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Disclaimer: Anna Lyn Connor and other unknown characters belong to me. Everyone else (who is NOT in the movie) is real. Any of the enjoyable characters of James Cameron's movie belongs to him, along with all of the legalities and technicalities.
Author's note: A few familiar characters! Sorry if the Italian accent is horrible. It's hard to type it out… :P
Thank you for your constant support!
Asides from that, enjoy!
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"There you are!" Moody looked up at the sound of his fellow officer's voice. Anna looked relieved to see the slightly stern face of Officer Lowe. Even though, through out their little amateur tour of the Titanic, Moody seemed very confident of his abilities to lead her around. But, still they ended up getting lost in the maze of white Anna ran through a few hours before. They were lost on F Deck.
They took many turns around what looked like the same corner. To Anna Lyn's untrained eyes, she didn't know where they were heading (apparently Moody didn't either). She thought perhaps Mr. Moody would have been more agile in guiding her around the ship. The first part of their tour was fine. Anna was able to witness the grandeur of the first class, a smidge of the second class, and they were currently touring the crew passage, before heading down to the third-class common room. By the looks of things for the last forty-five minutes or so, Anna knew that they were getting nowhere. Everything looked exactly the same!
"Mr. Lowe!" Moody cried in relief.
"I cannot believe it. When Mr. Murdoch sent me to fetch you for your shift, the first thing he said was to look for you in F Deck! I didn't want to believe him, because I had confidence in you, Jim! Now, finding you lost on F Deck, I don't know what to think!" Lowe didn't crack a smile at his fellow officer's predicament. However, Anna could tell by the strain in his neck muscles that he wanted to laugh and/or smile. However, he had his reputation of Mr. I-like-to-be-left-alone to keep up. Anna made a mental note about that.
"I'm not lost!"
"I'm sure," Lowe instantly replied without thinking. His tone was inevitably sarcastic.
"We are merely taking a detour."
"Dignity is a lot to man," Anna sighed quietly, hoping it was quiet enough to be discreet, but loud enough for the men to recognize it.
Both of them ignored her. Yes, dignity was a lot to a man. "I am to take Miss Connor around for the rest of your tour until Mr. Murdoch gets off his shift."
Moody nodded, before turning to Anna who smiled kindly at him. "Thank you for the tour, regardless of the predicament we got into."
"Not a problem! I hope you enjoy the rest of the tour!" Moody bowed, and lifted his hat to her.
Anna laughed at his actions, and waved a silent goodbye to him. He quickly disappeared around the corner where Officer Lowe had emerged from.
"Shall we?" Lowe asked indicating his arm towards the opposite direction.
Lowe mainly led the her around the rest of the corridor. He didn't look like the mumbling Mr. Moody who made uneasy turns. Mr. Lowe seemed very confident in his steps, and the path he was leading her on.
Unlike Mr. Moody who was constantly engaging in an animated conversation with Annie, Mr. Lowe was the complete opposite. They spent their tour in silence. Anna wasn't used to such a treatment, so she took the initiative to start some type of conversation.
"Are you always this silent, Mr. Lowe?" Did I forget to mention that Annie was slightly bolder than her other women companion of the era?
"I do like to keep to myself, Miss Connor," was his curt reply when they turned around a corner.
"However, you seemed quite amiable towards Mr. Moody. He redeemed you very highly as a man and an officer, even if you like to keep to yourself."
Lowe stopped slightly, and allowed her to catch up to him. He then turned to look at her squarely in the eyes. He wasn't used to anyone being this bold to him, except for the lady who he was currently courting. "You really have a lot of personality to not only confront me in a verbal duel but to also stow away on the Titanic? The only other woman who is ever brave enough to question my way of life is the lady in my courtship!"
Anna slightly smiled at him. "I wonder if you are as austere as everyone believes you to be, and as how you present yourself."
"I am a sailor, Miss Connor." They continued down the hall side-by-side.
"It doesn't necessary mean that you have to be severe, Mr. Lowe."
Lowe stopped for a moment, and gave her a sideway glance. "What are you trying to get at Miss Connor?"
Anna Lyn Connor continued walking before him with a slight smile on her face, leaving him to stand there in disbelief as well as curiosity. "I'm just trying to really see who you are, Mr. Lowe! It is merely that. If Mr. Moody says that you are a good man, and that you hold the lady in your courtship as dearly as how your eyes shone it, then I am clearly convinced that you are a good man. However, I cannot be fooled with merely signs on your persona or word of mouth from another. I would like to hear you say it yourself."
"You are incredible!" Lowe, for the first time since they had met each other, laughed.
"Oh, don't say that! The lady in your courtship would be angry to hear you compliment another woman."
Lowe shook his head with a small smile. "I don't think she would mind. She's confident of herself, and her position in our relationship, Miss Connor," Lowe spoke proudly of his lady. His eyes shone with happiness as he spoke of her. Anna thought it was sweet to see such a hardcase be melted at a single call of his beloved's name, or a mention of her attention.
"A woman of that type is difficult to find these days, Mr. Lowe. You are truly blessed with such a treasure!" Anna Lyn spoke as if she was a proud mother.
Lowe opened the door to the third-class common room and allowed her to step through. "I believe that I am, Miss Connor."
Some of the occupants standing, sitting, laughing, crying, talking there looked up at the sound of the opening door and a little of their conversation ceased. Anna Lyn thought it was more of Officer Lowe's presence rather than her own that caused such a sudden stop in their activities. She looked like she belonged with them. However, the crisp, and clean fifth officer Harold Lowe of the Titanic,didn't.
"This is the third-class common room."
"I am very impressed. Even third-class is well accommodated!"
"We are not called the Ship of Dreams for nothing, Miss Connor!"
"Mr. Lowe!" The two new occupants turned to the panting steward who came bounding sweaty and out of breath towards the two new occupants. The steward hunched down to catch his breath, while Mr. Lowe looked impatient as ever at the man's stall. "There's been a brawl in the corridor. I couldn't find the master-at-arms and—"
Lowe waved him off and turned to the curious looking Anna who was looking between the two of them as if everything was an exciting play. "Do you mind if I leave you here for a few minutes, Miss Connor?"
"Not at all! I promise shan't move from this spot!"
Lowe nodded his head a few times. "Good, good." He gave one last firm nod before turning quickly on his heels and followed the steward out of the far door. Anna was about to take a look around the common room but a voice called out to her.
"What a lady like you doing with an officer like him?" An Irish man took a drag of his smoke, smiling slightly at her. Anna glanced around his group who were also looking at her curiously. Who wouldn't be curious to see a woman walking around with an officer of the ship? It was a question to ask of!
"Taking a tour, sir!" Anna replied cheerily. It was the only logical and appropriate answer she could think of.
"Rumor has it that they caught a stowaway this morning. You know anything about it since you are well acquainted with an officer," another man asked smiling boyishly at her. Anna thought he couldn't be more than nineteen or twenty. He wasn't nearly as old as her or even young Mr. Moody. He still had a little baby fat around his cheeks. His accent was a lot different than the first man. It was American rather than Irish.
Anna decided to play stupid. "What stowaway?"
"They say-a it's a…bella woman who stowaway-a on the ship-a…" The third man was definitely Italian.
"Well, she might as well be crowned Joan of Arc for her courage. Who could ever have enough courage to stowaway on such a ship?" Anna replied with an even tone. She had to suppress a knowing smile since they were talking about her.
"You do…" The American told her.
Anna's cheeks flared from his accusing tone of voice. He had a smile on his face, and the look his eyes told her that he knew. "E-excuse me?"
"I mean, you have enough courage to be walking around with an officer. I only see the first class women taking tours."
"Are you saying that a person of unfortunate means cannot take tours from an officer?"
"No, I just haven't seen one!" His rebuttal still came with a smile. Anna narrowed her eyes at him before sighing. "You can say it…We wont tell anyone."
"How did you know?"
"It doesn't matter who you are, you must be special to receive a tour from the officers. That's what I'd learned from being on this ship. No offense, ma'am, but by the way you are dressed, they wouldn't take a second look at you no matter how beautiful you are. We can say it's not in their jurisdiction." Anna allowed herself to last at his statement. "You must be someone really special to receive that type of attention! Who else could you be unless you are the stowaway herself?"
The older woman raised her hands together and clapped in pure amusement. This boy was beyond intelligent for his class. "Quite a detective."
"A friend in London taught me a few police tricks. I'm Jack Dawson, by the way." He held out his hand for her to shake.
"Anna. Anna Lyn Connor."
The other two boys took the opportunity to introduce themselves, also; thinking being acquainted with one so high up in the hierarchy of society would do them some good while on the Titanic.
"Tommy Ryan, ma'am." The Irish boy put the cigarette in his mouth before reaching his hand out to Anna, who took it with a warm clasp and a smile.
"Fabrizio!" The Italian cried with enthusiasm. Anna did the same thing with him.
"Where did you get the idea to stow away on a ship?" Ryan asked her.
Dawson hit Fabrizio on the arm before leaning close to his friend. "We should have stowed away on the Titanic, eh Fabri?"
"You crazy!" The Italian cried with exaggeration on the last word.
The older woman watched the two boys bicker before she started talking again. "I don't recommend it, boys. I would have gotten myself chained and locked in the master-at-arms' office and then thrown into jail when we get to the dock!"
"How did you manage to release yourself from their hold?"
She touched Tommy Ryan's hair slightly as if he was a child. It caused him to frown slightly, but it wasn't until he caught a slight hint of her laugh lines that he realized that she was much older than any of them. "The Irish are notorious for being so kind. Mr. Thomas Andrews and the officers of the bridge defended me from that fiend!"
"You're talking about the Master Shipbuilder?"
Anna nodded with such confidence that affirmed their suspicions before she could even say it. "The very one!"
"I guess not all of first class is arseholes," Ryan mumbled through his cigarette, causing Dawson to smack his arm slightly while nudging towards Anna's general direction to tell him that they were in the presence of a lady. He apologized to her, but she shook her head, bidding him that it was alright. "You never answered my question," Ryan continued. The cigarette was perched dangerously on his lips.
Anna turned away and thought for a moment. They thought she was ignoring his question, so they started to whisper among each other to figure out strange possibilities of why she would, and how could she stow away on such a grand ship. Anna suppressed another round of laughter as their voices increased as if they were gossiping old ladies at the market. "You know, when you have no other way to go, and you really need to get out, you would do anything this rash, such as stowaway on the grandest ship in the world to get away from the past."
Dawson, Ryan, and Fabrizio looked up at her when she concluded lightly on her words. They didn't know what else to say, but felt that they could relate to her (except for the fact that they actually had tickets to be on the ship while she didn't. At least they felt like they had an advantage over her that way).
Jack Dawson turned to look up at her. Anna was still not looking straight at them but at a pillar at the far end of the room. "Don't worry. We all are leaving our pasts behind with this trip."
"If it make-a you feel any bett-ah. Jack-a and I-a won our tickets from cards-ah," Fabrizio yelled tried to break the tension around them.
Anna turned back to the boys. "Now that's a good hand of luck in life, gentlemen!"
"Yours weren't too shabby either, hmm, Miss Connor?"
Anna realized that Jack was right, and rewarded him with a final smile before Lowe could be seen around the corner with an angry scowl on his face. "I guess you're right, Jack."
The group looked up towards the fifth officer as he came up to them. "Is everything alright?" Anna asked when Lowe stopped beside her.
"Some third class passengers were fighting about their rooms. Ridiculous," he hissed.
"I guess old Chris Hawkins and Joseph Butler are at it again."
Lowe looked down to Dawson with an angry glare. "Please tell your friends if they attempt anything like that again, they will be put in the master-at-arms officer without mercy, and perhaps jail when we dock."
Dawson looked to Anna who shook his head at Lowe's tone of voice. He was sure a complicated man to get through. Jack however thought the situation to be awkwardly funny, so he raised his hand to salute at the fifth officer, and puffed his chest out to imitate the raging Lowe. "Yes, sir, will do sir!"
Anna stifled a laugh that grew at the back of her throat, threatening to be released if she didn't bite her tongue any harder.
"Come, Miss Connor. We will finish the tour another time. I have to head back to the bridge." Lowe didn't wait for her to walk away with him, but left her to follow—actually chase after him.
She turned to the group, and shook her head again. "Is he…always like this?"
"I heard rumors," she laughed slightly. "It was a pleasure to meet you gentlemen."
"Same with you, Miss Connor!"
Anna nodded before turning away to follow Lowe out of the third-class common room.
"Annie!" Ryan called out, and she turned to him to see him waving his cigarette at her. He smiled kindly to her, along with the rest of his small group of friends. "Come back any time! A laddie like you deserves a drink."
Anna Lyn Connor laughed resoundingly. "I'll hold you to that!"
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