Hello you beautiful people~ So, I finally updated! And watched Frozen! :D It's really good. Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter! See you guys at the end of the chapter!

Just a friendly reminder, it is 14 April 1912! This would be the second half of 14 April :) ( Psst... THE SINKING CHAPTER :D )

- Harry -

Harry ran over to the officers' quarters and stopped just outside Jim's room. "Jim! Jim!" He banged loudly on his door. Like a few nights before, a very sleepy Jim opened up the door, dressed only in his undershirt. "Is this becoming a habit?" Jim joked, rubbing his eyes. ,

"Liz is hurt." Harry said seriously. Jim's eyes widened and he shut the door, throwing on his officer's jacket and buttoning it as he walked out. "What happened?" Jim asked anxiously. "Caledon. Caledon Hockley happened." Harry replied. Jim clenched his fists as the two men made their way to the girls' stateroom in silence.

- Thomas -

The doctor left about 10 minutes ago, leaving behind some ointment. Elizabeth was slowly stirring in her sleep. "Mm...daddy?" She croaked, her voice hoarse from crying. "Yes, yes I'm right here, sweetheart." Thomas said to her comfortingly, giving her a warm smile. "Where's...where's Jim?" She asked, trying to sit up. He helped her to sit against the bed frame. "I've asked Officer Lowe to go get him. Don't worry Liz, he'll be here." He held her hands in his.

"What...what time is it?" She asked. Using his free hand, Thomas checked his pocket watch. "It's half past 2." He told her. There was a knock at the door.

Clara went to go answer it. From the room, the pair of father and daughter could hear voices.

"Where is she?"

"In there."

The door to the room swung open and Jim was there, panting. "Liz!" He called out, running to her side. After Thomas got up from the bed, Jim nodded at him before taking his place, sitting closer to Elizabeth. "Jim!" She cried, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. "There, there...It's all right..." He said, stroking her hair.

"We'll leave you two alone." Thomas said, bringing Harry and Clara out with him.

- Elizabeth -

She hugged Jim, her tears starting to well up in her eyes again. She needed him so badly when Caledon was hurting her but now wasn't too late a time either.

After a few minutes of lying in his embrace, Jim pulled away from her. Their hands were still on each other's arms. "Are you all right?" He asked. Elizabeth, smiling at the sight of him, shook her head, but the tears still fell. Jim frowned, lifting up his hands to cup her face in them. She flinched at his touch and it pained him to see her like this. "I must look a mess." She tried to joke, pulling his hands away from her cheeks so that she could wipe away her tears.

"No. You're beautiful. You always are, and always will be." Jim smiled at her, putting his hands on her shoulders comfortingly. Any last attempt to hide her tears faded away as she broke down, crying hard as she rested her head on his shoulder, pulling him into another embrace. Jim wrapped one arm around her, the other on her head, kissing her on the top of her head. He let a single tear fall from his eye. Seeing her like this broke his heart and she should never ever have to feel like this, he thought.

"Honey, please don't cry..." He broke away to kiss her on the lips sweetly, hopefully making her feel at least a little better. Elizabeth welcomed his comfort as she put her hands on his cheeks and kissed him back. "Feeling a little bit better now?" He asked, giving her a sympathetic smile. She brought herself to match his smile and nodded a little, tired out from all that crying.

Jim wiped the last of her tears away before lying down on the bed, but not before taking off his coat. "Come here." He opened his arms so that she could lie in his embrace. Elizabeth laid on his chest, listening to his stable heartbeat as she let the sound of it lull her to sleep.

- Thomas -

The shipbuilder brought Harry and Clara out of the bedroom, leading them to the couches and chairs. He took a seat next to the fireplace and the officer and maid took the two-seating couch directly opposite him. "Just to confirm my thoughts, the two of you are...together?" He asked the pair to distract them from Elizabeth. "What?" Clara looked up from her seat. "It's pretty obvious, you know..." Thomas gave the two of them a half-smirk. Harry smiled, putting an arm around the blushing blonde.

"Is it all right with you, Mr. Andrews? I mean... you are the closest she has to a father on this ship..." Harry asked him, eyes shining. "You seem like a good enough lad, I don't see why not." He smiled at them kindly, though his hands were fidgety, still worried about his daughter.

Harry took Clara's hands in his. "Don't worry, Mr. Andrews, I'm sure Elizabeth is fine. She's a strong woman." Clara tried to ease Thomas' worries. "Thank you, Clary." He nodded at her. Harry and Clara decided that Thomas would need some quiet and peaceful 'alone time' so they left the stateroom.

- Harry -

As the couple bid Thomas farewell, Harry opened the door to allow Clara to leave first before closing it behind him. "Would you like to take the air on the boat deck?" He asked her politely. "That'd be nice." She smiled up at him, speaking in her usual soft and gentle voice. He offered her his arm and she took it, leaning close to him.

They got weird looks from many of the first-class passengers. An officer together with a maid. Not exactly a match made in heaven, but all that mattered was that they loved each other, and that Charles or the other officers did not catch him skipping his shift. But then again, he could just say that Clara was only accompanying him on his rounds. Of course, Officer Wilde would not take that excuse very well...

They managed to make their way from the boat deck to the stern of the ship. Clara leaned against the white railings as Harry embraced her from behind, the two enjoying the breeze on their faces. His chin was resting on her shoulder. "This all feels like a dream..." She whispered.

Harry sucked lightly on her neck, which made her giggle. "Not in public!" She whispered loudly, lightly elbowing him in the rib. He chuckled."This is not a dream, I can assure you." He said, kissing her cheek. "What happens after the ship docks?" She turned around, looking at him with a tinge of worry in her face.

"Honestly, I have no idea." He laughed. "All I know is that I want to be with you forever, no matter what it takes." He touched the tip of his nose to hers, looking at her lovingly in the eyes. "I love you so much." She gave him a small smile before tip-toeing up to kiss him on the lips.

Harry smiled against her lips as he deepened the kiss. From behind him, they heard someone clear their throat. Clara opened her eyes and Harry turned around immediately. They saw Charles standing there, arms crossed, staring at them. They burst out into small laughter. Harry turned back to her. "I'll come find you sooner or later." He gave her a quick kiss before walking to Charles. As the two officers walked away, Harry kept looking back, stealing glances at Clara who did not leave until Harry was no longer in sight.

- Elizabeth -

Elizabeth slowly woke up. She looked down to see that she was still dressed in her purple dress. Earlier she had been upset about her...encounter with Caledon but when Jim kissed her and showered her with comfort, it was as if all that fright and worry had been cast aside. She looked beside her and saw that Jim was no longer there. She assumed that he had gone off for his watch with Will.

Elizabeth sat up in the bed, looking at the clock hung on the wall. It was currently nearing 5 in the evening. The photographs! She quickly got out of the bed and looked at herself in the floor-length mirror in the room. She straightened out her dress with her hands and re-did her bun. Seeing that her white gloves were stained from her earlier meeting with Nicholas, she took them off, laying them out on the end table next to the bed. She quickly grabbed her matching dark purple clutch bag before leaving, but not before using some make-up to conceal her cheek wounds.

She walked out of the room and saw Clara on the couch, reading one of her books. The maid heard the door open and close so she looked up. "Liz! Are you feeling any better?" She put her book down and walked over to her. "I'm just fine, Clary, thanks." Elizabeth smiled at her. "Are you going anywhere?" Clara asked, seeing how Elizabeth did not change into something more comfortable. "I'll only be out for a while. When I get back, I'll need your help dressing for dinner." Elizabeth said before leaving the room.

She slowly made her way to the photographic darkroom, roughly remembering the directions there. It was one thing to know where it was on the blueprints, but another thing entirely to know where it was in real life. She knocked on the wooden door lightly. She stood there for a while before the door swung open, shocking her a little. There Nicholas was, not really changing much in appearance since the last time she had seen him.

"Elizabeth?" He gasped, a little taken aback. "Yes, it's me. If I recall correctly, I mentioned that I would be coming back to collect my photographs, Nick." She laughed. "Right. Of course! Would you...like to come in?" He stepped aside. She smiled at him. "I'd love to, thanks." She walked in.

The room was tinted red and it was dim. "Right. Your photographs are here." He walked over to a corner in the room. 50 photographs were stacked up. Elizabeth picked up the stack. She looked through a few and stopped at the first one that she and Jim took together. Nicholas noticed this. "Well...Are they any good?" He asked. Elizabeth grinned widely at the tall Irish man. "Yes, very much, thank you."

She put the photographs back down and opened up her bag. She took out a $10 note and passed it to him.
( A/N : Just a side note, $10 in that time would be equivalent to $250 in today's currency if I'm correct. )

"What's wrong?" She asked. "I can't accept this much money." He said. Elizabeth giggled. "Just take it!" She took his hand and opened it, shoving the money there before closing his hand up into a fist. "Thank you very much, Elizabeth." Nicholas looked at her gratefully. "It's all right, Nick. I'd better be on my way. I hope to see you again before the ship docks." She smiled at him once more before taking the stack of photographs and walking out of the door, leaving Nicholas standing there in a daze.

Elizabeth left the stack of photographs on her vanity table, hopefully remembering to pass them out to Jack, Will, Charles, Harry and Jim sometime later during the voyage.

- Clara -

Clara helped Elizabeth pick out a cardinal red coloured dress that touched the floor. Elizabeth never really did like dresses with trains. The sleeves were elbow-length and little ribbons were tied at the end of the short sleeves. It had a sweetheart neckline, like most of her other dresses, and the bodice had little black gems sewn on it. That particular night, she felt a little more daring and chose to forgo a corset. That dress was particularly tight so it wasn't that obvious since she was wearing a camisole as well.

Clara helped her to braid her long brown hair in a side French braid, putting a hairpin shaped like a wisteria flower on her chocolate brown hair. She wore a pair of diamond studs, her mother's necklace and the timepiece Molly gave her over a pair of black wrist-length leather gloves. She topped-up the make-up used to hide her wounds. "You look beautiful, Liz." Clara smiled at Elizabeth in the mirror. "Thank you Clary." She hugged her maid before leaving the room to go get her father out for dinner. By then it was already close to half an hour after 7 in the evening.

( A/N : The wisteria flower symbolizes welcome and playful spontaneity :) much like Elizabeth I hope! )

She lightly knocked on the cabin door a couple of times before the door opened. "Liz!" A smile spread across Thomas' face. As usual, he let her in and went into his study to grab a couple of things as she sat on the couch, waiting for him. He came out, now wearing a grey wool coat, in his hands his signature black leather notebook. "Shall we?" He offered his arm. Elizabeth grinned at him, taking it as the pair left the room.

"So, who are we having dinner with?" She asked. "I was thinking that we could have dinner alone tonight. Just the two of us. Think of it as a...replacement birthday dinner." He smiled down at her. Her grin grew wider as she squeezed his arm as a form of affection.

The stewards opened the doors for the two as they thanked them. They continued down the grand staircase, sharing jokes and their experiences on the RMS Titanic so far. "I haven't told you tonight, but you look wonderful." Thomas complimented her. "Thanks daddy. I would say the same...but you look no different from the last time I saw you!" She giggled. He chuckled from beside her.

They got into the restaurant and were seated at a two-seater table next to the window. Placing their orders, both salmon, they set the napkins on their laps and sat there, smiling at each other, not talking much. They would occasionally chat about how the ship was designed but when Elizabeth brought up her aunt Augustine, the table was quiet again. The food arrived shortly after.

"Daddy? I just wanted to let you know that I love you. Thanks for letting us have this private time for dinner." Elizabeth smiled at her father, trying to ease the tension. "No worries. I enjoy every moment I'm with you even more than I do with the others." He whispered across the table, making her laugh again.

- Harry -

Harry was wandering around the boat deck at about half an hour before 9 at night, breathing in the fresh air when he saw Jim walking around, hands behind his back that showed he was on watch. He walked up to the Sixth Officer who acknowledged his presence with a nod and a smile. "Isn't your watch over already, Jim?" Harry asked him. "Remember our poker games last night? Will and I lost to Herb and Joseph so we had to take their shifts." Jim pouted. "I pity you." Harry laughed, patting Jim on the back before leaving for his cabin to get some rest.

- Elizabeth -

It was a little after 9 at night when the pair of father and daughter left the restaurant, giving the waiter a good tip. "Should I escort you back to your room for the night?" Thomas asked Elizabeth as they stood at the end of the grand staircase. "It's all right daddy. I might want to walk around for a while. I'll go back myself." She smiled at him. "All right then sweetheart. Good night." He gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead before he disappeared up the grand staircase.

Truth be told, she had no idea what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go. She just knew that there was nothing for her to do back in the stateroom so she chose to wander around the ship instead. Then it hit her. She might as well go and visit her new-found friends Jack and Harold, the wireless operators up in the "Marconi Room". She just hoped that they would not turn her away.

Making her way there was pretty easy, seeing how she had been there before. She remembered the operators' schedules and knew that Jack would be on duty at this time. She knocked on the wooden arch, saying hello to them. Jack head shot up and he straightened his posture, giving her a smile. "Come on in, Liz!" Harold called from behind a curtain. Elizabeth walked in and sat on her usual seat next to the curtain.

Harold came out a few moments after, adjusting his tie. She assumed that he got dressed after he heard her knock because the buttons on his navy blue vest were all done wrong. She couldn't hide her giggle. Harold raised an eye brow before looking down to see his vest buttons. "O...Oh!" He turned around and quickly adjusted them.

"So what brings you here, Liz?" Jack asked, still tapping away. "Nothing much. Just that I didn't want to go back straight after dinner." She shrugged her shoulders and Harold got out another wooden chair to put next to her so he could sit down. "Well it's nice to have some lady company once in a while, especially if your partner's Jack Phillips." Harold joked. "Well you're not that fun to be around either, Bride." Jack smirked as he wrote something down on paper.

"Do you know how to play Tiddlywinks, by any chance?" Harold asked casually. Jack groaned. "Oh. My. Gosh. I DO!" Elizabeth almost screamed, eliciting a louder groan from Jack. "Do you wanna play?" The junior operator exclaimed, almost sounding like a child. "You have the mat and everything now?" She asked. Harold responded by getting out a tin box out from under the bed behind the curtain.

( A/ N : Tiddlywinks is a game that was really popular in the 1890s apparently. A very brief how-to-play : using tiny discs called 'winks', the players, usually 4 but 2 can play as well, would use a custom-made thing ( squidgers. a player can have as many as they want ) to help propel the winks into a little cup or pot. This game doesn't really play a important part in the story but you guys can go read up on it if you want to :) )

"You can use red and blue. That's what Jack always uses. As for squidgers, do you mind if she uses yours, Jack?" Harold asked innocently. "'Course not." He replied, not looking at them. "Great!" And so began the two's game of Tiddlywinks.

Forty minutes into the game, Jack called Harold. "Harold? Harold!" He said, irritated. "Mmm?" He barely replied. "You do know there is a stack of iceberg warnings waiting to be sent up to the bridge right?" Jack asked, pointing to a stack of papers on the desk. Harold wasn't looking. "I'll get it up later. Shouldn't be that important." He was engrossed in the game.

Eventually, the iceberg warnings were forgotten. It was currently twenty minutes after eleven and the three of them didn't even realise. Harold and Elizabeth only stopped their game when too many of their winks were 'abducted' by Jack. Every time they flipped it towards the general direction of Jack, he would swoop down and collect them. The game just irked him to no end. Ever since they had any free time, Harold always pestered him to play Tiddlywinks with him.

"Well boys, I think it's time to call it a night." Elizabeth yawned. Harold pouted slightly as he kept all the winks, squidgers, felt mat and pot in its original tin box. Harold quickly packed up and stood up first, reaching a hand out to help Elizabeth up next. "It's been a pleasure playing with you Harold." She gave him a long, friendly hug which he returned. "Good night!" She gave each of them a kiss on the cheek before leaving the wireless room to return to her own stateroom.

By the time she got into the room, Clara had already been fast asleep in her bed. Suddenly Elizabeth wasn't tired anymore. She walked over to her promenade deck and took a seat on the chair. She thought about Jim and all the precious moments she had spent with him over the past few days, smiling and giggling to herself. But then, she also started to think about some other unfortunate events, mainly everything Caledon did. As she put a hand on her cheek, she flinched at the slight pain. Elizabeth started to cry, thinking about it. Every single time he managed to best her, she felt so helpless and always had to rely on other people's help. She wanted to be independent, not having to rely on anyone but she always ended up the damsel in distress. Her cries unknowingly got louder, loud enough to wake Clara up.

"Liz?" A soft voice called out. Elizabeth quickly looked up and saw Clara walking towards her. "Liz, darling what's going on? Why are you crying all alone in the dark?" She asked, concerned, as she sat next to Elizabeth on the deck chair. "I...I just feel so...useless! So helpless, always needing people to help me in doing EVERYTHING! I rely on people much more than they'd like, I'm going to presume" She ranted, crying even harder. "Look, even now I'm relying on you to cheer me up. " She laughed sarcastically.

"Oh Liz...some people WANT you to rely on them. It's a form of care. I would hate if you didn't need to rely on me anymore. Come to think about it, should that day come, I would lose my job." Clara laughed. Elizabeth giggled as well, letting her friend wipe away her tears. "Thank you Clary." Elizabeth said sincerely, looking at her in the eyes as she held her hands in hers. "No problem, Liz. You've cheered me up way too many times to count, it's time I repaid the favour."

As the two girls stood up, ready to go to bed, they felt a sudden tremor. Their eyes widened as they wondered what it was. They heard a faint sound of something hitting something else and felt the ship slowly come to a stop. At once, they knew something was amiss. "Clara, go get dressed." Elizabeth said seriously. "Yes, Liz." Clara nodded her head politely before quickly going back in to change into her maid uniform.

Now to thank those who left reviews! Thank you to rebeccajoleneaumanwilson and lilyp23 for your reviews!
rebeccajoleneaumanwilson : thank you so much! I'm really happy that you're proud of this story!
lilyp23 : thank you for your review!

Also, I did research popular games that ( if you were to count back in time ) would be fitting as a childhood game for Jack, Harold and Elizabeth. I picked Tiddlywinks because it sounds cute~ But guys...the sinking is happening!

To everyone else, I hope you all are enjoying the story as well! Have a nice day and review if you liked the chapter! :D