Dear Fate

"Come on, this way," Tommy said, pulling Holly along behind him.

They made their way down a hall where there were several people milling around. They passed a steward handing life belts out, and Tommy grabbed one and quickly pulled it on himself, not even looking back to see if the others got one. He'd apparently grabbed the last one, because the steward was empty handed and kept walking in the same direction he was already going, probably to get more life belts. Holly didn't mind not getting one though, because it'd be harder to move around in and she still wasn't sure what was going on.

When they reached the middle of the hallway, a staircase that led up was blocked by a crowd of people. Holly tried to stand on her tiptoes to see what the hold up was, but at her small stature, could not see over most of the people.

"Stay here," Tommy murmured as he pushed through the crowd and up the stairs.

Holly looked around at all the people standing in the hallway and spotted a mother with her two young children. The little boy pulled on his mother's dress.

"What are we doing, mummy?" he asked quietly in a little Irish accent.

"We're waiting, dear," she said, "When they've finished putting the first class people in the boats, they'll be starting with us, and we'll want to be all ready, won't we?"

The two children smiled and nodded at their mother, who looked back up towards the people on the stairs. Holly caught her eye and she gave Holly a small smile, although it was a rather sad one, as if she didn't believe her own words. Holly turned to look for Fabrizio and saw him standing a few feet away from her, looking up the steps at Tommy, who was trying to reach the top to see what was going on.

A little ways down the hall, Holly saw a few stewards and several men opening one of the doors that led out of the ship. Reaching over to tug on Fabrizio's shirt, she pointed in that direction. He saw what she was looking at and quickly the two of them made their way through the crowd to see what was going on. Holly stood back as Fabrizio pushed through the men to look out the door.

"Alright, get back," one of the stewards called, trying to shut the door.

"What is going on?" Holly asked as Fabrizio came back over to her.

"Can you not feel what is going on? You yourself said it but a half hour ago," Fabrizio said, standing back and waiting for the crowd to disperse so they could get back through to the stairwell.

"No, I just had a dream. That wasn't real," Holly said, looking up at him.

"Holly, do you not feel the ground slanting? The ship is sinking, and sinking fast by the looks of it out there. The boats look to be all gone," Fabrizio said quietly, pushing back through the crowd.

Holly followed him, grabbing onto the back of his shirt so as not to get lost.

"Jack!" he called out suddenly, rushing forward and dragging Holly along behind him.

"Fabrizio!" a voice called back.

Holly dropped his shirt as he rushed forward to hug Jack Dawson, who had just arrived in the hallway with Rose Dewitt Bukator. Tommy was back down from the top of the stairs and the four of them stood in a group, trying to figure out what to do. Holly looked around in fear, wondering what all these people were still doing down here when the ship was sinking. Did they know? They must have, because now that Holly actually thought about it, it was quite obvious that the ship was at a decline.

"What is she doing here? And what happened to her face?"

Holly looked forward to see Jack gesturing towards her, as he and Rose looked at her in confusion.

"Long story, mate," Tommy replied.

He reached down and grabbed her hand and the five of them made their way through the throng of people.

"Where are we going?" she asked quite loudly, trying to be heard over all the people.

"We're looking for a way out. A way through the gates," Tommy replied quickly.

"Gates? What gates?" Holly asked in confusion.

"The gates they've got blacking the stairwells to keep us down here like animals," Tommy practically growled.

Holly had no time to ponder this shocking statement as they arrived at another stairway. The five of them climbed it and reached another gate, this one on the ground floor.

"Go back down the main stairwell and everything will be sorted out," one of the stewards on the other side of the locked gate was saying.

Jack pushed his way to the front, "Open the gate."

"Go back down the main stairwell," the man repeated.

"Open the gate now," Jack said again, this time more urgently.

"Go back down the main stairwell like I told you," the man simply said.

Jack sighed and turned around to look at the four people behind him before facing the gate again. He grabbed the gate and started shaking it, screaming a variety of swear words that Holly had only heard coming from the fellow servants around the Hamilton household, and only when they were in an extremely foul mood.

He turned around and pushed through the people standing at the gate. He walked over to a bench that was nailed to the floor.

"Fabri, Tommy, give me a hand with this," he said as he started to pull it from the floor.

Rose looked at all the people in front of the gate.

"Step aside," she called, trying to move people away from it.

With the help from a few other men, the three boys managed to pull the bench loose and off the floor. Holly pressed herself against the wall so they could get passed her with it.

The steward on the other side of the gate was screaming at them to put the bench down but they paid him no mind, instead thrusting the bench at the gate several times before knocking it down.

Jack moved across the bench, turning around to receive Rose as Tommy help her across. Fabrizio went after her, and after him, Tommy made sure Holly was across before going himself. They walked in a single line away from the gate as other people started to follow them.

"You can't do this! You can't do this!" the little man with the keys was saying.

Holly heard skin come in contact with skin and didn't need to turn around to know that Tommy had punched the little man down. They kept walking and soon found another stairway that led up, and after following several twisting hallways they finally came to a door. Going through the door, they found themselves on the boat deck.

Holly was in shock to see how much of the boat was under water at this point, and how much chaos was going on out here. People were screaming and shoving each other around trying to find a boat.

"The boats are all gone!" Holly heard Rose cry.

Holly stepped forward to look down the edge of the boat, and sure enough there looked to be no boats on either end of the ship.

"Come on. Old man says there are some down here," Tommy said, pulling her along towards the bow of the ship.

The five of them ran down the side of the boat, eventually passing the band that usually played at dinner time out on the deck, trying to keep people calm apparently.

"Music to drown by. Now I know I'm in first class," Tommy joked, turning to Fabrizio as they were running.

They finally reached a crowd of people huddling around a boat, all of them trying desperately to get on. Holly could clearly see that there were too many people and the five of them would never get on it together.

"Women and children only!" the officer in front called, trying to get order of the crowd.

Everyone was desperate to get on the boat, and Holly screamed in surprise when he let off a warning shot from his gun.

"Women and children only!" he called again.

Jack turned around, "You gotta check the other side. Go!"

Tommy looked at him for a second before he and Fabrizio pushed back through the crowd. Holly looked for a second at the crowd and turned to follow the two of them. She easily caught up with them, as they hadn't gotten very far, and grabbed onto Tommy's arm, trying not to get lost in the overwhelming crowd.

He spun around and a look of surprise crossed his face as he caught sight of her.

"What are you doing? Get back over there with Jack and Rose," he said, trying to push her away and back towards the other boat.

"There are too many people. I would never get on that boat. I have a better chance of going to the other side to look with you," Holly replied.

She knew this wasn't necessarily the truth, but for some reason she felt compelled to stay with him.

"Oh alright, let's hurry then," he sighed, turning around and pulling her after him.

They hurried to the left of the ship, going closer to the bow than before. She peered over one of the low walls and saw water pouring over the edge of the boat. They decided to cross through the bridge, it being the only way to get across to the other side of the ship at this point.

"Sir, you can't come- Holly, what are you doing here?"

Holly looked up to see James looking at her in shock, not expecting her to be there. He looked down at her hands, and she could see jealousy flit across his face as he saw hers and Tommy's intertwined.

"James!" Holly cried, dropping Tommy's hand and flinging herself at him, pulling him into a desperate hug.

He seemed surprised and slowly wound his arms around her.

"What are you still doing here? Why do you not have a life belt? Where is your coat?" James asked, pulling her away to get a good look at her.

She watched his eyes trace over her form, seeing them linger for a moment longer on her split lip.

"It's a long story. Do you know of any more boats?" she asked quickly, remembering what they were there for.

"I think there might be some over there. Murdoch is loading one of the last ones, if you hurry," James said, pulling off his coat.

"What are you doing?" Holly asked in confusion.

"You'll surely freeze to death in that little thing," James said, gesturing to the simple dress she was still wearing from earlier in the day.

She argued with him as he wrapped it around her shoulders but he ignored her, simply pulling it tighter around her.

"Now go. If you hurry, you should be able to make it onto the last boat," James said, looking to Tommy and Fabrizio.

They both nodded and Holly turned to James.

"And what of you?" she asked quickly.

"I've still got a few things to take care of before I get my turn to leave. But there is a boat already reserved for officers that I will be able to catch before the ship goes down."

Tommy and James shared a significant glance, though about what she couldn't be certain.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

He gave her a soft smile, "Of course. I'll be fine."

He kissed her forehead and gently pushed her towards the two other men.

"Take care of her, will you? See that she gets on a boat," he said to Tommy and Fabrizio.

Tommy reached down and grabbed her hand once more, "Aye."

They ran towards the other side of the ship, Holly sparing one last look back at James before turning a corner and disappearing from sight.