"Ten Mistakes" part five

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

Here’s the last chapter.  I haven’t gotten any negative feedback.  If that’s because I didn’t deserve it, go me, but I think you’re just being nice.  I can’t get better if you don’t tell me where I need to improve!!!

 

Thanks for reading.

 

“Ten Mistakes”

 

Part Five

 

***La Madre Mountain***

 

Greg had cried for what seemed hours.  He was exhausted and more than a little disgusted with himself.

 

“What a wuss!” he hiccupped.  “They’re going to come.  They’re going to come.”  It was his new mantra. 

 

He couldn’t feel his hands anymore.  He couldn’t breath out of his nose and his head was pounding.  He sniffed again.

 

“Pull yourself together, Sanders.  They’re going to come.”  His voice was barely a squeak.  If he was required to shout out for help, he was screwed.  He fought off another attack of panic.  He didn’t want to die.  Why had Nick left him?  If he could hear them, surely they could hear him?  Couldn’t they?

 

Wait.  Someone was calling his name!  They hadn’t left him!  They were here!

 

“I’m here!” he croaked.  Useless!  Suddenly, a bright light shown on him.

 

“I’ve found him!  He’s here in this cave!  We need to get this gate open!  Get the paramedics up here!”  Nick shouted orders over his shoulder while pulling at the piled rocks.

 

“Greg!  It’s okay buddy.  We’ll get you out.  Just hang in there.”

 

If he didn’t hurt so badly, Greg would have laughed.  Never had anyone looked as good to him as Nick did now.  He could see Warrick, Brass, even Ecklie all gathered behind Nick moving rock to get the gate open.  Wow.  They’d all turned out!

 

With out him realizing when it had happened, he wasn’t alone anymore.  Clearly, he was still drifting in and out.  He could feel Nick’s arms around him, pulling him upright.  He sighed into Nick’s chest.  “Can I go home now?” he murmured, before sleep claimed him again. 

 

Safe at last.

 

***Desert Palms Hospital***

 

Greg woke, again confused, but he was getting used to that.  He tried to rub his eyes, but his arms seemed to be too heavy to lift.

 

“Hey, sunshine.  You finally decide to rejoin the living?”  Nick’s gentle teasing sounded so good.

 

“Hey.”  Yeah, he still sounded like a mouse.  Very conducive to his plan of seduction.  “Where am I?”

 

“Desert Palms.  They flew you in.  You slept right through the whole thing.”  Nick tried to keep it light, to hide the fear they’d all felt when the paramedics had been unable to wake Greg.  Hypothermia.  “You’ve got a case of exposure, a concussion, a broken nose, and two-count ‘em-two broken arms!”

 

Okay, now his teasing wasn’t sounding as good.  It was time to change tacks.  “Who was Big Scary Guy?”

 

“I can answer that.”  Brass strolled into the room with an armload of flowers.  “These are from Wendy, Judy and Jacque.  They wanted me to kiss you, too, but…” Brass winked.  “Big Scary, as you so aptly named him is one Nathaniel Tucker, the station attendant we sent you to collect prints from.  It seems Mr. Tucker has quite the colorful past, and wasn’t eager for us to know about it.  So, he objected to the trooper’s statement that we wanted his prints.  We got them anyway.”

 

“So he killed the trooper, and tried to kill me all for nothing.”  Greg was never going to understand how some people’s minds worked.

 

“Well, he won’t be able to hurt anybody else.  When you’re feeling a little stronger, I’m going to need a full statement,” Brass patted his leg awkwardly. “But that can wait for now.  I’ll be back.”  One more paternal pat and Greg was alone with Nick.

 

“Grissom, Sara and Catherine are all coming after shift.  Pretty much everyone has been here or will be.  You scared us, Greg.  Try not to do that again!”

 

“Yeah, I’ll work on that.”  Gratitude battled with embarrassment.  “Thanks.  Thanks for finding me.  I knew you would, I just kind of lost faith for a little while.”  He blushed.  “I really feel like a wuss, though.  And I’m really sorry for all the drama.”

 

“Hey, don’t even go there.  We’re a team, all of us.  You did good.  You stayed ahead of Big Scary and you gave us time to catch up.  I’m proud of you.  Really proud.”

 

Greg blushed even darker.

 

“I have to pee.”  He blurted, struggling to get out of the bed.

 

“Whoa, there, partner.  Where do you think you’re going?”  Nick gently pressed Greg back into the pillows.

 

“You know…” Greg jerked his head towards the tiny bathroom in the corner.

 

“Un huh.”  Nick shook his head, waving the plastic urinal back and forth.  “You want me to help, or call the nurse?”

 

“I don’t need any help to pee!” Greg declared hotly.  “I can manage just fine on my own!”

 

“Suit yourself.”  Nick smirked.  “I’ll just be outside this curtain.”  He stepped aside and pulled the curtain around the bed.

 

Greg looked from his casts to the urinal and thought of his aching bladder.  Damn, damn, damn.  Okay.  That made eight mistakes so far.  He was having quite a day.

 

“Nick!”

 

***Morning***

 

Greg was sure he was never going to be warm again.  The nurses had brought him warmed blankets twice, but he still ached with cold.  The doctors told him that stronger pain medication would help with that, but he’d have to wait another twenty-four hours before he could have it.  He didn’t get the connection between cold and drugs, but if it worked, he hoped twenty-four hours went by fast. 

 

Nick was dozing in the chair next to his bed, with his feet propped up next to Greg’s.  They could play footsie!  Nick snored.  And drooled.  He was still hot.  He gently nudged Nick’s foot.

 

“Huh?”  Nick was so not a morning person.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”  He was saved from explaining why he’d nudged Nick by the arrival of more visitors.

 

“You look like death.”  Sara stated baldly.

 

“You always know how to let a guy know how much he matters to you, Sara.”  He found himself enveloped in her tight embrace. 

 

“I’m so glad you’re going to be okay, Greg.” She whispered into his hair.  “You’re important to me, and you matter more than you will ever know.” 

 

Wow, now he was blushing again plus fighting off tears at Sara’s unexpected sentiment.  It was much easier to accept Catherine’s embrace.  She had always been affectionate to them all.  Grissom held back, looking guilty.

 

“What, no hug Grissom?”  Greg quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

 

“I’ll pass Greg.  I’m glad your sense of humor is undamaged even if your person isn’t.”  He moved to the side of Greg’s bed, standing next to Sara.  “I’m sorry I sent you out on your own.  It seems that whenever I break my own rules for level ones, they end up hurt.  I promise it won’t happen again.” 

 

Well, that explained the guilty look.  Greg didn’t blame Grissom.  Shit happened.

 

Grissom gently probed,  “Have you called your parents yet to let them know how you are?  Did you ever call them the last time you were in the hospital?” 

 

Damn.  He had always intended to call them.  He just never quite had.  Yeah, definitely mistake number nine. 

 

“I’ll call them when I get home.”  He wasn’t acting guilty, no not at all.

 

Every pair of eyes in the room was trained on Greg.

 

“Okay, somebody dial, and I’ll talk to them today.”

 

“See that you do, Greg.  They deserve to know.  I meant what I said before,” Grissom said, watching him intently,  “they will be proud of you.  We all are.”

 

Now he was really struggling against tears.  He felt a surge of warmth from Grissom’s words.  He’d wanted that kind of affirmation for a very long time. 

 

“You should know that as a result of your little adventure, Ecklie had decreed that all field personnel carry side arms at all times.  That includes you, Greg.  If you want to stay in the field, you will have to carry.”  Grissom watched for Greg’s reaction over the top of his glasses.

 

Greg thought about carrying his gun in his kit, but figured that would constitute mistake number ten.  He’d made enough mistakes already.  He concentrated on the warmth of the blankets, his friends, and Nick’s hand on his knee.  He knew the next few weeks would be hard, and he wasn’t looking forward to the changes.  But for right now, this moment, his life was unbelievably good.

 

“When can I go home?”

 

the end

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_slytherin_girl/]

Excellent! And just to prove that I'm not just being nice, there were a couple of typos and a couple of sentences that could be restructured. None of these were major problems though. The sentences weren't even wrong, per se, just would flow better if changed. Loved it!

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

Okay...where were the typos and which sentences. Spill!!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_slytherin_girl/]

Uh, can I answer that tomorrow when I'm not half asleep at work and can go over it again? :D

[kate-mct.livejournal.com]

I loved this story! Love Brass teasing Greg.

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

Okay...but don't forget, 'cause I hate it when I have typos! (I have no hope of ever having proper sentence structure!)

Seriously tho, I appreciate your reading my little fic and taking the time to review. It means a lot to me.

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

Thanks...I love Brass. I think he is the "glue" for the show.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_slytherin_girl/]

Okay, so I did reread the chapter and the only real typo I could find was in Jacqui's name. Normally I wouldn't mention the spelling of a name, especially when it's not a main character (as I've never actually found proof as to the official spelling of their names), but Jacque would be pronounced like Jack which I've never heard her been refered to as...Now who has the un-flowing sentence structure? lol I so can't speak lately, or write, so this was harder than I thought it would be. But yeah, that was it. :D

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

I never saw how her name was spelled,either. I agree with your version, tho. See, I should make you read this stuff first!

I reread it myself, and besides cringing at the writing, I did see some areas that should have been cleaned up before posting. The sad thing is, I had reread it a half dozen times already!

Thanks for the help!

[wojo62.livejournal.com]

Well this was a grat story, I am a sucker for happy endings.