This one goes out to Jenny, for all your help with everything. I'm not a doctor, so I'm hoping I have everything right, if not, I'm going back to my first statement, that I'm not a doctor.

All you guys are wonderful, I love reading your comments :D There should be one more chapter to finish up the story. Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Five: Searching for the Truth

It was a different sort of pain; before it had been an ache, a steady pulse that seemed to have a life all its own. For the most part, it had been manageable…when he didn't move it, that was. Now the pain was white-hot, sharp, his arm seemed as though it was on fire, even though he knew that wasn't the case.

Greg let out a cry, drawing in a deep breath as he closed his eyes, forcing back the tears that threatened to fall. Warrick was still holding his arm, though nowhere near with the same force as before. In the pain he could barely hear Sara, as she rushed up next to them.

"Let go," she snapped angrily, unsure of how to handle the situation, but knowing that she had to do something. "He's hurt."

It wasn't necessary to state the obvious, but it was enough to bring Warrick out of the trance he had fallen in. Greg hadn't tried to move away, at the time he was doing his best just to handle the pain, he wasn't sure he could even move his arm, and he wasn't about to try.

Warrick let go, wincing himself as Greg quickly cradled the oddly angled limb with his opposite arm, effectively pinning it against his chest. He was bent over slightly, drawing in short, tight breaths of air. The commotion hadn't gone unnoticed, others were already peering around the corner, and out open doors to see what had occurred, but no one made a move to interfere.

Sara was quick to react, reaching a hand out to place on Greg's shoulder, taken aback when he turned away. "Greg…"

"Just go," he shook his head, his voice strung high, even though it was barely above a whisper.

"Locker room," Warrick nodded towards Sara, noticing the attention they were all getting. Sara would have disagreed straight out, already angry with Warrick before, but well past furious now. Still, it was the best idea, other than getting him to a doctor. Convincing him would be the hardest part; she didn't want to drag him down the hospital, but if that's what they had to do…

She reached out again, letting out a comforting breath when Greg didn't turn from her this time. With a steady hand on his back she led him down the hall, Warrick at his other side. By the time they reached the room Greg's breaths had turned into gasps, and he was grateful to sit down. Still, he was afraid of what was to come.

They would question him, that was for sure, but they would want to take a look at his arm as well. If it hurt this much right now, how much would it hurt when they went to move it? He shook his head, biting his lip to keep from crying as Sara sat down next to him, already warding her off before she even asked her question.

"We need to get you to the hospital," Sara told him firmly, not even wanting to risk moving his arm any further.

"She's right Greg," Warrick backed her up with a nod. He was leaning against the lockers, his hands in his pockets. There was a bitter taste in his mouth, and he shifted uncomfortably. He hadn't meant to hurt Greg, but it was obvious that was what had transpired.

Greg, meanwhile, was hunched over, his breaths more than audible as his forehead came to touch his knees. He pulled away as a hand come to rest on his back, but didn't make the effort to look up.

"Easy G," Nick's voice was quiet, full of concern, but quite steady all at the same time. He must have seen what had happened; Greg hadn't even heard the Texan come in. He drew in another shaky breath, not bothering to even wipe away the tears that were falling. Nick's voice filled the air again, but it wasn't directed towards him. Greg heard him tell the others to get the vehicle, that they would be out in a moment.

Nick was down in front of him then, slowly coaxing him up to a sitting position. The look on his face was sincere, one hand resting on his shoulder, the other for balance against the bench. "What happened?"

Greg shook his head, swallowing a hiccup as he did so. He could hear Nick sigh, but at the moment in time he could care less who he disappointed. However his friend nodded, somehow understanding his predicament. "Can you walk?" he queried, continuing on. "We need to get you in, get that arm of yours checked out."

"It's just a bruise," Greg whispered, grinding the words out between clenched teeth. He added emphases to it, hoping that he would convince himself in the end. Nick however wasn't fooled, and he moved so that he was sitting next to Greg.

"Greg…look at you. You can't move your arm, you're crying…"

"No I'm not," Greg snapped back bitterly, but grew quiet as he bit back another sob. Dully he realized that Nick was right, despite how much he wanted to deny it. He was close to his breaking point now, and more than anything he just wanted the pain to stop, he didn't care what it took anymore.

"Its okay man," Nick reassured him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as he pulled him to his feet. Greg followed blindly, his head hanging down while his eyes watched each and every step they took. He closed his eyes as they stepped outside, fighting off the pain as he whispered one last time that it was nothing more than a simple bruise.

The drive there had been relatively quiet, save for the heavy, irregular breaths from Greg. Sara had driven, Warrick in the front and Nick staying in the back, comforting him the best he could.

He had been admitted without question, and the threesome found themselves waiting in the hallway just outside the door, all their moods much the same. Warrick eased himself down into a chair, staring blatantly ahead. Sara glared at him, turning away as she walked the length of the hallway.

"I didn't do anything," Warrick called after her, one hand supporting his head.

Sara was quick to turn on him, the look on her face was one mixed between shock and amazement. "You broke his arm!"

"You know as well as I do that there's no possible way to break someone's arm by just grabbing them," Warrick was quick to counter the statement, "I was barely holding him."

"He was already hurt beforehand," Sara pointed out, walking closer to him.

"Then it's his own damn fault that he didn't get any help," he snapped back angrily.

"Maybe he would have, if he hadn't been so afraid."

Warrick huffed, sitting up in the chair so that he was on the edge of the seat. "Why in the world would he be afraid?" he questioned.

"Oh I don't know," Sara shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Maybe about all the times you chewed him out for something he had no control over, telling him he needs to be more professional and stop being so self-centered. That would get to anyone, let alone a rookie."

"He knows I didn't mean half of that," Warrick stated in his defense. "Besides, it was his own choice to whether or not he wanted help; he has to live with the consequences."

"It would have never happened if you just stayed out of other people's business," Sara continued on, not about to let him win the argument.

"How does that work out?"

"You had no right to interfere," she took a breath, "What was going on between me and Greg was our own problem. But of course, you had to step mid center into everything, because you're the good guy. You never start the problems, but your bound determine to finish them."

"He was disrespecting you…"

"It doesn't matter what he was doing," Nick took the opportunity to jump in, breaking up the ongoing feud. He didn't want to take sides, only seeing a muffled, jumbled perspective of what had happened. Still, others were beginning to watch, and the last thing they needed was a fight between team members, in the middle of a hospital.

"What matters now is that Greg's hurt, and that he needs to get better. That's what's important."

He wasn't sure if it would work or not, so he was relieved to hear that neither made another attempt to fuel the fires once more. Nick himself was more worried about Greg. The younger man often had a high pain tolerance, and a cupful of stubbornness that measured well beyond that. A recipe for disaster.

He looked up in time to see Grissom coming down the hallway, his look of confusion matching the one on his supervisor's face. The others turned as well, once Grissom had reached them, slowing his pace to take a good look at the three.

"What's going on here?" he asked, spreading his hands out.

Nick shook his head gently. "We haven't heard from his doctor yet, they're still in with him."

"No, I meant with you three," Grissom explained quickly. "I asked only one of you to wait here until I showed up."

"We're all concerned," Warrick told him with a slight nod. Sara agreed quietly, leaning against the wall opposite of Warrick.

"I can understand," Grissom turned to all of them. "But if you're here, you're not working on the cases, and you're still on company time."

It was indication of a command, not a question, and without much thought Warrick found himself walking down the hall towards the entrance. Nick wasn't too far behind, knowing already there would only be one vehicle heading back towards the lab, and he wasn't thrilled with the idea of catching a cab.

Only Sara stayed behind, watching as Grissom found himself a seat. He had taken his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free fingers. She shifted uncomfortably, but stayed in the one spot against the wall. It was then Grissom looked up at her with a frown.

"Why are you still here?"

"I want to hear how he's doing," she told him quietly, frowning when shook his head. "Grissom, he was hurt while under my supervision, I want to make sure he's okay."

"And he will be," Grissom nodded towards her. "But I also know that you have two active cases, one of which has to be finished by tomorrow. You won't get them done sitting here."

She hated it when he was right, hated it even more so because she knew he was right before he had even started. Still, she didn't like the thought of leaving Greg alone…not that he would be alone, Grissom would remain behind, but it would be abandonment all along…right?

"Go," Grissom urged her, "I'll call when I know something."

She stood there a moment longer, thinking over her options before realizing she had none. With a short goodbye she headed in the direction of the other two, hoping that they hadn't already left.

Grissom found himself alone, with a headache beyond all the others. He had gotten the call just over fifteen minutes ago, leaving an active case of his own. Catherine would be fuming mad at this point, he hadn't even time to call her and explain the situation. What was even worse was the concept of Ecklie finding out. To which he already knew the older man would…it was just a matter of timing.

So far three different stories had sprung up, none of them sounding feasible and yet he knew better than to disregard them as well. One rumor was that Greg had attacked Sara, and Warrick had separated the two, causing the injury.

It seemed possible, in the aspect of how Greg obtained the injury, but the simple thought of Greg attacking anyone was far too outlandish it seemed more like a sickening joke than anything else.

Another rumor stated that Greg and Warrick were arguing, and it had turned physical, resulting in Sara breaking the pair up, but not before Greg ended up hurt. Once again, plausible, but not very possible.

Lastly, there was yet another one that stated Greg had received the injury while trying to break up a feud between Warrick and Sara. Whatever the case, it was going to turn out ugly, someone was hurt inside the lab by a fellow worker…Ecklie would be all over him.

"Excuse me; are you the one who brought Mr. Sanders in?"

The voice startled him, and he glanced up quickly towards the young man that was in front of him. Quickly he pulled himself together, moving to his feet. "No…um, my name's Gil Grissom, I'm Greg's supervisor. His colleagues brought him in."

He shook hands with the man, whom he suspected was Greg's doctor. His assumptions were right, and the man nodded in approval.

"I'm Doctor Harris, I was somewhat curious if you could explain what happened here exactly."

Grissom shrugged, needless to say he was embarrassed when he realized that he could give no answer, and he wasn't going to bombard him with suspicions. "I was sort of hoping you could answer that," he replied quietly.

"His left arm is broken, it's a bit of a rough break, but it shouldn't be too hard to fix. There are two different break patterns however," he paused here, moving to pull several pictures out of the folder he was holding under one arm.

Grissom let out a pained sigh as the doctor held the x-rays up to the light for better viewing. It was clear enough to see the break, and quite obvious that it had to hurt quite a bit. Grissom had his fair share of broken bones, once a toe, another time it was a finger. Still it was nothing even close in comparison to this.

"The first break was straight, perhaps not even very big; he could have possibly mistaken it as a bad bruise. That was several days ago however, the bone had already tried to start healing itself. Then with just regular everyday use it caused the break to grow. However, you can see here that last break was a spiral. That could have been caused by several things."

"Damage?" Grissom questioned, rubbing his chin with one hand. The news that Greg had been hurt for several days now unnerved him. He wondered briefly what else the youth was hiding from him and the rest of the team. Surely, if someone knew that he was hurt, they would have done something…right?

"He's lucky," Doctor Harris nodded, slipping the x-rays back into the folder. He could have done serious damage, but somehow avoided all of that. He has picked up an infection, nothing that's not uncommon though. With his body trying to heal his arm his immune system was up to its normal standards. We see it often enough. We'll give him some antibiotics, as well as anti-inflammatories and something to help with the pain."

"So he's ready to go now?" Grissom asked softly.

The Doctor shook his head, "We're going to keep him for a little while, his arm's swollen pretty good, and I want to make sure his arm's set right."

Grissom nodded, understanding perfectly. It was better to be safe than sorry, and Greg would appreciate it as well, rather than having to go in to have everything reset. Instead Grissom cleared his throat. "Can I see him?"

He nodded, motioning over his shoulder. "He's resting, and I don't see any problems in it as long as you don't get him worked up. If he didn't come in to get checked out on his own, it's very possible he's not going to take care of himself on his own."

To this Grissom gave him a soft smile, almost one of mockery. "Trust me, he will."

TBC