Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Wish they were, but they're not. Que Sera Sera

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"Where the hell is Greg?" Grissom mumbled aloud to no one in particular

"I saw him this morning as I was leaving." Nick replied

"Well, will someone call him and wake him up?" Grissom growled

Nick pulled out his cell phone and called Greg. The phone rang a few times before Greg picked up. He sounded sleepy and not so coherent. The conversation lasted a few seconds before Greg's phone went dead. Nick turned to Grissom and expressed his concerns to him.

"He sounded kind out of it. He was mumbling something but I couldn't quite make it out."

"Ok, someone go over to his place and see what's wrong?" Grissom commanded

"I'll go and check on him." Nick volunteered

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Arriving at Greg's apartment, Nick's red flags went up when he saw that Greg's door was ajar. With the toe of his shoe, Nick opened the door more so that he could get in. Once inside he could clearly see signs of a struggle and just as he pulled his cell from his pocket to dial Grissom, he saw Greg lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Nick called 911 first and after that he called Grissom.

The ambulance was there in a matter of minutes and Grissom and crew arrived minutes later. As soon as Nick had called the ambulance the call went out over the police band and the night shift was given the scene.

They began to arrive just as Greg was being carted out on a gurney and loaded into the back of the bus. By the looks of him he had been worked over. His face looked like hamburger meat. His nose was broken, he had several cuts and bruises on his face, arms and legs. Greg was shirtless and just as he was being covered up the team could see that he had taken several hard blows to his torso as well. By the looks of things he had several broken ribs and most assuredly had some internal damage; but they wouldn't find out the extent of his wounds until he was in hospital and x-rays and MRIs had been done.

As the gurney was loaded into the back of the bus Catherine climbed in so she could accompany him to hospital and collect any and all evidence she could. It was a fairly smooth ride and as they made haste to hospital Catherine collected evidence from under his fingernails and took several swabs. When they arrived and Greg was taken to the OR, Catherine took possession of his clothes and other personal effects before they became too contaminated. Once that had been done she headed back to the lab and began to examine the scrapings from under his fingernails and test for any possible traces of DNA or trace evidence on his clothes. Sitting in the exam room she couldn't believe what had happened; who'd want to hurt Greg? To the best of her knowledge Greg was liked and loved by all. True, he could be a bit annoying at times, but when he came down to it he was all business.

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Back at the scene, the team was doing their thing when they came across a note scribbled on a slip of paper by the phone.

"Just ask him. He'd take a bullet for me."

These words rang in Nick's head as he remembered where he'd heard those words before. He had heard them on a video tape of Nigel Crane several years back when he was stalked and attacked by the man. Nick immediately bagged the note and showed it to Grissom who was currently taking photos of the apartment. Tapping him on the shoulder, Nick showed him the note and Gil's eyes got wide. He immediately recognized the words and called Catherine. He knew she was back at the lab because she had called him as soon as she had arrived back. He asked her to check on the status of Nigel Crane's incarceration and after a few moments let out a long sigh and hung up. Looking over to Nick, Grissom swallowed hard before sharing the bad news.

"Nigel Crane was paroled two weeks ago. Apparently he got time off for good behaviour." he explained

"So, first he goes after me and now he's out he goes after Greg? He never even met Greg; he was still a lab tech when Crane was arrested. Why would he go after Greg?" Nick replied

"There must be some reason why he came here. He could barely overpower me; and just look at what he did to Greg. He's no He-Man. He's rail thin and not really muscular. I hope he put up a good fight, and it looks like he did. Looks like he did, given the state of things. Stuff all over the place, broken lamps, chairs and tables. I hope Greg got a piece of him." Nick said as Grissom continued to take photos

On the floor, right beside where Greg had been laying, there was a stone statuette of Aladdin's lamp. It was just outside the pool of blood and Grissom hoped the blood on it was the perp's. By the size of the blood pool, Grissom could tell that Greg had lost a fair bit and hoped not too much. There was massive facial trauma and Greg had defensive wounds on his hands and arms. There was no evidence of a weapon or other implement of destruction that was used on Greg. It looked like strictly hands, fists and possible feet. Grissom hoped the statuette would yield the perp's blood rather then Greg's.

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The scene having been processed and everyone having returned to the lab, they all went to work analyzing fibres and other trace evidence that had been collected. Nick and Warrick were in DNA going over the hairs and swabs that were collected. They all hated that Greg's apartment had become a crime scene and that they had to sift through his belongings and personal stuff like every other crime scene. To them this was far more personal. Sara was running the prints she'd collected through AFIS while Nick and Warrick were running the swabs and blood samples through CODIS. After a few minutes the results came back as definitely belonging to Nigel Crane.

Feeling guilty, upset and confused, Nick excused himself to Grissom's office where Gil sat at his desk writing the preliminary report. Poking his head in the open door, he let Grissom know that he was going to hospital to check on Greg's status.

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In ICU, Greg was in bed bandaged nearly from head to toe. To Nick, Greg looked like a mummy, more than anything else. His nose had been mended, the cuts on his face, hands, arms and torso had been sutured and his left leg was in a cast from a broken tibia. Nick pulled up a chair and sat beside Greg for several hours. When he had arrived he had been warned that Greg was heavily sedated and most likely wouldn't wake any time soon. However, from speaking with Greg's doctor Nick got a whole different story. His doctor said that Greg was actually in a coma, most likely from the repeated blows he took to the head.
He had several skull fractures and the doctors had to take out a section of his skull to relieve the swelling of the brain.

Nick felt awful about all the damage and pain that had been inflicted on Greg. He wondered why it was that Nigel hadn't done nearly as much damage to him but had nearly killed Greg; he was escalating. Greg could have died from the wounds he'd been subjected to and now he was in a coma, hooked up to all sorts of monitors. One to monitor his heart rate as well as one that monitored his brain activity. Internally, he was a mess as well. He had to have his spleen removed along with one of his kidneys and one of his lungs had collapsed from the broken ribs. The lung was no longer an issue because as soon as a chest tube had been inserted blood began to spill onto the floor and his breathing became more normal.

Sitting and looking at his friend, Nick couldn't help but feel for him. His heart truly went out to him. He looked so peaceful as he lay in bed. Even though he had been hooked up to a breathing machine and there were several Intravenous leads in his arms and the back of his hands, as well as EKG leads coming out from under his gown. He wanted to cry, but at the same time Nick wanted to remain strong for his friend.

After a while a nurse came to Nick and told him that it was customary for friends and family to donate blood. Hearing this, Nick left Greg's bedside and went outside to call the lab.

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In his office, Grissom was going over some old cases to take his mind off Greg's condition when his cell went off. Nearly jumping from his seat, he was startled when his cell went off. He pulled it from his pocket and answered it to hear Nick's voice. After his brief conversation with Nick, Grissom assembled the team in the break room and addressed them.

"I just received a call from Nick. Apparently Greg is in pretty bad shape. He said that a nurse is requesting that friends and family come in and donate blood. So, we'll put things on hold for a bit and go donate. Anyone that doesn't want to, I'll understand. I'm taking one of the trucks and I'm leaving now, so anyone that wants to come; follow me and we can all go in together." Grissom explained

Leaving the break room and grabbing a set of keys from his desk, Grissom et al climbed into the truck and drove to the hospital. When they arrived they were all seated in padded chairs and willingly gave blood. Greg was AB+ and out of sheer luck so were Nick and Grissom. Warrick was 0- and Catherine was B+. Greg was in good luck that so many of his friends and colleagues were of similar type as he. Nick, Grissom and Warrick gave multiple times with 1 hour intervals between donations.

When they were all done they were shown to where Greg lay and as they gathered round' his bed they could tell that when he woke up he'd be in a world of hurt. They all stood there for a few moments before returning to the lab.

When they arrived back they were greeted by Brass who had a giant grin on his face. Seeing them all walking down the hall, he chuckled a bit.

"Guess who I just picked up from Mercy?" he said

"Where is he?!" Grissom demanded

"He's at the precinct. Apparently he tried to check himself into the hospital and the police were immediately notified before any treatment had been given. His wounds are fresh and it even looks like Greg took a chunk out of his left hand; he's got a huge bite mark. Plus, his clothes are covered in blood and his knuckles are torn to shreds." Brass explained

"I'll go. Just let me grab his prints and DNA results. We'll throw this whack job back in prison, where he belongs." Nick said

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In the interrogation room Nigel Crane sat, cuffed to the table, and stared at Nick as he walked in. Nonchalantly, Brass and Nick sat around the table; their attention directed toward Crane who was just sitting there with a blank expression on his face. As it turned out, Greg had put up a fight. Crane had a bloody nose, two black eyes and a gash on his forehead. Nick took silent delight in the sight before him; now knowing that Greg took a piece of this dirt bag with him. While Crane was cuffed to the table, Nick opened his kit and took out some swabs and took some samples from Crane's knuckles, the bite on his hand and scraped his fingernails for possible DNA that would further link him to the assault.

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Back at the lab Nick and Warrick were going over the DNA samples that they had collected from Crane while Catherine went over Crane's clothes which had been collected and traded in for a bright orange jumpsuit. Crane was to be held in the tombs until his arraignment the following day.

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Seated in the courtroom, the team watched as Crane was brought before the judge and entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect...an insanity plea. He was remanded to the Clark County Detention Centre until his hearing. His barrister wasted no time in requesting a speedy trial and was granted one for the following week. That meant that the team had one week to make a case against Crane that would stand up in court and hopefully the judge and jury would throw the book at him.

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Most of the evidence having been collected, analyzed and identified, the team really didn't have much to do. The scrapings from Greg's fingernails along with what was collected from Crane were DNA tested and came up positive on both counts. The blood from Crane's clothes was identified as being Greg's and the swab from the bite on Crane's hand came up with Greg's DNA in it. Greg's clothes tested positive for Crane's blood as did the statuette with the blood on it. All pertinent evidence was placed in a box and set on a shelf in the evidence storage room for safe keeping.

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During the week the team members spent as much time with Greg as possible. It wasn't until the fourth day that Greg woke up. He was in severe pain and all but had the morphine drip control glued to his hand. He looked around to find Nick sitting at his bedside. With his good hand, Greg pointed to his breathing tube. Nick got up and went to find a nurse to remove the tube. A nurse followed Nick into Greg's room and removed the tube then went in search of his doctor. Looking down at the young man,
Nick sighed.

"How ya' feeling?" Nick asked

Through a raspy voice, Greg said he was fine. Nick asked Greg how much he remembered from his accident and Greg said that he remembered seeing a familiar face on the other side of his apartment door and that he was holding a package. He opened the door and that's when Crane blitzed him. He remembered the struggle and that the next thing he remembered was waking up in hospital. Looking his body over, Greg sighed and asked for some water. Nick got up and went into the bathroom and returned with a cup of water for his friend.

"We got a slam dunk case, man." Nick said cheerily "We've got your blood on his clothes. We've got his blood on your clothes. We've got the fingernail scrapings from both of you that confirms that he was the guy that attacked you. Hell, we could probably get him on attempted homicide as well as the assault counts and the obvious parole violations. With any luck he'll be back in jail for a very long time." Nick explained

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Several days later Greg was released from hospital and returned home to find that the place had been cleaned up as best it could. After the scene had been released several team members had returned to put things back in their places. As Greg was wheeled into his apartment he expressed that he wanted to lay down and was wheeled into his bedroom and helped into bed by Nick and Warrick, who had accompanied him home from hospital. Guiding him onto his bed, Warrick set Greg's painkillers on the bedside table along with a glass of water. As he was leaving Greg's room, he turned round' and said something.

"Get well soon. We're probably gonna need you at Crane's trial." he said

Looking over at Warrick, Greg grinned.

"I'll be ready."