Steve Rogers had planned to pilot himself to the scooner that was at the center of Barton's accident and see if he could smooth the waters. The Archer had been worried he had hurt innocent animals and had spent most of the night pacing because of it. As he reached the dock he saw one of the women standing waiting for a water taxi.
"Good morning I was just coming out to see you." He smiled. Laurie raised an eyebrow and waited. "I was coming to apologise for Clint's behaviour yesterday and invite you and your crew to lunch today. Is your Captain onboard?
"Unfortunately the Captain is definitely not on board but it's ok you don't need to. We're putting The Intention into dock today so we're a bit busy" she replied not really wanting to get involved in a conversation with the good looking man standing next to her. As she waited her radio squeaked.
"Plague flags going up. A day?" Gracie's voice asked.
"Wreck him sister. Bring her into the dock when you're done." she replied shaking her head and smiling slightly as she put her radio away. There would be no work done on the boat today but it had meant to be just the two of them so it was nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow.
" Plauge flag?" Rogers asked faintly Laurie chuckled at his expression and took pity on him.
"It's an in joke - it means if the boats a rocking don't come knocking" she grinned and laughed even louder at his still puzzled expression. "Your friend and my sister do not want to be disturbed" she smirked patting his arm. headed back towards her bar.
"Well if you could tell me where I can find your Captain" Laurie raised an eyebrow and smirked, biting her bottom lip before replying.
"Captain. I am the Captain. That is how I know the boats commander isn't in deck. I'm stood here." She explained keeping her voice as calm as possible. What was it with tourists is thinking she couldn't handle a boat the size of her scooner? Steve Rogers groaned and laughed at himself placing a hand apologetically on his chest.
"I am so sorry for my assumption but you are very young to be in charge of a boat that big" Laurie groaned inwardly and lent forward conspiratorially before whispering her reply.
"Yeah? You know what's even worse? I own the bloody thing" and with that she turned in her heel to walk away.
"If you're not busy would you like to join. me for breakfast?" Rogers quickly stepped into her path and Laurie looked up at him. Gracie was always suggesting she should try new things maybe she needed to be a bit more of a risk taker so Laurie smiled and just nodded, following him back down the dock thinking it might be interesting to hear what he had to say. The fact he was tall, blonde, Broad shouldered and very good looking had nothing to do with it at all she told herself. He was of course staying at the large villa that had been rented out to the noisy group of Americans. Smiling she greeted the Villas cat and absently went to the cat food and dropped a measure into her bowl.
"You been here before?" He asked and Laurie just nodded and accepted a cup of coffee as he sat down at the kitchen bar.
"Spoons are in the second drawer" she advised him watching him making the coffee. "Is there anything you guys need? Has housekeeping been behaving this season?" She queried.
"We're fine although I will be asking where they get this coffee from it's amazing. No we're fine the housekeeping are really good with us. I'm Steve Rogers and this Bucky Barnes. The one with the whiskey glass is Tony Stark." The handsome man smiled. The problem Laurie realised was he knew how good looking he was and could turn the charm on when he wanted. Laurie noted the other man and ignored the grin on his face as he nodded his hello.
"The coffee is roasted on the island and we produce such a small amount that we don't sell it anywhere else."
"I am sorry I didn't see you go in the water. Barton said it was really funny" A small bouncy teenager shouted and Laurie bit her lip. "I probably shouldn't have said that" he added lamely.
"No the funny part was the look on the people around me a faces when they doing CPR" Laurie smiled back sharply and put down her coffee. "And on that note I have to head to work."
"But I thought you couldn't go back to the boat?" Steve raised an eyebrow and Laurie smiled slightly waspishly.
"I've an office behind the beach bar. May I suggest you tidy up before you leave - the landlords a real bitch." Laurie stood and headed for the door nodding her goodbye and was half way down the garden path towards the beach before Steve caught up with her.
"Peter didn't mean anything by it" he apologised moving in front of her "he's just a teenager please come back and join us." Rogers smiled invitingly he had seen the look in Buckys face and knew he needed to get these two in a room together.
"I'm sorry unfortunately I do have work to do."
"But how will you get there, there's no boats on this beach" Laurie just grinned and used her thumb print to open the board store and pulled out a paddle board "oh we're not supposed to use those" he began causing Laurie to laugh. He still hadn't got her hints about the houses ownership. Smiling she shook her head and began closing it. "How did you?" He began and she grinned as he realised "ohh you know the owner"
"Steve. I am the owner."she explained more patiently than she was actually feeling with a slight shake of her head. "This estate, the scooner and the bar you were in last night are all mine. The rest of the island belongs to my sister who is currently entertaining your friend on said boat. Although why she couldn't just take him back to her apartment I have no idea." As she spoke Laurie quickly plaited her hair and headed to the sea.
"Can I come with you?" He asked and on impulse Laurie paused to reopen the locker and motioned to the other board.
"I need to check the pups so why not".
Steve stroked through the water with Laurie slightly laughing but encouraging him as he tried to keep his balance. As they rounded the peninsula and into the neighbouring bay. He had only fallen in twice so she was slightly impressed.
"You're doing really well" she encouraged enjoying the sight of him on the board in just his swimming trunks. For a moment he was stunned by just how beautiful the almost glass like water was. The curvy long dirty blonde haired woman in front of him just added to the view in his opinion. Curiously he watched her paddling noting the glimpses of a tattoo on her side. Something he'd like to see more of.
Laurie anchored her paddle to the board and just dived into the water swimming away from him and her board following. He chose to stay upright and just followed her braking as she had taught him when three large mammals sped past him surrounding her. His anxiety that she was being attacked was stopped by the sounds of her laughing as the round faced dolphins headed towards him staring up at him curiously. Laurie reached onto her board and pulled a large weight into the sea with a flag attached to it and unhitched herself and began swimming rapidly away with the Dolphins trying to catch her as she spent her time avoiding touching them as they gambolled around her. For a few moments it looked like they were dancing around her and as quickly as they had appeared they were gone and she hauled herself out of the water offering Steve the end of her paddle to keep their boards together.
"Well that looked fun" He smiled and she nodded.
"They are wild animals and they can unintentionally hurt swimmers, unless you know what your doing it's a bit like walking through a herd of cattle one always try and push you over. It's curiosity that's all that brings them into contact with humans. We try to discourage people from swimming with them, but I needed to do some checks". Pulling a small scanner from her pocket she began examining its readings.
"Whilst I was in the water this checked their life signs for stress and did some calculations on how they are growing. Three young bucks at play. One looks like he's been in a fight but that's probably just their matriarch establishing dominance. I'll keep an eye on it but at the moment it's nothing to worry about." Steve watched her smiling and looking out to sea.
"How rare are they?" Looking back at him Laurie sighed and lowered her head.
"They'll be extinct in ten years and that's a good estimate. Because of the industrialisation of the area, their very specific home range will not be able to support them. We also have a slight problem with poachers. But I don't intend to make it easy for them as long as I can I'll be on these magnificent beasts side." Swallowing Laurie stood up and began paddling in the direction she had come from. Pausing for a moment to look out to sea after the dolphins he sighed and followed her into shore.
