"Are you sure about this?" Hannah asked as she and Greg arrived at her car. She finally pulled her arm away from his. "I mean, we just met. And I really have no idea why I had the nerve to ask you out to dinner."

Hannah looked down and picked at an invisible piece of fuzz on the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt. Her sudden look of embarrassment amused Greg. While Hannah was uncertain about why she had asked him out to dinner, Greg was even more uncertain as to why he agreed to go so easily. He barely knew her, yet something told him she was sincere in everything she had said.

"I have to admit it is a little weird," Greg chuckled nervously. "Are you sure you really want to go out to dinner with the guy who let your sister get killed?"

"Greg," Hannah sighed. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Don't blame yourself for what happened to my sister."

"Didn't Grissom tell you what happened?"

"He told us that you were in the basement and saw what happened to Ashley," Hannah's eyes misted over. "I'm so sorry you had to witness something so awful."

"He didn't tell you the truth, did he?"

"What—"

"Your sister begged me to save her life!" Greg blurted out. "She looked right at me! I could have done something to save her! Culverson was right! I'm a failure! Your sister died because I was too afraid to save her!"

For the second time in just a few minutes, Greg had lost control of his emotions. He had hidden his emotions well once returning to work. Now he stood face to face with one person on the planet who should hate him. Yet she never tried to blame him for what happened. After the last few days, it had become too much. He closed his eyes in an attempt to shut everything out for a few seconds.

"Greg, take it easy," Hannah's voice barely registered with him. Her hand gently rested on his arm. He opened his eyes again to look at her. "What happened to my sister wasn't your fault."

Greg simply shook his head. Hannah locked her gaze with his. The worry written on her face made him wonder just how much she could tell he was unnerved just by being around her.

"You know what?" Hannah smiled faintly. "How about we reschedule dinner? You look like you may not be feeling up to it."

"I'm sorry," Greg muttered.

"I should be the one apologizing," Hannah said quickly with a nervous laugh. "I mean, after all you went through, now you've had to face the family of someone you saw get killed. I imagine it has to be a lot to deal with."

Greg just nodded at her statement. It was true. A lot had happened since he began his field training and finally became a CSI. Greg often wondered if he truly had what it took to remain out in the field or if he should ask for a job back in the lab.

"Greg?"

"What?"

"Would you, uh… would you like me to give you a ride home?" Hannah offered. She looked at his trembling hands.

Greg thought about it. Did he really want Hannah to know where he lived? That could be a potentially dangerous idea given that he barely knew her. What if she wanted revenge for Ashley's death and was only playing him so he would walk into a trap? Greg quickly pushed those thoughts away. Hannah seemed harmless. He could easily go back inside and ask Nick to give him a ride home. He could call Warrick in the morning to ask him to bring him back for his car. The only thing he was sure of was that he knew he was too shaken to drive home himself.

"I don't want you going out of your way."

"I won't be," she flashed him a smile. "I live here in Vegas."

"Oh."

Hannah reached out to take hold of one of his trembling hands. Greg tried to pry his hand away. Hannah refused to let go.

"I know I'll never know just how awful it was to watch Ashley die," Hannah's voice wavered slightly as she gently squeezed his hand. "But I want you to know that I don't blame you. Whatever happened in that house… I'm sorry you had to see it. Nobody should have to witness something like that."

Once again, her touch made him unravel. Hannah quickly pulled Greg into a tight embrace. He clung to her as though she was the only lifeline he had left. Hannah smoothed a hand up and down his back in an attempt to calm him. Greg had no idea how a complete stranger could make him fall apart. He had faced victims' relatives numerous times and always managed to keep it together.

But the difference now was those victims had all been dead by the time he arrived on a scene.

"What the hell are you doing?" an irritated voice shocked Greg into pulling away from Hannah.

"Dad," Hannah warned. "Don't you dare."

"Brian, leave the young man alone," Hannah's mother pleaded.

Greg looked at the man now standing a few feet away. The father's rage was still obvious. Greg braced himself for another possible assault.

"Lisa, don't you understand he let Ashley die?" his asked before glaring at Greg. "And now he's getting cozy with the only daughter we have left!"

"Dad, please," Hannah stepped forward to put herself between Greg and her father. "Put yourself in his shoes for a minute—"

"If I was in his shoes, we'd be planning a birthday party for Ashley this weekend. Not her funeral!"

Greg suddenly felt sick. He turned and went a few feet away before what little bit of food he had eaten earlier came back up. He doubled over, hands on his knees, and struggled to regain some sense of control over his body. The sounds of Hannah arguing with her father made him feel even worse. He slowly straightened back up and turned around.

"We'll discuss this later," Hannah's father glared at her. "Right now, your mother and I are leaving to go work out the final details for getting your sister home."

Hannah merely nodded before her parents walked off. She turned to look at Greg before approaching him.

"Greg, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you still okay with me giving you a ride home?"

Greg nodded.

"Come on," Hannah said softly. "I'll take you home."

Greg got into Hannah's car. The second he sat down in the passenger seat he felt even more drained. He fastened his seatbelt and rested his head against the window. Mr. Newton's attack had left him sore, but he did his best to hide that detail from Hannah. He gave Hannah his address. The two were quickly on the road.

"Do you know where that's at?"

"Oh, yeah," Hannah mused. "You know, I lived in an apartment in the same complex for four months last year."

"No way."

"Yeah," Hannah said quietly. "We actually met once. Although you probably didn't recognize it was me since my hair was dyed blonde then."

"Wait, were you the blonde that I ran into in the parking lot one evening?"

Hannah laughed. "Yeah, that was me."

"I was running late for work," Greg remembered that day. "I was looking down at my phone and reading the text messages from my co-workers. I wasn't paying attention, and the next thing I know, I ran into you."

"Ran into me?" Hannah laughed. "You knocked me down! You looked at me like I was going to kill you or something even though I didn't say anything except to ask you to watch where you were going next time."

"I helped you up, and for some reason, you were the one that apologized."

"I guess that was just a reflex," Hannah quickly flashed him a smile as she stopped the car at a traffic light that turned red. "Although I have to admit, you were kinda cute standing there trying to give me an apology back. Then you saw the scrape on my arm, and I thought you were really going to panic on me. You apologized so many times I had to tell you to stop."

"I didn't like the fact I hurt you," Greg looked away from her, turning his attention to the floorboard.

"I've had worse injuries," Hannah laughed the incident off.

"It wasn't exactly the best way to make a first impression, huh?" Greg laughed weakly. "I don't think I ever saw you again after that day though."

"I was in the process of packing things up in my apartment. I moved out a couple days later."

"Guess that explains why I couldn't find you a few days later when I finally worked up the courage to see if you'd be willing to go out to dinner with me so I could attempt to properly apologize."

"You were going to ask me out?" Hannah almost laughed. "That's kind of funny considering how many times I almost stopped by the complex to talk to you. Just a shame that our second meeting isn't under the best circumstances either."

"Yeah," Greg sighed heavily.

He could hardly believe his luck. His first impression on Hannah Newton had been a disaster. His second chance meeting with her was even worse. Now it made sense as to why he had felt she was familiar when he interviewed her after Ashley disappeared. Hannah had never once made any indication that she had met Greg before.

Greg fell silent and focused on the scenery that blurred by once the traffic lined turned green. Thoughts ran rampant through his mind. The major one being the fact he got into a car with someone he barely knew. He risked a glance at Hannah. A thought crossed his mind that maybe she wasn't the nice person he thought she was.

'Stop it,' he scolded himself. 'Hannah isn't a bad person. She could've done something already if she wanted to.'

Hannah took the hint from Greg's sudden silence. It pained her to know just how he felt about her sister's death. As she slowed the car to a stop at another traffic light, she looked toward the passenger seat. Greg had fallen asleep. She could tell at the crime lab that he was tired, but she had underestimated just how tired he really was. Her thoughts drifted to the events at the crime lab. She hated the fact her father went after Greg and attacked him. She watched Greg shift in the seat. His arms protectively wrapped around his midsection. Hannah frowned, knowing he hadn't been entirely truthful with her in how much her father had hurt him.

When she finally arrived at the apartment complex, she pulled into a vacant parking spot. Hannah felt guilty for having to wake Greg up. She gently shook his shoulder. Greg stirred a little, but didn't wake up.

"No!" Greg shouted. Hannah jerked her hand away. "Please! Don't kill her!"

Hannah knew the sounds of someone in the middle of a nightmare. She quickly got out of the car and rushed to the passenger side to open the door. Greg continued muttering in his sleep. His eyes were closed tightly as he struggled with whatever images where playing in his mind.

"Greg, wake up," Hannah tried again.

This time her voice seemed to snap him out of it. Greg leaned forward quickly only to be yanked back by the seatbelt. He struggled against the restraint.

"Hey," Hannah lightly grabbed hold of his right arm. "It's just the seatbelt."

"Yeah…" Greg gasped and fumbled with the fastener a few seconds before getting the belt undone.

Hannah could tell how much he was embarrassed by the episode. She patiently waited for him to get his breathing back under control. Hannah didn't want to make him feel any worse by saying anything. Greg got out of the car and averted his gaze as he closed the passenger door. Hannah quietly walked beside him to his apartment. She still said nothing as Greg nearly dropped his keys when trying to unlock the door. He stepped inside and turned a light on before motioning for Hannah to come inside. She stepped into the apartment and closed the door. Greg had his back to her.

"You were dreaming about what happened to Ashley, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Greg said before slowly turning to face her. "I have been ever since…"

The haunted look in Greg's eyes made Hannah's heart sink. It made Hannah wish even more that her sister hadn't died. Hannah had always been close to her sister. Ashley was eight years younger than Hannah. Despite the age difference, Hannah and Ashley were often mistaken for twins. Hannah blamed that on Ashley always seeming older than she truly was. Hannah had prayed nearly nonstop that her sister would be found alive. Ashley's death came as devastating news. The loss of her sister would haunt her for the rest of her life, but it would haunt Greg even more.

"I wish there was something I could do," Hannah said feebly. "I know I can't erase that memory from your mind. I can't go back and change things to get a better outcome. But I'm willing to lend an ear if you decide to talk about what happened."

"Thanks," he said, stifling a yawn.

"If you want, I can come by tomorrow morning. Maybe we can go out for breakfast before I take you to get your car?"

"Sounds good," Greg smiled at her.

"Greg, no matter what happened in that house, Ashley's death wasn't your fault."

Hannah wasn't sure why she suddenly said that. She guessed it was because she felt like Greg needed some more reassurance that what happened was out of his control. Although Hannah really didn't know the whole story about what happened. While listening to Greg's supervisor tell them about what happened, Hannah got the sense that he hadn't told them everything.

"You don't know what happened—" Greg began.

"That doesn't matter," Hannah cut him off. "All I needed was for my sister to be found. I prayed she'd be brought back alive, but sometimes prayers are left unanswered. I don't know why, but sometimes that's just how it works. I'll never understand why Ashley had to die. My sister was a brilliant young woman with such a promising future, and…"

Hannah suddenly felt the dam burst. The tears she kept at bay in order to stay strong for her parents suddenly came flooding down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Greg's voice was much closer than it had been.

Hannah became aware of his arms around her as she finally broke down. She tried to stop the tears from falling. Five minutes later, she finally managed to pull herself away from Greg. The last thing he needed was for her crying on his shoulder and making him feel even worse about Ashley's death.

"I better get going," she sniffled.

"Are you going to be okay driving home?"

"Yeah," she nodded, wiping away the last tear from her cheek. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it."

"My parents are probably at my house by now," Hannah told him quickly. "I better get going before they start worrying about where I am. They're probably heading home as soon as they finalize the details for getting my sister's body back home."

"Back home?"

"My family is originally from Tennessee. I've lived in Vegas for two years though."

"I thought you sounded like you had a bit of a southern accent," Greg smiled softly. "You definitely didn't sound like someone who's lived in Vegas their whole life."

"Yeah. You know, Ashley…" Hannah's voice cracked. "Ashley was in Vegas for an internship she was doing. Mom and Dad were supposed to fly in two days from now so we could all be together for her birthday."

"I'm sorry," Greg apologized once again.

"At least she's not still in the hands of that monster," Hannah tried to point out the silver lining before changing the subject. "How about I come over sometime around nine tomorrow morning?"

"Works for me."

"All right," Hannah tried to smile at him, but she wasn't sure if it could be a called a true smile. "See you then. Get some rest, okay?"

"I'll try," Greg replied halfheartedly.

Hannah only nodded before turning around to leave. She was worried about Greg. Everything about the way he looked and even spoke told her he was taking Ashley's death extremely hard, even though he barely knew her. Hannah did want to know what truly happened when her sister died. She just wasn't willing to push Greg to his breaking point by asking him to talk about it.