Welcome to Titanic. A ship of dreams and mystery. (I'M DONE I'M DONE I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DONE!) This story took four months of hard work write and another month of research to get even that far. (FOUR MONTHS! THAT'S A LOT OF MATH CLASSES!) This story is done, I am currently typing it and posting which will probably take months. (AKA THIS STORY WILL BE FINISHED!)

Also I would love to thank Nirin Tani for being an awesome beta, she really helped a lot!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Castaways, or a certain someone. But if I did I...

Titanic

Part One ~ The Ship of Dreams

April 10th 1912

Chapter One:

Ben wondered how he and Ned were going to get onto the ship. There it sat, what must have been the largest ship the pair of them had seen. Made by the White Star Line, she towered over all others. The name Titanic was stamped across the bow of the ship. He could see the minute forms of sailors as they paused in their duties to look over the edge and at the people on the wharf below them.

The pair stood in the doorway of a small post office whose wood had been scared from years of initial carving. A lad with unruly blond hair and blue eyes, Ben was clad in commoner's clothes, but with a cut down coat. People passing by didn't look twice at him; he could easily pass as a deck hand. Which he was trying to do.

Even the Labrador at his side with black sleek hair had a slightly nautical look about him, instead of a collar he wore a faded blue scarf knotted firmly around his neck. Leaning against the wooden doorpost, Ben sighed a mock sigh as he thought, "What a pity that we can't afford a ticket for such a fine ship."

Ned snorted at his friends wit and sent out his own thought. "Yes, because money's always stopped us before."

"The only question," thought Ben, "Is how to distract the ticket guard."

The line of passengers leading onto the Titanic was dwindling and black smoke was already flowing from the ship's four smoke stacks. It wouldn't be long until she set sail. A crowd was already gathering with the clear intent of give the passengers a good send off.

"We better get going before the crowd gets too thick." Thought Ben so as not to attract attention by talking to himself. Pushing off from the post office Ben turned a corner and mounted some steps leading up to the boarding docks.

Ned trotted next to him and asked, "Do we have a plan?"

"Nope"

The dog's tail wagged in anticipation. Ben couldn't help but share in the mood. Both had felt drawn to the majestic ship upon entering the city of South Hampton two days ago.

As the feeling grew stronger with each step, Ben took a deep breath of the crisp April air. He could smell the smoke from the ship as well as the heavy perfume of the lady in front of him and the cigar somewhere behind. Not for the first time in the last decade did Ben wonder how Ned's enhanced dog's nose handled these smells.

"Since we're about sixty seconds away we might want to think up a plan."

"Now would be a good time." Agreed Ben.

"Maybe I could run past him and you could chase me. Then we could both hide."

"Or maybe we could ask nicely." Ben inspected the stern faced ticket master, who was checking each ticket with precise care. "Not a chance." They both thought at the same time.

At that moment someone pushed past Ben shoving him aside. Ben caught his balance against the railing and slipped his hand into Ned's scarf; anticipating his dog's next move. "Ned, don't move!" thought Ben urgently. "If you react now they'll only throw us off the property!" Ned was growling and his hackles were up, but he stayed still for the most part.

The person who had shoved him was panting heavily and waving his arms at the ticket master. He was large and sweat dripped from his chin. "Missed…the carriage. Family…coming. First class." He was bent over, hands on knees when his family arrived. A lady appeared first, followed by what must have been her two sons.

"Out of der way third class!" Snarled the younger of the two, even though he only looked a little older then Ben. He recoiled quickly though when Ned snapped viciously at him. He pushed his older brother in front of him, cling to the back of his shirt. The older boy calmly pried the fingers off of himself and shoved his brother away. He looked coolly down at Ned as if daring him to try any thing.

The boy's parents were completing ignoring their son's antics as they flashed their tickets. The master nodded and the family entered without another word. Before the shadows of the ship concealed them from view, the younger son turned and shot Ned a hate filled glance. Then he was gone.

"That was… brief, " thought Ben before turning his attention to the people around him. They were backing away nervously from Ned, as if afraid the dog might attack them.

The ticket master snapped his fingers and pointed to a ruddy looking man who was standing next to Ben. The man had a slightly yellowed completion brought on only by heavy drinking. "Control your dog sir or it won't be going on the ship!"

The man's eyes were out of focus and he pointed to himself when he spoke. "But lookie here mister, that's not…" The master cut him off. Moving his still upright finger he now pointed his finger at Ben and barked out, "You, deckhand! Take that cur to the kennels and report back here!"

Not even beginning to believe his luck, he saluted and pretended to drag Ned onto the gangplank. Before he could express his good fortune to Ned by process of thought, his eyes swept the crowd below him as he pasted over there heads. His heart sped as his eyes picked out a single individual.

A tall young lady with dark hair who looked to be in her late twenties was standing in the middle of the farewell crowd. A man in a black hat was holding her hand and in the other she cradled a baby close to her chest.

In the slip second it took for Ben to take one more step the girl looked up and made eye contact. Brown eyes met blue, and then he was gone.

OK, as a rule, I don't talk about characters from the other books with the exception of Serifina. It doesn't make sense for Ben and Ned to be thinking about people just from the stories we've heard when they gone through the same thing with hundreds of different people over the centuries. No, Amy is not on the ship (Yes, that was Amy), I only put in so I would have a reason to write about some Eternal angst in the next chapter. Please Review!