Fateful Voyage

Chapter 1

Coral Candy

A/N – Hey y'all my first Notebook fic, this is almost finished on paper so if I get enough reviews I'll try and update fortnightly or weekly (depending on the number of reviews, Hint Hint. ;)) This is what I have been working on to all my DHr and A/P reviewers and readers, I'll try and update the other stories soon.

Chapter 1 – The Beginning of Forever

Allie Hamilton was a lady in every aspect of life. Being seventeen had nothing to do with the matter; she was considered an adult amongst her family and friends. Her friends were mostly older than she, being her Mother's friends and their daughters. Her mother had given birth considerably later than them. One of her friends, Sara was around her age. Sara's family was less strict and less formal. Their way of life was much more relaxed than Allie's. Allie didn't dislike her life, she considered herself very lucky. Her father was a lawyer, and a respected man amongst society. Her mother was the daughter of a businessman. Allie too was expected to marry someone rich, someone who could show her off as a trophy wife. The idea didn't appeal to Allie much, it might've done at one point but now things were completely different. She'd fallen in love.

Noah Calhoun was a working class boy, he lived with his father in a small place down in London, they'd moved after life for them had dried out. They were broke; they didn't have any money or any future in Seabrook, South Carolina. So they'd moved, at first they weren't sure where they should move to, but Noah's father, Frank Calhoun had decided on London pretty quickly. They'd been living there a little over a year when Noah met Allie.

"Noah, come on, Mr. Hardy won't be best pleased if he sees you up there!" Noah's friend Fin called from down below. Noah was sitting on some timber, piled at least ten feet high. He was at work, and Mr. Hardy was his boss. Now, Mr. Hardy wasn't an unpleasant man, just strict, in fact Noah quite liked him, not many people did after all.

"I'll be down in a minute Fin!" He called back, his thick southern accent as strong as it had been when he'd first moved. Fin was American too; he came from a small town in Mississippi.

"Okay, but when you're sacked, I don't want you to come moaning to me," he called back, returning to work. Noah shook his head and laughed, he preferred to be carefree, not that Fin wasn't, he was just more reserved.

"Calhoun!" a stern voice called from behind him, "Noah! Get your lazy arse back to work before I fire you!"

He turned around to see Mr. Hardy glaring up at him, he reluctantly climbed down and over to where Fin and a couple of other people were busily chopping wood.

"You are so lucky." Fin said quietly, "Hey look, who do you suppose that is?"

Noah looked back at Mr. Hardy and saw that he had a small group of people with him, a woman, a man and a girl.

"Dunno." He told him shrugging his shoulders, there was something about the girl that made him look back though. It was like he was being drawn to her, a felling that he'd never had before, and he didn't like it. He tried to shake it off and get back to work, but it was almost impossible.

"That girl sure is pretty."

"Hmm," he replied, trying as much as possible to keep his mind on the job he was meant to be doing, "Get back to work Fin or it won't be my lazy ass fired, it'll be yours."

"So, John, how's business?" Mr. Hardy asked as his conversation took place in a spot where Fin and Noah could eavesdrop.

"Fine, fine you know, had a couple of funny cases but all in all pretty good. Took in some young'uns a couple of weeks back. Too bad that my Allie here doesn't was to practice law, I think she'd make a great lawyer, don't you Anne?" he said. The woman with him smiled and nodded graciously, obviously having no understanding of her husband's profession.

"Yes, yes, well do you want to meet a couple of the workers, I got some from the states like yourselves." Mr. Hardy said. Fin and Noah stiffened immediately as he said this, he was talking about them, there were no other American workers here. They promptly returned to their work as they could hear their employer bringing over the visitors.

"Noah, Fin, there's some people that want to meet you here. This is my good friend John Hamilton." He told them, gesturing to the man. Noah and Fin both shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Hamilton." Noah greeted politely. Mr. Hamilton smiled and nodded.

"As is it to meet you, Mr.…?"

"Calhoun. Or well Noah, I suppose."

"Ah, Noah."

The man continued to greet Fin and the other workers but it all seemed a blur because the young girl had stepped forward and was now speaking to him.

"Where are you from, you sound like you're from down south?" She asked, smiling a wide smile that made him feel funny inside.

"Yeah well, South Carolina actually." Noah said.

"Really? That's where I live, or well used to live, we moved here a few months ago. It's not permanent though, we're going back soon. Oh you must think me terribly rude! I'm Allie." She said taking her glove off and extending her hand. It was the middle of November and the weather was terribly cold. The leaves had fallen far too early that year and it hadn't seemed to have eased up at all. England was expecting the first snow of the year in a couple of weeks. Noah took it and shook it, if he wasn't mistaken, he thought she'd held on a moment too long before letting go. But that could have been his imagination.

"Nice to meet you Allie, I'm Noah. Noah Calhoun."

That had been four months earlier. Since then of course he'd seen more of her, starting with the annual Baker St Carnival. It only ever came once a year.

The lights sparkled brightly over the cobbled stones; the fanfare playing could surely be heard a mile away. It was a colorful event in any case, people traveled for miles just to be a part of the fantastic atmosphere. Fin and Noah had the day off to come, all Mr. Hardy's workers did, and he was a kind and compassionate man in that way.

"Hey Noah, come on, what you waiting for?" Fin yelled from the queue he was standing in, a look upward told Noah that it was the Big Dipper.

"You'll be ill Fin. I just saw you eat three candy flosses," he called back, making his way over to the ride.

"Oh, I'll be fine," Fin said, handing the operator his token and climbing into one of the cars. Noah jus shrugged and gave the impatient operator his ticket and followed on after Fin.

"We'll be able to see the whole of London from up there!" Fin exclaimed as the strap was fitted against him. Noah wasn't listening to him though, for he'd seen something that had caught his eye. Allie.

He quickly unstrapped himself and jumped off of the ride, waving to Fin as he went.

"Noah? Noah? Where the hell are you going?"

"I've seen someone," he called back over his shoulder, somewhat distracted by the woman walking in the opposite direction.

"Allie?" He called, as he lost sight of her yellow dress in the crowd. A head spun his way, it was her. She was even prettier than he remembered her eyes more expressive, her face brighter and her red hair bouncier and curlier. He had to remind himself to breathe. He wasn't sure if she remembered him at first, she frowned slightly, but nether the less came up to him.

"Noah, right?" she asked happily. He nodded and she smiled, "Yeah, I met you the other day."

He sighed in relief, she did remember him; it had been his biggest fear since he saw her here.

"What are you doing here; I thought you lived in Surrey?"

"Oh, Daddy rented a house over here for Christmas, we've sold our house in Surrey, we're moving back to Charleston in the spring."

He deflated slightly at the fact that she was moving back to America, he knew there was no reason to for he'd probably never see her again but he just felt sadder, and he wasn't sure why.

"Oh."

"Yeah, but we're gonna stay in London until we go back." She said, noticing the look of depression on Noah's face.

"Allie!"

"Alright, well, I guess I'll be seeing you then," Noah said, noticing for the first time the girl she was with. She was very pretty too, not as pretty as Allie of course, in Noah's opinion, but all the same attractive.

"Are you here with someone or would you like to join us?" Allie asked, gesturing to her friend.

"Oh I'm here with my friend Fin, you met him earlier." Noah told her, jerking his hand towards the rollercoaster ride.

"Oh, would he like to join us too, I know Sara would love him."

"I'll just go get him."

That had been the start of a wonderful relationship, even though it was freezing that night, Fin and Sara had managed to hit it off right away, as did Noah and Allie. They were surprised by how quickly they managed to fall for each other, well Allie more than Noah. Noah always had a feeling that he would grow to like her; it was just the way he was with girls. Not that he'd had them much experience with them, he preferred to keep mostly to himself. The date now was March 31st, it was hard to believe that it had really only been that long, for Noah, it seemed much longer.

End of first chapter.

"Sara, come on! I told Noah I'd be there a half hour ago!" Allie called to her friend who was still deciding on what to wear for their date that evening. Mary, the maid, had desperately tried to keep up with her, picking up all the clothes that had been carelessly discarded on the floor, Allie helped in every way she could too, though the maid had tried to stop her numerous times, telling her that she'd be fired if her parents saw her doing housework.

"Okay! How about this?" her friend asked, appearing in yet another outfit, one that looked exactly the same as one she'd tried on about and hour ago.

"It looks fine! No, in fact it looks wonderful! Now hurry up!" Allie cried impatiently. Sara checked herself in the mirror once or twice more before deciding that it was fine and rifled thought the cupboards to find a matching purse and hat.

"So, you're telling him tonight?" Sara asked. Allie groaned and buried her face in her pillows.

"I suppose I'll have to. I mean we leave in just over a week." Allie said sadly, it was a conversation she was not looking forward to having.

"Come on Allie, cheer up! It's not like you knew this wouldn't happen, you told him you were leaving ages ago. Besides, Fin is trying to get a ticket too, it's not like he has any family over here anyway."

"But Noah does. He loves his father so much; he couldn't bear to leave him."

"He loves you too!" Sara argued, Allie shook her head, it was just a holiday romance, that is what she had been told so many times, by her parents, her tutors, even by Sara a long time ago.

"It's just a holiday romance," she told her, Sara gave her a funny look and she continued, "Besides, have you ever heard him say it?"

"Um, no, but why would he tell me anyway?"

"Well he hasn't told me either."

"Allie? Do you love him?" Sara asked, finishing off adjusting her hat and coming to sit by her friend on the bed. A small nod of Allies head was all the answer she got, admittedly all the answer she needed, but she could tell Allie was upset.

"He loves you too." Sara tried to reason; Allie was intent on not having Noah give up his life in England for her, even if it meant denying the fact that she too knew that Noah was crazy about her.

"Come on, we're late enough as it is." Allie said standing and smoothing out the wrinkles on her dress. Sara looked up at the maid, who was looking sadly on at the young girl; they both gave each other shakes of their heads before leaving the room.

"Allie?" John Hamilton called up the stairs to his approaching daughter, "I need you home by ten. There are some things we need to sort out before we send this furniture back to America." He was gesturing to a large amount of furniture stacked neatly in the front foyer.

"Okay." She agreed quietly, her mood had been dampened by the talk of leaving for the USA again. She left as quickly as possible before her father or mother could bring up the topic again.

"Allie!" Sara called, Allie was walking far too quickly for Sara to be able to keep up, "Wait up, I can't walk that fast, wait, weren't we meant to be going by car?"

They had passed the cars about five minutes ago and she had only just noticed that they were heading towards the gates of the home that the Hamilton family was staying in. Sara Tuffington was an English girl whose father was in business with Allie's father, they had met through a business dinner between the two families.

"Shh!" Allie hushed, "I don't want Daddy to find out."

"Allie! This is dangerous; don't you know how many bad people there are out on the streets of London? Especially at this time of night!" Sara cried, looking anxiously at anybody who passed them, she wrapped the coat tighter about her shoulders; even thought the weather was warming; there was still a nasty breeze about.

"Sara, I would hardly call this nighttime. Though it might have been if you'd have taken much longer!"

Sarah looked on disapprovingly, her family was much stricter than Allie's, and John Hamilton was considered extremely strict.

"Sara, it's not even five o'clock yet!" Allie laughed as they approached the park, it was a wonderful park, the kind with all the big oak tree's and people walking their expensive pampered dogs.

"Where are we meeting them?"

"Noah said to meet him by the largest Oak tree, right by the water feature." Allie said searching the park, she hadn't been to this part before and didn't know where to go.

"Water feature? I didn't know they had one." Sara said, she too was scanning the area.

"BOO!" A figure jumped out from behind a statue, right in front of Allie and Sara.

"Aggghhh!" Allie cried out shocked, almost falling backwards in fright. The figure found this very funny and burst out laughing. The figure turned out to be Fin.

"Fin!" Sara cried, slapping his shoulder lightly, though she could not keep the grin off her face.

"Fin!" Allie cried out, stamping her foot on the grass, she brushed the hair out of her face and crossed her arms, glaring at him.

"Fin? You did it? I thought I told you not to do it." Noah voice floated towards them from across the green. There was a certain air of sarcasm to his voice, and Allie could tell right away that he had not told him not to do it.

"Noah! You were in on this?"

"Maybe," he told her with a grin as he kissed her on the forehead. She glared playfully at him before hugging him tightly, telling him that she was leaving was going to be one of the hardest things, she'd ever had to do.

Noah had noticed the worry in her eyes as she had pulled away from him and had skipped over to Sara, his mind was instantly clouded with worst possible case scenarios, he tried to keep a calm attitude but her ever increasing worry throughout the night, filled him with dread. By the time the evening was over and they had dropped Fin and Sara off, he was a fearful bundle of fright.

"So..." She began, trailing off and looking at the house, all the lights were on and it was a half past nine, her Father would start looking for her in about 15 minutes.

"Do you want to dance with me?" Noah asked. Allie looked surprised; she checked the driveway to make sure no one was watching before nodding hesitantly. She didn't like the idea of dancing where everybody could watch her. He took her hand and led her towards the edge of the estate, underneath a particularly big oak tree. He spun her round and held her closely in his arms, breathing in the scent of her hair. Lavender and another smell, something he couldn't describe, perhaps maybe because it was the unique smell of him loving her more than he had ever loved anybody. Her body was tense in his arms, and the nerves came flooding back to him, but as their dance progressed she seemed to relax into his embrace.

"Noah-" she asked her voice cracking. Her shoulder had begun to shake slightly indicating that she was crying. Noah could feel her tears soaking through his shirt. He held her tighter, rubbing soothing circles at the top of her back, trying to calm her down, before he too cried. He didn't like to see her cry; his heart broke when he saw her eyes swollen from crying after one of their arguments.

"Noah, I have to tell you something." She continued hiccupping. Noah nodded slowly and prepared himself for illness or death or going away.

"Okay."

"This is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do-"

"Allie, come on now, you're scaring me!" Noah said laughing a little, trying desperately to lift the tone of their conversation.

"I'm going back." She said, tearfully looking up, they both knew what she meant, she was only supposed to stay for a bit while her father finished up some business with an old friend.

"Oh," was all that Noah could manage to say. He'd known the news was coming sooner or later, he just never really had thought about what he would do when it did. In one respect, he was completely filled with relief; Allie was fine and was not ill at all.

"When?" He asked, his voice becoming unnaturally croaky.

"Daddy's leaving for Southampton on Sunday with Sara's father; Mother and I aren't leaving until Tuesday. Titanic sets sail on Wednesday."

Okay, please leave a nice review, a neutral review or constructive criticism! Those are the only three I read! LOL. Seriously tell me what you think, just try to be nice.

The more reviews, the faster I update. Mwah!

Coral Candy