Stretched out on his side, Brian absently wiped the dried tears from his eyes and slowly opened his eyes. Both Jake and Sig were motionless save the rise and fall of their chests; now that Sig's fevered Norwegian ramblings were over, Brian almost wished that he would start up again. The sickly, wet wheezing coming from the two prone men had his skin crawling with goosebumps.
He lay in Sig's bunk, racking his brain for what woke him from his doze. His crewmate and skipper's labored breathing had been that way for several hours, and Matt had taken over the helm on their limp back to safe harbor. Studying the almost peaceful expressions on the unconscious men's faces, he flinched as Matt suddenly opened the door. Matt shook his head at Brian's haunted look before stepping aside for the two coast guard medics. One approached Brian, who slowly sat up.
"I'm fine. My uncle…he's not doing good. Jake too. I think…" Swallowing hard, Brian squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden tears.
"I think I get it. We'll take care of them." Nodding at the medic's gentle words, Brian struggled to compose himself and watch as Sig was carried out, followed shortly by Jake. Brian sat alone in the silence a moment before rising slowly and descending into the galley. Matt joined him with a stuffed duffle bag.
"Get your coat on, you're going with them to the hospital."
"What about Dad and Norman and you?" Brian asked as he stiffly shrugged into his coat and accepted his duffle. Matt shook his head and lifted his shoulder uncertainly.
"I'll stay here with the boat. The fleet is looking for Edgar and Norman. Either them or the coast guard'll tell me when they find them. You'll be the first I call when I find out anything." Matt extended his hand and Brian grasped it tightly; pulling the teen into a brief hug, he sniffled and stepped back.
"Go. Call me when you get there," he said gruffly. Brian disappeared out the ready room hatch. All was silent in the boat as Matt slowly climbed the stairs to wheelhouse.
Tucking neat blonde curls into the clip, Evelynn swallowed hard and lowered a hand to her stomach. Kelly glanced at her friend's reflection in the mirror. Evelynn smiled and smoothed nervous hands over the front of her dress.
"I can't believe it's almost been four months."
"I know. You look great though. I wish I could be as pretty as you are when I'm pregnant." Kelly shyly returned Evelynn's grin and hug.
"You will be, sweetie. I just know it." The girls turned back to the mirror to finish getting ready for Evelynn's graduation in a couple hours. Two minutes later, they filed out of the gymnasium's restroom giggling. Christopher was waiting nearby with Nolan, Dusty, and Ashton. He called out their names and lifted his camera. The girls wrapped an arm around each other's waist and Christopher snapped a couple pictures before Nolan and Dusty joined in for a photo session. Some pictures were goofy, some were serious, and Ashton convinced Christopher to get in on a few of them.
When it was time for the graduation ceremony to commence, the three Hansens joined the families of Nolan, Dusty, and Evelynn in the stands. Before long, the school's principal addressed the gathered families, introducing the graduating class's valedictorian; the graduating class loudly applauded Dusty's speech, drowning out the school's orchestra as it struck up the age old song "Pop and Circumstance". The longest part of the entire event began and an hour later, Dusty crossed the stage to solemnly accept her diploma's cover and the principal's handshake.
Three hours passed before the five teens were gathered in the Hansen living room, playing Dusty's "Guitar Hero" video game. Oblivious to Ashton recording their fun, Nolan was accompanying Kelly's guitar playing with the plastic drum set as she played an advanced song. Finishing the song, Kelly beamed at her friends' rowdy cheering of their performance. She wrapped an arm around Nolan's shoulders as she bent to hug him, grinning as he leaned into the gesture.
The ringing phone broke through the festivities, and the Hansen twins froze as a silence descended. Christopher glanced at the clock and swallowed hard; few people called the house at two in the morning unless it was bad. Ashton's voice carried through the silent house, but revealed nothing in it's somber tone. When she returned, Ashton stared at her two children, trying to find the words she needed.
"The boat's in the dry dock at Dutch Harbor…Matt called me from the clinic." She squeezed her eyes shut as the tears streamed down her cheeks. Taking several deep breaths, she forced her eyes open.
"Brian? Daddy? Our uncles?" Kelly's voice trembled and she sank to the couch. Christopher held her, trying to comfort her. "What about Jake? What happened?" He asked.
"Brian, Sig, and Jake were flown to the hospital in Anchorage. Sig and Jake are in critical condition. Brian and Matt got lucky, they weren't hurt very badly. He doesn't know much more than that."
"What about Dad and Uncle Norman though? What happened to them?" Chris asked. Everyone jumped as the phone rang again, and Ashton nearly dropped it. Answering with a shaky hello, she slid to the floor with a sob as Brian's voice greeted her.
Christopher gently took the phone from his mother as Dusty guided her to the couch. Christopher sat on the floor, back against the wall, and spoke with his brother. Pressing the speaker button, he held the phone in front of himself.
"They're freaking out right now. What happened out there?"
"We hit a nasty-assed squall right after our last pot. The engine died and we took on water. Dad and Norman tried to fix the engine while Matt stayed with Sig. Jake was in the wheelhouse, at that big-ass wheel Sig kept. Thank God it still works, or else we'd all be dead." They heard a faint knocking sound as Brian slipped into a superstitious moment. Brian coughed, a wet sounding hack, and cleared his throat. All but Christopher shuddered at the sound of phlegm hitting pavement.
"Well, after an hour of struggling, he told me to help Matt get Sig in a survival suit. I figured we were screwed at that point, but I did it anyways. Me and Matt got suited up too, then I took Dad and Norman theirs. They didn't want to take the time to do it…Dad said something about not letting the boat sink. That she could be saved, if I would just stay and help. So, I promised to help if they promised to get their Gumbies on. Pissed Dad off, but Norman just glared at him and told him to shut the fuck up and put it on while I was there…"
Brian paused his story long enough to pull a drag off a cigarette; the familiar sound of the smoke being drawn in, held, and exhaled filled the silence before Brian continued.
"So I bailed the engine room while Dad and Norman looked for the leak. Two hours later, they found it and managed to plug it. But by then the pumps were fried and we couldn't drain the tanks…or the engine room either. It was waist deep by then. Waves kept coming so bad that the only way to get rid of the water was to dump it out the galley porthole. Took us another couple hours to get half the water bailed out, and Norman left Dad and I to check on Jake, and I guess to check something on deck.
"He never came back down. Dad got worried and went up to check on him but then he never came back down. Norm must've been gone a couple hours. Felt like only a couple minutes, though. When Dad didn't come back, I started getting worried.
"Then Matt yelled at me to get up to Sig's room, that he was going to take Jake's place at the wheel. I'd gotten most of the water bailed out by then and I came up." Brian sighed heavily as he took another moment to heard a male voice say something about smoking with his lungs before the faint sounds of a cigarette being snuffed out. Brian chuckled humorlessly into the phone.
"All the shit I've been through in the last couple days, and they decide to ride me over smoking, for Christ's sake. But anyways, I go up into Sig's room, and there's Jake on the floor. Out like a light, bleeding from the head."
"What happened to Uncle Sig in the first place? Where was he through all this?" Christopher asked, not sure he wanted to know the answers.
"He was sick and the storm gave him a serious ass kicking. When we first started back for Saint Paul, I fell asleep a couple hours after joining him in the wheelhouse. I woke up when the boat started rolling badly and found him on the floor. He wasn't moving, barely breathing…I felt for a pulse and just screamed for Dad and Norman. I didn't know what else to do." Brian's voice trembled, and he sucked back the sobs threatening to overtake him.
"We decided to make his room the sickroom, and for the most part, Matt took care of Sig. When Jake got hurt, I took over watching them." Brian fell silent, save for the occasional quiet sniffling. A familiar voice came over the line followed by Brian's soft greeting for Matt. Brian's breath hitched as Matt whispered in his ear. When he spoke again, it was directed at Matt.
"Oh God. Where did they find them…Chris, I gotta go. I'll call you back, I promise." The line went dead after that, and everyone stared at the phone in Christopher's hands.
