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It's a quiet night and Moody is watching the ocean, he's got a cigarette close to the bump that his uniform is trying so hard to mask but isn't doing much.
He couldn't sleep mostly because the ship rocking made him nauseous, he kept thinking about the future he was going to experience in New York, actually in America in general.
His kid was going to live the life he never got, Christmas, birthdays, all the holidays even if he had to work at a shipping yard or a Ford factory he didn't care.
His kid was going to get a good education, and live a perfect and peaceful life.
Because that's all he wants for the little life squirming inside him, it won't be much longer until he or she is here in his arms.
He takes a puff of his cigarette blowing the smoke into the cold mid Atlantic air.
He's so in his own world that he doesn't hear Lowe sneaking up on him with a cup of tea from the galley kitchen.
"Nice night for a smoke."
Moody nearly jumps out of his skin looking at the older man with big brown eyes just standing there with a tea cup and saucer in hand looking like a butler.
"Yea it is, that for me?"
Lowe looks down at the steaming cup in which he nods offering it to him, in which Moody takes it from him giving the cigarette in return in which Lowe puts it to his lips nodding his thanks.
In which Moody nods in return blowing on his tea, taking a sip glancing over at Lowe who's looking at him nervously.
"I hope I got it right, two creams and a sugar. I saw you put it in at breakfast."
Moody smiles at the fact he noticed that, because that's correct he doesn't take his tea or coffee in any other capacity because it just doesn't taste right.
"You did, may I ask what this is for?"
Lowe gives this sheepish look as he shrugs, he just wanted to, but he can't exactly tell Moody that so he just says the first thing that comes to mind.
"I saw you throwing up over the side earlier."
Moody hearing that just sighs, as he takes another careful sip.
"I was afraid someone would find my secret vomiting spot."
That makes Lowe laugh at that, he doesn't know why he's so nervous talking to him, he takes the cigarette out of his mouth blowing smoke into the wind as Moody starts talking again.
"It's the boat, the way it rocks."
Lowe just nods like that makes perfect sense he points to the bump before opening his mouth.
"You're very brave, doing this for your wife I mean. Is she meeting you in America?"
Moody shook his head, knowing Cillian wouldn't be there, he'd never be there, it was just careless fun that turned into something else, that eventually turned into something serious.
And something serious is something that Cillian could never handle, he was about adventure, danger, drinking, and having fun.
A family doesn't fit in that criteria.
Moody accepted the reality, most men his age are married and on their third kid but him no, he was like Cillian, wild, free, and he certainly couldn't be tamed.
Which was a disappointment to his rich parents who were never there for him or cared, he was just another tally in their bloodline, they gave him an ultimatum at eighteen either marry a woman to better the family line or be disgraced.
He went with the latter, and it was the best decision for him at least from eighteen to twenty four, he got to work odd jobs, see Ireland in all its breath taking beauty, drink to his hearts desire, and go to parties where they partied from dusk till dawn.
And he had Cillian to fill in the nights when they didn't have a full itinerary.
So when he found out he was pregnant Cillian expected him to end the pregnancy, and well he didn't.
And just like that Cillian was gone, and Moody found himself working days in a shipping yard and at night in a pub just to pay for a one bedroom, one bath, above the pub.
He was not going to submit his child to that life, so he set a goal to go to America to try there, at first he tried winning a ticket onto the Titanic but that was a bust.
So he joined as an officer, get some money to start his new life in New York well traveling there, it's brilliant at least to him it is.
And so now he's here in the middle of the Atlantic drinking tea and talking to a pretty boy with big brown eyes.
He's not going to complain about his current situation.
"Oh we split awhile ago, I just can't seem to let her go you know."
Lowe takes in that information looking at the ring on his finger, wondering just how much she meant to him.
Well in reality the ring was just a disguise, and it didn't mean anything.
"I understand, I mean you're growing her child, I still think your brave for traveling across the world in hopes of a future."
At that Moody put a hand on his stomach running his thumb across it before looking out at the big dark ocean, knowing somewhere out there is his future.
"Thanks Harold, your first name is Harold right? I'm not wrong am I?"
Lowe nods, he flicks the cigarette into the ocean standing beside him.
"That's correct, your first name is James right?"
"Yes, but only the nuns call me James and my parents to everyone else it's been Moody."
Lowe takes that information in as he gently nudges Moody.
"Then I'll just keep calling you Moody, does it have a name?"
His hand hovers over the bump, in which Moody puts down the saucer carefully grabbing his gloved hand putting where there's movement.
"Paul if it's a boy or Talulla if it's a girl, currently it has the hiccups."
Lowe goes wide eyed as he feels it, because it feels so strange.
"That's what that is?"
Moody nods, trying not to laugh at his face because it's amusing.
"Yes."
Moody just watches Lowe's reaction finding him cute, he goes back to his tea watching Lowe until he eventually pulls away to stare out at the ocean with him.
Moody doesn't say anything more, he just stands closer to Lowe grateful for him, as he keeps him company on this big ship going to his new life, his new beginnings.
And he couldn't wait to see what's on the horizon not just for him or Lowe, but the baby too.
