Hey everyone, second chapter is up. I hope the lines to separate all the different sections work this time! Please let me know what you think.
It was the next day when Nick finally left Greg's and headed for his own house. His friend had recovered slightly and was able to tell the Texan to head home and get some rest. He had stayed with Greg for longer than the doctor had suggested and Greg was pretty sure that his friend had not slept even whilst he was asleep for most of the day.
Greg had just sat down after seeing Nick off and making himself a mug of coffee. He felt lousy. Although the medication he was given did its job of keeping the pain away, the dull ache that he had all over his face was still prominent.
He was just about to put his feet up when there was a knock on his door. Thinking it was Nick who had forgotten something; he pushed himself up and took a sip of his coffee before he opened the door. However, as he did, he was pushed back into his house, the door slamming into him as he lost grip on his mug and it went crashing to the floor.
He was then roughly manhandled into his living room where two men shoved him down onto the ground. "You're buddy gone back to your little crime lab to try and find us? Try to find out who hurt his little friend?" One of them said to him as they roughly pushed his already injured face into his own floorboards.
Without even saying anything, he was pulled into a standing position by the men and when they started pulling tape from a roll, reaching up for his face, he started to struggle. Somehow he managed to tear himself from the man's grip around him and he half ran half stumbled towards his bedroom where he had left his mobile. If he could call Nick he knew he could get back to his house within minutes.
However he didn't get far as the men behind him grabbed him and rammed him up against the wall of his hallway. He could feel a wet patch forming under the bandage on his head and knew his wound had started to bleed again.
He struggles with them both, but his efforts were futile as they both held him with ease.
"That wasn't a smart move was it?" One of them said as he felt the man's hot breath on his neck.
Knowing he wasn't going to have a second chance of getting out of the man's grip as easily as the first time, Greg had an idea. Thinking quickly, he started to shut his eyes, as if losing consciousness, whilst at the same time letting his legs give way and allowing himself to drop.
"The fucking guy's passed out" one of them said as they released their grip on Greg and let him fall to the floor.
Greg could hear laughing and knew that they had both bought it. Now all he had to do was run.
"Look at his damn face, probably because of what you did to him earlier" one of them said, and Greg could almost hear the grin on his face.
"Hey I did what I had to" the other guy said in mock defence, "come on, let's see what we can take with us whilst we're here".
Greg could hear them walk through his house and down the hall to where his bedroom was. Now was his chance. Opening his eyes, his vision swam but he had to get up. Pushing himself up wobbly, he made his way to his front door.
"Hey!"
Turning around he saw the two guys heading back towards him and inside he knew he wouldn't reach the door in time, he could barely put one foot in front of the other.
But he tried anyway. He was sure he couldn't have ran into more of his furniture even if he tried, and just as he was in reach of the door handle, a heavy weight jumped him from behind, sending him crashing into the floor once more.
"You idiot" the guy said who was panting above him as he grabbed Greg by the hair and lifted his head up, "think you're clever pretending to play dead? Huh!" he said, smashing Greg's head into the floor. Greg was sure he could hear his nose crunch as it was forced to break under the pressure and within seconds there was blood pooling from it.
"Come on, we're not spending any more time here" the other guy said as he opened Greg's door, "let's put him in the damn van".
Greg could feel himself being hoisted up and dragged outside and thrown violently into the back of a van that was backed up onto his drive.
His head felt like it could explode as the doors to the van were slammed shut and he could do nothing but lay in the back, dazed as to what had just happened.
The next time he woke, he could barely open his left eye. It had been swollen from his scene the previous day, but after what had just happened, the whole side of his face felt like it was going to rip off it was so swollen.
"Well look who decided to wake up".
He looked up wearily to the source of the voice and didn't recognise the face that stared down at him, a grin on his face.
"You're a handful, you know that?" the guy asked him.
"Ah, we like a challenge really" Greg heard and he turned his head slightly to see a second man looking down at him.
"I'm surprised you had so much fight in you" the guy said, sounding almost impressed, "I would have thought you were a dead weight".
Greg closed his eyes as he tried hard to think of what exactly was going on. He was so confused. How had these men found him? And which one was the one who attacked him at his scene?
"You better get comfortable in here because we expect to keep you for a long time, you hear me?" he was told. "Your little crime lab friends won't have a clue what's happened".
Greg started to look around in a panic. The room he was in was dark and damp. It looked like a house where nobody had lived for at least twenty years. The walls were stained; there was no carpet or decoration to the room. It was just an empty room.
Why was he here?
"Why am I here?" Greg asked them, and he was surprised at how raspy his voice sounded.
"Isn't that obvious?" he was asked, "You were at the scene, we needed a guy, and you looked good enough for the job".
Greg could feel himself losing consciousness and soon enough the last thing he could see was stars dancing before his eyes.
"How is he?" Morgan asked hastily as she ran up to Russell and Nick in the hospital, tears in her eyes.
Russell shook his head, "The doctors are still working on him. They aren't sure if he'll make it yet; he's got a lot of injuries".
Morgan covered her mouth with a hand and let a tear slip out. She turned to Nick who was sat in one of the hard plastic chairs looking down, his arms resting on his legs, hands intertwined and head facing the floor.
"Nick?" She asked him.
He glanced up at her and she could see the tears swimming in his red rimmed eyes and he looked away without a word. She had never seen him this close to tears before.
Russell pulled her into a hug, seeing how she looked at Nick and she couldn't help but break down. What if Greg didn't make it?
Nick looked up when he heard her start crying and quickly stood from the chair he'd been sat on and headed down the hall.
"Nick!" Russell called after him but he didn't stop and Russell knew that he had to let him go, and carried on comforting Morgan.
Nick brushed the tears from his face as he lost all control he had over his emotions. So long they had been waiting to find Greg. So long his friend was in the hands of those bastards and yet there was no guarantee he could even make it out of this alive.
He wiped even more tears on the back of his hand and thought about the sight of his friend when he and Russell had found him. He had to do CPR on his best friend. His friend was literally dead.
He looked up as someone sat next to him on the bench he was sat on outside and he was met with the sad face of Finn. She wrapped her arm around him and that was it. She pulled him tight as he cried and she could only pray that Greg was still alive.
"We found him".
Sara looked to Finn and grabbed her keys as she hung up the phone, "They found him".
Finn looked at her in shock for a second before running after her outside of the lab and jumping into her SUV.
They raced to the hospital and as they pulled up, they saw Nick sat down the side of the hospital, wiping a hand over his face.
Finn and Sara shared a look before Finn spoke, "You go and see how Greg is, I'll stay with Nick".
Sara nodded quickly and took off into the hospital, whereas Finn quickly made her way over to where she saw her colleague wiping away tears. As she approached she could hear him sniff as he tried to compose himself, but as she sat down next to him, she could see the pain on his face.
Putting her arm out to him, she could see the moment he officially broke, and all she could do was support the man in her arms as he cried for his best friend.
Sara rushed through the halls until she found who she was looking for.
Russell and Morgan were sat in the hall where Nick previously was, with Russell keeping his arm around Morgan's shoulders.
"How is he? Is he okay? Is he alive?" Sara asked as Russell looked up to her.
Morgan looked up too and Sara could see how bloodshot her eyes had become from crying.
"He's alive, but the doctors aren't sure if he can make it through surgery" Russell told her as he stood.
Sara shook her head, "How did he look?"
Russell looked away and then to Morgan who was also awaiting his answer, "He didn't look good, we had to give him CPR" he explained to them and this caused Morgan to cry even more and Sara let out a deep breath.
"Can someone tell us how he is?" Sara asked, keeping her composure.
"We have to wait until they come and tell us" Russell said quietly, "They're doing all that they can".
Sara nodded and sat next to Morgan, pulling her into a hug as she tried to support her friend.
Russell felt like crying too. The state that he and Nick had found Greg in was indescribable. Russell was sure that his young colleague was dead, and after so long, it would not have surprised him.
Nick jumped out of the SUV before Russell had even parked up. Russell jumped out after him and quickly followed him into the house.
Nick had barged through the door, gun drawn and ready to shoot. Russell could only follow his lead as he stormed through the house, searching for his friend.
It was only when he reached upstairs that he could hear Nick say "Oh god" and that's how he knew Greg was there. He went into the room where Nick had gone and saw him leaning over a beaten and hurt Greg.
"He's not breathing" Nick said as he turned to him panicked.
"He's not fucking breathing!" he said again and began to give him friend chest compressions.
Russell rushed over and dropped down next to him, opening Greg's jaw, and Russell was sure he felt part of the bones move under his touch. He lowered his mouth down and breathed air into Greg's lungs. An ambulance was already on its way, Brass having sent one after telling them where they were heading. Russell was praying that it wouldn't be too late.
Nick's compressions were becoming harder and more erratic as he desperately pumped blood through his lifeless friend. "Nick, swap over" Russell told him, already assuming his position over Greg's body.
Nick quickly moved to his friend's head when Russell took over pumping Greg's heart. It seemed like an eternity but eventually, the ambulance arrived.
As the medics took over, Russell had to physically pull Nick away from Greg's body, and things seemed to go in slow motion as they watched them work to save Greg's life.
Finn and Nick joined the others after a quarter of an hour and nobody said anything.
The halls of the hospital were busy and loud, but none of them heard anything until the doctor's footsteps approached them.
"Doc, how is he?" Russell asked him as the team looked up at him hopefully.
The doctor looked at them all, "Please follow me".
The team shared worried looks before following the doctor into a private room.
"Take a seat" he told them as he sat down with a clipboard.
"Greg made it through the surgery" he started off with and he could see the relief in all of the CSIs eyes, "He's still extremely weak and it is touch and go. He's currently on a ventilator which is breathing for him and we have him hooked up to an EEG which isn't showing the normal or usual brain activity that we would hope for. It could be temporary, a side effect of an injury, but we will know for sure if he makes it through tonight".
The team didn't know how to react and the doctor didn't say anything for a moment to allow them some time to collect themselves.
"We're monitoring him closely for any changes, there could be a number of problems arise which are life threatening".
"When can we see him?" Sara asked softly.
The doctor sighed, "You can see him once he's in a room, however I'm afraid I can't allow anybody inside of the hospital room. With so many injuries, some already infected, we can't risk anything. For now it will have to just be through a window".
Sara nodded and the others were still quiet. "Would you be able to fill me in on his injuries shortly?" Russell asked.
"Of course, I can go and see if Greg's settled in a room now, and then we can talk about his injuries" the doctor said to Russell.
"Wait, just tell us now" Nick said with a broken voice.
"Nick" Russell said, "Finn and I will get a list of his injuries, you guys can go and see Greg".
Nick shook his head, "No I want to know what those bastards did to him".
Russell looked to Finn and she nodded, "Okay".
"Shall I begin?" The doctor asked gently.
Russell nodded.
"Okay then" the doctor started, "Our major concern and Greg's biggest injury is the severe trauma to his head, and essentially to his brain. He suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage. Surgery released the pressure on his skull but this has only increased his chance of catching a more serious infection. His spine was also damaged; however the spinal cord was still intact, which is one thing to be thankful for. There is a very strong chance that the injuries to his head and spine have caused some significant mental and physical damage. We will know the extent when he wakes up. If, he wakes up. To recover, his body will need to rest for a considerable amount of time, so he will be unconscious for a long period."
The doctor gave them a moment before he continued, "Greg's other injuries include a lot of severe tissue bruising, over 90% of his body, and there are lots of lash marks, particularly across his back. Many of the wounds there are infected so he's on strong antibiotics to try and combat that. The bruising is consistent with an extremely brutal beating and it looks like many of the bruises have been there for quite some time. He has many, many broken bones. He'll need surgery if he gains some strength to try and fix a lot of them, his legs, arms… fingers on both hands are damaged, however the right hand was a mess when he was brought in" the doctor told them with a soft voice.
"It's highly likely that the function of it won't be much. However, if he can get stronger and gain consciousness, eventually physical therapy would begin and we could see what we were working with" the doctor looked at the group, unsure as to whether he should continue.
"Greg also has a lot of injuries to his face" he began tentatively. "His nose, jaw, cheek bones, everything is broken". Morgan let out a sob and the team shared looks and sighs as they took it all in.
The doctor gave them a saddened look. "If you'd like, you can go and see him now" he suggested, feeling like that was the end of their conversation.
Russell nodded and the doctor stood, with Russell and the team following.
None of them spoke as they walked down the hospital halls until they came to a stop outside one of the rooms in the ICU.
The doctor turned to them. "I was told a few of you were the ones to bring him in?" Russell nodded, "Then you know how he looks. He's on a ventilator and he's also hooked up to many other machines. It will look very overwhelming. Obviously the bruises will take some time to go and just remember that the swelling will also go down" he told them all, trying to soften the blow for what they were about to see.
"He's just in here. You're welcome to stay and look through the window for as long as you'd like" he told them stepping a few more feet until he was directly outside of Greg's room.
The team took a deep breath in before moving forward themselves, but as soon as they saw their friend, they wished they hadn't.
Morgan and Sara gasped and brought a hand up to their mouths. Nick's eyes swelled with tears. Finn had to look away, and Russell just stared in shock.
Inside, Greg was motionless in the middle of the bed, giant machines surrounding him. Or at least they thought it was Greg. He was almost unrecognisable. His face had swollen to distort all of his features, obvious broken bones making his skin stretch in places.
His neck was black and bloody, the dark red substance had dried around a thick jagged cut that went around the length of his neck, covered by what seemed like hundreds of stitches. It was obvious that the doctors and nurses had cleaned him up, but dried blood covered every cut that was visible. The tube that was rigged up to the ventilator, stuck out from the side of his mouth, sat on his chapped, cut lips.
His head had been shaved along one side; a giant bandage was wrapped around most of it. A tube was coming from under it and ran behind him and down the back of the bed. What was visible of the rest of him was just as pitiful.
The top of his chest was bare, the blanket covering him only up to his waist, and he had been left without a hospital gown to cover him. His chest was mostly covered by bandages however. The whiteness of them making the dark, discoloured skin stand out more.
He was a sorry sight. And the team could hardly bare to look at him any longer. Pretty much everyone was crying now without giving a damn who saw them. If they knew what they had gone through, what Greg had gone through… they would understand.
I hope you liked this chapter :P
