Author's Note: Okay, so maybe there won't be a weekly update…yet. I'm working on it. Also, this chapter's title was borrowed from the Sheryl Crow song of the same name.

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Chapter II

Soak up the Sun

It was a perfect day and there wasn't anywhere she would rather be then Lake Meade. They had a cooler full of soda, water, good beer, thick cold cut sandwiches and cupcakes. She tapped her bare foot to the music that blared out of the old portable stereo and smiled at the dog perched on the boat's bouncing bow. Riley barked at the passing jet-skiers, the birds above them, the splashing wake and anything else that caught his attention. Riley, like Greg, hadn't been on her original invite list. They had been so pathetic, though, when she'd stopped at Sara's apartment, she hadn't been able to say no. She was, Sofia laughed at herself, absolutely spineless when it came to animals and Greg had cheerfully invited himself along.

Sara brushed by her and bent down by her dog to lavish attention on her wet, shaggy dog. Okay, Sofia could admit it, maybe it wasn't just the dog that she had a soft spot for.

Behind them Greg was having more fun than Riley, which was saying something. The CSI was holding on to the tube for dear life and he loved every second of it if his girlishly high screams were any indication.

"I am the King of Lake Meade!" Greg had boasted when he'd put on the lifejacket, "And there's no way you can throw me, Curtis."

She was going to make Sanders eat those words and wash them down with plenty of water. His ride was going to end with him hitting the lake, hard. That was a matter of fact, inevitable and unavoidable. The boy was going to end up dripping wet. It was a matter of pride, because if there was any royalty on the lake, it was her. She wasn't just the Queen of the lake, she was the Empress.

"You've got a cruel streak in you." Sara stood up beside her, "You're going to send him skipping across the water like a stone if you keep it up."

Sofia grinned and pushed her aviator sunglasses back up her nose, "That's the idea."

Sara tilted her head back and laughed so hard that Riley abandoned his post at the front of the boat to investigate. Her usually pristine boat was full of life and laughter and dog, and Sofia couldn't imagine why they hadn't done this before.

"It's too bad Warrick couldn't make it."

Sofia looked over her shoulder, "Yeah—Oh, Greg's down!"

He didn't exactly skip across the water, but he did an impressive half-flip in the air before landing hard on his stomach. His sudden introduction to the physics of man versus lake gave Sofia a perfect opportunity to not talk about Warrick Brown, and she took it. The man's behavior and suspension was something of a sore spot between them. Sara and Greg were, obviously, on his side but Sofia was slightly less supportive of his erratic behavior. It was something they had to agree to disagree the subject. Talking about it now would only spoil the day. She eased the fish-and-ski boat into a wide, lazy one-hundred and eighty degree arc and headed back to pick up Greg. The tube he had just been thrown from skipped across the water behind them.

When they were close enough for Greg to swim in, Sofia cut the engine and the boat slowed to a stop. Sofia popped the lid of the cooler while the thoroughly schooled and dripping wet criminalist climbed back into the boat.

"Seriously, Sofia."

She looked up, her hand still in ice up to the wrist.

Greg shrugged out of the wet life vest and scrubbed his hand through his short hair. "You named your boat the C. Auguste Dupin? Really? You are such a nerd, why didn't you just name it the Mystery Yacht and be done with it."

Sara pushed her dark Ray Bans down her nose, "Do you really want to swim back to the marina, Greggo?"

Sofia smirked and rummaged in the cooler for a drink while Sara and Greg bickered. Sara was smiling, something she hadn't been doing much of lately. She wasn't taking her suspension well. Sara was dedicated to her job, a self-admitted workaholic, and she didn't know what to do with the sudden abundance of free time. Not that Sara didn't deserve a vacation after the year she'd had.

A yelp caught her attention and Sofia belatedly realized that she'd left her hand in the cooler's icy water.

"Sofia, tell her she has to!"

She pulled a cold bottle of beer out of the cooler and shut the lid, "What?"

Greg had Sara pinned to one of the seats by sitting on her. "She has to ride the tube, it's so her turn."

Beneath him, still trying to wiggle her way out from beneath Greg, Sara shook her head, "I'm fine, well I will be when this idiot gets off of me!"

Greg smiled, "It'll be fun. Oh or Sofia could go and I could take a turn at the wheel!"

Sofia popped the cap off of the light beer and took a long drag, "You must have hit your head on something out there if you think I'm going to leave you in charge of my boat and my safety."

Even pinned down such as she was, Sara laughed.

Greg stood up, "That's cold, Curtis."

She grinned and picked up the life jacket that Greg had left on the deck, "He's right, though, it is your turn, Sar."

The brunette opened her mouth to argue, but shut it without saying a word.

"Alright, Sidle, drop your pants and let's get this show on the road."

Sara grinned and quirked an eyebrow and Greg practically swooned.

Sara unfastened her old, faded blue jean cut offs and they slid down her long legs. Sofia admired, and Greg practically drooled over, the exposed expanse of skin. Of course, Sofia mused, she wasn't showing that much skin. Sara's black one piece was modest bordering on prudish.

Sofia held out the life jacket and Sara wrinkled her nose at it. "I hate life jackets. I don't need it. I practically grew up in the ocean; I can swim like a fish."

Sofia didn't waver, "I don't care if you are part fish, you're not going out there without this." It was a rock-solid rule and she wouldn't break it, not even for Sara.

"Fine." Sara all but snatched the vest out of her hand and shrugged into it. "Stupid rule."

Sofia stepped closer, into her personal space, and plucked the sunglasses off of the other woman's face. "Relax, all you have to do is hold on and leave the rest to me." She leaned closer and jerked the vest's zipper up. They were closer together then they had allowed themselves to be since it became clear that there was something happening between them. The two of them, and the moment they'd found themselves in, slowed down and almost stopped still. The hot sun beat down on their heads and the cool breeze ruffled their hair and for a handful of heartbeats neither woman breathed. Blood thumped in Sofia's temples and pulsed in her lips and she thought about doing something stupid. Sofia really thought about throwing caution to the wind and kissing the brunette. She would bet that Sara was ready to investigate the bubbling, shiny little something between them too.

"C'mon, Sara, I bet you won't last half as long as I did!"

The moment shattered like cheap glass and they both took a fast step backwards. Sofia almost tripped over Riley and tried to cover her awkwardness up by petting him.

"It's not a competition, it's about having fun." She followed Sara to the back of the boat and started to pull the tube in. Her body practically vibrated and her blue tankini seemed far too tight for comfort. The nylon rope rasped through her hands and the float bounced towards them quickly.

"You do know that it really is a competition, right."

Sofia grinned, "Of course, and I fully intend to school you both."

The black and yellow tube bumped against the white fiberglass back stern of the boat and she watched Sara climb onto it. "Should I be afraid?"

Sofia quirked a brow, "Of me?"

Sara started to paddle backwards, pushing the tube back away from the boat, "Well last time you were at a school you were banned from the library."

The jab about the library was below the belt, but worth it. Sofia's eyebrows winged up and she laughed. It was a nice picture to keep in her head, especially since she was about to be treated to flying lessons. Sara grinned, she was really glad she had decided to come with Sofia and Greg.

Ahead of her the boat, the C. Auguste Dupin, started to move. It was an interesting name for a boat, but it fit Sofia to a tee. She was a literature nerd hiding behind a detective's shield. The tow rope started to unfurl, uncurl, and the slack quickly disappeared. The plastic and canvas covered tube started to move. It was slow at first, the water pounded at the float's bottom and it hurt. Sara lifted her scantily-clad self off of the bottom and readjusted her grip on the plastic handles. The water, only a scant few inches bellow her, tuned into green glass and white froth quicker then she thought it would. Sofia was going to get her for that remark; she tightened her grip again.

The boat's "V" of wake could be separated into three parts: the large line of wake from the motor in the middle, the two dips on each side of that and the two long legs of the "V" made of high, rough water flowing off of the sides of the boat. The speed picked up and the wind started to beat at her body, it was exhilarating. Her existence became suddenly and solely focused on one thing, staying on the float. She smiled and squinted her eyes against the bright sun. Drops of water flew up and glimmered like diamonds in the air and were icy cold against her overheated skin. Ahead of her the boat banked hard to the right and she braced herself. The tube slid across the water and she tried to shift her weight along with the tube's movement. She flew across the white and green water quickly and the turn was so sharp that she flew out of the wake's v and out onto the glassy water of the lake. She was almost directly across from the boat. Greg actually waved and Sofia sent her an air kiss, then she banked the boat hard to the left.

"Oh shi-"The rush of water and roar of the boat's motor swallowed her curse and she braced for the slingshot movement of the raft. She was amazed that she held on all the way through the sharp turn. Her brain slowly caught up with her body and she realized, with a sudden jolt of adrenaline that they had actually circled back around and were about to cut through their own wake.

Sofia was a sadist was all she could think, and then the raft went airborne. She landed back on the water, and still, miraculously, on the float with a bone-jarring crash and was immediately whipped into another hair-pin turn. The chop was rough and she hadn't thought it was possible, but they were going even faster then before.

The tube veered hard to the left again and the tube jerked up and in the scant few seconds before it happened she knew she was about to fly. She fell, practically cart wheeled, into the water and the impact stole her breathe. The water closed over her and lake water rushed into her wide-open mouth and up her nose. Her tongue, throat, nasal passages and sinus cavities were instantly coated with the brackish taste of sea water. The brine of the ocean she'd grown up in the middle of a freshwater lake. Beams of sunlight cut into the water and for a moment she was weightless in a place where up and down were inconsequential and time held no meaning. Memories flashed in her mind's eye like a chaotic slide show and a small kernel of panic blossomed up in her chest. The life vest did it's job, despite her disorientation, and rocketed her back towards the surface.

Her head broke through the water and she took a deep, greedy breath of fresh air. The taste of salt disappeared as quickly as it had come. She pushed her dark, wet hair out of her eyes and slicked it back against her scalp. Several hundred yards away the boat was halfway through its turn. They were headed back to pick her up. No matter what she said, Sofia was going next, because she had to get some payback. Sofia might have proclaimed herself King, or Queen actually, of the Lake, but there was going to be a quick and wet revolution today.

The Dupin slowed to a stop a few yards away and she swam towards it. Her free-style stroke was even, strong and steady, though it had never been fast enough to be considered great, and she made short work of the distance. Sara pulled herself up the ladder, and paused halfway up to unzip the now cumbersome life vest. "Okay guys that-"

Then she noticed their cell phones against their ears. Reception, she knew, was spotty on Lake Meade, but they had apparently stopped in one of the spots where the satellites lined up and the wind blew right. There was at least one bar here and, of course, Greg and Sofia were being called in.

A slender cirrus cloud moved across the sun and Sara felt it's thin shadow fell across her spirit like a full eclipse. Her smile faltered a little before she could recover. Sofia and Greg were being called into work but her cell phone was still and silent. Two sets of eyes, both apologetic, met hers and she looked away. It wasn't their fault that they were being called in. That was the nature of their job. Crime happened and they had to go and clean it up. She just didn't like being the one who got left behind. She knew how the wives, husbands and dates felt like. It wasn't a fun feeling.

Greg hung closed his phone first and turned a full force puppy dog eyes on her. Sofia closed her phone and heaved a sigh.

Sara ran her hand over her wet hair again, and pushed Riley's nose away from her crotch, "So how bad is it, guys?"

Greg's tan was actually turning ashen, "It's bad."