Catherine walked solemnly out of Grissom's office, wiping the tears from her eyes. She was so upset by what had happened that she bumped into someone and didn't even notice.

"Are you okay?" the person asked.

Without looking to see who it was, she pushed past them and made her way out of the building. She got into her car and started the long drive home, tears blurring her vision.

She walked into her house a few minutes later, but did not announce her presence like she usually did. But the sound of footsteps clomping through the house caught her mother's attention. Lily lifted her head from the couch where she had fallen asleep.

"Catherine, is that you?"

"Yeah, Mom."

Although detecting a hint of sadness in her voice, she didn't say anything, knowing her daughter would soon be back to talk. She was right. Ten minutes later, Catherine walked past her into the kitchen and plopped down in a chair. Lily caught up with her there.

Catherine was just sitting there, staring at a mug of coffee, her chin resting in the palm of her hand. Lily slid into a chair beside her and put a gentle hand on her arm.

"Are you planning to drink that, or are you just seeing if you can move it with your mind?"

Catherine smiled wearily and brushed a tear from her cheek. "I'm sorry, mom. I didn't mean to be rude. I just needed to be by myself, I guess."

"Do you want me to go? I don't want to intrude, you know that?"

"It's okay. I guess I need to talk to someone, and who better, right?"

"Right. So what's been going on?"

"It's Gil. We had another argument."

'What about?" She knew that Catherine and Grissom had known and worked with each other for a very long time. They seemed to be very close.

"Something stupid." Her daughter shook her head. "I don't know. We seem to be fighting about everything lately."

Lily chuckled. "Like an old married couple."

Catherine moaned. "Mooom…"

"Sorry, honey. Go on."

"My life is a mess." Catherine eyes welled with fresh tears. "Everything just seems to be going so wrong. And today--today was the worst. We were practically at each other's throats. And we said some pretty nasty things to each other. Everything just got so out of hand. I don't know what got into to me."

"Oh, honey…" Lily lovingly took her daughter into her arms as she began to cry.

"And now I feel awful. What's wrong with me? How could I say such horrible things?"

Lily offered her words of wisdom as she hugged her tight. "We often hurt those we love."

Love? Catherine had never thought about it that way. Did she love Gil? Yes, of course she did. As a friend. But nothing more. Right? But then again, the way she was she acting…it was like she was…she was jealous. No, couldn't be. She was jumping to conclusions. If she was jealous—which she was pretty sure she wasn't—then that would prove that she was in love with him—which she knew couldn't possibly happen. Could it? And even if she was, why should she be jealous of Sara? Sara had more issues than a magazine subscription. Grissom would never be able to handle all that emotional baggage. Still, she felt as though a loop had been formed and she wasn't in it.

"You going to be okay, honey?" her mom asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

She looked at her mom and smiled. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks, mom." She got up from her seat, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up."

"Just get back here when you're done," Lily said. "You look hungry. When was the last time you ate something?"

Ignoring her mom being a mom, Catherine made her way into the living room. She glanced around and couldn't help but notice that it was unusually quiet.

"Mom?" she called. "Where's Lindsay?"

"She's in her room," Lily answered over the rustling of pots and pans.

Catherine went up to her daughter's room and knocked on the door. No answer. She called out her daughter's name and knocked again. And again. Still nothing. She knew that Lindsay would ignore her sometimes when she didn't want to talk to her or was listening to her Ipod and didn't hear the knocking. But this wasn't like her. She would have opened the door by now, looking very annoyed. Catherine tried the knob, beginning to worry that something was wrong. To her amazement, it opened. It wasn't locked.

She stepped inside the small bedroom and looked around. The room was a basic teenage girl room with posters on the walls and stuffed animals piled in the corner, girly colors prominent on her belongings. Slightly messy but way cleaner than a teenage boy's room. Her pink backpack lay on her bed, open, books and other school supplies spilled out onto the sheets. But the girl was nowhere to be found.

"Mom, I thought you said Lindsay was in her room?"

"She is," Lily said coming up behind her. "She's been in there since she got a home."

"Well, she's not here." Catherine said becoming frantic.

"What?" Lily glanced around the room, her face mirroring her daughter's. "Oh, my god. I could have sworn--"

"The window…" Catherine's keen CSI eyes caught a glimpse of the girl's window, slightly ajar, the drapes flapping in the cool night breeze.

She flew like a flash to the window and looked out into her backyard and into the night. But all she could see was darkness. Her daughter was nowhere to be found. She'd run away again.

Her shoulders slumped as she leaned against the windowsill and began to cry. "She's gone…"

Lily pulled her into a hug, letting her cry into her shoulder.

"I'm losing everything I ever cared about…"

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