Chapter II: Rations of Crap

A/N: I am having a lot of fun writing this story. This is being written out longhand, then typed up. So I do have a chapter ahead, access to a laptop is just dicey. The timeline of things is being played around with. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I certainly enjoyed writing it. As always, a massive thank you goes to The Cowgirl Bookworm. SSD

April 12th, 1000

Unlike most nights whether she was travelling or not, Cecily had gotten a good night's sleep, almost devoid of dreams.

The food at dinner had been delicious, though her aunt could not stop ribbing her over the course of the meal. It was just as well that they were dining by themselves, if there had been company, there would have been too many questions.

After breakfast in her cabin and putting on a yellow day dress, Cecily made for the first class lounge. She had a letter to write to Lucy, who would at least provide some reasonable advice with hopefully minimal grief.

Lucy,

I hope this letter finds you well and that the evil queen has finally let you out of the house unsupervised. At least you were able to have Christmas with Alexander and his family and Gwen while your mother was in San Francisco with your other sisters. I hope Erik was able to send you something. Alex has the sense to give it to you at another time.

On the subject of Erik, you do not have to answer this, but how exactly did things start between you two? Unfortunately, the first thing I remember is you asking me to be the go between for passing letters.

I suppose you are wondering why I am asking this. I have run into someone who made me feel like a weight I did not know I was carrying was lifted from my shoulders.

As for who the man in question is, his name is Harold Lowe and he is the fifth officer on the Titanic. As fate would have it, he is an old friend back from when we still lived in Wales. Mainly Roland's friend, I was permitted to tag along on a few occasions, the rest of the time I was generally seen as a pest.

You should have seen the look on his face when he realized it was me, Lucy. It was like he had expected me to have been that admittedly annoying seven year old for the rest of my life.

He has improved quite a bit as well. You know as well as I do that it is impossible for a man to look bad in any kind of uniform! Naval uniforms have an edge in that area, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Remember that ice blue chiffon dress, the one with the silver flowers for the belt? That one I wore down for dinner last night. It seemed that Aunt Mina wanted to talk to Harry and thank him for my improved mood (get your mind out of the gutter, all we did was talk!) he looked up from talking with her and once he got over his shock, he started looking at me like I as a Delmonico steak and he hadn't eaten in days!

How do I handle this? You know I have no idea. Aunt Mina has been useless, all she has been doing is tease me almost nonstop about it.

I get that she hasn't been able to do this with me, but it's getting really old real fast.

I hope to see you soon, maybe with a letter from Erik,

Cecily.

As she was putting the finishing touches on her letter, a familiar voice behind her asked, "Are you writing a letter to a friend?"

Turning around to see Harry, she replied, "Yes, I am. We haven't been able to see each other in a long time. And we've only been able to talk through letters. What are you up to?" She fell into step beside him.

When did my Welsh accent pop up again?

"I am on an errand for Doctor O'Loughlin. A woman fell down the Grand Staircase and broke her arm last night. I am bringing her some painkillers," he replied.

Cecily could not help but wince before saying, "And that is why I wear short heels with my dresses. Easier to move around in and lower chances of falling."

Silent for a few moments Harry continued with, "You looked well put together last night. I would like to apologize if my behavior offended you. I was dumbstruck."

Trying to contain her blush and failing, "You have no need to apologize. Your admiration was far kinder than what I got from other men in first class."

Before Harry could say anything further, he noticed that he was at the stateroom he needed to deliver the medicine. Cecily went to mail her letter to Lucy.

It would figure that only minutes after she had said that low heels lowered the chances of her falling, that Cecily tripped over the edge of a rug. She barely caught herself before she felt hands on her back and arm.

"Easy there Cecily. Watch your step." Harry was helping her up!

She couldn't help it. She looked into his eyes which were even more brown than she remembered.

"Mr. Lowe, is your fiancée alright? Does she need a seat?" the woman who'd broken her arm asked from her doorway.

Mortification hit her and she was looking anywhere but at Harry. Her ears were burning.

This cannot be happening!

Cecily could tell that she was not the only one who was mortified. Harry was completely stiff and even underneath his tanned skin she could see a flush growing.

One of them had to say something. Mercifully Harry recovered the use of his tongue first.

"Mrs. Harris, Miss Lethbridge and I do know each other. But we are not engaged."

"My apologies. The two of you look so natural together. I'll give the pair of you two years before you are engaged then," at that, the woman from New York smiled and closed the door to her stateroom.

Finally finding her own words, "That… was an experience."

"I did not intend to call you by your first name," he replied.

"That was not a problem. I should probably find my aunt," awkward was only beginning to describe the situation.

"I need to return to Doctor O'Loughlin and tell him that I delivered Mrs. Harris her medication."

They couldn't get away from each other fast enough. However they had to head in the same direction for a short period of time. Mercifully, they were able to head in different directions brief time later.

Cecily thought she may have felt Harry's eyes on her for a moment, but brushed it off as nonsense.

April 12th, 1730

Harold had never been happier to get back to standing a watch. Between the misunderstanding with Mrs. Harris and the chaffing from Pitman, Boxhall, and Moody about the night before, this watch had given him a chance to clear his head.

He was walking past the first class men's smoking room when he heard one of them say, "Did you see the Ice Queen at dinner last night with her aunt? She certainly looked the part."

"Cecily Lethbridge is an Ice Bitch nothing more," another voice sneered.

Before his wrath overtook his senses, an older gentleman's voice cut in, "Hockley, you do realize how lucky you are that her brother does not know of your one meeting?"

"Your point being, Colonel Gracie?" the aforementioned Hockley asked.

"Unlike you, Roland Lethbridge is not afraid to get his hands dirty. I was there the last time someone insulted his sister in his presence. It was an Army-Navy exhibition boxing match. The young Army captain did not realize that Roland was in the room when he was making his comments, not that it would have mattered most likely."

"What happened to the Army captain in the boxing match?"

"He was completely annihilated. Laid up in the hospital for over a week by an Ensign barely a year out of Annapolis. Roland Lethbridge has not let himself grow soft in the meantime," the older man stopped talking, having made his point.

Harold briefly considered going in there and giving Hockley a piece of his mind before talking himself out of it. That would lose him job. And only his job if he was lucky.

Continuing the rest of his watch, Harold wondered how aware Cecily was of what people said of her. It was not like she could settle matter the way her brother did.

All of the times he had run into Cecily there had been warmth about her. Two of those times had been awkward to say the least, but she was certainly happy.

Maybe the next time they ran into each other (he hoped there would be a next time) he could ask?

Harold was hope for a restful couple of hours before his next watch, but that was not to be when he heard Pitman drawl, "I'm hurt I didn't get an invite to your engagement party Harry, I thought we were friends."

"What engagement party?"

"Heard you and your girl were mistaken for engaged by passenger from a nearby steward. He said you could have fried an egg on your two's faces," Pitman snickered.

"She tripped on a rug, I helped her up," he replied through gritted teeth, hoping he didn't sound too defensive.

Pitman was far from done, "And from what I heard about last night, it sounds like Mr. Lightoller could have set your pants on first you would have thanked him for it you were so caught up in seeing her!"

Having just about had enough, Harold snarled, "Pitman, I swear if you don't shut your gaping hole, I'll tell Murdoch that you are volunteering to assist Mr. Andrews with fixing the water to the third class lavatories!"

"You must really like this one. If the rest of us are going to have to deal with you like this, you should just marry her once we get to New York."

Muttering curses against Pitman's ancestry in Welsh, Harold stalked towards his cabin, praying for a moment of peace!

April 12th, 2000

For some reason, ever since they had arrived at dinner, Mina had noticed that her niece had been acting like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

The Harrises were definitely more entertaining dinner companions than either of them could have hoped for, not as stuffy as some of their other first class compatriots.

Mr. Harris was in the theater business; he and his wife were telling stories. It was Mrs. Harris that Cecily was jumpier around. Her had been drinking slightly more than she usually did and was focusing on her meal, contributing little to the conversation, though Mina knew she was listening.

It was only when they were getting up to leave that Mina *finally* found out why Cecily was acting so strange throughout dinner when Mrs. Harris asked, "Miss Lethbridge, so will we be you with that handsome young officer who helped you up this morning at dinner in the future?"

Cecily flashed her a "please don't say anything right now" look before replying "I am not sure yet Mrs. Harris. I hope your arm doesn't give you too much trouble."

Mina held her tongue till they got to the elevators once the elevator door shut, she asked "Which officer was it?"

"Like you can't guess," Cecily snarked right back.

"How did you run into him today?" she continued, ignoring her nieces snark.

"I was writing a letter to Lucy. Harry was on his was delivering some medication to Mrs. Harris. We were heading in the same direction. So we talked."

This is going to be like pulling teeth from an uncooperative mule.

"How did you fall?" Mina asked, getting straight to the point.

"I tripped on a rug and nearly fell. Harry came over to me, helped me to my feet addressed me by name, did that by accident I think…" her nieces ears were putting the setting sun to shame. Cecily murmured, "You don't really hear much about brown eyes…" as they exited the elevator.

"Ah… so Mr. Lowe is calling you by name now. Fascinating," Mina pretended to muse as they walked down the hall.

"What's so interesting about that?" Cecily retorted.

"Nothing at all my dear," she replied airily.

"I know you too well Aunt Mina," her niece's eyes narrowing, "It's not nothing."

"Just because it's not nothing, doesn't mean it has to be something I'm going to tell you at the moment," Mina replied as she unlocked the door to her stateroom.

Cecily followed her in and hissed, "I am surprised. I thought you'd be giving me no end of grief right now."

"Giving you grief about your officer is like drinking a fine whiskey meant to be sipped… slowly," Mina enunciated every syllable.

Which only made her niece roll her eyes and leave her for her own stateroom, muttering in Welsh things that were not suitable for civilized conversation.

This is going to be fun!

2200 April 12th

What is going on with me?

Cecily was out of her evening dress and in her nightgown. Though she was likely to change out of it and into clothes that she could wander around the ship in with the way her mind was racing tonight.

Ever since she had boarded the ship, her mind had been going places she could usually get it away from with some effort. Now she was having trouble doing that. Now she had a bad feeling that sleep was going to be no rest for mind tonight!

Ears burning, Cecily decided to try and turn in early. And hope that the Calvados that she'd just drank would keep her dreams in the realm of possibilities!

A/N 2: Parts of this chapter really got away from me. Looking forward to seeing what you all think! SSD