Kris thought she was dying. Absolutely dying. That was the only explanation for what she was feeling at this moment. The room was spinning wildly out of control if she moved her head for one second, and every single thing inside her body was trying it's hardest to come out. Yup, she was dying.

Of course, she was only sea sick, but it was the worst thing she had ever felt in her whole life. Sleep had been kind to her - she only started feeling this way when she woke up. She wished she could go back to sleep again and make it all go away, but the realization that she had obligations hit her like a ton of bricks.

She reached up, pulling the curtain back from her tiny porthole window and saw that it was fully daylight outside. She wondered what time it was. Slowly, she turned her head towards the door to check her clock. The room spun out of control and she closed her eyes, willing the contents of her stomach to stay where they were. She breathed deeply, praying to God it would go away, and finally she opened her eyes. 10:42 am. Oh fuck. Not only had she slept in, but that also meant that the boys had to get their own breakfasts. Phil had to be beyond pissed. "God, he's going to fire me for sure now!" she thought. She closed her eyes again, and gave herself a pep-talk. She knew where the pills were, she just had to go get them. She opened her eyes and slowly sat up, swinging her legs over the bed. The nausea was horrible, but at least she was controlling it sort of. She was just about to stand up, when the boat took a deep roll, and so did her stomach. She just grabbed the garbage bucket in time before bleh.....everything came up. It was non-stop. Of course she felt better having thrown up, but everything was still spinning. She stopped for a moment, reaching for the tissues with one hand, and the boat rolled again. BLEH......again she threw up.

"Welcome to the Bering Sea" said Phil from the doorway.

Kris looked up to see him standing there, him having just opened the door. She opened her mouth to apologize, but much to her horror, her stomach chose that moment to heave again, and she threw up once more into the bucket. Dear God, she wished that a hole would open up and swallow her. Not only did she feel like absolute shit, but her captain was watching every minute of it. She was completely and utterly humiliated. This was beyond worse.

Suddenly she felt a hand on the small of her back, rubbing small circles. She turned her head to the side to see that Phil had come to sit beside her on the bed. She wiped her mouth with the tissue and immediately started to apologize.

"I'm soo soo sorry.....I slept in.....and now I'm sick....oh God...." she said before heaving once again. Fortunately for her, there was nothing left in her stomach to come up, so she swallowed a few times and took some deep breaths to get herself under control. She felt the bucket being taken out of her hands, and she watched as Phil set it on the floor. He gently took her by the shoulders and helped her lay down again.

"Will you be ok for a few minutes?" he asked. Kris nodded, yes, and Phil smiled taking the bucket and leaving the room. Somewhere she heard water running, and soon Phil returned with the bucket, this time with a plastic bag in it, and a glass of water with a couple of motion sickness pills.

He smiled down at her as he sat on the edge of the bed. "You still ok? Or do you feel like you're going to throw up again?"

Kris wasn't as sick now that she had thrown her guts up, but she was beyond mortified. She didn't answer him, but instead started to cry. She couldn't help it - what must he think of her? She had taken this job to try and prove herself. A woman in a man's world, and she had failed miserably!

"Hey, don't cry" Phil said, shushing her and gently stroking her arm. "It's ok. We all get seasick from time to time. I know it sucks right now, but it will get better I promise, you should have seen Josh this morning. He still pukes on the first trip every year". He reached over and grabbed a tissue, gently holding it to her face and wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry" Kris said, between sobs, "I'm sorry I threw up...."

Phil chuckled softly. "I'm a dad. The boys have thrown up on me more than you can ever know!"

Kris chuckled, feeling a little less embarrassed, but still horrible. "I slept in. I didn't make breakfast...."

"That's ok" said Phil. "We kind of figured that you'd be sick this morning, so the boys made their own. They're not really working yet anyways. It takes a while to get to the grounds". He rubbed her arm a bit more, and helped her take the pills.

"Try to get some more sleep, it'll do you a world of good" he said as he stood. "I'm going to leave your door open so that I'll hear if you need me". He looked at her sternly, "And you call me if you get sick again, ok?"

Kris nodded, pulling the covers up, half afraid to move for the dizziness to start again. Phil looked at her a while longer, then smiled as he reached down one last time to brush her hair back from her forehead. After that, he turned and left.

Kris was left with mixed feelings. She still felt shitty, but now she felt something different. Phil had been so kind to her since she came on board, always looking out for her and this was no different. But it was different somehow. He seemed to be genuinely concerned for her. Almost like a father. But that's not what she wanted. She had been afraid to admit it to herself for fear of it interfering with her job, but what she wanted was Phil. He was quite a bit older than her, but he was sexy and hot in so many different ways. He was tough and full of authority, but he had also just proved that he was soft and gentle, too. Her mind began to drift as she remembered everything that had happened so far, in a different light. Was she missing some kind of signs? As Lisa seems to think? Or was he just caring for her like he would do for anyone else?

The pills began to take effect and she felt herself dozing off. She rolled onto her side, slowly, and got comfortable, drifting off to dreamland.

She had been dreaming about Phil, when her dream took her to a bed. She was lying with him, and she was upset about something or other and he was stroking her back to calm her. She liked how it felt, and wanted him to do more.

"Phil......" she said in her dream.

"What?" asked Phil.

Kris was in that state of half asleep and half awake. She saw herself lying on the bed with Phil stroking her back, and she saw herself call out to him, but in her dream, he hadn't spoken. She woke up a bit more, and realized there was a REAL hand rubbing her back.

"Kris? Are you ok?" Phil asked. Kris rolled over fast and saw that the real Phil was sitting there, doing exactly as she had dreamed. Her eyes went wide.

Phil looked at her concerned. " Are you ok?" he asked again. "You called out to me. I thought you were going to be sick again".

Kris blushed. Oh my God, she had actually said it out loud!! "Ummm, I.......I thought I was going to....." she said, trying to cover it up.

Phil eyed her for a moment, then smiled. "Looks like you're feeling a bit better. You think you might be up for some soup, or crackers?"

Kris's stomach rolled at the thought of food, but she knew it was important to put something in it. "Maybe.....a cracker".

Phil laughed. "Well, I'll get you some soup, just to be safe". He stood and headed out to the galley. Kris shook herself fully awake and berated herself for having called out to him. "Get a grip, girl!" she thought to herself. She shifted her position so that she was sitting up when she heard footsteps coming down the hall.

Phil came back into the room carrying a tray. "For you, madam" he said in his best french waiter accent. Kris had to smile.

"Voila!" he said, setting it down on her lap. "Chicken soup a la.....Campbells".

Kris laughed. Who knew he had such a sense of humour!! "Thanks" she said. She picked up the spoon and took up a small amount. As soon as it got close enough to her nose, however, she felt a big wave of nausea. Phil must have noticed.

"There's nothing in your stomach" he said. "Once you have a few mouthfuls it will go away"

Kris hoped and prayed he was right, and she swallowed the first spoonful. It was good. Phil watched her the whole time, making sure she was ok. After about four or five bites, Kris's colour came back to her cheeks and she was making good progress. Phil was pleased with her and left her to the rest of her lunch, leaving only to help the guys clean up. He returned about 20 minutes later to find she had cleaned her bowl.

"Good girl!" he said as he gathered up her dishes. "You feel better now?"

Kris nodded. "Yes, but I still feel so bad that I'm not out there doing my job".

"Don't worry about it" answered Phil. "By the time you get better, we'll be ready for you. Until then, the guys can take care of themselves". He handed her another pill and told her it should clear everything up and by morning she'd be perfect.

Again, he got her all snuggled in and told her have a good night's rest. He stood and picked up the dishes, then turned back to the bed. He smiled, and then bent down kissing her forehead lightly. Kris was shocked. She hadn't been expecting that at all!

Phil pulled back. "Goodnight" He turned to leave, stopping at the door. "And call me if you need me".

Kris smiled and said goodnight back to him. With that, Phil left, turning off the hall light so that she could sleep. Kris stared at the ceiling reliving the feeling of his lips on her face. God, what did THAT mean??? She remembered his last words to her, something that he had said twice now......he told her to call him if she needed him. She began to wonder......was he just being the good captain? Or was he somehow telling her that he was hoping she would................