Title: Criminal Element
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Table: 5_prompts, Written in the Stars challenge
Prompt: C1, The last thing you need is more worry
Author's Note: Spoilers for the S7 CSI: Vegas episode "Fannysmackin'."
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Greg Sanders, unfortunately, just borrowing him for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Greg dragged his gaze away from the window of his apartment, leaning his head back against the couch cushions and closing his eyes. He dropped the letter he'd been holding, not wanting to read through it again; he already knew well enough what it contained.

He'd just been informed by letter that he was involved in a civil suit filed by the mother and brother of the man he had been forced to kill to save his own life. Now, he would have to appear in court, like a criminal, and defend actions that should already be clear.

If he hadn't hit Demetrius Jones with the van, then he himself would have died. There had been no doubt in his mind that the man's intent had been to kill him; he had been afraid for his life, and no one should question the fact that he'd acted to preserve that life.

Instead, the case was being looked at as though he was the one in the wrong. Demetrius Jones had been a member of a gang who had marched around the city beating and killing innocent people; he was the criminal element here. Not Greg.

Not only that, but he had been beaten to within an inch of his life by the gang that Jones had been running with. Greg was the victim, even though he didn't like being seen in that light; he had been the one who had been in the most danger from the situation, right from the beginning.

No, that wasn't entirely true, he told himself. Yes, he had been in danger, especially after the gang had literally pulled him through the broken window of the van and begun beating him senseless, but the person in the most danger had been the tourist whose life he had saved.

He should try to keep that uppermost in his mind -- that no matter what else happened, he had saved a life that night. There would have been one more dead body for Doc Robbins to autopsy, and another death put down to that gang of thugs, if Greg hadn't been there.

He had saved that man's life -- and almost lost his own in the process, he thought wryly. He would never have believed that he'd be going into a situation like that; all of his training hadn't really prepared for the face-off between life and sudden death.

That was what he should try to think about. Not the fact that he had been beaten to a pulp -- or that he still hadn't been able to bring himself to tell his parents that he wasn't working in the lab any more and that he had been a CSI for two years now, despite what Gil had told him.

Yes, it would have been a good time for him to "come clean," as Gil had said. But Greg hadn't been able to make himself pick up the phone and tell his parents what had happened to him. His mother would have been in Vegas, trying to smother him, as usual.

He loved his parents. He really did. But they were one headache that he hadn't needed when he was in the hospital, and didn't need now. His mother would try her best to convince him -- and everyone around him -- that he should come back home, where she could "protect" him.

It was nothing to do with protection, Greg thought wryly. It was to do with wrapping him cotton wool, not letting him do anything that she thought might give him as much as a bruise -- and trying to control every aspect of everything he did. He couldn't live like that.

It was yet another worry on top of everything else; he hadn't told his parents anything about what had happened to him, but he was constantly worried that they would somehow find out. It was a good thing they didn't live here in Vegas, or anywhere near.

They were only a few hours away, of course, but if he was lucky, the news stories wouldn't leak out as far as the San Gabriel news stations. If they did, then he would have a lot of explaining to do -- and yet more worry to deal with when his parents descended on him.

He'd thought that the worry about the inquest had been the worst part of what he would have to deal with -- and even when the inquest had come back with a verdict of "justifiable," that the worry might stop for a while. But now, this civil suit was looming large in his mind.

The last thing he needed right now was more worry. His cuts and bruises were gone; he looked as though he had never been through that terrifying experience of a few weeks ago. But now, there was more worry to plague him, to pile up on top of him and bury him alive.

This shouldn't be affecting his work -- but it was. Greg had always thought of his job as the place where he could concentrate on other people's problems and get away from his own -- but this time, it was his job that was part of his problem.

Greg sighed, closing his eyes and resting his head in his hands. What had he done to deserve this? He had thought that he was doing the right thing when he'd seen that gang of thugs beating up a man, and had turned into the alley in hopes of stopping them.

He would never have thought that he would end up being in fear of his own life from a single person, and then being assaulted and nearly losing his life -- not to mention being treated as though he was the criminal afterwards, instead of the mob that had nearly killed him.

No, he was the one who was scrutinized as though he'd done something wrong -- when all he'd been doing was protecting himself. He knew that Demetrius Jones had been planning to kill him. And he was just supposed to let the scumbag murder him?

He would always regret taking a human life. It wasn't something that he had ever wanted to do, though he had always known when he took the job as a CSI that he might have to do something like this one day. He just hadn't thought he would be faced with the choice so soon.

But he had been, and he'd lived through it. Only now there were so many problems stemming from that choice he'd made piling up on him that he was sure he would drown under them all. It didn't seem possible that so much trouble could have come out of that night.

The last thing he needed was yet more worry on top of everything else, but this civil suit was going to give him a hell of a lot more worry before it was resolved and he could put the issue behind him. He just hoped that no one would see him as being some kind of criminal.

Greg sighed and got up slowly from the couch, going into the kitchen to start making dinner. It was going to be a while before he could push all of this worry out of his mind, and be able to sleep soundly again. He just wanted it to all end quickly, so his life could finally go back to normal.

***