Oh, my, goodness! You guys are the best! As if I have 7 reviews for that last chapter, ME! Thank you so, so, so, so much; Foxfire832001, Marymel, Cirinde Palantir, The Sangheili Mutant, macberly, Lil Badger 101 and Loooll 3214! I really can't get over it; your reviews mean so much :D Hopefully you enjoy this chapter too :) x
Greg stood up as Ecklie walked in. His legs were shaking nervously and he decided to nod to him instead of trying to speak.
Ecklie looked over to him and then to Russell. "Take a seat Sanders."
Greg did quickly and took a big breath as Ecklie sat on the second chair the other side of Russell's desk. "What happened?" He asked as he crossed one leg over the other.
"I just had to let out some anger, but I can promise you it won't happen again." Greg told him hastily.
"We can't afford for you to let your anger out here." Ecklie told him. "Especially if you're going to smash our equipment on the floor so that we have to buy new ones."
"I didn't mean that I was letting my anger out..." Greg said.
"But that's what you just told me you were doing."
Greg swallowed deeply. "I know but... Sir, I've done this job for years and this is the one thing that I may have slipped up on."
"There was the lab explosion too." Ecklie said, leaning his elbow on Russell's desk.
Greg shook his head. "But that wasn't my fault."
"It was in your lab." Ecklie argued.
"Yeah I know it was, in case you didn't notice I was put in hospital." Greg retorted.
"Greg." Russell warned him. He looked over to him and took a breath to calm down.
"Do you realise how much that cost the lab?" Ecklie asked him.
Greg nodded, "Yeah you told me, but it wasn't my fault, I didn't put that thing on the hot plate."
"If it's in your lab, it's your responsibility." Ecklie told him and before Greg could speak, he spoke again. "So what caused you to lose your temper today?"
"I just had a lot of work to do and I couldn't do it in the unrealistic time I was given." Greg settled on telling him.
Ecklie nodded, "So are you saying you're not fit to do your job?" he asked.
Greg shook his head with a frown. "How did you get that from what I just said?"
"Well you never hear Henry or Hodges complaining, or the members of day shift. It seems as though you're the only one who can't handle the work load."
Greg laughed and looked to Russell. "Is this for real?"
Ecklie looked to him with a cocked eyebrow. "Come on, I worked in the lab years ago and I did everything by the book, I got everything done when you wanted it done. I couldn't have done anything better."
"Obviously you're not as good as you used to be then." Ecklie said and Greg shook his head angrily.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" He spat angrily and Russell leaned across the table slightly to get his attention.
"Hey, Greg calm down. Don't make this any worse." He told him and Greg looked to him and shook his head.
"Don't make this any worse? I wasn't aware that I'd done anything wrong in the first place! Yeah, I might have not acted professionally but who gives a fuck anyway?!"
Ecklie held up his hand to stop him. "You don't use language like that in my lab." It was a shock to him to see Greg Sanders like this. He'd only heard the CSI swear once before and that was it. And the young man would never dream of swearing in front of his seniors.
"Oh yeah? Well I just did." Greg replied before he could help himself.
Russell sat back in his chair with a deep sigh as he looked at Greg. He was just digging himself a bigger hole to get out of.
"Sanders, if you have a problem with me then you can't work here anymore." Ecklie told him.
"What? So anyone who has a 'problem' with you can't work here? If you knew how many people out there have a 'problem' with you, then you'd have no employees left." Greg told him.
"If you think you are ever going to get with my daughter, then you can think again. There is no way on this earth that she is going to date someone as low as you." Ecklie told him in retaliation.
Greg smiled sarcastically. "So you don't even see her, talk to her, in about twenty years and now that you actually know who she is, you're going to control her life?"
Ecklie leaned forward in his chair a little. "Sanders I'm warning you, you've gone too far. I'd shut up and apologise now if you want to keep your job."
Greg laughed in his face. "How the hell am I meant to apologise if I shut up?"
Ecklie shook his head. "Sanders, go to the locker room, grab your things and don't enter this lab again."
Greg's face fell and it was as if he'd only just realised how far he let this go. "You're firing me?"
Ecklie nodded as he leaned back in his chair with a cocky smile on his face. "Yes, you're fired. Now go and clean out your locker before I have someone escort you out."
Greg looked at him seething and pounced out his chair. "You son of a bitch!"
It all happened so quick that it took Russell a minute to realise that Greg was now out of his chair and practically on Ecklie's lap, punching him square in the face.
"Greg! Greg, get the hell off!" He shouted as he came around the other side of his desk and pulled the younger man off.
Greg stumbled backwards breathing heavily looking at Ecklie with pure hatred. "Greg, get out now!" Russell shouted at him as he pulled Ecklie up into a more sitting position and gave him some tissues for his nose that was now pouring with blood.
Greg turned around and took a step towards the door but stopped as he put a hand to his chest. It suddenly got tight and sharp pains shot through him. He dropped to the floor on his knees and gripped his shirt over his chest. He was surprised when he pulled it away and saw blood. He was bleeding. He fell backwards, fully falling to the ground.
"Greg? Greg!" Russell shouted as he left Ecklie and went to Greg. "Call an ambulance!" Russell shouted to Ecklie.
Ecklie stood quickly, wiping his nose once more and opened Russell's office door. "Someone get an ambulance!" he yelled into the hall and everybody stared at him, some of them pulling out their phones.
Nick and Morgan came out of a light room just down the hall and came running towards Russell's office. "Dad are you okay?" Morgan asked as she saw the blood down his shirt.
"Yeah I'm fine." He told her and looked back into the office where Nick had just run in.
"Oh my God, Greg!" Morgan said as she saw him on the floor and ran into the office.
"Hey, G, stay with me." Nick said as he knelt next to his friend and grabbed his hand. "What happened to him?" He asked Russell when he saw the blood.
Russell shook his head. "He got angry and punched Ecklie; he must have torn his stitches." Russell said as he unbuttoned Greg's shirt.
Nick couldn't keep the small smile off his face but lost it when Morgan joined them on the floor. He couldn't believe he punched Ecklie.
Greg lifted his hand and grabbed Russell's, pulling it away from his chest. Russell looked to him and Greg shook his head lightly with a pained face. He looked upwards to Morgan and then back to Russell.
"Don't worry, Morgan won't look." Russell told him, knowing that he didn't want Morgan to see him.
Greg looked to her with pained eyes and she smiled down at him as Russell removed his shirt from his chest. "Hey, where does it hurt?" She asked him softly.
Greg looked over to Ecklie sadly and then back to her. "M, m, my... ch... chest. S'tight." He told her through gritted teeth as pain overwhelmed him.
She stroked his hair and nodded. "Alright, well the ambulance will be here soon. You'll go to hospital and you'll be alright."
"You'll be alright."
X
"You can't fire him. Not after this."
Ecklie shook his head. "I have to D.B. I can't let him speak to me in that way, never mind assault me! I'm his boss for Christ sake."
"Come on, as if you haven't snapped or lost it with someone before."
"Not like that I haven't. He's got some real issues if he thinks that's acceptable."
"He doesn't think that's acceptable. Besides, you were enticing him." Russell argued.
"I did nothing to deserve what happened. He brought it all on himself."
"No he didn't Conrad, you know it. You could have handled the situation better, you were winding him up." Russell told him.
Ecklie shook his head. "I don't believe I was."
Russell sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "You need to sort this out."
As Russell walked away, Morgan came around the corner and shoved a coffee into her father's hand. "You did this to him!" She said angrily with tears shining in her eyes.
She turned to go in Greg's room when he shouted her. "Morgan, honey..."
"Don't." She said before she went in the room and shut the door.
X
"Hey, you're awake." Morgan said as she got into the room and saw Greg sitting up with Nick's help.
Greg smiled at her slightly. "Yeah, just woke up. Are you okay?" He asked her, seeing her eyes glisten.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
"How's your chest?" She asked him, quickly changing the topic.
Greg nodded and smiled his thanks to Nick after settling back into the pillows. "It's alright now. Apparently my heart was straining or something like that."
Morgan sat down worried. "That sounds bad. Are they going to run some tests?"
"No, they don't need to." Greg told her.
"He just needs to rest." Nick added.
Morgan nodded.
"Hey, can you tell your Dad that I'm sorry." Greg said after a few moments of silence. "I might have punched him in the face." He told Morgan looking down ashamed.
Morgan took a deep breath. "I dare say he deserved it." She said, her mind playing the conversation she'd just heard outside.
Greg shook his head. "No he didn't."
"Well you can tell him yourself then, when you get back to work." Morgan said as she sipped her coffee.
"I can't. I don't work at the lab any more. He fired me." Greg told them lifting his head.
Nick frowned. "He fired you? He can't do that."
"Well he can, and he has." Greg said looking between them both.
"Don't worry, I'll talk to him and make him change his mind." Morgan told him rubbing her hand on his arm.
Greg smiled but shook his head. "I can't let you do that. It's not your place."
"Well I am, and there's nothing you can do about it." Morgan told him with a smile.
Greg laughed at her slightly and nodded. "I don't know where all this anger's came from." He told them both.
Morgan grabbed his hand as he looked down. "Well you've had a lot going on. Don't beat yourself up about it."
"Or anyone else for that matter" Nick added with a small smile and a playful punch to the shoulder. It was probably an inappropriate joke but they all needed cheering up a little.
Greg laughed at him. "Yeah, I'll try not to."
X
"Nick? Is that you? I told you not to bother coming back. I'm not hungry." Greg shouted from his sofa as there was a knock on the door. Nick had left not long ago telling him that he would call around later and bring him something to eat.
He'd been back home a day after staying the night at hospital.
When he didn't get a reply he sighed as he stood up. He went to his door and opened it, surprised at who was stood outside.
"Morgan! What are you doing here?" He asked as he signalled for her to come in.
"I've come to tell you some good news." She said with a smile as he followed her to his sofa, turning off the TV.
"I got your job back!" Morgan told him excitedly.
Greg smiled slightly. "Erm, thanks."
"What, should I not have done that?" Morgan asked him, her face dropping.
"No, no, you should have, and I appreciate it." Greg quickly reassured her. "It's just your Dad isn't going to want me there."
"Sure he is, I talked to him and he said he has no problem with you returning."
"That doesn't mean he wants me there, Morgan." Greg argued. "It just means you persuaded him to bring me back, which is gonna' make him hate me even more."
Morgan shook her head. "I don't understand. At the hospital you wanted your job back, now you've got it you don't want it. Do you know what lengths I had to go to, to get this job for you? Huh?"
"Why didn't you just leave it? I could have handled this myself." Greg told her.
She stood up and headed towards his door. "Fine, I'll go and tell my Dad that you don't want the job anymore. Maybe he can find someone who deserves it." She told him before slamming his door behind her.
"Hey!" Greg shouted as he followed her out the door. "Morgan come-"
He stopped midway as his chest tightened again, and he gripped onto the banister by the stairs leading up to his place. He sat down and looked down the stairs and shouted. "Morgan, I need you. Help me." He shouted as loud as he could, which wasn't very.
However it was enough for her to hear. She walked back slowly until she saw Greg at the top of the stairs. "Oh God."
She ran up to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Hey, is this the same thing that happened the other day? Is your chest tight?"
He nodded warily and struggled to control his breathing. "Hey deep breathes." Morgan told him rubbing his back as she pulled out her phone.
"No." Greg told her, trying to grab the phone.
"I'm calling for an ambulance." Morgan told him, moving her arm away from him.
Greg reached over with a grunt and pulled the phone from her hand. "I said no." He told her, sliding her phone along the floor, out of reach.
Morgan looked at him and shook his head. What had gotten into him?
X
Hey, hope you enjoyed this chapter guys. Just a heads up, I have nooo idea where this story is heading! So it could get worse :S Anyway, leave a review please if you have the time, trying to get up to 50 reviews pretty soon! EEEKK!x