A/N Okay so if you've been reading this series. This story was set-up in the story Contagious. It's taken a little bit of research, oddly enough. I hope it comes across as fun.

Summary: The four detectives are sent out on a team building exercise. Sequel to Unwrapping Gifts

Pairing: Mike/Alex

Series: Part of my M/A series, the list of stories is on my profile page.

Reviews: Please, because they keep me happy and I hope you want me happy. :D

Superstes Excerceo

Alex Eames, Mike Logan, Carolyn Barek and Bobby Goren were sat together in an interview room at the Major Case Squad. All four were wearing coats, and had survival packs on the floor next to them. They were all wearing dark colours to match their moods. The only one who was excited about the trip was Bobby. Carolyn had a moderate feeling of looking forward to it but she personally would rather stay in the country to do it. They knew they'd be sleeping in tents and living it 'rough' for a whole week. "This is just not my idea of fun." Alex said, groaning as they waited for this mystery tour guide person who was going to be leading them on their 'expedition'.

"You and me both." Mike agreed with her, as they sat near each other.

"I-it might be fun." Bobby said, trying to cheer his friends up. "If you get into it and give your all." Mike and Alex looked at him as if he were mad. Carolyn smiled at him, appreciating his attempt to cheer them up.

"I think I'll just enjoy it through you." Alex muttered and Bobby rolled his eyes at her stubborness.

"So where are we going?" Mike asked, also unsure as to why they had to leave the country.

"All I know is that we're flying into Innsbruck in Austria." Alex told him, uninterested.

"That's in Europe." Bobby told her and she glared at him.

"I know where Austria is, thank you." Alex sighed and rolled her eyes at him unamused, shaking her head as if she was warning him not to continue. Bobby was definitely convinced she was in a bad mood.

"As for where we're going exactly." Carolyn said, to change the subject back, "We won't know until our two guides turn up."

"There are two? I'm sure the Captain said there was one guide." Bobby said, interested by that new knowledge.

"There was originally until they became convinced that one couldn't... handle us." Carolyn replied, as she turned to Alex, who snorted her disapproval.

Noticing how it seemed she was getting on her friends nerves, Alex smiled, "Sorry." she mumbled it but it was heard. Carolyn smiled to say she understood, she wasn't completely fond of going away for a week only to return to have extra paperwork and mountains of backlog. Alex looked at Mike, who shrugged, he wasn't looking forward to it at all. He'd prefer to stay in New York with Alex, even though she was going too it didn't really make him look forward to it, and as far as he was concerned he and Carolyn got along just fine and didn't need to build any more foundations to their team structure.

Alex sighed and looked down at her lap to see Mike stroking her knee with his hand. Turning to him she smiled, thankful he was going with them. She was also grateful Bobby and Carolyn were going, at least she was with friends and not some complete stranger or someone she barely knew but worked with. She couldn't really pinpoint why she was in such a bad mood about it but she couldn't exactly control it. "Okay, so where are the guides?" She asked, frustrated, looking at her watch. "Weren't they supposed to be here at 9?"

"Yeah." Mike said, "They were." Looking at his watch his noticed it was now 9.23. "I guess tardiness is acceptable on this trip." he said, sarcastically, "Good."

Bobby, who was sat down bouncing his knee to free his energy, looked at him amused. "Do you plan on being late up in the morning?"

Mike grinned, "Oh yeah. I do now." The door opened and Captain Deakins walked in. Mike quickly said, "I was hoping it'd be you. Listen, their late. So now's a good time for you to say we don't have to go."

Deakins chuckled, "No, you're going." Hopes were shot down and Mike looked down at the table in frustration. Deakins shook his head in amusement. "I'm here to tell you they've called, they're delayed in traffic but they'll just be about another 10 minutes."

Alex groaned, "Damn."

"Still don't want to go?" Deakins asked her, already knowing the answer.

"I just don't see why we have to go in the first place." She told him, honestly. "Seriously, we've been partners for almost 5 years now... shouldn't we have had this at the beginning?" She asked, pointing at Bobby and then at herself.

Deakins could understand her reasoning but it wasn't his decision, it had been the Chief of Detectives. "Chief's idea." he told her, "Think of it as a holiday." Hoping she'd seen the positive side. "A paid holiday."

"Can I speak freely?" Alex asked, annoyed.

Deakins chuckled again, "You always do." he told her with a smile.

Alex smirked, "Is the chief on drugs?" That earned a laugh around the room. Deakins looked at her serious expression and shook his head, amused.

Deakins stood up and looked at her, hoping to make a point. "Alex." he said, trying not to laugh, "Have fun." he ordered and then left the room. Alex sighed, putting her head on the table. Laughing, Mike put his hand on her back.

"Eames, it's not really that bad." Bobby told her. "And you're right, we've been partners for years, which means this should be a walk in the park for us." She lifted her head up and looked at him.

"Is it some kind of competition?" Alex asked and Bobby nodded.

"Yes, it's the two of you against the two of us." Carolyn told her. Alex suddenly looked interested and she turned to Mike, grinning. Tapping the table with amusement, she laughed. Mike couldn't help but smile at her reaction.

Bobby looked at Carolyn and shrugged, clearly getting her competitive juices was all that was needed. Especially since she now knows she'll be up against Mike. Bobby was about to say something else when the door opened as two strangers stepped into the room; presumably their guides.

The man was tall, dark haired and relatively handsome. He was of a thin build but not unfit. He was wearing fake army fatigues and was wearing a backpack on his back, and a whistle around his neck. Making Mike cringe at the thought of him using it. The woman was shorter than him, muscular but not overweight. She was also wearing army fatigues and a whistle around her neck. Her backpack was in her hand as she carried it at her side. "Can I assume you are Detectives Goren, Eames, Logan and Barek?" She asked, politely but her voice wasn't soft.

"Yes, we are." Carolyn replied, looking at them in fascination. Wondering if they were meant to be wearing army fatigues as well.

"Good." She closed the door behind them and the two of them pulled up a chair. "I apologise for being late."

"That's alright." Mike said, almost sarcastic but he tried to keep that out of his voice.

"Mmm, we don't mind waiting." Alex told her, not hiding her sarcasm, nodding.

The woman shot her a look that told Alex she didn't believe her, "Well, anyway, my name is Penny Thorne." She shook of everyone's hand, and they all thought the same thing; she didn't look like a Penny, and then she looked to her partner.

"I'm Dave Murphy. And I just want to welcome you all. This is the first time we've taken Police Officers on this type of team building exercise so we hope it goes smoothly." He told them, looking at Alex, as she was trying to hold back a remark about how he was wishing on stars. "You are?" he asked, looking directly at Alex.

"Alex Eames." she said, offering no other information.

Dave turned to Mike, "So you must be her partner, Detective Goren..."

Mike looked at him with an amused expression, "No, I'm Mike Logan." He pointed at Bobby, "That's Goren." Dave and Penny shared a look between them as the detectives watched with fascination.

"I'm sorry." Dave said to Mike and to Bobby. "I just assumed you were sitting next to your partners."

Alex smirked but she looked at Mike and they both decided there and then not to tell them, Mike took his hand off her knee. Others were oblivious because they were covered by the table. "We're all friends here." Mike told him and Dave nodded.

"Good. That's really good." Penny said, smiling. "That helps make our job much easier." she looked at Carolyn, "So you must be Detective Barek." Carolyn nodded.

"Right. So here's what we'll be doing today." Dave said, continuing on, "We'll be flying out from JFK at 17.00 hours." He told them.

"Why so late in the afternoon?" Bobby asked, curiously.

"Because your first exercise starts in this room." Dave replied, smiling at their confused expressions. The four looked at each other, unsure of what he meant. "You will be taking the subway and the bus to JFK."

"Are you mad? That could take hours." Alex asked, incredulously. Why the bus and the subway?

"Yes, it could." Penny said, smiling. "And you have to work as a team to navigate your way there. We won't be helping, we'll just be following you."

Alex frowned and then looked at her colleagues, raising her hand, "Okay team, let's vote." she told them, "Who wants me to drive?" They all raised their hands and Alex looked ready to stand up and fetch her car keys.

"Detective Eames, I was told about you." Penny said, her tone of voice was a warning in its own right.

Alex's eyebrows shot up and she looked at her in surprise, "Oh?"

"Yes, you've made quite an impression on the Chief of D's and most Captains you've had in the past." Penny told her. Alex could feel Mike sniggering next to her and she shot him a warning glare. Alex then looked at Bobby, who offered her a sympathetic look and she sighed. Mike put his hand back on her knee and squeezed it. "The impression wasn't a bad one." Penny said, making Alex look back at her, "He just told me to be careful."

Alex could feel herself smirking, and really, she didn't mind if she given herself a reputation - she couldn't help that she had her own personality, she certainly wasn't going to apologise for it. Her 'impression' that she'd given off to everyone obviously included the fact that she had a mind of her own and wouldn't willingly and blindly follow direction.

She wasn't about to start today either.

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It had taken them a total of 3 and a half hours to navigate their way through a hectic subway and find the correct bus that would take them straight to JFK Airport. If they had been less than at their best they'd have dropped from having to carry their packs as well due to the fact they'd been stood up for most of that time as well.

Reaching the airport they realised they were a little early and they couldn't resist feeling pride in that, Penny and Dave had obviously thought it would take longer. It was now 1pm and they had four hours before the aircraft was scheduled to take off, so they checked in and waited to be called through to airside.

Once they had checked in they no longer had their bags with them, which was a great relief. Now they were sitting on the uncomfortable chairs, waiting for their flight number to be called up. The waiting area was completely full of people, alot of them were families waiting to go on their holiday and the rest look liked business passengers who were carrying their briefcases and laptops, doing some of their work there. Dave clapped his hands enthusiastically, "So, since we're going to be a while, we might as well start with the next activity." Alex, Mike, Carolyn and Bobby looked at each in surprise. They didn't expect them to be doing one in the airport. "Don't worry, this task isn't physical in any way."

Penny chuckled, "Yes, this just requires your brain." Alex looked at Bobby and smirked. "This is basically a survival scenario." she told them, as she pulled out some sheets of paper from her small carry-on bag. She handed them each one and watched as they read it. "Basically, you've crashed landed in Northern Canada, in January. So it's cold." Alex felt herself cringe.

"Crash landed? Is this some kind of premonition for what's about to happen?" Mike asked, sarcastically. Penny shot him a look. "How did we crash land?" She looked at him again, "I'm just curious."

Alex looked at him and gave him a small laugh, "You see it was sabotage." she said, as if she was describing the events that had led to a crime scene, "The first engine burst into flames when lightning struck and because the other engines had had some wires cut they couldn't control the plane." Mike was trying not to laugh. Bobby looked at Carolyn and smiled. "The pilot had a heart attack at the wrong moment." She looked at Penny and Dave who were looking at her strangely, "Sorry." she waved it off, "Please continue."

"Thank you, Detective. Okay, well, you have 12 items that you managed to salvage from the plane." Dave instructed, "You must put those items in the order of importance... relative to your survival."

The 12 items are:

A ball of steel wool

A small axe

A loaded pistol

Can of Crisco shortening

Newspapers, one per person

Cigarette lighter, without fluid

Extra shirts and pants for each survivor

20 x 20 ft of heavy duty canvas

A sectional air-map made of plastic

One quart of 100-proof whiskey

A compass

Chocolate bars 500g (one per person)

"You'll be working in teams of two. Goren and Eames, Logan and Barek." Penny told them after they'd finished reading, "My suggestion would be that the two teams move away from each other so that you can discuss privately." Alex looked at Bobby and shrugged. Standing up, watching as Penny stood up as well, realising that clearly they were going to be monitored as well. She waved to Mike and then to Carolyn and they left them there, to go to the other side of the waiting room.

Mike looked at Carolyn and then back at the list. "Okay, we got to win." He told her, determined.

She looked at him and shook her head at his competitive streak, she wasn't aware he had one but it was good that he did because she wanted to win as well. "Well, firstly, I think the lighter is one of the top ones." she told him.

He looked at her incredulously, "It has no fluid in it." he told her.

She shrugged, "Yes, but it would still make a spark."

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Alex looked at Bobby and then at Penny, who was sitting back and watching them. "What could we use crisco shortening for?"

Bobby rubbed his mouth thoughtfully, "Well, it could be rubbed on our skin to protect us from the cold." She looked at him peculiarly and then shrugged, she knew not to question him. "And the lid is reflective... we could use it for a signal."

"But it would only work in the day?" Alex told him.

Bobby nodded, "That's far more likely when people would be looking for us." Alex nodded in agreement.

"Okay, well the ball of steel wool could be used to light a fire." she said, thoughtfully.

"The sparks from the lighter." he finished and she nodded. "It could catch the sparks."

Alex got her pen ready to write. "Okay, so let's put them in an order."

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"Alright." Dave said, as the three returned as soon as both teams were finished. "I hope you found that task easy and enjoyable."

Penny took their papers off them and looked at them, showing them to Dave. Alex sat down next to Mike and Bobby sat down next to her. "Okay," Penny said, once they'd finished reviewing them, "They were meant to be in this order; Cigarette lighter, ball of steel wool, extra shirt and pants, can of crisco shortening, 20 x 20 canvas, the axe, chocolate bars, newspapers, loaded pistol, whiskey, compass and the air map."

"None of you actually got that in the correct order." Dave said, "But both teams were close."

"So close that there was only a one point difference." Penny said, and she watched as Mike and Alex looked at each, amused. Bobby found that very interesting because that would mean that they're lists were quite similar. "And the winners are ... " she said it slowly, "Goren and Eames." Mike pretended to be humiliated by his defeat by putting his head in his hands. Carolyn shook her head at him and laughed. Alex just said 'YES' and Bobby was still wondering whether the lists were almost identical.

"I can't believe you beat us by one point!" Mike said, chuckling as Alex grinned at him. Now Mike was definitely promising himself that he and Carolyn would win every other game or exercise in the whole week.

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TBC

Let me know what you think.

The team building activities were found online after a little searching and digging. I don't really know how long it takes to get to JFK so I just guessed.