Rose walked up the stairs, taking each step very carefully so she didn't spill any of the tea she was carrying for Mr Crawley. After all, she had spent seventeen years of her life being looked after by nannies and maids, she had never had to make or carry tea to anyone. Nonetheless she was getting accustomed to her new lifestyle better than she thought she would. She knocked on his office door and waited for his affirmation before stepping inside.

"Come in!"

"Here you go, Mr Crawley", Rose said putting the cup and saucer down in front of him on his cluttered table.

"Thank you, Rose. Excuse the mess, we're trying to get some affairs into order". Rose had just noticed a smartly dressed man standing next to Mr Crawley's chair. He was stiff in composure and was examining a few documents with utmost intentness. "Oh, how silly of me!", Mr Crawley exclaimed, "I completely forgot to introduce the two of you! Rose, this is Thomas, my accountant. And Thomas, this is our new maid Rose". Thomas finally looked up from the documents and registered her presence.

"Oh sorry, where are my manners? Pleased to meet you. Sorry again, I was just engrossed in some work".

"No need to be sorry, and pleased to meet you too!" Rose replied politely.

"Rose here is a Titanic survivor", Mr Crawley informed Thomas.

"Oh. Umm, what a terrible tragedy that was. I hope miss is alright now, and her co-travelers too", Thomas said apologetically.

"Thank you, I'm doing fine", Rose returned, deciding to leave his latter inquiry unanswered.

"My sister is a nurse at St Vincent's. She's been telling me how many survivors were brought in and their conditions".

"Oh. I hope they've all been doing well, then".

"Yes, she says they're coming around, more or less".

"That's good to hear. Now if you excuse me, I'm needed in the kitchen", Rose turned around to leave but Mr Crawley had a request.

"Rose dear, could you tell them in the kitchen that they should prepare salmon for supper. Mr Calvert is coming over". Rose sighed hearing the name, she had been dreading another visit.

Dr Gilbert was stunned at the sudden improvement of Jack's state. He had been discharged from the hospital a few days before when his fever had gone down noticeably. Jack was fueled by the motivation to find Rose, or more precisely to find out if that was the Rose he was looking for. He had been determined to get well quickly and begin his search. Gilbert had enough sympathy to pull some strings and get him work in the kitchen of a friend's restaurant, while managing to get him a place to stay with another kitchen employee.

The work wasn't exactly easy, but he was thankful to have something. He was also very glad that the restaurant was near Central Park, because every break he'd get, he would escape to the greenery that was domed within New York's grayness.

He came here for two main reasons; the first was that since he had absolutely no clue how or where to begin looking for Rose, his best bet was to come to one of the city's hot spots to catch her somewhere, and the second was the inspiration and serenity it provided when he sketched. Jack had returned to his hobby cum profession the day he was out of hospital. He had missed the feel of charcoal scratching against paper, missed the intensity of absorbing every detail into the mind and transferring it onto the blank sheets.

He couldn't help but think about the time he had sketched Rose the night of the sinking. How oblivious they had been to the impending doom. He had sketched many nudes before, but never had he felt the way he did when he first saw Rose's skin and curves exposed before him. He had been embarrassed when she had noticed him blushing, but continued drawing her as professionally as he could. Now the drawing was buried under the ocean bed somewhere. The spark to find Rose re-ignited in him at the memory and he tried to be as attentive as possible when scanning and drawing the crowd simultaneously. Soon enough a few observers had looked over his shoulder at the creations while passing by and soon enough they were requesting portraits done by his talented hands. He was making quite a good sum of money this way too.

Kathy didn't want her friendship with Jack to end after his life at the hospital, so when she found out from one of his colleagues that he came to the park during his breaks, she started visiting him frequently. I'm such a hopeless case, she thought to herself. Here he was clearly hellbent on finding this woman and meanwhile Kathy was crushing on him.

"My God, those are astonishing. Jack, you have amazing skills!"

"Nah, it's nothing", he replied flattered.

"Don't say that! These are wonderful. You deserve the attention you're getting for them."

"Hey, I got an idea. How about I sketch you?"

"What, me?!" she said astonished.

"Yeah, why not! You can be my model for the day. And I won't charge ya either!", he joked. Jack began sketching her and Kahty's cheeks became hot sitting there modeling for him. She felt so shy and plain.

"Jack...", she began.

"Hmm?"

"I know what you expect every day you come here, but... Just remember that it's not going to be that easy. To be fair, Rose is a very common name and so is Dawson. It could be someone else".

"Yeah, but what if it isn't?", he asked looking up from his unfinished drawing. "What if it is her and she's out here? I can't just remain passive".

"I know, I know. But if it is her, how do you know she's even still here in this city? It's been weeks, she could have moved. I'm only trying to look out for you".

"I know that. But, and this may sound nutty, but I feel like...like she is here somewhere. I can't explain it, Kathy". Kathy surrendered her argument and continued to pose silently. She had begun hoping that Rose actually would spring out of the park somewhere and run to Jack just so he would give up this hopeless pursuit which she knew almost for certain would break his heart.

"I told the girls to lay it off".

"Huh?". Rose and Anne were both busy setting the table for tonight's guest, whose arrival Rose couldn't help but feel anxious about.

"The girls. I told them to lay off about Mr Calvert".

"Thank you, Anne. They're just kidding around, they don't know".

"And thank you. For telling me everything. I really am glad to have a friend like you", Anne smiled at her.

"As glad as I am to have you", Rose smiled back. Anne had been thinking about Rose's story a lot for the past days, it just wouldn't get out of her head. It sounded so quixotic and out of this world. Sometimes she felt both tingly and sad about the romance the brief lovers had shared, but she was very careful never to bring it up.

Supper had passed and the party were now sitting in the parlor enjoying some coffee, and as Rose suspected, Calvert had once again been eyeing her.

"Have you heard of Jim's new project, dear?" Mr Crawley asked his wife.

"I don't think I have", Mrs Crawley sat up in her seat. "Do tell, Mr Calvert".

"It's actually not a play this time. It's a Hollywood script I'm working on and some production houses have already expressed keen interest in it".

"Oh that's so wonderful. Imagine seeing your picture in the cinema!"

"Yes, but nothing too concrete yet. We'll see I guess. For now I have to concentrate on the play I'm putting up in a few weeks time".

The maids had been listening in and when they returned to the hallway one of them exclaimed "Oh imagine being a heroine in the pictures! The sets, the lighting..."

"The beautiful costumes and the pay!"

"Hey don't forget the suave leading men", Anne chimed in. All the girls laughed and Rose made her way in front of the group.

"Imagine everybody's eyes on you!", she tilted her head back and put the back of her right hand on her forehead, in the same dramatic gesture she had once shown Jack on the promenade. The other maids had never seen Rose this lit up and began clapping in amusement.

"My my, that was indeed very good", Calvert had appeared behind them and Rose suddenly stood up straight. "Really, I think you could do well in pictures, Miss Rose. Oh I just came to get something out of my pocket, but do continue", he winked at Rose and returned to the parlor. The other two maids tried to constrain their smiles while Anne looked down at the floor. Rose was visibly blushing and felt foolish. Later when she heard shuffling in the hallway she went into the parlor to retrieve the coffee cups, relieved that Calvert was leaving. When she turned around she was so startled by his figure standing before her that she almost dropped the cups.

"Oh sorry, didn't mean to give you a scare", he said earnestly.

"No that's alright, I was just, umm..."

"Miss Rose, please don't think me being too forward or any such thing, but I wanted to ask you something". Now Rose was beginning to feel nervous and was praying someone would come to her rescue. "You see, I have been trying to cast the perfect heroine for this next play that I am putting up, but have struggled so far. However, ever since I saw you I have been seeing my heroine in your face. Especially tonight out there in the hallway. So my question was, would you consider auditioning for my play? Only if you're comfortable, no pressure", he finished. Rose was dazed. She didn't know what she had expected. And she wasn't sure how to react to this offer. "You know what, it's not fair of me to demand an answer straightaway, but please do think about it and get back to me", he tipped his hat at her and left.

Rose was spaced out at this point. She had always wanted to be an artist, even imagined herself as an actress when she was a little girl. But it had never occurred to her that it was a dream that could be made into reality. Until this moment. She thought of Jack, how all he had ever done was to encourage her to follow her heart. She thought how proud he would be if she did go through with this and managed to make it as a starlet. It brought a smile to her face conjuring the image of Jack grinning at her hypothetical achievements as a thespian. Jack had lived the life of an artist without any inhibitions, and he was the happiest person she had ever encountered. It was a life she had wanted to live. With him. Maybe this was the first step towards fulfilling her promise to him. She could do it, she could manage acting. After all, she had pretended well enough with her mother and Cal. And anyways, it was just an audition, she hadn't been handed the role. That was it, then. She would go see Mr Calvert the next day and take him up on his offer.