A/N: I'm really excited for this chapter. I would love feedback on what everyone thinks.
The last trip was underway and every member of the crew was already dreaming of home. Discussions turned away from fishing and the weather and moved towards vacations and family. There was less than a week before Thanksgiving and even though the fishing was hot, it seemed unlikely that the boat would be filled before the holiday. In expectation of this Natalie had purchased a turkey and all the trimmings so the crew could still have a delicious meal even if it wouldn't be at home. Sig was determined to go through the gear as quick as possible so he could make the final offload deadline and go home. Natalie had also decided to step up the game against Bishop. Kale had let her borrow a few tank tops and they had become Natalie's official outfit when not out on deck. A tank top and yoga pants, tight yoga pants. Thankfully the whole outfit was comfortable but she had to admit she felt a little ridiculous trying to look or feel even remotely sexy after working on deck for twelve hours and not showering, but it seemed to work. Bishop's outlandish behavior was getting more and more ridiculous.
"Natalie, did you get my visine?" asked Jason as he entered the galley.
"Yes, it's in the medicine drawer" said Natalie. "How's everything going?"
"Fine, glad this is going to be the last trip" said Jason. "I'm over working with Bishop. If she's on the boat again next year I'm not coming back."
"Do you really think she's coming back?" asked Natalie.
"I don't know, maybe" said Jason. "Everyone seems to love her."
"Who wouldn't love free blow jobs and whatever else she's doing for them" muttered Natalie.
"I would love her more if she actually shared her tapes" said Jason. "I don't even know what's going on."
"All her notebooks are in my room, you could just go look at them" said Natalie.
"I don't have time, I need to shoot B roll and finish up taking some notes on my other tapes" complained Jason. "I just hope that she has it all organized and notated when we get back to port. If not there is a chance neither of us will be back next year."
"Good Luck" called Natalie to Jason's retreating back.
Deciding she could be helpful she went into the stateroom she shared with Norman and Edgar to do a little snooping.
Edgar and Norman were elsewhere when she walked into the room. She'd confirmed Bishop was in the wheelhouse with Sig and had taken all precautions to prevent herself from being caught. Closing the door she wedged her body against the door after she pulled Bishop's bag out of the corner. Moving aside a few articles of clothing she hit pay dirt. Digital tapes were lined up in perfect rows, all dated and organized. Moving a few aside she reached underneath to the notebooks. She opened the notebook and tried to decipher the confusing short hand. Giving up after a moment she stuffed the notebook back into the bag. She'd decided she'd just take one of the tapes and have Jason look at it just to get an idea of what she was up to. Staring at the mass of tapes she tried to decide which one to take. The door opened a crack and Natalie slammed her body back to prevent it from opening any farther.
"Hey, what the hell is going on" said Bishop's angry voice.
"Sorry, but you can't come in" replied Natalie as she tried to stuff everything back in the bag.
"What are you doing in there?" asked Bishop.
"I'm, I'm" stuttered Natalie. "I'm masturbating."
Natalie shook her head at her choice of excuse.
"Wow, well in that case I'll give you a few minutes, unless you need some help" said Bishop through the door.
"No, thanks. I'm almost done" said Natalie.
She punctuated the last word with a completely over the top moan.
"That is hot" said a male voice from the other side of the door.
Natalie dropped her head to her chest and questioned her sanity for a moment before grabbing a tape, repacking the bag and getting it back into the corner. Sliding the tape under her pillow she took a few fast breaths and opened the door.
"Sorry for the delay" she said with a flushed smile.
"No, problem" said Bishop with a glint in her eye.
Natalie went to walk past her but she blocked her way.
"Want me to lick your fingers?" said Bishop.
"Um, no" replied Natalie.
"Why not?" asked Bishop with a pout.
Norman and Matt were standing in the hallway watching the entire conversation.
"Because, I already licked them myself" replied Natalie pushing past Bishop and all but running down the hall.
"Oh my God!" exclaimed Matt. "You are so fucking hot."
"Thanks Matt" called Natalie over her shoulder.
Bishop frowned for a moment before turning to the boys with a wide smile.
"If you think that was hot, I can show you something ten times hotter" she said with a wink.
Natalie sat at the galley table slowly twisting her hair as she read. She'd managed to give the tape to Jason a few minutes earlier and she was anxiously waiting his signal that it was cued up and ready to watch. The rest of the crew was milling around as the boat was less than two hours from the first string. Jason caught her eye from the stateroom hall and Natalie slowly closed her book. He walked into the galley and looked around anxiously.
"Are we alone?" he asked.
"For now" said Natalie.
"Ready to watch?" asked Jason.
"Yes, did you look at it yet?" asked Natalie.
"No, I wanted to wait for you" said Jason.
"Then lets watch" said Natalie excitedly.
Jason and Natalie wedged their heads together trying to keep an ear close enough to the headphones to hear the dialog. The tiny screen on the camera flickered to life. The scene was in Sig's stateroom and the camera was angled strangely as if propped on a pile of laundry. While Jason noticed the odd camera placement and the shoddy shot placement Natalie noticed Sig. He was topless, his chest clearly visible to the camera. Her first thought was he was incredibly well built for someone who spent most of his time sitting in a chair. Her eyes drifted down his chest and noticed his waist was covered only by a thin blanket. Bishop was laying across his chest asking him questions.
"Sig who do you think will take over as captain when you retire?" she asked, her hand raking through his chest hair.
"Not either of my brothers" said Sig.
"Why's that" prompted Bishop.
"Well Norman is too quiet. To be a captain you have to be brash and outspoken. He's just not that type of guy" said Sig.
"And Edgar?" asked Bishop.
"He has a family that means more to him than the boat" said Sig. "You have to put fishing first while you're out here, which means you leave everything else at the dock. I don't know if he can do that anymore."
"So without your brothers as candidates, who is the next in line?" asked Bishop.
"No one. I'll just do it until I die" said Sig.
"You don't expect to find love" asked Bishop.
"Not really" said Sig. "I would have found it already if it was meant to happen."
Natalie was saddened by Sig's comment and hoped that in his heart he knew that wasn't true. Bishop asked another series of questions before Sig asked her to be quiet.
"You should be saving all these questions for the interviews" said Sig.
"Of course, you're right" said Bishop winking at the camera.
Natalie's mouth dropped open, it became clear in that moment that Sig had no idea he was being taped. Jason quickly shut off the tape.
"You need to return this" he said.
"Return it?" said Natalie. "We need to tell Sig what she's been doing."
"How many tapes were there?" asked Jason.
"A whole duffle bag full" said Natalie.
"Guestimate how many" said Jason.
"Maybe thirty" said Natalie.
"If they are all like this she'll have enough to do her own after dark series" said Jason.
"What are you going to do?" asked Natalie.
"The first thing is you have to return the tape" said Jason. "After that I'll figure something else out."
"Roger" said Natalie.
Natalie snuck down the hallway keeping here ears and eyes open for any sign of Bishop. Breathing a sigh of relief she slipped into her stateroom and ran straight into the girl she was trying to avoid.
"Bishop, I didn't expect to see you here" said Natalie.
"Really?" asked Bishop, her voice full of disdain.
"Yeah, I thought you'd be up with Sig. You two seem to be inseparable" said Natalie.
"We're close" said Bishop. "What's up with you?"
"Nothing, just getting my phone" said Natalie.
"What for? There is no signal out here" said Bishop.
"I want to play a game" said Natalie.
"If you have time to play games, I'm sure Sig would appreciate you cleaning up or something" suggested Bishop.
"Well when you start signing my paychecks I'll put some interest into your suggestions" said Natalie.
"Just trying to help you stay on the boat" said Bishop.
"That's not something I'm aspiring to do" said Natalie.
"Just one season and you're done? Sounds like your quitting" said Bishop.
"Um, I don't know how to respond to that" said Natalie.
"It's the truth" said Bishop.
"I guess it is" said Natalie.
Bishop clearly wanted Natalie to say something to challenge her statement but she remained silent. The tape in her sweatshirt felt like it was burning a whole in her stomach and all she wanted to do was get Bishop out of the room so she could put it back where she found it. The door opened and Jason's eyes widened when he saw who was in the room. Natalie smiled at him and then tried to send him a mental message not to say anything.
"Bishop, I want to go over the final notes before I have to film out on deck" said Jason.
"Sure" said Bishop.
She walked over to the bag and moved a few things around before pulling out a notebook. Natalie's heart skipped a beat as she held her breath, silently praying Bishop wouldn't notice the missing tape.
"Ready?" said Bishop waiving her notebook.
"Yes" said Jason.
They walked out the door together and Natalie jumped towards the bag and all but threw the tape back in. The door opened again and Natalie stifled a scream.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" asked Edgar.
"Oh my God, you scared me" said Natalie.
"You are looking seriously guilty" said Edgar.
"Well I'm not" said Natalie.
"Right" said Edgar.
Jason and Natalie secretly met in the engine room using a tablet to converse. Writing back and forth they were able to talk about the next step in the plan. Natalie listed all the times she'd seen Bishop interviewing the members of the crew. Jason tried to decode Bishop's short hand but the code seemed impossible to crack.
We need to get rid of the tapes, wrote Natalie.
No, it represents hundreds of hours of tape. Even if most are shirtless sex scenes I could still use some of it during editing, wrote Jason.
It could ruin the reputations of everyone on this boat, wrote Natalie.
I need more hours of film or I'm fucked, wrote Jason.
I think you could make up the hours. I'm willing to help you, said Natalie.
You don't understand, this is my job. I need to produce a quality product of I won't be back next year and maybe won't be able to get another job, wrote Jason.
She placed her arm on Jason's.
"It's important" said Natalie.
"Fine, but you are going to have to do a lot" said Jason.
"I'm not afraid of hard work" yelled Natalie.
"Good to know because Bishop isn't making dinner tonight" said Matt from the door of the engine room.
"I'll be right there" said Natalie.
Jason followed her out of the engine room and caught her arm before she got into the common part of the boat.
"What do you want to do with Bishop?" he asked.
"You'll see" said Natalie with an evil glint in her eye.
"What's she plotting?" asked Matt as Natalie brushed past him.
"I don't know but I bet it's going to be good" said Jason.
The crew was in full swing, the pots were coming over the rail full. Sig was jamming gear down their throats. He was livid. Bishop sat across from him with the captain's cam trained on the throbbing vein in his forehead. The past twenty four hours had seen a complete breakdown of the smooth machine Sig was use to. Meals had stopped being cooked and no one was prepping bait or cleaning up. The galley looked like a pigsty and he had no idea why.
"What the hell is going on?" asked Sig.
"I think Natalie is trying to get fired" replied Bishop.
"Why would she be doing that?" questioned Sig.
"Because she hates being on this boat" said Bishop.
"Really? She works so hard" said Sig, more to himself than to Bishop.
"I think you should fire her" suggested Bishop.
Sig rolled his eyes and he completely ignored the rest of Bishop's questions.
Bishop smiled to herself. She was waging a crap talking war against Natalie. It would be better if Natalie was fired sooner than later. Bishop suspected something was up as Natalie and Jason were spending a lot of time together.
"What the fuck is going on down there" yelled Sig over the hailer.
"Everything is fine" answered Norman.
Sig glared at the monitor, he was watching Natalie and Matt chatting at the sorting table. Although they were both sorting crabs as fast as they normally did Sig hated the fact that they were talking while working. Natalie patted Matt's arm while pushing a pile of crab into the chute.
"Keep your hands to yourself" bellowed Sig over the hailer.
Everyone on deck looked around to see who was touching someone and then shrugged when nothing appeared obvious. Bishop laughed into her sleeve in a desperate attempt to avoid Sig's attention. He was clearly gunning for something, she just wasn't sure what.
Natalie sat in the stateroom going through Bishop's tapes, she'd counted 35 total and 11 notebooks full of hard to decipher notes. She had just put the last of the notebooks back in the bag when Bishop opened the door. When she walked into the room her eyes darted from Natalie to her bag repeatedly.
"Have you been going through my stuff?" asked Bishop.
"Yes, I was looking for a pair of underwear" said Natalie.
"Since your little outburst I haven't been wearing any" replied Bishop.
Natalie's face twisted into a look of absolute disgust.
"What are you doing going through my stuff?" asked Bishop.
"I just told you" said Natalie. "Shouldn't you be doing something with all those tapes."
"Oh, I'm going to do something with them, but nothing you need to worry about" said Bishop.
Natalie counted to ten in english, spanish, french and japanese in order to keep her voice calm and nonchalant.
"What are you going to do?" asked Natalie casually.
"If you must know, I'm going to pitch them to my boss as a kind of new after the catch kind of show" began Bishop. "Only this one is going to be a little more intimate."
Natalie's mouth dropped open, it all became clear. Bishop was going to show the guys in these very personal moments gossiping like a bunch of sorority girls.
"You can't" said Natalie suddenly. "You'll ruin their careers."
"This isn't a career, it's a job and they will be even more famous than they already are" said Bishop.
"What about their girlfriends and wives?" asked Natalie. "You'll ruin their relationships."
"Oh please, they know the rules of the boat" said Bishop.
"What rules are those?" asked Natalie.
"That it's not cheating if you're out at sea" said Bishop.
"Why would women care?" asked Natalie deciding to try a different tactic.
"Because women love these guys, they are the stuff of fantasy and they have money to spend" said Bishop.
"I thought the main demographic was males eighteen to thirty five?" said Natalie.
"For advertisers yes, but I'm thinking of selling these little babies on the internet" said Bishop. "The uncensored versions and trust me they are hot."
"Where?" asked Natalie. "I can't imagine the Discovery store is going to have a space for x-rated videos."
"No, it won't be through Discovery at all, maybe Vivid or playboy" said Bishop.
"I thought there was a clause in your contract that said you couldn't be in any footage used for the show" said Natalie.
"So you've been talking to Jason" said Bishop. "I can always cut in footage of you, make it look like you're the girl in all the videos. It's all in the editing."
Natalie's face went from blank to irate. This stupid chick was going to ruin the lives of every single person on the boat.
"Don't look so surprised" said Bishop. "I hope you didn't think this job was the end all be all of my career. It's only the next stepping stone to get me what I want."
"You're going to ruin everyone's lives so you can what? Start making porn?" countered Natalie.
"Don't be naive, I'm going to become an investigative producer, these tapes show how I can get people to take me into their confidence and tell me all their deepest, darkest secrets" said Bishop smugly.
"I won't let you do this" said Natalie suddenly.
"You can't stop me" said Bishop.
It took Natalie a split second to push Bishop into the bunk and grab the bag of tapes. She was out the door and down the hallway before Bishop had a chance to untangle herself from the bedding.
Natalie spun through the hallway with Bishop hot on her heels, her goal was to get to the deck. She turned the corner and had to decide if she could manage to open the heavy door to the deck before Bishop caught her or if she should try to make it through the wheelhouse. Bishop's hand raking across her back pulling her hair made the decision for her. Turning abruptly she headed up the stairs to the wheelhouse.
"He's never going to believe you" shouted Bishop from behind her.
"He doesn't have to" said Natalie breathlessly.
"What the fuck is going on" said Sig as Natalie breached the top of the stairs.
She didn't stop. She kept running across the room and when Sig reached out to try to grab her sleeve she dodged him easily.
"Trust me" she panted.
"Stop her, she's crazy" said Bishop.
"What is going on" repeated Sig.
Natalie didn't have time to give an explanation, she pried the door to the outside and flung it closed after her nearly severing Bishop's questing fingers.
"Mother fucker" yelled Bishop as she pulled her hand back.
"What the fuck are you guys doing?" asked Sig.
"Shut up" replied Bishop as she opened the door.
Sig threw the boat into neutral and followed Bishop out the door determined to tell her that no one disrespected him on his boat.
Outside Natalie threw the duffle bag to the deck before taking the ladder stairs two at a time. Jason saw what she had in her hand and immediately trained his camera on the wheelhouse. He was rewarded by an irate Bishop falling through the doorway and then scrambling down to the deck. A moment later an equally angry Sig appeared.
"Bug, what's going on?" asked Matt as he went to grab the bag.
"Just saving some reputations" said Natalie as she scooped the bag into her arms and ran towards the stern of the boat.
"Be careful, the hatch is open" warned Jake.
Natalie looked down and deftly jumped over the opening to the tank. She secretly hoped Bishop would fall in, but she doubted she would be that lucky.
"You're going to run out of deck you stupid bitch" yelled Bishop, still in pursuit.
"That's where you're wrong" panted Natalie as she closed in on the stern.
She skidded to a stop her bare feet slipping on the slick deck boards. The rail was higher than she thought and she realized that she wouldn't be able to toss the heavy bag over from where she was standing. Pulling herself and the bag up a little she teetered the bag over the side. A moment later Bishop reached her and realized what Natalie was trying to do.
"If you're going to throw those over you're going too" she said.
Natalie realized what Bishop said a moment before she dropped the bag over the side of the boat. Before she could celebrate disposing of the tapes she felt Bishop's hands on her waist pushing her.
"Stop her" yelled someone from the deck.
In a show of strength that shocked Natalie to her core she turned and pushed Bishop as hard as she could. Bishop was bigger than her and before Natalie could find a better angle to push Bishop was already standing. The punch landed on her cheek knocking Natalie backwards. Pain exploded from her face and her eyes instinctively closed. The force pushed her into the stern and the momentum started to tip her over the side. She felt Bishop's hands on her thighs.
"This will be the first time we see someone go overboard, it will make great TV" said Bishop as she gave Natalie another push.
"No" yelled Edgar as Natalie tipped slightly.
Matt managed to reach the stern and grabbed Natalie before she went completely over.
"Stop them" yelled Sig.
Matt started to pull Natalie up when he caught a powerful right hook from Bishop. While not the first time he'd been hit in the face, it was the first time he'd been hit by a girl. Even though he was stunned, Matt managed to hold onto Natalie. Using the last of her strength she pulled herself over the side and collapsed on the deck. Bishop was on her in a moment her hands wrapped around her throat choking her and trying to slam her head into the deck. In that moment Natalie realized that if she didn't act fast Bishop was going to kill her. Rolling slightly she pulled the knife out of Matt's belt and stabbed Bishop in the thigh. The scream that was emitted made everyone on deck freeze. Natalie scrambled out from under her and ran towards the house.