**Please continue to read and review.
Edgar stomped down to the engine room trying not to imagine what he could be doing instead. Sig was standing there waiting for him anxiously pacing around the main engine. Edgar slapped on some ear protection and walked over to where Sig was standing.
"Well? What's the problem?" asked Edgar.
"It seems like the throttle isn't staying in gear" said Sig.
"Who's up in the wheelhouse?" asked Edgar.
"Norman" replied Sig.
Edgar nodded then turned off the main engine leaving the boat dead in the water. He quickly assessed the pneumatics for issues and found nothing out of the ordinary. Next he checked the filters, which were dirty but not dirty enough to cause an issue. He called up to Norman to ask him the range the RPM's were running. Once he had his answer he went back to work on the pneumatics, eventually he found a problem and started to work on repairing it.
"What are you doing?" asked Sig.
"Fixing your boat" answered Edgar.
"I meant what are you doing with Samantha" said Sig.
"Nothing right now, I'm working on your engine" said Edgar angrily.
"You know what I mean. Don't you think she deserves better" said Sig.
Edgar threw down the wrench he was holding and stood up.
"Who the fuck are you?!" bellowed Edgar. "Do you think she deserves you?"
"At least I'm a captain" said Sig.
Edgar's jaw dropped open and before he could haul off and hit something Sig continued.
"But that's not what I meant" said Sig quickly. "She's young, she lives in LA and she deserves better than a fisherman who is only home 2 months out of the year."
"I'm not planning to marry her" said Edgar exasperatedly.
"Then what do you want to do? Just sleep with her on the boat and then leave her at the dock?" asked Sig. "She definitely deserves better than that."
"God Sig, I don't know what I want" said Edgar. "Actually I do, I want to finish this repair and get back to my bed where hopefully Samantha is still waiting for me. After that, I don't know."
"Edgar, I think you should be careful with her" said Sig. "She's young and delicate."
Edgar rolled her eyes, Sig clearly had no idea the Samantha that he knew.
"Alright, lets fire up the main and see what's going on upstairs" said Edgar wiping his hands.
"That was fast, I hope that's the only problem" said Sig.
Edgar just shrugged and started walking out of the engine room. Sig followed in his wake hoping this repair was finished and that Edgar would think about their conversation.
Samantha finally dragged herself out of Edgar's bunk and started to walk back towards her stateroom. She was intercepted in the hallway by Norman. He steered her back the way she'd come from. Once they were back in the stateroom he sat her down on Edgar's bunk before taking his spot across from her.
"I wanted to talk to you about Edgar" said Norman.
"Ok" said Samantha her voice confused.
"I think you should think about what you are doing" said Norman.
"Think about doing what?" asked Samantha.
"Think about what you are doing with Edgar" repeated Norman.
"I haven't done anything with him" said Samantha.
Norman quirked an eyebrow expressing his complete disbelief in her statement.
"Really? Nothing happened when I left?" asked Norman.
"We kissed and he got to see my boobies" said Samantha.
Norman snickered at the word boobies and Samantha rolled her eyes in response.
"I'm just saying that you should be careful. Fishermen do not make good husbands" said Norman.
"Um, I wasn't aware that we are getting married" said Samantha.
"You know what I mean" said Norman.
"I don't. We kissed, he got to see my boobs, maybe if we hadn't been interrupted then it would have gone farther but at no time would there have been a marriage proposal or an exchanging of rings" said Samantha heatedly.
"I didn't mean to upset you" said Norman.
"I'm not upset, it just seems weird that you are so interested in my nonexistent relationship with Edgar" said Samantha.
"We just want to protect you and Edgar from yourselves" said Norman.
"Who's we?" asked Samantha.
"Me and Sig" said Norman.
"I see" said Samantha. "Well if that's all. I'm going to go to bed."
"Sleep tight" said Norman.
Samantha walked quickly back to her stateroom and climbed into bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow. Her dreams were filled with Edgar.
The engine seemed to be running better, it still didn't get up to the highest RPM but it would get them safely to port. Edgar finally released from Sig's questions and advising headed back to his stateroom. As he walked in he was disappointed to see his bunk empty. He'd hoped Samantha would be in his bed, naked and waiting. But he suppose he'd have to wait, he certainly wasn't going to go to her bunk. He wanted to have her all to himself without an audience. Norman was laying in his bunk feigning sleep.
"What's up with you?" asked Edgar.
"Nothing. Did Sig talk to you?" asked Norman casually.
"Why?" said Edgar warily.
"I was just wondering" said Norman.
"Is this some sort of plot against me having fun?" asked Edgar.
"No. We just want you two to make smart decisions" said Norman.
"You two? Did you talk to Samantha?" asked Edgar.
"Yes, Sig agreed he'd talk to you and I would talk to her" explained Norman.
"What did she say?" asked Edgar.
"That you got to see her boobies, but that was as far as it went" said Norman.
"What did you tell her, specifically?" asked Edgar his voice taking on a steely edge.
"I told her the truth, that fishermen don't make good husbands" said Norman.
"Did she think we were going to get married?" asked Edgar.
"No, not at all" said Norman.
"You and Sig need to mind your own business and stay out of my life" said Edgar.
"We just don't want to see you hurt little brother" said Norman.
Edgar rolled his eyes and collapsed on his bunk immediately slipping into sleep. His dreams filled with porn star fantasies staring Samantha in all the leading roles.
The next morning Matt was up first, he stumbled into the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. He thought it was a little odd that Samantha wasn't up yet, but figuring she deserved to sleep in, decided to make breakfast. Opening the fridge to rustle up some grub he found the breakfast casserole and quickly slipped it into the oven. The smell of the cooking breakfast woke everyone else. As they filed into the kitchen everyone was surprised at Samantha's absence.
"Where's Antha?" asked Sig.
"She's still sleeping" answered Jake.
"With who?" asked Sig immediately.
Everyone's eyes swiveled to Sig. His ludicrous question catching everyone off guard.
"By herself" answered Jake.
"Just checking" said Sig.
He and Norman caught each others eyes and nodded. Everyone else in the room saw the exchange and immediately started to wonder what the older brothers were up to. Samantha arrived in the kitchen just in time to get the last piece of casserole. As she ate she felt everyone's eyes on her especially Sig and Norman.
"Did you sleep well last night?" asked Sig.
"Yes, I slept like a baby and had very nice dreams" replied Samantha. "When do we get to Dutch?"
"In another 10 hours" said Sig.
"Are you going to play cards with us?" asked Matt.
"Sure" said Samantha. "But first I want to set some stuff out for lunch."
Matt and Nick cleared the breakfast dishes and cleaned up the galley. Samantha pulled out ingredients for irish stew and slowly began assembling the dish. In a little less than twenty minutes the stew was bubbling on the stove. Matt sat on the counter next to Samantha watching her every move.
"What's up?" asked Samantha.
"Just trying to memorize what you did so I can make the same thing" said Matt.
"It's a great one for you to make because you can set it on the stove in the morning and the longer it cooks the better it will be" explained Samantha. "If you want I'll write down the recipes I made on the boat and you can add them to your repertoire."
"That would be great, although there is no way I would be able to do it as fast as you" said Matt.
"It takes a lot of practice but if chopping and dicing is a problem then you should get a food processor" said Samantha.
"Yeah, well I can't imagine asking Sig for that" said Matt. "He'd just tell me to work on chopping faster."
Samantha smiled at Matt before walking out of the kitchen towards her stateroom.
Edgar woke with a start, he'd been having a wonderful dream about Antha and was bothered that someone or something woke him up. He looked over at the small digital clock and realized that he'd missed breakfast. With a sigh he rolled over and went back to sleep, desperate to try to recapture the wisp of his dream. As he settled back into sleep a warm hand brushed his hair back from his forehead and a warm pair of lips placed a gentle kiss on the revealed flesh. Edgar struggled out of his sleep but when his eyes finally cracked open he found himself completely alone. Dragging himself out of bed he grabbed his towel and headed to the showers. As he walked down the hallway he inhaled the delicious smells coming from the galley. Deciding he'd shower later he walked into the galley hoping to find Samantha slaving over the stove. Unfortunately the only people there were Matt, Nick, Jake and Norman. All four were involved in a card game. Edgar passed them heading towards the bubbling pot on the stove.
"It's not ready yet" said Matt.
"Says who?" asked Edgar.
"Antha, it will be done in a few hours" said Matt.
Edgar just shrugged before grabbing an apple off the counter and walking back to shower.
Samantha was ensconced in her bunk finishing the final installment of her diary. She planned to give the notebook to Eric to give him a few ideas for story lines while he was logging tapes. All her entries were dated and on some she even wrote what time certain things occurred to make syncing with the video. She'd already finished writing out the recipes for Matt and once she finished these notes she was going to seek out Edgar. She'd checked on him an hour ago and he was still fast asleep. She hadn't wanted to wake him, since she assumed he'd had a late night. Plus every time she walked anywhere on the boat Norman or Sig seemed to intercept her. Finishing her last sentence she flipped the notebook back to the first page and began to reread her adventures. She edited some of the entries, added some new facts or funny anecdotes and when she was satisfied with everything she went out to find Eric. She found him outside shooting B roll. Eric noticed Samantha and quickly finished up his shot before swinging the camera off his shoulder.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I have something I wanted to give you" said Samantha.
"An exit interview?" asked Eric.
"Nope. Something better. This is my diary, I've written in it every single day since I've been on the boat. It has what happened, when and who was effected. I thought you could use it to help you flush out some story lines" said Samantha handing Eric the notebook.
He took it and reverently turned the pages studying Samantha's neat handwriting.
"Thank you. You don't know what this is going to mean for us" said Eric. "My girlfriend and I might actually be able to spend the holidays together."
"Well it's just for this trip, so you will have to do the other ones on your own" said Samantha.
"Yeah, but this is going to help a lot" said Eric with a smile. "I'm sure you are going to feature prominently in the early episodes."
"We'll see. I mean how are they going to introduce me? A contest winner, an employee, the new boat mom?" said Samantha. "And then how are they going to explain my sudden disappearance."
"Who cares, maybe we won't even introduce you just throw you in and let people get to know you while the episodes unfold" said Eric. "Or edit so it looks like you're here all season. You know those editors can do wonders."
Samantha just shrugged, she couldn't imagine her scenes being very interesting. The lone exception was the footage of her diving to free the propellor. A fine mist had started to fall and Samantha slipped her sweatshirt hood over her hair and headed inside.
The card game in the galley was getting heated. The guys were using pretzels as betting chips which was proving to be a problem since each one of them had taken to unconsciously snacking on their winnings. Samantha strode past them into the galley to check on her stew. She gave it a quick taste before adding a bit more seasoning and tasting again. When she was satisfied she lowered the temperature and began pulling out the ingredients for irish soda bread.
"Antha, I thought you were going to play with us" said Matt.
"I'm just going to make some bread and then I'll play" said Samantha.
"Fine, but hurry up. I'm eating all my winnings" said Matt.
Samantha just chuckled as began to slowly mix the ingredients together on the counter. She watched the game bemusedly as she cooked. If seemed like Norman was the best player, his natural poker face made it almost impossible for the other guys to determine if he was bluffing or not. Setting the bread on the rack to proof she slid into a seat next to Jake and pulled a stack of pretzels out of the bag for her chips.
"What are we playing?" asked Samantha.
"5 card stud" replied Matt as he dealt out the cards.
Samantha got a quick refresher coarse in the hands and quickly settled into the game.
"Ok, I raise you two" said Matt.
"Call" replied Samantha.
"Show me what you've got" said Matt.
Samantha turned over her cards revealing a pair of 10's. Matt turned over his cards and he had 3 of a kind.
"I won! Take off your shirt" said Matt.
"I thought we were playing for snack treats, not stripping" said Samantha.
"The game has suddenly changed" said Matt with a leer.
"Right, well lets just keep it about the pretzels" said Samantha.
"Come on, a little strip poker makes it more fun" whined Matt.
"I need to put my bread in the oven" announced Samantha.
She got up and sashayed into the kitchen to work on her bread. Once the bread was popped in the oven Samantha grabbed a cup of coffee and went up to the wheelhouse hoping to escape the card game.
Sig sat in the wheelhouse smoking a cigarette a satisfied smile on his face. The numbers were excellent and in a few hours they would be in port and unloading. He'd stuffed the boat in the past but if his estimation was correct this would be the single biggest offload in the boats history. He turned at the sound of footsteps, surprised to see Samantha holding up a cup of coffee.
"I thought you'd be resting" said Sig.
"I slept a lot last night and in another day I'll be sleeping in a very large, very soft hotel bed" said Samantha.
"Sounds like you are looking forward to it" said Sig.
"I'm really looking forward to taking a nice long bath" said Samantha.
Sig smiled at Samantha then glanced at the RPM gage and frowned.
"Have you seen Edgar?" asked Sig.
"Not today" replied Samantha.
"Take over, I need to go find him. The RPM's are dropping again" said Sig.
Samantha slid into the captain's seat and watched Sig scurry out of the wheelhouse. Looking out over the console her eyes widened. The waves were huge and as the boat dipped down into one the wave broke over the bow causing spray to coat the wheelhouse windows. Samantha reached over and grabbed the hailer.
"I need someone else to be up here these waves are crazy" she said over the boats loudspeaker.
The thunder of footsteps on the stairway were a welcome sound to Samantha's ears. Norman was the first to crest the stairs and Samantha immediately relinquished the captain's chair.
"Did Sig leave you up here?" asked Norman in surprise.
"Yes, he needed to find Edgar. Something about the RPM's" said Samantha.
Norman looked down at the console and realized that the boat's engine was struggling a little.
"Jake, go down to the engine room and see if Sig and Edgar are down there" said Norman.
"Roger" replied Jake as he disappeared down the stairs.
Nick lit a cigarette and passed it to Samantha. She gratefully accepted it, taking a long drag.
"Thanks" said Samantha quietly.
"Sit down, you're shaking a little" said Nick.
Samantha took Nick's advice and sat down on the bench seat. Nick slid in next to her placing a calming hand on her knee. Norman worked on keeping the boat up against the waves allowing the bow to take the brunt of the waves. Samantha finished her cigarette, snuffed it out and drew her knees up to her chest. Her arms wrapped like bands around her legs making her look small and frightened.
"Don't worry. It's fine. We are just a few hours away from Akutan. We'll unload there and then head to Dutch for repairs" said Nick soothingly.
Samantha nodded and dropped her head to Nick's shoulder. The phone rang and Norman picked it up.
"The RPM's are hovering around 1000, but not over" explained Norman.
"Alright, that should be fine to get us to Dutch" said Sig.
"Roger" said Norman.
He hung up the phone before turning back to the windows to concentrate on guiding the boat safely through the storm.
"Hey Antha, when's lunch ready?" asked Matt.
"Oh shit, the bread" exclaimed Samantha.
She darted downstairs to rescue lunch.