AN: First fanfic, well first time written anything creative for a long time here so will see how it goes. This fic is set in series 7, after the events of fannysmackin' so the old cast are all in tact (I've yet to watch all the Langston episodes).
Chapter 1
"Name?"
"Greg Sanders"
"Do you have medical insurance Mr Sanders?"
"Oh yeah, job pays for it" Greg dug out his insurance card from his wallet and handed it to the petite brunette woman behind the desk. A form was pushed back in his direction.
"Fill these out please and bring them back when you're done."
Greg obediently took a seat and began completing the forms, which there seemed to be a lot of for a sick person to cope with, handing them back to the brunette he normally would have flirted with had he been his usual quirky self.
"Thank you Mr Sanders, have a seat and the doctor will be with you as soon as he can though there may be a long wait." Greg nodded in response and slunk over to the waiting room chairs most of which were occupied, hunkering down between a man in a sports jacket and a woman jiggling a baby whilst trying to attend to her slightly older daughter.
In Greg's mind he shouldn't be here at all, using valuable resources which real sick people could be using but Grissom had ordered him to get himself checked out, saying his cough sounded serious and he didn't want him contaminating evidence. He crossed his arms trying to fend off the chill that had taken residence in his body and thought about his current case whilst waiting for his name to be called.
"Greg Sanders"
Greg stumbled to his feet, holding down his cough as he followed the nurse to the examination room.
"Sit on the table please and remove your jacket" the nurse instructed
Greg reluctantly pulled himself up onto the examination table and put his jacket aside.
"And what seems to be the problem today Mr Sanders?"
Couldn't these people read? Isn't that what these forms were for?
"Boss made me come but it's just a cough, nothing serious. So I'm sure you can just give me some cough medicine and then I can get back to work."
"Uh huh" The nurse looked sceptical and stuck a thermometer under his tongue and put her fingers to his neck to check his pulse. Once the thermometer beeped she merely looked at it and wrote down the figure, making no comment to Greg just pulling up his sleeve and began taking his blood pressure.
"Have you ever smoked Mr Sanders?" He shook his head
"Erm no, mum said she'd kill me if I ever did. Though learning about what chemicals they put in them was enough to put me off. I mean a normal cigarette contains arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and 43 other known carcinogens, not really designed for the human body." that's great Greg; keep rambling on.
The nurse gave him a bored look before continuing on with her examination. " Ok then. When did your cough start?" the nurse asked, writing down his blood pressure.
Greg closed his eyes and thought back, there may have been a tickle a week ago and he may have been feeling a little run down but that was probably from all the overtime than the cough and it only seemed to be overnight that it suddenly developed from nothing into well this.
"Started few days ago, it sounded worse then so must be getting better."
"Mm hmm" there was that sceptical sound again from the nurse. "Well that's all your stats done. Someone should be with you shortly."
Greg watched her walk out the door, shutting it behind her. He quickly pulled on his jacket and let out the hacking coughs he'd been holding during his examination. He perched upon the edge of the examination table, drumming his heels against the side, willing for a doctor to walk through the door. As time went by he realised he was in for a long wait and stretched out on the table, making sure to lie on his back as this seemed to reduce the coughs a little. He'd just been nearing the end of a double shift and was losing a battle against his dropping eyelids and slipping into a light doze.
Greg snapped up at the sound of the door opening causing another coughing fit in response to this sudden action. A quick glance at the clock showed that he'd been asleep for just under an hour and that the doctor had finally arrived and was patiently waiting for his coughing to die down.
"Mr Sanders I'm Doctor Caser, sorry about the wait" he said whilst flipping through Greg's chart "and what seems to be the problem tonight?"
Greg stared at him, feeling his mouth dropping open. Doesn't anyone talk to each other in this place, can no one read. The information must be in that chart in front of him.
"It's just a cough, nothing bad. Boss sent me" Greg still felt embarrassed to be in hospital for such a minor ailment.
Doctor Caser merely nodded, and walked over and began his examination.
"Open" Greg obediently opened his mouth to let the doctor exam his throat. The doctor stepped away slightly, reaching for his stethoscope and placing it over Greg's chest.
"I'd like you to take several deep breaths for me and let it out slowly."
Greg took a breath and let out a deep cough. Greg tried again but kept having to cough. The doctor made no comment but continued moving the stethoscope, asking for him to cough every so often and tapping on his back. Eventually he finished his examination and scribbled something down. Greg let out a relieved breath, finally a sign he was getting out of here.
The doctor handed him the form. "Take this to x-ray and they'll get you booked in."
Greg stared at the form blankly. "Wait what? I thought it was a prescription."
"I want to get an x-ray to further investigate" the doctor repeated "Sounds like you have fluid in your lungs" pushing Greg out the door and rushing off to his next patient.
Greg followed the signs in the corridor until he found the door that said x-ray, entering and stopping at the reception desk.
"Form please" Greg blinked at the receptionist and handed her the form.
The receptionist let out an exasperated sigh, clearly her night had been as long as Greg's "you need to sign it sir". Greg felt like he'd never signed so many forms but obediently scrawled his signature and handed it back.
"Wait over there sir and a technician will be along shortly"
Hooray more waiting. Greg took a seat and began flipping through the outdated magazines they had in the small waiting area. Eventually a white coated woman walked down the corridor and called his name.
"Mr Sanders you're here for a chest x-ray?"
He merely nodded, exhaustion and sickness finally catching up to him. They really need to improve their communication in this place.
"Well sir if you'd like to follow me" she replied before storming down the corridors. More corridors, this place seem endless. They followed the corridor until they reached the machine where the doctor handed him a gown and pointed to a room across the hall.
"Opening in the back. Then come stand in front of the panel in the room and we can get started."
Great, maybe then I can go home and get some sleep. Greg reluctantly changed into the gown, letting out a shiver as he felt the cold air straight away. He walked across to the room, holding the back of the gown together in an effort to retain some of his dignity and stood as instructed against the panel.
"You need to keep still whilst we do this and keep your arms down." the technician instructed.
That's easy for you to say. He took a breath and coughed, body shaking in response.
"We need to do that again, really need you to hold still."
He took a slower breath this time, fighting the tickle down in his throat which threatened to erupt.
"Right now turn to the side and out your arms over your head."
Ok this cough is getting really hard to fight here.
"And we are done. Take this form to the front desk and a doctor will shortly be along with the results."
Yeah nothing seems to happen quickly in this place. Luckily by the time Greg reached the front desk the area had emptied out, the night casualties of Vegas being treated and sent home. The nursing staff must have changed shift as a different nurse led him to the examination room and instructed him to wait for the doctor. Surprisingly, just as Greg had settled himself in for a long wait the doctor appeared with his results.
"Are you allergic to anything? Any trouble with antibiotics?"
Greg shook his head. "Nothing that I know of."
"I'm writing you a prescription for antibiotics to be taken once a day and a codeine cough syrup."
Greg looked blankly at him. "Okay, I have a shift in a few hours I can carry on working can't I?"
Doctor Caser looked up from his prescription pad; his eyebrows raised "I wouldn't advise it Mr Sanders." He ripped the paper from the prescription pad and handed them over to Greg. "My recommendation if you want to get better is bed rest and plenty of fluids to keep yourself hydrated. What is it that you do?"
Greg was feeling pretty bewildered "I'm a CSI; I have a really important case I don't have time for bed rest." Well ok it wasn't really his case but more Sara's who would probably be able to manage without him but it was a pretty interesting case and a valuable learning experience and he really, really didn't want to be sick. "How long before I can get back to work?"
Doctor Caser looked surprised at this question, as if he should have figured this out already. "You have pneumonia; I doubt you'll be finishing that case."
End Chapter