Chapter 5:

Hailey and Nick had been working on the case for two and a half weeks. Hailey hadn't gotten any sleep the whole time she was working the case. Day and night she was in the evidence lab or at the crime scene. Nick had gone home at the end of shift to try and sleep, and when he came back he found hailey in the break room making coffee. She was concentrating on the coffee dripping down, deep in thought. "Please tell me you went home." Nick said. She didn't move. "Hailey." I said placing a hand on her shoulder.

Hailey spun around startled by the person next to her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was Nick.

He saw the bags under her eyes and knew she didn't sleep again last night. "Hailey, you've got to go home and get some sleep." He said worried about her.

"Not until the case is over." She shook her head. Truth was, she didn't feel safe at home. She was afraid that Jacob would be there, waiting for her. She sighed and sat down at the table where the file was laying. "We have nothing but dead ends. Everything we come up with links back to the cold case in Cali. But nothing links us to the killer."

"Hailey it's been over two weeks, we have to mark it." He said.

"No. We aren't marking this case unsolved. Not again."

Nick hated to say it but it had to be said. "Maybe you shouldn't have taken this case."

She looked up at him glaring. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

"Look at you Hail. You're to attached to this case, you haven't slept in two weeks, hell you haven't even eaten anything besides coffee either." He yelled.

"None of that is your concern. And I hate to inform you but this is a personal case." She shut the folder and went into the layout room to once more look at the evidence.

Nick gave a frustrated sigh, there was only one person she would listen to and he really didn't want to bring him into it. They were at one of many dead ends in that case and it was time to mark the case unsolved. They had no leads, no more evidence, no nothing. He picked him self up and made his way to Grissom's office.

He knocked on the door and let himself in. "Griss I need to talk to you."

"Go ahead." The older man said putting his hand out for Nick to sit.

"It's about Hailey. I'm worried about her."

"The case?" He asked.

"Yeah. She hasn't done anything but the case the entire time we've had it. And now we are at a full blown dead end and she won't mark it. I mean we have nothing to go on and there's no more evidence. She hasn't slept or eaten in two weeks, and it's just not healthy."

There's a lot Nick didn't know about the case, concerning Hailey, but Grissom couldn't tell him. The only thing he could say was, "I'll talk to her."

"Thanks." He said as he left the office.

Grissom finished what he was doing and then went to find Hailey, and saw that she was still in the layout room. "Hey." He said leaning against the door.

She looked up from the clothes from the vic's. "Hey."

She went back to the clothes and Grissom moved closer. "Hailey you have to mark the case." He said.

"No, Griss. Look I know Nick probably came to you, but there has to be something we missed." She said getting closer to the evidence.

Grissom looked down at the girl in front of him. She was trying to find closure for he friends. He wished there was some way that he could help her. "Hailey I'm marking the case. Go home, get some sleep." He said laying a hand on her shoulder. Hailey knew there was no way to convince him. She also knew that there were no more leads to the case. She out her head in her hands and started to cry. Partly from being tired, partly because she couldn't help her friends, and partly because she was scared of what Jacob would do to her when he found her. Grissom rubbed a hand on her back. "It's ok Hailey, sometimes we can't solve a case. It's happened to me before."

She looked up at him. "You don't get it. I know who did it and I can't prove it. And now he finally knows where I am, and he's not going to stop until he gets me."

Grissom then realized that the reason she was staying here day and night wasn't mainly to work on the case, but she was afraid to go home. "What if you take Nicky with you. He could keep an eye out and you could get some rest." He said. He would go but He had a lot of pressure on him to finish up papers for the DA. Since he didn't have a case for Nick he figured that would be best.

"I can't get him killed."

"No one is getting killed ok? Trust me."

Hailey was to exhausted to argue. So she nodded and went to get her coat. Grissom walked into the break room and found Nick reading the paper. He looked up, "Did you talk to her?"

"Yeah, I need a favor." Grissom said standing in front of him.

Nick folded the paper and looked up. "Sure."

"Hailey isn't in her best shape and I need you to look after her for me."

"Is something wrong."

"Everything's fine, but I need you to drive her home and look after her." Grissom said, trusting the young man.

"Yeah, no problem." He knew something was wrong with Hailey, but he hoped it wasn't anything to serious. Hailey came into the room and looked at the two and bowed her head down. "You ready?" He asked. She simply nodded her head and he led her out to his truck.

When they arrived at Hailey's apartment, he looked over and saw that Hailey had fallen asleep. He parked in her space and got out. He took her bag, got her keys out, and then picked her up. He shut the door with his leg and went into the lobby. He opened her door and then closed it behind him. He walked into her bedroom and set her on the bed. He removed her sneakers and tucked her under the covers. "Why won't you tell me?" He said to her. He wanted to make it all go away, but she wouldn't open up to him. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on her forehead before leaving the room and closing the door. He went back to her front door and locked it before sitting down on the couch and channel surfing for something to keep him occupied.