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Moving Forwards Or Backwards?
Hearing a cough at the door to the break room, both Morgan and Greg turned around.
"Hey guys. Greg I need to have a quick chat with you." Russell said.
Greg nodded and spun his head back around, since he was looking back over his shoulder to see who had come to the door.
He attempted to wheel himself back away from the sofa but found it difficult with only one fully functioning arm. His right one still had very limited movement.
"Hey. Let me help you!" Morgan said jumping up out of her seat to help.
"Thanks." Greg said turning around to flash her his gorgeous smile which she hadn't seen on him in a while.
Morgan returned his smile equally as happy. For the past half hour, she and Greg had been talking about anything and everything, both engrossed in their new relationship.
"Where do you wanna' talk?" Greg asked when he was in front of Russell.
Russell waved his hand for Greg to follow and before he even put his arm down to attempt to push himself, Morgan was already behind him, pushing him down the hallway.
Once they were inside Russell's office, Morgan left and told Greg that she'd see him later, with a little wink which made Greg smile.
As he sat down behind his desk, Russell smiled too. "You two got a little thing going on I don't know about?" He asked with slightly raised eyebrows.
Greg smiled again, "Er, well, I dunno what you'd call it. She, er, kinda' asked me if I wanted to go out with her." Greg told him, stammering his words awkwardly, feeling a tad weird sharing this information with Russell.
He whistled and then smiled at Greg. "I'm not surprised; I've been waiting for her to make a move. So, what did you say?" Russell enquired.
Greg tried to act as natural as he could because he knew that he was blushing; turning a bright yet deep red.
"Well, I told her yeah." Greg said, ducking his head to avoid Russell's huge grin.
"That's great Greg. Just remember she's Ecklie's daughter so make sure you look after her." Russell warned.
Greg nodded, "I'll do my best."
Russell smiled knowingly. But then his face changed to a more sullen look which Greg didn't like.
"I know it's soon but we've collected all the evidence we can and we're no nearer to finding the people who did this to you. It looks like we may need you to describe them to us. If you're up to that?" Russell asked as tentatively as he could.
Greg nodded, "Yeah, I can do that."
After a couple of seconds Russell spoke again. "Alright, but if you don't want to that's understandable. I just wanted you to know that we'll probably need your help." He explained.
Again, Greg nodded. "Didn't you get anything from what you collected?" He asked with hopeful eyes.
Russell shook his head, "I'm sorry Greg, they're not in the system."
Greg cast his eyes down.
Changing the topic, Russell asked Greg a question. "So, how's it going at Nick's?"
"Good. Good. I don't want to sound ungrateful but I just wish I was at my own place though." Greg told him honestly.
Russell frowned. "Why?"
Greg shrugged his good shoulder. "I just want some privacy now you know. To be able to do things on my own. And now that me and Morgan are closer I want to spend some time with her on my own."
Russell smiled. "Soon enough you'll be back to that if you want to be, but right now I think staying with Nick is just what you need. Have you had all your tests done at the hospital now?"
"What do you mean?" Greg asked him confused. What tests?
"To see if you have any sexually transmitted infections or diseases." Russell clarified.
Greg's heart plummeted. He hadn't thought of those. What if he did have an infection? What if he did have a disease? What if-
"Oh my god, what if I have HIV or something? What am I meant to do?" Greg asked panicked. His breathing had increased and his palms had become sweaty.
"Now Greg calm down. I shouldn't have said anything. You're probably fine otherwise they would have kept you in the hospital for longer, right? You've got nothing to worry about." Russell said to try and help the distressed man in front of him.
Greg nodded, not really believing Russell. "Can you help me go outside please? I need some air."
"Of course." With this Russell stood and he pushed Greg down the hallway he had been down just minutes ago.
"You going to be alright on your own?" Russell asked once they were outside. Greg had asked to be alone, and Russell had looked over his shoulder whilst pushing him out and saw him text Morgan to meet him out there.
Greg nodded, "Yeah, thanks." He said with a small smile.
"Okay, I'm just a phone call away if you need me." Russell said with his own smile before he went back inside, going past Morgan on his way.
"Hey Greg. I know we said we'd go out some time but when I'm at work!" Morgan came out and joked with him.
Greg tried to smile but when he did, Morgan knew something wasn't right. His smile didn't reach his eyes like it did earlier.
She came up closer to Greg and luckily there was a bench near enough next to him.
"What's wrong?" Morgan questioned with a concerned expression.
Greg looked her in the eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat. Well, attempted to. This was going to be hard.
"I know we only just arranged this but, I... We can't go out. I think it's best we stay just friends."
It pained Greg to see Morgan looking so disappointed, upset and heartbroken.
"But Greg, I thought you wanted to give it a go?" She questioned, trying to keep her composure.
"Yeah, I did, do. Just we can't." Greg told her, keeping his eyes trained on her the whole time.
Morgan shook her head, "I can't believe you Greg. I know this must be hard for you but you sound like you're not even willing to try."
"Because I don't know how this will end out. I want to make sure we're still good friends, like we are now. I don't want to risk all this." Greg explained the best he could. What he was saying to her was true, and he truly believed he got caught in the moment and jumped ahead too soon. Now, he had all these new worries of some sort of horrible diseases that he may have and he cared too much for Morgan to possibly give them to her too.
"If that's how you feel then fine." Morgan stated bluntly.
Greg now looked down. "Please Morgan; don't let this change things between us." He told her quietly.
Morgan stood up. "I think it already has." She said coldly.
As she started to walk back into the building Greg tried to follow her, but could hardly move his chair anywhere.
"Morgan, please wait. Please." He begged, but there was no use. Morgan had already gone inside and the door shut behind her.
Greg was left outside alone.
"I must have read your mind. What is it you need?" Russell asked as he rejected Greg's call, having already gotten outside before Greg had rung him.
Greg's head snapped up. "Well, this is awkward but, is there any chance someone could run me home?"
"Why do you need to go home?" Russell asked him.
Greg looked away for a second. "I need to use the bathroom."
Greg had been outside for over half an hour since Morgan went inside and needed some time alone to think and hold himself together. Since his attack, he seemed to have trouble controlling his bladder, so the need to pee came on suddenly and harsh.
"Alright, I'll take you. Do you have a key?" Russell said.
Greg felt around in his pockets until he found what he was looking for. "Yeah, thanks to Catherine."
"Then let's go."
At Greg's house, Russell first admired its size, much like Catherine did.
"Greg your house is fantastic. My wife would love a house like this."
Greg laughed awkwardly. Right now all he needed was to use the bathroom.
Russell saw Greg was uncomfortable and quickly turned his attention back to Greg.
"So do you have a downstairs toilet?" Russell enquired.
Greg nodded to him, "Yeah, just down there."
Russell pushed Greg down the hallway until Greg told him where to stop.
"What does Nick do, go in there with you?" Russell asked casually.
For Greg he felt awkward that he needed his boss to help him go to the toilet.
"Er, yeah, but you don't have to." He said nervously.
Russell smiled. "Greg I mean this in the nicest way, but you can't manage on your own yet. Just relax a bit. I don't mind helping out."
Greg smiled and looked down again. "I can't help it. It's just weird."
"I know it is. But it's fine. You trust me right?" Russell asked softly.
Greg blinked plenty of times because tears were building in his eyes. "I don't really wanna' trust anyone right now you know. I can't."
Russell nodded. "That's understandable. But you have my word Greg, you can trust me."
But even then, Greg still couldn't. Would he be able to trust anyone again?
