There will always be Hope

Chapter 14: Rueben

A/N: Finally we get to their actual adventure part... Hope you like this and the direction I'm taking this. We're moving closer to NaNoWriMo, that means the chapters to this won't come out as often. I might end up writing a bit here and there, if the muse gets stuck in my original sequel I'm plotting out right now.

Chapter 14: Rueben

The warm summer wind picked up, sweeping over the Jolly Roger and ruffling the loose hair falling from Rueben's ponytail. His arms were wrapped around his girlfriend; they'd been together for almost a year now. Graduation had been a month ago, and now they were taking a much needed vacation with their friends.

"Ahoy! Permission to come aboard." Daimen's voice carried up the gangplank.

At the helm, Rueben chuckled as he watched his friend clamor onboard with Gloria. William and Rose were already downstairs getting settled in one of the smaller cabins next to the captain's quarters.

Disentangling himself from Hope, he walked down to meet his friend on the main deck. Hope followed him.

"Permission granted," Rueben said in a fake, curt voice, giving a mock salute at his friend.

Damien smirked and wrapped his arm around Gloria. "So where's the Capt'n?" he asked, looking around the ship.

"Down below," Hope replied and greeted her friend, Gloria, with a hug.

"Well, that'll be the ship's new captain, she means," Rueben said. "The old captain is picking up provisions from their car."

"Who are you calling old?" Killian said from the gangplank, carrying a crate in his arms. Emma followed him with various bags in her hands.

Hope chuckled and patted Rueben's chest. "Nice going, Rueben. Piss off my daddy before we even get out of port. We'll end up having him with us on this trip." She sighed dramatically and glanced at her parents.

Rueben grinned. "No worries, my love, I'll take care of your father." He walked over to take the crate from Killian and explained, "I just remarked that this ship has a new captain for this journey."

"Uh huh," Killian remarked sarcastically. "So where's William?"

Rueben told Killian where to find William and watched the pirate descend below deck. The trip had been planned for several months now; the group of friends had been beyond excited when Hope's father was willing to lend them his old ship. His only request was that they all should partake in several training excursions beforehand.

It turned out that William, Rueben and, of course, Hope had some previous experience with sailing and navigating. It was on one of these excursions that William had shown far more knowledge in the art of captaining a ship than anyone else. Rueben was appointed next in command and in charge of navigation. He'd been a bit wary about taking up the role and actually thought Hope was a much better choice. But he'd promised her she could be Second Mate.

The rest of their friends were all satisfied with this role distribution. Gloria had volunteered to be in charge of the galley, with the assistance of Rose. Damien was content to be the all-round man, climbing the mast to fix the sails or keep watch in the crow's nest. He was the most agile of the men and not as burly as both William and Rueben.

When William and Killian emerged on deck again, they seemed to be discussing something. Rueben looked at them curiously, tilting his head and trying to pick up what they were speaking about. When he realized what it was, he rolled his eyes. Hope's father was apparently curious to know why William, the captain, wasn't bunking in the Captain's Quarters. It was, in Killian's eyes, unheard of.