~Inside Grissom's office~
Nick followed Grissom into his office. Grissom walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair.
"Take a seat Nick." Nick walked over to a chair and sat down across from his old mentor.
"I've become concerned Nick. From what I've seen at the hospital and now in the A/V lab it's come to my attention that you're behaving less like a friend and more like an enraged lover. Is there something going on that I should know Nick?" Grissom asked tentatively.
Nick didn't speak. He couldn't tell Grissom the truth. If he told him that he was deeply in love with Greg, he would be taken off the case and he couldn't let that happen.
Grissom sat patiently waiting for Nick to answer him. He watched Nick nervously tap his thigh with his index finger and the way he looked anywhere, but at him and the dry throat he had suddenly developed that caused his Adam's apple to bob up and down. All were telltale signs that he was nervous. Even Nick Stokes a CSI level 3 was exhibiting them like a neon beacon.
After a few minutes went by Nick finally began to speak.
"When you guys rescued me from that coffin, I was a mess. I had nightmares; Nightmares that had me screaming in the night, bawling like a baby and sweating like a pig." He began with a nervous tone in his voice.
"Then there were the tight spaces, I couldn't even enter a car without hyperventilating, but what really stayed with me; even to this day, is the scars I have from those damn ants." Nick involuntarily shivered from the memory of the ants crawling all over his body; biting at his skin like he was a nice juicy T-Bone steak.
"When they started biting me and the darkness started closing in on me, I gave up. I gave up Grissom. When you guys found me, I was a broken man ready to eat a bullet just to get away from it all." Tears sprang to Nick's eyes and his voice squeaked at the end.
He took a moment to get a hold on his emotions then continued his story. Getting to the part that really needed to be told.
"But do you want to know what stopped me? Greg's voice, not Warrick, Cath, Sara, Brass or even you. Just Greg. He stopped me with a simple word, 'don't'. He helped me through the hard times after I was found. He showed me to see past my scars, to see what they really were…survival marks. So please Grissom don't take me off this case. I need to find and save him, like he saved me." Nick pleaded.
Grissom didn't say anything for a few moments. Digesting what he had just heard. With a reluctant sigh, he looked up from his clasped hands at the CSI across from him.
"Nick I know you're going to be very upset when I tell you this, but I'm afraid I don't have a choice now. You're just too emotionally involved in this case, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you off both cases; Lothspeich's and Greg's." Grissom said, mentally preparing himself for the Texan's anger he was about to receive, but was surprised when he was met with his silence.
Nick stared down at the floor, his shoulders hunched over and his hands clasped together.
"Nick?"
Upon hearing his name, Nick looked up and Grissom could see the rage boiling behind his usual laugh filled eyes, but he could tell that Nick was holding it in.
"Don't do this Grissom, please. I need to be a part of this." There was so much pain dripping from his voice that Grissom's heart clenched. He was tempted to take back everything that he'd just said, but he couldn't risk Nick losing control again.
"I'm sorry Nick. I really am, but I can't risk you losing control again, or even accidentally contaminating evidence. I'm going to send you home and I promise we'll keep you updated on Greg's case, but I can't have you working it. That's the best I can do." Grissom apologized, hating what he was doing, but knowing it was the right thing to do.
Nick rose from his chair and stared down at Grissom. He had no words to say to him. All he could think was that this was the man who was preventing him from finding Greg.
Without a word Nick walked out of Grissom's office in a scarily calm manner, which put Grissom's nerves on edge.
Warrick was going through the tapes again with Archie, while Catherine and Sara went over the meager evidence they had collected from Greg's hospital room.
As Archie was putting another tape in, Warrick saw Nick walk by the A/V lab with a stride of determination.
"Hey Arch how 'bout you get started on these tapes again without me, I have to go check something out." Without waiting for a reply, he walked out of the room and followed the direction Nick had gone.
When Nick entered the locker room, he walked straight for his locker and instead of opening his locker he just stood in front of it, staring or more glaring at it in a weird kind of glaring contest.
Grissom's words kept going through his head like a sick mantra.
"Off the case…off the case…off the case…"
He growled in anger and slammed his knuckles into the metal surface of his locker. The clanging of the skin on metal contact sounded throughout the room and with each fist that made contact with the metal Nick grunted, not in pain, but from the anger he was feeling towards Grissom for taking him off the case, Greg for getting himself into trouble and for Greg taking off and finally for himself for not telling Greg how he really felt about him.
The skin on his knuckles broke and blood started to stream down his hands, smearing across the locker, but he didn't even notice, he just kept hitting away at the locker like a punching bag.
Huge fist sized dents were now mapping every space on the locker, there almost wasn't a smooth part left on it. He probably would have gone on punching it forever, if it hadn't been for two strong arms grabbing both his arms and dragging him away from his locker.
"Cool it man! Just take a breather and tell me what the fuck is going on in that thick head of yours." Nick recognized the voice as Warrick's, he lowered his arms that were still upright in a fighting position and took a few deep breaths then sat down on the bench after Warrick released him from his hold.
Warrick sat down next to his friend and waited for him to explain himself.
"Grissom took me off Greg's case, and the Lothspeich case. He said I'm too emotionally involved." Nick said with a shaky breath, still working off the adrenaline he was feeling inside of him.
Warrick shook his head, looking up at the ceiling then back at this friend.
"This is the third time I've had to physically pull you away from doing something stupid, but I guess this time I was too late. I don't think your locker's going to be working properly ever again. You need to tell me what's going through that head of yours man, because I'm starting to get concerned man." He said looking over at the destroyed locker.
"Its not fair man, we've all had personal cases before, but not one of us has ever been taken off of them. No matter the situation, but when I get a case that means the world to me, I'm always taken off. It's like Grissom is deliberately trying to keep me from finding answers that I need." Nick knew he was rambling, but he just didn't have the right words to express how he was feeling.
"You know that's bull Nick, not only about the personal cases, but about Grissom keeping answers from you on purpose. Yes we've all had personal cases before, but I can say with absolute certainty that each and every personal case we have had, we've been taken off of at least half of them. Grissom may love to send us through hoops when we're trying to find answers, but if it's something as important as this, he wouldn't keep it from you, even if he knew it would tear you apart." Warrick assured him.
He looked down at Nick's bleeding knuckles and sighed.
"Come on we should get Doc Robbins to fix those up for you. Don't want them getting infected." Warrick stood up from the bench. After a few moments Nick did as well. He was still numb to the pain, but when he looked down at the injuries he had inflicted upon something, he knew it was bad, but he didn't really seem to care.
Greg was out there somewhere and he had no idea where and now that he was off the case, he probably never would…or maybe he could.
"Yeah that's probably a good idea." Nick and Warrick walked out of the room and headed down to Doc Robbins morgue.
~Greg's room in the sanctum~
After Greg had been untied, he attempted to stand up, but his ribs were protesting the movement. He grunted in pain and eased himself back down to his original position.
"Need some help?"
Greg looked up and saw his father's offering hand. Knowing the difference between staying in the chair and actually doing something about the pain, he was confused on whether he should accept his father's help or not.
Without much choice Greg took the offered hand. His father eased him up from the chair then helped him into the bathroom, where he deposited him on the closed toilet seat.
"I'm going to run a shower for you then when you're done with your shower, Korey will be waiting in your bedroom to clean and bandage your injuries." George made sure the temperature was warm enough then turned around heading for the door, but before he left he looked back at Greg who was still sitting down.
"If you need anything else, just let me know." Greg nodded then George left, closing the door behind him.
Greg eased himself up from his modified chair and slowly made his way over to the shower. With each step he took, it felt like all the bones in his body were snapping in half. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and die.
He was relieved when he made it to the shower, but that relief was short lived when he remembered he would have to undress. If he had more clothes he would have just stepped into the shower with his clothes on, but that was not the case and he really didn't want to have to trudge around in wet clothing, so he started the painful process of getting out his clothes.
He leaned up against the wall and groaned in pain from having to bend over, but he was determined to finish, so he worked through the pain of untying his shoelaces then pulled his sneakers off along with his shoes. Shoes and socks down, now came to his shirt.
This was going to be the hardest, judging by the blinding pain emitting from his entire torso. With a moment of preparation for the pain about to come, he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled the material up hissing in pain from the material of the shirt grazing over some sensitive bruising on his ribs. He managed to pull the shirt up to his chest before the pain and exertion of moving his arms and body became too much, so he was forced to release the material and let it fall back into place.
"Need some help?" Asked a familiar voice.
Greg looked to the doorway seeing Korey leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded against her chest.
Not wanting to admit defeat, he said no and once again attempted to take his shirt off.
Korey watched in mild amusement as Greg once again attempted to undress. She would have laughed, had it not been for the barely audible, but still audible gasps of pains coming from the struggling man a few feet away from her.
Contrary to what people believed she was not heartless. She wanted so much to help Greg escape from this imprisonment, but she couldn't because she was a prisoner herself.
When she had first found out she was a shifter she had refused to believe that the natural laws of science could be wrong, so she had gone on living her life. It wasn't until George had sent a group of his men, specifically the vile being known as Sean and his lackeys, to bring her into the sanctum.
What happened next while being held, told her that if she didn't do as she was told he would kill her brother Christopher. He proved he could do it too by using his ability on her.
The pain had been excruciating and while she screamed, Sean had stood in the background smiling. She knew because she could see his reflection in a picture frame of the California sunset. So here she was 6 months later and she was forced to do George's bidding or else face having to watch George kill Chris, while Sean held her struggling form with a shit eating grin on his face.
When she became bored of watching Greg struggle with his shirt, she got up from the wall and walked over to Greg. She grabbed his arms to stop him from moving.
"If you're done making a fool of yourself, let me help you with this." Without waiting for an answer she reached down and in one fluid motion, with a small gasp of pain from Greg, she managed to lift the shirt up over his head then tossed the garment onto the floor.
Greg avoided eye contact with her, instead opting to look at the floor. He was very uncomfortable standing in front of Korey half naked and it definitely wasn't due to sexual attraction, more because he felt very vulnerable in this state.
She made a move towards him with her hand, Greg involuntarily flinched away. Her hand fell back to her side and she took a step back.
"You don't have to be afraid of me Greg, I promise I'm not going to hurt you." She said like she was soothing a frightened kitten, ironically enough that's exactly what Greg resembled at that moment with his arms tucked up against his chest, his head down and his body slightly trembling.
"Yeah, why should I believe that? The last time you were this close to me, you were sticking me with a needle for a nice game of Greg ball." Greg retorted.
"Look I know I might come off as a bipolar bitch, but the truth is it's all just a mask." She began to reason with him. She figured that the only way to get Greg to trust her was to show him her own wounds, so that's what she was going to do.
She looked at Greg; by the curious expression on his face she knew she had his attention.
"When I first found out I was a shifter I denied it, I guess you could say that I wanted to live a normal life, but fate had other plans for me. I got home from work and just as I was putting my car and house keys down, Sean grabbed me from behind. I tried to fight back, but he was too strong. He dragged me over to a chair and forced me down onto it. You don't even have to guess to know that it was your father who walked out of my kitchen eating a green apple. He greeted me, next thing I know I'm seeing black. When I woke up I was in George's office and he told me that if I didn't do as I was told he would personally kill my brother. So you see, we both have people that we're fighting to keep alive by doing things we wish we didn't have to." She concluded.
Greg sighed and nervously bit his lower lip.
"Thanks for telling me that, but I think I can get undressed by myself now." He said without making eye contact with her.
She nodded her head in understanding then walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Just as she was turning around she jumped in fright as her heart skipped a beat when she suddenly saw Sean standing in front of her.
"S-Sean don't you know it's not polite to sneak up on people?" She brushed past him then walked over to the bed where the first aid kit was set up.
"So is spreading gossip." he replied.
Korey stopped what she was doing for a second, before she quickly regained her composure and went on as if his comment hadn't gotten to her.
"I don't know what you're talking about. The only gossip I've heard is that George supposedly likes to add cinnamon to his special stew that he's always talking about." She replied.
"Don't play dumb with me Korey, I know you've been poisoning Greg's mind with your little pity story. So I'm warning you now, talk to him again about the past and I will kill you." He was now standing behind her and was whispering in her ear.
Sean pulled back and smiled.
"Tell Greg when he gets out his shower to meet me in the briefing room." He said.
Korey nodded mutely then Sean walked out of the room with a skip in his stride, obviously happy about threatening another person's life.
From inside the bathroom Greg was listening in on the conversation, from the other side of the door with a puzzled expression on his face. Just what exactly was going on? Whatever it was he was going to find out.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you want more your going to have to review! Next chapter will deal with the break in into the lab and Grissom and his team find a piece of evidence that could possibly help them find Greg.