Chapter 10

The Leyland Line freighter S.S. Californian steams her way to Boston a bit further north from Titanic's location, as the captain goes to radio room of the lone operator to warn any ships nearby of possible ice floes, after receiving messages from the Baltic. In the Titanic's wireless room, the electrical currents jump a gap as the two radio operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, continue to send frivolous messages to Cape Race, now within the ship's range, by trying to clear a backlog of messages that had piled on when the Marconi machine was down the day prior. Jack Phillips yelps as electrical buzzing makes him take off his headphones.

"Bloody hell!" he took off his headphones, as a loud buzzing can be heard through the earpieces. "It's that idiot on the Californian."

"Tell 'im to sod off." Bride tells Phillips, as he swung around back to his machine.

"I'll do more than that." he says, then fires off an angry message to the Californian, followed by, "Keep out! Shut up! I'm working Cape Race!" Soon, he returns to sending passengers' messages back to Cape Race, despite the ice warnings the ship's wireless operator was giving.

…

Jesse leaned next to a lifeboat, looking out to the sea, his hair billowing as people passed him by. The deck was alive and well, with people strolling, others were laying in deck chairs, blankets wrapped around their legs, and some were reading. He soon turned, and was nearly bumped into by a young man with a paper in his hand. Jesse acknowledged, but the man gave a glaring look, before he continued towards a group that were headed his way.

Thomas Andrews led a small group from the bridge into the Boat Deck, and Jesse could see Rose was following right behind the builder. He quickly snuck his way through the group, until he could hear a conversation between the captain and the young man who nearly bumped him prior.

"Another ice warning, sir. This one from the Baltic."

"Thank you, Sparks." the captain says, quickly folding back the paper, then tucks it nonchalantly into his pocket. He nods reassuringly to Rose, Jesse and the little tour group.

"Not to worry, it's quite normal for this time of year. In fact, we're speeding up. I've just ordered the last boilers lit." Jesse felt a bit uneasy at first, until he saw Mr. Andrews had a scowled look, towards the captain. Soon, they were led towards the boat deck, where he was earlier. Rose looked over the boats with uneasiness, before she caught Jesse's eyes, then quickly averted back to the situation at hand.

"Mr. Andrews, I did the sum in my head, and with the number of lifeboats times the capacity you mentioned... forgive me, but it seems that there are not enough for everyone aboard..."

"About half, actually. In fact I did put in these new davits, which can take an extra row of boats here." Andrews gestures along the deck. "Unfortunately, it was thought...by some...that the deck would appear...too cluttered, and so I was overruled." Jesse quickly walked past the group, then entered the lounge area, and at the same time, Cal slapped the sides of the boat with his walking stick.

"Waste of deck space as it is, on an unsinkable ship!" he grumbles, as Rose looks at him. Mr. Andrews calmly walks up to Rose, then looked at her with reassuring eyes.

"Sleep soundly, young Rose. I have built you a good ship, strong and true. She's all the lifeboat you need." They continued with their tour, while Jack quietly led Rose into a small gym.

...

Later in the day, in the first class lounge, Rose, her mother, the Countess of Rothes and Lady Duff-Gordon are having tea. Rose sat silently, as the conversations around her drone on about the invitations and the wedding that was to commence once they return to Philadelphia.

"Of course the invitations had to be sent back to the printers twice. And the bridesmaid dresses! Let me tell you what an odyssey that has been..." Ruth says, as she picks her cup and takes a drink of the steaming liquid. Rose averted her gaze, and soon sees a little girl, probably no older than four years old, as she was having tea with her mother, in a dainty, lady-like manner. Rose looked at the young girl, wearing white gloves, as she dainty picked up her cup of tea, while her mother was constantly reminding her how it should be done, and correcting her posture. The little girl is trying very hard to please her mother, with her expression very serious. Rose knew she didn't want to turn out like the little girl, putting on a fake display of being prissy. She did the only thing that could possibly get her out of this situation. She 'accidentally' spilled her tea on herself. Ruth and the other women gasped at Rose's sudden gesture. Before she could speak, Rose slowly got up from her seat.

"Oh my. Look what I have done to myself. Excuse me..." She soon left the lounge, in the hopes of finding either Jack or Jesse, and to get away from the mindless chatter.

Jesse made his way to the à la carte restaurant, after he left the little tour, as he acknowledged the passengers who were walking past. He had his hair clipped, to keep it away from his face. He was reminded of being back on the Olympic once more, of the opulent atmosphere, and the décor of the room was too much to take in. There were a few wealthy passengers in the restaurant, who appeared to be enjoying their Sunday meals. A steward approached him, with a bottle of wine, and a glass. Soon as he saw Jesse's face, he blushed at the sight of the handsome man, and nervously shook. Jesse gave a small smile, making the man blush even harder now, as he politely declined the drink. Soon, Rose entered, as she saw Jesse standing in the middle of the room, as he was taken aback by the splendor of the elegant dining room. She carefully approached Jesse, then playfully tapped his shoulder, making him look in the opposite direction of the tap, and soon saw each other. She hugged Jesse, and still clutching onto his waist, they both walked, to the direction of the Parisian café, up on A deck, as they walked up the Aft Staircase. There, they found an empty table near the window of the café, that overlooked the enclosed promenade deck.

Picking up where they left off from a year ago, which was just small talk, nothing too serious, until she decided to spill the beans, something she also did a few days prior when she was with Jack. She was also feeling a bit down after she had an argument with Jack earlier that morning, in the gym, after she said she doesn't want to see him anymore, but she conveniently left that out, for fear they might no longer be friends. She was also aware of Cal's sudden outburst, like the one she was in earlier this morning, which she chose to put in. Jesse also took note of Cal's sudden anger, since he also was partly responsible for almost knocking him out, but instead gave him a nasty black eye to remember him by.

"I-I have something to tell you, that I never had the chance to say." Rose says, swallowing hard. She looks around, hoping Cal or his servant weren't anywhere nearby, or Jesse might repeat the scene he did back on the Mauretania. "Remember when we were back on the Mauretania, before we discussed the marriage about Cal and the Philadelphia society?" Jesse tries to cast his mind back, before Cal came out of nowhere and asked what he was doing with his fiancé, just like the night he and Jack pulled her back onto the ship after her failed suicide attempt.

"I know you trailed off where you mentioned the Philadelphia part, something about being married to this Cal guy. Pardon my ignorance, but why are you going to marry someone that shows you no affection?"

"That's where I was going to tell you..." While Jesse listened on, something caught the corner of his eye. He shifted slightly, but Rose caught him, and starts to turn where he was looking.

"Oh sh…" Rose began.

"Oh, crap! We better get out of here." Jesse says, as he saw the man from the other day coming towards them, or so he thought. Rose saw him too.

"That's Lovejoy, Cal's personal bodyguard. I think he sent him to look for me again." Rose whispered. Jesse began looking around for another exit, but luckily, Lovejoy began walking in the opposite direction, and they waited until he disappeared from the café. There was only one entrance, and they only had one shot to make it without being seen. It was a Sunday afternoon now, so there weren't as many people, save for a few men in a faraway corner playing some card game, maybe poker. They slowly walked out of the area, hoping not to draw any more attention to each other, but luck was beginning to be on their side, so far. They decided the only way to be safe is to hide amongst the third class. He knew where they would be safe, for a time being, is in his cabin.

"He reminds me of a former military police officer, but somewhere down he turned into Cal's bodyguard," Jesse says, after he took the clip from his hair, before he picked a locked gate that separated the third-class from the second-class.

"I think he was," Rose agreed, and she steps in, letting Jesse close the gate.

"I finally got a good look at him back there, since that night." Jesse says, pocketing his pick in his shirt pocket, then leads Rose to his cabin.

With his friends gone once more, he and Rose had the small cabin to themselves. Despite the claustrophobic nature of the cabin, and the noise of the engines and machines rumbling deep below, she admired the simplicity of the room around her, compared to her first-class stateroom, which she felt wasn't needed, as it was much too large. She also notices how his little bunk was made, while his friends' beds had scattered blankets and clothes strewn about, even a pillow had been carelessly laying on the floor. She decides to sit in Jesse's neat bed, and tell him all about it, from the top as she put her hand on Jesse's lap, and his hand met her there. Jesse felt a mix wave of emotions, from slight anger, to happiness, sadness, and guilt. He wished he'd gone out with Rose back when they were first on the Mauretania, but he insisted she would be better off with Jack now, who would be there to help her break free from the monotonous cycle she was trapped in. She even includes the part where she and Jack had an argument in the gym, but to her surprise, he brushed it off like it was nothing important, and reassured her that Jack is missing her right now, that all he had in his mind is her. Besides, if Jack caught them, they would be engaged in another mindless argument like they did before, more like brotherly arguments, while getting caught with Cal, well, there's no telling how far he would go… Jesse shuddered again. Rose laughed.

"What is it?" Jesse asks, and Rose tries to imitate Jesse's shudder, they both broke out laughing. Jesse comforted Rose for a moment longer, before setting out to look for Jack.

"Come on, let's look for Jack, I'm pretty sure his heart's bleeding for you." Jesse says, as they once more leave the security of Jesse's claustrophobic cabin. Before they left the cabin Jesse straightened out his blankets, as he liked to be organized and neat. They walk towards Fabrizio and Jack's cabin, to find Jack not there, but instead, Tommy, Fabrizio, and the two Swedes were in there, as they sat on their beds. Rose asks the men where Jack was, and Fabrizio tells the couple that Jack might be at the bow again, so Jesse and Rose turned and walked back towards his cabin. They both embrace not as lovers, but merely as brother/sister love. They eventually make it back to Jesse's cabin, then they walked a bit further, to a lone door. Jesse twists the doorknob, only to find it locked. He pulls out his pick, then starts to pick at the lock. Once inside it leads them to a spiral staircase; the same staircase he and Jack used to get down to the cargo hold. But this time, they were going up, to the bow. Rose could hear the boiler rooms much louder from here, as is the engines that reverberated throughout the lower part of the ship, like a heartbeat.

It was cold out on the bow's forward well deck, as Rose and Jesse set out looking for Jack. They climbed a small stairway leading from the well deck to the bow. From there they saw a lone figure, hunched over the railing, like he was sad something or someone was taken away from him, gazing at the sunset. Then they realized who it was. Jack! Jesse motions Rose to go to him. They embrace for the final time before Rose slowly makes her way to Jack. She felt tingly all over, her head was starting to spin, and heart was beating faster.

With butterflies in her stomach, Rose uttered a quiet, "Hello Jack."

Jack quickly turns to face her. She continues, "I changed my mind." Rose swore she could see a subtle smile on Jack's face, much like Jesse did during the dance the night before, moments before he swapped himself with Jack. "They told me you might be up here and…"

"Shh..." Jack puts a finger to his mouth, then holds his hand out for her. "Give me your hand." With a strange stare, Rose reluctantly takes Jack's hand.

"Now, close your eyes…" Jack says, whisperingly soft. "Go on, close them" Rose then closes her eyes. "Now hold on to the railing. Keep your eyes closed. Don't peek."

"I'm not."

"Step up onto the railing." as Jack guides her where to stand, so she doesn't fall. He also steps onto the railing behind her. "Hold on". He says. "Keep your eyes closed, do you trust me?"

"I trust you."

While the two true lovers are up on the bow, Jesse watches the whole scene unfold, which makes him almost tear up, as he tries to swallow a lump that formed in his throat. He wanted to draw the couple right then and there, but decided against it. He continues watching for a few moments before the cold got too much for him, and he set off back inside, wiping a tear that he hoped was from the cold air, even though he could feel a lump in his throat.

Once Jack had Rose's arms spread out like wings, Jack tells her to open her eyes, to which she gasps in exhilaration as the wind took her hair, her spirit lifted and free, like the bird she always wanted to be, as if she was truly flying over the water, and not on the ship. "Jack" she whispers, "I'm flying." They stay up there for a few minutes, as the Titanic sails into the orange-hue sunset.

"Come Josephine, my flying machine, going up, she goes, up she goes," sings Jack, in his quietest voice, as the cold north Atlantic air continued to hit the couples' faces.

…

Meanwhile, the Californian still continues to radio warnings to any nearby ships that are within range of impending icebergs and sheets that are floating nearby, while Titanic's radio operators continue to ignore the warnings.