Open Case File [COMPLETED]

Vacation

As usually, someone asked for it and I wrote it. If you want to know why they need this, read the previous chapter.

***********************************

Donovan needed to shoot something. At this point, he would even settle for punching something. But he could do neither of these things. Instead, he lay on the beach with the sun darkening his skin and slowly driving him insane. The need to move, to be active felt like an itch that would never go away. Each time he felt he was going to lose it, he turned his head and was reminded why he didn't do anything.

Carter lay on a towel beside him, dozing peacefully in the sunshine. She needed this vacation. After all they had gone through she deserved time off. But after six days of laying in the sun and reading, Donovan couldn't stand it. Even books weren't cutting it. He needed to do something, anything.

He watched as a group of guys pass by and wished at least one of them would eye Carter. Even if it was a passing glance. It could give Donovan a reason to get in a fight. But in contrast to the majority of the girls present on the beach, Carter appeared overdressed. She wore a tankini - that covered the top half of her body and her scars - and board shorts.

Though Donovan did prefer this bathing suit, right then he was irritated by it since it meant no guy cared to look. He had to face the fact that even if they did, he lay so close to Carter that they would instantly look away. Shirtless as he was, it was easy to see how he was a guy who would not lose in a fight.

Since there would be no fight with guys ogling his wife, Donovan decided he would settle for movement. He rose to his feet and as he did, Carter opened her eyes, peering up at him. For a moment, Donovan didn't feel antsy as he looked at her, her hair a loose mess, and her skin a golden brown making her eyes gleam.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"The sun is getting to me. I figured I would go cool off."

It was an understatement, the sun was driving him slowly insane. The sun and the dullness of doing absolutely nothing.

Carter stood and brushed the sand off her skin. They cut a path through the map of sunburnt bodies, beach umbrellas, and towels to the glistening water. Children splashing in the tide as boogie boarders waited further out, searching for a big enough wave to carry them in. Avoiding a maze of sandcastles, the pair waded into the water.

The cool ocean washed the heat off Donovan and he tried to let it be enough. It wasn't. But he didn't say anything. Instead, he followed Carter's lead as she swam further out, ducking under a wave and coming back up on the other side, hair slick against her neck. With a sigh, she floated on her back, eyes closed.

She looked peaceful and Donovan submerged his antsy feeling beneath determination. For her, he could survive a couple more days of mind-numbing inactivity.

"Donovan."

He drifted over to her. "Hmmm?"

"If we don't find a fight to get into, I'm going to go crazy."

Donovan blinked, a baby wave hitting his chest and splashing into his face.

"Are you serious?"

Carter righted herself. "Yes, I've been going stir crazy but if I spend one more hour laying on a stupid towel I'm likely to commit mass murder and I don't know if you'll make out alive."

Laughing, Donovan wrapped his arms around her waist and she rested her hands on his neck.

"I thought you were enjoying the quiet," he said. "I feel like I'm going insane."