Chapter Twenty Nine:
"Ouch!" I moaned. The nurse gave me an apologetic look as she continued to stitch my arm up. I had three stitches to the side of my head and six in my forearm along with sore ribs and lots of cuts and bruises everywhere. My car was totally wrecked, but then again I was going to buy a new one anyway so I'm not completely bothered.
"There we go. The cops want pictures of the wounds before I bandage it for you and I'll get the doctor to check you over before you can leave." She spoke softly as she snapped her gloves off. "Be careful how you drive next time."
"I was parked." I remarked at her sarcastically. She gave me another apologetic look, heading off out the room just as Nick walked in.
"Greg! Are you okay?" He asked completely panicked.
"I'm fine." Nick looked at my head then my arm. "Nicky, honestly, I'm fine; it looks worse than it is."
"Who the hell did this to you?"
"I don't know."
Nick softly ran his fingertips down the side of my face, looking into my eyes. "You didn't see a car?"
"Blacked out SUV . . . I didn't see the plates." Nick looked over his shoulder at the door then sat on the bed beside me.
"You okay G. You're shakin'."
"Just a little shaken up . . . I wonna go home." I brushed my finger across the bruise on my chin, looking up at Nick. "So are you here for me . . . or in a professional manner?"
"Grissom sent me . . . but I came for you too Greg."
"Where'd you go?"
"I just needed some space." Nick retrieved his kit from outside my room, pulling his camera out.
"Why do you have to do it?" I asked as he started unloading everything he needed from his kit.
"Grissom sent me. Sara's lookin' at your car and O'Riley is talking to witnesses. I'll need your statement too." Nick set up his camera, looking at the cut on my arm.
"Is my case the most important tonight then?"
"It is to us Greg. I need to take pictures of your wounds." Nick raised the camera to his eyes, taking pictures of the stitches to my head then my arm. He wasn't treating me like his boyfriend or a friend; he was treating me like a victim on one of his usual cases.
Nick stayed while the nurse bandaged my arm up, along with my ribs, anxiously biting his bottom lip as he watched. The doctor checked me over for a concussion then issued me some pain killers.
Nick waited for the doctor to leave before he packed up his kit. "You want me to drive you home?" He asked, without looking at me directly still which was really starting to annoy me. What could I have possibly done wrong to deserve this?
"Who did you need space from?" I asked curiously. "Me?"
"No... this has nothin' to do with you." Nick snapped his kit shut, lifting it into his hands. "You want me to take you home or not?"
"I'll grab a taxi." I grabbed my jacket off the end of the bed, carefully climbing of the bed as my ribs started to cause me some pain.
"C'mon. I'll drive you on my way back to the lab."
"Are you gonna avoid me forever?"
"I'm not avoidin' you Greg." I looked round at him seeing he still couldn't look me in the eyes. "C'mon." Nick walked me round to the parking lot, carefully helping me into the passenger seat of his car. He drove in silence back to our apartment, pulling up in the parking lot. "Want me to help you upstairs?"
"Nope, I got it." I winced, climbing out of the truck. Nick ignored me and came up with me anyway. He helped me off to the bedroom, sitting me down on the edge. I watched as he pulled my sneakers off then lifted the covers for me to lie down.
"I'm not avoidin' you Greg." He repeated, softly pressing a kiss to my forehead. "I'll be back later, call if you need me."
"Will you pick up this time?" I shouted after him before he left.
"Yes I will." He assured me, appearing in the doorway again. "I love you Greg, we'll find whoever did this to yah." I watched him leave, listening out for the click of the front door. I had a theory of who did it already, I just wasn't sure.
Nick never did come home at the end of the day. I called him but it went straight to his voicemail again so I called Sara to get an update on the case.
"Sidle."
"Sara, it's Greg."
"Greg, how you doing?" She asked surprised. "I saw the pictures of your injuries, they look pretty bad. Are you okay?"
"Give me a chance to answer Sidle." I chuckled, wincing from the pain in my ribs. "I'm okay. So have you got any further on my case?"
"I'm not allowed to discuss it with you Greg."
"Oh c'mon Sara. I have the right to know who tried to kill me. Just in case I decide to invite them over for lunch or something."
"Okay . . . you can't tell Ecklie or Grissom though." She warned me. "The owner of the SUV is one Dean Clark."
"Ryan's brother?" I blurted. "He tried to kill me?"
"Who's Ryan?"
"Ask Nick. I gotta go."
"Greg! Don't do anything. We can handle this!" I snapped my phone shut ignoring her, wincing as I climbed out of bed.
I pounded hard on the front door again and again, holding my ribs in agony still. Rita finally opened the door looking out at me. "You! What do you want?" She barked.
"So you can't win your case to get your son out of jail so instead you try and have me killed?" I shouted at her angrily.
"We are going to win the case and I did no such thing!"
"Really? Do you have any idea what kinda person your son is? He's not the angel you make him out to be."
"You'd know!" She huffed, folding her arms across her chest.
"Yes I do. I tried to leave your son, he resorted to blackmailing, assault and he almost raped me, but I still saved his life."
"Why should I believe you?"
"I have a hard enough time lying to my mother that I'm not working in the field." She chomped on her bottom lip as she stared at me intently. "I'm not some vial monster that turns men gay like you think. Ryan's first time was when he was fourteen with his school gym teacher. He's always been into guys. He came onto me. People warned me about him... but I still went with him."
"Why should I believe you?" She asked again.
"Because you know your son. Deep down you've always known what he's like." Yes I'm voicing my mother. "I realise you're trying to protect your son just like any mother would, but he needs serious help. He drove all the way to LA where I was at my mother's wedding to try and force himself on top me. I saved his life when he almost drowned then your other son tried to kill me." I explained to her, watching the blood draining from her face.
"I'd like you to leave now." She said as a tear gently rolled down her cheek.
Before I could say anything else she closed the door on me. I slowly turned around, seeing Nick and O'Riley arriving with two other officers.
"Sanders, what are you doing here?" O'Riley asked.
"Nothing." I lied, walking down the garden path. Nick still couldn't look at me. I shoved my hands in my pockets walking off back home. I wondered what I could have possibly done wrong to make him ignore me like this.
"Gregory!" A voice shouted from behind me. I looked round as my Mom pulled up in her car, frantically tooting her horn. "Oh thank goodness." She jumped out the car, throwing her arms around me. "I went to the lab and saw pictures of you all over one of the layout tables and no one would tell me what's going on..."
"Ouch! Mom, you're crushing my sore ribs."
"Sorry." She pulled back from me, checking over the cut on my head.
"How'd you know where to find me?
"Well I looked up the address of Rita Clark. I knew you'd go and see her if her son tried to kill you. Then I saw Nicky's car outside so I just kept driving to look for you."
"How'd you know I'd go to Rita's?"
"Because I'd do it too." She smiled softly. "So, what did she say?"
"She told me to leave. Mom stop fussing. I'm fine." I pushed her away as she kept looking over the cuts and bruises on me.
"You're not fine, you're not smiling. I know you're not happy. What's the matter sweetheart?"
"I think I've lost my boyfriend." I sighed heavily, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
"What? Nicky, why?"
"I don't know . . . he won't talk to me."
"In the car now." She instructed, pulling open the passenger side door. "Don't make me drag you Gregory." I reluctantly climbed into the car, carefully pulling my seatbelt down over my shoulder. She drove me back to her hotel room, fixing me a four course snack while she talked my ears off about her wedding.
"Sweetheart, I keep waiting for you to talk to me about what's going on, but it's pretty obvious that you're not going to, so I'm just gonna have to ask." She sat down in front of me, looking into my eyes. "What's going on with you and Nicky? You're both so miserable and completely not yourselves."
"Nick hasn't talked to me since his parents came over."
"His parents?"
"Yes, he's not Jesus, he does have parents." I remarked. She rolled her eyes at me, slapping the back of my hand. "Think it has something to do with Starla too."
"That's the ex-wife, right?"
"Technically, they're still married. She won't let him divorce her until they've got this baby mess sorted out." I explained to her.
"You know there's some great lawyers on the P-FLAG community."
"Mom, she won't let him have any part of the baby's life is she finds out he's gay. Where's dad anyway?"
"Meeting with realtors, we're looking at places tomorrow." She climbed to her feet pouring us out some coffee. "Do you want me to call Nicky? Let him know where you are?"
"No, he doesn't care. And he won't answer."
"I'll try anyway."
"Mom!" I moaned, but she was already dialling. I winced as I climbed to my feet, snapping her phone shut in her hand. "The thing about Nick is when he's angry or ignoring you, you have to let him cool off or he'll never talk to me again."
"You're not gonna fight for him?" She asked shocked.
"Should I have to? I've got stitches in my head and arm, I'm covered in bruises and I can't stop my hands from shaking." I shouted at her. "Why should I have to fight for him?"
"Oh sweetheart." I pushed her away, heading off out the door. "Greg honey!" She shouted after me as I head off towards the elevator. I leant against the wall as it took me down, pulling my pain killers out from my pocket, I threw two back then hailed a taxi.
I returned back to my apartment, still finding it empty. Still no Nick. I crashed back onto the bed, wincing from my ribs. I tried to ring Nick again but it went straight through to his voicemail again. He completely lied to me again!
Over the next few hours I lay in bed in agony from my ribs. Nick had been gone a further eight hours and still no word. Technically speaking I was supposed to start work in an hour. Today was the day I was meant to go back.
I couldn't stand waiting around the apartment any more so I staggered down the hall to the bathroom, cleaning the blood off my body with a cloth before I got changed into some clean clothes.
I had to take a taxi into work, obviously since I don't have a car anymore. Nick's truck was still in the parking lot, but I couldn't find him anywhere in the lab.
"Greg, what are you doing here?" Grissom asked surprised.
"I don't wonna stay at home. I'm fine, I can still help." I insisted.
"Not while you're the victim of a case we're working you can't. You should go home Greg."
"I don't want to. C'mon, I'll help Wendy in the lab or something?"
"Actually..." Grissom looked down at his watch. "Ecklie and I need to speak with you over the incident that happened in LA. You can't work any cases until we've got this mess sorted out. So go and sit in the break room while I go and find Ecklie." He instructed.
I reluctantly head off for the break room, taking a seat on the sofa. A few minutes later Warrick came in. He smiled to me, pouring himself a coffee then sat down at the break room table. While he was reading through the file in front of him he kept glancing up at me concerned. His constant staring was starting to get on my nerves though.
"What?" I snapped at him.
"Nothing." He shook his head. "Just making an observation." He muttered, sipping his coffee.
"Observation about what?"
"You . . . I didn't think you ever got into trouble Greggo." He climbed off the chair, heading over to the sofa beside me. "I heard from Brass that this guy Ryan assaulted you down in LA and you were arrested." I nodded looking up at him through my eyelashes. "I told you your lifestyle will come back to bite you in the ass eventually there Greggo."
"You think he assaulted me because I'm gay?" I asked. Warrick nodded slightly. "It wasn't that kind of assault. The guy who assaulted me was gay too."
"Sanders!" Ecklie shouted from the hall, ushering me off towards his office.
I climbed to my feet, making my way off down the hall nervously as everyone was watching. I still hadn't seen Nick, he really was avoiding me.
"Grissom had to rush out, so it's just us." Ecklie informed me. "Take a seat Greg." He pointed to the empty seat in front of his desk. "Okay, first of all I'd just like to inform you that we will provide you with a psychiatrist if you need one. We're going to do a performance review..."
"What for?"
"It's all part of procedure Greg. We need to know that this hasn't affected your psychical performance in any way. Our priority is evidence collecting after all."
"This won't affect my ability to collect evidence. I can still do the job." I assured him.
"We'll see." He smugly replied.
"Is this about the LA incident or the one that happened yesterday?"
"Both . . . they're related. Okay, let's get started..."
Ecklie sent me home so I reluctantly returned, seeing Nick's truck in the parking lot. Maybe nows my chance to talk to him finally?
"Greg." Nick looked at me completely surprised as I walked in through the front door. He was sat on the sofa in front of the TV with a beer in his hands. "Where did you go?"
"Work." I muttered, kicking off my shoes then dropping my keys on the side.
"Why? They shoulda given you some time off."
"They did. They sent me home." I mumbled, walking off into the kitchen.
"Why?" Nick climbed to his feet, following after me. "Greg, why?"
"They think I can't do my job." I walked round to the fridge to grab a beer.
"You can't drink that with your pain killers." He warned me. I groaned setting it back down in the fridge. "They think you can't do your job? Why would they think that? You're a damn good CSI."
I nodded sitting up on the counter. "Apparently gay guys who are too pathetic to defend themselves can't do the job as good as everyone else."
"They actually said that to you."
"Not in those... exact words."
"Who said it?" He asked, leaning against the opposite counter.
"Ecklie . . . everyone else knows too. Maybe I should get a job in another country. How's New York this time of year?"
"You can't leave Greg. You've worked so hard for this job." Nick placed his hands on my knees, looking up into my eyes. "The lab wouldn't be the same without yah."
"What about you Nick?"
"What about me, what?"
"Would you still want me to be around . . . or have you gone off me completely?"
"I haven't gone off you Greg . . . I'm tryin' to think things through."
"About what? I thought you wanted to be with me."
"I do . . . my life's just a little complicated right now. I still love you. I'm just not sure what I want."
"I thought you said out of your double lives, the one with me was the one you wanted to keep?"
Nick leant back against the other counter, folding his arms across his chest. For what seemed an endless moment he remained silent. If he really did want me, he wouldn't have to think this hard about it.
"Look Greg, I just need some time to think. Bein' with you was the greatest experience of my life. Back in LA it was just the two of us . . . that's how I want it to be, but I've got a wife who's withholdin' on our divorce, baby on the way and parents that are really disappointed in me for not bein' able to work things out with my marriage. I just don't have room in my life for you right now."
"Are you serious?" I asked completely shocked.
"Yes." He nodded, without looking at me still.
"Even after that big date I threw for you? You can still turn me down to please all these other people?"
"Greg, this isn't easy for me."
"It's not fucking easy for me either. You're a fucking liar Nick. Yesterday you were saying this thing with Starla and the baby will never come between us and now today you're fucking dumping me for her."
"Greg, I just can't do this with you right now. I'm sorry." Nick said then stormed out of the apartment again.
"Freaking People Pleaser." I mumbled after him. I jumped off the counter heading off to the couch. I still didn't understand why he would cut me out of his life if he supposedly still loves me.
Please Review, I hope you liked it. Don't worry it's not over yet.
