XV.
Celebration

Early January 1718

The weeks felt like they took forever to pass. Mary felt sick with it all. She sat at the Old Avery, by her lonesome, drowning herself in a drink. Well, she wasn't drowning yet but she was certainly well on her way. She was on her third cup. As of now, she had her head down, just trying to ignore everyone about her. She heard someone sit across from her and peeked up to see Anne.

"You doing okay, Master Kidd?" She asked. She didn't bother with an answer, hiding her eyes once more. "It's not your fault…what happened to Edward" Anne reached across to rub her back gently. She sighed, lifting her head to rest on her arm.

"I know." She said simply. "I feel terrible though, like it was my fault." She closed her eyes and sat up so she could get Anne's hand off her and so she could take another drink. "Get me another"

"Alright" Anne's voice was soft and sad and she took the cup away so she could get Mary another.

Mary sat alone for some time and then she heard someone sit across from her again. She didn't hear a drink being set down so it couldn't have been Anne. She peeked and it was none other than Ben Hornigold. While he was rough as any pirate, he struggled to keep honor while being a pirate. That being said, it meant he didn't attack British Ships. He still respected his King and Mary supposed that was honorable, but it wasn't the way to be when one was a pirate.

"Master Kidd, looking worse for the wear" He said, leaning back.

"Oh piss off, Ben" She groaned.

"Surly mood today, eh?" He was having a laugh. "What's got you so down? Your lady get rid of you?"

"Piss. Off" She repeated. Usually she could stomach Ben. He was a good man, but she was having none of it today. She felt bad enough for what happened to Edward. That was all her fault. She was the one who asked him to help her. Now he was…

"Really, what's wrong, Kidd? I never seen you in such a foul mood. Not even when you were helping me and Thatch raise up Nassau" That was true. She had helped him put together Nassau some years ago, helping develop a system to get it on its feet. It had often put her in a foul mood. Getting pirates to do work was a hard job in itself. Most prefer to just get piss drunk and commit acts of debauchery with the nearest Betty they could grab.

"It's just…" She wrinkled her nose. Just then Anne came back with her drink and then sat another before Ben. She rubbed Mary's shoulders and she shrugged out of the touch. "Please…Anne." She waved the woman off and she frowned sharply at her and stormed off.

"Whatever it is, you're making an enemy out of Miss Bonny while you're at it" He commented, raising an eyebrow. She just took a drink of her rum.

"'Oy! Kidd! Kidd! Where are you?" A voice called and she stood, leaning over the railing to see Edward coming up the steps. He walked perfectly fine but as he came to their table and sat down, no one could miss the pain on his face as he sat down. "Ah, that's still a bitch"

"You should be resting, Edward" She grumbled, sitting back down. He was sitting next to her, at least then if he fell over she could catch him. He was doing much better now though. Almost completely recovered though there was still some pain.

"And what happened to you?" Hornigold was asking Edward.

"Took a poisoned blade to the stomach few weeks back" He took Mary's drink but she didn't complain. She let him have it. She could get another.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "And you managed to survive that? I see more and more of what Thatch saw in you that first day." He reached across and clasped Edward on the shoulder. He finished his own drink. "Reminding me, I'm supposed to be meeting him soon. Said he heard something of interest. I think Vane is supposed to be here too. If you lads get time, come by and see what they heard. Might be an interesting bit of information." He stood and patted Mary's shoulder as he walked by. She wondered why he stopped by for a single drink. Maybe he just wanted to see what she was doing back in town. She didn't visit Nassau much anymore, unless she had a real reason to.

Anne came back and chatted with Edward for a bit. She was a little cold to Mary and Edward grinned when she walked away. She did bring another drink for her though, so at least she wasn't too mad at her.

"Seems like the poison cleaned out nicely" She commented after Anne had left again.

"Well enough" he answered. They were silent for a moment. He bumped her shoulder with his, a smile on his face. "It's not your fault"

"I should have shot her when you jumped down." She whispered.

"'Ey! It's not your fault. You hear me?" He snapped at her. His face furrowed for a moment, clearly annoyed at her blaming herself. He slapped her shoulder then, an easy grin coming across his face "Let's have a few drinks then, to celebrate"

"Celebrate what?"

"I don't know? Being rescued? All the work we've done? That I'm still drawing breath? Who cares! Bring us more drinks Anne!" He laughed cheerfully and she found a smile coming to her lips. So what they didn't have a real reason to celebrate, a solid reason? They were alive weren't they? Perhaps a little worse for the wear but alive. Besides, she had to leave in the next few days. Might as well have some fun while she could.

So they drank, well into the day. Might as well sit and drink and talk to Edward. They did talk. He told him a little of his life in Bristol, of his father and mother and she told him a little of founding Nassau and of her first meeting with Edward Thatch and Benjamin Hornigold. They talked of other things she was sure but as the world began to get blurry around the edges, he suggest they take their drinking to his ship to avoid any "slips" on her part as evening fell upon them. So she agreed and that was how she found herself in his Navigation room drinking another couple cups of grog. Now they were speaking of more private things, since it was only the two of them. Edward told her a little of his Caroline and their marriage and courtship. She told him a little about her home back in England and of her mum. She regretted not writing her in a while, perhaps if she remembered in the morning she would write her again. She worried so for Mary. Edward agreed that he better write his mum sometime soon as well, as it had been nearly a year since he had written her.

Things began to get blurrier and blurrier for Mary. She had no idea why she was letting herself run so loose with Edward. Perhaps she truly did trust him, much more than she thought. She had never gotten so drunk – well that wasn't true. Wait, when was the last time she got this drunk? Oh, she couldn't remember. Oh well, that was fine, what was there to remember anyway? Probably nothing important as, if she recalled correctly, the last time she had gotten that drunk she had been in a miserable mood because...Oh what was it that had her so upset? Probably better not to remember now right? She was enjoying herself so with Edward. He wasn't such a bad man, just a little misguided she supposed.

Wait…what was she doing? Were they going somewhere? What was that? What the hell was Edward babbling about now?

Was this a different room? Was he arguing with her? Why should he bother? She bet she had something to change his mind…

Mary awoke sometime the next day. She had no idea what time she passed out and her head was hurting something awful. She just wanted a drink of some nice cool and clean water so badly at that moment, but to move to get it, it felt like she might die. Her head was pounding and opening her eyes, seeing that little bit of light, hurt so she closed them again. She groaned and tossed her arm across the bed – she thought she was on a bed – only to hit something soft and…fleshy.

"Ugh…Jaysus, Mary…" A familiar voice groaned. She managed to open her eyes a slit to see Edward lying next to her, shirtless. Her eyes traveled down and she found out he was missing much more than his shirt. That thought had her sitting up fast, groaning as her head ached in protest.

But worse than that – she was missing clothes too. All of them. She was completely naked. Suddenly she felt very ill indeed. She flopped back down, her head pounding, stomach aching. Christ, she just needed to get up and get out of there. What did she do last night? She couldn't have…

She sat up and carefully swung her legs off the bed and stood. When she took her first step to retrieve her clothes, she ached in places she…well she hadn't ached in those places in a long time.

"Fuck" She muttered to herself, bending to pick up what she hoped was her clothes."Fuck, fuck, fuck" She felt something hit her lower chest and looked to see she was still wearing her necklace, that charm of her's attached at the end. Tied onto it so she could never lose it. She stopped, wrapping her fingers around the charm and just trying to concentrate for a moment. What happened last night? What possessed her last night?

"Mary?" Kenway groaned. She had already let go of her charm and began pulling her clothes on as fast as she could stand. She was quite tender in some places so it wasn't very fast. She just managed to get her boots on and was beginning to work with her hair when Edward rolled to his side. "Mary? Mary…What are you doing?" He still sounded slightly drunk or very groggy at the least. How late had they been up the night before? What time was it now? She began to head for the door but he was getting up. He caught her, turning her around.

"Lemme go!" She pushed against him but he tightened his grip until it hurt.

"Stop, stop. We need to talk." He smelt heavily of drink. She supposed she wasn't much better. How much had they drank between them? Probably enough to shorten their lives a good number of years.

"There ain't nothing I want to say to you!" She pushed again.

"Mary, please. Stop. Last night…Please, we need to talk. Stop. Just wait. Let me find my pants…" His grip loosened and she wiggled out and then hurried out of his room and she was off his ship before he could come after her.

She managed her way to the beach and began to walk towards where they usually had a fire pit at night. She needed to get back to Tulum. This sealed it. She needed to get away from Kenway. She knew she was drunk last night but how the hell could she have been that drunk? Maybe it was her drunkenness and guilt for him almost dying…She still couldn't believe she would fall into bed with him. What had she been thinking? She felt terrible for it. It felt like a betrayal in itself.

"Jaysus. I feel like shite and you go…running off!" Edward was coming and she turned to look at him. She backed up a few steps, planning on running, but her head hurt so bad and the sun was already so damn hot. She had a bleeding headache and she was tired and groggy and upset. She just backed up as he came forward, panting and holding onto his bad side. "Kidd! Kidd! Stop…Dammit, I mean it, stop!"

"Why?" She growled.

"We need to talk."

"Not here"

"Obviously. Come back to the Jack. We can sit-"

"No" She cut him off. No way was she going back onto his ship with him. He grumbled to himself and then motioned to the far side of the beach and the grassy area just beyond it. "Fine"

She walked ahead of him and he didn't comment on that she could feel the annoyance radiating off him. It felt like it took forever to reach that grassy area. They picked a tree to stand under after making sure they were alone. Not many people came over this way. There were wild pigs over here and they could get nasty. There didn't seem to be any of them in the area right now though, so they were free to talk.

"Mary, last night should not have happened" He said, coming closer to her. He nearly had her cornered against a tree.

"You think?" Her voice shot up, higher with anger and annoyance and the upset this had all caused her.

"Please, not so loud" He groaned. She could agree. Her head was pounding too. "We got too drunk, we got foolish. I'm sorry okay? I should have told you no. I should have stood firm in telling you no"

"T-Told me no?"

"You…don't remember?" He shook his head, "You were the one who suggested it. Spouted something about 'It doesn't matter anymore' and 'There's no point in acting like a nun anymore'." He was silent as she tried to remember. To tell the truth, her memories of the night before were extremely blurry. She could remember talking to Edward but couldn't remember what exactly had been said or done.

"I…What else did I say?" She was afraid to ask.

"Nothing else that I remember. I told you no half a dozen times, that you'd regret it in the morn but…" He shrugged. "I am man. I can only say no to a woman with tits like yours so many times."

"Edward!" She hissed. She didn't appreciate his jokes. Not at a time like this. She did remember a little bit, even with her headache. She had come up with a 'brilliant' way to convince him last night. She remembered thinking he couldn't refuse if she…Oh god. She had just taken her shirt off to convince him. She wanted to be buried in the sand right then and there. She wanted to bury her face in her hands at the very least. She couldn't though, she had to retain…some semblance of dignity.

"Sorry, sorry" He grumbled. "Listen, Mary I know…" he sighed. "I know it was foolish but you really did seem to want to last night. Really, I wouldn't have…I wouldn't have suggested it while you were so piss drunk. You know that right? I'd at least ask when you were sober – or mostly so." She just shook her head. She began to walk away; she couldn't deal with this anymore. She had to leave this place, leave him. "Hey! Don't walk away!" He called.

"Piss off, Kenway" She called back.

"I wasn't done! Just…wait…" His words faded into the distance. She didn't hear him following her.

She walked straight into town and found Upton. She had Edward stay with him while was recovering and she must have looked like hell because he looked startled at her appearance. She tried to fix her hair and her clothing right there, patting herself down, but she was a damn mess. Inside and out. Her thoughts were a cluttered mess, her heart felt fractured and her clothes had been hastily thrown on. Sure she looked like a man, but she looked like a man who had one too many drinks and done something regrettable. She supposed that was true.

"Just help me find a ship to Tulum" She said simply, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. What if Kenway came looking for her? "Don't ask. I don't want to talk about it. Just help me get the hell out of this wretched town"

"Of course. Rest here and I'll be back." He began to leave as she sat at the table, a glass of water in front of her. He came back into the room. "Are…Are you going to be fine by yourself?"

"Just go" She didn't look up. She heard him leave this time and she was glad when she was alone. She sipped out of the water, feeling as miserable as she did the day before, feeling guilty once more. This time for an altogether different reason. In her foolishness, she had fallen into bed with Edward. What was she going to do? Worse she couldn't help but wonder what he would think of her if he could see her now. Probably not much.

She sighed to herself. Once she got out of this town, away from Kenway, things would get better. At least she valiantly hoped so.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed c: Leave me some reviews and let me know what you though. I really do like reading over them.