Title: Rock the Boat

Author: oceanwave

Rating: R (and for good reason)

Summary: Two CSIs on a boat, in the middle of a lake…things can get interesting. G/C

Disclaimers: I don't own the characters, I can only borrow and manipulate them via words. They are the sole property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer Productions, and the creators/producers of CSI.

Author's Note: This is an "experimental" fic; it's really an answer to a friend's challenge. It's my first G/C fic and a little bit of something else. Honor, thank you for pushing me to write something completely different from my usual 'ship' and 'clean' angst filled fics. *Smile* Anyway, read and please tell me how this experiment turned out.

~*~

"Lindsey, give me back those nunchakus," a boy cried.

"Haha Jeremy, you can't catch me," Lindsey teased, with her cousin, Jeremy, hot on her trail.

He wore a simple ninja uniform, complete with plastic nuchakus - a set which Lindsey had taken from the little boy. Today was her ninth birthday, and with Halloween around the corner, it was also somewhat of a costume party. It was a crisp autumn day, ideal for the barbeque in the park that Catherine had planned. The children participated in many organized activities, which included face painting, an endeavor that Catherine's sister took on. Lindsey dressed up as a swan; with a tutu as the swan's feathers and a face plus beak to complete the look.

Around and around, the children chased each other, playing and laughing, without a care in the world. The adults, which included Catherine's coworkers and some friends were scattered around the park on benches, just watching the children.

"Herradura Antiguo, reposado. Hecho en Mexico - must be serious," Sara joked. She noted the dark colored tequila bottle that accompanied Catherine, who silently sat under a tree by the park's edge, looking on as children played. The woman's hermit-like actions mirrored that of Grissom's, who was sitting across from her at the other side of the park. The lack of words coming from her mouth was unusual, considering that, this was Lindsey's birthday party, and instead of worrying about the cake, she was sitting under a tree. The bottle of tequila was half-empty, with Catherine grasping it tightly.

"Like a heart attack," Catherine jibed, taking another sip of the dark alcohol.

"Care to share," Sara asked curiously.

"Nope," Catherine replied dryly.

"You know that I'm going to get something out of Nick anyway, right," Sara replied, taking advantage of the long pause. Catherine only continued to look ahead, watching as Nick and Grissom talked.

"Ok, so how was the conference," Catherine asked.

"Fun," Sara answered sarcastically, noticing Catherine's sudden choice to change topics.

"Hey, how come Grissom didn't force you into going," Sara questioned. Catherine scoffed.

~*~

"You got burned too, huh," Nick asked. He took a seat by the silent man and looked ahead. He watched the two women who sat the opposite end of the park.

"Burned," the confused man asked. His furrowed eyebrows still fixed on the woman across the park.

"Don't worry; it happens to the best of us." Nick explained nonchalantly whilst taking a swig of beer.

"So, what'd you do to Catherine," Nick asked. Grissom gulped.

"Nothing," the silent man replied.

"Nothing," Nick asked curiously. Grissom shook his head.

"Could that have been the problem," Nick said casually. Grissom caught the double meaning in the young CSI's voice and gave him a sharp glare.

~ FLASHBACK~

"A leadership conference?!" Catherine exclaimed. Grissom looked up from the microscope to face the strawberry blonde haired woman in across from him. He was staring.

"You're sending me on a leadership conference," Catherine clarified.

"It's a departmental thing, everyone has to go," Grissom explained, turning his attention back to the microscope.

"You don't," she replied.

"I've put in my time."

"Unbelievable," Catherine muttered, as she leaned angrily against the door.

"It's only for a day," Grissom replied absent-mindedly.

"It's Lindsey's birthday the day after; the first one after Eddie's death," Catherine explained more clearly. Grissom cringed.

"I'm sorry Catherine-" Grissom began to apologize.

"Cancel it," Catherine demanded forcefully.

"My hands are tied. I've already registered everyone," Grissom continued.

"I'm not going. I have a little girl who just needs me," Catherine said.

"You have to go," Grissom replied firmly, now solely focusing on the brewing anger in Catherine's eyes. He moved closer as to emphasize his point

Catherine's close proximity to Grissom turned her senses in turmoil, so close that she could smell his intoxicating aftershave.

'Oh God, Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men,' she thought.

The aroma continued to linger in the air, both their eyes locked together, both rapidly breathing.

"Fine," Catherine managed to say, snapping out of her trance and wiggling a distance away from Grissom. Both stood still for a moment, waiting for their emotions to cool.

"I'll go, but don't expect me to sit around and sing Kumbaya," Catherine retorted.

"Not to disturb this great Kodak moment, but we have a 420 out in Lake Mead - floating," Brass mentioned as he stood silently by the door. Catherine reacted to the news by rushing past the medium sized police captain and turned towards the lockers.

'Oh thank god,' she thought.

"I'll meet you outside," Grissom called out.

"Whatever," Catherine replied over her shoulder, before running into the locker room.

~*~

The short drive to Lake Mead was silent, dead silent, but both Grissom and Catherine stubbornly refused to speak a word.

"We have a Jane Doe. The park ranger found her when he was making his rounds," Brass described.

"We still don't know how she ended up here, but we're thinking she was boating."

"But where's the boat," Grissom asked, looking around for the sign of a boat. Nothing.

Looking around, they saw no signs of a boat, David had long come and gone, and now it was Catherine, Grissom and a uniformed officer. Up and down the lakeside, the search for a boat or evidence yielded nothing.

"Catherine," Grissom called out.

Panicked, Catherine ran towards her supervisor's location.

"Wanna take a ride," he asked credulously. Catherine stared at the man in disbelief, then moved her eyes towards the docked powerboat.

"Come on, the journey is always as important as the destination. And since we don't have anything here, maybe we can find something out there."

Catherine followed the direction that Grissom was pointing at, the flashlight shining on the lake's surface.

~*~

"Crap." Grissom broke the silence. The boat's motor was failing and the sound of the motor was soon silenced. Catherine glared at Grissom and recalled her earlier attempts to deter his plans. But upon his insistence, they still took out the boat without checking if they had enough fuel to get across the lake.

"Stubborn," Catherine muttered.

"I'm sorry," Grissom asked, taking his attention away from the engine and shifting closer to Catherine.

"You are a very stubborn man," Catherine elucidated.

"I'm not stubborn, I just wanted to find out what happened to that woman," he breathed.

"Stubborn," Catherine repeated quietly.

Their bodies were close, the lantern dimly lighting their heaving chests. Without warning, Grissom swept Catherine off the boat's rough surface; his strong arm wrapped securely around her waist. His strength was imminent in the single move he made as he set her down on her back. In doing so, the boat rocked steadily as the two bodies shifted from their seats. Their breathing had intensified as the cold air biting their exposed skin. He was quick, but very gentle.

Her arms were tightly around his neck, somewhat uneasy with the boat's gentle movement. His body was flush against hers, their breaths warming the small space between their faces. Both were fearless amongst the dark night that surrounded them, this was an unbelievable surprise.

She licked her lips, as she watched his, with the burning desire to kiss them. Soon, she was exploring his mouth; fresh and sweet. It was as if she was starving, just wanting more, and finally, she had it. He leaned forward to taste her lips, he tasted and smelled her fresh strawberry lip balm as their tongues moved to play together.

He slowly made a trail of kisses down her neck, eliciting soft moaning sounds from her throat. His eyes still staring at her eyes sternly in the darkness. With care, she moved to push the jacket of his shoulders, while he proceeded to unbutton her cotton blouse. She too proceeded to free him of the polo shirt that clung to his back sending a fiery sensation down his spine. The cold wind blew, and she shivered, but as she stared into his eyes, a bolt of lightning hit her and she recognized her own underlying want to be with this man. His look mirroring the same, a look that she understood, and her heart melted.

Her hand hovered over his belt buckle as he reached down to unbuckle hers. She could feel the belt cinching tighter to force the tongue to slip from its notch, she also felt the top button of her pants give way. Hastily, he grazed his sides and attempted to pull off the man's shirt. He whimpered as she leaned forward to deepen the kiss, the heat definitely surging through their bodies. This was it - the moment was now.

'CRASH'

"Shit," Catherine screamed.

The moment was over. Hearts were now calming, the freezing water surging a cold sensation over their bodies. The darkness had them now.

"Are you okay," Grissom voiced while he immerged out of the water. 'So close,' he thought.

"A little cold – but, yeah," Catherine replied. She pulled her shirt together and buttoned up.

"What happened," Catherine inquired.

"Rocks," Grissom explained while he searched for his flashlight and jacket.

'Damn these rocks,' Catherine thought, fighting to grab hold of a rock.

In the darkness, the boat was flipped over, now a gaping hole visible in the middle. Their kits were now floating away and their lanterns extinguished. Both were treading water as their blindly looked for something to hold on to.

"Hey Catherine, did you bring wine," Grissom asked, still in the dark.

"What are we celebrating?" Catherine asked, somewhat confused in Grissom's tone.

"Robert Mondavi 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon. That girl was celebrating, and I'm sure she wasn't alone," Grissom deduced.

"Not surprising, this is Vegas' version of make-out point," Catherine scoffed; but smiled at the irony of their situation.

"Hey, Gil," Catherine whispered, finally finding her way onto the rocks.

"How do you figure we'd get back on land?"

"Do as the fish do – swim," Grissom quipped as he too found the rocks.

"Do you even know where we are," Catherine posed.

"Yeah – well - we're somewhere," Grissom answered, in attempts to find land.

"Where are those leadership skills now, huh, Gil," Catherine asked.

~ END FLASHBACK ~

"Grissom?" Sara asked, surprised. Catherine nodded in confirmation as silence took over the moment. It was then cut short when Sara grabbed the bottle of tequila and took a long sip. She exhaled aloud.

"Wow," was the only word she could muster.

~*~

"Catherine," Nick asked, exasperated. Grissom smiled.

"You the man," the younger CSI praised, patting his supervisor on the back.

"Hey," Warrick greeted, handing Nick a burger.

"What's going on," he asked. Warrick decided to join the two men, since nothing the intense stare the two men had on the women across the park. The two men didn't respond.

"Ah, women problems," Warrick confirmed, wiping his mouth with a napkin after taking a bite of the burger he collected from the grill.

"Not this guy," Nick laughed, indicating at Grissom's direction.

"Jealous," Warrick replied. Nick looked at him with questioning eyes.

"I know you aren't getting any play," Warrick smiled, indicating at Sara and Catherine's direction.

"Hey-. Wait, that's not of your business," Nick protested. It was true, he and Sara were in a fight, but he's quite unsure what about. And, with Sara, a fight meant no play, something that very much disappointed Nick.

Grissom listened as Warrick and Nick bickered, he tuned their voices out as he focused solely on Catherine. Her shiny lips moving and he smiled mischievously.

~*~

"I can't believe you are doing the 'dance' more than I am," Sara protested.

"And with Grissom," she continued, a horror-struck look on her face. 'Mental picture,' she winced.

"Yeah. It wasn't bad, if it weren't for those damn rocks," Catherine protested.

"I really wouldn't protest getting stranded on a boat with him again," she grinned.

"Ah, Catherine, bad mental picture," Sara vocalized as she shook her head.

Catherine smirked, taking another long sip of tequila, staring at the gorgeous man across the park.

~*~

EVENING

"Hey guys, I guess it's just us tonight," Warrick informed. He walked into the lounge, holding a faxed memo in his had. Both Nick and Sara were sipping coffee on the couch, laughing, both have seemingly recovered from their 'fight.'

"What do you mean," Nick asked, puzzled by Warrick's comment

"Catherine's out," Warrick replied bluntly. He took a seat across from Sara and picked up a magazine.

"And Grissom," Sara asked, after sipping a cup of coffee.

"Gone. Somewhere," Warrick replied once more, rolling his eyes.

Choke.

"Gone," Nick and Sara asked, choking on the hot liquid they were drinking.

"Yeah, he mentioned something about a case and a boat," Warrick replied.

Sara and Nick exchanged a glance and grinned wickedly.

~ FIN ~

---

A/N – I've taken creative license with Lindsey's birthday, although her birthday was mentioned in 'Crate n' Burial' the actual date is uncertain.

I'm unsure about the spelling of nunchaku or if it should be nunchakus. I did cross-reference it with Japanese martial arts stores, and this is the spelling I was given.

With Lindsey's costume, you can look to Bjork for that one, her Oscar swan dress (costume) was the inspiration for that outfit.

Please excuse the errors, if you found any - I couldn't find a beta for this fic. If you have any suggestions, just email me at ocean_wave888@yahoo.com.

So, how did I do? Good? Bad? Ugly?