Christmas Day
AN: Hey everyone! Last chapter of this story. I know it's a little sad, but all good things have to come to an end. Merry Christmas everyone :)
SJS
03:23
The stateroom door opened with a silent squeal, or in other words, didn't make any noise. By the flickering embers in the grate, shadows danced on the walls. The shadow of an elderly man with a big sack was cast all around, and he smiled to himself as he silently plodded across the floor. He knew that neither Miss Stone or Miss Andrews (and that wasn't even her real name) were of this world. Later that day, they and young Mr. Dussel would go back to their world.
Santa smiled again as he filled up the silver and green stocking that hung by the chimney with care. Then he scooped up the presents under her tree, and in their place placed all the presents that others had acquired for her. He then left, with no need to arise up the chimney.
07:23
Soft gentle snores filled the room as footsteps made their way towards the bed. Twin grins appeared on the faces of the owners of the footsteps, and sharp blue eyes twinkled with excitement and the last dregs of sleep.
Sapphire rolled over in bed, and then sat up with a jump as her siblings leapt on top of her bed.
"Leave me alone, you buggers," she scowled, but Alice and Felix just laughed.
"Turn that frown upside down, it's Christmas Day!" Felix cried out, and swung his slightly younger sister around.
Sapphire's scowl became a full-on grin as she rolled over in bed, and then tumbled to the ground, laughing with delight.
"Well, why didn't you say so?" She beamed as she hugged her siblings tightly. They just laughed at her, and left her to dress for the day. Sapphire laughed back, feeling Christmassy all over, as she sauntered towards her wardrobe, and opened it with a flourish. Then, she furrowed her brow in confusion. For there, on one of the shelves next to the life jacket, was a World War Two style gas mask.
What on earth is THAT doing in here? She wondered, as she looked at all of the dresses hanging up neatly, and the other clothing folded neatly on the other shelves. In the end, she decided on a long, pale pink winter dress. It had cherry blossoms all over it, and it was rather pretty. With the dress, she wore a pair of pale pink pumps, though not too high, and a simple gold chain with a ruby shaped like a tiny bowling ball dangling off of it.
As she looked for a jacket to wear with her outfit of choice, she glanced back at the shelf with the mask on it. To her surprise, it had vanished.
Strange, she thought with a shrug as she pulled out a black jacket, brushed her long black hair into a ponytail with a red tie back, and then headed off to breakfast. On the way, she bumped into several maids, stewards, stewardesses, and passengers.
"Merry Christmas!" she sang out to them, and they smiled back. A German Jewish couple, who didn't celebrate Christmas, were wished a "Happy Hanukkah!" instead.
"Chanukka war gestern Abend fertig, aber trotzdem danke," the man smiled at her.
"Oh, I see. Thanks for pointing out that Hanukka finished yesterday evening, and that you're thanking me nonetheless," she smiled back.
The couple looked surprised, and then smiled at her again. "Genieße deinen Tag," they told her.
"I will enjoy my day," she thanked them before heading on her merry way.
Then, she bumped into Molly Brown, who looked beautiful in green.
"A Merry Christmas to you, Molly," she said, hugging the older (and bigger) woman tightly. Molly's arms tightened around her.
"A Merry Christmas to you too, darlin,' Molly said cheerfully. "Have you opened your gifts yet?"
Sapphire shook her head. "Not yet. Family tradition of mine is that we don't open presents until after breakfast. That way, we have something to look forward to."
"Oh, what a mighty fine idea," Molly's Tennessee drawl came out. (That's where her actress is from, not the real Margaret Molly Brown.)
Sapphire nodded happily, before heading off again on her merry way. Olivia Andrews, her "cousin" was also heading towards the Grand Dinning Room for a delicious breakfast. She could smell kippers and salmon, and Sapphire could smell bacon and carved hams. Olivia was dressed splendidly in a pale mauve gown with black boots, and her long hair wafted around her face.
"Merry Christmas, Olivia!" Sapphire called out to her, waving merrily when she turned.
"Thanks, you too!" Olivia smiled eagerly as Sapphire ran towards her, beaming excitedly. The two hugged, and then Sapphire started humming "March Of the Toy Soldiers" from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.
"It is Christmas at long last," Olivia sang.
"My goodness, it has come fast
All of us around the tree
And Lights shinning merrily
Paper goes flying everywhere
When we unwrap our gifts
Hey, Olivia, one thing to ask
Did you find a war gas mask?"
Olivia shook her head, puzzled. "No, I didn't. Why?"
"Found one in my cupboard, and then, of all things, it vanished," Sapphire said.
"That is strange, but here we are, it's breakfast time
"Lovely food for Christmas time
"And let's just have a seriously awesome Christmas day," they finished together with a grin as they entered the entrance to the Grand Staircase, which looked lovelier somehow on Christmas Morning. Over the radio, "Step Into Christmas" was playing, couples and friends were embracing each other, wishing them the very best of the season, and the Christmas Trees looked grand. Over night, the stars had been changed from gold to silver, and they looked magnificent.
Philip Dussel waved merrily at the two girls, before running over towards them. Much to the surprise of Sapphire and Olivia, he tightly embraced Alice, Sapphire's older sister.
"Wow, think there's something going on there?" Olivia asked.
"In this world, possibly, but surely not in ours. He's never shown any interest of that kind towards her," Sapphire said with a little smile. Philip overheard her, and smiled back.
"Merry Christmas, Sapphire," he said cheerfully, as he spun Alice around. Alice was wearing a dress of lilac, with an amethyst brooch pinned to it.
"Merry Christmas to you too, Philip," she smiled.
"Enough flirting, kids. It's breakfast time, and then, it's presents time," Mrs. Stone chuckled, remembering her early days of being in love and flirting with the man who eventually she married.
"YAY!" Her daughters cheered, and went off to join her for breakfast. They tucked into platters of eggs, bacon, salmon, kippers, and even haggis.
"Well, that's a new one," Sapphire mused as she helped herself to the traditional Scottish dish, along with some bacon, eggs, toast, and hot chocolate. Haggis was delicious, she decided as the others ate around her.
The chocolate was creamy, the eggs were runny to perfection, and the bacon was smoked with honey.
"My complements to the chef," she smiled.
"Here, here!" Echoed everyone else.
Afterwards, they all headed off to open presents, and the living room they had gathered in was an array of colour. Coloured wrapping paper, that is. Silver, green, red, purple, blue, and gold paper was strewn about, but for the moment, no one paid any notice. Everyone loved the presents Sapphire had bought for them all, and Sapphire loved what they had gotten for her.
From her parents, she received a diary and chocolate, from her siblings she received a full set of Sherlock Holmes books and the DVD set from 1950. Olivia had bought her a necklace with a little rose, and her "uncle" had bought her a dark blue dress to wear in the summer.
"Thanks a lot, everyone," she smiled around hugging them all. They all smiled back, and spent the morning dancing around to Christmas songs. Phillip joined them, and they had a ball.
But all good things come to an end, and it seemed like it wasn't long until it was lunchtime. For some reason that neither Olivia or Sapphire could explain, they decided to wear the same outfit they'd been wearing the day that they had arrived on the ship. They wore tights and jackets to be warmer, but apart from that, their outfits were the same. Little did they know, they wouldn't see the rest of that Titanic Christmas.
As they milled about, looking at the beautiful decorations hung all over, and the ones on the trees, Sapphire, Olivia, and Philip were suddenly startled by the sound of two children running towards the trees. Before anyone could stop them, the twins, Alexander and Charlotte, had begun to climb the trees, each intent on the angels near the top.
The three teens went to pull the two children away when the two trees suddenly came crashing down. Sapphire and Olivia leapt out of the way, but Philip wasn't quite as lucky, and was trapped as both trees landed on top of him, pinning him to the floor.
"Philip!" Sapphire screamed as he let out a groan of pain.
The twins were worried, and so they should have been, because their mother came running, and at a glance, could easily work out what had just occurred. She gave them a glare that could melt ice, and sent them back to their rooms.
Meanwhile, poor Philip was still trapped under the trees, when he spotted something very strange indeed. Beside his resting place on the floor was a hole. But it was what was inside said hole that made him stare. Inside the hole was an image of his own bedroom in the world from where he had started out from.
Managing to move slightly in that direction, he slid his hand into the hole. Instantly, he felt a jerking notion behind his naval, and before he had time to cry out for help, he was sucked into it.
Sapphire and Olivia didn't see this happen, but they did see a portal between the two trees, which were now slowly being lifted up again. They took one look, and something told them that the portal was their ticket back home. No one saw them as they ran towards the portal , and leapt through.
When they landed, Sapphire was the first to realize that they were standing in the hallway outside her bedroom door.
They both looked at one another, and said, "Was that real?" In unison.
Sapphire shrugged and glanced down at her watch. It was two-thirty in the afternoon, one hour before, they had vanished.
"We were gone for an hour," Sapphire told Olivia, just as her phone buzzed in her pocket.
"It's from Philip. He was really there with us," she smiled.
"Well, I'm just pleased to be home," Olivia said, and Sapphire nodded in agreement.
"Me too," she said, as she finished highlighting the colors from Joseph's Coat for her friend.
"Do you think we'll have another adventure like that one, Sapphire?" Olivia asked.
Sapphire shrugged and said, "Only time can tell."
AN: And that is the end of my Titanic story. Merry Christmas, everyone. One final review?