Two dark figures proceeded somewhat unsteadily down the dock. They pair avoided the street lamps illuminating the wooden planks. The bundle they passed between each other looked like no more than a sea bag, containing clothes. If anyone had seen them they would have assumed they'd gone ashore to do laundry and had too many drinks waiting for the clothes to dry. But that wasn't it at all.

"Jump down first and then I'll hand her to you" said Zack Larson.

"Ok, but don't throw her, it's a long way down" said Nick McGlashan.

"I know" said Zack, shifting the body in his arms.

Nick scurried over the side of the boat and dropped noiselessly to the deck. He positioned himself under Zack and signaled for him to let go. Zack took a deep breath, said a prayer to the sea gods that this girl didn't split her head on the deck and let go. Nick shifted an inch to the side and caught her with careless ease. Zack hopped down on the deck and the pair hustled their bundle inside. They moved through the galley and narrow hallway then slipped into their stateroom. As far as they knew the others were still out in town getting shit faced.

"So now what?" asked Zack. "You wanted to bring her here, now what?"

"She's obviously been drugged, she can just sleep it off here and we can take her back to town when she wakes up" explained Nick.

"How long do you think we have before my dad comes back and is ready to drop lines and go?" asked Zack.

"We still have some prep to do, we have at least 14 hours" said Nick nonchalantly.

"How did this even happen?" asked Zack.

"Well, I didn't do it" said Nick. "She was sitting at the bar with some friends, I danced with her a couple of times, she went back and got her drink, we danced some more and she started to feel weird. Some random guy came up insisting he take her off my hands and I got a weird vibe. That's when I found you and we came back here."

"So...why did we come back here?" asked Zack. "We could have gotten her a hotel room, or given her to the Deadliest Catch guys to take care of."

"I like her and want her to know that I was keeping an eye out for her safety" said Nick, a hint of pride slipping into his voice.

"You think she's going to wake up on a crab boat in a filthy state room that smells like one part feet and two parts ass and think you are her hero?" said Zack incredulously. "We need to take her back where we found her before they send out a search party and we get our asses thrown in jail."

"Dude, relax" said Nick. "She's fine here, she has a phone and can send a note to her friends or parents or whoever when she wakes up."

The sound of pounding feet startled the boys and they quickly found a blanket to the throw over the prone body on the bed.

"Hey Zack!" boomed Captain Wild Bill's voice. "You here?"

The door swung open and both Zack and Nick slid together shielding the bed from the captain.

"We're here, what's up" said Zack, attempting to keep the panic out of his voice.

"We have some bait to load, I want to get it done tonight" said Wild Bill.

"Roger" said Zack, "I'll get right on that."

"And double check we have everything we could possibly need in case something breaks while we're out at sea" said Wild Bill. "I don't want to come back to town until the tanks are loaded."

The door slammed closed and both boys let out the breaths they'd been holding.

"She's got to go" said Zack.

"She's passed out" said Nick. "What are we going to do, carry her out again? Your dad is in the wheelhouse I can hear him up there, he's going to notice an unconscious, half naked girl being hoisted over the rail and onto the dock. He may even have a few questions about it."

Zack swiped his hand over his face, wondering why he'd chosen to be a crab fisherman instead of perhaps anything else. He moved the blanket back and looked at the sleeping girl. For the first time he noticed what she was wearing. The dress was a short lace number and it had ridden up showing a tiny sliver of pink underwear. He recovered her with the blanket and searched the room for her purse. He found it on the floor next to the door and slipped it under the pillow.

"We have to go load that bait" said Zack.

"We can't leave her here by herself, she might wake up and get scared" said Nick.

"I can't load the bait by myself" said Zack.

Nick was caught between a rock and a hard place, but if he helped Zack then the bait would be done faster and he could return to sleeping beauty.

The bait boxes swung over the deck on pallets, being guided down by long trailer ropes. Once they landed the bait brigade started to toss them to the freezer in the bow of the boat. All four crew members were back on board and the familiar routine had everyone working on auto-pilot. With the last of the bait on the boat all that was left was dumping the fresh cod into the bait bin and dropping lines.

"Who's cooking this trip?" asked Myles.

"I think it's Zack's turn" said Nick.

"Whatever, I don't mind" said Zack.

The guys joked around Zack's cooking ability and how he'd make someone a nice house husband someday. The moment he and Nick heard that comment they remembered the sleeping girl in their bunk.

"Um, guys I'm going to check the galley and make sure I'm not missing anything for my famous spaghetti" said Zack.

Nick was about to follow him when he was stopped by Bill's voice over the hailer.

"Let's get out of dodge, get ready to throw lines" said Bill.

"Oh shit" said Nick, his voice almost a whisper.

"What's up boss?" asked Myles.

"Oh, you know the same shit, different day" said Nick. "I forgot to do something, that needs to be done before we leave town."

Zack slipped out of his boots and set them under his rain gear in the hallway. He walked slowly towards his stateroom, mentally going over all the different ways they could get this girl off the boat without his dad noticing. His mind was miles away when he literally ran into his dad.

"Hey, earth to Zack" said Bill, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Oh shit!" exclaimed Zack.

"Sorry buddy, didn't mean to scare you. But we need to go over the engine room stuff" said Bill.

"Yeah, just let me get something out of my room" said Zack.

"Fine, we can talk while you get it" said Bill.

"Nah, I don't need it for what we're doing" said Zack, turning quickly.

The pair walked towards the engine room. Zack passed Nick walking into the galley. The boys shared what could only be called a desperate psychic conversation both trying to convey to the other one what needed to be done.

Hours later the boat slipped away from the dock, Zack and Nick sat next to each other in the galley, the crew was having a quick meal before they racked up for the long ride to the fishing grounds.

"So we're cool" said Nick.

"Yeah, totally" said Zack.

The meal was finished and the guys washed the dishes while the other members of the crew went to bed. Zack went up to see if his dad wanted anything before he went to bed.

In the wheelhouse, Bill consulted the charts and the plotter as he decided where to drop his pots. It was unseasonably warm for King season and the window in the wheelhouse was open, allowing the cool sea air to swirl around the room.

"Dad, do you need anything?" asked Zack.

"Do you have something to tell me?" asked Bill.

"Um, what?!" replied Zack, his heartbeat speeding painfully in his chest. "No."

"Ok" said Bill, his voice nonchalant.

"Why?" asked Zack, his stomach sinking.

"No reason, just thought you'd like to get something off your chest" said Bill.

"I don't have anything on there to get off" said Zack.

"Well have a nice nap, I'll let you guys know when we get to the grounds" said Bill.

Zack eyed him suspiciously for a moment then turned around and headed down the stairs. Once he was out of sight Bill laughed out loud and turned to the camera.

"Still got it!" he said triumphantly. "I can still freak my kid out with one little sentence."

He turned back to the window and watched the Cape Caution slowly stretch it's way across the Bearing Sea.

Zack walked slowly back to his stateroom his mind swirling with what his dad could possibly know. The girl was gone, Nick had seen to that, the engine was in perfect working order and all the necessary parts for a Bearing Sea breakdown were on the boat. He had no idea what his dad was talking about.

"He's probably just fucking with me" said Zack to himself.

He waved the camera guy away and walked into his room.

The moment Zack opened the door he knew something was wrong. Nick was holding his hand over the mouth of the girl they'd "saved" in Dutch Harbor. Zack reached out to steady himself as the world tipped onto it's side and he felt the corners of his vision start to blacken. Nick starred at him with wide eyes.

"I thought you'd taken care of this" they both said simultaneously.

"What are you talking about" they said together again.

The girl wrenched Nick's hand away from her mouth and backed into the corner of the bunk.

"You said she was gone, that you'd gotten her off the boat" said Zack.

"When did I say that?" asked Nick. "You left the deck to get her off the boat. At the table I asked if it was all cool, you said yes."

"I didn't get a chance to take her, my dad wanted to go over the repair stuff" said Zack. "I tried to tell you when we passed each other in the hallway."

"Tell me how?" said Nick, his voice rising. "Through what? Eyebrow movements?"

"I don't know, I would have thought you'd come in here at some point and realize she was still here" retorted Zack.

"Well obviously I didn't and now she's still here and we are nowhere near Dutch Harbor" said Nick.

At that moment the girl reached over, grabbed the trash can in the room and vomited into it. The sound of retching filled the room. Nick and Zack both looked up to the ceiling and sighed. They were well and truly fucked.

"Let's get her some water and crackers" said Nick.

"I have some here" said Zack, sifting through the shelf next to his bed.

Nick handed the girl the crackers and water.

"Little sips of the water" said Nick. "If you drink it too fast it will just come back up."

"My head hurts" said the girl.

"Yeah, it probably would" said Nick. "Someone put something in your drink at the bar, you were really out of it and eventually just passed out."

The girl just looked confused.

"He didn't put anything in your drink, we didn't" said Zack, attempting to explain the situation. "We, he wanted to make sure you were safe, some weird guy was trying to take you somewhere. We brought you back here to keep you safe."

The girl raised her eyebrow and took another sip of water.

"I know it sounds crazy" said Nick, "But at the time it made perfect sense."

"Your phone is right there in your purse" said Zack.

The girl pulled the purse out from under the pillow and dug out her phone. She pressed the button and the phone came to life. The small icon in the corner told her it was searching for a network connection. She set the phone on the bed and ate a few bites of cracker, her eyes never leaving the connection icon. After she'd finished the cracker and more water it became increasingly obvious that there was no service.

"It's not working" she said.

"Yeah, well you're in the middle of the Bearing Sea, so we don't get really good cell service out here" said Nick.

"I'm where?" said the girl.

"You're on the fishing vessel Cape Caution" said Zack, his voice almost proud.

The girl bent over the bed and deposited the crackers and water she'd just consumed into the trashcan.

Nick reached over and collected her hair, moving it into a makeshift ponytail at the base of her neck.

"I'm sorry, this wasn't my intention at all" he explained. "I just really liked hanging out with you and that guy was giving me the creeps and I knew you'd be safe here. Anyway my name is Nick, in case you forgot and this is Zack."

"I'm Celeste" said the girl, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "Let me get this straight, you saw someone drug me, so you decided to take me back to this boat and one or both of you were suppose to get me off this boat before it left and neither of you did, so now I'm somewhere in the Bearing Sea."

"Yeah, basically" said Nick.

"Celeste is a really pretty name" said Zack.

Both Celeste and Nick starred at him.

"I mean, I think it's a pretty name" said Zack. "You may not like it, I mean I don't really like Zack, but it's who I am..."

Zack trailed off and then sat down on the floor.

"Thank you" said Celeste. "My astronomer parents named me."

"That's cool" said Nick. "My dad named me after shaving."

"That is the stupidest joke I've ever heard" said Celeste, laughing weakly.

"But it made you laugh so it wasn't a complete waste of time" said Nick.

"Very true" said Celeste with a shiver.

"I have a sweatshirt you can borrow, it can get kind of cold in here" said Zack.

He dug through his collection of hoodies and selected the nicest one. He handed it to Celeste who accepted it gratefully and slipped it over her head.

"It's a little big" she said, showing the sleeves spilling over her hands. "But it's fine, thanks."

"Are you hungry or do you need anything?" asked Nick.

"No, I just want to sleep, my head hurts a lot" said Celeste, her blinking slowing.

"It's probably the drugs, they are still working through your system" explained Nick.

"For someone who didn't drug me, you seem to know a lot about it" said Celeste.

"I watch a lot of tv" said Nick.

Celeste didn't hear the last comment because she'd curled herself up into the bunk, pulling Nick slightly as she did. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling the blanket over both of them.

"What the fuck do you think your doing?" hissed Zack.

"She's tired and not feeling good" said Nick. "I'm comforting her."

"She can't be here!" said Zack.

"Well unless you have a time machine, that ship has sailed" said Nick, inhaling deeply.

"Are you smelling her hair!?" said Zack.

"She smells really really good" said Nick. "Take a sniff, it's sort of flowery."

"I don't want to smell her" said Zack. "What are we going to do with her?"

"We'll just keep her hidden until we offload and then get her back to town" said Nick. "We can't hide her in here" said Zack. "She's not a kitten you found on the street, she's a person. You don't think someone is going to be looking for her? A job, her friends, her parents, the police?" said Zack, his voice rising.

"You better keep it down before the camera guy hears" said Nick sagely. "They love a good argument."

"We can't hide her from the camera guys, they are everywhere" said Zack.

"Well then just tell your dad and maybe he will take her back to Dutch now" said Nick.

"I'm not telling my dad" said Zack. "You tell him, this was your idea."

"Yeah, but you should have talked me out of it" said Nick. "So really it's your fault."

"You're fucking crazy, I did try to talk you out of it" said Zack. "He can't blame me, this is totally not my fault."

"You could have walked away instead of dropping her onto the deck and carrying her into the room" said Nick.

"I fucking hate you" said Zack, his voice heavy with defeat.

"Let's get some sleep and we can figure it out when she wakes up" said Nick.

"Yeah" mumbled Zack, "maybe she will disappear because this has so be some sort of horrible nightmare."