Another one shot for anyone who fancies a read to enjoy! x
"Hey."
"Hey man. What you up to?" Nick asked Greg as he walked into the locker room.
"Nothing much. Just got back from my scene so I'm taking a break." Greg told him.
"Huh, it's alright for some. I've been at my scene for four hours and now I'm heading straight down to autopsy before Doc goes home." Nick joked as he opened his locker.
Greg smiled half heartedly at him but then looked back to the floor.
"You alright, man?" Nick asked, seeing that something wasn't right.
Greg looked back up to him and forced a smile out. "Yeah, yeah I'm alright. Just thinking."
Nick nodded. "Okay, don't do it too hard though alright? It might hurt your brain." Nick joked again, elbowing him playfully.
Greg smiled as he walked out but his face dropped as soon as Nick had rounded the corner. He clasped his hands together and sighed. He could feel himself beginning to break and he tried his damned hardest to keep it together, but one tear managed to creep out. And he quickly wiped it away, however another soon followed, as did another and another.
"Would you believe it, Doc's already gone home. So my case is going to be dragged onto tomorrow, even though Russell's already given me another." Nick said as he came back in the locker room. "Who does he think I am? It's impossible for me to do all this work in the same day."
Greg had stood up as soon as Nick walked back into the locker room and opened his locker door. He wiped his face and took some deep breathes to try and act natural for when he spoke to Nick. "Why don't you tell him this? I'm sure he'd take a case off you."
Nick didn't say anything, just stepped back to look at Greg when he shut his locker door. "Hey man, what's going on?" He asked concerned.
Crap. He knew. Greg cursed himself for letting his emotions out at work. "What? Nothing."
"Don't give me that bull, seriously what's wrong? You've been crying."
Greg sighed quietly. "I just... it's nothing."
He made a move out of the locker room but Nick stepped out to stop him. "Greg, please, I want to know what's wrong." He told him in a soft tone.
"My... my Papa Olaf died." Greg told him, his voice cracking as he turned around and sat back on the bench, rubbing his hands over his face.
Nick shook his head and came to sit next to him. "God Greg, I'm sorry."
"I know I'm old enough to deal with this better but, I just, I don't know what I'm going to do without him, you know?"
"Greg you're not old enough to deal with this better, there isn't an age where you should be okay with this. I know it's hard to lose someone you love and we all have to grieve, man." Nick told him.
"He was still young though. I mean, yeah he was coming up to 97, but he was still all together. He was fit, healthy; it was like he wasn't a day over fifty." Greg told him wiping his face once more. "I really thought he was going to reach the big 100. He was counting down." He laughed remembering the conversations he had with him about it.
"He deserved to get to the big 100." Nick told him. "And you should have been able to celebrate with him. The way you've always talked about him... I don't know any relationship like it. I remember always thinking when you were talking about him that I wished I were that close to my grandparents."
Greg smiled. "Yeah, well he was someone I could go to you know, with my mum being... how she is, it was nice to have someone to just hang out with."
Nick wondered why his father wasn't around, since he never talks about him, but this wasn't the time. "Well I'm sorry. If you want, I can go and tell Russell you're going to head home?"
Greg smiled and stood up. "Thanks, but I can stay at work. Gives me something to do." He told him heading out.
"Greg-" Nick shouted and waited for him to look back. "I'm here, if you need me."
Greg nodded, and left the locker room with a smile.
X
Hope anyone reading liked this story :) x
