"I am the woman of Balnain

The folk have stolen me over again

The stones seemed to say

I stood upon the hill, and wind did rise

And the sound of thunder rolled across the land

I placed my hands upon the tallest stone

And traveled to a far, distant land

Where I lived for a time amongst strangers

Who became lovers and friends."

-Outlander, The Woman of Balnain

April 14, 2016-Titanic Day

As 23-year-old college history major Samantha "Sammy" Catherine Miller revised the notes she had taken about the sinking of the Titanic, she turned the volume of her music even louder. Loud music helped her focus. Currently, she was listening to the Outlander soundtrack. Sammy went through the finer points before hopping on her laptop and saving the changes from her handwritten notes to her digital ones.

It was the 104th anniversary of the sinking, and in honor of the occasion, her teacher had had the class do a project based on the infamous, doomed vessel.

She thought she heard a noise, but brushed it off. With headphones, her hearing was fifty shades of screwed up. But the noise and the cold built up until it was a full-on twister. It blew the windows into pieces, and Sammy swore. She was never getting her security deposit back.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the storm subsided. But something was wrong. Sammy looked down and nearly screamed again. Her ratty blue jeans and black butterfly tee were gone, and in their place were a tan travel jacket over a pressed white shirtwaist and swishy black long skirt. It wasn't an ugly outfit, but not one she owned. Her long unruly dark brown mane was pulled back into an Edwardian coiffure, and she even wore a small hat and earrings to complete the look. She was carrying a suitcase as well, and upon opening it discovered that it was full of similar clothes, books, and even photos of people that looked surprisingly like...

My family, she realized with a jolt. Her eyes filled with tears again at the memory of That Dark Day.

As Sammy tried to get her bearings straight, a yellowing newspaper was being manhandled by the gentle breeze. She caught hold of it and nearly screamed when she read the date:

April 8, 1912

Crap crap crap! This can't be real. This can't be real. This isn't happening. I'm dreaming.

She wandered around until she found a roadside bar and ducked inside. "Excuse me, sir, is this today's?" she asked the barkeep, holding out the newspaper. He took a look and shook his head. "No, miss, that's from a few days ago. Today is the tenth."

So she had time traveled. It was possible after all.

Meanwhile, a few tables over, there was an intense poker game going on. It was between 20-year-old Jack Dawson, a traveling artist from Wisconsin, and his Italian friend, 19-year-old Fabrizio De Rossi, against three Swedish cousins, Olaf, Gustav, and Sven Gunderson. "Hey, you guys mind if I join you?" asked Sammy timidly after she'd gone over to them introduced herself to them and then to her.

"Sure," said Jack, shrugging and introducing himself and Fabrizio. He handed her some cards. "There are three tickets, so if we win one's yours."

"Tickets to what?" asked the American girl. Jack pointed to the huge ship docked in the nearby harbor. "The Titanic, of course." Sammy gasped. "The Ship of Dreams!"

She had seen photos of it, but seeing the real thing up close and personal was a whole other story. It was sad but also majestic. Even though Sammy knew there was a chance she wouldn't survive the sinking, she had to at least try to get back home. "Fine, I'll play. But you better have a damn good hand."

On the table were coins, a knife, a pocket watch, and three third-class tickets to Titanic, all up for grabs.

"Bastard! Idiot!" Olaf growled. Sven replied something that none of the others could understand.

Fabrizio looked at his cards, realizing he didn't have anything. He was getting nervous; Jack had bet every cent they had.

"Jack, you are pazzo! You bet everything we have!" he said. Jack blew out a puff of smoke from his cigarette at Fabrizio. Pazzo must mean crazy, Sammy thought to herself. This Jack fellow seems to be a brave one.

"When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose," he reassured him. Fabrizio shook his head, skeptical.

The Swedes were still arguing. "You moron. I can't believe you bet our tickets," said Olaf. "Sven?" Jack asked the blond one. Sven put a card down, saying, "Hit."

Jack took a long drag on his cigarette. "Alright. Moment of truth, somebody's life's about to change. Fabrizio?" he asked.

Fabrizio shot him a dirty look and shrugged, indicating that he had nothing. "Niente," Jack noted.

"Niente," Fabrizio confirmed with a death glare. He was going to kill Jack if their cash was lost. Sammy made a mental note that niente meant nothing in Italian.

Jack looked across the table. "Olaf? Nothing? Sven?" he tried. "Sammy?"

She shot him a dirty look. "Don't look at me, I'm comin' up dry."

Jack examined his cards, seeing that he had a full house but decided to play a trick on his friend. "Uh-oh, two pair. I'm sorry Fabrizio..." he started.

Fabrizio was infuriated and slammed his cards down on the table. "Che sorry?! Vaffanculo! You bet all our money!" he tried to say but was cut off midsentence by Jack. "I'm sorry! You're not going to see your mom again for a long time..." he continued, "CAUSE WE'RE GOING TO AMERICA, FULL HOUSE BOYS!" he yelled, slamming down his own cards and whooping in joy.

"Dio mio grazie!" Fabrizio yelled happily. "I don't believe this!" said Sammy disbelievingly. "You freakin' won!"

Jack was whooping triumphantly, but Olaf grabbed him. "Förbannade usling!" he hissed, about to deck Jack. Jack cringed, but Olaf punched Sven instead, who went flying off his chair to the floor. Olaf grabbed him and slammed him repeatedly on the ground, cursing that he was going to kill him. Jack laughed.

He turned to Fabrizio. "Come on!" "Figlio di puttana!" Fabrizio shouted.

Jack whooped again and kissed the tickets. "I'M GOIN' HOME! I'm goin' home!" he laughed, overjoyed at his luck.

Fabrizio skipped around the pub in excitement. "I go to America!" Sammy laughed at their apparent zeal for the simpler things in life.

Just then, the pubkeeper chimed in. "No mate...Titanic go to America, in 5 minutes!" he said, holding up his pocket watch for them to see.

Jack looked at the clock. "Shit! Fabri, Sammy, come on!" he exclaimed. "Andiamo, andiamo!" They quickly scooped their winnings into Jack's huge burlap rucksack and ran out of the pub with their things.

They ran through the crowded streets of Southampton, dodging in and out between people. "We're riding in high style now! We're a couple of regular swells! We're practically goddamn royalty ragazzo mio!" Jack was yelling.

Fabrizio was panting to try and keep up with him. "Si, is my destino! Like I told you, I go to America to be millionaire!" he shouted, nearly getting trampled by a horse.

"WHOA!" Jack yelled. "Bastardo!" Fabrizio shouted at the horse.

They kept running. "You're pazzo!" Fabrizio yelled.

Jack laughed. "Maybe, but I'VE GOT THE TICKETS! Come on, I thought you were fast!" he shouted over his shoulder. Sammy sped past them, laughing.

"He might not be, but I sure as hell am. What's wrong, can't outrun a girl?" she teased, breathless from her little gallop.

Fabrizio was running as fast as he could. "Aspettare! Aspettare!" he yelled, wheezing.

They ran up the steerage boarding ramp, just as the officer was getting ready to close the doors. "Wait! Wait, we're passengers! We're passengers!" Jack yelled, waving his hands. They ran up to Sixth Officer Moody, who held out his hand for their tickets.

"Have you been through the inspection queue?" he asked.

Jack glanced at Fabrizio and Sammy. "Of course. Anyways, we don't have any lice, we're Americans...all three of us," he lied.

Officer Moody nodded. "Right. Come aboard."

Jack, Fabrizio, and Sammy could barely believe their good fortune. They ran as fast as they could down the corridor up to the steerage deck, where people were going to wave goodbye. "We're the luckiest sons of bitches in the world, you know that?" Jack hissed excitedly. "I know! It's not every day I get to travel on a nice liner like this," said Sammy in agreeing wonder.

They ran up to the deck where all the other steerage passengers were lined up against the rails, waving and shouting goodbye to family and friends. Jack, Sammy, and Fabrizio hopped up onto the rail, too, and waved excitedly at the hundreds upon hundreds of people below.

"Goodbye, I'll miss you!" Jack yelled, waving wildly.

Fabrizio was confused. "You know somebody?" he asked.

"Of course not, that's not the point!" he explained.

Fabrizio nodded and played along. "Goodbye! I will never forget you!" he yelled. "See ya, Southampton!" called Sammy, whistling.

Once the Titanic left port with the help of three small tugboats, the passengers went back inside to find their cabins and settle in. Jack looked at their tickets. "G-60," he said, reading their tickets. Fabrizio nodded. They made their way down to G deck and started down the first corridor. "G-60, G-60..." Jack was mumbling as Fabrizio jogged to catch up with him.

Jack accidentally bumped into someone. "Excuse me, sorry," he mumbled.

They rounded the corner just as the Dahl family was about to round the corner from the opposite direction. Fabrizio caught a glimpse of their daughter Helga, and he stared, clearly lovestruck. She was beautiful, with Nordic features such as curly light blond hair and sky blue eyes. She thought the young man smiling shyly at her was handsome, and she thought his features looked Greek or Italian. She smiled back, and dipped her head a little to acknowledge him.

Fabrizio and Helga held their locked gaze and smiled at one another. Sammy noticed him staring at the pretty blonde girl. "Damn, Fabrizio, do you have a crush on her already?"

Fabrizio glared. "Shut up!"

"Hey, I'm all for it, amico. She's cute, and she seems to be into you," Sammy pointed out. Fabrizio perked up visibly at hearing this information and his native language. "My uncle Jon had a neighbor from Palermo once and I picked up a few words," she explained, giggling at his expression.

"Ah, G-60! Right here!" Jack announced, finding their cabin. Sammy's cabin was G-58, so she separated from the other two and dragged her heavy suitcase to her room. Fabrizio turned to follow Jack as he opened the door, then he glanced back for a last glimpse of Helga, who headed into Sammy's cabin.

Helga didn't speak much English and Sammy spoke no Norwegian, but after a lot of frustration and hand gestures, she had at least learned their names.

Sammy looked around her room. There were two bunk beds attached to each of the off-white walls and each bed had its own curtain for privacy. A washstand was in the middle. Maybe she could be happy here. Steerage is more comfortable than I had originally assumed.

Author's Note: I started this monster back in 2014-2015ish and I've taken it down, edited it, and reposted it so many times because I AM JUST SO PICKY. But I sincerely hope this will be the last repost. To understand this story, I highly recommend watching the full movie first, including the deleted scenes. Shoutout to Shadowsammy for giving me the idea to put song and film quotes in the beginning of each chapter. I don't own Titanic or any of the songs or other quotes mentioned. They're the property of their respective owners and creators, so please don't sue me, m'kay?