AN: There's a lot of reasons why this one is so late, but I'll some it up by saying the blame falls on real life and writer's block. That's right, writing this chapter was like nails on a chalkboard so I really don't expect you guys to love it. I'll try to make it up to you all with the next/last chapter.
TV Talk: Ok, I mentioned saving Jericho a few chapters back, and I don't know if any of you did anything to help, but we did bring it back from the dead which is a big deal and has only happened a couple of times. So, we're awesome. Try to check it out: reruns will start on July 6th and they will continue on Friday's at 9:00 PM. Thanks guys!
And who here has ever watched Heroes. Oh my goodness, I've heard a lot about it, so I decided to check it out and I'm in love with it! Man… Milo Ventimiglia (Peter) is amazingly good-looking! Haha, you can't blame me… I'm a teenage girl.. Its natural.
Warning: Beware of mistakes. Beta'd as best as I could but I'm not feeling great about errors in this one. Heck, not feeling great about this one at all...
Alright, go read this sucky chapter!!
He was numb. There was literally no other way to explain it. It could not feel any of his physical body parts, but he could distinctly feel a certain pressure on his lungs, as though someone was squeezing them, making it difficult and painful to breathe. And every now and then, a cough would rip through him, shredding his lungs and throat.
But he over-looked it all as Grissom entered his room. An odd radiant light shined behind him, giving Greg a sense of hope, however, the look of his boss' face gave Greg a much more negative feeling.
Grissom's eyes were puffy and red, his lips tucked between his teeth. The look gave Greg a major sense of foreboding. There was no way Grissom had come into his room to tell him anything good.
Greg figured it couldn't be anything about himself seeing as how he was awake and coherent. And there were also no doctors or nurses frantically moving around him, so he seemed to be doing ok. Which meant the news would probably revolve around Sara.
But if this news was going to be as bad as the look on Grissom's face, Greg didn't want to hear it. And somehow, he knew what Grissom was going to say. It was the same two words Greg had been fearing ever since he left her in the first place.
"Sara's dead." Grissom said without any warning.
Greg froze. There it was. That was it. Everything he had done, all that he had tried to do… none of it mattered because she was dead.
Greg seemed to leave Grissom and retreated into his own mind that was dangerously full of guilt and depressing thoughts. But he deserved it. He had left her all alone in a cave surrounded by nothing but snow with a head injury! What in the world had he been thinking?!
The next few moments were a big blur as a bright light blinded him and people's voices filled the space around him. His room changed slowly from being empty, to being filled with nurses and machines. He was so confused. Where was Grissom? Where was he? And why did he feel so horrible?
Well, the first question shouldn't be much of a surprise… Grissom had loved Sara, of course he would be angry with the man that left her in the middle of nowhere dying, just to end up alive himself. Grissom would never forgive him, and neither would the rest of the team.
Greg closed his eyes and felt the need to cry but nothing would come out.
The doctors were now talking directly to him, saying different things and asking him a multitude of questions, but he didn't want to hear any of it and more importantly, he couldn't answer because he couldn't breathe.
He started to panic a little now. He couldn't seem to hang on to any rational thoughts except for the fact that Sara was dead.
Thankfully he felt something being placed over his mouth and nose and was relieved when the air filled his lungs, easing the burning feeling.
Another cough made its way recklessly through him, each time causing more pain. The next thing he knew, he was being pushed out of his room. Right when he got through the door way, he saw his supervisor standing over him with a nauseous and worried look.
Greg saw the pain in his eyes, which was all around unusual for Gil Grissom and knew it was because he had let Sara die. Greg wanted so badly to tell him that he was sorry and that he never wanted that, but then he was gone and Greg was now entering a new room.
As the people surrounding him got him ready for something else, some type of x-ray it seemed, one small and long over-due tear rolled down his cheek.
Grissom smiled, so relieved to hear what they were telling him about Sara. He wanted to see her so bad now, but she was probably still getting the scan done so they all waited in the ICU waiting room once again, telling all they could about Sara to temporarily keep their minds off of Greg's current condition.
"God Grissom, she looked so good and she was smiling… Man she smiled so big," Nick said blissfully, as if the world had suddenly been removed from his shoulders.
The others joined him in his mood, still thinking of Sara and remembering the welcome she had given them. Those memories also brought back the other ones, the ones where Sara told her version of what happened out there.
They had hinted at it to Grissom, but hadn't come right out and said everything Sara had told them. Probably because it involved Greg and none of them wanted to get into the subject at the present moment. Call them weak, but for days they had been hoping and praying that their team members would be found alive, and at the moment they were. And that's all they wanted to think about right now, not that there was a possibility that one wouldn't make it.
"You said she had a head wound," Grissom brought up, taking a step out of the more comfortable talk of her healthy state. "Did it look bad?"
Catherine breathed in deeply. "We didn't actually see it," she said, looking knowingly over to Warrick and Nick, then chuckled lightly. "There was a shirt wrapped around it."
Grissom looked at her, wondering what that meant.
"It was apparently Greg's version of gauze." Warrick answered Grissom's questioning look.
They sat in silence for a second at the mention of the youngest CSI. They couldn't avoid the topic for too long, knowing that he would be back to his room at any moment.
The thing that made them most uncomfortable was the fact that he doctors couldn't just give him a magic formula or fill his body with warm fluids and make this go away. It was something that Greg would have to deal with on his own, even though they all planned on being there for him every step of the way.
"We told Sara we would be back when she was done," Nick said, breaking the silence and bringing up a new issue: Who would stay with who?
"I think two of us should stay up here, and the other two go back down to Sara," Catherine added, though they had all been thinking the same thing.
Warrick nodded. "Griss, you should probably go see Sara. It will make you feel a little better. Besides, she wanted to know what was going on with Greg and you know more than us."
This was a good point and while Grissom did not want to leave Greg or be the one to tell Sara that Greg was not doing so great, he did feel that he was the best one for the job. And he did really want to see Sara.
That left the other three. Who would join Grissom and who would stay with and wait for Greg.
"I'll go down there with you Griss," Warrick said, solving that problem. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Greg but he knew that Nick was a lot closer to the guy and Catherine had that whole motherly element that Greg may need, so he ruled himself out.
Grissom nodded then looked seriously over to Nick and Catherine.
"If anything changes, anything at all, one of you come get me immediately." He wasn't sure why he had to say this, but it seemed important to him at the time. He felt bad about leaving Greg again but the others were right; he really needed to see Sara right now.
Warrick and Grissom then left, leaving Nick and Catherine in the waiting room.
They sat quietly until their thoughts were too much for them to bare alone.
"You uh, you really think Greg did all that," Nick asked, feeling almost as if he was down-talking Greg by asking a question like this, but what Sara had said he did had been remarkable and kind of hard to wrap one's head around.
Catherine looked over to him and saw the reluctance in his eyes to ask the question, but it had been something she had been thinking about herself.
"You know what," She replied, feeling more certain now. "I do. And you want to know why? I think that he is exactly how you described him to Sara: he just set some goals and God knows Greg can and will do whatever it takes to get them."
Nick suddenly felt worse for asking. It had been a bit demeaning to Greg, seeing him as being possibly incapable of doing all of that stuff that Sara had said he did.
"Yeah… I shouldn't have…" Nick started, but Catherine quickly interrupted him.
"I didn't mean it that way. What Sara said he did is… well it sounds almost impossible and we've always seen Greg as a goofball kid, it's only natural to question it."
They both agreed to this and returned to silence until Dr. Tate came back. Catherine and Nick both stood up as she approached them, ready for more information.
"It is viral pneumonia." She said quickly, not bothering to warm up to the news. "He's awake still but he hasn't said much. His temperature is still going down, which is good, but that cough… its going to wear him out even more…" She began to trail off.
"We want to see him," Nick said simply with a hint of boldness. He had every intention of seeing Greg and hopefully making him feel better.
Dr. Tate nodded. "I'm sure he would like that. He's in control of the mask right now, so when he wants it, he can put it on and also, pneumonia is technically contagious, though its unusual for the disease to pass from person to person. But, if you feel uncomfortable going in there, then you may want to consider not going in or you can use a mask if you would like."
Catherine and Nick understood. Neither of them wanted pneumonia, but their eagerness to see Greg outweighed the risk of catching the disease, and neither felt the need to wear a mask.
They nodded, indicating that they were both ready, then followed the doctor towards Greg's room.
"We have him on some lighter drugs, but he will still be getting drowsy so don't expect him to stay awake for too long," The doctor said quickly as she walked through the hallway.
When they finally reached the room, they were pleased to see less nurses in there. There were now only two, both of which were working with different machines and doing something with Greg's IV.
And below them was Greg, still white and gaunt, but awake. Heseemed upset; his eyes were only half opened, but seemed red and all of his movements were slow and filled with pain. Nick and Catherine immediately felt heart-sick at the sight of him. They had both known him long enough to know when he was truly upset.
They slowly walked over to him, and when he looked over to them, he stared for only a moment before turning away. They could see that his eyes were getting wetter now and his face was becoming more contorted. The sight startled them because he seemed to be getting more upset now that they were in there.
Catherine got closest to him and bent down slightly to get closer.
"Greg…" She cooed. "How are you feeling?"
He still wouldn't look at her, but she could now see tears forming and beginning to roll down his face. He quickly shifted his eyes over to her, then looked away again.
"I… I'm sorry." He choked out. His voice was barely audible still and it was apparent that he was still having problems breathing. He sucked in breath, then shakily brought his hand up to his face and Catherine saw that he had placed the breathing mask on himself.
She looked back at Nick, unsure of what to do about Greg's behavior.
"Greg, you have nothing to be sorry about," She said with a scared smile. "At all."
He took another deep breath from the mask, then removed it and finally looked Catherine in the eyes.
"I know…" He started, then took another gulp of air from the mask. "I know she's… Grissom told me." After he painfully got this out, another series of coughs made their way through him, causing Catherine to take a step back and the nurses to look at them suspiciously, as if they were trying to make him sick.
Catherine was thoroughly confused. What was he talking about? There was no way Grissom had told him anything because he had not been allowed in Greg's room yet.
She looked nervously over to Nick, who now came in to talk to his friend.
"Greg… Grissom hasn't came in here yet.." Nick spoke in a quiet, sincere tone. But Greg looked at him as though he was crazy. He took the breathing mask off.
"No." Greg began. "He was in here… and told me that she's… she's d…dead." Tears were now falling consistently, though he was not exactly crying. The only sign of crying was the tears, but otherwise, he was fairly calm, but he looked so tired and defeated.
Nick backed away a little and looked over to Catherine who shared the same confused look.
"Who's dead?" She asked, though she knew who Greg was talking about.
But he didn't answer, just looked away from them and after another heart-wrenching cough, he pulled the mask away with a lot less strength, then breathed out "Sara."
Before they could say anything, Greg turned his head away from then and was out.
Nick and Catherine looked worriedly to each other. Greg truly believed that Grissom had come into his room and told him that Sara was dead.
They looked around the room and realized that Dr. Tate had already left, leaving the two of them alone with Greg and the nurses.
"He needs to know the truth," Nick said suddenly. "If I was right about him, then he thinks he failed his goals and he won't fight it."
Catherine nodded. "I know. We need to get Grissom or Sara in here. It was apparently another hallucination or maybe a dream… but we need to clear it up or he doesn't stand a chance."
"I'll go tell Gil and Sara, you stay up here in case he wakes up again, ok?" Catherine continued, then looked sadly over to Greg who was having the mask placed back on him. Nick agreed, then watched Catherine rush out of the room.
They had beat Sara to her room, but just barely. They were only in there for about five minutes before she was wheeled in. And she was just as the others had explained her to be. She lit up when she saw Grissom and Warrick there.
"Grissom…" She said quietly as the nurse pushed her into place and adjusted her blankets.
Grissom just smiled at her, relieved beyond words at the sight of her so healthy looking considering what she could look like. They had apparently taken care of the shirt that was mentioned to Grissom earlier because she now had a white bandage over her injury.
Sara noticed him looking and explained what they had found.
"No brain damage," she said with a grin. "Slight concussion. Nothing bad."
"That's excellent news," Grissom replied.
"Yeah Sar, you look great," Warrick added, stepping closer to her bedside.
"Maybe I should get lost in the snow more often. Everyone is so nice."
Warrick and Grissom laughed at her comment, though they would prefer that nothing like this ever happened again.
"So…" Sara began, looking back and forth between Grissom and Warrick. When they didn't respond, she continued. "So… How's Greg? I take it Nick and Catherine are with him…"
Warrick sighed, stepped back a little, and looked expectantly at Grissom. Sara followed his gaze and was also waiting for Grissom's answer.
"He has pneumonia."
Sara squinted at his words.
"That's… pretty nasty. Viral or bacterial?" She wasn't exactly freaking out or anything, just seemed very calm about the news, which was greatly appreciated by Grissom and Warrick.
"They're pretty sure it's viral." Warrick answered, feeling more confident with Sara's calm reaction.
Sara nodded slowly, taking in this news. She began thinking about how one of her friends had had pneumonia once and how horrible it had been.
"I told him he would catch something, but he's just so stubborn," she said under her breath.
No one responded to her, but she wasn't really expecting them to anyway.
"I want to see him." It wasn't a question at all and Grissom and Warrick knew that.
"We'll have to make sure it's ok with everyone first," Warrick said reasonably. This much was true. She had been told earlier that it all depended on Greg, but she felt pretty sure he would want to see her, so the only problem would be if his condition permitted it.
"Well, then do it please. Or I will. It really doesn't matter to me. You just have to understand, he saved my life and apparently my feet," she looked down to her wrapped up feet. "I just want to see for myself that he's alive. I thought for sure he… well, that he wouldn't make it."
"We understand, Sara. We'll do what we can." Grissom offered with a positive smile. He could only guess how she felt and knew how he had felt when he got the news that his two CSIs were alive and could only guess how different it was for Sara.
Just then, Catherine came through the door looking very determined. Once she was in, she slowed down her movements, knowing that Sara was tired and had no intentions of getting her, or any of them, all worked up. However, Grissom and Warrick knew that there were only so many reasons why Catherine would be flying into Sara's room like this so soon after they left her.
"What is it," Grissom asked suddenly.
"Is he…" Sara breathed, her heart beginning to beat faster.
"No," Catherine said quickly. "He's not… he's okay. He just… well he thinks you're dead, Sara."
No one said anything at first; it was really quite a surprising thing to find out, even though they all knew that Sara wasn't really dead at all.
"Why," Warrick asked.
"Apparently Grissom told him she was."
Everyone turned to Grissom who furrowed his brow in confusion.
"What are you talking about," he asked. "I haven't even been allowed in his room."
"I know, but he's convinced." Catherine said breathlessly.
"I need to go up there, Grissom. If he did hallucinate it, then he won't know what to believe."
Grissom nodded knowingly.
"I'll go tell the doctor," Warrick said while standing up. He walked out and moments later came back in following behind Dr. Reid who was pushing a wheelchair.
"So I hear we're going on a rescue mission of sorts," He said broadly.
"Well, Greg thinks I'm dead…" Sara said, eyeing the wheelchair.
"I see. Well, there will be some rules, as I'm sure you could have guessed. First of all, no leaving the chair. You both apparently worked very hard to keep them in working order so we shall try to keep it that way."
The doctor was not only addressing Sara, but Warrick and Grissom as well because he knew as well as they did that she may not do as told.
"And secondly, as long as his mask his on, you won't need one." Sara looked at him questioningly. "You've spent the last four days in a snowstorm, Ms. Sidle. You're immune system probably isn't at it's best right now. So, we take the needed precautions to keep you pneumonia-less."
Sara nodded and prepared herself to get into the wheelchair. Before he went over to her, Dr. Reid made a pit-stop at Warrick and handed him a mask and said "Just in case." He then headed over to Sara, and along with the other two CSIs, managed to get her from the bed to the chair without making her use her feet.
Once she was covered up and ready to go, they made their way up to the fourth floor.
They were on his floor now and as she was pushed by the glass walls, she saw into the rooms every now and then and saw the injured or sick people and their families by their sides. And before she knew it, she was looking into Greg's room, though he couldn't really be seen from the hallway. The only reason she knew it was Greg's room was because she could see Nick hovering over the person on the bed.
As they entered, Nick looked back to see Sara being rolled in followed by the other CSIs. He smiled quickly to greet her, then turned back to Greg who was apparently awake again.
"Greg," he said softly. "Sara's here. We all are. We're here now."
Sara looked back to Warrick who was in control of her wheelchair. He got the hint and pushed her forward. Nick stepped back, allowing her to get as close as she could.
At first, Greg didn't look at her, but she could see that his face was damp from tears and his eyes were just barely open. He did have the mask on that Dr. Reid had warned her about. She felt Warrick put something on her lap and saw that it was a mask for herself.
Just then, Greg emitted another cough causing Sara to wince. Once it was over, Greg seemed to be a little more awake. He moved his eyes over to her without moving his head, but looked away again. His breathing slowed down and he finally started to turn his head to look at her.
Right away she saw the pain in his eyes and felt her heart breaking as more tears rolled down his face.
He slid his hand up until he reached the mask on his face and before he slipped it off, Sara reached out and lightly touched his arm.
"You should keep that on Greg," she said softly, but he didn't listen to her and pulled it away from his face.
"I shouldn't… have left you."
Sara began to run her hand through his hair.
"No Greg, you should have. And because you did, I'm alive," she responded with a warm smile.
Greg looked up in her eyes and she could see the fear and confusion in them now.
"You… no.." He placed the mask back over his face and took in a few struggled breaths.
"No, Greg. I don't know what you imagined, but I am not dead. You saved me."
Greg's eyes were wide now as he looked at Sara as if in a daze. He could not believe she was here saying this. It had seemed so real when Grissom had told him that Sara was dead, and yet here she was now. And he could also see everyone else standing off to the side now.
He slipped the mask off once again and grinned sheepishly and looked at the rest of them.
"You guys should… really stop playing… t..tricks on me."
It didn't make a whole lot of sense to any of them, but they laughed none-the-less because it was a sign that their Greg was still in there. Sara giggled with a little more passion than the rest, glad to see for herself that he was alive.
Greg put the mask back on himself and with one last look at Sara and the others, turned his head and fell asleep.
Sara, feeling satisfied, decided she would leave him alone now and let them both have time to rest.
She turned to her friends who understood that she was ready to get some rest and Warrick came up and started to take her back to her room.
As she was being wheeled away, she could honestly say that she felt better than she had in days; both her and Greg were well and alive, and yeah, Greg having pneumonia was bad, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.
That she was sure of.
EN: I told you it was nothing special. I originally had it longer, but I decided there wasn't enough going on in it for it to be this long. I promise the next one should be better and more in it. Thanks for reading and review if ya can! Later…