A/N: Thank you for all the encouraging reviews. I'm sorry for the time between chapters, but recent events in my life have thrown me for a bit of a loop. Please continue to review.
Samantha walked out onto the deck shivering slightly at the chill in the night air. It was already dark and the lights of Dutch Harbor were twinkling in the distance. She walked to the rail and stared over the side of the boat.
"Be careful, it's a long way down" said Edgar.
"The TV show doesn't do the boat justice, it's really much bigger in person" said Samantha.
"How many other boats have you been on to compare it to?" asked Edgar.
"None. I've never been on a boat before in my life" said Samantha.
"Never? Not even like a ferry ride?" said Edgar in surprise.
"Nope, not a ferry, not a cruise ship, nothing" said Samantha.
"So do you get seasick?" asked Edgar.
"I have no idea" answered Samantha.
"Well if you do we'll take care of you. It happens to me every time" said Edgar.
"Do you want me to make dinner? Just in case I start puking later" asked Samantha.
"No, we ordered pizza tonight. It should be here soon" said Edgar.
"Great, I love pizza" said Samantha.
"Let me give you a tour of the deck before it gets too much darker" said Edgar.
"Ok" said Samantha.
She reluctantly walked away from the rail following Edgar through the massive number of pots stacked on the deck. Edgar stopped at the bait station and presented where he imagined Samantha would spend most of her time on deck.
"Very impressive" said Samantha.
"Yes it is. This is the fresh cod, you'll string one per set up and then two hanging bait bags. We use frozen herring for the ground bait which is found in this freezer" said Edgar patting a door. I'll actually teach you how to make the set ups tomorrow."
"Great" said Samantha. "I think the pizza's here."
Nick and Matt had just dropped onto the deck with a stack of pizzas and some drinks.
"Lets eat" said Edgar walking to the door.
Samantha followed Edgar and the guys into the galley. There was a box of pizza for each person and Samantha hoped that she wouldn't be expected to actually eat an entire pizza. It quickly became apparent that any slack on her part would be taken up by one of the other members of the crew.
After dinner Samantha followed Edgar around the boat getting an idea of what life on a working crab boat would involve. At the end of the tour Edgar took her up to the wheelhouse. Samantha stalled a bit on the stairs and Edgar noticed and turned around.
"Come on Antha, he's not going to hurt you" said Edgar.
"I know that" said Samantha petulantly.
"Well then why did you stop walking?" teased Edgar.
"I'm coming" said Samantha hurrying up the stairs.
As she and Edgar crested the threshold Sig glanced over his shoulder to see who was interrupting his work.
"What do you want Edgar?" asked Sig.
"I just wanted to show Antha where the other survival suits are and how to use the radio" said Edgar.
"Fine. We are going to leave within in the hour" said Sig turning back to his charts.
"Ok Antha, these are the survival suits. I need to test to see how fast you can put it on. You need to get in on in less than a minute" explained Edgar.
"No problem, I did the Discovery channel training with the coast guard" said Samantha.
Edgar tossed the survival suit on the floor in front of Samantha and grabbed a timer from one of the drawers.
"On your mark, get set, Go!" said Edgar.
Samantha unfurled the survival suit and stepped out of her shoes. She managed to shimmy into the suit and pull up the zipper in just 41 seconds. Sig had been watching her progress with detached interest and when she pulled the zipper and announced she was finished he looked at Edgar to hear the time.
"Wow, 41 seconds, that was amazing" said Edgar.
"Well I guess we know who will be helping everyone else zip up their suits" said Sig. "That's a fantastic time, even if you start to panic and you go a little slower you'd still be under a minute" said Edgar.
"Alright Antha, come over here and I'll show you how to use the radio" said Sig.
Samantha walked over to the captain's chair and leaned over Sig's shoulder as he explained how to work the radio and which channels the boat used. After Sig explained everything he turned around in the chair to face Samantha.
"Do you think you are going to be ok?" asked Sig seriously.
"Yes" answered Samantha honestly. "I've actually trained for this."
"Trained? How?" asked Sig.
"Well I've been running, which I realize that there probably won't be a lot of running required on the boat but it built up my endurance" said Samantha.
"What else did you do?" asked Sig.
"I lifted weights" said Samantha.
"Oh really? Do you think you'd beat me in an arm wrestling contest?" asked Sig.
"No" said Samantha quickly.
"Hmm, maybe later in the trip I'll ask you again" said Sig. "Why don't you go help the guys pull in the lines."
"Ok" said Samantha.
"And Antha" said Sig. "Be careful, I'd hate to lose you before we even leave the docks."
"I will" said Samantha quietly.
Samantha stood on the deck next to Jake and Matt. She watched as Edgar and Norman coordinate which lines would be pulled and in what order. Nick tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow him to the bow. Samantha walked slowly up the ladder slipping only once.
"Hey, be careful. You wouldn't want to mess up your flower shoes" said Nick.
"It wouldn't be so hard if this boat wasn't so slippery" said Samantha.
"Oh Antha, if you think this is slippery wait until we are out at sea" said Nick.
"Are you saying the best is yet to come?" asked Samantha.
"I don't know if I would say the best, possibly the worst is yet to come" said Nick.
Once on the bow Nick moved Samantha to where a few buoys were hanging over the side wedged between the boat and the dock.
"Once the boat starts moving away from the dock the buoys will come loose and we will pull them up over the side" explained Nick.
"I think I can do that" said Samantha.
Sig's voice announced they were ready to go and Samantha braced herself for the movement of the boat. She watched as the boat pulled slowly away from the dock, once the buoys were free of the dock she pulled them up onto the bow.
"Nice work" said Edgar.
"Thanks" replied Samantha. "Now what do we do?"
"Rest until we get closer to the grounds" replied Norman. "Then the work really starts."
"Lets get all this stuff secured and head inside" said Edgar.
For next few minutes the guys worked to tie the buoys to the bow and make sure the lines were securely tied. After everything was ship shape everyone moved back inside.
Samantha managed to make it half an hour before she started to feel sick. At first it wasn't really anything just a little headache and a weird feeling in her tummy. However, it soon became clear that she was going to be throwing up her pizza in just a matter of moments. Norman seemed to sense what was about to happen and quickly whisked Samantha outside to get her a little fresh air and a bowl to throw up in. The air hit Samantha and for a brief moment she thought she'd be ok, then she felt her stomach rebel and Norman thrust the bowl into her hand just in time. After she'd finished throwing up her pizza, she lifted her head and Norman pulled the bowl out of her hand, replacing it with a bottle of water. Samantha took small sips and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.
"Are you ok Antha?" asked Norman.
"Um, probably not" replied Samantha.
"Well let me know when you want your bowl back" said Norman.
"I'll just take it back now, you know just in case" said Samantha.
Norman handed her the bowl and she carefully took it so she wouldn't spill any of it's contents before she realized it was empty.
"What did you do with all the barf?" asked Samantha.
"I used it to feed the fish" replied Norman.
"Why would you have fish on the boat?" asked Samantha.
"We don't, they are in the water all around us" said Norman gesturing to the ocean surrounding the boat.
"I don't get it" said Samantha.
"I threw it over the side" said Norman simply.
"Oh" said Samantha. "I think I threw up part of my brain because that shouldn't have been so confusing."
"You're lucky it's only me out here and not the camera guys because they would have a field day with this" said Norman.
"Thank god for small favors" said Samantha.
Samantha threw up a few more times before she felt like there was nothing left in her stomach. Norman pulled the bowl out of her hands and walked over to the railing and dumped it overboard.
"Lets go back inside and have you lay down, once you sleep for a while you will probably feel better" said Norman.
Samantha nodded and unsteadily walked back into the house. Norman led her all the way to the stateroom. Samantha walked into the room and quickly retrieved a pair of pajamas out of her duffle bag. Without ceremony she tugged off her sweatshirt and t-shirt giving Norman a little peak at her side boob. Next she removed her pants tossing them haphazardly onto the floor before slipping on her pajama pants. Samantha climbed up to the top bunk before reaching down to take the bowl and the bottle of water from Norman.
"Good night Antha" said Norman.
"Night Norman" said Samantha her voice muffled by her pillow.
Jake, Matt and Nick all eventually retired to the stateroom in the hours after Samantha went to bed. Although she slept occasionally she was still feeling sick. Jake could hear that Samantha wasn't feeling good, even though she wasn't actually throwing up anything he could hear her retching. Jake decided that she'd be better off sitting up or in a room that was less claustrophobic.
"Antha, lets get you out of the room" said Jake quietly.
Samantha agreed and climbed off her bunk before following Jake out of the stateroom. The galley didn't make Samantha feel any better, in fact she felt worse. Jake watched her lightly bang her head on the table in an effort to distract herself from feeling sick.
"Lets try the wheelhouse, maybe being able to see outside will make you feel better" said Jake.
"I'll try anything at this point" said Samantha.
Sig turned at the sound of people walking up the stairs, it was almost an hour before Edgar's turn at watch and he didn't think anyone else would be awake. When Jake and Samantha walked in he immediately knew she wasn't feeling good.
"Where is her bowl?" asked Sig.
Samantha held it up to show Sig that she had it close at hand. Jake moved her into the port side chair and cracked the window for her. The moment the cool air hit her she felt a little better.
"Jake, you can leave her here, I'll keep an eye on her" said Sig.
"Roger" said Jake tiredly.
Sig watched Samantha out of the corner of his eye. He watched her look out the window and attempt to regulate her breathing.
"You know Edgar gets sick every single time we leave port" said Sig conversationally.
"Poor guy, if this is how he feels every time I don't know how he keeps coming back" said Samantha.
"Well you can ask him when he comes up for watch in half an hour" said Sig.
"Can I open the window a little more?" asked Samantha.
"Yes, but you should probably put on a sweatshirt or something" said Sig.
"I'll be ok, the fresh air is making me feel better and right now walking is not something I'm excelling at" replied Samantha.
"Ok" said Sig doubtfully.
Samantha and Sig sat in silence both lost in their own thoughts. Sig was thinking about the season, where to drop the pots, how long the processors would give him before the first offload and if this season would be profitable. Samantha on the other hand was trying to convince her body that she wasn't seasick and failing miserably. Sig sighed and Samantha glanced over at him.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"No. Come over here and sit. I have to hit the head and Edgar will be up here in a few minutes" said Sig.
"Um, sure" said Samantha.
She got up and walked over towards the chair taking her bottle of water and vomit bowl with her. Sig stood up and Samantha slid into his seat.
"Ok, don't touch anything, the boat is on autopilot and there is nothing that you should really have to look out for right now" said Sig.
"No problem, I won't touch a thing" said Samantha.
"You're shivering" said Sig.
"Yeah, I got a little cold" said Samantha.
Sig shrugged out of the fleece he was wearing and slipped it over Samantha's head.
"Here, just wear this, I wouldn't want you to freeze to death" said Sig gruffly.
Sig walked into his stateroom leaving Samantha alone in the wheelhouse. She slipped her arms into the fleece smiling shyly at how big it was on her.