CALLING IT

Against the magnificent, fiery backdrop of the sun setting over Las Vegas, Sara and Grissom's bodies were merely black silhouettes. They were standing on a cliff further along from where they had searched for evidence, sitting in the Romero's vast and beautiful garden. The flowers were in bloom and the scent was invigourating.

They were leaning on an intricately patterned wrought-iron fence that allowed for the best possible view. Sara's eyes took in all that she could see. Grissom, however, could not take his eyes off Sara; the way her hair fluttered in the breeze, the way her soft skin radiated in the crimson light, the way the sun made her deep, brown eyes glow and glisten. He was so taken by the sight that he nearly had to remind himself to breathe.

Sara looked at him suddenly. "Are you OK, Grissom?" she asked.

He blinked hard and shook his head. He nodded to her slowly. "Yeah, I am."

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Sara said as she turned back to face the dying sun. "I can see why she wanted to fight to preserve such beauty."

"Actually," Grissom pointed out, "the colours you sometimes see in a sunset are partially due to the pollution in the air. We cover up that fact by simply seeing what it is on the surface." Sara swallowed hard and looked disappointed. Grissom thought that maybe he shouldn't have said anything. "So," he said, "do you want to call it?"

Sara thought for a moment, and then began to envision what happened the day of Eve Romero's death.

Just over a week ago, Eve Romero confronted her husband and her sister Ava Laerton whom she caught them cheating. Eve, in her rage, could not hope to forgive Ava so she kicked her out of her house.

"You weren't even a part of RES, Ava. You were just here to see my husband. I want you out of my house!"

"Where will I go?"

"I don't know, I don't care."

At some point during the next two days, Ava Romero left a gift-wrapped box on Bruce Romero's porch. He found and read the note and decided to give his wife the present without knowing what was inside. When his wife opened the box, she expressed great surprise.

"This is a gold bracelet. You've never bought me gold, Bruce. I can't keep this."

"Look, honey, it's inscribed. It's an anagram for "For Eve Romero, Save the World". That's what we're doing. That's why we're here. Forgive me."

"What is 'Shadow Velter'."

Bruce Romero made up a story about "Velters" who apparently protected the world from harm. Eve had a hard time grasping the story, but eventually forgave her husband.

"That's sweet, Bruce."

"Gold is more than silver. It thought this would bring our marriage to the next level. You mean so much to me."

For the next few days, Eve was unsuspecting of what was going on her behind her back until she stumbled across the note that Bruce had poorly hidden the night before the conference. She went to bed early knowing where her husband was.

The next morning, she woke up alone and began to cry. She went outside with the bracelet and the note. From the side of her house, she tossed the two items as far as she could. The bracelet tumbled into the grass and the note fell at her feet, paper not being as aerodynamic as she' d have liked. As she turned and went inside, the note was carried over the edge of the cliff in the wind. The door slammed behind her.

She waited to see if Bruce would come home before the conference or if he had left her completely. As she waited and dried her eyes, she grabbed an apple and took a few bites. Before she had a chance to finish it, the door of her house swung open. Bruce Romero, feeling guilty for what he had done to his wife, called to her. Eve shoved the apple into her pocket as she stumbled into the living room, fresh tears falling down her face.

"I know what you've been doing behind my back!"

"Eve, I'm so sorry! Please, please forgive me! The conference! I'll make it up to you at the conference! Please come! We have to hurry!"

Eve Romero didn't move. She stood there, not saying a word and not making a move. Her chest heaved with her quick, angry breathing and her glaring eyes bore right into Bruce's.

"Get out of my house."

"But—"

"I said get out of my house!"

Eve Romero was screaming and hysterical. Bruce Romero, having to make a decision, chose to go to the conference, secretly hoping the Eve would forgive him and that she would show up later. However, he would not ever see or hear Eve alive again. Stricken with grief, even fell onto her nearby couch and sobbed long and hard into the cushions. Moments later, she breathed her last breath.

Grissom considered what Sara had said. "So, you think Eve Romero died from emotional stress resulting from her husband's adulterous behaviour?"

"I can't think of any other explanation," said Sara.

"The unreasonable…" Grissom said to himself.

"Pardon me?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking."

"Me too," Sara said with a sigh. "I know there's no hard evidence that suggests Eve Romero died of sadness, but if that's how it happened… I mean, what a horrible way to go."

"So leaf subsides to leaf," Grissom said softly as he watched the falling sun. "So Eden sank to grief."

Sara continued, "So dawn goes down today." They looked at one another. "Nothing gold can stay."

Grissom was impressed. "Where did you hear that?"

"I looked it up," Sara said with a sly smile. Grissom mirrored her expression. "So," she said, "Eve is our Eden who 'sank to grief'."

"You could think of it that way," he suggested. "This garden is beautiful, like the Garden of Eden as described in biblical terms. I bet it has seen its share of treachery in its time."

"So Eden sank to grief," Sara said to herself, turning the words over in her head."

"Exactly," said Grissom. "And do you remember why Eve was punished in the Garden of Eden?"

"No. What?"

"She ate of the forbidden fruit."

"An apple," Sara said feeling a sense of revelation. "Eve rejected her husband and the gold bracelet that he gave her."

"Nothing gold can stay," recited Grissom.

"Exactly," Sara said, and the smouldering, golden sun disappeared behind the mountains on the other side of the valley leaving the two CSI's in darkness.

Grissom reached out and took Sara's hand. She looked at him questioningly. "Let's go back now," he said. "It's a long drive back to the lab."

"Hey, Gris?" Sara said as the walked. "Do you think it's possible that Eve died from grief because her husband left?"

He turned to her, her hand still in his. "I know that I would die if you ever left." Sara was tired of Grissom's games, but she managed a half-smiled. From a man who rarely offered any personal input, what he'd said meant a lot to her.

"I'll stay if you do," she said, and they walked together back to the car, the golden sun long gone behind the mountains.

FIN