"Horatio," Frank called jogging to catch up to him, "How are you doing? You know since Nerissa left."

Smiling a little sadly at the mention of his daughter he replied, "I'm doing alright, Frank. I miss her, we haven't really been away from each other since I found her."

"Yeah," Frank said, "It seems like she hasn't taken a single day off since she joined CSI, not even for injury."

"No," Horatio replied, "She would tell me it was because she didn't want to miss anything, but I know it's because she's afraid that if she left we'd all be gone when she returned."

"That's awful," Frank said, "I can't imagine living with that kind of fear."

"It's just one of them," Horatio told his friend, "She has a perpetual fear of Xavier returning to take her back and killing everyone that she's come to love."

"Oh my God," Frank said amazed by the fears of the girl who seemed to have none, "but Xavier's dead, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Horatio said bitterly, "I shot him in the head myself."

"Well," Frank said, "At least we know that nightmare is unlikely to happen."

"Yes," Horatio replied, "And for that I'm glad."

"So, how is Ana holding up?" Frank inquired, "I'm sure she misses her mother."

"She does," Horatio said, "The other night I got up to get a drink and a moment later she was screaming because she thought I was leaving like Nerissa did."

"Man, that's rough," Frank said, "I still don't really get why she took that job. She's got so much here that she's gonna miss out on."

"I know that and you know that," Horatio said quietly, "but she got it in her head that she had to do it to get the money for Ana. After all these years, she still thinks that we're better off without her."

"Dammit," Frank said in disbelief, "After all that we've all gone through together, she still thinks that?"

"Yeah," Horatio said sadly, "I wish she'd finally see how much we need her, how much I need her.

"Losing her the first time killed her mother, and it nearly killed me," Horatio admitted, "If I lost her again it might actually kill me this time…"

"Horatio," Frank said, "If we ever lost her… If we lose her the whole team is going to need you more than ever. Ana will need you to be her grandpa, the team will need you, too. I think Ryan more than the others judging by his behavior since she left."

"I just don't know, Frank," Horatio said, "I just don't know."

"Anyway, It's just not the same around here without her," Frank said trying to lighten the mood, "I always enjoy hearing her newest threat to the newbies, I think my favorite was when she threatened to kill Jessup with a dull credit card she had in her back pocket. Poor kid," Frank chuckled at the memory, "Didn't know what to do with an angry, five foot nothing, redhead waving a credit card in his face."

Laughing a little at the last part Horatio replied, "I remember that, Jessup had knocked over her kit and contaminated the scene. Took the kid three months of constant gifts to make it up to her."

"Yeah, he moped around for months trying to get back on her good side," Frank said, "I hope she's home soon."

"Me too, Frank," Horatio agreed, "Me too."