Last chapter here, but there is a sequel planned, the summary for it is at the end of the chapter. A HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers, you guys are absolutely great!
Wonderful thanks to Yet-Another-Weasley, Kelly, ljae, SLynn, Michele Grahn, stormchild at yahoo, DarkJadedEyes, bene, Mellaithwen, raccoony, Mar, CatStokes, Mar, brainfear, Ms. Elizabeth Granger, Dee, Fwe, Quicksilver, Duckie (formerly A Bloom), Jacinda, Artic Wolf2, justawriter, spikes-storm, Sillie, chibigirl626, lins and anyone else who has reviewed that I missed mentioning.
Chapter 10
It was one of the longest nights Nick could ever remember. The silence was eerie, neither him nor Warrick had spoken since finishing the forms. Warrick had skipped the last section on purpose, refusing to fill them out until they heard more.
Sometime during that hour Grissom had arrived, sitting down next to them. "How's Sara?" Nick asked softly when he did.
"Exhausted," Grissom had replied. "She was in shock, has a minor concussion, bruising, but they said she should be able to go home by tomorrow afternoon. Any word on Greg?"
Warrick shook his head, "Nothing, nothing at all."
It was as if on cue, the next they knew was that the nurse was greeting them again. "Mr. Sanders is out of surgery now, he's resting, but I don't see why you can't visit him. He's pretty drugged, so he more in likely won't understand much."
Grissom nodded, "Injuries? We need to take them down; this is still an open crime investigation."
The nurse nodded, "I'll get you the report, but just a quick overview; Concussion, gunshot wounds to the abdomen and right arm, bruising of the rib cage and collar bone, mainly on the left side, a couple cracked ribs, some internal bruising, stitching to the cheekbone; he turned his ankle pretty good, we thought it was broken by the way it looked, but all bones look intact, we'll know better when the swelling goes down …other than that just various bruising and lacerations. It's going to take a while for him to recover; he's going to be pretty sore for some time. That's only physically though."
Grissom nodded, sucking in a deep breath. As long as the pair could pull through physically, he had confidence that emotionally and mentally they would be okay. At least that's what he had convinced himself.
The young nurse smiled, indicating to the door. As the three stood and made their way towards the room, a strange feeling came over Grissom. Suddenly he didn't want to go in that room. He wanted to see Greg, make sure the young man was okay, but he wasn't able to even make a move towards the open door.
"Um, you go on ahead, I've got to get back to the lab and help Catherine," he told Nick and Warrick quickly. "If anything happens, you know how to reach me."
He left shortly after, giving the two little time to react. Grissom had waited all night as they had, and now he was leaving, just like that. Warrick patted Nick on the shoulder.
"Come on man; let's go see how he's doing."
Nick nodded, following him inside. The doctor was finishing a few things, but nodded to them as they walked by. Both of them had taken in account what the nurse had said, had prepared for the worse, but seeing Greg there, in his condition, was still unnerving.
Greg had his eyes open, though barely, watching them. He managed to smile some, but it was clear he was in pain. The medication hadn't started to work quite yet, and the drugs left over from surgery were starting to wear off.
"So," Nick finally broke the silence, taking a seat next to the bed. "What's all this about being late? I missed my game you know." He told him, trying to lighting the mood.
Greg laughed some, wincing as he did so, "Doesn't matter," he whispered, "your team sucks anyways."
Nick laughed too, starting to deny it, but decided to let it go. "You gave us quite a scare," he told him instead.
"Yeah?" Greg asked, "gave myself quite a scare too…Sara?"
"She's doing okay," Warrick told him, smiling sadly. "They say she can be out by tomorrow."
"What about me? When do I…get to break out of this joint?"
"Not for a while," Nick answered, watching as Greg closed his eyes, nodding in response.
"You get some rest," Warrick intervened, "We'll come see you when you feel better."
Greg barely nodded as they stood. They had waited all night to see him, and had spent less than a minute talking with him. Nick was still worried, despite what the doctors had said. On their way out, they stopped by to check in on Sara; she too was asleep.
She looked far better than Greg did, but it was still hard for the two to see her like that. She had an IV hooked up to her, in the same fashion as Greg; the two had been slightly dehydrated after being brought in.
Warrick fumbled for his pager as it went off, showing it to Nick as well. Visiting time was over; they needed to get back to the lab.
As said, Sara was released the next day from the hospital. Not wanting to be alone, she stayed with Catherine until she felt well enough to return to her own place. Strict doctor's orders kept her from work for a week, in that time she spent most of it visiting Greg.
They had kept him in the hospital for two weeks, before relinquishing him. Greg had been glad to get out, but like Sara, had been banned from the lab for at least a week. He was still on strong medication for the pain as he slowly healed from all the bruising he had received.
Still, the two showed up at the lab often, spending most of the time in the break room, talking quietly. Whenever anyone else came in the room, they stopped their conversation, smiling softly, waiting until the other person had left. No one knew quite what they talked about, but it wasn't hard to guess.
Catherine, Nick and Warrick continued to work on the investigation searching for the two suspects that had taken them hostage, and were outraged when they were unable to find any leads. The two, they assumed had fled on foot, were found no where, until it was finally concluded that they perished in the desert heat somewhere. They sent a recovery team to search the area for weeks afterwards, but finally, due to budget costs, had to call it off.
Grissom took charge of the crime scene itself, slowly piecing together the story that happened. He had been able to follow the blood trail that Greg had left behind, shaking his head in wonder at what he had done. The cliff Greg had fallen down was nearly fifty feet high; how anyone in Greg's condition could have survived that was beyond him. What was even more incredible was that after he had fallen, the young man had picked himself up, and staggered near ten miles to the old gas station. Sometimes luck ran with you, he thought, for the old building was scheduled to be torn down in only a few months. After that, the next sign of any town was over thirty miles away…a distance that Grissom was sure that Greg wouldn't have been able to make.
At any rate, there had been a noticeable change in both Sara and Greg, something that wasn't uncommon for what they had gone through. Still neither one would talk about what had happened, and would pretend that nothing was wrong.
When the pair came back to work, Grissom had confined them to the lab; not wanting them back out in field, still worried about their emotional state. They worked with little complaint, at first anyways, but it was clear that their tempers were rising after only a few weeks. It was a short time after this that Grissom called them into his office.
"I talked to your doctors," he told them, studying their expressions as he talked. "They recommended therapeutic help."
"We're not crazy," Greg told him, resting his head against his hand.
"I didn't say you were," Grissom cut him off, "Neither did they. Therapy is not uncommon in your state. You'll probably hate more for saying this, but I think it will help, for both of you. After what you went through, to experience no emotional or mental effects is quite rare."
Sara hadn't said anything, just sat in the chair, her arms folded; she wasn't even looking at him.
"They recommended a real good doctor, if you two go see him, you would be able to get out in the field sooner."
"Okay," Sara finally piped up. "We'll go see him."
Greg turned to her, incredulous, "What? Don't I get a say in this to?"
"No," Sara said flatly, "We'll go," she glanced at him, a silent look passing between them, something Grissom didn't understand. He had heard rumors that the pair had been spending more time together, but wasn't sure if was true.
"Fine, we'll go then. When?"
"As soon as you want," Grissom handed him the number. Grissom watched the pair as they left the office. He shook his head to himself, wondering if the Sara and Greg he knew would ever come back.
"They will," he told himself, "They made it this far, they'll make it all the way."
The End
Coming soon
Cold as Ice
Greg and Sara want nothing more than to be back out in the field, but Grissom is holding them back until they agree to a seminar up in the mountains. It seemed like a good idea; that was until people started showing up dead without any real reason. Greg and Sara must keep their wits about them as they search for answers, and at the same time confide in each other in order to find closure to their own terrifying experience.