Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing this story! Sorry for the delayed update…crazy busy weekend along with packing and organizing to head back to college at the end of the month kept me rather occupied. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! : )
Disclaimer: As always…I own no one but my OC Jack
Someone Better Warn Norman
Jack narrowed her eyes, straining to see the lone figure standing at the dock. She prayed that it was Edgar as the boat drew closer and closer to the dock. Soon she recognized the devil-may-care posture and almost bored look on the individual's face as he waited for the boat to tie up.
"Edgar!" shouted Jack as she climbed over the railing and jumped onto the dock before the boat had stopped moving.
"You're crazy, you know that?" laughed Edgar as he held his fiancé in his arms, overjoyed to see her again.
"I learned from the best," retorted Jack with a smirk, "I'm surprised you're here…I figured you'd have flown back to Seattle by now."
Edgar shrugged, "Thought about it…but I wanted to see you."
Edgar frowned when he looked up and saw Sig exit the wheelhouse and make his way off the boat and onto the dock. Jack turned back to Edgar and gave him a stern look.
"He wants to talk…please be nice, okay?"
"I'm not the one…"
"Ed…please," hissed Jack as Sig walked over to them.
"Hey," he muttered as he glanced at his little brother.
"Hi," grumbled Edgar as he looked away.
"Okay…well…while you two talk I'll help with the offloading," announced Jack as she quickly backed away from the two very tense brothers.
"So," began Edgar, "Jack says you want to talk to me about something?"
"Yeah…I wanted to talk to you about what's been going on the past few weeks…and the past few years for that matter," said Sig as he cleared his throat awkwardly, "How 'bout we do it over a beer at the Elbow Room?"
Edgar shrugged and started to walk in that direction. Sig sighed in frustration as he followed his little brother. He was definitely not looking forward to this at all…
…
"So…what do you want to talk about?" muttered Edgar as he sipped on his beer and glanced out the window toward the dock.
Sig sighed and took a good long swig of beer before he answered, "The way things went down…between you and me."
Edgar sneered and looked away, "Didn't know there was anything left to say."
"There's a lot left to say, actually," muttered Sig.
Edgar looked up at him and studied his older brother's face. He looked stressed, tired, and maybe even a touch guilty? Edgar couldn't remember ever seeing Sig look guilty or even show a sign that he had a conscience when it came to how he dealt with him or Norman.
"And that would be?" pressed Edgar, looking interested.
"I shouldn't have fired you," muttered Sig, "That was a bone-headed move on my part. I was angry and sick of dealing with this crap between us so I just kicked you off the boat. It seemed like the best choice considering the way things were going. But the crew didn't react very well to it at all. Jack has barely said a word to me until 'the intervention' in the wheelhouse. The momentum on deck has slowed down considerably and things aren't operating as smoothly as they did when you were around."
"So what?" snapped Edgar, "You want me back? Should have thought about that…give me one damn good reason I should work for you ever again. Because the way I see it is that I'd join the boat again, everyone would be happy, then a few days maybe a week or two later we'd be right back in this very spot again. I don't see the point, Sig, sorry."
Edgar stood up to leave but Sig reached up and grabbed his arm and gave Edgar a pleading look.
"Ed, I'm not done," he said quietly.
Edgar narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he sat back down on the bar stool.
"Look," began Sig, looking increasingly uncomfortable, "I screwed up things between us a long time ago. Remember the way we were when we were just kids? We both would pick fights with Norman and he would always win them, so we got smart. We realized that if we teamed up against him then he couldn't beat us both at the same time. I'll never forget the look on Norm's face the day we figured that out. We used to make that poor kid so angry…"
Edgar's laugh interrupted Sig, "Yeah I remember."
"We were partners in crime," said Sig with a wistful smile, "I was the loud, dominate one and you were the quiet, cunning partner. I was the brawn and you were the brains of the operation. Then Dad started getting older and he wanted to teach me how to fish. Of course I wanted to, you remember how I got when I started getting older. I was ambitious and I wanted to be just like Dad. I signed up the moment I could and never looked back. I was so busy working my way up that ladder that I didn't even remember the life I'd left behind…you and Norman. Norm joined when I was a deck boss and he didn't seem opposed to working for me so there was no issue. But by the time you came aboard I was already practicing in the captain's chair. You got the short end of the stick. Norm never wanted to be in control…he was always content to be in the background of things. But you and I are totally different creatures…we like being in control, we like having authority. But you were stuck with deck boss as the apex of your climb. You never had the chance to be captain because I took that from you."
"Sig I don't want to be captain," said Edgar.
"No, I know that," said Sig, "It's just the principle of the matter…I never paid any attention to how you might have felt about working for me. We went from being partners to being boss and employee. I stopped treating you like an equal and it screwed things up. I saw the change…the distance that we started putting between us. I saw it happening but I wasn't willing to fix it because I wanted to be captain so bad that it hurt. I put my career, that damn boat and that damn chair over you, my brother. I realize that now…I didn't see it fully then but I made the biggest mistake of my life all those years ago. And for that I'm sorry, Edgar. You are my partner…my brother. We are equals regardless of who is at the rail and who is on the chair, it doesn't matter…it shouldn't matter. I'm sorry that I made things the way they are, and if you come back I'll do my best to change that."
Edgar sat at the bar quietly for a long moment, his eyes glued to his beer as he thought over what Sig had said.
"So you mean we'll be like we were when we were kids?" he said with a slight smirk on his face.
"Yeah…just like that," said Sig, "Why?"
Edgar's eyes glinted with mischief as his smile broadened, "Because someone better warn Norman…"
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