Jack watched Rose gaze up at the Statue of Liberty. She was entranced and didn't seem to notice the rain. He wondered what she was thinking. Was she regretting the decisions she made the night before? His stomach tightened, knotting around a ball of fear. She loves you. If she didn't she wouldn't have done all of that. Yet he couldn't help but doubt it just a little; after all, what could he ever really give her? He knew who he was, and he knew who she was.

Rose noticed Jack's gaze had been lingering on her for quite some time, but she wasn't sure why. I know I look awful, she thought. Unable to take it anymore, she turned her head slightly and met his eyes. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he answered quietly. "I was just thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

Jack opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again. He wasn't sure how to say what was on his mind. "Rose," he began slowly, "You don't…" He let the sentence dangle, unfinished.

"Don't what, Jack?" Rose's voice held a hint of worry.

. "You don't wish you'd decided to stay with—"

"No!" Rose exclaimed, cutting him off. "How—why would you ever think that?" she asked incredulously.

"I was just afraid you, that maybe you'd realized how serious the choices you made last night were, and you were regretting some things." Jack took her hand. "I don't want you to be regretting anything," he added, stroking her palm with his thumb. "But if you are…" He looked down at her hand in his. Her hand looked so small compared to his. Her skin was so much lighter than his; she'd never spent the kind of time in the sun he had. She'd also never done anything compared to the kind of work he had. Her hands were so soft, so smooth. He gently traced her palm with his slightly calloused fingertips. "But if you are," he started again, determined to finish this time, "I'll understand." He looked into her eyes. "I really will understand if that's what you need—to go back."

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all they had been through together, could he really doubt her? "Are you saying you want me to go back?" she asked, afraid of the answer. "Do you—"she could feel herself beginning to cry and was trying to hold it together. "Do you—" she tried again, tears springing to her eyes this time.

Jack pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She was crying heavily now, her words muffled by his shirt. "I'm so sorry," he whispered into her curls. "I love you, I love you," he chanted, squeezing her tighter. "I don't want you to ever leave me." He tilted her face up, holding it in his hands. His thumbs stroked her tear-streaked cheeks. "Never. Okay? I survived because of you, and not just because of what you did for me. You are the best thing that ever happened to me." He kissed her. Leaning so their foreheads met, her face still in his hands, he continued quietly, "I want to marry you."

"You do?" Rose was shocked. "You really want to marry me?"

"Yes!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "I want to marry you as soon as possible. I want to spend every day of the rest of my life with you." He took her hands. "I want to show you the world, Rose. The real world, the things I've seen. I want to watch the fire in you get stronger."

Rose was crying again, but tears of joy this time. She wrapped her arms around him. "Yes, yes, all of that!"

"You mean it?"

"I've never wanted anything more," she said, looking up into his eyes. "I love you, Jack."

He didn't say anything else; he just kissed her. He kissed her for a long time.

Eventually they came back to reality, and realized they were soaked from the rain. It was still early in the day, but they couldn't stand around forever. It would be night before they knew it.

Hand in hand they walked toward a man in a White Star Line uniform. He was calling out to survivors to come forward and give their names. "And who are you two?" he asked. Jack started to answer, but Rose beat him to it. "Dawson," she said. "Jack and Rose Dawson."

"Thank you," he said, walking on to collect more names.

"You used my name." Jack could only stare at her.

"What?"

"Just then. You used my name."

"Of course I did." Rose wondered what he was getting at. "Would you rather I hadn't?"

"It isn't that I would rather you hadn't," he replied. "I guess I just didn't expect it."

"But you just asked me to marry you," Rose laughed.

"You're right. I did," Jack said with a grin. "I don't know what I was thinking. It's so strange to me that you would want this."

"We're not going over this again, Jack," Rose said quietly. "I love you, and I want to be with you."

He nodded and squeezed her hand. "Okay. Settled then."

Just then another White Star Line official began making an announcement. "All survivors of the Titanic sinking will be given free lodgings and tickets out of New York City if they so desire—"

They smiled at each other. Things were looking up.

They discovered the White Star Line wasn't just providing lodgings for the survivors; it was also providing them at the best hotels in the city. Their room was actually a three room suite that included a bedroom, sitting room, and private bathroom.

Jack couldn't help but be taken aback by his surroundings. He stood in the doorway and just let his eyes wander. He'd never desired wealth, and he still didn't. However, he couldn't help being impressed. The furniture was all of a rich oak; the bedclothes were thick and soft. Every inch of their suite sparkled with cleanliness.

Rose, on the other hand, was less than thrilled. She motioned for Jack to close the door. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he answered. "I just can't believe they gave us this."

"We don't have to stay here. If you.." Rose trailed off.

Jack looked at her curiously. "What?"

"I just meant that if you thought we should—"

"Wait," he interrupted her. "Do you not want to stay here?"

Rose felt like squirming under his gaze. "It's not that," she said slowly. "I just don't want you to think I couldn't handle it somewhere else."

"Rose."

"Yes?" she asked tentatively.

"I don't think that."

"You don't?"

"No." Jack laughed. "You need to stop worrying so much." He took her hand. "Didn't we already go over something like this?"

Rose nodded. "I know."

"Alright then," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Let's not talk about it anymore. There's something more important we could be doing."

Rose looked up at him, slightly confused. "What are we supposed to be doing?"

"Well, I was thinking we could get married—if you want to," he said quickly.

Rose stared at him. "Today?" she asked.

"Yeah." Jack wondered if maybe he shouldn't have brought it up so soon. "But we don't have to," he added.

"I want to!" Rose cried.

"You do?" Jack said, relieved.

"Yes, of course I do." Rose raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you just saying something to me about worrying too much?"

Jack grinned sheepishly. "I might have said something like that."

"Well, you think about that and I'll go try and make myself look decent," Rose said, as she headed toward the bathroom. She didn't have any other clothes, but she could take a bath. It would be better than nothing.

"You never look decent," Jack called after her.

Rose spun around in shock. "What?"

"You're always beautiful."

Rose shook her head. "You—" she wanted to be annoyed, but instead found it impossible to suppress a smile. "You need to behave while I'm in here," she said, removing her coat and shoes. She left them outside the door, which she shut behind her.

Jack picked up the coat. Maybe it could be sold. He still had the ten dollars in his pocket, though he wasn't sure how it hadn't gotten lost at some point during the sinking. However, he knew that wasn't nearly enough. Rose was willing to live however he did, but he wasn't going to let her experience life on the streets. There would be no sleeping under a bridge for her. He knew he couldn't give her anything close to what she'd always had, but he was determined to give her something.

He turned the coat over, and as he did he noticed one side felt slightly heavier than the other. Puzzled he reached into the pocket. His hands closed around a hard, cold object. He felt around a bit more as the realization hit him that he knew exactly he was holding. "It can't be," he said, pulling his hand out of the pocket. It was. Jack stared, dumbfounded, at the Heart of the Ocean.

"Why—" Before he could finish the question another, more important one, entered his mind. What might be in the other pocket?

Quickly he laid the necklace on a table and plunged his hand into the other pocket. It was almost as though he were watching someone else as he laid stack after stack of money onto the table. Slowly he recovered from his shock. Here was the answer he needed. Here was what he needed to provide for Rose until he found another way, until they figured out what they were going to do next. So what if it was Cal's money? Didn't he owe them something for trying to murder them? "I won't use it all," he told himself. "Just a little. Just enough to keep her taken care of."

He heard the sound of Rose getting out of the tub. He grabbed the necklace and money and shoved them back into the coat pockets.

Rose stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Her hair framed her face, the curls straightened temporarily by the water. Her eyes were brighter than they had been since the disaster began. She smiled at Jack. "What were you doing?"

"Nothing," he answered, keeping his voice steady. "I need to go take care of something. Will you be okay here for a little bit?"

Rose nodded. "Where are you going?"

"It's a surprise," Jack said, giving her a quick kiss. "I won't be long," he added as he stepped out the door, coat in hand.

Jack hurried down the street holding the coat in a vise-like grip. He knew exactly what he was after, and when he reached the building he needed he stopped and carefully pulled a few bills from one of the stacks, making sure to keep it out of sight.

His quest took about two hours, and it was already almost mid-afternoon by the time he finished. He hurried back to the hotel hoping Rose hadn't started to worry.

He called out to her as she opened the door, but she didn't answer. He found her curled up on the bed in a deep sleep, still wrapped in the towel. Jack put his new purchases—and the coat—in the closet before lying down beside her. He slid his arm under her, gently pulling her close..

Rose opened her eyes and found herself in Jack's arms. He was asleep, his cheek resting on her head. He's beautiful, she thought. Maybe that isn't the word you're supposed to use for man, but that's what he is right now.

It wasn't long before he began stirring. "Are you watching me sleep?" he asked teasingly, eyes still closed.

"Something wrong with that?" Rose replied in a mock-offended tone.

"It's a little weird, you gotta admit," he said opening his eyes. Rose pretended to gasp in shock. Jack laughed and sat up, pulling her up with him.

"Did you take care of what you needed to?" Rose asked.

"I did." Jack grinned and kissed the top of her head. "In fact, I'll show you what I did." Rose watched as he reached into the closet. Her curiosity only increased when he removed a plain white box.

"This," he said sitting down beside her, "is for you."

"What is it?"

"Open it."

Jack watched her slowly untie the ribbon holding the lid on. Maybe she won't like it. He held his breath as she removed the lid and reached inside. Silently she lifted out a green silk dress, very much like the one she wore while flying.

For a moment neither of them said anything. Rose stared at the beautiful garment in her hands. Jack nervously watched her, waiting for her reaction.

She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "How did you—"

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter how. Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Rose was incredulous. "Jack, I love it. I just don't see how we could possibly have had the money for something like this. It's so—it must have cost—"

"Let me worry about that," he said gently. "Please. At least for now."

"But Jack—"

"I want to do this for you. You deserve this. You deserve to get married in something as beautiful as you are, and I might never be able to give you anything like this again."

Rose nodded slowly. "Alright, but eventually you have to tell me how you did this."

"Okay. Look in the box again."

"There's more?" Rose couldn't hide her shock.

Jack just smiled. "Look and see."

She peered into the box and discovered another, much smaller box. "Is this what I think it is?"

Jack didn't answer. He reached across her and picked up the small box. "That depends," he said, opening it, "on what you think it is."

Rose could only stare in wonder at the ring in the box Jack held out to her. It was silver with a small, white pearl.

"It's so beautiful," she said finally.

"You like it?"

"I love it!"

Jack felt a wave of relief wash over him. He wasn't sure what he would have done if she hadn't liked it. "Then may I have your hand?" he asked in an exaggeratedly haughty tone.

"You may," Rose answered in an equally exaggerated tone. Jack slid the ring on her finger, and for a moment they just gazed at each other.

…..

Ruth sat stiffly in a chair in her hotel suite. She too had taken advantage of the White Star Line's offer of free accommodations. After all, it was probably going to be the last time she ever enjoyed the luxury to which she felt she was entitled. She had a train ticket to Philadelphia, but it didn't leave for another three days. Until then she had nothing else to do but remain in her room. She didn't want to see any of the other survivors. It was too shameful, even if they didn't know the truth about what happened to her daughter. Their pitying looks and empty offers of support were too much for her to bear.

Grief wasn't her problem, though she was certain Rose was indeed dead. There was no way she could have made it out alive, at least no way Ruth could see. No, grief wasn't her problem. It might be eventually, but at that moment she was too caught up in other things.

What would she do now? What would she tell people when they asked what happened? How was she to explain away Rose's death? She couldn't say, "Well, she ran back into the sinking ship, and after that I never saw her again." No, she could never say that even though that's exactly what happened. Nor could she say, "She met this—this boy and he somehow convinced her to…" She couldn't finish the sentence because she wasn't entirely sure what exactly he had convinced her to do. She'd seen the drawing, but there was more to it. She'd also seen the way they'd looked at each other. The simple truth was Rose had given up her life to be with him.

"She threw away everything," Ruth said aloud. Her voice echoed in the silent room. "Everything—and for what?"

Just then a sharp knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts. Irritated at being interrupted, she quickly opened it and found herself staring into the faces of two of the women from Titanic's first class.

"We heard this was your room, and we wanted to see how you were doing," the first one, a petite blonde said.

"Yes, do you need anything at all?" added the other one, a tall brunette.

Ruth stared at them for a moment, unable to form an acceptable answer. It was on the tip of her tongue to blurt out, "What I need is for my daughter to not have been so foolish with her choices", but she had been well-trained.

"I'm quite alright, thank you," she said graciously. "It was good of you to think of me."

"Would you like to have dinner with us?" asked the blonde. She seemed to be the leader.

The brunette nodded. "Yes, we would love it if you would join us."

Ruth didn't believe for a second the two women sought her out because they were concerned. They barely knew her. They wanted information. She had underestimated how quickly things can get around.

She opened her mouth, ready to decline their invitation, but what actually came out was, "That would be lovely."

Deep down she knew refusing their offer would only fuel the gossip fires even more, and she also knew it might be the last dinner of its kind. Once people found out the truth about her it would all be over.

Just as Ruth was accepting a dinner invitation, Jack and Rose were repeating their wedding vows. Their wedding only lasted about three minutes.

And just like that it was over. They were married.

Rose couldn't believe it. It all seemed so unreal. Less than a week earlier she had been engaged to Cal, and now here she was married to someone else. Not just someone else, she reminded herself. You're married to Jack.

A small part of her had never believed it would actually happen. She trusted her feelings—and him—completely, and once she accepted how she felt it was obvious what she had to do. Yet she hadn't been able to shake the gnawing fear that something would go wrong. It was too good to be true. After all, marriage, as far as her old world was concerned, had very little to do with love. By the standards of her old world, she had just made one of the biggest mistakes a woman can make, but she didn't care.

Jack couldn't believe it either. How did this happen? Why me?

And then something else entered his mind, something he was ashamed of thinking even as he did so.

Looks like I won.

Ruth wasn't surprised by how easily she slipped into her public role. She had always liked it, and unlike Rose, she didn't understand what could be so suffocating about it. What was wrong with a few hours of simple—if sometimes a bit vapid—conversation? What was wrong with rating people based on their background and bank balance? Didn't those things show they had made an effort? Truly, she believed those on the bottom were there because they just didn't understand there was a better way to live.

Looking around the hotel's lavish dining room she thought, How could Rose not have wanted this? How could she give this up—and for him?

It would have been different if she had left Cal because she found someone better. Ruth could have understood that. After all, there were wealthier and better connected men out there, and in her opinion Rose could have had any one of them if she'd only cared to. Why she never bothered was a mystery to Ruth. Why Cal had been so willing to marry her when she barely paid the slightest bit of attention to him was also a mystery. However, it was true that beauty could go a long way toward securing a man's interest, and there was no question about whether or not Rose was beautiful.

But she wasn't smart, Ruth thought bitterly. In this world a woman had to have a man, but not just any man. She needed someone who could take care of her. And I have no-one to do that anymore.

Almost as if cued by her thought, Cal strode into the dining room. His entrance caught the attention of most of the women there, and that fact wasn't lost on him. He flashed a smile at each one as he made his way to his table.

Glancing around the room he accidentally caught Ruth's eye. They stared at each other silently for a moment before he nodded and tilted his head slightly in the direction of the door.

They would discuss the situation later.

Meanwhile Jack and Rose were skipping dinner altogether. After leaving the courthouse they headed back to the hotel, and though neither ever said what was going on, they both knew.

In the elevator Jack began to slowly stroke Rose's palm with his thumb. He didn't look in her direction, just continued staring straight ahead as if nothing was happening. Rose didn't acknowledge she knew what he was doing.

When they finally reached their floor and stepped out into the hallway—and the elevator attendant was safely out of sight—she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a frenzied kiss.

"How could you do that to me?" she whispered.

Jack didn't answer. With one quick movement he swept her into his arms and started carrying her to their room. Rose recognized the look in his eyes. She'd known all along what he was up to in the elevator, but now that she could clearly see it things were a bit different.

It wasn't that she didn't want him; she did, very much. She just wasn't sure she was supposed to want what was about to happen as much as she did. That just wasn't how things worked. She'd been surprised by the force of her feelings and by the way she had been acting on them. She had most definitely not been behaving like a well-brought up girl.

She was so lost in thought she didn't notice when Jack carried her into their room. She did notice his lips on her neck. Slowly he kissed the space between her ear and shoulder. She sighed quietly and tilted her head to give him easier access.

"So you like that, miss?" he asked in a mock servant tone.

Rose nodded. "Yes," she answered in the best exaggerated society woman voice she could. If he could play than so could she.

Jack gently lowered her onto the bed and positioned himself beside her. He slowly ran his fingertips across her cheek. He'd never known a person could have skin as soft as hers.

"I love you," he said quietly.

Rose smiled. "I know you do."

"You know that's not exactly the answer I was looking for."

She giggled. "Wasn't it?"

Jack shook his head as though he were terribly disappointed. "Oh, well."

"Jack." Rose's voice held no hint of teasing.

He looked deep into her eyes. Was something wrong? He chose not to say anything. It was best to wait for her to continue.

"I love you so much."

He smiled. "Nothing wrong then?"

"Oh no," Rose said quickly.

Jack leaned down and began kissing her. She responded by wrapping her arms around him and pulling him on top of her. Jack groaned quietly. His skin felt like it was on fire. He shifted the arm he still had around her slightly to give him more room to work on the buttons on her dress. He had reached the conclusion that it needed to come off as quickly as possible.

Rose squirmed under his weight, enjoying the way his body felt pressed against hers. She could tell her was trying desperately to unbutton her dress, but the buttons were tiny and he was only working with one hand. She didn't want to wait the half hour it would probably take him.

"Stop," she whispered pulling away from the kiss.

"What?" Jack was confused. "Do you not—"

"Just wait a moment," she said untangling herself from him. She climbed off the bed and quickly began unbuttoning her dress. It didn't take her long to finish.

"Are you watching me?" she asked.

Jack nodded. "I'm watching," he said huskily.

Rose smiled haughtily. "Good." She lightly shrugged the dress from her shoulders. Slowly it slid down her body and formed a pool of green silk around her feet.

Jack could only stare. He hadn't known she wasn't wearing anything underneath the dress.

"Why are you staring?" Rose felt self-conscious under his gaze. He'd seen so many other women's bodies. Was he comparing her?

"You're just so beautiful."

Rose blushed. She didn't know why she felt so nervous this time. Maybe it was because now they had time. There was no chance of someone discovering them. They weren't running from anyone. Would that make things better or worse?

"Rose."

"Yes?"

"Would you come here?"

She stepped over to him. He grabbed her hands and pulled her back onto the bed. She giggled. "Not eager are you?" she teased, slowly beginning to unbutton his shirt.

AN: I didn't edit this as much as I originally wanted to. I decided I didn't want to rewrite it completely, and that's what it would take to make me satisfied with it. I don't think it's bad; I just think I've become a better writer since this story began. But it was my first serious Ttianic fic, and as much as some of the writing makes me cringe and as much as I wish I hadn't tried to jam every soap opera plot twist into a single story, I still like it. So, eventually all the chapters will get edited and reposted.