Author's note: my plot thickening paid off. Nothing can spur inspiration like sitting in bordom at work...anyways I have news: there are 22 chapters and all are completed. And now a present to GC fans
Special Thanks to El Gringo Loco for helping to make this story believable.
Spoilers: I will generally tell what spoilers the chapters contain. In this Chapter: not a lot
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 19: Unexpected Visitors
"I feel so grungy," Sara said, dunking her head in the water for the umpteenth time.
"Ah, relax, Sara. We're the only ones who look at you," Nick said when she surfaced.
"He's trying to say he checks you out, Sar," Warrick quipped, just before he was forced to dive underwater to avoid two splashes coming at his face.
"Nick and Sara sleepin' by the fire…When I say they were naked, I am no liar," Greg sang. Nick dove at him, and poor Greg was a hair too late to avoid being held underwater until Grissom showed mercy and ordered Nick off of him.
"Call me crazy but I missed his little songs," Catherine sighed, floating beside Gil, who chuckled along with her as they watched Sara chase after Greg.
"What would we do without them?" Gil mused, almost affectionately.
"It would be a lot quieter," she commented dryly. He smirked at her as they watched 'the kids' play in the water. Suddenly Warrick stopped.
"You hear that?" he asked and everyone paused and heard the unmistakable sound of an engine. Six pairs of eyes looked at the sky and they saw a seaplane turn in its descent.
"They're early!" Sara yelped.
"They're thugs, do you really think they go by a schedule?" Greg asked, turning to run up the beach.
"Just run for it!" Grissom bellowed. They swam for the beach, hindered by the water. When they finally made it to the beach, the seaplane was coasting their waterfront. Despite the odd sensation in their legs, they kept running up the sand and passed the shelter and into the brush, stopping at a near hiding spot to listen in.
"They went this way, Boss!" they heard a guy with an Asian accent shout.
"Check that out!" and they knew that he meant their shelter. At that moment, Nick and Warrick left the safe spot and hurriedly crept closer, disregarding the silent protests of the rest. They could see they were in the shelter. Nick bolted for the fire and grabbed a piece of burning wood by the cooler end and threw it on the roof of the shelter. Warrick followed suit and soon the 'Fire Hut' was ablaze. The mobsters ran out screaming and cussing.
"There they are!" a black man shouted, just as he pulled the trigger on his weapon.
"Time to go, War?" Nick called.
"Run for it!" Warrick shouted. They both bolted back to the trees and they knew they had six other men on their tails.
"Are you guys-" Sara started.
"Run!" Nick yelled, pulling her along with him.
BANG!
"Go! Go! Go!" Grissom shouted. They all started running again, deeper into the trees.
BANG! More gunshots echoed and they ran faster.
BANG! Somewhere in the chaos, Grissom had lost the rest of them. He heard another shot and ducked involuntarily, though it was no where close to him.
BANG! There was another shot, this time coupled with a scream of pain. He stopped cold and doubled back. He knew who's scream it was.
"CATH!" he shouted, brushing twigs out of his face as he ran as fast as he could. He stumbled onto the path and found her, clutching her arm as she tried to run. He could see blood.
"Cath!" he called.
"Gil!" she gasped.
BANG! They both heard the empty shot and the shouts that accompanied it. He pulled her back into the bush with him and helped her run with him.
"Stop!" he hissed, pulling her down into the thick underbrush. She clutched him, shaking as they heard someone stomp by. As soon as he was sure they were safe, he gestured for her to stand.
"C'mon. I know a place we can rest," he said, shaking, as she wordlessly followed him through the bushes.
"Greg! The Wire!" Nick shouted back as he and Sara jumped over a trip wire. They paused for a moment to let Greg catch up. He was pleased when Greg bypassed it easily.
"Keep going!" Greg called. He followed Nick and Sara as they wove through the twists and turns of the forest, the light becoming dimmer and dimmer as the sun set.
"Guys, I can't see!" Sara gasped. They stopped for a moment.
"Nick, she's right. It's almost dark!" Greg panted. Nick looked undecided for a moment.
"There should be a safe spot up ahead. We'll crash for the night," he said finally, just as they heard more shouts behind them, "Hurry!" he cried. He was right. They came to one of their safe hiding spots, which was concealed deep in the thick undergrowth. Under the plants, the guys had dug a small hole, which was shielded from view. This was where they stopped, but none of them fell asleep.
Warrick was all alone as he ran as hard as he could. At least two guys had been in hot pursuit of him, at least until he lead them to a trip wire and bypassed a blockade. He could still hear them cursing behind him. It was getting harder to see. Though he was sure that the sun was still in the sky (They were swimming before dinner), the darkness of the forest made it seem like night. He needed to find a place to hole up for the night. Then he remembered the thicket up ahead. If he could just make it…
"I can't see a damn thing!" one of his assailants cried.
"Lets go back to the plane and get flashlights!" the other yelled. Warrick breathed and crept along almost silently. Without much difficulty he found the woody, leafy thicket and he knew no light would penetrate the branches. He squeezed in, and like the rest, he lay awake on the ground, listening for the slightest indication of a predator.
Lindsey strained to listen to the shouts outside the seaplane as her captors discussed what to do about the people on the beach. Even she saw the six outlines scurrying away.
"Boss, it's getting dark!" one of the thugs, Rizzo, complained, "Can't we just ice Tito, Fox, and the kid and go?" This earned a smack from Boss.
"You idiot!" he scowled, "I'm not about to commit three murders with a bunch of witnesses!"
"But Boss-" another started to complain, but he apparently thought better of it. Boss spoke again.
"I want two of you in the trees tonight. Switch off every few hours. Then in the morning, we'll all go find those rats!" he explained.
"What about them?" Johnny asked, roughly gesturing a thumb at the closed seaplane.
"They're tied up and even if they did escape, where would they go? I'm not leaving this island until every last rat is dead," the Boss said menacingly, his followers looking slightly afraid of their leader as his face was illuminated in the blazing fire of the trees that had caught fire. Lindsey's plan was already formulated in her mind.
"Just back here," Grissom whispered, helping Catherine into the small cave on the side of the rocky hill. The small opening was concealed by overgrown shrubs, making it the perfect place to hide.
"Perfect," she murmured. He squeezed in after her and together, they crawled deeper inside. Light shone through a large crack in the ceiling. While it was dim light, it was still enough for Gil to see the pain in Catherine's face as he told her to remove her hand from her wounded arm.
"Does it hurt bad?" he asked softly, as he looked at the wound for a moment. Their was no bullet hole. There was just a small, bloody gash on the edge of her skin. It looked as if the bullet grazed her and left a shallow impression.
"No," she said bravely, "How bad is it?" she asked. He smiled reassuringly at her.
"It looks like it was just grazed. We'll still need to clean it up, though," he said. Suddenly he ripped a bit of his own shirt, fluidly in one motion, something which surprised Catherine a little.
"Impressive," she whispered, causing him to blush.
"Thanks," he mustered. He gently wiped the blood from her arm and then applied a little pressure to stop the bleeding. She watched him work unflinchingly.
"Thank you," she said, smiling at him.
"I could have done a better job with the first aid kit," he said quickly, "When we get back to the raft, I'll redo it properly," he promised. After a few moments, the blood stopped flowing and he tied the strip of shirt around her arm, tight enough to put pressure on the wound, but loose enough for the blood to continue to circulate.
"You came back for me," she said softly, looking into his cerulean blue eyes.
"Of course I did," he shrugged, just moving his lingering hands from her shoulder and down her arm, causing shivers to course through her spine.
"Thank you," she said. Finally he looked her in the eyes properly.
"I said I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Catherine," he replied just as softly. Their eyes were locked and neither could have looked away, even if they had wanted to. They weren't sure who moved first, but one moment their faces were inches apart, and the next, their lips locked and neither wanted to break the kiss. It was deepened as Gil cupped her cheek with his hand, and broken only when they needed oxygen.
"Catherine-"
"Shh," she whispered, capturing his mouth in hers once more. Their tongues played with each other as he slowly moved in a position where he was in front of her, his hands traveling along her body with an agonizing slowness. With a moan, she succumbed to him as he gently lay her on the smooth stone ground, her good arm weaving around his neck as he proceeded to make love to her.
For the rest of the night, they forgot everything, the criminals, the fire, and the danger and just gave in to all the dormant desires they had felt for each other since even before the plane crash.
TBC
AN: Reminds self and others that this is a T-rated fic. How I wanted to elaborate. And if you don't like the ship, don't flame me. That's just immature.