucks' BS. I birthed you and raised you. So fess up now!"

There was no use lying to his mother now. "Yes Mama, I think I do."

"Well, number one, and I know I raised you right, but you know not to do anything... you know..."

"Mama!"

"I'm just checking! Sweetie, I wish I could just give you some sort of cure-all for this, but this is beyond even my experiences. I think that your best bet is to go to see a councilor together – I mean if he's up to it. And you should go too, by yourself – I mean, you don't want to try and help and then make things worse."

"I don't know. I mean I only just told him how I felt the day before everything happened. Sometimes now, he clings to me like he's afraid to let go – and sometimes he doesn't want me in the same room. But I suppose it's just timing – we only found him a bit more than a day ago." Nick's voice was cracking now.

"That's it. I'm coming out there. If that boy's mama isn't going to help her boy out, I am. I'll stay at your house while you stay with him."

"Mama..." But it was too late – Jillian Stokes had already made up her mind and hung up the phone.

Nick clicked the phone shut. He was torn with being overjoyed with the idea that his mother was coming and fear that it might set Greg off. Nick called Catherine.

"Hello?" She had obviously been sleeping.

"Cath, it's me."

"Oh, Nick – how is he?"

"Bad nightmare. Really fucking bad..." Nick couldn't keep his composure anymore.

"I'll be there in less than an hour."

....

True to her word, Catherine was there in less than an hour, and she had even brought coffee with her. She said nothing about his attire.

"What happened?"

"Nightmare... I don't know how much to tell you. I mean I'm so confused about what's in confidence and when to break the confidence..."

"I think you should tell me. You're too broken up about this to have dragged me out of bed just to tell me that Greg had a nightmare."

"He told me that he asked Kelly to kill him before the rape."

"Fuck."

"I know, and I know how he felt... I just couldn't tell him. I couldn't make the words come out. I know that when I was in that box, and the ants were coming in and I held that loaded gun in my hand..." He paused. "I won't lie, Catherine, I thought about it."

She stared deeply into her coffee cup. "It feels like this is never going to end."

***

Next story in series - A Simple Smile.