As Sig walked back into the galley he made a bee-line for the wheelhouse stairs. He paused when he heard shuffling in Baylee's room.
He hesitated, wondering if confronting her was really worth the argument that he knew would ensue. Part of him wanted to ignore it, but part of him knew that if he didn't then Baylee would do whatever she pleased and could possibly get hurt. He sighed in exasperation and put his hand on the door knob.
"Baylee?" he called as he knocked on the door, "Can I come in?"
"Yeah," came a muffled and curt reply.
Sig tightened his jaw, preparing for the worst, as he walked inside the room. He shut the door behind him and leaned on it as he looked down at his wife who was now lying down on her bed.
"What were you doing out there?" he asked, trying to keep his voice level.
Baylee's eyes flashed angrily.
"I just wanted to see what it was like," she snapped.
"What what was like?" asked Sig, trying to coax his wife into explaining her actions without causing her to have a meltdown.
"What it was like to be a deckhand," she replied as she glanced away, suddenly feeling rather foolish, "I wanted to be with my son for a while. He was showing me how to do the bait set ups and we were having a good time…well, that is until Jack yelled at me. All Griffin did was ask if I wanted to throw the hook and she just flipped out!"
"And for good reason," replied Sig firmly, "You shouldn't even be out there at all much less standing by the starboard rail tossing the hook!"
Sig instantly knew that he had raised his voice a little too much. The angry glint returned to Baylee's eyes as she gave him a defiant glare.
"And why not?" she snapped, "If my eighteen year old son can do it then why can't I?"
"Our son is learning what he needs to learn at a specific pace!" shouted Sig, "Even he isn't throwing the hook yet! There's a method to this madness we call fishing and it needs to be followed to a 'T' or everything gets screwed up and people get killed!"
"So why don't you want me doing bait?" retorted Baylee, "I could go out there and just stay at the baiting area."
"Because I already have a six-man crew, Baylee!" replied Sig, "I almost had to fire one of them a while back for safety regulations! And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you out there…I couldn't."
The sincerity in Sig's voice seemed to have an effect on Baylee. She glanced away and sighed in resignation. She looked back up at him and was startled to see a pleading and almost sad look in his eyes.
"Honey, please," he said, speaking barely above a whisper, "Please listen to me. I don't want to fight with you anymore. Just do this for me…okay?"
Baylee swallowed back the emotion that threatened to climb its way up her throat. She nodded, not making eye-contact with her husband.
Sig sighed in relief and walked over to her. He sat on the bed next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Thank you," he murmured as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
He held her close and kissed the top of her head.
"Sig?" she whispered in a slightly shaky voice, "Are we…are we ever going to stop this?"
"What's that?" asked Sig with concern.
"Fighting…I don't want to fight anymore either. It just seems like whenever something bad happens, however big or little it may be, we argue and yell…and I just can't take it anymore."
"I know," murmured Sig, "We just have to work on it…we both do. I love you, Baylee…I always will. No matter what happens or what we say or do to each other, I will always love you."
Baylee smiled and tried to wipe a tear from her eye. Sig reached down and did it for her, bending down to kiss her lips. They smiled at each other and Sig stood up to leave.
"I'll see you later," he murmured.
Baylee nodded and smiled as Sig winked at her before he left to head back up to the wheelhouse.
Meanwhile, out on deck…
"Hey Edgar?" asked Matt rather loudly and in a foreign accent
The rest of the crew glanced over at Matt, giving him curious and almost fearful stares. Norman leaned over to Jack.
"I think he's finally cracked!" he hissed under his breath.
Jack laughed and nodded in agreement.
"Yes dear Matt?" replied Edgar in the same a British-like accent.
"Do you recall the procedure we carry out to deal with arrogant, know-it-all greenhorns?"
Edgar smirked slightly. He dropped the line he was coiling and put a hand on his chin, pretending to be in deep thought.
"Hmmm, it has been a while hasn't it?" he replied.
"Yes, it just seems to have slipped my mind," said Matt with a mischievous grin.
Griffin looked between the two deckhands, eyes wide with panic. Jack and Norman couldn't help but laugh at the greenhorn's expense. Perhaps it was time for the kid to be a little nervous…nothing like a good hazing to keep him on his toes!
"Well, come to think of it," said Edgar as he walked slowly towards Griffin, "I believe I do remember one method."
"Oh, do you?" asked Matt.
Jack laughed at their fake, fancy-British accents.
"Why, yes dear Matt I do!"
Griffin began to take a few steps backwards as the two men approached him.
"Why, do tell Edgar, do tell!"
"I recall that we corner the lad…"
Norman had slunk away to come up on Griffin from behind. Griffin didn't have a clue he was there and as he took another step back, Norman grabbed him. Jake ran over to help, laughing as he held down Griffin's arms.
"Then what do we do Edgar?" asked Jake, also speaking in a fake British accent.
"Why, young Jake my lad! We tie him to the crane!"
"Why Edgar that's simply genius!" exclaimed Norman.
"Yes! Let us tie him to the crane!" cried Matt as the deckhands began to half-drag and half-carry the poor, screaming greenhorn over to the crane.
Jack ran over to the controls and began to lower the crane down to the deck.
"Guys! Come on! Let me down!" shouted Griffin in panic.
"Oh no dear lad!" said Edgar, "We can't have any of that now! It would spoil the fun!"
Norman ran to get more rope and they began to tie Griffin to the crane. Once they were done they turned to Jack.
"My lady," said Edgar with an overly-done bow.
Jack laughed as she raised the crane into the air.
Sig glanced out his wheelhouse window when he heard Griffin start to yell for help. He nearly fell out of his chair he was laughing so hard at the sight.
Jack slowly lowered the crane down towards the water. Griffin's yells grew to screams of desperation as he neared the frigid sea.
Norman and Jake disappeared into the galley and returned shortly with containers in their arms.
Griffin squealed and screamed loudly as he was dunked into the Bering Sea. Jack let the crane come back up only after the water reached up to the boy's chest. As he was lifted back up into the air, the deckhands broke into the cartons and pulled something out of them.
Griffin shivered with cold as he glared at the deckhands below him. His eyes widened with fear yet again when he saw what was in their hands.
"No…no, no, no! Come on! Isn't the water enough!"
Edgar laughed almost evilly as he launched something at Griffin. Griffin shouted angrily when it splattered on his face.
Jack nearly fell over laughing at the controls. They were throwing eggs at the poor kid!
Soon the other deckhands joined Edgar and a borage of eggs hit Griffin. His arms and legs were tied to the crane so he was helpless to block any of them. He spat out eggshells as the cracked around and in his mouth. After a minute or two, the deckhands moaned sadly when they realized they were out of eggs.
Jack lowered the crane back to the deck and the sticky, messy, slimy, and freezing cold greenhorn was untied. He glared at them, but a slight twinkle in his eyes betrayed the fact that he was also slightly amused by the whole thing.
The crew was laughing so hard that they were either crouching or lying on the ground, tears coming from their eyes.
Griffin shot them a final, somewhat feigned, glare and walked into the galley to clean himself up.
PLEASE REVIEW!!
Okay I'm going on a short road trip this weekend so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to write or not…so I decided to update tonight to make up for it. I made the chapter longer than usual too…I will start the sequel to So Others May Live on Monday!! : ) And thanks so much to everyone who's reading and reviewing!! I appreciate all the feedback!!
