Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you all enjoy it, I am really glad to get another out before Christmas to please let me know what you think.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

I have tried to keep this as historically accurate as possible but for any inaccuracies I apologise.

I have also named some more characters including the couple known as the Irish man and woman. Also any note on the characterisation of Bruce Ismay I addressed in the previous chapter so please double check if you are wondering.

Please Read and Review.

Some Kind Of Tomorrow.

Chapter 2-Impossible Dream

Isabella meets Rose and they both realise they have much in common. Rose however contemplates an out that Isabella does not and Tommy meets an artist and an Italian on the bow of the Steerage side of the ship.

Once England had faded to the nothingness of the sea Isabella went in. She had missed the beginning of luncheon but considering her Uncle was in his proudest prime moment she was not expected to be missed. Instead she trudged back to her cabin and was rather pleased to see that it was all unpacked.

The Maid was in the bathroom.

"Good Evening Miss, my name is Trudy. I will be seeing to you and Miss Rose over the corridor"

There was something to Trudy, something warm and welcoming that made Isabella's throat tighten without warning. She supposed that somewhere between holding her hat and her muff she had thought on that deck about her mother but she wasn't one to be overcome by a sentimental moment not now and not ever.

"It's Isabella, Trudy and I thank you. I know taking on another…person is not what you had in mind when you came on board and I know my Uncle—"

"I would not worry about me Miss Isabella" Trudy said with a gentle smile. "My folks raised me not to be afraid of hard work and besides the extra pay if I may be so bold is good. And…and I hope you know I am not one of those maids that gossips in the valet section of this ship after two glasses of port. Anything that you tell me will stay safe with me. And I told Miss Rose the same"

Isabella blinked. She was not sure if it was genuine—Maids did gossip it was as natural as teenagers gossiping after all—but there was something about her that seemed genuine and Isabella wanted to believe her, she wanted to believe something, someone, somebody.

"My thanks Trudy, and believe me I will see you well compensated for the extra work. If…if Miss Rose does not abject would she please receive me for tea? It would be best if we got our schedules narrowed down before dinner. It would be terrible if we had you running between two cabins"

Trudy smiled again. "I will ask Miss" and then she was gone and Isabella took in the flowers that had been taken to the cabin, the double bed that was elaborately laid out with the gold embroidery. She met her steward by the name of Robert and she took her hat off, she pulled down her dark hair and despite the creases in her dress she laid down on the bed.

It was comfortable. Isabella stared upwards at the ceiling like she had done this morning at the hotel and she thought that it was insanely comfortable and that all she wanted to do was fall asleep and never wake up.

Much like this morning however she was forced out of that bout of apathy by the knock at the door. Forcing herself to her feet and wiping her eyes so that instead of looking as if she was on the verge of tears she was really just Trudy again. She turned away and made a pretence at straightening out her bedcovers and then once she had herself under control (a feet she had mastered at the age of ten) she turned towards the maid who was still standing there with that smile on her face as if she knew that Isabella had been struggling with emotions unknown.

"Miss Rose says that you can visit her now Miss Isabella"

Isabella raised on eyebrow. She might resent being an upper class twit as much as the next girl did, but her Uncle designed this ship and she was not going to be ordered about by anyone other than her Uncle and certainly not by a girl that was only a few months older than she was.

But then again she was straining to be polite above all of her other (rather significant) emotions.

"Thank You Trudy…and do you know—?!

"Your Uncle Mr Ismay is in deep conversation with Captain Smith and Mr Andrews. He says that he expects you for dinner but doesn't expect you until then"

Isabella raised another eyebrow but did not say anything. Instead she managed a smile though it was small and false. If she understood that or even if she didn't Trudy said nothing but instead she smiled and Isabella allowed her to change her out of her yellow dress into a light rose one that consisted of a deep rose coloured skirt with a white shirt tucked into the waist and a rose ascot wrapped around her neck (though it felt like a noose) Trudy managed to tuck her dark hair into a loose chignon at the nape of her neck and then she walked the small distance—after asking Trudy to run her a bath before dinner and to lay out her blue dress—to the other room where the other girl who Trudy would be looking after was staying.

Rose DeWitt Bukater turned out to be the exact same and the exact opposite of what she, Isabella Ismay expected. The sat down at exactly the right time and the dark haired girl and the red haired girl stared at each other and then Isabella—to quote the common phrase—decided to bit the bullet.

"Miss DeWitt Bukater, I must thank you on your kindness, I know that my Uncle has given little choice in the sharing of your maid and I thank you all the same"

It was half a lie and half the truth but what was true and what was not was between Isabella, Rose and Trudy and she supposed there was a limit to what they would know all things considering—not that she would know. Her Uncle had not bothered to see her since she had boarded the ship. For all he knew she could have fallen off the ship.

Rose DeWitt Bukater smiled though the smile did not meet her eyes. If Isabella had looked and felt exhausted then whatever Rose DeWitt Bukater was feeling then it was that and more. The girl—and she was a girl as much as Isabella was seemed almost beaten.

"I thank you Miss Ismay for your generous gratitude. I know that we seem to be in the same boat—"

"Shall we just call each other by our names" Isabella cut across. "Because my name is Isabella and your name is Rose and when this voyage is over it seems we are both to marry men older than we are so if you want my opinion I think we have bigger problems than sharing a maid before dinner"

It might be indelicate. It might be rude. But Isabella had a headache and a heartache that had noting to do with decorum and society.

"Thank God" Miss DeWitt Bukater—no Rose—said putting down her teacup and giving her a rather frank aprasial. "I do not know about you Isabella but one more second of this polite façade and I think I will do something rather indelicate and unladylike and I will enjoy every second of doing it."

"Like what?"

"What would you do? To escape this life?"

"Right now, If I could? Throw myself of the back of the ship"

Isabella laughed and found much to her surprise that it was a genuine one. Rose watched her for a second and then started laughing herself though it sounded more hollow.

Looking back Isabella supposed she should have prodded harder. Perhaps it she had prodded harder Rose would never have gone through on her plan and she would have never met Jack and through that action Isabella would have never have gotten the chance to live that life.

But more on that later.

Tea over Isabella went back to the cabin. She pulled out her earrings and placed them down on the desk and then stared at them for a second seeing but not seeing all at the same time. Unbidden and unwanted her eyes filled with tears and she had to blink them back and then choke back the sobs. There was no reason to be crying and certainly not because she felt like she had met a friend for the first time.

She changed for lunch into a peach dress with flowingly short sleeves and Trudy styled her hair into a neat half up half down style and she added golden flower earrings and a gold sash. She added white high heeled shoes and spritzed her perfume on and looked at herself in the mirror feeling so utterly hollow.

The doors to what was called the 'Grand Staircase' were swung open and she looked around to see what had to be the grandest piece of architect she had ever seen. There was a clock embedded in the wall with some of the most beautiful woodwork that Isabella had seen and she watched the hands tick around for a moment again staring without seeing.

"Ah Isabella!"

Honestly did her Uncle have to shout? His voice was so loud that several people started and Isabella thought that perhaps the steerage passengers could have overheard it. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes she instead turned around her first class fake smile etched upon her face and walked at a serene pace down the stairs.

"Uncle"

Her Uncle kissed her on the cheek though it was for show and there was little warmth in it. Any kind of affection that she got from him was about as warm as the Atlantic. He had a group of people surrounding him, she recognised Rose who sent her a smile and then she was introduced to Rose's mother Ruth, her fiancé Cal (a man who seemed so arrogant he made her Uncle look modest about his achievements), a man who introduced himself as Thomas Andrews—she knew he had designed the ship—and a woman by the name of Molly Brown who was brash, American and laughed loudly and who Isabella liked on sight.

They walked to D-Deck and began afternoon luncheon, the sunlight was coming in through the windows and a small band was playing in the corner. The lift worked magnificently and the small tables gave an intimate feel. It seemed even to Isabella that they were anywhere but a ship.

"You must be very pleased with your creation Mr Andrews" she said as a light white wine was served alongside cold glasses of water. "This truly must be the best designed ship in years"

Mr Andrews looked rather pleased with himself but was still modest enough to place most of the thanks onto his workers who he said had seen most of the work to completion. Molly Brown took Ruth DeWitt Bukater into a conversation about Broadway and the West End and Rose seemed content to sit into silence. At least until…

"So I hear you to are to be married Miss Ismay?"

That was Cal who started that conversation as lunch was served. It was a cold potato soup to start with and then salmon which was simply delicious, followed by spring peas, asparagus and then a wafer thin cut of roast lamb.

"She is indeed" her Uncle said cutting across whatever Isabella was going to say at that moment and then as if she was a dangerous topic of conversation began diverting Cal's attention by having a hearty discussion about the American stock exchange. Isabella turned her attention to the cheese course and found that Rose was looking at her. She too it seemed had curbed her irritation at being spoken to as if she was a child when Cal had ordered for her and she grinned at her. Isabella grinned back and then Rose asked carefully if her Uncle had read any Freud as size was always important. Isabella had choked into her white wine at the comment and both the look on her Uncle's face and had to wipe her mouth on her napkin but the giggles just seemed to be coming out regardless. Rose grinned at her again with such a genuine look of pleasure that suddenly it felt like they were the only two at the table. It was if they were holding a big secret with each other and Isabella wanted that feeling of giggly, silly happiness to stay.

"Isabella would you like a cigarette"

"Certainly Rose"

Isabella got the distinct impression Thomas Andrews was doing his best not to laugh but before the charade got any further Cal Hockney pouted and put an end to that. Rose stood up and not really caring if it was rude or not Isabella followed her out onto the deck.

Whatever they had said about Titanic, Tommy thought that they had a point. Even the third class areas were nice and clean—well there was very little rats. The water was hot, the sheets clean and the blankets warm and the company varied from families to single men and woman and all of them from different countries.

He had eaten some lunch and then went out to the bow of the ship to take in the air. He had found that he was not good in confined spaces for too long and downstairs it was getting hot and crowded.

He lit up the cigarette and breathed in deep and was more than a little cynical to see that they let the first class dogs shit here but wouldn't let them go upstairs.

It took him a moment to realise that he had said that out loud when he heard a laugh and he turned to see two men he had seen about the ship earlier. They must have all been the same age (ish) and the blonde one was always with a pad and a piece of charcoal between his fingers. He introduced himself and got two names back, a Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi.

It was nice he thought having some sort of company. He had come with literally the clothes on his back and he shared the cabin with a group of men none of whom spoke English and all of whom had made it clear despite the limited language that they wouldn't be spending time in the cabins unless they could avoid it.

But Jack Dawson had his eyes on other things.

Tommy followed his expression and saw what he was looking at.

Admittedly for a first class toff she was stunningly good looking with curly red hair and wide eyes. However she was wearing more on her back than most families made in a year and therefore he had no problems in telling Jack that there was more chance of a monkey crawling out of his arse than him getting near the likes of her. Fabrizio laughed at his friend and Tommy turned around to see that someone else had joined the red head.

It was her.

The girl from this morning. The one who knew Ismay.

She had changed her clothes to a peach dress and her hair was loose this time though some of it been cleared off her face and now that hat was gone Tommy could see her features from where he was. She was a thoroughly good looking woman and he found staring at her he might have to eat his words.

It wasn't just beauty however, she had something about her, they both did really if he was being fair with himself. They had something about them that made a man take notice. Tommy thought that the dark haired girl in particular would stand out in a crowd without even trying because she naturally drew attention—anyway she naturally drew his.

A man came and joined the red head. They seemed to be embroiled in some sort of heated words and then they were both gone and the darker haired one stayed on the deck. For a second she looked out over the water with such a heartbreaking expression on her face that Tommy suddenly had the mad urge to climb up there and take her hand.

She turned her face away from the sun and then back at him and again for the second time their gaze locked. This time her eyes dropped as soon as they met his though she flashed him another quick look seconds later. Tommy grinned at her though that got him a rather approving look and then she was gone her dark hair flying over her shoulders and those arresting eyes going with her.

"You sure it's just me that's hoping for a monkey coming out of my arse?" Jack said wryly and Fabrizio laughed again. Tommy quirked him a smile blowing smoke from his cigarette into the air.

"Eh I never said there was no harm in looking did I? Now tell me do you actually get to sell those drawings—"

They carried on into a conversation that was easy for the three of them and Tommy thought that it was nice to have friends on his ship even for a short while. It was nice to laugh and joke around with people, it was nice to sit on the ship and feel the warmth of the sunshine on his face as the Ship of Dreams took him to America.

But still he found that whenever the conversation paused or lulled or when they went in for dinner it was still the girl with the arresting dark eyes invading his thoughts and how much he wanted to desperately ask her what it was that made her look so utterly and completely, hopelessly sad.

And there you go, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

I wish you and all of your families a very happy and safe Christmas and just on the off chance I don't update sooner a very happy and safe start to the New Year.

Next Chapter-Jack Dawson comes to dinner, Rose goes to a dance and Isabella meets Tommy Ryan who opens up a door with a whole new possibilities behind it.