A/N: Hello my darlings! Thank you so much for the positive feedback, you guys are the best! Another prompt from 9Laura8 who gave me another hurt Greg prompt, this time, the poor guy is taking a fall from somewhere high. I hope you enjoy!

Summary – Greg needs help when fear of being attacked causes him to take a horrific fall.

Fall

He didn't like the quiet. Greg stood up from the patch of blood he was processing and walked around a bit just so the sound of his own footsteps would drown out the deafening silence. The only other person around was the officer keeping guard at the front door downstairs. The house was off the beaten track, so there wasn't passing cars or even the singing of birds in the deserted wasteland. In fact, it was only when the contractors came to demolish the house that they smelt the rotting corpse.

Naturally, since Greg was the rookie, he'd been sent on the hour and a half long trek in order to process the dank old house. Nick was supposed to be on his way to help Greg, but had conveniently ended up with 'paperwork to do first'. Greg didn't believe this at all – Nick always scratched the back of his head when he was lying – but the younger CSI didn't pull him up on it. Instead, Greg decided to take it as an opportunity to prove he didn't need close supervision in order to get the job done.

Greg decided to walk onto the balcony of the bedroom to get some fresh air. He leant on the rusted bar to get a better look around the side of the house; maybe the shooter was hidden in that tree over there.

All of a sudden, there was a low groan, and the metal bar Greg was leaning on began to sink forward. The CSI felt his heart drop, and pulled back quickly from fear the whole balcony would collapse and he'd go toppling over the edge. Greg sighed deeply and placed a hand on his racing heart; that could have been bad.

"Hey, kid" a voice suddenly called out from behind him.

"Yeah" Greg turned around, thinking it would be the officer, but instead he found himself face to face with a complete stranger. "Um…can I help you?" Greg asked.

"Cops are supposed to be tough, right?" the man asked with a frown. Greg started to feel more cautious. "So I wonder why it only took one knock to the side of the head to get the one at the front door down."

Greg's eyes widened and his heart started to beat faster again after it had only just recovered from his previous shock. He was probably standing within feet of a killer, and he had no weapon to protect himself, no help to call out for. All he could do was hope to stall the man until Nick turned up – if he turned up.

"Is he alive?" Greg asked. "Did you kill him!?" the scared CSI demanded to know.

"Calm down, kid, he's alive" the man said, although Greg wasn't at all sure he believed him. "He's not the one I'm worried about, it's you and your investigation skills" he started to take small steady steps towards Greg, and the young man found himself backing away, but fear would not allow him to take his eyes off the man for a second.

"Why? I barely even know what I'm doing" Greg said quietly "I only just started this job."

"Good, then no one will notice you're gone" the man said with a malicious smile, and it sent a shiver down Greg's spine.

The man continued to walk closer towards Greg, and the young man still continued to edge his way backwards.

"They will notice, and they'll find you" Greg argued in as steady a voice as he could manage.

"But I won't have done anything wrong" the man said in a sickeningly innocent manner. "Because I'm not going to kill you, the fall will"

"The fall?" Greg asked with scared confusion, and the man just smiled.

"Yes, bye- bye" he waved.

Before Greg could even open his mouth to ask anything else, there was the sickening sound of creaking metal, and there was another heart clenching moment as Greg realised he'd backed himself up against the rusty balcony rail. The young man didn't even have time to react, there was one last snapping sound as the metal broke, and Greg was falling.

It didn't register for him to scream, it didn't even register when he hit the ground. Black spots danced in the corner of Greg's vision and he was aware of the blood beginning to pool underneath the side of his head. His arm was stuck out at a disturbing angle, and the pain was radiating all over his body; he couldn't just focus one on area.

With his last ounce of strength, Greg looked back up at the balcony with blurred vision and the man was stood smiling down at him.

"Sorry kid!" he called "You should have never taken the job!" and with that he turned away, leaving Greg completely alone.

Then the pain was just becoming too much, and Greg let out one last deep breath before letting the darkness consume him.

Nick drove apprehensively up the path to the house. First of all, he had the feeling Greg knew he'd lied to him and was worried that the young man would be mad at him, and secondly, he didn't much fancy being stuck out in the middle of nowhere all night of Greg hadn't made much progress.

These both seemed like minor worries when Nick finally pulled up outside the house to find the officer sat on the ground rubbing the back of his head and looking in a lot of pain.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Nick immediately started asking as he hurried over from his car to the officer.

"I'm okay" the cop said "And this guy just came out of nowhere and hit me with something. I didn't see his face though"

"Do you know where he went?" Nick asked placing a hand on his gun, ready for action as always.

"I think into the house…" the officer's face fell "Oh God, Sanders" Nick felt his stomach clench at the worry in the officer's voice. "I-I don't know what happened to him after I got knocked out"

"Radio for back up and an ambulance just to be safe" Nick instructed "I'm going to find Greg." and with that he dashed into the house, desperately calling his friend's name. Nick felt the fear within him take a tighter grip when Greg didn't answer. "Greg!" the older CSI called as he bounded up the stairs two at a time "Greggo, please just answer me" he begged with the thin air.

Nick was about to walk past the bedroom when Greg's silver case shining in the light of the open balcony door caught the older CSI's eye.

"Greg" Nick breathed, panic over taking him when he saw the younger CSI wasn't in the room. It was then that Nick spotted the broken down barrier were the balcony should have been. "Oh no" he said quietly "No, please, no" he rushed over to the gap and almost couldn't dare himself to look down.

Cautiously, Nick peered slightly over the edge of the gap, and felt his heart jump to his throat when he saw Greg's small and broken figure crumpled on the ground. He looked really pale and there was a distressing pool of blood which had formed under his head. From this distance, Nick couldn't tell if his friend was even breathing.

"Greg!" Nick cried out, the distress obvious in his voice, and against his best belief because he knew his friend wouldn't answer.

However, there was a part of Nick that wanted to believe this was just one of Greg's weird pranks, maybe as punishment for leaving him, and then the young man would just start laughing at the look of utter horror on Nick's face. But, there was no such luck, and so Nick was running again as he pounded down the stairs and around the back of the house, skidding down onto his knees and to Greg's side.

"G? Greggo, can you hear me?" he asked, hands hovering around the younger man's head not sure what to do. Nick didn't want to risk moving Greg from fear he'd just hurt the young man worse, but it was hard to just see his friend lying there and not being able to comfort him. "C'mon G, please, please wake up" Nick begged as he took the young man's wrist; much to his relief, there was a faint pulse.

"Backup is…oh my God" the officer breathed as he saw the sight of Greg. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He will be" Nick said firmly "Greg would never leave us"

Nick wasn't sure how long it had been since they'd arrived at the hospital; he was just nervously waiting for news.

He remembered back to how scared he had been, the pain he had been in, when Nigel Crane had sent him on that horrific fall. Greg seemed to have fallen from a higher point than that; it was a wonder he was still alive. To some extent, Nick knew how frightened Greg must have been, when he realised his feet were no longer on the ground, when he was just plummeting towards – for all he knew – what could have been his death.

Nick was eventually taken out of his silent stupor when Greg's doctor appeared before him in her billowing white coat.

"You came in with Mr Sanders?" she inquired.

"Yes, is he going to be alright?" Nick asked as he stood up from his seat.

"Well, Mr Sanders took a nasty hit to head when he fell; he needed a lot of stiches. He's not in a coma; however I'm concerned about possible brain damage"

"B-brain damage?" Nick stammered; that couldn't be right, Greg didn't deserve that.

"Yes, although I can't confirm anything until Mr Sanders wakes up" She flicked the chart onto the next page. "Other than that, his arm was broken but we've set that back into a place, and there were a few further bumps and bruises, but they'll fade in no time."

Nick gulped. "Alright, thank you doctor, is it alright if I sit with him now?"

"Of course" she nodded, and then led Nick into the room. "Just buzz if anything changes" she instructed, and then left the two CSIs alone.

Nick didn't remember the last time he'd seen Greg so still. It was surreal to see Greg motionless in the bed, a big bandage wrapped around his usually perfectly styled hair. Nick wasn't sure how long he'd have to wait for Greg to wake up, be he would be there when he did.

Nick was roused from his light sleep by the sensation of something pinching at his skin. He opened his eyes slowly to find Greg nipping the back of his hand to try and get his attention.

"Cut it out, that hurts" Nick mumbled.

"So does falling out a window" Greg said with a roll of his eyes "Although, I think you know that"

Nick scoffed "Sure do"

"I haven't gone dumb, in case that's what you're wondering" Greg said. "The doctor took me for some tests when you were a sleep, there's nothing wrong with my brain. Well, nothing more wrong with it than there was before"

Nick chuckled at his friend "Good, I'm glad to hear that." There was silence for a while, but then Nick looked into Greg's still somewhat scared looking eyes he felt he had to say something. "G, I'm so sorry I wasn't there…"

Greg raised a hand "It's okay, really, it was my own fault."

Nick's eyes widened "What? You didn't jump did you!?"

"No! God no" Greg said, and then went on to explain the whole story.

"G, it wasn't your fault" Nick scowled once he'd finished "It was the bastard who made you feel trapped"

Greg shrugged. "Well, I can describe him if you want to look for him"

"Of course I do" Nick said firmly "No one hurts my bro and gets away with it."

I don't know if I'll ever get bored of writing this kind of story to be honest XD I mean, I try to do it in different ways, but I just love the brotherly dynamic.

A special Morganders story next for Valentine's Day ^_^

Keep prompts coming!

Please Review :) xx