A/N: If you're in the mood for something light hearted and downright silly, check out my CSI spoof called 'Investigation: Titanic - CSI Style.' It's a silly little story about our fave CSIs investigating the sinking of the ship. Lots of laughs, guest stars and the lighted table from season 2 that Doc Robbins loves shows up.

Chapter 19 – When You Come Back to Me

I put my fingerprint duster down and looked at the print that was now visible under the black powder on the counter. "Dusted the whole counter. You tried to hide. I knew you were here somewhere and I gotcha." I reached in my kit and got out a fingerprint tape lift card and broke the seal on it. I put the lift on the counter where the fingerprint was and ran my fingers across the tape and pulled it up, lifting the fingerprint on the counter onto the card. "Score one for Nick. Somewhere in the world, a scoreboard lit up. Nick: 1. Fingerprint: 0." I smoothed the tape out on the white backing and got ready to sign it, but I froze in my tracks as I listened to the song in my head.

'Let me tell you that I love you, that I think about you all the time. Caledonia, you're calling me, now I'm going home, but if I should become a stranger, know that it would make me more than sad. Caledonia's been everything I've ever had.'

No matter what I was doing, I kept hearing the verses of the song playing over and over again in my head. I heard the song twice tonight already while Catherine and I were here. I heard it again last night as I was doing laundry and two days ago as I was in court testifying.

"Nick?"

"Huh?" I was so engrossed in the song lyrics that I kept hearing that I didn't hear Catherine calling me at first. I don't know how long she had been calling me, but when I turned around to face her, she had a look on her face that let me know she'd been trying to get my attention for a few moments. I was just standing in the middle of the room holding onto the tape lift card. Before I turned around, my eyes were closed as I stood there listening to the memory of Anna's voice as she sang that song to me causing everything else to drown out. The pain that came along with the song washed over me once again as I realized that was all it was – just a memory. Anna still wasn't here and I was still alone.

"I asked if you were done and this is going to sound strange, but were you talking to a fingerprint?"

"Yeah, I guess I was talking to it." I shook my head trying to shake out the verses of the song that had been haunting my mind constantly for the past week. "And yes, just done here." I threw my gloves into an evidence bag and sealed it and tossed the bag into the bin next to Catherine, "I'm sorry, I'm just off. Something's different. I don't know. Can't put my finger on it." I dropped the fingerprint card in the bin after I signed it, "Been like this for a week or so."

"Have you heard from her?"

I shook my head, "No. Nothing. Bryan said he's talked to her some since she left, but she's basically just withdrawn from everyone. He did tell me that he is the only one she will talk to. Bryan told me Anna's parents called him trying to find out what's wrong. Anna won't talk to anyone about it except him."

Catherine checked her watch, "Go home, Nicky. It's after ten. This is about wrapped up here and I can handle it. It's Sunday and you're off anyway."

"And what am I supposed to do once I get there? Laundry? Warrick's already let me wash everything in his apartment twice."

"Go for a Sunday drive?" Catherine tossed another bag into the bin by her feet, "You'll figure it out. I have faith in you."

After thanking Catherine, I got in my Tahoe and drove back to the crime lab. I got my bag out of my locker and rushing outside before anyone could stop me, I opened the door to my truck and got in. As I slammed the door shut and started the truck, the song Anna would sing to me came back to me again.

'But I'm steady thinking my way is clear and I know what I will do tomorrow. When hands have shaken, the kisses float, then I will disappear.'

"I'm glad someone's way is clear. Mine sure the hell isn't anymore." I reached in the glove box and pulled out a photo I kept of Anna and me in there. I held it in my hands as I stared at her. "Anna, without you, I don't know who I am anymore. All I need to know is that I'm something you're missing. I'm scared of who I am without you. I'm not sure of who I am anymore." As I stared at Anna's form in the picture, I realized that I couldn't take it anymore. I had to find her and I knew who'd be able to help me find her. I dropped the photo I was holding in the passenger's seat as I backed out of the parking lot and took off in the direction of the fire station where Bryan was.

I maneuvered through traffic, dodging cars that were going too slow for me until I reached the tan brick building. After parking my truck crookedly in a parking spot, I grabbed the photo that I was looking at earlier and got out of my truck. I ran the short distance from my truck to the side door of the fire station and banged on the door, not caring if I woke anyone up. It was late morning, but Anna had told me in the past that when she worked, she and the rest of the crew slept whenever they could. I waited impatiently for someone to answer. Finally the door opened and Bryan was standing in front of me, "Bryan."

"CSI Man? You okay?"

"No, I'm not okay. I haven't been in about two months. Bryan, where is she? Please? I need an idea. Help me. Give me somewhere to start." Bryan stepped out of the way and opened the door enough to let me come in. "Please, I know you might know something about where she is. Please. Help me find her."

He took me in the hallway that led to the common area of the station, "What's wrong?"

"Bullfrog! Take it outside." Bryan turned around. Two firemen and another paramedic were on the couch watching TV. The medic was the one doing the yelling as he threw a pillow at Bryan. "Damn it, man! All My Children is on! Greenlee got arrested."

He caught the pillow easily and left it on the back of one of the recliners in the room, "It's on the DVR. You can pause it you know." The medic's only response was to flip Bryan the bird as he and the other two firemen turned the volume on the TV up louder so they could hear. "Come with me before they get mad." Bryan led me out to the bay where the fire trucks and the ambulance were parked.

"You watch All My Children?" I looked through the window at the grown men sitting on the couch, engrossed in a soap opera.

I could tell Bryan was embarrassed about their secret. "Yeah, Aggie got us hooked. She would DVR it and watch it when things calmed down and slowly but surely she got us all watching. Don't tell anyone. We're supposed to be men but..." He motioned to the photo I was holding. "What's the picture of?" I handed him the photo I was holding and he looked down at it, "Nick, Aggs and I have done a lot of really stupid stuff in our time, but her leaving is by far the most stupid thing she's ever done."

"I need to know if she still loves me. I need to know if she still needs me. Does she still love me? Does she still need me?" Bryan didn't answer. "Please. I need to know. Help me, please. I know you have an idea. You're the only one I know that she's talked to about me."

Bryan leaned back across one of the engines and folded his arms across his chest. "What do you think?"

"Man, I don't know. She high tails it out of Vegas six weeks ago after leaving a note telling me she was leaving and didn't know where she was going but nothing about if she still loves me though I love her. She told me if I still loved her I wouldn't try to follow her, at least not right away. So no, I don't know if she loves me or not. I've done my best to shove her out of my head, but something's different now. I don't know."

"God, she's an idiot and I'm so gonna kick her ass when I see her again for being this damn stupid." Bryan looked at me and shook his head. "Nick, she does love you. She loves you more than life itself. I've known Aggie her whole life. I've always been closer to her than her own sister and I know how she talks about you when you're not here. I see how she is when you are here with her. I saw how she was when you were in the hospital. I also see how she is now that she's not here anymore. She won't admit it now because she's suffering from Acute Pneumoencephalopathy."

Bryan didn't speak right away. He kept his head down as I tried to figure out what he meant. I was clueless and worried that not only Anna was gone, but now she had some deadly disease, "She's suffering from what?"

"Acute Pneumoencephalopathy." Bryan looked up at me and smiled, "She's an airhead. She's an airhead who is miserable without you. I know how she was before she met you. I saw how she was after she met you. I see how she is now that she's not here. You complete her as much as she completes you. Before she met you, she was trying to find something. After you came along, she finally stopped looking. She knew you were her everything."

"Everyone keeps telling me that we complete each other and all that and I believe that myself, but still, if that's the case, then why isn't she here? You're about the fourth person to tell me that in as many weeks. Help me. Please." I pulled a folding metal chair off of a rack behind me and sat down. "Help me. I can't lose her."

"She's been through a lot. You know that and I don't just mean getting shot. I mean everything. She's hurting emotionally. Getting shot like that really screwed her up, but not nearly as bad as meeting the deranged guy's sister and that's probably why she left if I had to guess. She left thinking it'd help her get over it. She called me two weeks ago, crying her eyes out. I talked to her for over two hours that night just listening to her cry and I begged her to come back to Vegas and to you. Even Cathy tried talking some sense into that thick redheaded skull of hers. Aggs said she was begging God to help her not love you anymore. She kept saying over and over again that it was too painful." He unfolded his arms as he took a seat on the metal step on the side of the fire engine. "I asked her if she could live without you. She didn't answer because the thought of losing you scares the hell out of her. I can tell she's not doing well. Aggie's standing on a fine line between giving up and seeing how much more she can take. She's changed and it scares me."

"I've changed also. I've gone from someone who slept to someone who doesn't cause closing my eyes means putting in the Anna tape and pressing play. If she misses me, then why'd she leave? If she loves me so much, why'd she leave?"

"That one I can't answer for you. I'm not sure if she knows why she did. You said earlier something was different. What is?"

"The same two verses of a song she loves keeps playing over in my head. It's the same song she sang to me in the hospital after I got shoved out of the window and the same one I sang to her after she got out of surgery. I don't know what it means now that I'm hearing it all the time. I was at a scene earlier and kept zoning out thinking of the song as it played in my head. It was just two specific parts of the song that she sang to me when I was in the hospital and it's only just started. When I picture myself years from now, I see only her. No matter how painful distance can be, not having her in my life would be worse. That's why I'm here. Help me. Please."

"She knows that also even if she's too stupid to admit it." Bryan got up from his seat on the step of the engine. "Wait here." He disappeared inside the fire station and came out a minute later with a yellow legal pad and a set of keys. "Here." He tossed me the keys with his left hand so he could balance the notepad on his right forearm as he got a pen out of his pocket and wrote something on the notepad before he tore off the sheet and handed me the paper. "Keys to my wife's truck and you'll need this. I was gonna call and give you this but since you're here, you saved me a phone call."

I took the yellow page from him. "What's this and why are you giving me your wife's keys?" I read what he wrote on the page. "And who lives in Fayetteville?"

"You're in the Tahoe? The company truck? You parked it outside in the lot, right?"

"Yeah, I need to move it or something. I know I parked sideways in the lot when I got here, but I was in a hurry to see you after I heard the verse to that song again."

"Don't worry about that. Just go get her. Take Cathy's truck and go. Forget going home and swapping cars. Just go. Get Aggie and bring her home with you where she belongs. She's at her sister's and that's the address where she is in Fayetteville. Aggie finally told me where she was earlier this morning. I think subconsciously, she wanted me to know because she knew I'd tell you, hoping you'd come get her or call her or something. Cathy gets lost easily so I put a GPS in the truck. Type in that address and go get her."

I stared down at the ripped yellow piece of paper Bryan gave me and his wife's keys. "She told me not to. She said if I loved her, I'd…"

Bryan broke in, "I know what she said, Nick. She told me that's what she wrote, but why else do you think you keep hearing Caledonia?"

He caught me off guard when he guessed the song I was hearing. "How'd you know that's the song I'm hearing?"

Bryan shrugged, "Wild guess. Aggie told me she's been singing it again. That's the same song her mother used to sing to her when she was a child. She always said it helps her remember the good times. She'll be in the middle of doing something and that song will pop into her head. Don't you get it? Go get her."

"I remember you told me that at the hospital but what if she…"

"Damn it, CSI Man." Bryan got off the step again and started to shove me towards the door. "See this?" He held up my picture before giving it back to me.

"Yeah, I see it."

"Look at it." He got the picture back from me again and held it out in front of me where I could see it. "What do you see?"

I held out my hand and he gave it back to me. I stared at it, remembering the day it was taken. "I see the woman I love. I see the woman I can't live without."

"I see the same thing. I see that the two of you belong together. I see two people that are meant to be together, even if one of them is too stubborn to admit how much she needs you right now. I see someone standing in front of me who needs to get his Texas ass in my wife's truck and go get the woman who completes him before I'm just gonna have to kick your ass like it's never been kicked before."

I sighed, "But Bryan, she…"

"No buts. Go. Get Aggie and bring her home where she belongs. No wonder she loves you so much. You're about as stubborn as she is." Bryan shoved me again towards the door. "Get in my wife's truck and go get her before I kick your Texas ass all the way to Arkansas for being stupid. Now go and you better not come back with anything Longhorns on that truck or I will kick your ass!"

I stared down at the picture that started this whole conversation and the piece of paper telling me where Anna was. "Thank you and Anna won't let me put anything on it. I promise." I turned to leave but stopped myself. "But wait? How are you gonna get home?"

"I'll call Cathy to come get me or have one of the guys take me or hell, I'll skip to my loo the whole way home if it comes down to it. My wife's truck is messy. Go!" He shoved me again. "Let me get Cody's car seat out and after that, just throw what you don't need in the cargo area. Now let's go! You got a girlfriend to go get!"

I unlocked Cathy's 4Runner and went to my Tahoe so I could get my phone and a few other items I needed out of my truck. I got what I needed and came back and got in the driver's seat as Bryan was getting the car seat out. I told him I'd let him know how it went and that I'd get someone from the lab to get my truck. "Don't tell Anna I'm coming, please? I don't want to spook her and have her leave on me again." I gave him the keys to my Tahoe. "I'll call someone now to come get it. Just give them those when they get here. It'll probably be Greg or Warrick."

"You got it. Tell her I want my partner back. She understands my humor. Now go before I kick your Texas ass like it has never been kicked before." He put the keys to my Tahoe in his pocket and picked up Cody's car seat before stepping back so I could back out and leave.

I thanked Bryan again and left the station. I put the picture of Anna and me on the dashboard so I could look at it while I drove. As I waited on a light to change colors so I could make the turn to merge on the highway, I typed in the address to Anna's sister's house into the GPS. The light finally changed and I took a deep breath and turned on the highway headed east to get Anna and bring her home. "God give me strength."

After I was safely on the highway, I set the cruise control and pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Catherine's number and on the third ring, she answered. "Cath, I'm going to Arkansas. I have to see her. I just have to know what's going on. I need to see her. I need her to know how I feel."

"I know, Nick. I figured you'd wind up going. Be careful and I hope it works out well for you. I know you miss her."

"Can you get someone to go get my Tahoe from the fire station Bryan works at? I left the keys with him. I knew I couldn't take the Tahoe to Arkansas, so I got Bryan's wife's truck."

"I'll send someone over to get it later after I get done up here." Catherine sighed. "Nicky, she may not see this now, but make her see that she needs you. Make her see that she needs you as much as you need her. Bring her home where she belongs."

I told Catherine goodbye as I tossed the phone into the seat and sped up a little bit more, knowing that with every passing mile, I would be that much closer to seeing Anna.

After stopping to get gas about two hours after I left Vegas, I got back on the interstate and floored it once again. I had to stop and get gas several more times, but just under a day after I left Vegas, I arrived in Fayetteville. It was just before eleven o'clock in the morning when I saw some signs directing me towards the University of Arkansas and the highway I needed to take. I pulled over to a gas station to refill the truck again after making the last turn off the highway before starting the last part of my trip through the more rural part of Fayetteville where Anna was. As I looked at the GPS so I could try to figure out where I was, I realized after looking that I wasn't that far away from where Anna's sister lived. I finished filling the truck up and started on my last few miles before I could get to Anna. I begged Bryan not to tell her I was coming and he swore to me he wouldn't.

I made the last turn off the paved road and onto a gravel road that led straight up a hill. Bryan had told me that Anna's sister's house was up on a hill towards the end of the road. I passed a few farm houses and several ponds as I kept looking for Anna's sister's house. Finally finding it, I parked Cathy's SUV behind a green Honda Civic and an older model Ford F150 and an Arkansas State Trooper police car. There were two children playing in the front yard that didn't even pay any attention to me as I walked by them to get to the front porch. Taking a deep breath, I knocked.

The door opened and woman who looked a little bit like Anna answered. She looked like she was older by several years and taller than Anna was by about five or six inches and her hair was a shade or two darker and was straight rather than the natural curls Anna had. She saw me and let out a ragged breath. "You must be Nick." I was taken aback at how she knew me already. She pointed to my vest, "Your name is on your vest. What are you doing here?"

I looked down and realized I didn't even take off my work vest before I left Vegas. I was so focused on getting here that I didn't even remember to leave it in my Tahoe. "Can I come in, please? I just drove here from Las Vegas." She opened the screen door and stood to one side as I came in the living room and motioned for me to sit down. I took a seat on the edge of an ottoman while she sat on the couch in front of me. "I'm Nick Stokes. I'm Anna's, well, I'm not sure anymore what we are actually."

"I know who you are. I'm Samantha Malone, Meri-Anna's sister. How'd you find me?"

"Bryan. Anna's friend. He said Anna had talked to him earlier yesterday and she told him she was staying here with you. I needed to see her so I came here to do that. I didn't mean to intrude and I'm not here to cause problems. I take it Anna told you what happened and why she left Vegas?"

Samantha looked towards a window when she heard a noise outside. She got up from where she was sitting and looked out the window to check on whoever it was that shouted. "Yeah I do." She came and sat back down before her eyes met mine again, "Look, she's not here, but yes she did tell me. My sister has told us bits and pieces of it at least. I don't know the full story of what happened to her, nor do I think I want to. All I know is she called me one night about seven weeks ago while you were evidently at work or gone or something and she was crying saying she couldn't do this anymore and asked if she could come see Eric and me. Eric's my husband by the way. I could tell something was wrong with her, but I didn't press her. I'm sure you know by now the harder you press Meri-Anna, the more she shuts off."

"Yeah, I found that out right after I first met her. She told me as much and I've done my best not to press her about anything, but it's been six weeks since I spoke to her and I just need to see her or talk to her or something. I just need to hear her tell me what she wants. I need to know if she still loves me or if she wants me to fall off the face of the earth. I just need to know something. I have been patient with her this long, but I can't continue to live like this."

"Nick, she's not here, but I can answer one of those questions for you. Meri-Anna does love you. I know that for a fact. I've been able to read her quite well ever since she was born. She can be a stubborn, pig headed pain in the ass of a person, but when it comes to matters of the heart, she's easy to read. She falls in love very hard and falls very quick when it comes to love and she loves truly with everything she has. My sister always has. The times I've seen her, she won't speak about what happened or the real reason why she's here or anything. All she does is play with that heart necklace she wears and sings the same song over and over. She's catatonic. She just touches the necklace and just stares off into space and if I had to guess, you gave her that necklace didn't you?"

I swallowed the rising lump in my throat, hoping to choke off tears. "Yes. I gave it to Anna for her birthday this past May. She was wearing it the day she got shot. She took it back after it was released from evidence and I don't think she's taken it off since. I told her when I gave it to her that she's had my heart since the first day we met and now she could wear something that reminded her every time she looked at it or felt it move how much I love her. I didn't think she'd wear it after she left."

"She has and she won't let anyone touch it. Meri-Anna had to have an MRI right after she got here for her physical therapy to continue. I basically had to sit on her to get it off of her while they did the MRI. The instant she was done, she flew off the table and got the necklace back from me and demanded I put it on her before the MRI tech was finished pulling the gurney out of the machine." Samantha got up, "Are you hungry or thirsty? I should have offered you something when you got here, but you took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting company, let alone a strange SUV with Nevada plates and then when I saw you coming up and read the name on your vest, I didn't know what to think."

"No, I'm fine as far as that goes." I followed her into the kitchen as she poured herself a glass of water and watched as she drank some of it. Samantha didn't say anything, so I did. "Samantha? Please. Help me find her. I just want to see her or talk to her once. Please. Help me. Can you tell me where she is? Anything?"

Samantha put her glass on the counter and turned around to face me. "Nick, I wish I could help, but I don't know where my sister is. She just goes from here to there. She doesn't stay in one place for long."

I looked up at Samantha and stared her straight in her eyes. "Samantha, please. Help me find Anna. I love her and I can't lose her. Tell me where I can find her or call her, please. Just tell her to come see you or let me talk to her or something."

Samantha studied the expression on my face and exhaled sharply before saying anything. "I don't know where my sister is and she doesn't have a cell phone. She calls me from different places to check in from time to time. I couldn't even begin to tell you where to look. Fayetteville is a pretty good sized city and that's not counting the more rural areas of the city and even in the county. Look, if she calls, I'll tell her you're here. Are you going to stay in town or what?"

I tried to hide the defeat in my voice. "Yeah, I guess so."

Samantha got a piece of paper from a notebook on the counter. "This is my phone number. Just call me and let me know what hotel you're going to be at and your room number and if Meri-Anna calls, I'll tell her you're here. Do you have your cell phone with you or something?"

"Yeah." Samantha handed me the notebook she was using. I wrote my number down for her as she handed me the piece of paper with her number on it. She stuck the notebook back on the counter as I folded the piece of paper she gave me and put it in my pocket as I got up to leave. She followed me out of the kitchen and up to the front of the house again. "I was just hoping I could see her or talk to her or something." I opened the screen door and stepped outside and when I looked down, I saw a circular pattern on the porch that was darker than the wood surrounding it. "What was here?" I didn't notice it earlier before I came inside. I could tell something was there at one point in time, but it was gone now. The sun had bleached the wood around it, but this circle stood out. Whatever was there before was there long enough for the wood to fade around it. "A vase?"

"No, it was a flower pot. A terra cotta flower pot to be precise. One of my kids did a skateboard stunt off of the porch or tried to really. My son, Marc, tripped and went flying off the porch and the skateboard hit the flower pot and cracked it. My other son, Christian, came in to get me telling me his brother was bleeding pretty badly and Marc needed stitches from his stunt. Anyway, Meri-Anna came by as we were leaving. I had to wait on my husband to get free to come get Christian so I could take Marc to the hospital. Meri-Anna had come by after her physical therapy and saw it and freaked telling me to get rid of it. I tried to explain to her that my son just broke it and I was taking Marc to the hospital, but she kept crying and making a huge scene over nothing. I tried to ask why that flower pot set her off like that, but she shut down and wouldn't talk. I didn't have time to deal with her then. My son's chin was bleeding pretty badly from the skateboard stunt."

I thought back to the first time we met and the murdered flower pot and to the one I broke at the golf course. "Oh, God. Anna. Anna." I bent down to touch the circle on the porch. "Anna."

"Are you alright?"

"That's how we met." I stood back up and wiped my hand on my jeans. "I got hurt at a crime scene. I tripped over a terra cotta flower pot and broke it. She was the paramedic that treated me on the scene. It's always been an in joke between us about me murdering that flower pot." I could feel the tears start to come back to me again as I remembered that day. "That's why she freaked out. It reminded her of me."

"I guess now I know the whole story. She wouldn't calm down until Eric and Christian got rid of it after I got home with Marc." Samantha stared at me and folded her arms across her chest. "You love my sister, don't you?"

"Yes. I wouldn't have driven as far as I did in a borrowed truck otherwise. I have to see her. If she wants me to leave, you have my word that I'll leave, but please, I'm begging you, where is she? I just want to see her and tell her how much I love her and if she wants me to leave her alone, I will. You can chase me off with a shotgun or watch as I get back in that truck and leave and though it'll be the hardest thing I'll ever do, I'll get in that truck and I'll go back to Vegas. You have my word, I won't bother your sister again if that's what she wants, but I have to know one way or another where we stand. Please. Help me."

"Come on." Samantha turned to walk around the side of the house after she told her kids she'd be right back. She led me down the steps of the porch at the side of her house and around and into the back yard. "I was just trying to protect my sister. I lied earlier and I'm sorry. Meri-Anna is here. If you'll look over there, there's a gravel path at the edge of the fence line. That gravel path right there will take you down the hill and there's a pond at the end just past that grove of trees. If I had to guess, she's down there. That's where she's spent every day since she's been here if she wasn't at therapy or asleep. Meri-Anna goes down there to cry or to pray or whatever it is she does. She doesn't laugh anymore. The light is gone in her eyes. My baby sister is an empty shell. I don't know if that's from what happened to her or leaving you, but maybe you're what she needs now. All she has ever done since she got here was wake up, go to therapy, come home, go down to that pond and cry or whatever until nightfall forced her to come in and go to bed only to have her start the day over again. Now that her therapy is over with, I hardly see her. Meri-Anna 's gone before I get up and she's gone when I go to bed. My kids miss their aunt and my parents miss their daughter. My parents and I have tried to reach her, but she won't say anything. The only person she will speak to is Bryan. We've all tried, but she won't speak to anyone else and even when she talks to Bryan, she doesn't tell him much. They've always been really close and I quit trying to figure out the deal between the two of them years ago."

I pulled Samantha into a hug, "Thank you." I stepped off the porch and started towards the driveway so I could throw my work vest inside Cathy's truck.

"Just promise me one thing."

I looked back up at her, "Anything."

Samantha leaned against a column on the porch and folded her arms across her chest again. "If she wants you to leave, please do so. I don't need her more upset than she already is. I'm afraid right now she won't come back to us if something else happens. I don't want to have you forcibly removed from here, but I will if I have to in order to protect my sister. My husband is a state trooper."

"I give you my word if she wants me to leave, I will go. No questions asked." After tossing my vest in Cathy's truck and running by Samantha as she watched me from her position against one of the columns on the side porch, I took off in the direction where she told me Anna was.

The gravel pathway leading down towards the pond and the distance were the only things holding me back. As I picked up speed running down the pathway, the trees I passed became blurry visions as I heard the gravel crunching underneath my boots. I came to the end of the pathway and saw Anna. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I watched her. She was sitting against a large cypress tree and I noticed that her hair was shorter than the last time I saw her. Anna was facing the pond and didn't see me approaching. Her legs were crossed at her ankles and she was holding a wild flower in her right hand as her left hand slowly traced the outline of the chain of the necklace around her neck as she blankly stared across the pond. The last time I saw her, she had the sling on her right arm and she couldn't move it. I watched as she twirled the flower between her fingers, relieved that she had the use of her arm back. I started to walk towards her and as I did, I stepped on a twig and when it snapped and made a noise, she looked up.

"Nick?" Anna stood up quickly as she dusted the grass off her shorts. "What are you doing here?"

A/N: I'm so cruel. Reviews, please? Chapter 20 should be up pretty soon. I'm proofing it now.