Catherine sat on one of the leather couches in the living room waiting impatiently for the rest of the guys. Kitted out in a sleek black caftan, huge sunglasses and an even bigger hat, she nursed her straw beach bag on her lap. She looked around at the rest of the rooms, something didn't seem quite right – why was she the first one ready?
"Wow!" Warrick exclaimed as he walked out of his room. "You're ready?" He could hardly believe it. Catherine glared at him.
"Yes I'm ready. Don't act so surprised!" He chuckled at her.
"Seriously though where is everyone?" She wondered.
"Well I know I saw Nicky walk out of here a little while ago cursing under his breath about always forgetting sunblock, but I don't know about anyone else." Warrick explained as he sat down beside her.
"Greggo's probably still asleep." She thought out loud. "That just leaves..." Her eyes drifted to the back wall where Grissom, Sara, Brass and Sofia's rooms were. Warrick's eyes followed hers and he shook his head; he did not want to know what was keeping them.
-
"Did you think the guys were acting weird at breakfast this morning?" Sofia asked Brass as she packed her beach bag.
"I didn't notice anything. Why?" He shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know, just some of the things they said. They seemed to be a bit...pointed." She squeezed Jim's beach towel into her bag. "Just that comment Sara made..."
"You thing they know something?" He stopped what he was doing and looked at her.
"Nah..." She shook it off. "They couldn't...I'm sure they don't..." She said but didn't sound convinced.
"Well if they're not bringing it up then we won't either." His eyes twinkled as he smiled at her. Walking over to the bed he picked up her beach bag. Looking at her mischievously he dropped the bag on the bed and pulled her into him, planting a kiss on her lips.
"So how thin do you think these walls are?" He raised his eyebrows at her. She slapped him on the arm.
"We do not have time! And I don't care, as long as we don't hear Grissom and Sara going at it like rabbits next door!" She joked and headed for the door. Brass followed her out carrying her beach bag.
"Ready to go to the beach?" He said cheerfully to Catherine and Warrick, who were the only occupants of the living room.
"Hell yeah!" They replied excitedly. The elevator bell sounded and Nick stepped out into the room. He made his way to the living area and sat down on one of the chairs. Leaning forward he placed his bottle of sunblock on the coffee table and chuckled.
"Every time I go on vacation I forget my sunblock, it's unbelievable! I had to go to the pharmacy down the road to get that." He shook his head.
"Nicky, I have a ton of that stuff with me; you could have just borrowed some!" Catherine shook her head. He groaned and threw himself back into the chair.
"Say, where is everybody else?" He asked noticing there were a few members missing from the group.
-
"Sara, we're going to have a hard time hiding our relationship if you insist on wearing that bikini!" Grissom's voice was low and throaty as he stood behind her kissing the back of her neck while she packed their beach gear.
"Well, what do you suggest I do, wear a shroud to the beach?" She said sarcastically.
"No!" He groaned into her back.
"Well I guess you're just going to have to try to contain yourself then." She looked around for her book to put in the bag, swatting off Grissom as he followed her.
"Sweetie, control yourself!" She instructed him as she turned to face him and kissed him softly on the lips. He stood up straighter and composed himself in preparation for facing the group.
"Much better!" She said as she snaked her arms around his neck. "And if you behave I might just let you take my bikini off later!" She said seductively. Grissom's eyes widened and quickly shut as she pressed her lips to his, her tongue seeking entrance to his mouth, which he was more than willing to give. When she broke away from the kiss he was breathless and all his composure was completely gone.
"Now come on, we better get going." She said breezily as she grabbed her bag and left the room.
Grissom stood for a moment, trying but finding himself unable to move. 'Devil woman!' He cursed her as he gave himself a shake and headed into the living room.
"Everybody ready?" He asked as he glanced around counting the faces. "Where's Greg?" He asked when he noted the absence.
"Here I am!" The young man's happy voice sounded in the doorway to his bedroom. "Who's ready for the beach?" He sort of sang as he dance-walked his way to the living room.
There was a collective blink from the group as they looked at him. He was standing before them in the most heinous pair of shorts any of them had ever seen. Multicoloured lines and blotches patterned the entire shorts. It was one of those patterns that could give you a headache if you looked at it for too long; and yet they seemed to oddly match Greg's hyper personality and quirky fashion sense. In the lab he had matured slightly since moving out into the field, but these shorts were the proof that inside he was still the same immature Greggo that they all knew and loved.
"I know!" He smiled when he caught them staring at his shorts. "They're awesome, right?" He smiled broadly and nodded while everyone else looked away and forced smiles.
-
"Alright, let's put the stuff down here, perfect spot!" Catherine smiled and took her beach bag from Warrick. They laid out their towels in a row beside Catherine's and sat down on them. Before them the turquoise waves rolled in on the white sand shore and since it was the middle of the week they practically had it all to themselves. The sun was glorious shining down on them as they stretched out and basked in its warmth.
Catherine was busy slathering herself with the highest factor sunblock that was available to her, as were Sara and Nick. She was straining to apply the cream to her back when Warrick stepped in and offered to do it for her. He accepted the bottle from her and squeezed it into his palm, warming it between his hands before applying it to her back. He massaged the cream into her back gently and lovingly, so much so that Catherine almost forgot the company they were in as she melted away under his touch.
"Hey guys look what I brought!" Greg said excitedly, producing a beach ball from his backpack.
"Awesome!" Nick cried out, knocking the ball out of Greg's hand and catching it. Greg pouted. "What should we play?" He asked throwing the ball from hand to hand.
"How about volleyball? Girls versus guys?" Warrick suggested with a devilish glint in his eyes. The girl's exchanged conspiring looks then accepted the challenge.
"You're on!" Sara smirked, jumping up from her towel and racing towards the unoccupied volleyball nets with Catherine and Sofia following.
The girls stood on one side of the net with the guys on the other, all excited about the game, trash talking to the other team.
"Wait! There are five of you and three of us! That's not fair!" Catherine protested as they were about to flip to see who served first.
"Yeah!" Sofia backed her up.
"Alright fine, you can have Greg!" Nick shrugged, feeling confident the guys were going to win regardless.
"Hey!" Greg complained.
"Oh alright, fine!" Catherin sighed.
"Hey!" Everyone ignored Greg's complaints.
"Suck it up Greggo!" Sara rolled her eyes and beckoned him to their side. He huffed and pouted and reluctantly shuffled around to the other side of the net. "Look on the bright side," Sara smiled at him, "now you're on the winning team!"
"Oh yeah, well we'll see about that Sidle!" Nick's competitive streak was coming through as she jeered the girl's team.
"Yeah we will!" Nick rolled his eyes at them.
"Care to make this interesting Nicky?" Sara goaded him smugly. "Losers perform at the hotel karaoke night tonight!"
"Alright, you're on! Winner gets to choose the song!" He smiled, this was too easy; first he would get to humiliate them by beating them at volleyball then they would be further embarrassed by the song he would choose for them at the karaoke bar.
"Sara! What are you doing?" Catherine pulled her aside and hissed at her. Sofia joined them at Sara's other side.
"Yeah I don't sing!" Sofia informed her flatly.
"We won't have to sing." Sara rolled her eyes at them. "You honestly think we can't beat them?"
"They're boys!" Catherine pointed out.
"Exactly...and we're women!" Sara raised her eyebrows devilishly.
"Oh!" Catherine and Sofia smirked when they caught on to what she was implying.
"Alright then let's do this!" Sara yelled, moving into position.
She was standing up front, face to face through the net with Grissom. She locked her eyes into his and smiled. Her smiled made him lose focus of what was happening resulting in him getting hit in the back with the beach ball when Brass got fed up of calling him. He turned with an angry look to face the person that had hit him.
"Your serve!" Brass said snidely. Realising what had happen Grissom quickly took the ball, moved into position and started the game.
-
They had been playing for about ten minutes and the game was already going in the girls' favour. Sofia was ready to serve and Warrick was jumping up and down in front of the net, preparing to really get the game going and crush the girls. That was until Catherine chose that exact moment to stretch, pushing her arms up and her chest out, distracting Warrick's attention completely. He was so enthralled by the sight of Catherine's cleavage that he failed to see Sofia's serve coming right at him, that was until it hit him in the head. Then he saw it all too clearly. The girls, and Greg, cheered as they added another point to their score.
"Come on man look alive!" Nick yelled at him, not one bit pleased that they were getting beaten by girls...and Greg.
The game continued on for another ten minutes and for a while it looked like the boys might catch up. Of course, once Sara claimed that she was getting all sweaty and removed her t-shirt revealing that bikini she had bought at the mall with Grissom, after that the boys' performance began to deteriorate, dramatically. When the score reached 27-15 the girls decided they should stop playing, to save the men any further embarrassment. Grumbling the men agreed in an effort to hold on to whatever dignity they had left.
Lying on her towel, on her back propped up by her elbows Sara gloated as the losing team sat down every one of them huffing. Catherine was busy fawning over Warrick telling him how he made a good effort while Sofia was tending to Jim's bruised ego, not that he had been too annoyed about the game, he just enjoyed the way she was treating him. Picking her t-shirt up off his towel Grissom tossed it at her.
"You did that on purpose didn't you?" He smirked at her, his eyes narrowing accusingly.
"I don't know what you mean!" She feigned innocence. He scoffed.
"You know damn well what I mean. You...and that bikini – there was no way I could have concentrated on anything else." She smirked.
"Well, did you really expect me to lose that bet with Nick?" She asked.
"No." He smiled. "To be honest I enjoyed every second of being beaten." He leaned in close to her when he said this, his voice almost a growl; it excited her a little.
"Really? I'll have to remember that for later!" She raised her eyebrows suggestively, knowing it was teasing him. Grissom groaned, wishing they weren't on the beach and in front of the whole team.
It was getting later in the afternoon and they were all lying around on their towels chatting, some of them still scorning the girls' victory.
"It's getting late, we should probably head back. Wouldn't want Nicky to miss his big debut now would we?" Sara smirked.
A/N: I haven't quite decided on a song for Nick to sing in the next chapter so if anyone has any suggestions I'd like to hear them.