Thank you for the reviews and thank you IntrepidLlama for your explanation, that actually does make sense :)
Disclaimer: still don't own anything
RMS Titanic, 11 April 1912
Lights woke up still feeling exhausted, he reached for his pocket watch and saw that the time was 5:30am; he had to be on his watch at six. He sighed and reluctantly got up from his warm soft bed. As he walked out of the wheelhouse, the cold morning air hit his face making him wish he was still in bed. He walked to the port wing before travelling to starboard and then back again, which he did several times in an attempt to wake himself up.
"Herbert, you couldn't make me a cup of coffee, could you?" Lights said yawning.
"Do I look like a steward?" Pitman asked sarcastically.
"No but you do look like one of the junior officers and I look like one of the senior officers" Lights said with a smile.
Pitman walked off to make Lights his coffee whilst mumbling something under his breath and Lights was too tired to call him up on it.
Lights stood there on the starboard wing with the coffee Pitman had made him, which gradually woke him up. This morning's watch had been uneventful but thankfully as the sun rose higher in the sky the day became warmer. To Lights surprise the time to switch watch with Murdoch came quicker than he had expected, as he watched Murdoch approach him.
"Alright William?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Murdoch said defensively.
"No reason. I was just saying 'alright William' like I always do" Lights eyed Murdoch suspiciously "Well, I'll be on my rounds then" Lights informed Murdoch before seeing him nod and walked off.
It was 11:30am and Titanic had arrived at the Cork Harbour on the south coast of Ireland, but as the docks were not suitable for ships her size, she was receiving her passengers from tenders. Murdoch stood outside the bridge, his hands behind his back, the sky was cloudy but it was a warm day. He stood there in a daydream until Lights appeared next to him. "So what happened last night?" Lights asked curiously which made Murdoch turn around fast with a slight guilty look on his face.
"What makes you think anything happened last night?" Murdoch said defensively, like he had something to hide.
"I only meant what happened at dinner?" Lights held his hands up in defence but now he was more curious at what had Murdoch in a knot.
"Nothing much, bit of a bore really" Murdoch lied; he just hoped that Lights believed him; he didn't want to talk about his situation to anyone especially his best friend.
"Well of course it was boring, I wasn't there to tell any of my jokes" Lights joked, but he noticed Murdoch's lips didn't even twitch "Ok, come on, you can't fool me William, something obviously happened last night, you've been in a foul mood ever since you got back, so what's bothering you?"
"You're bothering me, lights" Murdoch stated plainly, still with no smile on his face.
"That hurts William" Lights put his hand over his heart "Here I am, doing my duty as a friend, a brother even, and you just chuck it back in my face" Lightoller turned his back to Murdoch dramatically.
"Look, Lights, I'm sorry" Murdoch said softly placing his hand on Lights shoulder, to which Lights shrugged it off and stepped forward.
"Don't, I'm bleeding" Lights said sarcastically, sounding hurt.
Murdoch sighed "Last night I escorted Miss Desmond back to her room, you know, the young stewardess I told you about, who spotted the SS New York and I kissed her" Murdoch confessed still looking at Lights back but if he could of seen Lights face he would see that he was smiling. Lightoller knew exactly what buttons to press when it came to Murdoch.
"So, why are you upset?" Lights asked as he turned back to face Murdoch, he was confused as to why this had made Murdoch so sulky.
"Because it was wrong of me to do so, what if the captain was to find out? She could lose her job, I could lose my job" Murdoch explained.
"Do you love her?"
Murdoch's eyes widened at the question "What?" Murdoch's heart stopped, he had to quickly think of an answer Lights would believe.
"Do you love her?" Lightoller repeated a little louder
"It's not appropriate for me to have feelings towards her"
Lightoller smiled "Well I didn't hear a 'no' anywhere in that sentence"
Murdoch looked Lightoller deep in the eye "No" Murdoch tried to lie as convincingly as he could
"No use trying to lie to me, Will, I've notice, over the years, that you do this weird thing with your eyes. You should probably visit the medic and get it seen to" Lightoller joked but still not getting a response from Murdoch, who turned around to stare at the bow whilst he sighed.
"Does she feel the same way about you?" Lights asked
"I don't know, but she did kiss me back" Murdoch remembered the kiss they had shared, it was then that Lights noticed he was slightly grinning.
"Well who could resist a Scotsman like you, so you haven't told her the way you feel about her?"
Murdoch shook his head "And she's not going to find out, I'm going to stay away from her for the rest of the voyage"
Lightoller sighed "But William..." Lights started
"There are no buts, Lights. I've made up my mind and that's that" Murdoch walked off into the wheel house,
"Must I do everything myself" Lights said to himself before venturing the decks to find the young stewardess as Titanic was getting ready to leave land for the last time and head out to open ocean.
In the words of Captain Smith 'Take her to sea Mr Murdoch. Let's stretch her legs' Hoped you enjoyed. Cheerio
P.S If anyone wants to check out my new story it's called 'the ship of nightmares' it's another Murdoch/Lights story but this time they bring their wives onboard. Also my other story about Olympic will hopefully be up and running sometime next week.