Rose felt exhausted from all the emotion that had washed through her over such a short period of time. Sitting there next to the man that had been the first love of her life, that had given her Jacob...it was surreal. She wanted to cry really. Cry for herself, cry for Jacob, and most of all, cry for Jack. He had obviously spent his life alone up until now, when he could have been spending it getting to know the perfect boy that they had created together. Her heart ached each time Jack glanced out the opened door.

"He's perfect," Jack's voice was so low that Rose almost couldn't hear it. "Can you tell me about him?"

Rose nodded. "Of course. I suppose the first thing you should know is that everything that I loved about you, he inherited. Your artistic talent. Your kindness, your compassion. Your love for adventure. The ability to bring out the best in the people that meet him. Plus your good looks."

Jack chuckles. "Well the looks is rather obvious. I thought I was losing my mind when I first saw him. My god, he's exactly the age I was when we met."

"He's also resourceful. Which has been a great help these past few years. I should probably properly introduce the two of you."

Jack swallowed, not sure how to respond. "I'd love that. I mean...if you think it's a good idea. But first...Rose...I have to apologize to you. I am so sorry for everything that had happened to you because of my aunt and uncle. I should have been here. I should have came home and been here for you and Jacob. I had once promised to protect you and I had broken that promise."

Rose looked down from his gaze, not sure how to respond. The guilt he must be feeling was probably immense. He had failed them by not coming back. But it wasn't like it was on purpose. He hadn't known that she had survived and he certainly hadn't known that she had given birth to their child. She was pretty sure that he would have been by her side, never to leave if he had. Jack was never one to run away from trouble or abandon his responsibilities. He had always stood up and faced challenges. This wasn't his fault.

Besides, things ended up pretty good. Cal had been able to be the man he should have always been, thanks to Jacob's love. She had been able to move on and love again, when she had felt that she would never be able to do so. All because Jacob had opened Cal's heart.

She was always a great believer in things happening for a reason and this situation proved it. She had needed Jack on Titanic. Cal had needed Jacob after Titanic. Now fate had brought her and Jack together again. For what reason? She didn't know. But she was sure that they were going to find out.

"Jack...it wasn't your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for. You did all you could to find me. You had no way of knowing that I had changed my name or that I was carrying your child. You had no way of knowing that I would even come here to Chippewa Falls. You had thought I was dead. And I don't blame you for your aunt and uncle. You have nothing to apologize for...well except for pointing that thing at our son," She nodded at the now forgotten gun on the floor.

"Don't worry, it wasn't loaded. It was just to scare them. I keep that thing unloaded at all times. After being shot at numerous times, I'm not really a big fan of guns."

Rose frowned. Who would shoot at Jack? Her eyes widened at the memory of Cal chasing them deeper into the sinking Titanic while shooting at them the whole time.

"I was in the great war," Jack chuckled.

"Oh. That had totally slipped my mind," Rose blushed. "So...let me call him in?"

"Sure. Why not?" Jack grinned, for a second, looking like that happy go lucky young man she had met twenty years ago.

Rose smiled and took his hand in hers. She couldn't help but think of how fine they still felt all these years. Strong and steady. She tried not to think it, but she couldn't help it. Sitting there, staring into his eyes, ready to call their son in, Rose couldn't help but to still think of him as her Jack. She would have been amazed to know that in his heart, he had always been hers. No matter how many years had passed and he probably always would be.

"Jacob, darling! Will you come in here please!" She called, not sure what was going through her son's mind at this point, but knowing that, like his father, he'll make the most of what life was dealing him.

The young man came in, followed by his younger brother and sister. He looked unsure of the situation, reminding Jack of himself. It was strange, he literally was looking at his twenty year old self.

"Mother?"Jacob asked, not sure why she would call him back in there. He knew that this was important for her. She had discovered that the man she had been grieving for all these years was actually alive and well.

"Come here darling," Rose held out a hand, her smile sad, yet serene. It was like she had secretly been hoping for this moment, despite the odds.

Jacob walked to his mother's side, leaving the twins just a few feet away. He took her offered hand and looked down at her and saw a sad smile with tears shining in her eyes. He looked over at Jack, wondering if he had anything to do with those tears. The man still looked as if he was in a state of shock. It was understandable. He would be shocked too if he found out the woman he had thought dead was alive and that he had a son that had grown up without him.

"Jacob, I'd like to introduce you to your father. Your biological father, Jack. You've inherited so much from him, it still amazes me," Rose chuckled, turning to Jack. "Jack, this is the gift you gave me, our son, Jacob. For four years he gave me a reason to wake up and keep that promise you made me make. Then after that, he lit up the Hockley house hold with the light he inherited from you. You two should have always known each other, but fate had other plans, I'm afraid."

"It's nice to meet you," Jack smiled, holding out his hand.

Jacob stared at the man who had conceived him. Just like Maxwell had gotten most of Cal's looks, Jacob had definitely taken after his father. There was no question about it that they were father and son. It was finally coming home to him that it wasn't Hockley bloody flowing through his veins. It was this man's...this stranger's. Sure his parents, his mother and Cal, had told him all about Jack and he had seemingly accepted that he wasn't Caledon Hockley's blood. That it didn't make a difference, because his blood father was dead and gone and couldn't be a real father to him.

But that had all changed now. The man that he had loved as his father was dead and gone and here was his real father, who he shared blood with, here he was to take Cal's place. That just didn't sit well with Jacob. He had loved Caledon Hockley. He had been the one there to hold him when he had been afraid of monsters, to tell him stories, to hold him when he cried and cleaned his bruises. He had been the one that Jacob had grown up calling daddy. Not this stranger who his mom seemed to be on intimate terms with.

It was just too overwhelming to deal with at that moment.

"I...I need some air…I'm sorry," Jacob turned and fled outside, where he sat on the porch, his head in his hands at hot tears filled his eyes. Not for the first time, he missed his father Cal. He wished that he was there to guide him. To tell him how to deal with this new situation, because right now, he felt lost and all he could do was hold on to the memories he had of the man that raised him.

Back in the house, Rose frowned as she watched her son flee. She turned to Jack, stricken. "I'm sorry, Jack. I don't know what has gotten into him, he usually has more manners than this. I'll go talk to him..."

Jack grabbed her hand and shook his head. He knew what had just happened and on a level, he could relate. After all, he had once been a young man who had lost his beloved father. No man could ever take his place. Jacob's reaction, it was understandable. "Wait, Rose. I know what this is...I'll talk to him..."

"But..."

"He loved Cal. He was the father he grew up loving. He had lost him and now here is this stranger with the title that Cal had been given. It's like Cal is being erased some how and that I'm taking his place."

"That's not it at all..."

"But that's how it feels Rose. I remember feeling that way when my parents died. People meant well, but them telling me what to do, what to wear, what to eat, then having the audacity to try to hug me the way my parents would...it felt like they were trying to replace them and that sent me fleeing town. It's not a good feeling. In fact, it's overwhelming..."

"You would think that I would know that, having lost my own father," Rose bowed her head, feeling guilty that she had been so insensitive to how Jacob may be feeling about all of this.

"Why would you? No offense, but I somehow don't think Ruth had any suitors to call when your father had died. No one was there, threatening to take his place."

Rose chuckled. "You have a point there. Mother was lovely in looks only, but she was too cold. Men couldn't get close to her. That's probably one of the reasons it was me that she looked to in saving the family name. She had no fantasies about herself. You must think that I'm a terrible mom."

"That's not true mother!" Maxwell was suddenly there, wrapping his arms around her with Olivia by her side. "You're a great mother!"

Jack smiled, liking how the children banded together to soothe their mother. "By what I've seen, I agree. You are a wonderful mother and all three of your children adore you. I only know what Jacob is feeling because the situation is similar. That's all."

"You haven't changed a bit. You were too kind to me back then, and you're too kind to me now."

"That's because you deserve it Rose. You are still an amazing woman," He got to his feet, resisting the urge to kiss her hand, not sure if it would have been welcomed. He was not that daring twenty year old anymore. He now had a sense of tact that he hadn't had back then.

"Thank you, Jack. Not only for talking to Jacob...but for all you did for me back then...including giving me Jacob."

Jack just smiled at her sadly, not knowing what to say. "I didn't do anything that others wouldn't have done."

She watched him walk outside and hugged her youngest son and daughter to her, knowing that they must be confused too, but right then, she only had the strength to hold them and wonder what the future held for their family.

…..

Jack stepped out on the porch and looked at the back of the young man that was his son. Judging by the trembling of his shoulders, the boy was crying. It broke his heart to see, because it was like looking at himself after the fire in that barn had taken his parents. He stuffed his hands in his pocket and walked over to the stairs and sat down next to Jacob, making sure to keep his hands to himself. Any moves that seemed parental may send the young man fleeing.

"You know, I was your age when I had lost my parents. I was devastated. I had loved them so much and I had thought that they were always going to be with me. Then suddenly, they weren't there anymore," Jack began, deciding to start off with his own story, letting the young man know that he understood how he must be feeling. "After their deaths, this couple took me in. They were nice. But...they tried to be the parents that I had lost and it was just too much. I didn't want them to do all the things my parents did. I had just wanted my parents. Irene and Albert Dawson. But they were gone and all I had were these strangers...so I ran away, afraid that they would continue to try to be the parents that I had lost and didn't want them to be."

Jacob was silent, but his sobs had stopped, signaling that he was listening.

"Look, I know that Hockley…Cal...he was the man that raised you as his own. He was the one that did all the daddy things with you that my own father had done with me. You loved him, it didn't matter whether he was blood or not. He was your father and no one can replace him. No matter what. No matter how hard they try. Nothing can replace that bond. I know that you and I share blood. That if things had been different...if your mother and I hadn't lost one another, I would have been that man that did all those things with you that Cal did. But...things weren't different. They happened the way they did. I guess you can call it fate. But the truth is, that I wasn't a real father to you. Cal was. I can't take his place, I wouldn't even try."

Jacob looked at him, surprised to find understanding from the man that had helped create him. His mother had said that Jack Dawson was a kind, compassionate man. By all signs, she was right.

"I loved him. It didn't matter that we didn't share blood. People tried to make it seem like a disgrace that I wouldn't get to be heir to the kingdom, but I didn't even care about that. He never once treated me any different from Max and Livvie. And I miss him," Jacob rubbed at his falling tears, inwardly realizing that this was the first time since Cal's death that he had really cried.

"I am so sorry that you lost him, Jacob. Cal and I weren't friends. In fact, we pretty much hated one another, for obvious reasons. But, he had been a different person when I knew him. I didn't know the person that he became when you came into his life. Rose said he became a good person and I believe the both of you and I'm grateful for that."

"It doesn't bother you?"

Jack stopped and really mulled it over in his head then he smiled and sighed. "Do I wish that things had been different? Of course. Your mother was the love of my life. I had never gotten over her. I wish that I had been here for her. I wish it had been me to protect you both from what had sent her running back to Philadelphia. I wish it was me that had done all the things with you that Cal had done. That you looked to as a father figure. But fate had other plans.

"You mother said something that made sense. When we had met, she had needed someone to rescue her from the man Cal used to be. Someone to help her get to a point where she was strong on her own. Then Titanic sank and we lost each other and then she had to go back to Cal. And that was meant to be too. Maybe Cal needed you, just as your mother needed me. And now, things are full circle again, lord only knows why. But your mother and I had found each other again. I don't know what that means for the future but, it can't be bad.

"I do promise you this. I'm not going to try to take Cal's place. He was your father in all ways but blood. But I would like it very much if we can be friends. I'd love to get to know you and the man you've become. What do you say? Friends?" Jack held his hand out.

At first, he didn't know if Jacob would accept the offer, but after a moment's hesitation, Jacob smiled and took Jack's hand in a firm shake. "Friends."