Hi! So, I recently edited this, and now I'm replacing the chapters. Nothing has changed too much, but the typos should be gone and some of the dialogue is a bit different than it was. I'm also putting it in the form of more chapters, as was requested by a few readers. Thanks so much for taking the time ti read my story! Happy Thursday! Xx.
Disclaimer: I do not own Titanic. I do not mean to offend anyone in my recreation of events or plot lines.
The R.M.S. Titanic was sinking. Jack smiled as he watched it go down. Rose was still on that boat, and he'd made certain she wouldn't be getting off.
It had all begun months ago, when Jack Dawson and his partner, Caledon Hockley, first heard of Rose DeWitt Bukater.
Or, rather, heard of her father.
Mr. Bukater was the very lucky owner of the Heart of the Ocean, the most valuable jewel around. And you'd have to be crazy to think that Jack and Cal didn't want it— oh, they wanted it so bad, the greedy businessmen that they were.
And they were going to get it.
Rose's father was looking to give the necklace away to whoever his daughter was willing to take on as a husband. And Jack and Cal were determined it would be one of them.
"Jack!" Cal had called a week or so after their discovery, "Jack, I found her!"
The young, cheery blonde responded with an excited cry of his own.
"Really? You really did?" He smiled brightly, hopeful that the month-long quest to find this seemingly unimportant girl was over. He wasn't surprised her father was giving away the Heart of the Sea. It was hardly due payment for marrying his rather unpleasant daughter, but it would have to do. Neither boy was truly going to marry Rose, but they had the unfortunate responsibility of sticking around long enough to gain her unrequited love.
"I really did! She'll be boarding the Unsinkable Ship in a matter of weeks. I've requested to meet her tomorrow, but if we're going to seal the deal, we have to be on that boat. And we've gotta come at this from two angles."
"You mean—"
"Oh, yes. I am the up and coming fiancé, Jack. A regular upper class snob, as it goes, and the only man who's expressed any interest in that girl in what her father said was years. She won't turn me down. We'll hop the boat, engage ourselves, and then the necklace is ours!"
Jack was confused, and it showed in his face. He couldn't see a role he could take here, but Cal had promised not to work alone. Was he breaking his word?
"Don't look so concerned!" Cal smiled, clapping his young partner on the back, "Your role is more important than my own."
"Well, then, let's hear it," Jack sighed. The gleam in Cal's eyes didn't seem promising.
"You're going on as a street rat with a dream! Finally putting that talent for art to use!"
"You want me to be the tortured artist looking for the other half go his soul," Jack muttered, "Which I'm sure is supposed to be Rose."
"Precisely."
Jack was skeptical. How was dropping into a lower class— a far lower class— going to help either of them? How was that useful?
"Cal, that's preposterous, not to mention absolutely pointless.We're both well respected businessmen. Why can't we just go as ourselves?"
The tall brunette smiled a little. Jack was a stubborn soul, and he knew this would take some convincing. Having risen from poverty and into America's upper class, it was no surprise the boy was hesitant to return to the dredges, even for a moment.
"I am, Jack," the Cal clarified, "And we both know I'm not a good actor. I can't feign interest, but as her only suitor, she won't turn me down. You, however, can, and it is imperative that the both of us are on her sides. If we're her closest confidants, there's no way the necklace can get past us."
"I don't know about this, Hockley—" the tentative Aladdin murmured, running an uncertain hand through his wavy hair, "I left that life behind a long time ago, but I haven't yet rid myself of the nightmares. I'm not sure I can do it— go back, I mean."
"It's a seven day role, man, not a life sentence! I need you on this one. It's curtains without you," Cal insisted, "Show her how to be a free bird! Teach her to live on the other side and be 'happy!'"
"There's no happiness on the 'other side,' Caledon," the blonde hissed, and he watched his business partner's eyes roll.
"That may be so, but you have to make her think that there is. Make her want the life I can't give her. Gain her trust, Jackie. When her father gives me the necklace, I'll be required to present it to her."
"So?"
"I need you to take it from her."
Jack fell silent for several moments, leaning against a wall with his head bowed in contemplation as his right hand spun the watch on his arm nervously.
Cal thought he wasn't going to do it, even after all their prior scheming, and was about to exit the room in resignation when his comrade's head snapped up, his hair flicking upwards as he moved.
"I'll do it. But so help me, Cal, if this grift turns sour, I won't have it falling on me. This is temporary— all of it."
"Of course it is, mate!" Cal cried happily, clapping his hands together, "We'll split the profits even, naturally, a right fifty-fifty! With you on board, we can't go wrong!"
The former homeless boy wasn't so sure about that, but he smiled in reluctant agreement anyhow. Cal was right, this wasn't permanent, and he could slip from the ships lower levels and into Cal's cabin anytime he pleased if he so wished.
At least, when Rose was out.
"Right," Jack breathed, "I'm in. Let's do this, Caledon, you and me."
Smiling, his friend handed him a boat ticket, and the two began to comb over their plan to deceive the Bukaters.
Cal grimaced as he made the trip to Rose's.
He wasn't excited to meet this girl at all.
When he reached her home he rapped loudly on the door, announcing his presence in the most unpleasant way he knew how. An older man, about sixty, answered the door with a wide grin, pulling Caledon into his home and trapping him in an unwarranted hug.
He smelled strongly of smoke, Cal noticed with distaste. He hated smokers.
Awkwardly patting the man on the back, Cal shrugged out of the embrace and straightened his clothes.
"It's nice to meet you, sir," he said stiffly, and the man returned the sentiment with great fervor.
"You too, son! Right this way, please, Rose is quite excited to meet you!"
Cal grimaced at the sentiment and was led into what appeared to be a large living room.
"Rose!" her father called, "Mr. Hockley is here!"
Somewhere upstairs, Rose let out a sigh.
She was no less pleased than Cal was to have been tied into the meeting that was to ensue.
Cal grumbled to himself in his mind.
He didn't want to meet Rose or the elephant of a man she called a father. He wanted to take the diamond and get out.
But it wasn't that easy.
And so he sat listening to the mindless chatter of Mr. Bukater as he waited to meet Rose.
The wait was worth it.
He hadn't expected this. She was stunning.
Rose entered the room with a quiet hello, moving to kiss both men on the cheek before taking a seat of her own.
Cal knew he should stand to introduce himself, but he hadn't even considered Rose might be such a doll.
Hours passed as the two spoke, and Cal felt himself growing fond of her wavy red hair and the pale glow of her face. She was charming, a true delight, and he wondered how she hadn't been married already.
By the time the meeting ended, he was certain. Caledon wanted more than the diamond.
He wanted Rose too.