A/N: Thank you to Horses of Shadow and Night and Number 1 fan, I'm sorry that school is so boring for you; I'm on my summer holidays at the minute, that's why I can write so much. I sort of wanted to give Ciaran and Thomas their own fanfic, but I might try and just fit them in here instead, thanks for the suggestion
Chapter 21
Rachel's POV
For the first night in quite a while, I went to bed by myself. Jack had asked around a bit before bedtime as to where I could sleep, he was hoping that I would be able to get a private cabin, but no luck, I was told I had to share a room with the maids, I didn't particularly mind, the only thing that bothered me was being apart from Jack.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" He asked, lingering at the door of the maid's room like a forlorn lover,
"I'll be fine, Jack," I smiled,
He took my face is his hands, my hands rising to meet his,
"Don't miss me too much, okay?" he smiled,
"I'll try not to, Sparks," I whispered,
"We're being quite silly, really," he whispered, "I mean, I will see you again in the morning!"
"Of course!" I said, planting a kiss on his lips, feeling his lips form into a smile against mine,
"Goodnight," he said once we had pulled apart,
"Goodnight," I whispered as I reluctantly closed the door.
The maid's room was like a dormitory, plain beds all in a row, there was no one else there, they would all be boarding in Southampton. I chose the bed furthest into the corner. I struggled out of the uncomfortable clothes that I was wearing, pulling at the corset strings; they frustrated me greatly, reaching around my back, I wanted to be comfortable again. Eventually I got the dreaded garment off and I flung it without care to the floor, it deserved to stay there, I knew I would have to put it on again in the morning, but for the minute I was glad to be free. I had nothing to sleep in, but I found extra sheets in the room, so I wrapped them around myself and got into the small bed, holding the sheets to myself, pretending that they were Jack.
"Goodnight Jack," I whispered into the duvet, longing for it to be him, to be feeling his new warmth.
"It's just 'til morning," I whispered again, to reassure myself.
I couldn't sleep, eventually the gentle vibrating of the ship stopped, we were no longer moving, I crushed my head into the pillow and slowly fell asleep.
Ciaran's POV (as requested)
I sat on my bed with Thomas, the moon being the only lighting in my room apart from his gentle glow. We had been to see Rachel today, as we did everyday.
"He'll look after her," Thomas told me softly,
"I know, he's brave, he's a hero," I whispered back,
"And he loves her, he will protect her no matter what," Thomas replied,
"What if she never wakes up? She can't even know that we are there, even when we hold her hand or anything." I hissed, tears bubbling to my eyes again.
"I swear I will always look after you, Ciaran, I will always be with you, I am your angel and if Rachel never wakes I promise that when it is your time to go to Heaven, I will help you find her again and you can always be together, as brother and sister should be." He informed me, his gentle accent and kind eyes extremely reassuring.
"Thank you," I replied.
The house had been really quiet without her, mum and dad were always upset, they didn't speak much anymore, so I spent most of my time in my room with Mr Andrews, just talking and talking, or else I would go to see Rachel, even though it hurt me to see how quiet and still she was, or go to a museum, I always had to go to quiet places, so that I could think. Thomas would always come with me, one day I was walking around the town and he showed me his old house, where he had lived with his wife, that's when I knew that he knew what sadness felt like, he had been separated from his wife forever, the same way that I was separated from my sister. Thomas always understood what I was going through, he was the best friend that I could ever ask for, but I still wanted my big sister back. She had always been there for me and I wanted that again.
Jack's POV
As I remembered, we arrived in Southampton at around midnight, I was at the wireless when we arrived, the vibrations of the ship stopped. In the morning we would be able to get a look about. I looked over at Harry, sleeping in the little bed, he had forgotten to pull the curtain, his mouth hung open and his hair flopped over one eye, he was snoring quietly.
"Where am I meant to sleep?" I muttered to myself, I was so tired, it had been a very long day and I doubted we would be getting anymore telegraph messages at this time of night.
I took my hat and coat off, setting the hat on the table and wrapping the coat around myself, I stayed in the seat at the signal key, not that sure of what to do. I leaned back in the chair, it was uncomfortable, but due to my tiredness, I was able to fall asleep.
"Jack… Jack!" I heard a voice calling in my ear; it felt like no time had passed, I was still tired,
"What?" I moaned,
My face was crushed against the table, I must have moved in my sleep,
"Good morning, old man!" the voice called again,
I looked up, my face hurting from the way that I had been sleeping, I knew my face must be red and raw looking, Harry Bride's beaming face was looking at me, he slapped me on the shoulder.
"Good night's sleep?" he asked with a smile,
I gave him a withering look, but then I couldn't help but smile,
"We are going to have to work out a timetable for who works and who sleeps," I told him, hoping that this wouldn't happen again.
"Well," he smiled, "You don't have to worry about it for a bit, I going off to see my family for a bit, I'll be back before we set sail, so don't you be worrying about that!"
"You make sure you have a nice time, Harry," I informed him,
"Of course I will! Need to see my fiancée too, she always misses me so much when I go away!" he smiled, his eyes filled with the joys of young love.
Then I remembered something, but it was pushed out of my thoughts by Rachel running into the room, she was wearing the same clothes as she had been yesterday, only today she looked a bit messier.
"Jack," she looked worried, "I'm going to have to get clean clothes!"
"We can do that today," I told her, "don't worry about it, did you sleep well?"
"Better than you, I should think!" she laughed,
I attempted to flatten my hair a bit,
"I will change my clothes before we head out," I told her,
"You're lucky you have anything to change into!" she laughed, "You still look a bit tired,"
"You'd think I hadn't slept in one hundred years," I smiled,
I changed into the other uniform I had, the plan was that Rachel would go and buy the things she wanted and we would meet up again near the Titanic, I had a few things that I wanted to see to. I washed my face furiously in the bathroom, it had been so long since I had had to do anything like this, being alive was so much effort, I feared that Rachel wouldn't find me as attractive seeing as how I had forgotten how to live. Harry had a comb, so I attempted to fix my hair, it was all very frustrating. I rubbed toothpaste on my teeth, remembering that a toothbrush was another thing that I should buy. I helped Rachel lace up her corset, as she could not do it herself,
"I'm not hurting you, am I?" I asked,
"Like you could," she tried to sneer, but I could hear the laughter in her voice.
Rachel's POV
We left the ship with Harry, who looked like he was in an extreme hurry, he hugged me and Jack to him, saying about how soon he hoped to see us, his new friends.
Jack promised to meet me back by the ship within an hour, there were barriers attempting to stop people from getting close to the ship, but it was the early morning and already people had crowded to see the world's biggest ship. I pulled the coins out of my shoe and headed off into the town. There were trams travelling up and down the main street, I had lost Jack in the crowds next to the ship, but I was not worried. Firstly I bought new knickers, as wearing the same ones two days in a row was not something I wanted to do, then new stockings and a toothbrush. I caught my reflection in a window and I was slightly shocked, I looked quite a mess, Jack should have told me! So bought a hairbrush and quickly attempted to brush my hair, before putting my hat back on, people looked at me in a dismissive way, all the ladies looked so glamorous compared to me, I slunk back in the direction of the ship, not caring to stay in this town centre any longer this day. My shoes were rubbing blisters on my feet, so I was quite slow, as I had to hobble my way back. Over the past hour some of the crowd had left, I walked up and leaned against the railing, remaining close to its gate so that Jack would be able to find me easily. Also near the gate was a girl who looked only a few years older than me, I caught her sneaking glances at me, taking in my appearance, perhaps she wanted to be dismissive as well, she was certainly better dressed than me, her long brown hair in a complicated knot above her head, she wore a light cardigan over a dress of deep blue, it did not look like appropriate wear for the port. I caught her looking at me again,
"Can I help you?" I asked, sick of her looking at me with her nose slightly turned up,
She slowly walked over to me, swaying with each step, in an attempt to seem attractive, but it was wasted on me, to me it just looked like she was having difficulty walking. She stood in front of me, checking over her shoulder every couple of seconds.
"Excuse me?" I said, as she had not spoken yet,
"Ah yes," she stared at me, her green eyes looked slightly angry, she was wearing an extremely pale looking make-up, making her look quite ill.
I nodded at her to continue,
"I like your hat," she said, curling her lip up, "It looks quite… familiar,"
I felt protective of my new-found job,
"It is the hat of a Marconi wireless operator!" I said proudly,
"Oh, I know that," she said with a sneering smile,
I felt a hand take mine from the side, I looked up and saw Jack, he was facing away from me and this mysterious lady,
"Let's go, Rachel," he whispered, I could hear worry in his voice,
"Oh don't be like that!" the lady cried out,
She rushed forward and grabbed the lapels of Jack's coat,
"Don't be like that!" she repeated with a sneer,
I stepped away from Jack, who was this woman?
"I won't be treated with such coldness, Jack Phillips!" she sneered,
I could see annoyance and panic flicker across Jack's face, I thought that nothing could scare him, but apparently this young woman could. She held to his lapels, bringing her face towards his, he was trying to pull away.
"Jack!" I hissed, "Who is this woman?"
She turned and looked at me with a smug smile on her face,
"Tell her, Jack," she whispered, an irritating purr in her voice, she looked very satisfied with herself,
Jack looked at me; I could see the pleading look in his eyes, he looked from me to her, he looked deeply ashamed.
He sighed, "Rachel, this is Katherine Rex, my fiancée."
A/N: My longest chapter yet, I'm proud! Reviews and stuff!