Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.

A/N: I don't know where this came from, but it's here, and I hope you like it. It's set right after Ecklie (or as some of my friends call him, Ugly Ecklie) split up the graveyard shift. And if my timeline is off, tough beans.

Broken Binding

Nick stared in cold fury at Grissom. Catherine had asked him to supervise both the split shift and graveyard shift while she was out of town, visiting relatives with Lindsey.

"I've busted my butt here! I do more work that almost every other CSI, excluding you and Sara, and you're still not going to let me work on a case solo? Catherine thinks I'm ready. Why don't you?" Grissom stared at the floor.

"I just don't feel right about it right now." Grissom mumbled. He'd been acting depressed the last several days, but Nick was too angry to notice.

"You 'don't feel right about it'! I'm not a little kid! Wait – no. You're not… oh man. Just because I had one incident a while ago…"

"One incident that nearly got you killed. And we watched." Grissom said, quietly.

"Fine! If you really think that I'm not capable, just say so! I can't please you can I?" Nick shouted, drawing more attention to himself than was needed. He turned on his heels, and stormed off.

Grissom, on the other hand, put his hand on the wall, and swayed suddenly. He tried, desperately, to stop the spinning of the hallway. The floor was somehow rushing up to meet him. Why was the room darkening? He couldn't hear the voices of the gathering crowd around him. They all seemed to blur into one, fuzzy sounding voice. The floor was cool and nice. Wait, when did he end up on the floor? Someone grabbed his arm, and tried to get him to sit up. He didn't want to sit up. He wanted to stay on the cool floor.

Grissom never found out if he was able to sit up or not. He'd lost consciousness.

Nick stared at his hands in the hospital waiting room. Sara, Warrick and Greg sat next to him. Nick could feel a horrible weight in the pit of his stomach.

"This is all my fault." Greg said, breaking their diligent silence. "He was sick. He didn't look well. I even asked if he was all right. I should have said something to someone. Done something." He trailed off, staring at a blank space on the wall. Sara's gaze was to the floor.

"We all saw him, Greg. It's not like you were alone in taking the blame." She said. They lapsed into silence again.

No, it's my fault. Nick thought to himself. I yelled at him. If he doesn't wake up out of this coma, the last things I said to him were angry. He'll know that, somehow.

The doctors still didn't know what had happened. Grissom had just collapsed for no apparent reason. There was no indication of illness, brain damage or injury. He was just simply unresponsive.

The doctor stood in front of them, breaking their trains of thought.

"He's stable. One of you can go in to see him." The doctor said, rather softly, as if a loud noise might make the problem worse. Sara stood first. There were tears in her eyes.

Nick leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes…

… Every one in the crime lab was carrying a large book. Most were kept in particularly good condition. Nick stared. He saw himself. As he was at the moment, he was a passive observer.

Grissom's book stood out. For some reason, it was old and falling apart. Grissom seemed to match his book.

He turned into the conference room. He knew what was coming. He stared from outside of the room. He couldn't seem to move or enter. He knew anyway. Ecklie was breaking up the team. Two different shifts. They all eventually headed out of the room. Grissom's book was being attacked by something. The something was dark looking. It surrounded Grissom's book, making it older looking. Pages were starting to fall out. They didn't quite seem to spill to the ground. Rather, they were starting to show. Like a folder that was being held upside down.

Nick turned around. He instinctively knew it was several days later. He was in Grissom's office. The book was on the desk. It was still being attacked by the dark something. Greg was upset. He'd just failed his first exam. Nick stared. Greg hadn't seemed so angry with Grissom the first time. He was angry now. Grissom rubbed the bridge of his nose. Another migraine coming on?

Nick was still speeding through time. He saw each of them, all having a falling out with Grissom. The book was falling into complete disrepair. Nick sobbed as he watched himself storm off. The pages of Grissom's book fell like water. He stood over his mentor and friend. Why, oh why did he yell at him? He almost forgot about the Dark Something. It materialized next to him.

"Thanks for helping me do my job." It said to Nick. Nick stared in horror at it.

"What did you do? Why? He didn't do anything!" Nick shouted. The crime lab was in suspended animation.

"He didn't do anything to you, either." The Dark Something said. It laughed as it disappeared.

Nick was horrified to realize that the pages of the book were scattering. They were flying away…

… "Nick!" Warrick was standing over him. Nick jolted back to reality.

"Sorry. I fell asleep." He mumbled.

"Yeah, well, it's your turn to go in." Warrick replied. Nick stood on shaky legs.

Grissom looked like he was sleeping. Nick would have sworn he was if it weren't for the monitors keeping track of his vitals. He walked slowly into the room, and dropped to his knees by the bed.

"I'm sorry, Grissom. I'm sorry." Nick sobbed.

Grissom, of course, didn't hear a thing.

TBC