15 days ago…

„Hey Mr. Grumpy!" Nick grinned at a moody Greg who gave him an icy glare. "Man, really, It's not my fault it's you again with the double shift next week. But still.. I did not really put a lot of effort in trying to convince D.B. he should take me instead of you… Nick laughed out and grinned again. "Oh come on Greg, don't hate me." Nick had not noticed that Greg was trying to suppress his own smile. "You are such an asshole Nick!"

He turned around and stormed off, all the while grinning and leaving a stunned and shocked Nick in the locker room. " Greg, I didn't mean it, really, It's just that , hey wait…" Nick spun his younger colleague around who tried to look wrathful but ended up laughing his ass off. "Got you! And the next time it's definitely you with the shitty overtime!"

Nick and Greg joked around for another 5 minutes and then Greg met Morgan on his way out to the next Crime scene while Nick stayed in the lab to work on the evidence of his case.

When Morgan and Greg arrived in Henderson the sun was still shining and burned down onto the two CSIs. Morgan stared onto the scene in disgust. A heavily decomposed torso was lying next to the highway. The smell was awful. Greg pinched his nose and sighed. His day couldn't get any worse.

"Hey guys!" Russel was kneeling next to the doc who examined the body. "Morgan, If you could help me here? Greg, you can search the highway for any other traces."

Greg just sighed and got ready; He took his kit and camera and started to wander down the street, all the while paying attention to possible hints. The procedure was standard, it was obvious, that the body had obviously been thrown out of a car, but you never know for sure until you examined the whole scene.

The part of the highway, where the body was found was closed by a patrol car. Only the left side of the road was trafficable.

Greg stopped to take a photo of a skid mark. He wiped a trail of sweat that had collected on his forehead away. It was still so hot. Greg would for sure get sunburned today. He would look like a total fool this evening at Nick's club tour on the strip. Well at least ´he had tomorrow off. Greg smiled and concentrated on the asphalt again.

He was so focused on the street that he didn't notice the white van speeding through the street barrier ways too fast. Sat inside were three teenage girls who had a blast before and obviously decided it would be a good decision to hit the streets to Vegas totally drunk.

The officer at the barrier began to shout angrily. When Greg looked up, alarmed by the yelling, the van was driving in sinuous lines towards him. He didn't have that much time to react. Greg tried to draw aside to the right but the teenage girl had lost control over her parents' van and also went in the direction. When the car finally collided with Greg's body there was a loud thud which was nearly drowned in the noise of screams.

Greg slammed into the windshield, was thrown across the vehicles roof and then landed headfirst on the asphalt of the street. Greg felt immediately unconscious.

The Van got finally stopped by some bushes next to the highway.

There was a moment of stunned silence when everyone tried to process what just happened. Russel reacted first."Greeeg." He made it to the young CSI first, closely followed by Morgan who wore a shocked expression on her face.

Greg was lying on his side, his eyes were closed and blood was fast seeping out of a huge head wound. "We need the paramedics over here fast!" Russel yelled to a police officer, who was staring at him dumbly while his colleagues where working on the van. He dropped down next to Greg and felt for a pulse. Thankfully he found a weak one. Morgen had started to sob and was gently stroking Greg's hair, carefully avoiding his injuries.

Doc Robbins had made it to the scene of the accident by now. He kneeled next to Greg's head and pushed open one of his eyelids. He stared alarmed at the bloody orbs "That doesn't look too good. He needs to be taken cared of very soon. Do they send a chopper?"

"Don't know." Russel had taken of his vest, and laid it over Greg. "Hey Sanders, I need you to wake up. No time to sleep yet!" The desperate look in Russels eyes was evident.

In the meantime, Greg was slowly coming back to consciousness: Everything hurt but mostly his head and neck .When he tried to move some a hot white pain exploded behind his eyes and he whimpered. He heart someone call his name, was that Morgan? Greg tried to open his eyes but somehow he could only see blurry forms. His legs were numb and he was sure he had peed himself. At least he felt wet in the groin area. Greg felt someone grasp his hand and squeeze it tightly. He tried to squeeze back but somehow only managed moving his thumb. " Shh, Greg, Everything is okay. Help is on the way. Just stay with us!" Morgan was panicking. The situation was very serious.

While she continued stroking Greg's head, they suddenly heart screaming coming from the direction of the van. A girl, evidently the driver, was slurring: "Oooh, myyyy good. Let me see for myseeeeelf. I din… I just…..I'm soo sooo soorrry…" Morgan grew furious but then decided that right now Greg needed her more, so she stayed by his side instead of giving in and slapping that stupid bitch right in the face.

Russel sighed relieved when he heard the chopper arrive, getting ready to go down. Surprisingly Greg was still holding on Consciousness. The asphalt around his head had turned a sick tone of crimson red, even if Doc Robbins was applying pressure on the severe wound.

Soon the medics were crowding Greg.

"What's his name?"A female paramedic asked while rummaging through her well organized med-kit.

"It's Greg Sanders; he has been semiconscious for the last 5 minutes. We couldn't stop the blood loss to his head wound." Doc Robins said calmly.

"Mr. Sanders? Greg? Can you hear me?" a male medic asked the hurt CSI. Another ambulance man hooked Greg onto an IV. "Seems like we have a severe head trauma, pupils are dilated and eyes bloody. We need to bring him to the hospital as soon as possible!"

They gently and carefully moved Greg on his back and neck braced him. An oxygen mask was put over his mouth and nose. Greg himself seemed unaware of what happened, even if his eyes were half open.

It pained Morgan a lot to see her coworker like this. It was just so unreal. She could tell Russel was feeling the same. He stood next to her, watching the medics work on his CSI, wearing a grim expression.

One medic cut away Greg's shirt and he was carefully maneuvered out of his vest. Morgan needed to swallow when she saw the bruises on his chest, which were already turning blue.

"One two three up", with expertly moves, Greg was put onto a stretcher. "Mmmh" The whimper sounded frightened and hurt but was muffled from the oxygen mask.

Greg felt straps tightened around his legs and torso. He couldn't move his head due to the neck brace. It was cold suddenly and Greg felt his vision become slightly grey. His fear grew: What was happening? Was he dying?

It was the last thought before he was pulled under by unconsciousness.

"Who wants to ride with him?" a medic asked. "Can I..?" Russel just nodded. Morgan climbed into the chopper next to Greg. Somehow she never had good experiences with being airlifted.

When the chopper took off, Russel watched the sky for a short minute before turning around and going to the police officers. He saw Jim Brass running towards him. The news evidently had spread soon.

Meanwhile Sara and Nick were chilling in the breakroom, not knowing that one of their best friends was fighting for his life right now. "Hey, Sara, you wanna join me and Greg hitting the clubs tonight?"

"No, no," Sara whined. "Remember I don't have tomorrow off. With Finn being on holidays Russel made me work a 6-day week." "Awwww, poor Sara…" Nick teased and went to the fridge to grab a bagel he had stowed in there.

"Everyone is pretty hectic outside, I wonder what happened" Sara stretched out on the sofa. "Don't know, maybe Ecklie is throwing a party?" Nick joked. "Well, that was lame Nick. Even for you."
"Hey guys," Hodges had entered the room. "I don't wanna disturb you but it seems there happened something on Russel's crime scene?!" "What? Seriously? What are you talking about?" Sara looked at him questioningly. "Don't know, they said something about an accident on police radio?! I was wondering if maybe you guys would know something? I already tried calling Russel and Sanders, but no one was answering me.."

"Did you try Morgan?" "Yes phone is dead." "Crap, do you think there happened something serious? I'll try calling Russel again." Sara put out her phone and dialed for her supervisor. Surprisingly he answered his cell immediately. "Yeah?" Sara could already tell something was wrong by the way Russel was sounding. "D.B.? It's Sara. Is everything alright with you guys? Hodges heard something about an accident?!" "Ahm, yeah, well there was an accident." "Sara grew afraid. "Well, Greg was hit by a car. He's being airlifted to Desert Palms right now. Morgan is with him." "Oh my god. How is he?"

Nick and Hodges were staring at her impatiently. " Yeah, well I try to contact Morgan and we'll see if we can head out there, too. Are you gonna go to Desert Palms as well?" Sara's voice was shaking.

Nick and Hodges grew anxious. Evidently something bad was going on. When Sara ended the phone call with a soft "See ya", Nick blurtet: " What?" Sara sighed sadly. " We need to grab our stuff and drive to Desert Palms. Greg was involved in an accident. It looks bad." "Oh.." Nick brought out shocked and Hodges just gaped like a fish. Then they got ready to drive to their injured friend.

When he woke up 15 days later Greg wouldn't remember the accident itself. The fracture of his skull and the severe trauma had resulted in a brain bleeding. It was the worst of his injuries. Moreover he had to fight with a spine injury, that would eventually result in him needing a wheelchair, his arm was broken in two places and he had severe contusions on his whole body.

Right now Greg was sleeping soundly in his hospital bed. They had finally transferred him into a normal room this morning and next week he would go to rehab. His mother sat beside him and absently stroked her son's face. It stabbed her heart to see her baby like this. She really wanted to be optimistic, but the doctors made it very clear to her, that Greg would probably never be able to live on his own again. It was so frustrating to see him suffer. When Greg stirred and slowly opened his eyes she faked a smile. "Hey Greggy. " He blinked dumbly. "Honey, you need to eat something. What do you think about yoghurt?" While Greg was still trying to process what his mother had said to him, Anne Sanders put a spoon full of strawberry flavored yogurt to Greg's mouth and started to feed him. Greg wasn't able to do it on his own. With one arm broken, the other one full of IV tubes and all the coordination problems of his brain Greg was still pretty immobile and helpless.

While she was feeding Greg, Anne thought about the last time she had to spoon-feed her babyboy. Greg had been three then. She sighed. A lot of things were going to change…