Beta- StacyO72- I sent her three different versions of this chapter and she had to re-edit each one because I forgot to copy over her edits. I hope she still loves me.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N- For those who wonder why Carlisle didn't want to go grocery shopping: there were no ulterior motives. Captains don't go grub shopping. That is part of the crew's duties.

CH. 6- Her Name is Rosie…

"Are you sure about this?" Ted asked for the fifth time in as many minutes.

"Yes, no one is going to steal your grub. This isn't the big city. If you want to stay down here with it, go ahead. I'm going up top." With that I turned and headed towards the observation deck. No way was I sitting behind a diesel fueled reefer for the next hour. I was already nauseated from the fumes. I climbed up the stairs and found an open spot on a bench on the port side, in the sun. Ted sat down next to me, stretching his long legs out. I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, and let the warmth seep through my skin. I let the soft lull of the ferry's movement over the waves relax me. A brief thought about how awful it must be to grow up landlocked passed through my mind when I heard the pounding of small feet coming towards me. Before I could react, a pair of children around eight or nine years old had tripped over Ted's feet and fallen right on my lap, pushing me back into Ted. I had to balance my right hand on his chest to stop from falling face first into his lap. Ted's right arm was immediately wrapped around me, helping me regain my equilibrium. His hand touched the bare skin of my arm, sending a jolt of static electricity through me. With a giggle and a "sorry", the kids were off again.

"Sorry." We both apologized.

He quickly pulled his hand away, as I sat up and returned to my spot.

"Richie! Did you get the beer?!"

Ted and I both groaned at the same time. "Pog Mo Thoin." I heard him mutter under his breath.

"Yeah, Emmett, four cases, just like Carlisle asked." Ted didn't bother to correct him about his name.

"Four cases. That's not even 2 beers per person per day." Jasper complained. "Ain't no way, that observer is getting any."

"Of course not. The beer is for the crew and Doc never gets more than a case a man on a trip. It keeps you fishing and wanting to get home. There's nothing worse than being dried out at sea." Emmett countered.

I looked over and quickly looked away rather than stare at the artistically drawn very round ass of a woman wearing only yellow boots, gloves and a fisherman's hat on the front of his shirt. I recognized the logo of a New Jersey marine supply store with the motto "Gear that works as good as it looks" written below. Ted was right, compared to the Emmett's current choice of shirt, Pog Mo Thoin was completely inoffensive.

They talked about the grub and supplies they had bought. Jasper had to drive up to one of the other towns in order to find all the parts they needed, which explained why they were only now getting back over to the Block. I kept my eyes shut and just listened to the cadence of their speech. I loved southern accents. When I was young, the island theater would show classic movies during the winter months. Gone With The Wind would play often, along with Casablanca and a handful of Jimmy Stuart movies. Alice, our friend Rosalie and I would play dress up and pretend we were the O'Hara sisters. Alice and Rosalie both always wanted to be Scarlett. I got stuck being Sue Ellen or Careen every time.

I felt someone sit down next to me and hit my leg with theirs. I slid over just a bit closer to Ted, which wasn't much of a hardship, he smelled really nice, like sunshine and cinnamon. The person on the other side bumped my knee again. I turned my head and came face to face with the best surprise of my summer.

"ROSE!"

I practically leaped on top of her in my excitement. We whooped and hugged and laughed. I finally pulled back to ask what she was doing home.

Before she could answer, I heard Emmett speak. "You ladies don't stop on our account. In fact, Bella, if you want to give your friend a kiss, that's perfectly fine with us. Something soft and wet, you don't even have to use your tongue, unless you want to."

I lowered my face so Emmett wouldn't see the smirk. He had no idea what kind of shit storm he had just walked into.

"Who the fuck are you?! No, wait. Don't answer that! You have no idea who the fuck I am yet you just assume you can fucking talk to a complete stranger like I'm some skanky ass girls gone wild whore?! Maybe that's acceptable in whatever backwoods hillbilly shack you grew up in but it's not here. Go find some cousin you can marry and talk to her like that."

I peeked up at Emmett and snickered. He was slack-jawed, his mouth open wide. Jasper and Ted wore similar expressions. Rose tossed her long blond hair over her shoulder, looking every bit like an ancient goddess of Norse mythology. Words like gorgeous and perfect seemed inadequate when describing Rose. But Rose was much more than just a pretty face. She was also the daughter of Big Jim Hale, president of the Rhode Island Lobstermen Association and she had inherited his tenacious personality as well as his foul mouth. No one messed with Rose and came away unscathed.

"Hillbilly." Jasper was the first to recover his wits, such as they were. He pointed at Emmett and laughed.

"Who you calling hillbilly, redneck?" Emmett replied.

"I'd rather be a redneck than a hillbilly. Besides, I'm not a redneck, I'm a longhorn." Jasper retorted.

"You wish you had a longhorn."

Ted got up and got between them before it could degenerate any further.

Rose leaned over and asked "Deckhands?"

I nodded.

"Which boat?"

"A longliner from Wanchese, the Vampress; they're leaving Sunday morning."

"I figured."

I looked down at the large olive drab sea bag at Rose's feet, and had one of those lightbulb moments.

"You're not?!" I whispered.

"I am but let's just keep that to ourselves. After all, what kind of observer would I be if I didn't observe." She whispered back.

Rose had graduated early from the University of Miami with a degree in Marine Biology. She had completed NMFS training and was working as an observer, like I wanted to do next year if I could finish my degree.

"I thought you were in the scallop program?"

"I was but most of the part-time boats already filled their days at sea and I needed something steadier so I switched to the pelagic longline last month. I couldn't believe it when I got the call yesterday to go to Block Island. Of course, I told them I wasn't available 'til Sunday. There's no way I was coming home and not seeing my girls."

I nodded. It made sense that the scallop fishery was mostly finished. A part-time scallop boat fished only forty four days a year. The season began on May 1 with the opening of the Elephant Trunk fishing grounds off the coast of New Jersey. Forty four days at sea equaled three two-week trips.

"Still, pelagic longline? Do you really want to spend thirty days at sea with a crew of sea gypsies?" I could think of five or six other fisheries I'd rather work.

Before she could answer, Emmett raised his voice from the loud whispers he had exchanged with the other deckhands. "Apologize for what? I'm just being honest and saying what we were all thinking. Don't act like you didn't want to see a little lesbian spit-swapping. You were watching them, just the same as me and Jasper."

I looked at Rose with my eyebrows raised, wordlessly emphasizing my point.

Ted turned away from Emmett and slowly approached us, his shoulders hunched and his face red. His long fingers ran through his hair as he stopped and cleared his throat.

"Uh, well, I just wanted to apologize for that. Um, you were absolutely right, it wasn't appropriate. Ted looked directly at Rose and offered his hand. "I'm Ted Platt."

"Rosalie Hale". They shook. Ted sat down next to me again. They made small talk while I fought the sudden urge to have some part of my body- a knee, a shoulder, anything- touching him. I subtly moved my leg towards his. Our knees touched. It was warm and I was pathetic but there was no way I was moving my knee. I smiled to myself in satisfaction when I noticed that he didn't pull his leg away.

"Aw, I see how this works now, Richie. Nice trick. In that case, I'm the one and only Emmett McCarty and this here is Jasper Whitlock."

Emmett and Jasper walked over and stood in front of us. I couldn't look up without staring directly at the artfully airbrushed ass on Emmett's shirt. I kept my eyes on Rose. I really didn't want to have Baby Got Back stuck in my head.

"Richie? I thought his name was Ted." Rosalie was confused.

I briefly explained the Happy Days reference. Rosalie snorted. "So that makes you two Potsie and Ralph Malph? She pointed to Emmett and Jasper respectively.

Emmett looked insulted. "No fucking way. If I'm anyone it's the Fonz."

"The Fonz, please. If anyone is the Fonz, it's me. I'm the ship's engineer." Jasper retorted.

"What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

"Fonzie was always fixing stuff by hitting it and shit."

"So you're equating spending five hours up to your junk in diesel, repairing a leaking fuel pump with turning on a jukebox with one punch?"

I looked over at Rose and mouthed "Are you sure?"

She nodded whispering "I can handle deckhands."

Jasper retorted, saying something about Emmett and Fonzie, but it was completely lost to me because Ted leaned over, put one hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. "What's going on?"

His breath enveloped my ear and neck. It was warmer than the sea air that surrounded us, yet I shivered. I gazed into his eyes and got lost in their color. I should have pulled back and not said a word, but instead I edged closer until I could feel the heat emanating from his body as I whispered back. "Can you keep a secret?"

Twenty minutes later, I said goodbye to Rose as the ferry pulled up to the dock.

"Mansion Beach tomorrow?" She asked. "Alice, Jess, and Angela will all be there. I texted Alice earlier. You're not working, right?

"My shift at the Wolf starts at four but I'm free before that."

"Perfect! Alice and I are having breakfast with Dad and Miranda then meeting Angela and Jess at ten."

I nodded. Alice's mom, Miranda, and Rosalie's dad, Big Jim had gotten married about five years earlier. They were one of the most unlikely couples I had ever known, even more so than Charlie and Renee. Miranda could only be described as a goth hippie, petite with pale skin and dark hair like her daughter, she had been an organic vegan when she first moved to the island with Alice over fifteen years earlier. Miranda been Renee's closest friend on the island. The two outsiders had similar tastes and were both artists: Renee painted and sculpted while Miranda specialized in jewelry and fabrics made from organic recycled materials.

Big Jim was the definition of an outdoorsman. Raising Rosalie alone after her mom lost the battle with cancer wasn't easy for him. He made sure his daughter could sail, shoot, and catch fish, but the girly stuff was outside his comfort zone. He and Charlie spent our pubescent years commiserating with each other down at The Black Wolf. In addition to being a commercial fisherman, Big Jim liked to hunt. He had led the fight to get the island's deer population under control through hunting. Deer were not native to the island and had no natural enemies. While it was well-known that there were too many, most people had been unwilling to do anything about it. Miranda actually threatened to bring PETA to the island to protest Big Jim's plans so imagine poor Alice's surprise when she came home sick from school one day to find the pair in flagrante delicto in the bathroom shower. If Alice hadn't already been about to vomit, that would have done it.

I met Ted back on the car deck. We drove off the ferry and pulled up to the bulkhead so he and the others could unload the grub. I wondered again if it had been a good idea to tell him that Rose was the observer they were taking offshore but for some reason, I trusted him.

"Bella?" Ted called to me as I headed towards my office.

He took a few steps towards me and gazed down, making eye contact. "Thanks for driving today. I know babysitting me wasn't how you expected to spend the day. I am truly grateful, even if your driving gave me whiplash." He smiled so wide it crinkled his eyes and dimpled his cheeks.

I forgot my name, my age, everything as I lost myself in that smile. I stammered out a reply, something about it not being a big deal, it was all part of the job, before I retreated back into the office.

I walked in to find Mr. Newton and Mike high-fiving each other. Mr Newton was unusually animated. That was strange.

"Bella! We just got the returns back on the Vampress stock." Mr. Newton thrust a piece of paper towards me. I look down, checking for the one number I knew was most important: the Bluefin price.

"Holy … Thirty dollars a pound?!" That was unheard of for a domestic fish.

"Yep. I just got off the phone with Aro at Volterra. They're so pleased that they want the Vampress to take out here again and they may send the Predator down when she finishes her trip."

I took a quick glance at the rest of the numbers. All the prices were good. Even with the Vampress landing a short trip of eighteen thousand pounds, they would still gross almost one hundred and ten thousand dollars. After expenses, each full share crew member stood to make at least fifteen thousand dollars each. Doc, as captain, would make almost double that. That's a lot of cash burning a hole in your pocket.

I congratulated the Newtons on the proceeds and got back to work. I sat at my desk and tried to hide the smile on my face. The Vampress, and Ted, would be packing out on Block Island indefinitely.

A/N So Rose is the observer- did anyone guess that? I ended up splitting this chapter in half, it was just getting too long and I never would have been able to post it all today. RL is always hectic but this week was even worse than usual. Hopefully next week will be better.

Find me on Twitter: shelly_duran (2 underscores). That's where I say stupid stuff, tweet StacyO72 even though she never answers, act like a Duran Duran snob, and complain about being 1 degree of separation away from Rob and not knowing it until long after it happened.

Fic Rec: If you aren't reading The Art of Getting Fluffed by Chocolatesparrow, you don't know what you're missing. Pornstar Edward. Funniest fic I've read in a while.