The next morning found Will and I at the Marconi offices, scribbling out telegrams to our families. The office was filled with other customers, some dictating what they wanted sent and others waiting for replies to come in. Workers in uniforms ranging from full kits to mere shirtsleeves were hurtling around, and the constant clacking and bursts of electric noise filled the air. We were hardly noticed in a corner of the main room, using the wall as a desk to write our messages. I tried to keep my hand steady as I wrote.

Mother,
Will proposed yesterday, and I accepted. I will wire you when we depart for New York, I do not know when it will be. Please send to 98 Belmont Road, Portswood, Southampton.
I am so happy Mother, Anastasia

I looked over to try and read Will's message where he was writing next to me, but I could only make out a little from where his hands covered it. Engaged, Anastasia, very happy, visit? I shook my head, still unbelieving that I was engaged. That someday soon Will and I would be married. Last night, after dinner, we had tried to be proper, but I quickly realized that I would not need whatever nightgowns had been packed for me. Not when I had drowsily awoken in the middle of the night to Will, propped up over me on an arm as he stared down. He had moved his hips away from me, but I still felt the heat coming off of his skin, through his pajamas.

I had dragged my fingers down his chest, my voice sleepy and my mind a little fuzzy, "Will, what?"

"I'm sorry, I feel like a boy again." He had muttered, his hands brushing against my breasts. My nightgown had rucked up while I had been sleeping, and I sat up, drawing it over my head and throwing it to the floor. "Ana, God." He mumbled, letting his hands roam over me. I gave a slight hum of approval, feeling him brush his fingers over my nipples.

"Do boys often-" I was thankful for the dark in the room as I blushed, "Find themselves, like this?" I had reached down to touch the head that was pressing against his trousers.

His hips had thrust themselves forward, "Oh God, everything seemed to raise it to attention. It gets easier to control as you get older." His breathing had grown labored as I had caressed him through his pants, and he had quickly fallen against my shoulder. "Ana, you don't know how long its been since I've been like this." I had reveled in the feeling of him on me, the shuddering breaths that he let out against my skin.

"Like what?" I had whispered in his ear.

"I can't stop wanting you, I can't seem to have any control over myself." His voice had been hoarse, strained. "I never used to have to worry about waking up in the night like this. You've ruined that. I can't count the number of times I would look at those pictures and find myself like this, thinking about you, when you were in my arms. It was almost unbearable." He grunted as I dragged my fingers down his length, "Sometimes, during the day when I had nothing to do, I'd go back to your rooms in my mind. I didn't want to forget any of it, the feeling of you."

His own hand started to move between my thighs, and I had moaned at the way he had began to stroke. I tried to work my hand under his pajamas, "Will, get these off." He had impatiently thrown them off, and his shirt, and fallen back on top of me. It was rather difficult to keep stroking him as he stroked me in turn, and when he pressed a finger to my entrance, I pushed my hips forward. The feeling was still a little strange, but it quickly faded behind the pleasure it brought. It seemed we twisted around each other, our breath mingling as we strove to our completion. I pressed my lips to his ear, "I thought about you too during the nights, and I'd touch myself and try to remember how you felt."

He almost bit my shoulder at that, his teeth firm but not enough to hurt badly. "Ana, you're so wet." He murmured against my cheek, "And tight, God."

I was panting by then, pushing myself against him as I tried to set a clumsy rhythm. "Is, is that good?"

"Fuck," He thrust himself harder into my hand while slipping another finger into me.

I moaned, pulling myself up to his ear as I did. "Is that what you want Will? To fuck me?" He had given a strangled cry, and I had felt a hot wetness on my thighs, but he had been merciless after. By the time I had finished, clamping around the fingers he had moving inside me, I had been covered in sweat and begging him to continue. I had laid there, his seed drying on my thighs and my body curled around him, utterly spent. If this was what married life would be like, I could understand why couples took honeymoons far from their families. If I had to face Mother the morning after spending the night pleasuring Will and having him pleasure me, I would die.

"Finished?" Will said, reaching out for the message form in my hand and drawing me from my memory.

I blushed, hoping it was not obvious I had been thinking about last night. "Yes, yes. Here." Will took both forms to the counter, said something that sent a boy running for the door, and then came back to collect me. I wrapped both my hands around his arm, hoping that he noticed how I placed my left hand on top of my other, to show his ring. The streets around the Marconi offices were busy, but Will seemed completely at ease as he guided us down the sidewalks. He looked out, "You wanted to visit your offices, right?"

"I just want to make sure everything is fine," I squeezed his arm as I spoke, "The last thing I need is some problem cropping up right now." It turned out the offices were not that far, and the brick warehouse quickly started to rise above the docks. I could see the Star still tied up at the docks, coal wagons being unloaded into her. Unlike the New York offices here I was unknown, and Will had to push us through the crowd of porters and wagons up to the entrance of the warehouse.

A clerk grabbed the door from inside as Will opened it, sticking his face in the crack to speak to him. "Sorry, sir, the offices are closed today."

"Please, may we come in for just a moment?" I stepped forward, offering a hopeful smile.

"Sorry miss, Mr. Welton's orders." The clerk slammed the door shut, and despite Will hammering on it again and again, it didn't open.

"It's alright," I touched his shoulder, "Mr. Welton is probably on the Star, perhaps we should say hello." Together we made our way down the dock, and I noticed Abraham, Ezekiel, and a suited man across from the Star, in deep discussion over something.

We stopped just by them, and the suited man turned to look at us. "You'll need to clear the docks, before I call for someone to escort you away." I could feel Will tense under my hand, but I just smiled at Abe.

"Hello Miss Dalian," Abraham was grinning back at me, his voice light as he spoke, "Mr. Murdoch, very good to see you again."

I gave a slight chuckle as the suited man, I had no doubt this was the much vaunted Mr. Welton, did a rather impressive impression of a tomato, spluttering for a moment. "Captain Fields, thank you again for allowing me passage on your ship. I don't believe we've been introduced," I held out a hand to him, "Anastasia Dalian, and my fiancé, Mr. William Murdoch."

Ezekiel didn't even try to be quiet from his place behind his father, he practically crowed. "Thank God, it's been long enough. Are you going to have my father walk you down the aisle?" Abraham immediately collared his son, dragging him back towards the ship. I could tell Abraham was trying to be quiet, but the lecture he was giving to his son was quite audible, even with the bustle of the porters around us.

"M-m-miss Dalian," Mr. Welton stammered, bending over my hand and briefly pressing his lips to it. "Forgive me, I don't believe we've been introduced before now."

"Well, we are now." I smiled, "If you could let your staff know that I'd like to examine the papers for our most recent shipments? I am quite eager to look over everything." I couldn't help the delight that I felt as Mr. Welton raced off for the offices, leaving us with Abraham and a now chagrined Ezekiel who was hanging back.

"Anastasia, I must admit I had been expecting this," Abraham said, coming to embrace me, "But not quite so quick." He turned to Will. "You must have been quite anxious."

"I felt I had waited long enough," Will looked almost embarrassed as he shook Abe's hand, "And that we had endured enough."

"Indeed." Abe brushed his hand across my hair, still smiling. "It will be good for us to have something to look forward to back in New York."

"Congratulations Annie," Ezekiel came forward, and I held him close. "Even if you are breaking my mother's heart." I was laughing by the time he let me go, and he was chuckling as he turned to Will, holding out a hand. "And congratulations to you, too. Even if you did make her cross an entire ocean to track you down."

Will gave his hand a firm shake, "I was going to come back, it was just taking time. I had some planning to do."

"Will, don't say anything." I cautioned, "You weren't the only one with that idea." The last thing that I wanted was for Will and Ezekiel to decide that it needed both of them to kill Zachary and his father. As far as I was concerned, those two could just rot far away from me, but I didn't want either Will or Zeke to have the stain of Reichster blood on their hands. Humiliation was one thing, and Zachary had suffered quite a bit after the ball. His outburst was painted as a bitter drunken rant, and Samantha had decided to take him on a holiday to their distant aristocratic relatives in Germany to avoid the press. Mr. Reichster had seemed content to lurk in his now empty home, after paying off the fine for trespassing.

"Wait," Ezekiel turned to me, "Did you tell him what happened?" At my nod he turned to Will, "Were you trying to figure out to get rid of him too?"

"Assuming you mean the entire male Reichster line," Will's tone grew hard, "Yes, I was."

"What were you thinking about doing? I'd-"

Abe cut in, "That's enough, Ezekiel. Or would you like to be a coal trimmer for our entire trip back?" Ezekiel immediately grew quiet, and the Fields men moved back to their ship. I took Will's hand, gently tugging him back towards the offices. The men around us seemed to have caught on to who I was and a path was quickly cleared for us to reach the warehouse.

I stepped into the office that had been set aside for Father here, it was much like his one back in New York, if rather more dusty. I coughed, waving my hand against the dust that been freshly stirred by the ledgers placed on the desk. "I'll just be a few minutes." I said, as I sat down and drew the first ledger towards me. It turned out it took me a lot longer than a few minutes to review the ledgers, but it wasn't because the accounts were wrong. It was because I kept glancing up to watch Will. The way he looked through the shelves, handling a model tall ship that Father had gotten as a gift from a client, the way he would move to the window and look out, the afternoon sun on his face. At one point he had picked up a slim volume on the company history, and I felt like I had spent an hour watching his eyes rove over the pages. It seemed no matter how many times I would shake my head and turn back to the ledger, I'd find myself watching him again.

"Something interesting?" Will asked, turning to look at me.

"Oh, nothing." I closed the ledger and stacked it with the others. "The accounts are all in order, I'm sorry I took so long."

"It's alright," He shrugged, "I managed to learn a bit more about your company." He took my arm, making our way downstairs. "You didn't tell me your grandfather ran the guns at Vicksburg."

"I actually barely knew him," I said as we stepped out into the warm orange light of sunset, "He passed when I was six." Will gave a little hum at that, and we continued on our way. He seemed to have some destination in mind, and shortly we had arrived outside a restaurant. It didn't seem as elaborate as Sherry's, nothing was quite like that, but it looked decent. Enough that I wasn't embarrassed to walk in wearing the light blue walking dress I had worn all day.

"Charles," Will said, pulling me towards a table off to one side. I couldn't help but grin, seeing Charles and a woman sat at table covered with a white cloth. Will helped me into a seat, "Thank you for coming, I had to show you who showed up on my step yesterday."

"Anastasia! My God, you should have wired to let me know you'd be coming." Charles was smiling widely, "Oh, Sylvie, this is Anastasia Dalian, our hostess in New York. Anastasia, my wife, Sylvia."

"A pleasure," I said reaching out to take her hand. She was pretty, with curling dark hair and a ready smile.

"Likewise." She looked down to the hand I had extended. "What a lovely ring."

Will almost choked on the water he had been drinking. "I, I suppose I should have introduced her properly." He set his glass down, using his napkin to blot at the water on his face. "My fiancée, Anastasia Dalian."

Charles snorted, "You should have just married her in New York, would have made you a far sight easier to deal with for the past few months."

"You are incorrigible, my dear." Sylvia just shook her head at Charles, "Congratulations Miss Dalian." I nodded my thanks, still chuckling slightly at Will's growing frustration with Charles, who had launched into a view of what our life could be right now if we had only run off to find a priest in New York. He had already forecasted that I would have been pregnant with a son, and Will a successful captain on one of my ships. Sylvia gave me a grin, "He's impossible sometimes."

"Oh, I find him very fun." I shook out my own napkin, placing it in my lap. "It was good to have him in New York."

"He spoke quite highly of you," Sylvie nodded to a waiter who had just come up, and we all quickly rattled off our orders. She looked to Will, "When is the wedding?"

"Ah, we haven't gotten that far." Will chuckled, "We only got engaged yesterday."

"Well, at least you moved quickly for once." Charles smirked, "Really Anastasia, he's been rotten since we've been stuck here. It's a good thing you showed up, I haven't seen him without a frown for weeks."

"Charles," Will growled.

"You know it's true Murdoch," He shook his head, "I really can't get why you're so concerned with what White Star will do tomorrow. More than likely they'll just bust you down, like me. Sent me back to the Oceanic, not that I mind it."

Will leaned over to me, "It's a smaller ship, and old, but to hear Charles talk about it you'd think it was the Mauretania." I smiled, but a thought wormed its way into my mind, curling around my mind. Will would be learning if he was to continue with White Star, and I feared for what he might face. It was not a fear for his life, but merely that I wished him to be able to continue doing what he loved. I knew he didn't want to come to Dalian Shipping, foolish male pride in my opinion.

"Don't you talk bad about her," Charles practically wagged a finger over his steaming plate. "She's weathered far worse than that Cunard, and if I had my pick, I'd choose her every time."

"I doubt I'll be given a pick," Will fairly stabbed at his food, "They'll just give me the sack." God bless Sylvia Lightoller, for she quickly started a conversation about wedding dresses and decorations and was desperately curious to know what time of the year I had in mind. Over a discussion of taffeta and satin, roses and baby's breath and the benefits of summer compared to autumn, Will relaxed and slowly began to offer his own thoughts. "A summer wedding would be lovely."

"We could hold it at the cottage in Newport." I leaned back in my chair, fairly stuffed.

"Be a sight hot in your uniform, and you might just burn your hand on the sword." Charles had pulled out a cigarette case, and after passing one to Will, had lit up. He was kind enough to blow the smoke away from us.

Will let out a breath of smoke to the side of our table, "The sword I can deal with, but I look a fool in that hat."

"You have a sword?" I looked to Will, curious.

"For my Reserves formal dress," He rolled his eyes up, "It also has a hat that makes me look right out of Lord Nelson's fleet."

"Well, I'm sure we can arrange for it to be inside." I caught Sylvia's eye, "After all, I can't have you looking a fool in front of all our friends." I reached across and took her hand, "Would you both come, if I sent you an invitation?"

"Of course," She leaned closer, "I've always wanted to see those society people that Charles was telling me you run with."

"You'll regret that," I winked, squeezing her hand. We left them at the entrance of the restaurant, Will hailing a cab and soon enough we were back inside his home. Will had settled on the settee with a newspaper while I had changed upstairs. It seemed foolish to wear a night gown now, so I belted my dressing gown over nothing at all. Mother had helpfully, if rather annoyingly, placed my embroidery in the trunk with an admonishment that it was to be finished by the time I returned. So I sat next to Will, slowly working my needle through the silk. The head of the peacock did look better after she had worked on it, thankfully she had left the blue glass bead I had put in for the eye. I looked over to Will, "Have you really been such a curmudgeon lately?"

"Don't tell me Charles upset you with that," He turned a page, not looking away from his paper.

"Kate said it too, it sounds like you've been difficult lately." I patiently tugged at a knot in my thread, eventually using the needle to unpick it.

The paper rustled, "I suppose I may have been upset after your second letter." He gave a sigh, setting the paper down. "It's just, God Ana. If I had run off with you in New York, you wouldn't have had to deal with any of that. If I had just stayed for another month, you wouldn't have been attacked."

The knot in my thread unraveled, and I went back to backstitching a wing into the peacock. "You don't know that."

"I do." He reached over, gently moving my embroidery away. "Because I would not have let you receive him. What were you thinking?"

"That he might have some business," I set my hoop aside on a table. "And that people would talk if I didn't receive him. And he did have business to discuss, it was only after I refused him that he, that he did what he did."

Will's voice was grim, "What business did he have?"

"He wanted to buy my shares, and when I refused, he propositioned me." I would have wrapped my arms around myself if Will hadn't gently grabbed my hands and pulled them to him. "And when I refused that, he, he attacked."

His thumb patiently worked its way across the back of my hand. "But you did nothing? You didn't give him a sign that you might be open to it?"

I actually laughed at that, "Will, aside from when I was an infant, you're the only man who's ever seen all of me." I shifted myself, letting a shoulder of my dressing gown fall. "So no, I gave him no signal." I moved to let the other shoulder fall, my arms only stopping it from falling to my waist. I had been covered from my neck to my ankles when Mr. Reichster had done what he did, but that man would have done the same thing if I had presented myself to him like I was doing for Will right now. I looked to Will, catching his gaze, "It was not a fault of my character, but his."

"Ana," His eyes had dropped from my face, and his hands were tight on mine. "I didn't meant to accuse you, but you should have known better."

"I know didn't provide much detail in the letter, and he's never acted like that before. But, I spent far too much time then thinking about it. What I could have done, why I did meet him, it was all I thought about for weeks." I moved closer to him, the gown falling further as I did. "And I don't want to think about it now." I let a leg slip out from the skirts of the gown, throwing it across his lap. "In fact, I don't want to remember anything about that day."

He quickly dropped my hands, wrapping his fingers around my calf. "I won't ask about it anymore, I promise." I hummed as I felt him begin to rub it, a strength to his fingers that relaxed me. "If I ask you to stay here tomorrow, will you?"

I had closed my eyes, leaning back into the arm of the settee and feeling my dressing gown slip down to my waist. "Why?"

"I have to go to the White Star offices, they've finally decided what to do with me." He pulled my other leg into his lap, "I just don't want to worry about you while I'm there."

"Will, you can't keep me prisoner when you're gone. Zachary is in Berlin, I hardly doubt he can get here in one day." I lazily opened an eye, watching as he continued rubbing my legs even as his eyes went to my breasts. He had a furrow between his brows though, his lips pressed tightly together. "I can find an escort while you're gone though, perhaps Sylvia would like to go shopping."

He grunted, tugging me closer to him as he leaned over me. "You are impossible."

"As are you, my love." I reached up, taking a moment to pull the front stud of his collar and the back one, letting it fall off of him. "Now, upstairs?"

Will shook his head, "Too much of a good thing spoils it, and you need to sleep." He brushed a thumb under my eye, "I can see rings under them."

"We can sleep after," I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, trying to pull him down. "I slept very well after last night."

He didn't move, only smirking down at me. "Ana, get your nightgown on, I'll be up in a moment." He pulled back, and I tugged my dressing gown back up. He still kept his eyes on me as I moved to the stairs, and I was quickly buried underneath the bed sheets. Will came in shortly after, and quickly wrapped an arm around my waist as he pulled me against him. I felt him brush his lips against my hair, his breath warm against my cheek. Part of me still wanted his touch on me, but with Will close behind me, warm and solid, I felt my eyes slip closed.