Jack gave a sigh of relief as he watched Rose descend to the waiting ocean in the lifeboat. Now he could focus on getting himself off of this goddamn boat. He glanced at the man standing next to him.
"You're a good liar."
"As are you."
They stood in silence for a few moments.
"There's no deal, is there?" he finally asked.
"No, there is. Not that you'll benefit much from it."
Cal smirked as he turned his back to the young man, disappearing into the crowds.
"Arrogant bastard." Jack muttered, glancing towards the end of the ship that was slowly disappearing into the icy water.
He needed to get to the higher end, that much was obvious; but how? The deck was a rioting mass of screaming people, with no way of reaching the far end in time. He grabbed a railing as the boat swung further upwards, averting his eyes from the screaming bodies sliding down the desk into the ocean below. Pulling himself up the sloping deck, he finally reached the crown of the boat, almost completely horizontal in the air. Grabbing the railing, he pulled himself over, clinging to the cold metal and preparing himself for the icy plunge that awaited him. His eye caught a flicker of movement, and he realized that there was a young man situated next to him, also clinging to the railing. The boy looked up.
"Great minds think alike, eh?" he said, giving Jack a cheeky smile.
Jack opened his mouth to respond, but was deterred by a great gust of wind that almost whipped him from his precarious perch. He looked back towards the boy, whose hat had been lost to the wind. Long blonde hair streamed in the wind as the person looked towards him.
"Whoops." she laughed. "Guess you found me out!"
"What the-"
"Here we go!"
Jack felt a shock go through his body as he was enveloped in the icy water. Fighting to free himself from the ships suction, his head finally broke the surface. He gasped for air, frantically treading water. The ocean was a writhing mass of panicked bodies, the screams filling the night sky like a chorus of terror. He felt something move against his leg and suddenly the woman from before popped up in front of him, gasping for air.
"Fuck, that is cold!" she gasped, shaking her hair out of her face.
Not seeming to notice that she had almost taken Jack out, she paddled away from him, towards a bedpost he had been eyeing moments before.
"Hey!"
He swam after her, grabbing the edge of the large wooden panel as she climbed on.
"Oh, it's you. Well, I suppose you want to get on too."
She scooted over as he tried to pull himself onto the floating piece of wood. She slid off with a shriek as it flipped over, her head popping back up moments later.
"Jesus Christ, it's not that difficult!" she sputtered, pushing him on and then dragging herself up.
A man frantically tried to climb onto their small raft, nearly upending it again, but a solid kick in the jaw quickly deterred him. They sat in silence as the sea slowly grew quiet around them. Jack glanced over at the woman upon hearing her teeth chattering.
"I, uh… It would probably be a good idea to, erm… huddle. For warmth." he said, rubbing the back of his head and averting his eyes.
"G-Good idea."
They moved close together, Jack awkwardly wrapping his arms around her trembling torso.
"S-So now would probably be a good time to introduce ourselves, hm?"
She looked up at him, a wry smile on her blue lips.
"Er, yeah. Jack. Jack Dawson."
"Piper Grey, a pleasure, I'm sure."
She wriggled her hand to his and gave it a weak shake.
Silence descended yet again.
"How long until the lifeboats get here, do you suppose?" she finally asked, her voice weak.
"Not long, I'm sure." Jack replayed, trying to sound confident.
But he knew. Knew that the boats were never going to come back for them. That they, two unfortunate strangers, where going to freeze to death in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. He looked down at Piper, and his heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were closed, her skin white.
"Piper? Piper?"
He shook her, gently at first, then harder. He could feel her breath stirring weakly against his hand, her heartbeat slowly fluttering away.
"Piper, just hold on, okay?"
He shook her again, and her eyes slowly drifted open, focusing on something far in the distance.
"Is anyone out there! Can anyone hear me!"
"Over here!" Jack cried towards the light. "We're over here!"
He heard the soft swish of paddles through the water, then strong hands were lifting them into the boat, wrapping them in blankets. He heard Piper coughing, and looked over towards where they were wrapping her in a dry coat. She looked over to him and smiled.
"Survival buddies!" she said weakly, giving him a thumbs up.
He smiled back before slipping gratefully into a dark sleep.