The other officers soon joined us in our place of refuge. Apparently Pitman had spotted us from across the dock, and they were soon demanding why Harry had not taken me to the hotel. He looked somewhat ashamed as he shuffled his feet, mumbling something.

"What was that?" Lights demanded, unable to hear him over the noise of the crowds.

"You asked me to go there, but I don't know where it is. This is my first time in New York."

Lights just stared at him, and Harry continued awkwardly.

"I didn't want to say so because you seemed to be a bit uptight."

"Uptight? I seemed a bit uptight? Believe it or not, Harry, spending a night shoving people into lifeboats and then standing on an overturned boat for a few hours tends to make you more than a bit uptight!"

"Hey, Lights," Pitman interrupted. "I don't think you're being very fair on him. We all went through a hell of a time back there."

Lights shrugged and started to walk. After we had left the dock, everything seemed to quieten down a bit. Harry had been silent for a while, but he suddenly spoke.

"Don't you think we all look a bit conspicuous?"

We all stopped and the other officers looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean?" Lights demanded.

"Well, we're all wearing Titanic officer's uniforms and we all look like we've spent the last few years in a terrific thunderstorm. Hell, we all look like we went down with that ship. I just think we're asking for reporters to follow us."

"We'll be ready for them," Joe Boxhall commented, narrowing his eyes. "And we aren't too far from the hotel anyway."

He was right. We walked down a few more streets, turned a few more corners and Lights exclaimed that we had arrived. I hadn't really absorbed anything about the city so far, but when I gazed up at the hotel I felt my breath catch. It was so much bigger, so much more grand than any hotel I had ever seen before in my life.

Lights led the way inside. The lobby had a beautiful, shining marble floor and mahogany details, and my eyes widened at the sight. Surely I couldn't be staying in such a beautiful hotel? I followed the officers to the reception desk, gazing around in amazement. It was the first real emotion I had felt in days.

"Yes, I believe we have some rooms reserved for a few days. I'm not sure what name it's under -" Lights turned to the rest of us. "Who reserved the rooms?"

They all shrugged, and Lights turned back to the gentleman at the desk. "My name is Lightoller, I don't know if you have that down anywhere?"

"No, I'm afraid not, sir."

"Murdoch?" Lights lowered his voice slightly, as though he didn't want me to hear the name.

"Ah, yes. There are eight of you, I believe? It says here that you shall be requiring one single room, one triple and two doubles?"

"I don't think we'll be needing that many now," Harry interrupted. "Some of our group didn't make it."

The gentleman raised his eyebrows curiously, then realised what he meant. "Oh, you were travelling on Titanic? Awful mess, wasn't it?"

There was a mumble of agreement, then Lights spoke. "There's only five of us now, so if you could make that two doubles and a single I would be most grateful."

The gentleman nodded, scribbling some notes down on a piece of paper. He pulled three keys off the wall behind him, handed them to Lights and gave us directions to the rooms.

After Lights had shown me to my room – which was every bit as beautiful as the suite on Titanic – I didn't know what to do with myself. I had nowhere to go now, I only had this room for a few days and after that I didn't know what I would do. I carefully slipped out of Will's greatcoat and laid it on the bed. I then walked over to the full-length looking glass which was by the window. God, I did look a mess, as Lights had said. I had huge black rings around my eyes, I looked utterly miserable and my hair looked like I had never taken proper care of it. I then removed my hat and gloves, laying them on the bed beside Will's coat.

I quickly went into my bathroom and splashed some cold water over my face. I felt much better then, and now just needed some proper rest to try and improve my complexion. Returning to the looking glass, I pulled the rest of my hair down and attempted to untangle the knots with my fingers, with little success. I bit my lip, trying to think of what to do, when my eyes landed on a hairbrush which was sitting on the dressing table. With a small smile, I picked it up and managed to tidy my hair so it didn't look quite so bad.

Once I had finished, I started to remove the clothes I had been wearing for the past few days. I knew I had at least three layers on, if not more. The summer-coat came off first, then the dress. Underneath that I was still wearing my nightdress and dressing-gown. I pulled them off too, and went into the bathroom to fill the tub up with warm water.

I was lying, half-asleep, on my bed when I was disturbed by a knock at the door. I pulled Will's coat on as it was the nearest piece of clothing, and hurried to answer it. Harry was waiting for me on the other side.

"Ada, Lights has asked me to inform you of two things. Firstly, an inquest is going to be held about Titanic which we will have to attend. He says you are welcome to stay with us until it's over and you needn't feel obliged to attend the inquest," he rhymed it all off as though he was reciting a school-lesson.

I smiled, "Thank you. I may take him up on that. I don't have anywhere else to go."

"Secondly," he continued. "We are having dinner tomorrow, in a restaurant which he claims serves excellent food, and we would all be honoured if you would join us."

"Of course," I nodded.

"If you're hungry now, I will join you for food. The others are going to drown their sorrows so I really don't have anything else to do."

I nodded again, this time more eagerly. I would be pleased to have the company.

And that was how I found myself sharing a plate of Italian pasta with Harry Lowe that evening. I forced myself to enjoy the meal, and even found myself laughing – albeit, not as naturally as I used to. Harry told me all about himself, and I found him fascinating.

"Your fiancée is a very lucky woman," I smiled. "And she sounds lovely."

"I am very sorry about Will, Ada. If only I could have returned sooner..."

"But even if you had, you only saw Mr Wilde, did you not?"

He didn't reply and just stared down at his glass of water. He tapped it gently, causing ripples to spread across the surface.

"You know," he suddenly said, changing the subject. "I would bet all my wages that Davy Blair is pleased he was left behind."

"I'm sure he is," I replied, with a wry smile. "Just think how different it might have been if Mr Wilde hadn't come."

We were silent again, then Harry jumped to his feet. "I'm afraid I will have to leave you now, Ada. Oh, do you want to buy another dress tomorrow?"

"I don't think I can," I replied sadly. "I have no money and I don't think I'm entitled to Will's wages."

"True. Tell you what, I could buy you a nice dress if you want. Then whenever you get the money, however long it takes, you could pay me back?"

I didn't feel particularly inclined to accept his offer. I didn't want him to waste his money on me. Still, it was only a loan. Not a gift. I nodded. "But I will get hold of the money as soon as possible. You need your money – you have a wedding to worry about."

"Not right yet," Harry smiled. "But seriously, don't worry about it until you have a job or something. And don't forget about dinner. I think Lights is going to be at the inquest tomorrow, but one of us will stay behind so you won't be on your own."

I hugged him tightly, but I couldn't help feeling just a bit saddened that I would never have the company of the officers I was closest to ever again. I missed Will more than anything, that much was obvious. Still, the pain from not having poor Jim Moody in my life anymore was awful. He had been such a good friend to me on Titanic, but now he was gone.

A/N – I took longer than I intended with this chapter. It's been a hectic few days and I keep thinking of new story ideas rather than focusing on this one. . I'll try to just focus on this for the next couple of weeks! As always, thanks for the reviews!