Silhouetted by the Sea

Disclaimer: You know the drill by now;)

Author's Notes: Hmm...not too much to say. Thank you everyone for reading!

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Silhouetted by the Sea
by Kristen Elizabeth

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London

"Something interesting arrived with the post today."

Lucrezia glanced up from the newborn infant cradled in her arms and gave her husband a puzzled look. "What is it, love?"

Millardo sat down in an embroidered chair next to his wife and son. "A letter from Relena."

His wife's eyes became wide with excitement and misty with her tears. "From Relena? Oh...how is she?"

"I haven't read it yet." He pulled the folded parchment from his lounging banyan robe. "Should I read it out loud?" Lucrezia nodded emphatically and lifted the baby to her shoulder.

Millardo broke the wax seal, unfolded the worn paper and cleared his throat. "'September 24, 1789. Dear Millardo and Lucrezia. As I write this letter, our ship is fast approaching the coast of America, bringing to an end the first part of ournourney. Still, I cannot even think beyond Savannah. All I wish to do is leave this ship, if only for a scant few hours. The seas have been rough on both myself and the Baroness, but we have endured. Speaking for myself, the promise of seeing you, my family, again someday is at times the only thought sustaining me. When I stop to linger on how many years from now that day might be, it is all I can do to keep from crying.'" He stopped and looked up when he heard a delicate sob. "Lu?"

"I am sorry," she whispered. She kissed their child's cheek and took a breath. "Do go on."

He continued. "'Please do not think that I am filled with nothing but misery. There is a vague sense of excitement that I cannot deny. To see America and then, Barbados. It is an adventure that few have the chance to experience.'" Millardo glanced at his wife again. "Do you see, Lu? She's just fine."

Lucrezia closed her eyes and held on to her baby. "Please just read, Millardo."

After a pause, he did as she asked. "'This will be my only letter until I reach Barbados. I will write again as soon I can. In other words, after the marriage. The thing I dread and that completely overshadows the thrill of adventure. Still, I have to tell you, Millardo, that my heart has forgiven you. My head will someday. I love you both greatly. I am certain that my niece or nephew has entered the world by now; I send my love and best wishes. Please tell the babe that his aunt across the sea thinks of him or her constantly.'" Millardo's throat closed up. "'All my love, Relena.'"

Lucrezia opened her eyes. Her husband's chin rested on his chest; the letter in his hands threatened to crumple under the pressure he placed on it. "Millardo..."

"Was I wrong, Lu?" His head lifted. "Was I wrong to promise her to Treize? And then enforce that promise?"

She nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment before replying. "You did what you thought was best for her. And part of her has forgiven you. I think that's all you can ask for at the moment, my love."

He nodded. "Treize will treat her well. She will never want for anything." Lucrezia held her tongue. He was wrong. The one thing her sister in law would lack in a marriage to Treize Kushrenada would be love. For Treize's heart had been lost to another long before.

The baby in her arms whimpered. Lucrezia patted his little back soothingly. "Don't fret, James," she whispered to the child. "Your Aunt Relena is going to be just fine. I'm sure she's in Barbados already, preparing for her wedding."

Her words comforted not only little James, but his father as well. Millardo stood up, pressed a kiss onto his wife's lips and gently touched his son's soft head. "I love you," he told her before retreating to his study.

"And I you," she said softly. Her eyes lifted to the crystal chandelier over her head, lit with a hundred tiny flames. "We miss you, Relena. Wherever you are, I hope you are well."

****

The sound of the ocean woke Relena from a fitful sleep. But it was the feeling of hard wood against her back that made her abruptly sit up. Her head began to throb instantly.

Heero was sitting beside her in the rowboat, staring off at the flat horizon. He turned to look at her as she woke. "Are you in any pain?"

Relena shook her head just enough to indicate that she wasn't. "Is Sally all right?"

"I'm fine, Relena," Sally replied from the other end of the boat. "Just thirsty."

The Chinese pirate scowled at the Baroness. "I told you, there's no water."

"I know!" She glared back at him. "It's just horrifically ironic that we're completely surrounded by it, but can't drink a drop!"

Relena looked around, despair sinking in when all she saw was the sea. Her eyes filled with hot tears. "It's hopeless then. Isn't it?" She glanced over at Heero. "Without water....we're going to die."

"No one's dying yet," Heero replied. "There are a couple of islands that we should be near. I've seen them on other trips. If we can get to one of them, we'll be fine."

"But, if we can't...." She looked down at her hands.

There was silence for a long minute. Trowa looked up at the sun as a lone cloud passed over it, providing a brief bit of shade. "If we don't see one of those islands by noon, should we start rowing west?" he asked Heero.

Heero lifted his shoulders. "We'll just have to see." He caught Relena out of the corner of his eye as she reached over the side of the boat to trail her hand in the water. "Relena! Don't!" He grabbed her arm and pulled it to safety.

Relena swallowed thickly when a grey triangle sliced through the water where her fingers had just been before disappearing under the surface. "What was..."

"Shark," Wufei said grimly. "These waters are lousy with the tiger-striped ones. In case you were thinking about taking a refreshing swim"

Heero released her arm. "Keep your hands in the boat if you want to keep them at all."

"We really are going to die out here," Sally muttered. "If not for lack of water, then from the water's creatures."

The hand she had almost lost trembled violently. Relena drew her knees up to her chest, taking no note of the petticoats she had lost during the storm. Modesty did not suit a life or death situation. For instance, it didn't seem to matter, when faced with the prospect of dying, that Heero's shirt had ripped, revealing one tan, muscled shoulder.

Likewise, Heero did not let his thoughts dwell on the fact that because of her torn and lost skirts, Relena's entire right leg up to her thigh lay exposed. It was only when he noticed Trowa looking that it bothered him.

"You should cover yourself," Heero told her, roughly, indicating her leg.

Blushing furiously, Relena pulled on what was left of her skirts until only her bare feet were visible. "I could give you the same advice," she said, shortly.

He tugged on the remains of his own clothing. "It's little wonder you were being sent halfway across the world. I would have done the same if I were your brother," he snapped.

There was none of the satisfaction he ought to have felt when her lovely face crumpled under the weight of his words. Heero watched her lower her head, after a moment, her slender shoulders began to tremble. A pang of something akin to guilt stabbed the inside of his chest. He swallowed and looked away. Several minutes later, he stood up, rocking the boat.

Wufei grabbed ahold of the sides to steady them. "What the hell are you doing, Yuy?"

Heero's arm shot out, pointing at a spot several miles away. "Land," he told them. His face broke into a real smile. "I can see land."

****

"Duo...did you really have to tie her hands *and* her feet?" Quatre looked across the deck to the small, wriggling mass of green and gold bound brocaded silk.

The braided man shrugged. "She's a pirate." He frowned. "And she kicked me in the nuts."

Quatre carefully hid his laughter behind the cuff of his frock coat. "She is a spit-fire. But perhaps you could at least let her have use of her legs? It's the chivalrous thing to do. She is going to take us to the Baroness and the Baron's sister, after all."

Duo rolled up the map hd bed been studying and replaced it in a leather tube. "Do I look like I give a tinker's damn about chivalry?" He watched Quatre's eyebrow lift with disappointment. He sighed. "Fine. But if she kicks me again, the little pirate is walking the plank."

He approached the young girl cautiously, like he would a wounded creature. From behind the curtain of messy black bangs she glared at him. "Do you still wish I were dead, m'lady?" he drawled.

Hilde continued her fruitless struggle against her bonds. "A million times over! Now let me go!!"

"Tut, tut." Duo shook a finger at her. "You're a confessed pirate. I should just let you have free reign over this ship?"

"I obviously can't do much to fifteen men." Hilde smiled wickedly. "Or are you afraid for your balls?"

Duo blinked before beginning to laugh. "A girl who says 'balls'. I think I'll untie your feet just for that." His smile fell. "Just remember, I won't hesitate to throw you overboard if you try it again."

Hilde let him remove the ropes from her feet. "How close are we to my friends?"

"It shouldn't be too much longer." He looked up at her. "Unless you're wrong."

Her temper smoldered. "I am not wrong! I could find Heero anywhere. Hell, I've been following after him since I was four!"

"Such a dirty tongue," Duo commented, tossing the rope aside. "From such a little girl."

"You don't really think I'm little," Hilde told him, confidantly. "I saw you staring at my breasts earlier."

"What breasts?"

Hilde's foot shot out, but Duo managed to clear out of its path before it made contact with his lower body. "Do you want to be tossed overboard to swim with the sharks?"

"It would be better than staying here as your prisoner!"

Duo grabbed her slender ankles with one hand and held them down. He knelt next to her and addressed her in a low voice. "There are women in the world who have paid *me* to be my prisoner for a night. Consider yourself lucky."

"I consider myself unfortunate," Hilde spit back. "And those women should be shut up in the nearest insane..."

"Duo!" Quatre ran across the deck to the braided man and the little pirate girl. "Duo...come and look. The crew have spotted something."

Hilde's mood instantly lightened. "The *Tempest's Wing*!!"

Quatre licked his lips. "Just take a look, Duo."

She watched as the men crossed to the ship's railing. Their conversation was well out of her range of hearing and being seated on the deck, she couldn't see what they were discussing. When Duo turned back around, his face was disturbingly subdued.

"What is ithe ahe asked him. "Can you see the ship?"

Without saying anything, Duo helped her to feet and held onto her arm as he led her to the railing. Hilde looked out at the water and her heart plummeted into her stomach. Neither of them spoke for a long while until Duo said, "I'm sorry."

Dotting the azure blue waters where she had last seen Heero and her friends, were pieces of burned, mangled flotsam. Planks of wood, crates, barrels. But nothing bigger than she was. All that remained of the *Tempest's Wing*.

Hilde shook her head. "It's...no...it can't be..." She turned her head to look up at Duo. "It's not them!! Heero isn't....NO!!!" she screamed.

Duo pulled the girl against him for support. She only fought him for a brief moment before giving into her grief. Her tears soaked the black cotton of his shirt. He put his arms around her; one hand reached up to stroke her tousled curls. They were as soft as silk. A woman's hair; something almost forgotten.

"It's all right," he told her as she continued to cry against his shoulder. "It's all right."

But it wasn't all right for Hilde. She was now, as she had always feared she would be, alone in the world.

****

"We're almost...there," Heero panted, raising the oar in his hands for another stroke. "Come on..."

Wufei made a grab for the oar. "Heero, take a break. You're going to pass out before we even hit the reef."

The pirate leader shook his head and lifted his shoulder to wipe his sweaty cheek. "Switch with Trowa, Wufei. We have to keep going."

In the other end of the boat, Relena squeezed Sally's hand. "We've nearly made it, Sally," she whispered.

The older woman nodded and ran a dry tongue over her lips. "And it only took....two days." Her voice was as parched as her mouth.

Overhearing her comment as he replaced Trowa at the oar opposite of Heero, Wufei shook his head. "Sorry it wasn't soon enough for you, woman. Perhaps if you had taken a turn. Or would that have hurt your hands?"

He went ignored. "Heero says there's a good chance there will be a fresh water source on the island," Relena told her. "We're not going to die, Sally. We're going to live."

"I hope you will, Relena." Sally closed her eyes to the harsh sunlight. "I'm not so sure about myself."

"Don't you dare talk that way." Relena lightly patted Sally's cheeks until she opened her eyes. "You simply can't leave me unchaperoned with these men, after all."

The corners of Sally's dry lips lifted at the girl's reasoning. "Of course not. Although...I don't think you'd mind if it were just that leader of theirs. Would you?"

Relena's face flushed red. "That's utter nonsense," she lied. "And lower your voice when you say such things. He's arrogant enough as it is."

Heero heard none of their conversation. They had finally reached the coral reef surrounding the island and were no more than a hundred feet away from the beach. He rowed faster, ignoring his aching arms and the sweat that stuck his shirt to his chest and back.

His glance swung over to Wufei. With every stroke the Chinese man took, he winced in pain. Heero looked down; the side of Wufei's black shirt was plastered to his side, wet with what could only be blood.

"You're injured," he told Wufei.

The other man grunted and continued to row. "It's nothing."

"How long has it been bleeding?"

"The rowing just pulled the wound open. I'll be fine," Wufei replied, his voice taking on a warning tone.

They rowed in silence for several more minutes until they had cleared the coral reef and were rapidly approaching the beach. When he judged the water to be about hip deep, Heero jumped out and began to drag the boat closer to shore. Trowa joined him, but Wufei stayed. Blood in the water would not be wise.

In a matter of minutes, Relena felt the wood underneath her scraping across sand. Closing her eyes to blink back tears, she said a small prayer of thanks. Something touched her shoulder. It was Heero, holding out his hand to help her from the boat. She tentatively took it and stepped onto dry land. After two days without walking, her knees nearly gave out under her.

Heero steadied her before she could fall. Relena looked up at his handsome face. His bangs were matted to his forehead with sweat and two days worth of stubble covered his chin. Damn him. He was still handsome.

She was very light in his arms, but seemed to fit so perfectly. Her chin was tipped up; her blue eyes trusting and grateful, bewildered and confused. Heero cleared his throat and stepped back. "Baroness..." He reached into the boat for Sally's hand. "Come on."

The promise of touching ground had revived Sally. She was sitting upright in the boat. "Get him out first," she told Heero, pointing to Wufei. "We have to stop his bleeding."

Wufei scowled and held his side. "Get out of the boat, woman."

Sally stood up and propped her hands up on her hips. "Fine." Entirely on her own, she climbed out and once she had adjusted to the land, turned back to him. "Are you going to get out now or are you just going to bleed to death in the boat?"

"I thought you said you were dying awhile ago," Wufei grumbled, carefully stepping out of the boat.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily." Sally reached for his shirt. "Let me see your wound."

Wufei stumbled away from her. "I don't need any help!"

Sally's eyes narrowed. "When my husband was alive, I was reponsible for his entire household, plus most of the farming families around our manor. I have treated every wound possible and I am fully capable of taking care of you."

"I didn't ask you to take care of me!"

"Well, you're still going to get my help, so pull up your shirt and let me take a look!"

Somewhere in the course of their argument, Relena's head began to spin. Whether it was from two days without food or water or the overwhelming prospect of being stranded on a deserted island, she didn't know. But before she could stop it, her legs gave way. She wasn't quite sure, but she hoped it was Heero's arms that caught her before she could hit the sand.

****

Something cool and wet trickled into her mouth. Relena opened her eyes only to find Heero looking down on her with concern. His palm was cupped as he poured a handful of fresh water between her dry lips.

"Relena...swallow," he told her.

She did as he instructed, her throat sticking with the sudden moisture. After another handful, she felt up to lifting her head. "Heero," she whispered. "Thank..." The last word didn't come out as she began to softly cry.

Heero was more surprised than she when he brushed the tears off her cheeks. "We've found a fresh water stream and Trowa's looking for food. You'll feel better once you've eaten something."

Relena began to sit up, realizing she was laying in Heero's arms, across his bent thighs. Her skirts had fallen open again and she could feel the warm ocean breeze against her bare skin. "How long was I...asleep?"

"A few hours," he told her. "The sun is fixing to set, but Wufei is building some shelter."

"You all work fast." She pressed a hand to her flat stomach. "I suppose you know what to do in any situation."

Heero swallowed. The bodice of her dress had loosened above her tight corset, threatening to expose more of her breasts than decency allowed. "Almost," he replied. Clearing his throat, he laid her down into the sand. "Stay here and drink this in little sips." He placed a hollowed half of a coconut shell full of water in her hand. "You'll be sick if you swallow it all at once."

Without waiting for a reply, Heero stood up and set off to find Trowa. She bothered him, but it wasn't really her, he realized. It was the way he felt around her. She touched something inside of him that no one ever had. It wasn't the protectiveness he felt around Hilde, although he had the desire to keep her from harm. It was admiration and amusement and exasperation.

And desire.

But it wouldn't be love, he told himself as he joined Trowa in the search for coconuts. It couldn't be. Regardless of whether they were ever rescued, she was a lady. Untouched and unspoiled. He would not dirty her with his sins. No matter what his body wanted, common sense would rule.

Relena Peacecraft, his duchess, was completely out of his reach.

****

To Be Continued