Two days had passed since the rogue waves crashed into the small boat. Catherine and Grissom had forgotten completely about pervious strange events, hoping to keep the past behind them. Since then the sun had never quit beating down on the little yacht and the skies had stayed clear and blue.
Catherine was lounging out on the boat deck, dressed in a black and white polka dot bikini with her sunglasses shielding her eyes from the heat. Her slim, hourglass figure that she had been able to keep after giving birth to two children, almost fourteen years apart still looked the same as when she was an exotic dancer in her twenties. Her skin that was already suntan from the Vegas sun, working crime scenes until the wee hours of the morning to catch some rays, was turning an even more golden brown shade. Her hair, which was damp from the water, was tied back, away from her heart shaped face. The water was cool, and refreshing, and she was contemplating on jumping in again. Her skin was lathered in suntan lotion, protecting her skin, as a light ocean breeze was deflecting some of the heat.
Grissom was down below in the galley. He was whipping up a delectable lunch for him and Catherine to enjoy while lounging in the deck chairs on the boat deck. Grissom was just adding a few finishing touches on a fruit and vegetable tray.
Freshly picked strawberries and blueberries mounded up in a pyramid shape inside a dessert bowl. On a bigger platter, carrots, broccoli, slices of apples, oranges and pineapples were arranged in a circle. In the middle was a small dipping dish full of ranch dressing to dip the vegetables into. Besides those two trays there was a plate that was bordered with a beautiful floral print was six pieces of whole wheat toast. The butter was in a covered platter while the strawberry jam was in a small jar to dip your spreading knife into.
To top off the beautiful arrangement Grissom had made for him and his wife to enjoy were two tall tumbler glasses that were a see through glass tinted pink. Each was filled to the half way mark with orange juice. The couple�s favorite drink to have with their lunch besides coffee. The only coffee either of them would drink was the stuff Greg made in the break room at the lab. It was made from fifty dollar coffee beans picked specially from a tropical island somewhere in the Caribbean. It took the young man a long time for him to share his amazing coffee with the rest of the graveyard shift, but with a little persuading and threatening of being fired, he finally gave in.
Gil let his mind drift away from him and his graveyard team enjoying a cup of coffee together before he administered the assignments to everyone, and they all began another grim shift at the lab. It was sad to think that people had to leave the earth for them to get money in their pockets. Gil looked up through the small port hole that had blue checkered curtain drawn back and held in place with nautical rope, peering at his beautiful wife. He could see Catherine, lying on the deck, resembling a corpse at one of his crime scenes.
The thought that his wife could be his next call out to a scene scared Grissom. He could be looking at his own wife up on the cold metal slab of Doc Robbins morgue, looking at her insides, investigating her death. The thoughts alone brought chills down his spine. Gil stared at his wife from the confinement of the galley. He watched the graceful movements of her legs as she lifted them up from the burning wood. He imagined the beauty of her eyes that were hidden by the dark sunglasses. She was basking in the sun, enjoying the peacefulness it offered her for the time being.
It was Wednesday, the middle of the week, and the couple had planned that this was going to be their scuba diving day. The weather was perfect, they had the gear, and for the day they were anchored a hundred yards away from a beautiful coral reef. Ever since the drifting incident, Catherine made sure they were anchored down before heading to bed.
Gil grabbed the tray as he made his way through the kitchen and out towards the door leading to the boat deck. He turned, facing his back to the door, pushing it open with his back. Gil was concentrating on not spilling anything that was on the tray as he made his way towards his wife.
�Lunch is served Madame,� Gil replied in a faux British accent.
Catherine sat up on the deck, moving her sunglasses up to the top of her head and smiled at her husband. She licked her chapped lips at the sight of the fresh fruit and vegetables. Her stomach had been growling for food for the past fifteen minuets, and she was wondering what was taking her husband so long.
�This looks fantastic sweetheart,� Catherine replied giving her husband a peck on the cheek.
Gil just blushed, handing her a glass of orange juice as the couple enjoyed their lunch in the sun.
Two hours later, the couple was full and gearing up for their dive down into the coral reef. Catherine was zipping up the front to her sleeveless dive suit that was black in the middle and pink surrounding the rest of it. She clipped on one of the single tanks that held enough air for a two hour dive, and placed the mask on the top of her head. She pressed on the mouth piece hearing a whistle of air admit into the air. Everything was set to go.
Well, everything on her that is. Gil was another story. He was having trouble doing up the zipper in the front of his wetsuit. Catherine smiled at her husband�s frustration and placed her hands over his. She began tugging on the stubborn zipper, until it finally gave and flew up his chest. Gil screamed out in pain as one of his chest hairs got stuck in the teeth of the zipper and was ripped out of his tender skin.
�Oops, sorry,� Catherine sheepishly replied and gave him a kiss on the lips before he could reply with a snide remark.
Gil just looked at her, knowing that she really wasn�t sorry for the pain she had just caused. He checked the airway on his also, it was clear. The couple was set to go explore the deep blue sea. Catherine and Grissom walked, raising their feet high off the deck because of the flippers until they reached the very stern of the ship. They took a step down so that they were on a wooden planked dock that was specifically designed for scuba diving.
Catherine and Gil clasped their hands, feeling the slick of the tight suits practically painted on their body. They then jumped into the water, a big plush as foam bubbles floated around the surface of the water. However, to Catherine and Grissom under the broken surface of water, everything was calm and beautiful.
Through their small scuba masks everything looked like it did in a movie. The water was so blue that it was as if they were staring up at the sky. As they descended further down the blue turned a darker shade. There were warmer and cold spots that were not detected easily through the wet suits, but the colour change said it all.
Tropical fish swam past the couple, there beautiful colours so close to their fingers they could touch them. The colours of red, blue and yellow shimmered, from the sun deflecting off their scales. Fish in all different shapes and sizes would move like mermaids, flicking their tails in the water. Small air bubbles would escape their half open mouth and float up to the surface.
Gil had an underwater camera attached to his arm as he was taking some snapshots of his wife and the tropical fish that seemed to be as much attracted to her as he was. He smiled as he watched the excitement radiating in her eyes and if she were able to smile she would have. This was something Gil knew Catherine had always dreamt of doing. He could remember when he asked her what she wanted to do for her fortieth birthday, she replied with a trip to the Bahamas. Grissom was ready to go, but then a triple homicide case came up, and the whole graveyard shift was called in to work overtime for three days. Catherine was not pleased that on her big four-oh birthday, she had to investigate the death of a ten year old. She never let Grissom forget that either.
Catherine took off, leaving Gil where he was, figuring he could create video, and was chasing after a school of tropical fish like a hungry shark. Catherine descended further, the coral reef beginning to show up. She looked back, still having sites on Gil, knowing that it was not a wise move for her to be lost in the ocean on her own.
The coral looked beautiful. Shaped into tall, cylindrical tubes with bubbles coming up from the top as if they themselves were living creatures. Although, it was only small fish that have made their homes in the protective tubes. The coral was an array of colours ranging from pink to green. Small creatures would stick out their heads from crevasses found in-between pieces of coral.
Catherine kicked her flipper feet, propelling herself down towards the sea bed. She wanted to take a closer look at the coral. A scared sea turtle ducked his head inside his shell as the giant shadow of Catherine�s body coasted over him. This was when Catherine wished she took the underwater camera instead of her preoccupied husband. Close up pictures of the coral would have been exquisite. She reached out with her left hand and ran her finger tips over the rough surface of the coral. It felt like sandpaper, or dry, cracked Vegas desert.
Sea urchins were stuck to the sides of rock, there tentacles floating in the current as if they were strands of hair flying in a spring breeze. The whole atmosphere of the underwater world reminded Catherine of Finding Nemo. She remembered when she begged Grissom to go see that with her in theatres. She was six months pregnant with Catlin, and fell in love with the T.V. commercial she saw on her break at work. Gil fought her tooth and nail to not go see that movie, but she won in the end, and Lindsey, surprisingly, came along.
It was one of those family moments that one does not want to forget. The three of them had taken up some seats in the back row, and upon Catherine�s discretion sat in the middle and showed up a half hour early. It was good thinking, for the whole place was packed come the fifteen minuet mark before the movie was to begin. Throughout the whole movie Catherine laughed and cried and even got scared. Gil, even though he protested not to go see a children�s movie in theatres, was doing the exact same. At least in the car on the way home he was man enough to say that he was wrong, and would go see that movie ten more times in theatres. Lindsey couldn�t get over how emotional that movie had made even herself, and second the offer of going to see it at least one more time.
Gil was done following the fish around for he was beginning to get dizzy as the fish just kept going round and round in a circle. He looked around and saw that his wife had gotten bored and went off to see the coral reef. As soon as he got his bearings straight he went off in the direction of the coral reef. From where he was, he could faintly make out the pink of his wives wet suit in the murky water. He swam in the direction of her, kicking his feet rapidly behind him, and breathing heavier and heavier in his air tube.
The coral reef and his wife began to grow bigger and bigger in his eyes as he reached the fifty yard mark. The sun had come out behind some clouds and lit up the under belly of the oceans surface, allowing the reef and Catherine to become even clearer. His wife was staring at something, one of the rocks, and she hadn�t moved in all the time he had been swimming towards her. Alarms went off in Gil�s head, wondering if his wife had been injured by a sea urchin, or pricked by a puffer fish.
Gil came up behind Catherine, she was immune to the sound of him breathing and kicking his feet, for everything under the ocean�s surface was sound proof. It was like space, if you screamed under water, no one would hear you. Gil extended his hand out, tapping his wife lightly on the shoulder feeling her jump like an electric eel at the slightest touch. She turned around, coming face to face with her husband. She furred her brow, narrowing her eyes on him, and snatched the underwater camera from his hands.
Gil attempted to make peace between him and his now upset wife by signing the phrase, �I�m sorry� to her. She signed back saying, �don�t ever do it again� and Gil nodded catching his wives drift of what would happen to him when she made it appear she was hanging from a noose. The couple had learned to sign language with one another when Catlin was born. There was a fifty percent chance that their daughter could be deaf just like Grissom�s mother. To prepare themselves for the worst Catherine had decided to learn sign language from Grissom, and Lindsey as well. Thankfully, Catlin was born a healthy baby, and was not deaf. They had beaten the odds, but it was better to be prepared.
Since there was no two way radio communication between Catherine and Grissom while they were in their wet suits, sign language had become useful once again, and could be life saving advantage.
Catherine preoccupied herself with taking some pictures of the beautiful coral reefs, and the animals that called this place their home. She was snapping a picture of an eel that had burrowed itself in a hole when she thought she saw something on the camera. She stopped, hitting the button to review pictures, and noticed that it wasn�t an eel she had taken a picture of, but a teddy bear. It was the same teddy bear that Catherine had seen the mysterious little girl on the plane holding.
She panicked, looking for her husband to signal him over to look at the picture. However, he was no where to be found. Catherine began to shake, turning each way, looking for a sign of his black wet suit in the midst of the blue sea. Catherine swam over to the other side of the reef, thinking that she didn�t see him because of some of the rocks blocking her view. She found him, staring at a clam that was opening and shutting its mouth and letting air bubbles escape into the water.
Catherine tapped him on the shoulder, shoving the camera in his face with the picture she had just taken still on the screen. Gil stared at the picture and could see the teddy bear, laying in the small crevasse and shot a look at his wife. The excitement that once filled her eyes had gone, it was replaced with fear. She pointed up towards the surface, wanting to go up and talk and Gil nodded in agreement.
The couple kicked up to the surface, looking down to see how far they had really been down under water. It was a good forty feet down. Both Catherine and Grissom broke the surface at the same time, feeling the breeze that was coming off the ocean waves. They could faintly make out their anchored yacht from where they were.
Catherine spit out her breathing tub and placed her goggles on the top of her head. Grissom did the same, seeing even more fear appear on his wives face. She showed him the picture of the teddy bear once more, but when they looked it was no longer a teddy bear. Instead it was the curled up eel Catherine had imagined was in their in the first place. How could this be happening to her all over again? She was convinced that there was a bear there, convinced that the little girl on the plane existed, convinced that her mind was not playing tricks on her.
�You saw that teddy bear in the whole right?� Catherine asked looking at her husband. He had the same dumbfounded look on his face, giving Catherine the answer she was looking for.
�Yeah, at least I thought I did, but it�s an eel.� Gil replied his eyed fixated on the picture.
�Now you know how I felt about seeing that little girl on the plane.�
Grissom looked at her, and could see the sorrow in her eyes. She was right; exactly what had happened to her on the plane was happening to the two of the out in the middle of the ocean. He could understand now why Catherine had been so frustrated and confused over that matter. It was as if it were all an illusion and their minds were playing tricks on them.
�Maybe it was the water, and because it was so murky we couldn�t really tell what was in the hole.� Grissom offered as an explanation. He knew that Catherine would not buy it.
�Come on Gil, even Catlin would say that was a teddy bear in there.� Catherine retorted and stared harder at the picture.
Gil did not even try to counter what his wife had just said. He knew that she was correct. There was no way that the item that was in that picture, in that whole was anything other then a plushy teddy bear. How does one change a picture, or see something that you are so sure is there, but then ends up not being there at all. Something fishy was happening on this vacation, and Gil had an idea that it has to do with the supernatural mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle.
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