I'm Not Who I Used To Be || G. Sanders

FINDING HOPE

While Hope was having her heart-to-heart with George, Greg was sitting in D.B.'s office. Russell had asked Greg to sit in with him and talk about something. He was unsure of what until Nick walked in.

"If this is a lecture, can we do this another day?"

"I'm afraid it can't wait. We've been watching you the last week and to be honest, I am not impressed." Thinking it's about the work he's done he tries to intrude. It doesn't work well for him. "It's not about the cases. What's going on with you and Rose?"

His eyes skip to Nick's with a small glare. Nick raises his hands in surrender as if to say 'it wasn't me'. He bobs his knee up and down nervously. "Nothing. We just haven't been talking."

Russell hums thinking of ways to break him. "And why is that? Why aren't you two talking? After everything that happened, I thought you two would lean on each other. Help the other through it. Together."

He never stopped to think that he could have done that. "I was giving her space." It is a stupid excuse and he knows it but he can't seem to feel bad about it. Apart from him believes it.

"Okay Romeo let me tell you a little something," Nick says to him, "when I said give her space I meant about her life in England. She doesn't talk about it for a reason. What I didn't mean was for you to ghost her while she needed everybody the most."

The last sentence hits him hard. The intention wasn't to hurt her it was to give her space. He stands by that claim. "But I still stand by what I said. And I did listen to you, I gave her space about her past."

"Greg—"

"No, listen to me. You said to give her space on her past and I did. What happened to us, what happened to her is because of that. I gave her the space she needed because it involved it."

Nick is getting frustrated at this point. "Look man, I know you think this was the right move but it wasn't."

"She kicked me out yesterday, Nick. That act alone sounds like someone who didn't want me there."

He scoffs wanting to walk right out the door. "I find it hard to believe she wanted all of us to be there and not you."

Russell pulls Nick back by his shoulder. "Okay, calm down. What did you do to get yourself kicked out?"

"Nothing as far as I know." Lie.

"Come on, Greg. She's been talking about you all week every time we visit. You had to do something."

He bows his head trying not to yell. Though the anger inside him simmers when he realizes what Nick said. "I'm sorry, did you say she's been talking about me?"

Nick hums through gritted teeth. "Y'all my best friends but damn you both make me angry."

"Greg," Russell asks more calmly, "what did you do?"

He sighs, "she had a chess board laid out with the moves the killer was making. I zoned out and focused on the board and she grabbed my hand. I moved it back."

Nick and Russell glance at each other with the same look of disbelief. "Oh..." they both drag the word out.

"What?"

Nick leans into Greg explaining. "Okay, this is how this is going to work. You're going to sit there and be quiet while I explain this to you. Are we clear? Somebody has to move this up and it might as well be me."

"Nick—" he starts tiredly.

Nick lifts a finger. "Shut up and listen. So this is what you don't know what you did. You silently rejected her and that upset her so much that you got your ass thrown out. She might hate me for this later but here it goes, she likes you."