Grissom rolled over; his eyes still closed, and draped his arm over what the thought was Hannah's torso. Instead his arm fell on to icy cold sheets. Slowly opening his eyes, he was met with Hannah's hair, his ring, and a piece of paper. Grissom knew what the meaning of it was; Hannah had left him. There was no real reason to read the letter, but he did anyway. Maybe there was a glimmer of hope, but instead he found a good-bye from the woman that he had given his heart to.

The note, the ring, the hair; to Grissom the symbolism was completely and utterly obvious. When they were teenagers, and she had to sneak back to either her friends' house or her own, she would always leave a little note for him. Her hair, oh, how he loved her hair. If he had his way, he would run his hands thought it all the time. Finally, the ring; her leaving the ring was the final sign of rejection. She was gone for good.

Grissom didn't know what to do. Crying, well he just didn't cry. Sitting up he just stared at the pillow for what seemed to him a little eternity. Coming back to reality, he picked up the phone and dialed Catherine's number.

"Hello?" Lindsay answered

"Hi, kiddo. It's me, Grissom."

"Hi! I'll go get Mom."

"Thanks, Kiddo."

Grissom heard the child set the phone down on the table that was not three feet from where the portable was kept. After a few seconds Catherine came on.

"Hey, what's up?"

"She's gone."

"Who? Lydie?"

"Hannah."

"Oh, Gil."

"She was here when we went to sleep and this morning, she was gone. She left a letter, a lock of her hair, and the ring that I gave her."

"Do you want me to come over?"

"No, but you can give me the airline's number? I'm going to catch a flight out East."

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

"Nick! Nick!" Lydie whispered urgently

Nick's eyes opened and he knew. Lydie was sitting up next to him in his bed, the blanket drawn tight around her body. He himself was undressed and barely covered by a sheet

"Oh, God..."

"I have to go NIck."

"Lydie..."

Lydie started to get out of bed, but then she remembered that she was nude, and she really didn't want Nick to see her like that.

"Close your eyes." she said, and as soon as he did so, she got out of the bed and started to get dressed.

"Nick, I know that the line right about now is 'I don't normally do this.' Honestly though, you're the third guy that I've been with, ever. I don't mix work with pleasure, trust me on this one."

"Lydie, it's okay."

"No, it isn't. I'm not loose, I'm not they type who has one night stands. I'm not saying that you are either, but I...I'm ashamed of what happened last night."

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Sure." Lydie said, pulling on her top

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Well, the case is almost solved, you can take it from where it's at. I'm going to catch a flight today, go back home. Please though, I need to ask you something before I go."

"Anything."

"Please don't remember me as loose or trampy. Please remember me as the woman who was smart, and put a killer behind bars, a woman who knew what she was doing, a woman with self-respect."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Good bye, Nick." Lydie said, putting on her coat

"So this is it?" Nick asked as Lydie was opening the door to the cold Vegas air

"Yeah, I guess so."

With that she shut the door and started walking down the street. She had no clue where she was going, but she needed to get out from where she was. She needed to go home.

Nick sat in his bed, and whispered:

"I love you Lydie."