Chapter Thirty
"Wait…hold on, I need to…tell you…let me…show you…something." Greg whispered. Rick frowned, and lifted himself up slightly. It was then that he realized that he no longer held his gun.
But it was already too late.
"You'll die before you touch me again, you sick bastard."
Suddenly, a deafening, solitary 'BANG' pierced through the quiet atmosphere.
The body of Rick Johnson fell forward onto Greg, who was shaking furiously, while sobs racked his body. Slowly feeling Rick's blood staining his clothes, he tried to push his body away. But he was too weak, he couldn't even reach up for the antidote to relieve himself of the pain that continued to spread throughout his body.
Starting to lose consciousness, Greg could barely hear the sound of someone kicking open the door. Through his tear-filled eyes, he couldn't see who had swore in flying colors, nor could he see who had called his name repeatedly, nor could he see who pulled Rick's body away from him.
"He's dead." Someone said. Then, two faces hovered directly over Greg's face, being blurry as they were, Greg became frightened.
"Greg? Hey Greg, are you awake? Greggo." Warrick called out. Greg unconsciously inched away from the two men.
"Greg…" Greg's head lolled to the side, and could finally see Nick clearly, his eyes were glistening with tears.
"Are you…hurt?" Greg understood the meaning behind that question, and he shook his head slightly.
"He…tried…antidote…up…" Greg whispered. Then, his vision began to darken, and his body gradually went limp. Nick panicked when Greg slipped into unconsciousness, while Warrick checked Greg's breathing and pulse, and he nodded slightly.
"His pulse is too erratic, but he's fine." Then, he reached up to get the antidote.
"I'll take this to the Doc., to have it tested out, see if it's authentic." Warrick announced. He went out to the hallway, sought help from other nurses for Greg, and he hurried to the doctor's office.
Nick watched Greg's slumbering form through the glass window outside of his new room. Clearly, Nick was still feeling very upset and guilty, for leaving Greg alone in the first place. Warrick, Sara, and Catherine sat on the chairs lined up against the wall by Greg's room, the women having been informed of what the men had seen.
"You haven't sat down for a while." Grissom stated, walking up beside Nick.
"I'm better off standing." Nick replied distantly.
"It's O'Reilly and Johnson's fault, you know that, and no one else's. Feeling this way all the time does no one any good. Talk to him when he wakes up…you both need it most." Grissom said knowingly. Before Nick could reply, Dr. Pearson hurried past the CSIs, and into Greg's room with the same small bottle with the antidote in it. Dr. Pearson woke Greg up, and ordered him to swallow it, which he did, with some difficulty. A few minutes later, Dr. Pearson exited the room, with a smile upon his lips. They approached him, hopeful.
"We tested the antidote, and the good news is…Greg's going to be just fine." Immediately, the tension was lifted, and the atmosphere was less somber.
"He's sleeping now, so you can see him tomorrow morning. There is no need to worry, if the antidote worked on the previous victim, then Greg will be in perfect health in no time."
"Thank you very much." Catherine said softly. Dr. Pearson smiled.
"I'm glad to have been able to help." Then, he walked away to check on his other patients. The CSIs stood silently for many minutes, staring at Greg through the window, each of them clueless as to what to do at this point. Another few minutes later, Catherine stirred.
"I'm gonna head home, so I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"I'm gonna go home too, so…see ya." Warrick said, and they walked away.
"I'll be back tomorrow too." Sara said, and left. Grissom looked to Nick.
"I'll bring back some food for you, since it doesn't look like you'll be going anywhere." The corners of Nick's lips twitched slightly.
"Thanks." Grissom nodded.
"Don't worry, I'm taking it out of your paycheck." Grissom joked, and walked away. Nick stared at Grissom's back as he left, surprised that he actually said something funny to lighten his mood. Then, he stared back to Greg, not missing the fact that Greg's expression was slowly turning from peace to fear.
Catherine sat in her car, the keys were in the ignition, but she felt so emotionally suffocated, that she didn't have the strength to drive just yet.
'This should never have happened…Greg never did anything wrong to them…this wasn't fair…' Catherine thought bitterly.
"He didn't deserve this!" Catherine yelled out loud, and she immediately broke down, crying, while resting her head against the wheel.
Warrick ran down the side of the road, he had a car, but he knew if he drove, he would be too distracted by his thoughts, and there would be a high chance that he would get into an accident. Warrick continued to run as fast as he could, trying to vent his emotions, he was breathing heavily, occasionally wiping his hand to his eyes. He remembered how scared and horrified he felt when he saw Rick lying on top of Greg on the stairs, he immediately felt sick.
'How could this have happened…how did it come so far…'
Sara drove up to a bar, sighing heavily, contemplating whether or not she wanted to drown her emotions in alcohol. She sat in her car for a few minutes, she could feel the temptation of beer growing in the pit of her stomach, but then she finally made a decision. Sara sniffled, quickly switched into reverse, and drove away, heading home.
'Greg doesn't even get the option of the easy way out.'
Grissom sat in the hospital cafeteria, waiting for Nick's food to be made, his head was in his hands, with his elbows propped up on his knees.
'This should never have happened…damn it, Gil, you should have respected him much more than you did! Now look what's happened to your team.' Grissom sighed.
'I've had my fair share of scrapes, but never…never this…never…close to this.' Tears gathered in his eyes.
'Never to my teammates…Greg was…he isn't even a CSI yet and this is what he already has to go through. But it shouldn't have…this never should have happened! What's going to happen to us now?'
Nick sat by Greg's bedside, holding his hand.
"I'm here, Greg…" Greg moved slightly beneath the sheets, the expression of fear was still evident on his face, but it slowly turned into one of confusion.
"I know you might be able to hear me…or maybe you can't…but just know that…I am here for you…no matter what. If you need to talk or anything like that, you know, you can talk to me…whenever, wherever, whatever it may be about…anything…" Nick sighed, and closed his eyes, fearing that the tears would overwhelm him.
'It almost happened again…if Greg hadn't saved himself…' Nick choked back a sob.
'We wouldn't have gotten there in time…we wouldn't have found them…' Nick thought bitterly, and sniffled.
Suddenly, Nick felt a slight pressure on his hand, his opened his eyes, but found that Greg had not woken up. Nick shook his head, squeezed Greg's hand, and a moment later, he was rewarded with another slight squeeze around his hand. Nick smiled softly and patted Greg's hand.
'I'm really here for you, Greg…I promise…'
TBC
A/U: Yep, from this point on, there will be no more action, since the story is coming to an end, it's gonna be sappy stuff, people, maybe not sappy enough to bring you to tears, no, but emotional enough. I'll try to update soon! D