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Chapter 14:

Greg could feel the heat rising in the lab. The smoke was burning his eyes, but he could really care less. Nick had stopped moving and his breathing was slightly shallow. Panic had set in and Greg knew his screams could probably be heard from a very far distance. He could feel Archie's hands on his shoulders. Archie was screaming for someone to come and find them, but Greg could really care less. All he cared about was Nick and the fact that Nick wasn't moving.

It didn't take very long for the paramedics to show up to where they were. Archie had gone over to Sara to see if she was okay. He was holding her up as the paramedics asked her simple questions. Greg could hear her belligerent answers. She was saying she was fine, but Greg knew better. No one got caught in a lab explosion and was fine.

"Sir, you're going to have to step out of the way. We need to help this man."

Greg heard the paramedics. He knew they were talking to him, but they expected him to move away from Nick and Greg didn't think that was humanly possible.

"Sir, you need to move away from this man." The paramedic stated again.

"Come on, Greg. Let the paramedics take care of Nick."

He heard Archie's voice whisper over the loud fire. Archie was pulling him away from Nick and Greg was trying to not let him.

"Sir if you don't move away on your own we're going to have to forcibly remove you. The longer we stand here talking to you the less time we have to take of your friend." The paramedic said.

Greg nodded, not trusting his voice to speak, and allowed Archie to pull him away.

"We're going to have to escort you out of the lab and to safety. Out there the paramedics will be able to take care of you."

Greg didn't say anything as one of the paramedics led him and Archie out of the destroyed crime lab. Greg kept his eyes on Nick as long as possible before it was too hard to stay looking.

The feel outside the crime lab was panic. Greg saw as all the other lab techs scurried around trying to figure out what to do. He saw Jacqui looking around frantically. He even heard her say Nick's name. Bobby and Hodges were next to her trying to calm her down. It was clear that all three were worried about Nick and Greg wished he could make himself go over there and comfort them.

They were Nick's friends. He knew as much. He liked all three of them very much... well he liked Bobby and Jacqui. He didn't particularly like Hodges, but he was willing to give him a chance. He'd voiced as much to Nick. Nick who was currently lying on the floor of the crime lab unconscious and bleeding and burnt.

Greg pulled away from Archie and leaned forward. He felt dizzy and nauseous and he could feel the bile rising in his throat. Before he knew what was happening he was throwing up, chunks of the breakfast he had with Nick landing on his shoes. His head felt like it was going to explode and he could feel the paramedics and Archie trying to keep him upright. The dragged him to one of the ambulance trucks where the paramedics proceeded to check him out for signs that he wasn't okay.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Get away from me." Greg said as he struggled to get away from them.

"Greg you have to let them check you out." Archie said.

"I said I was fine, now back off." Greg said as he wiped his mouth the sleeve of his shirt.

He could taste that disgusting throw-up after taste and he wanted to vomit all over again. He looked over the various heads that were crowding him and saw the paramedics pulling Nick out of the crime lab. He was on his sighed and strapped down to a medical board. Greg pushed away everyone that was in front of him and ran as fast as his feet could carry him.

"Nicky, Nick, baby are you okay? Is he okay?" Greg said.

"Please, sir, you have to move out of the way. This man needs to be taken to the hospital." One of the paramedics said.

It wasn't the same guy that had forced Greg to get out of the crime lab, but he was still tall and stern looking.

"Is he okay?" Greg asked again.

"He's going to be as soon as we get him to a hospital." The man said.

"Greg..."

Greg looked down. Nick's eyes were slightly open and it was clear he was awake, but probably not coherent. Greg wanted to grab his hand or something, but he didn't want to put Nick in anymore pain than he was already in. Greg followed the paramedics until they loaded Nick up into the ambulance. Grissom had come up behind him but he barely noticed.

"We need to get him to the burn unit. There's full thickness burns on his neck and back."

"His vitals are stable. We need to move now."

"I wanna go with you." Greg said.

The paramedics looked at him like he was crazy.

"If you go with us, you're only going to get in the way. It would be better if you just met us at the hospital."

"No I want to go with you." Greg said in an adamant voice.

"Greg, maybe it would be best if you got checked out first before you went to see Nick. He's going to need you all together." Grissom said.

Greg sighed. Grissom was right. Greg could feel himself ready to lose it at any moment.

"Alright... just... take care of him." Greg said to the paramedic.

The guy looked at him with wide eyes that seemed to soften a bit at the tone in Greg's voice. He gave what Greg assumed was supposed to be a caring smile and sighed.

"That's our job sir."

He closed the door to the ambulance and the car drove off. Greg stood there watching it. He could feel something huge knotting up in his stomach. His eyes were stinging and he felt like he was going to cry, but he couldn't because he knew if he started crying now he wasn't going to stop so easily. He turned around. Grissom had gone over to Sara, but the rest of The Circle was staring at him intently causing a certain barrier between him and the rest of the lab.

Jacqui was crying. She had a cut on her head. Her lab was closest to the explosion Greg thought. Something must have fallen on her or something. Bobby looked relatively unscathed seeing as ballistics was farther away from DNA than the A/V lab. His eyes were slightly watery though. Archie looked lost. Really lost like he wasn't sure what to do or say. Hodges looked pissed. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists like he wanted to hit something.

Greg looked down at his hands. There was blood all over them. Blood and cuts and bruises. His clothes had blood on them as well. Blood and vomit. Greg felt himself become dizzy again and he knew if he didn't sit down he was going to fall down. The most of seen it coming because Archie and Bobby and Jacqui were on him slowly lowering him to the ground and Greg could feel those tears that were stinging his eyes fall down his cheeks.

He let out a choked off sob and they started to flow freely. He felt Jacqui pull him into a tight embrace and whisper comforting words. He could hear Hodges yelling at people, who and why Greg didn't know, but he was using a lethal amount of snark to do it. Greg just kept crying and he couldn't stop.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nick's been up for a few minutes now and he can't help but feel like the painkillers aren't working at all. His back still burns as does his hands and neck and everything on him. He wondered where Greg was. He knew that Greg was trying to go with him in the ambulance. He remembered asking for Greg on the ride there, but the paramedic merely put an oxygen mask on his face and told him that everything would be alright.

Nick had expected to see Greg there first, instead he got Catherine and Warrick. A Catherine and Warrick that looked stressed out and frightened. They looked at Nick with warm eyes and soft smiles and Nick always liked them, but he wanted to see his friends. He wanted to see Greg.

"Where's Greg." Nick asked when he saw them standing there.

They didn't look affronted and Nick guessed they would have asked similar questions in his state. Catherine would probably have been crying for Lindsey or maybe even Grissom given the new current information. Nick didn't know much about Warrick, but he figured it would have been the same. They had to have known Nick was going to ask.

"He had to get checked out by the doctors. He inhaled to much smoke and it made him sick." Catherine said softly.

Nick nodded as best as he could give that he couldn't move much.

"What did they do to me?" Nick asked.

They looked at each other both apprehensive and Nick knew they weren't sure how to answer that question.

"Well... you had a few operations. We don't know the details. You had some pretty bad burns on your back and neck and a few cuts on your face. They stitched you up, bandaged up the burns. I expect they're probably gonna wanna do some grafts later on when you're feeling up to it." Warrick said.

Nick made a noise of acknowledgement.

"Nick, I know you're tired and that we're probably the last people you want to see right now, but if you could answer a few..."

"So Grissom put you two on the case." Nick said not caring that he was being a little rude to Catherine.

He did after all just get blown up in a lab explosion. Course it wasn't totally blown up to pieces, but it still hurt and with the new information that Greg had gotten caught in the blast and was sick... Nick really didn't want to answer their questions.

"Yeah, Nick, so if you could..."

"Look I don't really remember much." Nick said cutting Warrick off.

"Anything you can remember would be helpful. Could you tell us what you were doing at the time? That could help us determine what exactly happened." Catherine said.

Her tone was motherly. Nick could tell she was trying to be very patient with him like she would with Lindsey. He tried to smile at her.

"I was working. I... I don't remember whose case. I think it was backlog from dayshift or swing. I was just mixing solvents." Nick said.

His head hurt as he tried to recall the exact events. He couldn't remember much beyond the smell of burning plastic and then being thrown out of the glass walls that encased his lab.

"Did you notice anything prior to the explosion? A power surge, a spark, a smell?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah... yeah... plastic. It was like... burning plastic." Nick said.

Images flashed through his mind. He remembered turning away. He remembered seeing Sara and wanting to smile at her. She had been following Grissom around and Nick remembered feeling sad for her because she seemed to genuinely care for Grissom. He remembered almost turning back, but then something exploded and he was being thrown through glass and the glass was digging into his skin on his back and his arms and his neck. He could remember the smell of something burning and the way it left a bad taste in his mouth and the way it burned his eyes.

"I... I don't really... I can't remember anything after that." Nick said voice breaking just a little bit.

"Nicky."

Nick lifted his head as much as he could to see Greg standing in the doorway. It was clear he hadn't changed out of the clothes he'd been wearing when the explosion happened. They were dirty and torn and there was blood spattered in odd places. His hair seemed to be dirtied too. Didn't stand up on edge.

He rushed over to Nick, not caring that Catherine and Warrick were in the room or that Nick couldn't exactly hug him or touch him or anything. He collapsed in the chair next to Nick's bed and leaned down to kiss Nick on the lips. Nick sighed. This is what he wanted right now.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't be here sooner. Those damn doctors. The insisted that I get everything wrapped up before he let me go. Had to sneak away from one of the nurses." Greg said his voice a little shaky.

Nick noticed the bandages wrapped tightly around Greg's hands and how his shirt sleeves looked wrinkled like they had been rolled up.

"Greg... if you need to still be under doctor supervision..."

"No!"

At the startled look Nick gave him, Greg softened. He grabbed hold of Nick's hand, the one that wasn't squished under him and squeezed.

"What would make me feel better is if I could stay here with you, okay. So don't worry. Shouldn't you be resting?" Greg asked.

"Hmmm... Catherine and Warrick were asking me questions." Nick said motioning as best he could to Catherine and Warrick who were standing idly by.

"Oh, look guys... I know you have a job to do, but..."

"Say no more. We're out of your hair. I think we have everything we need." Catherine said softly.

"Yeah, get some rest okay." Warrick said.

Nick wasn't sure who he was saying it too, but he smiled at Warrick anyway. He watched as they silently left his room and turned back to Greg.

"You should be sleeping." Greg said softly.

"So should you."

"I'm not the one with third degree burns on my back." Greg said a little harshly.

"Greg, please don't right now okay. I'm still alive. That's gotta count for something." Nick said adding on a little self-deprecating smile.

Greg's eyes were wide and he took a deep breath.

"I know. I'm sorry, Nicky. It's just that... I'm a little... I'm a little on edge right now is all. I just... I want you to be absolutely one hundred percent okay."

"Greg, I'm in the hospital. The chances of me being one hundred percent okay are slim."

"Yeah, but you don't have to be aggravated in here. Look why don't you get some rest and we can talk about this more when you're feeling better."

Greg was clearly upset. Not that Nick didn't know why he was upset. It was plain to see anyway. If he'd been in Greg's position he wouldn't know what to do or say.

"All rest if you rest." Nick said.

"Hospital chairs aren't exactly the best place for resting, Nicky."

"Just promise me you aren't going into work tonight."

"Nicky..."

"No, Greg I'm serious."

"I wasn't hurt that badly. Besides we just got off of vacation. They need me back in the lab."

"I need you here." Nick said.

Greg's mouth opened wide. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

"Okay. Then I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So then they come in and start blaming me for the explosion. Like I could be stupid enough to just leave a fume hood on. I told them that it wasn't me. You know that thing turns on all on it's own sometimes."

Greg woke up to the sound of David Hodges's voice. Why David Hodges's voice was something he was waking up too, he didn't know, but that's what he was waking up to. A cranky David Hodges at that.

"So then I told them that they couldn't just pin that stuff on me like that without me thinking I needed to get a little legal help. Then you know what Warrick tells me. He tells me to start dialing. If they try to pin this on me..."

"David, they're not going to pin anything on anybody without the evidence to back it up. They're going to find out who did this and then everything's going to be settled."

"Yeah, but they sounded mighty convinced. Wouldn't be surprised if they just happened to end the investigation right now."

"Seriously, Hodges, Nicky gets blown up in a lab explosion and the biggest thing you can bitch about is the fact that you may get fired." Greg said his voice testy and sleep filled.

He cracked open his eyes to see Hodges giving him a sarcastic smirk.

"You missed the portion of the visit where I bitched about unsafe materials and workman's comp." He said in the too sweet voice.

Greg just rolled his eyes.

"Way to show you care." Greg mumbled taking what looked like his jacket off of himself.

"Nick made me drape that over you. I protested vehemently, but I figured it was the least I could do considering he's in a hospital bed." Hodges said.

"Well thank you. How long have a I been out?" Greg asked to no one in particular.

"I don't know. An hour or two. I'm not sure. They kept waking me up to give me sleeping medicine." Nick grumbled.

"Sorry I wasn't awake to make them go away."

"What were you going to do flash them your scary face?" Hodges asked.

Greg sneered at him.

"Guys, what was that little thing you were discussing about actually getting along. You know you could at least try for my sake. Especially since I'm kind of in a hospital bed." Nick grumbled.

"Sorry, baby, look I'll be nice to Hodges if that's what you want." Greg said putting on his concerned face.

Nick and Greg looked over to Hodges who had his arms crossed over his chest.

"I make no promises." Hodges said.

Nick and Greg both rolled their eyes.

"I should go anyway. Don't wanna be here for any icky public displays of affection and technically I'm still on the clock. Just thought I'd see how you were doing." Hodges said.

"They sent you didn't they. Haven't seen hide nor tail of them all day." Nick said.

"Yeah, well some of them are wimps and some of them actually have to work. They care Nick, but they do have to work. We're pulling extras to try and recover the stuff we lost. Don't think you're off the hook though. Jacqui's planning a big get well soon basket. I'm talking huge here." Hodges said as he walked out of the door.

Nick let a smile play over his features.

"I can't believe that's your best friend. Seriously Nick you could do a lot better than him." Greg said.

"Hey, what happened to the truce?"

"Oh, I only thought that was for when he was in the room."

Nick rolled his eyes.

"So, how's that pain medication doing?"

"It's going pretty well actually. I can't really feel much of anything."

Greg nodded and sat up. He walked over to the side of Nick's bed and just looked down at him. There was something so intense about his eyes that Nick couldn't look away. He began to run his fingers through Nick's hair.

"Can you feel that?" Greg asked.

Nick arched up into the fingers as much as he could without hurting himself. Having Greg's hands on him, even if it was only in his hair... it was too good a feeling.

"Yes." Nick moaned.

Greg leaned down and kissed Nick on the lips. The kiss was soft and sweet, not demanding or unyielding. Just a sweet brush of lips and Nick just loved kissing Greg.

"Can you feel that?" Greg asked when he moved away.

"Yes."

"Oh dear... I didn't mean to walk in on... I'm sorry."

Greg pulled away and stood up straight. He looked over at Nick who's eyes were wide and he had the dear in the headlights look on his face. Greg looked back over at the man, tall and intimidating looking, and the woman, beautiful with an elegant air to her. The woman looked embarrassed and the man look clearly uncomfortable.

"Mom, dad, hi."

Chapter 15

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