Thank you for the reviews Marymel and Lil Badger 101! They do mean an awful lot :) Hope you all enjoy this chapter x
Greg had called in sick for work. He wasn't sick, but he'd called in. He just couldn't face going in and seeing the sympathetic faces of his friends. Why did he freak out so badly? He sighed as he went to his kitchen. He was just about to open his fridge but stopped when he saw the card Nick had given him. He pulled it down and stared at it.
A minute later he moved and picked up his phone and dialled the number on the card. "Hi, I'd like to make an appointment."
X
"Hey, man, I didn't think you were coming in today?" Nick asked as he saw Greg just entering the lab.
Greg smiled slightly at him and shook his head. "I'm not; I just have to fetch something from my locker."
Nick nodded. "You have some reports to write?"
Greg licked his lips and nodded. "Huh, you're not the only one!" Nick told him laughing as he went his own way through the lab.
Greg carried on down the hall until he reached Russell's office. He knocked on the door, hoping he was in and sighed when he was shouted to go in.
"Oh hey, Greg." Russell greeted him with a smile as he looked up from his work. "Come and take a seat."
He walked over and sat down in front of his boss' desk. "What are you doing here; I thought you were having the day off?" Russell asked him.
"I am, if that's alright. I just, I need to tell you that I've got an appointment with a psychiatrist today. I know that we have to come and tell you about these things so… here I am." Greg told him with a slight smile.
Russell smiled back. "That's great, Greg. I'm glad to hear it. Here…" He opened one of his desks drawers and pulled out a form. "I just need you to fill this in. Don't worry; I don't need to know all the details of what you're talking about at these sessions or anything. It's just so we know where you're going, how long for, etc etc." Russell told him with a smile. He could tell just by Greg was acting that he was uncomfortable and nervous.
Greg nodded his head and took the piece of paper. "Alright, thanks. I'll see you tomorrow." He said as he stood to leave, and gave Russell one last smile.
X
"Catherine?"
She turned her head around and saw Greg standing in the doorway to the locker room. "Hey, how are you?" She asked him as she waved him over to sit next to her.
"I'm alright thanks. I just… I want to ask you something." Greg told her with a small smile.
"Sure, go ahead." She smiled at him.
He smiled back nervously and ran his hand through his hair. "I have an appointment later with a psychiatrist. And, I was just wondering if you… if you could come with me…" he asked her flicking her eyes up to look at her.
"Of course I can, Greg. That's fantastic." She told him with a warm smile which made him feel a little more comfortable.
"Okay thanks. But you don't have to if you don't want. I know you have your own things to do." Greg told her.
Catherine shook her head. "No, this is what I want to do. What time is the appointment?"
"Three o'clock." Greg told her.
"Alright then, I'll pick you up just before." Catherine told him. Greg smiled at her and nodded.
"Okay."
X
"You nervous?" Catherine asked him as she drove them to Greg's appointment.
His leg was jiggling up and down and he kept tapping his fingers on the arm rest. "A little bit."
Catherine laughed slightly. "Well don't be. Everything's going to be fine."
"Yeah, I know. I just can't help thinking about it." Greg told her.
"I know, but don't stress about it."
Greg nodded. "Yeah, I'll try. Have you ever been to one before?"
Catherine looked to him and nodded. "Of course, I don't think you can work in this job and not end up going at least once!" She laughed. "Once you get in there, it's fine. Seriously there's nothing to worry about."
X
"Hi Mr Sanders, I'm Lauren. It's nice to meet you." She said as he and Catherine entered her office. She rose from her seat and shook both of their hands.
Greg smiled at her and spoke. "You can call me Greg. And this is Catherine, I brought her with me. Is that alright?" he asked, wondering if he was allowed to bring someone with him.
Lauren smiled and nodded happily. "Yes that's fine; I find it helps if people bring someone they know along with them."
"Please, take a seat."
"Before you get any wrong perceptions, this is not a serious formal meeting; it's a casual informal get together. We can just have a general chat if you don't feel like opening up too much; we don't have to have heart to hearts every session, okay? I'm just here to listen to whatever you have to tell me and see in what way I can help. Alright?" She asked Greg with a smile.
Greg smiled at her and nodded and looked to Catherine who smiled back.
"So, tell me a little bit about yourself Greg" Lauren asked him as she started making a cup of coffee.
"Erm, I'm a CSI, a crime scene investigator." He told her.
"Oh that's cool, what sort of stuff do you do?" Lauren asked him as she leaned on a table casually.
Greg looked to Catherine. "We collect evidence from a scene, like a murder, or a car accident, and then we piece it all together and try and find a suspect."
Lauren nodded and brought them both a drink over, to which they thanked her for. "I take it you both like coffee?" She asked as she out down some sugar.
"Yeah, we drink a lot of it at work to keep going don't we?" Catherine asked Greg.
"Yeah, we can end up working long shifts."
Lauren sat back down with her own drink. "So you two work together?" She asked as she sipped her coffee.
"Yeah, Catherine taught me a little when I was becoming a CSI."
"Oh wow, you two must be quite close then. It sounds like an interesting job." Lauren commented.
Greg nodded. "It is, but it's kind of why I'm here." He told her quietly with a shy smile.
Lauren put her drink down and looked to him. "Okay." She said and Greg took that as his queue to continue.
"When I was at a scene, I was 'kidnapped'" Greg told her with a small laugh. "It sounds so stupid when I say it like that."
Lauren smiled. "Well if that's what happened then that's what it is."
Greg nodded. "Yeah, it is. I was taken to a house, I still don't know where it was, but whilst I was there, I was beaten pretty badly."
"How long were you there? At the house." Lauren asked him.
Greg shrugged. "I'm not sure." He answered and looked to Catherine.
"Eighteen days." She answered for him with a sad smile.
Lauren's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Over two weeks, that's a long time."
"Yeah," Greg said, "It felt even longer though." He told her with a nervous laugh.
"What happened when you were in the house?" Lauren asked him. Greg looked to Catherine and took a shaky breath. "It's okay; you don't have to tell me yet. There's no rush." Lauren told him.
"A lot of bad stuff." Greg told her as his eyes watered.
Lauren passed over a box of tissues. "I can see that. Here"
Greg took one and willed himself not to let the tears fall. "I'm sorry. I'm just emotional recently."
Catherine smiled as she rubbed his arm. "Did you not use to be?" Lauren asked.
Greg shook his head. "Greg used to be quite conserved. He'd always put on a smile no matter what," Catherine told her, "He's never been that open about his problems or emotions to anyone."
Lauren nodded and looked to Greg whose head was down. "So, coming here must be quite a big step for you." She stated.
"Yeah, I was debating coming in." Greg told her lifting his head slightly.
She smiled at him and nodded. "Everybody's the same. But, seriously, when you've finished here today, you'll be glad you came. Is there a main issue you wanted to talk about?"
Greg lifted his head to look at her and sighed. "I'm just… finding it hard to get over what happened. I don't… I don't think I'm coping very well." He told her and let out a shaky breath, looking to Catherine as she grabbed his hand for support.
Lauren nodded slowly. "Okay." She said softly. "How long ago is it since this happened?"
"About three months." Greg told her, bouncing his leg up and down out of habit.
"That's quite a while. How come you didn't come here earlier?" Lauren asked him with inquisitive eyes.
"I was, erm, in the hospital for quite a while after it." he told her slowly. "And I thought I was doing alright, you know?" He told her with a shaky voice.
"It's hard to tell when you need help." Lauren told him. "What's made you change your mind?"
"I've had some problems at work."
"What sort of problems?"
Greg sighed. "I've had a few; I don't know what they are, anxiety or panic attacks. I just freak out a lot now and for no reason."
Lauren leaned forward and glanced to Catherine. "Do you think that you've possibly started work too soon?"
Greg shrugged and looked down again. Honestly, he didn't know. At the time, it seemed like he was ready to start work again, but after only a sort while he was questioning himself. Everything just seemed too much.
"How are things at home? Do you have a partner?" Lauren asked him.
"No I live alone." Greg replied.
"Okay and are you having any problems at home? Having these attacks?"
Greg looked to Catherine, who still had her hand in his, and looked almost apologetic as he nodded. Catherine smiled sadly and squeezed his hand.
"When do you get these attacks? What are they like?" Lauren asked him, opening her desk draw and pulling something out.
"I get them randomly. The other day I was just watching TV and I got short of breath, sweaty… I threw up too. I sometimes wake up and have one or I'm in the middle of one already." Greg told her biting his lip.
Lauren handed him a slip of paper she'd just pulled off a pad. "I'm going to start you on some anti-anxiety pills. How do you feel about that?"
Greg took the paper form her and nodded. "That's fine."
"Okay, great. You say you can wake up during an attack, how are you sleeping?"
"I'm not really. It's hard for me to drop off and when I do I wake up after like an hour." Greg informed her.
Lauren licked her lip as she thought. "I can give you some sleeping pills too, if you're comfortable with that? They're pretty effective."
"Err, I sometimes have nightmares…" He told her looking at Catherine, "if I take the sleeping pills, will I wake up from them or?"
"You will wake up if they're bad enough, however depending on how tired you are, one of the pills can knock you right out." Lauren told him.
Greg nodded. "Okay, dose me up." He told her with a smile.
She laughed at him as well as Catherine. "I'll prescribe you enough for two weeks worth, that's for the sleeping pills and the anxiety pills. If you for any reason want to stop taking them that's fine and if you find that after the two weeks you think you might need some more we'll discuss our options, okay?"
"Yeah, that sounds great, thanks." Greg told her.
Hopefully they would work.
X
There's another little chappy done! Hope you liked it and if you have a minute, you know what to do ;) x