Author's note: i'm sorry this took so long, but my great-grandmother passed away last weekend and i got the flu...a day after my bday! it sucked...so anyhoo...this is a good length...I'm likin the way this is going...enjoy! and if i don't update before xmas...Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.
Spoilers: I will generally tell what spoilers the chapters contain. In this Chapter: very tiny inside the box, sounds of silence, season 6, lady heather's box, Ellie, Hollywood Brass, grave danger, again VERY tiny
Summary: When Ecklie chooses Grissom's team to head to a conference in London, the Las Vegas CSI nightshift couldn't be more excited. Then their plane crashes in the sea. Now Grissom, Catherine, Nick, Warrick, Sara, and Greg are stranded on a deserted island and their only way home is to survive.
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI. .
Surviving the Storm
Chapter Five: Anything But Resting Peacefully
It was a sad day in Las Vegas, Nevada as the entire Criminalistics Bureau gathered in the large church to say goodbye to six of their colleagues. The families of each criminalist were seated in the front rows, waiting for the funeral service to begin. Gil Grissom's mother was seated front row and center, to ensure that she could see what the minister was saying. To her right sat Sam Braun, Lily Flynn, Nancy and her family. Lindsey Willows sat in between her grandparents, tears already falling as she remembered her father's funeral, and what her mother said that day:
"It's okay to cry, Lindsey. Just remember the good times."
Beside Nancy's husband, sat Sara Sidle's older brother, whom they finally managed to track down. To Mrs. Grissom's left sat Tina Brown, sobbing into a tissue, and her deceased husband's grandmother. Beside them sat the Mr. and Mrs. Stokes and Nick's brother and sisters. Further down still, sat Greg Sanders's parents, his mother dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. In the rows back, important people from the lab sat, waiting as well. Among them were Conrad Ecklie, the sheriff, the Director of the lab, the mayor, and several other people in deep suits. Further back sat the Jim Brass, Al Robbins, Archie Johnson, Sgt O'Rielly, Vartan, Vega, and several other detectives and nightshift employees. The last rows were for anyone who wanted to come pay their respects.
Towards the front, a podium stood, waiting for the speeches. Six enlarged picture of each criminalist were placed on the small stage. One large picture of the entire group was in the middle. Brass could remember when that picture was taken. It was at the last LVPD Christmas party. They had even got a smile out of Grissom.
"Come on, we need a picture!" Catherine had suggested to her other five colleagues.
"A picture?" Gil asked sceptically with his typical quirk of an eyebrow.
"Sure!" Nick said grinning, "A picture of the newly-reformed nightshift!"
"I didn't know you were so sentimental, Nicky," Sara teased. He glared at her.
"Jeez, if I didn't like Greg and Grissom so much, I'd go back to swing shift," he pouted, but there was that big Texas smile on his face.
"Come on, this'll be fun," Catherine said, getting to her feet.
"Will we ever hear the end of this if we don't take the picture?" Warrick asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"No," Catherine answered simply. He groaned and got to his feet, followed by Nick and Sara.
"I'm game," Greg shrugged, also rising. All five of them looked to their supervisor, who was still in his seat at the table. Grissom had no intention of moving, but that didn't stop Catherine.
"Oh no you don't. You're going to be in this picture whether you like it or not," she said firmly, placing her hands on her hips.
"No I'm not," Grissom said evenly, looking quite comfortable right where he was. Catherine wasn't the least bit fazed. On the contrary, she was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Really? Well, Mr. Grissom…," she replied coolly, leaning over and whispering something in his ear. His eyes widened.
"You wouldn't dare," he said looking her in the eyes. She grinned slyly, knowing she won.
"What?" the former lab rat asked, or rather whined. She ignored him.
"Wouldn't I?" she asked Gil dangerously. They stared at each other for a few moments before he caved.
"Fine," he said, "But it's very dishonest to blackmail people, Catherine." He got up and the six of them made their way to the fountain.
"Hey, Jim, do you wanna take this picture for us?" Nick called to the surly detective. Brass shrugged and took the camera.
"Now isn't this a cute little family," he teased as he lined up his shot, "Mom, Dad, and the kids." They glared at him.
"Hey, Dad, can I have a raise in allowance?" Greg mimicked looking at Grissom. This caused the rest of the CSIs to crack up.
"Only if you promise never to call me dad again," Grissom replied. He was smiling his own little satisfied smile as the flash went off.
Brass cracked a watery smile as he relived the memory. No longer would he be able to tease Grissom and "the nerd squad". They never did find out what Catherine used to get Gil to do her bidding.
Then all was silent as the minister got up to the podium and led them in prayer. After the minister said his piece, there were six separate eulogies for each CSI. After Greg's uncle sat down, several people rose to the podium to say goodbye to the six CSIs, Brass amongst them.
"My name is Jim Brass and I had the pleasure of working side by side with the nightshift CSIs and I will miss every single one of them. They were hardworking and…and they were the best people I have ever known. I've must have worked hundreds of cases with them and I know that it's going to be really…really hard without them," he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, "I remember how distracted Gil would get if a scene was ever accidentally contaminated. It would bug him for hours. And Catherine…well, you never needed to worry about Catherine Willows. She could always take care of herself and she'd never let you worry about her. Warrick was always there for you when you needed him. I can remember a few times when he helped me out of a jam or two. Most of them, incidentally, involved my daughter, Ellie, but we won't get into that. And Sara was always good to work with. She kinda reminded me of Grissom in the old days. She was a great person. And Nicky…wow…he was quite the guy. Whenever you needed a hand, he was there. I'm just glad that I didn't have to say this a few months ago when we nearly lost him. It was a few more months with one of my closest friends. Last, but certainly not least, there's Greg Sanders. He hasn't been a CSI for long, but he would've been great. He was a stand up guy, one of the few that still had a sense of humour after his first year on the job. Wow…I'm gonna miss them," tears were now freely falling, "Well, I guess this is goodbye, Gil, Cath, Sara, Warrick, Nick, Greg, it's been a pleasure." he saluted them and took his seat.
After Brass's speech there were several other little blurbs, and even Ecklie broke up when it was his turn. After, they left the church and held a short memorial gathering at Catherine's house, where everybody toasted the six criminalists lost at sea.
"To the nightshift, may you all rest in peace."
The nightshift, however, were doing anything but resting. The first thing they did when they woke up was eat a small breakfast containing bananas and coconut milk. Sara and Catherine tended to the fire and gathered firewood and more water to boil, while Grissom, Nick, Warrick and Greg ventured into the forest to use their axe to cut down several thin, but sturdy trees.
"Timber!" Greg shouted as his tree fell to the ground. There was a huge self-satisfied grin on his face as he surveyed his work.
"Nice work, Paul Bunyan. Let's take this load to the beach," Nick suggested, helping Greg life a few fallen trees. Warrick grabbed the small axe and went to work on another tree.
"How many more of these do we need, Gris?" Warrick called over to where Grissom was walking trough the trees. Grissom shrugged.
"Beats me. I guess as many as it takes to make an 'animal-proof shelter,'" he said, rolling his eyes. Warrick shook his head.
"Don't you think Cath is taking this animal thing a little far?" Warrick asked, stopping his chopping to wipe sweat from his brow.
"Yes I do, but we also need a shelter. I'm thinking maybe a lean-to or something like that," Grissom replied thoughtfully.
"Yeah…especially for six people who deal in crime, not architecture," Warrick agreed, finally chopping down his tree.
"True. Hand me the axe. It's my turn anyways," Grissom said, taking the tool and preceding to hack at a skinny tree. Warrick walked around the small clearing and peered at some of the shrubbery.
"Any of this stuff edible?" he asked, kneeling down to look at a fern.
"I wouldn't touch that if I was you," Grissom warned, not even looking up from his chopping. Warrick stood up, perplexed.
"Why?"
"Poison Ivy," Grissom said simply. Warrick groaned. I guess that's what being brought up in the city did to a guy, he thought, shaking his head.
"And this?" he asked, looking over to Grissom before he touched anything.
"Aloe plants," Grissom replied, looking over, "It's good for bug bites." Hearing this, Warrick promptly picked it. The mosquitoes were killing them!
"Come help me take these back to the beach. This should be enough," Grissom said, motioning Warrick over. Together they hauled the trees back to the beach, where they found the others having a snack and a drink.
"So how's the chopping coming?" Sara asked, motioning for them to sit down.
"I think we're about done and ready to figure out how to build this thing," Warrick replied, taking a sip of water.
"Wow, you guys work fast," Catherine said, impressed, "Need any help?"
"If you want," Grissom shrugged.
"So how are we going to build this?" Greg asked.
"Warrick and I were thinking of maybe a lean-to or something like that," Grissom replied.
"It'd work. I saw it on Discovery once," Nick agreed.
"Alright TV boy, tell us about it," Warrick said. Nick ignored him and went on to explain how to build a lean-to and what the easiest way to do it would be.
"So according to the Discovery channel, we put one straight stick along like this," Grissom said, holding one six-foot tree horizontally along three trees near the edge of the bush. He teetered a little bit, before Greg and Nick moved to help him.
"You might wanna watch your back there old man," Greg said, grinning. Grissom glared at him.
"You better watch who you're calling 'old', Greg, or you'll be sleeping out side," Grissom threatened while Warrick guided their branch across three of the trees' lower branches. When they were sure it would hold, they let go. Catherine grinned at Greg's worried look.
"Don't worry, Greg, he wouldn't make you sleep outside," she told him. His face relaxed a little bit. Then she added, "You'll just wanna make sure you don't fall asleep inside."
"Why'd you have to go and say that other part?" Greg whined. Catherine just smiled at him and helped the others add sticks to their little shelter.
A little over an hour later, the six of them stood on the sand in front of their completed shelter. The open side of the shelter faced the beach so they could see any oncoming boats or planes from the shelter.
"Well, it's not the Four Seasons, but it's shelter," Nick said simply.
"You guys don't think you could build a shower and a bathroom in there, do you?" Sara joked.
"Don't push your luck, Sar. The plumbing won't be in until sometime next year, so you'll just have to use a tree like the rest of us," Nick replied cheekily.
"Cute, Nicky. Real cute. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go to the tree," Sara replied, walking past them into the bush.
"Watch out for Poison Ivy!" Nick called after her, causing the others to crack up. Even Grissom cracked a smile.
"We're having leftover roast beef and potatoes for supper. Cath, do you wanna hand me that pot of water to boil?" Grissom asked. He put the leftovers in a pot to boil off the bacteria, and then he used the frying pan to fry the potatoes.
"Call me when it's ready. I'm going for a swim," Warrick said, walking towards the ocean.
"Me too. I need a bath," Nick said, getting up to follow Warrick. Both men walked into the water fully clothed. They had figured out yesterday that this was an easy way to get clean and clean their clothes. The only drawbacks were that you had to swim well before nightfall and your clothes were salt crusted.
"Ditto that," Greg said following.
"We're going to have to fish them out of there, aren't we?" Catherine asked, laughing at their antics.
"Yeah, but the only problem is we don't have poles," Grissom replied, "You know you don't have to help me cook. You can go keep an eye on that lot if you want."
"Nah, I'm too hungry to swim," she said smiling.
"That hasn't stopped the three bottomless pits over there," Grissom said motioning to Greg, Nick, and Warrick.
"I'll go later," she shrugged.
"Don't go too late. We don't have any blankets if you're cold in your clothes in the middle of the night," he told her seriously.
"Then I'll just have to skinny-dip. My clothes won't get wet," she shrugged. His eyes widened and he stared at her.
"Oh, I'm kidding," she said, exasperated, trying not to giggle at his expression.
"Right," he said turning to stir the potatoes.
"Did I just hear you say you were going skinny-dipping, Catherine?" Sara asked, emerging from the trees with a perplexed look on her face.
"No, Grissom just can't take a joke," Catherine replied, smirking at her boss, "The guys are out swimming. I'm going later," she explained.
"Cool. I think I'll go join them," Sara said getting up.
"No point, Sara. The food's done anyways. Could you call the guys for me, please?" Grissom asked.
"Sure," she said, "GUYS! Food's done!" she shouted.
"I could've done that," Grissom deadpanned. Within a matter of minutes, the guys were back in front of the fire, plates ready to be filled.
"Jeez Gris, this is pretty good," Greg said between bites.
"Thanks. I had to learn to cook from somewhere, you know," Grissom replied.
An hour and a half after they finished their food, Grissom, Catherine, and Sara went for their swim while the guys cleaned up. Grissom being Grissom swam off down the beach away from the two women.
"He has got to be the shyest man I've ever seen," Sara said to Catherine while they floated on the surface of the water.
"You know what he's like. He's not used to being around people," she said simply.
"Well that's obvious," she said just before a wave tipped them over.
"I think we should head back," Catherine spluttered when she broke the surface. It was like being plane wrecked all over again. The kicked and swam hard towards the beach. It was a good thing that they weren't very far out or they would've been in some serious trouble. It took them a horrendous amount of effort to just get to where they could tough the ocean floor. Finally, they made it to the shallows, breathing hard.
"Are you guys okay?" they heard Grissom's voice say somewhere above them.
"Y-Yeah. Just peachy," Sara panted. She took Grissom's outstretched hand and was pulled to her feet. Beside her, Catherine was using Grissom's other hand to steady herself. Their legs felt like Jell-O.
"How'd you get back here so fast?" Catherine asked, breathing hard.
"I'm a good swimmer," he said simply, "Are you okay?" he asked again.
"Yeah," both women said at the same time.
"It looks like we're in for a storm tonight," he said, guiding them back up to the shelter.
"Wow, what happened to you guys?" Nick asked, getting to his feet.
"We've been through the rinse cycle," Catherine groaned.
Grissom was right; they were in for a storm. The sun was already out of the sky when a strong gust of wind took out their shelter.
"Guys, I must say you're shelter building needs some work!" Sara said over the wind.
"You try it next time if you think you're so smart!" Greg responded placing his arms over his head to protect his ears from the wind.
"Let's just sleep in the raft again," Warrick said after he, Nick, and Grissom tried in vain to rebuild some of their shelter. They used the flashlights from the survival kit to find where they stowed their raft on the sand.
"This sucks," Catherine mumbled. They were cramped in that little lifeboat again, but at least the walls kept the wind from bothering them while they were lying down.
"Aw, Cath, this isn't so bad," Nick replied, "It's like camping out under the stars. Most people would love this, just looking up at the night sky."
Then it started to pour.
"Nicky, somehow I'm not sharing your enthusiasm," she deadpanned.
TBC