Merry Christmas to Jess. Hope you like it!
Author's note: I do not own any of James Cameron's original characters nor have I made any profit off of this. I know its short but its meant to be!
A large while flake floated down, landing squarely in the middle of her long soft eye lashes. She glanced up at him through her lashes to make sure he was looking. As always, he watched her every move. He was afraid to let her out of his sight even for a moment. Just over eight months passed since the fateful day in April when he first laid his eyes on her. He softly ran his thumb over her eye lash, blowing the snowflake away. The two of them didn't give the flake a second glance as the flake fluttered to the ground. When she was around nothing else in the world possibly mattered. A cool breeze blew more of the large, cotton-like flakes around them as they stood in an embrace in Central Park.
Jack was right. New York City at Christmas time was the city at its best. The tree in the town square decorated with beautiful colored glass balls, the oil lamps lit at night and strand with fresh cut pine garland. The children enjoying their winter time activities of snowball fights and building snowmen. Fathers were pulling freshly cut Christmas trees home on wooden sleds to mother s retrieving newly baked bread from the oven. The whole thing had such a quaint, small town feel, Rose felt as though she was in one of the many villages Jack and she passed through on their journey.
Rose brought some of the Christmas cheer inside the small studio apartment she shared with Jack. Three of the walls used to be covered in what was once a vibrant yellow color. Now the paper peeled off in large sections and the color was faded to a dull, stained state. The small fireplace mantel had been strung with garland Jack sliced down from a tree in the park. Home-made stockings were hung with care. Rose shivered as she pulled her thin coat tighter over her shoulders. She adjusted one last ornament on the tiny tree.
"There! All perfect." Rose smiled.
Startled and nearly jumping out of her skin, Rose spun around to face the man hovering in the doorway, clapping.
"Jack! You frightened me."
"I'm sorry, my love. I couldn't help but be amazed by your superb decorating skills."
"Oh, just another useless skill Ruth made sure to have me trained diligently in. Much like reciting Latin verbs and arranging cut flowers."
"Well, Mrs. Dawson, I don't care what language you speak or how flowers look in a vase. Just as long as you are here with me."
"And, MR. Dawson, I hate to admit it, but I think you were right. "
"About?"
"That DeWitt-Bukater girl. She wouldn't have made it here."
"No?"
"No…" Rose kissed her husband on the forehead. "She was much, much too soft."
Rose winked at Jack. Their little game was a trick they played to keep things light hearted when life was rough. Rose had come to the realization Jack had been right about so many things. Rose had once been so eager to get a job of her own, to make her own money. Life had been hard towards the end of her time with her mother. All of Rose's father's money was gone, but Ruth still had her name to hide behind. Molly Brown had reached out to Jack and Rose several times, offering a room, money, food, clothes. Anything she could think of. The Dawsons turned her down on all offerings except for the simplest off she could give: kindness and friendship.
The Dawsons traveled across the country. Rose was adamant on seeing California, in particular Santa Monica. There the two of them rode a roller coaster until Rose lost her lunch. Jack taught her how to ride a horse the proper masculine way, without a side saddle. At the end of the day, when the sky was streaked with purples and pinks and oranges, as the sun was falling further into the sea, Jack and Rose chased each other through the surf, racing along with the sun.
Jack and Rose traveled by train back to New York, stopping for a few weeks at a time to see the country and make a living off what they could. On a spur of the moment decision, they were married in Chicago during the autumn season. Rose was in love with the city so the happy newlyweds spent an entire month in the windy city. The leaves were changing colors and the smell of the air was ripe for changing into the cold season. Eventually they arrived in New York. Jack secured a job at an art gallery. He spent much of his time there but he earned more than the two of them had initially hoped for.
Jack Dawson pulled an extra blanket off the end of the bed and wrapped it around Rose's shoulders. "Are you sure you don't want to stay with Molly until winter is over? I can stay here and hold down the fort."
"No. Jack Dawson, you may be right about many things but this you are not. Where you go, I follow. We made vows and I plan on holding you too them. We are in this together. You jump, I jump. Right?"
Jack gazed into his wife's eyes. Outside, the snow was beginning to fall a little heavier now. The park was nearly empty. Inside, a fire glowed behind the grate. A few meager presents were under the tree waiting for Christmas morning. Some nights the two newlyweds went to bed still a little hungry, but comforted in the knowledge that they still had each other.
Nothing else matter because now, Rose was right. Nothing mattered anymore because they were together. Nothing on earth, not even the sinking of the Titanic, could rip them apart again.
"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Dawson," Jack murmured to his red haired beauty as the two of them drifted off to sleep.