April 11th 1912

Anchored off on coast of Queenstown, Ireland

"I am not wearing that thing, ma'am. No way!" Lily was gazing with almost astonishing defiance at the object in front of her.

"For Christ's sake girl, it's a corset, not a strait jacket! Do grow up! And, if I may be so BOLD as to correct your Highness, you ARE wearing it." Lily growled under her breath. She had put up with having to act like a miniature queen, speaking as properly as she could muster, and, subsequently being as boring as she could have imagined. A corset really was the limit.

"Nobody else my age wears one."

"Well, I'll be- yes, as a matter of fact they do." Lily looked sternly at her companion.

"Well, are you going to wrestle me into it? Go on, make me!" Joan was, at this point, tempted to slap the defiant girl.

"No. I'll go and fetch somebody else to get you into it!" Joan flounced out of the room. Lily was almost nervous. She hoped Miss Federick wasn't going to pay some poor steward to get her into the god-damned corset, now that would just be awful! Around two minutes later, Joan returned. A small, dainty figure slinked through the door after her.

"Why won't you wear a corset, Miss Shaw?" It was Ruth. That god-damned bint, thought Lily angrily to herself. Whilst she was fuming inside she did not want to appear so obstructive to such an important woman, and so, putting her words as diplomatically as possible, she said:

"I don't see it as rational to inflict pain on myself when it is quite unnecessary, ma'am."

"Corsets give women a backbone, literally, and metaphorically. Now come on, child, I'm putting this thing on you, and properly, whether you like it or not." This simple but nonetheless rigid speech shocked Lily into temporary paralysis just long enough for Ruth to drag away her dress and pull the wretched garment up Lily's frame. Lily was too lost for words to complain. When the corset was on properly, Ruth began fiddling with some ties behind Lily. She tried to take a peep over her shoulder.

"Keep still, child." Lily turned back around and rolled her eyes. All of a sudden she felt an odd, sharp, crushing pain all across her spinal area. She soon realised, of course, that Mrs DeWitt Bukater was doing up the silly thing. It was more painful than she had imagined it to be. She sucked in her breath sharply. Even Joan, watching from the edge of the North area of the room, couldn't help but feel very sorry indeed for Lily. She herself would not have been quite so harsh with her movements. At last, the deed was done.

"Why not put on a nice dress, child?" Lily glared.

"It's Lily, thank you." Joan blushed. Ruth turned to Joan.

"She's too feisty, this girl Lily. She'll end up like my daughter Rose." Ruth sighed. "I'll be off now. I must see to Rose and Cal." Lily leaned over to pick up her beautiful red dress and slid it on. Joan helped her to do it up.

"That," began Lily, "wasn't totally necessary."

"Maybe you don't think so. But I think that was an important, if small, lesson to learn." Joan said. Lily grumbled.

"Thank you. I'd like to go for a stroll, now, if I may. I'll be back in half an hour, I promise."

"If you must, dear."

Out on the deck, the cool breeze tickled Lily's cheeks with a pretty rosiness, and her hair swept gently to one side. It was only when she tried to bend over that she felt the crushing pain in her ribs and stomach. She cursed the corset under her breath, and walked towards the edge of the boat.

"Hey lassie!" called an Irish voice, from the deck below. "What happened? Are you hurt? Ya walking funny!" Lily smiled cynically at the man, who was quite good-looking and in his early to mid twenties.

"I'm wearing a corset," she called. "For the first time. Is my odd walk really very obvious?" The man laughed. Then another man, who Lily recognised to be the young, good-looking boy at the table at dinner with Rose the other night (Jack Dawson), called out:

"Not particularly. I just wouldn't fall overboard anytime soon. You'd not have an easy job wriggling back up again! And I wouldn't want to have to jump in after ya!" Jack's cheeky but innocent tone amused Lily. She laughed.

"I'll try!" With that she left the Irish man, Jack and their other friend, a young man of around 19 with an Italian accent, and walked higher up her own deck. She saw two officers having a cup of tea and laughing at something. She recognised them as First Officer Murdoch and Fifth Officer Lowe. They looked like nice men, far nicer than anybody she had assosciated with thus far in her First Class world. Then, they pointed to something out at sea, and cracked up laughing again. Lily could not see anything from where she was currently standing, and moved against a little pillar to her left. The stiffness of the corset made her overbalance. She did not fall to the floor, but she stumbled.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, frustrated. The officers turned in her direction.

"Sorry, I stumbled," she called, and walked down the steps. Her walk was stiff and uneasy, and she felt a fool walking down within eyeshot of several people.

"Are you OK, Miss?" She smiled nervously at them.

"N-not really. Well yes, I'm fine. Argh." She felt a digging pain in her chest. Will Murdoch smiled.

"Are you wearing a corset, Miss Shaw?"

"N- yes, yes! How did you know? Oh no, it isn't visible, is it?" He laughed.

"No no, nothing like that. I recognised the walk. My wife constantly does impressions of the first time she wore a corset. The walk, the posture, it's identical to yours." Lily smiled. It was nice to have people she was on a wave-length with, and not have to pretend to be something she wasn't.

"Oh no," groaned Lowe, "don't get him started on his wife! We'll all be here all night."

"I do not talk about Ada that much, Harold!"

"You do."

"I don't."

"You do."

"I do not! Alright, maybe a little more than anybody else here talks about anyone, but- fine." Lily laughed.

"I would, if I were you. Stuck out here at sea, you must be lonely here without her." They smiled warmly at Lily.

"Well, I'm not lonely, with everybody around me. But I miss my wife." Lily realised that she had so far only felt sympathy and liking for the 3rd class folk, Rose, and the crew. Apart from Joan, she had no real respect for anybody else.

"Well, I'd better be off," she said. "I have dinner." She rolled her eyes, mockingly. They couldn't help grinning.A hand rested on Lily's shoulder.

"Don't flirt, Lily! Leave these poor men alone. What is it with you and men on this boat." Lily flushed angrily.

"Hey, I am not flirting! And it's a SHIP, not a boat." Joan turned to the officers.

"You see? Defiant little child, isn't she! Come along now, Lily." Harold and Will laughed and waved as Lily was ushered away reluctantly.

"Poor lass," Will laughed. Harold smiled after her.

"I know."