The man sitting on the rock smiled down at Nick, his figure somewhat obscured by the shade of the tree he was under but was by no means enough to hide his identity. His khaki shorts were wet at the bottom, as if he had waded in the water up to his knees and had been splashed by the soft wake of the waves. His hair was tossled by the nonexitsent wind, and his green t-shirt hung loose around his tanned body. His stood up, putting his bare feet down onto the warm, dry land and offering his hand out to Nick to help him to his feet. Nick accepted the hand, and winced in pain slightly when he pulled against the other man's weight to lift himself. His shoulder was aching slightly more now, and he knew it was only a matter of time until it was back to it's full state of agony.

"Mr. McBride?" Nick asked in disbelief when he was finally eye level with the other man.

"Call me Jude," he said with a laugh. "This is not a formal conference, no need for that mister stuff."

Nick nodded slightly. "Okay, Jude..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say next. "I'm sorry, I'm surprised to see you. Here."

"I can understand that," Jude replied. "We never even met. You only know me because you worked my family's murder. And I only know you because you saved my daughter's life."

Nick shrugged modestly. "I wasn't just going to let her die."

"But everyone else was," Jude explained. "Everyone else had given up hope, but not you. You wouldn't accept it. Because of you, Cassie is healthy and relatively happy. You saved her even though you didn't have to, even though everyone told you it was impossible."

"I never listen to anyone," Nick said jokingly.

Jude laughed and nodded. "That's what I like about you. You think for yourself and make your own choices. That's one of the reasons why you get to choose what happens to you back at that restaurant. Because you always make the right choice for yourself and for others."

Nick shook his head slowly. "Not always."

"You never make selfish choices with the intentions of hurting anyone," Jude retorted. "You need to give yourself more credit."

"Is that your lesson for me?" Nick asked.

"I made some very bad choices in my life," Jude continued. "I hurt a lot of people. I got my wife and son killed over drugs. My family name is ruined in our town because of what I chose to do. All the people that respected me think I got what I deserved, and I think I did too. But my wife didn't. My son didn't. Only Cassie did. She was rescued, by you. She lost her whole family, but her life was saved because you didn't give up."

Nick was about to ask again what the lesson was, but he stopped when Jude went on. "I knew how my choices could affect my family, but I chose to ignore what the consequences would be and kept doing it anyway. I never thought what I was doing would get my family killed. But it did, and I have to face that for the rest of eternity. But if I can help you, even just in the slightest way possible, then it'll make it that much better."

"How can you help me?" Nick asked, the words barely above a whisper.

"By making you realize that sometimes, things are the way they are just because. Sometimes we make the right choices and bad things happen anyway. Like when you catch the bad guy, but they get off for some idiotic reason. And sometimes someone makes the wrong choices, but get away with it. Like the bad guys getting to go free."

"There's always two sides," Nick added. "What's good for one person is bad for another."

Jude nodded. "Exactly. It's not always black and white. There's not always a reason for why something happens, and there's not always one way to go about something. But seeing the difference between right and wrong gets easier when you understand that sometimes, there isn't a difference."

Nick shook his head slowly. "Seeing what I have to see everyday makes that extremely difficult."

"But good comes out of the horrible things you have to see," Jude explained. "You help people who can't help themselves. You help their families. You save lives, directly and indirectly. Whether you know it or not, it's true. Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it isn't there."

"I don't know if I can go back," Nick said softly. "It isn't as easy as it should be. The world is just so fucked up and I'm remidned of that every goddamn day."

"For every one bad thing in your life, there's two good things to be thankful for. Your family loves you. Your team loves you. There are people out there who don't even know you that depend on your every day because what you do really does matter. It mattered to me, and it mattered to Cassie. You saved her life, and in doing so you set me free. Without you, everything would be drastically different for everyone who has ever come into contact with you."

"Some people's lives would be better off without me," Nick observed. "I'm not a saint. There are people who hate me. There are people who wish they had never met me."

"Everyone is hated by someone," Jude said. "There's always two sides. No one is ever completely hated, and no one is ever completely loved. But the love of one is always, always stronger than the hate of a hundred."

Nick laughed lightly. "You sound like my old boss. He was always quoting stuff to us. I swear, he had a quote for every situation no matter what. All off the top of his head. He's the smartest guy I've ever met."

"Grissom," Jude said, somehow knowing who Nick was talking about. In response to Nick's confused frown, he answered, "I've talked to a lot of people since I've been up here Nick. It's a small world. And in these 'lesson' situations, I know pretty much everything you know."

"Is this even real?" Nick asked. "Or is all a figment of my imagination?"

Jude shrugged. "What difference does that make? If this is real, then you're learning things from people whose lives you've had an impact on, and only good came come of that. You'll literally make a life or death decision and will ultimately be a better person because of it. And if this is a figment of your imagination, then you must already know all of these lessons that you're having people teach you, so it can't do you any harm. Either side works in your favor."

Nick nodded slowly. "No offense, but if this were a figment of my imagination, I don't think I would have picked you. I didn't even know you. And I didn't know I had an impact on you."

"Then it must be real," Jude said with a smile.

"So what's the point of this?" Nick asked. "Not this whole thing in general, but your whole point. What's your lesson?"

Jude laughed again. "You of all people should know that nothing's that simple. It's not always black and white."

"That sounds like a lesson," Nick said with a sigh.

"A lesson isn't always expressed in words," Jude said. "Sometimes it's expressed through actions. Other times, through choices."

"I am willing to bet my next paycheck that your lesson has something to do with choices," Nick said with a smirk. "I know teaching can be done through all kinds of different methods, but the way I always learned best was to have it explained to me, with words, face to face. It wouldn't make any sense for my life lessons to be given to me any other way besides conversation, like this."

Jude nodded. "You make a very good point. But who says you get to decide how things work?"

"I do," Nick answered quickly, and then was unsure of why he had done so. He frowned slightly. "I mean, obviously not all things, but most things. Most things that have to do with me anyway."

Jude's smile was growing exponentially with each word Nick said. "What makes you think you have the capability of making such choices? Why do you get to choose certain things and other people don't?"

"Because," Nick said lamely. "Things just work out that way sometimes. Some people are born into good fortune, others have to earn it. Some people get to make the right decisions for themselves, other people aren't lucky enough to get to." After he had finished speaking, Nick's own lips mirrored Jude's smile. "You're making me answer my own questions."

"Bingo," Jude said happily. "I could have just said something that I thought would make a good lesson for you and then sent you on your merry way, but it's more effective if I make you explain it to me. Then I know for sure that you truly understand it."

"Sometimes things just happen," Nick said, nodding as he reiterated the point. "There isn't always a reason. There isn't always a choice that can be made."

"So when there is..." Jude began, then trailed off for Nick to finish.

"Take the opportunity to make the choice for yourself. It doesn't always happen, so when it does, it's for a reason."

"You have a very important choice to make," Jude said. "But I want you to think more about why you're making the choice more than the actual choice itself. You'll be thinking about that enough." Jude paused for a moment as Nick winced as the pain in his shoulder increased. "Choices aren't always black and white. There's always two sides. What's good for you can be bad for someone else, and vice versa."

Nick nodded quickly in hopes that his understanding would make the pain go away. "It's only going to get worse, isn't it," he stated instead of asked.

Jude nodded sadly. "You already knew that," he said. "But it's for a reason."

If Jude had continued to speak, Nick wouldn't have known because the wind suddenly picked up, whirling all around them like there was a storm approaching. The light from the sun that was coming straight down expanded the cover the whole area of the sky. Nick looked up, and despite the brightness he didn't need to shield his eyes. He watched as the golden sunlight exploded into white, encasing everything around him. He shut his eyes as the wind continued, and when everything became still again he kept his eyes closed as his right hand clutched his aching shoulder. When he opened his eyes, the vast mountain range drenched by the setting sun was revealed to him. He was standing at the top of a mountain, straing out at the rolling hills and high peaks all around him. He turned about slowly, taking in everything he could all at once.

Nick had turned completely back around to come face to face with something that made his heart skip a beat and tears sting his eyes.