Chapter 1 – Start in a new life in freedom

"Please excuse me, Miss, how was your name?" Interrupted in her thoughts, Rose looked at the man for a moment. Then she answered, as it would be the most natural thing to say in the world: "Dawson, Rose Dawson." Looking at the statue of liberty, it seemed a bit ironic. Yes, she was free now. And although she should have been so endless happy about it, Jack's death cast a shadow on her new won life. What should this all come to? He would have known what to do next. She looked around. A lot of the survivors were welcomed by friends and family and she felt lonely and lost. "Rose, is that you? I am glad you survived!" In the next moment Rose was hugged by Molly Brown. "Molly…" It was so good to have someone right now. "Molly….he did not survive." Just as she said this she started sobbing. Molly kept her in her arms and let her cry. "I am so sorry, darling. Is there anything I can do for you?" "Could you maybe tell my mom in a little while that I survived?" Suddenly a thought crossed her mind. "And could I maybe stay with you a few days?" She needed some time to rest and recover after the sinking. She and Molly got in the car whoch came to pick her up. When they arrived at Molly's home, Rose was surprised by the cold wind which had picked up. She felt cold and put her hands in the pockets of Cal's coat which she was still wearing. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Good lord, the heart of the ocean. And in the other one… MONEY. Wow and how much…" And then she got an idea. She would buy a ticket to California in the coming days. She wanted to go to the place she and Jack had talked about. Moreover, it was far away... hopefully, far enough away from Cal. And so it happened that Rose was sitting in a train to California two days later.

Meanwhile at the same time in a hospital in New York: "Go and get Dr. Johnson right away! We here have a patient from the Carpathia. He was fished out of the ice water because he cramped. He was partly lying on some flotsam, so his upper part of the body was not in the water. He was reanimated in the life boat but is in a coma." When Dr. Johnson examined the patient, he asked for his name and got to know that no one really knew. "Oh gosh, poor guy. If he ever awakens he will probably have some permanent damages. Bring him to the intensive care unit." And when walking away he mumbled: "That he is here in the hospital and not on the ground of the sea, well, this almost seems like a miracle."

Chapter 2 – Solved problems

Three weeks later

Rose was nervous. She balance three plates on one arm and was trying to put a forth one on one of the three. Mary gave her tips: "You have to bend the thumb a little bit more. And keep your forearm straighter." Mary Bishop lived in the same house as she did. The last weeks had been very eventful. Rose had first resided in a cheap hotel whilst looking for a permanent place to stay. Finally she had found a cheap apartment in a multiple unit house. They both got on well at the first go. Mary was a blithesome, light-hearted and optimistic woman full of joie de vivre who was the same age as Rose. She reminded her a little bit at Trudi, her former servant who perished during the sinking of the titanic and with who had understood her most of the time. It had been Mary who got her a job interview at the restaurant she worked in herself and which should take place the next day. Since Rose obviously had never waited before, Mary had helped her during the last one and a half weeks to practice. And Rose desperately needed the job. She knew that waitresses didn't earn much money, but the money which Molly had given her was almost gone. And she did not want to sell the diamond she found in Cal's coat. It remembered her more at a perfect erotic moment then at Cal. She was grateful that Molly had helped her and wished to be able to show her her gratitude although she knew that it was improbable. She had also heard from her that Cal entertained some suspicion who hid away behind the Titanic-survivor Rose Dawson but wasn't looking for her. He didn't lose his honor with a runaway fiancée who preferred an indefinable poor guy but whole Philadelphia thought his fiancée was just in of the victims of the Titanic as so many others… so as Jack. She sighed. At least Caldeon now had a good reason to call off the wedding and maybe he was even happy he had gotten rid of her. Now he could look for another porcelain doll to serve him as decoration. She hadn't heard a thing from her mom. She knew she had survived and that was enough at the moment. She was not ready to forgive her mother just yet for what she had tried to force her into. In the last three weeks she sometimes asked herself why she hadn't any brothers or sisters who could've helped her through these hard times. Maybe the marriage of her parents had never been lucky and maybe this was the reason why her father had started to gamble occasionally. She had lover her father and his death had hit her hard… almost as hard as Jack's death. Plirr, clank, poww. Two more broken plates. "God Rose, focus, that can't happen to tomorrow", Mary said worried. And sighing she added: "I'll go to this junk store tomorrow, they sometimes have cheap plates."

"Mr. Dawson, good to see that you are feeling better. Tomorrow you can leave the hospital. And I never want to see you here again", Dr. Johnson said with a smile. He was still fascinated what a will of survival the young man had who survived the Titanic and the ice water without permanent damages. "Thank you, Dr. Johnson. Here, I have made a portrait of you." "Thanks. And remember to take your other drawings with you." In the last week Jack had already felt well enough so he had asked for paper and some crayons and started sketching scenes which he went through from his memory unto paper. This was something new for him since he usually drew by models, and not just from memory. He wasn't happy with the results but he really wanted to record his memories and wanted to keep on practicing. The next day he found himself in the street of New York with nothing but the air in his lungs and a few sheets of paper, ready to start a new day. He went to the bureaus of the White Star Line and asked for the list with the surviving passengers. But he just found a Ruth Dewitt Bukater. He did not think about looking for a Rose Dawson.

Chapter 3 – Turns in life

Rose had to work early today. The diner which she worked at was open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. "What can I get you?", she asked a newly arrived customer. "I'd have a coffee and scrambled eggs with bacon." "Okay, coming up." She went to the kitchen and told the chef the order. When she smelled the typical smell of scrambled egg, bacon and pancakes, she suddenly felt really sick. "Ehmm, I, I…" she stuttered and rushed to the bathroom and threw up. "Wow, what was that, why…" Suddenly a thought occurred to her. What if…? She thought about it. It had been busy lately and a lot of things gad happened, but now that she thought about it, she hadn't had her period since the Titanic. "Lord Almighty, I think I might be pregnant", she uttered under her breast.

Three months later

Chloe Walkerfield, Olivia Talbot and Amy Fetcher were already waiting when Mary and Rose finally came. "Excuse us, but we saw this announcement that they are looking for extras for a production and so we went to the audition", said Rose. The five women worked together in the same restaurant and became good friends. Today the restaurant was closed and so they decided to go to the theatre together. "And, what are your chances?" "We don't know yet", answered Mary, "but they are looking for pregnant women. Means, Rose might have a chance. They want to cast the roles in a few days and then they announce their decision as soon as possible". Rose was four months into pregnancy and it was the main topic at the time. "I could really need this job since I have to stop working in the restaurant soon. I have to stop at the very moment one can see that I am expecting." Rose loved that she was getting Jack's child. At least one part of him would go on. On the other hand he never knew that he would have become a father. She hoped it to be a boy which she could name Jack. She also knew that it was going to be hard to raise a child on her own. People looked at her and talked about who the father might possibly be. Of course she had told her friends everything about Jack. She still missed him so much. She also worried about how to provide and raise her child while having to work at the same time. The four had offered their help but she did not want to put a strain on them. At the moment she still had a job, and then maybe the acting job and then,… then she would take what life would give her.

Today had been a real successful day. By incident an old rich lady had seen some of his drawings and she had then asked him to paint her with her dogs. This had just been a few days ago. Today he was invited to go to an event of said lady and to draw there. The next day he was supposed to go to her to show her what he had come up with and she would then which one if any she wanted to buy. Moreover, he had had noting against the pre-payment from which he bought a tuxedo. "And once again I get an insight into high society", he thought smilingly. "Hopefully is the food good."

Next day, in the evening

Jack and a good friend of his, Lucas Moutier, a French immigrant which he had gotten to know after the Titanic during a job in the harbor, were sitting in a nice restaurant. He had made good friends with Lucas in a short time, although he would never have such a good friend such as Fabrizio. "Order whatever you want, all right, today we celebrate!", Jack cheered. He had sold three of his paintings and made the full amount of $10.00. He still couldn't believe his luck. And this was not even all. A few of the people there had really liked his paintings and seemed interested to be drawn by him, too. "If this would go on like this… when they again show my sketches to some of their friends… well this would be too crazy." He just wished Rose would be here sharing the success with him.