A/N: Wow! It's been a crazy few months since I finished Healing Wounds which just reached waaaay more than the like two hits I thought it would get haha This is my first Edgar story and I'm really excited about it! Sorry, again, for all the back story but if you read Healing Wounds you should have been warned about how much I adore mindless detail! Thanks for the support and for everyone who messaged me asking me when I was going to hurry my lazy ass up and put out another one so, this one is for you guys! Love you all!
Disclaimer: I do not own Deadliest Catch or the men that appear in the show. This is a complete work of fiction. However, Layla is an OC and her character, family, and backstory are of my own creation. Also, Rated M for a reason. Language, and massive smut in later chapters.
As always please R&R! OH! And in my story Edgar is sore as always, but IS NOT PLANNING TO RETIRE! (I wish that was the case in real life lol)
LAYLAPOV:
"You need a change of scenery, girls," Uncle Sig told Layla and her slightly older sister Jimi after the funeral was over. Layla and Jimi had just lost both of their parents within the last two months; Mom to cancer and now Dad to a car accident. 'Uncle Sig' as they sometimes called him had been friends with Mark, their father, since before they were born. Mark had worked with Sig on the docks for years, but injury demanded a job change for Mark and he left Dutch. Sig and Mark remained friends through the years, and when Layla called to tell him what happened he couldn't believe it. It was just so sudden.
"Ha, yea, that would be nice. Got somewhere in mind?" Layla would love to leave L.A., she needed a job that didn't involve fame anymore. Layla was a twentythree year old freshly retired pin-up model. It wasn't like she wasn't successful because: she was. It wasn't like she didn't make a lot of money because: she did. It was simply because it got harder and harder to hide the bruises from her, now, ex-boyfriend Shane. He was the new 'It Boy' in Hollywood and no one believed the things he did to her until Layla secretly recorded his last beating and went to the police. Of course, he made bail and is doing his best to deny everything to the press. Shane's restraining order hearing is in a just over a month, and time was dragging for Layla.
Layla snapped out of her day dream when Jimi lightly smacked her arm, "Layla, have you been listeing to anything Sig and I have been saying?"
Layla looked between the two of them, "Sorry, spaced out. What were you saying Uncle Sig?"
"Well, I suggested you girls come up to Dutch. I own some properties in town and I bought this old bookstore a few years ago but I haven't had the time to really work on it. It's got a two bedroom apartment upstairs and a full kitchen, the works," Sig explained to them as they walked out of the funeral home to his rental car.
Layla was getting that excited feeling in her stomach, "Wait, what are you suggesting? Jimi and I go up there and run an old bookstore for you? And you'd be like our boss and landlord?"
"Yes, dumbass, thats exactly what I'm suggesting," Sig laughed and unlocked his car.
"Oh my God, are you serious?" Layla jumped up and down as she hugged her 'Uncle'. "This is so cool! Dad would be so excited!"
The thought brought tears to Sig's eyes as he hugged both girls, "God, I miss your old man," he said as he let them go and got into his car. "You girls come by my hotel tomorrow morning and we'll lay it all out, okay?" They said their final goodbyes and left.
Layla was driving Jimi home and talking excitedly about moving to Alaska. Her mind was racing, the prospect of leaving L.A, modeling, poparazzi, Shane, and everything else behind was exhilarating. She looked over at her older sister Jimi, who looked annoyed. Heck, come to think of it, she always looked annoyed. "What's on your mind, Jim-bo?" Layla asked, finally breaking the silence.
"Don't call me that, it's bad enough our parents named me after a guy but Jim-bo makes me sound like a trucker," she snapped bitterly.
"Hey, it's not like they named you after some random guy, after Jimi Hendrix! Ha, you can't help it that Mom and Dad were big hippies," Layla laughed. It was true, Jimi was named after the legendary guitar player and Layla was the name of Dad's second favorite Eric Clapton song 'Layla', and that was simply because Mom wouldn't let him name her 'Bell Bottom Blues'.
"Whatever," Jimi replied, and then proceded to go on a rant, "I don't know, I'm just not as thrilled about Sig's plan as you are I guess. And I don't even know why you are excited about it! You are walking away from a once-in-a-lifetime dream career! You walk down the street and people fawn over you and yet you want to move to Alaska? Why? Because your mega-star boyfriend used to beat on you a little, get over yourself Layla," Jimi took a deep breath to calm herself down and stared out the passenger side window.
Layla's mouth was hanging open in shock at Jimi's rant. It took her a few minutes to process all she had said. Layla always knew Jimi was always a bit jealous of her, she thought she had it 'easy', but in reality Layla worked her ass off. "Ooohkay, first I'm excited because it's something new. Second, my 'dream career' will be here waiting for me if I want it when I'm ready to come back, everyone has assured me of that. And finally, 'beat on me a little'? Jimi, he beat the shit out of me so fuck you very much," Layla told her sister in a rush.
Jimi waited a full five minutes before replying, "I'm sorry, Layla," she reached over and put her hand on top of Layla's on the gear shifter. "I'm just nervous I guess," Jimi said as the car pulled up to her appartment. She leaned over and kissed her baby sister's cheek and got out of the car.
The next morning the girls met Sig in the dining room of his hotel. They layed out the plans and in two weeks Layla and Jimi would be flying to Dutch Harbor.
EDGARPOV:
"Damn'it Ed, do you have to drive like that?" his older brother Sig snapped at him as they turned a corner probably a bit sharper than they should have. Edgar chuckled and kept driving, "Shut up, I didn't have to pick your ass up from the airport ya know." Sig didn't reply but just kept muttering about 'his life flashing before his eyes'.
The brothers finally made it to the Northwestern, and in 'one piece' Edgar pointed out to Sig. "Christ, you are grumpier than you normally are Sigurd. Bad plane trip?"
"It's always a bad plane trip, Edgar. I'm just nervous for the girls to get here...I hate planes," Sig said as he climbed aboard his boat.
"I can't believe I've never met them. Mark and I were never close but I've known him for forever. What are they like?" Edgar asked, genuinly curious. He hadn't met anyone new in a long time.
"Uh, Jimi is the oldest, she's twentyfive and real athletic. She played college volleyball and went semi-pro for while but she got injured and it ended her career. And then Layla is twentythree and a model," Sig told him as they walked into the galley.
Edgar's ears perked up a bit, "A model? How is she going to be a model from Dutch?"
"Ok, correction: a retired model. Layla has had a rough couple months and just wanted to start something new. Uhh..the tabloids were following her around something terrible," Sig headed up to the wheelhouse with his younger brother hot on his heels.
"Tabloids, huh? She must be pretty famous," Edgar was getting more and more intrigued by the new women coming to town.
"Yea, Nina was always going on about going to L.A. to visit her and look into modeling but June wants her to finish school first, which suits me just fine," Sig sat down in his chair at the helm of the boat and sighed. "Ahh, my old friend," he said and he rubbed the arms of his chair fondly. Edgar shook his head and went down to the engine room to work on a few things.
LAYLAPOV:
"Just how much clothing do you own, Layla?" Jimi asked as they retrieved their luggage after they had finally landed. "Thank God Sig has a truck to haul all of this, because this is a tad ridiculous," she huffed as they lifted the last of Layla's suitcases from the revolving luggage claim.
"Haha, okay so I have a lot of clothes...and shoes...but you know heels are my guilty pleasure! And I got like a third of these clothes for free from jobs and sponsors and stuff," Layla explained blushing slightly. Jimi just shook her head and looked around for Sig, and found him walking towards them with another man who was blushing furiously.
Sig hugged them both, and introduced them to Jake Anderson, one of his deckhands. "Nina warned me about your wardrobe so I brought Junior for the manual labor," Sig laughed and clapped Jake on the shoulder. He didn't seem to mind, Layla liked him already, he seemed very gentle and shy.
"Actually, speaking of Nina, I sent her some of my clothes that I didn't think I would need anymore to lighten my luggage load," Layla explained to Sig.
He looked at her sharply, "What kind of clothes, young lady?"
Of course he would worry she gave her corsets and stripper boots. Layla laughed and kissed her 'Uncle' on the cheek, "Only the good kind, Uncle Sig!"
Jake continued blushing and finally said, "So, you're really Layla Jones, huh?" Layla laughed, he sounded like he thought Sig was pulling his leg when he told him who they were picking up at the airport.
"Yup, thats me," Layla said smiling.
"You are just as pretty in person as in your pictures," Jake said embarrased.
"Thank you, Jake, that's always nice to hear," she smiled and winked at him.
They headed out to the still warm truck and Layla groaned at the heat. It was near the of December and frigid. She and Jimi were used to the California tempertures, this might take some getting used to. "Oh my God, it's so friggin' cold! How warm does it get? Please tell me it's not always this cold!" Jimi asked, shivering.
Jake and Sig were laughing at them, "Yea, Opies are only two weeks away so it's going to be this cold for awhile. In the summer its not bad at all though, I promise," Sig expained.
It became very clear just how small Dutch Harbor was because the drive from the airport to the bookstore was very short.
Layla looked out her window at her new home and nearly squealed, it was beyond her expectations. The building itself was tall and the store was quite large, but not so large that two people couldn't manage it. Sig unlocked the door and led them inside, it smelled like books. Such a wonderful smell to Layla. Reading had always been a very large part of her life.
The grand tour was great, main store in front, pretty large kitchen in back with a staircase leading up to the appartment. When the girls luggage was finally inside and the tour was over Sig told the girls that they were going out to the bar tonight, to talk shop and celebrate, 'so head on over to the boat sometime after nine'. Layla was excited to meet everyone Sig and her Dad had always told her about.
EDGARPOV:
"JUNIOR!" Edgar yelled as he climbed out of the engine room. "JUNIOR!" Edgar yelled again, but instead of Jake coming around the corner it was Matt. "Where the hell is the Kid?" Edgar asked while rubbing his grease covered hands on a work cloth.
"Your brother took him to town to pick up those girls because you were busy. Ha, plus Jake wanted to see if Sig was telling the truth about 'Layla Jones'," Matt said in a mocking tone and rolled his eyes.
"What? That she's a model?" Edgar asked.
Matt looked at him for a moment and then said, "Come with me."
They walked to Jake and Edgar's stateroom, when they got there Matt reached over Jake's bunk where he had a calendar hanging up and handed it to Edgar. They both sat down on the edge of Edgars bunk, "Junior's pin-up calendar? What about it?" Edgar asked.
"Flip to February," Matt explained.
The picture was the side view of an extremely attractive woman with short-ish dark brown hair, leaning over with both hands and one knee propped up on the stool infront of her and the other very high heeled foot on the floor. She was wearing a red corset with white Cupid wings and silk ruffled panties, classic pin-up. She was beautiful. Edgar looked from the calendar to Matt and then back at the calendar, "This, is Layla Jones?" he asked. Matt simply nodded in return. "Haha, well shit, the guys are just gonna eat her alive," Edgar said, looking back at the picture again.
Edgar and Matt were sitting in the galley playing cards when Sig and Jake finally returned. "They arrive in one piece? What took ya so long?" Edgar asked, not looking up his poker hand.
"Yea, they made it just fine. We stayed to help them unload their luggage and show them around the building," Sig explained and then looked over at his brother, "Why are you so curious?"
Edgar rolled his eyes, "I'm not, I was just wondering why it took you so long to get back and approve whats on this list," Ed layed his cards down, and grabbed the list of things he needed from town for the engine room and gave it to Sig.
"Yea this all seems fine, I'll go grab my card," he said and headed up to the wheelhouse.
"Need some help in town, Ed?" Jake asked as he sat down at the table.
"Nah, I'll be alright Junior. Be back in a bit."
LAYLAPOV:
Layla was already sick of unloading her luggage, and didn't feel like going through the boxes of her possessions that had arrived a few days before she did. Layla flopped down on her bed, looked out her window and saw the sign for the bookstore hanging just below it. It was very dirty, you could barely see the letters. Layla quickly hopped up, excited to have a task to accomplish that didn't involve unpacking, changed out of her airplane clothes and headed outside. She found a large ladder out behind the store and took it outfront to take down the sign and clean it.
The sign was on two hooks and the left one was completely covered in ice. As Layla reached over to jiggle the ice off, the sleeve of her coat caught on the hook, ripped through the fabric and got stuck. "Well, shit," Layla muttered as she realized it wasn't going to come off easily.
"Need some help up there?" A mans voice called up to her. Layla looked down to see a very attractive man looking up at her, with a slightly amused look on his handsome face.
"Yea, help would be nice. You offering?" Layla asked, jiggling her arm, still trying to get free.
"Whoa! Stop, you're gonna tip the ladder over if you keep doing that," the mystery man said suddenly. Layla realized he was climbing up the ladder behind her and stopped when he reached the step just below hers. His back was snug against hers, Layla was shocked at how warm and comforting he was. Her breath caught in her throat as the man reached over and gently unhooked her torn sleeve from the sign, she could feel his breath on her neck. He paused momentarily as he moved back and Layla couldn't breath. "There ya go, Miss," the man finally said and started descending the ladder. When he reached the ground she descended the ladder also.
Layla turned to look at her rescuer face to face for the first time. She felt herself get butterflies, which had never happened to her before. 'Say something! You're being stupid', her brain telling her, and finally she spoke, "Thank you. I mighta been stuck for a while if you hadn't come along."
He smiled, "No problem. I'm Edgar Hansen, by the way," reaching out to shake her hand. "Oh!" Layla said surprised, "You're Sig's brother! Great to meet you, I'm Layla."
EDGARPOV:
'I'm Layla', her voice was soothing, Edgar could listen to her talk all day. He looked down and realized he was still holding her hand after he shook it. Layla laughed lightly and took her hand back. "It's great to meet you too. I knew your Dad a bit, sorry for your loss," Edgar said. They talked a bit more and Edgar couldn't shake that warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He'd never felt it before. 'She's only twentythree, ya creeper,' his brain told him.
"Well, I better get back. Sig is going to be wondering where the hell I am. You coming out to the bar tonight?" Edgar asked, genuinly interested.
"Yea, absolutely! I can't wait to meet all of you rowdy fisherman my Dad and Sig have been telling me stories about for years!" Layla laughed as Edgar helped her move the ladder back to behind the store.
"Ha! I wouldn't say that to them, you'll have the worst hangover of your life in the morning," Edgar chuckled at her. "Well, I'll see ya there then Layla," he smiled at her and walked away, looking over his should at her one last time before reaching his truck and he was surprised to see she was still looking at him. 'Oh, boy,' Edgar thought to himself and shook his head to try and clear it, 'this could be trouble,' he laughed silently to himself while driving back to the boat.
A/N: Ah! First chapter over! Please Review! Lots more chapters comin' at cha!
