Thanks for the reviews, people! They really boost my writing confidence! Cheers. Now for Chapter 2.

Emily Murdoch

Chapter Two

8th April 1912

Will had been bumped down.

Back to First Officer, that in turn would push Lights down to Second, and in doing that, the original Second Officer, Davy Blair, was to be thrown off the ship's crew entirely.

I hadn't dragged that out of my husband as of yet, having been around ships for most of my life, I had come to realise that when a Senior Officer was bumped, it would affect the other Seniors. It had happened to my father on a couple of occasions.

I had only managed to translate the words "bumped" and "down" from Will as he had returned home from work in a sulk.

I had avoided him since then. I was busy picking out my various dresses for the impending voyage with Jess, my lovely maid. How could one woman need so many dresses for one day? It was beyond me.

I was laughing with her as we tried on many, ridiculous looking headdresses. We turned as there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" I cried happily between laughs.

Will slowly opened the door, smiling at Jess, "Leave us, for a minute, Jess, please" he said. That was what was sweet about him, he treated Jess as his equal, not his inferior. Jess curtseyed as she had been trained to do, before walking quietly out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Will waited until she was out of earshot, wandering over to the bed where one of my dinner dresses lay. He fingered the pale blue silk and black lace material of the sleeves and smiled at the long white gloves.

"It's nice" he croaked, still upset about earlier.

"Yes" I walked over and leaned my head on his shoulder "You're still upset, though, so it isn't as nice".

He turned to look at me, his eyes were still rimmed red, "I tried so hard to prove myself" he whispered.

"Will…" I sighed "You said to me the change would only be for the maiden voyage, you'll be Chief Officer Murdoch for the rest of her career".

"Will I?" He asked "I get myself geared up for being Chief then I go and get it thrown back in my face, bloody typical!".

I left him and sat on the bed, "Who is it who's replacing you?", I asked "My father would not asked the officers to be changed at such short notice if the officer replacing you was not held in high regard and was not experienced"

"Oh" Will exclaimed "So I am not held high in the regard of E.J. Smith. For God's Sake, Ems, I am his son-in-law and the father of his beloved grandchild!".

"Will!" I snapped at him, "My father would never do that to you unless he wanted experience that comes above yours, he obviously wanted to be sure nothing would go wrong on his final voyage before retirement"

"And now you're implying that I am the reason things would go wrong on your father's final voyage, that things would be less than perfect with me as Chief!" Will snarled at me via the mirror.

"No" I whispered "No I'm not" I walked behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, laying my head on his shoulder blade.

His body wracked with a heavy sigh as he whispered "I'm sorry, Ems". "It's fine" I kissed the back of his neck "Now, will you tell me who's replaced you?"

"I suppose it isn't so bad…" he smiled "Henry Wilde".

"Henry Wilde?" I knew the name, Henry Tingle Wilde. A real gentleman of the White Star Line, alongside Lights and my Will of course. He had a tragic past, as had nearly all of the Titanic's nowsenior officers. He was well known throughout the company, and was as experienced and knowledgeable as he was charming and proper, and one may say now, looking back, rather dashing.

"Lights isn't too happy!" Will laughed.

That was another thing. It was also well known throughout the White Star Line employees, mainly the scores of officers and various captains, that Wilde and Lights weren't too fond on one another, to say the least.

"I imagine he wouldn't be" I laughed as he spun me round the room.

He laughed too and kissed my nose "Ah well" he pulled me into his arms "If I ain't Chief Officer for one voyage it ain't gonna kill me is it?"

"No, it isn't" I wrapped my arms round his neck.

"And anyway, I've got you, my beautiful wife, and Catie, our beautiful daughter" he kissed my lips.

After a moment, I pushed him away, "Get off! Get off! Haven't you got a uniform to iron?"

"That's what I hired Jess for. Tonight, my darling, I am taking you and Catie to the music hall".

"Oh, darling!" I ran a hand down his face "I love you so much!"


Catie loved the music hall in Southampton. She loved it even more when her beloved father took her. That night's performers included Catie's favourite, her namesake Katie Carney

We were sitting in the first level balcony seats, as a steward pushed the chair underneath me, I could feel Catie's excitement in waves as she sat on her father's knee.

The variety of performances at the music hall always made me smile, and that night it did. The final curtain fell at 5 minutes to 8, and Catie had fallen asleep due to her excitement throughout the day. She was so looking forward to spending the Titanic's maiden voyage with not only her friends, Andrew and Richard Lightoller, but also her beloved Grandfather EJ, and of course, her "Daddums".

Will hoisted Catie's sleeping frame gently onto his left side as we took our leave.

We were walking the short way home when Will called out gently "Lights!", I turned to see Lights, Sylvie and the boys coming our way.

The boys were stealing chips from each other's portions, wrapped in what looked like today's newspaper, as Sylvie kept pinching bits of batter from Charles' battered haddock.

He waved to us with three fingers as he held a half-eaten chip with his thumb and little finger of his left hand.

His eyes were red, redder than Will's had been, so I made the educated guess that he was more upset that Will was about the shuffling of officers.

"Over it yet?" Will walked up to him.

"Nope" Lights shook his head.

"He'll survive though" Sylvie tapped him on his nose.

"Just about" he replied with a grunt "Have to move my belongings out of my…well…your cabin tomorrow"

"Mmmmm" Will agreed half-heartedly "How do you reckon Wilde's gonna take it?"

"He'll be on top of the world, won't he? He's got one over on me, yet again" Lights scoffed.

"Has anyone told Davy yet?" Andrew chirped up

"Yup" Will answered "He didn't take it too well either"

"At least he won't have to put up with the bloody man" Lights ran a long hand through his mahogany brown hair.

"Lights…." Will couldn't help smiling "…do shut up. I'll have you moaning to New York and back about him and I don't want you moaning before Wednesday"

Lights held his free hand up "I'll surrender, for now" he smiled "At least I've got you, my dear" he kissed Sylvie on the cheek "And you two ruffians", he lay his left lower arm on the heads of the boys, much to their annoyance.

"Get off, Dad!" Andrew moved his shoulder sharply, shoving Charles' arm off.

Lights laughed and swallowed "God, I can't stomach vinegary chips like I used to be able to"

I laughed and he turned to me "I suppose Daddy hasn't explained to you the reasons for the reshuffle?" he raised an eyebrow at me accusingly.

"He said that it was just he wanted his last voyage to go unhitched" I told him honestly

"Oh, so, the combination of Will, myself and Davy will cause it to go hitched, then?" Lights asked "As if the godly Mr. Wilde will make much of a difference. For all Smith knows it'll be worse, he knows Wilde and I hate each other, I am not going to go within 6 feet of the man for the length of the voyage!"

"Yeah" Will sighed, laughing "We've got the picture, Lights! We'd better be getting this one.." he gestured to Catie "..off to bed. I shall see you tomorrow"

"Yup" Lights said waving us off as we began to walk again.

"Sorry 'bout Lights" Will said "You know as well as I do that he hates Wilde with a vengeance"

"Why though?" I asked as we reached our front door.

Will shrugged "Apparently, something happened between the two of 'em back before they were married, I don't pry though, Lights snaps and Wilde clams up"

I looked down in deep thought as I stepped through the door.

This up and coming voyage would be more interesting than I originally thought.

Hope you enjoyed! Review please! I have decided I am going to add the officers (Will, Lights and Jim) as narrators, though they won't have their own chapters all the time, just parts of a chapter, or their own chapter occasionally.

Hope you enjoyed!