Fic: Grey Ghost(4/7)
Fic: Grey Ghost(4/7)
Series: Special Projects
Summary: A drowning in a dry swimming pool draw the crew to Long Beach. Did we mention that the pool was on a haunted cruise ship?
Author: pen37
Beta: Clarksmuse
Fandoms: Smallville/Supernatural
Characters: Chloe, Sam, Dean
Pairing:Chloe/Dean
Rating: pg-13
This is a part of the Special Projects series. You can find the rest of the series here.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Chauntel Sanderson had a word for tourists that she didn't use out loud: Tourons. How else could you explain spending one hundred and fifty dollars a pop (ninety-nine for kids) to take a tour of the dusty storage rooms and oily engine rooms of what was basically a great big floating hotel?
And for that extremely inflated price, you got to hear your tour guide knock on the walls of the ship and imagine that the walls knocked back while taped screams and voices were piped in to you over loudspeakers and the thermostat was lowered to make you think you were walking through a cold spot.
Then you got to ask inane questions. Like the guy at the back of the room with the short pants and the camcorder permanently attached to his face was doing.
She pasted on a pleasant smile, and pretended not to see his hand go up for the umpteenth time.
“The engine room is famous for having been the setting of the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure. Although you may be more familiar with the 2006 remake Poseidon. The story is based on an incident that really happened aboard The Queen Mary. In 1942, while she was serving as a troop transport, she was hit by a rogue wave, and nearly capsized.
“Any chance the ship could capsize now?” Short Pants blurted out.
Chauntel smiled patiently at him. “Given that we're permanently at dock behind a sea wall, if we were to be hit by a rogue wave at this time, it would probably push the ship inland. Chances of capsizing are remote and unlikely.”
“But if we did?”
Then in all likelihood, The Queen Mary would share the fate of her sister ship, The Queen Elizabeth, which was partially-sunken off the coast of Hong Kong. You've probably seen the wreckage: It was part of the James Bond movie The Man With The Golden Gun.”
As Chauntel opened her mouth to take a deep breath and continue her talk, she suddenly felt as if she'd snorted up a bunch of water. She leaned forward, coughing and holding her chest.
“Are you okay?” Short pants asked. She looked up at him with pleading eyes as the rest of the tour group crowded around her. She shook her head desperately and mimed that she couldn't breathe.
“Does anyone know the Heimlich?” Short pants screamed out.
“I don't think she's choking, idiot!” Someone else yelled back.
As Chauntel slid to the floor, she hoped that someone knew CPR, because it didn't look like anyone in her tour group knew basic first aid.
* * *
The boys spent the day sweeping the ship from one end to the other. It was tiring work. The Queen Mary was the equivalent of a floating, haunted high-rise. So by the time the boys made their way to the Promenade Cafe, Chloe already had a table.
Sam looked with trepidation toward her as she sat alone, flicking through the pages of The Daily Planet irritably.
“Think she's mad at us?” Sam whispered.
Dean watched as she caught sight of them over the top of the B section, and glared that you're-in-the-dog-house glare.
“I think so,” Dean said.
“Maybe you should talk to her?” Sam patted Dean's shoulder.
“Why me?” Dean asked. “You're her best girlfriend, Samantha.”
“Yeah? Well, you're the one sleeping with her,”Sam groused. “You can . . . Go over there and . . . I dunno, promise her to bust out the handcuffs or . . . Nevermind. why did I even open my mouth?” Sam shuffled his feet, and looked down.
Dean stared at him with a slightly incredulous expression. “Dude? You seriously need to go pay Sarah a visit and get laid again.” With another scowl, he turned, and headed over toward where Chloe sat.
As he walked over to the table that Chloe had claimed for them, Dean couldn't help but grin. Sam managed to embarrass himself, which was epic. And the handcuff idea wasn't bad either. Not that he'd share that with his brother.
He sat down next to Chloe and pulled the top of the newspaper down enough so that he could look into her stormy green eyes. “So ah . . .” he scratched the back of his neck. “Been a good day?”
She glared at him. “If I hear one more Buffy joke, I'm going to kill the both of them.”
“Can't be that bad,” Dean reasoned.
“Then why didn't they go with you or Sam?” Chloe put down the paper, and crossed her arms. Dean opened his mouth to retort, then thought better of it. She raised her eyebrow as if to say: Well?
“Come on, Chloe. You know you're the one with the most experience pretending to be normal,” Dean said. “Could you see me talking to those jokers?”
“Mmm hmm, And the fact that you left a dead fish in their car had nothing to do with it?”
Dean looked down and grinned. “They told you about that, did they?”
“Vividly,” Chloe said. “With power point slides that they had downloaded onto their I-pods.”
“Yeah, it was awesome,” Dean said.
“Not funny,” Chloe whacked him in the shoulder. “While you guys were off playing The Hardy Boys, I've been babysitting the geek squad.”
Dean sighed. He latched onto her belt loops, and pulled her onto his lap.
“Dean,” She hissed at him in consternation. A passing waitress gave them a look of disapproval and Chloe shot her an apologetic look. “You're going to get us thrown out!”
“Ignore them for a second, Chloe.” Dean said as he caressed her cheek and turned her face toward him. “When this is all over with, I'm going to make it up to you.”
Under the pressure of his calloused finger pads, Chloe seemed to forget her embarrassment and her anger seemed to deflate. She leaned into his touch, and purred like a kitten. “How do you plan to do that?” she whispered.
Remembering Sam's handcuff thought from earlier, he grinned and ran a thumb across her lower lip. “I could always tie you to the bed,” he said quietly.
“Hmmm,” Chloe caught his thumb in between her teeth, and bit lightly. “That could work,” she said quietly.
“Of course, it's kind of hard to get married when you're tied to a bed.”
She sighed. “Dean.”
“I know, I know,” he looked at her with weary eyes. “Ask later.”
She bit her lip as her eyes clouded with indecision. Finally, she nodded to herself. “How about yes?” she whispered quietly.
Dean's hands stilled. He blinked in shock as he looked up into her face. “Seriously?”
She smiled at him tenderly, but her eyes still looked troubled. “Yeah. Just as soon as this hunt is over.”
Despite that niggling voice that was telling him that she wasn't one hundred percent certain of her answer, the joy he felt bloom in his chest crowded out all him misgivings. Ruthlessly, he crushed any doubt on his part. With a sob of happiness, he pulled her down to him, and covered her lips with his.
“You're. Not. Going. To. Regret. This.” He said between kisses. “Promise. I'm. Going. To. Be. So. Good. To. You.”
She pulled back, and looked into his face as she ran gentle hands over the back of his head, and down his shoulders. “You already are, Dean.”
“Sam?” Dean looked around the room at the disapproving looks of the diners and wait staff. He picked out his brother, who was still back by the entrance, waiting for them to make up. “Sam, she said yes!”
Sam's grin looked slightly uneasy as he walked over to the table amidst the scattered applause of the cafe patrons. “So, you guys going to do this soon?”
“As soon as we get this hunt over,” Dean said. Though his grip on Chloe was light, it was unmistakably possessive. “I want to get a ring on this girl's hand so that everyone can see she's mine.”
“You even have a ring?” He looked at Dean with a raised eyebrow.
Dean shook his head. “Have to get one. Hey Chloe, you want one of those Irish rings with the crown on them?”
“A claddaugh? You do know that that's a Galway tradition, and my family is from Cork, don't you?” She said with a faint smile.
Dean shrugged. “It's all Irish to me.”
“If you want to get me a Galway ring, then it's fine,” Chloe teased. “But then you get to explain to my dad why we not only eloped, but that all that freaky Irish crap is the same to you.”
Dean shook his head. “I have to talk to your dad?”
“And that's something that should wait until after this hunt is over,” Sam cut in. He looked up at Chloe and raised his eyebrows at her. She gave him a slightly-helpless frown.
Dean wondered what they'd talked about earlier, but decided that conversation could probably also wait until after the hunt. “So where are The Ghostbusters?”
Just then, Spengler came running into the room. “Chloe! You've got to come quick. We've got it! We've got it on camera!”
Chloe looked at Spengler in confusion. The wiry black-haired man leaned over in an attempt to catch his breath. “What?”
He stood, and shook his head. “One of the tour guides on the ghost tours dropped dead. We were able to obtain footage from a tourist. There is a definite manifestation caught on film.”
Dean looked from Chloe to Sam in consternation. Just like that, his brief moment of happiness was shelved. Both of them had their business faces back on.
“Let's go,” Sam said as he stood.