AN: Thanks for the reviews and for adding the story to your alerts/favorites! Special thanks to Brina for discussing the story with me. You're amazing!

Kristina hadn't spoken to Flack in three months. At least not outside of work. They were adult enough to remain professional, but when they were off the clock they didn't even acknowledge each other.

At first, Kristina had felt fine. She was still upbeat and had a lot of energy. She went out almost every night and always ended up going home with some stranger. But the past couple of weeks she could feel herself slipping back into a depression. Some days she was happy and fine. Others she was sad and didn't want to get out of bed.

To make matters worse, Flack seemed to have stopped caring about her. Ever since the night they had gotten into that fight, he ignored her. She assumed that he didn't want to wait for her to ask for help and had just given up.

Kristina had to admit that she missed him. She missed not getting to tease him everyday at work. She missed not getting to have lunch or dinner with him. Hell, she just missed being able to stand close to him. Kristina felt like a part of her disappeared the night he walked out her door. A part of her that she didn't realize existed. The part that belonged to Donald Flack.

Kristina took another swig of whiskey from the bottle. She was in so much pain because of him. She just wanted it to go away. She had to do something to get rid of it. She had to make the pain go away.

Getting up from the table, Kristina carried the bottle of whiskey into the bathroom. She set it down on the counter and looked in the mirror. Who was this person staring back at her? Her once bright green eyes were now cold and lifeless. Kristina didn't recognize herself and that scared her.

Her foreign eyes fell on her razor. No, she couldn't. But maybe. Just maybe it would help. She knew it wasn't healthy, but how many times had she heard someone say that it helped make the pain disappear. At least for a little bit. Kristina made up her mind in a split second.

She took another swig of whiskey and picked up the razor. She easily removed one of the blades and just held it in her hand for a moment. Kristina took one last swig and then touched the blade to the skin of her wrist.

All of her pain seemed to melt away. It left her body along with the small drops of blood. She had cut deep enough to draw blood, but not too deep. And she had placed it in a perfect position so that her watch band would cover it. She sighed and slid down to the floor. Resting her head against the wall, she cried small tears of relief. She felt a little better. She hadn't felt like this in a long time.

Flack lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. He had been awake for about an hour and could not get back to sleep. He had no idea what had woken him up, but it would not let him fall asleep again.

Flack's thoughts turned to Kristina. He had been thinking about her a lot lately. He missed her. He missed the smell of her shampoo. He missed being able to hug her. He missed seeing her smile.

Over the past couple of weeks Kristina had stopped smiling. She seemed to be slipping back into a depression. He wished he could be there for her but…

To be honest, he couldn't think of a reason why he couldn't be there for her. It had been him who walked away without a word. It was him who had stopped answering her calls and stopped seeing her outside of work. She had tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't let her. He pushed her away. So that meant he could pull her back couldn't he?

Flack made up his mind in a matter of seconds. He got up and quickly got dressed. He grabbed his keys and walked out the door. He was going to see her. He was going to help her.

Flack knocked, but received no answer. He knew that she had to be home because he had seen her light on when he walked by the building. Kris never left her lights on when she wasn't home. He raised his hand to knock again when the door opened.

Kristina was standing before him. It was obvious she had been crying and drinking. She was wearing her favorite shirt from her college, Pace University, and a pair of his high school sweatpants. How she had gotten them, he had no idea. Flack had to admit that Kristina definitely didn't look her best right now, but she still took his breath away. She had this raw beauty that made him weak at the knees.

"What do you want?" she asked angrily, bringing him back to reality.

"Look Kris, can I come in?"

"No."

"God Kris, please? I'm sorry. Please let me in."

"I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk to you." With that she slammed the door in his face.

Kristina leaned against the door. Why had she done that? Why hadn't she let him in? She wanted to see him more than anything, so why had she told him she didn't? What was wrong with her?

She knew what was wrong. He had walked out three months ago. Not just out of her apartment, but out of her life. And he assumed that he could come back and everything would be like it was before. That wasn't the case. Things would never be the same.

Kristina was not looking forward to going to work the next day. She didn't want to see him. She didn't want to see him ever again. But what other option did she have? Actually she knew exactly what her options were. Kristina made up her mind quickly and decided that she would go talk to Mac in the morning.

Kristina threw the empty whiskey bottle in the trash, hearing it clank against the other bottles. She grabbed a band aid to put over the self-inflicted cut on her wrist and went to bed.

"Everything will be better in the morning," she said to herself as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Hey Mac, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure Kristina. Come on in."

Kristina walked into her boss' office and closed the door. He gestured for her to sit down, but she declined. She wanted this to be quick. She was nervous as hell.

Mac settled himself back in his chair. "What's going on Kristina? I didn't think you were supposed to be here until this afternoon."

"I'm not. Um, I'm sure you know by now that Flack and I aren't speaking anymore. We had a kind of falling out a few months ago and up until now I've been okay with seeing him only at work. But I can't take it anymore. The pain I feel every time I see him is too much. I hate to do this to you, but it's the only way I can make the pain and hurt go away. I quit."

With those last two words, Kristina took her badge off of her belt and set it on Mac's desk. She silently turned around and walked out of the office before he could say anything.

Mac sat at his desk for a few moments, staring at her badge, before he got up and hurried after her. When he reached the elevator he ran into Flack.

"Don have you seen Kristina?" he asked urgently.

"Not today, why?"

Mac held up her badge. "She quit."

Flack sighed. "I'm going to go find her. Just don't put it on the books yet okay? Please?"

"I'll give you until the end of the day. After that, I'm making it official."

"Thank you Mac. Thank you. I promise I'll get her to come back." He turned to leave, but Mac held him back.

"You should know that she quit because of you. She said it was the only way to get rid of the pain she felt every time she saw you." He let go of Flack's arm and walked back to his office.

Flack stared at Mac for a moment and then swiftly got back on the elevator. He had to get her back; both at the lab and in his life. He knew he would get her back. And when he did he would never let her go.