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It was Sunday. Damon's father said he could feel Sunday's coming like a ship in the distance, that it was in their blood. He stretched, yawned, and got out of bed, standing and looking out the window. He knew what he had to do.
Sunlight was splashed across the promenade, across the table that Klaus and Elena were sitting at, eating in an uncomfortable silence. Bonnie Bennett was was in her maid uniform, pouring coffee for the couple before going back inside.
"I was hoping you would come to me last night," Klaus said in a soft voice, looking at a bagel in the middle of the table. Elena wondered what angle he was playing. He almost sounded upset, but she knew better.
"I was tired," she replied tensely, looking at him.
"Yes. Your exertions below decks were no doubt exhausting." Elena stiffened as if poked.
"I see you had that undertaker of a manservant follow me again."
"You will never behave like that again!" He said in a cold voice, his eyes raging, "Do you understand?" Elena glared him down. The nerve of him to tell her what to do.
"I'm not some foreman in your mills that you can command! I am your fiancée-"
Klaus exploded, knocking the expensive china onto the floor. He gripped her arms, yanking her up so that she was laying in the broken glass across the table. She couldn't have fought back this way even if she wanted to.
"Yes!" he screamed at her, "You are my fiancée! And you are my wife… in practice, if not yet by law! So you will honor me, as a wife is required to honor her husband! I will not be made out a fool! I am in any way being unclear?"
Elena's eyes were wide, her lip was trembling as if she were about to cry or scream at him. Suddenly, she straightened despite his grib on her arms, looking fierce, like a lioness bidding her time before she could pounce. In the glass' reflection, she saw Bonnie, who was frozen in the doorway with a tray of orange juice, and she turned to look at the woman Klaus had ignored. His eyes followed Elena's and straightened, stalking past the maid to enter the stateroom.
Elena fell back in her chair, emotionally exhausted. "We...had a little accident. I'm sorry, Bonnie. I'm so sorry."
"Don't mind me, Miss Elena. Did you know I was married once?" Bonnie asked Elena as she worked to clean up the larger piece of glass, "My mama had set me up with some real nice man, real big shot." Elena was shocked. The young maid couldn't be that much older than her, could she?
"What happened?"
"He was rich, handsome, and seemingly sweet. Back then, my mama had come from a good family with a good name. She wanted me to have a good match, unlike her. My daddy, you see, he ran out on us. Luka was a nice man, I thought at the time, until he wasn't. He had an awful temper and tried to make me submit to his every wish. I told him, 'If you wanted a servant, you should have hired one. If you wanted your own whore, you should've walked down to the corner of downtown and hired one. But I'm not your property, Luka Martin, I am your wife and I expect to be treated as such.' Needless to say, I found whatever money he had in the house and left that night."
Elena swallowed. Bonnie had come from money, it seems, and left it. Giving up Klaus wouldn't be such a bad sacrifice, especially not if she'd be getting Damon. If she waited until later, she might be too late, and she'd end up like Bonnie, leaving in the middle of the night. She sighed.
Isobel was dressed for the day, and was helping Elena with her corset. The task did not help divert Isobel's fury one bit, and in fact, it was helping her to show Elena just how angry her mother was, every time she said something.
"You are not to see that boy again. Do you understand me, Elena? I forbid it!" Isobel put her knee at the base of her daughter's back and pulled the corset strings tighter with both hands.
"Stop it, Mother," Elena sighed, hardly able to breath as it was, "You'll give yourself a nosebleed." Isobel turned and walked to the door, locking it with a click. Then, she wheeled on Elena.
"Elena, this is not a game! Our situation is precarious. You know the money's gone!" her mother yelled, careful to keep it quiet enough for Klaus not to hear.
"Of course I know it's gone. You remind me every day!"
"Your father left us nothing but a legacy of bad debts, hidden by a good name. And that name is the only card left we have to play. Hanging around with that… bohemian…" Isobel said with a distaste in her voice and a look as if she had swallowed something sour, "will not help our situation." Elena wanted to defend Damon, to blurt out that he was a count, that he would take care of them, but she didn't. It wasn't her secret to tell. Isobel turned Elena around and grabbed the corset strings again, waiting until Elena sucked in a breath "I don't understand you," she continued, "It is a fine match with Klaus, and it will insure our survival."
Elena stared in the mirror, looking at her mother. In her eyes, it showed her as she was, lost, scared, naïve, young, and hurt, weighed down by hopes too big for her to hold, by dreams that were not hers, someone who trusted someone whom was supposed to guide and protect them, but instead led her head on into the battle. "How can you put this on my shoulders?"
Isobel turned Elena to face her, fear etched deep into her features and eyes. "Do you want to see me working as a seamstress? Is that what you want? Do you want to see our fine things sold at auction, our memories scattered to the winds? My God, Elena, how can you be so selfish?"
Was she being selfish? Was it so selfish for her to want to be loved as her to the man she married, not as some trophy to be held on the arm in front of society? Didn't her parents love each other? She certainly thought her father loved her mother. Was it so wrong for her to want that kind of love aimed at her too?
Instead, she ignored her mental questions, turning back to the dresser and sucking in another breath. Isobel pulled the corset tighter.
At the divine service that morning, Captain Smith was leading a large group in the hymn Eternal Father Strong to Save. Elena and Isobel were in the middle of the group to sing.
On the deck, Damon was currently cursing in every language he knew, which the few late passerby's discovered, was quiet a few. When he rang out of words in one language, he moved to the next. Damon had stepped outside at an urgent telegraph from Cody Webber, his father's head doctor. His father didn't enjoy the best health, but this morning he had suffered a heart attack. Webber wasn't sure of Giuseppe's condition, he said these next few hours were critical, but he didn't think Giuseppe would die from the heart attack, or suffer any major problems, but he thought Damon should know just in case. He thought the Marquess needed to eat a better diet, but heart problems were rather common in Damon's father's family, the Doctor had said not so reassuringly. It only made him feel worse.
"What do you have against me?" Damon shouted to the sky, pausing his angry pacing and cursing. Walking over to the wall, he sat down. Feet approached him, but he refused to look up.
"What are you doing out here?" Alaric's voice came, "Shouldn't you be in church like the rest of us?"
"I should have been there," Damon said, shaking his head.
"Be where? What happened?" his friend asked, kneeling beside him.
"My father had a heart attack. They don't know if he'll be okay. A heart attack, Ric! I should have been there with him! Why wasn't I there?" He yelled, angry at himself.
"Damon," Ric said softly, placing a hand on Damon's shoulder, "Your father is a strong man. He'll be okay. It's not your fault you weren't there. You couldn't have known. He won't blame you."
"I can't lose him too, Ric, I can't lose him. He's all I have left," Damon said, sounding an awful lot like a child than an adult. That's when Alaric remembered, the Count was only twenty.
The gymnasium on Titanic was one of the ship's many prides. Machines of every sort were lined in the room. A woman in a long dress pedaled a stationary bicycle. Thomas Andrews entered the room, leading a small tour group, including Elena, Isobel, and Klaus. Elena looked miserable, and justly so, but was hiding it well. The latter two looked happy. Klaus sat on the oars of a stationary rowing machines, working the oars with a well-trained stroke.
"Reminds me of my Harvard days," he told them as he stood. Elena smiled encouragingly, not meaning it in the least.
There was a bouncy, little man dressed in white flannels, T.W. McCauley, the gym instructor, who was eager to show off his modern equipment, much like other of the crew on the ship who were excited to show it off. He pressed a switch and a machine with a saddle on it started to move. Elena looked at it curious. "The electric horse is very popular. We even have an electric camel." He turned to Isobel, smiling at the first class woman, "Perhaps you would like to try your hand at the rowing, ma'am?"
"Don't be absurd," she said to him, the look on her face looked as if he suggested running around, skirts hiked up to show the knees, "I can't think of a skill I should likely need less."
Andrews, sensing it was time to take his tour back, gestured to the group. "The next stop on our tour will be the bridge. This way, please."
Damon was walking with determination, with all the composure of a high ranking noble. Tyler and Alaric followed him. Damon climbed the steps to B-Deck and stepped over the gate separating third from second class.
"She's a goddess amongst mortal men, Damon, there's no denying. But she's in another world and you need to forget her. She's closed the door. In your face, I might add."
Damon ignored him. "Ready...go." The former industry heir sighed, putting his hands together and crouching down. Damon stepped into Tyler's hands and couldn't help but remember doing this with his cousins. Tyler boosted him up, where he scrambled over the railing onto the First Class deck. Alaric held the jacket that he 'stole' from the Conte di Toscana.
"He's not being logical, I'm tell you."
"Liebe is not logical."
"Mr. Andrews," Elena said from the front of the group, "I did the sum in my head, and with the number of lifeboats times the capacity you mentioned...forgive me, but it seems that there are not enough for everyone aboard."
"About half, actually. Elena, you miss nothing, do you?," Andrew said proudly, looking at Elena like she were his own daughter, "In fact, I put in these new type davits, which can take an extra row of boats here. But it was thought...by some...that the deck would look too cluttered. So I was overruled."
Klaus looked discussed. "Waste of deck space as it is, on an unsinkable ship!"
Andrews ignored him though and turned back to Elena, telling her, "Sleep soundly, young Elena. I have built you a good ship, strong and true. She's all the lifeboat you need."
As the group were passed Boat 7, a gentleman turned from the rail and walked up behind the group, tapping Elena on the arm. She turned and followed the Count as they ducked into the gymnasium. He closed the door behind her, looking out through the ripple-glass window to the starboard rail. The gym's instructor was chatting with the woman riding the bicycle when the group had passed before. They were alone in the room, and if they weren't, he had his ways.
Elena was scared, and needed to get away. She didn't trust Damon one bit. She didn't trust him not do do something to make her falling into his arms yet again and stay there. She knew she was on a very fine ledge and if she fell, there would be no climbing back up.
"I'm involved now, Elena. I can't go back to my life, not without knowing you'll be all right," is all he said.
"I'll be fine. Really."
"I don't think so. You forget, I've lived this life since the day I was born. I've been groomed to take my father's spot should something happen to him. Why do you think I've take meals with the third class, spend my days with them? I, just like any other normal person, would go insane having to sit up here, listening to them lie to themselves. You have this fire in you Elena, and if you don't do something, if you don't break out, that fire is going to die."
"It's not your decision to save me, Damon."
"You're right," he said, and she was surprised he backed down so easily, "It's yours. If it comes down to them or you though, I will choose you whether you like it or not because I will not sit by and watch you slowly kill yourself."
Elena, clearly uncomfortable, started walking away. He was too intense. "I have to get back. T-they'll miss me. Please, Damon, just leave me alone." Then she turned and ran, and he let her go. She passed the window, and he watched as her image rippled, like a figure underwater.
Wow, I have a had a busy day today! First I had my last final in the morning, then I updated all my stories. Lol so not so busy. I hope you enjoyed this.
Please review.