Author's Note: I've been keeping a close eye on any information regarding the series finale "movie" for CSI. This oneshot is the scene that I think will open the episode. I will not be speculating beyond this scene as to what will happen in the episode. Just for clarification, this oneshot is not connected to my story entitled "What Happened at the Forensic Conference". Enjoy!

A tall man stood in the cemetery looking at a gravestone. His hair was white, making him seem older than his years. The glasses he wore were understated and kept sliding down his nose as he stood with his head bowed, his hands in the pants pockets of his dark suit. He remembered well the woman who lay beneath this marker. She had been one of his best friends; the one who could make him laugh when that was the last thing on his mind. She had also been one of the biggest pains in his ass when she wanted to be. They had parted ways once before, on bad terms no less, but had been able to reconcile their differences over time.

He shook his head. This was his fault. He wasn't the one who had killed her, but it was his fault she came to Vegas in the first place. She had been doing well teaching criminalists and FBI agents how to read bloodstains to figure out what had happened at a crime scene. But he had "accidentally" left that case folder at one of her training sessions and she had decided to put aside her feelings toward him to work that one case.

That one case had turned into a job and he thought it was great to work with her again. But then the Gig Harbor Killer had decided to show up in Vegas and reopen old wounds. That monster's rampage in Vegas had killed a dozen people and put this woman in a coma. In the hospital, she had been healing physically, but her mind had apparently been unable to. The doctors had done all they could for her. Unfortunately, she had succumbed to her injuries a month ago.

D.B. Russell sighed. It was his fault that he hadn't seen the peril she was in sooner. His fault he had sent her home where she was unprotected instead of allowing her to come back to the lab as she had wanted. Everyone kept telling him he wasn't responsible, and part of him knew it was true, but Russell couldn't shake the feeling that this was his fault. He knew it was the survivor's guilt talking. It didn't help to know that. No matter what he told himself, he knew he would have to live with this for the rest of his life.

He slowly turned and walked back to his car. Farewell, my friend.

The name on the gravestone glittered in the sunlight, imitating the twinkle that often gleamed from her eyes when she was feeling mischievous. He turned to take one last look before he drove away and could barely make out her name.

Julie Finlay

A/N: This scene popped into my head when I found out Elisabeth Shue had decided not to return for the "Season 16" wrap-up movie/series finale for CSI. This means that Julie Finlay will not be in that episode either. From my perspective, there were two possible ways the writers could address Shue's decision not to come back. This oneshot is the one I think is more likely. Once again, this oneshot is not connected to my story entitled "What Happened at the Forensic Conference".