Chapter Four
"Oh!" Rose gasped a little as she pushed open the heavy oaken door that led onto the back deck of the ship. The cold air enveloped her, stinging her hot cheeks, and she pushed a few red curls away from her face. Her breath fogged as soon as it left her mouth, and she could already feel her nose beginning to redden with the cold. She held open the door, and Lizzie stepped through.
"Shit!" She gasped, before clapping a hand over her mouth. Rose rolled her eyes and laughed. "Lord, it's freezing!" Lizzie pulled her thin overcoat closer around her body.
"Let's look over the edge," Rose said, taking Lizzie's hand, and beginning to walk over the icy iron floor of the ship. The dampness that had settled over the evening had turned to a chill, and the floor was slippery with ice. Rose was grateful for the textured soles of her sturdy leather boots.
"Rose, it's so cold!" Lizzie groaned, following her friend reluctantly.
"One look, Lizzie," Rose said. Her head was spinning a little from all the cheap beer she had drank, and her feet ached from all the dancing. She could tell that Lizzie was exhausted, but Lizzie being Lizzie, she had refused to leave the general room for fear she'd miss something.
Rose inhaled sharply as she looked over the railings to the churning ocean below them. There were no signs of life, and it seemed a very different place from the blue oasis that dolphins that had frolicked in earlier in the day. A full moon hung heavy in the sky, reflected on the black water, and Rose shivered, not with the cold, but with awe for the intense beauty of the scene laid out before her.
"You're as cold as I am!" Lizzie said indignantly, mistaking Rose's shudder for a cold shiver. "Come on, Rosie, it's so cold!"
"You go, Lizzie. I want to stay for a minute."
Lizzie looked at Rose like she was crazy, her bright blue eyes sceptical. "Alright, suit yourself. I'm off to bed."
"Night, Lizzie," Rose said distractedly as Lizzie turned and walked towards the door, her hobnailed boots clacking on the floor.
"Night," Lizzie said, sighing to herself. Sometimes Rose just made no sense.
Jack threw the butt of his cigarette over the stern of the ship and immediately reached into the inside of his black dinner jacket for another. He lit it with a match and then lay down on a long wooden bench, his eyes turned to the sky. He inhaled from the cigarette and watched the smoke curl off into the atmosphere. He sighed with longing, wishing he too could disappear. His shoulders ached with the invisible responsibility he carried, and inside his chest, his heart sometimes felt like it was no longer beating.
It was as though he could see his life stretched out in front of his eyes. Marriage with Katherine, followed by a number of beautiful but no doubt bratty children, a lifetime of caring for his mother and grandmother, the worry of Nancy, of finding her a good husband who would love her and treat her right, not to mention working hard to keep the many Dawson watch making businesses up and running, and keep the already vast fortune growing. Dawson's watches were world renowned, and especially popular with the gentle class.
Jack sighed at the thought, and pulled his own chained watch from inside his jacket. It was quarter past eleven. He closed his eyes again, and felt the world spin. He shouldn't have drank so much brandy.
Suddenly there were footsteps from behind him, and Jack automatically froze, his eyes snapping open. A girl strolled past where he was lying, and walked the few feet to the middle of the stern.
"Wow," She gasped quietly.
Jack sat up. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" He said, encouraged by the brandy.
The girl jumped a little, startled to find herself not alone, and turned around. "You could say that," she said a little dreamily.
Jack stared at her, taken aback by her beauty. She was tall enough, probably to his shoulder, and that was no mean feat - he was almost six foot. She had masses of red curls, tumbling around a pale heart shaped face, with almond shaped green eyes. It was obvious from first glance that she was a steerage passenger - her grey dress was old and well worn, and the jacket pulled around her shoulders had a patch in the elbow, but that didn't stop her from being one of the most beautiful girls Jack had ever seen.
"Yeah," She breathed, leaning over and looking down and the water. "Do you think it's cold?" She asked conversationally. "The water, I mean."
"Freezing," Jack replied. "Maybe a couple of degrees over."
Rose peered back over the railings and shivered. "That cold, huh? Wow!" She said, leaning further over. "Hey! You can see the lettering. Titanic!"
Jack laughed, and stood to stand next to her at the railings. He too leaned over. "You can!" He said, before sighing a little. "Titanic."
Rose turned to smile at him briefly, before turning her glance back to the water below. She leaned a little further, standing on her tiptoes.
"What do you call those things?" She asked Jack, standing on the railing to get a better look. "Those turning things?" She lifted a hand from the railing to demonstrate what she meant.
"Propellers," Jack answered. Before he had the chance to elaborate on his answer, Rose took another step up the railing, and peered even further over, her red hair falling around her face. And suddenly, with a piercing scream, the soles of her old boots lost their grip of the iron railing, and she was flung over the side of the ship. One of her hands remained gripped to the railing, and her body twisted strangely as she fell. She screamed again, as pain shot through her arm.
The second she fell, Jack dropped his cigarette and reached over the railing towards her, his heart pounding painfully hard in his chest."Give me your hand!" He ordered Rose. She was flailing wildly, trying to find some sort of foothold on the smooth side of the ship, while at the same time holding tight to the railing with her right hand and trying to grab on with her left.
"You need to listen to me!" Jack said loudly over Rose's sobs. "Give me your hand!"
Rose looked up into his face, and finally grabbed onto the hand he was holding out to her. Somewhere through all the panic and confusion, she felt the warmth of his hand, and it comforted her.
"I've got you," He said, looking her straight in the eye. "I've got you, okay?"
"Okay," She said, her voice catching in her throat.
Jack let out a gasp as he began to pull her over the railing. Rose found the bottom rung of the railing with her feet.
"You're okay. I have you. What's your name?"
"Rose," She said, panting a little. "Rose DeWitt Bukater."
Jack raised an eyebrow at her, grinning in what he hoped was a slightly comforting way. "You might have to write that one down for me. I'm Jack Dawson."
"Nice to meet you," Rose said, smiling a little at the surreal quality of the moment, despite the fact that she was still in very real danger.
"Okay," Jack said. "Take a step. Move up one rung."
Rose nodded, her eyes widening with fear, but she began to do as he said. She was close to being back on the ship, so close, and then her foot caught on the hem of her tatty dress, and she plunged back down, letting out what was possibly the loudest shriek Jack had ever heard.
"It's okay, Rose, I've got you!" Jack shouted. "Listen to me, I'm not going to let you go! Do you understand? You've got to trust me!"
"I trust you!" She cried, forcing herself not to look down at the churning blackness below her.
"I'm going to pull you over, okay? One, two, three."
Rose yelled at the pain that shot through her arm, but then she was on solid ground, sprawled next to Jack on the icy iron floor of the ship.
Suddenly there were numerous sets of loud footsteps from behind them.
"Hey! What's going on here?" The quartermaster was standing over Jack and Rose, taking everything in. Standing behind him were two young sailors, and an older man that Jack recognised at Colonel Archibald Gracie, a man Jack had met once or twice since they'd boarded the ship.
Rose lay on the ground, sobbing a little, and one of the sailors went to help her up.
"I said, what's going on here?" The quartermaster repeated himself, glaring at Jack.
"Hold up, hold up," Colonel Gracie said, squinting at Jack. "It's young Jack Dawson! That you, Jack?"
"Yes, Colonel," Jack said, leaning over to shake the man's hand.
"This here is the late Laurence Dawson's young lad," Gracie said to the quartermaster. "You're overreacting, Rowe. I'm sure there's a good explanation for all of this."
"Are you alright, Miss?" Rowe asked Rose, shooting Jack another dirty look.
"I'm fine," Rose said a little shakily, pulling herself to her feet with the help of the sailor. "This is all a misunderstanding. All my fault, really. I was leaning over the edge of the ship. I was trying to see the, uh, the… what did you say they were called, Mr Dawson?" Rose made the spinning motion with her hand again.
"The propellers," Jack said, nodding in agreement.
"I was a fool," Rose murmured. "I should never have been so stupid. If it wasn't for Mr Dawson…" She shuddered.
Rowe and the Colonel exchanged glances, clearly believing Rose. It was blatantly obvious she was telling the truth.
"Well, in that case," Colonel Gracie began, "Dawson is a hero! The girl would have died if it wasn't for him. Well done, Jack. I'm so glad. I really wouldn't have been comfortable arresting you."
Jack smiled a little, and looked at Rose, who was shivering uncontrollably. "I think we should call the doctor for Miss Rose." He addressed her by her first name for fear that he had gotten her surname completely wrong. "She hurt her arm when I caught her, and she most certainly needs to be treated for shock."
"Right you are, Mr Dawson," Gracie said cheerfully. "Rowe, do you think you could…?"
"Reed!" Rowe snapped at one of the young sailors. "Fetch the doctor, please. And you, Johnson, get the woman's husband. I'm sure he's wondering where she is."
"I'm not married," Rose managed to blurt out between her chattering teeth.
For reasons he did not understand, Jack felt a surge of relief pass through his chest.
"Well, your father then. Where can he be located?"
"I'm travelling with my sister. But there's really no need, I'm fine, I just -"
"It's protocol, Miss. Tell us where we can find your sister."
Rose sighed. "Her name's Elizabeth O'Toole." Rose gave the cabin number, and the sailor called Johnson left in search of Lizzie.
Jack and Colonel Grace helped Rose over to a bench, where they sat her down and wrapped Jack's coat around her shoulders.
A few moments later, the doctor arrived. He was a heavy man, with a bald head and a thick moustache.
"You're alright, Miss," He said, checking her temperature. He inspected her arm. "You've pulled a few muscles, is all. You'll be a bit stiff tomorrow, but no serious damage. Any one got any bourbon?"
"I've got brandy," Colonel Gracie offered.
"That'll do fine," the doctor said, and Gracie handed him an engraved silver flask. He handed it to Rose and made her drink the lot. She had just swallowed the last drop of burning liquid when the door leading from steerage burst open, and Lizzie came flying onto the deck.
"Oh, Rose!" She cried, running over, closely followed by the sailor, Johnson. She was in her nightgown, with just a shawl pulled over her, and he chestnut hair was all over the place. She launched herself at Rose, hugging her tightly. Rose winced a little as pain shot through her arm.
"Lizzie, I'm okay," She said, patting her friend on the back. "I'm fine."
Colonel Grace and Rowe watched Rose and Lizzie, their expressions a mix of amusement and disapproval. No matter what had happened, at the end of the day they were still third class.
Jack Dawson was the only one who wasn't disapproving. He was watching Rose in a way he had never looked at a woman before. In that moment, as she sat there with her arms around the dark haired woman, he couldn't take his eyes off her. He forgot that he was First Class and the she was third, he forgot that his mother and sister were probably wondering where he was. He forgot all his worries surrounding his father, he forgot his fiancé, he almost forgot his name.
He knew two things - he knew that this girl, this beautiful Rose De-something or other, with her wild red hair and her green eyes, was real and was sitting there in front of him, and he also knew, that for the first time in a long time, his heart was feeling something that wasn't pain.
AN: I decided to use Rose and Jack's lie from the movie and turn it into a real thing... I hope you liked it. Please review, let me know what you think of the story, and my writing. If you have any contructive criticism, please feel free ! :D
Lily Beth x