A/N- Sorry it has been a little longer than anticipated but here is a new chapter.


Greg peeked out the drapes and saw Nick was still outside. He was worried someone like Nelson would see Nick there. He stepped away from the window and sat down on the bed. He wondered briefly how Nick found out about the car accident but then remembered he was a cop and probably had someone dig it up. He wiped at his nose and pulled the blanket up from the floor and draped it around him again. He gazed straight ahead at nothing in particular but his mind travelled back to that dreadful night.

His parents had been nagging him to get out of the house and finally he obliged by agreeing to go out to dinner with them. They had gone to a local favorite restaurant and had a nice meal. His parents had a few drinks so he offered to drive home since he had not been in the mood to have a drink. They had been talking about him moving on with his life but he insisted he was not ready yet. He didn't even see the car when it came barreling through the red light right at them. He didn't remember the accident himself. The next thing he had remembered was waking up in the hospital, a tube down his throat and no one in his room. It was a while before someone had come in and it was a nurse who later brought the doctor with her. They told Greg stuff that at first he didn't comprehend. He didn't remember things from when he first woke up and they spoke to him. After a couple days he realized his parents had not been by. The doctor had told him about being in a car accident and his spine had been damaged some and he had been in a coma for almost a month. When he was finally taken off the ventilator he was able to ask what really happened and why no one had been by to visit him.

He remembered the doctor's response as clear as if it just was told to him. "Greg, I am so sorry to tell you this but both of your parents died on the scene." Greg had thought he was having some sick dream when he heard that. Then he realized he had been in a coma for about a month and asked who took care of their bodies. He thought that maybe they were still at the morgue. When the doctor told him his Aunt and Uncle took care of the services and burial, he realized he never had a chance to say goodbye to them. It broke him. He cried and cried. His Aunt and Uncle had come back into town once the doctor notified them that he had awakened from his coma. By the time they saw him though Greg was already slightly despondent. He hardly spoke to them. The pain he was in from his back pain seemed hardly anything in comparison to his grief. His grief made the whole of him hurt.

When he was finally well enough to leave the hospital his first stop was his parent's gravestones. He was walking with a cane at that point since his back was still causing him pain and trouble walking. He stood over their graves and a new kind of grief overwhelmed him, a hatred for himself for being a survivor. He wanted to be buried in the ground next to them. He should have been. He had walked over to another familiar gravestone a little ways away from his parents and more grief hit him.

It wasn't long before he became dependent on pain killers and once his doctor stopped his prescription he eventually turned to the illegal drugs as a way to relive the pain he felt physically but mostly mentally. And now that he was heroin free for about 48 hours the pain was getting to extreme levels since Nick brought up his parents. He still had almost 11 hours before Will would be by with his heroin. He took out another cigarette and started smoking it.

By 3:30 am he had gone out and bought 3 more packs of cigarettes and smoked through them all. His withdrawals had gotten to the point that he was in pain and his stomach was killing him. If he didn't get some soon he didn't think he would make it. Luckily for him there was a knock at his door. He rushed to the door and opened it up. It was Nelson in his black leather jacket, black jeans and gloves. Behind him came Will Larson dressed far more casually in jeans and a dark blue jacket with a hood that hid his face. They stepped into the room and shut the door behind them.

"Please I need some now. I feel like I am dying here," Greg pleaded to them as they entered his room and looked around at the mess that was his room. All the sheets were on the floor in a pile. The room smelled of sweat, cigarette smoke, and vomit. Will looked at Greg's face. The whole left side was black and blue and still slightly puffy. He cringed as he looked at him now.

"First we have some business to talk to you about," Nelson said to him. Nelson told him to sit down on his bed. Greg did as he was told seeing as it was Nelson and he was officially scared of him.

Will came up in front of Greg now. He looked displeased. "You disappoint me Greg. You have such promise to sell my product and yet you can't seem to get Detective Stokes to stay away from you."

Greg's eyes opened wide. "How did you know?"

"The manager here told us that Detective Stokes came looking for you and found you earlier," Will told him.

"I swear I told him to leave. I didn't want him here. I wanted him gone. I told him I never wanted to see him again and he left," Greg told them, hoping they would understand he didn't seek him out.

"That maybe but still he knows where you are now. Where is your phone?" Will asked him.

Greg pointed over to his nightstand. Nelson went over and took it. He removed the sim card and the battery and then dropped the phone on the ground and smashed it. Greg's mouth dropped open.

"Don't worry we will get you a new one that you can't be traced on. We will let you know tomorrow a new place to meet an associate and then we will give you a new phone and new place to stay," Will told him.

"So I'm still going to be a dealer for you?" Greg asked hoping they were giving him a second chance.

Will smiled at him. "Of course, you did very well with your first bit of sales. I was impressed. You just might want to start at a different location now that the club has been compromised."

"So uh, did you bring some for me to use? I am seriously suffering here," Greg said with a sad chuckle.

Will nodded. He stepped aside with Nelson for a moment and whispered something to him. Nelson nodded. Will stepped back over to Greg. "Don't worry. Nelson will take care of you. You won't ever want for another hit again. I must go now but Nelson will give you some to start with and tomorrow when we meet there will be more."

"Thank you," Greg said to him. Will just gave him a forced smile and nodded to Nelson on his way out.

Greg looked nervously at Nelson. The bodyguard had reached into his pocket and withdrew a syringe, a spoon and a small bag of ivory colored powder. He looked at Greg. "I assume you have a lighter as you have obviously been smoking in here." Greg nodded and reached over to his nightstand and handed Nelson the lighter. Nelson noticed Greg's hands were shaking. "Let me prepare this since you seem a bit jittery and I hate for you to waste any that might fall on the floor," Nelson told him.

Greg nodded in agreement. He was just so eager to get a hit that he would let Nelson do it if it meant him taking away his horrible withdrawals for a while.

"I'm going to prepare this in the bathroom. I'll be right back," Nelson told him. Greg just sat as patiently as possible which was not that much as he got up and started pacing. He couldn't wait to inject that into him. He could almost feel the relief and relaxation already.

Nelson came out a couple minutes later with the syringe filled. He handed it to Greg. "Now this isn't as strong as the last batch so feel free to take the full syringe. I left the rest in the bathroom for you."

Greg looked at him and took the syringe. He pulled up his pants leg and searched for a vein to insert the liquid gold into. Nelson stepped back a moment and watched carefully as he saw Greg inject the drug into his body. He smiled as he saw him inject the full amount, just as he was hoping. He waited for Greg to finish and see him start to relax.

A smile came to Greg's face as he felt the drug start to give him relief. He sat back on the bed. Nelson smiled and made his way quickly out the door. Greg didn't even notice he left. He laid back for a little while when he suddenly started finding it hard to breathe. He felt so tired too which was not normally the case but he was feeling the relief he wanted from his pain so he let it go and closed his eyes.

Nick received a call from the officer that had been watching the motel in the middle of the night. He told Nick that two men entered Greg's room and left only after about 10 minutes, one leaving before the other. Nick's house was not far from the motel so he decided since he was awake it was time to make another visit to Greg and offer him one more chance.

He got to the hotel only ten minutes later since there was not much traffic at that time of the night. He pulled up right in front of Greg's door. He went out and knocked on his door. "Greg, its Nick open up now or I am going to have you arrested."

He knocked a few more times to no answer. The officer said he didn't see Greg leave and it made Nick worry again. He decided to try the door and once again it was unlocked. Nick felt his heart quicken, worried that they perhaps killed him. He opened the door and immediately saw Greg on the bed. He called out his name as he approached and saw no movement. As he got closer he saw his face was pale and his lips looked blue. He panicked and reached for his neck to check for a pulse. He had a pulse but it was weak. He looked on the bed and saw the syringe and knew what had happened. He called 911 and moved Greg to his side. He knew to do this to help with his breathing. Often when on their backs it makes it easier for an overdose victim to swallow their tongue or labor the breathing even more.

"Come on Greg, don't do this now. I should have arrested you; at least I know you wouldn't be here fighting for your life."

The paramedics came shortly and Nick told them it was probably a heroin overdose. They took him in the ambulance and Nick followed once again. It had been less than 72 hours ago that Nick found him beaten and so soon after he was now fighting for his life again.

Nick knew the course of treatment they would take for Greg. They would give him other drugs to help counteract the effects of the heroin. He had taken the syringe and had the officer take it back to the crime lab to have it analyzed to find out what exactly Greg had injected himself with.

Nick fell asleep in the waiting room and was woken up by someone shaking his arm. "Wake up sleepy head," the voice said to him. He opened his eyes and saw his partner Jack looking back at him with a grin on his face. Nick sat up and rubbed his eyes. He realized the stress of the last few days had probably finally reached him and knocked him out.

"What time is it?" Nick asked his partner and friend. "It's 8:25 am."

Nick looked around and realized it had been a couple hours since he was sleep. He had heard no word on Greg. "Is there word on Greg?" Jack sat down next to Nick, looking more solemn now. Nick looked at him and felt he had bad news for him and he was scared.

"Nick, he's in a coma. He was given some really pure heroin and had a large dose of it. It looks intentional."

"What are you saying? He tried to kill himself by ODing?" Nick asked not believing what he was hearing.

"It's what it looks like. He had to know what he was getting. We found another baggy of the stuff in his room and it was analyzed. It was like China White. He had to know taking a large dose of that would kill him. If you had not gone to his place right when the officer told you he saw those others leave, he would be dead now. He only lives because the doctors had enough time to put other drugs in him to counteract the heroin. But still he's in a coma," Jack told him.

Nick looked away, feeling his world spin a little. "What are his chances? Did they say?"

"They can't know for now as the counteracting drugs are still working. Hopefully it will work and if it does he will hopefully come out of the coma," Jack told him.

Nick rubbed his hands over his face. "Is he in a room? Can he have visitors?"

"I believe so but look why don't you go home and get some real rest. I will look into who those men were who paid Greg the visit before his overdose. They had to be his new dealers. You look like hell Nick. Let me work this case for a while. I've already filled in Captain Jacobs and he said you can use some of that vacation time you have banked since you never use it," Jack said with a small smile.

Nick finally looked up at his partner. "Thanks I guess maybe I will take a day or two but I might hold off on the rest because if he comes out of the coma I want to be able to help him get clean." Jack shrugged thinking Greg was a lost cause but he knew he could never tell Nick that. He knew how much he still cared for the man. "Sure I understand." Jack stood up and said his goodbye to Nick and went to work.

Nick stood up and went to the nurses' station. He asked if he could find out what room Greg was in. When the nurse asked if he was family he simply told her Greg had no family left but he was a friend, maybe the only friend he had. The nurse seemed to understand and told him the room in ICU that he was in.

Nick went down the hall and could see Greg in the bed as he approached the room. He was on a ventilator and had IV's and tubes all over the place. He wondered momentarily if this was how he looked after the car accident. He figured it was probably similar. He walked in and sat down on the seat by the bed. He put his hand on Greg's and noticed it felt cold. It disturbed him.

"Greg, I really need you to pull through this. I haven't told you this but I never stopped loving you. I tried, believe me I tried so hard. I dated and even had a steady guy for a while but none of them ever compared to you. When you left me and then cut off all contact from me, you crushed me. I wanted to hate you for what you did to me but somehow I understood you want to start anew. But now I found you and…" he shook his head still wondering if he was dreaming all of this.

"I never dreamed you would end up this way. I know your parents death had to devastate you and that you probably had a tough recovery on top of their loss. I can only imagine how you turned to drugs. I should have never left you. I should have dragged your skinny ass to jail because at least I know you would be out of danger. You wouldn't be here in this situation." He looked at the bruised and pale face of the man he loved. "Please Greg; give me a chance to make you better. Don't check out on my yet."

After sitting at his bedside for an hour, Nick decided to finally go home and get some real sleep. The doctor told him he didn't know if Greg would wake up from his coma and if he did it would be a while yet. Nick just hoped it was soon.