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.

Hi DC family ! Im glad you all enjoyed the update and Thank you for the reviews :) I know this is late but Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to everybody! I hope you enjoyed the holidays, your families and friends :) BTW Edgar now officially has Twitter so for all you Twitter heads / Edgar lovers, you can follow him deckbossEH . On another note, today is my BIRTHDAY! YAY! So I think that the best present you lovely ladies could leave me are some beautiful reviews, even if this chapter is a little blah .

The Northwestern was making her way to another string and the crew used the down time to lounge in the wet room, half the crew eating a snack and the other half catching a few precious moments of shut eye. Natalia fell into the latter group, hoping to get back some of the sleep she was unable to attain last night. Her "make-out session" with Edgar had left her awake half the night and she was suffering the consequences for it now.

Sitting in a cramped corner of the wet room, her head on Nick's shoulder, she tried to enjoy the few moments of rest and not think about the man whose lips had claimed hers just hours before. Tried to enjoy the few precious moments to relax her weary bones.

"Alright my lovely, loyal slaves! We're at our next string, let's get crackin'." Sig's unbelievably, irritating voice blared over the loud hailer.

"So much for that.." Natalia thought miserably as she took Nick's helping hand and stood up to head outside.

The crew marched outside to the unforgiving elements of the Bering Sea.

"It's fucking cold out here!" Natalia grumbled, earning a smirk from Matt.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Couldn't even fucking sleep.." Natalia snapped, mumbling half to herself , half to Matt.

"She finally crackin'?" Nick asked, observing Natalia's uncharacteristic behavior.

"Look's like it." Matt said, nodding his head.

"What's the matter with Nat?" Jake asked, noticing the angry look on her face and the way she was mumbling to herself.

"Job's finally getting to her. Weather, lack of sleep, physco Sig, all that shit." Matt said, rubbing his eyes and Jake nodded.

"Okay ladies, enough chit chat! Let's get to work." Edgar said, walking over to the crew. The boys rolled their eyes and went off in seperate directions while Natalia stood where she was, still mumbling to herself, unaware of Edgar approaching her.

"Hey.."

Natalia jumped slightly upon hearing Edgar's voice. She looked up at his face with gaurded eyes.

"Hi."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"For starters, your talking to yourself."

"Just got a lot on my mind."

"Yeah..." Edgar glanced away from Natalia momentarily "Listen I want to talk to you...about last night."

"Okay..?" Natalia was surprised and a simple "ok" was the best she could manage. Edgar read the surprise on her face and gave her a small smile.

"We'll talk later..okay?"

"Okay." she said again and Edgar nodded before walking off.

The next 40 hours were absolute torture for Natalia and it had absolutely nothing to do with the weather, lack of sleep, or Sig's bitching. Natalia wanted nothing more at the moment than to talk to Edgar. She had no idea what he wanted to say and it left her feeling excited, anxious, and nervous all at once. But she decided she wouldn't get her hopes up and decided she'd play it cool with Edgar.

When Sig finally called the crew in, everyone sat down to eat, Natalia eating her food slowly and everyone noticed.

"You feeling okay Nat?" Nick asked, genuinely concerned "You feel sick?"

"No, I'm fine." She said, taking another small bite of her food and chewing it slowly. She didn't want to appear over anxious to speak with Edgar even though that's exactly how she felt. After dinner, she washed the dishes (slowly) and then went to take a long hot shower.

She entered into her stateroom and it was empty so she dropped her towel and began to dress. She had only sweatpants and a bra on when Edgar walked in the room. His eyes gazed over her body intently as he slowly closed the door. Though Natalia's heart was racing she did her best to appear unaffected by Edgar's gaze and confidently turned to face him head on.

"You wanted to talk?"

Natalia wanted to pat herself on the back for sounding as cool, calm, and collected as she did.

"Uh..yeah I did... I do."

"Go ahead then."

"About last night..."

"Yes."

"I've come up with a solution."

"A solution?" Nat was beyond confused and Edgar read it on her face.

"Just hear me out okay?"

All she could do was nod.

"I'm attracted to you...obviously...and after last night I think it's fair to say you're attracted to me."

"I am..but I don't exactly see where you're..."

"I think we should date." Edgar blurted it out so quick Natalia wasn't sure she had heard him correctly.

"You...think..we should date?"

"Unofficially."

"Unofficially? What the hell does that mean?" Natalia sat down on her bunk, her confusion weighing her down. Edgar walked over to his bunk and sat down as well, looking over Natalia's still exposed upper half before speaking.

"Just listen. Since you've gotten on this boat, you've had me all twisted up inside. I've been fighting this attraction for you since day one and as you can see it's been affecting my work, my attitude, everything. "

Though Nat thrilled to hear the words Edgar had spoken, words she'd wanted to hear her whole life, she was also left feeling confused. If he was so attracted to her, why didn't he want to be?

"Why Edgar?"

"Why what?" He asked, confused by her question.

"Why don't you want to be attracted to me? Why are you fighting it?"

"Because it's wrong." He said simply "I've known you since you were 11. Maybe that doesn't seem wrong to you but it damn sure feels wrong to me."

"So then why are you suggesting we date?"

"To get it out of our systems. The way I see it, people want something most when they can't have it. So, if we were to "date" I'd eventually lose interest in you and you would get sick of me. Incase you haven't noticed I'm 40, never been married and never kept a girlfriend. Despite your attraction to me now, once we start dating eventually you'd be disillusioned and never want to see me again."

Though Natalia doubted it, she didn't say as much. Instead she asked "So how does the "unofficially" part work?"

"You asked that at just the right time." Edgar said, rubbing his hands together in excitement "I dont think that either of us should take this seriously, hence the "unofficial" part. We'd still have the right to see other people, not have any responsibilities towards each other the way normal couples do and either of us can end this anytime we want, no quetions asked. Lets just keep this thing casual, have fun, eventually get this attraction out of our systems and when it's all said and done we'd still be friends."

Natalia sat in silence as she let everything Edgar said to her sink in. On the one hand she was thrilled. It was like a dream come true, her and Edgar finally together. Except they wouldn't be together..not really. Atleast not in the ways that mattered. He'd still be free to be with other women and although she had the same rights it isn't what she wanted. But then again, maybe he was on to something. Maybe this was just some built up attraction that seemed bigger than what it really was because they were fighting it so hard. Maybe if they did just explore whatever it was that was going on between them, eventually the attraction would fizzle out, they'd still be friends and could say they had some fun together while it lasted. But Natalia had never thought of herself as the one to do the casual thing, could she start now? She had no idea how she'd take it once Edgar "lost interest" in her, as he put it. Would she turn back into the same pre-teen, head-over-heels lovesick girl from all those years ago? It seemed like too big a risk to take...but at the same time it seemed a big risk to not take the chance at all.

"Nat? Say something...What do you think?"

Natalia finally looked at Edgar and smiled.

"Alright, let's do it."

She put out her hand for Edgar to shake but instead she found herself being pulled forward and placed upon his lap.

"I was thinking something more along the lines of this..." his voice was heavy as he kissed her mouth hungrily, grabbing her hips to pull her closer to him. She moaned and she ran a hand through his hair but quickly pulled herself back. Edgar gave her a look of confusion and frustration.

"I don't think we should..."

"Dont worry." Edgar said, cutting her off "I'm not going to take your virginity unless you're sure and unless you're ready. Okay?"

"Okay."

Edgar smiled at her, before pulling her in for another searing kiss that left her breathless. This time Edgar was the one to pull away.

"I think we should get some sleep. You don't seem like you function too well without it." He said with a chuckle, referring to her grumpy mood hours earlier. Though Natalia wanted to argue and say she wasn't tired, she was and she'd already missed out on enough sleep.

"Alright." she said, giving him a deep kiss "Good night."

She was about to get off his lap when she felt his grasp tighten on her. She smiled at him and raised her eyebrow.

"Where you goin'?" Edgar asked with a smile.

"Umm...to bed."

Edgar then flipped her over so that she was laying down beside him.

"You'll sleep with me."

Natalia loved the authority she heard in his voice and the feel of his body next to hers.

"I need to get a shirt Edgar. It's cold."

With that he leaned over the side of his bunk and shuffled through his dufflebag momentarily before handing her a black shirt with "EDGAR" printed in white across it. Natalia examined the shirt and smirked, an eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"You have a shirt with your name printed across it."

"Yeah, so?"

"Nobody does that." she said with a laugh and he smiled

"Well they should. Now put it on so we can go to sleep."

Natalia quickly pulled the oversized shirt over her head and snuggled into Edgar's arms. He kissed her soundly on the forehead but said nothing else. As excited as Nat was, she surprisingly fell into a deep slumber quickly. The last thing she remembered thinking was..

"I couldn't have come up with a better solution myself."