Thank you very much for your reviews C.H.W.13, Marymel and Tracy79 :) I sincerely apologise for my extremely slow updates, there's no excuse except my laziness, so again I'm ever so sorry. This chapter contains some bad language, so I hope it doesn't put some people off. Here's the next chapter, my longest one ever! And please review to let us know what you think, good or bad!

Help From Sara

Nick was awoken by noise coming from the room Greg was staying in. It sounded like Greg was saying something, but it was muffled through the walls, so Nick decided to go and check to make sure his friend was alright.

As he walked down the hall, he could hear the odd word, "No...Stop."

Just then it clicked that Greg was more than likely having a nightmare. He'd had his own after being buried alive and new first hand they weren't pleasant.

And he was right. Greg was moving his head from side to side with his hands up near his head in a protective way. And his legs were shuffling slightly under the covers, but not really moving far.

"Hey Greg, wake up." Nick said softly as he sat by Greg's side on the bed. He gently put his hands on Greg's forearm and pulled it down slightly away from his head and face.

"It's alright, it's Nick. It's me buddy." He said when Greg screwed his eyes shut even tighter when his arm was moved. Tears shined along his face from the light Nick had left on in the hall which had brightened Greg's room up enough for him to be able to see everything.

Greg begged in his sleep, "Please..." he repeated over and over in a quiet, childlike voice. He nuzzled his head into the pillows as far as he could, trying to escape the horrors in his head.

Nick shook him by his shoulder. "Greg... Greg!" He shouted sharply hoping it would snap him back into reality.

Greg's eyes shot open and he lied where he was for a moment before looking around and spotting Nick.

"You alright, man? I think you had a bad dream, am I right?" Nick asked him with a smile as he sat further back, letting Greg properly wake up.

Greg slowly worked his way up into a sitting position and wiped his eyes. "Yeah."

Nick nodded knowingly. "They stop after a while. It just takes some time."

"I know." Greg told him. "Thanks for getting me up."

Nick smiled, "Don't mention it. You wanna talk about it?"

After swallowing Greg looked at Nick with sad eyes. "It was Aaron James. He was in that gang when they beat me up." He sighed.

"I know he wasn't really there all those years ago, but now I know he did this... I just ended up picturing him then as well."

"Well I've got some good news; Brass has him down at the station right now. Just got the message." Nick told him with his phone in hand.

Greg just nodded.

Nick tilted his head. "What's up? I thought you'd be a little happier about that." He said to Greg.

Greg sighed. "I am. I'm just worried at the same time."

Nick studied his friend. The poor guy looked like he'd had no sleep at all. "What time did you actually get to sleep?"

"Not too long ago I don't think. I woke up before I did just now. It's hard to sleep."

"Well try and get some more sleep, and don't worry about anything, okay? Now we've got him, we can get the others." Nick told him, trying to reassure him.

'Mmh' Greg mumbled. Just as Nick was about to leave he spoke again, very quietly.

"Nick" Nick turned around and looked at Greg with a smile.

"Yeah?"

Greg looked down. "It doesn't matter, sorry."

Nick walked back over to him and sat on the bed. "What? Go on." He coaxed.

Greg coughed and looked away. "Could you leave this door open please and a light on... You don't have to, I shouldn't have said anything." He said and lifted his head back up.

Nick laughed which made Greg look at him.

"Don't be stupid of course I can. You should have said sooner." Nick said.

"I don't want to bother you anymore than I am."

"Woah, man you're not bothering me." Nick told him, that's the last thing he wanted Greg to feel like, like he was in the way or bothering Nick.

Greg didn't believe him. "Can't be much fun babysitting a 37 year old."

"It's not babysitting man, just two friends hanging out." Nick said. He really didn't want Greg talking like this, Nick was ecstatic that Greg would be staying with him.

Greg pulled a face. "Would two friends hanging out have to go to the bathroom with each other because one of them can't do it themselves? No they wouldn't. Would two friends hanging out have one of them running around everywhere after the other one? No. So don't even try saying that because I know we're not just hanging out." He said with a slight anger that Nick had never seen before.

Nick shook his head. "Greggo-"

"Don't call me that! You think calling me that will change anything? Stop trying to make me feel better, 'cause I feel like shit and you can't change that!" Greg yelled at him.

Nick was shocked. This was not the Greg he knew. He would never blow up like this, especially not to himself.

"Calm down. I know it's hard but it'll get easier." Nick told Greg, still keeping his cool even though Greg had lost it.

Greg threw the quilt off himself with his left arm. "You do not know! You don't know what any of this is like!"

"Okay so maybe I don't know what it's like, but I know what it's like to feel helpless."

Greg glared at him angrily. "You think I'm helpless? Fuck you Nick."

Nick's own fury was beginning to build inside of him. He wasn't bothered about what was being said to him before but that just tipped him over the edge.

"What the hell Greg? I never even said that." He said wide eyed.

Greg had managed to get into a sitting position again on the bed by now and was still looking angry. "Leave me alone, I'm going to get changed."

Nick laughed. "Leave you alone? How the hell are you going to get out of bed yourself, never mind getting dressed!"

This hit Greg hard and he felt himself tearing up, but at the same time Nick just infuriated him more.

"Fuck you Nick!" He shouted for the second time. "Fuck you, fuck your help, and fuck me staying with you. I don't need you! Just let me change and I won't bother you again." Greg said, his anger radiating off of him.

Nick shook his head. "Fine, if that's what you want. But don't even bother asking me for help in the future alright. You can struggle on your own." Nick said as he stood up. His jaw was locked sturdy in position and all his muscles tensed. He slammed the door on his way out, leaving Greg's room in total darkness.

As soon as he was out the room, Nick stormed into his kitchen to get himself a drink. He poured himself a glass of water with the tap on full blast, making water spray everywhere as it filled the glass. This just added to Nick's annoyance and he brought the glass down with such a force it was a surprise it didn't smash. He thumped his hand down on his work surface but it did nothing to calm him down. After pacing the kitchen a few times he went and sat down on his sofa and absentmindedly turned his TV on, onto some baseball. At that moment he didn't even care.

Greg reached over in the dark to find his phone; he scrambled around with his hand on the table and began to panic when he couldn't find it. He never thought he'd be scared of the dark, but this latest incident had shaken him up in more ways than he could imagine.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief once he'd grabbed onto his phone and immediately turned the torch on, illuminating the whole room. Luckily his wheelchair was next to his bed so he slowly inched his way to the side of his bed and positioned the chair where he wanted it. He lent down and made sure the brakes were on.

Bracing his left hand on the bed he grabbed the wheelchair tentatively with his right and placed his hand on it. His right arm still hurt but he had better mobility in it now, making some simple tasks a little bit easier.

One. Two. Three. Greg told himself, and then pushed with all his might as he shuffled across in to the chair. He made it to the chair but not without paying the price. After putting so much weight on it, his right arm felt like it was on fire. But he held in a yelp of pain. There was no way he was going to make Nick go back in there.

After a few long breaths, Greg released the brakes, went to turn the light on and rolled his way to the chest of draws across the room and pulled out a dark blue shirt. Staying where he was he pulled his left arm out of his t-shirt quite easily and then ducked his head out of it, so that it could come off his right arm without him hardly having to use it. Next, he used his left hand to help pull the sleeve of the fresh shirt onto his right arm, before pulling it round so that he could put his left arm in the sleeve also. Greg buttoned up the shirt with one hand and left a few buttons from the top undone.

The next challenge was taking off his pants that he'd slept in; a pair of light grey joggers. Usually he'd sleep in a pair of boxers but decided to wear something else because he was staying with Nick. First he fished out some underwear and a pair of jeans to slip into. He clenched his right hand into a fist and kept releasing it, trying to get it used to moving. After repeating that for a minute, Greg lent to the left in his chair and lifted himself up the best he could. His face screwed up in pain as soon as he moved his right hand to pull his bottom wear off. Once it was down by his knees though, he dropped back down into his seat and used his left arm to pull them all the way off.

Grabbing his underwear, he chucked his joggers and the underwear he just took off onto the floor, then pulled the fresh up as far as he could. Then, he had to lean to the left again, and his right hand was left to do the work. It took a while, but the pain didn't seem as bad this time, so his underwear was up reasonably quickly. He next did the same thing with his jeans, and he would have smiled at himself for doing it so quickly, but after his argument with Nick he was in absolutely no mood to smile.

He quickly put a brush through his hair, but it didn't do much really, although his hair looked fine to start with. He grabbed his phone and keys, put it on his lap and opened his bedroom door.

Nick heard a door then the click of a light switch and turned slightly to see Greg rolling down towards him.

"I didn't think you'd manage to get changed on your own." Nick stated simply. His anger had boiled down by now, and so had Greg's but both men weren't prepared to let go of what happened earlier.

Greg rolled behind the sofa where Nick sat still. "Like I said, I don't need you." Was all he said, matching Nick's tone.

Nick watched him as he made his way to the door. "Where you going?"

"Somewhere." Greg replied. In truth, he didn't really know where he was going but he wasn't staying there any longer.

"You wanna' be a bit more specific?" Nick asked him annoyed.

Greg's head spun around. "I don't know Nick, I'm just going out." He then cautiously went out the door and down the small step that was outside of it.

Nick got up off the sofa. "If you have an emergency call me if you have to." He called after Greg who was just starting to leave Nick's drive.

"I won't." Greg said and he didn't even look back.

Nick debated going after him but chose not to. He'd had enough for one night and it was now early in the morning. He shut the door and sat down, just like he had done earlier.

Greg had been out for just over twenty minutes and found himself gradually getting closer to his house. He'd got some funny looks, probably because he still had plenty of bruises on him, along with a few cuts and scrapes, and he was sweating from the heat and using his arm so much. It was taking a lot out of him, but he refused to call Nick.

Stopping for a moment, he tried to get his breath back which he didn't even know he'd lost. But all his focus was on a group of men which were on the corner of a street.

He was now out of Nick's neighbourhood and in one which he wished he wasn't. He'd been through it multiple times; when he'd cut through or gone out to one of many crime scenes that were there.

His nerves had started to show and his hands were shaking badly. For a minute he sat there and thought about what to do, but once the group began to walk in his direction, his decision was quickly made.

Trying to look normal, he went forward then turned into a small alley which cut through to another part of the same neighbourhood. As fast as he tried to go, he was struggling. The ground was rough and his chair would hardly move along it. He could hear the men just around the corner and prayed that they weren't going to go down the alley.

But luck still wasn't on Greg's side. As they came up behind him, he tried to go faster and even used his right arm, even though the pain was near enough unbearable. He kicked himself for not taking his meds before he left Nick's.

"Hey hot wheels, where you goin' in such a rush?" One of the group members said to him.

He glanced around nervously. He didn't answer just turned back and tried to get going again.

"You want a hand?" He was asked, whether by the same man or a different one. They walked past him and stood in front of him.

Greg shook his head. "N- No. I can do it." He told them, but his voice was quiet and shaky.

The guys looked at each other. "Alright." The one in the middle said, and they all moved to the sides of the alley to let Greg through.

Greg looked down and started yet again to push himself forward. Well, try to anyway. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move. Why can't I move? He asked himself.

He looked around his chair and then he saw one of the men holding onto his chair at the back.

Greg felt the fear rising when they laughed and then he realised that he needed to pee. He just hoped he could hold on long enough until he got to his house.

"What happened to you?" The same guy who had spoken to him earlier asked.

"N- Nothing." Greg said and he suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. He was taking huge breaths of air but nothing seemed to enter his lungs.

"Why you so scared?" The same man asked him. He put his hand on Greg's shoulder hard and Greg gasped in pain.

"P- Please leave me alone." Greg begged with them, tears were creeping into his eyes and he was finding it hard to keep them away.

The gang smiled. "Fine, you don't want our help... We'll leave you alone. In a minute." Greg looked up to the man questioningly and was met with a fist to his face.

His head flew back and blood started to drip from his nose. The impact had made him jump so much all bladder control had left him, and he hoped the gang wouldn't notice that he had wet himself because he was so scared.

"You got problems dude." One of them said and then he was thrown out of his chair as someone tilted it forward and pushed him out. He landed face down and the left side of his face was covered in dirt, just like the left side of his body.

One of the men said something then attention was drawn back to Greg. "You piss yourself? Huh? You're disgusting." Someone said when they saw the wet wheelchair seat.

Greg just wanted to close in on himself to make it all end and much to his relief the men began to walk off once they'd chucked his wheelchair half way down the other end of the alley. But one man lingered and spat on Greg's face before kicking him in his crotch.

Greg couldn't move when they'd gone. Whether it was shock or pain he stayed face down in the dirt and let rivers of tears fall. How could this happen? What had he done to deserve this? It hadn't even been a week since his... attack, and then this. It wasn't fair.

Trying to compose himself he pushed up with his left arm and leaned against the wall near him. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. He shakily found the contact he was looking for and waited, hoping the person would answer.

It took a few rings but then, "Hey Greg."

"S- Sara... I..."

"Greg what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I need you. Are you busy?"

"No I'm not."

Greg let out a sob.

"Greg... what's the matter? Is Nick there?"

"No. Please come and get me. I'm on my own and I don't like it. Please come and get me..." He pleaded with her.

"Hey, I'm coming okay. Calm down, everything's going to be okay. Where are you?"

"Err, Tamer Street. I'm down an alley. Please hurry Sara."

"I'll be there as fast as I can. Are you hurt?"

"No... Where are you? How long are you going to be?"

"I'm about two minutes away. Can you tell me what's happened?"

Greg cried into the phone which was all bloody from his hand which he used to wipe the blood from his nose that was still bleeding.

"Nothing happened. I just need you to come and get me."

"Okay, okay. I'm just around the corner okay?"

"Mmh hmm."

Ten seconds later Sara rounded the corner with a shocked, "Oh my God" when she saw Greg and rushed down next to him.

"Sara!" Greg said happily and sadly at the same time. He began to break into tears and Sara sat on the floor next to him and pulled him into a warm embrace.

"It's okay, I'm here." Sara soothed to him. "Calm down, you're okay."

Greg didn't respond, just sobbed into her jacket.

Sara sat with him like that for five minutes. Neither of them making a move to get up.

Greg pulled away from her but grabbed onto her hand tightly.

"What happened to your face Greg?" Sara asked. His nose had actually stopped bleeding on its own but blood trailed down past his chin and down to his chest.

Greg swallowed deeply. "These people..." He began but got cut off by his own tears.

"Shush, it's okay. They're gone now and I'm going to take you back to Nick's house so that we can clean you up."

Greg was shaking his head. "No Sara, I don't want to go back there. Please can you take me to my house? I have a key." He told her picking it up and showing it to her.

"Nick needs to know where you are Greg. He'll be worrying about you."

"No he won't. Please just take me to my house and I'll leave you alone. That's all I ask."

Sara sighed. She really didn't want to but couldn't say anything different. "Fine, but we'll have to call Nick. I won't be able to get you into my truck on your own."

"Sara, no. I don't want Nick here. I can do it." Greg challenged her.

"Let me get your chair." Sara reluctantly said and went a few metres down the alley to retrieve it.

Greg tried to stand up but he couldn't and he knew he wouldn't have been able to yet tried anyway.

Sara hooked her arm under Greg's right one and he whimpered in pain.

"Sorry." Sara apologised softly. She used all her strength to lift Greg and knew he must have lost some weight as it wasn't as hard to pick him up as she thought it would be.

Greg was in his chair in less than thirty seconds and Sara began to push him back down the alley towards her vehicle.

Once they reached it, Sara undid the car and opened the passenger side without a word. She then helped Greg in and she didn't say anything about the wet seat she noticed. The ride to Greg's house was just as quiet and Sara kept looking over to Greg, and he was just staring out the window silently.

"Let's clean you up." Sara said once they were in Greg's house. They were sat in the kitchen, Greg in his chair and Sara in a normal one.

She asked Greg where he had his cloths and he'd told her but then gone back to his quiet state. She gently wiped his face with a wet cloth, removing the dirt and blood before doing the same to his neck and the top of his chest, after she undid a few more buttons.

"There we go. Let's do your hands." Sara said softly and waited for him to hold them out.

Greg raised his hands which were shaking madly and swallowed trying to get rid of the lump in his throat. Sara grabbed hold of his hands and looked into Greg's eyes.

"Hey, it's okay." She said and tried to make him believe her. All he did was nod, so she went back to cleaning his hands.

Once they'd done, Sara asked him something. "So, are you ready to tell me what happened?"

Greg opened his mouth to talk but quickly closed it again when the tears crept up on him. He took his left hand up to his face and rubbed his left eye.

"Alright. Just tell me when you're ready." Sara told him and smiled at him. Then she had an idea.

"Where's your computer?"

Greg looked at her a bit curious. "It's in my bedroom."

"Can I use it?" Sara asked him already standing up.

Greg nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Sara smiled again and made her way upstairs. She'd not been upstairs in his house before but Greg's bedroom door was open so she found it without having to go through all the rooms. She went in a looked around a bit, his room was huge! The room was plain but tasteful and it made Sara realise how much Greg had changed over the years.

Getting back to what she was doing, she found Greg's laptop on his bed. Sitting down on it, she pressed the power button and found that it hadn't been shut down properly and was on standby. What she saw surprised her. It was a webpage 'Surgery to remove scars'. It had never crossed her mind until now that Greg was bothered about the scars on his back from the explosion. She closed the page down but she thought about what she saw. She found the charger to the laptop plugged in by his bed and set up what she needed to before taking it down to Greg.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw that Greg hadn't moved from his place in the kitchen.

"Here." Was all she said to him and she passed him the laptop.

Greg looked confused but a small smile appeared on his face when he saw the screen.

"Grissom?"

Woah, I can't believe I wrote a chapter that long! Sorry if you got bored, I hope you didn't. Anyway please review so I know if you liked or not :)