CHAPTER FOUR: WHERE DO WE GO IN CALIFORNIA?

"Okay guys, are we ready to choose where we'll go in California?" Grissom clapped his hands to get the attention of the assorted crims in the break room. "Nick, you go first."

"Uh, okay. I chose Disneyland and Monterrey Bay Aquarium." The Texan looked up to see Grissom scribbling on a sheaf of paper. "What are you writing for?"

"Oh, I'm writing down the places everyone chose so we can shortlist our destinations," Grissom answered without looking up. "Warrick, what about you?"

"Disneyland, of course. Ventura Beach. Nice place, I went there with an ex."

"I take it everyone chose Disneyland, then," Grissom said, still writing on his piece of paper.

"Yup. I had to Gil; Lindsay wants me to bring back a stuffed Mickey Mouse. So I thought another nice place to go would be the Monterrey Jazz Festival. It's on next week, so we could go to the aquarium then the festival."

"Sounds like a good idea, Cath. Where do you want to go, Jim?"

The burly police detective shrugged. "I always wanted to go to Disneyland. Apart from that, you can drag me wherever."

Grissom looked up at his friend and raised an eyebrow. Brass shrugged again, signifying that he didn't want a second choice destination. "Fair enough," Grissom replied. "Greg, seeing as you also come from Cali, and not Mars, like I assumed, where do you wanna go?"

Greg swayed his shoulders in typical Sanders-style flamboyance. "Well, I was a sheltered child ..." he was cut off by Sara snorting. "... So I didn't really see much of California. What I did see made me resolve to leave as soon as possible ..."

"Sanders," Sara warned. "We're here for your choice, not your life story." She looked as if she might impale him on a spike, and Greg wouldn't put it past her to do it. After all, she knew how to get away with it.

"Disneyland and San Francisco," he answered quickly.

"Good choice Greg," Grissom replied. "Sara and I would like to go to Disneyland and Santa Monica." Realising he had probably let the cat peek its head out of the bag, he looked at her, and she nodded her agreement. "We also have something to tell you."

"Let me guess," Catherine butted in. "You're dating, right? What a surprise."

"How did you guess?" Sara spluttered.

"You've been drooling over each other for quite a while now. Look, Sara," Catherine added when she saw Sara's affront. "We're paid to spot things going on. And anyway, it sure beats having you being pissed off at Grissom, and him trying to ignore your existence."

Grissom made a mental note to kill Catherine. Like Sara, he too knew how to get away with it. "So, we're spending four days in Monterrey, three days at Disneyland, one day at Ventura, one day at Santa Monica and our last three days in San Francisco. We need two days for travelling to and from California."

Brass nodded and plucked Grissom's sheet from the other man's hand. On it were written dates for visiting their various destinations. "I'll book the hotels. Catherine, you and Nick can be responsible for jazz and aquarium tickets. Warrick, you can book the minivan, I don't trust Greg to do anything. Sara, you can have the big task of booking the Disneyland tickets." The stocky detective left the room to begin his self-appointed task.

"Whoa, we're going to California!" Greg whooped loudly, and Grissom rolled his eyes.

"But first, we're going to work," he reminded the enthusiastic lab rat.

TBC