A/N: Keep up the reviews please. Did I mention I am making the medical stuff up? Good thing I'm not a doctor that's all I have to say on that. :P Okay two in morning so again sorry if its not the greatest conclusion ever. I lost my motivation.
Therapy Can Be Murder
Disclaimer: No for the hundredth time I don't own it!
Chapter 9: Getting Back to Normal
He was suffocating and trapped. He pounded on the lid as hard as possible. He had to get out! He didn't want to die like this! "SOMEBODY HELP!" He yelled, but nobody answered his pleas for help. "Nick….Wake up…" He heard a voice say.
Nick sat upright on his bed. Thank god it had just been a nightmare he wasn't in that coffin again. He was fine with plenty of air. He looked over beside his bed and noticed that Grissom was sitting in a chair next to his bed.
"You okay?" Grissom asked looking at Nick with concern.
Nick just nodded. "I'm okay Gris." Was his response.
Grissom suspected that Nick wasn't telling him the truth, but he wasn't going to pry. When Nick was ready to talk he would. Nick suddenly had a concerned look on his face.
"How's Greg?" Nick asked worriedly as he locked eyes with Grissom.
Grissom wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Nick the news, but he decided that Nick had a right to know.
"He's not doing to good Nick." He replied with a heavy heart.
"How bad? What happened to him?" Nick asked his heart dropping and he almost dreaded hearing what Grissom said.
"He's got a pretty serious infection from the burns." Grissom explained not wanting to go into too much detail knowing it would only upset Nick more. However it didn't seem to make much of a difference because Nick drew the conclusion on his own.
"That sick bastard! When I get my hands on him…" Nick half yelled.
Grissom held up his hand to stop Nick's rant. "Nick, Mason and Ellicott are both dead."
Nick calmed down a bit and under his breath he muttered. "Good."
Grissom heard the quiet word and nodded in agreement. He had been thinking the very same thing that Nick had.
"Is he going to be okay?" Nick asked.
Grissom just shook his head in sadness. "The doctors aren't sure."
Nick was okay which set everybody's minds at ease a bit, but not by much when they still had a very strong possibility that they could still lose Greg. Nick had left his own room despite the doctor telling him to rest. Not one of his team mates had tried to stop him either. Once Nick has his mind set on doing something nobody was going to be able stop him from doing it. Now he waited with everybody else. Catherine had offered to give her chair to Nick, but he had decline the offer. He was standing and almost took to pacing back and forth. The waiting was the worst part of the whole experience. Any minute a doctor could walk in and tell them that Greg was gone.
Nick couldn't image what would be like if they lost him. He didn't want to think about it so he just closed his eyes and waited for the news good or bad. The doctor had said that if Greg made it through the next couple of hours he would be fine. Somehow it didn't make him feel better and what was even worse was that he knew it was his fault. If only he had heard Mason coming when they were at the crime scene none of this would've happened. Please let him be okay.
The doctor had come back, but his face was unreadable. Five pairs of worried eyes met his and his face broke into a small relieved smile. All five CSIs let out a collective breath they had all been holding. Greg was going to be okay.
"I will ask that only one of you visit him at a time. He is still very weak, and won't be up to having many visitors right away." He explained briefly. The CSIs nodded in understanding.
They had all agreed to let Nick see Greg first. That was where he currently sitting in one of the chairs in Greg's room. Nick almost couldn't do it at first. He wasn't awake yet, but Nick honestly didn't expect to him to be. He was covered in bandages and looked horrible; then again Nick didn't know what he had expected. It was almost unnatural to Nick that Greg was so still and silent. He was always bounding with enthusiasm and energy.
"Ni……Nick?" A small voice asked.
Nick looked up and a small smile formed on his face.
"Hey Greggo, how are you feeling?" Nick asked and then thought to himself what a dumb question it was. Knowing the answer was that he probably felt horrible.
"Co….could be worse." Greg replied giving a weak smile.
"I'm sorry." Nick responded.
Greg had a puzzled look on his face. "For what?" He asked thoroughly confused at what Nick was apologizing for.
"For getting you into this." Nick said sadly.
"Not your fault." Greg replied cursing the fact that he still felt so tired.
"I should have heard Mason coming." He said thoroughly believing that he could have prevented this.
"You couldn't have known, and besides he was closer to me. If anybody should have heard him it was me." Was the weak response.
Nick shook his head, "It wasn't your fault."
"Well it wasn't yours either so stop blaming yourself." Greg whispered.
Nick finally gave in and nodded, "Okay Greggo."
Greg however didn't respond because he had fallen asleep again. Nick smiled a bit, because now he knew for certain that Greg was going to be okay.
Each team member took turns visiting Greg. The doctors wanted to keep him for a few more days to make sure none of the burns led to another infection. Grissom had told Nick to take off as much time as he needed, and Nick was constantly at the hospital keeping Greg company. Which Greg had been immensely grateful for, because as he had said he was going stir crazy being cooped up for days on end.
"Man if I have to each anymore of this nasty hospital food I'm going to hurl." Greg muttered.
Nick just laughed and replied, "I thought you didn't mind hospital food."
"Yeah it's not bad for the first day or two but after awhile it starts to leave a really nasty taste in your mouth." He responded and then added as an afterthought. "Don't suppose I could convince you to sneak me in some real food?"
"Sure, but if your doctor says something you didn't get it from me." Nick smirked.
"Deal. A cheeseburger would be nice." He said licking his lips at the thought of real food.
"One cheeseburger coming up." Nick replied as he left the room. "Be back in a few."
Nick couldn't help shake the feeling he was being followed as he got back in his vehicle. He knew it was irrational and that he shouldn't be as paranoid. Every time he was on his own he felt like somebody was always following him. He wanted to stop and all the fear was starting to drive him crazy. Nick hated Ellicott for doing this to him again, and just when he was starting to get back to normal after his first abduction. It wasn't fair why should he have to go through all of it again? He hadn't told anybody about the nightmares either. Sure he had them after his first kidnapping, but after the second time they had just gotten worse.
Nick almost forgot what he was doing until his stomach growled. Then he remembered he had promised to sneak Greg a cheeseburger. He pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the nearest fast food place he could find.
Catherine, Warrick, Sara, and Grissom had processed the warehouse that Mason and Ellicott had been set up in. They had to tie up and catalog the evidence even if the culprits were both dead. They found a couple of videos types marked "Patients", but even when they took the types back and watched them they couldn't help but be sickened. Ellicott had recorded all the killings on tape.
They watched as the man with the spider bites was locked up in a room that was full of spiders. As they crawled on him he kept trying to get them off. He kept desperately trying to call for help, but as soon as the stress and fear had been too much his heart finally gave out.
The girl that had been found with all the puncture wounds was seen being stabbed repeatedly by something that resembled a normal shot. Only this one was bigger, sharper, and designed to kill. The two men had been sadistic. They had lived to cause people pain and fear.
Two Days Later
"Please tell me you've come to spring me from this place?" Greg asked hopefully.
Nick just smiled, "Yep"
Greg practically jumped out of bed just overjoyed at the news. Nick laughed at his friends over eagerness to leave. Ten minutes later both of the two men were heading out to the parking lot. Nick was still feeling uneasy and the fact wasn't lost on Greg.
"You okay?" He asked.
Nick just nodded. "Yeah man. I'm just being paranoid." Trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.
Greg suspected that Nick was feeling worse than he was letting on, but didn't know how to let ask him without seeming like he was prying.
"How about you?" Nick said.
Greg just looked at him and absolutely rubbed the one bandage he had left on his right arm.
"Feeling as good as possible." He replied giving a small shrug. "So I here you have some time off?" Greg added trying to change the topic.
"Yeah Grissom said I could take of as much time as I needed to." Nick responded. As they both got into the car and Nick drove them out of the parking lot.
Nick pulled over at a dinner for them to grab a bite to eat. They had just placed their orders when Nick left momentarily to use the restroom. Greg just sat in the booth and started tapping his fingers against the table.
Apparently his tapping had started to bug the man who had been sitting in the both next to theirs. "Knock it the hell off." A man who had a distinct smell of alcohol on his breath said.
Greg looked up at the guy who looked pretty big in comparison. The man looked pissed, and Greg definitely didn't want to cause any trouble.
"Sorry" He replied quickly.
The drunken man obviously wanted to pick a fight though and wasn't satisfied with sorry. The man got out of his booth and practically through Greg out of the booth he was sitting in. He looked at the other diner's customers, but none of them wanted to get in the guys way. The man starting pulling Greg out of the dinner by his shirt. The man didn't seem to need much effort to pull him out of the door, and Greg briefly wished he was slightly taller or at least not as thin. He didn't like the idea of how this was going to end.
The man apparently wasn't stupid enough to stay in the front and had maneuvered them to the back. Greg had been pulling and fighting to try and make the man let him go but it was no use.
"I said I was sorry." He practically begged, at this point he didn't care as long as it saved him from being punched in the face or worse. He couldn't help but think that this whole thing was stupid all he did was tap his fingers a few times in boredom. Now he was going to end up in the hospital over something that ridiculous and he almost laughed about it.
The guy practically through him against the back wall of the dinner, and held him there with one hand. Then the man just lit a cigarette because he apparently had a smoking problem as well as a drinking problem.
"I'll show you…." The man stopped mid sentence.
Greg's face had gone pale the second he had seen the lighter open. He kicked at the man trying to get free. He didn't want to be anywhere near that flame and the bad part was the man had noticed it now. He smirked, and that smirk reminded Greg of Mason's. He was back there again, and the burning pain was back as well. The man moved the flame right in front of Greg's face. He was petrified and couldn't move.
That was when the man got punched in the nose, and he immediately let go of Greg. Nick was looking was looking the man straight in the eyes and he could tell Nick was pissed. If looks could kill the drunken man would be dead. The man had been fine with messing with Greg, but one look at Nick and he was out of there.
"You okay?" Nick asked in a concerned voice. When Greg didn't respond Nick put on hand on his shoulder.
Greg looked up at him with fear in his eyes, and it nearly broke Nick's heart.
He felt pathetic why had he freaked out so much? Why had he been so scared of that small lighter flame, he shouldn't have been.
"You must think that I'm pathetic freaking out like that." Greg said sadly as he sat in the passenger seat of Nick's vehicle.
Nick shook his head. "It wasn't pathetic. If it was me I would have done the same thing."
Greg looked over at Nick and let his words sink in. "Do the nightmares ever stop?" He asked quietly.
Nick looked at Greg straight in the eyes.
"They don't stop but they get better after a while. You can't let them control you." Nick replied deciding to take his own advice. "You always got your friends to help you." He added.
Greg gave a small smile, "You know you have us to help you too."
Nick nodded in understanding. They were going to help each other get through this.
One Week Later
"Welcome Back!" Everybody said as Greg walked into the room.
He had a smile on his face, and he was grateful to be back at work again.
"We missed you around here." Warrick stated and everybody nodded in agreement.
"No scaring us like that again, neither of you." Sara replied seriously, and looked back at Nick.
Greg and Nick both nodded in understanding. Grissom was glad to see his team back together again. Sara and Catherine both gave Greg a hug. Nick and Warrick gave him a friendly pat on the back. That was when the call came in another call came in. The team of six headed out to their vehicles, things were finally starting to get back to normal.
A/N: Okay I'm done with the fic now and this was my longest chapter. So yeah my first complete multi-chapter fanfic. I hope the ending wasn't as horrible as I think it was. Still don't know if I'm satisfied with the ending. Everybody who reviewed thank you so much for reviewing. See happy ending for everybody.