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Icy Waters

Once Tommy had managed to calm his fiancé down enough, he turned a furious glare on his brother. "What the hell were you thinkin', eh?" he demanded. "Ye got five seconds to explain yerself or I'll tear yer eyes out," he hissed.

Joseph took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. "Look... I needed a way 'ta get ye up here. I swear I wasn't really gonna touch her. I need 'ta tell ye me whole story; from leavin' home 'ta murdering O'Roarke," he explained.

"I DON'T CARE WHY YE DID ANY OF THOSE THINGS, THE FACT IS YE STILL DID 'EM!" Tommy roared, standing up. "AND WHY THE HELL SHOULD I LISTEN TO YE ANYWAYS AFTER THIS FOOLISH STUNT YE JUS' PULLED?" he added, his eyes flashing with fury.

"I HAD ME REASONS AND I REGRET DOIN' ALL OF THOSE HORRIBLE THINGS I'VE DONE, MORE THAN YE KNOW, ACTUALLY!" Joseph countered, clenching his fists. "STOP BEIN' SO STUBBORN FER ONCE IN YER LIFE, JAYSUS, MAN!" he yelled, his face reddening more and more by the minute.

Shannon sat on the bed, shaking. "Please stop yellin' so loud...ye'll get yerselves arrested!" she scolded them as she fought back more tears. She hated seeing them fight. "Fer God's sake, stop it, yer brothers!"

Tommy shook his head angrily. "He's no brother a' mine, and he's certainly no son of me parents...HE LEFT US! HE'S NOTHIN' BUT A FILTHY, LYIN', CONNIVIN', MURDERER!" He had nothing left in him to forgive his elder brother. Even if he'd wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

"I HAD MY REASONS AND I'M SORRY!" Joseph shouted, throwing an empty wine glass against the opposite wall and watching as it shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces all over the floor.

"I DON'T CARE IF YER SORRY!" Tommy roared in response, grabbing a shoe off the floor and throwing it at his brother, watching as it hit him square in the face and knocked him backwards.

"BASTARD!" Joseph yelled, absolutely infuriated at this point. I'm just trying to explain myself and the stubborn bastard throws a shoe at me...

"MURDERER!" Tommy countered. I can't forgive him...I won't...no matter his reasons...nothing excuses such despicable acts...nothing!

"STOP IT!" Shannon screamed. So much fighting...too much fighting, I can't bloody take it!

Joseph scowled angrily at his younger brother. "Ye know, I may be a horrible man fer all the things I've done...but yer a horrible brother fer not even bein' willing 'ta hear me side of the story," he said in a low whisper. In complete honesty, it hurt his feelings that his own flesh and blood denied him the chance to explain himself.

Tommy let out a contemptuous snort. "How the hell can I trust a word outta yer mouth?" he asked. "Ye act all sorry one minute, and then as soon as yer partner walks in...ye'll probably put a knife 'ta me neck just like ye did to O'Roarke! That's why I won't listen!" he explained coolly.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps, and a man emerged in the doorway. "What the hell is goin' on in here?" Carrick demanded, furiously eyeing the Irish sweethearts. He had no idea what his partner was up to, and he wanted to find out. I swear if he confessed what we'd done to O'Roarke...I'll murder all three of 'em...

"Er..." Joseph froze. "I-I was just...er..." he stammered. He was at a complete loss for words. He couldn't tell his partner what was really going on, or all three of them would be done for, so he decided that he had to play along. "I found these two snooping... I was just interrogatin' 'em, 'ta make sure they didn't find any of our private files," he explained quickly.

"Yeah, like the files that say yer partner here murdered Billy O'Roarke," Tommy hissed furiously. He wasn't afraid of his brother or his ginger-haired partner, he wanted to confront them for their crime once and for all. "The whole world will know what ye've done, and ye can rot in jail for it," he threatened.

"Ye eejit, he has a gun!" Shannon scolded quietly. Sometimes she really cursed her fiancé's inability to shut the hell up when necessary. Her eyes widened in fright as a twisted smirk came across the ginger-haired man's face and he pulled out something shiny from behind his back.

"Feckin' shite," Tommy muttered, his eyes going wide as well. Jesus...I really am too stubborn for my own good...

"Let's tie 'em up, Joey." Carrick flashed his partner an evil grin. "Here, I brought a gun for ye too," he said, tossing him a shiny pistol.

Joseph looked pleadingly at his brother, trying to communicate with his eyes that he was only going along with his partner to keep the situation from escalating for the worse. "Eye, let's do it," he agreed, blowing on his gun.

Tommy couldn't keep his eyes off of his elder brother as he was tied up by Carrick. "I knew ye were a bloody liar," he hissed, earning a sharp slap across the face via Carrick's gun. He had no idea that his brother was really on his side, and now found himself hating him more, if that was even possible.

Shannon whimpered as her hands were re-tied to the bedpost by Joseph. "Please don't do this..." she whispered, only to be completely ignored.

Outside, the RMS Titanic continued to sail along on the iceberg infested waters, it's occupants having no idea what tragedy awaited them. The air itself was freezing, and the waters below were even colder.

"Ye do realize we have to murder ye now," Carrick explained coolly, as if he did this every day. "We can't have ye walkin' around with that kind of information...we can't...we won't, go to jail," he said.

"Unless of course ye swear not 'ta tell a bloody soul," Joseph continued shakily. "Eh, Rick-o?" he asked. He hoped to God that his partner would say yes, otherwise, he had no idea what to do to save his brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law. Hell, how do I know that ole Rick-o won't shoot me too when all is said and done...

Carrick shook his head. "I don't know what the hell you've been smokin', ye can't trust 'em if we let 'em go... we've got 'ta end this right here, right now," he argued sternly. "Otherwise, ye'll be rottin' in a jail cell...and that's a bloody miserable existence," he said.

A man of many faces, there were only a few things in the world that he feared. Going to jail was his worst. He'd heard several stories from his uncles, who had slept in jail cells many a time for various crimes they'd committed, and he did not want to experience them for himself. His entire family was made up of criminals, so he'd learned his trade from the best and worst kinds.

Joseph swallowed hard. "Er...right," he agreed. Bloody shite... He slowly followed his partner's movements and put the pistol up to his soon-to-be sister-in-law's head as he watched his partner do the same to his brother.

"Don't move," he hissed under his breath. She managed a weak nod in reply.

"We'll count backwards from ten and pull the trigger," Carrick stated matter-of-factly, cracking an evil smirk as he blew on his gun.

Meanwhile, a large iceberg had been spotted directly in the ship's path, and the officers and crew were now scurrying madly to stop the ship in time to turn. First Officer William Murdoch stood on the bridge overlooking the icy waves, a gleam of horror in his bright blue eyes.

"Ten." Tommy and Shannon exchanged teary-eyed glances as their lives seemed to flash before their eyes.

Come on, come on, turn... Murdoch tapped his fingers nervously.

"Nine." They each remembered the last time they'd seen their families.

Turn...turn... Murdoch watched helplessly as the iceberg loomed ever closer.

"Eight." They each remembered the last time they'd seen their friends.

Come on, turn...The iceberg was like the devil himself, ready to suck all of their sorry souls down to a watery hell, Murdoch mused.

"Seven." They said goodbye to their hopes and dreams for the future, and more warm tears rolled down Shannon's cheeks as she imagined the six babies they had talked about having.

Turn...come on, turn... Murdoch's eyes widened even more as he realized the ship still wasn't slowing down enough.

"Six." Carrick smirked wider and wider by the second at the thought of ending another life. He was truly a criminal mastermind.

Come on...Murdoch tapped his fingers faster and faster against the bridge rail.

"Five." Joseph shook his head as he tried to clear all of the thoughts clouding his mind. He had to do something to stop this, but he didn't know what.

Turn... The great steamship sailed ever closer to the ice demon.

"Four." Tommy clenched his fists furiously at the thought of never getting to see the promise land or earn his way working on the harbor.

Come on, turn... But the ship still had not turned.

"Three." Tommy and Shannon each shed a tear at the fact that this was their last few seconds together. Or so they thought.

Jesus...turn! Murdoch's mouth dropped as he realized the ship was going to hit.

"Two." Carrick's hand tightened around the trigger, as Joseph's loosened.

IT'S GONNA HIT! One of the crew members standing at the bow ran for his life as the mighty ship loomed centimeters away from the icy surface.

"One." Without really thinking, Joseph threw his gun at his partner. It wouldn't solve the problem for long, but it stalled it at least. Carrick toppled to the floor, his eyes flashing furiously as he reached for his gun.

However, it was knocked out of his reach when a force shook the entire ship. Unbeknownst to the passengers, the RMS Titanic had collided with an iceberg.

Mwahaha cliff hanger! Let me know what you think, your feedback means the world to me!