Greg was lying in his room all alone. His parents had been fussing over him the whole morning and then he had spent the afternoon with Morgan, Hodges and Nick. Sara would come by tomorrow.

He really appreciated the sympathy of his friends. Now that he was on less morphine he could finally stay awake longer and actually spend the time with his coworkers in an alert state. Of course they did most of the talking but Greg enjoyed listening to them.

Now that the visiting hours were over it was quieter on his floor. His roommate was still somewhere outside. He was probably smoking. Greg snorted. Paul Daughterly was 52 years old and as mature as a teenager. The cancer patient was getting on the young CSI's nerves a lot. No, that was not it: Greg really went aggressive when he heart Paul laughing about his cigarette consumption, despite his lung cancer. It was something Greg could not understand.

He would give everything to get his health back and this stupid idiot would just sit there and smoke himself to death. He just heard the jerk coming down the floor singing some stupid country song.

Greg already had a headache and his back hurt, he definitely could not deal with Paul right now.

"Hey, Gregory! What's up, man? How was your day?" Paul stopped at the foot of Greg's bed. He always treated Greg like a little boy and Greg totally hated it. It was not like the calm and simple talking the doctors and nurses were using on him. No, Paul was sneering and arrogant. Oh, how he hated that man! "Fff…ff…fan…ttt..aaaassssti…cccc." Greg brought out. Then he shifted in his bed.

He had gotten rid of the neck brace and only one tube had remained in his hand which provided him with a lighter pain medication.

What bothered Greg were the diapers he had to wear since yesterday. The doctors had explained to him that it was unhealthy for him to be catheterized for such a long time and that now there was no need to monitor his urine levels anymore. They told him some other stuff, which Greg did not comprehend completely and now he just had to wear them. It was horrible. Greg had cried himself to sleep yesterday due to that. Fortunately all the visits by family and friends didn't leave much time for self-pity but right now Greg again felt a burning sensation behind his eyes.

"Hey kiddo: You had dinner already? Maaan, I'm hungry, I'm going to die because of it!" Greg just ignored him and sighed. He was only allowed to eat soft food and soups. They all tasted the same.

He looked up when a nurse entered the room with the food cart. "Mr. Daughterly, Mr. Sanders: It's time for your dinner. Well, let me see… You ordered the macaroni and cheese, Mr. Daughterly and for you it's a chicken soup Mr. Sanders. Maybe you can have some soft toast as well. A trainee will help you to eat it soon." The nurse provided everyone with their meals and left.

While Paul already started to eat his noodles soundly Greg stared at the soup in disgust. How should he gain weight if that was what they chose for him to eat? "Hey, remember me? It's Pam again." A thin girl around 18 years in hospital scrubs greeted Greg. She was the trainee who would feed him. Greg could hear Paul snicker and check the poor girl out. He rolled his eyes. This guy was a walking joke. Pam helped Greg to sit up and started to smalltalk. She explained that she also found the food horrible and told Greg about her family that owned a farm in Henderson. They laughed a lot and Greg visibly relaxed. Soon the soup bowl was empty and Pam wiped Greg's chin nonchalantly. "See you, Greg. Have a good night." "Se..eeee y..yy…y…yyoouu." Greg smiled and cuddled himself into his pillow.

Somehow Pam had helped the headache to lessen and soon Greg drifted into a nice and restful sleep.

"Goooood Morning Mr. Sanders. It's time to wake up!" A penetrating voice which belonged to nurse Ana awoke Greg in the morning. Groggily he opened his eyes only to close them again when he was blinded by the sunlight that fell into the room.

A male nurse named Bill opened the window while Ana went to check the high blood pressure of Paul Daughterly. Greg just tried to disappear under his blanket and pushed his face into the pillow. He was still so tired. He always thought that a hospital was a place to rest but evidently he was wrong.

Bill laughed and went over to Greg's bed. "I'm sorry but you need to wake up. But I have good news for you. The doctors are talking about discharging you in two days and then you could directly go to rehab. How does that sound, Mr. Sanders?" Greg finally opened his eyes and smiles at the male nurse. These were great news. After all he had been in the hospital ways too long. "Rr..rrreaal..yyy?" "Yes, well you'll have to wait for the doctors' examination but they were definitely talking about it."

Bill checked Greg's IV and changed the bag. Then he pulled the curtains close around Greg's bed. Ana joined Bill and they pushed back the blanket. While Bill paid attention to Greg's bloodpressure, Ana opened the diaper and put it in the garbage. She then got a washrag and started to wash Greg's intimate parts. "Could you hand me the fresh diaper Bill?" she asked. "Yeah sure, is everything all right?"- He answered. "You need help?" " Mhh, he has a slight rash. We should mention it. Maybe he needs medication." Bill nodded and helped Ana put Greg into the new thick diaper. After making sure it was tight enough and would not leak Greg was provided with an injection against thrombosis.

Although the nurses worked casual and they probably did that everyday Greg still was as red as a tomato. He knew that he shouldn't work himself up that much but he still found it absolutely embarrassing to wear a diaper.

Ana pushed his hospital gown down over the diaper and then tucked the blanket around him. "No need to stress yourself, Mr. Sanders. You did nothing wrong." She controlled his temperature and eye-reaction and then in a matter of seconds both nurses were gone.

Greg stretched out and yawned. Now he was hungry. Maybe Pam would be there again to bring him his breakfast. He rubbed his eye carefully.

The young man wasn't paralyzed completely: Greg could still feel all of his limbs and was also able to move them. But due to the brain damage his moves were uncontrolled and sluggish. The spine injury had a permanent numbing effect on his bladder, gut and legs- The numbness wasn't too severe, but combined with his coordination problems it was unlikely he would be able to walk completely on his own again. And it was still a long way to go.

In the rehab they would start with easy stuff like sitting up on your own in bed.

Greg tried to roll himself on his side. His back hurt from lying in the same position for hours. He also felt the need to get some fresh air. Maybe Sara would take him outside for a while when she visited.

Greg had only been outside of the bed for several examinations. Also one time they had maneuvered him into a wheelchair and his parents had taken him to the cafeteria. It had completely worn him out but all in all that had been his most exiting day so far.

He could already hear the nurses with the breakfast cart outside.

"Hey, Greggo." Sara stood in the door and smiled at him warmly. "Sss.. ..aa" Greg stuttered happily. "SSs'ggg….ooood to sseee you!" Sara walked to his side and sat down in a chair."You look good Greg, there's a lot more color in your face than the last time." "Dddoon't lieee tt.. .too mee." Greg smiled. "Youu c…c…ooming sstr straight ffrrrom w..www..work?" " Jep, we had a wonderful dumpster diving case. I persuaded Hodges that he was the right man to do it."

They chatted for quiete a while and Sara helped Greg eat his breakfast and lunch. She stayed until 2 p.m. and by then Greg was totally exhausted.

All the talking had worn him totally out and he needed to fight hard to stay awake. He also felt very warm suddenly and started to sweat. Something seemed wrong.

With his last strength Greg hit the red alarm button that was right beside him and waited for a nurse.

Soon a grumpy looking blonde woman made her way in the room. When she saw Greg her demeanor totally changed. She gently put a hand on his forehead and asked him some simple questions about what was wrong. Then she rang for a doctor.

Evidently Greg had developed a fever in the morning which was no good sign. Dr. Swanson made sure that he was monitored closely and gave him medication against the headache.

They would also feed Greg with icechips and informed his parents of the change.

It was frustrating for everyone: After getting a little better, now Greg's health had took a turn for the worse again.

And soon no one was talking about the early discharge anymore…