Well howdy there. So, yeah, not doing the best with chapter fics at the moment am I? This one, however, comes with the added bonus of The Queen Of Sin being my Beta, so hopefully she'll be kicking my ass to get it done. And now, you'll see why watching cartoons IS beneficial to life

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Who Doesn't Like A Cruise?

Chapter One

“Ok, this is becoming a huge problem.” Catherine sighed, slumping down into a chair at the breakroom table. The three men she was addressing looked blankly at her and then to each other to see if anyone knew what the hell she was on about.

“I mean look at them, they barely even talk to each other anymore, he always puts her on different cases with us, or on her own, we have to help them.” Nick, Warrick and Greg continued to stare at her. She realised they didn’t have a clue. “Grissom and Sara!” she said like they should know the subject of the talk.

“Oohhh, Sara and the Bugman.” Greg said and nodded. “Well, see ya.” He tried to escape before Catherine could bring him into whatever she had scheming, but Warrick grabbed his shirt and pulled him back down to his seat.

“Sit down Greg, Cath’s right.” He said. Nick nodded.

“Yeah, it affects us too, we have to put up with them silently arguing all day.” Nick said, making Warrick and Catherine nod along with him. Greg sighed.

“Ok, fine, what’s the plan Cath?”

“…six tickets on a four star cruise, including meals, around the Caribbean, come on Gil, it’ll be fun! We all need a holiday.” Catherine whined. She’d grabbed him before he left for the end of shift that night and proposed the idea of a two week holiday. Grissom hadn’t spoken a word since she began talking, instead he chose to stare at her like she had two heads. “So what do you think?”

Realising she was letting him talk, Grissom opened and closed his mouth a few times before sighing and removing his glasses. “You’ve already booked it haven’t you?” Catherine laughed.

“Oh nothing get’s past you.” She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

He caved, “When do we leave?” Catherine smiled and dropped the bombshell.

“What? Two days?” Grissom made a face similar to a goldfish.

“They were the last tickets on the boat!” Catherine defended.

“You do realise now I have less than that to get everything in order so we can leave? I have to inform Ecklie that this is happening, and I’ll be telling him in was your idea, which means he has even less time to get an extra shift to cover for us, which means we all have even less time to get them up to speed on all your cases.” He said in one breath.

Catherine looked nonplussed however. “Yeah, I know, sucks to be you huh?” and with that she walked out of his office. Grissom felt a migraine coming on and rubbed his temples.

“Cath, you have no idea.” He sighed.

A moment later, a voice came from the doorway, “You ok?”

Grissom’s head snapped up and he instantly regretted the swift movement.

“Ow, crap!” he moaned. “Sara?”

“Yeah it’s me.” Se whispered. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to give you this report. Migraine?” he moaned again and she took this as a yes. “You have any pills?”

“They’re at home, it’s only a small one, I’ll be alright.” He continued to rub his temples. “Could you get me a drink of water please?”

“Yeah sure.” She retrieved a bottle from his fridge and handed it to him.

“Thanks. You can go if you want.” As soon as he’d said it he mentally slapped himself. Sara gaped at him, but turned and walked away.

“I’ll close your door, take a nap or something.” She said, and then left. Grissom gazed through the darkness and wondered which was more painful, his head, or the fact that he was able to hurt the one person he cared about, more than anything, at the drop of a hat.

Two days and a hell of a lot of arguments with Ecklie later, Grissom, Catherine, Nick, Warrick and Greg were all at the airport waiting for the last member of the team.

“Where’s Sara? You did tell her to meet us here right?” Catherine asked Grissom, who looked shocked.

“Me? Why would I have to tell her? The whole holiday was your idea Cath!”

“Guys, calm down, I told her when Cath thought of it.” Nick intervened. “Look, she’s here now.” He pointed to the Prius that could only be Sara’s at the speed it was coming towards them. It stopped within an inch of Greg’s legs and the long legged brunette stepped out.

“Sorry guys, traffic was a nightmare.” She breathed, lugging her suitcase out of the boot. Grissom stepped forward to help her, but she refused. “I can get it myself Griss, thanks.” She brushed past him and into the airport with Nick, Greg and Warrick. Catherine raised an eyebrow at Grissom, but held her tongue, and they followed the rest of the team into the airport.

“So Cath…” Greg said through a mouth full of airport Big Mac. “How’re we getting to the Caribbean?”

“Well, we’re sat in a McDonalds, in an airport, so the answer to your question is we’re walking Greg.” The rest of the group sniggered, except Grissom.

“I meant, what’s our route? I’m getting on a plane and I don’t even know where to.” He swallowed his mouthful and shoved more fries into it. Sara looked disgusted.

“If you don’t stop showing me what your eating, you wont be getting on the plane, I’ll just throw you in the cargo hold.” She snarled and Greg recoiled.

Catherine started her explanation before Greg could get hurt, “We get on this plane to Miami, stay at the Candlewood Suites for the night, then another plane to Cuba, stay at the Hotel Gran Caribe Jagua in Cienfuegos City for two days and then on to the boat for a ten day cruise around the Caribbean,” She took a breath before carrying on. “’taking in the sites and docking at Haiti, onto Nevassa Island, then to Jamaica, visiting Portland, Saint Thomas, Westmoreland, Hanover, two days at the Cayman Islands, including Little Cayman and Cayman Brac before returning to Cuba’” she quoted from a leaflet. “Then we have three days grace to get back.” She beamed at the look on Greg’s face. He looked like the cat that had just eaten the canary.

“Alright!” he whooped and held his hand up for a high five, which everyone left hanging. “Pardon me for being excited.” He grumbled.

“Well it’s better than some people around here.” Sara mumbled angrily, from behind the magazine she was reading. Grissom knew the comment was aimed at him, as did everyone else. Nick, Warrick and Greg looked at each other. Maybe Catherine’s plan wasn’t going to work after all.

“Ok, that’s our flight.” Catherine said, hearing it announced over the speakers. “I think we should sort out who’s sitting next to who on the plane, and who’s sleeping with who at the hotel now, so we’re not all rushed about when we actually get there.” The rest of the group agreed and she quickly grabbed Warrick’s arm. “I’m with Warrick.”

“I’m with Greg.” Nick said just as quickly, which left Grissom and Sara standing next to each other wondering just what had happened in the last few seconds. Sara reacted first by grabbing her bag.

“Fine.” She mumbled before walking off to the gate. Grissom watched her go and sighed. The others looked at each other again, before picking up their bags and following Sara. Oh yeah, the next fortnight was gonna be fun.

TBC

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So, like I said, MAJOR thanks going to Joey for Beta-ing this, she said it was awesome, but reading it back it kinda sucked without the changes, so, Tim, thanks! Drop her a line to thank her too, she deserves it!