Chapter 12 - A Change In Plans
"Greg, something happened with Nick didn't it?" Catherine asked.
"I said I didn't want to talk about it," Greg replied.
"All right. How about we go for a drive? Get your mind off what happened," Catherine suggested.
Her real plan was to take Greg to his psychologist that he was instructed to see before he returned to work and have him talk sooner. She knew she'd have to make a phone call and explain what had happened first, but she wasn't sure how to do that without Greg noticing. She felt bad for having to do this behind Greg's back, but after what she'd witnessed, she knew it was something for Greg's own good. Something wasn't right. When you see someone holding up a piece of a broken mug over the head of their best friend and screaming at them, that's usually when the red flag goes up.
"Fine," Greg agreed.
Once Catherine got Greg into her vehicle, she decided that if she stopped at the lab claiming she had to drop something off, she could make the phone call from within there.
"I'll just be a minute. I promised that I would drop these papers off to Grissom, it'll just be a second," Catherine lied.
She felt bad about it, but she knew it had to be done. Greg would never go along willingly, and she was afraid that he'd end up doing something he'd regret if he didn't talk to a professional soon.
Catherine found a few papers in the dashboard and stuffed them in her pocket so her story would be convincing. She quickly walked into the lab and headed for the direction of Grissom's office to use the phone.
"Catherine?" Nick asked when he saw her walk in, "Where's Greg?"
"Outside," Catherine replied, she could see the look of fear creep onto Nick's face when he learned where Greg was. "Gil, I need to use your phone. I really think we need to call a psychologist. I think he needs to speak with someone now. I'm sure Nick filled you in on what happened. He was lucky that I came when I did."
"Yeah. Does Greg know what you're doing?" Grissom questioned.
"No. Do you really think he'd go along willingly?"
"Yeah, but you saw what he did to me, and I had only wanted to help him since he had tripped. Just imagine how he'll react when he finds out you planned for him to see a shrink behind his back," Nick pointed out.
Catherine knew Nick had a point.
"But what can we do? We don't know what's wrong with him and he's not acting like himself. He seemed fixated on hurting you Nick, and it looks like he did. You might want to put something on that head wound. Just imagine what he would have done to you if I hadn't come in when I did. It just goes to show that he's not well. What if he does something to himself?" Catherine asked.
"Maybe we can convince him to go willingly," Grissom suggested.
"Who do you think would be able to convince him best? We know I can't... and he might not listen to you Cath, I mean you did walk in on him and saw what he was about to do to me. Would he listen to you Grissom?" Nick wondered.
"I don't know. I'm not a people person."
For a moment they all stopped to think.
"What about Sara? He's had that little crush on her for who knows how long," Nick stated.
"Do we really want to bring someone else into this? What if he decides to lash out at her?" Grissom questioned.
"Well we've got to do something. Someone is going to have to confront him. Either that or we'll have to go behind his back and do this," Catherine replied.
"Sara probably is the best person to confront him... we might as well give her a call," Grissom gave in, picking up the phone and dialing her number.
"You aren't serious..." Sara said once Grissom explained the situation to her, "Dammit. I thought he said he was going to tell Nick."
"Tell Nick what?" Grissom questioned.
"Tell him about the nightmares, about this thing he's scared of," Sara replied.
"Wait a second. Greg told you what's going on?"
"Yeah. He also said that he was going to tell Nick as soon as he was out of the hospital. I shouldn't have told him to say anything. Is Nick okay? This is probably my fault," Sara explained.
Sara quickly agreed to come over to the lab right away.
"Greg's still outside. He's probably going to suspect something... do you think I should just take him for a quick drive, and then come back and have Sara talk to him?" Catherine asked.
Grissom nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."
Catherine then walked out of the lab and got into her vehicle.
"Sorry that took so long. I was talking to Grissom and I got a bit sidetracked," she told him, not entirely lying, but quickly decided to change the subject. "So, where do you want to go? We can pick up some fast food and save my welcomehome dinner for another time if you'd like."
"Sure. Some french fries would be nice," Greg replied, obviously he'd calmed down.
Shortly after Catherine had left with Greg, Sara arrived at the lab.
"I have to get back to the case. So I hope you guys can get this sorted out. Keep me posted," Grissom told them.
"Ouch, that looks like it hurt. Is that what Greg did?" Sara asked, referring to Nick's head wound.
"Yeah, but it's all right," Nick replied, "Catherine took Greg out for a drive. When he comes back, we need you to talk to him, try and convince him to see a shrink A.S.A.P."
"He told me he was going to tell you what happened. Why he was so scared of you," Sara explained.
"No... he never told me."
"I guess I will then," Sara replied, "He's scared you'll turn out like Ray Danniels. He's scared that you'll want revenge for what happened to you. He's scared that you're going to hurt him."
"Scared I'm going to hurt him? I'm scared he's going to hurt me," Nick stated, "Why would he think I'd hurt him because of what happened to me? If anything, it makes me sympathize with him more."
"He said he kept having nightmares about it. Where you'd come into the room while he was in the cage. He kept asking for you to open the door and let him out, but you wouldn't. You took out your gun and shot him, and then left the room. He also said something about seeing Danniels' face on you instead of yours."
"That must be why he freaked out when I knelt down to help him up..." Nick thought out loud.