A/N: Long Chapter.
Nicole burst out of the wheelhouse door with amazing speed. The door slammed against the side of the boat cracking the window. She was so mad she was seeing red. Slipping down the stairs she landed hard on the deck. The injury just fueled her anger. Sig's face had drained of all color as she began shrieking. There were no recognizable words just gibberish being spewed louder and louder. Natalie disentangled herself from Sig's embrace and began walking towards her sister with a look of shock on her face. Nicole pushed past Natalie, her heels slipping on the slick deck boards as she made a beeline for Sig. Unconsciously Sig stepped back until he hit the side of the boat. With nowhere else to go he stopped and waited to accept his fate. Nicole was practically foaming at the mouth when she got to Sig. She raised her hand to smack him when she was unceremoniously tackled from behind.
"Don't you dare hit him" said Natalie.
The two girls rolled around on the deck while the hoots and hollers from the Time Bandit grew. Sig glanced up and noticed that they were drawing quite an audience. Natalie eventually got the upper hand and pinned Nicole beneath her body.
"What in the bloody hell are you doing on this boat?" asked Natalie in between pants.
"Ask the wanker over there" spat Nicole. "All I wanted to do was deliver a bloody message."
"What?" asked Natalie. "What kind of message?"
"A message, that some freaky psycho came to your door threatening you and saying she was pregnant with the wanker's child and that she was going to blackmail him or you or something. It's all jumbled in my head right now because I'm laying on something wet" said Nicole, the rage leaking out of her body.
She struggled to get up but once she realized that Natalie was still pinning her forcefully she gave up.
"When did you get so strong" Nicole remarked conversationally.
"Since I started working on a crab boat" replied Natalie.
"Can we get up?" asked Nicole. "I'm really wet."
Natalie was snapped back to herself and stood up, pulling Nicole with her. Nicole turned to say something to Sig but Natalie grabbed her arm.
"We need to talk" she said, all but dragging Nicole towards the house.
Once the girls were inside Sig turned to glare at the guys on the deck of the Time Bandit. There were probably close to twenty men staring down at him. His own crew quickly jumped back onto the deck. Andy and Jonathan Hillstrand followed.
"Don't the rest of you have things to do?" said Sig in his best captain voice.
"When's the next fight scheduled?" asked one of the men.
"Get out of here" replied Sig.
He turned to Jake and Matt before pointing to the bags on the deck. The guys jumped to retrieve them and then dutifully followed Sig and the rest of the guys inside.
Natalie and Nicole were both standing in the galley, the kettle on the stove was steaming and two cups were sitting on the counter. Jake couldn't suppress his snort at the scene. Without loosing a beat, Nicole poured the hot water over the tea bags and both girls picked up their cups in unison. They dipped the tea bags the exact same number of times and then discarded them in the sink.
"They're twins" blurted out Andy.
"Holy shit Sig, as if one hot girl isn't enough to have on your boat you get two. Not just two but identical twins" said Jonathan, clapping Sig on the back.
"Shut up" said Sig.
Natalie and Nicole continued their muted conversation. Occasionally a word would travel to the guys but most of the time they just heard mumbles. Sig grimaced every time Nicole pointed in his direction. The boat was small and there seemed no way for the girls to be speaking so quietly, but they were.
"Gentlemen, I think this might take a while" announced Sig. "Let's head to town for a drink."
"We're done" said Natalie. "And I for one would love a drink."
"Me too" said Nicole.
"You aren't going anywhere" began Sig.
"Listen you stupid twat, I did nothing to you. I wanted to give Natty some information and you felt the need to put me on this bloody boat and sail me out to the middle of nowhere. Now I'm going to get a bloody drink and if you don't like it then piss off" shouted Nicole.
"Right" said Natalie as she linked her arms with Nicole. "On our way."
The girls walked through the door back out onto the deck.
"My God Sig, what the hell have you gotten us into?" asked Andy.
"You should run while you still can" said Sig. "I guarantee this is going to be a disaster."
The girls were standing on the deck looking up at the wave wall. Natalie was gesturing to Nicole, obviously giving her directions on how to climb across to the Time Bandit. Nicole was shaking her head.
"Get the crane" said Sig to Norman.
Sig approached the pair, like he was entering a pit full of venomous snakes.
"We're going to use the crane" said Sig.
"I don't need a bloody crane" muttered Nicole.
"No one is going to be able to carry you up to the other side" said Sig.
Nicole spun around to give Sig a two fingered salute.
"Hey, we can get her up" offered Andy.
"Yeah, I'll push you pull" said Jonathan.
Andy climbed to the top railing of the Northwestern and then dropped his hand towards Nicole. Jonathan, scooped her up and placed her on his shoulder. Andy snagged her hand and pulled her to his side. He then carefully stepped across to his boat. Natalie followed her sister onto the Time Bandit, without help. Mike Fortner was on deck, holding a clipboard tallying the boxes of bait being loaded into the freezer.
"Mikey, we're going to town for a quick beer" announced Andy. "Finish up quick and come over."
"Roger" said Mike.
"Shouldn't he tell them where we're going?" commented Nicole.
"Chances are there's only one place here" said Natalie.
"Well, I can only expect it will be top notch" said Nicole with a roll of her eyes.
Norman appeared at Natalie's side.
"Hi Norman" said Natalie softly.
"Hey, are you ok?" asked Norman casually.
"I'm as fine as one can be" said Natalie. "If that person has just got off a boat where she patched up a bullet wound and a dislocated shoulder only to be met by her sister on another..."
Natalie's voice faded and she realized how ridiculous her explanation was becoming.
"God, I could use a drink" she said with a sigh.
"First rounds on Sig" said Norman.
"No way, I'll get the first round of drinks for our naughty nurse and her sexy sister" said Andy with a waggle of his eyebrows.
Nicole heard his quip and turned around to size him up. Her eyes raked over his body as she took the measure of him.
"I don't think we've properly met" said Nicole, holding out her hand. "I'm Nicole."
"Andy, nice to meet you" said the Time Bandit captain with a sly leer.
Nicole lowered her eyes demurely and let Andy kiss her hand. Natalie rolled her eyes and quickly clamored over the side of the Time Bandit onto the dock. Picking up her pace she started to walk towards the closest light source.
"Hey Bug" said Nick, jogging to catch up with her.
Natalie slowed slightly but didn't stop.
"Natalie" insisted Nick. "You're going the wrong way."
"Fuck" said Natalie, stopping and sitting down on the dock.
Nick sat down next to her and handed her a lit cigarette.
"Croatian panacea" he said with a smile.
Natalie took the proffered cigarette and took a drag. She watched as the guys fawned all over Nicole as they helped her off the Time Bandit and onto the deck.
"You look good" said Nick conversationally. "Good to see the Bandit boys didn't work you too hard."
"Thanks, and I worked plenty hard" said Natalie, her eyes never leaving Nicole.
"Sig, will be happy to see her go" said Nick.
"I can't imagine why, she's always been such a grand helper" said Natalie, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"She's about as useful as a drum set with no sticks, you can bang it a couple of times but that's about it" said Nick, with a small smile.
"Don't say mean things about my sister" said Natalie. "Even if they are mostly true."
"She had sex with Jake in Sig's bunk" said Nick.
"You're kidding me" said Natalie. "And she's lived to tell the tale? Sig must be getting soft."
"I think he likes you so much that he's willing to not kill your sister" said Nick. "Jake on the other hand, probably won't be as lucky."
"Hey!" yelled Sig as he approached. "I'm only paying for one round and then we're getting out of here."
Natalie and Nick stood up and dusted off their backsides before slowly following Sig towards the only bar in St. Paul.
Sig slowed his pace until Natalie and Nick caught up. The trio walked together for a moment before Nick hurried ahead, leaving Sig and Natalie alone. Sig pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to Natalie who politely declined. He stopped briefly to light it. It was a test to see if Natalie would stop and wait for him. She did and Sig internally let out a sigh of relief.
"So, how was the Time Bandit?" asked Sig.
Natalie, stopped and abruptly turned towards Sig. Her eyes turned to slits, he could barely see the whites. Her mouth was turned down sharply and without saying a word the subject of the Time Bandit was dropped. They walked a while in silence when Natalie suddenly asked a question.
"Why did you decide to bring her?"
"I didn't bring her" replied Sig.
"So, she stowed away on the boat?" asked Natalie incredulously. "She won't even stay in a cruise cabin that doesn't have at least 2 bathrooms and a glass wall of windows."
"Yeah, that's because she's claustrophobic" said Sig.
"You don't say" said Natalie. "So she hid on the boat and made you take her out here."
"Not exactly" said Sig. "It just sort of happened."
"Were you missing me and thought you'd get the identical next best thing?" spat Natalie.
"No, God No! said Sig. "She's nothing like you. And I only want you."
"So why did you bring her?" asked Natalie, this time she stopped.
"I didn't mean to, she was yelling and making this huge scene" explained Sig. "I just put her on the boat to shut her up, then she demanded to talk to you. So I brought her up here. And now I'm going to send her back."
"How are you going to send her back? She's not a fucking parcel" snapped Natalie.
"She can go back on another boat" said Sig.
"By herself? With a crew of strangers?" questioned Natalie.
Suddenly Sig's simple disposal of the Nicole problem was seeming less simple.
"Let's get a drink and we can talk about it later" suggested Sig.
"There is no later" said Natalie. "You said one drink and then we're off. Unless you get her sorted she's going to be off with us."
Sig suddenly wished he had something hard to bang his head against.
By the time Sig and Natalie arrived at the bar, the first round of shots had been bought and paid for. Andy was holding two out to the stragglers as they approached the table. Natalie accepted the shot glass and tossed the drink back without even asking what it was. Sig did the same and then slid into the seat next to his brother Norman. Natalie's eyes scanned the table and found Nicole snuggled up between Jonathan and Jake. She was talking animatedly about something or other keeping the guys attention glued on her. Natalie rolled her eyes when she realized that Nicole had taken off her heavy coat and was sporting a ridiculously low cut sweater. Jonathan was practically drooling and Jake was torn between enjoying the show and convincing Nicole to put her jacket back on. Matt tugged her sleeve and she allowed herself to be pulled into the booth next to him.
"Hey gorgeous" he said with a smile.
"Hi Matt" said Natalie. "How's the hand?"
As she asked the question she examined his knuckles and fingers. There were new scratches and one knuckle in particular looked like the joint was swollen.
"You need to ice this" said Natalie as she released his hand.
"It's ok" said Matt.
"It will be better if you follow my orders" said Natalie.
"You can order me around any time" said Matt. "Look I'll start right now."
With that pronouncement he wrapped his hand around his glass. Natalie smiled and then stood up.
"Next rounds on Sig" she announced. "What do you want?"
"Hey" said Sig.
Natalie sauntered to the bar and gave the bartender the order. While she waited she studied the well worn bar top.
"You can carve your name in there" said a voice from behind her. "If you can find room."
"Oh, hey Mike" said Natalie, giving Fourtner and hug. "Want anything? Sig's buying."
"Well in that case" chimed Josh Harris. "I'll have whatever is most expensive."
"Done" said Natalie with a smile.
"You ok?" asked Josh.
"I'll be fine" replied Natalie. "Especially after a few more of these."
Hours later finds the group in the same booth, bottles and glasses littering the table. Nicole is treating the assembled to a rendition of her favorite torch songs. She's taken off the sweater and sings to them wearing only a camisole and her jeans. Her heeled boots lay abandoned under the table. She is standing on the vinyl bench belting out a song like she's performing in Albert Hall. Natalie grimaces as her sister reaches a particularly high note. Taking that as her cue to leave she stumbles out of her seat and towards the door. Once outside the blast of freezing air takes her breath away. Pulling her beanie out of her coat pocket she pulls it down over her ears and begins walking back towards the Northwestern. Walking down the dock she sees another figure approaching her in the dimness. Natalie puts her head down and does her best to keep walking in a straight line. The figure stops just in front of her causing her to raise her head.
"Hey, is the Northwestern in the bar?" mumbled a voice.
"Yeah" replied Natalie as she kept walking.
The stranger mumbled a thanks and kept walking. Natalie continued her walk towards the moored boats. As she approached the Time Bandit she saw Scotty and Neil walking down the dock towards her. Suddenly they were yelling but the wind and snow flurries made it impossible for her to hear them. In her alcohol dulled state she wasn't about to run towards them. Their voices carried on the wind and snippets of words found her.
"...run...watch...knife..."
The sequence of words meant nothing to Natalie until she felt someone push her from behind. She hit the ground hard, the snow doing nothing to break her fall. She heard the sound of tearing cloth.
"If this is your idea of a joke, it's not funny at all" said Natalie as she used her momentum to flip over.
She was startled to see it wasn't anyone from the Northwestern or Time Bandit. Without warning a gleam of silver caught her eye and she watched in horror as a knife was brutally buried in her shoulder. Her sense of self preservation took over and she began to struggle. The attackers hand slipped off the knife handle and instead of trying to retrieve the knife they simple cocked their fist back and punched. Natalie was able to move her head in time and the fist met the frozen dock. The shock of pain to the attacker was enough to allow Natalie enough leverage to dislodge them. In a fit of hysterical strength she pulled herself up off the dock and started to run towards the boats. Scotty and Neil met her, they half pulled half carried her towards the Time Bandit.
"Got to get you inside" said Scott.
Natalie's head bobbled back and forth as Neil lowered her into Scott's arms. Neil jumped down to the deck and hurried to open the door. All three stumbled into the ready room.
"Lock it" said Scott. "Lock everything, and call Jon and Andy."
"Take her to the galley" said Neil.
"Roger" said Scott.
He readjusted Natalie in his arms and started carrying her down the narrow hallway, trying hard to keep her from hitting the walls. The slam against the water tight door made Scotty stop.
"You don't think it could be Jon and Andy already, do you?" he asked Natalie.
He looked down at her as her eyes rolled one way then another. She was in shock.
"Come on Natalie, stay with me" said Scotty. "Focus on the sound of my voice."
Whoever was at the door was going to have to wait.
Scotty laid Natalie down on the galley table and called for Neil. He appeared with a stack of towels and the first aid kit. The two Hillstrands worked together to get her head elevated and staunch the bleeding in her shoulder. The pounding on the door increased and Neil went to open it.
The crash of the door opening was enough to cause Scotty to start. The distinct sounds of a struggle shortly after made him wary.
"Sorry to do this to you beautiful, but we gotta go" said Scott as he lifted Natalie off the table. "Your psycho friend isn't going to leave us alone until you're dead."
Natalie, tried to focus on Scotty's face but her vision around the edges was fuzzy and black spots seemed to be floating in and out. When he picked her up she did her best not to scream. Scott seemed to understand that he was hurting her, but it had to be done. He moved her towards the engine room door and swung it open. The ladder stairs were the only way down and in Natalie's current state there was no way she could manage them on her own. Scott laid her down, then opened the door. He stepped in first and then tried to pull her into his arms.
"RUN SCOTT" yelled Neil from the ready room.
He was out of time. Giving Natalie a kiss on the cheek he pulled her flush with his chest and jumped. The heavy door slammed above them as they crashed into the floor below. Scott had broken most of Natalie's fall.
"Oh shit" said Scott as he tried to sit up. His wrist was throbbing.
"Ok, Natalie, we've got to hide" said Scott.
Natalie bobbed her head, in some semblance of a nod. Scott dragged Natalie to the far end of the engine room. Someone was struggling to open the door they'd just fallen through. When they were tucked away in the corner Scott tried to assess the situation. He was in the engine room with Natalie who had a knife stuck in her shoulder hiding from a deranged psycho who'd just overpowered his uncle Neil. The situation seemed daunting.
"Ok Natalie, I'm going to pull the knife out" began Scott.
"Don't" said Natalie, her voice weak.
"What? Why?" asked Scott.
"Artery, bleed out" said Natalie. "Leave it."
The door slammed open and then abruptly shut again. Scott knew that they were sitting ducks. He pushed Natalie more into the corner and covered her with a blanket.
"I'm going to see what's going on" said Scott.
Natalie weakly reached for his sleeve. Her blood soaked fingers too slick to hold on to it.
"No" she said, her voice thready.
"I have to keep you safe" said Scott. "It's safer if I'm closer to the stairs."
"Please" began Natalie, her fingers closing on air because he was already gone.
The scene above the engine room was no less chaotic than the one going on below. Jonathan, Andy, Fourtner, Josh Harris and the whole Northwestern crew had raced from the bar back to the Time Bandit. Neil's message had been short but clear, Natalie was hurt and the bastard was trying to get into the boat to finish her off. Jonathan and Andy reached the deck first, jumping down and heading towards the door. It was ajar. When they walked inside they saw Neil slumped next to the dryer, his head bloodied. Andy bent down to help him up.
"Scott has her" said Neil.
"Scott did this to her?" asked Sig.
"No, he's hiding with her" said Neil.
"Did you call the Coast Guard?" asked Jon.
"Didn't get a chance, attacker still in the boat" said Neil.
The three captains exchanged worried glances. There were only so many places to hide on a boat. Any idiot would be able to find Natalie given enough time.
"Take Neil to the Northwestern" said Sig to Nick.
Nick took Neil by the arm and led him out onto the deck.
"We need to call the coasties first" said Jon.
"I'll take Josh and Fourtner with me" said Andy.
"I wish we hadn't left Eddie with Nicole" said Jon.
"Leave her, we need to find Natalie" said Sig impatiently.
Jonathan led the way through the galley. The blood soaked table brought everybody up short.
"We need to find her now" said Fourtner. "She's already lost a lot of blood."
"Maybe it's not all hers" suggested Jake.
"We can hope" said Fourtner solemnly.
"Ok, new plan, we need to find Natalie now" said Andy. "Lets search the boat."
"Fourtner and Josh, go check the engine room" said Jon. "Northwestern, half of you check the aft spaces and the freezers and the other half check the staterooms. Sig, Andy and I will be in the wheelhouse calling the Coasties."
The group broke up, each making their way to their assigned area in hopes of finding Natalie.
Down in the engine room Natalie shivered violently startling herself awake. She slowly pulled the rough blanket off of her head and stared into the bleak darkness. She tried to focus on listening but her ears felt plugged. She tried to lift her arm to unplug her ear but the searing pain in her shoulder almost made her lose consciousness. Pulling off the blanket she saw the outline of the knife in her shoulder. She laid her head back against the side of the boat and stifled a sob. Just when she was about to release a torrent of tears a noise brought her back to reality. The sound of movement and the repeated hits of metal on metal pierced through her foggy senses. The sounds were getting closer. She had to move. Struggling to her feet Natalie moved unsteadily away from the noise. She tried her best not to make a sound, but her ungainly movements made stealth all but impossible. She saw the ladder in the distance and decided to head in that direction. Her attention was completely focused on her goal so she didn't see the hand that grabbed her sleeve until it was too late.
"What are you doing?" asked Scotty, as he pulled her into a tiny space between two engine components.
His hand was tightly wound around her mouth so he didn't expect her to answer.
"You were safer staying where you were" he said, slowly releasing her mouth.
"No, noises were coming towards me" said Natalie.
Scott tried to listen, but heard nothing unusual.
"I think you're imagining things" said Scott.
Natalie frowned but didn't bother to respond. Her strength was fading fast and she really wanted to sit down. She tried to step forward and her legs collapsed under her, sending her to the ground in a heap. On her way down she managed to send something clattering to the floor.
"I heard that" said Scott.
So had someone else. The door to the engine room opened and a body slipped down the stairs with practiced ease. Scott leaned down and grabbed the pipe Natalie had knocked off the shelf. He stood over her, ready to protect her as best he could. Suddenly the lights went on, blinding him.
"Scott! Are you ok?" asked Mike Fourtner.
"Where's Natalie?" asked Josh at the same time.
"Oh, fuck!" said Scott with a sigh. "She's right here. I'm so glad to see you guys."
Mike walked over to where Natalie was laying on the ground. He took one look at her pale face and blood soaked clothing and knew she was in serious trouble.
"Josh, grab her legs, we have to get her off the ground" ordered Mike. "Scott, call the wheelhouse, we need EMS here now."
"Roger" responded Scott as he raced to the phone.
Mike and Josh were able to move Natalie to the work bench next to the engine's main electrical panel. It was usually used for fabricating parts in emergency situations for the boat but today it was Mike's own surgical table.
"Hey Mike, I can't get anyone in the wheelhouse to answer the phone" said Scott. "I'm going up to see what's going on."
"Roger" replied Mike.
He sent Josh up to get the emergency kit and was now working on seeing how much damaged had been done. Using a pair of metal shears he cut away Natalie's jacket, shirt and bra. The cold air had puckered her nipples and her skin was broken out in goosebumps.
"I'm cccold" stuttered Natalie.
"I know, I'll try to get something to warm you up in a minute" said Mike. "But I need to see what I'm working with here. You've lost a lot of blood."
"Knife is in the artery" said Natalie.
"It's not, you'd be dead by now if it was" said Mike.
"Good news" said Natalie with a weak smile.
Josh appeared with the box and opened it on the floor next to Mike.
"What do you need?" asked Josh.
"Gloves, saline, and a lot of gauze pads" said Mike.
Josh wasted no time in getting the gloves on Mike and handing him the saline. Mike poured the saline over the knife tying to see if the blood was still flowing. He was disappointed to see that it was still bubbling up through the wound.
"She's not breathing" said Josh.
"What?!" said Mike.
"Her chest stopped moving" said Josh, his voice tinged with panic.
Mike leaned in and could hear very faint breaths.
"Give me the stethoscope."
Josh handed it over and Mike wasted no time listening to Natalie's heart and lungs.
"Something's wrong with her breath sounds on the left side" said Mike. "We need to roll her over."
"The table's too small" said Josh.
"Ok, stand here" commanded Mike. "I'm going to roll her into your arms, just hold her still until I roll her back."
'Ok dude" said Josh.
Mike moved Natalie into Josh's waiting arms and began pulling off the cut clothing. Once the jacket was off he could see the blood soaked shirt and underneath revealed another more serious problem.
"Fuck, she's got another stab wound back here" said Mike. "She needs to get the fuck off this boat, she needs a fucking hospital. Where the fuck is Scotty?"
"Mike, Josh, please come to the wheelhouse" said Andy's voice over the hailer.
"What the hell?" grunted Mike. "Are we just suppose to leave her here?"
"Dude, did he sound weird to you?" commented Josh.
"Um, he's not really my concern at the moment" said Mike, holding up his blood streaked hands.
"Guys, this is an order" said Andy.
Josh and Mike exchanged confused glances and then started maneuvering Natalie towards the door.
Sig, Andy and Jon had arrived into the darkened wheelhouse bent set on calling the authorities and then searching for Natalie. What they encountered was a gun toting psychopath holding a gun from the Time Bandit's own arsenal. The irony, it was the same gun Andy had vowed to get rid of after he'd grazed Fourtner earlier in the week. The trio of captains had followed their given instructions and called the rest of the crew members up to the wheelhouse. As each arrived they were greeted by a semi automatic rifle pointing to where they should be standing.
"Call the ones with Natalie" said the intruder. "I want her."
"She's not here" said Sig suddenly.
"LIAR" yelled the intruder, causing the hood to drop back.
The guys were surprised that a girl was holding them hostage.
"Bishop!?" said Sig.
"Yes, it's me" said Bishop. "I was hoping that we wouldn't have to meet under such stressful circumstances, but I guess you don't have a choice."
"You know this psycho bitch?" asked Jonathan.
For a moment Sig wished he'd let Nicole call Natalie on the radio. If the whole fleet knew about Bishop, he wouldn't be in this ridiculous mess.
"I must look a mess" said Bishop as she smoothed her head with her bloodied hand.
"You cut yourself" said Norman.
"I know, but the other person got much worse" said Bishop with a smile. "I want her up here, I want to watch her die."
Sig stepped forward.
"Uh Uh Uh, I want you, but I can always go for the next best thing" said Bishop, glancing at Norman.
"Guys, unless the fucking coasties are in this wheelhouse, this is the last place Natalie needs to be" said Mike Fourtner from the stairwell.
He crested the stairs first and the shock registered immediately on his face. Josh was walking behind him, holding an unconscious Natalie in his arms. He tapped Mike on the back in an effort to make him move forward.
"Bring her in" said Bishop, pointing the gun at Mike and then at Josh. "Put her on the bench."
Josh sat down on the bench, holding Natalie in his arms.
"Put her down" insisted Bishop.
"I don't want to get blood on the bench" lied Josh.
"Who cares?" said Bishop. "These boats are the dirtiest things ever, a little blood will just lead to a great story. I can hear it now, this is the spot that the dumb girl, who ruined one of the great Discovery producer's lives, died because she felt the need to defend some dumb crews reputation."
The crew members in the cramped wheelhouse exchanged confused looks. The only people that seemed to know what was going on were Sig and Norman.
Eddie had gotten tired of babysitting Nicole. Without an audience she was kind of boring. Deciding the guys were probably all passed out on the boat he decided to take the songstress home. Nicole had downed her gin and tonic and then dutifully followed Eddie out the door. After he'd stopped twice to let her pee in the snow they finally reached the dock. The Time Bandit was eerily quiet and the feeling on the boat made Eddie nervous. Nicole got more agitated as they got closer to the boat.
"We need to get to the boat" she said, for the third time.
"I'm going as fast as you are" said Eddie.
"Something's wrong" said Nicole.
"Like what?" asked Eddie. "They are probably just sleeping it off."
"No" said Nicole.
She sped up, when her heels slowed her down she took them off. Once at the boat she took a moment to figure out how to get down, deciding that the best was to just jump. Eddie caught her by the arm before she jumped 12 feet to the deck.
"I'll go first and you can jump into my arms" he explained.
"Fine, but hurry" said Nicole.
Eddie's feet had just hit the deck when a flash of light was seen from the wheelhouse, followed immediately by a loud bang.
"Catch me" said Natalie as she leaped from the dock.
The second her feet hit the ground she took off like a shot towards the open deck door. Eddie followed hot on her heels. If he didn't know any better he could swear he just heard a gunshot.
The wheelhouse was in a state of panic. Moments before Sig had tried to reason with Bishop and she'd responded by shooting him in the upper thigh. He'd dropped to the ground and against all better judgement Mike had rushed to Sig's side.
"I don't care what you are" yelled Bishop. "Get away from him."
"But you don't want your true love to die" reasoned Mike.
"He's not my true love" said Bishop, petulantly. "He loves her."
"She's dead" said Josh.
Bishop walked over and stared at Natalie's body in Josh's arms.
"Prove it" said Bishop.
"What do you want me to do?" asked Josh.
"Drop her" said Bishop. "Then I can shoot her, you know just to make sure she's really dead."
Looks of horror crossed the faces of everyone in the wheelhouse. The seconds became minutes as Bishop waited for Josh to drop the object of her rage.
"I don't want to defile the dead" said Josh.
"She won't know, she's dead" said Bishop simply.
"I don't want her coming back to haunt me" said Josh.
"Oh please, she's probably already giving your dad a blow job down in the next world" said Bishop. "She's a slut like that."
Josh clutched Natalie tighter in response to Bishop's disgusting comment.
"Drop her" insisted Bishop, taking a step closer to Josh.
"You should drop it" said Nicole as she pressed a .44 into Bishop's temple.
"Who the fuck are you?" asked Bishop turning to see who it was.
Her face registered surprise, then bewilderment and before could even formulate a response Nicole pulled the trigger, splashing Bishop's gray matter across the room.
"Has the whole world gone crazy!" yelled Andy. "You can't discharge a fire arm, you just killed, my wheelhouse, the fuck."
"I think he's in a state of shock" said Jonathan, pushing Andy into the Captain's chair.
"No more guns on this boat" mumbled Andy. "No more guns."
"Can someone please call an ambulance" said Mike. "Before someone else dies."
Nicole knelt in front of Josh and placed her head next to Natalie's ear.
"Come on Natty, I know you're in there" she said quietly. "Stay with me. Please. I can't get along without you."
"She's not dead" said Josh. "I just said that to try to get whoever that was to stop trying to kill us."
"I know" said Nicole solemnly. "Natty, please wake up."