Thank you to chapter four reviewers Murphy9202, Sharlot, Frenzied Warrior, MQDK and Baltimoron48. I really appreciate it. I don't own Sam and Dean, they belong to Eric Kripke.
Sam was sitting frustrated in the internet café, apparently internet connection at sea wasn't great. Every time he would find something interesting the connection would drop out. As he was loading the same page for the fifth time he heard over the PA system. "Medical crew members Alpha, Alpha, Alpha proceed to deck thirteen rock climbing wall." The word 'medical' caught Sam's attention as the webpage finally loaded. He quickly shut off the computer and completely bypassing the crowded elevators headed up the stairs to the rock climbing wall. Sam was flooded with relief when he saw Dean standing with Waldo. Staring up at the rock climbing wall he caught the shocking and horrific sight of a man's lifeless body being pulled from the wall. It was amazing how swiftly the crew members removed and covered the body.
Sam approached Dean. "What happened?"
"That dude had an Elmo thingy on his head, then boom he was hanging off the wall." Dean half explained.
"He had St. Elmo's fire around his head before he died?" Sam questioned, surprising Waldo that Sam could understand Dean's short hand explanation.
"That's correct; I was surprised to see it in person. I was explaining to Dean what it was when we heard that man's neck snap." Waldo said clearly shaken up. "I will never forget that sound, some things you can't un hear." Waldo continued getting paler as he spoke.
Sam guided Waldo to a chair, "Dean will get you some water. Just try and breathe." Sam said glancing at Dean who nodded and head to the bar for a bottle of water.
Dean quickly returned handing the bottle of water to Waldo whose hands were shaking. Dean was envious of the shaking hands. Waldo was lucky, this was the first time he had heard the sound of snapping bones. Dean had been desensitized to the sight and sounds associated with death. During his time in hell the sound of snapping bones was common place. That sound riddled him with guilt; remembering causing others the pain and suffering that accompanied the sound. Dean pushed these thoughts down and retuned into Waldo and Sam's discussion feeling the need to stop whatever this was and in some way make up for his torture master past.
Something about Sam knowing St. Elmo's fire was eating a Waldo. "You have heard of St. Elmo's fire? Do you know the superstitions regarding it?"
Sam nodded and said "Some sailors believe if St. Elmo's fire is on your face or around your head you will die in 24 hours. Other sailors believed the St. Elmo's fire was a warning from heaven of an impending storm." Sam finished.
"That's exactly right Sam. I'm obsessed with the sea, it drives my wife crazy. I haven't ever met anyone who knew of St. Elmo's fire as anything, but a crappy movie from the 1980s. How do you know this?" Waldo asked.
"My brother is a walking encyclopedia of the strange. He had lots of interesting facts rolling around in the cro-magnum skull." Dean teased his brother with a smile.
"Do you think it's true?" Waldo questioned Sam.
"Do I think what's true?" Sam asked confused.
"Did the St. Elmo's fire predict or cause that man's death?" Waldo asked. "The way he died, it's not natural. How did that rope, hooked onto a harness around his waist, suddenly warp around his neck?" Waldo asked in an insistent voice. Sam didn't know how to answer when suddenly Waldo's wife Trudy appeared.
"Oh thank God you're okay. I heard the triple Alpha called over the PA, along with deck thirteen and I remember you saying that was a medical code." She said as she gentle stroked his cheek. "I was worried you had been hurt on the damn wall." She said with tenderness in her eyes.
Waldo instantly calmed down under his wife's loving touch. "I never got the courage to sign up." Waldo explained with a rueful smile. "I was watching the wall when Dean showed up and we saw the St. Elmo's fire appear over the man's head. I was explaining it when we heard the sound of his his neck as it snapped." Waldo stuttered out at the end overwhelmed by the retelling. Trudy took him into a hug kissing his neck softly and whispering soothing words into this ear. Sam and Dean felt uncomfortable with the intimate moment. They nodded to Trudy that they were leaving. Trudy nodded back and mouthed the words 'thank you' as they left.
The boys made their way silently down the stairs headed back to the cabin. Both lost in their own thoughts. Sam broke the silence has they entered the cabin. "Too many people will be around the rock climbing aall right now. Later tonight we should head back to investigate. Were you able to find out anything from the staff?"
"Nope, everyone loves Rose. She is a sweetheart and goes out of her way to help people. I know she's from witch town, but I'm not sure it's her. Other crew members have been on different ships with her and no other mysterious deaths were reported on those ships. So why start killing now?" Dean asked running his hand over his face and rubbing his eyes in his frustration. "Did you find anything on the internet?" Dean asked in a hopeful voice.
"The connection kept going down. I could barely get a webpage loaded. We need to look at the victims closer. Why are those men being targeted?" Sam suggested trying not to let his frustration show. "But first we need to dress for dinner."
Dean whined as he looked as his tuxedo, "Do we have to? That monkey suit is so itchy."
Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's whining. Then bitch faced when he heard Dean's mumbled voice saying "17."
"Stop counting." Sam lashed out.
"Then stop rolling your damn eyes at me." Dean snapped back. Before Sam could reply Dean entered the bathroom slamming the door.
Sam rubbed a weary hand through his hair as he changed into this tuxedo. He was fighting with the tie when Dean reemerged from the bathroom. Without a word he smacked Sam's hands away and did up his tie.
"Thanks." Sam said sitting on the bed to put on his shoes and socks.
Dean gave an acknowledgement with his head as he started changing his clothes. After finishing with his shoes Sam sat at the window overlooking the promenade area to wait. He found it soothing to watch the people walking around dressed to the nines for formal night. As he watched, a couple with two young sons, looking to be about five and nine years old, walked out of the cupcake store. The five year old son dropped his cupcake and started to cry; causing the older boy to give him a hug calming him down. Once the boy stopped crying his older brother split his own cupcake in half to share. The parents took the children by their hands and led them out of view.
The next thing that caught Sam's attention was a beautiful woman with soft blonde waves of hair cascading down her back. Her dress was a soft periwinkle blue; the skirt gracefully flowing down to the floor. The top of the dress was sequined silver with peek-a-boo sides showing perfectly golden skin. The top was cut low enough to provide Sam an excellent view and still be elegant. The mystery woman was alone as she walked slowly down the promenade area window shopping. "Wow" Sam breathed at the sight. That instantly caught Dean's attention, "What?" he asked now dressed working on his own tie. "She's gorgeous. That dress is like, wow." Sam said. Suddenly he heard a loud bang and turned towards the noise. Dean stood rubbing his forehead and there was a Dean's sized forehead print on the window where it made contact in his haste to see the mystery woman. Sam started laughing at his brother. "Not funny Sam, that hurts." Dean said in his whining three year old voice again. "I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing with you; it's not my fault you aren't laughing." Sam said his dimples on full display as he continued his laughter. "There probably isn't even a hot chick down there," Dean grumbled. Sam glanced back down as the mystery lady wandered out of view. "You just missed her." Sam said with a grin in his voice.
Sam moved away from the window and decided to put on the television for some background noise while Dean finished getting ready. He was surprised to see Royal Caribbean had their own channel and were airing the different events around the ship. He gave it no further thought until he heard Rose's voice announcing the "World's sexiest man contest."
"Oh my god! No way." Sam said in a horrified voice.
"What's a matter Sammy?" Dean asked. Sam was speechless and just pointed at the screen. Just then he sees himself introduced and starting his dance. Dean stared at the screen in horror, watching his baby brother grind against Sheila. He looked over and Sam was hyperventilating and his face was bright red. "Calm down Sam it's not that bad." Dean tried to reassure his brother until he saw himself come out in his robe.
"Son of a bitch! Can everyone see this?" Dean questioned knowing the answer but hoping for something different.
"No, Dean I'm sure it's only on our T.V. not to worry. Yes! Of course it is!" Sam screamed at his brother.
"Alright, alright, chill out Sammy." Sam just nodded his head, eyes still wide in horror. On T.V. Dean dropped his robe and real Dean was nauseous at this sight.
"Let's hurry, they're having two for one margaritas at the On Air Lounge and I need a drink or three." Dean said in disgust turning the T.V. off, just as the three judges tossed away their sunglasses.
"Since when do you drink Margaritas?" Sam asked in surprise.
"Since they're buy one get one free. The drink prices on the boat are outrageous!" Dean complained.
"It's a ship, not a boat." Sam replied as he watched Dean putting on his shoes.
"Whatever. Lets motor." Dean asked.
They made the trek to deck three entering the On Air Lounge. This is where the karaoke was held nightly. Dean had decided Sam needed to loosen up so when he ordered the drinks he tipped the bartender extra to make Sam's drink nice and strong. Sam, being the light weight he was, felt no pain after the second tall drink. They took the third drink to go as they wandered up the stairs for the dining room on deck four. Sam missed the stairs a couple of times. Dean's hand was there to steady his brother. On the final step he tripped spilling a bit of his drink loudly calling out "alcohol abuse" with a goofy grin on this face.
Sheila appeared out of nowhere looking stunning. Dean was shocked her skin was a beautiful golden brown and that dress was wow! Although he would never admit it to Sam, Dean recognized the color as periwinkle. Sheila's normally over done hair was flowing down her back in soft waves.
"Mystery woman! I found you! You look gorgeous." Sam said with a dimpled smile.
Sheila slid up, happy to see Sam in a relaxed and intoxicated mood. "Sweetie I'm not a mystery, I've been here all the time."
Finally it got through Sam's drunken brain that this was Sheila. "Sheila, you're not orange anymore. What happened? Not that I'm complaining this is a much nicer skin color." Sam said bluntly, Dean just shook his head at Sam's outburst.
"Bad spray on tan but the spa was able to fix it. They did my hair and makeup also." Sheila said trying not to show her annoyance at her former orange skin.
Mindy made her way over to stand by Dean off to the side out of earshot of Sheila and Sam. "Is Sam drunk?" Mindy asked surprised.
"Three sheets to the wind." Dean said with a laugh.
"You better watch out, that makes him easy prey for Sheila. I don't suppose you're drunk." Mindy said.
"Sober as a judge." Dean replied.
"Just my luck!" Mindy intoned with mock sadness that made Dean laugh.
Dean looked over to see Sam was leaning into Sheila petting her hair and swaying back and forth. Sheila loved every minute of it, but Dean was afraid his little brother was about to collapse on Sheila. Just then the doors to the dining room opened.
Dean walked over, "come on Sasquatch, time for dinner."
"I want to stay with mystery woman. Her hair is so soft." Sam slurred.
"I'm not having this Steinbeck moment with you 'Lenny.' Let go of the hair and march your ass into the dining room." Dean said channeling John Winchester. Sam obeyed instantly, if not a bit reluctantly, following Dean to their table. Sam looked back, waving good bye to Sheila, who smiled and blew him a kiss, which he grabbed out of the air while Dean rolled his eyes and Mindy laughed.
The delay from Sheila and Mindy meant that Sam and Dean were the last people to arrive at the table. Their tablemates greeted them with a round of applause and wolf whistles from Sandy and Kayla. "Welcome back world's sexiest men." Sandy greeted with a smile.
Sam took a drunkenly bow that almost had him face planting. Luckily Dean caught him and guided him to his chair. "My apologies, Sam has been in his cups." Dean addressed the table.
"Two for one Margaritas." Sam saluted the table holding up his half empty glass.
"Okay Sammy maybe you shouldn't finish that one." Dean said attempting to get the glass out of his intoxicated brother's hand.
"I love you man. You're the bestest brother ever. Like Batman only with a cooler car." Sam said not noticing his glass was replaced with a menu.
"Did ya'll hear about the death at the rock climbing wall?" Kayla asked the group.
Waldo gulped at the memory and replied, "Dean and I saw it happen." Trudy placed a reassuring hand on his arm.
"You did! What happened?" Kayla asked interested to have a firsthand account.
"The rope got twisted around his neck and when he fell off the wall it snapped his neck." Waldo said starting to look pale again at the memory.
Under the table Trudy took one of his shaking hands in hers and addressed the group, "Could we change the subject? This really upsets Waldo."
Kayla nodded her head and the group fell silent. Sam was gazing intently at the menu. Dean took Sam's menu and flipped it around so it was no longer upside down. Sammy broke the silence when he said "oopsies. That is much easier to read. Hey June, do you know who sings this song?"
"The Doors," June replied with a smile.
"That's right hey, Dean, June really knows her music. June did you see my brother on T.V.?"
"Yes I did, I loved his swimsuit." June said with a wink to Dean.
"I did too." Kayla quickly replied.
"Then why won't you let me wear mine, honey. I have a navy blue speedo I've wanted to wear, but she won't let me." Austin chimed in.
"It's not a speedo. They're boy shorts." Sam corrected with an evil grin.
"Okay new subject, please." Dean requested in a pained voice.
The salad came out and Sam started playing with the mesclun lettuce on his plate. "Why did they put weeds on my plate Dean? I don't remember ordering weeds; was it on the menu?" Sam questioned pulling the offending lettuce to the side of his plate.
Trudy and Waldo couldn't hold back their laughter at Sam's comments.
"No, Sammy that's not weeds. It's lettuce. You should eat it." Dean stated calmly.
"Dude, you wouldn't know lettuce if it dressed up like a hot chick and danced a Samba." Sam picked up a leaf of lettuce and started it dancing around, just as Nelda came by to check on the table. She couldn't help the large smile watching drunken Sam.
"How is everything?" Nelda asked the table.
"I have too much silverware. Its super confusing! I just need like one fork and I'm good. Seriously now many dishes do you guys have to wash? I'm surprised the ship can stay afloat with this much silverware weighting it down." Sam said and gathering up his silverware for Nelda. Dean stopped him from turning in all the silverware.
"Everything is really great." Dean replied for the table.
"Tell her about the weeds." Sam said is a loud whisper. Dean rubbed his face.
Finally the courses were served and dinner was finished. As they walked out Sam noticed a station set up for formal night pictures. "Oh! Oh! Dean, let's get our pictures took." Sam exclaimed.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Dean said trying to guide Sam away from the photo set up.
"No! When was the last time we had our picture taken? Plus you look like James Bond in your tux. Come on 007 give 'em the blue steel." Dean couldn't help the smile that graced his lips.
"Okay, one blue steel." Dean replied. The boys posed against the blue background with the photographer guiding them into different poses.
Some ladies stopped and whispered among themselves recognizing Sam and Dean from television. "Work it Sexy Boys." One of the ladies cheered them on as they mugged for the camera. The photographer was smiling and laughing.
"Okay boys now stand back to back and turn your heads towards the camera." The photographer guided the boys.
"Oh! Charlie's Angels pose." Sam shouted instantly, they both hit a karate pose like the opening scene of the old television show. The crowd of ladies increased, encouraging them through the different poses. Dean was enjoying the attention and just having fun with his brother.
After they finished with the poses Sam was pulling at his collar. "It's too hot in here," he complained heading for the door leading outside. It was a beautiful clear night and the tropical breeze cooled Sam off and left him feeling tired.
"I need to sit down." Sam said collapsing into one of the deck chairs. Dean checked his watch and realized now would be a good time to check the rock climbing wall. He looked at his brother's closed eyes.
"Sammy will you be alright out here alone?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need to close my eyes for a sec." Sam replied.
"You won't move from that chair?" When he got no reply Dean repeated loudly. "Sammy, promise me you won't move from that chair."
"Yeah, Dean I won't move from the chair." Sam said in a sleepy voice.
Dean left him on deck four speeding to the cabin to change his clothes. He arrived at the rock climbing wall with the EMF meter on. It didn't buzz until he got close to the wall and it started buzzing loudly. Dean ducked his body under the ropes closing off access to the wall. He checked the harness and rigging, but they all seemed normal. Checking around the wall he found no hex bags. Knowing the man had died at the top and realizing he would have to scale the wall. Dean swore. "Damn it." He pulled off his boots to get a better foot hold on the way up.
He followed the center path the dead man had followed. Seeing no hex bags or any other signs of witchcraft. He reached the very top breathing heavily. There was a ledge at the top of the wall he lifted himself over the ledge and searched that area for hex bags still with no luck. Dean got a bit of vertigo looking down. Seeing how far up the wall he was he wished he had put on the safety gear. He forced himself to take the climb down one rung at a time and not look down. About halfway down his sock slipped off the foothold and he was hanging on the wall by only his hands. He put his foot back on the foothold, but something on the foothold snagged his sock and pulled it halfway off as his foot once again slipped off. His arms were screaming in pain from holding his full body weight while trying to release his sock. Finally after another try he was able to get a foothold. He dropped to the ground almost kissing it in relief. He slipped his sock back on and went down to deck four where he found Sam still in his rumpled tuxedo soundly sleeping.
I hope you guys are enjoying this story half as much as I'm enjoying writing it. BTW Dean bumping his head on the window staring at the hot chick was exactly what my hubby did on our cruise, it was hilarious. Reviews make me smile.