Song lyrics are from the song "Untitled" by Simple Plan. WARNING: There is a death of a main character coming. I apologize, but this story is a tragedy. Hope you continue to read and review.

Nick was surprised at how qucikly things had gotten back to normal. After a brief meeting with the Sheriff, Nick's little scruffle with Ecklie was put in the past.

"But his actions-"

Ecklie was cut off by the Sheriff. "Were completely called for. I heard from numerous people what you said. You have no right to speak to anyone that way, let alone one of your best CSIs."

"You did deserve it Ecklie." Nick said with a smirk.

"Listen Stokes, you-"

Ecklie was cut off again. "There you go again. I think this lab would be much better off if more people had the guts Nick does to sock you every once in a while."

Thinking about that still made Nick smile. He was very thankful that he hadn't been suspended, let alone fired.

He was more thankful for the fact that Greg was doing very well. Nick was having more nightmares than he was, but that happened a lot. Ever since he was buried alive he got panic and anxiety attacks. They used to be a real problem, but now he had Greg to calm him down. Whenever he'd wake up in the middle of the night or start freaking out in the middle of a nightmare, Greg would be there. He'd rest Nick's head on his chest and hold him tight. Greg would surf his hands though Nick's hair and sing him back to sleep.

Nick was slowly starting to get more and more run down. Added to the ridiculous commitment of being a CSI, Greg was fairly sure Nick had insomnia. He would barely sleep and when he did, he'd be disrupted by nightmares. He did everything he could to help Nick, but sometimes he felt completely useless.

Even though it had been Greg's night off, he was awake when Nick came home. He was in the kitchen trying to make breakfast when he heard the door open and close, followed by Nick falling onto the couch.

"Hi." Nick called to Greg simply. It was evident in his voice that he was exhausted.

"Tough case?" Greg asked as he finally gave up on pretending he knew how to make an omlette and walked into the living room.

"Mmhmm."

Nick's eyes were closed, so he had no way of knowing Greg was about to jump on him. Greg smiled evilly to himself as he leapt onto Nick and started laughing immediatly.

Nick grunted slightly and opened his eyes. He couldn't surpress a smile when he saw Greg smiling. "You are amused way to easily Greggo."

"I know." Greg said. He leaned down and kissed Nick. He pulled away after a short while and hung his head. "That's what I forgot..." He thought outloud.

Nick smiled. "What did you forget now?"

"I need to drop off the paperwork for the Lyons case to Sara. Son of a...she's gonna be pissed at me." Greg smiled at Nick. "You don't wanna go bring it to her, do you?" He asked as sweetly as possible.

Nick shook his head and smirked. "Nope. I'm way too tired to drive anywhere again and I don't want Sara to kill me. She likes you a helluva lot more than she likes me."

Greg sighed. "Fine. Be that way." He got up off of Nick and ran into the kitchen quick to grab the paperwork and his keys. "It shouldn't take too long...if I'm not back in an hour, Sara did it." Greg said as he walked through the front door, closing it behind him. Two seconds later he reappeared. "If she does kill me, you so can't have my iPod." And with that Greg was gone.

Nick smiled and closed his eyes again. He got comfortable on the couch and was asleep in minutes.

The loud ringing of his cell phone woke Nick up abruptly and caused him to fall off the couch. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and grabbed the phone off the coffee table to his left.

"Hello?" He said groggily.

"Hey Nicky...it's Warrick."

"Hey man what's up?" Nick asked as he lay down on the floor with his head under the coffee table.

"I uh...got some bad news..."

"DNA isn't the suspect's?" Nick didn't let his eyes close for the fear that he'd fall asleep while on the phone.

"No it's not that...Jesus Christ..." Warrick swore under his breath.

Nick was now almost fully awake. "What's wrong Warrick?" He was getting that nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach and he had a bad feeling about this.

"It's Greg...he was in a car accident."

Nick bolted upright, only to whack his head on the coffee table and fall back down. It felt eerily similiar to when he had woken up in the box and done the same thing, only this time the pounding was worse. "What? Is he okay?" Nick asked frantically as he scooted out from under the table and slowly stood.

"He's in a coma Nicky." Warrick said softly. "The doctors aren't sure if he's gonna make it."

Nick lost all ability to speak. His throat went bone dry and it felt like someone had literally squeezed all the air out of his lungs and was holding his windpipe shut. He somehow managed to hold the phone to his hear despite losing all the feeling in his body.

Everything that happened after that is a blur to Nick. He had somehow gotten from standing in his living room to outside of Greg's hospital room, looking in at him from the small window in the door. Grissom was talking to the doctor and Warrick was hugging Catherine. He couldn't hear or feel anything. He was praying to God that this was a horrible nightmare, but the pain in his heart told him otherwise.

I open my eyes
I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light
I can't remember how
I can't remember why
I'm lying here tonight