A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Smut ahead.
Andy stood gaping at the precarious position the Time Bandit was currently in. The boat was surrounded on three sides by ice. Behind it the ice was flowing together effectively choking off the last bit of open water. Jonathan had slowed the Time Bandit to a crawl, trying his best to pick his way through the ice without damaging the boat.
"How the hell did we get here?" asked Andy.
"According to the ice reports the ice isn't suppose to be here yet" said Jonathan.
"Obviously the report is wrong" said Andy.
"Right, well our first pot in the string should be right here" said Jonathan.
Andy grabbed a pair of binoculars and tried to find any sign of the pot. After a moment the boat gave a lurch to the left and then stalled. The sound of alarms blared through the boat and the crew members scrambled out of their bunks.
"What the fuck" exclaimed Andy. "Get Neil."
"He's on the Northwestern" said Jonathan.
"Then we need Fortner" said Andy.
Over the hailer Jonathan bellowed for Fortner to go to the engine room. A moment later Josh appeared in the wheelhouse dragging a disheveled Natalie behind him. The alarm had woken everyone. Scott and Travis had gone with Mike to the engine room and Josh had volunteered to take Natalie to the wheelhouse.
"Mike, I need an update" called Jonathan over the hailer. "Someone pick up the damn phone."
The boat phone beeped and Jonathan held it to his ear, a moment later the alarms were silenced and the boat was moving forward again. Josh took the opportunity to settle himself and Natalie on the bench seat behind the captain's chair. The crazy emotion of waking up astride Andy, then being told to go back to sleep, only to be woken minutes later by blaring alarms was taking its toll on Natalie's psyche. A hysterical giggle burst from her chest causing everyone in the wheelhouse to look at her in wary confusion.
"Are you ok?" asked Josh.
Natalie shook her head as the giggles continued.
"Get her a cup of coffee or something" suggested Jonathan.
Natalie shook her head again, tears starting to stream down her cheeks as her giggles turned into hysterical cackling. Andy walked over to where Natalie was sitting and pushed her head down between her knees.
"Slow deep breaths" he said calmly.
Natalie tried to follow the order and eventually her breathing evened out and Andy released her head.
"Don't do that again" said Jonathan. "It was totally freaking me out."
"Me too" said Natalie, breathlessly.
The rest of the crew arrived in the wheelhouse a moment later. Everyone but Natalie was sent down to the inner bow to listen for any signs the hull was being breached while the boat inched through the ice. Natalie had offered to go with them but after her little breakdown Andy thought it would be better if she didn't crack up in front of the rest of the crew. When they were all gone Andy pulled Natalie up and led her over to the port side chair. He settled her into his lap and continued to help Jonathan navigate through the ice. Natalie's head fell to Andy's shoulder and eventually she fell asleep.
The Time Bandit had finally found open water. Andy shifted Natalie to the side and gave his brother a half hug. It had taken almost 7 hours to make it out of what appeared to have been an ice flow. The first thing they'd seen when the boat emerged was an orange buoy. Scott, Travis, Josh and Mike were all on deck pulling the pot. Jonathan had his fingers crossed that it was the first in the string and the ice had pushed it into open water. Once the pot was in the rack the buoy revealed it wasn't the first pot but the third in the string. Two pots lost was a hell of a lot better than all thirty. Mike worked the hydros for the first few pots and then called up to the wheelhouse to say he had to come in, his head was starting to pound.
"I'll go out" said Jonathan. "Just take over here."
Andy reluctantly passed Natalie to Jonathan so he could get up.
"You want me to put her on the bench or leave her in the chair?" asked Jonathan.
"Put her on the bench, she'll probably be less likely to fall off" said Andy.
Jonathan carefully laid her down, brushing a lock of hair off of her cheek, before he went downstairs to suit up. The camera guy trained his camera on the sleeping girl and then back to Captain Andy who couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her.
"So Andy" asked the camera guy, effectively snapping Andy out of his daze. "How many pots are in this string?"
"Thirty" said Andy, now focused on the crew on deck. "Yep, thirty more pots and we are headed to St. Paul."
Natalie shivered slightly as she woke up. Her neck was sore and she seemed to have lost feeling in her hands. Sitting up she felt as if her brain was sloshing around in her skull. The boat was in open ocean again and she was mildly surprised to see Andy at the helm.
"You feeling ok?" asked Andy when he realized she was awake.
"I guess" said Natalie. "Why am I here?"
"That's a pretty heavy existentialist question" said Andy. "Why are we here, what is our place in the universe."
"I meant why am I sleeping on this bench and not outside helping to pull pots" clarified Natalie.
"You were sleeping after your little psychotic break" said Andy.
"I did not have a psychotic break" challenged Natalie.
"Whatever you want to call it, you had your 'I'm a crazy lady' laugh attack and then basically fell asleep in my lap" explained Andy. "When it was time to pull pots Jonathan volunteered to go out and help the guys."
"I guess I should go help too" said Natalie.
"They have ten pots left" said Andy. "Why don't you go downstairs and make some breakfast. Everyone is going to be starving when they come off deck."
"Ok" said Natalie.
She stood up, stretching her arms above her head, showing Andy a great view of her stomach. As she stretched the sweats slipped down farther showing the curve of her hip and when she turned to walk down the stairs he saw a peek of her ass crack. Andy bit his lip and shared a knowing look with the camera man. The guy with the camera just shook his head in response.
Breakfast had been consumed and the guys and headed to their racks to catch some much needed zzz's on the way to St. Paul. Natalie did the dishes and cleaned the galley before heading to the staterooms to check on how everyone was feeling. Dragging her medical kit she checked on Mike Fortner first.
"I think you were a little exuberant in heading out to pull pots" said Natalie as she repaired a popped stitch.
"I know, but that's what had to be done" said Mike unapologetically.
"Well at least no one shot at you" said Natalie.
"Very true, but from what I heard Andy had his hands busy" said Mike with a waggle of his eyebrows.
"Oh yeah?" said Natalie. "What was he doing?"
Mike's mouth opened in surprise at Natalie's apparent ignorance.
"What?" asked Natalie defensively.
"He was busy with you" he said plainly.
"Busy what?" asked Natalie. "I woke up on the bench seat at pot 20. As far as I know Andy was driving the boat the whole time."
Mike gaped at her for a moment then his face broke into a forced smile.
"I guess nothing happened then" said Mike with false enthusiasm.
"Pretty sure nothing did" said Natalie.
"Ok" said Mike.
"I have some more medicine for you if you want to take it" said Natalie, effectively changing the subject.
"No, I took some advil, I'm fine" said Mike.
Natalie nodded and then placed all of her equipment back in the bag before turning to Travis.
"Let me see your hand" she said.
"It's fine" said Travis, moving his hand under his pillow.
"It's not" said Natalie. "I saw it at the breakfast table."
Travis sighed and pulled his hand from it's hiding place and presented it to Natalie. His middle and ring fingers were bruised. The cuticles were tinged with dried blood.
"I'm just going to clean them" said Natalie.
She got out a bottle of saline and started to carefully rinse the blood from his hands. They were covered with tiny cuts, so Natalie methodically cleaned and put antiseptic on all of them. When she was done she examined the bruised fingers. She didn't think they were broken and really there was nothing she could do other than give Travis an anti-inflammatory for the swelling. She offered the medicine and he took it without the aid of water. Before she left she placed two kisses on his fingers.
Natalie's next stop was Josh, she found him with Scott in the galley, they were playing a game on the xbox. Natalie watched the screen for a few minutes before the changing points of view started to make her nauseous. She gave both guys a cursory look over and then asked what was hurting. They both responded that their backs were the issue and so Natalie sat behind them one at a time and gave their shoulders and backs a thorough massaging. Josh groaned softly as she worked from his neck to his lower back before she moved on to Scott.
"You know this would work better if you were lying down" said Natalie, pressing on a particularly stubborn knot.
"If we were laying down you wouldn't be massaging my back" said Scott.
In response to his bawdy suggestion Natalie pressed hard into the knot.
"Damn it" said Scott. "That hurts so good."
"You are impossible" said Natalie. "All you think about is sex."
"Well having a girl on the boat that spends her time walking around with her butt crack showing makes it hard to think of anything else" complained Scott.
Natalie dropped her hands and moved away from the table. As she was walking down towards the staterooms she pulled the sweats all the way down giving Scott a full view of her ass.
"Holy Fuck" shouted Scott. "She's never going to talk to me again."
"Totally worth it man" said Josh.
Natalie walked into Andy's room to check on him before she went to bed. He was her last "patient" and he'd already shown he was on the mend so she figured it would be a quick visit. Walking in she saw Andy working on exercising his arm.
"Stop" she said immediately. "Let me show you how to do it."
"I know how to lift my arm" said Andy grumpily.
"Listen, you can't lift it that much at the beginning" said Natalie. "You'll end up re-injuring your shoulder."
Natalie walked around to stand in front of him, she slowly lifted his arm until it was just level. Andy pushed down as Natalie pulled up, he was really trying to weigh his arm down. Natalie however showed nothing, the extra effort didn't even make her break a sweat. After a few reps she let Andy drop his arm and moved behind him to rub his neck and shoulders.
"I'm surprised you aren't in the wheelhouse" said Natalie.
"Jonathan has everything well in hand" said Andy. "How are you doing?"
"Fine" said Natalie.
"Are you sure?" asked Andy. "You kind of freaked out yesterday."
"Was it yesterday?" said Natalie. "I think it was a few days ago."
"Seriously, I thought we were going to have to throw you in a cold shower" said Andy.
"It wasn't that bad" said Natalie defensively.
Andy glanced at her over his shoulder, giving her a look that told him he thought differently.
"Fine, it was bad" said Natalie. "But honestly, in my defense I literally woke up on top of you, then you pushed me off and then the alarms went off."
Andy turned suddenly, pinning Natalie on the bed with his good arm.
"We could start right where we left off" said Andy huskily.
"I think the moment has passed" said Natalie.
"One kiss" said Andy. "Just one."
"Fine" muttered Natalie. "Just one."
Andy smiled wickedly and slid down the bed.
"Where are you going?" asked Natalie.
"One kiss" said Andy. "I didn't say it was going to be on your mouth."
"No!" said Natalie. "I didn't say you could kiss me down there."
"You didn't say I couldn't" said Andy. "It's just one kiss, don't freak out."
Natalie sat up on her elbows and stared down at Andy's descending head. Andy slipped his fingers underneath her waistband and tugged the sweats down revealing nothing but her flesh.
"If I didn't know any better I would say you were prepared for this" said Andy.
"I have one pair of knickers on this whole fucking boat and they're in the bloody wash" said Natalie.
"You know you have a cute accent when you're angry" said Andy, tossing her pants over his shoulder.
"I'm british" said Natalie.
Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by Andy pushing her thighs apart as far as they would go.
"Wow, you're flexible" said Andy. "And very very beautiful."
"One kiss" said Natalie her eyes squeezed shut.
"I'm just enjoying the view" said Andy.
"Hurry up" said Natalie.
"This isn't something you want to rush" said Andy, his thumbs rubbing the inside of Natalie's knees.
Natalie took a breath and blew it out with more force than necessary. This was not a position she'd imagined herself in, but at least she was thankful she'd taken a shower. Andy pulled her to the end of the bed as he dropped to his knees on the floor. When she was lined up he dropped his face so it was even with her pussy.
"You smell good" said Andy.
"Will you shut up and get on with it" said Natalie, dropping her head to the bed.
Andy smiled and dropped his lips to her pussy. He placed a chaste kiss over her nether lips. Natalie let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. But Andy wasn't finished. He used his lips to pry open her lips and then thrust his tongue into her. She bucked hard and Andy immediately used his arm on her thighs to pin her to the bed. He kissed her pussy just like he'd kiss a mouth. His tongue slithered in and out, moving all around her opening before settling on her clit. He lashed it with his tongue relentlessly, determined to make Natalie cum. Natalie didn't know what to do, the whole situation was so unexpected and unbelievable she felt she had no choice but surrender herself. Andy could tell the moment where she let go and once she relaxed he doubled his efforts. His hand dropped to his pants, pulling his cock out of his pajama pants. His fist moved up and down over his turgid flesh, bringing himself to the edge. Andy could feel her start to move against his mouth and knew she was close. Moving his other hand down he shoved two fingers into Natalie's body which set off her orgasm. Her body pulsed around his fingers and Andy felt his own body release, spilling his cum onto the side of the bed. Natalie bit her lip, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Andy's fingers slowed and he slowly eased them out. He climbed back onto the bed, shutting the light off as he went. He slipped under the covers, pulling the blanket up and over Natalie's prone body.
"Thanks for the kiss" said Andy, smacking his lips.
"Shut up" said Natalie. "I'm going to sleep."
Andy collected her naked bottom and settled her against his pajama clad groin. There were a lot of thoughts running through Natalie's head but instead of considering any of them, she just shut off her brain and went to sleep.