PART NINE: I'm Here.

"So what did you girls do yesterday?" asked Captain Jim Brass as he sat across from Grace. But she wasn't the Grace he was used to see. Her clothes were too big for her, almost working as a cover. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail when she used to let her long curls down. Her eyes were red, he could clearly see she had been crying. No, this wasn't the fashion trendy Grace Willows Jim Brass remembered.

"We checked in at the hotel. We went to our suite to get ready - we had showers and got dressed for the night. We had a reservation at the Eclipse's restaurant. After dinner we went to the lounge. Nothing strange happened between. We had a few stares, some guys tried to get our numbers others weren't so good at hiding that all they wanted was to get inside our panties. We graciously dismissed all their attempts. But when we were at the lounge I was a offered a drink, Alex - she's the bartender - pointed him out but I couldn't see his face. I declined his drink. But soon after that Kelly got up to go to the ladies' room and someone dropped a drink on her. He said it was an accident, Kelly said the same thing but to me it seemed he had thrown his drink at her on purpose. Kelly went to the bathroom after that. And then we decided to check some other bars in town so she went upstairs to change clothes and...we... we waited for her at the lobby. We were waiting for about 45 minutes... we all knew how picky she could be with a dress...but it was taking too much time and we're about to call her ... and then she showed up ... and then fall dead in the floor." - even though her eyes were full of tears, and her voice seemed to given in every now and then she somehow managed to keep her tone calm.

She jumped out of bed as soon as he heard those words from Lou. "one of her friends died at the Eclipse and she's here with me now". She packed a few of her things and called a cab hoping there would be a plane leaving for Las Vegas soon. She took the first one she could get. She hadn't had much sleep when her feet landed in her hometown. She hadn't had time to process the whole things. She hadn't understood the whole thing. Why was her daughter at her ex-boyfriend's house was something she was still trying to understand. Why hadn't she called her was another thing she was trying to process.

Catherine Willows now stood behind the glass watching her old colleague interview her oldest daughter. She wanted to stepped in. She wanted to be in that room. But she knew she couldn't. So, she just stood there watching. Observing, memorizing the pain in her daughter's face.

"Why were you in Vegas?" Brass' voice brought her back to reality.

"We... we've just finished exams so we decided to have some fun before returning home. I had promise a Vegas trip awhile ago. And I finally did it!" the guilty tone in her voice didn't go unnoticed by the Captain.

"I have to ask you this. What's your relationship with Detective Louis Vartann?" he knew why she had called him. He knew how she had met him. But he had to ask her.

"Pretty much everyone I'm close to in Vegas is either a cop or a CSI. And they were all working on the case so it didn't feel appropriate to ask one of them if I could stay at their place. My aunt is living in Florida, I think, we aren't that close. And my grandma is in some cruise. So, I called the only person who wasn't at the crime scene or out of state. I just called Lou. He's my mom's ex-boyfriend. I've always liked him. He used to make her smile."

"Why didn't you check in a hotel?" all of suddenly Sara made herself noticed.

"One of my closest friends had just died in the lobby of my own hotel! If I'd checked in at some other one I would only be able to see her body at the hotel's floor! I'd have gone insane! I asked the girls if they'd be alright and if they didn't mind... they all said it was okay. If I don't believe my best friends who am I going to believe in?" she simple said while her eyes were focus on the mirror behind Sara secretly hoping someone would be behind it.

She got up from her seat, opened the interview's room door and was about to walk towards Lou's office when she noticed a red hair. The one red hair she wanted. Never once she thought she'd ever need her mother as much as she did now.

"MOM!" she run into her embrace. Into her safe arms. And that's when she let herself go. She let her tears finally fall. She let her walls drop on the floor. She let herself be.

"I'm here. I'm here. I'm here." she hugged her baby girl. Feeling useless she did the only thing she knew. She hugged her with all the love she had. "I'm here. I'm here. I'm here." she whispered once again.

They were sitting on the couch at Catherine's old office that now belonged to Nick. She took a look around. Nothing much had changed but she did like what he had done with the place. She couldn't help but notice the photo he had on his desk. It was one of him with Grace. They both had smiles on their faces. They both were happy. She looked happy in that photo. But now, now all she could see in her daughter's face was fear and the track of her tears.

"How did you know?" Grace's voice brought Catherine back to the real world. A world where one of her daughter's friend had died in their hotel's lobby.

"Lou called." she simple said as she passed her fingers through her daughter's dark curls. They looked so different but at the same time they were so much alike.

"I asked him not to."

"He has always been a little bit stubborn." her statement made Grace laugh. And that was all it took to make a smile appear on her face. Something that had been missing for awhile. Something that had been missing since the day she left that town. That was all she needed. Her daughter's laugh.