Flashback...

"Hey, Sully..."

"Yeah?"

"Please don't go..." Debra, the recently-divorced single mother stood across from David in her kitchen. They were alone in the galley style kitchen, watching him finish his cup of coffee she'd brewed especially for him.

He tossed her a thoughtful look, then slowly a smile formed on his lips. "Hey, what's with you?" he jibed.

With her heart throbbing away a mile a minute, she came to him and patiently wormed her way into his lap. Wreathing her arms around his neck, she softly said with loving, pleading eyes, "I've got this real bad feeling about this trip. Like if you go, I'll never see you again. I can't shake it, Sully. You know me, not some silly, superstitious woman...but, this is different. It's like the sea's calling to me, saying it's about to boil over."

"What!" Sully cried, giving her a pointed, wild look. "Do you hear yourself, Babe. Y'sound off your nut. The sea boil over? That's crazy." Good-naturedly, he patted the side of her rump.

"I am making sense. You-no wait, it wasn't you. It was Ethel. 'The Grand Banks in October is no joke.' Her words; not mine."

Scoffing, Sully replied, "Nobody's ever said they were. The only reason I'm willing to chance the Grand Banks is I need-no! We need the money." He kissed her shoulder and came up grinning, seeing his soft soap wasn't making a dent in her reservations. "I'll be careful. I swear I will. It's gonna be a slammer, and we'll be rollin' in so much dough, we'll stuff it away in the mattress you just bought in Ames.

"I wish you'd take me seriously," Debra complained, pouting.

"I do take you seriously. You seriously want me to hang around here and be flat broke. Babe, I gotta go. I gotta make some real money, for a change. I promise, when I get back, you, little Dale and me are gonna celebrate. The biggest bash you've ever had. You deserve one, and more. So much more."

If this town only knew just how loveable and responsible David 'Sully' Sullivan truly was. All their belittling talk, their constantly putting him down, would cease.

"Sully..." Debra kissed his weather-toughened cheek and sighed. "You'd better come home to me, safe and sound." She hesitated, then kissed him on the lips, which he deepened.

Dragging his mouth away from hers so his lips were inches from hers, and sounding groggy, as if he'd just been carousing too long at The Crow's Nest, he said, "Lady, I love you so much. I don't deserve you. I'm glad you never turned me away."

"I never did because you're a good man."

"I made an enemy of Murph," Sully admitted with a long face.

Debra didn't share his opinion. "No, not you. Me. I made him my enemy 'cause I cheated on him."

"I tempted you."

"I gave into temptation. I'm not proud of what I did to my marriage, but Dale wasn't faithful either." She looked solemnly into Sully's roguish face, pinching his nose gently. "Promise me you won't pick fights with him aboard the boat."

Sully chuckled. "I promise, but you'd better make Murph promise the same thing. When he sees me, he sees red. When I see him, it makes me mad 'cause he should've treated you better."

Sternly, Debra said, "Don't fight with him on the boat, Sully."

"Oh, okay, okay." But he couldn't help having his doubts. If there were a contest between the two which was the more hotheaded, it'd be tie. Seeing what time it was, Sully downed the last of his coffee, set the cup down and squeezed Debra as tightly as he could until she begged for mercy.

When she laughed against the side of his neck, she murmured, "One last time...don't go. Please."

Sully breathed, "Wanna come with?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure. I'd make a terrible swordfish long-liner. And I can see, and hear it now. You and Murph with me in the middle in a constant tug-of-war. No thank you. I'll stay here, at home, being the reliable, caring mother I need to be."

"Yes...you...are..." he agreed and wrapped his arms around her, anchoring Debra in his possessive embrace.

She tangled her hands in his long, wild hair and planted kisses in the strands.

They stood up from the short-back kitchen chair as one and they ambled into the cozy living room. Sully took up his gear, tightly packed into his backpack and walked with Debra to the front door with his free arm around her.

"Sully...I..." The look she wore puzzled Sully, but he knew that if she had something to say, she'd say it. "I..."

"You?"

Not now. Not like this...crossed her mind.

She smiled for a long time, focusing all of her attention on him. "Hurry home. I'll be thinking about you day and night until you come back. Safe, sound, my Sully."

He let the backpack drop, pulled her into his arms, squeezed her tightly, then picked her up to whirl around with her giggling in his powerful arms.

"We'll bring home a boatload of fish, set the market and be set for the winter," he promised.

"Just come back to me. That's all I ask."

Slinging his backpack over his right shoulder, he assured, "I will. You know I will."

"Bye, Sully. See ya."

"Yeah, Deb, see ya. Bye..."

She watched him take off, walking his 'tough guy' walk down the block until he disappeared around the corner, just a block away from the commercial docks. She'd nearly told him, nearly. Why hadn't she? He deserved to know, but she couldn't tell him. Telling him would've seemed rushed, and her news was too important, too life-altering. She'd tell him...when he got back. Of course she would.

But, when she thought what if he didn't make it back, she went running for the phone. Surely he'd arrived at The Crow's Nest by now. She dialed the number and when Ethel picked up, Debra asked, "Did Sully come in? I've gotta speak to him. It's really important."

"Sure. He just walked in." Her voice boomed in the bar where the crew of the Andrea Gale congregated. "Hey, Sully! Telephone!"

"Hey, Babe, what's up?" He stopped talking to her and yelled at the guys he was playing pool with, "Yo, it's still my shot! Nobody move those balls!" Speaking to Debra again, he said, "Yeah, Deb, what is it?"

"Sully, I should've told you before you left the house."

"Tell me what?"

"I'm...I'm..."

She sighed, and he snuck in again, "You?"

"I'm pregnant..."

"Deb!"

"I know. Crazy, huh."

Sully laughed. "No, it's not crazy, Babe! It's wonderful! A girl, or a boy?"

"Don't know that yet. It's too early. I'm only a few weeks."

"This is awesome! And know what else it is?"

"No. What?"

"We're getting married. Marry me."

"Marry you? Sully, do you mean it?"

"You know me. If I didn't, I wouldn't ask. I mean it like I mean you're the only woman for me, Deb."

"Sully, I will. I'll marry you."

"As soon as I get back, we do it."

"Yeah, Sully, we will."

"Hey, Babe, I gotta go. Billy's callin'. See ya. Love ya!"

"I love you too, Sully, so much. Be safe."

Sending her a kiss over the phone, he guaranteed, "Love you too. Don't worry. I will."