Chapter 2
He felt tired. Nick was pulling him, talking to him, trying to keep him awake. All he wanted to do was sleep. He tried to tell him to leave him alone but the words didn't come out. It was so much effort to talk. He closed his eyes to rest for a while. For a minute it was beautiful but Nick kept pestering him. He dragged him onto the floor. Greg's body was so tired. He tried to push Nick away but found he couldn't move his arms. He could only lay there and try to breathe. It was so hard to breathe. He was so hot.
Nick's hands were on his face, touching his body. He said he had to cool down. He felt his shirt being pulled, being opened. Memories came thick and fast. Raw and painful, he wanted it all to stop. He wanted the hands to get off him. He tried to escape, to shake them off but his body wasn't moving right. It took so much energy to try to move and he tried his hardest. Pictures flashed in front of his eyes. Colours and faces and things he never wanted to see were pounding at his mind. He wanted it to stop. He wanted to breathe. But Nick wouldn't leave him alone.
Nick put the phone on the floor next to Greg. He was shaking and twitching and his body was covered in sweat. Clearly his friend was in pain, but there was nothing he could do. Then Nick remembered what the Doctor had said. He jumped up and got a glass of water. He then knelt down and propped up Greg's head on his lap. His hair was wet with sweat.
"You have to drink some water ok buddy? It will help."
But Greg couldn't respond enough to swallow the water so instead Nick poured the water onto Greg's face and chest and prayed.
Back in the lab Warrick and Al Robbins were still studying as hard as they could to beat the clock and come up with an answer. The longer it took the sicker Greg was getting. They hadn't heard from Nick in half an hour and they only hoped that was because Greg wasn't getting worse. They also couldn't get through to Catherine and Sara which was another major worry. They would want to know what was going on.
Warrick was getting angrier by the minute. Nick's words cut deep and he was saturated in guilt. He was trying to make it up to him but these text books were getting him nowhere. He wanted to be out there actively helping, not just reading books. Most of the words meant nothing to him and the text was getting blurry. Until he saw something that caught his eye.
"Hey Doc!"
"What is it?" asked Al
"Come look at this, it's talking about the virus and nationality."
"Let me see that." Al pushed his glasses up his nose and examined the book carefully. Warrick just stared at him, hoping to read a sign of happiness on the man's face.
Al merely picked up the phone and dialled.
"Hello?"
"Nick? It's Al, how's Greg doing?"
"I did what you said but he isn't responding to anything. He's still burning up and he's having trouble breathing."
"Ok, Warrick found out something useful and I will get on to the medics in about two seconds. I just need to get you to do something first."
"Anything! What is it?"
"I need you to get Greg as cold as possible. Get him in some cold water if you can, get some ice, get anything. I'll get some equipment to you somehow and I'll need to get some samples from Greg. But I only need to do a small test, then we should be able to treat him."
"That's great, yeah. Get him cold then get some samples. Do you think he will be ok?"
"It all depends on how fast we can move Nick. If we get moving and the test comes out the way I hope it will, he should recover."
"Ok that's fantastic!"
"Wait, Nick."
"What is it?" he detected further concern in the Doctor's voice.
"I think Greg might start hallucinating soon as the fever gets worse. I need you to stay calm and help him through it. I'll try to get something to you to give him if he needs sedating. I think his body will be in shock already so be careful with him and call me if you need." Warrick must have told the doctor about what happened to Greg. Nick thought. He hoped it was out of concern, not out of gossip.
"I'm here for him. I'll do whatever it takes" Nick replied. "Talk to you soon."
Nick hung up and turned his attention back to Greg half naked on the floor. Covered in bruises and scars nobody knew about. Tense, shaking and sweating. Barely an hour ago he was fine. Or he seemed fine.
Hands on his body. Trying to breathe. He was there, looking at him. Looking at his body, seeing his scars. Thinking about where he got them, thinking about what happened. He wanted it all to go away and to rest in the warm black space. But he felt sick. He was really sick and nobody was coming to help apart from Nick whose eyes were burning his body. Then the darkness came and swallowed him up.
Nick took Greg's body and pulled him to his feet. His eyes stayed screwed tightly shut and his body didn't relax. Nick ignored the unprocessed crime scene around him and dragged Greg up the stairs into the bathroom. Trying to be gentle he put his friend into the bath.
"I'm really sorry. I truly am. I'm not trying to hurt you, just trust me ok? Just trust me." With that he reached for Greg's belt buckle. He undid the buckle and started on Greg's jeans. He felt awful. He was taking privacy from a man who had very little privacy left. Nick swallowed and thought about how he was helping Greg, not torturing him. Although it felt the opposite. He undid the fly and pulled Greg's jeans off. He then turned the shower on and soaked Greg in cold water. The shock was too much for Greg whose body jacked as though it was being attacked.
"Ah, shit, Greg it's ok, I'm here, its ok!"
Greg's head was shaking from side to side and his covered his head as though in protection. He coughed and winced in pain. He clawed at his eyes and curled his legs up to his chest.
Cold. Wet. He was shocked back into existence. His body was shaking, he was soaking wet. Nick was still with him, holding his body in the water. He had taken his clothes off while he was unconscious. He had been powerless. Again. Hands on him, touching his body. Panic consumed him. Get off. Get off. Get away.
"Greg its ok, hey man" Nick reached out and tried to soothe his friend. Greg reacted by grabbing Nick's wrist with one hand. Blood smeared over his wrist and mixed with the water. Nick looked for more blood and was horrified when he saw it was coming from his eyes. Tremors racked his body. Nick tried to hold him still but he was just uncontrollable. Instead, he jumped in the bath with Greg and grabbed for the shower head. He held his friend across the chest with one arm and doused him with the other. Greg was getting more agitated, his hands were trying to claw at Nick whist also protect his own body.
"I'm just trying to keep you cool, it's ok, I'm here for you."
After a few seconds of this, Nick decided it couldn't be as worth it as the Doc made out. He turned the shower off and just sat there holding Greg close. He stayed perfectly still, hoping to keep Greg calm by not moving him any more. Once the water stopped, Greg's body stopped thrashing. Every muscle was tensed and his eyes were screwed tightly shut but he had relaxed his grip on Nick's wrist enough to allow the blood back to his hand.
"It's ok, I'm still here buddy, just relax now. Help is on its way"
As he said this he heard the door open and someone call out "Nick? Greg? Are you ok?"
-tbc
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It was really nice of you! Especially those who pointed out the glaring error which I won't point out now in case you missed it (I'm guessing not many people did miss it though!) I may try to work that into the plot later on just to cover my ass! Haha.
So any further thoughts? I've got a bit more of a plan now but if you want any more of anything in particular just shout!
Ciao dudes
