Authors note: I would like to thank my friend Emily as she helped creating and writing the whole thing, it has been a blast :o)

DISCALIMER: I don't own CSI NY and i don't make any money from it.

The bridge and the rose.

Chapter 1.

It was a rainy April day in New York City and Stella sat bent over a body beneath Brooklyn bridge, a stab victim, but she had to work fast as the rain was destroying the evidence.
Sitting there she for some reason looked out over the water, the waves was going back and forth more than usual because of the bad weather.
"It's a mess much like my life" she though with a sigh.

She walked over to Flack and asked: "What do we know?"
"All I was able to get from the guy who found her was that he was out for a jog around 5am, saw something, and came over. When he saw her, he checked for a pulse and she was dead. Then he called 911" said Flack
"Ok, thanks" said Stella
"What can you tell me Sheldon?" asked Stella as she went closer to him and the body

"Some small puncture wounds made by knife, but fatal blow was to the heart of what I can tell so far, but I know for sure at the post" he said.
"Hey Stell doesn't this look a bit out of place" Flack yelled.
"What?" she asked turning towards him.
"A rose" he said and pointed at the ground, there it was a single red rose with a black ribbon around it. Stella looked confused, that didn't make sense at all to her.

Stella held the rose with her gloved hand and pulled gently on the black ribbon. In the distance, you heard an aria but it was faint. She lifted her head as if she heard something but shook it off when Sheldon called her.
"Stella, you okay" asked Sheldon
"Yeah, I'm coming. You ready to head back to the lab" she asked him as she laid the rose in a bag and put it with the rest of the evidence they collected.

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"Stella, Stella are you listening?" said Mac interrupted her thinking.
"Huh" she said looking up at him.
"That was sure well spoken" he said and smiled at her.
"Very funny" she said.
"Did you find out anything about the rose" he asked her as she was holding it.
"Only it could have been bought in every flower store in the city and I get way too few of them" she said with a sigh.

"Well maybe check the ribbon" said Mac
"Already did Mac, its French silk. Very rare and imported from only a few places in the USA. However, it's not imported to NY. Only Los Angeles" she said
"Great, get on it" said Mac
"Mac, already checked them out. No stores or orders have come or gone out for that ribbon. Also no specific individual has ordered it. It basically has not been used for over 75 years" said Stella
"Well, see if there is anything else then on it" said Mac
" I'll drop it off to trace" she said to him with a smile

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"Hey Stell, you got a delivery" said Lindsey

"Yeah this ribbon, will you see if you can find anything on it" said Stella and handed it over.
"Yeah of course, it's really beautiful" said Lindsey.
"It really is" said Stella.
"A rose and a black ribbon, very poetic, you think the killer loved the victim?" Lindsay asked.
"No idea, but it's a beautiful gesture still" Stella stopped as she suddenly could hear the music from the crime scene again.

"Do you hear that?" she asked
"Hear what?" asked Lindsey
"That music, it's so beautiful, it's like an aria of some kind" said Stella
"I don't hear anything Stella" said Lindsey
"Odd, I mean its so clear and beautiful" said Stella

Lindsey looked confused at her friend, she was looking dreamily into the air and was listening she couldn't hear at all, which was just strange.
"Are you positive you can't hear it" said Stella again.
"Yes, I can not understand what you are one about" said Lindsey.
"Maybe if I can write the words I can find the song" said Stella thoughtfully.
"Stell would you focus here, ribbon" said Lindsey.
"Huh, oh yeah what do you got?" Stella asked as the tunes slowly vanished.

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As Stella was in her office, she tried to remember the words from the aria. However, all she could remember was 'think of me, think of me fondly when we've said goodbye'. That was the only line she should clearly hear. She goggled it and it came back to the Phantom of the Opera. She thought 'how odd, this is one of my favourite operas but no one knows that.' She also wondered if it was somehow connected to the case they were currently trying to solve.

As she was wondering about that she didn't noticed she had started humming on the song and startled when she suddenly heard Mac sing: Remember me once in a while, please promise me you'll try.
"Mac how did you know that" she said surprised.
"Just do, good opera" he said and smiled at her.
"My favourite, but do you think it can have anything to do with the case" she said.
"Maybe, too early to say, but if it is I'll say we are hunting for a phantom" he said and smiled at her again.

"That would be interesting" she said
"Maybe we should check out the opera house, the Met maybe?" said Mac
"That's a bit of a stretch. Do we have any connection to that?" asked Stella
"There was some sawdust on the ribbon that comes from wood that used in the cellar chambers of the Met" said Mac
"So to the Met we go" said Stella

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That Stella love the Met wasn't hard to tell, at once she came inside she was so at ease and she just enjoyed her self. Mac could tell, and he found it cute. As they looked up at the chandelier she asked him "Can you sing all the songs in the opera?"
"I can yes" he said honest as they walked down to the cellar.
"Sing me something then" she said.
"Little Lotte let her mind wander" he sang with his deep voice.
Stella looked at him with eyes that sparkled more than usual when they heard someone yell: Watch out.

"Stella! Stella where are you" said Mac as he was looking around for her

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