Thanks for all the reviews!! I got a little writing done when I was on vacation so here it is!

Storm on the Horizon

"Dude chill out!" shouted Jake as Dave tossed another crab roughly to the conveyer belt on the deck of the Northwestern, "You're gonna kill the crab doing that!"

Dave sneered and grabbed another crab, "Don't tell me what to do, Jake."

Jake frowned and shook his head as he walked around the table to come alongside Dave.

"Dave what the hell is your problem?" he hissed under his breath, "We need this job…and I for one would like to keep it. So if you don't mind could you at least pretend to be pleasant and do your job right?"

Dave glared at Jake and opened his mouth as if to argue, but Jake held up his hands in surrender.

"Alright, alright I get it okay?" he said, quite loudly this time.

Edgar glanced over his shoulder and saw Jake and Dave glaring at each other near the sorting table. He glanced over at Norman and the two brothers exchanged knowing looks. Jake was about to snap. It was bound to happen eventually. Dave took his pain out in anger and by trying to maintain his pride, but Jake hadn't even shed a single tear. Instead he did his best to mask his pain by acting as if everything was going to be okay. Edgar had known that it would only be a matter of time before all of his emotions spilled out and it looked like the time had come.

"You think you're the only one going through this?" shouted Jake as he glared up at Dave, "You think you're the only one hurting? Dave I lost my brother and my dad! I lost everything! My life, my family's heritage is gone! It's all sitting at the bottom of the damn Bering Sea! This job is all that I have left…"

Jake choked slightly as the tears fell down his face. With a final glare at Dave he whirled around and stormed off the deck, slamming the door behind him. Dave looked utterly taken back and shook his head in disbelief. He put his hands on the sorting table and lowered his head as a wave of emotion hit him. He gritted his teeth, forcing it back as best as he could. This was a lot harder than he imagined that it would be. And poor Jake had been holding everything in for a long time now…he hadn't even thought about what Jake must be going through.

"Think you should go check on him?" murmured Norman to Edgar, "He may need someone to talk to."

Edgar sighed, "Um yeah…yeah I guess I'd better go talk to him. You wanna take Dave or should I do that later?"

Norman grimaced, "You would assign Dave to me wouldn't you?"

Edgar smirked slightly, "Yeah I know…I'd appreciate it if you'd talk to him though. I don't think he likes me too much. Probably because Jake's been hanging around me lately."

Norman grunted and nodded slowly, "Oh fine. I'll do it."

"Thanks, Norm," said Edgar as he turned and walked down into the galley.

Norman glanced over at Dave who was leaning on the sorting table, looking baffled and utterly lost. He sighed again and muttered to himself as he slowly walked over to Dave, "This is gonna be so much fun…so damn fun. Can't wait to talk to the most ornery man on deck. Thanks Edgar…thanks a lot."

NWNWNWNWNWNWNWNWNWNWNW

Marie cursed quietly as a splatter of paint somehow made its way right into her eye. The sun was just breaking the horizon as she painted the inside of the Elbow Room. It was a deep, blood red color that already seemed to have a warming effect inside the small bar. Marie took a step back and looked at her handiwork. The entire back wall behind the bar was painted and it looked amazing. She smiled as she mentally pictured what the place would look like when all the renovations were done. She'd been saving up for this for quite some time now and she already had a plan in mind.

After the walls were painted, she'd work on getting a new bar built with brand new bar stools that would match the deep red paint on the walls. New tables were waiting for her downtown along with matching chairs and buckets of paint for the outside of the Elbow Room were sitting in the storage room. And then there was her own little project she was working on to honor the four main boats of the Trident fishing fleet.

Just then the door opened and the chimes above the door woke Marie up from her reverie.

"Hey there," greeted Jake Anderson as he hobbled into the room, "You're up awful early. What are you…?" Jake gaped in surprise when he saw the wall behind the bar with fresh paint on it, "Wow! Marie that's amazing!"

Marie beamed happily, "Really? Aw thanks Jake! Yeah I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. I won't be able to settle down till this project is finished. I've waited for so long for this and I just can't wait to see what it'll look like when we're all done."

"Well what can I do for you?" asked Jake as he mock bowed, "I'm at your service."

Marie laughed, "Well you could start painting the front wall if you want. Here's some blue tape to put on the edges. If you need help let me know. Don't strain yourself…Sig would kill me if he came back and realized that his greenhorn is hurt yet again simply because I asked you to paint."

Jake sneered, "Oh I can handle it don't worry. I can almost stand on my ankle now…it doesn't hurt as much."

"Still…be careful," warned Marie as she continued painting, "The last thing I need is Sig angry with me."

Jake couldn't help but laugh at that, "Oh…you haven't seen Sig angry. I've seen Sig angry and let me tell you…it ain't a pretty sight."

Marie laughed as she finished up her wall. She picked up her paint cans and moved to the back wall and started to paint. She frowned slightly as she thought about the guys out on the Bering Sea. Her heart lurched suddenly when she thought about the massive waves and freezing spray. She couldn't bear to lose anyone else she cared about to the sea. Turning around Marie flipped on the TV above the bar and turned up the volume.

"Just want to hear the weather," she explained as Jake turned around to give her a questioning look.

As Marie turned back to continue painting, she froze in horror when she heard the weather report.

"Looks like weather conditions out on the Bering Sea are getting worse," said the weather lady, "Gail force winds are beginning to develop as a massive storm system bears down on the infamous crab fishing grounds. It's not going to be pretty that's for sure. We're looking at about fifty foot seas with severe wind gusts. Keep the crab fleet in your prayers ladies and gentlemen…they're going to need every single prayer they can get before this storm passes through…"

Jake stopped painting and turned around to look at Marie. The two friends exchanged horrified looks as the news anchor took over and began announcing the sports statistics.

Marie knew in that instant that it would be another sleepless night for her…but she couldn't even imagine what the guys were going through at that very moment…