Thanks once again for all the reviews guys! I have to hold my hands up and admit that I have messed up the timeline of events in this story, I have written his sister's death earlier than I should have and I apologise for that and hope it doesn't affect the story for you in any way. This is another split POV chapter, most of them will be from now on. Enjoy and please leave a review! Thank you!

Chapter Nine

One Month Later

Maddie's POV

She couldn't believe how many people had turned up at the docks to welcome the Northwestern home from the Opilio Crab season. Ever since Deadliest Catch had first aired year after year the number of people showing up at their homecomings had increased. When the Discovery Channel had first approached her family about starring in their new reality series on crab fishermen no one really thought that the show would become such a huge success. Every single year ratings increased and more offers came flooding in, her father and her uncles were in demand and soon Jake would be in demand too.

Today, more than any other day that had gone by in the past month, she regretted not coming clean and telling Jake just how she felt about him. She'd tried and she'd come so fucking close to just blurting everything out on several occasions but she'd held back each and every time. Just after his mother had worked out her true feelings she had been one hundred per cent sure that she was going to tell him the truth. Going into his home and meeting the rest of his family had changed all that.

Her nerves and fears about meeting his family had proved to be unfounded, his father and his sisters had been warm and very welcoming. From talking to them she'd learned just how central Jake was to their family, now that he had his job on the Northwestern he was by far the biggest breadwinner. His parents had re-mortgaged their house twice in order to pay Chelsea's medical bills and they were swamped in a mountain of debt as well as a mountain of grief. Telling Jake that she loved him and wanted to be with him just wasn't an option because she was scared of what would happen if he felt the same way as she did. It sounded stupid to be scared of the person you loved feeling the same way but that was the truth, what would happen to his family if they became a couple? She didn't want to see his parents get kicked out of their home, she didn't want them to hurt any more than they were already hurting because they were good, lovely, decent people who'd brought up a wonderful man in Jake.

It was a very strange feeling standing at the docks, usually she would feel so excited and happy to see everyone coming home and of course she WAS happy that everyone was coming back safe and sound but she also felt sad. Now that her father was home she knew she wasn't going to see as much of Jake, they couldn't be as carefree as they had been over the past month. He'd stayed at her apartment for a week and a half, that probably wouldn't be happening again now, how could it? She loved her father and her family so much but she wanted to share all the love she had with Jake too and she hated the fact that she couldn't.

'So are we taking bets this year on who gets the most attention from the ladies?' June smirked as she began to scan the crowd that had gathered all around them.

'Oh come on mom we all know Jake is gonna win this hands down, that's if he shows up,' she tried not to look bothered as Nina made the comment which even she knew was correct, Jake was going to be the prime target for most of the women here and she had to deal with it.

'He'll be here,' Louise glanced at her and shot her a small smile, she'd wanted to keep her feelings from her but the night they'd got the phone call from her dad she'd told her everything. Since then they hadn't spoken about what was going on but Louise could read her like a book, she knew damn well that her feelings hadn't changed. She'd expected Louise to warn her to back off and to leave well alone but she hadn't, it was obvious that she liked Jake and she seemed to actually want things to work out for them in the end, not that there was a good chance of that happening.

She was completely lost in her own thoughts as she stared out at the still ocean whilst her family continued to talk and crack jokes. They could probably notice the change in her, she was normally loud, talkative and cracking jokes all the time but now all she seemed to do was daydream. She'd made fun of friends in the past for being lovesick, now she could understand how they felt because she was feeling the exact same thing.

'See I told you that there was no point in making any bets this time!' She glanced at Nina before following her gaze, her heart sank when she saw a crowd of women surrounding a slightly terrified looking Jake. She had warned him on the phone last night that if he came he would probably get a lot of attention, he hadn't believed her as his screen debut hadn't happened yet but she knew that the hardcore fans would already know everything about him. She really wished the fucking internet hadn't been invented now, fucking tramps.

'Should one of us go and save him? He looks a little scared,' Mandy spoke up as all of them watched Jake as he tried to deal with the many women surrounding him.

'Why don't you go and get him Maddie? We'll protect him,' Louise looked at her and she gave her a warm smile in return, she was all too glad to get Jake away from the women, she just wished she could claw their eyes out in the process.

She made her way through the crowd of people to get to Jake, before she could reach him he looked over and their eyes met causing her to almost melt on the spot. She would never get tired of looking into those blue eyes.

A smile appeared on his face as he saw her and he said something to the women surrounding him then started to walk towards her. The women who had been talking to him shot her glares and stared at her but she didn't give a shit, they were just lucky that she couldn't let loose at them and tell them what she really thought.

'Man this is fucking insane! I didn't think anyone would know who I was!' Jake's face got red as he stared around at the crowd who all seemed to be looking at them.

'I told you they would! You'd better get used to it, when the season airs you're gonna be getting a lot more attention than this from the ladies,' she tried not to sound sad but it was hard, she knew that he wouldn't be single for much longer, a guy as sweet as he was would get snapped up pretty soon.

'It's just kinda weird you know? Having strangers coming up wanting to offer condolences and try to flirt with me at the same time, at least I think they were flirting,' he looked flustered as they made their way over to the rest of the Hansen clan who were also watching them intently. She knew that Louise wouldn't have said anything about her feelings for Jake to June and the girls but she had a feeling that they had worked out for themselves what she thought about him. She just hoped that her father wouldn't do the same.

'They were so flirting with you! Didn't you see the glares I got when you walked away with me?'

'They're just jealous because you're wearing a pretty hat,' he smirked as she playfully nudged him after his quip, fucker.

'It's so nice to see you Jake!' Once they reached the women Louise was the first person to greet Jake with a hug and a warm smile. She stood back and let the other's talk to Jake as she tried as hard as she could not to stare at him or show any signs that she was fighting the urge to rip his clothes off and take him there and then.

After ten minutes of talking some cheers erupted out of nowhere and when she looked out into the distance she could see the familiar sight of the family boat coming into the dock. As soon as she saw the boat she made a point of moving a little further away from Jake, she felt ridiculous for having to do such a thing but she really did not want her dad to work out that she had feelings for one of his colleagues. If the women had all worked out how she truly felt then she was obviously not hiding her feelings as well as she thought she had been, now that her dad was home she had to keep a better handle on things. They wouldn't be able to spend anywhere near as much time together as they had been and she just hoped that they wouldn't drift apart.

Whilst waiting for the boat to dock she stared straight ahead and didn't dare even glance for one second at Jake. As the boat got closer to them she moved to stand next to Louise who immediately linked arms with her and offered her a soft smile. She was so thankful now that she'd told Louise the truth. She had a feeling that over the next few months she'd need her support more than ever.

Jake's POV

'Jake?'

Someone spoke his name just as the Northwestern was pulling into the dock. He turned around and came face to face with some fully made up woman who he didn't recognise. Maddie had been right, even though the season hadn't started to air yet people already recognised him and he wasn't exactly comfortable with the attention.

'I was so sorry to hear about your sister, it must have been so horrible.'

He wanted to run the fuck away as fast as he could. He hadn't come here to meet fans or to find someone who'd wanna fuck him, he just wanted to be left alone. Before he'd taken the job on the Northwestern he'd naively thought that no one would really be that interested in him, he was quickly learning that that wasn't going to be the case. He was going to have to find a way of coping with all the newfound attention and 'fame' if he wanted to keep his job, he just wished that he had Maddie by his side all the time to help him through it.

'Jake come with us, I'm sure the guys would like to see you,' before he could respond to the woman's words Louise stepped in and grabbed his arm to pull him towards the boat. He looked ahead and could see that Maddie had already gone to her father who immediately pulled her into a bone crushing hug. 'Jake honey a word of advice,' Louise came to an abrupt halt before they reached the boat. 'You're looking at Maddie like a lovesick puppy and if you keep doing that Edgar will neuter you.'

He was lost for words after Louise's blunt comment. He was convinced that he was hiding his feelings so well but evidently he wasn't as good an actor as he thought he was. If Louise could tell how he felt about Maddie then how the fuck was he going to be able to fool Edgar?

'Just stick close to me….'

'Hey Junior get your own woman!'

Before she could finish her sentence Edgar had interrupted them. He just stood back and stared at the ground as Edgar and Louise embraced, as tempted as he was to look to see where Maddie had got to he knew that he had to just try and pretend that she wasn't here. After a couple of minutes of hugging and kissing Edgar and Louise broke apart after he whispered something to her. Louise began to walk away from them as Edgar walked towards him, he tried his best to remain calm and not look scared to death, if he looked guilty then he would know that there was something wrong.

'How are you doing man?'

'Okay I guess, some days are good some days are pretty shit but I'm trying to just get on with things you know?' He replied as Edgar nodded.

'That's the best thing you can do. I'm sorry we couldn't be there for the funeral….'

'Don't say sorry, there's no need.'

'We missed you out there you know,' he smiled at the compliment, they weren't easy to come by from Edgar. He was about to reply when the woman he'd been trying to avoid looking at interrupted their conversation.

'I'm really sorry dad but I have to head back to work, I'll come by tonight so we can catch up okay?'

'Okay honey, come by around six and we'll all have dinner together,' Edgar pressed a kiss on her forehead before Maddie looked at him.

'It was nice to see you again Jake.'

'Yeah it was good to see you too.'

After their brief exchange Maddie started to make her way through the crowd and disappeared amongst it as Edgar sighed heavily and shook his head. 'Something's going on with her.'

He tried to remain calm even though his stomach began to do somersaults, did he know about them meeting each other? Was he just being nice for now but waiting for the right time to kick his ass? He had to say something or else he would look as guilty as hell. 'What do you mean something's going on with her?'

'She's acting weird, really fucking weird. She was all over the place before I went away and I think I know why,' he swallowed hard and prayed to God that Edgar wasn't about to confront him. 'I think she's seeing someone and she doesn't want me to know about it. The last prick that she dated she kept hidden from me for months now she's being all sneaky and secretive again, this is exactly what she did back then when she was screwing around with her weird tattooed, pierced freak.'

He didn't know how to react to Edgar's words, if he defended Maddie then that would look suspicious but he didn't want to make trouble for her either. He guessed that when she saw her father later he would be asking questions and trying to find out as much information as possible and he didn't want to make things worse for her by making her look guilty or winding him up even more.

'She could just be stressed out at work or something, my sister's tend to act differently when they are under a lot of pressure you know?' He attempted to lead Edgar away from the mysterious boyfriend scenario that he'd come up with but he knew deep down that nothing he said would make the stubborn bastard think differently. He just felt so bad for Maddie, she was an adult, who she decided to date or sleep was none of her dad's business, not anymore.

'No this isn't stress, this is her keeping some fucking secret from me and I hate secrets. I need to get to the bottom of this and I will.'

A deep sense of sadness and anger passed through him, Edgar was acting like some fucking Private Investigator rather than a father. Now that he'd pretty much admitted outright that he was going to be digging some dirt on Maddie how could he possibly risk going to visit her? The only way he could see her was if he came clean about how he felt but even then she might not want anything to do with him. Everything was a complete fucking mess.