Thank you everyone that added story and author alerts. Special thanks to Nerene, Sharot, Murphy9202, Minnie1950 and a guest for the reviews. It's fun to read your reviews. To my guest reviewer, yes I did refer to Dean's hair as sandy brown. I'm willing to stand by that. I was lucky enough to go to Burbank SPN Con in March and see his hair color in person. TV does change colors depending on lighting. Sometimes it can make his eye color look brown and his hair color look darker. I can report his hair is a light brown (not Blonde) and his eyes are green. I'm willing to put my 14 years of cosmetology experience behind that. BTW Jared and Jensen are both even better looking in person.
Supernatural is not mine. Never was and never will be. It belongs to Eric Kripke. The description of the Freedom of the Seas is from my personal experience. I'm a research fool so diner speak etc is internet research. I have never gone to a waffle house but it looks really tasty. The name Angry Bird Craig was in a yelp review. I don't know the man and my character is not based on him. We should have some plot in this chapter. Enjoy! Reviews make me smile and write faster.
The Impala sped down the 528 highway toward Port Canaveral, Florida; as Dean slapped the steering wheel to the beat of the music. His head bobbing along to the Metallica song Master of Puppets. He popped another handful of Cracker Jacks in his mouth and said between bites. "Damn Sam, I forgot how good these were. Who knew they still made 'em." So much for his vow, Sam thought as he watched Dean chew his way through the box. Brightside at least he can't sing with his mouth full Sam thought with a smile.
"Okay, Astronaut Blvd. This is our exit," Sam directed. Dean guided the Impala gracefully across three lanes of traffic while still bobbing his head along to the music. It was as if the car and driver were in perfect harmony. When they exited the highway a large ship came into view the black and gold hull of the ship stood out in the afternoon sun. "Holy crap! That thing is huge," Dean remarked in surprise "Is that our ship?" "I don't think so, I see mouse ears on the smoke stacks. That must be a Disney ship," Sam said in awe of the modern marvel. "Our ship is bigger than that." "Bigger?" Dean said surprised anything larger could stay afloat.
At that moment their ship came in to view; its size blowing Sam and Dean's minds. They were stunned into silence. The ship was incredible with its 18 decks and rock climbing wall visible between two massive smoke stacks proudly displaying the crown and anchor logo of Royal Caribbean cruise lines. The white of the ship gleamed brightly against the dark blue rippling of the ocean. Dean was the first to regain his voice, "how big is that thing?" Having done hours of research on the ship Sam's immediate answer was "1,112 feet long, it weighs 154,407 tons and has the capacity to fit 3,634 passengers and 1,360 crew members." "Holy crap, you really are a geek!" Dean said laughing.
"Okay genius I got another question. If we're going to be on that ship for seven days what the heck are we going to do with the Impala," Dean wondered aloud. Sam cringed at Dean's question. He had been avoiding this topic for as long as possible. He knew that Dean wasn't going to like his answer and had anticipated a fight regarding the storage of Dean's baby during the cruise. "Ah, yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that," Sam stuttered out slowly. Dean felt his hackles rising. Whenever Sam stalled for time it wasn't good news. "Spit it out Sam what do you think, we are doing with my baby?" Dean said as he rubbed a protective hand across the dashboard. "There's a parking garage at the port. I was thinking we could leave her there." "You want me to abandon baby in a public lot for seven days were anyone could bang into her doors, sit on her hood or possible do something worse? Is this parking garage covered or an outdoor lot where she'll be subjected to the elements?"
When Dean was really upset his voice tended to rise and he increased the speed of what he was saying. By the end of Dean's rant his face was red and not just from the burning heat of the Florida afternoon. Sometimes a flannel shirt, jeans, and boots were not the most practical wardrobe. Sam wanted to roll his eyes at Dean's comment regarding the elements of the outdoor parking lot; it was May in Florida and the only element was the sun beating down. Sam knew better than to roll his eyes and instead replied, "It's a covered lot with security cameras. She'll be safe, I promise." Seeing no other option Dean followed the signs to the parking area. "She'd better be," Dean said rubbing the bridge of his nose in obvious distress.
It took Dean thirty minutes of driving through the parking garage to find the best spot where his car would be safe for the seven day stay. "A hundred and twenty dollars Sam. A hundred and twenty dollars to park baby in a lot with spaces so small a mini cooper barely fits. There better be something worth killing on this damn boat." "It's a Ship Dean not a boat. Boats are something you put on a ship. For example; the life boats fit on the ship. The ship doesn't fit on the life boat." Sam felt the need to explain since the whole Daisy thing had really been bugging him.
"I don't care, Sam. Explain the case to me again. All I got was some guy kicked the bucket because of scurvy." Glad to be off the subject of Dean's car and focused on the case, Sam was happy to explain "The victim was a 43 year old married man named Leon Menendez; his wife reported he had been eating lots of grapefruit and oranges during the cruise. After the second day of the cruise he discovered spots on his legs. He was exhausted all the time. By day five his teeth starting falling out, he was jaundiced with a high fever and bone pain. The ship's doctor diagnosed scurvy, but no matter how much Vitamin C he was given Leon continued to get worst. By day six he was dead. The CDC was called in and they inspected. The ship was cleared. No reason was found for the scurvy or it's resistance to treatment." "Wow that sucks! So what're you thinking?" Dean asked. "I don't know, maybe witchcraft. The crew is comprised of people from all over the world. I'm sure one of the 1,360 crew members knows some witchcraft." "Witches are so nasty, but hex sounds like a good bet," Dean agreed.
Further discussion on the case would have to wait as Sam and Dean were walking up to the shuttle that would take them from the parking lot to the ship. The shuttle driver grabbed Sam and Dean's duffle bags. Oh crap he's going to want a tip, Dean thought as his bag was almost forcibly removed from his hands. Dean headed towards a seat with the best view of the doors, while still being able to keep an eye on his fellow shuttle passengers. Looking around him, Dean thought he had nothing to worry about. The other people were mainly families with small kids and a couple of "cougars" on the hunt.
Since he was now in his thirties, he was no longer considered the main prey of these cougars who looked to be in their mid to late forties. However, Sam was still in his twenties had their complete attention. "Why hello my name is Mindy." The head cougar addressed Sam; her bright red hair sprayed and styled within an inch of its life. Mindy was wearing a skin tight black pencil skirt with slits up both sides showing toned tanned legs. She had on a leopard print shiny low cut scoop neck top. Dean considered himself a connoisseur of women's breasts and knew for a fact the two Mindy was sporting didn't exist in nature. The buoyant breasts defied gravity in a way natural breasts never could. Frankly, Dean was relieved to see Mindy on board this cruise ship; because if the ship sunk he was sure he could use Mindy's fake ta-tas as a flotation device.
Currently those tetons were leaned up in his baby brother's face. "I'm Sam nice to meet you," Sam said politely while attempting to move away from Mindy. Unfortunately that had him sliding into the other cougar. This one had straight white blonde over processed hair and a spray on tan that was one shade away from Oompa-Loompa orange. This cougar had done away with subtlety entirely and was wearing silver spandex pants and a sequin silver butterfly halter top. Both cougars had figures that said they spent a lot of time working out at the gym. When Sam bumped into her, he immediately turned to apologize. "I'm so sorry." "That's alright Sam. I don't mind. My name is Sheila. I'm traveling with Mindy. Is this your first cruise?" Both women had so crowded into his space it was surprising Sam hadn't fallen off the shuttle seat. "Yes it is. I'm traveling with my brother, Dean." Sam looked over at Dean with a trapped, help me, look that made it very hard for Dean to keep a straight face.
Mindy turned and noticed the green eyed man sitting across from them. Sure he was a bit older then she normally went for. But damn! She wanted to write a thank you letter to Sam and Dean's parents for reproducing and gracing the world with such fine specimens of manhood. "Well hello brother Dean. I see good looks run in your family," purred Mindy. "It's a pleasure to be traveling with such lovely ladies," Dean replied flashing his most charming smile. This was when the shuttle stopped at the security line for the cruise ship. The shuttle driver was back in two seconds helping Mindy and Shelia with their bags and gazing at them in adoration. Shelia laid a hand on Sam's arm and said "I look forward to learning more about you on this cruise Sam," she slowly slid her hand down Sam's arm and headed off the shuttle. Sam was more then glad to see both Mindy and Shelia leave in a cloud of vanilla scented perfume.
"Dude you totally didn't help me there," Sam said in a disappointed voice. "Sure I did Sammy. I distracted Mindy from you," Dean said with a laugh. "Oh by the way I think Shelia had on body glitter because you have some on your arm," Dean smirked as he made his way out of the shuttle to where the driver had unloaded their bags. Sam wiped at the silver glitter, but instead of removing it his attempts only spread it around. He gave up the vain attempt and headed off the shuttle. He tipped the shuttle driver and headed toward where Dean was fighting with a porter who was attempting to check their bags. "I'm sorry sir. You'll have to check these duffle bags. They are too large for the x-ray machine." Dean knew he would have to give up, but he didn't like it. He and Sam traveled so much they had very few changes of clothing and he was reluctant to give these up and risk losing them. "Alright just don't lose it," Dean said. "Do you have luggage tags?" the porter snapped at Dean rudely.
Dean was at the end of his rope and about to lose it with the rude porter. Sam recognized the tense set of Dean's body and the twitching vein in the middle of his forehead. Sam smoothly stepped in. "I'm sorry sir; we didn't realize we had to check the bags so we didn't print out the tags. Can you print them out here? This is only our second cruise and the last one was 10 years ago," Sam lied smoothly flashing the porter with what he hoped was a sincere smile and ten dollar tip. Sam knew he was over tipping the porter. However, it worked like a charm. The porter got much friendly after the money was handed over. He took their fake passports to look up their cruise reservations and get their correct cabin number. "Okay sir, I have your bags. You're in cabin 7298; just head through security line. Once through security, you can go directly to VIP check in as past guests," the porter smiled brightly as he walked away with the two duffle bags.
Sam and Dean headed for the long security line. Sam realized he smelled like Shelia's vanilla scented perfume and the strong odor was giving him a headache. "Why did you book us as past guests?" Dean wondered aloud. "Past guests get priority check in and a past guest party with free alcohol." The words free alcohol brightened Dean's mood up quite a bit. Since they no longer had bags, Sam and Dean made it through the security check point easily. Dean was glad they didn't find the short silver knife strapped to his upper thigh. No way was he going on a hunt naked.
Sam and Dean made their way up the escalator to the check-in lines. Dean let out a groan as he saw the long line for check in. Until he realized Sam had booked them as past guests and they would be using the almost empty VIP gold member line. Dean loved his geeky little baby brother as they moved quickly through the check-in line. They passed Mindy and Shelia standing in the long check-in line wearing the most uncomfortable looking stilettos heels. Dean gave them a little wave, that was returned, but the ladies looked annoyed to see Sam and Dean speeding past them in the VIP line.
Soon Sam and Dean were standing in front of the smiling Royal Caribbean customer service representative. They filled out a quick health questionnaire and she informed them of their dining time at 5:45PM and cabin number 7298. Then they were off to get their sail and sign card photos. Dean hit the camera lady with his best blue steel look and heard Sam snickering in line behind him. The camera lady smiled a genuine smile and thanked him. Next up was the photo op; they declined this and walked down the gangway to the ship. The first refreshing blast of air conditioning hit them as they entered the ship greeted by more crew members. "The staterooms aren't ready quite yet. But we have a buffet lunch waiting at the windjammer cafe on deck 11. You can use the glass elevators to the right of you."
Dean muttered a wide-eyed thank you as he got his first view of the massive ship. They were in an open atrium area that gave them an impressive view of the glass balconies for each of the fifteen passenger decks. The soft white neon lights around the balconies added a feeling of class and elegance to the ship. Dean looked over to Sam who had the same slack jawed look on his face. "Amazing" was all Sam said.
Dean's stomach had heard the words "buffet lunch," even through his brain was still taking in this amazing ship and it growled in protest that Dean wasn't moving to the glass elevators fast enough. He started heading for the elevators, lead by his insistent stomach. Sam trailed behind trying in vain to see everything at once. The ride on the glass elevators was interesting as they got their first look at the Royal Promenade area with all the Promenade stateroom windows looking down onto the walking area. It reminded Dean of a high class mall. Dean was distracted from his staring by Sam's laugh. "I guess they don't want us to forget what day it is," he said pointing one large booted foot at the title on the floor of the elevator stating in orange writing that today was Sunday.
The elevator startled both Sam and Dean when a computerize female voice proclaimed Deck 11. They hopped off the elevator and as they entered the windjammer café, a Filipino crew member in white framed sunglasses was playing the guitar and singing Beatles songs in a pleasant strongly accented voice. He smiled at Sam and Dean as they used the hand sanitizers. Dean got his first view of the windjammer buffet. For a man that spent most of his life eating food heated from Quickie-Mart microwaves, this place was like a food paradise. Drool settled in his mouth as his stomach gave a growl of approval at the delicious food display.
Sam laughed at the look on Dean's face. "Why don't I find us a seat while you get some food? But don't eat too much Dean. We have dinner in a couple of hours." "Not going to be a problem Sam, I look forward to the challenge." Sam laughed as he headed to a two person table in front of the large glass windows overlooking the dock. Dean came back with two overloaded plates of food including, much to Sam's surprise, a plate loaded with fresh cut fruit. Sam grabbed a slice of melon off Dean's fruit plate and headed to the best looking salad bar he had ever seen in his life. There were varieties of lettuce Sam had never seen before, but couldn't wait to taste. As he walked back to the table he realized his plate was just as full as Dean's despite his warning of the early dining time.
Dean was happily chewing away, when Sam sat down. A man two tables away caught both Sam and Dean's attention because he was yelling at a dining staff crew member. "Are you that stupid that you don't know the difference between water and orange juice? I asked for orange juice. Do I need to talk slower for your dumb ass to get it?" At which point the man stated in exaggerated slowness. "Orange Juice!" His poor wife was ten shades of red in embarrassment. The poor crew member was apologizing while rushing to get the man's orange juice.
About that time a loud noise like a whip sounded through the air and the angry man screamed out in agony. As Sam and Dean looked on, blood was showing through the man's torn white polo shirt. Another loud whipping noise was heard and another scream erupted from the man who was clearly being flogged, however, no one was around to whip him. After five hits the man collapsed into a heap on the floor. His formally embarrassed wife was now screaming in terror. Just as suddenly as the beating started it stopped. The man, was pale from shock, was covered in his own blood and his shirt was in tatters. The crew quickly got him loaded onto a gurney and headed for the medical bay. Sam and Dean stared at each other in surprise. "What the hell was that?" Dean said as his EMF meter started buzzing loudly in his jean pocket.