7

In the chopper, Catherine sat next to the two girls, feeling at a sense of loss. Jaiden was still quivering and still unconscious. Catherine turned away, but was startled when she felt Riley grasp her sleeve in desperation. The eyes of the young woman before her made Catherine's heart jump to her throat, and she swallowed back tears as Riley spoke.

"P--Please, Catherine. Please, tell Greg th--that I'm sorry." Riley's words were choked as she coughed, a bit of blood resulting. She laid her head back down, trying to release herself of the pain the seethed through her body. Catherine couldn't hold back her tears anymore. The paramedics were still bandaging and cleaning wounds and Catherine's body stiffened in fright as she watched Riley's breathing become unsteady.

Soft voices and bright lights woke the girls from their slumber. They opened their eyes to see the hospital room, a few nurses, and a doctor standing nearby.

The doctor, a tall blond woman, said to them, "Girls, my name is Dr. Lori Harnet. I'm glad to see you're awake. However, we need to run some more tests. During the tests, we think it'd be better for your bodies to get some rest; thus, we are going to give you some sedatives to help you along. By the way, two young men have been asking to see you, but we told them that it was your decision. Would you like them in here while you are asleep?"

Riley looked at Jaiden, who was still trembling and barely aware of anything going on, and shook her head. Jaiden made the same decision; however, she only inclined her head slowly.

Their eyes were on Dr. Harnet as she spoke with Warrick and Greg. Jaiden's pulse quickened dangerously as she watched horror overcome Warrick's face. Jaiden's heart felt like ripping in two and tears tainted her eyes, but Riley showed no emotion. The doctor entered again, and nodded to the nurses.

"Alright girls, say goodnight. You'll be awake again in a few hours once we finish our tests. Don't worry, you'll be alright."

Greg paced outside their room, exhausted from their continuous search. He hadn't even gone home since that night that they went missing, but he really didn't care. His eyes were dark and heavy, but he pushed himself to stay awake to make sure he was ready for any news the doctors would provide. He pressed his hands and face against the glass to try to see better, but a curtain had been drawn to keep their prying eyes out. His brows knit together in anger, and to keep from screaming, he bit his left hand. He didn't realize how hard he bit himself until he saw blood, and he sighed. Knowing something was wrong with Riley made him start to lose it.

Warrick came back from getting coffee to find Greg sitting on the hard carpeting of the waiting room, writing Riley's name on the wall in his blood. It took Warrick a moment to realize what was going on before he dashed over to him and pulled him away from his new creation.

"Greg, snap out of it! Hurting yourself is NOT going to make our girls any better any faster! And putting blood all over the walls isn't going to help much either. What's gotten into you?"

Warrick knelt down beside Greg, examining his bite marks. As much as he couldn't usually stand the level one CSI, he knew what he was going through, and sympathized with him. Greg just stared out the nearby window, refusing to look at Warrick. The part of him that was still sane didn't want him to cry in front of Warrick, and knew he would if he looked at him. He pulled away from Warrick and stood up, walking to the bathroom.

The bathroom was silent and cold as he walked in, but he disturbed the silence when he turned on the hot water. He rinsed the wound, not feeling the heat of the water or the sting of his cut. After he finished, he pulled out a few extra paper towels and wrapped them around his hand to try to slow the bleeding.

Holding his left hand in his right, he trudged to the stall and sat on the lid of the toilet, just staring at the floor. He didn't know how long he was gone, but Warrick soon wandered in to see if he was ok. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"You gonna be OK there? You know, Riley's not gonna want to see you like this, man," he said, trying to make Greg smile. Instead, Greg looked up at him, his face emotionless.

"How can you joke at a time like this? Do you know for sure they're going to be OK? I don't know about you, but I don't want to take any chances. I want to find that bastard who nearly took my life away from me, and I want to show him how it feels. I want to make sure he suffers more than people are supposed to suffer."

Warrick closed his eyes. "I want to find him too and beat the living daylights out of him, make his life flash before his eyes. But right now, I just want to make sure Jaiden is going to be fine. I keep thinking of how good it's going to feel to have her in my arms again, to kiss her smiling face again. I just wonder if she even thought about me while she was out there."

Greg stood up and walked up to him. He squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure she did, Warrick. I'm sure she did."

The men left the bathroom and went to sit out on the couches of the waiting room. Greg's face became downcast when he saw a nurse kneeling on the floor, cleaning up his mess. He came up behind her, and said, "No, that's my fault. Let me clean it up."

He gently took the rag from her, and when she had left, he began to clean the wall off. When he had finished, Warrick pointed out that some was on the couch. Something in Greg's brain clicked, and he quickly sucked on the fabric. Warrick looked at him, disgusted.

"Greg, blood doesn't come out of fabric. Everyone knows that!"

He didn't answer right away, but kept at it until it was gone. "And everyone who's a chemist knows that you can take your own blood out of fabrics, because the enzymes in your saliva work with your blood and pull it up."

Warrick's mouth fell open. However, he still sat on the other couch, not wanting to be exposed to the spit.

It was dark in their room when Riley lifted her eyelids, feeling light-headed from the induced sleep. The window of their room was open, and the moonlight was shining through, illumination the room and giving it a feeling of sorrow. Jaiden was still asleep in the bed across the room, so Riley just pushed the call button for a nurse. When one arrived, she changed the IV quickly, and sent for the doctor to talk to Riley.

When Dr. Harnet arrived, she looked a little worried. She sat down in the chair next to Riley.

"I wanted to let you know that you will be just fine, Riley. You were drugged with ketamine, in a drink, most likely. However, there isn't so much as a trace left in your body, which will reduce the appearance of side effects immediately but you won't remember much, if anything, of what happened while it was in affect."

Riley looked over at Jaiden, who was beginning to stir to life. "What about her?"

"She has a mild form Panic Disorder, which is why she's been trembling and breathing hard. She had much more ketamine than you did; there is still a large amount left in her system. She won't remember anything either. We will need to prescribe some anxiety medication and perhaps require her to visit a therapist every now and then.

"Her Panic Disorder may last for the rest of her life, or maybe for a few months, I can't say which. Every case is different. But, I want you to try to help her get back to a normal life when we release you. Go do something that you used to do together, and remind her of the time when she was carefree and somewhat normal.

"She's really going to need your help, Riley. She is going to go through many moments where she feels lost, and will panic. You have to be there for her to let her know that everything is going to be fine. You're her best friend, correct? Then she's going to depend on you now more than ever. Help her, for both your sakes."

Riley nodded, shedding a few tears as Dr. Harnet spoke. Jaiden had woken up, and a nurse was helping her to the bathroom.

"By the way," Dr. Harnet added, "would you feel up to seeing Greg, I believe his name is, now? He's been asking for you ever since you were given the sedatives."

She smiled, and nodded excitedly. The doctor stood up and opened the door, motioning for him to come inside.

Riley had never seen him look so thin and exhausted. He had woken up to bad mornings, but this was no comparison. Her tears flowed freely when she saw him, and he slowly walked over to her, seeming almost afraid of her.

He reluctantly touched her face, his hand shaking with the utmost intensity. He was going to kiss her, but he looked at her again and began backing away, shaking his head and wiping his eyes. She called after him, but he didn't answer, just stared at her.

In uncertainty, she gingerly touched her own face, and felt all the bandages, cuts, scrapes, and swelling. I must look like a complete monster, she thought to herself, pulling the covers over her head and wept silently.