Dear Fate

Olivia looked around the room in boredom. There were too many people in the room, most of which she didn't know. Once, she would have relished the option to make so many new connections, to have so many people telling her how lucky she was. She didn't feel very lucky, however, and it took everything in her to smile and make polite conversation as everyone approached her.

She was currently standing beside her mother in a group of woman far beyond her own age. If someone asked, she wouldn't have been able to tell you what they were talking about. But she nodded along politely when she was addressed and continued to scan the room.

She finally spotted who she was looking for and smiled. Holly Spencer was presently standing at the back of the room, standing awkwardly by herself as everyone around her laughed and joked. She was in a simple grey dress, one that Olivia had handed off to her. It had to be taken in, of course, but the result was a rather well fitting dress.

"Mother, I am going to make a round," Olivia interrupted, gesturing to the room.

"Of course, dear," her mother smiled, ignoring her for the most part.

Olivia smiled and excused herself politely before making a beeline for her friend.

"You look so out of place," she said when she reached the small girl.

"Really? I thought this dress seemed right," Holly said self-consciously, looking down at her dress.

"I meant you. You're just standing here not interacting with anyone. Where is your beau?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know. Harry is over there with the other officers but I don't want to go over there and interrupt them to ask," Holly replied.

Olivia looked over at the group of officers and saw Harry Lowe talking and laughing with a few other officers from Titanic that she hadn't bothered to learn the names of. He glanced up and saw the two girls looking at him before smiling and sending them a small wave. Olivia smiled back and nodded.

"Where is your fiancé?" Holly asked Olivia.

"Over there, talking to none other than Michael Haim," Olivia spat the name with disgust.

"What?! He's here?" Holly asked, looking frantically about.

"Calm down. He's not going to be doing anything here. The night we reported him was the night the ship sank and as the master-at-arms did not survive the sinking, no one is the wiser about the slimy git. And since his father is one of the most powerful men in the country, my mother was inclined to invite them," Olivia responded.

"Won't he be mad about you trying to have him arrested?" Holly asked.

"He never knew. The arrest was to take place in the morning," Olivia replied.

Holly looked extremely uncomfortable. Olivia ignored it and looked around for any other familiar faces. There was none that she could see.

"This is horrible," Olivia sighed.

"It's not so bad. I saw Mrs. Brown earlier. She seemed in a delightful mood considering everything that's happened," Holly said.

"I should go speak with her. I'll find you later," Olivia said, walking off.

After speaking with several more people who wanted to stop her and congratulate her, Olivia finally stumbled across Molly Brown sitting at a table by herself, enjoying a hearty glass of wine.

"Mrs. Brown, how lovely that you could make it," Olivia smiled, sitting down beside the older woman.

"Miss Olivia, how lovely of you to invite me," Mrs. Brown replied in her Southern accent.

"Where is Mr. Brown? I thought I would be meeting him tonight?" Olivia asked, looking around.

"Ah, Mr. Brown and I separated three years ago. It seems after 23 years of marriage, we finally got tired of each other," Mrs. Brown replied, a smile on her face.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know," Olivia said, aghast at her own forwardness.

"It's alright dear. We were wild in love when we were young but it seems money ended up being the death of our marriage," Mrs. Brown said lightly.

"How do you mean?" Olivia asked.

"Well, as you probably have heard already, I wasn't born in to money and neither was my husband. We were both children of immigrants. I wanted to marry into money, but I met J.J. and fell in love. Decided I'd rather marry for love than money and that was it. Course, we ended up striking gold with his company, so I ended up getting the best of both worlds anyway. Or so I thought," For the first time, Mrs. Brown's smile faltered. Before Olivia could comment on it, however, the smile returned.

"Seems like you got yourself a fine man there," Mrs. Brown nodded towards Henry.

"Yes, I suppose," Olivia looked in the direction of her fiancé. Henry was smiling and nodding, now speaking to an older gentleman Olivia didn't recognize.

"Better than that Cal Hockley, anyway," Mrs. Brown said in disgust, staring at someone behind Olivia.

Olivia turned and saw Caledon Hockley, standing in a group of gentleman with a drink in his hand. For just losing his own fiancé, he looked relatively well.

"It's a shame about Miss Rose," Olivia sighed, turning back to speak to Mrs. Brown once more.

"Ah, yes, it would seem so," Mrs. Brown said, a knowing smile on her face.

"Mrs. Brown, is there something you're not telling me?" Olivia asked slowly.

Mrs. Brown looked around for a moment to make sure no one was listening before leaning in, gesturing for Olivia to do the same. "Rumor has it, Rose Dewitt Bukator died in the sinking on the Titanic. I've heard, from a rather reliable source, that a Rose Dawson disembarked the Carpathia alone in New York and was headed to Chicago the last I heard."

Dawson. The name sounded familiar. Then it hit her, "Oh my, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Mrs. Brown leaned back and smiled, "Could be a coincidence. I mean, I'm sure there had to have been more than one Dawson on that ship. None that I know of, but that doesn't mean anything."

Rose was alive. Olivia was sure of it. The pieces were starting to fit together rather nicely now. Something had happened between Rose and Jack Dawson, and when he did not make it, rather than going back with her mother and fiancé, Rose had taken off.

"How extraordinary," Olivia laughed, thinking how similar their situations must have been.