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Nick and Warrick were processing a triple homicide involving a married couple and their teenage son. From all outward appearances it looked like a B&E but for the fact that there was nothing taken from the house. While Warrick processed the downstairs Nick was upstairs and currently in the teenager's room. As soon as he opened the door to the room he was reminded of Greg. In the closet there were shirts hanging that looked just like the shirts that Greg wore and the Cds were the type of music that he listened to. There were fractal posters on the walls and ceiling as well as other reminders of Greg. Needless to say it was a hard task, but Nick managed to do his job despite the fact that images of Greg kept popping into his head. He was remembering the good times that they all had.
The team trip was among the first memories to pop into his head. It was just Greg, Warrick, Archie and himself. They had gone into the Spring Mountains for a three day weekend. Granted it had rained the whole weekend, but they were at a lodge, so the rain wasn't such a big problem but for the fact that on a hiking trip they became misplaced and spent the night in the woods. When it became apparent that they'd be spending the night outdoors Warrick and Greg had gone in search of some sort of shelter. After finding nothing the two of them managed to make a lean-to out of two trees and several branches, topping it off with a thick layer of foliage. Sure it was cold, but they managed to keep a campfire going all night so they wouldn't freeze. In the morning, as soon as the sun came up, they made their way back to the lodge for showers and clean clothes. It was memories like this that kept Nick from losing it. In all honestly he didn't know what he'd do if Greg didn't pull through.
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Grissom and Catherine were processing a body dump near Lake Meade and having a hard time of it. They couldn't help but think of their colleagues that lay in the ICU at Desert Palms. While Grissom's thoughts kept wandering to Sara he found it increasingly difficult to focus on his job. He kept thinking about what he'd said at the hospital that morning. He meant every word of it, but kicked himself in the ass for the events that happened that made him realize just how much he was losing out on. For all the times he wanted to tell Sara, when she was around, that he loved her, he just couldn't do it. Call it weakness, call it stupidity, but he saw it as self protection. If he didn't let anyone in, he couldn't be hurt by anyone. His heart wouldn't be trampled on, which was of major concern to him. He'd been burned in the past and he promised himself he wouldn't let it happen again. As he processed the immediate area where the body had been found, he couldn't help but think of the time when he and Sara were at the body farm. You see, sometimes, when he couldn't sleep or was just bored or needed to reflect on the past shift he'd go there. He liked it there because it was quiet and he could examine the bodies,
looking for bugs and such. On one particular morning, several hours after shift had ended and everyone had gone home he decided to pay a little visit to the farm. As he pulled up the pea gravel drive he could see a car parked just outside the gate. Parking and walking past it, he recognized it as belonging to Sara. He wondered why she would be there instead of at home listening to her police scanner. Sliding his flashlight under the gate and then climbing over said gate, he picked up his light and started to shine it around looking for Sara. He didn't expect to find her immediately because the Body Farm rested on four acres of land with everything from woodland to deserted hard packed dirt fully exposed to the elements. He didn't bother calling out to her. If she was there, she probably waned to be alone; the same reason he was there.
Peering into an abandoned truck and mentally noting the level of decomposition, he shone his light inside and looked all around the inside of the cab. On the other side of the farm, Sara was sitting in a tree while she watched opossums, raccoons and other carnivorous animals take their turn at devouring a fresh corpse. Looking around, she could see a light about five hundred feet out. With her binoculars, she looked toward the light more intently. Unable to ascertain who belonged to the light, she turned her gaze to the front gate and the vehicles parked just outside. She recognized Grissom's truck immediately but didn't come down from her tree. Instead, she trained her exceptionally bright flashlight on the truck, watching as Grissom jumped back and dropped his light. He immediately picked it up and began looking in all directions trying to find the source of the other light. He walked in the general direction that the light had come from but found no one. When he eventually made it to the tree that Sara was sitting in he stopped to inspect the animal activity on the carcass in front of him. Looking down at him, Sara just smiled as he shined his light around, still looking for the source of the other light. As he began walking away from the tree Sara couldn't stand it any longer. She pulled some acorns from a branch and began throwing them at him, hitting him on the back as well as on the back of his head. He whipped around and found himself staring up at a very bright and blinding light. After a few moments Sara turned off her light and began to climb down from the tree. When she landed on the ground, she and Grissom wandered the farm together talking back and forth. It was the first time away from work that they had to themselves. No one else around for miles; just the two of them.
It was this memory that kept Grissom doing his job. It was a happy memory for him and it kept him warm inside; remembering the one good memory that he had held onto.
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After shift, just as he was walking out to his car, Jim's cell went off. Flipping it open, he answered. It was the nurse from the hospital calling to tell him that Greg had regained consciousness. Jim hopped into his car and floored it to the hospital. When he made it to the nurse's call station he was informed that Greg had been moved to a room just down the hall, as was the case with Sara; they shared a room. This was convenient, as there was far more privacy to be had. Crossing the threshold of Greg's room, Jim could see that Nick was already there and talking to Greg who was doped up on morphine, but still slightly coherent. Sara, on the other hand, was still dead to the world. Given the size of the group that had been visiting the two invalids, the doctors and nurses thought it best if they shared a room; for privacy purposes. Jim walked over to Greg's bed which was over by the window. Shaking the young man's hand and pulling up a chair beside Greg's bed, Jim said nothing and let he and Nick carry on with their conversation, such as it was. It wasn't long before everyone had come from shift to see after Greg and Sara. They were all ecstatic to see that Greg was awake, but at the same time they were worried about Sara and her ticking clock. By all accounts she had just over four days before her life support would be turned off.
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It was a couple hours before shift and rather than go in early Grissom elected to visit Sara. He'd known that Greg was awake and glad for him to be asleep when he showed up. Grissom drew the partition curtain so that if Greg woke up he wouldn't see him with Sara telling her some of his deepest secrets and confessions. But rather than confess or utter a single word, Grissom just took her hand in his and lay his head on the bed beside their joined hands and fell asleep. It wasn't until early afternoon, when he woke up, that Grissom realized where he was and who was watching him. Lifting his head and rubbing his eyes, his eyes began to focus on Brass, Warrick, Nick and Catherine. They were all just sort of standing around staring at him; speechless. They were all aware of Grissom's feelings for Sara and her feelings for him so they erred on the side of discretion and left the two of them alone.
Greg had been awake for just over half a day and was growing increasingly tired of the multitude of tests that the doctors and nurses insisted on running; their explanation being that he coded twice. However, right now he was in a good state. His vitals were strong, he was more coherent and much more important, he seemed to be out of the woods, so to speak. Granted, his body was a mess, but his mind was strong and he was asking questions.
"How long was I out?" he asked
"The better part of three days." Nick replied
"What happened to the other driver?"
He hadn't been told that it was Sara and the nurses had kept the partition curtain drawn, so he had no idea who was in the bed beside him. Everyone was reluctant to tell him that it was Sara, but he kept insisting. Finally, in a low voice, Catherine spoke up.
"It was Sara"
"Oh, my God. Is she ok? Where is she"
"She's here, but not doing so well. She's comatose. She's been that way since they brought her here"
"Can I see her? God, I feel so horrible. I want to see her"
"Don't freak out, buddy. Ok?" said Nick as he pulled back the curtain
Seeing Sara laying in the bed next to him, Greg tried to crane his neck to see her and when he did, he was shocked. She looked to be in worse shape than he was.
"What the hell happened?" he asked insistently
No one really wanted to tell, but the look on Greg's face melted all their hearts to the point where events were explained.
"It was raining and you slammed into the back of Sara's truck. You both sustained serious injuries as proven by your morphine drip. You flat-lined twice; we almost lost you. She went into cardiac arrest shortly after she got out of surgery. She's in a coma right now, but we've been taking turns sitting vigil since the accident. Nick even read to you, as did Brass, Catherine and Warrick." Nick explained
"So, its my fault we're in this mess. I should have been paying more attention to the road. God, I feel awful." he confessed,
nearly weeping
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Greg had been conscious for a full 24hrs, while in the bed next to him Sara was still in her coma. From what Nick and the others told him, she had just over three days to come out on her own or she'd be unhooked from life support. Since learning what happened Greg was beating himself up almost continuously and would not be swayed by anything that anyone said. No matter how they tried to reassure him that it was not his fault, In his heart Greg knew otherwise. If only he'd been more aware of his surroundings neither he nor Sara would be in this situation.
That afternoon when Brass came to visit the two he was surprised to find Greg out of bed. He immediately went to the nurse's station and enquired as to his whereabouts. Having been told that Greg was in the chapel, Brass went to see him.
Seated in a wheelchair next to the front pew, Greg sat and stared up at the large cross with a crucified Jesus. He was speaking softly to himself with his head bowed. Coming up behind him, Brass sat behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Its not your fault, man. If it didn't happen to you two it would have happened to someone else. As a matter of fact, it did. While you two were being extricated from your vehicles, a couple of lookie-loos had a fender bender of their own. So, you see, you're not to blame." he explained
"I appreciate you trying to reassure me, but I know the truth. I took my eyes off the road and look what happened; I look I was hit by a Mack truck and Sara's in a coma. So don't tell me its not my fault."
Seeing that his words were of no consolation to the young man, Brass just sat back and left Greg to continue with his prayer.
After about ten minutes, he spoke up.
"Can you wheel me to that altar over there?" he asked
Jim stood up, took hold of the handles of the wheelchair and steered Greg to the candle stand where Greg took a candle, lit it off another and placed it in an empty holder. Bowing his head again and said a silent prayer. His prayer was in Latin, which Jim wasn't fluent in, but he recognized certain words and phrases. When Greg was done, he crossed himself and asked to be taken back to his room. He was tired beyond all belief and he had ignored his physical pain for far too long.
Wheeling him back to his room, Jim could think of nothing more to say that might console his friend. He helped Greg back into bed and covered him up, leaving him to sleep and to have his pain sated. As Greg drifted back to sleep, all Jim could do was to sit and watch him drift slowly to sleep.