Chapter Three - Everything You Said.

Warrick looked up as he heard footsteps in the hallway, "They're here." He said and Grissom stood up.
"What happened?" Catherine asked, sounding near tears.
"Greg had a seizure."
"Archie told us that." Sara snapped, "Why did he have a seizure?"
Nick put his arm around Sara's shoulders, "Hey, it's going to be okay."
Warrick put a hand on Sara's crossed arms, "The doctors think it may have something to do with when he got hurt in the explosion."
"It is my fault!" Catherine cried, bursting into tears.
Grissom pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back, "You put the sample in the fume hood, Hodges left the hotplate on." He gently turned her face so that he could look into her eyes. "It's not your fault."
"Greg Sanders' family?"
They looked up and saw a man in scrubs.
"Yeah," Nick's voice was thick, "that's us."
"I'm Dr. Whitehall, the attending on call in the Trauma Center. I wanted to let you know how things are going."
"Is he going to be okay?" Sara asked.
"He's made it this far and that's a very good sign." Dr. Whitehall smiled. "You can't any one of you blame yourselves for this. These types of injuries are quiet and more often than not go unnoticed. I doubt even Greg truly understood that he was injured so badly."
"Why did he have a seizure?" asked Sara "Is he epileptic?"
"No, the seizures were a result of blood pooling in the skull and putting pressure on his brain."
"Seizures?" Grissom ran a hand through his hair, "He's had more?"
"Yes, but we've given him some medication to stop them for now."
"How did he get blood in his skull?" asked Warrick.
"Apparently when he was in the explosion, the force of it tore a small blood vessel in the lining surrounding the brain. At that time there wasn't enough bleeding to cause any problems and it scabbed over and started to heal."
"Why now?" Catherine asked, "Why?"
"There could have been many causes, we've ruled out medication and alcohol. The most likely reason was an increase in blood pressure brought on by stress and physical activity."
"Stress." Said Grissom, "He's definitely had stress in the last week."
"What going to happen to him?" Nick asked.
"Our neurosurgeon, Dr. Bergsman, will be drilling a small hole into Greg's skull to relieve the pressure. At that time, he'll also find the bleeding vessel and repair it."
"Is Greg going to be okay?" Sara asked, "I mean… you know, is he …damaged?"
Dr. Whitehall smiled, "He'll be fine. You did the best thing for him getting him here as quickly as you did." He patted Sara's shoulder, "In a week he'll be back home and in a month you'll never know this happened."
"When can we see him?" Catherine asked.
"He'll be in surgery for," the doctor paused and looked at his watch, "about another hour then we'll move him to recovery and you can come in one at a time." His pager beeped and he pulled it out, "I've got to get back downstairs, if you need anything dial 510 to speak to one of the nurses." He turned and disappeared into the hall before they could thank him.

Grissom's phone rang and he fumbled to open it, trying not to wake Catherine who had fallen asleep against him on the couch. "Yeah." He answered.
"I am not shutting this place down just because one of the employees is sick!" They could all hear Ecklie shouting. "Grissom you get your team back here now or else!"
Grissom snorted, "Or else what? You'll suspend us?"
Catherine shifted and sat up, rubbing her eyes, "Who's yelling? Is Greg okay?"
"Our shift is almost over, we're all tired and need some rest." Grissom said calmly, "We'll be back tonight."
"You'd better be!"
Grissom winced as the connection clicked off loudly. "Tyrant." He grumbled.
He looked around; smiling at the others sprawled in chairs.
"It's been more than an hour," said Nick, looking at his watch "Should we call?"
Warrick reached for the phone on the table, it rang just as he grabbed it. "Hello?" He listened, smiled, then hung up the phone. "That was the nurse," he sighed in relief, "Greg's awake and asking to see us."
"You go first." Grissom said, helping Catherine to her feet.
"I'm a mess," she said, wiping away the tears that filled her eyes, "You go."
Sara came up, combing her fingers through Catherine's hair, "You look fine, now go tell Greg we promise not to drink all his coffee." She gave her a gentle push toward the door.

Catherine paused in the doorway; she smiled, laughing softly at the sight of Greg's hair poking out of the white bandage around his head.
Greg opened his eyes, "You gonna just stand there and laugh at me," his voice was low and rough, "or are you gonna come in?"
She walked over and took one of his hands in both of hers. "You look…" she was trying to find a kind word but he interrupted her.
"Hey, I've had a long day," he laughed, "and you don't look so hot yourself."
"How do you feel?"
"Sore." He groaned. "Everything aches."
She kissed his hand, "It'll get better."
"It already has."
Catherine grinned, "Really?"
"The nurse said my family was in the waiting room."
"Well, you know." Catherine blushed.
"It means a lot to me that you guys were here."
"You're our favorite lab rat."
"Don't tell Archie," Greg coughed and winced, "he thinks he is."
"I won't if you won't." She picked up a cup, poured some water into it and held the straw to his lips. Greg drank most of it and his eyes closed.
"You get some rest kiddo." She brushed the back of her fingers across his cheek and Greg smiled. "We'll be back later okay?"
"Tell Grissom," Greg's eyes clenched shut as he coughed again, "Tell him I'm not afraid anymore."
Catherine leaned over the bed rail, kissing his cheek and her tears fell on the fresh bandage on his neck. "I'll tell him." Her voice cracked, "You'll be alright."
A nurse came over, smiling apologetically, "He needs to rest, can you come back later?"
"Sure." Catherine backed towards the door as more nurses came in. "I promise, I'll be back, Greg."

The others gathered around her, hugging and touching her as they waited for her to find her voice.
"He's tired." She finally said, sniffling. "I promised we'd come back later."
"He's okay though, right?" Sara asked, tears on her cheeks.
Catherine nodded, "He's just tired," she laughed a little, "He was joking with me and started coughing."
"That must have hurt." Nick winced in sympathy for his friend.
'Yeah." Warrick agreed.
"Gris, he wanted me to tell you that he's not afraid anymore." Catherine smiled.
Grissom smiled back, "I told him it would stop."
"And you never lie."
"Evidence never lies. Me," Grissom laughed, "I'm just always right."

The end