nickngreg | Fic: Live Changes 23/29

TITLE: LIFE CHANGES
RATING: NC-17
PAIRINGS: Nick/Greg
WARNINGS: Very adult content and language. Graphic sexual discussions
SUMMARY: A casual remark can change a life
SPOILERS: None
BANNER: Created by Bflyw
DISCLAIMER: If you don’t recognize it, it’s mine. Otherwise, everything belongs to Bruckheimer, CBS and Zuicker.

Previous chapters can be found here

It had been two or was it three weeks since the sadistic, homo-phobic, lying sack of shit Jannings had been ousted AND young Dr. Lambach had taken over Greg’s case. It was the second most tumultuous period Nick had been through surpassed only by those first few minutes in the ER waiting room right after he got to the hospital for the first time. Greg’s room seemed to be the center of a tropical storm with red curls that Nick could not stop thinking of as ‘Cupid’.

Whereas Jannings had only come in to see Greg once a day and then spent as little time as possible, Lambach was there almost more than Nick. He was constantly checking on Greg, taking his temperature, making sure his sheets were clean and completely wrinkle free. He and Hodges spent hours working over Greg with first the pads and lately with Hodges newest idea for improving Greg’s comfort.

But first, let’s talk about the pads. After the maggots had been lovingly placed by Lambach under the close supervision of Grissom, Lambach had finally turned away from Greg’s bubble and come over to the small group consisting of Hodges, Nancy and Nick. He asked Hodges about the pads.

Hodges told him he had devised tubes of washable, faux, brushed suede. He had experimented with several fabrics and that seemed to be the most comfortable against sensitive skin. He had filled the tubes with a gel normally used in gel packs used to keep food warm or cool in picnic baskets. He said the original gel was too thin to provide real support but after he had added a few ingredients, he had gotten the filler to the consistency where it could keep up to 200 lbs elevated 3 inches above a solid surface.

Nick noticed that Lambach had almost jumped in the air when Hodges said ‘warm or cool’. He grabbed Hodges and tried to get the pads also but they were too big and heavy for him to hang on to both. He went to the door and asked Goliath 2 to please come in and grab the pads and follow him and Hodges. He told Goliath 1 to continue to guard the door and not let anyone in except him or Hodges unless Nick gave them permission. With that, he set off down the hall so fast; Hodges had to trot to keep up with him.

They came back an hour later. Goliath 2 was looking a little stressed. He was carrying 2 big, almost frozen pads. He was not a happy giant. Then they had to get the pads sterilized while hoping the pads would not thaw completely before they got them sterile. Then they had to get them in the bubble. That wasn’t easy. They finally used the same technique they used to get Greg in the bubble when they brought him back from surgery. Then, they had to get the pads under Greg. Now that was fun and I don’t mean fun ha-ha. I’m talking pure sarcasm here.

Fortunately, the bubble was equipped with 10 sets of robot hands; four on each side, one at the head and one at the foot. Lambach got Goliath 1 and 2, Nick, Gil, Hodges and himself on the sides. He put Nancy at Greg’s head and called Sharise in to handle Greg’s feet. Between all of them they were able to lift Greg without disturbing the little chow-hounds but no one could move the pads. Finally he called down to security and asked for the 2 biggest, strongest guards they had to come up to Greg’s room at once.

When they got there, he put Goliath 1 and 2 in the first set of hands on each side up by Greg’s shoulders. The rest of them were able to lift Greg straight up, keeping his body completely straight. The two Goliath’s were strong enough to maneuver the top pad under Greg’s shoulders and then it was a matter of everyone moving just a little until the pad was completely under Greg’s upper body.

Everyone took a short rest and then repeated the process, this time with the Goliath’s in the last set of hands on each side working the second pad under Greg’s lower body until they had him laying completely on the semi frozen pads with his bed sore completely raised from the surface of the bed.

They were all shaking with exhaustion when they got through but everyone agreed it was worth every ache and twinge when they saw the pain lines ease on Greg’s face and the cherry on top was when Lambach checked all the monitors and tubes again and said, “His fever has fallen 1 tenth of a degree. The chilled pads are working and I’m sure part of his pain has been from the bed sore so now that it’s not being stressed, he’s bound to feel a little better.”
***************************
Nick’s whole world had done a 180 degree turn. He went from knowing he was going to lose Greg to watching his love come back to life. At first, it was so slow that 1 tenth of a degree drop in temperature was a cause for rejoicing. Lately, everything was speeding up. One day Nick had noticed several of the maggots lying on the sheet beside Greg. He called Lambach who was there almost before Nick hung up the phone.

The young doctor was a whirling dervish when he got excited. He reminded Nick so much of Greg as he was during his first hectic years in the lab. Sometimes he had to turn away and get his emotions under control. This time, Lambach started issuing orders so fast Nick could hardly understand everything he was saying. Suddenly he rushed out of the room, leaving Nick to jump to one side before Nancy, who was on duty today, came through the door almost on a dead run. She wasted no time on her sterilization routine and was gloved and working inside the bubble in record time.

Lambach came back in the room preceded by a stench that almost gagged Nick. He took a good look at the plate in the doctor’s hand and saw it had several chunks of rotting meat. Well that explained the stink but what the hell was going on. He went over and watched Lambach go through the same process Nancy had just completed and then he put the plate with the meat on his work table and Nick watched amazed as he removed the maggots that had fallen down onto the sheets and carefully placed them on the meat in the dish. When he got all of them he examined Greg’s wound carefully, removed a few more and rearranged the rest. Even Nick could see the small spots of healthy pink tissue showing in the depth of the ugly hole in his lover’s side.

Lambach looked over at Nick with a huge grin on his face and said, “Mr. Stokes, it’s working or actually THEY are working. Can you see the change?”

Nick answered him with a grin of his own. He put his hand on the kid’s shoulder and said, “You bet your ass I can see the change and if you don’t start calling me Nick and him Greg, I’m going to feed you to your pets. While we’re on the subject, what the heck is your name?”

Dr. Lambach turned redder than his curls, ducked his head and said so softly Nick could hardly hear him, “Rutherford.”

Nick’s mouth fell open. He said, “Please tell me you’re kidding. Surely no one would do that to a helpless child.”

‘Rutherford’ explained that it was a family name and by giving it to him, his folks got an inheritance big enough to pay for his education. He usually signed his name R. Charles Lambach.

Nick nodded slowly and said, “OK, from now on, I’m Nick, he’s Greg or Greggo and you’re Charlie.” To himself, Nick thought, and please God don’t let me slip and call him Cupid because I swear he’s beginning to look more like a little cherub every day.

Nick’s plan went to hell in a hand basket when Greg finally came to enough to notice his surroundings and the new face outside his bubble. He croaked at Nick, asking him who the new guy was. Nick replied he was his new doctor; Dr. Lambach.

Greg looked at him in amazement, then looked at the young kid grinning down at him and said, “Now I know I’m dead. I’ve got Lamb Chop for a doctor.”

Lambach was ‘Lamb Chop’ from that moment on.
***********************************
Two months later, Greg’s wound was clean, he was out of the bubble, his bed sore was healed and Hodges new invention combined with a special rotating bed used for spinal column injuries was giving him more mobility that he’d had since he was first shot. Hodges had come up with a variation of his pad which had a solid frame. It was tailored to Greg’s body and had openings for his catheter, colostomy bag, wound, IV port and feeding port. They laid the thing on top of Greg using just enough pressure to keep it positioned correctly, then they rotated the bed and when they were through, Greg was lying on his stomach and he was so comfortable he still fell asleep almost as soon as they got him flipped.

No one could come up with a name for the pad until Bobby and Steve’s daughter, who came with them every chance she got, asked them what they were doing to her Greg. They were trying to explain the concept of changing Greg’s position for his health and his comfort. Teen-agers are so direct; they just don’t suffer bull shit easily. She looked at her dads seriously and said, “You mean you need to flip him like a flapjack, right.”

Bobby laughed and said, ‘Yeah that’s right, sugar.”

She looked thoughtful a minute and then her face cleared and she said, “Oh then, that’s Greg’s Griddle.” Greg’s Griddle it was from that moment on.
**********************************
Nick still thought sometimes he was dreaming; especially when he could walk in and touch Greg or kiss him. He spent long minutes when they were alone, sitting on the side of Greg’s bed, leaning over him with their cheeks together. He just smelled his skin and kissed his sweet mouth. Greg was so weak he couldn’t lift his arms to embrace Nick but Nick could pick his hand up in his and hold it against his cheek and Greg would smile the most amazing smile when Nick did that. So when Greg asked him to call Collin and see if he could come see him for a day or two, Nick didn’t say a word; he just left the room, got on his cell and called Atlanta. Collin was on the next plane.
***********************************
Nick was putting in hours at the lab again. He knew he would have to take more time off when Greg was released from the hospital and every time he thought about that, he smiled. The idea of Greg being released and back in their home was the latest in a long line of miracles that Nick gave thanks for on a regular basis.

He went to the airport, picked up Collin and took him back to his house so he could drop his bags off before they went to the hospital. Collin had a large box he was taking with him; Nick tried to wheedle out of him what the box contained but Collin said it was for Greg and he got to see it first.

Greg’s face lit up when Collin and Nick entered the room. He said, “Hey good looking, you made good time.”

Collin walked over to the bed. He was trying hard to keep the overwhelming emotion he felt under control and not let the tears start. But the sight of a smiling Greg was more than he thought he would ever see again. He sat down in the chair next to the bed. Nick had already told him about the debilitating weakness Greg was dealing with so he just reached down and picked Greg’s hand up just like Nick did. He held his hand against his cheek and then pressed a kiss in the palm.

Greg looked at him with a shadow of his old self and said, “God is that the best you can do?”

Collin said, “Well yeah until we get rid of your ball and chain over there. I’m afraid he’ll get violent if I do any more.”

Greg looked at Nick and said seriously, “Don’t you need to get back to work?”

Nick said, “Are you trying to get rid of me G?”

Greg said, “Hell yes. Here I’ve finally got some strange stuff and you’re standing there inhibiting him.”

Nick laughed at him and told him he’d been hitting the morphine drip too much and he was going back to work for a few hours just as soon as he saw what Collin had brought him. They opened the box and Greg was so touched he cried. That was another thing Nick had warned Collin about. After all he’d been through; Greg did not have the best control over his emotions. He cried very easily and everyone had learned the best way to handle it was just to wait until the storm passed and then a hug or affectionate pat would reassure Greg that he was OK and they understood.

Collin had brought Greg a computer. It was voice operated with a very sophisticated voice recognition program that could learn as you worked with the CPU. Collin knew Greg was too weak to operate a keyboard but he thought it would be a great way for Greg to amuse himself when he was sick of TV. It was designed for hospital use and fastened to the sidebars of Greg’s bed. It could be adjusted, also with voice commands so if Greg wanted to sit up, he could tell the thing to rise, tilt, lower, turn left or right. He could position it exactly the way he wanted it for maximum viewing. Everyone laughed when Greg tried to operate the thing the first time and was so excited he couldn’t say recognizable words.

When Nick left, Greg barely took a second to respond to his kiss and then he was back to his toy. Nick did not mind in the slightest. He was thrilled to see Greg so excited about something again. It eased a nagging worry that had been lurking in the back of his mind for a long time. He couldn’t help but wonder if Greg’s brilliant intellect had suffered any damage from the physical trauma he’d undergone over these long, long months. From the conversation he and Collin were having, Nick wasn’t going to worry about Greg’s mental health anymore.
***************************************
Nick had been gone a little over an hour and the computer was working perfectly and Greg and Collin were sitting quietly just enjoying each other. Greg looked at Collin with his old seductive style and asked him if he was ready to give him a more personal greeting now that Nick was gone. Collin laughed at him and told him he was pleased to see he was still a flirty slut.

Greg said, “Well what kind of greeting does a flirty slut get from you?”

Collin moved his chair much closer to the bed, leaned over and breathed against Greg’s lips, “the best kind.” He kissed Greg gently at first and then when he felt the tip of Greg’s tongue against his bottom lip, he opened his mouth and sucked that tongue inside. They kissed intimately for a long time. When they finally broke for air, Collin lifted Greg’s hand to his lips and said, “You just don’t know how afraid I’ve been that I would never get to do that.”

Greg smiled and told Collin, “You just don’t know how afraid I’VE been that you would never want to do that.”

Collin said, “You know this is really fucked up, don’t you. I know you and Nick love each other so much. You two really are soul mates and God knows I love my partners more than I can say.”

Greg said, “Yeah but you still love Nick and I know damn well, you will always have a piece of his heart no matter how much he loves me. I also know there were sparks between us when you all came here for our commitment ceremony. That’s why I asked Nicky to call you. I need you to do me a favor.”

Collin nodded and said, “Anything you want, Wild Child. Just ask.”

Greg thought for a second then looked Collin right in the eyes and said, “I want you to take Nick home tonight and fuck his brains out. I want him to be walking funny for the next few days and being real careful when he sits down.”

The next half hour was a little chaotic. In fact, at one point, Collin walked out of the room. When he came back, he was no longer yelling or insisting that he call Greg’s doctor because he was sure Greg was having some sort of breakdown. He just sat down, leaned back and said, “Why?”

Greg said, “Because. My bad times are coming. I’ve got months of physical rehab to go through and I can’t even pick my own hand up. I’ve got to have some thing to work for. Something to hold onto when the pain is more than I can bear and I’m afraid I’m going to be a mutilated freak for the rest of my life.”

Collin said, “But you’ve got Nick, You’ve got every thing to live and get well for.”

Greg was shaking his head before Collin finished his sentence. “No I don’t. Collin, when Nick and I first got together we were so wild, we put the bed through the wall a couple of times a month. We spent so much time at Lowe’s they got to the point where they just pulled out a piece of sheet rock every time they saw us come in. We’ve been together for 10 years now and we’re not quite as bad as we were, but we still get really physical to the point where we have bruises, bites and suck marks on us; or at least we did until this happened. Now, when Nick touches me, he’s so gentle it’s like he’s kissing a child. There’s love, there is always love but the hot passion we used to have is not there any more. If I have to live my life without that passion ever again, I don’t want to live. I don’t want to be Nick’s charity case, his cross to bear. I want to be his lover. Right now, it’s been almost eleven months since Nick got his rocks off unless he’s been jacking off in the shower and I doubt that. He’s holding himself on such a tight leash I’m afraid if he doesn’t let go, he may never be able to look at me as anything other than a helpless cripple to take care of.”

“Please Collin, I want him to let go, give up control and get as rough as he wants to, no…as rough as he NEEDS to. He can do that with you. You’re strong enough to take anything he dishes out and give it back in spades. I used to be like that. You’ve got to get rough with him to make him let go. When he gives up control completely, he will let go of all the grief and pain and worry he’s been carrying for the last eleven months. Maybe then he can look at me like he used to and believe that we can get some of that back. I need him to believe that to help me believe it in the months to come.”

Collin moved his chair right up against the side of the bed. He leaned forward and gathered Greg up into his arms. He kissed him again and it wasn’t a gentle kiss. He kissed Greg nipping and biting on his lips, running his tongue over the roof of his mouth and sucking hard on his tongue. He fucked Greg’s mouth with his until they both were breathless and then he said the same thing he’d said at the start of their talk. “Anything you want, Wild Child.”

He was still holding Greg in his arms when Nick came back. Nick looked at the two men thinking to himself how good they looked together and trying not to think about the fact that he had fucked both of them and would give 10 years of his life to know he was going to be able to fuck them both again, then he smiled and said, “Hey, do I have anything to worry about here?”
*****************************************

Nick was pretty late the next morning. Greg had been bathed, fed, all his tubes were checked, his machines cleaned and he was playing with his computer when Nick finally walked in. Well, maybe walked wasn’t quite the right word; limped would be more like it. Greg watched his love make his way slowly over to his side. He looked up at him with a huge Greg special smile and said, “What is it you always say cowboy? Oh yeah; rode hard and put away wet.”

Nick glared at his smug looking better…no make that ‘worse’ half. It would have been a lot more effective if he hadn’t let out a hiss of pain when he tried to sit on the side of the bed.

“What’s the problem baby” asked Greg with a syrupy smile. “You got a ‘boo-boo’ you need me to kiss and make well?”

“Hell no! Kissing was what got me in this shape to begin with. Your kissing not mine. What the hell did you do to Collin? He was like a wild man last night and all he would say while I was trying to fight him off was ‘I’m doing this for Greg. It’s what he wants’. I was raped in my own kitchen by my so-called friend who was doing you a favor. So give. What was that all about?”

Greg was trying hard not to laugh out loud at Nick’s indignant tone which didn’t quite go with his ‘I’ve been well and truly fucked’ expression. He was so relaxed when he wasn’t trying to figure out how to sit on his sore ass, he was almost purring. Greg got his chuckles under control and said, “Aren’t you even going to kiss me hello first?”

Nick looked at him and started to say no but Greg looked so pleased with himself and so happy he could not deny him anything; which was pretty much the way life had gone for the last 10 years anyway. Nick was still trying to find a comfortable position so he just rose up, leaned over and started to kiss Greg. He didn’t even realize he had his tongue halfway down Greg’s throat until Greg’s happy hums and moans caught his attention. When he realized what he was doing, he almost stopped. Then he knew he had missed kissing his love like this. As though they were the only two people in the whole world and that kiss was the most important thing he had to think about. He kissed Greg until he was lightheaded and finally pulled away to get some air in his lungs.

“How come you can kiss that long and not be out of breath” he asked as he took another deep gulp of air.

Greg grinned and said, “Nose canula. I’ve learned to breathe through my nose and I get a steady flow of oxygen. And that kiss, Mr. Stokes was why I asked Col to take you home last night and fuck your brains out. Because I couldn’t do it and boy did you need someone to do it. By the way, just how big is Collin anyway? I thought you said you and he were about the same size.”

Nick was still trying to analyze Greg’s last spout of words and couldn’t quite switch gears fast enough to keep up with the change in subject. Besides which, his ass was killing him, he had bite marks all over his body, his dick was sore and he was almost sure he’d pulled a muscle in his shoulder.

“Why are you so interested in how big Collin is? Are you planning on switching partners in the middle of the dance?”

“Not likely Stokes. You’re stuck with me until we’re both old, grey and have to hire someone to hold our dicks to keep them from dragging on the ground. I told him I wanted you walking funny but you act like you’re in real pain. What happened?”

Nick looked at Greg with a most puzzled expression on his face. “Let me get this straight. You seduce our friend into fucking me into a comatose state while you are confined to a hospital bed and can barely lift your hands. Now, you want details of said fucking?”

“You bet your sweet, sore ass, I want details and don’t leave out a thing.”

Nick said, “Now I know how Alice felt when she fell down the rabbit hole.”