Title: Stop on a Dime
Rating: R
Disclaimer: What you recognize isn't mine; it belongs to CBS. And no-one will be seriously hurt.
A/N: Companion piece or sequel to "Bubbles in the Wine", but can stand alone. Spoilers for Grave Danger, for those who haven't seen it. In response to a challenge:
1. set after Grave Danger
2. Greg/Sara friendship or Greg/Sara
3. Everyone is still reeling over Nick's experience in the Plexiglas coffin; Greg decides that he could use a little break.
4. So he asks Grissom to take at least a week vacation time, to which Grissom agrees.
5. Knowing why he's leaving Sara asks him to keep in touch, call
her at least once a day, since they've become closer.
6. On his break he goes back to California to visit family and friends. While there he gets in a car accident, which puts him in a coma (comatose)
7. Friends and family gather a friend or family member who met Nick or Sara calls them to fill them in on what's going on. Hearing the news they all rush to California.
8. How does everyone react? Nick? Sara? Grissom? Cath? Warrick? Archie? So on and so forth. What happens in the end?
9. MUST USE characters; Grissom, Greg, Sara, Nick, Warrick, Archie,
Hodges, Bobby D, Greg's family. any other characters up to you

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Everybody knows an eighteen wheeler can't stop on a dime.

You can slam the brakes, you can honk your horn, you can jerk the steering wheel to the side as hard as you can, but you can't stop them.

They can't stop you.

They can hit the brakes, they can blare their horn, they can turn their steering wheel to the side as hard as they can, but they can't stop you.

Everybody knows that.

Everybody.

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She honestly couldn't believe her life after moving here to Las Vegas. One thing after another, strange people and strange ideas. Made California look bleak, just like Kansas in that Wizard of Oz movie Greg got her to watch over and over again.

All because she told him she had never seen the movie in her life.

"What!" Greg had exclaimed after she confessed this fact during one of her sleepover stays at his apartment. "How can you not have seen the Wizard of Oz? It's like, living without breathing!"

Sara gave him an annoyed look. "What's so special about this movie?"

Babbling about some flying monkeys and a field full of posies, he had dragged her to his overstuffed couch and forced her to watch his 'all-time favorite' movie.

At the end, she had to admit it was pretty good, even though it still didn't rank the highest on her list. Cheesy music and wacky characters aside, it was funny and childish.

Yep, California was Kansas and Las Vegas was definitely the Land of Oz.

Nick definitely reminded her of those cute little Munchkins who had a big heart but sometimes needed others to get them out of big trouble.

And Walter Gordon was the Wicked Witch of the West who was that big trouble.

Damn those evil villains.

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All he could remember was glass and metal.

Shards of sharp glass and burning pieces of hot metal.

He did remember the screech, the honking, and the ear-deafening sound of metal crushing metal.

Staring into the blinding glare of headlights and hitting a hulking dark shadow that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

Rivets of blood running cold trails against his sweaty skin.

The sirens, flashing their bright reds and blues.

That was the last thing he remembered.

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"Break. I need a break," the messy-haired CSI muttered as he wandered throughout the crime lab.

Grissom turned an inquisitive eye towards him. "What did you say, Greg?"

He shrugged. "I need a break."

His boss frowned, taking in the younger man's unkempt look. "Are you sure it's not just the coffee?" He pointed out Greg's slightly shaking hands holding the cup.

Greg shook his head. "Nu-uh. A break. Like a week or two, Grissom. Unlike Sara, I'd like to use my break time." It wasn't the real reason, but the older man chose not to press the issue.

Raising an eyebrow instead, Grissom nodded reluctantly. "A week. Starting at the end of shift. If you're not back by then, we're going to personally hunt you down, you hear?" He tipped his head toward the layout room. "Go and help Nick and Catherine finish up the case."

"Aye aye, sir." Managing a smile, Greg mocked a salute and marched back to said room.

With a roll of his eyes, Grissom ran a hand tiredly through his salt and pepper hair and went back to what he was doing.

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White.

That's where he was, in a white room that seemingly stretched into nothing. There were hazy figures, muttering incoherently and vanishing into the colorless walls one by one.

He tried to speak, but to his utter disappointment he couldn't say a word. Whatever sounds that left his mouth had turned into invisible cloudy mists.

Surrounded by nothing but white.

Where was he?

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A few hours later, a while before shift ended, Sara bumped into Greg at the locker room-literally.

"Woah, Greg. You alright?" The brunette questioned in worry as her friend seemed to have not noticed that he had walked right into her. He just nodded, opening his locker to store away everything-including his badge, she noticed. "What are you doing?"

"Break. A week." He said shortly as he got ready to close his locker.

Giving a small frown, she looked at him closely. Exhaustion didn't even begin to describe what she saw in his eyes. "Give me a call, okay? Every day."

The deep concern he saw sparkling in her eyes told him she knew how he felt too. "Yeah. It's just that-"

"It's hard after what happened to Nick."

"Yeah." Silence settled tensely over the two as they mulled over fire ants and Plexiglas coffins. "I'll get Emily to call you too."

The smile on Sara's face brightened up a bit as she fondly recalled his older sister. "I'd like that." Her dark chocolate eyes twinkled a bit. "Too bad I can't come with you. It'd be great to see her and Matt again."

"Hopefully under different circumstances."

Her smile faded just a little bit as she remembered exactly what happened the first time she met Greg's family. Oh, how she did not want any memories of that day. Alcohol was to blame, of course. "Uh…yeah. But do tell them I said hi. And call. Definitely remember to call." Sara reminded him warmly, giving him another smile.

"How can I forget?" He teased, finally grinning when he walked out the door. He still had work to do, after all.

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Lifting his head from what seemed to be a cold surface, he glanced up at the clock that was in his line of vision.

Crap, it was way past the end of shift. How long did he sleep anyway?

Grissom was going to kick his ass next shift.

Shaking off the sleepiness in his legs, Greg stood up and left the break room. Grissom was going to kill him for napping during their meeting, but he was sure that the older man wouldn't mind too much.

Blinking in surprise, he noticed that everything seemed blurry, unfocused. Weird. He brushed it off as drowsiness.

Glancing around, he saw that the lab was nearly empty, save for some of the extremely early dayshift people and triple shifters from graveyard.

Hodges, upon peering into trace, was still working on the green and yellow thread from Sara's and Grissom's triple homicide.

Knowing those two workaholics, they weren't even going to go home. And Sara had already racked up about ten weeks worth of vacation time to boot.

A few feet further down the hallway, he heard Bobby, Nick, Warrick, and Archie laughing at some ridiculous video that Archie had downloaded from the Net.

Walking over into the audio room, he saw that it was one of those videos off of those joke sites. Grinning, Greg felt relief flood him as he saw Nick in good spirits again before his live burial.

It was good to see things getting back to normal, if albeit slowly.

Intently staring at the group of friends, he didn't see the table of audio equipment in front of him and bumped roughly into it.

His chocolate eyes widened in surprised horror as he stood right smack in the middle of the table, with no feeling at all, as everything began to fade into ugly shades of grey.

This wasn't a dream.

It was a fucking nightmare.