It was a ship of wonders indeed. The way it sat in the harbor was unlike any other ship I had ever seen. The way the ship sparkled in the early morning April sun could even make a man's eyes tear up. She was full of life with many people aboard her already. Goodbyes were being yelled but most were lost over the bellowing horn. People scurried up the walk way to assure their worrying loved ones that they had made it aboard safely; my family however, took their time because they were positive that the ship would wait for us. When we finally did board the ship was even grander. The deck was made of the darkest wood, shining brightly as if it had just been polished only hours before. The smell of new paint lingered very lightly on deck, but it was obvious that the ship had been finished that morning. The commotion on board was louder than the dock, full of life, love and happiness. Feelings were overwhelming and before I knew it I was swept up in the crowd and found myself by the rail, which was being warmed by the sun, waving goodbye to people I had never met.

"Goodbye!" I waved down to the people who looked so tiny from way up here "Bon Soir!" I smiled and waved ecstatically, so hard that I was sure my arm would fall off "Arivaderchi!" I blew kisses to the tiny people, not caring if they cared or if it was lady like or not "Bon voyage!"

As if on que the ship started to move from port being towed by two tiny boats. People around me threw things off the sides and a guy beside me shook a bottle of spirits and popped it. He shook it high above everybody, getting everyone soaked with the bubbles and then took a swig of it himself before he dumped the rest into the ocean below. I laughed and wiped the spirit off my face, except for my lips, stealing a taste of the spirit which tasted like fresh picked strawberries.

It was nearing supper when the commission on the deck had died down. I noticed a lot of people retire to the third class cabins, a few people retired to the second class and very few people retired to their first class cabins. I however retired to a stateroom, the only two that were being occupied by my family. One of them housed my father and his business partners son, the other held my mother and I. I was lucky to occupy such a grand part of the ship.

The room was extremely large, with two bedrooms on each end and carpet so plush you could sink into it. The sitting room was adorned with overstuffed couches and high back chairs, a fire place with a fine clock perched on top. Above the fireplace was a painting, a Picasso I believed but I didn't stay too long to observe it as my mother had called me into one of the rooms.

"Christine? Is that you?" My mother's voice called.

"Yes mother" I called back, afraid to yell too loud in the stunning silence.

"Please be a dear and come here. I haven't seen our maid yet and I need assistance dressing for supper"

I smiled and made my way into my mother's bedroom. I casually leaned on the door frame and crossed my arms much like my father would have done "Corset troubles?" I said sympathetically.

"Yes." She said frustrated "I'd ask your father but I haven't seen a hide or hair of your father since we boarded the ship. I presume he went with Raoul to the gentlemen's club to smoke their cigars."

"And drink their brandy!" I added in before we both laughed. IF there was anything my father loved about having twenty even year old Raoul DeChangy travel with him was the man's fine taste in cigars and how he had a 'talent' when it came to pairing them with certain liqueurs.

After I helped my mother into her gown, she helped me into mine. It was a silk down made of a peach colored fabric with a sparkling sheer overlay. The sleeves gently draped over my shoulders exposing them just a bit. Long white gloves, sparking diamond earrings and a matching necklace completed the natural waist line outfit. My mother pinned back the sides of my hair and embellished my dark brown curls with sparkles. I looked elegant and simple and I looked the way a twenty five year old woman should look.

"My beautiful daughter" my mother smiled "so beautiful in fact that captain smith might invite us to dine with him!" my mother smiled and added a soft blush to my cheeks as a final touch "Let's go shall we? Our escorts must be waiting and we must not keep them!" she smiled and held her head high as she walked out of the room. I however stayed behind for a few seconds longer. If I loved anything about my mother it was her ability to act lady like and classy, yet to have fun while doing it. She loved to gossip over tea to her friends or gossip over their knitting circles. During the day my mother was everything a lady should be, at night she could turn into a different person. Although it was rare she would drink a brandy or three with my father and sample some of the finest cigars. She would cuss like a sailor and my father was perfectly okay with it, as long as company wasn't over and I had retired to my bedroom, although I spent many nights watching them from the grand staircase in our home. I always envied this about my mother, and I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. I was raised the way she had shown herself. During the day I was raised to be a lady and at night I was allowed to get a dress that had been torn to rags on and run outside and play. I caught butterflies and other bugs and often ran and played in the woods behind our house. Raoul, although two years older than I, would always play with me and supervise me in the woods even though I insisted that I didn't need it. Raoul and I eventually grew up and he took control over his father's business and had asked me to marry him. I didn't give him an answer as I was positive I didn't want to marry him, and he never asked me for an answer, it seemed as if marrying me was more for publicity than it was for his own good.

A loud tap on the door jarred me from my thoughts of the past for which I was thankful the tap on the door came when it did. I was diligently got up from the stool I had been perched on and made my way to the door and opened it ever so slightly.

"Christine" the familiar voice flooded my ears "Your mother said you were sitting in here before she left, if we don't leave now we'll be late for supper."

I opened the door wider and grabbed the key that was sitting on the table near the door "I'm sorry Raoul, I just got caught up in something." I shut the door behind me and locked it quickly. "You look dapper." I smiled and straightened his bowtie.

"And you look beautiful Christine."

"Thank you" I blushed slightly and looked away before I took his arm. The walk to the dining room was a quiet one. Raoul had glanced over to me a few times as if he wanted to say something to me but didn't want to. I presumed it had been about his question but he had been too gentlemanly to ask. Raoul and I eventually made it to the dining room. It was beautiful to say the least. A high dome ceiling made of beautiful crystal glass, directly beneath it was a clock on the wall with angels carved into wood so dark that it rivaled the deck. The staircase Raoul and I descended was so grand, the stairs were made of marble and opened widely at the bottom with gold railings to help made the descend easier on the patrons. People were buzzing around the dining room talking to one another. Raoul had spotted my parent's fairly quickly talking to a man sporting a white beard and captain's dress. I had assumed he was the captain my mother wanted to so eagerly dine with and I wasn't mistaken.

"Christine, Raoul" my mother smiled as we walked up to them. I released Raoul's arm almost immediately "I'd like you to meet someone, this is Captain Smith."

"A pleasure to meet you sir" I curtsied to the man who looked all of his sixty three years.

"As to you miss Daae" he smiled slightly beneath his beard and he bowed slightly before coming back up "I was just inviting your mother and father to supper at my table. Would you and Mr. DeChangy care to join?"

I looked back at Raoul who nodded slightly, "Why yes, of course sir. It would be an honor to dine with you." I smiled as the captain led the way to his table. I once again took Raoul's arm and I couldn't help but think about my mother who must have took the inititave to talk to the captain himself.

Once we made it to the table, the captain took a seat at the head; my mother took a seat next to him on his right and my father on his left. Two extra chairs had been brought for Raoul and I except they were on opposite sides of the table. I was secretly thankful for that and set next to a man who I thought was very handsome.

"Good evening sir." I looked over at him and smiled.

"Good evening Miss" He nodded slightly before he turned to the conversation my mother was having with the captain.

I took this opportunity to study the man. He was obviously tall and his dark hair was cut short and precise. His shoulders were broad; I presumed he was muscular under his fine outfit as his skin was tanned by the sun so I figured he had worked on ships his whole life, working his way up to where he was now. As he faced away from me I wondered what color his eyes were. Mine were a dull shade of brown like my hair. I imagined them to be a brilliant green like the hills of Ireland, or blue like the ocean below us. I thought of them maybe to be sky blue or even a wonderful mix of brown and green with specks of blue. Either way, as much as I saw of the man sitting next to me already, he was gorgeous and his eye color wasn't going to change that.

The waiter came over and took our orders a few minutes after the captain had sat down. He himself ordered salmon and a few other items that were lost to me among the chatter. My father ordered Filet Minons lili along with creamed carrots and boiled rice. My mother ordered lamb with green peas and rice. Raoul ordered the Roast duckling with chateau potatoes and apple sauce. The man next to me ordered sirloin of beef, chateau potatoes and mint sauce. I however, dined on roast squab and cress. It was delicious and much different than what I would have expected. After supper we each enjoyed a small serving of French ice cream, which had been my favorite since I was young.

"Mr. Ismay" I looked across the table at him "your ship is magnificent, a true wonder of the world." I smiled slightly "Please, tell me where you thought up the name?"

Bruce Ismay put his spoon down. From sitting at the table with him for this short time I noticed that he liked to talk about two things, letting this ship make headlines in America and Himself. He wiped his beard free of ice cream and looked at me and placed the napkin down "Well Miss Daae." He cleared his throat so people at the table would pay attention "It's simple really." He shrugged a shoulder "I named her Titanic because it means huge, after titan the giant of course."

I smiled and looked at him "The design on this ship is excellent, you must be so proud." I smiled and took a sip of my water "I'd honestly love a tour of the ship. It's fairly large and I'm afraid I'd get lost!" I giggled.

Mr. Ismay nodded "sometime tomorrow Miss daae? I'll see to it myself that one of the finest men aboard the ship take you on a tour. If not it shall be Mr. Andrews or myself."

I smiled "That would be lovely thank you."

Mr. Ismay stood up and so did the other men "Now men, are you ready for some cigars and brandy?"

I stifled a giggle and moved out of the way for the man next to me. "Mother, if you don't mind I think I'll retire early tonight." I took a drink of my water before I stood up "Tiring day"

My mother smiled and nodded "I understand Christine. Goodnight." My mother grabbed Raoul's arm before he left with the other men "Raoul, if you wouldn't mind taking Christine up to her room? Wouldn't want her to get lost" she gave a slight chuckle. It was obvious she had too much to drink.

"Mother—" I protested

"No Christine." Raoul grabbed my arm gently "don't protest, it's just a walk up to your room, nothing more. Besides this is a rather large ship and I'm sure you don't remember the way." Raoul winked at my mother and led me through the dining room and up the staircase.

"I would like to let you know Raoul that I know the way perfectly well. I'm not going to get lost on a ship! I'm sure I'd find my own way if I was to get lost! You have no right on telling me that I wouldn't remember the way!" I looked at him and tore my arm away from his "Now that we are in private I don't feel the need for you to be so polite in escorting me to my room."

"Christine, I'm only doing it for your own good." He grabbed my arm and steered me away from a corridor "see, you just about went down the wrong corridor."

I looked at him "Well I'm terribly sorry that I don't know my way around the ship but just because I'm a lady doesn't mean I can't learn." We arrived to the stateroom in silence "Good evening Raoul." I mumbled to him before I opened the door with the key and bid him farewell once again and disappeared into the room.

I leaned against the door and placed my hand on my chest. I gathered myself and made my way into the room I decided to sleep in for the duration of the trip. I forced my corset off my body and slipped into my white nightgown. It came to my ankles with lace at the bottom, it had been previously owned my grandmother and I loved it.

That night I didn't get much sleep. I heard my mother enter the room and go to bed, I heard the waves below and the engines gently vibrated the ship. To say the least, my first night on Titanic was a rough one, and I only hoped that they got better.

Authors Note: I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Since it's the 100th anniversary of the titanic's sinking I've been in a titanic mood. I've always loved the story of the titanic and I'm trying to stay true to everything about her. I'm not good about period writing but I am trying to improve. I'm also trying to steer clear of the jack Dawson/rose story. Although Christine and Erik are going to kind of meet on the same basis and develop a romance in a short period of time, that's about all of it. As for the title of the story I thought it would be fitting as we all know the titanic's demise and I thought how perfect it would be if someone could just live in love for just a little while. Does this mean Christine or Erik is going to die? I don't know, maybe you should keep reading ;)