A/N: Ok, this is my first Titanic fic, so please bear with me! All reviews are welcome, as are suggestions and ideas! Just so you know, I'm changing things that happened in the movie up a bit, so just go with it. Enjoy...and please please please R&R!
Jack couldn't wait to set foot on dry land. After the hellish ordeal he had been through, all he wanted to do was sleep. There was a dull ache in the back of his heart, and he knew it would eventually break through, and rip him to emotional shreds. For now though he wanted to put it off as long as possible.
Night had fallen, and Jack could see the lights of New York City. The Statue of Liberty was illuminated, as his heart fell just a little. Rose should be here, he thought to himself silently. Then, with a grimace, he shoved the thought from his mind.
After dropping off the empty Titanic lifeboats at Pier 59, Carpathia made her way to Pier 54, to allow the survivors to disembark. He had managed to avoid the crew members taking down the names of survivors. No one knew he was on the ship, so he felt it made no difference. Also, he was safer if some people thought he was dead. He had won the tickets, and figured that the men he won the tickets from would make it well known that they didn't board the ship at all. Both Tommy and Fabrizio had perished in the disaster, according to the current survivor list. And the one person who had loved with all of his heart for a total of three days was gone. He had noted that Cal, Ruth, and Molly had all made it off the ship. He was glad to see that Molly had made it, but a part of him could have cared less about Cal and Ruth, although he didn't wish them ill. He found that he didn't care because to them, Rose was just a means to an end.
Finally, Carpathia docked. Jack, with nothing in his hands, no money in his pockets, got off the ship as fast as his legs and the giant crowd would allow. Having escaped the insanity, he found a quiet bench in a park. He sat, and his mind drifted. Then for the first time since he was a kid, Jack Dawson broke down and sobbed.
Jack realized he didn't care if he lived or died. Rose had safely boarded a lifeboat. He knew Cal was lying when he said he had an arrangement for both him and Jack to get on a lifeboat. But if dieing was it took to save Rose, than he'd welcome death. He watched as the lifeboat was lowered into the cold, black sea. He realized he had never told Rose that he loved her, but he knew she knew.
"I always win Dawson. One way or another," Cal mocked him. Jack ignored him, and watched as the boat rowed further away. Everything that happened after her fiery red hair faded from sight was a blur.
He tried to get on a lifeboat, but was denied time after time, until finally the boats were gone. Realizing that only minutes remained until Titanic was at the bottom of the Atlantic, he moved fast. As the bow broke away, and the the stern fell back, he climbed over the railing so he wouldn't fall to his death. Within a few minutes, it was all over, and Titanic was lost forever.
He swam, avoiding the suction until he broke the surface. He remembered how he had told Rose about the cold, and the pain. His description was nothing to the feeling he hadn't felt in well over a decade. Something caught his eye, and he made his way over to it. It was a door panel, and before anyone else could spot it, he climbed aboard.
He laid there, staring at the stars, singing "Come Josephine," and waiting for death to overwhelm him. Then a light shone on his face, and he saw a boat there, returning for survivors.
Jack made his presence known, and felt his heart lighten. Soon he would be with his Rose again. She'd leave with him when they got to where ever it was they ended up on dry land. He was pulled from the water and covered with blankets as soon as he got in the boat. For awhile, he sat there, staring at the sea, daydreaming of Rose, but sleep soon set in. The next time he opened his eyes, the sun was rising, and the Carpathia was near. His boat was one of the last to be unloaded.
After what seemed like hours, the lifeboat was finally unloaded, and Jack made his way, wearily through the crowd, looking for Rose. He didn't know where to look first, he wondered if she had stayed in third class, or got swooped up into first class. All around him people were experiencing every emotion possible. Joy leeped into the eyes of those who found their loved ones. Denial and sadness overwhelmed those who lost someone. There was an aura of shock in the air, despite everything else. Exhausted, Jack sat on a bench, waiting for the crowd to thin. He hadn't expected to fall asleep, but he did. When he awoke, he continued his search.
Finally, having completely combed through the third, and then second class areas, he knew he had one place left to look. That was first class. He kept thinking that Rose had to be there, there was no place else for her to be. Jack carefully scanned the area, looking at faces, seeing if maybe he could see Molly, or anyone else he had met in first class who had been friendly too him. He saw Madeline Astor, but saw she was in tears, obviously mourning the loss of her husband, and he could not bring himself to confront her. A familiar voice was heard behind him. It was Ruth.
"No Caledon! It's not true! Rose was fine when she came aboard, and now she's gone!" Ruth cried out. She fell in Cal's arms, and Cal tried his best to calm her.
"I'm sorry Ruth, but it's true. Rose fell out of the lifeboat during the night. Even though she was quickly pulled back in, it was one too many times. She'd been in and out of the water all night, with that gutter rat Dawson. She simply became too cold and too weak to survive."
Jack's heart froze in his chest. So that was it. Rose was dead. After all he had done to break her free from her world, and then to save her life, in the end, he was the reason she was dead.
