Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always, coffee is on me if I ever get to visit the set...but then I think they have caterers for that.
Author's Note: This is in response to my own challenge to the Nick & Sara Yahoo group and is dedicated to Mel just because.
David Hodges had a smirk full of mirth etched on his face as he regarded Greg Sanders. "So really it was a freak iPOD accident then." He was clearly amused at the story Greg had just spun to explain the bump he had on his head.
"It was not an iPOD accident." Greg looked annoyed. "It was a simple fender bender." Why he had bothered to tell Hodges that he'd been driving to work and trying to download a funky ring tone for his new cell phone and doing his best to dance along to the latest Gwen Steffani single at the same time he wasn't sure. Fortunately, he had only run into a post in the parking lot of the lab, but the impact had been enough that he'd whacked his head on the window and gotten a nasty bump, not to mention did quite a bit of damage to his car.
"Oh, right." Clearly Hodges wasn't buying his story. "Don't two cars have to be involved for it to be considered a fender bender?" He snorted out a laugh.
"I didn't see the traffic cone until it was too late...I simply overcorrected." Greg looked a little frustrated, and judging from the bump on his head that wasn't really surprising.
"And exactly what ring tone were you trying to download anyway?" Hodges had to hear this one, so far the story was amusing enough, but if the tone was ridiculous enough, it might just have enough mileage to last a week or so around the lab.
"It was about sandals." He had the words out before he even considered that this would prompt another quiz from Hodges.
"Sandals? Hmm, now why would you be looking for a song about..." As if a light bulb had just turned on above his head, Hodges snorted out a laugh. "You're trying to combine your last name with Sidle's. How very junior high of you." Hodges dissolved into a fit of laughter.
A curious Sara poked her head into the doorway where Greg and Hodges were. "Greg, Grissom's looking for you..." Her words trailed off as she noticed the bump on his head. "Are you ok?"
Before Greg could say anything, Hodges interjected. "He had a little fender bender; seems he was dreaming about you and Gwen Steffani with his little iPOD in his ears." The last few words were spoken in a conspiratorial tone that was distinctly Hodges as he gestured towards his own ears to mimic headphones all the while trying to stifle another snort.
"Greg." Sara sounded genuinely concerned. "You need to get that checked out, you might have a concussion." She wasn't going to tell him that the bump was large enough that it could probably attract the attention of a vulcanologist if he had been lying flat on his back.
"I'm fine." Greg didn't sound fine; he sounded like he was on the verge of passing out, but whether that was because he had a concussion or because Hodges had spilled his secret, one couldn't be too sure.
"You don't look fine." Hodges was giggling like a little girl trying to keep a straight face while making her first prank phone call.
Sara shot him a glare before turning her attention back to Greg. "Hodges is right, you don't look fine. You need to go to the hospital." She considered briefly that maybe she should just take him straight there, but Grissom had sent her in search of Greg in the first place, so she reasoned that she ought to at least check in.
"No, I'm fine." Greg had a sort of dreamy expression on his face just before he passed out.
Sara whipped out her cell phone and punched in 9-1-1 as she glared at Hodges. "Go get Grissom, now." The dispatcher picked up on the second ring. "This is CSI Sidle, we need an ambulance at the crime lab, unconscious male subject, late twenties, possible concussion suffered in motor vehicle accident." The dispatcher asked for a little more information. "No, we're inside the lab...we'll have someone meet the paramedics outside."
The sound of running down the hallway caused Sara to glance up.
Nick was the first to reach the trace lab. "Hodges said Greg passed out." He looked worried as he noticed Sara kneeling over a very pale looking Greg.
"Did you call 9-1-1?" Grissom's brow was deeply furrowed. Before Sara could answer, the sound of sirens could be heard outside.
Warrick had been the only one of them to have the presence of mind to go outside to meet the paramedics and was now directing them towards the trace lab.
"We're gonna need some room here." A familiar voice caused Sara to glance up with a grimace. The paramedic team was headed up by none other than Hank Pedigrew but the CSIs stepped aside to let him and his partner through to take a look at Greg who seemed to be coming to.
Greg looked at Hank oddly and then as his eyes focused on Sara who was now standing up next to Nick, he mumbled. "I bet you'd look good in green velvet and pleather." None of them was quite sure who he was directing the comment to as he continued to babble. "The light sabers were my favorite; I bet you liked them too." He looked as loopy as he sounded as Hank and his partner loaded Greg up on a gurney and began to wheel him out to the ambulance.
"He's really out of it." Nick had a worried expression on his face and he wondered just how Greg had hurt himself in the first place.
Grissom narrowed his gaze at Hodges. "Any idea how this happened?"
In typical Hodges fashion he took great pleasure in drawing the whole thing out, sure that Greg was going to be just fine and finding this a perfect opportunity to take the story out for a test drive. "Apparently he was getting jiggy with Gwen Steffani on his iPOD while daydreaming about Sidle."
"Did anyone question Ms. Steffani?" Grissom looked completely serious and it was all the rest of them could do to keep from busting a kidney loose.
Nick finally cleared his throat. "Uh, Grissom, Gwen Steffani is a singer...he was listening to one of her songs on his iPOD." He looked rather amused at the befuddled expression that crossed Grissom's face.
"And why was he daydreaming about Sara?" Warrick had a raised brow and a smirk rolling across his lips.
"Yeah." Nick agreed, putting his arm possessively around Sara's waist and pulling her next to him, momentarily oblivious to the fact that he and Sara hadn't told anyone that they were dating.
"Apparently, he wasn't the only one." Hodges mumbled under his breath and then decided that now was as good a time as any to take a break, especially since his trace lab was full of CSIs. He wandered off still snickering to himself.
Warrick tried to keep a straight face. "Maybe because he thought she was still available." He had picked up on the fact that Sara had been rendered silent through this whole exchange and that a pink hue was steadily creeping up her cheeks.
"You're not available?" Grissom blurted the words out before he even processed that he had all at once put his heart out on his sleeve and acknowledged that it was too late for him to do anything about it.
"Uh, no." Sara looked very uncomfortable as she glanced around at her coworkers' stares, taking a moment to give Nick a very pointed look. "Someone seems to have forgotten that it was supposed to be a secret until he got his hair cut."
"Sorry, Sar." Nick didn't look sorry one bit; now that the secret was out of the bag, maybe just maybe she'd let him keep his hair a bit shaggy; there was just something about the way she snaked her fingers through it when she kissed him that sent his mind spinning.
Grissom shook his head as if to shake the thoughts out. "Uh, I think we'd better head over to the hospital to check on Greg."
"What about shift?" Warrick could tell that of all of them, he was the only one that was thinking clearly. He knew Catherine was already working a case, but he wasn't sure he was going to be able to handle shift all on his own.
"I'll ask a few people from swing to cover until we get back." Grissom turned and headed out to the parking lot without saying another word.
By the time they got to the hospital, Greg was in an exam room, and judging from the acappella strains of Marilyn Manson coming out of one of them, he'd regained consciousness and was giving the nursing staff an audition worthy of being an American Idol reject. Grissom was busy at the nurses' station trying to get an official status report on Greg.
"From the sounds of it, I'd say he's going to make a full recovery." Warrick couldn't help but quip, and a smile stole over his face as none other than Mrs. Tina Brown made her way out of the exam room. She smirked at Warrick and made her way over to him.
"And just what are you doing here instead of work?" Tina had a look that could rival Sara when she was staring down a suspect.
"Hey, Tina." Nick drawled to garner the attention away from Warrick. "Looks like you're looking after our friend Greggo." He grinned as Warrick's wife realized that half the night shift was waiting next to him.
Tina rolled her eyes. "I think your friend is going to be ok, but I'll have Dr. Nakamura come out and talk to you." She made a very interested glance in Nick's direction and arched her brow at just how close he was sitting next to Sara. As she strode back towards the exam room, she glanced over her shoulder at Warrick. "Honey, why don't you ask Nick and Sara to dinner so I can hear all about it?"
Warrick chuckled softly and glanced over at Nick and Sara who looked a bit caught off guard. "Even she could tell something was up with you two."
Before either of them could say anything, Dr. Nakamura emerged from the exam room with an exasperated expression on her face. She saw the expectant looks on a sea of faces sitting in the waiting area. "Are you here for Gregory Sanders?" It almost sounded like she was pleading with them to take him.
"Yes." Warrick turned his attention to the young doctor. "How is he?"
"He's a bit vocal and he keeps mumbling something about sandals." Her exterior looked every bit the consummate professional, but inside she was a bit flustered. She had heard Nurse Brown had raved about how good looking her husband was, but clearly she had understated the facts.
"That's our Greggo." Nick chimed in with a bit of a chuckle.
"We'll be keeping him overnight for observation and once we have a room upstairs and get him moved, you can see him." Doctor Nakamura noticed the handsome features of the young man with the sexy drawl, and then had to keep from frowning at how attached he seemed to be to the woman sitting next to him.
"Thank you, doctor." Sara felt relieved that Greg seemed to ok, however, she wasn't sure how she was going to break it to him that she was seeing Nick. Maybe it was a good thing that he was being admitted to the hospital, and maybe he'd take it just fine; of course, Greg was the same man who believed for nearly a week that there was such a thing as a jackalope.
The End