Chapter 3: The French, The Irish, The Open Sea

As the sun began to set on the first day of the voyage, I was relaxing in my cabin before I knew that would prove to be a rather tiring evening of chatter. If this were my old ships, I probably would have been on watch right now. It was about 7 in the evening. I decided that perhaps it was time to take a stroll. Stretch my legs before we truly went to sea tomorrow. As I was stepping out of my cabin, I noted that Annabelle was just a few cabins away. I decided to call out to her as I stepped out into the hall. "Annabelle?" She quickly turned around and smiled at me. "Andrew, you surprised me. I did not expect to be in the same corridor." I chuckled at her statement as she walked closer to stand across the hall from me, her posture as perfect as ever. "Someone must have an inside track to our histories or this is a complete coincidence. I suspect coincidence." I spoke with a little mirth in my voice. It seemed to make her smile at least. It also seemed that someone had placed her at my table, I don't know if I am lucky or just have a sense of irony following me everywhere I go. "I was just about to go to dinner, care to join me?" I asked her, admittedly hoping that she would say yes. She chuckled a bit as we walked down the hall. "Are you not seated at my table?" She asked me rather point blank, then again, that was her personality. I smiled as she decided to walk beside me.

[Line Break]

Entering the Saloon, I looked around and was amazed at the quality of the craftsmanship and the luxury of it. It was indeed impressive. The meal even more so, from my navy day's we always didn't have the best dinners in the wardroom as I was eating, I listened to the conversation around us. Feeling a gentle hand touch my arm I looked over to see Annabelle sitting next to me. "I must confess that I feel like I am at home, the grandeur and the luxury. You would never know you are on a ship." She spoke to me, a smile on her face as she took a sip of wine. "It is indeed magnificent. Leagues ahead of the last ship I was on. Then again, the last ship I was on was the Dreadnought." I said with a bit of a chuckle. Dinner flew by in a flash of conversation, exceptional food and wonderful company. After that and a bit of dancing, in particular the waltz Autumn, I decided to retire for the evening, after escorting Belle to her cabin.

[Time Skip,

Morning April 11th 1912, Queenstown Ireland. 1:45 Local]

I decided to go to lunch in the Cafe Parisian this afternoon, knowing that it was the best time of the day for it. Arriving in the cafe, I noted a group sitting with Mr. Ismay and Mr. Andrews. Americans, by the looks of them, including Mrs. Brown. As I was passing by, I heard some comment about Mr. Hockley cutting his fiance's food. I had a bit of an internal chuckle about that. I decided I wanted to continue to hear what they were saying, I know it's wrong, but I was curious. That's when I heard a reference to the ship and , I nearly choked on my wine when I heard that. Seeing Mr. Hockley's fiancée leave, I couldn't blame her, the man was a royal pain. In the smoking room I tried to avoid him as much as possible. It was ironic that at the time that she left, Belle walked in and sat next to me. "Ah, Lady Annabelle, good afternoon. I am glad to see you got my invitation." I smiled as a waiter pulled out her chair and I stood up to greet her. She gave a kind smile, though as in our youth, I could tell a sarcastic comment was coming. "Well, it is kind of hard to ignore the invitation, especially when your valet gave it directly to my ladies maid at their breakfast. Though I admit I was glad to get it. I was concerned that last night's dinner was just a reunion and no more." She said to me with a tone somewhere between a chuckle and her usual tone of sarcasm from when we were younger. "I suppose that this means I am forgiven?" I asked, wondering rather curiously to see if the fact of our friendship could blossom into something more. Enjoying the lunch, we ate in comfortable silence, until we finished of course. It was at that moment that I got a moment of courage. "Would you care for a stroll on deck?" I asked her before continuing. "The weather is lovely today." She gave me this smile, I could have sworn that my heartbeat increased at that. "Why not, the weather is indeed lovely and I would like to see what it is like on the open ocean." She said as we both stood up, I offered my arm, as if we were to be walking in one of London's parks or on an estate. We then went up to the boat deck, after all it provided the best view of the ocean.

[Line Break]

Arriving on the boat deck after a short walk, we walked a part of the way down the ship before pausing at about the halfway point. Stopping, I noticed her start to look out at the sea. Personally I was tired of the view. Having spent four years in the navy since I was 16, I knew that for someone's first time at sea, it provided a magnificent view. "It is rather beautiful is it not?" I asked, placing my hands on the railing after pushing my hat down so it would stay on my head. She looked at me and smiled, a kind of smile that I had not expected to see on her, she spoke with a soft tone that I honestly didn't know she had in all the time we knew each other. "There is something magical about it. Something beautiful, the way the waves move, the way the sun seems to glimmer off the surface." She smiled as she spoke about it, looking at me, I could see in her eyes that it seemed to be the most magical thing in the world. Perhaps it was time to do what our parents had been suggesting for years. Seeing if our feelings for each other went beyond the friendship we had built up over the years. So, perhaps I would start small. "It is indeed. Though I would say it cannot compare with the beauty of the lady who has chosen to be in my company." I spoke plainly and kindly with a smile on my face. I then gently took one of her gloved hands and kissed it. She blushed rather surprised at my actions, after all when we had been children and teenages, I had not done anything like this. She then looked at me, rather shyly and blushed. I took that for a good sign. She then made the decision that we were hidden away enough that she simply looked at me, a smile on her face. "Well, I suppose this explores things that we were too afraid to do when we were younger and exploring my father's estate." She grasped my hand on the rail rather demurely with a shy smile. So I did what I thought was right and gave her a rather fast and chaste kiss on the lips. My heart was pounding at the moment, wondering if this was just a one time thing, if she would slap me or if this would lead to something more. As I pulled away she was blushing rather heavily. We both looked at each other, I suppose that had been building up since we were just kids. "Well, I suppose we have both wanted to do that for a long time." I said with a smile. She just giggled at my comment. "Oh, you have no idea. I wanted to do that since we were 15, but I was worried at the time you might faint from shock." I just chuckled at that and we continued to stand and talk as the ship moved farther from land and into the open sea.

A/N: Yes I know I didn't use any dialogue from the movie "Titanic" and slipped in some references to the 2012 mini series by Julian Fellowes, the waltz "Autumn" was played in the first episode of the show. This story is also on FFN with the same title.

Also please review, it gives me motivation to continue writing

I have decided to place the movie and the miniseries at the same time rather than being separate as it seems to be rather logical to me, that despite the fact that we don't see them in the series or the movie, we can think that they are all on the ship and just never encounter each other. Or at least that's how I'm choosing to think about it.

Next time: We get to meet Mr Jack Dawson, someone's life is saved, parties happen above and below decks and relationships are explored.