As he hit the floor with a thud, the lights clicked on. The surprise of it all was all that stopped Gina from letting out a scream.
They all were confused about what was exactly happening. Tug had just walked into the galley when he heard a loud thud and a groan coming from the darkness. He clicked on the light to see one of the girls standing over Jake. He was holding his crotch and holding up a hand toward the girl trying to keep her back.
Gina demanded to know, "What the fuck do you think you are doing?"
At first, Jake looked up at her stunned, he was not expecting that. "Gina?" He asked.
Gina said, "Yes."
Jake quickly said, "I am so sorry I thought that you were Katie."
Gina asked, "So you just grab her from behind when she doesn't know that you are around?"
Jake got all embarrassed and confused and said, "No. It's not like that. I was just going to surprise her. Since it's been so long, and when I saw you in the dark, I thought you were her. I'm sorry." He hurried out of the room before the situation could get any worse for him.
Gina shook her head at him and thought about if she had been Katie would she have liked him doing that to her? She guessed that Katie would have she was unsure if she liked it. For herself, there were parts of her that responded to being snatched up and pulled into an embrace, but she would have liked it better if she knew that it might happen and could at least know who might be doing it to her.
Tug had just been standing there with his mouth gaping open as he was trying to figure out just what had happened and what was going on now.
Gina said, "Never mind all that. Do you know what you are planning on wanting to fix for breakfast?"
Tug shrugged his shoulders and had been hoping that she was going to teach him something new while she was there. He looked at her and asked, "What do you think is best? I know you have to have something special in mind."
Gina smiled at him and nodded. She knew that they had not really concentrated on breakfast with him, because he could more or less handle making food that tasted decent. So now it was going to be teaching him some things that would give him the wow factor.
Gina quickly looked over the ingredients that he had and was surprised to see that the stock of supplies had at least doubled from the last time that she had been there. Not to mention that there were a lot more spices he had sitting there. She knew that this was not the time to explore them all. She knew that with Katie's help, they could take advantage of them.
Gina thought about everything that she had seen and then what would taste the best but would be the easiest to teach him. After a couple of minutes of looking and thinking she came up with the perfect thing to teach him. Gina thought about how much easier this would be if he could taste the things instead of just cooking by the smell. She had to admit that he had come such a long way, and he was willing to try anything without holding back.
Gina got him started on chopping up all the things that he was going to need to put in it while she looked through all the spices to find the ones that she was going to need. Once she had them all they could start assembling everything.
Gina smiled as he made notes on everything including amount, time, and temperature as well as what he smelt, what it looked like while it cooked, and what it looked like after it was done. She knew that the no taste was a big disadvantage, but he was making sure that he was going to be able to reproduce everything even though he couldn't taste it.
Gina said, "I know that this dish takes a lot of work, and it is not something that you are going to make often. Especially since you would really need help to pull it off, but I am sure that if you keep putting out dishes like these the captain will get you someone to help, or you will pick up an apprentice to teach."
Gina thought that was a really weird thought. Tug teaching someone else how to cook. To her that seemed amazing, the fact that he mostly had learned everything from Katie and her. She knew that they had made a big difference in the life of Tug and everyone on the ship. Now she was wondering if they could do it with others as well. Since they had control of her father's company now. It was not like they were ever going to need more money. Neither of them had any interest in running the company, especially since they had no idea of how to do it, or even what to do. But they knew that they could cook, and they could teach others to cook.
Tug finished what he was doing and saw Gina daydreaming and said, "Okay what's next."
Gina smiled and said, "Oh sorry we just need them to finish in the oven once they are done, they cool a little and are ready to be served."
Gina looked out and saw that there was already a line of guys just waiting. The aroma had spread throughout the ship, and most of the men were there wanting to be the taste testers for the cook. Gina giggled as she let them all know that he would not be needing that kind of help today they were just going to have to wait till it was all finished to get a taste of it.
Gina noticed that the crew had grown in number as well as size. She wondered if they had been understaffed before or if they just had more sailors than they needed now. It didn't matter to her except for the fact that there were more mouths to feed, and she was now really having to think if they had enough to feed everyone. As she looked at the men, she knew that if they wound up with a little bit smaller portions than normal, they would certainly not be starving. In fact, she was already thinking of telling Tug that he was going to have to start shrinking the portion sizes.
Tug looked at her as she was sizing up the crew and asked, "Did we make enough for everyone?"
Gina looked out at the line of men and asked, "Is this, everyone?"
Tug looked at them and counted and said, "There are only a couple more that are not lined up as well as Will, the captain, and you women."
Gina looked at the food counted the sections and said, "We are going to be a tiny bit under what I had planned for everything, but we just need to shrink the size of the portions just a little and it will stretch to feed everyone with no seconds or leftovers. When did your crew get this large?"
Tug said, "Well it seems to grow about every trip that we make it seems like the word has gotten out that the food is good and now we are getting more money at the same time. So, it seems like more sailors want to ship off with us making the work easier for everyone except for me."
Gina couldn't help but giggle and smile knowing that he was cooking so well that it was drawing in more men making him have to cook more. Gina thought that he would love it if he was getting paid for every meal that he made. In a way, he was since the company was sharing the profits that they were making with the crew.
Gina started hearing some murmurs among the men about her and the others. When they had brought up the topic of the missing girl posters and the huge reward that was being offered for the girls. She heard that the reward would set them up for a long time. She immediately heard the anger in the voices of the others. They told the story of how the posters were just a trap for the girls. So that they could steal the company out from under them and make them slaves.
Gina couldn't help but have tears run down her cheek. As she overheard her story being told, and the way that the sailors were talking about how they wanted to protect them all. At first, Gina thought that they might be in trouble with the part of the crew that was new to them, not knowing anything but now she was sure that she had nothing to fear from any of them.
Will came into the room looking for the food for the captain's table. He was immediately distressed when he saw the tears running down Gina's cheeks. He gave a stern look at Tug thinking that it was him that had upset Gina. With a scared look on his face, Tug gave him a look of what did I do? Before Will could say anything, Gina wiped the tears away and said how touched she was by the way that the men felt about them. She explained how she had heard them, and it just brought back so many wonderful feelings.
Gina looked up at Will and he saw the true pain that was still in her that she had been burying and hiding away. It was almost enough to bring tears out in him. He wanted to hug her, and if they had been alone, he would have. But there was no way that he could show that kind of emotion where the men could see him.
Gina did not realize that she was still hurting that badly. She had pushed it all away not wanting to show that she was so fragile. With everything that kept happening now, it seemed like no matter where she turned, they were throwing it up in her face, and not giving her any choice but to deal with the emotions of it all.
Will just stood there watching as Gina tried hard to get herself back together. He was unsure what he could do to help the girl, so he just stood there and gave her the time that she needed.
Gina wiped the tears away again, took a deep breath, and got a grip on her emotions. She smiled up at Will letting him know that she was really okay.
Will saw the smile and knew that she would be okay. So, he asked, "Are you ready to come to the captain's table to be with the others?"
Gina gave him a nod and pointed at the plates that she had personally gotten together for the captain's table.
Gina gave Tug a nod as she looked at all the other plates that he had prepared thinking that he had done as well plating the dishes as she had.
Tug gave her a smile seeing that he had pleased her. He gave her a nod in respect as they gathered all the plates for the table. Will walked with her silently as all the men in line ogled the plates as they passed by each man licking his lips just waiting to get a taste of the food.
Gina saw they were practically drooling over the food, and she couldn't help but smile. It gave her great pride to be able to turn out food so well-liked as this. It almost made her want to wave the plates under their noses just so that they would get a better smell and want it all the more. She could never tease someone like that but the thought of doing it did make her smile all the more.
Will could tell what she was thinking and wanting to do. All he could do was shake his head and smile under his breath. Not wanting to take off the serious look in front of the men.
Gina looked up at Will and saw him trying to hide the smile that was trying to form on his face, and it made her giggle all the more.
That just made Will try all the harder not to show that he was smiling on the inside. That was one thing that Will had never expected to happen. It was that anytime he was around these two girls it made him miss his home and his own girls. Not that they acted the same or looked anything like them but deep down inside he could feel that they were alike.
Gina stumbled, but she did not fall or even drop any plates. But it was close as it took her a second to regain her balance and maintain the plates in her arms. She looked back at the floor to see just what she had tripped on and did not see anything. She was unsure just how she had stumbled, but there was no time to look closely. The food was cooling, and she knew that everyone would be hungry and ready to eat.
When they got close someone opened the door for them so they could bring in all the plates.
As they entered the room Gina couldn't help but laugh when she saw that Katie and Mia had dressed like her. Even though they were both sleeping and it was dark when she dressed. There was no way that they could have seen her. They had to have guessed which one she had put on or went through her things when they got up to see which one was missing.