Disclaimer: I still don't own them, although if I did, I'd be resting quite comfortably with one or two of them in Hawaii right now.
Author's Notes: Here's Chapter ten, hope you enjoy. Thanks for all the feedback I've gotten so far, it's really inspired me to keep writing. Please let me know what you think, and I'll try to get more written soon.
Special thanks, again, to Emmithar for helping me correct my mistakes. I'd look really stupid if it wasn't for her. You rock, girl!
Jenny
Chapter Ten:
Nick walked into Grissom's office, gently tapping on the door, a frown on his face. After Grissom made eye contact, Nick asked softly, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure Nick, anytime." Grissom replied, shutting the folder he had been looking at and motioning for Nick to take a seat.
Nick shut the door behind him, chosing to stand nervously in front of Grissom's desk instead of sitting.
"A closed-door conversation? Is there something I need to worry about?" Grissom asked, trying to lighten the mood, but inwardly groaning when Nick's look became even more serious.
Nick finally took a seat, tapping his foot anxiously against the floor, "I know this is going to sound stupid, but I need to talk to you about this."
"Go on." Grissom said, leaning forward slightly to concentrate on the younger man, "If something is bothering you, it is never stupid, Nicky."
Nick sighed, hesitating for a moment before saying quietly, "I'm worried about Greg."
Seeing Grissom's confused look, he continued quickly, "The way he's been acting lately…well, it's just not like him. We've all been through hell over the last year, Greg included, but even after he was nearly killed by that psycho with a gun, he wasn't this withdrawn and angry. I know he's worried about Sara, he won't leave the hospital, but this isn't good for him. We're all worried about her, and we aren't going off the deep end."
"Greg is having a hard time coming to terms with the circumstances of the accident." Grissom said carefully, selecting his words as cautiously as he could. "He feels guilty, I suppose, but he and Sara are very close."
Nick sighed, shaking his head impatiently, "It's not just that, Gris! I'm sure he does feel guilty, and I'm sure he was scared to death, but there's something more going on. He doesn't talk to any of us, and when he occasionally does, he goes out of his way to be mean to all of us. You saw the way he blew up at you and Ecklie earlier, and it's not the first time. I'm worried that he's losing control; we can't take another loss, Gris. Someone needs to talk to him."
"I'll see if Catherine can--"
"No!" Nick exclaimed, jumping to his feet, "Gris, this needs to come from you. Man-to-man, from someone who is as close of a friend to Sara as he is. I tried to talk to him, he told me I didn't understand, maybe you can make some progress in ways I couldn't."
Grissom sadly sighed, "Sara and I aren't as close right now as we have been in the past. Greg knows that. I won't be able to use that as a bonding point. However, if you want, I can talk to him. I don't think any of us can really help him though, Nicky. None of us are in his position; we can't understand what he's feeling right now."
"What do you mean, not in his position? We are all friends with Sara, sure, she and Greg are close, but--" Nick stopped, his face paling slightly as he turned to face his boss, "Are they--?"
Grissom sighed heavily, unable to meet Nick's gaze, "Sara and Greg have been seeing each other for a few months now, and it has recently started to get serious. This isn't something we've made public in the lab, and I'd like to keep it quiet for the time being. I only found out a few days ago..."
"I can't believe it!" Nick said angrily, his voice rising, "How could she not tell me? How could he? Does everyone know except me? Why am I always kept out of the loop? How can they be dating? They're not even in the same league!"
"Nick, calm down." Grissom warned, seeing the younger man's angry stance and shallow breathing, "Their relationship really isn't any of your business. If they want to keep it a secret, it's their prerogative."
Nick shook his head, "How could Greg do this to me? I need to find him."
"Nicky, don't do anything rash." Grissom called out to Nick as he rushed out of the office. The young man's hands were trembling slightly, his eyes moist with unshed, angry tears. Grissom sighed, letting his head drop into his hands, what had he done now?
The ringing of his phone soon filled the silence of the room, and he answered it warily, "Grissom."
"Gil, it's Jim. Guess what one of my guys just located?"
"I'm in no mood for guessing games, Jim." Grissom replied curtly. "Just come out with it, okay?"
"Dark Blue Mercedes, with a busted windshield and blood on the hood. The driver is Carlos Santiago, age 27. He's on his way in for questioning, car's on its way to CSI. Care to join me while I ask him a few questions?"
Grissom was already pulling out the folder on Sara and Greg's accident, "I'm on my way."
He walked down the hall, file in hand, and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a familiar number and waiting for a response.
"Willows."
"Cath, it's Grissom, how are you feeling?" Grissom asked, concern evident in his voice. She sounded so tired and weak that he felt guilty to be calling her in to work. As this thought crossed his mind, he started thinking of who else he could call to finish the case.
"Like crap, I can't keep anything down. If this doesn't get better soon, Warrick's threatening to take me to the hospital."
"So I guess you're in no condition to watch an interrogation on the suspect from the hit-and-run." Grissom said lightly, trying to recall which case Nick was on. If anything could distract Nick from wanting to pound Greg to a pulp, this could.
"Like hell I'm going to miss that. Give me 15 minutes, I'm on my way."
Grissom chuckled softly as he hung up his phone, mentally chastising himself for thinking Catherine would miss this. He knew that they were close, and he knew Catherine's drive to protect the ones she cared for. He also knew that even if he was as sick as Catherine had been for the past few days, he'd drag himself into the interrogation room as well.
15 minutes later, as he stood behind the reflective glass mirror, he was surprised to see Catherine enter, followed by Warrick and Nick.
Catherine smiled at Grissom apologetically, "I had to tell Warrick where I was going, and he called Nick. We all want to be a part of this; she's part of our family."
"It's okay, I understand." Grissom said softly, watching as two uniformed officers led an angry Santiago into the interrogation room. "Alex, from swing, has been processing the Mercedes. A blood sample has already been sent to DNA, and we've already matched some fibers found on the windshield wiper to the shirt Sara was wearing that night. It's going to be open and shut. Who should go in and represent CSI?"
The group looked back and forth amongst themselves, silently communicating through their eyes to determine who was going to volunteer. After a few moments of silence, Grissom sighed, "I'll go."
Grissom slipped out of the observation room and into the interrogation room, leaving the other three to carefully watch the person they all knew was responsible for Sara and Greg's accident.
Greg stroked Sara's hair gently with his left hand, his right firmly grasping her hand, "Sara, you've got to wake up. I need to see your beautiful eyes; I need to hear your voice. I'm going insane without you, I need you."
She hadn't stirred since moving her hand earlier that night, and Greg's brief excitement was starting to diminish once again. He was determined, though, to be present, and awake, the next time she responded in any way at all. The doctor had reassured him that the movement was a good sign, that she wasn't falling into a deep coma and she was responding to her evironment, but Greg knew he wouldn't believe it until she opened her eyes and verbally told him she would be okay. Until then, he'd remain skeptic that there would be any changes.
He let a tear fall down his cheek, landing on the bed next to where their hands laid intertwined together. "My temper has been getting the best of me; I'm becoming more and more irrational. I need your maturity to balance out my lack of maturity...or something, I don't know what it is, but I know that I won't feel right until I have you back."
More tears fell onto her bedspread, but he made no move to wipe away the ones that remained on his face as he continued, "I've been short with everyone...Ecklie, Parker, and Grissom had a meeting with all of us today, Parker fired that girl...what's her name...and Ecklie fired Stacey. They're going to get rid of one of us too, and they won't tell us until you're better. I sort of accused Grissom of it being you, well, more than sort of."
"Don't worry though, because I won't let him. Nick, Cath, Warrick, and I will fight for you. You haven't done anything wrong, so you don't even think about losing your job; you just focus on waking up, okay?" Greg said with a weak attempt at a chuckle, "Honestly, I hope it's me. I can't take all of the stress; I miss the days of being safe in the lab. Sure, there's a risk of the damn thing blowing up, but that's nothing compared to having a gun pulled on you, a car plowing you down, having to check over your shoulder every few seconds. Besides, if it meant you got to keep your job...I'd do anything to make you happy, Sar."
Greg rested his head against her hand, careful not to put any pressure on her arm, which remained covered in small lacerations, "Something's up with Cath, she and Warrick have been acting strange...well, stranger than they normally do. You missed the announcement, they're getting married. God, Sara, I am so mad at them. It's not even anger, really, maybe it's jealousy. I just can't stand that they're so happy when you're lying here in this damn hospital bed, and I'm wallowing in self pity and depression high enough to drown a horse. They're worried about you too, though, we all are. You need to open your pretty eyes, just to give us something to hope for, okay? You're driving all of us to insanity."
He was about to start telling her about Catherine's mysterious illness when his cell phone began to shrilly ring. He answered it, somewhat agitated that his time with Sara was being interrupted. He knew it was work; they were the only ones besides Sara who called his cell.
"Greg, it's Warrick. Gris just called; they're bringing the owner of the car that hit you and Sara in for questioning. Want to meet us down there?"
Greg nearly dropped the phone as Warrick's statement began to sink in. After a few moments, he managed to find his voice, "I'll meet you guys there."
He slid his phone back onto his belt buckle, squeezing Sara's hand gently, "Sara, sweetie, that was Warrick. They found the guy who hit you with their car, and they're questioning him right now. I'm going to go down there and see what that jerk has to say for himself, but I promise I'll be right back. Please, Sara, just try to wake up, but don't be scared if I'm not here. I'll always come back for you. I love you, Sar."
Giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead, he stretched and walked towards the door, determined to make sure this guy, whoever he was, paid for hurting his Sara.
Warrick squeezed Catherine's hand, moving slightly closer to her and resting his head on top of hers. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been run over by a truck, and then thrown off of a 30 story building. I can't believe this isn't our guy." Catherine sighed, her voice flat with barely concealed anger, "I think he's covering something up. He's got to know who was driving the car on that day."
Warrick rubbed her shoulders, sighing as well, "He's got receipts to show he was out of town, and you know Brass is going to get a jumpstart on talking to everyone who had access to the car while Santiago was out of town."
"This can't be happening, not when we were so close to nailing the guy!" Greg said angrily, his voice echoing throughout the room as he slammed his fist into the wall, "We'll never find who did this. Having the car isn't good enough, we need more!"
Warrick shook his head, "Man, don't be like that. The car is a good start; Alex from swing is a good CSI. He'll get the prints from inside of the car, we'll compare it to the guys Brass talks to; we'll nail the bastard, okay?"
"And if Sara wakes up before we do? I can't tell her that we can't find the guy who hit her, even though this is what we do for a living. She's going to be so upset. She's fighting for her life, man, and we can't even nail somebody for it. Every day we bring closure for families who have lost, or are in the process of losing, someone special to them. Now, when it's us, we've got nothing? Do you have any idea of how messed up that is?" Greg shouted, slamming his fist into the wall again.
He was out of control, he knew it, and he was scared by it. They were all angry, he knew that as well, but it was one thing to know it, and another to have it eating you alive. He knew he was out of control, he knew he was making things worse, but he couldn't seem to find the 'off' button that would end his tirade.
Nick could see the anger radiating off of Greg, and he could feel for the younger man, but his own anger was outweighing his pity for Greg. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "We know Greg; we don't have to be having sex with her to be upset that she's dying."
Greg's fist had made contact with Nick's cheek before either of them knew what was happening.
TBC
