A/N: First of all I would like to thank the people who reviewed, you make me one happy girl! So thank you! Well, here's the third chapter, hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 3

6 months later…

"Are you sure that you're ready to come back to work Nicky? I really think that you should wait another week or two." Catherine said as she sat down at the breakfast table with her good friend.

"C-Catherine, it's b-been six months. I'm a-as ready as I'll e-ever be." Nick stuttered out as best as he could. When the doctor said that Nick would suffer from some speech problems, he hadn't been kidding. He could still easily think of things to say, but for some reason his mouth just had difficulty saying them.

"Okay, but only if you're sure. If anything happens I'm making you stay here for another month." Catherine threatened. She had been kind enough to let Nick stay with her after he got out of the hospital; he needed a lot of help doing a lot of things. But hopefully soon he would be able to go back to his own home and start living relatively normal again.

"N-nothing's gonna h-happen, I'll be f-fine." Nick said, although he didn't quite believe it. He had to admit that he was pretty nervous about going back to work. He wouldn't be able to do anything the way that he used to.

When Nick first woke up, he'd had barely any control over the left side of his body at all. Whenever he would try to life his left arm, it would just shake uncontrollably. And he couldn't walk at all without the use of a walker, and even that was difficult.

But over time, with loads of physical therapy, he could now manage to use his left arm to do some tasks, but it did still shake quite a bit. And now he could at least walk on his own, but he still limped pretty badly.

So going back to work was certainly not going to be an easy task. He knew that everyone was going to look at him differently, treat him differently. He's been through it all before after he'd been buried alive. Everyone was just always so worried about him, he couldn't stand it.

But at least he had been able to hide the pain from that incident. For this one, it was literally going to be impossible to not get sympathy looks from each and every one of his coworkers. Not only them, but everyone who laid eyes on him would most likely give him a strange look or mutter a comment. You can't hide a limp or a stutter. And he hated that more than he could even describe.

But no matter how much he was not looking forward to dealing with all of this, he needed to go back to work. He hadn't been anywhere except for physical therapy and checkups at the hospital in six months. He was ready to get back into the world and start living again.

"You r-ready to go?" He asked Catherine after he finished his bowl of cereal.

"Ready whenever you are." She said, and that look of worry still never left her face.

Nick threw his bowl in the sink and followed Catherine to her car. He hoisted himself into the passenger seat, and then they were off.

"Are you really sure you want to do this? You know that Russell isn't going to let you do anything, so you could be at home, resting." Catherine said.

"Catherine, I-I already t-told you, I'm f-fine! A-and I've b-been resting f-for the past s-six months, I t-think I have r-rested enough!" Nick said, losing his temper a little bit. Not only because Catherine wouldn't stop worrying, but also because he just had so much freaking trouble telling her.

Catherine could see he was upset, "Look, I'm sorry Nicky but I just can't help but worry. After all of the crap that you've been through, I just don't see how you could want to come back to work ever again."

"Well I-I just d-do." Nick told her. He would have said more, but it's just too hard for him to listen to himself sound like a complete idiot. He knew that he couldn't help it, but for some reason that didn't make him feel any less like a fool.

They rode the rest of the way in silence.

When they arrived, they walked in together, Catherine having to slow down quite a bit to wait for Nicky. She couldn't stand to see him like this, but if he really wanted to come back to work, she wouldn't argue anymore.

They walked together to the locker room, and Nick did receive a few looks as he walked in.

Greg was sitting on the bench in the locker room when he saw Nick, "NICK! Oh my gosh, it's so good to have you back buddy!" The younger man said cheerfully as he pulled Nick into a hug.

"I m-missed you t-too Greggo!" Nick said with a smile.

"Man, how come you didn't tell anyone that you were coming back today?" Greg asked.

"Well, I w-wasn't too sure that C-Catherine was going to l-let me. She likes to k-keep me locked in her d-dungeon so she c-can h-have me all to h-herself." Nick said playfully, earning a friendly slap on the shoulder from Cath.

"Well, it's great to see you man! I'll see you later?" Greg asked his friend.

"I'm s-sure you w-will!" Nick said. He was actually in a pretty good mood now knowing that he was so missed.

Greg just nodded with a big grin on his face and then headed out the door.

"Well he s-sure was h-happy to see m-me." Nick said to no one in particular.

"I'm sure everyone will be. It's been boring without you here Nicky, I must admit." Catherine said.

"W-well, I'm glad t-to k-know I was so m-missed." Nick said genuinely.

Just after he said that, D.B. Russell walked into the room. "Nick! I didn't know you were coming back today, it's good to see you!"

"G-good to s-see you t-too." Nick was eternally grateful to this man. If he hadn't have found him, Nick could have very well died where he lay.

"Would you come and meet me in my office in about ten minutes? I've got a few things I'd like to talk to you about." D.B. said, noticing that it made Nick seem a little uneasy.

"S-s-s-sure t-t-thing." Nick always stuttered more when he was nervous.

Russell smiled and then headed out of the room. "Alright Nicky, what's wrong?" Catherine questioned.

"W-w-what do y-you m-m-mean?" Nick asked, giving himself away even further.

"What are you so nervous about? I'm sure he just wants to talk to you. It's not like he can yell at you for any of this Nicky."

"He c-c-could make me go s-see a t-t-therapist, or t-tell me I can't come b-b-back to w-work, he could even f-f-f-fire me Cath! What am I g-g-gonna do i-if he f-f-fires me?"

"Nicky, calm down! He's not going to fire you, why would he?"

"W-why w-w-wouldn't he? I'm n-not gonna be a-able to d-d-do anything a-a-anymore!"

"Nick! You're going to get better! It will take some time and effort, but you are going to be able to work again! Just trust me, whatever he wants to see you for isn't going to be a bad thing!" Catherine said, trying to calm him as much as possible.

"A-alright, but if y-you're wrong then y-y-you're buying me l-lunch." Nick said, trying to lighten the mood after his outburst.

"Deal." She said, smiling.

And with that, Catherine went to go get started on her case for the day, leaving Nick alone in the locker room. He had about five more minutes to kill before he went to D.B.'s office, so he thought that he'd just sit there for the time being.

Sara came in, told him how much she had missed him and how much she was hoping him the best, and then left to go get some work done. By this time it was time for Nick to go to Russell's office.

So he got up from his bench and began to limp his way over there. Russell was sitting at his desk when Nick came in, "Have a seat." He told his colleague.

Nick did as he was told, and limped over to the chair in front of the desk. "How are you Nick, and tell the truth." D.B. said, his voice firm, yet not angry.

"I've d-d-definitely been b-better. The s-s-speech therapy a-and physical therapy h-h-have been helping a-a lot." Nick said, and he was telling the truth. Things had gotten much better over the past few months.

"Well I'm going to let you keep working, I'm sure you need the money to be paying all of those ridiculous medical bills. For now you can just sort of work in the lab, but I know that you are going to improve, and we're eventually going to get you back out in the field again. I've got faith in you Nick, and I know you're going to come out of this a stronger person."

"T-thank you s-so much D.B., y-y-you don't k-k-know how m-much that means t-t-to me." Nick said with a huge smile on his face.

"Well go on, get out of here! You've got some work to do mister!" Russell said, also smiling.

Nick nodded and limped out of the office, but he limped away as a happier, and more hopeful man.

Well, that's the end I suppose. I couldn't really think of a good way to end it, but I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks so much for reading, and again, thanks to everyone who reviewed and such! Bye! (: