Yet again - please forgive any factual inaccuracies. I hope you enjoy where this story is heading. I am a big Nick fan and, lets face it, I love the stories where Nick is in peril or sick or miserable etc etc etc. I particularly like writing stories where Nick is showing emotion - as I really dont think he would have gone through everything he has on the show without some hangups! Anyway - please read and let me know what you think. Thanks : )

Chapter 3

Catherine stayed next to Nick, soothing him with comfoting words when the pain flared, as Grissom fossicked in the wreckage of their car. Nick tried to keep as still as possible, his breath coming in short pants during the worst of the pain. Between his leg, his chest and his head, he barely cared about their predicament.

Grissom came back to them with the seatbelts draped over his arm which he had cut out of the car. He had also pulled out as much of their kits as he could from the back of the vehicle and had two metal footprint moulds in his arms.

Sitting down heavily next to Nick he started jimmying the moulds apart and, with considerable effort, straightened them until they were almost flat and even.

Moving to Nicks mangled leg he took a couple of deep breaths and looked him in the eyes. The nausea returned as the reality of what Grissom was going to say next dawned on him.

His breathing increased which ripped at his leg even more.

Grissom lay a hand gently on Nicks good leg and spoke quietly and calmly to him.

"Nick, I'm going to have to stabilise your leg. There's a clear fracture and I need to strap your leg straight to relieve some of the pain and to make it easier to move you if we have to. Do you understand."

Nick clung onto Catherines offered hand and chewed at his bottom lip as he nodded mutely. His brain knew it had to be done but he really, really didn't want to have to go through it.

His breathing was coming fast in anticipation of agony as he felt Grissoms hands move to his left leg and take a firm grip on either side of the break.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

He heard Grissom ask if he was ready, again in the calm voice, and, again, he nodded quietly.

Then he felt pain like he'd never imagined before - he would have ripped himself out of his own body if he could have. He screamed with a breath he could barely sustain as bones twisted and ground together, snapping audibly back into place, and he was suddenly out the other side in a foggy, dull dream.

His leg was throbbing badly but the intense pain had settled to a bearable level.

He heard muffled voices but couldn't make out what they were saying and could feel hands supporting him but they felt dull as if he was floating.

Then all the colour left the world and turned it to grey.

Nick crept closer and closer towards consciousness - the closer he got, the more the crushing pressure in his chest increased, and the throbbing in his head felt more like jackhammers. He groaned and brought a hand up to clench to his head.

He heard movement and a hand stroking through his hair again and became aware he was lying down, covered with a jacket with another one as a pillow under his head.

It was darker than he remembered and things were a little blurry. It dawned on him that it was evening now. There was full moonlight but the sun had definitely gone down.

He tried to push himself up but gave it up as a bad joke when the pain kicked in again.

He heard Catherine "shush"-ing him and felt her gently guide him back down. But he was not comfortable. He was hot.

He tried to throw off the jacket covering him, suddenly too hot to stand it.

Catherines mothering continued as she tried to get him to quieten. Brushing her hand across his forehead she called Grissom over and grabbed the first aid kit which they had saved from the car and had used to patch up some of their minor wounds.

Gazing up at her, his feverish eyes made out that her injured arm was now supported in a sling restricting her movement even more.

He heard her talking to Grissom quietly and made out "burning up." as he felt Grissoms hand lay against his forehead.

He heard more movement and felt beautiful coolness start brushing across his sweat drenched forehead as Catherine mopped his brow with another sling from the first aid kit drenched with water.

He became aware of his body shuddering but couldn't stop it.

His leg felt weird and looking down he pulled the jacket off again and saw his leg had been bound securely. Grissom had taken the opportunity while Nick was unconscious to fit the metal splints in place and bandage them tightly and to manouvuere him into a more comfortable position.

Then, because there was nothing much else left to do, he had hoofed it back up to the road and built a large pile of wood with crime tape shaped into an arrow to alert any passing cars, and returned to wait it out with Nick and Catherine. He figured that the attending police despatched to the crime scene would have alerted Brass to their non-appearance by now so it shouldn't be much longer before help arrived.

But, thought Grissom, with Nicks condition deteriorating, he hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

Grissom wrapped the jacket back around Nicks shoulders and held it there as the younger man continued to try and rip it away. If he was trying to talk, it wasn't making any sense to Grissom. He was mumbling and shivering so much his whole body vibrated dramatically.

Nick was feeling utterly miserable. He couldn't think straight. He kept asking what was happening and no-one was answering him. He was hurting everywhere. He couldn't see properly and it scared him, but when he tried to tell them, again, they wouldn't answer him. And that ever present gaddamn jacket - he was roasting! And yet every time he ripped it away, it made its way back tighter than before.

He tried again, ripping it away and succeeded momentarily so tried to rip off his shirt too, too damn hot for any contact.

Grissom had stood up to get another bottle of water from the supplied which he had recues from the SUV and, in that brief moment, Nick had removed the jacket again. Catherine was trying to stop him one handed from pulling his shirt off as well.

Nick was becomming more distressed and was fighting amazingly hard against the clothing. The pain was ever-constant and the nausea was getting worse and worse the hotter he became. He could feel thick saliva building up in the back of his throat again and desperately tried to sit up again as the wretching started afresh. He felt the disembodied hands come out of thin air and hoist him up slightly and turn him a little to the side, supporting him as he heaved painfully.

He felt gentle hands rubbing his back and felt more soothing coolness being held against the back of his neck and wiping his forehead.

After several wretches with little result, his pain flared yet again, causing his breath to come in painful sobs.

The hands lay him gently down again and the jacket was back as was the cool compress to his face and neck.

And he closed his eyes.

He was so tired.