[identity profile] anmani.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] nickngreg
Title: Is it worth it, chapter 3, Late night visitor.
Pairing: Nick and Greg
Rating: R
Disclaimer: They belong to the CBS and not me.
Warning/Spoiler: Set after Grave Danger.
Summary: Greg has to deal with his own trauma before he can help Nick with his.



The guard dog nurse entered and stared him down when she saw the baby in Nick’s bed. She took the tray and indicated for him to follow her.
“How long has he been sleeping for?” Her stern look softened and she twirled her hair.
“He dosed off about 20 minutes ago. The drugs don’t sit too well with him.” He studied her feet as he spoke.
“Doctor’s orders. Heal the body and then the mind.” She put a finger under his chin and held his eyes fast.

“I know, but Nick is very uncomfortable already having surrendered this much control.” Her stare made him feel very uneasy and his voice wavered as he spoke.
“Yeah well the doctor will check in on him in about half an hour. But they’re not gonna take him of the meds.” Her voice grew firmer for each word and he was in desperate need of a black hole to be absorbed by.
“Sometimes the mind needs to heal more than the body.” He mumbled loosing all strength in his argument. She let go off him when an alarm went off in one of the other rooms.

“Hey.” Nick whispered as he reentered his room.
“Hey that was a short nap.” He remembered only too well the continuous fight to stay awake at certain hours and sleep at others.
“Yeah, I… it … I don’t know.” The defeat in Nick’s words was heartbreaking and he took yet another plunge on the emotional rollercoaster ride of the day.
“I remember. I could never stay awake. I could never fall asleep and I could never concentrate.” He had seated himself in the chair and drawn his knees to his chin.

“You never told anyone, did you?” Nick spoke quietly and slowly as if to make sure that the words came out right.
“Nah. It wasn’t exactly something I cared to admit. I mean ‘Hi I’m Greg Sanders and I don’t have my wits about me’ it’s not really my style.” He rocked slowly back and forth in a comforting motion.

“I feel like shit.” Nick caressed the baby’s soft hair.
“I mean, I thought I was gonna die. And when the fan stopped.” A tear fell from his cheek to the baby’s forehead.
“I said goodbye to everybody and there was nobody to hear it.” Another tear fell and joined the first one.
“I took the decision.” A steady stream of tears fell and the first few trickled through the baby’s hair.

He listened to Nick’s words and there was no way he could hold back his own tears. How could he ever have thought that surviving the explosion was hard work? His friend right before him had decided to kill himself rather than suffocate. Nick had been driven to the point of no return. How could his own reluctance to deal with burned skin compare to something of that magnitude.

“I was gonna blow my brains out.” Nick’s voice began to falter as he throat became thick with more tears.
“I was gonna leave a mess for you to process.” The last word was broken by a sob. He moved his hand next to Nick’s leaving him the possibility to take it or not. Nick took the offered hand and clung onto it for dear life.
“He intended to leave every thing messed up.” He said as he stroked the back of Nick’s hand with his thumb.

“I was gonna blow my brains out. If you had been five minutes…” Nick was crying and his words really hard to decipher.
“Sooner, you wouldn’t have made the decision.” He needed to see things the positive way or he would be howling along with Nick in no time at all. Nick blinked his tears away and his face softened somewhat. He unfolded himself and landed his other hand on Nick’s head gently caressing the short hair.

“Thank you.” Nick whispered.
“You’re welcome. I can’t make it go away. But I can be here for you.” It was a big promise, in fact it was a huge promise and apart from adopting Louise it was the biggest he had ever made. Nick looked at him first and then Louise.
“I meant it before, come live with me.” The brown eyes were begging and he felt like saying yes without leaving Nick the option to back out.

The door was pushed open before he could answer Nick and a small Asian woman in a white lab coat entered.
“Good evening Mr. Stokes. I’m doctor Wang.” She walked over to the bed and gave them a disapproving look when she saw Louise there. Nick did his best to cover the little child, clearly indicating that she was not to be moved no matter what.
“Hrmmp this is not a place for babies. But I’ll allow it for now.” She snorted and started checking Nick’s vitals and asking him how he felt.

After a short but hefty debate on his meds Nick surrendered to the doctor’s order.
“Mr. Sanders there’s a phone call for you.” The guard dog nurse popped her head in. He turned back to Nick to ask if he needed him to stay.
“Go I’m okay for the moment.” Nick stated without much confidence.
“It’s your boss.” The guard dog nurse barked and he hurried out into the hall before she could aggravate Nick further.

“Sanders.” He said under the watchful eye of the guard dog nurse.
“Hi Greg, is everything okay?” Grissom sounded troubled.
“Sort of, he is having a hard time concentrating because of the meds.” He tried not to sound too sad.
“Do you need anything? I mean like a change of clothes.” Grissom’s attempt to mother him missed by a mile, but it was rather endearing.
“It would be nice, but don’t worry about it.” Who was he kidding; he would love some clean clothes.

“Well I’m sending Warrick …home… I might as well make him go by your place and pick up what you need before he comes to the hospital.” Grissom’s words were hesitant and he wondered just how Warrick was going to get into his apartment, when he remembered that Grissom still had the key that his parents had given him after the explosion.
“Tell him to get some socks, jeans, shirts, sneakers and boxers oh and some shampoo.” He had a feeling that Nick had no intention of letting him leave the hospital anytime soon.

“Ok, I’ll do that. Greg, he is not doing so good, nor is Cath…” Grissom trailed off and he was tongue tied as well. The emotional rollercoaster was way too extreme for any of them to put it into words.
“Yeah but time will help. I just don’t think any of us can begin to understand Nick. And I don’t think that he’ll ever be able to understand what we went through.” He pushed the words out fast, terrified that he would never say them if he thought to deeply about it.
“Hmm… yes well…Oh Greg by the way, I’ve arranged for you to have vacation effective immediately and 20 days ahead.” He could have kissed Grissom right then and there.

“Thank you. That’ll help a lot.” The sigh of relief was way too audible but he didn’t care.
“Greg, there’s gonna be a lot of people coming by tomorrow. I mean Louise…” Grissom hesitated and he knew what the unspoken words should have been.
“It’s alright, I’ll try to make sure we all get some sleep and that Warrick doesn’t … overdo it.” Talking feelings with his boss was like climbing a mountain.
“Thanks see you tomorrow.” Grissom said flatly.
“Yeah ‘night.” He finished off the call and made a beeline for Nick’s room before the guard dog nurse could detain him any further.

“But I can go to the toilet myself.” Nick whined as he entered the room.
“We’ll take that one tomorrow Mr. Stokes.” Dr. Wang shot back. He did his best not to demand any attention but in vain.
“Greg tell her that I can, please.” It broke his heart all over again to hear Nick beg like that. Perhaps more so because he knew that Nick probably wouldn’t be able to make it to the toilet whenever needed.
“Nick just settle for number two.” He mumbled and moved over to the bedside.

Nick huffed letting them know just how insulted he felt. Louise moved in her sleep obtaining full attention by a jerk of her small hand and it was just the distraction he needed. The Doctor finished her business and administered the evening’s dose to Nick.
“Sleep tight Nick.” He brushed his hand over Nick’s head as the drugs were injected into the IV line. Nick reached out to grab his hand and by instinct he met him halfway. The drugs soon took effect and Nick’s hand grew limb in his, but he held on long after Nick had drifted off.

Eventually his awkward position became unbearable and he gently let go of Nick’s hand. Nick moved slightly in his sleep and Louise moved accordingly and he just the loved the sight of the two laying there together. It made him think about Nick’s offer again.
How much did Nick want from him?
Had it been in spur of the moment?
But if he knew Nick correctly it was something that Nick must have thought about earlier. Nick would never do anything like that out of the blue. That led him down another string of thoughts and suddenly he regretted never having worked up the courage to ask for a date.

He drifted of and was woken by a faint baby sound after what he thought was an hour.
“Hei, pappa er her.” He cooed to the baby trying to keep her from waking up Nick.
She looked at him and he hoped that all she needed was something to drink. He kneeled down next to the pram to get her bottle from one of the many bags and brushed against something soft and fluffy in his search. Armed with the bottle and a stuffed toy in the shape of a seal he returned to the bed.

Louise happily accepted the toy giving him time to fill the bottle with water. Nick mumbled something in his sleep that sounded like a prayer. He gently sat Louise up so she could drink from her bottle. Once again he reveled in her beauty and the man laying protectively behind her.
“What do think? Should we live with him?” Her blue eyes locked with his at his faint whisper.

As night had fallen the hospital had grown quiet, only few people passed through the halls in the late hours of the evening and he heard every one of them. Some walked briskly others dragged their feet and some were hesitant. Louise was almost through her bottle when he heard a familiar fall of feet approaching from the lift. He braced himself for Warrick’s arrival; there had been some harsh words while they had looked for Nick.

The door was slowly pushed open, leaving him time to become nervous.
“Hey.” Warrick whispered as if to test for life.
“Hey Warrick.” He whispered back before he turned to face his older colleague.
“Is he sleeping?” The battered look on Warrick’s face told of emotions so strong that he wouldn’t like to name a single one of them.
“Yeah, he’s been out for a couple of hours.” He took the now finished bottle from Louise and handed her the seal back.

Warrick took the chair next to the head of the bed and just slumped forwards burying his head in his hands, completely ignoring the baby.
“Why him?” Warrick’s voice was shaking and he sounded so damn close to tears.
“Freak coincidence. Who knows? But we found him and he’s still here with us.” Louise seemed content with the seal and he shifted his hand from her to Warrick’s shoulder.
“Yeah, but…” The tears made Warrick unable to continue and he moved his hand in soothing circles on the older mans shoulder.

“Sorry…” Warrick raised his head and the teary eyes pleaded for forgiveness.
“It’s okay. We found him.” He wondered how many times he would have to say those three words to actually believe them fully.
“Eh I got you a bag from your place… Griss said shampoo, but eh… I made a clean sweep in your bathroom. I didn’t know which one you wanted…” He could just imagine Warrick staring at his 3 shampoos, 3 conditioners and 7 different styling products.

“Yeah well it’s my girly streak I guess.” Talking about his hair habits was a lot better than anything else and he let go of Warrick.
“Speaking of girly, where did the baby come from?” Warrick seemed just as eager to avoid the night’s heavy topic.
“She’s mine. I adopted her today from my hairstylist. And I’m gonna adopt her unborn child as well. This little beauty is Louise Olivia Mortensen Sanders.” He couldn’t keep the pride out of his voice.

“Just like that, all of a sudden? Or was it planned?” Warrick was stunned.
“All of a sudden! I needed a time out after we found him and I happened to walk by her salon and well things just turned out like this.” He pointed to Louise.
“You’re nuts. It’s a huge responsibility, just ask Cath.” Warrick sounded like he wanted to dismiss the whole idea.
“Yeah well maybe so; but it’s mine to take and I want it. If Nick will let me have her back, that is.” He said softly as he stroked her hair.

“I won’t.” Nick whispered and cradled the baby even more protectively than before, leaving them uncertain whether he was awake or not. The heart monitor had been switched off earlier by the doctor so he had lost his tell tale on Nick.
“Hey bro, how are you?” Warrick crowded Nick as much as possible without actually climbing into the bed.
“I won’t. She stays.” The words were barely recognizable through Nick’s slurred heavy accent.

“It takes a while for him to become coherent. Don’t expect too much.” He wanted to drag Warrick away, but he knew that all Warrick needed was confirmation on Nick’s continued existence.
“But it wasn’t like this when we came in with him.” For the first time ever he heard Warrick whine. A deep breath calmed him enough to explain.
“They’ve got him on a heavy cocktail and that’s why. It messes with the concentration.”

Nick mumbled and no matter how hard he strained he couldn’t understand a single word.
“I would have…” Warrick mimicked shooting his brains out. A cold shiver ran through his entire body as he thought of what he would have done.
“I think I would’ve gone nuts, babbled myself to death. I couldn’t… I think I would have been too afraid that I miss.” Warrick nodded and swallowed hard.
“How could he…” Unable to finish Warrick just placed his own hand on the one Nick was holding Louise with.

“Because I knew you would come.” Nick spoke in a quiet forced way to ensure the words came out right. Warrick backed of slightly giving Nick some of his personal space back.
“Hey bro.” Warrick was down to whisper in an attempt not to cry.
“I love you.” Nick had locked eyes with Warrick and he felt a pang of jealousy because Nick hadn’t said that to him at all.
“I love you too bro.” Warrick hitched out between his sobs

Date: 2005-09-15 03:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pitza.livejournal.com
*is stunned*

uh... forgive the lack of coherency... but wow. I mean... *is stunned very muchly*

Date: 2005-09-15 08:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pitza.livejournal.com
There is a lot more to come
Oh? SQUEEE! That's a promise? You da best!

Date: 2005-09-15 08:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pitza.livejournal.com
lengthy affairs are good. at least now i have a sort of insurance that i'll never run out of nick&greg goodness... *g*

The title is "is it worth it"... hell yeah it is!

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