A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. This chapter is a little shorter, but I wanted to update. Thanks for reading.
The bar was really crowded and Natalie assumed that every single human being of drinking age or slightly below was currently roaming the streets of Dutch Harbor. Her costume was a huge hit, she'd been bought more drinks than she could count. Her head was swimming slightly as the guy next to her set a shot of murky liquid in front of her. She smiled and clinked her glass with his before pretending to drink. Once the guy turned away she passed the drink off to Jake.
"Another one?" he said in surprise.
"I know. You are going to need someone to carry you back to the boat later" said Natalie.
"Wouldn't be the first time" said Jake with a wink.
Natalie wove her way through the crowd towards the raucous table of fisherman. She moved quickly trying to avoid any more pinches. She was convinced her bottom was going to be permanently bruised.
The guys from the Time Bandit had been fashionably late but were catching up quickly. The bottle of Crown Royal on the table was almost empty and Jonathan and Andy Hillstrand were currently telling quite a fish story if their arm movements were any indication. Sig stood as soon as Natalie neared the table and helped her slide in between himself and Norman. They'd learned the hard way the best way to keep Natalie from wandering off or being abducted was to keep her with one of the crew members at all times. At the first bar someone had asked her to dance and the next thing they saw was here being pulled away towards the front door. Of course Natalie had assured them that the guy had just wanted to get some fresh air and she'd agreed to accompany him, but they were less than convinced of the guys noble intentions.
"Ok Natalie, your shot" yelled Scotty.
"No thanks, someone just bought me one at the bar" replied Natalie.
"What was it?" asked Norman.
"I don't know" said Natalie.
"Are you crazy, don't drink anything some random person gives you" said Sig in shock.
"I didn't. Jake did" said Natalie.
"How many shots did you give him?" asked Norman.
"I kind of lost count" said Natalie.
"Next time we'll send someone else with you, Jake's not looking too hot" he continued.
Jake was listing slightly while he stood next to the table.
"Agreed" said Natalie.
Natalie tried her best to follow all of the conversations but with everyone talking over each other it was impossible. Deciding she'd just pick one person to listen to she chose Jonathan, if only because he seemed to be the loudest. She picked up his story in mid sentence.
"...and so the lady went completely insane. Throwing shit around the office and cursing to high heaven. It turns out that we'd exceeded the daily quota for sports fishing and she was going to have to pay a fine. And I say this is fucking Mexico just tell me who I have to bribe."
The table irrupted into laughter and Natalie smiled politely. She supposed she'd missed the interesting part of the story or at least build up to the punch line.
The stories continued and as people got up to get more drinks at the bar Jonathan slowly made his way around the table until he was eventually sitting right next to Natalie. He'd waited patiently all night to get this close to her, he'd thought she didn't really have an interest in him, however in the past hour she seemed to be hanging on every word that came out of his mouth.
"Your costume is great" said Jonathan.
"Thanks, yours too" replied Natalie pointing to his cowboy hat and polished star.
"Just call me sheriff Jonathan."
"Alright sheriff" said Natalie with a wink.
"So have you adjusted to life on a boat yet?" asked Jonathan. "Sig tells me you didn't get sea sick or anything on the way up."
"Well the passage up here was pretty calm, I'm sure the real seasickness will happen while the boat is out fishing" said Natalie.
"At least you have a good attitude about it" said Jonathan.
"Yeah, I guess" said Natalie.
Natalie noticed movement from her left in her peripheral vision she could see Sig getting out of the booth.
"Jon, keep an eye on the maid for me. I gotta hit the head" said Sig.
"Roger" said Jonathan.
This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for.
"So Natalie, what do you like to do for fun?" asked Jonathan.
"Um, I like to listen to music and read" said Natalie.
"Do you like saunas?" asked Jonathan.
"Sure, they are great for sweating out toxins" said Natalie.
"I know a great place where you can take a sauna" said Jonathan.
"Oh yeah? Where?" asked Natalie.
"I'll show you" said Jonathan.
A few minutes later the table where the group had been was empty.
Sig stood at the bar shooting the shit with one of the old timers. Sig casually glanced back at the table and smiled. The guys were still there. He turned back and continued his chat with the old sea dog. A while later the band started to play and a few of the highliner crews started buying everyone shots. Sig wanted to make sure Natalie was keeping her drinks in check and walked back to the table to check on her. His surprise was evident when he walked over to see every member of the Time Bandit crew except one.
"Where Natalie?" asked Sig.
"Not sure" replied Eddie.
"Where's Jonathan?" asked Sig.
"Bathroom maybe? We went out for a smoke and when we got back the table was empty. He can't have gone far though, there's still Crown in the bottle" said Andy.
Sig just nodded. He was seething. Before they'd arrived at the bar he'd had a long conversation about how dangerous Dutch Harbor could be for a girl like Natalie. He'd told her to stay with a crew member at all time, obviously she hadn't listened. Sig planned to round up the rest of the guys before he set out on a recovery mission. The first people he found were his brothers.
"Hey, Natalie is gone" said Sig.
"Again? We should put a bell on her or something" said Edgar.
"Right. I'm sure she'd really appreciate that" said Norman.
"I think it's a good idea. Or a better idea would be a leash" said Sig.
"Who was suppose to go with her?" asked Norman.
"No one, she was at the table when I left" said Sig.
"Sig, honestly she's a grown woman who can take care of herself. I'm sure she's fine" said Edgar.
"Yeah, just like she was fine at the first place" said Sig.
"Fine, go look for her. Take Norman with you or go by yourself. I'm almost done for the night so I'll see you back on the boat" said Edgar before walking away.
Sig found the other guys and they all shared Edgar's attitude that Natalie could take care of herself.
Sig found himself boarding the Time Bandit without permission, his goat was to find Jonathan and convince him to help in the search for Natalie. He dropped onto the deck and immediately noticed a light in the sauna. Walking towards it he saw Jonathan's trademark jacket on the deck. Debating whether he wanted to interrupt what was probably a romantic interlude he hesitated. Deciding that Natalie was more important than whoever Jonathan was currently with he knocked on the door.
"What?" said Jonathan cracking the door.
"Sorry to interrupt. I need your help. Natalie is missing" said Sig.
"I'm sure she's fine" said Jonathan, his eyes falling to the side.
"I want to make sure. I thought of all the people you'd be willing to help me. I know you are a sucker for a damsel in distress" said Sig.
"She's fine" said Jonathan.
"How the hell do you know?" barked Sig. "She could be at some slimy guys mercy."
Jonathan took a deep breath and opened the sauna door wider revealing Natalie. She was sitting in the sauna in her bra and underwear.
"You mother fucker" said Sig pulling Jonathan out of the doorway. "What the fuck do you think you are doing with her."
"Nothing, we are sitting in the sauna" said Jonathan. "Who do you think you are her fucking father?"
Sig didn't say anything in response, he just pushed passed Jonathan into the sauna.
"Hi Sig" said Natalie cheerfully.
Sig grabbed her by the wrist and wrangled her to her feet.
"Ow you're hurting me" said Natalie.
"You are coming with me" said Sig.
"Why? What's going on?" asked Natalie trying to pull away from Sig.
"I don't know what kind of slut you think you are, but you were suppose to stay with a crew member at all times" barked Sig.
"I did, Jonathan is a crew member" said Natalie.
Sig dragged her out of the sauna where he was stopped by Jonathan's arm in his chest.
"You either leave her where she is or we are going to get into it" said Jonathan.
"Go get a hooker" said Sig.
"That's not what I'm after and she's not going with you when you are like this" said Jonathan.
"She is part of my boat, my crew. She belongs to me" said Sig.
Both Jonathan and Natalie were struck silent by this statement. Sig even in his haze of anger realized he crossed a line.
"Fine, keep her" said Sig.
He stormed off the deck and disappeared into the growing mist. Jonathan and Natalie watched his exit in stunned silence.
"Are you ok? asked Jonathan after a moment.
"Yeah, I guess" said Natalie.
"Do you want to stay here tonight?" asked Jonathan.
"Honestly, I'd like to fly home at this exact moment" said Natalie.
"Well, sorry to burst your bubble but the planes don't fly out of here at night" said Jonathan.
"Hmph, why am I not surprised" said Natalie.
"Stay here, you can decide what you want to do in the morning" said Jonathan.
"No, I think I should go back" said Natalie.
"Well I can't fault you for being loyal" said Jonathan. "He's pretty upset, do you think you'll be ok?"
"I'll be fine. I'm going back to the boat, chances are he's not" said Natalie.
"Well if you want to fuck with him, I'll be happy to say that I never saw you and that you were never on this boat" said Jonathan.
Natalie smiled and shook her head.
"That won't be necessary, but thank you" she said.
"Can I at least walk you back?" asked Jonathan.
"Sure, at least until I get on the Northwestern" said Natalie.
Sig woke the next morning with a killer headache. He'd gone back to the bar and told the rest of the guys what Natalie had done. Her treason had been met with disbelief and Sig had drank more than he planned. He rolled over and realized that he hadn't even made it to his stateroom, he was sleeping on the galley bench seat. As he cracked his eyes open he saw a fleeting image of Natalie rush past him. His stomach protested as he sat up to see if she was real or just a figment of his conscience. The movement proved to be too much and he promptly shut his eyes and fell back on the bench to prevent himself from throwing up.
"You don't look too good" said a familiar voice.
Sig cracked his eyes to see Natalie standing over him with a bottle of water. He reached blindly for the bottle missing it by a mile.
"Looks like you're still drunk" said Natalie.
She grabbed his hand and placed the bottle against his palm, curling his fingers around it ensuring that it was in his grip.
"Why are you here?" slurred Sig.
"Because I work here" replied Natalie.
Sig decided that his head couldn't take the banter and quickly drank a few sips of the water before laying back on the bench. The sounds of Natalie moving about in the kitchen were very comforting. However once the other sounds began to filter into his consciousness he realized that he was asleep aboard his own vessel in the middle of prepping for king crab. He struggled to sit up.
"Don't bother" chimed Natalie. "The last two times you've tried to do that you've barfed all over the galley."
Sig had no recollections of these other two attempts so he sallied forth with his current action, no sooner than he got vertical did he throw up again before falling back onto the bench.
"Asshole" muttered Natalie before grabbing a bucket.
A few hours later Sig again regained consciousness. This time the voices of his crew surrounded him like a suffocating cloth. He struggled for breath and suddenly sat up. A bucket was immediately thrust under his chin and when he pushed it away it was immediately returned to its' spot.
"Don't let him barf on the floor again" called a hazy voice in the distance.
Sig attempted to say I'm fine, but it came out as gobbledygook.
"What did he drink last night" asked Edgar.
"A lot" replied Matt. "He was like a man possessed."
"What about?" asked Edgar.
Everyone went silent and a few eyes drifted towards the kitchen where everyone was surprised to see no one. Natalie had slipped up the wheelhouse as soon as Edgar began to ask questions.