I know the title looks a little like my story Trace of love, but this is not a sequel to that story! I might do one in the near future, but until then I have this story for you! :) Enjoy!
Oh, and the Bodyvive class I mention really does exist! Try it out when you get the chance! ;)

She hadn't said a word all night. When he had asked her if she wanted to drive, she had given him a polite "No, thanks", but that was all. Now she was sitting next to him, staring out the window without saying a word. He had noticed she kept touching her right shoulder with her left hand and when he thought back, he couldn't remember her using her right hand earlier. She had taken her kit out of her locker with her left hand and she had held the door with her left hand as well. He knew she was right-handed, so why wasn't she using her right hand? A red light gave him the chance to look at her. She had her left hand on her right shoulder again, a painful look on her face.
"You okay?" he asked, sounding a little worried.
"I'm fine."
Okay then… He was almost glad the light turned green so he could concentrate on the road again. He knew everyone had an off-day sometimes, he just wasn't used to Morgan having one. She had sounded so grumpy when she had told him she was fine. Why? Clearly she wasn't fine or she wouldn't have had that painful look on her face when she had touched her right shoulder. Why wouldn't she tell him what was going on? Ever since they had worked on Alison's case together he had gotten the feeling they had become really good friends. Okay, it wasn't where he wanted to be, because obviously he wanted to be more than just friends with her, but it was much better than just being colleagues. And now she wouldn't even tell him what was going on? He tried again: "You sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine, Greg, I just told you I was."
Every word was pronounced with the hidden message 'Just leave me alone'. She had never snapped at him, or anyone else that he could remember, like this before. What was going on? Suddenly he felt angry. He pushed down the brake and stopped the car on the side of the road. Surprised, she looked at him. Before she could say anything, he almost shouted: "No, you're not fine, you're just not telling me what's going on! You didn't want to drive, while you normally always want to drive to a crime scene, you avoid using your right hand and arm, you keep touching your right shoulder… What's going on? Did you hurt your shoulder?"
"That's none of your business!" she snapped at him. "Just drive, okay?"
"No, not okay!" he immediately said. "Why do you keep touching your shoulder like that? If you're in pain, you can tell me, I thought you knew that…"
"It's… none… of… your… business!" she said, emphasizing every word. "Can we now just get to the crime scene or am I supposed to call a cab?"
Still feeling angry he started the car again. He drove to the crime scene without saying another word. If she didn't want to talk, then neither did he.

When they arrived at the crime scene, Brass greeted them.
"Victim's name is Nolan Thom, thirty-three, lives here alone after his wife and child left, according to the next-door neighbor," he told them. Morgan walked passed him without even greeting him, which made Brass raise his eyebrows.
"Don't ask," Greg told him, trying hard not to sound too angry. He walked inside as well and greeted David, who was kneeling next to the victim.
"Single gunshot wound to the head," he said. "There's gunshot residue on his head, so he was shot at close range and there's a suicide note on the counter. But yet…"
He didn't finish his sentence, because he knew Greg understood where he was going.
"There's no gun," Greg nodded. "Time of death?"
"About two hours ago," David told him. He looked up when Brass approached them.
"I talked to the next-door neighbor, she said she had been out with her dog all afternoon," Brass said, checking his notes. "When she came back, her dog was barking at something in the backyard here. When she took a closer look, she saw Nolan lying on the floor, so she called us."
"I'll check the backyard."
Greg looked up at Morgan, but before he could make eye contact, she had already left the living room and walked out into the backyard. Brass cleared his throat to get Greg's attention again, who was still looking at the door Morgan had just left through.
"The backdoor was open, but there was no sign of forced entry," Brass said. "That's about all I have."
"Thanks," Greg said with a quick nod. He got out his flashlight and started to look around. Nolan Thom's living room was empty, but he could see discolorations on the wall of where photo frames had been before. He knew he was supposed to follow the evidence, but a theory already started to form itself in his head: Nolan Thom and his wife get a divorce, Nolan can't handle it, maybe also because he can't see his child whenever he wants anymore, and decides to end his own life. The theory of course didn't explain why there was no gun. Remembering the 'Sherlock Holmes' case he had worked years ago as his final proficiency, he looked around if there was any place the gun could have been hidden.
"Do we know if he had a gun registered to his name?" he asked.
"I'll check into it," Brass promised. He left the living room and went outside to make the call. David looked at Greg. "Do you want to take another look or can I take him back to the morgue?"
Greg took one last look at the body. There seemed to be nothing suspicious, except for the fact that there was no gun.
"You can take him," he told David. He started to look around again. All of a sudden, he saw Morgan in the backyard, clumsily reaching up with her left arm. He slowly walked outside and watched her for a few moments without saying anything.
"You know, you could help me instead of just watching me," she snarled at him.
"I could," he nodded, "but why don't you first tell me what you're doing?"
She sighed and turned around. "There's a gun on the floor of the tree house here and I wanted to get it out. I just can't reach high enough."
"Why don't you use your right arm?" he suggested while crossing his arms. She looked at him with a not-amused look on her face. "I can't, okay? You happy now? I think a pulled a muscle in my right arm or something like that and now my shoulder hurts and I can't lift my right arm. So, there, that's what's going on. Congratulations, you got it out of me!"
She rushed back into the house, bumping into to him with her left shoulder on purpose. With a sigh he walked over to the tree house to get the gun. He had never thought that there would be a day that he wished his shift with Morgan was over already, but now he really did.

Several hours later that moment finally arrived. He almost raced to his locker where he couldn't help heaving a deep sigh. Nick, who was getting his things from his own locker, looked up with one of his well-known smiles. "You okay there, Greggo?"
"No," he confessed. He shook his head. "Forget about it, it's no big deal."
"Hmm… That sigh can't be because you're having trouble solving your case," Nick said. "I heard you and Morgan solved it in one shift."
"Yeah, nothing big," Greg said, shrugging his shoulders. "The man had committed suicide, a little thief saw him lying on the floor with the gun, he entered through the backdoor to steal the gun, but when he left, the neighbor's dog started barking and he panicked, so he tossed the gun into the tree house."
Nick gave him a little nod. "Still, to figure it out in one shift… I would have thought you'd stall a bit so you could work with your girlfriend a little longer."
He added a teasing smile, but Greg shook his head. "She's not my girlfriend and I don't think she's ever going to be, so just drop it, okay?"
"Oh… Trouble in paradise?" Nick grinned while he got out his car keys. Greg shook his head again. "She was just in a bad mood today and that's not exactly fun to work with!"
"I can imagine that," Nick agreed with him. "Hey, you know what always helps me when I need to get a bad mood out of my system? Working out! Why don't you hit the gym for a few hours? It'll help you blow off some steam!"
"That's actually a good idea," Greg nodded, suddenly realizing it would indeed help him get in a better mood again. "Thanks!"
"You're welcome," Nick nodded with a smile. "And if you ever want to really thank me, I have two words for you: dog food. You won't believe how much Sam eats!"
Laughing, Greg left the locker room. He started to feel a little better already and by the time he had picked up his gym bag and parked his car in front of the gym, he had almost forgotten about Morgan's bad mood. Almost, of course, because it still bugged him that she had snapped and snarled at him like that. It wasn't his fault her shoulder hurt! He shook his head while he entered the gym. Why did she have to take it out on him? He had only been worried…
"Hey, Sanders!"
He looked up and saw Liz standing at the bar, dressed in a purple tank top and black dance pants as usual. She gave him a huge smile. "Come to join my class today?"
Liz was one of the instructors at the gym. She taught several classes and ever since they had first met, which was now almost five years ago already, she had tried to get him to join one of her classes. He had always refused: he preferred to work out alone over being in a class.
"You know you're going to have to do better than just ask me, right?" he reminded her with a smile on his face. He liked Liz as a friend: she was always nice to him, always happy and she always managed to make him smile.
"Okay, then I'll make you dinner if you join my class today," she suggested. He looked at her with his eyebrows slightly raised. "You mean like a date?"
"Come on, Sanders, I've known you long enough to know I don't stand a chance with you," she told him, still smiling. "You already have your heart set on someone else. I don't know who she is, but she's very lucky. You're a great guy, Greg, but don't worry: you're not my kinda guy. Friends, okay, more than friends, no way. I just want you to try out one of my classes, that's all."
Her kind words and cheerful smile, that were the completely opposite of Morgan's bad mood, suddenly made him decide: "Alright then, I'll try one of your classes! Once, okay, once!"
He had already seen her eye light up and repeated: "Once, you heard me?"
"When you've tried Bodyvive once, you'll never to want miss another class!" she promised him with a smile. "Now, get upstairs, class starts in ten minutes!"
Smiling, he went upstairs to get changed. He knew Bodyvive was Liz' favorite class to teach and she was always trying to find new people to try out the class. Since he had never tried it, he had no idea how busy it was going to be, but he figured it would be very busy since he knew how enthusiast Liz could be about her class. With his towel and bottle of water in his hands, he went to find the aerobics classroom. Liz was already there, preparing everything for the class. She smiled at him. "Finally! You're gonna love it, Sanders, I promise you that!"
"I'm not so sure yet," he said with a sigh, but he was just teasing her a little now. "So, what do I need?"
"Well, for Bodyvive you always need…"
Before she could tell him what it was that he needed for the class, they heard a door opening, followed by an angry: "What are you doing here?"
Greg turned around and froze. What was Morgan doing here? She seemed even more angry than during their shift. "Did you follow me? Did you hide a camera in my bag or something like that?"
"I've been working out here for about five years already," he told her. He couldn't help but sound angry as well. "What are you doing here?"
"I've been working out here since I moved to Vegas," she snarled at him. "I've never seen you do Bodyvive before, so what are you doing here?"
"Well, it's good to see you two know each other!" Liz interrupted them. "Morgan, why don't you show Greg what he needs while I get a pair of new batteries for my headset? I've asked Greg to join us today, I hope you don't mind. How's your shoulder by the way? You didn't seem all too happy after that CXWorx class you did yesterday!"
"I'm fine," Morgan snapped at her. Liz smiled again. "Great! Then I know you'll take all the high options!"
Angry, Morgan crossed her arms. Liz nodded. "I figured as much. Why don't you decide on how your shoulder really is while I get those batteries? Oh, and please show Greg what he needs without eating him alive, okay? Thanks!"
She left the aerobics classroom. Greg immediately felt she had taken the last bit of the happy atmosphere with her. He avoided looking at Morgan and decided to ask the next person who entered what he needed.
"So you didn't follow me?"
He turned around and looked at Morgan. "No, of course I didn't follow you. Like I told you, I've been working out here for about five years and Liz has always tried to get me to join one of her classes. I always said 'no', but today I felt I needed a little distraction after the way you had been acting during shift today, so I decided to give her class a chance. If I had known you'd be here, I wouldn't have, alright?"
"Oh, so now it's all my fault?" she shouted. "I'm the one who does everything wrong?"
"It's not my fault you hurt your shoulder and if you're in pain, you don't need to take it out on me," he reminded her. "I'd be more than happy to help you if you need help, but not like this."
"I don't need help," she immediately snapped back at him, which was exactly what he had expected. He couldn't help it, but even now she was so stubborn and angry, he still felt his heart beating twice as fast as usual.
"Fine, you don't need help," he nodded. "But I do now, because I don't know what I need for this class."
"Fine then! You need…"
Again, he didn't get to find out what he needed to the class. Three shots coming from downstairs made them immediately forget their fight and rush out of the aerobics classroom. They ran downstairs, following the sound of screams. The area around the bar was suddenly full of people.
"Get back!" Greg shouted. He had seen blood on the floor, which was never a good sign. He ran towards the pool of blood, pushing people back along the way. When he had finally managed to clear the area, he froze. This couldn't be true…
"Stay back, this is a crime scene now!" he heard Morgan shout. Seconds later, she appeared next to him.
"Oh, no," he heard her whisper. "Liz?"
The pool of blood next to Liz' side grew larger and larger. Greg saw Morgan getting up from the corner of his eyes. She kneeled down next to a man he didn't know.
"He's dead," she told him after checking. "Is Liz…"
She didn't finish her sentence. Greg stared at Liz' face. She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't be! A sudden groan made him sit up. "Liz? Can you hear me?"
He fought the urge to pinch himself to check if he wasn't dreaming. She gave him a small smile. "You didn't have to shoot me to miss my class…"
"Call 911!" he immediately shouted as loud as he could. "We need an ambulance, now!"