A/N: Here is the final chapter. I hope you like it and I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it! Let me know what you thought.
Chapter 9 - Slipping Away
"I'm sorry," the doctor began.
Greg felt his heart skip another beat. He knew what the doctor was going to say. It was obvious by the look on his face. He was going to say that Greg's body had resisted to the new kind of medication, and that he wasn't going to get off of quarantine. He wasn't going to get better.
Soon, Greg learned that it wasn't all the doctor had come in to say. Results from the x-ray had come back, and showed that the tuberculosis had spread throughout Greg's body. It was like a cancer, spreading and taking over.
The worst part of it all is that he knew he was going to die alone. He couldn't be in the presence of everyone who cared about him. It was just like his dream. He was being taken into the dark unknown, he was all by himself, and there was nothing anyone could do.
"How long do I have left?" Greg had to force his lips to form the words.
The doctor sighed. "A few weeks... a month... a year, it's not really something that can be predicted. It all depends on how quickly the bacteria is spreading."
Great, Greg thought, I'm going to die, and I have to suffer all that time, all alone.
Greg asked if he could be left alone, and the doctor quietly walked out. One by one, tears began to fall down his cheeks. He didn't want to die.
His friends at the lab found out about Greg's condition the next day. A feeling of sorrow fell upon each of them as they tried to contain their tears as they worked. Even Ecklie felt the tears building behind his eyes. He felt awful about what he'd said to Nick. He'd called what was happening with Greg unimportant, and now he was finding out that Greg was going to die.
Grissom took it the hardest. He blamed himself for all of it. If only he'd been the one to pick up the tissue, then Greg wouldn't be in the hospital, all alone, awaiting his demise.
Both Sara and Catherine fell into a state of denial. Refusing to believe that this was happening. They thought that any second, the doctor was going to call again and let them know that Greg was fine. But the call never came.
All of Warrick's emotion was turned into raw anger. Anger towards everyone else for being so sad, anger towards the case that he couldn't solve, and anger towards the doctors for not being able to save Greg's life. He wanted more than anything to cry like the others, but anger was the way he let out his feelings.
Nick withdrew himself completely. He knew what it felt like to be staring death in the eye. He knew what it felt like to be all alone, and want more than anything to see the people that he cared about. Greg was going through the same thing that he did when he was buried alive, but with one difference. Nick survived that, and Greg was going to die.
One by one, they called him and said their goodbyes. It was an emotional time for each of them, including Warrick who finally shed a tear as he talked to Greg.
When it was Grissom's turn to speak, he was unsure of what he was going to say. He had lost a CSI before, Holly Gribbs. When she died he told himself that he wouldn't let that happen to another CSI ever again...
"Greg... I'm sorry," he began.
"Why? You have nothing to be sorry for," Greg was confused.
Grissom sighed, and decided that it was now or never.
"The tissue. We were working on the same case, and you picked up the tissue. If I had been the one to pick it up, then I would be in your place and you would have been okay."
Greg was unsure of how to reply.
"Grissom, it's not your fault, and I wouldn't rather having you in this position. There was no way you could have known that the tissue was infected, and there was no way that you could have stopped it," he explained, "don't blame yourself for this. It's just my time."
Grissom agreed.
After the phone calls, the team returned back to working on their cases. None of them wanted to leave the lab, in fear that while they were gone the doctor would call again and let them know that Greg was gone.
"Okay... so this is where she was murdered... but why is there blood spatter all the way in the other room?" Nick asked Sara who was working on the case with him.
The grim reality had sunk in with her a week later, and the only thing that was on her mind was Greg. She didn't want him to die.
"I... I don't know," she replied quietly as she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. She slowly reached down her hand, expecting the worst.
"Hello," her voice shook as she answered it.
It was Grissom.
"You and Nick have to come back to the lab right now."
Sara burst into tears. She knew why they had to go back.
The two of the returned to the lab in silence. Both of them suppressing the tears that they wanted to shed. Neither of them wanted this to happen to Greg.
When they arrived at the lab, everyone was seated in Grissom's office, and the phone was on the table in between them.
Catherine quietly got up and took Nick and Sara into the hallway to explain what was going on.
"The doctor called. Greg... he... he wanted to talk to us all again. He's in there on speaker phone... and by the sound of his voice, he doesn't have much longer."
The three of them quickly returned to Grissom's office.
Everyone was crying.
"Greg?" Sara asked.
He didn't reply.
Sara knew what happened, she could tell by the look on everyone's faces, the tears in their eyes.
"No..." she whispered.
A doctor soon came on the line to explain that Greg had passed away.
When the shift ended, they all returned to their vehicles in silence and drove off, listening to the Avril Lavigne song that was being played on the radio.
Na na, na nana na na
I miss you, miss you so bad
I don't forget you, oh it's so sad
I hope you can hear me
I remember it clearly
The day you slipped away
Was the day I found
It won't be the same, oh
Na na,
na nana na na
I didn't get around to kiss you,
goodbye on the hand
I wish that I could see you again,
I know that I can't,
I hope you can hear me
I remember it clearly
The day, you, slipped away
Was the day I found
it won't be the same, ooh
I have had my wake up
Won't you wake up.
I keep asking why.
I can't take it
It wasn't fake.
It happened you passed by.
Now you're gone
now you're gone
There you go
There you go
Somewhere I can't bring you back
Now you're gone
now you're gone
There you go
There you go
Somewhere you're not coming back
The day, you, slipped away
Was the day I found
it won't be the same,
No, the day you slipped away
Was the day I found it won't be the same, oh
Na na, na nana na na
I miss you
A/N: And that's all folks. The song used at the end is "Slipped Away" by Avril Lavigne for anyone that didn't know. And I'm terribly sorry for how I ended this, but that's just what my muse told me(and the evil monkey), anyways, I hope you liked it:)