Chapter Text
Hope greets her staff as she heads in for the next 3-day charter trip. The little storefront sits overlooking the harbor and the three Mikaelson family sightseeing yachts. Hope is slowly learning to take over the family business while still enjoying the occasional opportunities to captain the sightseeing excursions.
Hope collects the booking paperwork for the upcoming trip and heads into her office. The trip would be pretty straight forward, a group of 4 early twenty-somethings looking to see some marine life and enjoy the water. Hope loses herself in double checking details, when Landon knocks on the door frame to her office.
“Heya boss lady, are you about ready for this trip? I have the boat stocked with all the essentials, and I had the guys make sure everything was spotless, per your request.”
“Yeah, Landon. I’ll meet you down at the dock in a few and we can go over the pre-sail check. Oh, wait did you pick up the vegetarian food options for this passenger?” Hope points out the selected dietary option on the passenger questionnaire for Josie Saltzman.
“Yupp, it's all there.”
Hope nods and Landon quietly leaves.
Hope grabs her Captain’s hat from the shelf and slings her duffle over her shoulder. She says a quick goodbye to her staff and reminds them to reach out to Freya if there were any problems while she is gone. Her aunt still runs the business side of the company, while guiding and teaching Hope to take over fully one day.
Auburn hair shines in the sunlight as Hope walks down the dock to the Eviligo. The Eviligo is by far her favorite of the 3 yachts in her fleet. Hope had a special hand in the design of the ship. She had input in every step of the build and got to name her. First mate Landon was chatting with their chef for the trip Maya. This is Hope’s ideal crew for a trip. She gets along okay with the other crewmates in the company but this is the dream team. Landon is always on top of everything and a very hard worker. His goal is to be the next Captain when the newly announced future ship in the fleet arrives in a year. Maya is pretty laid back and strives to make the guests happy and satisfied with their meals. Probably somewhere below deck are the twins, Riley and Avery. They manage the passengers and the deck responsibilities flawlessly. There is also Rafael who is the best engineer in the company as well as Landon’s brother. Hope begins pre-voyage checks with the crew while Maya heads to the galley to prepare a late lunch for the soon to arrive passengers.
At 12:45 on the dot, the office alerts Hope and the crew via walkie talkie that the passengers are on their way down the dock. Everyone gathers on the dock next to Eviligo.
“Welcome to Mikaelson Charters. My name is Hope and I will be your Captain for this trip. We will be sailing on Eviligo, a 60ft luxury yacht. This is Landon, my first officer. Maya here is our chef. Riley maintains the outdoor areas and deck activities, while Avery handles the indoor activities. Please see them with any issues. Raf is the engineer onboard.” Hope smiles at the group.
“Hello! I’m Lizzie and this is my sister Josie.” Josie raises a hand and waves. “The guys are MG and Kaleb.”
“Nice to meet you all. Riley and Avery will take your luggage down to the bedrooms while we go over rules and safety. Watch your step while climbing aboard.” Landon goes to grab life vests from the storage area for the safety demonstration. Captain Hope notices Josie staring at her while she dismisses Maya and Raf to prepare for departure. Josie blushes and turns away when Hope makes eye contact. Hope will never admit it, but she thinks the tall brunette is beautiful. It would be highly unprofessional to become interested in a passenger on her ship. Landon returns and hands out life vests and checks they fit everyone appropriately. Hope listens to his animated description of what to do if someone is in the water with a shark or if we get caught in a surprise storm. It's supposed to be clear and calm in terms of weather over the 3 days, so Hope is not too worried about a storm. Landon finally finishes his demonstration, with the tall blonde Lizzie looking bored and over it. MG and Kaleb are still laughing at Landon’s crazy impersonation of a shark flopping on the deck, all the while Josie tries to catch a glimpse of Captain Hope from her position behind Landon.
Hope adjusts her captains hat and steps up next to Landon. “Thank you for your always energetic explanations Officer Landon. Everyone, I have a few more things to go over before we can leave the marina.” Hope pauses, making sure they are all paying attention. “Please listen to the crew when they tell you to do something, or not to do something. It is our job to make sure you all have a great time but safely. If you have any concerns please see a crew member. If you need to speak to me for any reason, ask a crew member and they will walkie me to meet with you. Feel free to explore the boat, but I do ask that you all stay seated while we exit the marina and harbor.”
“Thank you Captain Hope, we will behave, I promise.” Josie smiles brightly at Hope. Lizzie rolls her eyes at her sister, knowing she has been enamored by the auburn Captain since they got here.
Hope smirks at the sisters,“If you will all excuse me, I must head up to the bridge so we can depart.”
About 10 minutes later Captain Hope announces over the intercom for everyone to be seated. The passengers situate themselves on the deck at the front of the boat. They were talking animatedly about all the activities they get to do over the 3 days.
When the yacht made it safely out of the harbor, an announcement came over the loudspeaker. “Passengers please make your way to the rear deck of the ship as a late lunch will be served in a few moments.” Maya hangs up the receiver and grabs the tray with the plates. Riley follows with the tray of drinks.
The group arrives and sits down, looking eagerly at the food placed before them. “Today’s lunch is shrimp risotto with a side of baked asparagus with lemon. For our vegetarian option, we have mushroom risotto. There are refreshing peach bellini’s for you to enjoy as well. If you need anything please let Riley here know.”
Maya turns and descends back down into the kitchen. Kaleb and MG dig right into the food, while the girls sip their drinks.
“This is so good. I need to learn how to make this.” MG says with his mouthful.
“Yeah right, I can’t picture you cooking anything.” Lizzie scoffs.
Josie is barely listening to the conversation at the table. Her attention is focused on the Captain descending the stairs from the bridge. She had never seen anyone as beautiful as Hope. She doesn't want to seem creepy staring at the auburn haired woman, but Josie also feels like she wants to learn everything about Hope.
Initially Josie wasn't too thrilled to come on this trip, having a history of sea sickness. She now was happy that Lizzie didn't give her a choice in the matter.
Captain Hope approaches the table and smiles at the group. “How is everything so far?” Hope looks directly at Josie while speaking. Josie meets her gaze and blushes ever so slightly.
“This food is amazing, and the crew have been so kind and helpful. Thank you.” Lizzie, MG, and Kaleb nod in agreement with Josie.
“I'm glad you are all having a good time. I’ll check in with everyone again later today. We have about 2.5 hours until we get to our island Wolf’s Bay.”
“Can’t wait, I really want to snorkel!” MG announces with Lizzie and Kaleb nodding enthusiastically.
“It will be nice to read a book while relaxing on the beach.” Josie adds. Everyone else at the table groans.
“That doesn't sound fun sis, you should come snorkeling with us.”
“I will think about it.” Josie concedes, knowing she most likely won’t get her way. Hope looks between the sisters clearly amused by the minor disagreement. “Reading a book on the beach sounds great, but I will tell you the reef around Wolf’s Bay is beautiful. I’m sure there will be time to do both.” Hope smirks at Josie causing her to turn bright red. Hope just giggles at the brunette's reaction and turns to leave to the kitchen to get her own lunch.
“Hey guys, I think Jo has a little bit of a crush on Captain Hope.” Lizzie says not at all quietly.
“Lizzie! I do not! I literally just met her an hour ago.” Josie grumbles.
“Mhm… if you say so. She seems nice, maybe you should try to get to know her while we are on this trip.” Lizzie gently elbows her twin in the arm.
“How would I do that? She’s the Captain, and will probably spend most of the time up there.” Nodding up toward the bridge.
“I’m sure we could come up with something to get you to be able to spend time with her.” Lizzie says with a mischievous tone.
“Lizzie, no. She is working. I don’t want to be a distraction. Just leave it alone.” Josie begs. “I just want to relax, please.”
“Fine. Way to ruin my fun.” Lizzie teases.
“Hey Captain, here’s lunch.” Maya hands the plate off to Hope who seems lost in thought.
“Thanks M.” She sighs at the wonderful flavor of the mushroom risotto.
“You seem to have something on your mind Hope, you aren't normally this quiet during lunch.” Maya and Hope have been friends for quite a few years, spending time together on and off the ship. She can tell Hope wants to talk about something.
“What do you think of these passengers so far?”
“They seem polite and a lot quieter than some of our previous charters. Why do you ask?”
“No reason.”
“Uh huh.”
A few moments later Riley arrives requesting more peach bellini’s for the group. She sits down at the table next to Hope while waiting for Maya to mix up a new batch.
“Hey Cap, you will never guess what I just overheard!”
“What did you hear Riles?” Hope responds and Maya turns around to listen to this story.
“The blonde, Lizzie practically yelled that her sister maybe has a small crush on you.”
It clicks in Maya’s head that Josie is probably who Hope seems distracted by. “That brunette Josie is totally your type Hope. Maybe you should ask her out.”
“You know I won’t do that. It's very unprofessional, I have a company to run and I can’t tarnish the reputation we built these last few years. Even IF I might be interested, I can not consider it.” Hope frowns.
“What if she asks you out? Would you say no?” Riley implores.
Hope thinks for a moment, “I guess I could say yes. But there is no way it’s going to happen.”
“If you say so.” Maya hands off the tray of drinks and Riley leaves shaking her head at Hope.
“You know we just want to see you happy Hope.” Maya gives her a small smile as Hope gets up to return to the helm. “Yeah, I know M. Thanks.”