Hey! I know I've not even finished my other stories yet, but to be honest I just wanted to write another! Since CSI has started again, I thought I'd celebrate with a new story. I guess it's just an excuse to start another really but who cares! Please review to tell me what you think :) x
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"What just happened?" Sara asked confused.
Nick pressed for the ground floor but nothing happened. "I dunno; I think it's broke down." Trying a few more times pressing different buttons Nick shook his head. "Yeah, we're not going anywhere." Sighing, he pressed the alarm and almost straight away there was someone speaking to him through the speaker.
"Yeah, it's not going anywhere. We were going down to the ground floor and it says we're apparently on floor two right now."
After a few minutes Nick finished with the operator. "Did she seriously just say we could be in here for over two hours?" Sara asked Nick incredulously.
Taking a big breath in and then sighing, Nick said "Yep. They're sending someone to the lab now to come fix it. But depending on where they're coming from, it could take an hour just for them to get here."
Sara shook her head and looked over to Greg, who had been silent since the three of them got in the elevator. She noticed he was tapping his finger on the side of the elevator and his breathing was rather quick. She looked over to Nick and they shared a concerned look.
"Greg, don't worry, we're going to be fine." Sara told him and rubbed his arm gently, comfortingly.
He snapped his eyes over to her and then Nick, giving them a small smile. "Yeah." Was all he said and he quickly turned his eyes back to the doors, praying for them to open.
Nick looked to Sara again and felt hopeless. He had no idea how to help Greg. He'd only been back at work two weeks and now he had to face this. It wasn't fair. "I'm just going to ring Catherine and tell her what's going on." Sara said and pulled out her cell.
"Hey Cath. No, we haven't got round to that yet... no, we're in the elevator. Me, Nick and Greg." She looked over to Greg again. "I will, okay bye."
"Now what?" She asked after putting her phone away in her pocket.
"Well, shall we talk about our case since we've nothing else to do?" Nick asked Sara and Greg with a smile.
Sara smiled back whilst Greg made no effort to acknowledge that he'd even heard Nick, just looked at the doors, waiting for them to open.
x
"You make one sound and you're going to wish you were dead, you got that pretty boy?"
'Mmh' Greg muffled beneath the duct tape keeping his lips sealed together. He'd learnt better than to ignore this man, and the rest of them for that matter.
The man laughed. "Good boy, see you do know how to behave, it's a shame you didn't earlier." He slapped Greg twice on the cheek before shutting the trunk of the car closed and Greg was once again left alone.
When he was sure the men had really gone, Greg allowed the tears to roll down his face.
"Greg?"
Greg's head snapped around when Nick said his name. "Yeah?"
"I shouted you three times, man. You okay?" Nick asked him, concern clearly evident in his voice.
"Yeah." Greg told him, obviously lying.
Nick nodded unconvinced. "Seriously, you doing okay?" He asked him again. "I mean, I know what it must feel like to be stuck in here so soon after... you know..."
Sara so badly wanted to ask Greg the same thing, but Nick was the one with the guts to actually ask him.
"How long have we been in here?" Greg asked, completely ignoring Nick's question.
Looking down at his watch, Nick said "Around forty minutes, just over."
Greg sighed shakily. "Let's just try this again, it might work this time." He said and went to press the ground floor button again. And again. And again.
"Greg, come on. Greg..." Sara said, trying to snap him out of his trance and stop him pressing the button over and over as fast as he could.
Nick stepped forward and grabbed Greg's arm, not forcefully, just gently to stop him.
"Get off me!" Greg shouted at him and ripped his arm out of Nick's grasp. He turned towards the doors of the elevator and banged his fists on them. "Oh God, I want to get out of here." He said in a raised voice, not quite shouting.
Sara went behind him and softly put her hand on his shoulder. "We know, but don't worry okay; we'll be out of here soon. Alright?" She spoke to him, in a quiet soothing voice.
He leant his head forward and rested it on the cool metal and let out a small whimper. "How much longer do you think we'll be in here?" Greg asked quietly, sounding very close to tears.
"It can't be much longer now." Nick spoke up. "Why don't you sit down, man? Just try and relax."
Greg shook his head and banged on the doors again. "Please open, please, please, please..." Greg begged, gradually getting quieter but still banging the door as forcefully as he could.
"Hey! Hey!" Sara shouted and turned Greg around with a harsh push to his shoulders. Greg slid down the side of the elevator until he was on the floor, knees bent and head buried in his arms, allowing a few tears to creep out.
Nick sat down a little way in front of him and patted his arm. "It's alright, bud. It's okay."
Sara sat directly next to Greg and stroked the back of his head comfortingly.
After about half a minute Greg lifted his head up when he found it hard to breathe. He tried to breathe slower but found that he couldn't and both Nick and Sara picked up on it.
"Just breathe slow Greg. Deep breathes." Nick told him, followed by a tight smile.
Sara told him to sit up right but it still seemed as though he couldn't get his breath back. The few tears that had managed to find their way out from his eyes had stopped coming but there were stains on his cheeks which glistened when he looked up. He rubbed his hands over his face and refused to look at Sara and Nick.
"You alright now?" Sara asked after a minute and Greg replied with a nod of the head. But he was shaking all over and sweating.
Sara smiled and put her arm around Greg's shoulders and hugged him close to her for comfort, which he greatly appreciated. Nick looked back to Sara and sighed quietly. Hopefully they wouldn't be in there much longer.
X
Catherine walked into Hodges lab, where he was looking into a microscope. Standing at the door, she waited for Hodges to look up. When he did look up, he signalled for her to come over. "Take a look."
She bent over the microscope and looked down. "It's a match." She lifted her head and leaned on the table. "So we have our evidence to prove the same guy, the killer, was at both crime scenes, but we have no idea who the guy is."
Hodges nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. But if you have anything I can run this against then it's the first thing on my list."
"Thanks Hodges." Catherine said and just as she was about to walk out Hodges called her.
"Catherine?"
"Yeah?" She spun around and asked him.
He rolled a little bit closer to her in his chair. "Do you know if Greg's okay?"
Catherine frowned. "How do you know?"
"Word gets around fast in this place."
"I should know by now." Catherine smiled at him. "I think he's okay. Sara rang me and I told her to message me if anything happens and she hasn't..." Just then her phone beeped. "...yet."
She looked at her text and it was indeed from Sara. It read: Greg's just had a panic attack. Managed to settle him but he's agitated and won't talk to neither of us.
Catherine sighed and passed Hodges her phone.
Hodges shook his head. "I hope he gets out of there soon." He thought back to that horrid time a few months ago.
"The epithelials from the trunk are a match to Greg."
"I guess that's not anything we didn't already know." Nick said.
"No. The sweat and blood is also a match to Greg." Hodges told him.
Archie came into the lab where Hodges and everyone were. "I looked over the tapes. If it is how it looks, Greg was left in the trunk of that car for hours at a time, at one point he was in there for nearly a full day."
Nick shook his head angrily. "He wouldn't have even been able to move around in there, man. Have you seen how small it is?"
"Nicky, calm down." Catherine told him.
"I can't, I know what it's like to be in a box, but he couldn't even stretch out or, or, or do anything." He stuttered in his rush of anger.
The whole team looked at each other sadly. "Right come on. We need to get these guys behind bars as soon as we can." Russell said snapping them all back into action.
"Yeah me too." Catherine said before walking out.
X
"Did you hear that?" Nick asked with a smile and stood up.
Greg lifted his head up and listened.
"Nick, I don't hear anything..." Sara told him and looked at Greg who had a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Just listen, okay?" Nick said again with a smile.
Sara waited and just when she was about to speak up she heard something. "They're here Greg. We're going to be out of here soon, alright?"
He nodded and rested his head in his arms again. Not long after his panic attack, he began to feel faint and nauseous. And he had butterflies in his stomach ever since.
"Hey we're moving again." Nick said joyfully and Sara stood up to join him.
The elevator stopped and the doors dinged open, much to Greg's delight.
"You want a hand?" Nick offered when he saw Greg still sat on the floor.
Greg shook his head and slowly got to his feet, using the wall as support.
Catherine was hovering outside the elevator when she found out they were almost done and it would be up and working again soon. She wanted to see if Greg was okay.
He stumbled out into the hallway of the lab, still using support from the walls around him and made his way to his office.
Nick was about to follow him but Catherine held him back. "Just give him some space. That's what he needs right now." Nick nodded and he and Sara told Catherine about what had happened.
X
Finally in his office, which he shared with Nick and Morgan, Greg went over to his desk and sat down in the corner on the floor by it. As soon as he hit the floor tears crept back into his eyes. Everything overwhelmed him all at once and he didn't know what to do.
Catherine walked to his office, guessing that's where he headed.
The door was cracked open slightly and she didn't hear anything. Pushing it open a little more and peaking around the corner, she saw Greg hunched over. "Greg?"
He looked up to her but didn't say anything. She walked over and sat down with him. "Come here."
She held her arm out and pulled Greg into her when she saw the moment he was about to break down. And with those two words, it was all it took for his barrier to come down and the tears to break free from their ducts.
"Shh, it's okay. You're alright." She soothed, her motherly instincts coming out. He cried and cried into her shoulder and even a few sobs came out as he choked on his breaths to attempt to calm down.
His arms wrapped around her and his hands gripped the fabric of her shirt as tightly as they could, as if he was afraid to let go of her.
Whilst Greg was crying into her shoulder, Catherine noticed Morgan come in the office but without needing a hint, she quietly shut the door behind her and left the pair alone.
"I was so scared. I didn't think we were going to get out." Greg mumbled, his voice hushed by her chest.
"I know, I know. But you're out now, you're safe." She told him calmly and rubbed his back, trying to calm him down.
"But... it reminded me of that... trunk... and there was nothing I could do..." Greg told her through gasps for air.
Catherine pulled him tighter into her. "You don't need to explain, honey. I know." She rocked him slightly and waited with him, until he was ready to move.
X
Morgan knocked on Russell's office door.
"Hey, have you got a minute?" She asked as she slipped in the room.
"Sure, what's up?" He asked, putting his glasses down on the table and giving the bridge of his nose a rub.
"It's about Greg." Immediately Russell sat up straighter.
"What's the matter, is he okay?"
Morgan shook her head sadly. "No, he's not. Nick just told me; the elevator broke down and Greg was in it with him and Sara."
Russell's face dropped. "You've gotta be kidding me?"
"I'm afraid not. And I just walked into my office; Greg was on the floor crying. Catherine's with him."
Russell stood up. "Right, thanks for telling me."
Morgan nodded. "He needs a lot of help." She said sadly.
"I know Morgan, and we're going to make sure he gets all the help he needs."
X
So there you have it! Pretty long for a first chapter (at least for me anyway!) and it'd be great to hear about what you think of this story so far :) Please review! x
