"Sam, there's a boat! You, Helga and Mrs. Dahl can get on together!" Tommy said. "No! I can't get on unless I know for sure you and Fabri'll be okay!" Sam protested. "Get on the bloody boat!" he said. "Signorina, you must. This'a may be your last possibilità to get of'a the ship!" Fabrizio coaxed. "Fabrizio, I nei ga without du," said a scared Helga.
"You get on'a da boat with Sam and your mama, sweet Helga. Tommy, your pappa and I will get on the first one that lets men on, si?" he said. Helga nodded. "Jeg elsker deg," she said, kissing him. "See? Even Fabri knows you've got to get on. Go with Helga and her ma," said Tommy. Sam shook her head furiously. "No! I'm not going without you! Goddamn it, I can't turn away without knowing you'll be all right!"
Tommy caressed her hair. "I know. But whatever my fate is, love, you're like to share it with me if you stay," he pointed out gently. Sam realized that as unfair as it was, he was right. She kissed him fiercely and said a la OUAT, "I will find you, Tommy Ryan, my love. I will always find you."
Tommy smiled and kissed her forehead. "I don't doubt it, lass. Now go!"
She gave him and Fabrizio a last fleeting glance. He stared back sadly, the SOS rockets making his eyes light up. "We'll meet again after this shitstorm," she whispered.
"Mamma, vi kommer to båt nå," Helga said. Mrs. Dahl gave her husband a last fleeting glance. "Tommy, I love you," Sam said to him. He kissed her forehead.
"I love you too." She gave Fabrizio a hug. "Fabri, you've been like a brother to me. The three of you need to stick together. Whatever you do, don't get separated, and stay safe, all of you. As for Helga and Mrs. Dahl, I'l keep them safe," she said. "Promise me!" "I'a promise, signorina," said Fabri. She nodded. "G-d be with you all!" Sam, Helga, and Mrs Dahl got on the boat. "Lower away!" said the attending officer.
Helga started to cry. Sam wrapped her blanket around the both of them. She held the poor terrified girl close. "Fabri and your dad'll be okay, Helga. I promise. They'll be fine, as will we," she said. They watched Tommy and Fabri looking sadly down at them flares going off behind them, and Sam's eyes clouded over too. "Helga, vil din far bli bra , så vil din Fabrizio," said Mrs Dahl to her daughter. (You will be all right, and so will Fabrizio.)
"Listen to me, all of you! This isn't a completely hopeless situation. Don't ask me how, but I knew the ship would hit the iceberg. My boyfriend and I were able to warn most of the third class, so that many more of our loved ones will get off the ship!" Sam called. "So it was you what raised the alarm!" said one woman.
"Yes, Tommy and I were able to warn you, thank G-d," Sam said.
Meanwhile, back on the ship, Tommy, Fabrizio, and Mr. Dahl wated to get on a boat. But the officer wouldn't let them get on. "Will ya give us a chance to live, ya limey bastard!?" Tommy screamed.
"I'll shoot any man who tries to get past me, get BACK!" Murdoch cried. "Bastard!" Tommy yelled again. "We had a deal, damn you!" said a haughty-looking first class man. Murdoch threw a huge wad of cash into the man's face.
"Your money can't save you any more than it can save me!" he told the man. "Get back!" One man suddenly tried to escape. Murdoch shot at the man, who fell down dead. In the panic, Tommy was accidentally pushed forward. Murdoch shot the gun, but hit Tommy's lifebelt.
"Bastardo!" yelled Fabrizio, thinking Murdoch had killed him, and Mr. Dahl, thinking the same, started cussing Murdoch out in Norwegian. "Du jævla drittsekk! Du drittsekk, du drepte ham!" he shouted angrily. (You fucking asshole! You fucking asshole, you killed him!) Tommy fell, expecting to hit the water. Instead, he fell straight into a boat.
The people in the boats had nothing to do, except wait. " "Aunt Sam? Is that you?" said a little voice. Sam sat up, and saw that it was Cora! "Cora! You made it. Talk to me, kid!" she said happily, hugging the little girl.
"Wait, where's your dad?" Cora's eyes filled with tears. "Daddy didn't get on. Mommy wouldn't go without him, but she made sure I was safe," she said. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry," Sam said, trying her best to comfort the crying child. "Where's Uncle Jack and Uncle Fabrizio?" Cora asked, wiping the tears away. "Dunno. Haven't seen them since Fabrizio tried to get Helga and her parents to a boat," Sam replied.
Tommy was floating. The last thing he remembered was screaming at Murdoch then...nothing. "Hello, son," said a voice. It was his father, Seamus. "Father?" Asked Tommy. "Yes, lad, it's me," Seamus said."Did I kick the bucket?" Tommy asked. "No. You got shot. You're in limbo. Unlike me, you have the choice to stay here with me or to live for that lass in the boat. Make your choice, lad. Die and go to the Otherworld or live for the girl you love," explained Seamus."You mean Sam made it off the ship?""Aye, but make your choice quickly, son." As Tommy turned to leave, Seamus called him back."That lass of yours...she's a real looker. Live for her if for no one else."In that time and in that place Thomas Ryan of Belfast, Ireland made his choice to live for his love.
Tommy awoke with a vengeance. "Easy, lad, you'll be all right," said a man with a strong British accent.
"Haven't seen him since Fabrizio tried to get Helga and her parents to a boat" said a very American voice. "Sam! Sam!" he yelled.
"Sam!" someone yelled. Someone Irish. "Tommy! I'm here!" she called, waving frantically. Officer Lowe tied the two boats together and everyone from Sam and Helga's boat climbed into the other one. "Are you all right?" he asked anxiously. "I'm fine. You've been shot!" she gasped.
"I'm fine," he said, waving off Sam's attentions. "No you aren't. Get ready. This'll hurt like Hades," she told him, tearing strips of her dress. Cora started to cry again, so Helga started singing to her in her own native Norsk. Sam pressed both hands down on the wound, and Tommy screamed. It was an animal sound which the girl hoped never to hear again.
"I'm sorry. I had to put pressure on the wound," she told him. She tied the strips together and made a tourniquet out of them and tied it round his shoulders. "Are ya sure you're no doctor?" Tommy panted through the pain, trying to make a joke.
"It's basic first aid. I can teach you, assuming we make it out of this alive," said Sam. She put her head on his uninjured shoulder. "This was supposed to be the Ship of Dreams," sniffed Sam, wiping tears from her eyes. "Instead, it turned out a nightmare."
He held her close and let her cry. "I...we won't be alone when we get to New York. My sister is meeting me there, remember?" he said. He spoke to her in Gaelic, trying to calm her down.
"I thought Gaeilge was a dead language," she sniffed. "My parents always spoke it to me and my sisters growin' up," Tommy told her. "Well, then, erin go bragh, love," Sam said. "So tell me again about your Ireland."
So he told her of the constant rain, the rolling hills, the village where he'd grown up and the time he accidentally set the barn aflame. Gradually he lapsed into the the Gaeilge of his youth, and though Sam couldn't understand a word he said, she still found the guttural noises and clipped vowels as soothing as any Mozart concert.
The folk in the boats had nothing to do. It wasn't the wondering or the hunger or the cold. The boredom was the worst part. No one was even sure if they were waiting to die or waiting to live.
"Hey, there's a ship!" said Cora, spotting the Carpathia on the horizon. Sam scrambled to wave her shawl, and the people in the boat started waving arms, blankets, handkerchiefs, and anything else they had to attract the attention of the people onboard the Carpathia.
"Hey! Hey! OVER HERE! HERE!" Sam shouted, waving like a madwoman. Officer Moody, the one who'd let Sam, Jack, and Fabrizio board, blew on his whistle as loudly as he could.
Slowly but surely, the Carpathia turned round. One of her officers lowered a ladder. "Cora, you go up first," said Sam. "I won't be far behind." One by one, everyone on the boat climbed up on deck, where they were given tea and blankets.
"Can I take your names, please?" asked the officer on Carpathia. "Yeah, sure. I'm Sam Miller, the little girl is Cora Miller, my sister, the older blonde woman is Johanne Dahl, and the younger blonde woman is her daughter Helga," Sam said. "Thank you, miss," said the officer. The ballroom was set up as a shelter for the survivors, and Sam, Tommy, Helga, Cora, and Mrs. Dahl promptly fell asleep on the floor, too exhausted to do anything else.
Meanwhile, Carpathia had taken on another boatload of passengers. Among them were Fabrizio, Olaf and Bjorn, all tired, cold and hungry but otherwise fine. "Per favore, sir, do you have a survivors' list?" Fabrizio asked.
"No. I'm sorry, lad, but head down to the ballroom. That's where we're keeping the survivors until we dock. Just 'round that way," said the harried-looking officer, pointing. "Grazie, signore," he murmured and motioned for Bjorn and Olaf to follow him.
Immediately upon entering the room, the three of them were given blankets and cups of hot tea. He spotted a head of blond hair, and his heart skipped a beat!
"Helga! Helga! Dio mio, grazie!" he cried, wrapping his arms around her. "Fabrizio! Gudskjelov at du er all right!" Helga said, kissing him and forgetting the precious little bit of English she did know.
"Is'a fine. I fine, and your pappa also," he said. "Helga! Gudskjelov at du er trygg!" Olaf said, kissing his daughter's forehead and taking his wife's hand. (Thank goodness you are all right!)
"Jeg elsker deg, pappa, jeg elsker deg," Helga said. "Pappa, dette er Fabrizio, Sam, og Cora," she said, pointing out each person. "De er mine venner." (I love you, Father, I love you. This is Fabrizio, Sam, and Cora. They are my friends.)
"Helga introduce you to her family," Bjorn translated. "Pleased to meet you," said Sam through Bjorn. "Signorina Sam, have'a you seen Jack?" Fabrizio asked Sam.
She shook her head. "I haven't seen him or Rose since Helga, Mrs. Dahl and I got on the boat. I'm so sorry, Fabrizio," she said. "I'm just glad you three are okay."
"So what do we do now?" asked Cora. "I' no know, piccola principessa," said Fabrizio.
Three days went by, during which the group tried to make some sense of what they had just survived. When they arrived in New York, Sam climbed wearily onto the dock.
Sam and the others later found that due to her quick thinking, all the boats had been loaded up to full capacity. Well over 1200 people had survived. Sam had changed the future but undoubtedly for the better.