"Sam, I don't like this," Callen muttered as they pulled up to the boatshed, parking beside Kensi's navy Audi. Sam rolled his eyes as he shut off the car and unbuckled his seatbelt.
"Says the guy who was talking about getting a houseboat," Sam pointed out as he opened the car door and stepped out.
"Yeah, a houseboat is enclosed," Callen countered, getting out of the car and shutting the door. "And bigger. And more...stable."
"G, it's a kayak. How dangerous could it be?" Sam asked matter-of-factly, walking into the boatshed, toward the kayak racks along the wall. "You want orange or blue?"
"Neither," Callen mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Come on, G, it's gonna be fine," Sam said, sliding one of the kayaks off the rack and carrying it out the open garage-like door, splashing it down in the water. He hooked its tether to the dock, coming back in to find Callen sulking on the couch. "Would you go find some life jackets? Make yourself useful," Sam suggested as he slipped the second kayak from the rack. Callen got up with a sigh.
"Where's the canoe?" he asked, gesturing to the empty canoe rack near the door as he went to find a couple life preservers.
"Kensi and Deeks probably have it," Sam replied, gesturing at the ocean behind him. "They've been out there for at least an hour, you know."
"Good for them," Callen mumbled as he opened a storage closet and pulled out the big black and green life vest labeled "Sam" and the smaller grey and yellow one labeled "Callen," noticing Kensi and Deeks' jackets were gone.
"Get the paddles, too!" Sam called from the dock, where he was tying the orange canoe to the dock. Callen sighed and pulled the double-ended paddles from the corner of the closet, passing the longer one to Sam.
"I think I'll just stay here," Callen replied, peering out at the water beyond the boatshed. "Water looks a little choppy. You sure a storm's not coming?"
Sam threw a glance over his shoulder.
"G, the sun is shining and you can't ask for smoother waters than that. Come on. Get your butt in gear." Sam walked out on the dock, slinging his life vest into the bottom of the orange kayak. "Let's go!"
Callen heaved a sigh and slung his life vest over his rashguard, zipping it up and buckling it tightly over his chest. Kicking off his flip-flops on the dock, he reluctantly unhooked the blue kayak's tether, tossing the rope up onto the nose, then stepped into the craft, trying to hide his grimace as it wobbled beneath his foot. Holding his paddle in his right hand, and the edge of the dock in the other, he stepped fully into the kayak and slid down.
"Wasn't so hard, was it?" Sam asked as he quickly settled into his kayak. Callen frowned at him before dipping his paddle into the water and setting out after Sam. "We'll just go in a little loop around the bay, okay?" he asked as Callen put a little more power into his stroke to pull up beside Sam. His kayak wobbled as he struggled to set his balance. Callen let out a little gasp as he settled back into the rhythm.
"Look, there's Kensi and Deeks," he said after a moment, pointing to two figures in a canoe several yards ahead.
"Race you to them!" Sam exclaimed, thrusting his paddle into the water and shooting ahead before Callen could blink.
"Oh that's not fair!" Callen shouted after him, attempting to catch up to his partner. Doing more wobbling and zigzagging than anything, he resigned to a slower paddle and his partner's impending teasing. He caught up to the rest of them after a few moments. Deeks was in the back of the canoe, wearing sunglasses, leaning on the makeshift backrest he had fashioned by propping his red and black life vest against the canoe's wooden hull. His bare feet were propped up on the bar spanning the canoe's width in front of him. Kensi was sitting backwards in her seat, sunglasses, wisely held in place by a waterproof cord running beneath her ponytail, pushed up on her head, leaning forward, elbows resting on her thighs. Her grey and blue life vest rested on the floor near her bare feet.
"Nice of you to join us," she quipped jokingly, reaching her hand down and flinging some water at Callen.
"He's scared," Sam replied with a smirk. Callen glared at him, while attempting to balance his paddle across his kayak. He flinched as the cool water landed in his lap.
"I am not scared!" he objected. "Just erring on the side of caution! I've never done this before!" Sam snorted.
"You should've heard his whining in the boatshed," he remarked with a grin.
"I don't whine!" Callen protested.
"I thought you wanted to live on a houseboat," Deeks said, thrusting himself upright into a sitting position.
"Deeks!" Kensi admonished, hands flying to clutch the edges of the canoe as it rocked. "You'll flip us!"
Deeks grinned. "Watch this," he said with a wink to Sam, and with one mighty shove, flipped over his canoe and sent his girlfriend flying into the ocean. Sam and Callen burst into laughter as Kensi surfaced, sputtering, looking around wildly for Deeks. She used one hand to shove her sunglasses down around her neck and scrub back the hair plastered to her face.
"I'm gonna kill him!" She shouted, placing a hand on the overturned canoe to steady herself as she reached for her floating life jacket. Deeks broke surface on the other side of the canoe, sunglasses clutched in one hand. He was laughing as he zipped them into the side pocket on his board shorts.
"That was fun," he said as he struggled into his life jacket floating nearby, then helped Kensi flip the canoe back over to its upright position and toss their oars inside.
"You think this is funny?" Kensi asked to Sam and Callen, who were still laughing in their kayaks. "Well see if you like it!" She shouted playfully, heaving at Callen's kayak with surprising strength. The momentum was just enough for Callen to lose his balance and go flying over the side. He let loose a girlish scream as he hit the water. He surfaced with a gasp, coughing up the water he had swallowed upon impact.
"Really?" he asked Kensi, watching her laugh as she kicked away. "That's how you wanna play?" he fumbled with the buckles on his life jacket and shrugged out of it, diving below the surface of the water and swimming over to Kensi. She let out a yelp as he grasped her ankle and pulled her under the water for a quick dunking. Both surfaced laughing. Kensi punched Callen in the shoulder. Sam, still in his kayak, reached over and grabbed Callen by the back of his rashguard, pulling him away from Kensi.
"Put your life jacket on before you drown," he teased. Callen threw him a playful scowl, then retrieved his life vest from the ocean and pulled it back on, before clambering back into his waterlogged kayak, now riding low in the water. Kensi shrieked again as she was tugged under again, this time Deeks resurfaced beside her. Kensi heaved a spray of water in his direction as Deeks laughed. She then clambered rather ungracefully back into the canoe, sitting back down and using a bucket tied to the bar to bail out some of the water. Deeks, still in the water, swam around to the other side, and hooked a leg over the side, rolling back into the canoe.
Sam, the only one not wet, straightened his kayak out, pointing back towards the boatshed.
"In the words of Granger," he began. "Are you delinquents finished?"
"Kens?" Callen asked. Kensi looked up from her bailing. She dropped her bucket to the bottom of the canoe.
"Yeah?"
"Sam's not wet," Callen responded.
"Get him!" Deeks shouted, using his oar to beaver-slap the water, sending a spray of water into Sam's face. Sam sputtered and returned the spray and Kensi used her bail bucket to scoop up a pailful of water and chuck it at Sam. Callen dipped the corner of his paddle into the water and pulled upward, slinging water into Sam's kayak.
"That's cold!" Sam shouted as he returned fire. Soon everyone was doused head to toe if they hadn't been already, rashguards, shorts, and hair plastered flatly to their bodies. The assault finally ended, everyone's adrenaline rushes had calmed down and they sat in their watercraft, breathing heavily from exertion. The small group relaxed for a few minutes after the water war, listening to the boats and the birds, allowing the sun to begin the drying process. Salt dried on their bodies in white, sticky rivulets.
"Race you back to the boatshed!" Deeks shouted suddenly after a moment, and he and Kensi took off back in the direction of their dock, paddling like mad. "Winner gets the first shower!"
"Oh it's on!" Sam yelled back, shooting after them. Callen whipped his kayak around dangerously fast, his kayaking wobbling dangerously. He gasped as he regained his balance.
"You guys suck!" He yelled at his teammates as they grew farther and farther away from him. "I'm never going kayaking with you again!"