Steamy Movie Crossover Contest

Unsinkable Love

Emma Hardy

Titanic

Edward and Bella

POV: Edward and Bella

To read the rest of the entries go to the Steamy Movie Crossover Contest C2.

If you want to see the rules for this contest go to TheThreeSmutketeers profile page.

Or

ObessingoverEdward, Jayeliwood, or TheSpoiltOne-amanda2505 profile pages.

If you have any questions about the contest, contact them.

Contest ends February 5, 2009

If you'd like to see the other entries in this contest, check out the C2.

"Titanic was called the ship of dreams, and it was…it really was."

-Rose, Titanic

Bella's POV

We pulled up to the port at Southampton on April 10 1912, and as I stepped out of the fancy car while the door was held open by one of our servants, I stared up at the so-called unsinkable vessel. My family was extremely wealthy, and we were to be travelling first class to New York on the brand new ship, the RMS Titanic.

My fiancé, James Gigandet was quite the stunning young man, also born and raised in a rich family. He was incredibly charming, and though the meeting was slightly arranged, I had agreed to marry him completely on my own terms.

"What do you think, Bella?" James asked, unsuccessfully trying to reel my attention away momentarily from the luxury liner in front of me.

When I simply continued to stare at the ship, wondering how on God's green earth it would stay afloat, James helped my mother from the car and with a smirk said, "Your daughter is far too difficult to impress, Renée."

My mother laughed at her charming soon-to-be son-in-law and repeated the same thing as everyone else who had heard that we'd be travelling across the Atlantic on the ship. "The ship they say is unsinkable."

James's "right hand man" so to speak, Mr. Laurent showed the ship's workers where to unload our trunks from and instructed them which parlor suite to take them to.

As I boarded the "ship of dreams," I continued to appear outwardly presentable, the way a well-brought-up girl should be. But I dreaded the thought of going back to America, and I found it impossible to regard the Titanic the way the rest of the passengers did. America was where I had responsibility, an idea I still hadn't grown entirely accustomed to. I had longed to stay in London, but that, of course, was impossible.

Edward's POV:

Poker was the way I, Edward Masen, had become used to making my way from point A to point B. I lived on the move, never staying in the same place. I sat in a small pub in Southampton with my recently-acquired friend Emmett McCarty, an Irish emigrant.

I was an artist, and when I had shown Emmett some of my sketches, he became instantly infatuated with the subject of many of my drawings: Rosalie Hale. She didn't lead what one would call a respectable life, always scrounging for money from rich men, but he didn't see her that way, and I commended him for it. Rosalie was, after all, a wonderful woman who had relied on that way of life as a means for survival. He hoped to go to Paris one day and meet her, and I didn't crush his hopes and tell him how unlikely that would probably be.

So now I played my final hand at poker, two third class tickets to the RMS Titanic on the line. "Alright, moment of truth; somebody's life's about to change. Emmett?"

Emmett put down his cards and had nothing. The next gentleman also folded, and the one after that had two pair. Lucky for me, I held in my hands a full house. "Emmett, we're going to America! Full house, boys!" I was finally going home, home to my mother, Elizabeth who was ill in Chicago.

Emmett immediately stood with me and clapped me on the back while we downed the last of our ale in celebration. The bartender warned us, pointing at the clock, that the Titanic was leaving in five minutes.

We quickly gathered our winnings—tickets included—and ran as fast as we could through the thick crowd at the port and towards the gigantic ocean liner.

We made our way down to steerage and as we found our room, we introduced ourselves to our two Russian roommates and Emmett, of course, took the top bunk. I just laughed and slugged him on the arm as I threw my bag onto the bottom bunk.

Bella's POV:

We began to settle ourselves in the suite and I rolled my eyes as James insisted on insulting my fine artwork I had brought along to hang in the drawing room. "Picasso won't amount to anything, I tell you," he prattled as I handed my favorite painting to Alice to hang. Alice Brandon was my personal servant, though I considered her more as a friend, something I would never admit to my mother or James. I smiled and winked at her as she hung Picasso's most recent above the mantel while James had his back turned.

As my mother and I walked the ship later on, she pointed out different rich faces she knew to me. The most memorable to me was a woman named Esme Platt. She was absolutely lovely, and they called her "The Unsinkable Esme Platt." I never really knew why she was called that; she wasn't a large woman. Perhaps it was the way she came into her money. She wasn't a rich woman from birth like so many others onboard. She married into money by never giving up. A woman like her couldn't sink into the world of poverty.

The next day at lunch, we met the Managing Director of the White Star Line, Jasper Whitlock, and the Master Ship Builder, Carlisle Cullen.

"She is the largest moving object ever made by the hand of man in all history. And our Master Ship Builder here, Mr. Cullen here designed her, from the keel plates up," Mr. Whitlock commented.

Carlisle accepted the compliment with a smile, but turned it around on Jasper. "Ah, but the vision of the grand steamer is all Mr. Whitlock's."

It was beyond me how anyone thought I truly wanted to sit here and listen to all this talk of "the dream ship," when all it was to me was my prison cell back to America. In order to keep the smile on my face, I pulled a cigarette out of my purse, and as soon as I lit up, Renée said, "Really now, Bella, you know I don't like that."

James simply smiled at my mother while he took the cigarette from my mouth and put it out in the ash tray. Why the men were allowed to smoke cigars and drink brandy every night after dinner but I wasn't allowed the occasional cigarette was truly beyond me. I couldn't keep the small smile from my face as Esme stared at James in disbelief while he continued to order my meal for me.

"I suppose you'll cut her meat for her, too, James?" she asked with a small laugh. I liked this woman…a lot, though I would be slapped if I ever mentioned it. My mother thought Esme below her.

Immediately after, she got into a discussion with Jasper about the naming of the ship, which was fully related to size. I felt the need to pipe up on some reading I had been doing as of late. My mother and James hated that I read and filled my head with such new up and coming knowledge, but it was my mind, and I'd do with it what I pleased. "Do you know of Dr. Freud, Mr. Whitlock? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you." After a quick glance at Jasper and the small smirk playing on his lips, I excused myself from the table, knowing I had made quite the impression on him, and to be honest, I didn't think it was entirely negative.

Edward's POV:

I was on the lower deck sketching a father and daughter when the ship hands walked by with a couple of dogs belonging to first class passengers.

"Typical, the first class passengers bring their dogs down here to take a shite." The speaker was a blonde Irishman to my right.

"Lets you know where you rank in the grand scheme of things," I offered with a smirk.

The man laughed and introduced himself as Mike Newton. As I reached out to shake the hand he offered, I saw her. With the setting sun glinting off of her pale skin and her long chocolate hair piled onto her head, she was absolutely the most perfect female I had ever seen in my entire life on this planet. I needed to meet her, first class or not. She rested her hands on the rail of the deck above me, and I found it absolutely impossible to take my eyes off of her perfect figure, covered only by the dress she wore that was flowing in the warm sea breeze.

Mike muttered something unintelligible as I was otherwise occupied with the brunette beauty before my eyes. Our eyes met for the briefest of seconds before she looked away, only to realize I had been staring and she looked back. When I should have been embarrassed for staring, I only stared back harder. Emmett's hand waving in front of my face never faltered my gaze.

And then I saw him, the bastard. Of course she was with him. A first class woman of her age was of course taken, probably into an arranged marriage, but I absolutely did not care. He was no obstacle, for I knew I had to meet her.

Bella's POV:

Of course that next night at dinner was exactly the same. It was always the same, the mindless chatter and the pointless conversation. As I stared at my plate, the voices got louder and less clear, and it was like a loud buzzing sound pierced my ears while the walls closed in around me. I bolted out of my seat and ignored the startled looks of my mother and James and probably multiple other dinner guests.

I ran along the decks as fast as I could, feeling the wind in my hair as I let it out of the restraining barrettes to flow down my neck. I pushed other passengers out of the way with one clear destination in mind. My heels didn't stop me, nor did the fact that I was wearing a dress. There were cries of outrage from the people I passed at the ridiculous girl who was surely now a social disgrace. The nerve of a first class woman running!

I continued my run as I cried in a panic. Down the steps to the lower deck, and back up, past the benches and to the railing at the back of the ship. I approached the railing with more caution and looked down at the dark, cold waters below.

Slowly, I gripped the pole next to me and climbed over. How was I to go on living this never-changing lifestyle, always being told what to do? Surely my next life would be far better than this, and perhaps I could lead it on my own.

That was when I met him, the man who I had seen staring at me earlier today.

"Don't do it," he cautioned, approaching me slowly from behind.

I turned to look at him. My God, he was absolutely dazzling. But that was no matter, I knew why I came here. "Stay back, don't come any closer."

"Come on, just give me your hand, I'll pull you back over."

"No! Stay where you are, I mean it, I'll let go!" My heart rate refused to slow, even as he came closer, standing a few feet away from me up against the railing.

"No, you won't," he said calmly. The nerve! How could he presume to know me! We had just met, and after all, he was third class and I shouldn't be caught speaking with him!

I told him just that. "Don't presume to know what I will and will not do! You don't know me!"

"Well, you would have done it already," he said, again in that calm but oh so dazzling voice. It was like pure velvet and my heartbeat quickened evermore, and it had nothing to do with the fact that at any moment I could go plummeting down into the deep unknown waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Go away, you're distracting me!" I said with a huff.

"I can't," he said with a shrug. "I'm involved now." He began pulling off his jacket. "If you let go, I'm going to have to jump in after you." He was so incredibly handsome, this lowly stranger. I hated to admit, even to myself, that I found it incredibly brave and heroic that he was willing to jump in after me, a woman he didn't even know. Although my mind didn't register it, I knew already that I was in love with the unnamed stranger.

"Don't be absurd. Even if you could swim, the fall alone would kill you." I tried to keep my dignity in tact. I didn't need him to be my knight in shining armor, after all. My whole reason for not wanting to live any longer was my lack of independence.

"Oh, sure, it would hurt," he conceded as he pulled off his boots, "but I'm a lot more concerned about that water being so cold. You ever been to Wisconsin?"

I turned to look at him. Wisconsin? He was asking about my travel history? "What?" I asked in disbelief.

"They have some of the coldest winters around. I grew up in Chicago, but we went to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin for vacation sometimes. I had relatives there. Well I fell through the ice one winter while ice fishing, and I'm guessing the water below us is about that cold. So I'd really rather you'd just come back over so I don't have to jump in after you. Give me your hand."

He held out his strong, pale hand to me, and after only a slight moment's hesitation, I took it and turned around.

"Edward Masen," he said, and his stunningly perfect finally had a name, and there was a name to go along with the butterflies I would feel every time I thought about the way his hand felt in mine, and oh, I would think about it.

"Bella Swan," I replied shakily.

He smiled crookedly at me and I giggled nervously back. "C'mon," he said, and as I started to take my first step over the rail, my shoe caught on my dress and I slipped.

With a blood-curdling scream, I held onto his hand desperately, and he reached his other hand out to my wrist, trying to pull me up. "I got you, come on!" he shouted down at me.

I tried to grab the rail and started screaming louder. "Help!! Please, help!!"

"Come on, Bella, you can do it, I won't let you go!" he shouted back.

Finally I was able to grab hold of the railing and climb back over with Edward's help and his strong arms pulling me back over the railing. He yanked me over as soon as he had a good enough grip and I landed on top of him with a thud. I tried to ignore the pulsing sensation everywhere in my body as I lay on top of him, nearly forgetting I would have to get up.

My mind was brought back to reality when the ship guards who had heard my screaming pleas for help ran towards us.

Twenty minutes later, Edward was in handcuffs and I was wrapped in a blanket as James joined us on the deck. I knew there was absolutely no way I could let Edward be arrested for saving my life, no matter how indecent (but absolutely wonderful) our final position had been. I quickly made up a story they were sure to believe about how I was a stupid, silly girl who wanted to see the propellers, and leaned over. I assured them without a doubt that Edward had saved my life, rather than accosted me.

Once James believed that as the truth, he corrected his assumptions by inviting Edward to dinner the following evening. Wonderful, dinner with Edward where I would have to try incredibly hard to keep my eyes off of his perfectly chiseled face and piercing green eyes.

I shared a significant look with Edward before James pulled me away back to our suite. The look practically screamed, "sex."

Edward's POV:

My heart soared as I realized I would see Bella again so soon. Her slight frame on top of mine when she fell back on deck was like nothing I had ever felt. I had had other women, of course, but Bella sent fire roaring from my fingertips to the ends of my toes and back again. I wasn't at all worried about how I would handle dinner in first class, but about finding a way to get her alone. That was certainly inevitable. I would need to get her alone, because this woman, Bella Swan, was not a chance I could pass up.

Not to mention the fact that I was deliriously happy with the fact that she must have felt the same; I could see it in her delicious chocolate-brown eyes when she stared into them so intently before her bastard of a fiancé pulled her away from me.

James's little minion, Mr. Laurent, gave me a fleeting warning look as he followed the pair back to where they were staying. I knew he didn't entirely believe our story of Bella wanting to see the propellers, but frankly I didn't care.

Bella's POV:

That night while I got myself ready to go to sleep, James came into my room and I smiled slightly at him in the mirror on my vanity. In his hands he held a box, and as he sat in front of me, he told me to consider it an engagement present.

I turned so I could better face him, and when he opened the box, there was the largest blue diamond I had ever seen in my entire life. "The Heart of the Ocean" he called it. "The Cour de la Mer." I knew James honestly cared for me, and he was always trying to find ways to make me care for him the same way. However, I still didn't see myself truly loving him. As soon as the word "love" crossed my mind, it coincided with Edward's face, something which I tried to forget; it would be wrong to think of a man besides my betrothed in that manner. But, with an inward sigh, I realized it was unavoidable. The face of Edward Masen had taken up a permanent residence at the forefront of my mind.

The next afternoon, I met up with him on the first class deck. With that same crooked smile he asked, "Care to walk?"

I nodded while a blush crept up on my cheeks, and he immediately struck up a conversation with me about his travels, which was when I realized that he was far more interesting than I had even dreamed. And boy, did I dream of him the night before.

Eventually, we rested on a pair of lounge chairs in the shade. "Bella, I have to ask…why did you want to jump?"

Some little part of me told me I could trust him and not feel ashamed to answer honestly. "I feel suffocated by my life, Edward," I admitted. "I keep trying to imagine my wedding, and every time I feel like I can't breathe."

"Do you love him?"

It was a simple question but I was appalled. "This is absurd! I don't know you and I don't have to answer your questions!" That was when I noticed the sketchbook in his hand and I tried to let go of my anger so I could continue speaking to him. After all, I wasn't quite finished spending time with Edward Masen. "What is this? Are you an artist or something?"

I took the book from him and began thumbing through it. "Well, these…these are rather good," I admitted as my annoyance with him began to subside. "They're very good, actually."

I noticed one particular person that he had drawn quite a bit. "Who is this woman? You use her a lot."

He peered over at what I was looking at and nodded thoughtfully. "Rosalie Hale." Then with a chuckle he added, "My friend Emmett is rather fond of those pictures as well."

I laughed nervously and inevitably blushed as we discussed the naked woman in the pictures he had drawn. He told me that what he loved most were her hands and the way she seemed to have secrets in her eyes of a dark past.

A few hours later we were still talking and laughing. Edward was not only handsome and terribly interesting, but hilarious as well. As I was at one of his jokes, my mother, the countess, and Esme Platt walked over and I introduced them all to Edward.

Esme seemed particularly taken with him, like he reminded her of her own son or something of the sort. My mother, however, was not Edward's biggest fan, to say the least. In fact, she looked at him as something that should be squashed beneath her expensive shoes.

Dinner was announced by the horn, and I pulled my mother away quickly from Edward, but I looked back at him with a small smile playing across my lips. "See you at dinner, Edward," I told him.

Edward's POV:

I immediately disliked Bella's mother, and for a split second I could see what part of Bella's life had made jumping off the back of the ship look so tempting. Esme Platt on the other hand, was wonderful. She reminded me so much of my own mother. As Bella walked away (while I discreetly watched her walk away), Esme warned me of what I was about to enter.

"Do you have the slightest idea what you're doing?" she asked.

"Not a clue," I responded with a chuckle.

"Well, I can at least help you with something to wear. You look just about my son's size," she said with a smile as she took my arm and led me to her quarters to try on a tuxedo that belonged to her son.

"You clean up wonderfully, Edward," she complimented with a motherly smile as I looked in the mirror. Yes, I definitely liked Esme a lot.

Before I knew it I was entering the grand staircase, and I felt like a million bucks for the first time in my meaningless life. I glanced around nervously, looking for Bella, trying desperately to perfect my mannerisms before we entered the dining room.

I was swiftly brushed off by James and Renée as they descended the stairs, but then Bella appeared at the top of the staircase, and the way she looked could hardly even compare to the first time I saw her. Not even knowing or caring if it was proper etiquette, I took her hand and kissed her knuckle.

Flashing a small smile at her, I escorted her to the dining room when I reveled in the feeling of her arm on mine, where it belonged. While we walked she pointed out important people to me, or supposedly important; I didn't care a bit. The only thing I cared about was her voice in my ear.

Within a few moments, Esme joined us, somewhat to my relief. I had to admit that having her there was a strange comfort to me, once again feeling that motherly vibe she gave off.

I managed to get through dinner without much trouble. I was served unfamiliar foods like caviar, while Esme helped me with the confusing wide arrangement of silverware displayed before me. I listened to the mindless chatter, wondering how these people could stand living their lives full of this nonsense, pretending to care what the man next to them did for a living.

Bella quietly mentioned to me that I was to join the men for a cigar and brandy in the smoking room. I wasn't immediately fond of the idea, so I came up with another plan while James was otherwise occupied.

I had the feeling that my first chance to win Bella over would be tonight, so I borrowed a pen and paper from Esme, scribbling a note to Bella and handing it to her as I bid her good night, kissing her hand once more.

Bella's POV:

I really wished Edward didn't have to leave with the other men. In all honesty, his was the only presence at the table during dinner that didn't irk me.

I felt the familiar flames lick my entire body as he lifted my hand and once again kissed my knuckle as he said a quiet good night to me. This time, however, I felt something in my hand as I regretfully watched him walk away.

Hiding the small piece of paper under the table out of Renée's scrutiny, I read the note Edward had left for me.

Meet me under the clock tower, it read.

I would do just that. For the first time in my entire life, I didn't care what my mother thought, or if she would try to stop me. I knew beyond a doubt that I had to meet Edward under the clock tower by the stairs if my life depended on it…and so it did. It wasn't life or death, but it was life or misery.

I left the dining room without a word to anyone, and there he was with his back turned to me, facing the clock. He was absolutely glorious as I began my ascent up the stairs and he turned toward me.

Showing me that crooked smile once more he asked, "So, you want to go to a real party?"

I laughed and said in a joking tone, "A real party, what is that?" Every party I had ever been to previously had included champagne and waltzes.

Edward walked me down to the lower part of the ship, where the third class passengers were staying. When we stepped into the party, I knew immediately that I was about to have fun for the first time in my life. This party didn't have champagne, but ale, not to mention loud music and people dancing carelessly.

How I longed to live a life like this, without the waltzes, but throwing my arms in the air and just spinning in circles. The Irish music was loud yet calming to me and it just seemed to scream at me, "Let loose, Bella! Have some fun!"

Edward introduced me to his friend Emmett who had been dancing with a Danish woman. I immediately found him to be the type I would like to have as a brother, or even a friend. Edward's other friend Mike Newton brought us beer as he introduced me to yet another acquaintance, a female Irish immigrant named Victoria. There was something eerie about her, but I was having so much fun that there was no way to care.

Without a word, Edward pulled me to the dance floor, but I followed only slowly, not dancing.

"I can't dance!" I shouted to him over the music as he started to move.

"Well I could always make you!" he shouted back as he began to fling me across the floor. At that moment, something in my mind and body just let go and I began flying my feet across the floor the same as everyone else, and I owed it all to Edward Masen. He took my hands and spun me quickly in a circle, and with each spin, another one of my cares and obligations flung from my shoulders and into the boisterous crowd.

I had fallen head over heels in love with Edward Masen that night, and he occupied my every thought from that day forward. My mother forbade me from ever seeing him again, but I blew it off and vowed that I would see him as often as possible, because he was the meaning in my life. He was the shooting star during a lunar eclipse. I honestly had no idea how I had lived though my life before he existed. The only thing that kept me from staying with him permanently was the potential consequence, or consequences, if I ran out on my commitment to James.

Edward's POV:

After the night I brought Bella to the party, her face appeared everywhere I looked. Since her family had clearly prohibited her from seeing me ever again, the next day I hid while she was walking along the deck with her family and Captain Charles. I hid my head under the hat until the exact second she passed by me, when I grabbed her arm and pulled her into a spare room.

"Edward!" she hissed as I shut the door. "I can't be doing this! I'm engaged to James." During the last sentence she spoke, I sensed a bit of sadness in her voice, and I knew without a doubt that I was doing the right thing. I knew she wanted the same thing that I did, except she was scared to admit it.

"Bella, you're the most amazing, astounding woman I've ever known. I know how the world works, and I know I have nothing to offer you, but I'm too involved. You jump, I jump, remember? I just need to know you'll be alright at the very least."

She straightened her shoulders and insisted, "I'll be fine."

"Well I don't think so. I love your passion, Bella, and sooner or later James is going to suck it all right out of you just like Dracula." He made a sucking sound with his mouth, imitating the vampire from the novels, and I had a hard time controlling the giggle that was about to come from my throat. But his tone was serious again before I could slip up. "You have to promise me you'll save yourself from that torture."

Bella's POV:

I wanted to listen to him and just beg him to take me far, far away from James and my mother, but I knew they would find me and make me pay for my mistakes if I did. I was going to Phoenix for the wedding, and that was the whole reason we were even on this ship. I was to marry James, end of story.

"I can't, Edward. Please just…leave me alone." I took one last look at him, and with as much force as I could muster, I turned myself around and went back to our tour of the ship with
Captain Charles.

But everywhere I went and everything I did for the rest of that day, my mind never strayed from Edward and his pleas that shouted love directly in my face. I knew he loved me; there was no doubt about it. With every second that passed, I knew I loved him in return. I was astounded that it had taken me so long to figure it out. After everything I had been through in my life, putting up with everyone telling me what to do and how to behave, I decided I had earned the right to indulge myself and see Edward again.

That evening around twilight, I went down to steerage, and Emmett informed me with a wink that Edward had gone to the bow of the ship to watch the dolphins. I smiled to myself and thanked Emmett, kissing him on the cheek as I made my way to the nose of the huge vessel. I stood a few feet away and I watched him look out at the passing waters. He looked so peaceful, just leaning against the rail. I took another step forward as I said, "Hello, Edward," smiling softly when he turned in my direction

"Bella," he said as his lips broke out into a breathtaking smile that was all for me. I had never felt so lucky in my entire existence on the planet.

"I changed my mind, Edward." I walked closer to him and took his hand as he offered it.

"Close your eyes, Bella," he whispered softly as he instructed me to step onto the lowest rung of the railing. "Step up," he urged while he stepped up behind me. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes, Edward, I trust you." He pulled my hands out to the sides and told me I could open my eyes.

My breath caught in my throat at the feeling of the wind through my hair and the tingles in my arms as he twisted his fingers with mine. "I'm flying, Edward! I'm flying!"

He moved his head even closer to mine while I twisted to look into his piercing green eyes, our lips only a small distance from one another. He closed the distance and kissed me for the first time, simultaneously with the last time Titanic ever saw daylight, during that twilight on April 14, 1912.

"Edward," I said softly, "come back to the suite with me."

Edward's POV:

My life changed completely when I touched my lips to Bella's, and her lips were much softer than I had even dreamed, and I did dream about it. Every night since I'd seen her for the first time on the balcony above me, I knew I wanted to kiss her madly. She was absolutely exquisite in every way, and of course she was much, much too good for a lowly artist like me. And the fact that she either didn't care or disagreed with it entirely made me love her just that much more.

I quickly agreed to follow her back to the suite she showed me a piece of jewelry that James had given her. It was absolutely gigantic, and I found it even harder to believe she clearly preferred me over someone with as much wealth as James Gigandet.

"I want you to draw me wearing only this, Edward," she admitted quietly, yet stepping closer to me all the same. I looked up at her blushing cheeks and she spoke again. "I want you to draw me like you drew Rosalie."

That was a request I would have no trouble following.

Bella's POV:

I was shocked at my own boldness while I removed my clothes, preparing to have Edward draw me completely nude. Even James and I had not been together in such a way. But Edward removed every strand of doubt from my mind.

I took a deep breath as I stepped out of the powder room wearing only a sheer robe, moving closer to him. I could feel his eyes locked on me, but my steps didn't waver as I smirked at him.

Edward's POV:

I was glad to have the sketch pad covering my lap as Bella stepped out of the bathroom hardly wearing anything. Each step she took I could feel my hardness for her growing, but trying to remain professional, I concealed it even as she slowly stripped the robe from her perfect porcelain skin. I instructed her on how to lie on the couch, needing to clear my throat a few times to prevent my shaky voice from cracking.

She was absolutely flawless, and from the second her milky skin was exposed to me, I imagined what she would taste like as I ran my tongue from her lips down to her toes, never missing an inch.

I took a deep breath and steadied my hand as much as possible before touching the charcoal to the paper.

"Keep your eyes on me, Bella, love," I instructed, "and stay still." My hand flowed all on its own, hardly needing the model as I memorized Bella's body with ease, forever engraving it in my mind.

I finished quickly and before I ever showed her the drawing, I set down the sketchpad and moved over to the couch where she lay without a thought of protest crossing my mind. I sat next to her, my fingertips grazing her stomach. Her skin was impossibly soft, just like her lips which I bent down to kiss once more.

Her small hands moved up to my suspenders and pulled them slowly down my shoulders while my nose grazed her jaw, my lips caressing her collarbone. "I love you, Bella," I whispered in her ear before kissing her lobe. "I know you couldn't possibly love me in return but I lo-…"

She quickly hushed me with a passionate kiss, her tongue slipping between my lips, massaging it with my own until neither of us had a single breath left to spare.

"I love you too, Edward," she panted as a smile formed across her face.

I felt my lips stretch wide into a smile as I kissed her more softly, my hands travelling to each of her breasts. My thumbs gently traced her pink nipples while I kissed down her chest and stomach. Just as my lips made it to her lower stomach, we heard a bang on the main door of the suite and my hand stopped on her mid-thigh.

Bella's POV:

I immediately cursed whoever chose this moment to interrupt us, but I shot straight up and threw on the nearest dress, shoving the necklace along with the drawing into James's safe. I grabbed Edward's hand, and we ran out the door quickly past Mr. Laurent, who had been the one banging on the door.

Edward led me across half the length of the ship, down through the boiler room and finally into the chilly storage room where he wrapped his arm around me as I shivered.

He pushed me playfully up against one of the cars, pressing his entire body length against mine. Leaning towards my ear he whispered, "I could think of one sure way to keep warm, and I'm not talking about a bedpan."

The sound of his velvet voice whispering such innuendos made me wet immediately, and I put my hands on his hips pulling him closer. "I bet they're exactly the same ideas I had," I said with a laugh as I kissed him.

Never breaking the kiss, Edward opened the car door and lifted me up into the back seat and crawled in after me. He kept himself hoisted over me while I undid his shirt buttons and pulled it off of his shoulders, my lips immediately attacking his chest.

I sat up just enough for him to pull my dress up over my head (under which I was wearing nothing due to our quick escape from the suite just a short while ago) just before I tugged his pants down his legs and onto the floor of the car.

Edward was absolutely perfect, and the way he cradled me in his arms made me feel completely safe and not the slightest bit nervous. He kissed me tenderly as his hand cupped my warmth that was already dripping for him.

"God, Bella, you're so wet," he whispered hungrily.

"For you," I replied as I once again attacked his lips with kisses at the same time that he slid two fingers into me, causing me to buck my hips in response.

I felt the spring in my stomach tightening, the coils pulling closer and closer together, but just before I exploded into his hand he pulled his fingers out and replaced them quickly with his hard length. This sent me into a fresh wave of pulsations as he slowly but passionately pumped in and out of me, kissing any part of me he could still reach.

I moved ne of my feet to the rear window of the car, and the other against the front seat headrest, giving him deeper access, which he took, hitting ever spot just right, as if we were meant to fit together. "Edward!" I screamed, wanting the whole ship to know who was sending these tidal waves roaring through my body while I shuddered and released around him.

"Shit, Bella," he panted as he exploded inside me, kissing me thoroughly, our tongues mashing together. He gently lay down on top of me, and somehow it didn't hurt. He rested his head on my chest and I kissed his forehead. "I love you so much," he told me.

"I love you too, Edward. And I want you to know I've made a decision."

Edward tilted his head up to look at me and I looked down at him. "Oh, yeah? And what decision might that be?"

I put my head back down on his chest and kissed above his sternum while my fingers drew small circles. "When we get to New York, I'm getting off with you. We'll live in a small house and crowd it with lots of red-headed, green-eyed babies."

Edward laughed, the gesture shaking his chest. "That sounds like quite the picturesque plan, count me in," he agreed as he kissed my chin, then my shoulder as I kissed the top of his head, smiling at his unruly hair.

Two hours and a few mind-blowing orgasms later, we were dressed and running across the deck of the ship. "I love this woman!" Edward shouted to anyone within earshot as he took my hand and pulled me close, kissing a different part of my face after each time he said, "I love you," finally reaching my lips, sucking gently on the bottom one before tracing my teeth with his tongue.

"I love you more," I promised.

Just as he deepened the kiss even further, the Titanic hit the iceberg.

The Next Day Around Noon, Bella's POV:

I walked along the deck of the Carpathia that had been reserved for third class Titanic passengers searching for any possible survivors that I knew, though I knew there weren't any. I was too much in shock to cry any tears for Edward, but I knew without a doubt that later on they would pour from my eyes endlessly.

"Your name, Miss?"

I turned to the man with the clipboard next to me, and as if it was reflex I replied, "Isabella Masen." With that, I continued my walk and sat against a huge pole, remembering the words Edward spoke to me before he froze to death and drowned. I'd promised him that I would survive, and I did. We professed our love countless times in the cold waters of the Atlantic that night.

Just then a woman tripped over my foot disrupting my straying thoughts. Truthfully, I wanted to thank her for it. I looked up at her to tell her no worries when she muttered her sincere apologies, and I could have screamed with joy at the face I saw.

"Alice!" I shouted, quickly standing up and pulling her into my arms. "Oh, Alice, Alice, Alice!" I repeated over and over as I kissed her cheek.

"Bella!" She squeezed me back. "I'm so glad to see you! I was so worried about you! Where's…" She looked around for Edward, then trailing off when she saw the look of utter despair etched across my face. "Oh, Bella…" She hugged me close without any further words, while I cried my first tears into her shoulder.

"Don't leave, Alice, you're the only person I have left in the entire world. Live with me in America as my sister. We'll live in a small town in the Pacific Northwest," I pleaded breathlessly.

"I'm so glad you asked, Bella," she said with a smile. "Sisters forever," she vowed.

I smiled sincerely at her and hugged her close to me, wrapping her into the blanket one of the stewards had given me, just as James walked behind us.