XII.
Frustrations

Two more weeks! Two more weeks on this blasted, ill-forgotten scrap of land! Mary had it with Edward's selfishness and childishness. She had it with trying to talk some sense into him. Some morning she woke curled against him like a lover and she had it with that too! She had it with everything on this damn island and she never wanted to see another crab for as long as she lived. Fish and crab and lizard was all they had to eat and she was tired of it all! She just wanted to get out of here and she kept a fire going at all times, hoping that someone might see, that someone might come and check to see why there was smoke rising from the ocean. No one did and they were forsaken to this scrap of land without any hope of rescue.

Mary was frustrated, irritable and angry. Her frustrations were from more than one source though. Oh yes, emotionally Mary was at her wits end but her body seemed to realize there was other sorts of relief here on this island. It didn't help that Edward would give her looks like she was a woman would lay on her back for him at his cue!

She was insulted that he would think that. At the same time her body ached for that kind of relief. While Mary was no nun, she had always shoved those urges aside. She was always able to ignore them because she was almost always busy with something or another. Plus, there was no one who she'd be willing to lay with that knew her secret. So that part of her had always been strictly denied, strictly controlled and locked away. Now it was a raging monster inside of her, demanding to be calmed.

And of course the only way to calm it was with Edward. There was no way that was happening. No bloody fucking way.

So Mary silently bemoaned her situation, knowing there was no way out and knowing it was going to grow worse the longer she tried to ignore it. She knew it'd make her already short temper even shorter. It made her and Edward fight all the more too and in the last three days they had exchanged maybe five short words with each other after another terrible fight.

Worse than the fights, the urges and the food supply was the fact that their clothing grew more and more worn. Mary had to abandon her corset to preserve it and she knew that Edward was looking down her shirt whenever he could, mad at her or not. She often found herself crossing her arms over her chest, just because she didn't want Edward looking but he did anyway. It didn't matter what she wanted.

She was sitting with her bare feet in the water, her boots on the sand near her. It was hot out and she had taken to letting her hair down to keep the back of her neck from getting burnt. She sat, trying to keep herself cool without going over to the shade of the hull, where Edward was eating a lonely meal. She didn't want to see him or talk to him or be in his presence. The only way not to see him though was to face out to see and look at the nothingness until it hit the far off horizon.

This was how she rathered it though. If they must remain here, let them remain apart before…Before she lost what self-control that still remained inside her. She just wanted to get off that island but there was literally no way out of the situation so if she had to remain alone until rescue, so be it.

They ate their nightly meal near each other. Just fish tonight, Mary hadn't found any crabs. They were both silent but she felt Edward's eyes on her. Every time she glanced up, he was focused on his food though. She was a little annoyed but she didn't want to say anything. She didn't want to be the first to speak, for if she was, she much just begin yelling at him again. Finally Edward sighed, an annoyed sound as if he had been holding something in all this time.

"Mary, can I ask you something without you biting my head off for it?" He asked. His voice was tense and wary.

"Depends on what it is." She replied before taking another bite of her fish. Her voice was annoyed and short.

"What made begin doing what you do? That is, dressing like a man?" She glanced up at him.

"I don't talk about that" She said simply.

"Of course you don't. You don't talk about much. You keep all your cards neatly pressed against your chest, without a care for anyone else to know a damn thing about you." He rolled his eyes

"I don't owe you a damn thing, Edward" She snapped at him, tired of him always poking and prodding at her. She supposed she gave it right back to him, questioning him to why he didn't join the Assassins, why he was a pirate, questions about his wife. She was irritable right now though and she just wanted to eat and be left alone.

He was silent after that and she was for a time as well.

"Why all these questions suddenly Edward? What sudden interest in me do you have?"

"Curiosity that will probably never be fulfilled." He answered. "I ask here because I know I may never get another chance to ask you the questions again or at least ask them in a place where I may get an answer" That was probably true. She wasn't sure why she was even talking to him now. She fell silent again, sitting in the sand and dwelling in her own respective thoughts. He was silent too, brooding probably. Every time she asked him something, he was the one to bite her head off, not the other way around. He didn't even have a huge secret like she did! Well... that wasn't true. He had his wife. That was secret enough for most.

"Why is it you can ask me whatever you want to know but I can't ask a thing without you get mad?" She asked.

"Because you have an agenda. You're still trying to get me to join those damn Assassins."

"And you don't have an agenda?" She snorted.

"Well I wouldn't mind waking up to a naked woman in my arms one of these mornings" He admitted. It was true. More than one morning she had wakened wrapped in his arms. Usually he was awake and aware and it wasn't until she pushed herself did he let go of her.

"Come off it, Kenway. Just because I'm a woman, it doesn't mean I want to fall into your arms" Maybe she sneered a little at the end of that statement, but she was tired of his attitude about her being a woman and him being a attractive male(There she admitted it to herself. He was attractive, in appearance, but the rest of him was wholly undesirable to her).

"Then I'm not trying hard enough, now am I, Read?"

She wished he wouldn't call her by her last name. It annoyed her but if she said anything, she knew he'd start calling her by it a lot more so she kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to argue with him anymore. Her head already hurt and she was considering going to get the bottles of rum she had hidden. A drink would help her feel so much better.

"Come now, Mary. I know you're married to that damn Order of yours…"

"I'm not married to anyone or anything, Edward. I just have a decent amount of respect for myself." There was a huge difference in her book. "I don't just fall into the beds of anyone that I'm around."

"Oh, so you're above us common riffraff?" He raised an eyebrow. She was tired of the conversation so she stood up and began to walk to the hull. She heard him coming after her. "Come now, Mary. Once. I'll leave you alone afterwards. I'm going mad here. You have to be going mad too…unless…" She stopped, at the sound of a chuckle, turning to face him, seeing the sly smile on his face. "Unless…you've never been had?"

Her face turned red at his implications. That was none of his business! Asking a woman if she had...He was certainly no gentleman!

"So you haven't I'm taking it?"

"That's really…really none of your business, Edward!" She growled, clenching her fists. His sly smile never left his face.

"Come now, Mary. You can tell me the truth!" Bastard! He was getting a good laugh out of this.

"Shut up, Edward!" She hissed back, narrowing her eyes. He stepped forward, closer to her and she backed up to counter that step. She realized she was quickly running out of room though. Once again she was cornered against the hull. She hated this game he kept insisting on playing. One of these days she was going to gut him. There would be no such day today though. Ever since he almost stabbed her, neither of them wore even their hidden blades anymore. They were too afraid of accidentally goring each other.

"Shut up? That's the best you can come up with?" He laughed.

"You leave me alone, you old scratch!" She was tired of this; she just wanted to be left alone. This wasn't funny. "I don't have no interest in you. You think just because you've got some looks, you can take any woman you damn well please! Just shows how ill-fit you are to settle, Edward"

That seemed to strike a cord with him. "And what would you know about settling, Mary? You've been a pirate, how long? Just as long as I - and a privateer longer, if the stories of you are to be believed."

And just like that they were fighting again. He had started it this time in a way. Before Mary knew it, they were chest to chest in a heated argument about how little the one knew about the other. They were both right, she would think later. They didn't know much about each other but at the moment, all she could feel was her blood boiling. She was going to hit him again. This time she was going to give him the proper licking that he deserved. That was before Edward grabbed her shoulders and did something completely unexpected.

He kissed her.

A kiss to ignite all the anger in their blood, a kiss to make it boil over and then stew. For a moment, she kissed him back, holding onto him as if he were the only thing tying her to this good Earth, as if he were the only thing that mattered at that moment. And oh how that moment seemed to last forever and it would have gone on if Mary had let it. Edward shoved her against the hull and she realized where this was going as his hands drifted lower to her breeches. She shoved him back as hard as he could.

He stumbled, but didn't lose his footing. He looked stunned, a little dull with the moment.

"Don't ever do that again" She growled and then she retreated into the hull. Once alone in the dark hull she allowed herself to tremble, she allowed her fingers to touch her lips, scared by that single moment they shared. She sat down in the corner, trying to get a grip over herself. She curled up, her knees to her chest, her arms crossed over her knees, her head resting on her arms. She only murmured one thing, but it was for no one who could listen anymore.

"I'm sorry, James"

A/N: Alright, I know this chapter is a bit on the short side but I hope the...events of it helped offset that. Just a bit of a teaser, mind you. The real stuff will be here someday. Alright, leave me some reviews, let me know what you think!