Disclaimer: They are not mine. Could I ever make a finale up to the standard of Grave Danger? Christ no.
Rating: K+ or PG
Pairings: None at all
Spoilers: Spoiler heavy for Grave Danger.
Summary: Nick is kept under hospital observation for 5 nights following Grave Danger. With a different team member watching him each night, they can each find their own resolve. No pairings. Focused on each character. WIP.
Okay, so here we go. If you're reading this, it's because the very wonderful Ria aka WishIWasSam has put it up for me. I'm probably off somewhere holidaying it up in the States and haven't read your reviews, if I have any. I'll thank you all at some point, I promise. But if you've reviewed – thank you very much. Grissom's speech here is taken from the website for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Ha! Let's hope I manage to write the next chapter before I have to leave for the airport...Enjoy! Love LJ xXx
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Five Night Observation. Chapter Five. Gil Grissom
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Nick is very quiet. He lies vaguely still in his hospital bed and doesn't make a sound much above breathing level. Gil Grissom looks up from another of his many newly-acquired medical journals and fixes the sleeping Nick with a hard stare.
"You're awake, aren't you?" he says eventually. Nick opens his eyes, lying sideways on the pillow.
"What gave me away?" he smiles tiredly. Grissom shrugs.
"From all I've heard about what to expect while you're asleep, you were far too quiet," Grissom answers simply. Nick raises an eyebrow.
"Well I thought I'd spare you and me both that trauma for one night," Nick remarks bitterly.
Grissom closes the journal on his lap and puts it softly on the floor. "You can't stay awake forever, Nick." Grissom tells him gently.
"Watch me." Nick mutters.
"I could always bore you to sleep with a talk on fruit fly larvae," Grissom offers with a slight smile. "Catherine once told me I could sedate a rhinoceros on heat with that lecture."
Nick grins. "Catherine said that?"
Grissom nods and draws his chair closer to the bed. "Well she wasn't very happy with me at the time," he explains. "I did something to get on the wrong side of her, or something – I can't remember what. All I remember is that you never want to turn Catherine against you."
"Yeah, I hear ya," Nick says. "Greg was in here last night reminding me of that guy whose nose was broken by Cath at the ice hockey."
"I mean, I knew she was tough but I never expected a punch like that out of her," Grissom comments, echoes of the day play back in his mind. Nick smirks again, remembering what Greg went on to say about Grissom's expression.
As Grissom's mind starts to wander off into nostalgia, Nick sits up in bed and points to the journal on the floor.
"What're you reading there, Griss?" he asks casually.
"This?" Grissom picks it up. "A damn good reason why you should get out of here, that's what."
"Oh really?" Nick peers at the hefty journal. "And is it working?"
"This is just the start," Grissom waves the journal at him. "I have at least seven more in my car but the doctors told me to leave it there; they don't want to hear anymore out of me." Grissom grins. "They're letting you go home tomorrow."
Nick beams. "You serious? That's great. Thank you!"
"No problem," Grissom shrugs it off. "I'm very good at making myself a royal pain in the ass when I want to." He glances at Nick. "Catherine's words again."
Nick laughs and shakes his head. "Well whatever it was – thank you. And not just for being a pain in the ass. For everything."
"The doctors weren't so bad, actually," Grissom waves away Nick's thanks. "It was the nurses that were the biggest trouble. But then I think that'd down to something else altogether." He raises his eyebrows slyly at Nick. "I caught them at the nurse's station flipping coins to see who got to sponge-bathe you today."
Nick chuckles. "Oh man," he groans. "You think that's why I had three yesterday? That's not normal is it?"
"Three nurses?"
"Three sponge-baths."
Grissom laughs. "No, I don't think it is."
Nick sighs and shakes his head again. "Well you should warn them," he begins darkly. "Flipping coins is a tricky business."
Grissom only looks at him, unable to think of any words of reassurance at the time.
"Well anyway," Grissom says. "You'll be home this time tomorrow."
"And when can I come back to work?" Nick asks immediately.
"I was waiting for you to ask that question," Grissom grins. "Not for a while I think. Your psych consultant has told me personally that if I let you go back to work within the next month, she'd personally come down to the lab and hospitalize us both."
"A month?" Nick repeats outraged. "What am I gonna do for a month? Sit at home and mope?" Grissom holds up his hands.
"Hear me out here, Nick." Grissom interjects. "So I'm thinking, maybe you take a week off – do something fun. I'll fit you in for a short shift on the following Monday and we'll take it from there."
"Thanks, Griss." Nick smiles gratefully. "The sooner I get back into my normal routine, the better."
Grissom nods. "That's what I said," he agrees. "But if anyone asks – you're just visiting."
Nick laughs. "Sure thing." Grissom checks his watch and leans forwards in his chair.
"Hey, Nicky." Grissom says. "It's pretty late and you still haven't slept. I really think you should get some sleep so the nurses don't have anymore excuses to keep you in longer. Don't want to make all my hard work for nothing, do you?"
Nick's expression changes to a fearful dread. "Can't I just..?"
"I'll wake you up if you start having nightmares, I promise." Grissom cuts him off. Nick looks surprised. "I talked to Sara," Grissom elaborates. "You know me – I like to do my research."
"Clearly." Nick comments, glancing at the thick medical journal. Grissom smiles.
"So how about it?" he asks. "Try sleeping for a bit? I can start on my fruit fly talk now, if you like."
Nick grins. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass. I'll try the sleeping thing though," he looks cautiously at Grissom. "You'd better wake me up though. You don't know what it's like..."
"No. You're right. I don't." Grissom says. "But I'll wake you up, I promise."
Nick nods. He was very tired. Maybe things won't be so bad if he gets some sleep. At least he'll be back home tomorrow. So he shuts his eyes and lets himself drift off into a fitful sleep.
The hospital air conditioning fan in the room whirrs in the background. As Nick sleeps, the background becomes the foreground and Nick is buried again. It whirs and shudders and everything becomes enclosed and claustrophobic. He can't move for glass walls and the cracks start to snake themselves up the sides of the box.
"No..." Nick murmurs. The box is gonna cave in.
"No – please, don't..." The cracks are making their way towards him. The glass splinters. The earth above him heaves. Even the ants are scuttling away, like rats from a sinking ship.
"Help me!" he screams. "Help me!" The sides of the box buckles. The lid starts to sink down...
"Nick." Grissom shakes him awake. Nick sits up, suddenly, breathing fast. He turns to Grissom with wide and terror-stricken eyes.
"Griss..." he gasps for air. "How...how long was that?"
Grissom looks at the clock on the wall. "Maybe an hour and a half." Grissom says.
Nick frowns and chews on his lower lip. "I really felt it." he murmurs, haunted. "Everything was coming down on me."
"Listen, Nick." Grissom takes his hand. "You'll get over this. You'll move past this and you'll be alright. You're tougher than most, Nick, and that will count for something. Just remember this – you'll be home tomorrow. Everything will get back to normal. I'm not saying you'll forget this, but you'll be able to deal with it. It won't be controlling you. Just remember that."
Nick nods dumbly. "When?" he asks helplessly.
"Soon." Grissom promises. Nick nods again, believing and trusting him completely. He checks the clock and puts on a smile.
"So how about that lecture then, Griss?" Nick suggests with a weak smile, throwing a brief glance at the air conditioning grate.
Grissom grins. "Just to humour me?"
"Something like that." Nick shrugs.
"Well, I'm so glad you asked." Grissom says and clears his throat.
"You haven't got it written down anywhere?" Nick asks curiously. Grissom shakes his head.
"No," he replies earnestly. "It's all by memory."
Nick chuckles. He should've known as he sinks back into his pillow.
"In 8 May 2003. Fruit fly-infested hot peppers were found at two retail locations in Pinellas County..." he launches. Nick grins to himself. "You know I had a whole slideshow that went with this once." Grissom sidetracks, noticing the grin. "Had some great photos. You must remind me to show it to you sometime."
"Will do, Griss." Nick laughs.
"Live larvae of an Anastrepha species, likely A. ludens, the Mexican fruit fly, were in 'manzano' peppers. Identification from the larval stage was tentative, but their identity as Anastrepha ludens was confirmed from specimens reared under quarantine to the adult stage on the 2nd of June 2003..."
"Hey, Pancho. You digging to New Zealand there, buddy?"
Seven-year old Nick sets down his plastic shovel and looks up at his father with a beam. He has mud all over his knees and shorts.
"...Peppers apparently originated in Mexico and crossed the border into Texas, whence live fruit fly larvae have been delivered to at least six additional U.S. states..."
"Looking for worms." Nick explains and points to the red bucket full of worms.
"Worms, huh?" His father peers into the bucket. "What are you gonna do with them, Pancho?"
"Put them in Becky's room." Nick replies simply, uprooting more lumps of earth. His father laughs and ruffles his hair.
"Digging up worms to scare your sister, huh?" he chuckles. "Good luck to ya, my boy."
Nick just carries on digging. There is dirt all over his hands and clothes. Ants scuttle over the ground undisturbed but the sun is on his back and his father puts his baseball cap onto his son's head before wandering back up the garden into the house.
"...Mexican fruit fly larvae are up to 12 mm long and about 2 mm diameter, and creamy white in colour; the body is mostly cylindrical but tapered at the head end, which terminates in a pair of very fine black mouthhooks..."
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