A/N: Hiya! Here's the third chapter! YAY! So, I do hope you have enjoyed the story so far, and will enjoy this part, as well as the rest! Don't forget to review, it makes me feel good

Don't Make Me Leave

Chapter 3 - Any Other Way

'Repulsive. Repulsive and everything I had hoped he would be… I mean wouldn't be, I mean, ugh! This is absolutely terrible! I have to get out of here…' Ashley smiled at the three men surrounding her, "Well, sirs, it has been a pleasure meeting all of you," her gaze paused on Murdoch for a moment, "but I must return to my room I'm very tired. I'll see you all tomorrow, good night." she finished turning on her heels.

"Wait Miss! You can't leave yet. You must meet the other officers." Lowe told her motioning to the men behind him.

"Yes, and after, you will join us for dinner." James subtly commanded. She flashed him a steely look, but nodded and was led towards the other men.

"Miss Palin," Murdoch began, "this is Mr. Ismay, the president of the White Star Line." He tipped his hat slightly. "This is 1st Officer Lightoller, 3rd Officer Pitman, 2nd Officer Blair, and 4th Officer Boxhall." All politely greeted her in return.

"Ah, well, enough formalities, time for dinner!" Mr. Ismay exclaimed heading out the door. Ashley quickly linked her arm through Moody's before Murdoch had a chance to offer his, an offer which, she knew she wouldn't be able to refuse.

The small party walked the short distance from the office to the upper class restaurant just around the corner. "7:30 reservations for Ismay, my good man." Mr. Ismay told the host.

"Ah, yes. Right, this way please." the host replied showing them to their table.

Murdoch pulled out Ashley's seat for her, and took the seat to her left, "Oh, thank you." The group of nine sat as follows, clockwise, around the oval table with Mr. Ismay in the 12 o'clock postion: Mr. Ismay, Blair, Moody, Ashley, Murdoch, Lightoller, Lowe, Boxhall, and Pitman. 'Oh, this is fantastic! I'm in for the meal of my life…' Ashley thought sarcastically.

The dinner went by rather uneventfully, except for when Mr. Ismay almost succeeded in having Murdoch's and Ashley's arranged engagement the conversation for the evening. To James' and Ashley's surprise it was Murdoch himself who saved the night by changing the subject, practically immediately, back to Titanic. Dinner came to a close, the group left the warm restaurant, and walked out into the chilled night outside. Ashley found herself starring up at the stars, so bright and so plentiful.

A soft voice, that almost sounded like a whisper, coaxed her out of her trance, "The stars are no doubt beautiful tonight."

'My God, that Scottish accent, it made my heart skip a beat.' Ashley thought lowering her gaze to the gentleman in front of her. "Yes, they are very beautiful. I looked up at them and momentarily I felt as though I was back in Grimsby, and I forgot about Liverpool and Titanic, and just remembered my family." she smiled contently. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just got all caught up in my thoughts. I hope I didn't embarrass myself too much." she laughed nervously.

He shook his head, "Not at all, it was quite nice to see you completely relaxed, for once, tonight. And, now, if you don't mind me intruding, but the rest of our party has appeared to have left with out us. So, if you will allow me to, I shall escort you back to your hotel room." he offered, a bit of nervousness hinted in his voice.

Ashley nodded and linked her arm with his. There was a soothing silence between the couple as they walked down the street, 'I'm actually rather enjoying this. The atmosphere, the company…'

"So, tell me about yourself."

"What? Umm, what would you like to know?"

"Oh, I have no preference. I just want to get to know you better."

"I see… Well, my name is Ashley Marie Palin, I live with my paternal aunt and uncle in Grimsby. My parents were both passengers on the Naronic when it vanished, or at least that's what Aunt Mary says. I have no siblings, I've known James-- I mean, Officer Moody," she laughed, "for as long as I can remember. And now, I'm here waiting to travel on the grandest ship in the world for… obvious reasons." Ashley trailed off. "And what about you? I must know more about you." she asked out of politeness and a desperate need to fill the void of knowing silence that fell between the two.

He cleared his throat, "I shall start where you did. My name is William McMaster Murdoch, and I live on my own in Southampton. My father was a mariner, just like generations before him were as well. I have six siblings. I was born in Dalbeattie, Scotland. I've been an officer for the White Star Line for 16 years now. Currently, I am to be Chief Officer on the R.M.S Titanic during her maiden voyage, which is a great honor, and I am also here to get to know a certain beautiful young woman, but that, my dear, is a discussion for another time."

Ashley was slightly taken back by this sudden abrupt stop in conversation, that is, until she noticed that they were just outside her hotel room. "She gave a curt bow, "Good night Mr. Murdo--"

"No," he chuckled, "Please, call me Will."

"All right, but you must call me Ashley."

"Of course. Well, good night William." she bid and was just about to turn and unlock her door when he took her hand and gently kissed her knuckles never breaking eye contact.

"Good night." he whispered before turning and walking to his room just down the hall. She watched him until he had gone into his room then opened and entered her own.

She leaned up against the door. 'I feel so funny, like a totally different person than I was a moment ago. That didn't even seem like it was me. It felt as thought I was watching a scene of a play take place right in front of me and I had no control over what happened. What happened to me?! It was like my body was taken over by someone who actually liked that man. And what possessed me to agree to call him Will…iam, and allow him to call me Ashley. I hardly know him!' she raved until her thoughts were cut short by a knock on the door she was leaning against.

She looked out the peephole and opened the door, "James?! What are you doing here?! It's way past reasonable time for you to be showing up at my door!"

"I know, I'm well aware. I just wanted to ask you about your little alone time with Murdoch. You two seemed to be having quite a nice conversation from what I saw through the peephole." James smiled.

"You spied on us?!"

"No! I was just waiting for you to come back, I promise! You were so far behind, I actually started to worry." he assured sincerely.

"All right, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt just this once." Ashley laughed leading him a little farther into her room.

"What did you two talk about?"

"Well, he asked me to tell him a little about me, so I did, and I asked the same from him in return. He's no inexperienced seaman, James. He's been an officer for the White Star Line for 16 years! That's almost as long as I've been alive!"

"Yes, I know. That would be the reason why he is Chief Officer," he laughed. "And he's not old, Ashley!"

"Oh, I know! I'm not saying that at all! I just meant he knows what he's doing when it comes to sailing. His age, until he told me he'd been sailing 16 years, well more than that I imagine, was a mystery to me. I knew he was older, but there's a kind of youngness about him. He's not drab or strict like my aunt and uncle can be. He seems well rounded, down to Earth, and he is quite the gentleman." she ranted sitting down on her bed.

"So, you agree with Aunt Mary's choice. Do you like him?"

"I believe, if we had met any other way, under any other circumstance, I do believe I would have liked him very much."

"What do you mean "would have"? You were just talking about how admirable and, dare I say, appealing he was a moment ago!"

"Yes, he is admirable and appealing, but I have set myself against this man."

"Why? Simply because you are being forced to marry him?! That's ridiculous!"

"The fact that I am being forced into matrimony with this man that I've only just found out existed isn't the only reason that I dislike the man. That fact that he is older and not already married is the trouble. Be logical, if he really is as perfect as I believe him to be then why is he not married? Why aren't there women dieing to know him? There must be something there that we don't see…"

"Be logical? You're the one not being logical! What if it's not him that has the problem, what if it's the women that have associated themselves with him. I don't know the man that well, so I'm not taking his side, but all I'm saying is that you're just trying to find something, some flaw that will allow you to justify your unjustifiable dislike of Mr. Murdoch. You're trying not to like him, and the fact that you can't find something wrong with him is going to make not falling in love with him extremely difficult."

Ashley sighed and put a hand up to shield her eyes from her best friend. She wasn't about to cry, no, she just knew he was right, "Your right. Your absolutely right James, and it does scare me. Part of me wants to make my aunt feel guilty for setting me up in a bad marriage, but part of me wants to give it a chance."

"I know, I know." he comforted her, sat down next to her and held her hand. "Think about it this way, you may never fall in love with him, but he'll at least make a good husband. You enjoy his company, right?" she nodded. "Then, it will turn out all right, it could have been much worse. You could've had to marry me!" they both laughed. "Well, it's late, and I already have to sneak back into my own room. Good night Ashley."

"Good night James." she whispered as he walked out of her room.

"Yes, any other way and I would no doubt love him, but I just can't let myself get taken in so easily. Perhaps I could suggest to William that we just pretend the arrangement doesn't exist and that we just correspond like every other normal couple. Yes, I think I'm going to do that… If I get another minute alone with him." she muttered before getting ready for bed.