A/N: Please enjoy and continue to review. They are like candy to me.
The next morning the crew awoke to the delicious aromas of bacon and cinnamon rolls. The guys rolled out of bed and sleepily walked into the galley, the drama from yesterday completely forgotten. Rolling into the kitchen they found Samantha setting breakfast on the table. The spread included bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, cinnamon rolls and oatmeal. Samantha set out the coffee, milk and orange juice before sitting down. She filled her plate slowly watching all the guys dig in. Sitting back she ate in silence barely acknowledging the discussion around her. Sig announced they were about an hour away from what they hoped would be their last string.
"Antha, you look sleepy" commented Nick.
"I'm fine" said Samantha rubbing her eyes.
"I didn't even hear you come to bed last night" said Jake.
"I slept out here" said Samantha casually.
"Why?" asked Jake.
"Because I was doing laundry" said Samantha dismissively.
"What are we going to do when you get off the boat" moaned Matt.
"Do your own laundry" commented Samantha.
"Probably not, it will just pile up and stink" said Matt.
"Yeah, this boat has never smelled better" said Nick.
Samantha just shook her head and started to clear up the breakfast dishes. She'd just finished the last dish when she heard a yelp, a curse and a thump come from the hallway. Smiling to herself she realized that Edgar had found her surprise.
"What the fuck is going on here" yelled Edgar from the hallway.
For a moment Samantha considered hiding but quickly realized there was no where to go, it was a boat after all. She was fairly certain Edgar wouldn't hurt her plus she wanted to see what he thought of her little prank. Edgar appeared in the galley bumping into the wall a t-shirt partially pulled over his head, one arm in one sleeve the other stuck in the middle along with his head.
"I know you're in here, I can smell you" bellowed Edgar.
"Yes, well I'm here and not hard of hearing so you can stop yelling" said Samantha.
"What the fuck did you do to my shirt?" yelled Edgar.
"I don't know what you're talking about. It looks fine" said Samantha.
She advanced quietly towards Edgar. When she was standing near enough she ran her cold fingers across his exposed stomach. Edgar jump back hitting his head on the TV shelf. Samantha's tinkling laugh filled the galley. Edgar reached out to grab her but caught nothing but air.
"You missed me" said Samantha from behind him.
Edgar spun around and Samantha placed both of her freezing cold hands on his stomach. Edgar tried to grab her hands with his free hand and just managed to tear part of his shirt. The commotion brought the other crew members into the galley.
"Edgar, what's going on?" asked Matt.
"Antha just signed her death warrant" replied Edgar.
"Oh yeah? Did you hide it somewhere in your shirt or are you just smelling yourself in there?" asked Matt giving Edgar's head a pat.
"Fuck you. A true friend would have cut me out of this by now" said Edgar.
"You don't want to ruin a perfectly good shirt" said Samantha. "Why don't you just take it off."
"You know I can't, you sewed it some how so I could get in and then not out" said Edgar angrily.
"I could cut you out of it" replied Samantha. "Without ruining the shirt."
"Then do it" demanded Edgar.
"That's not a very nice way to ask" said Samantha in a sing song voice.
"Please fix this for me" said Edgar angrily.
"Beg" said Samantha.
Everyone in the room was silent for a moment. Her demand was so ludicrous but the way she asked made every guy in the room remember she was a completely different creature.
"Fine. Antha, I beg you to cut me out of this shirt" said Edgar his words stilted.
"Hmm, ok" said Samantha.
She moved towards him, her cold hands again brushing over his belly. Using a kitchen knife she slid it carefully inside the shirt.
"Don't move or I'll cut you" she warned.
After a moment she pulled the shirt off of Edgar's head. When his face came into view she could see it was red with rage. He moved towards her and she waved the knife back and forth as a reminder that she was armed.
"Get out there, first pot's on the bow" called Sig over the hailer.
Samantha turned and dropped the knife in the drawer before walking past Edgar to the ready room. As everyone else filed on deck to start work Edgar walked back to his stateroom to get dressed.
On deck everyone was in their places, when the first pot came into view Matt threw the hook and work began. Norman was on the hydros, Nick at the rail with Matt and Jake and Antha were on bait and sorting duty. Sig watched the crews progress from his monitor and before long noticed that Edgar wasn't on deck. He gave him 5 pots before Sig called down to find out where he was. Antha picked up the ringing phone.
"Where's Edgar?" asked Sig.
"He's having a wardrobe malfunction" said Samantha before hanging up.
Sig scratched his head and set the boat on manual towards the next pot before heading downstairs to find Edgar. He found him in his stateroom surrounded by a pile of ripped clothing.
"What the fuck is going on in here?" asked Sig surveying the mess.
"She did it to every single thing I have" said Edgar.
"Did what?" asked Sig.
"Sewed the fucking neck closed or the arms or the sleeves or something to make them unwearable" whined Edgar.
"So wear something of Normans" said Sig.
"I can't find any of his clothes or anyone else's" said Edgar.
"What the hell are you talking about? There are clothes all over the ground" said Sig pointing to the piles littering the floor.
"They are all mine and if their not then they're underwear or undershirts" said Edgar.
"Wow, she got you good" said Sig.
Edgar shot him a death glare before returning to the sweatshirt he was cutting.
"Well at least you have the pants you're wearing. I'll give you something from my stash to wear" said Sig.
Edgar gave Sig a pained look and stood up. As he walked out of the room Sig noticed that sewn to the back of his pants were the letters ASS. He stifled a laugh and decided never to cross Samantha about anything.
"There is no fury like a woman scorned" said Sig to himself.
Edgar eventually dressed and suited up before heading outside. The crew jeered him about taking so long to get dressed teasing him about his need to dress to impress. Edgar took it with little grace and a lot of cursing. Samantha however, loved every moment of it.
The day warmed up significantly and by the time the crew was half way through the string everyone was taking off their rain jackets to work in just their sweatshirts. Jake helped Samantha out of her jacket and noticed something weird about her hood.
"Hey Antha, why are there tears in your hood?" asked Jake.
"I didn't realize there were tears" said Samantha.
Matt walked over and looked at the tiny tears in the top of the hood, small enough for Samantha not to notice but large enough to let water through. Suddenly Samantha realized who was behind it.
"I'm sure it was Edgar" she said quietly. "Anything to try to make me wear a hat."
"Well at least you already got your revenge" said Jake.
"Part of it anyway" said Samantha.
"By the way Antha, nice sweatshirt" commented Matt.
"Do you like it?" asked Samantha. "The carebears are really making a comeback."
Samantha twirled around showing off the kelly green sweatshirt with a huge shamrock in the front. She even pulled up the hood showing the two little bear ears sewn to the top. Matt reached out and tugged on one of the ears pulling Samantha towards him.
"Hey, don't tug on the ears, they could rip off" said Samantha.
"You certainly know how to sew them back on" said Matt knowingly.
"Even so, I don't want to have to do it" said Samantha.
Matt gave them one last tug and then moved back to the rail.
"So what else do you have planned for Edgar?" asked Jake.
Samantha just shrugged and shoveled some more bait into a hanging bag.
"Come on you can tell me" begged Jake.
"Are you sure you want to know? You could be considered an accomplice and that could cause a lot of problems for you in the future" said Samantha. "I'm getting off this boat in a few days and you are the self proclaimed future of the company."
"Very true, don't tell me anything. I like being able to deny knowledge" said Jake. "Besides Edgar is going to get you back."
"Why is he going to get me back? I just got him back for the bucket thing!" stated a very frustrated Samantha.
"I'm just telling you what's going to happen" said Jake.
"That is lame" said Samantha.
Jake looked at her quizzically before patting her on the shoulder and walking away. Samantha finished the bait set up she was working on and walked over to hang it on the sorting table. The work went quickly in the warm sunshine and calm conditions. Everyone worked well together regardless of the obvious tension between Edgar and Samantha. Sig was anxious to keep the crew working in order to get the string pulled as quickly as possibly so they could head in. According to his calculations the back tank should be filled before the string was over and the rest of the crab in the string could be stuffed into the other tanks. Even after the season's set backs Sig was still going to be able to deliver on time to the processors. He glanced down at the deck for a moment to watch the crew working on deck. Everyone seemed to be working well, no one was getting water dumped on them or pushing anyone.
Samantha was in the galley making a quick hot lunch. On the menu today was chicken tortilla soup with quesadillas. Sig was going to shut down the turn and burn operation for a few minutes so everyone could eat together. Deciding the guys could use an extra treat Samantha had made a chocolate cake from a box of mix she'd found in the pantry. The cake was sitting on the counter frosted with homemade cream cheese icing. Samantha heard the guys coming in and quickly moved the cake to the back of the kitchen so it could be a surprise.
"Wow Edgar, nice ass" said Matt.
"Yeah well stop admiring it. I thought we went over the sexual harassment rules with you" said Edgar.
"Right, I must have forgotten" said Matt.
Matt whacked Jake and Nick on the shoulders before pointing to the word stitched to the back of Edgar's pants.
"Oh shit" muttered Nick.
Edgar spun around eyeing the trio behind him.
"What?" asked Edgar.
"Nothing. Just admiring your ass" replied Nick.
Edgar spun around like a dog chasing its tail trying to see what everyone was looking at. The guys stifled their laughter at Edgar's spinning. Samantha however made no attempt to stop her laughter. She was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was struggling to breath. Nick walked over to her and patted her gently on the back and handed her a water bottle.
"You my dear have a serious death wish" said Nick.
Samantha nodded attempting to get her laughing under control. Meanwhile Edgar had realized that something was on his pants, but he couldn't see what it was. In a show of frustration he ripped off his pants leaving him clad only in a t-shirt and boxers. Samantha's giggle died in her throat and her mouth suddenly began to water as she took in Edgar's sculpted legs. Her perusal of his body was cut short by his voice.
"ANTHA, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!" he yelled.
"Run" said Nick pushing Samantha towards the stairs leading up to the wheelhouse.
Reacting immediately she started to run, she didn't even make it halfway up the stairs before Edgar caught up with her. He grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder. Samantha squirmed in a vain attempt to get away and Edgar slapped her on the ass.
"You are already in big trouble, don't make it worse for yourself" said Edgar.
Samantha stopped struggling and just enjoyed the view. Edgar's boxers nicely displayed his assets.
"We are going to miss lunch" said Samantha.
"You are going to miss much more than that" said Edgar.
"But I made your favorite cake" said Samantha insistently.
"Oh really?" asked Edgar.
Samantha had no idea what Edgar's favorite cake was but figured any excuse to get Edgar to return her to the galley.
"Yes, it even has homemade frosting on it" said Samantha. "You can kill me later, I don't want to die without having a piece of cake."
Sig appeared in the hallway and looked between Edgar and Samantha.
"What's going on? Where are your pants?" asked Sig.
"We were just going down to have lunch. I made cake" said Samantha.
"Antha, did you break a leg or something?" queried Sig.
"No, she's in trouble" said Edgar.
"You can punish her later. We have work to do" said Sig.
Edgar spun around and headed back to the galley.
Everyone ate lunch trying to ignore the palpable tension radiating between Edgar and Samantha. Edgar never took his eyes off of Samantha throughout the entire meal. When everyone was almost finished Samantha got up and Edgar was immediately at her side.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To get the cake" answered Samantha.
Edgar escorted her the few feet to the kitchen to get the cake. Samantha fished a knife out of the drawer and grabbed some paper plates. Edgar grabbed the stack of plates from her along with napkins and forks so she could carry the cake with both hands.
"It's Edgar's favorite" announced Samantha. "So he gets the first piece."
Samantha cut and served the cake giving everyone a huge slice.
"This is so good" said Jake.
"How did you know it was Edgar's favorite?" asked Sig.
"Because the mix was in the pantry" replied Samantha.
"How does that tell you it's his favorite?" asked Matt.
"Because he buys the food, so he'd obviously pick his favorite" lied Samantha.
"You are very lucky I like chocolate cake and this frosting is the best I've ever tasted" said Edgar. "But don't think it makes up for what you did."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!?" exploded Samantha. "I sewed your stuff to get you back for dumping the water on my head and ripping holes in my hood."
"I only did those things to prove why you should follow my rules and wear a hat" said Edgar.
"I don't like wearing hats. I can't believe that you can't just get over it. I have hoods on my sweatshirt and my rain gear I feel that's enough" said Samantha.
"It's a rule. It's my rule and you are disrespecting it" said Edgar.
"You never told me it was a rule. In fact I was never told a lot of rules that are apparently common knowledge on this boat" said Samantha.
"Like what?" challenged Edgar.
"Like the hat rule, or the rule that I can't jump around in the wheelhouse or the rule that there should be 3 hot meals everyday. And that it's apparently completely acceptable to pee all over the toilet seat" ranted Samantha.
"We are on a boat, peeing in a straight line is difficult" said Edgar.
"It's like you are pretending to be a sprinkler in there" said Samantha.
The rest of the guys watched the argument like a tennis match, their eyes going back and forth between Samantha and Edgar.
"Back to work" said Sig interrupting the fight. "You two can hash this out on the way to town."
"Fine" said Edgar and Samantha in unison before stomping towards the ready room.