-1Ok… I forgot to say this the first time… I do not own CSI. I don't own any of the characters, except for the ones that you don't recognize. Okay, enough chit-chat… back to the story.

Back at the lab, Melissa went off with Catherine to analyze the cigarette butts and coffee cup. Meanwhile, Nick took the bullet casings and started to analyze them when Warrick walked in.

"Hey man, what's up?" Warrick asked as he took a seat next to the computer.

"The bullet casings match a 35 millimeter automatic hand gun." Nick said as he looked up from the telescope.

"That's not what I meant." He stood and checked the screen, "All three of the bullets came from the same gun… this is going to be an easy case."

"Don't be so sure," Nick said as he printed up a paper on the casings.

Warrick sighed and then sucker punched Nick in the arm, "Stop avoiding the question."

Nick looked at him with confusion, "What question," He avoided eye contact.

"I want to know what is up with you and the new girl… umm… Melissa." Warrick frowned at his best friend.

"How do you know, that I know her?" Nick asked as he was trying to look confused.

"Come on man! I can tell that you know her from the way you were looking at her. That isn't a normal look." He said as Nick answered with a wave of his hand.

"Look… ok… I will tell you." Nick took up a seat near Warrick. "Melissa; she is a very nice person. She has never done anything to anyone and now… well she was injured in college. She had a class with me and a few times we would study over lunch. Well one day she didn't come to class and we were supposed to have lunch. So I went to her apartment to see if she was sick, and well… she was almost dead.

"Her boy friend at the time was a pure bastard, Mykle Benares. Didn't know how to talk to women. A real prick, she said that he said, he didn't like her having lunch with me. She was always afraid to argue because when she voiced her opinion, he would swing at her. Melissa finally decided the day before he shot her that she was going to leave him; she must have told him. There was a struggle because the apartment was a mess when I found her there. She also had a gun shot wound to the chest. I felt like crap… I blamed myself for a long time about the attack, but she disagreed and when she finished the semester… she transferred." Nick finished.

Grissom made a faint noise so that the two men knew he was there. He must have been standing there for awhile because when they looked up, Grissom's glasses were off and he had his thinking face on.

"Did you love her?" Grissom asked.

Nick looked confused and replied, "I guess in a way my heart did, but didn't want to admit it."

"Man, I would like to meet Mykle one day… show him what happens when you make the wrong choices with women and your fists." Warrick said as he squeezed Nick's shoulder and left the room.

"A wise man once said… ask a woman." Grissom quoted as he put on his glasses, "I suggest that you ask Melissa about what happened."

"Grissom, I don't think I can do this." Nick said a he furrowed his brow.

"Yes you can. Just give it time." Grissom left a confused Nick behind (who soon followed) and went to go check on Melissa and Catherine, to see how the process with the coffee cup and the cigarette butts was going…