The thunder made sure that it's presence was known throughout the night. Marabelle, who had normally slept in the bed next to Erik and my bed, had decided to sleep in between us and she too had made sure her presence was known. Erik had snored half way through the night and through all three sounds and the fact that they wanted me at court the next day, kept me up most of the night. When the hands on the clock had reached eight, I slipped out of bed and prepared myself for the day , as quiet as I could.

When the clocked struck nine I pulled my gloves on and made my way out the door, shutting it behind me as quietly as I could. I slipped down the staircase and briskly made my way to the front desk of the hotel.

"excuse me…" I placed my hands at the end of the counter "I have to make it to the court house by nine-thirty, Could you please tell me where it's located?"

The lady behind the counter smiled slightly "well, it's just a few blocks south from here." She cocked her head to one side and then, as if something had clicked in her head she straightened up and nodded "It's raining outside, you might want to use an umbrella."

I shook my head "I haven't one." In fact, I did but it was sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic with the rest of my belongings.

The lady frowned slightly and disappeared under the table before she appeared holding an umbrella "You can borrow mine, I just arrived a few minutes ago so I won't be needing it for a while." She once again cocked her head "You're the young lady who came in with that unusual looking man and the child." She smiled slightly "How lucky you must be to have your family."

I felt my eyes sting with tears and I quickly blinked them away "t-Thank you, w-we're extremely lucky to have each other." I gave the best smile I could and grabbed the umbrella "I'll return this as soon as I return." I rushed outside and popped open the umbrella and hastily made my way towards the court house, which I had found easy to find.

The building was large, with six tall pillars that seemed to be holding up the roof. The stairs were grand, at least fifty, and they seemed to be marble. I groaned slightly and gathered my skirts in one hand and made my way up the stairs. When I made it to the top, I noticed a gold statue of a lady holding a even scale, blindfolded. I studied the statue for a while. I was wondering if I was trying to calm my nerves, or gain the courage to go into the large marble building.

"may I help you?"

I looked up at the tall, slender elderly man who stood at a post near the front door. I shut the umbrella and made my way towards the gentleman "well, sir…" I stumbled over my words "I am to be summoned at nine thirty to testify." I reached inside the tiny handbag that I brought and pulled out the piece of paper and showed him "where should I go?"

The man looked at the paper and then leaned back in his seat "terrible tragedy." He shook his head and looked at me "quite unbelievable that a pretty little thing like you survived." He handed the paper back to me "up the stairs, first courtroom."

I nodded and mumbled a thank you before I walked up the stairs and entered the first courtroom I saw. The courtroom was filled with people, some who I had seen on the ship before she had hit the iceberg, some I had no clue who they were. Mr. Ismay was finishing up his summon as I had entered the room, and I could tell how nervous he was.

"The court calls its next witness to the stand, Christine Daae." The gentleman looked around and I raised my tiny hand before setting the umbrella near the door and making my way towards the front of the room. "Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god?"

I nodded "I do."

The man smiled and led me over to the witness stand, where a seat had been placed, for I'm sure comfort. It lead me to believe that this process was going to be longer than the thirty minutes I had expected.

"Let's get started shall we, Senator smith?" the judge raised his eyebrows at the man who had led me to the seat.

"Yes, we shall." He turned to me and cleared his throat "please, state your full name for me?"

I swallowed hard "Christine Elizabeth Holloway."

Senator Smith looked confused "Did you get married, Miss Daae?"

I nodded "I did."

He nodded "we will take this into consideration." He started to pace "Your place of residence?"

I followed him with my eyes "London England sir"

"And your age?"

"I'm twenty-five"

He smiled slightly and stopped in front of me "what's your occupation?"

I shook my head "I do not have an occupation sir."

He nodded "Very well, Tell me, Mrs. Holloway, where you boarded the ship?"

"I joined in Southampton."

"what time?" he prodded

"I believe that I arrived on the ship around nine in the morning, perhaps nine thirty, ten at the latest as we were running a bit behind."

He nodded "what day?" he seemed amused

"The tenth of April" I spat out

He took a drink of water and then looked at me "The port of destination was New York?"

I nodded "New York"

He nodded and cleared his throat once again. I wondered if he was getting tired of speaking and I wondered how long he had been speaking today already "will you kindly tell the committee the circumstances surrounding your voyage, and, as succinctly as possible beginning with your going onboard the vessel at Southampton, your place on the ship on the voyage with any circumstances you feel would be helpful to us in this inquiry?"

"The circumstances surround my voyage were no different than the rest of the other first class passengers sir." I looked at him

"Who did you board with?"

I looked at my skirts, the emerald green was striking, or maybe it was just because I didn't want to answer the question.

"I'll repeat myself, who did you board with?"

I looked up at him and cleared my throat "I'm terribly sorry" I looked around the court room at the people sitting there, listing to my rambles about the titanic, about who I had boarded with and we didn't even get into the depths of this, as it had only been ten minutes "I boarded with my mother and my father. We also had my father's business partner's son along with us."

He nodded "Okay, Mrs. Holloway, will you describe to us what you did after the initial impact?"

I inhaled sharply "well, I was getting ready for bed as I had just arrived back to my cabin after sitting and gossiping with the ladies." I lied "It was then that I didn't hear the engines. I found it odd that the engines would have stopped, espically if we were to make it to new York by April 20th." I rubbed my hands on my skirts "so I left the comforts of my room to go out and get details of what happened. When I had asked a few passengers, they were unaware of what happened and then I overheard the captain talking." I lied. I learned through Erik, who was hastily dressing in his uniform, informing me to get dressed, how nervous he was "So I went to go look for my mother and father, and of course Raoul, that's what I did after the impact sir."

"did the officers seem to know the serious character of this collision?"

I nodded "I have reason to believe they did"

"What might that reason be?"

"when I had found my mother, they were getting the lifeboats out. I don't believe they would have done so if it wasn't serious. No one wants to induce panic for no certain reason."

He nodded "Where was your cabin?"

"A-Deck"

He shook his head "I wish you would describe just where that was."

"sorry," I mumbled "The sun deck is the upper deck of all, then A deck is the second, and B deck, so on and so on."

"we were told that there were very few passengers on A-Deck. What was your room number?"

"A-17" I mumbled

"Pardon?"

"A-17" I said louder "My family and I had the two staterooms that were available, my mother and I sharing one, my father and raoul sharing the other."

"Why were you traveling to New York?"

"We were to come here for holiday. My family and I also wanted to be aboard the Titanic's maiden voyage. It became a tradition for my family and I for the white star line's ships. We admired them emencely."

"did you personally see ay icebergs, or any other large volume of ice?"

I shook my head "I did not, sir. Not until I had entered into a lifeboat. It was hard to see, but it was there. Looming even, I have never seen an iceberg before, sir."

"Did you see any of the life boats being lowered?"

I nodded "I did, certantly three."

He inhaled "can you tell us, how exactly they were lowered?"

"they were swung out, people were ushered into the boats and they were simply lowered."

"do you know if these lifeboats are on different decks?"

I looked at him "They were not. They were all on the sun deck."

"So they were on the sun deck, the upper most deck of all?"

"yes."

"Do you know of any order or supervision excercised by the officers of the ship in loading these lifeboats?"

I nodded "I do yes. They were taking women and children first."

"when you left in a lifeboat, how many men were on board?"

I scratched at the side of my face "I don't believe there were any men on board, sir as I had boarded a lifeboat quite early in the sinking."

"enlighten me, Mrs. Holloway, how many people were in the boat as you were being lowered?"

"I'd say about thirty, if that."

"was that at it's full capacity?"

I averted my eyes away from the Senator "No, it was not it's full capacity."

"Do you know how many people the life boats could hold?"

I nodded "I do, I was told they were tested with the weight of sixty-five fully grown men."

"And there were thirty in your boat?"

"Yes."

"did you see the any other boats being lowered?"

"I did sir." I looked up at him

"were they at full capacity?"

I nodded "They were sir."

"After the titanic sunk, did your boat go back looking for people?"

I shook my head "I do not know sir."

"What do you mean you do not know? Did the boat unload you and the other ladies onboard to go search for survivors in the water?"

I shook my head "I do not know sir."

He sighed in frustruation and noticed that he had raised his voice "how do you not know Ma'am?"

I inhaled "I do not know because I was not aboard a lifeboat. After the ship had sunk I jumped overboard and went in search for my husband and my family. I found an overturned boat to where I resided upon until the Carpathia picked us up."

Senator smith nodded slightly and then pulled out a pocket watch "Well, our time is up, Mrs. Holloway. I'd like to thank you for your testimony."

I stood up and nodded "You're welcome sir. I'm sure I'll see you again later this afternoon for my husband's questioning." I walked past the man and to the door, grabbing the umbrella and walking out into the rain once again.

I quickly headed back into the hotel, and thanked the lady at the check in and handed her back the umbrella that she had let me borrow. I made my way upstairs and to the door of our hotel room and slipped the key into the hole and opened the door to find the most delightful sight.

Erik's six foot six frame was hunched over and his knees were almost hitting his chest, Marabelle's hair was flowing freely and she was trying to hold her skirts down, both were laughing and both were having a wonderful time as they jumped on the bed.

"CHRISTINE!" Marabelle shreaked and jumped off the bed, stumbling and almost ran into me "You're home!" she giggled and looked at Erik, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed, and pointed at me "Christine is home."

Erik laughed and stood up "of course she is." He walked towards me and took my hands in his leading me towards the bed and sat me down "How did it go?"

I shrugged slightly "It went fine, honestly." I inhaled and looked at him "it was just simple questioning, nothing more. He was slightly rude though, so be careful when you get in there." I smiled and kissed him softly.

"EWWWW" Marabelle made a face and ran out of the bedroom and into the sitting room to play with the toys that were sitting on the ground.

Erik laughed loudly and stood up and twirled me around "the dress looks beautiful on you, Christine."

I smiled and looked at him "well, I have to thank this one guy, he did pick it out for me. I believe it was my husband." I winked and stood on the tips of my toes to kiss him.

He laughed slightly and gently kissed me but pulled quickly away "Marabelle and I ordered room service. Roast beef, carrots and peas. Hope you don't mind."

I smiled and nodded "It sounds delicious!"

About an hour later the food had arrived, Erik, Marabelle and I all ate our lunch in the sitting room at the coffee table, sitting on the floor. It was unconventional but I loved it. I had loved our little family from the moment it was established, and I didn't want to let either of them go.

Authors Note: I've copied some of the inquiry questions for Christine from J. Bruce Ismay's inquiry but a few of the questions are mine. If you'd like to read the full testimonies you can go to .com it's absolutely brilliant. It has both the United States and British inquiries so if you'd like to take a gander over there and read them, then go ahead :D I'd love to hear what you think of it. I'd also like to throw out there that TLIL is almost finished. I've mentioned this to a few people and while I have a project waiting, I was also thinking about re-writing one of my stories. It would be great if you could PM me or even email me or leave a comment with the review you're going to give ;) on which one I should re-write. Here are the options;

Save me from my solitude

The balance of Power

(continue) The heart never lies

(continue) Guilty secrets

I'd love your feedback! Thanks!