When Chloe and Grissom had departed after their dinner, she had quickly jotted down the name of the hotel she and Walker were staying at while they were in Las Vegas: the Rhapsody, room 22. Grissom had forgotten about it until he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and felt the slip of paper, Chloe's girlish scrawl written across it.

He dialed the number of the front desk, which was included on the paper, and hoped that he would be able to reach his niece. He had to tell her about the fingerprints.

"You've reached the Rhapsody Hotel, my name is Ginger, how may I help you?" said the chipper voice of the concierge.

"Hello, Ginger," Grissom replied. "I'd like to get in touch with one of your guests? Chloe Haydn? Or, it might be under Chloe Jackson?" he took a stab at using Walker's last name. "It would be room twenty-two."

Some keyboard typing. "Yes. Walker and Chloe Jackson, room twenty-two. I'll connect you straightaway. Whom shall I say is calling?"

"Gil Grissom, if you please."

"Please hold."

Grissom waited, tapping his foot restlessly until he heard the ingenuous voice of his niece.

"Gil?" she sounded soft, as if she was in a daze.

"Hi, Chloe," Grissom said cheerfully. "Did I wake you up?"

"No. It's after twelve," Chloe giggled.

Grissom looked at his watch. Ten after noon. "Oh…yeah. Hey, I need to see you for a few minutes. Is that okay?"

"Sure, come on down. I'm just…waiting around for Walker."

"Alright. Oh, and just one question?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't know you and Walker were married."

"We're not."

"Why are you registered as Walker and Chloe Jackson at the Rhapsody?"

"To avoid confusion, that's all."

That was an appropriate answer. "Okay. I was just curious. Ah, I'll see you in…half hour, okay?"

"Sure. Later," she said lethargically and quietly hung up the phone.

Grissom hung up quickly and grabbed his CSI cap. He walked by Sara in the fingerprinting lab, working on the other samples they'd found from the Stop-n-Go.

"Sara, I'm on my way to talk to Chloe."

"Can I come?"

"Uh, no. I'd rather it would just be the two of us."

"Oh…I get it."

"When Nick and Catherine come back, tell them they can reach me on my cellphone. Remember what I said: I want everything when it happens."

"Okay," Sara flashed a small smile. "Have fun. Tell Chloe I said hello."

Grissom gave Sara cockeyed look. "Okay."

As Grissom approached the hotel room that Chloe and Walker were staying in at the Rhapsody, he heard yelling. Loud, harsh words emitting from the purple silk-covered walls.

"I can't take it anymore!" was the first clear sentence he heard. It sounded like Chloe's voice.

"If you can't handle something like—" a male's voice was next, starting audible, then becoming muffled. That was Walker, most likely.

Grissom stood beside the door of the correct room number in which Chloe and Walker were and listened for the right time to knock. He knew this was eavesdropping but he didn't care. Besides, he was interested to know what the yelling was about.

"Just shut up, okay?" Chloe was saying, tears in her voice. "I don't want to hear anything from you right now, Walker."

"C'mon Chloe," Walker groaned. "What are you doing?"

A door rolling open, then slamming closed—a closet, most likely.

"You really think I'm gonna stick around? You really think I would sleep in your bed after what I saw? Was that slut the reason you agreed to come to Las Vegas with me? Damn it Walker," Chloe grunted, struggling with something. "You are so full of shit!"

"You're overreacting!"

"No, overreacting would be doing this!"

A sharp slap, then silence.

"You disgust me!" Chloe spat disdainfully after a few minutes.

"Chloe, I swear to God, I'll—" Walker's voice was rising again.

"Don't you dare hit me!" Chloe screeched. "And I don't want to hear your reason for necking with a whore in the middle of the lounge!"

"Chloe, what are you doing?"

"I'm sure as hell not sticking around, that's for God-damn sure!"

The door flung open and Grissom jumped back quickly, or else the swing would have severed his nose. Chloe was dragging a suitcase on wheels and Shane on her hip. Her duct tape purse was on her shoulder. She struggled to maintain balance as she dragged herself and her heavy load out of the room.

"Chloe!" Walker was protesting from inside. He came to the doorway, wearing jeans and no shirt. His running shoes and socks were still on his feet. "Where are you gonna go?"

"What the hell do you care?"

Chloe didn't notice Grissom standing in the hallway until Walker had shouted, "Fine!" and slammed the door closed behind her. "Be a little bitch!" came another call from inside the room, followed by a loud crash and the shattering of glass.

"Oh, God…Gil," Chloe's face fell. "God, you probably all of that heard that! I'm such a dumb ass—"

"Chloe, listen—" Grissom spoke quickly but Chloe kept jumping in and pretty soon, they were talking over each other.

"Walker and I had a huge fight and—"

"I need to talk to you about where you were early this morning—"

"…saw him making out with this brunette at the bar!"

"It's very important that you tell me—"

"…a place to stay. It'll only be for a few days and I promise—"

"There was a robbery and we found your prints—"

"…don't take up much room. Just please don't say no."

Grissom and Chloe finished at the same time; he was out of breath and she teary-eyed.

"God I need a drink," she sighed, biting her lip.

"Me too," whispered Shane, the first words Grissom had ever heard him speak.

Grissom took off his CSI cap and wiped his brow with his sleeve. "Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"No," Chloe said, shifting Shane from one side of her body to the other.

"I know a diner close by. It's not Il Giardino, but it's good," Grissom gave a half-smile. He couldn't tell her about the fingerprints yet.

"Okay," replied Chloe softly. "But, Gil?"

"Yeah?"

"I really do need somewhere to stay. Only for a night or two."

Grissom considered. "I live in a one-bedroom place."

"Do you have a couch?"

"Yes, of course."

"That's fine. Shane and I can share. We won't be around long, just until Walker comes to his senses."

"What happened?" Grissom asked, picking up Chloe's suitcase and walking down the hallway.

"Thank you," Chloe said when Grissom took her bag. She walked alongside him as she explained what happened, "Well, I took Shane out just for a walk to get some fresh air, you know? Walker didn't want to come, said he was tired. We were gone for about two hours and when we came back, I…" Chloe's voice broke and she tried not to cry. "…I saw Walker in the hotel bar, making out with another woman."

Grissom heaved a great sigh. Tales of infidelity were nothing new to him. But he put the suitcase down and wrapped his arms around his niece and grand-nephew in a warm embrace. "Men are assholes," he said sympathetically as Shane wriggled to free himself of the hold of his mother.

Chloe managed a small giggle, "And how would you know?"

"It's a well-known fact," he said, letting go. "Come on. I'm actually hungry."

"Chloe," Grissom said after they had given their order to a worn-out looking overweight waitress whose uniform was stained and tight around her hips. "I hate to bring this up but I must confess the real reason why I was coming to see you."

"Oh…okay, shoot," Chloe said, digging through her purse. She found what she was looking for—a few crayons—and turned her paper placemat over, then gave it to Shane for him to color, which he did eagerly.

"Where were you at say, five in the morning?"

Chloe paused. "Why?"

"Do you know of a convenience store called the Stop-n-Go?"

"I don't think so."

"There was a robbery there, very early in the morning. Two people dead, two severely injured."

"Oh, my." Chloe crinkled her brow.

"Indeed." Grissom hesitated, wondering how to say what he was going to say next. "I don't quite know how to say this, Chloe, but you're a mature, intelligent young woman, so I'm just gonna go for it."

"Go for it," Chloe agreed, privately delighted at the compliment he had paid her.

"I was at the Stop-n-Go to investigate the robbery. One of my CSI's found the gun, still in the store. Practically still smoking."

"Well, that's good."

"I suppose. When a CSI finds a gun, the first thing that's done to it, besides classification, is it is dusted for prints." he looked his niece in her autumn-colored eyes. "Chloe," he said evenly. "The only prints found on that gun were yours."

Chloe's expression turned bleak, "Gil, I…"

"I'm not saying you did anything," Grissom said, "but if there's anything you'd like to tell me, uncle to niece or suspect to investigator—"

"I'm a suspect?"

"—now would be the time," he finished.

Dumbstruck, Chloe sat back and buried her face in her hands for a second and then lifted her head. "I was out taking a jog like I usually do back home in Arizona," she began slowly. "It's just my way of relieving stress. I customarily go very, very early in the morning, before Shane and Walker wake up. I was just jogging along and I realized I needed some…feminine products," she said slowly. "Don't make me explain."

"No need," Grissom assured her.

"Well, I was sort of…excited, you know? If that's the right word for it, that is. Because I had feared I was pregnant for about a month. Anyway, I decided to stop at the first store I came across and I found this…little convenience store. I honestly don't remember what it was called, but it apparently was Stop-n-Go. I made a beeline for…what I needed and then I began to pick up a few extra things. Walker had forgotten his razor in Arizona so I got him a few disposable ones. I got Shane a new coloring book and some crayons." Chloe stopped her story and looked down at Shane. She smoothed his dark hair, which was long and starting to curl up, making him look like David Cassidy.

"Was anyone else in the store with you?"

"I saw a Spanish woman and her daughter," Chloe said. "And a really cute guy."

Pancha Nichols, Marquita Dali, Adrian Lowe. "Go on," Grissom prompted.

"Well, this…guy, I think…he came into the store. I didn't get a good look at him."

"Was his face covered?"

"No, but he wore reflective sunglasses that covered a good portion of it, and all his clothes were black. I didn't like the way this guy looked, so I turned my back and pretended to go about my business. Then I heard a gunshot and a thud…then screaming. More gunshots…two, three, four…I ducked and hid in the farthest corner of the store."

"Okay. How did your fingerprints get on the gun?"

"There was a lot of yelling…in Spanish, I think. There were more shots and then I don't know what caused it to happen, but I saw, out of the corner of my eye, something black flew threw the air. I covered my head like this," Chloe ducked down and threw her arms over the back of her skull, "so it wouldn't hit me. Then, when I heard it land and I lifted my head to see what it was…it was the gun." She sucked back a sob as she lowered her arms.

"Don't stop, Chloe. Remember, it's just you and me," Grissom took Chloe's hand in his and squeezed a little in comfort.

"I don't know what I was thinking…I picked it up and I held it close to me…like I was a Charlie's Angel or something. I was so scared that I wasn't thinking, Gil. I just kept thinking about Shane and what would happen to him without me and how I couldn't stand growing up without a mother…" Chloe bit her lip and tears began to flow like a silent river. She took a deep breath, wiped her tears away and exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry for getting so worked up."

"It's alright." Grissom said softly.

"Momma," Shane whispered. "Are you OK, Momma?"

Chloe responded to her son with a kiss on his forehead, which, in true boy fashion, was wiped off.

"Chloe," Grissom said, "anything else?"

"No," Chloe said. As soon as I heard someone leave, I followed not soon after. I just dropped the gun and ran like hell."

"Didn't you see anything as you were leaving?" Grissom tilted his head.

Chloe closed and opened her eyes slowly. "A lot of red."