Chapter Eight
Special thanks to my inspirational friend Assume nothing :D And btw- Henrika- I don't know where you come from but in this country (England) it's tradition to give people in hospitals grapes....don't know why...but it is. *shrugs*. As to the other things, well I just thought it would be good to have some variety, and grammar or spelling mistakes- blame my beta Krazykid197 ;-) who incidentally I must congratulate on her knew found psychic abilities, having effectively, and extremely annoyingly *guessed* the plotline to this chapter :( Keep the reviews coming...or my self esteem goes downhill and I can't write.
Greg rubbed his tired eyes as he sat up in bed alone. It was night time, but machines still buzzed and bleeped in the background. He guessed his body clock was too used to the nightshift working times for as tired as he was, he couldn't sleep. The thought of the personal information he had given away recently to his friends made him uncomfortable- usually he had a guard up but-
His thoughts were interrupted. A shuffling noise from behind the curtain caused him to tense up immediately and his heart rate doubled. Frozen in fear, he watched as his sister emerged.
"Sorry to wake you Greg..."
She whispered, and Greg let his guard down considerably.
"You didn't wa-"
"No really, I'm very sorry to wake you."
Greg looked at her in confusion. She explained
"It's really much more painful this way."
Covering his mouth with her hand Rachel brought out a knife and an overwhelming fear took over him as he panicked. The knife came towards him and all he could do was watch helplessly. He felt the cold metal sting as his skin broke in two at the knife's command, deeper and deeper.
Greg sat bolt upright and screamed.
Opening his eyes he found a nurse by his side, talking at him. He tried to calm his breathing. Eventually she went away and Greg cried himself back to sleep.
*********************************************************************
The tear streaks were still visible when Grissom arrived to the still sleeping form of Greg. Grissom sighed. He went outside to the other CSI's.
"I think it's time we did something about Greg's emotional state. He is suppressing his feelings and I'm growing increasingly concerned."
Nick and Warrick shared with them their experience. Catherine told them vaguely of her experience but remained all too aware of her promise to Greg not to tell anyone.
"I went in when he was having a nightmare- he told me he gets them every other day."
"Every other day?!"
Sara repeated incredulously. She got passionate about the traumas and problems of strangers let alone one of her friends. Catherine nodded.
"But what can *we* do?"
"Well the first thing to do when he's let out tomorrow is to take him to see Rachel. I doubt he'll give us much choice anyway, but seeing her may get him to open up a little."
Grissom in his usual way managed to treat the whole thing like a case. The others nodded, but still seemed dubious about the plan. None of them had a better idea though- they were not psychologists after all.
They looked in through the window and saw Greg had woken up. They filed into the small room; Greg looked up at them with blood shot eyes and gave a painfully fake smile. The CSI's let Nick take over.
"Hey Greggo, feeling any better? You're being let out tomorrow..."
"Yeah."
"Listen, we thought you might like to go and see Rachel tomorrow:-"
"I want to see her as soon as I get out."
"That's what we figured, we'll all go. Griss has got to know her pretty well over the past few weeks; I've visited a couple of times as well."
After that, Greg seemed to perk up a little and the slightly relieved CSI's took advantage of the moment- even managing to get one or two laughs out of him before they left, feeling content for the most part, or at least hopeful.
*********************************************************************
As they approached the building, Greg decided looked around, and decided it wasn't bad. The path they were currently walking on led on to a river after the crossroads, with overhanging trees. He was sure it would look quite picturesque were it not for the fact that today was grey, cloudy, and absolutely chucking it down with rain.
Walking quickly towards the shelter of the large house, the CSI's didn't notice Greg had fallen behind until they reached the front door and porch. Greg still had at least five more physiotherapy sessions to go; Warrick ran back to help him out. A short, brown haired young woman greeted them into the warm dry hallway, and the shivering CSI's made polite small-talk whilst Greg fidgeted nervously.
Leading them up to the room, the lady, Karen, was telling them about how Rachel stayed mainly up in her room, but seemed a pleasant enough girl. Grissom kept a close eye on his lab tech.
When they went in, the others gave Greg space. The first thing they noticed was Rachel crying, she seemed to be absolutely devastated about something. Greg ran over to her and put his arms round her, but if anything this made her worse. The observant CSI's noticed the rat poison and note. Grissom picked both up but didn't read the note. Karen raced downstairs to call an ambulance. Gil confronted her with the poison.
"Rachel did you take this?"
Still desolated, she nodded slowly.
"Rachel!"
Greg choked. He held her as she managed to calm herself down slightly.
"I'm sorry Greg, I'm so sorry..."
Grissom saw the paleness of her skin and the heavy breathing and knew Rachel did not have long. He also knew that Greg would see this as well.
"I didn't mean to"
Rachel whispered, and Gil felt each word deeply.
"I just, I was confused, I never meant to hurt you Greg."
She went on, choking on the words. Greg was in tears as well now, and slowly, Rachel became too weak to sit up.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
She whispered again.
Greg still held her as she went limp, and became a whiter shade of pale.
"Rachel-No! RACHEL!"
Tears streaming down his face Greg pushed his way out of the room and ran. Grissom yelled after him, but Greg kept on running.
Into the rain, he ran and ran until he knew he was completely alone. Sitting down in the middle of nowhere, an empty field of soggy grass, Greg became painfully aware of what his physiotherapist had meant when she'd told him it was 'best not to over-exert himself'. He didn't care though. He was freezing cold and wet, but it didn't matter to him. In one moment of depression, Rachel had done something she afterwards deeply regretted, but could not prevent.
His sister was dead.
TBC
Special thanks to my inspirational friend Assume nothing :D And btw- Henrika- I don't know where you come from but in this country (England) it's tradition to give people in hospitals grapes....don't know why...but it is. *shrugs*. As to the other things, well I just thought it would be good to have some variety, and grammar or spelling mistakes- blame my beta Krazykid197 ;-) who incidentally I must congratulate on her knew found psychic abilities, having effectively, and extremely annoyingly *guessed* the plotline to this chapter :( Keep the reviews coming...or my self esteem goes downhill and I can't write.
Greg rubbed his tired eyes as he sat up in bed alone. It was night time, but machines still buzzed and bleeped in the background. He guessed his body clock was too used to the nightshift working times for as tired as he was, he couldn't sleep. The thought of the personal information he had given away recently to his friends made him uncomfortable- usually he had a guard up but-
His thoughts were interrupted. A shuffling noise from behind the curtain caused him to tense up immediately and his heart rate doubled. Frozen in fear, he watched as his sister emerged.
"Sorry to wake you Greg..."
She whispered, and Greg let his guard down considerably.
"You didn't wa-"
"No really, I'm very sorry to wake you."
Greg looked at her in confusion. She explained
"It's really much more painful this way."
Covering his mouth with her hand Rachel brought out a knife and an overwhelming fear took over him as he panicked. The knife came towards him and all he could do was watch helplessly. He felt the cold metal sting as his skin broke in two at the knife's command, deeper and deeper.
Greg sat bolt upright and screamed.
Opening his eyes he found a nurse by his side, talking at him. He tried to calm his breathing. Eventually she went away and Greg cried himself back to sleep.
*********************************************************************
The tear streaks were still visible when Grissom arrived to the still sleeping form of Greg. Grissom sighed. He went outside to the other CSI's.
"I think it's time we did something about Greg's emotional state. He is suppressing his feelings and I'm growing increasingly concerned."
Nick and Warrick shared with them their experience. Catherine told them vaguely of her experience but remained all too aware of her promise to Greg not to tell anyone.
"I went in when he was having a nightmare- he told me he gets them every other day."
"Every other day?!"
Sara repeated incredulously. She got passionate about the traumas and problems of strangers let alone one of her friends. Catherine nodded.
"But what can *we* do?"
"Well the first thing to do when he's let out tomorrow is to take him to see Rachel. I doubt he'll give us much choice anyway, but seeing her may get him to open up a little."
Grissom in his usual way managed to treat the whole thing like a case. The others nodded, but still seemed dubious about the plan. None of them had a better idea though- they were not psychologists after all.
They looked in through the window and saw Greg had woken up. They filed into the small room; Greg looked up at them with blood shot eyes and gave a painfully fake smile. The CSI's let Nick take over.
"Hey Greggo, feeling any better? You're being let out tomorrow..."
"Yeah."
"Listen, we thought you might like to go and see Rachel tomorrow:-"
"I want to see her as soon as I get out."
"That's what we figured, we'll all go. Griss has got to know her pretty well over the past few weeks; I've visited a couple of times as well."
After that, Greg seemed to perk up a little and the slightly relieved CSI's took advantage of the moment- even managing to get one or two laughs out of him before they left, feeling content for the most part, or at least hopeful.
*********************************************************************
As they approached the building, Greg decided looked around, and decided it wasn't bad. The path they were currently walking on led on to a river after the crossroads, with overhanging trees. He was sure it would look quite picturesque were it not for the fact that today was grey, cloudy, and absolutely chucking it down with rain.
Walking quickly towards the shelter of the large house, the CSI's didn't notice Greg had fallen behind until they reached the front door and porch. Greg still had at least five more physiotherapy sessions to go; Warrick ran back to help him out. A short, brown haired young woman greeted them into the warm dry hallway, and the shivering CSI's made polite small-talk whilst Greg fidgeted nervously.
Leading them up to the room, the lady, Karen, was telling them about how Rachel stayed mainly up in her room, but seemed a pleasant enough girl. Grissom kept a close eye on his lab tech.
When they went in, the others gave Greg space. The first thing they noticed was Rachel crying, she seemed to be absolutely devastated about something. Greg ran over to her and put his arms round her, but if anything this made her worse. The observant CSI's noticed the rat poison and note. Grissom picked both up but didn't read the note. Karen raced downstairs to call an ambulance. Gil confronted her with the poison.
"Rachel did you take this?"
Still desolated, she nodded slowly.
"Rachel!"
Greg choked. He held her as she managed to calm herself down slightly.
"I'm sorry Greg, I'm so sorry..."
Grissom saw the paleness of her skin and the heavy breathing and knew Rachel did not have long. He also knew that Greg would see this as well.
"I didn't mean to"
Rachel whispered, and Gil felt each word deeply.
"I just, I was confused, I never meant to hurt you Greg."
She went on, choking on the words. Greg was in tears as well now, and slowly, Rachel became too weak to sit up.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
She whispered again.
Greg still held her as she went limp, and became a whiter shade of pale.
"Rachel-No! RACHEL!"
Tears streaming down his face Greg pushed his way out of the room and ran. Grissom yelled after him, but Greg kept on running.
Into the rain, he ran and ran until he knew he was completely alone. Sitting down in the middle of nowhere, an empty field of soggy grass, Greg became painfully aware of what his physiotherapist had meant when she'd told him it was 'best not to over-exert himself'. He didn't care though. He was freezing cold and wet, but it didn't matter to him. In one moment of depression, Rachel had done something she afterwards deeply regretted, but could not prevent.
His sister was dead.
TBC
