A/N: This will follow the major events of the Titanic movie, and all the regular characters do appear in their canon roles with the addition of my OCs. However, to keep it different enough from Titanic 97 From DVD To FFN, I'll change a few scenes around and add some of my own... plus the main focus isn't on Jack and Rose, and there's the whole other storyline going on, so that in itself should keep the scenes different enough.

For anyone who hasn't read my profile before: Shannon's faceclaim is Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (even though she couldn't have actually played a role like this in 1997 b/c she would've only been like 3, I think she and young-Jason Barry would make the cutest couple ever), and Tommy's brother's faceclaim is a young-Hugh Jackman. There's pictures on my profile.

JAMES CAMERON OWNS TITANIC AND HIS CHARACTERS. THE OCs ARE MY OWN CREATION. Enjoy!


The RMS Titanic

Thursday, April 11th, 1912.

The RMS Titanic made its third and final stop in Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland to pick up the last of its passengers at Cork Harbour. Many poor Irish immigrants stepped aboard the grand ship, optimistic about starting over in the promise land. 21-year-old Tommy Ryan and his girlfriend, 18-year-old Shannon O'Neal, were no exception.

They had decided to leave their home town of Dunfanaghy in County Donegal, where over half of their village lived in starvation, to seek a better life in America. For a few years, anyways... they did intend to return to Ireland. Tommy had wanted to look for work in the city of Chicago, and then send whatever money he earned back to his family in Ireland. He had originally planned to travel alone, but Shannon had refused to let him go unless he took her with him. In the end, he was glad not to leave the love of his life behind. He knew the voyage would be much more enjoyable if he could share it with the girl who meant everything to him.

They stood in the inspection queue line as they waited to board the ship. Tommy wore a grayish-brown coat and a dark brown vest over his tattered white shirt, along with a pair of gray trousers, and a brown bowler hat on his head of scruffy light brown curls. His warm hazel eyes were wide with delight. Beside him, Shannon wore a simple white blouse with a long teal colored skirt, and had her long strawberry blonde hair pinned up in a bun. She also had a plaid shawl draped over her shoulders to keep warm. Her bright blue eyes gleamed in the sunlight.

"Look at that, sweet, that's a fine ship," Tommy remarked, turning to look at his girlfriend.

"Yes, love, it's a beautiful ship, to take us to a beautiful place," Shannon replied, admiring the grand ship from afar.

Tommy grinned and put his arm around her. "I'm glad you're here, sweet, I love you more than the world itself," he whispered, softly pecking her on the forehead.

Shannon smiled and snuggled into his chest. "I wouldn't have let you leave me home, love, because a life without you is no life at all," she whispered back.

All around them, Cork Harbour was a somewhat chaotic scene; passengers scurrying every which way, children screaming, crates and other cargo items being transported onto the ship, and the officers and crew members shouting out orders. It was a beautiful day, and excitement was in the very air.

Finally, after waiting for about an hour, it was their turn in the inspection line. "Names, please?" a young officer asked.

"Tommy Ryan," Tommy answered.

"Shannon O'Neal," Shannon added.

"Thomas Christopher and Shannon Maureen, traveling together from Dunfanaghy, Donegal?" the officer asked for clarification.

"Yeah, that's us," Tommy replied, as they both nodded.

The officer nodded and checked something off on his notepad. "Take your hat off, Sir," he said. Tommy removed his hat, and the officer ran a comb through his hair to check for any lice. "Clean, hold tight a moment," he said, giving him a quick pat down. "You're fine, let me check the lady," the officer nodded for Tommy to step to the side. He checked Shannon's bun for lice and then patted her down. "She's fine," he said.

Another officer was looking through their sole suitcase. "No weapons," he confirmed, handing it back to Tommy. "All clear! Board that way! Next in line please!" he yelled, motioning for the man behind them in line to step forward.

"Come on!" Tommy shouted with a wide grin, running up the steerage ramp as he pulled Shannon along behind him.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Shannon yelled, laughing as she tried to catch her breath.

They boarded the ship and handed their boarding passes to Officer Moody, and then stopped to take one last look at their homeland. Ireland was a beautiful country of green fields, blue waters, and precious memories that they would never forget. A sudden nostalgic feeling washed over them as they realized that they were really leaving, and a single tear dripped down Shannon's face as she thought about her family.

Her father, Bobby, had been extremely reluctant to let her go. However, she had insisted that she was old enough to make her own choices, so he'd had no other choice but to give in to her decision. She knew that she'd never forget the look on his face when she'd walked out the door, and she ached inside because of it. Her mother, Eileen, had been a bit calmer about it, but she too had still tried to talk her into staying home. She could still feel her mother's breath on her neck like when she'd hugged her goodbye. But what had been the main cause of that single tear, was thinking about how sad her brother and sister had been. Rhiannon, her 15-year-old sister, and Rory, her 12-year-old brother, had looked as if they were completely and utterly lost. She knew they had always looked up to her.

"Don't worry Shanny. We'll go back someday soon, and as soon as I can make enough money, we can send for our families to come to Chicago," Tommy promised her, noticing the sad expression that had come across her face. He had every intention of coming back once he was able to make a decent salary. He figured he'd be respected back home for traveling so far, and be offered better job opportunities because of it when they returned.

He thought about how much he'd miss his own family. His parents, Stephen and Margaret, were far older than all of his friends' parents. His father was already sixty-two, and his mother was sixty. He knew that they were too set in their ways to leave Ireland at this point, and with his father getting older, he also knew that they would need help getting money. Even though he had a brother, he was considered their only child. His brother Joseph, who was now twenty-five, had abandoned the family to run off to Wales with a rich friend of his.

"I know Tommy, but I'm really going to miss it," Shannon told him, wiping the sole tear away with her sleeve. She knew it would be a while before she'd see those lush green fields again.

"Let's go find our cabin, then we can explore the ship, eh?" Tommy suggested, gently pulling her along through a corridor. "It says we're on G deck, so we've just got to find cabin number sixty nine," he mused, looking over their tickets.

"All right," Shannon said, composing herself and following him. She looked around at all the passengers trying to find their cabins. There seemed to be a ton of cabins on their level of the ship, and she began to wonder if they would ever find theirs.

Tommy stopped abruptly in front of a door. "G-69, found it!" he announced with a triumphant grin.

Shannon bumped into his back. "Eye, how about a little heads up before stopping so fast?" she laughed, opening the door.

They stepped inside a small room with two bunk beds, each with a simple blanket per bed. There was a single porthole on the opposite wall. Tommy shrugged and claimed the bunk bed on the left side of the room, and put their suitcase on the lower bed. He opened it and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. There wasn't much in their bag, just their night-clothes, a tattered copy of the Bible, some old photographs, Tommy's grandfather's lucky watch, a ruby necklace given to Shannon by her mother, and Shannon's diary that she planned to use as a travel journal.

He looked at the other bunk bed across the room. "So I'm assuming there's gonna be another couple joining us," he mused, putting his cigarettes in his pocket.

Shannon nodded and climbed up on the higher bed. "Eye, it seems so," she agreed, setting her pillow down.

"Let's go up on deck, I wanna have a smoke or two," Tommy said, closing the suitcase and stowing it safely under the bed.

"All right, it will be nice to get some fresh air," Shannon agreed, climbing back down and pulling her shawl tighter around herself.

...

They reached the third class deck, and leaned against one of the railings. Titanic was now steaming west from the Irish coast and heading towards New York Harbor. There was a cool breeze that blew gently over the clear turquoise sea, and the orangey-yellow sunshine was bright and warm as it shone down on them.

"So do you really think this ship is unsinkable?" Shannon asked her boyfriend. Everyone had heard the rumors, but she couldn't quite grasp the concept of a ship being completely unsinkable.

"Folks are sayin' not even God can sink it, I think that's a load of shite," Tommy replied as he lit his cigarette.

"It's a nice ship, but anything this large would surely sink if enough water got in," Shannon agreed absent mindedly.

Tommy puffed out a dark cloud of smoke and looked around the deck. On a bench near by, sat a 20-year-old traveling artist with shaggy blonde hair named Jack Dawson. He was sketching a little girl and her father, Cora and Bert Cartmell, who were looking over the side of the ship at the propellers.

"Do you make any money off your drawings?" Tommy asked him.

"What?" the man asked, looking up from his work.

"Do you make any money off your drawings?" Tommy repeated his question.

"Oh, well, it just sort of depends I guess. I used to sell portraits for ten cents a piece on the Santa Monica Pier in California, but other than that it's really just a hobby of mine," the man replied with a shrug.

"I see, you've got quite a talent there," Tommy mused.

"Eye, your drawings are lovely," Shannon added.

"Thanks," the man said.

"So you're an American, then?" Shannon asked, referring mostly to his accent.

"Yeah, I'm from Chippewa Falls Wisconsin originally, but I've traveled all over Europe," the man explained.

"Very cool." Tommy took a long drag on his cigarette. Shannon reached up and took it out of his mouth, taking a puff for herself. He scowled at her and playfully slapped her shoulder. She winked at him.

"I'm Tommy Ryan, by the way," he said, extending his hand for the other man to shake.

"Shannon O'Neal," Shannon chimed in, accidentally blowing smoke in his face. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed as her face went a deep shade of crimson. Tommy bust out laughing.

"Ja-ck Dawson," the man choked out as he shook their hands. He waved the dark smoke cloud away from his face. "It's fine," he added.

"No really, I'm so sorry," Shannon repeated. She couldn't believe that she'd just done that to a complete stranger.

"Really, it's all right," Jack laughed.

"Apparently she doesn't realize she's got to blow out before she speaks," Tommy teased.

"Oh shut your mouth," Shannon rolled her eyes playfully.

Jack laughed again. "So where are you guys from?" he asked them.

Tommy spoke first. "Dunfanaghy, County Donegal. In Ireland," he replied with prideful grin.

Jack nodded and closed his sketchpad. "Are you guys together, then?" he asked curiously. He'd noted that they had different last names, so he assumed they weren't married, but he figured they had to know each other since Tommy's arm was around her waist and she'd just smoked his cigarette.

Tommy grinned again. "Eye, she's my other half, ya know," he laughed.

Jack nodded with a light chuckle. "I see," he said.

Shannon smiled at Jack. "Are you traveling alone, then?" she asked him curiously.

Jack shook his head. "No, my buddy Fabrizio and I won our tickets in a poker game yesterday against these two Swedish guys, we barely made it onto the ship," he told them as he tried not to laugh. "If you run into a funny Italian guy, that's him. He's inside in the general room talking to some Norwegian girl he's had his eye on since yesterday afternoon," he added with a smirk.

Tommy nodded. "Eye, we'll have to look around then," he laughed. Shannon just smiled.

Suddenly, something caught Jack's eye, as his gaze became fixed on the first class deck up above them. There was a lovesick look in his bright seafoam colored eyes and a dreamy expression across his face. Tommy looked up to see what Jack was staring at.

Standing against the rail, was a young lady with vibrant ginger hair pulled back in an elegant bun. She wore a lacey soft green dress with an orange flower attatched to the belt part of it. She seemed to just be staring off into the distance, and there was a distinct scowl across her porcelain-doll like face.

"Eye forget her, boyo! You're as like to have angels fly out of your arse as get next to the likes of her," Tommy shook his head.

"Can't a man dream?" Jack laughed with a sly grin.

He watched as another man with sleek dark brown hair in a black evening suit approached the young lady. They appeared to be having a brief argument, and then the lady stormed back inside, the man on her heels.

Just then, an officer walked by walking a French bulldog. "That's typical isn't it, first class dogs coming down here to take their shite," Shannon rolled her eyes with disgust.

Tommy had lit another cigarette. "They don't give a damn." He shrugged as he blew more smoke out of his mouth.

Jack grinned at them. "Lets us know where we rank in the scheme of things," he commented.

"As if they'd let us forget it," Tommy laughed. He finished off his cigarette and put his arm around Shannon. "We're going back inside for now, see you around," he said to Jack.

"It was nice meeting you," Shannon added.

"Thanks, you guys too, maybe I'll see you inside later and you can meet Fabrizio," Jack replied with a grin as he waved goodbye.

Tommy smiled at his girlfriend as they walked back inside. He knew that it was definitely going to be an interesting voyage, and he couldn't be happier to have the love of his life by his side.


Please tell me what you think of this so far!

I realize this isn't your typical Tommy/OC fic, because that's what I was aiming for...I have these bursts of creativity where I want to put a completely different spin on a popular idea. Usually Tommy meets the girl for the first time on the ship (and that is actually the case with Shannon in my headcanon, but this is an AU of my own headcanon) and she's typically a first class girl. I've seen a few where the OC is a third class girl, though. Anyways, this is different because while their romance will be a large part of this story, there's a dark and serious plot underneath it all.

So I'm not going to beg for reviews, but it would mean the WORLD to me if you'd share your feedback. I'd love some solid concrit on this. If anyone catches any historical inaccuracies (besides them sharing a room, I'm aware of that but I'm doing it anyways) please let me know and I'll fix them!

Happy reading! :)