When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed
Don't resent me
And when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest
Leave out all the rest

~"Leave Out All the Rest" by Linkin Park

Ellen

Her pounding headache in result from the previous evening didn't go away until after lunchtime. Rosalie had teased her mercilessly that morning at breakfast, but Ellen was grateful that she didn't know about the incident that had happened with Mr. Lowe in the stairwell. Never in her life had she ever been that close to being caught in the middle of a scandal and she wasn't about to risk that situation happening again.

Victor and Rosalie had flirted the morning away, but when Rosalie left with Madeleine and Lord Astor to attend church, Ellen was pleasantly surprised to find herself alone with him for the morning.

"Are you going to church?" he inquired, lighting a cigarette as they walked outside, making their way back to the third class decks. "I've heard they have one for steerage which we can attend, I believe it'll be in the dining hall."

"You attend church?" Ellen asked. "I don't believe I've seen you in a church once since the wedding!"

He laughed heartily. "I like to think myself a churchgoer, but it's a bit difficult when you're traveling across Europe and Africa and have no time to yourself."

She smiled. "True, I suppose. I haven't been to church in many years."

Victor let out a long stream of smoke before he asked, "You believe in God, don't you?"

"Of course," she responded quickly, hoping that was the right answer. "But like you said, I haven't had much time to myself the last several years I've been in service."

"Let's go then!" Victor said, offering his arm to her. She took it, but looked down at her bland, gray dress.

"Dressed like this?" she asked.

"I've seen people wear far worse to church," he said, winking at her. "And someone as pretty as you can make any dress look fit for a queen!"

She blushed, her heart skipping a beat in her chest. She was practically dancing on clouds as they made their way down to the third class dining hall where everybody could see that she was on this handsome gentleman's arm. The entire sermon she could barely concentrate on the scripture, but rather on the handsome man sitting beside her. She could feel his eyes on her when she was focused on her hymnal but tried to act like she didn't notice. While they were listening to the sermon, his hand rested on his leg, his fingers just inches from her. She could feel her palms growing sweaty as she realized that with just one swift movement, their fingers could be entwined. But before she had a chance to move, it was time to stand up for the blessing and dismissal.

"Shall we eat our lunch outside?" Victor asked as sandwiches were passed around. "It's a beautiful day!"

"Don't we need to get back to help serve lunch?" she inquired, taking a sandwich and tucking it into her pocket.

"No," Victor said, smiling. "Rosalie is accompanying Lord and Lady Astor on a tour of the ship. They won't need us until it's time for their afternoon nap."

"Ah, I see," she said, grinning from ear to ear as she realized she still had a few more hours with him alone. They walked onto the decks outside, settling themselves onto a bench that looked out to the stern of the ship. It was a beautifully clear, blue spring day. The wind was relentless as they sat and tried to eat their sandwiches out of the wrapping they were given to them in, but to no avail. Victor laughed and let the breeze swept his from his hands, watching it dance in the breeze as it disappeared over the side of the ship.

"Hopefully the fish don't mind!" he said, chuckling. Finishing the last of his lunch, he wiped his hands and turned to Ellen.

"Who was that man you were with last night?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

She nearly choked on her food as the question left her lips. Coughing, she turned from him and panicked for something to say.

"Oh," she said, swallowing and biting her lip. "He's an officer I met. He just mentioned that he had been lonely so I invited him to dine with us. Unfortunately I had trouble finding you all last night."

"Mhmm," Victor said, winking.

"Victor!" she exclaimed, her cheeks growing red. "You know better than anyone that I don't get into relations with men I've barely met!"

He let out a hearty laugh. "I'm just teasing you!"

She sighed with relief. "I'm sorry, Rosalie has been relentless with her teasing!"

He shrugged, scooting closer to her and putting an arm on the back of the bench, just behind her shoulders. She could feel herself growing warm as his side touched hers. "Just ignore her, she was probably just jealous."

"Jealous?" she scoffed, turning to him, "She has no need to be jealous when she consistently gets so much attention from y-"

She paused, coughing and turning away from him once more.

"What was that?" he said, but a group of children ran by, cutting him off as they narrowly avoided being hit by their ball. Ellen laughed and stood up, stretching and motioning for Victor to join her by the railing.

"We'll need to be getting back soon," she said, checking the watch on her uniform. "This morning was so nice, thank you. I needed the break."

He smiled gently, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight. He never failed to take her breath away with how handsome he was. She was almost trembling as he came to closer and for a moment, her heart stopped when he took her hand in his.

"You're extraordinary, Ellen," he said, staring deeply into her eyes. "I honestly don't know how I would have survived these last few months if you hadn't been by my side! Can you believe how close we are to being home again? It's felt like years!"

She was still mesmerized by the feel of his hand in hers and could barely mutter the words, "Thank you." Was this a dream? She felt dizzy as he watched him lean in. For a brief moment, his lips touched her cheek, sending electric shocks up her spine. She almost fainted. Her knees buckled beneath her and Victor was quick to catch her as she slumped against the railing.

"You alright?" he asked. She regained her balance and blushed furiously. What was wrong with her?

"Yes, yes," she said, waving the question away. "I'm just so tired, last night was so exhausting! And I'm a bit hot under this sun."

"Let's get inside," he said, ushering her towards the first class promenade decks. She still felt quite dizzy and having his hand around her waist once more wasn't helping her regain her composure. She was thankful when they made it inside and the shade helped her calm down.

"The Astors should be back any minute now," she said, trying to hide the red in her face.

"Right," he said, "I need to prepare Lord Astor's bath. Would you mind escorting them back to the room? They should be near the bridge finishing up their tour of the ship."

Fanning herself, Ellen nodded. She smiled at him as she left and bounded upstairs, careful to avoid suspicious glances from stewards as they saw her plain uniform. Her mind continued racing after the kiss she received from Victor. A courtship was absolutely evolving! She was ecstatic. Her mother would be so happy to know she had found a beau, it was a consistent topic that come up in her letters.

However, her heart stopped when she reached the first class decks.

Harold.

How could she have forgotten what had occurred last night after a single kiss? And in a daze from last night, she had remembered to meet his this afternoon. What she expected to say to him? Whatever had happened last night couldn't continue. They were from two separate worlds!

She pushed the door open to the outside decks, carefully looking around to make sure there were no officers in sight. She wasn't prepared to speak to him right now while her mind was going a million miles an hour. She brought a hand to her forehead and leaned against the nearby wall.

She was an idiot for choosing to dine with a man she had just met. And not only that, but to get drunk and make a fool of herself off of jealous feelings she had for another man! She'd break the poor bloke's heart.

He had looked very handsome last night in his suit and she also couldn't deny that he looked smart in his uniform, by the far the most attractive officer she'd seen on this ship during the voyage. But she hardly knew him and a night together last night wasn't enough to convince her that there was something between them. He was a seaman and she was a maid, he was from Wales and she was from Brooklyn. There was no way to separate him from the sea and separate her from her dream of returning to the bookstore. He was nothing more than an acquaintance she had made on this ship and the thought that they would be see each other after they docked in New York was impossible.

She glanced to her right, looking for a group of passengers near the bridge. It was nearing three o'clock and she crossed her arms. The tour should have been over by now and she was impatient to return to the room with Mr. Victor. However, just when she was about to turn around and head back to the room, she saw Mr. Andrews round the corner with a small group of people trailing behind them. Miss and Mrs. Bukater were walking side by side with the man while Mr. Hockley trailed behind them. Mr. Andrews and Miss Bukater were in deep conversation and at one point, she saw Mr. Hockley tap the side of one of the lifeboats with his cane. She wondered what they would be talking about to have lifeboats on their minds!

The Astors were trailing at the back of the group, admiring the view of the ocean. Rosalie had Kitty on a leash, keeping the young dog from snapping at Madeleine's skirts while they strolled close behind them. Ellen nodded to them as they passed and joined Rosalie, taking the leash from her.

"How's the tour been?" Ellen asked, her voice low. Rosalie shrugged but smiled. "I'd rather be inside drinking a cool glass of lemonade, but it was nice seeing all the first class luxuries that don't come with our steerage tickets."

Ellen laughed, patting Kitty's head as the Astors stopped momentarily while they were overlooking the side of the ship. Ellen kept an eye on Mr. Andrews, making sure they wouldn't fall too far behind if the group disappeared into a room. However, without the Astors noticing, Ellen watched Miss Bukater fall behind Mrs. Bukater, Mr. Andrews, and Mr. Hockley. They were passing the ship's gymnasium which Mr. Andrews hadn't paused to show. In a flash of an eye, she saw a young man appear by the side of the gymnasium's door and grab Miss Bukater's arm. For a moment, Ellen was quite startled and quickly took a couple steps forward to intervene, but as they disappeared inside, she caught the glance of Mr. Dawson as the man in the coat! The door shut quickly behind them and Rosalie shot her a curious glance looking at Ellen's panicked position.

"What is it?" she asked as the Astors continued on their tour, not noticing Miss Bukater's disappearance.

"Nothing," Ellen said slowly. She continued behind Madeleine, careful to keep Kitty close to her to prevent an mischief. When they reached the bridge, the tour was at last over and Rosalie and Ellen were able to escort their lord and lady to their rooms. It was becoming more difficult for Madeleine to relax in bed with her growing belly and Rosalie ended up having to go on a search for more pillows due to her lady's back pain. It was a few minutes before four o'clock when they were finally asleep, which disappointed Ellen greatly. She had hoped that she would be kept busy thus preventing her to go and meet Mr. Lowe. However, Lord Astor had specifically told them to take the afternoon to themselves. Rosalie had taken Victor by the hand and let them down to the third class decks to enjoy the weather before the sunset. Normally, Ellen would have been jealous if she hadn't of seen Victor wink at her before disappearing with Rosalie.

Her stomach was in knots as she made her way to the stern. She knew that Mr. Lowe would be anxiously awaiting to see her. Her low bun was nearly bouncing on her neck as the pins had nearly but all fallen out in the chaos of helping Madeleine get settled into bed. Removing the last pin, her hair tumbled down. She didn't even have a ribbon to braid it back with so she prayed that the wind would have mercy to keep her from brushing through knots when she got ready for dinner.

She saw him the minute she walked onto the deck. He was standing by the flagpole at the stern, watching the bustle of passengers go around him. She could see people giving him strange looks and she prepared herself for eyes to be on her as well when she reached him. When he laid eyes on her, she almost groaned when his face lit up. He looked the happiest she had seen him since they met and she wasn't prepared for the conversation they were about to have.

Her heart was racing when she stood beside him. Not wanting to give him the idea she wanted to embrace him, she turned and leaned on the railing, watching the sea expand out around them. She saw the smile fade from his face as she said slowly, "We need to talk."

Don't forget to R&R! Who will end up with Mr. Robbins, Ellen or Rosalie?