Hey! Thank you everyone for those lovely reviews. Always helpful and motivating for us writers. Here's Chapter One for you. I hope you enjoy it.
Knadineg: Thank you, here's some more!
Karmine: Thank you as well! Hope this update is soon enough for ya!
Meghan: …It is the beginning of the story which is why it was called a prologue. :) But thank you anyway. I hope you'll continue to read.
Cris: Here's ya answer.
Chapter OneA week had passed since Greg had called his friend and Grissom was now back at work following his operation which had been successful. He'd been worried about Greg in his absence and had asked Catherine to keep an eye on him. From what he'd heard he'd been quieter than usual but didn't seen as nervous or indecisive like he had been.
And today he'd noticed that the old Greg seemed to be back. He had this excited little school boy look on his face and nothing that had happened that day had brought him down. Grissom could still see an underlying nervousness but something was making Greg nervous in an excited way – as if something good was going to happen.
Turning into the corridor where the lab resided Grissom could already hear Greg's loud, obnoxious music blaring out. He looked through the window to see Greg drumming lightly with two pencils on some equipment on the table. He entered the room without being noticed and stopped behind him.
"Greg? GREG!"
Greg jolted in his seat as the shout penetrated his music. He stopped drumming the equipment, and turned, pressing stop on his stereo, to see Grissom standing there with a slight stern look on his face.
"Yes boss?"
He asked cheerfully. For a moment a puzzled look crossed Grissom's face. Usually when Greg was caught not working by him, he would go bright red and mumble an apology of sorts. But today he looked positively glowing. Deciding to overlook it he carried on as if nothing had happened.
"Have to got my results?"
"Sure thing – right here."
He swivelled in his seat and picked up a piece of paper, then swivelling back he stood and handed it to Grissom.
"Anything else I can do for you?"
Greg asked smiling. Grissom looked at the results and nodded to himself. Then looked up at Greg.
"No nothing, thanks."
"Well, you know where I am if you need me."
And with that he turned back round and sat, humming to himself as he labelled some test tubes. For a moment Grissom didn't know what to do. He stood there in the middle of the room just staring at Greg's back.
"Uh...Greg?"
Greg turned round, his eyebrows raised slightly.
"Yeah?"
Grissom suddenly realised how dumb his question sounded and changed his mind.
"Nothing."
Grissom turned and exited. Greg stared after him for a moment, then shrugged and turned his music back on, the smile still on his face.
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Out in the corridor Grissom was so busy wondering what had gotten into Greg that he didn't see Catherine standing outside his office waiting for him. He walked straight past her and opened the door.
"Uh Gris?"
He jumped, imperceptive to anyone but himself and shot a look to Catherine. Catherine stood, eyes wide, waiting for an explanation.
"You noticed anything weird about Greg lately?"
Grissom asked as he walked over to his desk and sat down with the results.
"Weird? Greg? You kidding me?"
She questioned sitting down in the seat opposite him.
"No, not in that sense. It's just...he seems...ecstatic. Not his usual um...self."
She thought for a moment, her head tilted slightly.
"Can't say that I have, no. But then again I haven't seen much of him today. Why?"
"Well, I just went to get this. "He gestured to the results. "And he was just overly cheerful and happy. And not in the 'I've found the key to your investigation within this DNA trace' kind of way."
Catherine smirked at the perfect imitation.
"Is that a crime?"
"No, it's not. It's just...maybe I'm just looking into it too much."
"Maybe you are. Anyway – you wanted to see me?"
"Oh yeah..."
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By the end of the shift Greg looked like he was on a complete high. He bounded into the changing room where Nick was collecting his items ready to go home after their long shift. Nick looked up at him, seeing the smile on his face as if he'd just won the lottery, or found the cure for all disease or something.
Greg just about skipped past him and over to his locker and opening it. He took off his lab coat as he hummed along merrily and hung it up, then took off his shirt, taking out a deodorant from his locker. Nick looked at the bandages still present on Greg's back and could see burn marks around the edges. He watched as Greg carefully sprayed the deodorant under his armpits, careful not to get any on his scars. Trying to ignore the fresh wounds he wondered what Greg was up to.
"Uh...Greg?"
Nick questioned. He looked at her as he pulled out a clean, crisp shirt from his locker.
"Yep?"
He asked, putting his shirt on.
"You got something planned for today that you haven't told us about?"
"Nope, nothing."
He said cheerfully, buttoning up the shirt and stuffing the dirty one into his bag along with the deodorant can.
"Okay," Nick started. "How many of your coffee's have you actually had today then?"
"None."
He said looking down at his watch impatiently as he closed his locker. Nick looked shocked.
"None!"
Greg looked up at Nick's startled voice and shook his head.
"So, what's got you all wired up?"
"Nothing for you to concern yourself about."
He said with a smirk, then left. Nick gave Greg's back a look, and collecting his things, followed Greg out, meeting up with Sara on the way.
"So, who's turn is it to choose where we go for breakfast? I'm starved!"
Sara said.
"Mine." Nick stated. "But first I wanna know what Greg's up to."
They caught up with Greg standing just inside by the reception desk, still looking at his watch.
"Okay Greg, spit it out."
Nick stated. Greg looked to him confused.
"Spit what out?"
He questioned looking back to the main doors. Nick wasn't sure if he was just playing dumb to avoid answering or if he'd had some brain transplant in the last day or so. Before he could say anything else Greg let out a yelp of excitement and jogged away from them. Looking stunned the two of them turned and looked to see where Greg was heading and got a small shock.
A woman had just entered the building. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was quite short – 5'2" maybe 3", had brown hair pulled up into a tidy ponytail and looked to have a slight athletic build under her simple white top, jeans and black jacket. A smile on her face mirrored Greg's as they met and hugged, his arms around her waist, hers carefully wrapped around his neck. He lifted her up off the floor and swung her around in his excitement.
Grissom and Catherine were just walking into reception and Grissom had to narrowly miss the woman's feet as they swung around towards him. Greg put her down after swinging her around once and pulled back to look at her.
"I've missed you so much."
They heard Greg say.
"I've missed you too."
She said back. They separated and immediately started to talk over one another, asking questions, answering them and listening all at the same time. No-one could understand a word of the conversation that was going on as Greg led the girl away from them, back towards his lab mumbling something about seeing where he worked.
Sara and Nick looked over at the stunned expressions of Catherine and Grissom. For a moment no-one said a word, no-one could think of anything to really say to that random moment in time.
"I guess that answers my question."
Grissom replied cryptically. His team looked at him.
"What question?"
Nick asked.
"Why Greg's been on a strange high all day."
"That pretty stranger would send anyone on a strange high."
Nick stated.
"Who do you think she is?"
Sara asked generally.
"Who knows, but she certainly seems close to Greg."
Catherine replied.
"And by the looks of things they haven't seen each other for a while either."
"Maybe she's his girlfriend?"
Sara asked. Nick shook his head.
"He told me the other day he was single."
"Sister then?"
"Greg don't have a sister."
Nick said again. Sara spoke up again.
"Maybe she's just an old friend he hasn't seen for ages."
"She did have a slight accent. "Cath put in. "Sounded British."
"It would explain why they haven't seen each other in some time."
"Maybe we should just let them be and Greg will tell you in his own time."
Grissom said before walking out of the building.
"You know maybe Gris is right. Maybe we should just leave Greg to it."
Nick said. Sara spoke.
"No way man! I'm up for solving this little mystery. Ten bucks to the person who solves it first."
"I'm in."
Cath said smiling.
"Me too."
Nick agreed.
"Think Warrick will want in on this?"
Sara asked.
"Dunno. Hey Cath when do the two lovebirds come back from their honeymoon again?"
He asked with another smirk. Warrick and Jade had been gone three weeks almost and Nick found he was missing Warrick's presence at work.
"This weekend I think. But I don't know if Warrick is going to California with Jade before coming back to work – she's got a conference down there on Monday."
"I can't believe he's married." Sara said. "I always thought you'd be the first to marry Nick."
"Me? Why me?"
He asked as they all walked out, a smile on Sara's face.
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Beth looked around his lab as he pointed everything out to her, not really interested but listening for Greg's sake. She turned her expression back to him, smiling.
"Looks like a great place to work. But I want to know how you are. I was really worried last week when you rang – are you sure you're okay?"
"All the better for seeing you. It's been too long – I've missed you."
He told her in a friendly way. She gave him another smile.
"Yeah, I've missed you too. Now sit down and let me take a look at you."
She put her hands on his shoulders gently and pushed him into a seat. He looked slightly exasperated and rolled his eyes slightly but let her do the whole 'have to see that you're okay' routine. Moving around behind him she gently pulled his shirt back slightly to see the bandages on the back of his neck, and going down his back.
"How are they healing? Any pain?"
She asked, the nurse coming out in her. She gently touched the skin around the bandage, breathing in his smell as she inwardly shivered from the feel of his smooth, tanned skin.
"The Doc says they're healing just fine. It itches a lot and only hurts if I move too quickly."
"Well, don't move too quickly then."
She joked.
"Ha ha."
He said humourlessly, but with a smile on his face. She moved back round to his front.
"But other than that, you're doing okay, right?"
Her brow furrowed slightly as she asked, concerned for his well-being. He opened his mouth to give his 'of course I'm okay' speech but closed it again, knowing he couldn't fool her.
"Better than I was." He held out his hands, only a slight tremor was noticeable. "Look, see – hardly any shaking."
She smiled.
"That's good."
"Anyway – enough of me. How was Africa? You didn't say much on the phone."
"Because I was too worried about you. Come on – I'm starving. Let's go grab a bite to eat and we can exchange stories."
He stood, agreeing to the plan and taking her hand, he led her out. She looked down at his fingers grasping her gently and smiled slightly. She'd missed his touch, his smell, his smile. Missed him more than she should. Inwardly she craved him, everything about him. She could feel the shiver run down her back as he turned her on with his innocent touch. If he knew how he affected her, knew that she loved him more than a best friend should...she had no idea how he'd react. He'd never realised, he only seen her as a friend and she had to be satisfied with that. Satisfied with the random, friendly touch, hug, kiss on the cheek. She had to make them last, to keep her going through the hard times. She took a shaky breath as he led her out the main entrance and into the car park where her car was sitting in the smouldering heat.
Well, there ya go. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a little slow to start with but it'll get better…I hope you think so anyway!