Disclaimer : I own nothing except my own fictional characters and receive no payments of any sort. This story is for simple entertainment and fun only.

Okay "Greenhorn" finally gets a name :) Enjoy & Review.

The Northwestern was only 5 days into the season and try as the greenhorn might, she was having a hard time coming into her own. She could handle biting the head off a herring, the unruly smell of bait, and even the bitter winds and choppy seas that seemed to be hiting her from every direction, not having one case of seasickness. But what she was having a hard time dealing with was the severe beating her body was taking from this job. Never in her life had so many muscles in her body hurt at one time. She wasn't even aware she had that many muscles to begin with. And to make matters worse were the grueling, NEVER ENDING hours that were put in for this job, leaving her body little chance to rest and heal. During the 3rd day of their grind, the greenhorn had locked herself in the bathroom, in between strings, and tried to keep it together mentally. She gave herself a quick pep talk, willing herself not to quit on the Captain and the crew, if not for her own sake. She'd just about finished up when a loud banging on the door startled her.

"Natalia ! Get your ass moving! We're about to reach the next string!" Edgar Hansen yelled from the other side of the bathroom door before making his way back on deck.

That was another thing she was having a hard time with. It was bad enough to get your ass handed to you by the Bering Sea in front of everybody, but it was worse when one of the "everybodys" was Edgar Hansen.

Natalia had been completely taken with him from the moment she'd laid eyes on him at the tender age of 10. While it was true that she'd originally come to the docks to admire the boats, she'd soon found a new object of admiration, and as with her attention, he'd also stolen her heart, though both unintentionally.

They bonded throughout the years and it was more than Natalia could have hoped for. She knew that he only saw her as a little girl, she was his "pal" he used to say, and inside it hurt her. Deep down she'd known she was in love with Edgar and as much as she tried to hide it, she knew that he knew it too. He was nice about it though, pretending to be oblivious to her feelings so as not to embarrass her. Sometimes when she would come to the docks to visit him, she'd hear one of the guys make a joke saying "Uh-oh, here comes Edgar's girlfriend" and Edgar would shut them up before Natalia reached him, not knowing that she'd already heard the joke. Not that it bothered her much. She kind of liked the fact that the guy's referred to her as "Edgar's girlfriend" even if it was as a joke.

Natalia had to make herself snap back to reality, unlock herself from the bathroom, and go back outside and grind through the pain. While she was baiting another pot and trying her best not to show the pain she was in, she briefly thought back to the day Edgar first spoke to her. He had told her that she could work on a crab boat as long as she had the want and that the rest would follow. Remembering that gave her a boost of motivation and encouragement and helped pull her through the following two days.

She was sure everyone was about sick of her by now, Edgar included, but she still continued to try her best. She wasn't as fast paced as they would like her to be and she was sure her slowness prevented the crew from going inside that much longer.

By the mercy of God, Sig called the crew inside two hours later, and relief could be seen on everyone's face. Natalia was sure everyone just about hated her right now, though no one said as much. She figured they were being nice to her, because she had a good relationship with them all when she was a kid , the Anderson guy excluded.

Natalia was the last to leave the wet room, stripping her gear from her aching body slowly. She miserably made her way down to the galley, all desire to eat or even take shower gone. She just needed to sleep. Seeing that the guys were all seated around the table caused her to groan inwardly. They could kill her now, dump her body overboard, and no one would know a thing. She held her breath and decided to take her chances, moving quietly past them. Maybe if she just kept her head down and didn't say anything they'd be too tired to notice her. She was almost home free when Nick Mavar called out to her.

"Hey Nat ..."

Crap.

"Yeah?" She asked, turning her head slowly and was surprised to see a grin on his face.

"Good job today."

Natalia cocked her head to the side and blinked several times

"Umm...thank you?"

The crew seemed to be amused by her obvious confusement.

"You did good kid. Really." This time it was Edgar who spoke, a grin playing lightly on his beautiful face.

"Thanks guys. I'll try harder next time."

"Thats the kind of attitude we like." Matt said and winked at her before heading into his stateroom, Nick and Norman following close behind.

Jake decided to whip himself up something to eat and Edgar made his way over to Natalia who was still standing just outside their shared stateroom. He smiled at her and put a strong hand on her shoulder.

"Ready for bed?"

Natalia almost gaped at him, but quickly recovered her composure, realizing what he asked was in no way a sexual reference. She simply nodded and together they walked into their rooms, said their goodnights and climbed into their seperate beds. Natalia was mentally kicking herself for the way she'd been reacting to Edgar. She wasn't fucking little girl anymore and she was determined to not keep acting like it.

"He doesn't like you like that. Get it through your head and move one!"