AN: Wow, this was one of the longest one's I've written yet. That will hopefully make up for the time between now and my last post, and it also serves as a thank you for reviewing so much, because I am now over 100 reviews! So thanks to all of you!
Warnings: This is actually a lot about the team. Greg does come in towards the end, but the first part of it is about the others and how they're dealing. I thought it was necessary but sorry if you would rather hear about Greg, and Greg only. I personally wouldn't mind that myself, but when you're the author of a story like this, you find that it's better to write about other things, or else you'll have a boring story. So, hope you enjoy, but sorry if you don't.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, sadly.
Ok, read up my good chaps!
The elevator doors opened, revealing the same white scenery that Brass had been surrounded by no matter where he went in the hospital. It was like going in a circle. But he knew exactly where he wanted to be at. He walked down the hallway to where the lady at the desk had said Greg's room was. Once he turned the last corner, he saw the small group of CSI's a couple yards down the hall, huddled in front of a window.
As he got closer, he realized that they looked terribly shaken, and Catherine even had her hand over her mouth. Had something happened?
Brass got closer to them, easing his way into their view. Grissom turned to him, and Brass was able to see the stern features he had on his face. Something had happened.
Brass quickened his pace slightly, wanting to see what was going on in the room for himself. He looked in and saw a couple doctors and a few nurses leaned over a bed. The only part of Greg he could actually see was a noticeably discolored arm that housed an IV. Brass turned his gaze to Greg's heart monitor, and saw it going steady, but a little fast.
He turned around a shot a questioning look towards Grissom, who just shook his head implying that he wasn't really sure what was going on.
Everyone kept their eyes focused on the bed, hoping to get a glimpse of Greg, as if they expected to see him staring back at them. Finally, the doctors exchanged a few more words, then made their way out. The CSI's and Brass moved away from the door, but watched it like hawks, demanding information from the doctor the minute he stepped out of Greg's room.
"Calm down, there's nothing to worry about. There seems to be an infection setting in, which caused the fever and increased heart-rate. But, like I said, there's nothing to worry about. We caught it early, and it's nothing antibiotics and monitoring can't help." He offered them another encouraging smile, but they only looked away, exhausted.
"Why don't you guys go home a get some sleep? Visiting hours start at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, and there's no way he's going to wake up before then."
This was true. Greg wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, and they were all exhausted; physically and mentally.
For the past week, none of them had been able to actually sleep. Their minds running wild with thoughts. Thoughts that horrified them and kept them awake and unable to focus on whatever task that they were dong at the time.
No one had come out and said it, or even allowed themselves to actually dwell on it, but they had all thought about what it would be like if Greg didn't live t some point or other. It was a horrible thought. Sure, Greg had his times when he could be annoying, but he was never bitter. He never got a really bad attitude that they could think of, which was more than they could say for themselves. They had all lost their temper at some point or other, but Greg had always managed to stay in control. And right now, his annoying traits would be more than welcome.
"He's right. There's no point in standing in front of this window. Go home and get some sleep everyone, and tomorrow, or I guess it's technically today," Grissom said glancing down at his watch, "you can all come back and visit him. Day shift can handle the work for a day."
They all nodded, but looked once more towards Greg. The nurses had moved out of the way, but they still couldn't get a good look at him die to the mounds of white sheets and blankets, and tubes covering him. They silently told him goodnight and goodbye before slowly walking towards the exit of the hospital.
Nick had finally made it home. He had been practically living at the lab, even more-so than ever, which was saying something. He wearily walked to his door, unlocked it, and stumbled into the empty apartment. He briefly took in the sight of the dust collecting on his countertops and shelves. Noticed the dirty dishes in the sink that had been sitting there for about a week now. He glanced over at the TV, which was on. He half-heartedly grunted in disapproval; all those hours of TV he didn't even watch would be added to his bill.
He sighed, wishing deep down he had something else to come 'home' to. Or someone. He shook his head and finally shut the door behind him. He immediately started off towards his room, dropping the keys off on the counter and not looking back when he heard them fall to the floor.
He was beyond exhausted and relished the time when he could lay down and actually get a good sleep. Real sleep that was not poisoned with images of a beaten Greg, a dead Greg, a trapped Nick, and dead Nick.
The few times he had been able to slip into an uneasy sleep, his wondering mind seemed to search for all of his fears and worst memories, and replay them over and over until he finally gave in and woke up.
However, the inviting bed would have to wait. Right now he needed a shower. He felt contaminated, knowing that he still had Greg's blood on him. He had feverishly tried to wash it off in the hospital bathroom, but gave up after a while.
He couldn't decide exactly why Greg's blood made him feel so filthy. He just knew it felt wrong.
As he turned on the shower and let the stream fill the room, he thought more about this. It was probably because he knew that Greg was not completely out of the woods yet, and having his blood on him only made it more apparent that Greg was still in bad shape.
He decided to drop the matter, fearing it could lead somewhere he didn't want it to go.
The shower was quick, and rather enjoyable given the circumstances. He got out and dried off, then threw on some pj pants and collapsed on the bed. Within minutes he slipped into a deep sleep. His dreams were polluted here and there with unwanted sights, but the simple fact remained: he was able to sleep fairly peacefully for the first time in a long time.
Catherine quietly crept through her door, hoping she wouldn't wake Lindsay. She wasn't even sure if her daughter was home though, because she had mentioned something about going over to a friend's house.
I've been more preoccupied with Greg than I have with my own daughter, Catherine thought to herself. She tried to reason with herself, saying that Greg had been kidnapped and possibly dying and everything, and she had taken care of Lindsay whenever she got the chance during this whole ordeal.
Partly satisfied with herself, she began to creep down the hall to her room, where she planned on taking a shower first.
"Mom?" A small, tired voice came from behind her.
Catherine turned around to face her daughter. God, she grew up so fast. She had apparently been asleep, as her eyes were squinted and her make-up smudged.
"Hey baby, I thought you were going Amelia's house," Catherine said, partly whispering.
Lindsay shrugged. "I did, but on the news it said that the missing CSI was found, and I wanted to know what happened."
Catherine nodded solemnly, hoping to just drop the subject then make her way to bed. But no such luck.
"So… how is Greg?" Lindsay asked, slightly irritated. When Catherine hesitated on answering, Lindsay's face turned grim. "He's not…"
"No, No!" Catherine blurted out. "He's not dead. He's at the hospital and… he had surgery and now we just wait."
Lindsay calmed down, but didn't seem satisfied with her mother's answer.
"So... what? I mean, what all's wrong with him? Or how did you find him?" Catherine knew that Lindsay would be interested in Greg's condition and everything. Once, when Lindsay was little, Catherine had taken her into the lab and had lost her, but she ended up finding her in the layout room playing video games with Greg. Ever since then, she had always been attached to him.
Actually, in the last few months, Catherine had noticed a change in Lindsay's behavior towards Greg. Almost like she was attracted to him.
Catherine smiled at the thought.
"Well… I'm not really sure about anything right now. He's ok at the moment, and we're allowed to see him in the morning. Would you like to come?" Catherine asked, not realizing what she had said until after she had said it.
She wasn't completely against Lindsay going, but then again, Greg didn't look so good, and she wasn't sure how Lindsay would take it.
Lindsay seemed to have thought about it for a minute, but ended up nodding.
"Yeah, I'd like to see him."
Catherine decided not to argue about it now. In the morning, she would warn her daughter about the way he looked and the ventilator and tubes and everything, but now she just wanted to get cleaned up, then go to sleep.
"Ok then, go back to bed. Visiting hours start at 8," Catherine said, pulling Lindsay's head closer to plant a kiss on her forehead.
With that, the two closed their bedroom doors, and got ready for bed.
Grissom was the first one up at the hospital the next morning. Like most nights, he hadn't been able to sleep well. He actually arrived at the hospital around 7:30, and spent the remaining thirty minutes exploring the hospital and looking at their little shops.
He wanted to see Greg. Ever since he had talked to him on the phone a couple days ago, he had wanted nothing more than to talk to him again. To have Greg throwing out excited words, bouncing around about silly little things. He missed that Greg more than anything else.
He continued to walk around the hospital, until it was five-till eight. He made his way back up to the fourth floor, where Greg was now being kept in the Intensive Care Unit, and thought it best to sit in one of the waiting chairs for a few more minutes before trying to enter Greg's room.
A minute or two later, Grissom looked up and was greeted by Nick coming out of the elevator. He looked tired, his eyes red. He had a stiffened walk and a set jaw-line.
Grissom found this disheartening. Greg was clearly not the only member of his team he would have to worry about. Nick had been a worrisome factor since day one of Greg's kidnapping, that much was obvious to everyone. It had been hard for all them, but Nick had made his emotions clearer than anyone else had. Grissom knew that that was just Nick being his caring, sensitive self, but it also had a lot to do with everything he had been through himself.
Nick caught Grissom's eye, and he seemed to lessen his previous stiffness and offered Grissom a smile and nod. He made his way over to Grissom and took a seat next to him.
"You're here early," he said casually to Grissom.
Grissom just looked into his eyes, seeing that he was hurting.
"You wanna talk?" Grissom asked, getting straight to the point.
Nick was taken aback by his sudden boldness. Had he not been so upset, he would have found Grissom's avoidance of beating around the bush to be funny. But, the truth was, he did have some things that he should talk to someone about, but he just didn't know if he wanted to.
Nick turned away from Grissom's all-seeing eyes, feeling like he was being analyzed by the king of analyzing himself. Despite a part of him warning him not to open his mouth, Nick spoke up.
"I don't know. It's just… wrong. I mean, me and Greg were both kidnapped, and yet we both went through completely different things. And… and I don't know… he's a lot worse off then I was when I was found…"
There it was, the guilt that he had been feeling. Greg had definitely gotten the short end of the stick on this one. When Nick was found, he only spent about a day in the hospital, and it was only for the bites and a few other things they just wanted to check on. Greg was dying when he was brought in, and was in the ICU now. How could they have gotten so different treatments?
Grissom shook his head.
"Nick, you're not looking at the big picture here," Grissom said, looking out and down the long white corridor, now getting slightly busier as the nurses prepared for their patient's family and friends to start arriving. "You know as well as I do that there is more than one kind of pain."
Grissom changed his attention to Nick, as he briefly looked up into Grissom's eyes. But he quickly looked back down at his feet.
"There is absolutely no need for you to feel guilty in the least. Now, I'm not saying that either one of you were luckier when it came to what you all went through. And technically, we're not completely sure of what all Greg went through, but the point is, both of you went through horrible things, but they were very different. And their effects on the both of you will also be very different."
"Now, I'm afraid I can't say how Greg will react to all of this, but I have a feeling he will cope pretty well. Sure, he will be haunted with nightmares and pain for a while, but eventually, those wounds will heal. You, on the other hand, relive what you went through, what, daily? Weekly?" At this question, Nick looked up again, this time his eyes watery.
"You think I don't notice? You think we don't notice? Nick," he paused and looked Nick square in the eyes, "you encountered some of the worst pain a person can receive, and yet no visible scars remain. Your damage was done on the inside. Now Greg, his was mainly done on the outside, however I'm sure he went through… some unimaginable things. Just don't get wrapped up in this Nick. You know that we are all here for you, just like we will all be there for Greg."
Tears fell down Nick's cheeks. He felt like a young child, but everything that Grissom had just said effected him. He had been having nightmares about what happened to him many nights. Sometimes, like the previous night, he had just decided not to sleep at all.
"Well, we are officially allowed to visit him now," Grissom said, standing up.
Nick remained sitting for a moment, then wiped his eyes are stood facing Grissom. Without knowing why, he suddenly wrapped his arms around Grissom, in a warm embrace.
He had been needing this for a while now.
Sara had gotten up around 7:30, feeling rather refreshed. It had been a while since she had been able to sleep well, so this nice little break from reality was definitely welcomed. In fact, if Greg had not been in the hospital, she would have gladly slept longer, but something made her want to get up, something made it impossible to sleep any longer.
So, she rolled out of bed and conducted her normal morning routine, skipping the thirty-minute hair and make-up segment, cutting it down to a 15-minute task. It was already nearing 8 o'clock, and she wanted to get there as soon as possible. Besides, she didn't think that Greg or any of her other co-workers would mind it her hair and make-up weren't quite up to the same level they usually were.
Finally, she grabbed a breakfast bar on her way out, telling herself she would get a real breakfast a little later. As she locked up her apartment, she praised the invention of the breakfast bar. Non-perishable, hardly fattening, and usually very delicious.
She got in her car in within twenty minutes, she was pulling into the hospital parking garage, the time now about 8:30. Not too bad, she thought to herself.
As she walked through the hospital, she started to think about Greg and what he may look like. She hadn't been able to get a good view of what he looked like after all the surgery and everything the doctors had done for him. She had, however seen him right after they found him and had also been in the back trying to keep him alive along with Catherine and the EMT. Whatever he looked like now couldn't possibly be any worse than what he looked like then. Actually, not that she thought about it, she had seen him in very bad condition three times now.
She had been the only one to actually witness him being thrown out of the lab, and through the glass window when the lab exploded. She had also been the one to see him lose consciousness. And then, she was the one to see him a couple months ago after he was attacked by the gang.
That had been one of the hardest things she had ever done. Especially when she had first walked up there and saw him lying there with no one working on him. Her first thought had been, he' dead. And the same thought ran through her head last night when she saw him hanging by his wrists, dripping blood from all over the place.
Her stomach shuddered involuntarily at the memory of seeing him like that, and she was now wishing she hadn't eaten the breakfast bar.
She was now in the elevator, passing the second floor. Then, at the third floor, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. When the doors had completely opened, she saw Catherine, Warrick, and Lindsay.
"Did you know he was moved up to the fourth floor," Catherine asked, stepping into the elevator, Warrick and Lindsay following.
"Yeah, Grissom sent a text this morning. You didn't get one?"
Catherine and Warrick both simultaneously got out their phones and opened them. They both nodded and said "oh".
Sara just smiled at them.
"So you haven't heard anything else," Warrick asked Sara.
Sara shook her head. "Nope. But no news in good news."
Everyone agreed and the elevator doors closed.
"So Lindsay, how have you been doing?"
Sara hadn't seen Lindsay since she was kidnapped about six months ago. Lindsay smiled to Sara.
"Pretty good. You?"
Sara just nodded to answer her question due to the fact that they had reached the fourth floor. The doors opened and they all piled out of the elevator and asked the lady at the desk which room Greg was in. And soon enough, they were heading down another white corridor. They were almost there when they passed a small room where the patient's family and friends could get coffee and little snacks.
Inside, they saw Grissom making himself some coffee. They stopped, and Warrick knocked lightly on the door frame. Grissom looked up at the bunch, and smiled after seeing Lindsay.
"Lindsay, very nice to see you." He looked up to the others. "His room is right around the corner. Nick's in there already, and he hasn't woke up yet."
They nodded and waited just a few more moments.
"You guys want some coffee? It's not great, but it's also not as bad as the lab's."
Warrick agreed to get some, and once he was done, they all made their way to Greg's room. Quietly, Grissom opened the door, catching Nick's attention. He had been watching the tv in Greg's room when they came in, and he turned to greet them. Sara made a mental note of how much better he looked. True, none them had looked real good last night, but Nick had been very melancholy the whole week. Now, he was smiling genuinely.
Sara changed her focus to Greg. He was lying in his bed, looking extremely pale. He still had multitudes of tubes protruding from his limp body, and that hideous looking ventilator coming out of his mouth. That was probably the worst part about the way he looked. Now that he wasn't covered in blood, all of his cuts and bruises were very visible.
He looked different than when he had been beaten up. In that case, he had mainly been covered in bruises, now he was more cuts then anything else. She decided that he looked better than he did after he was attacked by that gang. At least his face did. She knew that the rest of his body, now hidden by the hospital gowns and blankets was a different story.
The big difference between then and now, was the fact that he was in a much more serious condition. In fact, after only hours in the hospital last time, he had been awake and able to talk.
After a second or two of taking in the sight, Sara made her way over to a chair next to Greg's bed.
It hadn't taken Warrick long to get the initial shock of Greg's appearance down, and find his own chair. Catherine and Lindsay took the longest out of all of them. They just stood there for about three minutes, looking at him.
Catherine had known him for so long, and had watched him grow up so much. It was safe to say that out of all of the team members, she saw Greg as more of her child then anything else. They all held a certain position in her heart, but Greg had always been like her child. It probably had to do with him being so young, and she was able to take part in teaching him. It was hard to see him like that, so pale and vulnerable looking, but soon she remembered Lindsay standing next to her. She looked down at her daughter.
Lindsay was not exactly shocked, and she didn't look sick or anything. She was just kind of staring at him, almost as if she was scared at him. It was a very peculiar look, but soon, she seemed to get past it and they both joined the others in sitting.
Some of them took turns looking at the tv, then back at Greg. Sometimes, one of them would leave to use the restroom, or get more coffee or food. Then, at one point, they had all engaged in small, pointless little conversations, catching up on each other's life. It was shocking when they realized how out-of-touch they were with each other's current lives.
The adults continued to talk, laughing out loud here and there, but Lindsay generally kept her eyes glued on Greg. She watch his stomach rise and fall, and studied him for any sign of movement or life. But nothing came.
The truth was, she really cared for him, like she did the entire team. They had all been there since before she could remember, and had basically grown up with them. She remembered always enjoying coming to the lab to see them, but Greg was always on the top of her list because he was always so much fun. He always had some crazy music going, and was hyper and full of energy and life. And lately, she had realized how good-looking he was too. She knew that nothing would ever go past that, but he was still really cute and funny.
She remembered her mom saying something about him getting beat up pretty bad a couple of months ago, but she didn't hear anything else about it other than he was doing ok. And then once, not so long ago, she had been at her friend's house when she saw the coverage on his inquiry about the boy he killed.
She remembered how upset he had looked, and had told her friend to leave it on the channel. They had spent the next half-hour watching it, and listening to the mother and brother of the kid go on about how evil Greg was. She remembered being so mad at them, knowing that Greg would never voluntarily do anything like that.
But that was all over now, and a new problem existed. She didn't want to join in or even really
listen to what her mom and the others were saying. She was too lost in thought.
Then something caught her eye. She could have sworn she saw Greg's hand twitch. Her heart sped up, and her eyes stayed glued on his hand, but eventually she started going from his hand to his eyes, hoping to see him wake up.
Then, she noticed his hand move again, only this time his fingers slowly closed and finally, his eyes eased open.
He had been feeling very odd for a while now. He felt numb and extremely heavy. He had been trying to convince his body parts to move some, to prove to him that he was still alive, but they stubborn limbs wouldn't budge.
He tried to search his brain for any information that would help him discover where he was and why he was there. But his thoughts just seem to reach dead ends and he eventually gave up on it.
He was sue there were other people wherever he was because he could hear them speaking. They were all faded and distant and he could make out what they were saying, but they were there none-the-less.
For a while he laid there, thinking about random thoughts that circulated through his head. None of them made sense, and if he as asked to recall them, he wouldn't have been able to.
Time seemed to float by so slowly. Gradually, he began to feel things. He felt small twinges in some places, like his stomach and head and was eventually able to guess that he was in some way or other, hurt of injured. If that was true, then there was a good chance he was in a hospital.
That guess was confirmed minutes later when a steady beeping sound filled his head. So he was in a hospital. The voices he had been hearing earlier where clearer, but he still didn't know what they were saying. He did know, however, that there were quite a few of them.
And slowly, everything began to register more. The voices, the feelings, and why he was here. Not all the details were clear, but he remembered being kidnapped, and a video camera, and a boy that had tried to help him. And then, he woke up completely.
His eyes still hadn't opened, but he was now well-aware of what was going on around him.
"You never said anything about her…" He heard someone say in a joking fashion. That had to have been Sara.
"Yeah well, it all happened so fast…" And there was Warrick.
He heard all the others talking regularly about silly little things. He wished he could be a part of it, and not laying here unable to move. So, he mentally went over himself. He was still numb, which meant he was on a lot of drugs. The most obvious feeling he had though, was the feeling of something being down his throat. And he didn't like it at all. Right away, he was able to guess he was on a ventilator. For a second, he panicked, but he calmed down and decided to focus his efforts back on moving.
He continued to try and get his hand to move. And finally, it worked. It was just a twitch really, but it was something. And then, he found he was able to move his whole hand.
Making definite progress he thought to himself. And finally, he made the largest effort he possibly could in opening his eyes. It took a while, but was soon greeted with a sensation of bright lights. He blinked a couple of times, and the room came into sharper focus.
He looked around briefly, seeing that everyone was there and talking wildly and laughing. It made him feel good to see them in so good a mood. But it was apparent that they hadn't noticed that it had woken up.
But he looked around a little more, and saw two big blues eyes staring at him, looking kind of scared and worried. Lindsay.
Her expression made him feel odd, like he was hideous looking. He wanted to smile at her, to assure her that he was fine, but couldn't due to the tube down his throat. Instead, he worked up some energy, and lifted his hand, his raw wrists making themselves present, and wiggled his fingers slowly.
He felt better when he saw a small smile spread across Lindsay's face. Greg looked around at the others to see if they had noticed yet, but saw them all still deep in conversation. Lindsay followed his lead and briefly glanced at the others, then looked back at Greg with a questioning look. He knew she was wondering what to do next.
He looked at her, then rolled his eyes playfully. The motion had further hurt his head, but it was worth it when he saw Lindsay let out a small giggle.
It was only then that everyone turned their attention to her, then followed her gaze over to Greg. Their faces were momentarily shocked, but soon they lit up. Greg repeated his previous motion and lifted his hand to feebly wiggle his fingers in an effort to wave at them. Their smiles widened and most of them waved back.
He was finally awake.
AN: So there it was. Probably only one more chapter after this one. Will be up eventually. Anyways, I've been so angry lately because I bought a movie off of eBay, and the people said that they send it within two days and its now been over four days so.. I'm angry. The movie I got is called Chaplin. Its about Charlie Chaplin's life, but Chaplin is played by Robert Downy Jr. who is absolutely amazing!! I definitely suggest it if you are into theatre and mining. Or of you like RDJ or just really good movies. UGH!! I want it now!! Ok, enough pointless rambling. You guys know the drill