Authors Note: I really appreciate all the reviews that I have gotten. I am really ejoying myself writing this and it really encourages me to know that people actually find this amusing. I hope you continue to like it. Here it goes...
Chapter 4: The Wheels on the Bus
The smell of exhaust fumes nearly made her gag but still she stood in line behind teams of other detectives waiting to get on the bus.
"Where is your partner?" a female detective who was standing in front of her turned around to face Alex.
"Oh, he's just running a little late that's all." She did a quick once over of the small crowd gathering around the bus. No Goren in sight.
She felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket, this took her by surprise and she jumped a little.
"Goren?" she looked around again and this time saw his tall figure some 30 feet away.
"I'm over here Bobby!" She started to jump up and down in hopes of being seen above the not so vertically challenged crowd.
Goren looked around and couldn't see her. "Where Eames?" And then he saw arms flailing wildly about and people moving away from something.
She was making a racket and finally the crowd parted, Goren came strolling through and stopped by her side. People were looking at her like she was the crazy one for once. He kind of liked it.
"Where have you been?" People finally stopped staring and the line to board the bus started to move.
"I had to…do some laundry." He gave her a quick smile then outstretched his arm in front of him and her as well.
"After you."
She got on the bus and found two empty seats in the back; she quickly took the window seat much to the dismay of Goren.
After about 20 minutes of driving hell began. A man from the front of the bus stood up so that everyone could see him.
"Hello everybody. How are we doing today? Welcome to the first annual Teamwork Camp. Our motto here is Winning Together is Fun. Or WTF for short." This perky individual was wearing khaki shorts cut off just below the knee, a white polo shirt with the words FUN embroidered on it like a name tag, and a baseball cap that said 'Major Fun Squad'.
"WTF is right." Goren mumbled to himself but Eames heard him and gave his leg a quick smack.
"You never know, we might just have fun." At that he put his head back and closed his eyes pretending to be asleep.
Alex kept her attention at the front of the bus ignoring her partner's obvious reluctance to even pretend he was looking forward to this.
"Now I know all of you are from the 'Major Case Squad' but for the next week you all will be the 'Major Fun Squad'. Susan here will bring each of you your name tags and a hat to wear."
A woman dressed similar to the man at the front of the bus started to make her way down the aisle handing out little name tags and hats.
"My name is Bert and I will be your leader this week. Let's all work together, grow stronger but most importantly…" he threw his hands in the air and pointed towards all the detectives on the bus waiting for their response.
"Fun" the group chanted in what sounded like a mob of zombies kind of way.
Susan finally made her way to the back of the bus and right to Goren and Eames.
"Hey there, are you Alex and…" she glanced down at the other name tag and she couldn't help herself, she giggled.
This brought Goren to attention, he opened his eyes.
"Here, why don't you just take this." She handed the name tag to Goren and walked back to the front of the bus.
He stared down at the name tag and cursed under his breath.
"What's wrong Bobby? Did they spell your name wrong or something?"
He didn't answer. She slapped her name tag on her shirt and reached over to grab his. He pulled it away quickly.
"Of all the stupid mistakes…" he trailed off.
"Let me see it." She finally grabbed it and read out loud the so called name on the tag.
"Booby."
Goren put his head in his hands and was motionless. Eames on the other hand was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.
"It's not that funny Eames, its tragic."
She then did her best Nicole Wallace accent, "Booby!"
He lifted his head and stared at her. She took the opportunity to slap the name tag on his shirt.
"This week will never end." He put the stupid baseball cap on and pulled it down so that it covered his eyes.
"It hasn't even started yet, don't be such a sour puss and suck it up. It could be worse, your name tag could say…" she pondered this for a moment. "No, they couldn't have gotten it worse. Maybe you should start going by Robert more often. Or Rob, or Bob, or Robo Bob."
He wasn't amused, at least if he was he wasn't showing it.
She didn't stop.
"Or maybe you could just be 'Detective O'. Be all mysterious yeah?"
He was still pretending to be asleep. She decided to leave it at that and took the same position of the baseball cap covering her eyes.
The wheels on the bus went up and down, up and down, and then they continued to go up and down.
Goren and Eames slept soundly for the three hour ride; finally the bus came to a sudden stop.
"Ok people we're here!" Bert stood up and looked far too excited for his own good.
Note: I promise the next chapter we will finally see some action at the camp. :D Thank again to everyone for all the great reviews.