Ok, well, if you made it this far, props to you, and thank you for actually reading this story. Ok, well, enough dragging-our-feet, the next chapter will be in town...posibbly with greggo--or maybe I'll save that for another chapter...we'll see. Ok, well, to answer a few questions:
Grissom and Sara, still being in the lead, stopped at a particular hill. The last hill. The hill that separated civilization from mother nature. They stopped here, looking down upon the inhabitants of Vega Town. Finally, sitting down on the grass, waiting for the others to arrive.
"Hmm," Sara spoke aloud, breaking silence, "this is nice." The view really was spectacular. People, as small as ants, walked down below them. From street to street, shop to shop, house to house. As if one of the gang had drawn a masterpiece, the town looked like something out of a child's imagination.
"Yea," Grissom responded, "You're really n-i-..." Someone came tumbling through the bushes rather noisily.
"Ok, Catherine we're here." Warrick came into view, huffing and puffing, AND with Catherine on his arms. "Finally!" he added, as he not so gently put Catherine on the grownd near Sara. He took a few deep breaths, quietly muttering to himself, "So, heavy. So, so, so," he broke off mid sentence, about to break down. Grissom put a reassuring hand on his back, giving it a good pat.
"Suck it up soldier." He commented.
"Whew!" Catherine started brushing grass and dust from her clothes. "Well, then!" She exclaimed, "That was rather...enjoyable." She smiled, "Thanks War." The exhausted boy nodded, too shy to reply.
"Umm, excuse me?" Sara scooted closer to Catherine. "What HAPPENED?"
"Well," Catherine began, shifting nervously, "You see, we began to run after you and well, I, I" she wrung her hands, "I took off my flip flops so that they wouldn't get ruined but then...my feet began to hurt. And," She noticed Grissom, surreptitiously observing. Catherine lowered her voice to a whisper and cupped her hands around Sara's ear, quickly finishing the story. "My feet hurt, so I asked War, and he said he'd carry me, and he did, and, and," A blush crept into the girl's cheek.
"And, and, and what?" Sara half mocked her friend.
"What do you mean?" Catherine hissed back, "That was all, what did you expect?" Sara's face fell as her mental image shattered, "Ewww! Sara, major cooties!" Sara shrugged.
"Guess you're right." The group sat in silence until Nick caught up with them.
Finally, a wheezing, coughing Texan wove his way out of the trees.
"Geez! You GUYS!" He dropped to his hands and knees and weakly pulled himself to where everyone was sitting. "I got lost." Every head turned to him, and suppressed smiles peeked through on two faces. "What?" He defended, "I saw two pairs of footprints leading down to the old stables. I thought maybe we were taking a detour or something, and I followed them but then they just stopped. I panicked." He put a hand over his beating heart.
A shrill voice rang out with laughter. It was Sara's. Grissom's slightly lower pitched voice rang out too. This time, three heads turned in their direction. Nick's countenance turned from a confused one to a surprised one.
"Saaara! I can't believe you did that! You know how worried I was? I thought something happened to you all. I thought that I was getting out of shape." He took a deep breath.
"You aren't the only one," Warrick snickered under his breath, but no one payed attention.
"You made me run clear across the forest!"
"I'm sorry Nicky," She tried to stop chuckling...in vain, "I just couldn't resist." Sara scooted next to him. "Even?" He nodded.
"Yea, yea."
To Be Continued...