Disclaimer: i cant come up with a better disclaimer than ashleycook234's in hate of brothers so i wont even try (kudos to you ashley everyone go read hate of brothers its cool, there is a wolf in it) so i myself will say it (if only i could record mikes voice and top ashley by him actually saying it) i do not own any characters but the following: mariah, stanley, mike, the Golden Crest, the El Lobo so far
AN: i had great fun writing the last two chapters, dark i know but dont worry the whole story wont be like that just twisty and turny like mr toads wild ride haha. thank you again for the reviews and i hope i am keeping yall intrested, let me know ok i respect the personal lives of all of these men but for the purposes of good reading i am substituting their reality for my own so i will creat drama in their lives and even take out whole chapters/people
"Chapter 5:" Accepted, or so she thought
dinner was finally ready and she wanted it to be great, after all it had been a hard day for all of them after the sinking of the El Lobo and the death of the greenhorn from the North American. sig had personally known all seven men that had perished that day, they were all from Seattle, he had even helped mike get that job on the Skaar brother's ship. "what do you need me to help with?" asked josh when he walked in. he had been back at the Cornelia helping with maritime maintenance and was now returning because he knew how important this was to her. "nothing really, unless you want to ice the cakes for me so i could set the tables" she smiled and wiped chocolate icing onto her apron. "wow it looks like thanksgiving at a soup kitchen in here" josh laughes as he looked around "yeah it feels like one too" she said then tweaked his nose and threw the apron on him "how do i look, as dorky as you do?" he joked, posing as if for a picture. "na, you could never look as dorky as i do, except for maybe those ears, you could beat both my brother and grandpa put together." she smiled seriously mariah, dont fall for him she thought to herself as she walked through the door and into the bar room.
she had set the room up a little differently and josh had hit the design right on the nose, she set it up like one huge thanksgiving dinner to get all of the men together and the anal side of her even set out place cards for each of the ships telling the crews where to sit. she looked around and smiled, proud that she had been able to pull this one off with only josh's help and the goodwill of the Elbow Room owners allowing her to commender their bar. "hello cali girl, what you cookin up for us tonight?" andy asked as he walked in with John and Neal in tow. "its a surprise, youll love it" she gave a sideways smile "have you come in here to tell me ny good news?" she fished "only the dinner bell will tell" Neal said, smiling "ok all done" josh said as he walked back out then stopped short when he saw the other men seeing him in a bright red apron. he quickly ripped it off and threw it at mariah "heads up newbe" he said playing it off. she just laughed and caught it and put it back on. "well then here comes the dinner bell" she said as she walked out and stood in front of the door to yell "dinners ready boys, get it while its hot" loud enough to be heard half way to the docks, knowing that word of mouth would carry it the rest of the way "you guys sit here" she lead the hillstrands to their seats and said "that seat is mine" as she pointed to a seat with her name, conveniently between her new captain and her new best friend josh as the harris clan and company were seated right next to the hillstrands and company.
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dinner went smoothly with only one fight that she had to break up between Sten Skaar and Eric Nyhammer. her breaking up that fight impressed the hillstrands, as she was a full foot and a half shorter than Eric and about half a foot shorter than Sten. everyone fell in love with her Nana's recipe and her cake. Russ and Eddie welcomed her with open arms, literally and immediately showed her the hospitality due to the newest bandita on board and scotty sat there, drinking, just drinking. she didnt know but him and his young wife were having hard times now that he was back on the boat their marriage was close to over. "ok boys its getting late, i have to have this place cleaned and ready for business again tomorrow or the wonderful owners of this fine establishment will have my ass on a stick" she smiled" thank yall for coming i had a great time."
as everyone finished up their drinks and made their way out the door, to their perspective sleeping places the time bandit guys and josh harris stayed late, helping clean up. "welcome to the family, mariah" neal smiled as he exclaimed and john patted her on the back, he hadnt thought that she would be able to pull all this off. "what do you need me to do now?" josh asked. "oh josh, you have helped so much i really couldnt ask you to do any more." josh smiled and responded "thats why i am asking you" she gave him a hug "thank you so much josh, ummif you want to help the guys put the tables back together the way that they were that would be great." while josh and mariah talked john looked around for his son but scott was no where to be found, john just shrugged and continued to pick up the settings to be hauled back into the kitchen where the newest greenhorn of the fleet would have a great time washing them. chuckling to himself john carried a stack into the kitchen and set them on a counter top. soon everything was cleaned up and josh was having one last beer while mariah swept, the dishes were washed and dried, the tables were reset, the entire place was dusted (a measure that she knew that she didnt have to take but she did anyway), and the only thing left to do was to lock up and take out the trash, josh elected to do the later of tasks while she did the first.
"did you have an ok time?" she asked josh hesitantly while he walked her back to the hotel. "yeah i had a great time, i was so surprised that you had all the guys in one room together and only had one fight though, you did a wonderful job mariah" she smiled and as they reached her door "you want to come in?" she asked to tell the truth she had actually had a little too much to drink, she wasnt drunk but the beer and whiskey had made her bold. "yeah sure, only for a little while though, i have to get back to the boat eventually." "so you mean i cant kidnap you?" she pouted and he laughed again, she had a way of making him laugh often "no you cant, dad would kill you." he paused "well on the other hand he would probably thank you, maybe even pay you to keep me" she laughed again, and that little snort sneaked its way through to embarrass her once more. josh just smiled and sat down, turning on the television and flipping through the channels while she changed into her pjs. "anything on?" she asked "na" then he laughed "hey want to watch deadliest catch?" he said as his face came onto the screen it was an old episode from the '08 opie season, when his dad had gotten really sick. his brother had just slapped him and he saw him self say hey look an eagle and slap his brother back, hitting him in the eye on accident. he remembered when that shot was taken, it was the night before the hurricane threw phil into the nightstand. josh smiled thinking of the recovery that his dad had made, those doctors said that he would never fish again but no that wasnt good enough for captain phil harris, to escape with his life, no he had to prove all of the doctors and specialists wrong and return to fish another day. at some point during the show he put his arm around her shoulders and that was when her defenses failed her and she fell for him. "josh?" she said timidly and he turned, smiling, toward her "whats up?" eh asked as she reached out to touch his chin then pressed her lips against his, after a moment of letting himself be taken into the kiss he suddenly pulled away and removed his arm from her shoulders. "whats wrong?" she asked "i cant do this" he said, getting up "you have a daughter, a relationship with you would mean taking on the responsibility of a child, im still young, im not ready for a family, i can barely handle the boat and my few tasks there." she turned her head, blocking from his sight a single tear that had rolled down her cheek. "we can be friends mariah, but i cant go any further that that, i should go" she nodded and showed him to the door. when he walked out she went to shut it but then suddenly called out his name "josh" he turned "you forgot this" she said taking off his jacket that smelled so much like him, he took it from her and she shut the door and cried, not knowing that as soon as josh got back to the ship he would tell his little brother exactly what had happened.
"chapter 6": a greenhorns induction
"c'mon guys get those pots secured" john barked over the loud hailer as scotty was daydreaming at the hydros again.
andy was begining to show mariah the ins and outs of bait prepping. "ok so how much do i make at a time?" she asked "twice as many as are in the string, maybe a one or two more" he called, walking away toward the hydros to take over. she put the bait into the grinder, smiling at her good fortune of getting this job so easily two months ago. in the meantime she had put in alot of hours cooking at the elbow room after they saw how well she cooked. it was just two hours until the red king crab season officially opened and john had wanted to get a head start but due to a badly timed phone call to his now estranged wife by scott their departure was set back by an argument filled hour and now john was in a crabby mood, not about to let anything slip by.
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up in the wheel house john lit another cigarette and shook his head, at least his new greenhorn seemed to be adjusting well, for a woman. that was more than he could say for his own son. that boy had to get his head out of the clouds and back onto the deck. "hurry uit up down there we're late" he yelled into the loud hailer. damnit sigs already got a head on us. he said to himself "so hows your horn holding up?" came phil's voice over the CB. john really wasnt in the mood to answer his radio, even for his best friend but he did anyway. "shes doing great, better than my own son" he sighed "hey john did ya ever hear about what happened between your horn and my son josh?"phil could barely say through his laughter "no, what?" john asked, confused. phil went on to tell john the whole story. or at least the story according to his son, jake.
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andy looked up at the wheel housr at his two brothers with a mischevious look in his eyes any they both nodded. they had been out at sea for about a day and a half and had just finished setting their first string. mairha stood there finishing up the bait for the next forty pot string when she was grabbed from behind. she froze up until she heard andy's voice laugh and tell her to relax. she was blindfolded and she felt herself be lifted onto someones shoulder. she fought the panic that threatened to rise up in her chest and opened her hearing, taking in every sound, trying to figure out what they were about to do for her greenhorn hazing. "hurry up" laughed andy "im trying" laughed russ as she finished tying the rope off. a moment later she was rising in the air then suddenly she felt herself in a mechanically controlled fall, the blindfold ripped off last minute and she was just inches away from the open and emptycrab tank. she had enough sense to take a deep breath well before hitting the water and she held it tight. it seemed like forever that she was submerged when she finally heard johns voice boom laughingly over the loudhailer. "ok pull her up guys" and she felt herself be gently pulled from the water, her soaked hair cascading around her. while neal watched the wheel john came down with a towel in hand. "enjoy your bath?" he smiled, handing the towel out for her and yanking it back when she reached for it. she laughed, her teeth chattering with the cold and he finally surrendered it, wrapping it around her shoulders. "john, show her the sauna so she can get warm whilerun to the next drop point" john nodded and led her into the gear room "get your wet clothes off and youll be warmer" he said "are you gonna stand there and watch me?" she accused, raising an eyebrow "oh, sorry" he turned and shook his head at himself as he walked into the galley to get her a cup of coffee.
after taking off her wet clothes and hanging them she wrapped the towel around her again to cover up, looking down she saw john's initials and smiled, he had given her his own towel to borrow. mariah followed him into the warm galley and reached for a mug. "im getting you one" john stopped her when he saw. "how do you like it?" she smiled again "black, no sugar, thank you cap'n" she replied with a smile as he handed her the hot beverage and with the first sip she was warmed up. "did you bring your suit?" he asked, refering to the sauna and she shook her head "i didnt think that i would need one in alaska" she felt his eyes on her as she took another sip and looked up from her coffee, seeing a coltish grin light up his eyes she smiled. "what" he shook his head to clear it "wh-oh nothing. just day dreaming" she finished off her coffee and got up to go wash it but he was faster "ill get it" he said taking the cup, which she allowed thought she usually didnt like men to don things for her, he was the captain after all. were almost there came neal's voice over the intercom and mariah got up "i better get some fresh clothes on and get back out there" as she turned to leave she noticed a look of disappointment in his eyes and turned to face him again. "you ok?" she asked "yeah im just thinking about the boat" this was partially true, half his mind was on his son scott, worrying if he would get his ass into gear, after all out of the three brothers andy was the only one still married. the other half of his mind was on his new greenhorn. she had more to her than she let on all at once and his curiosity was piqued.
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back out on deck she slid agily into the fifth pot of the string to hang the bait "hurry your ass up greenhorn" scotty yelled grumpily and as she slid back out she shot an angry look and began to walk toward him" im fucking doing the best i can scott" she yelled back at him, challenging him having a greenhorn, a female no less talk back to him began to make him boil over and his eyes showed his barely contained anger and he took a step forward, accepting her challenge. if she wanted to be on a mens ship and work like a man then he was damn well ready to treat her like a man and throw down. andy saw this and yelled "scotty come over here a second" and knowing better than to ignore a senior deck hand he walked up to his uncle. "lay off the horn or go inside to cool down, thats the only warning that you are getting." he also knew better than to talk back to the co-captain, that was more than the horn knew. getting back to work andy shook his head, yeah a girl on board might be different and loads of fun but they were just plain bad luck.
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john looked down on his deck with his brother neal by his side "what are you looking at?" asked neal, noticing his older brothers eyes straying to the bait area "nothing" stated john flatly "just day dreaming again" and he scanned the seas gageing the on coming waves and noticing them getting bigger. "ok boys, finish up this string and secure the deck then come in" he called over the loud hailer "oh and girl" he added with a chuckle. mariah rolled her eyes at the last part and slid in and out of the last pot. for the past sixteen hours she had put up with scotts constant unwarranted harassment and was more than happy to get cleaned up and relax by cooking the boys a nice hot meal before their short nap.
A/N: ok so please dont anyone get mad at me, i love all of the hillstrands but i had to have an antagonist for this chapter, please forgive me