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Hi Everybody. Hope you guys are enjoying the story. Reviews are welcome. Enjoy!

It was four days since Gia's first wheel watch and she wanted desperately to get back up there and do it again. Every chance she got, she would go and bug Sig about when her next wheel watch would be. He finally got so fed up with her insistence that he said she could do wheel watch tonight and Gia was ecstatic. She really wanted to learn everything about the boat and how everything operated. Soon enough she'd be bugging Edgar about showing her what to do in the engine room and how to work the crane. She was so ambitious in wanting to learn how to run a boat, that it reminded the crew of Jake's own attitude. The guys had even taken a liking to calling her "Junior # 2" which Gia graciously took as a compliment. Edgar even let her throw the hook a few times, but after missing miserably with each toss, he took it back from her and promised to teach her a different time.

After a 40 hour grind of hauling their last string of the season, the crew was exhuasted and immediately stripped their gear when Sig finally called them. Matt and Edgar headed straight to their staterooms while Nick headed for the shower and Jake and Norman made themselves something to eat. Gia went to her stateroom to find Edgar online checking his fanpage on Facebook. She admired that he actually responded to his fans comments and updated as much as possible. Gia took off her hoodie and dirty,torn jeans leaving her in thermal pants and a thermal shirt. Sig had really turned up the heater the last couple of days making the Northwestern unbearably warm. Gia decided to remove her thermal's also, leaving her in just black panties and a pink bra. Her attire earned a low, suggestive whistle from Edgar, even though Gia had never seen his eyes shift from the computer screen. She just shook her head and threw on a pair of navy sweatpants and a loose white short-sleeved v-neck shirt. She let her hair out from the bun she'd been wearing the past 40 hours and began making her way out the door.

"I liked your other "outfit" better." Edgar said suddenly, right before Gia stepped out the door. She rolled her eyes, knowing he was referring to when she'd just had on her bra and panties.

"Yeah, I bet." She said before shutting the door behind her.

She walked in to the galley to see Norman and Jake both eating a sandwich and talking about one thing or another. Gia made herself a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal and then headed straight upstairs for her second wheel watch. When she entered the wheelhouse she found Sig looking as if he would pass out, his eyes constantly drifting shut. Gia walked quickly and quietly to Sig and stepped up behind him. When his eyes closed again, she gently placed a kiss on his cheek.

"This is June, Sig. You need to wake up honey." she said in a soft whisper, trying to keep the laughter from her voice.

"Shut the hell up." Sig said, still not opening his eyes.

"Now that's no way to talk to your wife." Gia said sternly.

"I'm not talking to my wife."

Sig opened his eyes and with his head in his hand, he turned to look at her and smile sleepily.

"It's time for you to go to bed." Gia said softly.

Sig simply nodded and rose from his beloved chair. He lazily placed a kiss on Gia's forehead and made his way to his stateroom. Gia sat down and relaxed in to Sig's chair. She felt a lot more calm about wheel watch since she now had "experience" and the weather wasn't so bad. She was on wheel watch for a total of an hour when the SAT phone rang. Gia's heart immediately began to race. Phone calls on a boat and especially at this late hour, were almost never a good thing.

"Northwestern." She said hesitantly.

"I see they've got you driving the boat now!" Jo said approvingly. Gia let out a sigh of relief at the sound of her friend's cheery voice.

"Hey Jo! I'm so happy to hear from you."

"Yeah, sorry about the hour though. Andy put me up here to do wheelwatch as punishment and I missed talking to you anyway. I'm glad you picked up and not Sig. I was afraid I was about to get my ass chewed out for calling so late. But if I didn't talk to someone soon I was gonna kill myself."

"Wait, back up a little bit. What do you mean Andy is making you do wheel watch as punishment?"

"Well..." Jo started and Gia automatically knew her friend had just rolled her eyes "Andy knows I hate to do wheelwatch because I get bored just sitting up here for hours with nobody to talk to, so he doesn't make me do it often, unless he needs me."

"So why are you doing it now?" Gia asked, confused.

"Because me and Fourtner and Scotty were playing around on deck today."

"What exactly were you playing?"

"Battlezone. It's when all three of us are like at war with eachother and we throw ice and bait and other stuff at eachother. Basically whatever we can find that wont seriously hurt the other."

Gia laughed so hard she thought she would cry. Jo had a sister, but they were never very close growing up and she'd always wanted brothers. Suddenly finding herself surrounded by so many of them she tended to goof off with them a lot more than she should while on deck. It didn't help matters that the guys were basically boys in grown men bodies, who got a kick out of Jo just as much as she got a kick out of them. She was a bit of a tomboy admitedly, so she loved to rough house much to Andy's disliking. In a lot of ways Jo mirrored Gia's personality, which is probably why the two were such good friends. Gia finally managed to stop laughing and catch her breathe.

"So I take it Andy didn't like that?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"No..." Jo muttered miserably, sounding like a child who'd just got reprimanded. "He kept telling us to stop playing around but we didn't listen. It was a slow day, low numbers, bad weather and everybody at eachother's throats. We were just trying to lighten the mood and have some fun."

"So what did he do to get you to stop?"

"He threatened to take us off deck and not pay us for the season, so we stopped. Then when we got inside a few hours later he called us up to the wheelhouse and chewed our asses out for awhile and then he let Mike and Scotty go."

"Uh-oh. What happened next?"

"Then he pulled me over on his lap and gave me a kiss and told me how much he loved me."

"Aww!"

"And then he put me on wheel watch for the next 36 hours to "think about what I've done."" Jo said with a mix of misery and anger. "He won't even let anyone come up and keep me company. Not Eddie, Not Johnathan, not even Rick. And he's the camera guy!"

"So he's got your ass totally isolated, huh?" Gia said through laughter

"You have no idea" She grumbled "And then he actually had the nerve to say he'd keep me company if I wanted. As if!" She yelled indignantly and Gia laughed harder than she had in weeks. Talking to Jo is just what she needed.

"He loves you. He just wants you to listen to him so he can keep you safe."

"He didn't have to go all Captain on my ass." she muttered, unwilling to budge.

"Would you have listened if he hadn't?" Gia challeged and she was met with a brief interlude of silence.

"You know what, I didn't call you for this shit! You're supposed to be on my side!" Jo said with mock anger and Gia laughed at her unreasonable attitude.

"You're right. You know what Jo, Andy is such an asshole. I mean, who does he think he is trying to look out for you and protect you! Some people just don't have any sense!"

"Thank you.." Jo said happily "Glad you see it my way." Both girls laughed at Jo's irrational behavior.

"So are you even really mad at him?" Gia asked, curious.

"Hell yes!" Jo said seriously "And what really pisses me off is that Scotty anf Fourtner threw bait at my head first! Was I supposed to just let that go?" And before Gia could reply, Jo already answered her own question "I don't think so!"

"So the other guy's didn't get in trouble, huh?"

"No, just me. And I HATE wheel watch. And this one is for 36 hours until we get to . Only then will he or Johnathan come and drive the boat in to the dock. Im not trained for that yet."

"Hey we're on our way to too. You and I should meet up!" Gia said excitedly.

"Yes, definitly! Then we can beat Andy up together."

"Let's go easy on him."

"He really pisses me off sometimes."

"He loves you." Gia said again with a bit of sadness in her voice. Jo immediately picked up on it.

"Uh-oh. What's wrong? What did 'asshole Hansen' do now?"

Gia went on to tell her the entire story from the night of her birthday when Norman dragged her out of the bar, and how they kissed and she told him she loved him, to the fight they had about Norman eventually finding out that she'd been telling the truth about her and Edgar and he was still pissed at her. And finally she told her about saving Ryan and how Norman got angry at her for putting herself in harms way. Jo listened quietly for the most part, throwing in the occasional "asshole" and "shithead" here and there.

"Well atleast we know one thing."

"And what's that?" Gia asked curiously

"That he loves you."

"Loves me? Did you not just hear my story?"

"I heard your story. And from what I can hear, I can tell that he loves you, even though he has a very shitty way of showing. And I mean a very shitty way."

"So how do you figure he loves me?"

"Because he got angry at the fact that you put yourself in harms way. Even if it was to save someone's life, he'd rather that Ryan guy got crushed then you even getting slightly hurt trying to save him."

Gia sat in silence. She'd never thought of it that way. And as if reading her thoughts Jo smugly said

"You never thought of it that way, huh?

"No O-Wise one, I did not." Gia said with a laugh.

"He'll come around. Just give him some time."

"I guess your right." Gia said not as optimistic as Jo.

The two friends continued to talk, catching up on what had been going on with one another. They laughed and joked and it was just what they needed to lift their spirits. They'd been talking for about an hour and a half when Gia heard Andy's voice in the background.

"Who are you talking to Jo? Someone up there with you?" he said disapprovingly

"No asshole. You band me from having human interaction remember!" Jo shouted before quickly and quietly speaking in to the SAT phone "Listen Gia, I gotta go. Andy's coming and I don't want him to know I've been having fun up here. I'll see you at . Love you!"

Before Gia had a chance to respond Jo had already hung up the phone. She laughed to herself and said "Love you too." before placing the SAT phone back on the reciever. About half and hour later Gia heard footsteps coming the stairs and she assumed it was Sig coming to reclaim his throne. But when she turned to see who it was she saw Norman standing off just by the stairs. She rose quietly and Norman slid past her to sit down. Gia hadn't expected Norman to reach out and grab her arm. She turned around slowly and met his gaze saying nothing.

"I want to tell you something."

"What?" She asked cautiously.

"I...well...the thing is I..." He said, getting nervous and scratching the back of his head "I want you to listen to a song."

Gia blinked several times and shook her head, positive she'd just heard him wrong.

"You...you want me to listen to a song?"

"Well yeah." He said, clearly embarrased "The thing is I have a hard time, expressing myself to anyone, especially you. I'm not an emotional guy and I don't talk about feelings. And everytime I try to tell you how I feel I either lose my nerve or I say the wrong thing and we end up fighting. So I thought...well really Jake thought...That...well that I should find a song that can say the words I cant."

Norman's face was red like a firetruck and though Gia found it somewhat amusing she also felt a little bad for him.

"What's the song?" She asked softly

"Here!" He said, quickly thrusting his ipod towards her, which she took from his hand "The song is already set. All you have to do is press play."

With that Norman turned his gaze towards the sea and Gia knew he wanted her to leave. He was so embarrased asking her to listen to a song about his feelings. But Jake had suggested it and Norman saw how much Gia liked Jake, because he was always so attentitive and affectionate. He did have 5 sisters after all, so Norman figured he knew things about girls, and feelings and stuff like that. He now was mentally kicking himself for listening to him and using his corny suggestion.

Gia left wordlessly and went to her stateroom where Edgar and Jake were now fast asleep. She slipped under the covers, pressed play, and listened to the words that Norman couldn't say.