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.

Hey :) So just a heads up to Irish & wishuy, I decided to change the title of the story ( as you can obviously see) and I also changed up my summary. I was headed a certain direction with this story when I started out, but as I began writing it and getting in to it, I decided to go another route. The title I originally had and the summary doesn't fit with the way I'm writing it now. Just thought I'd let you what was up. Keep reading and most importantly, enjoy! :)

"I wonder what his deal is.." Natalia thought to herself as she watched Edgar from her position at the bait station. She couldn't figure out why, been it seemed as if he had been avoiding her. Though one would think that would be next to impossible, given the circumstances, Edgar seemed to have "avoiding someone on a boat" mastered to perfection.

It all started a week ago. She'd notice how strange he'd been acting, making mistakes he had no excuse making, after 22 years of experience. Tossing the hook and missing repeatedly, incorrectly sorting crab, and not to mention giving Sig inaccurate crab counts. She'd often catch him in deep thought and even briefly fantasied that he was thinking about her. Yet, as quickly as that fantasy had come, it had left. She knew he'd never see her as more than a friend. Natalia had accepted that reality a long time ago.

Still, she was concerned about him. Maybe something was wrong. Maybe he'd gotten bad news from back home. Or maybe he just wasn't feeling well. Whatever the case, she'd try talk to him and see what it was that consumed his thoughts so entirely that he could barely focus on his job. The Bering Sea was not, and would never be, a place to lose focus.

When it was time to call it in for the day, everyone all but ran to the wet room and stripped off their gear. Ryan, the camera man, had cooked dinner that night and it was needless to say that everyone was more than ready to sit down to a hot meal. Everyone but Edgar. He'd made some excuse about not feeling so well and went straight to bed. The guys seemed to believe him, but Natalia was sure there was more to the excuse than he'd let on. After dinner she and Norman washed the dishes, in silence of course, as everyone else made their ways to their beds or to the shower. All the while she was thinking of Edgar and what could possibly be bothering him so much that he'd skipped out on dinner.

20 minutes later she and Norman had finished the dishes, wished each other a good night, and made their ways to their seperate staterooms. Natalia decided that she would ask Edgar what was going on with him. But when she entered the stateroom she'd found him to be fast asleep and she didn't have the heart to wake him. She stood staring at him a moment and was tempted to run her hand against his beautiful face. He was everything she would ever want and everything she would never have. Natalia sighed heavily and let her hand drop to her side. She quickly stripped from her work clothes and into her pajamas, deciding that she would speak to him the next day.

But the next day he'd avoided her. And the day after that. And the day after that. At first she'd thought she was imagining things. Edgar was, after all, the deckboss, and he had more important things to do than stand around and chat. But then she noticed that the only person who he'd never had time to speak to was her. He was friendly with everyone else, constantly cracking jokes with the boys, and he'd seemed to be his old self again. Natalia would've let the whole thing go, except now he was starting to get nasty with her. Yelling at her for being to slow, not baiting the pots properly, "spending more time doing interviews than her job". She'd wanted to confront him, but every time she tried, he was busy doing something or he was too tired to talk and would go straight to bed, leaving Natalia feeling dazed and confused.

"Maybe I'm just being too sensitive." she'd reasoned with herself. Still, a part of her couldn't shake that something wasn't right between the two of them. His attitude towards her seemed personal, though she knew no reason why'd he be upset with her.

Natalia shook her head and sighed as she watched Edgar from a distance, focusing her mind in the present. He was laughing and horsing around with Matt and Jake and he seemed to be in a better mood today then he'd been in all week. However that all soon changed.

"Hey guys! Why don't we let our greenhorn sort some crab today. I'd say she's earned it. What do ya' think?" Sig called over the loud hailer. Everyone screamed and nodded their approval. Everyone, except for Edgar. His smile and playfullness she'd seen moments earlier had disappeared, being exchanged with a frown and a serious demeanor. His gaze locked with her's and he sent her a look so cold, she'd actually shivered. And she'd bet her life on it that it had absolutely nothing to do with the temperature outside.

She was so surprised by the look of anger in Edgar's eyes that she literally could not move. Jake Anderson came over, big smile and all, and took her hand.

"You nervous?" he asked sweetly.

"Umm...yeah, you could say that."

"Don't be. Edgar will show you what to do."

"Well that's comforting." she thought miserably.

Jake gave her hand a gentle tug in encouragement and together they walked hand in hand to the sorting table. The guys "Woo-hooed" and made stupid kissy faces at them as they approached. Natalia laughed nervously and Jake rolled his eyes.

"It's not like that you guys."

"Sure it's not." Matt laughed

"Whatever you say Jake." Nick added.

Jake rolled his eyes once more and released Natalia's hand.

"She's all yours Ed." Jake said, he and the rest of the crew returning to their tasks and previous conversations.

Natalia smiled at Edgar, trying her best to appear unphased by his scrutinizing glare. For a moment she'd almost thought he wasn't going to teach her but then he handed her a measuring stick and showed her how to distinguish females from males and adults from juveniles. She could see he wasn't pleased with her being at the sorting table so close to him, but for the life of her she couldn't understand why. She was mentally going over everything that had happened during the past three weeks at sea, trying to see what could have caused this abrupt change in attitude. Needless to say she kept coming up blank.

"Hey, focus! That's a female. We don't get paid for those, we get fined. Remember that next time or it'll be coming out of your paycheck." Edgar snapped and everyone looked at him, confusion on their faces.

"Sorry.." Natalia muttered, embarrassed. She suddenly found herself wishing that she was back at her sanctuary, the bait station. For the rest of the string, Natalia continued to help sort crab and Edgar continued to snap on her for every mistake. Even the crew seemed to be getting embarrassed for her and Nick twice told Edgar to "take it easy". Though she appreciated his heroism, she was sure it also fueled Edgar's anger towards her and he'd snap on her even harder.

Sig finally called the Northwestern crew inside and Natalia all but did a happy dance. She quickly stripped her gear and claimed the shower before anyone else had the chance to. As the hot water ran through her hair and down her body, unknotting the kinks in her muscles, Natalia sighed heavily.

"This trip is not going to get any easier."