A.N. Ok, I lied, there will be 2 more chapters after this one. I'm trying to make them longer, but they keep coming to really good points to end them at! Anyway, I know much hasn't happened in this chapter, but I needed some of the insignificant things in it, because they will be picked up on again later. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Freddie Mercury whose birthday, when he would have been 60, was on the 5th of September. I was thinking about him a lot over the past few days. One by one, only the good die young ... and we all still love you too!
As the rope swing leader announced the results of the race, Nick's grin threatened to break his face. When the leader had finished and directed them towards where lunch would be served, Nick turned towards Sara before she could even take one step in that direction with a triumphant look on his face.
"I won!" he exclaimed, sounding almost as excited as he had when she had agreed to go on a date with him.
Sara grinned back at him, humouring his enthusiasm. "Yes you did! Well done Nicky, my big strong hero!"
He was puffing himself up with her praise until he realised what she had said, and the too-wide grin on her face. "You're mocking me," he said, making it a question, but he could tell she was just teasing, he could see it in her eyes.
Sara giggled. "Yeah, just a little! But anyway, well done! And thank you."
"For what?"
"For taking me here. I'm really enjoying it!"
Nick took her hand at this remark, and spun her around to face him. "Sara, believe me when I say the pleasure is all mine!"
Looking around, he saw everyone heading off to the lunch hall, and so leaned down, giving her a gentle kiss.
Sara's breath caught in her chest when he kissed her. It was filled with such tenderness and care – she couldn't remember ever having felt that from anyone before. When he broke the kiss, she kept her eyes closed for a few seconds, trying to commit that feeling to memory.
She opened her eyes when she heard him chuckling softly. Blushing, she kept her hold on his hand and they both walked in companionable silence to the lunch hall.
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As they arrived at the edge of the lake, where the raft building would begin, the guide for this activity turned to the people gathered around.
"For this activity, you will need to be in groups of two, as you will be making the rafts together."
With barely a look at each other, Sara and Nick moved one step each closer together, so there could be no doubt that they were a pair. When Sara noticed that Nick had done exactly the same as her she started to laugh quietly. At this, Nick looked down at her, his wide infectious grin ever present on his face, and gently took her hand again.
Once everyone had split into pairs, the guide addressed them again.
"Okay people, each pair must make one raft. It must, however, be big enough for both of you, as you will both need to paddle it in the race we will have at the end. Which means that you must have paddles made out of your supplies as well! If you will all follow me to this row of sheds, there is one shed for each pair, and each shed has all the same materials in it, but you may fashion your raft however you like!
"You only have 60 minutes to make the raft in, however, so don't spend too long deciding what it should look like! And a word of warning, after what happened with a group yesterday, don't put the raft fully together until it is outside – or you will be unable to get it through the door! There are screens inside the shed which you can take outside and place as partitions between your shed and the shed next door if you don't want others to steal your ideas."
She looked around at all of the pairs, all of whom looked ready to run to the sheds and get stuck in immediately.
"Okay, 3, 2, 1 … go!"
At this everyone took off running towards the sheds, like a group of children. Most pairs were couples like Sara and Nick, although there were a few groups of friends as well.
As Nick reached the shed first he threw open the door and, ever the gentleman, waited for Sara to reach him first, before allowing her to enter before him. As they walked in, they noticed, among the pile of materials, tools, such as a saw, a plane, and a hammer. They realised just how much work was going to have to go into this raft.
Pulling a wad of napkins out of her pocket, Sara turned to Nick.
"Okay, during lunch I had a few ideas of how to build a raft for maximum stability," she said, showing him her drawings.
Nick looked down at them, inwardly marvelling at just how clever she was, and, as he looked at the drawings, one of them jogged the memory of an idea he had had. Mentioning this to Sara they looked at the plan, and then at the materials they had. A smile broke out on both of their faces. They could do this.
Sara immediately got a tape measure and measured the long pieces of wood, and then Nick, to see if they would fit. As her arms reached the top of his head her eyes caught his, and all thoughts of the raft were lost.
Nick had been dying to kiss Sara ever since their kiss just before lunch, and with every moment that Sara stared into his eyes he was losing more and more of his self control.
Sar drew a ragged breath. This intensity of his gaze was melting her. She really wanted to kiss him, but they only had about 57 minutes left to build this raft.
"Nick, this probably isn't a good idea," she said gently. As she saw a stricken expression appear on his face, she realised how that much have sounded, and amended her words.
"What I mean is, as much as I want to kiss you now, we have to build this raft! We have to be sure not to let our romantic relationship to interfere with other things, like work."
Nick moved closer to her, wrapping his arms around her comfortingly, reassuring her wordlessly. "We won't let it interfere with work. You and I are both professionals, we know how to keep personal things away from work."
Then a mischievous smile appeared on his face.
"But this isn't work, this is a date. And on a date, people do romantic things," he paused. "Like kiss each other."
Sara giggled. She had been overanalysing things as usual. "Ok, I'm sorry, but," looking at her watch, she continued, "we now only have about 56 minutes to make this raft!"
Nick grinned down at her.
"I'm sure we can spare 1 or 2," he said, before softly placing his mouth over hers.
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They broke apart a few long deep kisses later, with very satisfied grins on their faces.
"OK," Nick related, "so that was more like 5 or 6 minutes."
"So we wasted a little time," Sara smiled, trying to pull him down into another kiss.
Nick gently removed her hands from around his neck.
"Sar, as much as I want to, you know we have to make this raft. And more importantly, we have to win!"
Sara laughed. "You're right! But this kiss isn't over!"
"I'm counting on it babe!" Nick whispered huskily in her ear as he moved around her to get a better look at their supplies.
Both of them smiling happily, they got on with making the raft, and to Sara it felt so comfortable. They worked together seamlessly, almost reading each others thoughts, like they did at crime scenes, and that, Sara realised, was what made Nick so very different from Grissom, and so right for her. They were really good friends, first and foremost, and this meant that whatever happened, whether they were kissing, or processing a crime scene or just walking with each other, it always felt comfortable.
And right.
A.N.2/ Please review!
