Authors' Note: This story is being co-written by two people, so POV and style will vary from chapter to chapter and possibly even within chapters. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: We don't own anything other than our imaginations.

October 2007

"You're more full of shit than a fucking outhouse," I said as I set my empty beer bottle on the table and signaled the waitress to bring another round.

"Anyone ever tell you that you've got a mouth like a sailor, young lady," Wild Bill chuckled, draining his own drink.

"What are you gonna do, Dad," I chuckled, "ground me? Then you'd have to go find and break in a new deck boss and the season opens in three days."

"Just because you're not my biological kid doesn't mean that I won't kick your smart little ass," he growled playfully.

"If he's kicking you off the Kodiak," Phil Harris said, sitting down at our table, "I'll take ya. I need someone to whip my boys into shape!"

"Those boys wouldn't know what hit 'em," Johnathan hissed.

"Yeah," Andy chimed in, "we don't call her Black Betty for nothing!"

We were all having a good time, drinking and laughing, and telling stories; determined to enjoy our last few nights on dry land. I was more than a few drinks in, and in the middle of calling Sig Hansen out on some bullshit fish story, so I didn't see the woman enter the bar, but I certainly noticed when I heard her ask the waitress, "Excuse me, but do you know where I can find Elizabeth Black?"

All the guys were staring at me, wondering what was going. No one ever called me Elizabeth. No one – not even Bill, who was the only father I'd ever known. I was wondering that myself. My half-sister, Talia, lived in Manhattan with her husband. We hadn't even know that the other existed until the man she called 'Daddy' and that I called 'The Sperm Donor' had up and died two years ago. We discovered each other's existence at his funeral. Neither of us had handled the discovery well. Fortunately we'd moved on from that, but we weren't exactly what you'd call close. We were more the 'send a card around the holidays and a superficial email every few months' types. She lived in a luxury apartment, ate in fancy restaurants, and wore designer clothes, so for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what would bring her to a rough and tumble fisherman's bar in one of the most harshest, remote corners of the world. Whatever it was, it had to be bad – and obviously whatever it was, I'd have her back. After all, she was my only living blood relative.

"Damn, check that out," Johnathan muttered, practically drooling.

"Shut it, John," I snapped, pushing back from the table and made my way across the room. "Two things," I hissed, "One: no one here calls me Elizabeth. They know me as 'Black Betty'. Two: What the fuck are you doing here? Are you okay?"

I hadn't seen my half sister since she had come out east for our Father's funeral. As if coming face to face for the first time in front of all those people hadn't gone badly enough, things only got worse as we spent the next few weeks trying to sort out his estate. It turns out his attorney was the only person who knew Elizabeth existed and under my dad's last wishes had brought her to New York to give her what was rightfully hers. I don't know if it was the shock, grief or just me being territorial over my father but she and I didn't have much urge to bond. In fact after she left, we never spoke again except for cards or emails…all of which seemed very obligatory. She had a very different life from mine and liked it that way. Her mom had met a man in Mexico who was a fisherman and Elizabeth was following in his footsteps. She spent most of her time in one of the most frozen corners of the world, on a boat, far away from the civilized world.

It was obvious she wasn't pleased to see me and I immediately regretted coming here. But it had been an act of desperation. "I uh…Eli left me…for his secretary…his 22 year old secretary."

"Oh…and…ew." Elizabeth curled her lip. "What a fucking scumbag." She stared at me for a moment still confused, "Talia, I'm real sorry to hear that but… Why are you here?"

"Because, I have nowhere else to go." I took a deep breath, "I put all my money and dad's money into his clinic and of course gave him control of it…I never had a pre-nup. I lost everything."

"I don't understand. What about your family?" Elizabeth had grabbed my arm and pulled me to a corner, clearly trying to avoid the prying eyes of a gruff looking bunch of men she had been sitting with.

"They won't help me because I won't do what they want." Tears began to form and I couldn't hold them back any longer. "He agreed to pay my bills and take care of me as long as we stayed married for the sake of his image…my family wants me to do it. I refuse to live a lie while he runs around with that shiksa so he can still make the society pages!"

Elizabeth gave me a hug, which she was clearly uncomfortable with. "Shit, that really sucks. But I think you did the right thing. No way should you put up with that bullshit! Fuck him!"

If there was one thing my sister and I had in common it was attitude. We were both fiercely independent and didn't let anyone tell us what to do. That's why I came here. I knew if anyone would be on my side it was her.

"Look," I began, "Eli's an asshole and I want to help you, but I'm leaving for king crab tomorrow morning and we'll be out for at least a couple of weeks. I'm gonna ask Jimmy, the guy that owns this place, to put you up in the apartment upstairs until I get back and we figure out what you're gonna do."

'Thanks," Talia sniffled, taking a sip of her beer. "I swear I'll pay you back as soon as I find a job."

"Annie told me earlier that she's quitting as soon as we all leave port. She's knocked up and doesn't want to be around all the smoke any more," I gestured at the haze hanging over the entire Elbow Room. "If you're not opposed to it, I'm guessing Jimmy'll take you on as his waitress/bartender. God knows he's getting too old to do it all on his own any more and he hates interviewing people."

"I can do that," she said, her eyes brightening a little. "I've kind of always wanted to own a bar...so I guess I should try working in one first."

"All right then," I said, standing up. "Let's go talk to Jimmy and get you settled upstairs."

"You're not going to introduce me to your friends, huh?" she asked, glancing over at the guys.

"I will when we get back," I promised. "And I'll warn you now that Johnathan, the big one with the dark hair and the beard, will hit on you."

"He's not bad looking," she muttered, "but I can tell he's trouble just by looking at him."