Titanic

Previously:

"Through the years, we all will be together, if the fates allow. Hang a shining star upon every bow, and have yourself a Merry Little Christmas now, " they all sang, causing cheers to come from those who had heard, including the Captain.

"Lovely singing, Darling," came a jovial voice, and they turned to smile at dear Molly Brown.

Sapphire smiled more than the other two; Molly Brown was known for surviving the sinking of a number of ships, and in the case of Titanic, she had insisted that the lifeboat she was in go back to the passengers floundering about in the water to rescue them. However, it was a more present day ship, and she began to wonder when she, she being the ship, was first built.

Turning towards Officer Lightoller, she offered him a smile, which he, without hesitating, returned.

"Thanks for making my afternoon a nice one, Officer Lightoller," she said cheerily.

"No problem, Miss Sapphire, for I have also enjoyed myself, and I'm sure that Will has, as well," he said, grinning broadly.

"Say, can anyone tell me when Titanic was built?" She asked, wondering when in this altered timeline such a colossal beauty had been placed on the open ocean.

"Of course, Miss," smiled the Scottish officer. "She was built in 1907 and headed out on her maiden voyage on the tenth of April, 1912. Although there was a head-on collision with an iceberg four days later, which caused her to start sinking, two nearby ships, the Californian and the Carpathia connected strong cables between the three ships, and they all docked in New York City on the nineteenth of April. All ships had their services put on hold until they were made safe. Titanic was kept in a safe, bombproof shelter during World Wars One and Two, receives an upgrade every year and is still running to this day," he said, smiling.

"Well, thank you for that interesting piece of information," Sapphire smiled, before turning to one of the funniest characters of Titanic: Molly Brown.

"It's a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Brown," she said lightly and held out her hand for the older woman to shake. Molly Brown smiled and shook her head.

"No need to be so formal, darlin'," she said, shaking the girl's hand and insisting that Sapphire call her Molly.

Sapphire smiled too; Titanic had been on the ocean for over a hundred years, yet as far as Sapphire could see, the ship had no signs of wear and tear. However, the Scottish Officer had just told her that the ship received an upgrade every year, so she stopped feeling so surprised, and decided to spend the afternoon by looking around, seeing if there would be any entertainment that day, and maybe even doing some Christmas shopping.

PAGE BREAK

Humming "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" merrily to herself, Sapphire wandered around the large and wonderful ship, looking for any sign of there being any entertainment at all, or any sign of a ship. After all, she mused, it is 2015, so there must be some modern amenities. Not to mention, it is just days away from being Christmas, so there must be some passengers who need to do some last minute shopping.

As she was thinking about Christmas, she didn't notice that she'd come to a cross-roaded corridor, neither did she notice that another girl was coming level with her until Sapphire crashed into her, and they both plummeted the few feet to the ground.

The other girl fell on top of Sapphire, wondering what she had fallen on top of. When she spotted that she'd fallen on top of a passenger, her face burned with embarrassment as she stood up, brushing off the skirt of her long Christmas tree green dress, which had been an early Christmas present from her parents.

"I'm so sorry about that, miss," She exclaimed and held out a hand to help the other girl to her feet. Sapphire smiled and gratefully accepted the other girl's hand.

"No need to apologize. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me for not looking where I was going," She said lightly.

The other girl suddenly asked, "Are you from New Zealand?"

Surprised, Sapphire nodded. "I sure am." Then she mentally slapped herself, and added, "I'm being rude. I'm Sapphire Stone."

"Pleased to meet you, Sapphire Stone. I'm Eleanor Andrea Murdoch," She said cheerfully, shaking Sapphire's hand.

"Murdoch, as in First Officer Murdoch?" Sapphire asked pleasantly.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I'm his youngest daughter," Eleanor smiled, her voice full of pride. Sapphire smiled back, but then looked thoughtful; Eleanor seemed to possess three different accents: Scottish, Kiwi, and British.

Eleanor caught her thoughtful look and asked if anything was wrong.

Sapphire shook her head, and said,"Not wrong, per say. Just different. I mean, your mother is either British or Kiwi and your father is Scottish. So, where did the additional accent come from?"

Eleanor flushed darkly at that; somebody was bound to pick up on the fact that she had three accents. However, if she tried to explain the real reason, she'd be looked away in a psychic ward, which would be no fun at all. Because, after all, who would believe the truth?

Realizing that Sapphire was expecting an answer, she said, "My mother is Kiwi, and I love British movies and whatnot, so I like to practice different accents."

Hearing more footsteps behind them, they turned to see Olivia, who was arm-in-arm with a teenaged boy, and the two of them were laughing about something funny.

"Hello Katja," Sapphire said at the same time that Eleanor said, "Hello, Thomas."

Thomas smiled at Eleanor and gently hugged her. "Good to see you again, Eleanor," He said with a smile.

He then turned to Sapphire and said, "I see you've met my lovely sister, miss. Thomas Andrew Murdoch."

"Lovely to meet you. I say, do either of you know if there are any shops on board, for the purposes of Christmas shopping?"

Eleanor and Thomas nodded brightly. "Of course there is. In fact, that's where I was headed," Thomas smiled and pointed to the lanyard that Sapphire was wearing around her neck, attached to which was Sapphire's stateroom key card.

"That key card can also be used as a credit card, and just so you know, when we get our statements at the end of our trip, there will probably be a minus sign. If there is, don't panic, 'cause that's the money you haven't spent."

"Thanks for that explanation, and I wished I had known that before. I was on a cruise once and thought I had spent more money than I had. Needless to say, I was in a right state of panic, until the concierge explained it to me," Sapphire said, smiling at the memory.

The other three laughed. "Sounds like a good story. As our grandfather likes to say, "Either you have a good story to tell, or a bad one. There's no in between," Thomas chuckled, and the four of them went off to the onboard shops.

AN: Some of these statements are based on real life experiences I've had. TTFN :)