Thank you to my chapter ten reviewers Fanspired, SPN Mum, Baltimoron, and my bud Manny (AKA mrfrazao98). Thanks also to all my followers and the people who made this story a favorite. I'm really encouraged by your support. Sorry for the delay on this chapter, my hubby took me camping against my will. Camping sucks, cruising is ten times more fun. I was in a goofy mood when I wrote this chapter. Enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural that would be Eric Kripke. Also this is a work of fiction so any resemblance to real people is accidental.
The door to the cabin was a bit heavier than Sam expected and slipped from his grip to slam shut with a resounding boom. Dean was startled awake and Sam soon found himself staring at the pointy end of Dean's silver knife.
Sam laughed, "Seriously Dean, why not just attack me with a butter knife?"
"Dude, you woke me up." Dean grumbled.
"Sorry. The door's heavy." Sam said lamely. Dean gave him a look showing a smartass comment was imminent so Sam continued before he could reply. "It's time to get ready for dinner anyway."
Dean suddenly forgot all about teasing his brother at the mention of food. "Check this out." he said excitedly flipping on the television. Then, with Dean smiling proudly, he used the remote to access the folio menu, added the number listed on his sail and sign card and brought up the full dinner menu on the TV.
"Wow. That is cool. I wonder what Thai lemon grass soup tastes like." Sam pondered impressed by the ship's information system.
"I don't know but those grilled pork chops are calling my name." Dean said with a smile.
"I thought you were going to cut down on the meat consumption?" Sam questioned.
"No worries. Melinda hooked me up." Dean smiled tossing Sam a bottle of stool softener. "The toilet got clogged and she figured what happened. She warned me about putting anymore bulky items in there and handed me the bottle." Dean said completed unashamed that the hot cabin steward had to fix the toilet. Sam couldn't help but smile especially when Dean looked at him and asked, "Did you hear that?" Sam stood listening for a few seconds then Dean started whispering.
"Dean….. Dean… Dean… it's us, the pork chops. Eat us. We want you to eat us. We're soooo tasty. We promise not to hurt you Dean." Dean said near Sam's ear.
Sam laughing pushed his brother away. "You're an idiot. You know that, right?"
"Come on. I'm in a good mood. We put down the ghost and we still have two full days of cruising fun. I'm taking advantage of every minute. You know you watched The Love Boat every Saturday night and now we're on an episode." Then he started to sing the theme song and Sam couldn't resist joining in. Melinda and Serena were passing with the laundry but stopped when they heard the loud singing through the door.
"Love, exciting and new.
Come aboard. We're expecting youuuuu.
And love life's sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.
The Love Boat, soon will be making another run
The Love Boat, promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.
Love won't hurt anymore
It's an open smile on a friendly shore.
Yes LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It's LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! (hey-ah!)"
Melinda and Serena burst into laughter. "With what they lack in talent they make up for in enthusiasm." Melinda smirked.
Suddenly the door opened surprising the girls. Dean still singing loudly started doing an impromptu tango. Sam not to be out done grabbed Serena and followed suit. The other cruisers in the narrow hallway moved out of the way to watch the show. When the boys finished they dipped both ladies low. The ladies squealed in delight while holding on tight so as to not fall. A round of applause was heard throughout the hallway. Dean bowed low to Melinda and kissed her hand as if they were both in full formal wear.
"Thank you milady for the dance." Dean said gallantly.
Sam gave Serena a full dimpled smile, "It was truly my pleasure." He said to Serena and as he walked away she gave his ass a nice pinch. Seeing this, Dean walked over and turned his ass to her for his pinch as they went back to the cabin to change for dinner.
"You are so lucky." Serena said with a smile.
"I'm not so sure. You didn't have to clean that toilet." Melinda said making a face that had Serena laughing.
"I don't know, they sleep shirtless, maybe even naked. Maybe it's worth a nasty toilet." Serena replied. "But hey, if you want to change I got an eighty year old couple on deck six. Yesterday morning they didn't have the "Do not disturb sign" out. I opened the door and they are making serious sexy time. Some things you just can't un see." Serena said with a shudder. Melinda was laughing shaking her head as Serena continued "It wouldn't have been too bad except she had him in a dog collar and leash and was calling him her naughty poodle woodle." That was it. Melinda was speechless with tears running down her cheeks. They reluctantly went back to work with smiles on their faces.
The boys were glad tonight wasn't formal night as they dressed in comfortable black slacks and button down shirts. Dean's shirt was a dark grey and Sam insisted his shirt was salmon, but Dean knew pink when he saw it. Still smiling and teasing his brother Dean headed for the stairs, relieved Sam wasn't still making him use the elevator because they were so damn slow. They were early when they got to the dining room and there was a crowd of people waiting for the doors to open. Sam saw Sheila look up as he entered and she quickly turned her gaze away, his stomach dropped feeling guilty. Seeing the interaction Dean decided he had to tell Sam what Mindy had said, especially after Mindy gave Dean a sad smile. He felt like his little brother had broken team cougar and that the ship's male population would suffer the loss.
Dean took his brother aside and explained things. Sam looked to Sheila and noticed for the first time she was wearing a shawl to cover up her cleavage and she wasn't just avoiding his eyes she was avoiding all male attention. It was strange to see how withdrawn this normally outgoing woman was. They still had a good ten minutes before dinner so Sam made his way over to Sheila.
"Hi Sheila, could I talk to you a minute?" Sam asked nervously. She looked up surprised but gave a head nod of agreement and followed him to a quiet corner.
"I want to apologize to you. I was really drunk on formal night and I acted like an idiot petting your hair. Then later after I sobered up I was afraid you mistook my behavior and instead of being a mature adult I hid behind a pole." Sam explained trying to catch her downturned eyes.
"It's okay Sam. I just I don't understand." Sheila said.
So Sam started to explain but Sheila interrupted him. "No. Not what happened with you. I don't understand men." She admitted looking lost and confused.
"What don't you understand about us?" Sam asked.
"What you want women to be like? I work out six times a week, wax all my body hair and that's damn painful. I torture my feet into ridiculously high Jimmy Choo shoes to make myself desirable. I laugh at your stupid jokes; pretend I don't understand how to do something so I won't seem too smart but it's not good enough." Sheila rambled on in defeat.
"Why can't you just be yourself?" Sam asked totally confused.
Sheila uttered a bitter laugh, "I have an eidetic memory so in school I learned things ten times faster than anyone else in the class. Teachers would call on me even when my hand wasn't raised because they wanted to see my memory trick. The boys hated me for being smarter than them and the girls hated me because I was a natural D cup in eighth grade. I was a freak; too smart for the jocks and too pretty for the nerds. Do you know what's it's like to be a freak?"
Realization suddenly dawned on Sam, "Your IQ's 180 isn't it?" Sheila looked shocked at that.
"How did you know that?" Sheila asked.
"Dean was talking to Mindy then he asked me if 180 was high for an IQ." Sam explained. "I was a freak in high school, too. My dad moved us all around the country so I was always the new short kid."
"You were short." Sheila said with a genuine laugh. "That's just hard to picture." She said mockingly.
"Ask Dean. He'll delight in telling you I didn't hit a growth spurt until I was a senior in high school. Then in six months I went from being the shortest person in the class to towering over everyone." Sam assured smiling. "So I tried to be normal but it didn't work. Just like it isn't working for you. Don't try and be anyone but who you are because this right here has been my favorite conversation with you. So what if you're a freak? I'm a freak, too. Some of the best people are freaks." Than he reached in for a hug that was well received by the now smiling Sheila.
After they pulled away she said. "Okay I'm going to be myself and right now myself is hotter than hell in this stupid shawl." She flipped it off her shoulders to reveal she was wearing a tight but classic white silk dress with beautiful forest green embroidery across the waist and the V-shaped plunging neckline. A small white ribbon served as a belt showing off her hourglass figure to full advantage. Sam's jaw dropped so she used her index finger to shut his mouth and tossed the white shawl over his shoulders winking and walking away as the doors to the dining room were opened.
Mindy was standing with Dean who had also gone wide eyed at the Prada dress, laughed and said, "Thank God she's back." meeting her friend, smiling as they walked into the dining room together.
Sam followed behind Sheila mainly for the view and started walking the wrong way when Dean grabbed his arm, "Our table's over here Romeo." Dean smirked making Sam blink in surprise.
"Dude, she's a genius, a really really hot genius." Sam said letting himself be lead away as his eyes continued to trail Sheila's movements.
"Yup, she's a hot genius, who was all over you. But you screwed it up by hiding behind a pole instead of dancing a tango with her. I can't even believe we're brothers." Dean said mockingly to Sam's sad face.
Sam didn't have any more time to lament his serious screw up with Sheila as Nelda greeted them as if they were celebrities. She signaled for the maître d who stopped what he was doing to greet the boys.
"My name is Antonio Giovanni. Are you enjoying your experience in the dining room?" He asked in a thick Italian accent.
Dean answered easily, "Nelda is the dining room goddess. She is as sweet as any dessert we have tried. And the desserts have been tremendous." Dean continued turning adoring eyes on Nelda who was blushing five shades of red.
Antonio Giovanni was pleased by the compliments since he mainly dealt with the complaints. He had heard the stories going around the ship about the boys. Althea was a well-liked member of the staff. She mothered them when they were sick and even covered their shifts. That this man had been injured to protect her said all Antonio needed to know about his character but to see his charm in action explained why all the female staff members were aflutter.
"Thank you, that is high praise indeed. Nelda is our la bella figura of the dining room." Antonio said turning admiring eyes on the blushing server who was returning his look with her own admiring eyes.
Dean thought note to self; Nelda is off the market. I don't want to piss off the dude in charge of the kitchen. Another man came over with a fancy bottle of champagne on ice.
Antonio smiled at Dean, "We heard about your rescue of Althea in Jamaica and your injury and I hope you will accept our sincere thank you and this bottle of champagne for your table."
Dean rubbed his neck, uncomfortable with the attention. "You're welcome." Dean said unsure if that was the correct reply.
"I will leave you in the capable hands of Nelda. If you or your brother have any requests please don't hesitate to ask." With that Antonio left.
Dean quickly moved on and greeted the table, "It looks like we have champagne tonight." All his table mates were in attendance today and thanked him for the champagne which seemed silly since Antonio had provided it but he went with it anyway.
Waldo caught Sam's attention. "Were you able to handle that problem we were discussing at the casino?"
Sam was appreciative that Waldo phrased his question so carefully. "Yes I was able to. My brother and I took care of it this afternoon." Sam reassured a relieved looking Waldo.
Trudy smiled not having a clue what they were really discussing. "Did you run into Waldo at the casino? He's a master at craps. Tell 'em how much you won today."
Waldo laughed, "I did really well today and pulled $5,000 from the table and that's the last bit of gambling I'll be doing on this cruise. You've got to quit while you're ahead." he said happily to the amazed table.
June was interested in learning craps and engaged Waldo into a breakdown of the game. As the champagne flowed the table got louder and more relaxed. Dean took one of his stool softeners before digging into his juicy pork chops topped with a Cranberry- apple relish and a side of creamy scalloped potatoes.
Sam gave the thai lemongrass soup a try and really enjoyed it. He had the Orange Lime Salmon as his main dish and he had to control the urge to lick the sauce off his plate as that was considered bad matters. His salmon was served with baby bok choy and tomato chili compote. He had never tried "compote" before. Surprisingly enough they didn't serve that at the drive-ins and diners he and Dean usually got their meals.
The dessert menu had all the diners' mouths drooling. How can you decide between Black Forest Mousse and baked Alaska? Dean couldn't so he had one of each. Sam went for the Dulce de Leche Cheesecake. It had just the right hint of coffee favor. Sam was eyeballing Dean's Black Forest Mousse. The dark chocolate mousse made the brandied cherries stand out, looking very tasty. So while Dean was distracted pouring Sandy another glass of champagne Sam dipped his spoon into Dean's dessert. Kayla's musical laugh followed his action alerting Dean to the theft.
"Dude! That's my dessert. If you wanted one, you should have ordered it." Dean said in mock anger grabbing his dessert away from his brother protectively.
After Sam's taste he really did want one of his own. He gave Nelda is best sad puppy eyes asking if it was too late to order one. Nelda was unable and unwilling to resist so Sam was soon enjoying his own Black Forest Mousse while Dean snagged a large hunk of his cheesecake for revenge.
Sandy looked at the boys. "We have "Quest" tonight. Are you guys going?"
"What's Quest?" Sam asked.
June and Sandy exchanged a secret smile and in unison said, "We can't tell you that."
Now Dean was intrigued, "Why not?"
June explained, "It's a cruiser tradition that no one explains Quest to new cruisers. They just have to experience it on their own. Trust me. You'll want to see this." June said laughing.
Sam and Dean exchanged a questioning look but shrugged, "I guess we're in." Dean said smiling.
"Well, let's go. It starts in twenty minutes and I want good seating." June said.
As they were walking out Sam could have sworn he heard Sandy say to June. "I'm so glad I wore my front hook bra tonight."
"I did to." Was June's reply.
Once again the boys found themselves at the ice rink only as with the crew party the rink was covered with a floor. Rose and Gavin stood in the middle preparing for the game. Rose saw the boys enter and gave them a wave and a smile. Sandy and June guided the boys to seats up front. Dean didn't like the seats being so out in the open but tried to ignore his hunter instincts to protect his back. Dean started getting anxious as they waited for the game to start. He had the feeling that someone was watching him. He looked over to Sam who was entertaining the ladies with amusing stories. Dean tried to look relaxed as he looked around. His eyes didn't see any strange behavior, just a security guard in the back of the room and the guard wasn't even looking at him as he was checking IDs to make certain everyone was over eighteen. The feeling of being watched went away as Rose stepped out to the microphone to get the game started.
First she made certain the room was cleared of any children. Then she requested male volunteers for the five different teams. Dean saw 'Where's the beef' guy from the world's sexiest man contest still sporting his mullet wig. Two other men were quickly chosen. But Rose seemed to be lacking volunteers for the final two spots. Her eyes laser focused on Sam and Dean sitting near the front.
"Well since we need two more males why not the two males from the world's sexiest man contest?" Rose announced in a delighted voice.
All of a sudden a spot light shot around hitting Sam and Dean square in the face. They were greeted by whistles and applause. They tried shaking their heads no but Gavin was already leading them to the floor. The men spread out and each team got four female team members. After all the 'volunteers' were selected Rose explained that the game was an adult scavenger hunt. They could go to any of the audience members for their items. The five men were the team leaders. The game started off easily enough. The first item was a copper engraving of Abraham Lincoln. The ladies quickly got the pennies from the crowd. Next was a tube of lipstick, eye shadow, handbag, high heeled shoes, and earrings. The boys didn't have to do much but watch their team members scurry around tripping over each other to secure items quickly.
The first complicated item was a ladies bra. Sam now understood Sandy's comments and ran over to the ladies. Dean also decided this was an item he would like to collect himself and followed his brother. Sam had just received his bra from June when Dean was smacked in the face by Sandy's large D cup front hook red and black lacey double barreled slingshot.
The next request was for a skirt. Sadly, Sandy and June were both wearing pants. Sheila and Mindy had a moment of inspiration reaching under their dresses and removing their slips. Oddly enough Mindy's silky black slip was a perfect match to the red and black bra Sandy had provided and Sheila's cream color slip matched June's bra which was cream accented with pink flowers.
Now with all the items secured Dean was wondering how a winner would be chosen and that's when the other shoe dropped. Well, in this case, it was a 6 inch stiletto that had both guys turning pink in the face.
Rose walked around each male team leader with an evil smile, which made the boys rethink the whole she's not a witch thing. "Okay, in order to determine a winner, we need the team members to dress their leaders up in all the items you collected. Make 'em look pretty for the audience because their vote will decide the winner. I hoped you gentlemen picked a good shade of lipstick because you'll be wearing it."
The crowd burst out in laughter and yells so loud it was lucky they were in the middle of the ocean. "Alright ladies get to work." Sam and Dean quickly had their shirts removed by the eager women and were pushed into bras. The ladies, tempting as it was, did refrain from removing the boy's pants and instead the pants were rolled up so their legs would show when the slips were added. Slipping Sam's feet into the ladies size nine gold glitter heels was proving quite difficult. However, Dean's small feet fit nicely in his hot pink heels. Dean loudly insisted his small feet didn't mean everything was small. Sam couldn't resist laughing at his poor brother; he always hated having small feet.
Dean's quick reply of, "Laugh it up Sasquatch, you have to walk in those things." shut Sam up as he realized how difficult a task that would be with half his foot falling out of the shoe.
Next was the red lipstick that made Dean's lips look even fuller. Sam's neon orange lipstick clashed with, well, everything in the room. The cruiser bought the outrageous lipstick especially for this game and had no intention of actually wearing it herself. That also went for the green glitter eye shadow currently being applied generously to Dean's eyelids.
Sam was lucky to have a soft beige shadow applied to his eyelids. Finally, all the men were dressed. Sam and Dean took a look at each other and couldn't help laughing at how seriously stupid they looked. Sam pouted his orange lips at Dean, as he fluttered his glittery eyes at Sam. This caused the boys to fall into laughter again along with the audience. But it was the sight of mullet man that made the boys really lose it. This guy was seriously fearless. His beer belly was in full view and the ladies had used red lipstick to write 'hot man meat' on it. His team had secured a wonder bra that was showing off his impressive cleavage. However, none of that compared to the fact that his G-string underwear was showing through his white lace slip. Apparently he had no problem removing his pants in public. His eye shadow was a lovely shade of powder blue that should have been discontinued and destroyed sometime after 1980. His lips were encased in hot pink lipstick and he had a substantial amount on his two front teeth. His mullet was still in place but dangling from it were clip on peacock feather earrings. He was luckier than the boys as he was sporting two inch leopard print kitten heels that made walking easy.
Rose got the five men to line up for the parade. They each had to model their outfits so the audience could decide the winner. Sam was the unfortunate lucky first man to strut his stuff. Dean couldn't stop laughing watching his now six feet eight inch brother teetering his way across the stage. Rose warned the front row to beware of the falling redwood tree. Sam tried his best to win, blowing kisses to the audience and wiggling his ass in his tight cream colored slip. When he got to Rose he laid a large orange kiss on her cheek to the vast amusement of the audience.
Next up was Dean in his perfectly fitting hot pink heels. He gave his best strut while hitting a blue steel pose for the audience. However, the glitter green eye shadow caused the blue steel look to lose its normal impact. The pose was totally messed up when Dean burst out laughing after getting his heel got caught in his slip. This made him bump into Sam knocking them both to the ground.
None of that could beat 'hot man meat' with his peacock earrings flapping in the breeze. It was the single funniest thing either of the boys had ever seen as he pouted his lips for the crowd. But the final straw was when he got on the ground and started doing the worm across the stage. This action caused his slip to gather around his hips showing off his royal blue G-string and gleaming white buttocks. Once he stood up again streaks of red lipstick marked the floor and the words hot man meat was now smeared up to near his nipples. This was easy to see since his bra had ridden up around his neck. Sam and Dean were still rolling on the ground dissolved into puddles of laughter. Both guys got quite a bit of applause but hot man meat brought the house to it knees and was pronounced the winner. The boys shook his hand and congratulated him on the well-deserved victory and he toasted them with a drink.
Rose was still wiping off orange lip stick when she came over to the boys. "You should see how pretty you look." Rose barely stammered out between peals of laughter.
"I'm sure." Sam said in mock anger but couldn't keep a straight face as Dean pouted his lips.
Rose pulled out a mirror to show the boys what they looked like. Dean gasped in shock at his appearance. "I look like a painted whore." He remarked. That got Rose laughing again as she relieved him of his handbag, heels, earrings etc. Only his bra and slip remained which Mindy and Sandy came over to retrieve.
"It almost seems like a shame to ask for my slip back." Mindy said to Sandy who smiled in agreement and replied "He does look precious. Your slip goes perfectly with my bra."
"Yes, it does. I'm so glad we coordinated our lingerie." Mindy said laughing at Dean's disgusted expression from hearing himself being referred to as precious. He removed Sandy's bra with ease.
"You've had some experience with that." Sandy said raising an eyebrow at how effortlessly he removed the bra.
"Not my first time." Dean winked as he handed the bra back to a laughing Sandy. "Thanks for the loan." Sandy wished him a good night as she walked over to June.
Mindy enjoyed watching Dean's ass wiggle as he shimmied out of her slip. "Thank you for the loan." Dean smiled his overly red lips causing Mindy to grinning back.
"Anytime you need to get me out of my slip just say the word." Mindy jokingly replied. Once she was holding her slip she couldn't resist giving an exaggerated sigh, batting her eyelashes and saying, "The world's sexiest man has been in my slip, I shall never wash it again."
Dean laughed, "I'm not sure that's a good idea I was sweating bullets trying to walk in those heels." That's when he noticed the rip in the slip. "I'm so sorry I ripped it, the heel got caught. Okay, now there's a sentence I never thought I would say in my life."
Mindy waved him off, "No big deal. It's a cheap slip. It was worth the entertainment of watching you and your brother." She reassured him causing them both to look over at Sheila and Sam. He was struggling to get her slip off his hips with bright red cheeks and murmurs of apologies. Sheila told him not to worry and asked if he needed help. He nodded his head in relief.
"Thank you for whatever Sam said to Sheila, it really helped." Mindy said as she turned back to Dean.
"Sam's a good guy. He's normally very in tune with other people's feelings. His behavior is really my fault. I got him shit faced. He's been under a lot of stress and I wanted him to unwind." Dean explained. Mindy smiled her understanding as Sheila and Sam walked over to them.
"Hey, Samantha ready to head back to the room? This eye shadow's beginning to itch."
Without missing a beat Sam replied, "After you Deanna." With that, they waved good bye to Mindy and Sheila and headed out.
It took a while to get back to the room; they had to keep stopping for people to congratulate them on their performance. Dean rubbed a hand over his face when he saw what he now referred to as 'the perverted couple.' First she got video of him at the world's sexiest man contest and now she was grinning at her husband as they watched the new video from Quest. He was horrified to think of this new video going on YouTube.
Of course, Melinda was in the hallway when they took their walk of shame back to their cabin. She couldn't resist teasing them. "Nice makeup, I can't decide what I like, better the glitter green or the neon orange." She said laughing as she handed them makeup removal wipes from her cart.
"Melinda, you're the best. How about a big kiss?" Dean said puckering his very red lips.
Melinda dodged his lips as he chased her down the hallway. Sam stood grinning at the two of them. Finally Dean caught her and laid a big ole ruby lip print on her cheek.
Melinda grabbed a package of makeup wipes to remove the print smacking Dean on the ass as he walking into the cabin. He grinned big when he saw today's towel animal. It appeared to be a towel giraffe sitting in the window seat holding the next day's cruise compass and two sealed envelopes.
"What's in the envelopes?" Dean questioned his brother.
"Open them up and take a look." Sam replied with a smile.
Dean opened the envelope and stared at this brother in shock. Sam nervously rubbed the back of his neck at Dean's continued silence.
"I'm sorry they were out of the sea turtle and Stingray excursion. This one is just a swim with the stingrays, but it should still be fun." Sam explained.
"This is awesome. How did you know I wanted to do this?" Dean asked still shocked.
"I spotted you at the excursion desk looking at it. Since the ghost was put down, I figured what the heck and booked it. But it's early tomorrow so we should get some sleep." Sam said.
Dean put down the tickets and gave his brother a big hug. After a couple of seconds they broke apart and stared at each other's made up face blasting into laughter.
"Dude, we look ridiculous. Where are those makeup wipes?" Dean said as Sam handed him a pack and took a pack for himself. It took quite some time but finally they had removed the makeup and they were ready for bed.
As Dean closed his eyes, he remembered that feeling of being watched and it bothered him, something didn't feel right. They salted and burned the cursed object so it should be over, but Dean couldn't shake this bad feeling of being watched. Since Sam wasn't feeling the same he didn't want to bring it up and ruin the good mood.
Quest is a real cruise ship game and that is pretty much how it goes. I might have taken it to the extreme. The guy was in the G-string but he didn't write hot man meat on his stomach. Experienced cruisers will keep the game a secret from newbies to they can experience it themselves. If you ever do cruise either Carnival or Royal Caribbean don't miss watching Quest. I've revealed the secret but how could I not include Quest. It's too good to pass up Sam trying to walk in 4 inch heels.
When I was researching Italy I came across the term la bella figura and thought it was interesting. According to my research the term la bella figura translates to "the beautiful figure". But it means more than that, a la bella figura is classy, intelligent and loyal. So in my story when Antonio is calling Nelda the la bella figura of the dining room, he is really saying she's the ideal woman. He might have a little crush on her.
