We were woken a while later by someone shaking Will's shoulder like a madman.

"Willie! Willie! You took my bed!"

"Tough luck, Davy." Will mumbled, before attempting to roll over and go back to sleep. Davy wasn't having any of it, however.

"No Willie, I bagged that bed!"

Will sat up quickly, glaring at Davy furiously.

"You should have thought of that before you signed for one room, shouldn't you? Anyhow, I want to get some sleep. This is the only night we will all be able to sleep through, so I strongly suggest you shut it."

A murmur of agreement was heard from the other officers – well, they were mostly junior officers. Will had already told me about how little sleep junior officers were able to get, with their four hours on, four hours off routine. It was one of the (many) reasons Will was so happy as a senior officer – he had spent years with that awful routine, but now at least had a four on, eight off routine – more time for sleep, even with the extra duties.

"Willie, you can't just take someone's bed! I bagged it!"

Will climbed out of bed. "I seriously suggest you shut it and get into one of those other beds. You're disturbing Ada."

"Ada, Ada, Ada." Davy mimicked. "That's all you talk about – what will Mr Ismay have to say about that?"

"Shut up, Davy."

Will turned to get back into bed, but Davy spun him around and hit him square on the nose. I leapt out of bed as Will held his nose, trying in vain to stop the blood pouring out. Lights grabbed Davy and pulled him to one side.

"Do you want to be fired, you fool? You just hit your senior officer – what will Mr Ismay have to say about that?!"

Davy shrugged. "He took my bed. I bagged it."

The other officers were gawping at Will, whose nose was still pouring blood. I was trying to clean it up a bit with a handkerchief, but apparently in vain – it seemed it was broken. I threw a dirty look at Davy, while still trying to do something for Will.

"Don't worry about it, lovvie, I'll be fine. Just go back to sleep, I'll be fine."

He kept protesting, trying to push me away. I could tell from his face that he was in agony – well, it did seem that his nose was broken, so that was hardly a surprise. I led him over to the bed and sat him down.

"Keep your head up, darling."

Suddenly we both burst out laughing, remembering that time Will had managed to get himself into a brawl outside a public house in Dalbeattie. We had been in there with his brother, and a drunken man had tried to make me go home with him. Will had then decided we had been out for too long, and had led me to the door. Despite assurances that neither of us wanted trouble, the man had swung a punch at Will, sending him flying outside. Will had tried to fight back, but when the other man's drinking friends had appeared, we set off running – with them close on our tails. We spent the night sneaking around the backs of houses and other buildings, trying to avoid the group, until they became bored with the chase. By that point we weren't bothered about going home – it was dawn anyway.

Lights was looking at us like we had gone mad, while Harry Lowe came over to inspect Will's nose.

"Doesn't look broken."

"All I wanted was a good nights sleep!" Will gasped through his laughter.

The other officers seemed to have become bored of the scene now, the only exceptions being Lowe – who was holding a cleaner handkerchief to Will's nose – and Davy, who was still muttering about the bed.

"You should see the doctor in the morning though, Will." Lowe stated, as he stood up.

The bleeding seemed to have stopped at last, and I laid back down on the bed. Will looked at me ruefully.

"Lovvie, you shouldn't tease me like that – I can't lie down!"

We both started laughing again, and I sat back up beside him, rearranging the pillow so we could lean as we sat. Eventually we drifted off to sleep again, not waking until the morning.


April 3, 1912

Will woke fairly early the next morning, and gently shook me awake.

"Come on, lovvie," he whispered. "We'll get out of here before they wake up."

He opened the door carefully, making sure it didn't creak, then we slipped out and down the stairs. A young man was at the desk, and he looked at us suspiciously as we walked towards the door.

"Oi, what room were you two in?"

"Room twenty." Will replied.

"I don't recognise you. I gave that key to a group of officers."

"I am an officer."

"She's not."

"But she was with us."

He continued to look at us suspiciously, but Will spoke again quickly.

"Anyway, one of my colleagues – one of the other officers – he broke my nose last night, so when they come down can you give our bill to him? His name is Mr David Blair."

My eyes widened as I looked at Will. He wasn't being serious, was he?

"How do I know this 'Mr David Blair' will pay?"

"If he doesn't, send someone down to the RMS Titanic. You will get your money, I swear. If it comes to that, ask for Chief Officer William Murdoch. That's me. I will make sure you will get your money from him."

The man obviously didn't quite believe him, but he nodded reluctantly.

"Very well. Murdoch, you say? I'll remember that."

Will smiled and waved as we walked outside, my arm linked in his.

"Will, I really think you are mad."

"Ah yes, I must agree with you on that point, lovvie. But I know Davy will end up paying because it's his only way out – he did hit a senior officer."

"That's blackmail!"

"True. He won't mind though, really lovvie. Anyway, I think they all owe us for last night. Worst night I've spent in a long while."

"It wasn't that bad, Will. I liked being with you."

He leant down and kissed my nose.


"Mr Murdoch!"

Will turned at the sound of Mr Andrews' voice. He had an umbrella in his hand – it looked new. He ran over to us, with a smile on his face – which quickly faded at the sight of Will's nose.

"What on earth -"

Will looked confused, then touched his nose as he remembered.

"Ah...that's nothing, really."

"I don't know what to say, Mr Murdoch. I really don't. We've only been here for seven hours, and you've already been in a fight!"

"It wasn't a fight, Mr Andrews. Honestly. It's all sorted out now and-"

"It was one of the officers, wasn't it? Mr Murdoch, I have to ask one thing of you. Just one thing. Please don't do anything to disrupt Titanic's journey, and don't allow your fellow officers to cause disruption either."

Will nodded, smiling all the while. I was surprised Mr Andrews felt the need to say this at all – Will was the most professional man I had ever met, and I was sure the other officers were just as professional – otherwise they would not have been chosen to serve on Titanic. Still, Will was standing there with what looked like a broken nose.

Mr Andrews sighed and looked at me.

"You know, Miss Banks, I really do fear for this voyage if even the senior officers are getting up to mischief."

"There's no cause for worry, Mr Andrews," I smiled. "I will keep a close eye on Will for you."

"I fear that may not be enough," he sighed again. "I am more concerned about Mr Lightoller and Mr Blair. I must ask myself, what were they thinking when they hired both of them?"

"Come now, sir, Lights and Davy are perfectly capable officers!"

Even after last night Will was still intent on sticking up for the other officers.

"I'm sure they are perfectly capable, Mr Murdoch, and Lord knows they are all over qualified for this. If I can be frank with you," he scratched his head and frowned. "It's not their performance which concerns me. No, I know they would never do anything to disrupt the voyage. All the officers of Titanic are professional and trustworthy. It's how Mr Ismay will react to incidents between the officers which worries me."

Will was nodding in agreement. Mr Andrews continued.

"You see, I do not see any problem with minor rifts or," he looked at Will's nose again. "Or even incidents like this. I know this will not be allowed to get in the way of professionalism during the voyage. But if something like this happens again, Mr Ismay will see it as single-handedly destroying everything the White Star Line stands for. So please, Mr Murdoch, for my sake as much as your own, please do not let any incidents of this nature occur in the next few weeks."

Will nodded again. "I'll make sure of it, sir."

There was a brief pause, before Will spoke again.

"Was there something you wanted to say to me before, sir?"

"Please, Will, stop calling me sir when you're not on duty. There's no call for you to call me 'sir' anyway, I'm not your employer!"

"No, but I have been told it is customary for White Star Line staff to refer to passengers as 'sir', 'madam' or 'miss'."

"Well don't worry about that when you're off duty, Will! Anyhow, I was meaning to tell you that Mr Smith requests your presence as soon as possible. I ran into him earlier – apparently he hadn't expected you and Miss Ada to leave the ship." He paused. "I apologise, Miss Banks, I did not mean to -"

"Don't worry about it, Mr Andrews! Ada is fine." I smiled.

Will frowned slightly. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No. Only that he does not wish for the other officers to be informed – only you."

I could see fear in Will's eyes as he tensed up. God, the captain wouldn't snatch Will's dream away from him, would he?

"Oh, and Will? I would clean that up before you go to see him."

Mr Andrews gestured to Will's nose with a small smile.

"Of course. Well...thank you for informing me, Mr Andrews. I hope we speak again soon -"

"Don't be ridiculous, Will. He won't be firing you. Don't worry about it. I must leave you now, though – I promised to write to Helen when we got to Southampton."

He waved an envelope at us as he walked away. Mr Andrews really seemed to be a perfect gentleman – he seemed so thoughtful and kind, and obviously friendly. I was almost surprised at the thought that someone like that could dedicate so much time to building ships when surely his family and friends would want him to stay with them all the time? Still, from what I had seen of him already, he was completely dedicated to his work. Just like Will.

I looked at Will in concern. He had an expression of pure worry on his face.

"Come on, Ada, I need to see the captain."

"Wait, Will – what about your nose? You will need to clean it up first."

"There's no time!"

"There is plenty of time! Look, we will just go to my room, alright? And then I'll clean you up, you can change into a clean shirt, then you can go to see the captain. Don't you think that will be better than turning up there looking like this?"

Will smiled unwillingly. "Are you saying you don't like my appearance?"

"No, you're perfect. I'm just not sure the captain will appreciate it."

I suddenly kissed him gently on the lips, a completely impulsive action. At least it helped him make up his mind.

"Very well. I'll do what you said."

He kissed my nose and we set off towards Titanic, our arms linked closely as before.


Just thought I'd add this little note at the end to thank everyone who has reviewed my story. I really do appreciate all the reviews I get, and I'm so glad you all seem to be enjoying this so far! I have quite a few chapters written up which I'm in the middle of editing (something went badly wrong with how I'm writing Ada's character along the way..she seems to have had a personality transplant behind my back, so I'm trying to fix that!), so I hope to get them up soon. I just hope the pacing is ok – please let me know if you think I'm dragging it out or even going too fast!