A/N: So…were to begin with the apologies. It's been 3 months and let's just say a lot has happened, but I made a promise to you guys that I would write all your stories and that is what I'm determined to do. If you're still here, then thank you, and if you have forgotten the prompts you have sent me don't worry, because I haven't, I have a very long list. This story is for Csi121099 who asked for an angsty piece about Greg having an abusive childhood, I'm going straight back in at the deep end XD I hope you enjoy (probably the wrong word).

Warning: Theme of child abuse.

Summary – A child abuse case causes Greg to think about the dark side of his past he's never told anyone about before.

Secret Past

The little boy huddles in the back of his closet, knees pulled up against his chest, one hand over his mouth in the hope of muffling any sobs that might go astray. He can hear them arguing downstairs; his mother screaming in blatant tears whilst his father yells back showing disregard for the fear evident in his wife's voice. In this house, situations like this are a regular occurrence. The little boy – only seven – just hides because he knows daddy will come for him next.

He hears the sudden smacking sound of flesh meeting flesh and his mother screams. The boy wants to scream too and weep until his throat raw, but he promised mommy he would be quiet and he was a good boy, she said so, no matter what daddy told him instead.

There is suddenly silence downstairs and the boy has to will himself not to be sick. There is the sound of heavy footsteps as the monster which used to be his father comes stomping up the stairs.

"Where are you!?" he calls in a slur which has obviously been caused by the 7 or 8 beers he had consumed previously to returning home. "Where are you, boy!?"

Part of him wonders if his father would be more forgiving if he just did as he was told, but he remembers the last time he tried that and had ended up with his arm twisted behind his back. There is nothing he can do; his father will hunt him down and he will become consumed with pain as hands which had once hugged him now caused him to bleed from the hits and the blows.

"Daddy is not well" Mommy had said about six months ago, but even he at seven knew that was a complete understatement.

She said daddy had lost his job and that had made him very sad, but also the boy had seen his daddy kissing another girl when mommy was shopping and that was the first time his father had hit him. He made him promise not to tell, and he never did, and he never will.

The footsteps suddenly stop right outside the closet door and the boy holds his breath. His father has gone dangerously quiet and the boy knows that means he knows he's close. The boy feels suddenly cold when the door rips open and his father stares down at him looking positively red and thunderous.

"You come when I tell you to, boy" he says in a voice which is so cold that is actually makes the boy shiver.

"I'm sorry, daddy" the boy says meekly, although he knows it will do nothing to change the situation; he just closes his eyes and waits for the inevitable.

The monstrous father (though he can really no longer be called one) snaps forward and grabs the boy by his hair and pulls him out of the wardrobe.

The boy could do nothing but scream.

Greg snapped his first photo of the boy in the closet with nothing but grief in his heart. Murder cases were hard most of the time, let alone when the victim was a small and innocent child. The mother had finally gone to the police after obvious months, perhaps even years, of abuse. Greg just didn't know why it took until her child was dead to do so.

The boy was covered in bruises and it sickened Greg to think that a supposed father could ever do that to his child; it was a feeling he knew all too well. He was the first CSI to arrive at the scene. Greg often prided himself at being a level headed and objective CSI, but now as he stood alone with the murdered child he found himself feeling nothing but hatred towards the bastard who did this. He hoped the man rotted, and Greg was not well known for his dealings of feelings of hate.

He knelt down and delicately traced a bruise which encircled the boy's wrist. It was apparent the purple colouring was a permeant feature from the constant use of binds to tie the boy's hands. Greg felt the scar around his own wrist and flinched when the sudden lightning memory struck him.

"Hey"

A grave voice appeared behind him and Greg turned to find Nick looking just as, if not more, solemn as he did. Greg gave his friend a small, sympathetic smile; he knew how child cases got to Nick especially.

"Hi, I've finished with the preliminaries." Greg informed him. "I can wait for the coroner whilst you get on with the rest of the house."

Nick nodded and didn't even argue about the fact Greg was giving him instructions before picking up his case and heading to another room. Greg couldn't look at the body any longer and so tried to busy himself elsewhere in the room until David arrived.

"It's just so horrible, isn't it?" the assistant coroner said as he got the boy on a cart ready to take away.

"Horrible doesn't even begin to describe it" Greg replied.

David nodded. "Well at a guess I would say COD would be blunt force trauma" he said; it was important for them to stay professional in these situations.

"Yeah he has a really big bump on his head, and this wall over here is dented" Greg said as he went over and ran his hand across the crack. "Killer probably hit him against it" he refused to refer to the man as a father.

"These bodies never get easier" David said sadly as he shook his head.

He then started to wheel the boy away and Greg closed his eyes for a moment to bite back the overwhelming emotions inside him. After a minute to gather his thoughts Greg decided to go and see how Nick was faring with the whole case so far.

The elder CSI was down in the living room holding one of the boy's toys and looking at it with glazed eyes. Greg stood for a moment and wondered if Nick would want to be disturbed, but it would be no good to leave the Texan to his own morbid thoughts.

"Are you doing okay?" Greg asked. He knew it was probably the dumbest thing he could have asked right then, but he wasn't quite sure what else to say.

"How do you do it, Greg?" Nick asked, as he put the toy down and stood up to face his friend. "How can you take cases like this in its stride and pretend that it's normal"

Greg shook his head. "You just…have to" was the only way he could think of explaining it. "If I stop and think about it for too long then yeah, it does get to me, but…you have to keep going if you're going to get justice. Though, sometimes that just doesn't feel good enough."

Nick wasn't sure what he'd been expected; almost some kind of mystic cure, but he took Greg's explanation as it stood, and it was one of those moments again when he realised how his friend had grown over the years.

"Can you imagine?" Nick asked as he looked around the room and was able to pinpoint every drop of blood and every fracture where a woman and a child had been thrown against the wall. "One bad incident with the baby sitter was enough to ruin my childhood, but this…"

Greg scrunched his lips together thoughtfully. Nick had only come clean about the whole babysitter thing to him recently and Greg couldn't begin to contemplate the courage that had taken. He himself had dark secrets of his past, and maybe now was the right time to share them. It might even help Nick; maybe even himself, to get a few things off his chest after years of silence.

"Do you remember about 10 years ago there was a protest because they were going to release a man who had murdered his wife and abused his son, kept him locked up in the cellar for three weeks?"

"Yeah…Daniel Hopkins, right?" Nick asked.

Greg nodded "That was my dad."

The boy could do nothing but scream.

"Only cowards hide, Gregory" His father seethed as he continued to drag the seven year old by his hair across the hallway and then down the stairs.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Greg cried as he tried to wriggle free, but it only made the pain intensify and his father gripped harder.

"Oh, you will be, boy, you will be"

Greg tried to remain as silent as possible as he continued to be hauled through the house. When they reached the living room, Greg's eyes widened and he screamed when he saw his mother lying on her back in a pool of blood, knife sticking out of her chest.

"Shut up you little brat!" Daniel commanded as he scooped Greg up and flung him over his shoulder.

Greg started kicking and shouting for help; he had to see if his mother was okay. His father just squeezed his arm tighter around Greg's waist until the boy felt like he couldn't breathe, so he finally stopped shouting.

Daniel carried his son to the cellar and the stairs creaked under the force of his heavy steps. Greg had taken to silently sobbing now as there was nothing else he could do. This was it; he was so sure he was going to die.

His father threw him down in the corner and then tied ropes around his hands and feet. Greg didn't even fight anymore; he couldn't get the image of his bleeding mother out of his mind.

"Do not make a sound" his father stressed, before turning and heading back up the stairs.

Moments later, and Greg heard the door being doubly, triply locked.

And that was it for three long weeks. Just him, and the darkness.

"My school got worried that I hadn't shown up in a while and they couldn't get hold of my parents. They called the police, and that's when I was found. I was told my mom was dead and my dad was going to jail. I spent a while in hospital, but about 9 months after that I was adopted. I took my adopted parents' last name, Sanders, and…well they didn't let my dad out 10 years ago. He'll die in jail, and I can't say I'm sad about that."

After Greg had finished, Nick didn't say anything for quite a while; it was a hell of a lot to take in. How the hell had he known Greg all these years and not known any of that, why had Greg not said anything? Although, he supposed it was because it was not something the younger man wanted to relive on a regular basis, and was perhaps worried people would treat him differently because of it.

"I…I'm so sorry" Nick finally said as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Greg gave him a small smile. "Don't be, if anything it made me stronger. I can look at cases like this and think it could have been me, or I can see myself as a lucky one to be alive and fight for those who can't do it themselves. I have two parents now who love me, and I have you guys; my big happy crazy family."

Nick smiled back at him. "Yeah and don't you forget it. You should be proud that you managed to put a past like that behind you and do what you do every day."

"Yeah. Yeah I am" Greg said.

"Well, just know that if you ever need to talk about it then I'm always here for you, and I promise I won't treat you any differently" Nick implored.

"I know" Greg replied "and I appreciate it. Now, we have a scumbag to find" he said determinedly.

"That we do" Nick agreed.

My sincerest apologies for the ridiculously long wait. I am not asking for anymore prompts at the moment as I wish to get back on track, but again, thank you for the continued support.

In other news, we are almost half way through season 14 in the UK and what a season it has been so far! Cannot wait for more.

Reviews would, as ever, be so very much appreciated. Xx