A/N: Man, I'm on a roll! Only one review for the last chapter… Please, please, please review! I'm not stopping this story because I love writing it so much, but reviews would make me feel so much better about it. Enjoy the chapter! There's one swear word in here, so be warned.

Chapter Nine: Shock

Christian POV:

They were dragging Satine away from me, dragging her away with her shouts reverberating in the empty corridor and shattering my heart. Those men couldn't take my Satine from me! But shock and disbelief kept me rooted in place, unable to move, unable to plan a way to get her out.

I squeeze Satine's kitten and make my way to Rose's suite. Maybe we can plan a way to get Jack and Satine out together. Maybe.

I walked to their door, noticing that it was cracked open. I peered inside, wondering if Rose was as confused as me. She was standing there, watching the door with a perplexed expression. Cal was regarding her quietly, his posture stiff and angry. Without a word, he closed the distance between them and slapped her cheek. It sounded painful, and I winced sympathetically.

But Rose surprised me. She didn't flinch. Instead, she raised her head proudly and exposed the other cheek. Cal looked taken aback, but instantly controlled his features.

"It is a little slut, isn't it?" He says, grabbing her shoulders roughly. She doesn't look at him though. Her eyes are glazed over and unfocused. "Look at me you little…" An urgent knock interrupts him, and a steward pushes past me into the room, tossing a life vest at me.

"Sir, I've been told to ask you to please put on your lifebelt, and come up to the boat deck." The steward said, handing the lifebelts to them.

"Get out. We're busy." Cal said coldly, looking from the persistent steward to me.

"I'm sorry about the inconvenience, Mr. Hockley, but it's Captain's orders. Please dress warmly, it's quite cold tonight." He turned to Rose and reassured her with a few quick words, before turning sharply on his heels and leaving the room.

"This is ridiculous." Cal muttered, pulling a jacket on over his lifebelt. I stood there, watching them, wondering what to do.

~*~

We were jammed on the deck, waiting for our turn to get a lifeboat. I knew that there wasn't a chance of me getting one, but somehow I had to get Satine into one. And to do that, I needed to rescue her. I searched the crowd for Rose, finally finding her yelling at Cal. She hesitated for a brief second before spitting in his face. I spotted my chance as she ran through the crowd away from a shocked Cal. I grabbed her arm as she ran past.

"Rose! You've got to help me find Satine!" I told her. She nodded and slipped her hand into mine, pulling me with her.

"Mr. Andrews will tell us." She shouts over her shoulder. I nod in reply, hoping that he will know and that Satine is all right.

We found Mr. Andrews opening doors, checking to see if anyone was in them.

"Mr. Andrews, thank God!" Rose exclaimed, dropping my hand and running up to him. "Where would the Master of Arms take two people under arrest?" She asked him, desperate.

"What? You have to get to a lifeboat right away!" He told her, looking at her. He met my glance, smiling sadly. My fate was set. I couldn't get a lifeboat until all of the women and children had one.

"No! I'll do this with or without your help." She protested. "Though without, it will be harder." Mr. Andrews paused for a second, anguish written in every crease in his fatherly face. He looked at me, as if to say keep her safe, and then told where to go. Rose nodded, repeated them twice, and took my hand again, an act meant to reassure her that she wasn't alone.

She turned and pulled me toward the foyer, to where the lifts were. There was only one still operating, and that one was about to be shut down. The man looked up as we approached, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry, the lifts are closed." He said.

I dropped Rose's hand and stepped forward, grabbing the man by the shoulders and pushing him into the lift. Rose supplied the words I was too numb to say.

"We're through with being polite, goddamnit!! Now take us down!" She ordered. The operator obeyed, hastily closing the gates and taking us down.

Water started flooding the lift before we had stopped, and I shouted out as the icy water lapped against my feet. Satine was down here? The lift shuddered to a stop and I stumbled out, pulling Rose with me. Behind us, the lift rose, water pouring out of it like a miniature waterfall.

"It's cold…" Rose murmured, shivering. I nodded shortly, my teeth chattering.

"Where to?" I asked her, wrapping Aureole in my jacket. She mumbled to herself, looking up and down the deserted hallway. She nodded once and set off, turning left than right and right again. We ended up in a hallway lined with doors on both sides, and this worried Rose. She gnawed on her lower lip, her arms wrapped around herself for warmth.

And then I heard a loud, wet, hoarse cough coming from a door near us. My heart froze.

"Satine?" I called out. "Jack?"

"JACK!" Rose shouted, looking at every door.

"ROSE!" Someone shouted. Sudden banging erupted on a door three doors down from us. "ROSE!"

"JACK!" She waded quickly through the waist deep water, with me close behind her. She tried the door, pushing against it fiercely, but to no avail. It was locked.

I shoved her away from the door and kicked it open, glad that I had taken up the martial arts skill. I burst in through the open door and gathered up Satine in my arms, cradling her small body. "I love you." I murmured, burying my face in her hair.

Satine raised her arms and wrapped them around me, laying her face on my neck. I could feel the kitten raise her head and lick Satine. She let out a small giggle that was interrupted by a bloody cough.

"I've got to get you onto a lifeboat." I told her, turning around and leaving the room. Jack and Rose following behind us, Rose apologizing profusely. They shared a passionate kiss in the hallway, forgiveness and love melding together.

~*~

A few minutes later we burst through another doorway, the wood splintering. A surprised steward looked at us, shocked, and then began to speak, but with a unified "SHUT UP!" he became quiet.
Satine was still in my arms, and from the way her body had gone limp in my arms, I knew she had fainted. I was worried about her, and I needed to get her onto a lifeboat before the ship sank.

A couple of people hand us blankets and whiskey, noticing our wet appearance and Satine's unconscious form. I wrap the blanket around her securely, and decline the blanket offered to me. Rose accepts hers, drawing it around her shivering form.

We encounter a locked gate, the crowds surging around it. Jack lets out a whoop of delight, and I see his two friends, Fabrizo and Tommy, dashing towards him.

"They've locked the gate." Tommy says.

"We've got to get through!" I say, desperate, nodding my head towards the limp Satine. Aureole is curled on her stomach, purring contently.

"It's not possible mate." Tommy says sadly. Undeterred, I start pushing and shoving my way through the crowd, Jack, Rose, and his friends following me.

"Let me through!" I demand when I reach the top of the staircase.

"Sorry, sir, women and children only." In response, I hold Satine up.

"She's dying right now! Let me through!" The guard hesitated for a fraction of a second before letting me through. I barged past him, heading for the deck of the ship.

"Christian! Wait!" Jack called. I slowed down slightly, enough that they could catch up with me.

~*~

We enter the deck through the crew stairs, only to find that all the boats are gone. I swear angrily just as Satine stirs.

"Christian?" She murmurs.

"Shh… Shh… I'm going to get you a lifeboat." I say softly. I turn to my right and start pushing past people. Finally, after searching the crowded deck, I see a lifeboat.

Satine POV

I fade in and out of consciousness, finally fully waking up. Christian is handing me off to an officer, who gently places me in the lifeboat. I grab my kitten and look at Christian with wide and confused eyes. How could he hand me off like this?

"Christian! I can't do this!" He meets my eyes sadly, and I let out a wild sob.

"I'm not going without you!" I say at the exact same time as Rose.

"Get in the boat, Rose." Jack says flatly.

"Yes, get in the boat, Rose." Cal says, strolling up to the trio. I wonder where Fabrizo and Tommy went. Hadn't they been with us?

"My God, look at you." Cal says. Her wet dress is clinging to her body, the thin material embarrassingly see-through. Cal takes off his jacket and puts it on her, stepping back to examine his work. He nodded approvingly, a self-satisfied smile on his face.

I'm distracted by a tugging on my arm. I turn and see a small angelic little boy looking at me, his wide blue-gray eyes filled with tears. He's shivering with cold, his outfit not much use with the bitter air.

"Yes?" I say kindly.

"Can I play with your kitten?" He asks, wiping away tears with grubby hands.

"Of course." I answer. "What's your name?"

"Ethan." He answers, tickling Aureole. A lock of blond hair falls in his face and he brushes it away, a smile blooming on his young face.

"Ethan…" I say. "That's a pretty name. "I'm Satine. Are your parents here?"

He looks up at me then, his lower lip trembling anew. "N-no… Mummy died when I was little, and daddy and sissy said I had to get on the lifeboat, that they would find one." He looks so scared and alone that I wrap my arm around him, knowing that he wouldn't see his father or sister ever again. He leans into my embrace, letting his sobs out. I rock him back and forth, soothing him with mumbled nonsense. Rose climbs into the boat, looking dazed and torn. She looks at Ethan and shakes her head pityingly as the boat shudders and begins to lower. I look up and meet Christian's face, memorizing every line.

"I love you." I mouth, feeling tears fall from my face. Suddenly Rose lunges across me and leaps out of the boat, landing onto a promenade. For a second, I'm tempted to follow her. I'm standing up when Ethan tugs on my arm.

"Please don't leave me too!" He begs. "You remind me of my mummy." Those words remind me of my unborn children, and this child's fatherless and motherless state. I sink down to the bench, looking up at Christian one last time.

He is staring at me, tears pouring unheeded down his face. There's love and adoration and sadness in his eyes. He leans down, as if to grasp my hand, but I'm too far away. A flare is shot up, illuminating him from above like a halo.

"I'll never leave you." I whisper, to both Christian and the little boy. "Never."


Everywhere I'm looking now

I'm surrounded by your embrace

Baby I can see your Halo,

You know you're my saving grace….

A/N: We're getting closer to the end! The question now is: Who will survive? Please review to motivate me to update! Peace!