Title: If You Go Down in the Woods Today

Pairings: Unknown at this point but probably Grace and Boyd

Summary: Team Bonding

Rating: K+

Spoilers: up to and including season seven.

If You Go Down In The Woods Today

Part three

Tom, it seemed, was an early riser, and one of those people that even woke up happy; a fact that was certainly going to annoy certain members of the Cold Case Team.

Grace was on her way back from the taking a wash when she bumped into him, literally. She righted herself and gave him a smile. "Hi."

"Did you sleep okay?" he asked, the same annoying smug grin plastered on his face.

"Well, Boyd snores and Spencer whimpers." Between the two of them and her constant irrational fears about bears and snakes, she hadn't managed more than a few hours sleep at a time. She had silently pledged to drink more wine the next night, and draft in her co-conspirator to boot.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm not touching that one," she agreed with a smile. "I wouldn't expect a bunch of happy campers this morning."

"Are they ever?" he asked, correctly reading the dynamic of the team.

She shook her head. "We have our moments."

"Anyway, I took pity, I brought coffee."

She gave him one of her wide smiles. "Then let's go rouse the troops." They arrived back at camp as the others were just appearing from their tents, yawning and complaining about the hour. "Tom's brought coffee."

There was a sudden rise in spirits as Grace set about pouring six cups of coffee, adding little creamers and sugar sachets where appropriate.

Tom settled himself on the rock. "Okay, so I have a full programme for you. This morning is the assault course which you're attempting as a team." He grinned widely. "Then this afternoon a little canoeing. Tonight I'm taking you all to the local pub for dinner."

Spencer's mood improved ten fold at the idea of real food and alcohol.

"Have you had breakfast?" Tom asked, staring at the remains of the previous night's fire.

The team all looked at Grace, who sighed. "They can barely switch on a microwave. This may have been a little ambitious," she shrugged. En"2222

"Why don't I rustle up some toast and stuff and you get ready." He knelt down on the grass and within minutes the fire came to life.

Ten minutes later they were all sat on the ground, dressed in appropriate warm casual clothes, and eating toast and jam. Tom sat back on his rock carefully observing his latest group. "So the aim of this weekend, as you might have been told, is to break down a few of the barriers you seem to be experiencing and to work on your communication skills. Hopefully, it will help with your problem solving and give you all a chance to lead, and you know, see what your strengths are."

"Have you read one of Grace's books?" Boyd asked, a hint of sarcasm to his voice, at the touchy feely tone of Tom's voice.

"All of them," Tom replied drolly. "Shall we go?" He already had a good handle on what the group needed to work on and it was easy to see which relationships could do with a little shaping.

"What about our stuff?" Spencer asked, wary of where they were.

"Melanie is gonna come hang out and keep an eye on things." Tom set off at pace, waving his arms for them to follow.

--

Grace took one look at the course before her and wondered exactly what she had gotten herself into.

"Shit, they're not serious," Boyd grumbled beside her, his sweatshirt tied around his waist, as he stopped to breathe.

"Feeling a little out of shape there, Boyd," she said, her hand lightly patting his stomach.

He glanced down at her hand, his face giving no indication as to whether he wanted her to move it. "Are you going to stay back and keep me company while I wheeze my way round?"

"Yeah, that's the reason I'm not going to be at the head of the pack." Her fingers gently splayed against his stomach, her fingertips gently massaging his skin through his T-shirt.

Tom clapped his hands and began to bounce up and down on the spot. "Obviously you're all reasonably fit."

Grace cleared her throat.

"I said reasonably, Grace, I can't imagine any of you have gym memberships," Tom said. "There are twenty five obstacles and no time limit. The idea is that you all complete the course. How you do it is down to you. You can challenge yourselves mentally and physically or just go and have some fun. I'm going to be here supervising and making sure you're all okay." He gave them all another of his annoying smirks. "You all have helmets and knee pads so over to you."

The five of them stood staring at the obstacles they could see, the tall tree line blocking the rest from sight.

"Ladies first, "Spence said. "Boyd and I will bring up the rear."

"That's a comforting thought," Stella groaned.

"Oh, I don't know," Eve grinned. "Spencer's always saying he's good with his hands."

The first obstacle was the scramble net, which even Boyd had to admit, they all managed to get over quickly and safely, Stella and Spencer's competitive nature bringing out the worst in them.

The tunnel proved more of an obstacle as the older members crawled along, stopping frequently as their knees gave way. In the end, tired of waiting, Spencer lifted up the netting so they could practically stumble through.

"Excellent," Stella yelled, looking down the incline from the next obstacle. "Cool."

Spencer rolled his eyes.

Grace tiptoed to the edge and glanced down, silently saying a prayer as she took in the drop and the pulley.

Stella made her way over to her and leaned in gently so not as to startle her. "Make sure your hands are in the loop, close your eyes and scream."

Grace turned and raised an eyebrow.

"It's a little bit like sex, it's better if you don't see, it'll put you off forever."

It brought forth a rush of giggles.

"Do you think she's remembering last night?" Eve asked Spencer quietly, watching as Boyd was helped onto the pulley.

He groaned loudly and slapped her arm, her response lost as Boyd cursed and kicked off, the pulley carrying him rapidly down the steep incline as the others watched with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

--

"You look knackered," Boyd commented less than tactfully as they finally stumbled away from the vertical wall.

"You're not exactly looking hot yourself . . ." She placed two fingers to his wrist and counted his pulse. "Seriously, Boyd, slow down. I don't want to end up having to give you mouth to mouth."

"Really, the impression was you'd like nothing more than me flat on my back."

She looked at him, taken back by his change in demeanour.

"What happens at camp . .." He reiterated her words, his eyes locked on hers, words forming in his head as he contemplated what he was about to say.

"Come on you two," Spence called, taking steps back towards them and interrupting something, although Grace wasn't sure what.

"We're coming," Grace replied, finally releasing Boyd's wrist.

Boyd reached out for her, catching her hand in his so she had to turn to look at him.

"I need you to make me a promise."

"Okay," she replied, her serious tone matching his.

He took a deep breath, gauging her possible reaction. He chickened out at the last second. "When I do keel over, make sure you're the one giving me mouth to mouth."

She rolled her eyes and tugged his hand, leading him back to the rest of the group. She stopped just as quickly when she saw the next obstacle. "Bloody hell."

"One of you pushes me in and you're on paperwork for the rest of the month," Boyd said, his voice tempered with warning.

Grace's eyes glinted with mischief at his side. "Stella, you wanna go first?"

Stella took a deep breath and placed her hand through the rope, carefully stepping up on to the wire. Satisfied that she had her balance, she began to inch her way along. With only one person on the wire it wobbled very little and she was making good progress.

Eve climbed on next, swaying precariously as the additional weight caused the wire to dip. "If we fall can we just wade?"

Tom nodded. "The aim is to get all of you across."

"It's not that I don't trust you," Grace began, "But I don't trust you. I'm going last." She pushed Spence towards the wire and stepped closer to Boyd. "Ten says Spencer falls off first."

"Really. My money's on Stella." He should have known better. As the words left his mouth, Spencer rocked forward, the whole wire swinging, his balance tilted backwards as he strained to stay upright. He yelped something incoherent as he landed in the cold muddy water with a splash.

Eve and Stella clung to the loop and adjusted their bodies to balance until the wire steadied itself.

"Damn," Boyd grumbled.

"After you," Grace said, crouching on the ground and tucking her trousers in her boots.

He glanced down at her, before climbing onto the wire, watching as Spencer splashed his way through the stream towards Eve.

The two women screamed and began to move faster, the wire trembling. "Spencer, you dare."

Shrieks and giggles followed as Spencer tried in earnest to get to the two women before they reached the other side. The three of them collapsed in laughter on the opposite shoreline, a sign that the weekend was starting to have the desired effect.

Grace rose to her feet and made her way over to the obstacle. She waited until Boyd was a few metres out before she stepped into the stream and moved towards him. It registered too late for him to do anything about it. He reached out to grab her as she shoved him and they tumbled forwards, landing in a heap in the mud, his body pressed down on hers.

"What the. . .?"

"You promised me a dirty weekend," Grace whispered, crawling out from under him. "I'm just making sure you live up to your promises." She clambered to her feet and strode through the cold murky water towards the others gathered on the shore, who were trying hard to stifle their giggles.

"You'll pay for that later," Stella commented dryly.

"I'm counting on it," Grace replied, her eyes drawn to Boyd as he tried to wade through the stream, brushing mud from his clothes, oblivious to the fact she was licking her lips.