Harold Lowe was in charge of lifeboat No. 14. When it reached the water, he ordered his boat to be rowed about 150 yards away. After Titanic foundered, he begun to gather several lifeboats together. He brought together his own boat with boats 10, 12 and Collapsible D.
"Now, bring in your oars over there. And tie these boats together as well." he gave instructions. "Now, make sure that's tied up nice and tight."
He looked back at the site where Titanic once was. He wished to return to pick up survivors, but was hesitant because he feared being swamped by hordes of people due to lack of experienced crewmen in the boat. But it was his duty to go end help those in need.
"Right, listen to me, men! We have to go back!" he started. "I want to transfer all the women from this boat into that boat right now as quick as you can, please!"
He began redistributing the survivors in the group of lifeboats he had gathered into a flotilla, in order to ready one lifeboat for a search for additional survivors.
"Let's create some space over there. Move forward and aft."
Suddenly, a woman rose up.
"Not too quickly, madam!" Harold stopped her.
He grabbed her by the shawl, accidentally pulling it down just to discover it wasn't a woman at all! It was a man in disguise. His whole expression changed.
"How dare you?!" he yelled in the man's face. "Get in there, will you?!" he pushed the man forward into another boat.
"Now, come on, this way, madam." he said much more calmly to a woman beside him.
For that time, Elaine waited, listening to the decreasing shouts. Mr. Wilde stopped blowing his whistle some time ago. It was getting more and more quiet. Nothing was happening and the time seemed to stand still. They were probably organizing the boats. They had to do that, right? She tried to think of something positive, but her mind could only focus on how cold she was. Her whole body was in pain from shaking. Her breathing started getting heavier and heavier to that point she didn't even have the power to inhale some air. She felt tired and sleepy. She went in and out of herself, not able to feel her body anymore. She tried to move, but it was hopeless.
Then, she just let go.
The lifeboat Harold took back to the site of the sinking had a hand-picked team of crewmen to assist in the rescue operation. They waited until the swimmers had thinned out before returning so that they would not be swamped and capsized by their numbers. He stood at the forward end of the boat with a flashlight in his hand, looking out.
"Right ahead, sir." said seaman.
"Oars!" Harold shouted to try and get anyone's attention. "Do you see any moving?"
"No, sir. None moving, sir." replied one of the crew.
"Check them!" he ordered. "Bring that oar up here. Check them, make sure."
Seamen leaned over, checking the people and moving them out of the way, but with no luck finding anyone alive.
"These are dead, sir." one informed.
"Now, give way. Ahead easy." Harold said. "Careful with your oar. Don't hit them. Is there anyone alive out there?! Can anyone hear me?! Is anyone alive out there?!" he shouted, only to hear his echo.
Then he saw a sight he will never forget as long as he's alive: a mother, clutching her baby on her chest. It was only then he realized all that waiting was unnecessary. The water was simply too cold for anyone to survive a great amount of time, let alone have the energy to swamp a lifeboat. He let himself get overwhelmed with emotions.
"We waited to long." he sniffed, saying mostly to himself. "Well, keep checking them! Keep looking!" he composed himself again and yelled. "Is there anyone alive out there?! Can anyone hear me?!"
Finally, they found their first survivor. It was a man. They were able to pull another three man out of the water. Many more voices could be heard in the darkness, but locating them proved to be largely fruitless task, despite the efforts of the crew. They crossed the whole site when Harold's flashlight landed on a horrible sight before him.
"Oh, my God…" he said under his breath. "Pull you, bastards, pull!" he almost screamed, obviously starting to panic. "Put your backs into it!" he grew more and more impatient.
"What is it, sir?" someone dared to ask since he didn't see or hear anything to get their attention.
"Now, hold water! Bring her in, help her up!" he ordered, leaning himself to reach her.
"But… she's dead, sir…" one said, holding her limp body.
"No, she ain't!" Harold yelled. "Even if she is, I'm going to revive her. Now, pull her in, quickly!"
They placed her on the floor, Harold at her side, holding her head.
"Give me those blankets, we need to get her warm!" he said, reaching for her neck to feel her pulse. "Come on, Elaine, give me something." his voice was breaking, vision blurry from all the tears formed in his eyes. "Don't die on me." he begged.
A seaman finally tossed him some blankets and he quickly wrapped it around her. He didn't know what to do, but he started massaging her heart, feeling for her pulse every 10 seconds.
"You are not going to die. Not here and not tonight!" he gritted, aggressively pushing down on her chest.
"Sir, I think it's hopeless—"
"I suggest you mind your own business!" he cut him off.
But then he stopped applying pressure on her heart. He no longer had the strength to do so. Overwhelmed with emotions, he cried. He didn't even care he was sobbing in front of his crew, which depended on him to give instructions. Hovering over her, a drop of tear from his nose fell on her cheek.
That's when she took a sharp breath in and opened her eyes for a split second.
"El, Elaine?" he said, in shaky breath.
He put his head down to hear her heart that was now beating. He closed his eyes letting a sigh of relief and resting his head there for a few moments, listening to not so steady beating of her heart yet.
"Oh, thank God." he exclaimed, getting up and putting pressure on her chest once more, not willing to risk losing her again.
Finally, when her breath steadied and her heart starter beating regularly, he whipped away the tears and composed himself once again. He was ready to give order to regroup with the rest of the boats and head to meet the Carpathia.
By the morning, Elaine regained consciousness again. She was awakened by a familiar voice she couldn't really detect, but she knew it was coming from a man waving a green light whose back she was facing.
"Put your backs into it, men!" that's what the man was shouting.
She couldn't quite comprehend what was going on other than that she was fine. She was warm and wrapped in blankets. But she felt weak and her eyelids heavy. It didn't take long before she fell asleep again.
Elaine was awoken for a second time, hearing commotion around her. She opened her eyes, slightly blinded by the sun, reading CARPATHIA before her eyes. She lifted herself up and saw people at the gangway entrance throwing out ladders and ropes. She was helped by the crewmen up the ladders where the Carpathia officers and seamen welcomed her. She looked around, recognizing all distressed familiar faces. Then it dawned on her. They survived; they were rescued. Her eyes then met with Harold's. Neither of them was ready for it to happen. Elaine felt weak in her knees and collapsed on the woman in front of her.
"Give her to me." he rushed to her side. "Elaine, look at me. Are you alright?"
She shook her head. She was then offered blankets that Harold wrapped around her, leading her onto the deck. He took a cup of warm coffee that was offered to them, placing it into her hands. He knew he could not hover over her all the time, but he needed to make sure she was placed somewhere nice and safe.
"She'll need medical check-up." he informed one of his colleague officers.
"They will all go through medical check-up, don't worry, sir." responded the officer.
"She was on a verge of death; she needs immediate assistance!" Harold started raising his voice, growing impatient. He didn't care that his favoritism in Elaine showed, he had nothing to lose anymore.
"Sir, they were all on the verge of death." the other one replied, his tone kind of warning.
Harold didn't press further, but nodded his head in understatement. He couldn't say he saved a dead passenger. If that information came out his career could be ruined. Especially he sorts of had a relationship with her.
After her medical check-up, Elaine was escorted to the dining room to get something to eat. It's been twelve hours since her last meal between all that's happened, no wonder she felt weak. When she got food in her system and felt strong enough to walk on her own, she went out on deck to look for her loved ones and it didn't take her long before she spotted a face she knew like the back of her hand.
"Amelia!" she shouted, throwing herself to hug the poor girl who screamed, startled. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." they both cried. "I'm just so glad I finally found someone I know. Come here." she hugged her tight.
"Miss…" Amelia felt weird and scared, but hugged her back.
"No, Amelia, no more miss." Elaine pulled away. "You are not going back with me."
"B-b-but, miss, I have nowhere to go—" the poor girl sobbed.
"You are not going back as my servant, Amelia. You will no longer work for me." she began explaining.
"But what will I do?!"
"You are my friend now, Amelia. And my friends don't work for me."
"Miss, I really don't mind—"
"A-a! I will find you a much nicer job once we're in New York." she put a finger on her lips to shush her.
"I… thank you, miss—" Elaine gave her a look. "Elaine. Thank you, Elaine." she felt weird saying her first name.
"There!" the other girl smiled. "Now, where are mom and dad?"
Amelia led her to the two people sitting down and holding each other, covered in blankets. Elizabeth was the first one to spot Amelia towering over her.
"Oh, my God," she rose up, hitting her husband in the chest. "Kenneth, look!" she cried when she saw Elaine, pulling her into her embrace.
"Mom!" she sobbed into her mother's chest. She felt her father's arms around both of them.
"My baby, my child, my daughter!" Elizabeth moved away to look at her. "How are you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." she said, looking around. "Where are the rest of you?" she questioned, confused.
Elizabeth placed a hand over her mouth and started sobbing again. That alarmed Elaine.
"Mom," she started, her hands beginning to shake. "Where are my siblings?"
Her mother could only shake her head.
"They made a list of survivors, we asked around, but…" it was her father who answered her.
"No!" she shouted. "That can't be it! There has to be another list! No!" she started screaming and losing it. "This is all my fault! My fault!" she pulled on her hair.
"Shh, Elaine, calm down…" Kenneth's heart was breaking watching his daughter like that and he pulled her into his embrace.
This all was hard for him too, but he needed to stay strong for his wife and daughter. He held Elaine until her sobs died down.
"I-I-I was with Philip before…" she chocked on her tears. "It should've been me…."
"Shh, don't talk like that. Don't stress yourself. We will have plenty of time for this later, alright, baby?" her father comforted her.
Sitting there for a while, Elaine noticed someone's shadow over here. She moved to see who it was and rose up in relief when she recognized him.
"Edward!" she jumped to hug him.
"El, oh, my God, I'm so glad to see you!" he hugged her back tight.
"Edward, h-how are you here? Where is Estella?" she pulled away to look him up.
"Elaine, I'm so sorry I couldn't save her." her eyes started filling with tears again. "I-I found her, but she…" he took a deep breath, being on the verge of tears as well. "I found her and I talked to her and I convinced her to come with me, but then she—" his voice cracked. "I lost her. We went out on deck, she let go of my hand and I lost her." he finished, sniffing.
"Oh…" Elaine leaned in for a hug of support. "Edward, I know it's not exactly an occasion, but happy birthday."
He smiled, whipping his cheeks. "Those were her last words said to me. Thank you, Elaine."
"I… Edward, you know I knew." he nodded his head affirmatively. "I should've acted on it sooner, I'm sorry." she placed a hand on his arm in comforting manner.
"How could you when you found out the same night I did?" he asked, laughing to hide the pain.
"No," she replied, careful. "I saw her leaving his room the day prior."
Edward didn't know what to say so he kept smiling, but not because he found anything amusing. Elaine felt so sorry for him. She hugged him again, looking over his shoulder when she saw the last person she wanted to see alive.
"You!" she shouted, heading towards him. "My sister is dead because of you!" she pushed him.
Charles Lightoller was taken aback. Elaine was making a scene, exposing every one of them.
"Why couldn't you just leave us alone?! Hm?!" she banged on his chest.
Even if he wanted to, he couldn't defend himself. Elaine was driven by anger and wasn't aware of her strength.
"You just had to ruin it for us all, didn't you?! Well, you know what, I am going to make your life a living—"
"Elaine, that's enough!" a pair of hands grabbed her from behind, dragging her away from him.
"No!" she kicked and screamed. "Let go of me!"
"Calm down!" he had to wrestle her. "Stay put, dammit!" he turned her around and they finally faced each other.
"You." she spat.
"Well, I'm glad I see you pretty capable of handling yourself."
"Why'd you do it? Why'd you stop me from ruining the man that ruined us?! Or you still think it was me?"
He closed his eyes, exhaling. "I know it wasn't you. Can we talk?"
She hesitated for a bit.
"Yeah, we can talk."
He led them to a bit more secluded area. He leaned on the railing, staring at the ocean. She stood beside him, nervously holding onto the railing.
"I thought you wanted to talk." she said after a while when he didn't say anything.
"I thought you wanted to talk as well." he shot back.
She looked a bit taken aback.
"So you know?" she asked, refusing to meet his gaze.
He nodded. "James told me. So?"
"I don't think I want to say the same things I wanted."
"Oh, yeah? Like what?" he challenged. "What changed, Elaine?"
"I thought you were dead, Harold!"
"Well, you were dead, Elaine!" he shouted back.
She stood there with her eyes wide open.
"James gave me a promise to put you in a lifeboat, but then I found you in the water almost frozen to death! How do you think I feel?!"
Her mind was racing. She recalled her encounter with James before he put her in the lifeboat. Now she understood. Harold wasn't dead, he just left some time before her. Instead of answering him, she started walking away.
"Where are you going now?"
"To find James."
"James is dead, Elaine."
She stopped dead in her track. She turned on her heels.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." he hardly nodded his head.
She stood there silent for a few seconds.
"Well," she started. "he kept his promise, just so you know. He did put me in a lifeboat. But then… other things happened."
"Like what?"
"I can't talk about it right now." she shook her head. "Leave me alone, please." she ran away before she started crying in front of him.
"Elaine, I—" but she was getting farther and farther from him. He closed his eyes and let a long sight.
News of the Titanic disaster rapidly spread on shore and the humble Carpathia became the center of intense media attention as she steamed westward towards New York at an average speed of 14 knots. RMS Carpathia took three days to reach New York after leaving the scene of the disaster. Her journey was slowed by pack ice, fog, thunderstorm and rough seas. Elaine spent her time mostly with what was left of her family. She didn't avoid Harold, but she didn't see him that often either, meaning there was no further encounters since the last one. Later she found out that the Caisons survived, all of them, when she accidentally ran into William. That only drove her more mad.
At 9.30pm on April 18th Carpathia docked at New York's Pier 54 and was greeted by some 40,000 people waiting at the quayside in heavy rain. Immediate relief in the form of clothing and transportation to shelters was provided by the Women's Relief Committee, the Travels Aid Society of New York and the Council of Jewish Women among other organizations. Many of the Titanic's surviving passengers did not linger in New York, but headed onwards immediately to relatives' home.
The ship's arrival in New York led to a frenzy of press interest, with newspapers competing to be the first to report the survivors' stories. When disembarking, Elaine felt overwhelmed by it. She hid her face behind her hands, not wanting to face anyone. She was aware of the big story that will come out of this, but the least they could do is respect their privacy. Badours then headed for their home in the city to finally get some rest.
Titanic's 214 surviving crew members were taken to the Red Star Line's steamer SS Lapland, where they were accommodated in passenger cabins awaiting inquiry that was about to start the next day. Immediately upon landing Harold was served with a warrant which called him to testify in the American inquiry into the sinking. He nodded his head in acknowledgment, securing the paper in his pocket.
When he finally found himself alone in his cabin, he took off his hat and let out a much-needed breath. He never felt this tired in his life. Even on Carpathia he had his duty as an officer and he couldn't find the time for resting. Now he laid in bed, too tired to even change himself, and falling asleep. He knew he needed to prepare for things will only get messier and messier from here.
END OF PART ONE
AUTHOR'S NOTE: You read that right, my lovely readers! If you thought you were done with Harold and Elaine, I'm so sorry to inform you this is only the beginning. But first of all, I want to thank you, my readers, for reading this and supporting me. Without your help I wouldn't even finish this. And this is my first finished fanfiction ever! Thank you for every comment I kept going back to when I felt like giving up. To be honest, at one point I abandoned this whole story completely when I received an amazing comment that put me in the writing mode immediately. And because of you I was able to finish it. Now, did I do justice to this story you'll have to tell me. However, this whole story is under editing as of right now so you might want to come back and check that out in a while (first 7 chapters are already edited). I hope you didn't grow tired of my bullshit and are ready for the sequel because like Harold said, things are only going to get messier and messier. Are you ready for some court drama? ;)
