Langston laughed when Nick groaned. "You're alive after all."
Greg was in a wheelchair and Nick was shocked to see that. But he gave him a smile. He looked at Ray. "Did we get him?"
"He's in custody. He did bang you up, but not real bad." Sara looked at Greg as she and Catherine went to push him closer. "Greg hit the call button for his nurse when you got slammed into the wall. The monitors were pretty distracting to Ivan. He virtually screamed and Greg's pretty tough when it comes to you."
Nick blinked and sat more up. "What did you do?"
Greg opened his palm and let something drop onto his lap as he rested his hand on the armrest of the wheelchair. "This." The silver piece of metal shone with blood, but it was pronged and Nick realized it was a fork. "It's kind of lethal if you throw it at a certain velocity."
Nick laughed and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and went to Greg. He knelt down and touched Greg's hand. "Thanks. I heard you call me, but I wasn't sure if you were calling me or worried about me." He pitched forward and kissed Greg's forehead. "C'mon, back to your room."
Sara released the handle and they let him go.
Greg reached up and touched Nick's arm. "I have something I need to tell you when we get back to my room."
Nick smiled. "Okay."
Langston watched them go before he turned to the two girls. "I should say that's a very good thing, but what's with the knowing looks?"
Catherine looked at Sara before back at Langston. "Well..."
-Greg-
As he eased his back against the bed, he took a deep breath as the nurse reattached him to his monitors. When they closed the door, he turned to look at Nick, who was picking at his bandaged forearm.
"Nick?"
"Mm?"
Greg rolled onto his side. "Look at me."
Nick didn't at first. He got up and moved the chair closer. When he was comfy again, he looked up. "Yes?"
Greg reached out and began to brush his fingers through the soft hair and it's dark color. His scabbed fingers looked like an abomination to those soft, almost heavenly locks. He finally traced the bones down to the jaw. He followed the contour to the edge of the chin and let his hand fall. "Nick..."
Nick's hand met Greg's falling one. He gently rubbed the back of the hand with both thumbs. "Yes?" he said, looking down.
Greg breathed deep once.
Nick raised his chin and his eyes met those beautiful brown eyes. "I'm here. Don't worry. I'm not gonna leave."
Greg smiled and he adjusted the pillow. "One of my two mysterious boxes have pictures in them. They're kind of like stalker pictures." He looked at Nick's hands and back up to his face. "I've got so many from people over the years. I never take a picture of the same person twice. Except..." He had to build his courage up. "I found you somewhat intriguing. I have one picture for every year we've been friends."
Nick didn't show any emotion, just stared at Greg, waiting for him to finish.
He gave a weak smile, knowing that the blank, solemn face was going to kill him. "I have pictures of you and Sara or you and Catherine. I've got pictures I took at your birthday parties and Christmas events and bad days and good days. I don't mean to follow you around, but I used to snap pictures of you when you'd wait for me by the doors or when I'd get into my car and you were walking away." He felt his heart begin to sink at that solemn face. "I wanted to hold you close. I wanted you to be my idol and savior. It's too much to get out of my head."
Nick just sighed and looked down at Greg's hand. "Is that all?"
"No." Greg gripped tightly to Nick's fingers. "I burned them all." He couldn't read Nick's face now that it was down-turned. "I shut the emotions out to keep working. I taped the only picture I kept of you to my window." He felt Nick's hands slacking and he let go, drawing his hand back. "I got rid of everything that would compromise me at work. Then you got that girlfriend you've still got. She loves you. I won't come between that."
Nick suddenly looked up. There was a fury in his eyes.
"I'm sorry." Greg tucked his hand against his chest, holding onto the hospital gown. "I didn't want-"
"She's my ex."
Greg's heart constricted tightly and he just nodded. "Well, I have a picture of her and you at your birthday party. Um, I kept it."
Nick was about to interrupt again when he heard a dreaded beep.
Greg's monitors were saying his blood pressure was going up. WAY up. But he kept going. "There's something else."