Author's note: Wow, I just impressed myself lol. Thanks for the reviews, i appriciate it. Now, just so you know, there's no excuse for me not to update again before school starts. TTYL.
Spoilers: I will generally tell what spoilers the chapters contain. In this Chapter: none
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 12: Here Comes the Rain
For once, in all their time on the island, the castaways did not wake to a sunny sky. Instead grey clouds that looked very uninviting blocked the sun.
"Well, it's time to put the shelter to the test," Sara said as she stood with Grissom on the beach in the morning.
"Well, it didn't fall when the bottom of the raft clipped the top," Grissom replied, running a hand over his very unkempt beard.
"Hey, guys!" Warrick called from the fire, "Breakfast is ready!"
"I wonder how long before we get rained on," Sara wondered as they walked back up.
"Before lunch time," Grissom predicted. And he was right. No sooner did they sit down to eat around noon, they felt the first drops of rain. They moved inside the shelter with Greg just as it really started to come down.
"Well this sucks," Nick commented, sitting on the ground staring out the doorway at the splashing raindrops on the ground.
"At least we're dry," Catherine reminded him, leaning against the raft. The roof was indeed keeping them dry. Surprisingly, the water didn't leak through the palm leaves, but that could have been because they had piled so many on the previous day.
"I'm bored," Nick complained an hour later when the rain still hadn't let up.
"I think we all are," Sara said irritably.
"Take it easy there, sunshine," he shot back.
"Don't start," Catherine ordered. She had abandoned the raft and was now lying on her stomach on the ground, playing tic-tac-toe in the sand with Gil.
"We're all a chipper bunch today," Warrick said, rolling his eyes.
"We're just used to doing stuff all day and now we're restricted to sitting around looking at the rain," Grissom sighed as he and Catherine tied for the umpteenth time.
"Isn't there something we could be doing right now?" Nick asked, looking at the others.
"Not unless you want to get wet," Grissom replied, drawing another board in the sand.
"Go take a shower, Nicky," Sara suggested. He rolled his eyes and stayed put.
"Hey, Nick, think fast," Warrick said, throwing a small stone at his friend. Nick caught it and threw it back, sparking a game of catch. Sara rolled her eyes and contented herself by trying to sleep.
They stayed like this for a while. Warrick and Nick had perfected their stone throwing game so that neither could miss. Grissom and Catherine had long since abandoned their game and were talking quietly in the corner. Sara soon could no longer stand trying to sleep and joined Nick and Warrick. Every so often, someone would glace over a Greg to make sure he was okay. For a little while, it seemed the cooler weather was doing wonders for him. His breathing was still deep, but he perspired less. Water was given to him at regular intervals and he hardly spit up at all. This was short lived when he began to shiver. They put more rags around him for a little warmth, but it hardly did a thing. He was soon huddled in the fetal position and surrounded by the old clothes keeping him warm. To the delight of his castaways he uttered a single word: "C-cold."
They did not know whether this was in his sleep or not, but it gave them hope. They hoped that this one word meant that pretty soon they'd be hearing Greg's usual lame jokes or listening to his very bad singing voice. Catherine gently messed up his hair, affectionately.
The rain continued well into the night and they were all thankful that they had stowed food and water in the shelter before it rained. The only major downside to this moisture was that in made the night uncommonly cold.
"Reminds you of the desert nights," Warrick chattered.
"Only chillier," Sara agreed.
"Do you think we'd all be warmer in the raft with Greg?" Catherine asked overtop of the soft pounding of the rain on the palm leaves.
"Body heat," Nick agreed, his teeth chattering slightly. With that, they all awkwardly clamoured in the raft. Grissom, Catherine, and Warrick were to the left of Greg and Sara and Nick were to the right. After a few minutes, they warmed up enough to begin to doze off to sleep.
Catherine and Gil were the first ones up and were pleased to hear that the rain had stopped. After gently untangling themselves from the others, they headed down to the water's edge to wash up.
"It looks like we could get another storm today," Catherine commented, looking disappointedly at the sky. Another bout of greying clouds was coming their way.
"Cath, I can't express my joy," he sighed. She chuckled.
"Should we wake the kids before it starts?" she asked wading up to her knees in the clear water of the shallows.
"If we must," he complied, following her in the water. Neither was in a hurry to go back to the Fire Trap and wake the rest. Instead they rinsed the dirt and sand off themselves in an almost leisurely fashion.
"What I wouldn't give for a tooth brush right now," Catherine sighed.
"Or soap," he added.
"Or a razor," she quipped.
"I second that," he replied.
"Yeah, you are beginning to look a little scruffy," she agreed. He looked at her with an expression of mock-hurt.
"Now Catherine Willows, when do I ever comment on your current appearance? Or your very hairy legs?" he asked with a smile, knowing that would annoy her. He was right.
"Gil Grissom, I am going to kill you!" she cried, lunging for him. He didn't move quite fast enough to avoid her attack. Both of them fell into the water, her on top…before he flipped her over. She splashed him to get free and then she ran up the beach, laughing at him.
"Cath!" he shouted, laughingly, as he tore after her and grabbed her around the waist, sending them both down in the sand. Then they both lay there laughing like idiots.
"I didn't think you could catch me," she breathed, leaning against him.
"Living on an island for two weeks does wonders for your physical shape," he joked, getting to his feet and offering her a hand. She took it.
"What the heck is going on out here?" Sara's voice caused them both to look up the beach where they saw Nick, Sara, and Warrick standing outside the shelter, looking confused.
"She pushed me in the water," Gil tried to explain.
"He pushed me in the sand," Catherine ejected almost childishly.
"They've lost it!" Nick announced, turning to walk back inside the shelter.
"You guys are a mess," Warrick commented as he passed them on his way down to the water. Sara smirked as she followed him. They were indeed way dirtier than before. Gil looked up at the sky, a little embarrassed. Catherine chuckled.
"Truce?" she asked.
"Absolutely," he agreed. As they turned to walk back to the water, he whispered in her ear, "Thanks. I needed that." She looked at him perplexed, but only received a small smile. They bathed in silence and walked back up to the beach, allowing Nick to leave Greg and join Warrick and Sara in the water. Catherine stayed inside, where she could baby-sit Greg, while Gil checked the roof, adding leaves and little sticks. The clouds were getting closer now and they were bringing more food and water inside. Nick was also hording a small pile of sticks inside as well.
"What is that for?" Sara asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I can at least do something with sticks," he answered. She laughed at him.
"Planning ahead, are we?" she asked.
"You laugh now, but you wait," he said.
The castaways were forced back into their shelter around ten when the second storm hit. It was quite a bit worse than the previous one. There was more wind, which made its way into the Fire Trap, chilling the occupants and knocking a few leaves loose.
"Now this sucks," Catherine shivered, discretely moving closer to Gil.
"I hope that roof holds," Warrick prayed, looking up at the green underside.
"What, with our luck?" Sara asked wryly.
"Always a pessimist," Nick muttered, causing everybody but Sara to crack up. After a couple of hours, almost everybody had gone back to their devices of the previous day, except for Nick. Catherine and Gil were huddled together by the raft, talking quietly. Warrick and Sara were throwing a rock back and forth. Nick was digging.
"What on earth are you doing?" Catherine asked, looking at him like he had gone nuts.
"Digging," Nick replied innocently.
"Why?" Warrick asked.
"Somethin' to do," Nick shrugged. Sara raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you were going to play with your sticks," she stated.
"Changed my mind," he said, continuing to dig. Everybody stopped what he or she was doing to watch him.
"Wow and he said we were losing it," Catherine told Gil and they both laughed.
"That's because you are," Nick said, stopping his hole for a moment. They watched him for a few more minutes and by that time, he had dug a hole as tall as his knees and when he stood up, he didn't have to duck. They gaped at him.
"Nicky, you're a genius," Grissom commented. Nick beamed.
"I try," he quipped. Grissom then got on his hands and knees and began to help Nick.
"Alright, maybe you have lost it," Catherine said to Gil. He shrugged.
"If I keep on having to duck in here, I'm going have back problems," he replied simply.
"I second that," Warrick announced, getting down to help them. Catherine and Sara gaped at them.
"Where are they expecting to go, China?" Sara asked the older woman. Catherine shrugged.
"If they keep that up, they will be," she joked. With incredulous looks on their faces, they watched the three grown men dig in the sand like little kids. They contened themselves to sit inside the raft with Greg, because the sides offered protection not only from the wind, but flying bits of sand, as well.
By the time the storm passed over four hours later, there was a large pit dug. The only part of the original ground that was left was the small platform that held Greg, Sara, and Catherine. It was about two feet higher than the freshly dug earth. Nick, Warrick, and Grissom had dug out most of the shelter, leaving the sand to its normal height only by the walls.
"I cannot believe you guys dug this all out!" Catherine exclaimed, as she took Grissom's hand to help her off her perch.
"It was practical. No more ducking and protection from the wind," he answered.
"I am impressed," Sara marvelled, jumping down to join them. They surveyed the three men and laughed. They were all covered in sand from head to toe. Some of it just fell off, while some got caked on after the several times they had to go out in the rain to push the sand out and when they had to go fix the roof.
"I'm going swimming," Warrick announced, hopping up to the normal beach.
"Hey! Wait up, War!" Nick shouted, scrambling up after him.
"I'm going too," Gil told them before following the boys outside.
"I have a whole new respect for those knuckleheads," Sara said, looking at the door.
"You and me both," Catherine agreed, "What about you, Greg?" she asked his sleeping form. Something between a shiver and a yawn was her response.
TBC