A/N-I've had this written for awhile but finally got around to getting it uploaded. You might need some hankies for this final chapter.

Nick started to wonder what was taking Greg so long when the previews had all finished and the movie was beginning. He pulled out his cell phone, much to the chagrin of those around him and quickly texted Greg. When he didn't receive a response or see Greg after a few more minutes he began to worry. He got up and walked out of the theater. He went out to the concessions and didn't see him. He went over to the closest restrooms and looked for him there and didn't see him. He called his name and no answer. He decided to try calling Greg and it went straight to voice mail, almost like his phone was turned off.

Nick had installed a tracking app for Greg's phone on his own. He pulled up the app and got no response from Greg's phone. He became more worried and thought of that kiss. He had never expected Greg to kiss him like he did, after saying he needed his distance. Now the more he thought about it, the more it felt like a goodbye kiss. He felt nauseous suddenly, thinking that perhaps Greg had been playing him all this time.

He went over to the concessions stand and showed Greg's picture around, asking if anyone saw him. They all shook their heads. He walked up to the box office and asked them there. A girl finally said she saw him leave in a taxi. Nick realized he gave him $50. He could go anywhere in the city to get lost with that amount of money.

"Do you remember the taxi company?" Nick asked her. She shook her head. Nick knew it could take forever for him to track down what taxi company he took with all the ones in that city. The movie theater didn't have cameras out front, so nothing to help track him that way.

He realized Greg had to know what he was doing. He had to have planned this. He had practically begged him to go to the movies tonight. Nick was furious with himself. He had no idea where Greg was and what he was going to do. Nick stood there, at a loss of what to do. He couldn't really put him as a missing person since he was gone only a half hour. He tried Greg's phone again and it went to voice mail. He tried the tracker again and looked at where it last placed him. It placed him right there at the movie theater. Then he remembered seeing Greg turn off his phone completely before the movie. Nick told him he only needed to put it on silent but Greg just shrugged and kept it off anyway. Greg probably knew he had the tracer on his cell phone but knew it was only activated when on.

Nick stood out on the sidewalk, looking all around but clueless as to where he could have gone. He decided to call Jack.

"Hey Jack, you have not by any chance heard from Greg?" Nick asked him, knowing the answer already.

"Greg? No why? Did he disappear on you?" Nick sighed heavily and replied. "I'm scared. He planned this. I had no idea but he planned this escape from me. He turned off his phone. I gave him cash and he took off in a taxi, which no one can tell me which company or anything."

"How long has he been missing?" Jack asked him.

"About 45 minutes now and I know that does not seem long, but that might be all he needs to do something drastic," Nick told him. He heard his partner sigh.

"I can at least put the word out amongst the guys here that he is missing and you are worried. Heck, I know what's he been through recently and I know why you are worried."

"Thanks Jack. Anything you can do will be appreciated. I'm just going to drive around to places I think he may have gone and see if he tries to contact me."

"Good Luck!" Jack said to him.

Nick knew he was going to need it. He went to his car and got in it. He started driving to the seedier part of town, where he first found him again almost a year ago.

It was about 30 minutes later when he had just reached the first motel he found him in when he heard a beep on his phone. He looked at it and it was the location app. It had pinged Greg's cell phone for a moment. Nick quickly tried to call him. This time it rang a few times before going to voice mail. He left a message for Greg to call him. He then looked at where the ping was coming from. It was not where he had expected. It was at least another 40-50 minute drive from where he was now. It was dark out and he knew that the park was closed at this hour.

He realized it didn't matter. He had to go there. He had to follow the ping and pray he was still there.

As he drove out there, he wondered why Greg ran. Did he run to get drugs again? He didn't know why else he would go to a park, unless he was meeting a drug dealer there. Nick couldn't see him going to some weird location like that for anything else.

He drove by Las Vegas High School, which was just down the street from the park. He drove up to the gates of the park and saw it was all locked up for the night. There were some street lights and lights from the high school and nearby neighborhoods that lit up the area a little bit. Nick didn't see anyone around. He grabbed a flashlight out of his truck and brought it with him. It was a cool night already and he knew it would get colder, so he had to move quicker.

He took out his cell phone and tried calling Greg's phone again. He heard a tune play in the distance. He knew it was Greg's ring tone. He kept it ringing and hung up and redialed each time it went to Voice Mail. The sound was coming from the desert area next to the park. He followed the sound with his flashlight when he suddenly spotted something. He heart was in his throat as he picked up his pace towards what he now knew was a body laying next to some bushes.

He came to a running stop a few feet from his body. He knew it was Greg. He was spread out on his back. Now that he was close he saw the drug paraphernalia next to his arm, which was out to his side.

Just looking at him, he knew he was too late this time but he still went up to him and checked for a pulse. His hand shook as he reached down and felt his cool neck. He searched for a pulse but felt none. He looked for breathing but detected none.

He moved his hand to touch his face, which was also not warm anymore. Tears started flowing non-stop as he looked down at the face of the man that he loved. The color was gone but he looked as if he was almost smiling. He looked him over and saw the newest needle marks were not clean. He saw about three empty small plastic bags. He shook his head in disbelief. He didn't know how he could have got the drugs so fast.

He sat there for a while, thinking he was living in some nightmare. Greg's cell phone was just out of reach of his hand. Greg must have turned it on just before he passed out, wanting Nick to eventually find him. He picked up the phone and noticed the video screen had last been used. It looked like Greg had recorded something before he took his life.

Nick pushed the play button. Greg's face came onto the screen. He definitely filmed it right there. He looked a little sleepy in the video before he started speaking.

"Nick, if you are watching this now, I first want to say I am sorry. I've been playing you this whole time, ever since I was in the hospital. I never had any intention of getting better or moving past this. I've been wanting to die for a while now. I told you to stop saving me but you couldn't. I had to trick you to have a chance to get away so I could finally find my peace. And if you are wondering how I got the drugs so fast, well I knew it was meant to be when I found the heroin I had gotten from Shane before my…my nightmare still in my car's glove compartment. I just happened to open it when you went into Walgreens to pick up my prescriptions and there it was. It was a sign that this was how I was mean to go out. I shoved it in my pockets, you never had a clue. I had the weapon, I just needed the time. And you gave it to me. You gave me that $50 which helped me get to a better location. I would have originally gone to a seedy motel but I actually didn't want you to find me in that sort of place again. I knew I could go to some place further with the money you gave me. I wanted to find a place where I could be in peace when I found my peace.

"At this point I already have taken one dose. I'm going to keep pumping it into my veins until I can't anymore, until I pass out and know I won't return." He had paused a moment in the video and dropped his head, seeming to finally give into his emotions. When he lifted his head back up, his face look agonized and his eyes were brimming with tears. "I can't take this pain anymore. What he did to me, it finally broke me completely. I can't take being carved like this. I can't take the constant mantra that creeps into my subconscious, reminding me that of which Frankie told me 'Once a whore, always a whore; the cop's whore, your whore. I can't…I've fought so hard to get to this point. Knowing I had this goal for myself, to put myself out of this misery has been the only thing to keep me from cracking and needing to be locked up in a mental institution again. I wouldn't be able to bear that either. This is truly the only answer, as painful as it is for you to realize. II for some reason am not successful in this, I don't think you'll ever really have me back. I know I will crack completely. I personally think that would make you suffer even more, seeing me lost in my own mind because that is what I will become. I kissed you goodbye because I do love you and I am so, so sorry to do this but if you really love me, you know this is what I had to do to find peace."

"Please find peace with my decision. And please move on, find love again, you so deserve it. I only wish I had not messed up my life so badly that I would never really recover. I loved you Nick. Now, I'm going to turn this off and finish it. You don't need to see that. Goodbye Nick." With that, the video stopped. Nick was curled up, just holding the cell phone, as his body shook from the agonizing cries he made. He moved and laid his head on Greg's chest, wishing he would hear his heartbeat but knew he was long gone now. He hoped his had found his peace. Perhaps that is why he looked like he was smiling, he had finally found it.

X x xx x xx

It was a week later. Nick had eventually called Jack that fateful evening and Jack came out to him to him, to support him. He knew Nick would be in bad shape for a while. Now it was a week later and Jack was standing with Nick in a graveyard in California.

Nick had decided Greg need to be buried with his parents. They had always had a spot for him there. He knew it was best for Greg to be at rest with them and close to his other love, Matthew. He also knew it might be easier to move on if Greg's grave was not so easy to visit. Besides he didn't need to be near Greg's resting place to mourn him. He still had all his belongings sitting in their house. Jack had already started to help him pack his stuff up to take either to Goodwill or the dumpster. Greg didn't have many belongings anyway, since his return to Las Vegas.

There was no ceremony for Greg's burial. Nick had now realized that he was really the only person Greg had in his life that truly was there for him. Sara would have been there but she was out of the country with Grissom and could not make it back in time. Greg's Aunt and Uncle had been notified but they only sent Nick their condolences. They were not even there for him in his death. Perhaps they held Greg accountable for his parent's deaths, like Greg had.

Jack noticed Nick just staring down at the gravestone, which had Greg's name, dates of birth and death and Nick had a phrase added, May Peace Be With You. Jack walked away so Nick could have a moment alone.

Nick knelt down and placed a small bouquet of flowers on the gravestone. He ran his fingers over Greg's name carved in the stone.

"This has not been easy for me, Greg. I've been angry with you for doing this to me, but now that I am here I'm not angry with you anymore. I'm just sad, so sad that you couldn't escape the emotional pain you lived with. I guess deep down I knew that you weren't going to be around forever. I think I knew I would lose you some way, somehow again. I guess I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. I thought we might at least have a few more months, hoped years together. But deep down I knew I knew you were hiding your pain from me. There was always some emptiness in your eyes since I found you in that motel room after what that horrific man did to you. I still think of that distant look you had shortly after you first woke up and you started repeating his words to you over and over again. Right then I knew you would never be the same but somehow you managed to get past that enough. I guess your goal of finding eternal peace was stronger than his words and that in a strange way makes me happy. Even if it meant losing you, at least it was in your way, in your hands." He paused, gathering his emotions and wiping at his tears.

"I miss you, I miss you so much. I just wish I had one more time to hold you, I mean really hold you and tell you how much you meant to me. I guess I am thankful you at least gave me that last kiss. I had a feeling something was off when you kissed me like that, but you also made me happy in that moment. I guess that was the last image you wanted to see of me, happy. I'm just really hoping you are able to finally be at peace now. I am sure your parents and Matthew will look after you. You were never a bad person; you just made some bad mistakes with your life."

"I don't know if I will find love again. I'd like to think so, but as I did before, they will always be second fiddle to you. But I'm going to try, because that's what you wanted. And because I love you, I am willing to let go of you and eventually move on with my life. But you will always, always be in my heart and my mind. I love you." He kissed his fingertips and placed them on the gravestone. He stared at it a few more seconds before wiping his eyes again and standing up. He took a deep breath and then turned his back to the grave, to keep going on with his life without Greg.

The End!

Yes, I finally ended this. If you have read any of my other fics, I'll have you know there were many times I wanted to kill off Greg but this one I thought was the most appropriate one to do it with. Leave reviews if you want. Thank you to those who have read my stories. I am not sure if I will write anymore for Greg/CSI, but never say never.