On Day Fourteen of their journey, it started to rain. They'd been lucky with the weather so far, but Mary Ann supposed their luck couldn't hold out forever. At first, she and Gilligan kept paddling, but then the rain got heavier and the wind kicked in.

"We'd better put up the tarp," Gilligan said.

She nodded. He was the sailor. He knew. It wasn't easy to fasten the tarpaulin from the inside, with the wind fighting them, but they did their best.

They had to lie down since they now had a very low ceiling and couldn't sit up. And this led to cuddling and kissing and then necking, because there was no need to conserve their energy for paddling when the rain showed no sign of letting up.

At first it was fun, with the waves rocking them. But then the weather started getting rough. The tiny boat was tossed.

"Gilligan, I'm getting scared," she admitted.

"Don't be scared, Mary Ann, you're with me," he said, stroking her hair. She knew he was scared, too, but trying to be brave for her sake.

She kissed him and they held each other more tightly, but desire was cooled for the moment. For now they just needed to touch each other for comfort.

"Do you remember the storm that caused the shipwreck?" he asked after awhile.

"Of course. You don't think this will be as bad as that, do you?"

"No, I hope not. But I was thinking about how I believed in the Skipper, believed that he would get us all to safety. I just had to follow his orders and everything would be okay."

"I remember thinking how brave you both were. And I didn't know much about boats, being from Kansas, but I believed in both of you."

"You've always believed in me, Mary Ann, even when no one else did."

"Well, I guess I always saw your sincerity, and your potential."

He kissed her. "Thank you. But I don't know if you should believe in me now, because the Skipper isn't here to tell me what to do. And this canoe is a lot smaller than The Minnow."

She nodded. "It does sort of feel like we have to be the grown-ups. No one can take care of us but us. But even the Skipper, or our parents, couldn't stop this storm. All we can do is believe we'll survive."

"At least we have each other. I mean, I wish you weren't here for your sake, Mary Ann, but I'm also glad you're with me, if that makes sense."
"It does. That's how I feel."

They kissed some more. And then they just listened to the rain and wind beat against their canoe.

"I wish I'd found a bigger boat."

She laughed. "Well, Gilligan, this is pretty good considering you were fishing."

"Yeah, but a bigger boat would be more protection."

"Well, think about Duke Williams. He got back to Hawaii with just a surfboard."

"Yeah, but he lost his memory."

"Oh, right."

"Mary Ann, did you mean it when you said that you liked my little muscles more than Duke's big muscles? Or were you just saying that to make him jealous?"

"I meant it. And you may not look like Charles Atlas, but you're a wonderful athlete, the way you run and climb trees. And." She blushed but went on. "I think your body is perfect just the way it is."

"Well, yours sure is. I mean what I've seen of it so far."

"Thank you, Gilligan." She thought of how she hadn't yet been completely naked with him. If this were a normal honeymoon, she could've worn lingerie from her trousseau and then taken it off for him. Now she wondered if she'd ever see her trousseau again, or for that matter a bedroom. The idea of four walls and a ceiling seemed luxurious these days.

"You're welcome. Uh, do you think you could make lunch or should we wait till the storm dies down?"

She laughed. In some ways, he hadn't changed. But she was hungry, too, so she said, "Let me get the can opener. I think it'll be easiest to just open a couple cans of something."

"Whatever you choose. All your meals are good, Mary Ann."

She kissed him for his sweetness, then crawled over to where the cans and the opener were. She also got a couple spoons so that they could eat right out of the can. The canoe was tipping but she managed to bring everything back. Gilligan, so clumsy on land, opened the cans for her and managed to eat without dropping a bite, even though the light wasn't very good, with the storm and the tarp blocking some of it out. She spilled a little but then she was less used than he was to eating at sea, especially in stormy weather.

She remembered eight years ago, how she and the other passengers had huddled below deck during the storm. It had seemed unreal to her, a Kansas girl born and bred, lost in the middle of the Pacific. And in such company! With two of the richest people in the world and a genuine movie star. Even the Professor had seemed intimidating to her then, with his big scientific words, calmly explaining the natural phenomenon.

But the first mate, shy yet friendly, had done his best to put her at ease. She thought then that she would remember him fondly even after they were rescued, which she had hoped would be within days.

She now prayed that they would survive this storm as well as that storm. She was probably the most religious person of the seven castaways. Her faith in God had helped her through many difficult times, even before the shipwreck, like when her father was bankrupted by a man he trusted. She didn't talk about her faith to the others, because that wasn't in her nature. She considered it something deeply personal. But she now said, "I was wrong before. God will take care of us, like He always has."

Gilligan kissed her. "I sure hope you're right."