A/N: I want to give a special shout out to I Would Rather Be Writing because s/he has been such a faithful reader of this story. Thank you so much for your continued support! :D

The Secret Life Of The Titanic

Chapter Eleven

"Thank you," Richard whispered.

"I don't deserve it," Jason said monotonously.

"Yes you do. I'm not stupid. I know there's no boat on the other side."

"There is," Jason replied quietly. "But they're only taking women and children too."

Richard nodded. "I'm not afraid of dying," he said quietly. "There was a time when I prayed for it. But I don't think I could live with myself if I hadn't gotten Adrian on that boat."

Jason nodded. "I hope God can forgive me for lying to her," he said, never once taking his eyes off Grace.

Down below, Adrian heard Grace let out a wracked sob. She pulled her hand away from her friend and hugged her fiercely. "It's okay, Gracie. You're going to be okay. Just don't forget me."

"Adrian, wha –" Suddenly Grace screamed as she watched her friend stand up and lunge over the edge of the boat.

"Stay back!" Adrian yelled. Her arms clutched the edge of the railing and she kicked her feet out of the boat.

"Adrian!" Richard screamed from above.

"Adrian!" Grace tried to get up from her seat, but someone pushed her back as they got up to try and help Adrian.

Adrian, however, slashed her feet through the air to keep anyone from pulling her back inside. Instead, she tried to use the upper body strength she had to pull herself over the railing, without success. Then three people moved forward, still on the boat, and began to pull her over the side just when she began to think that she couldn't hold on much longer. All the while she heard Grace's and Richard's shouts from above and behind. Once she'd gotten back over, she turned and saw Grace's terrified face drowning in the crowd of bodies. "I'm sorry!" she yelled before turning and running as fast as she could.

"No!"

Above, Richard saw Adrian's head disappear onto the lower deck. "Stupid, stubborn woman!" he growled. "I have to go find her!" He started to leave, only to realize Jason wasn't following him. "Come on!" As he passed Leo, the man took his top hat off and Richard slowed down just enough to listen to what the man had to say.

Leo grabbed him by the arm and quickly took off his life belt and handed it to the young man. "Good luck."

Richard hesitated. "I can't take this."

"You can and you will. Now go! Find that stubborn girl!"

Richard's hand began to shake as he accepted the life belt. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

After a beat, Jason caught up with him. "I just needed to make sure Grace didn't follow her lead!"

"She knew we were lying about the boat," Richard realized. He cursed under his breath. "She only got on that goddamn boat to make sure Grace did!" He smacked his hand to his forehead. "Why am I so thick?"

Jason chased after Richard across the deck, weaving in and around frantic and sobbing people, down a flight of stairs, and onto the lower outer deck. "There she is!"

"Ricky! Ricky!"

"Adrian!" Richard yelled. He could feel his throat constricting as she ran into his arms. "You stupid woman! I can't believe you did that!"

Adrian clung to Richard's neck as he swung her around. "I couldn't leave you two idiots," she whispered. She shook her head, the whites of her eyes snaked with red. "There isn't another boat, is there?"

Richard and Jason looked at each other. "No."

"Not one that we can get on anyway."

Adrian nodded. "Well I'm persuasive," she said, pointedly looking at Richard. "I'm going to make sure we all get off this nightmare and meet up with Grace."

"That's a lot to expect, Adrian."

"I'm not expecting, I'm doing. Now come on!"

"Wait!" Richard held Adrian back and shoved the life belt at her. "Put this on!"

"But – where did you even get this?"

"It doesn't matter, just put it on!"

"You don't have one –"

"Yeah, but I'm not the one stupid enough to go jumping out of life boats."

Adrian glared but finally agreed and secured herself into the life belt. When it was tied on around her she motioned her arm. "Okay, here's the plan: when I was sitting down there on that bench, it occurred to me that we have at least one more option…it's just a little labor intensive."

"What are you talking about?"

"On our way to this end of the boat, I remember seeing another boat chained up on the top deck. Maybe it's still there? It wasn't on ropes yet, but if we could get it off-"

"We could all get on!"

Adrian tugged Richard's sleeve impatiently. "Come on! This way!" However, by the time they had reached the area that Adrian had seen the boat at, people had already gotten the boat down and were rigging it up to ropes. Her stomach plummeted at the crowd that had gathered in anticipation.

"There's got to be at least a hundred people here," Jason whispered.

"And the boat only holds sixty-five."

"Get back!" one of the crewman was screaming. A silver gun was locked in his hands and he was waving it threateningly at the crowd. "Get back, I say! Get back!"

"Give us a chance!" another man bellowed. "Give us a chance to live!"

"I said: Stay. Back."

"You have no right to deny us a chance to live!"

Adrian shoved through the pulsating bodies, making way for Richard and Jason to follow behind her. She managed to get close enough to see the confrontation.

"Women and children only!" another crewman called out.

The first crewman raised his arm again and fired off his pistol. "I'll shoot anyone who dares to come forward!" A second later, the man he'd been arguing with, took a leap towards the boat and he aimed his handgun and fired.

Adrian's hand flew to her mouth and a hollow send echoed through the crowd as the man toppled to the deck.

Without thinking, Jason rushed towards the fallen man and a second gun shot rang out. Jason fell instantly, just feet from the other man, and a bloodied spot began to form brightly against his white life belt.

Adrian screamed and shoved several people out of the way.

"Adrian, no!"

The man raised his gun again, only to realize the person coming forward this time was a woman. He shakily pulled back as Adrian knelt down beside Jason and placed her hand over the bloodied hole. He staggered back when she lifted her head, eyes dripping.

"¡Bastardo!"

Richard felt the muscles in his body twitching erratically. He wanted to run to Adrian and Jason, but he feared another gunshot to himself or someone else and he feared more than anything, putting Adrian in harm's way. He watched, transfixed, as the crewman staggered backwards to the side of the deck, out of the way of the trail of blood flowing from beneath Jason's body, and lifted the gun to his own temple. Richard briefly flashed back to that first night he'd spent on the Titanic, when he'd been ready to do the same thing. As the gun went off, Richard turned his head away and heard the plop of the man falling over the edge into the Atlantic. A second later, he bolted to Adrian's side, embracing her as she cried over Jason's body.

Blood was gushing from Jason's mouth and a calm, surreal look was in his mahogany eyes. "P – pro – tec – t…pro- te – ch –"

Adrian draped her hand over Jason's mouth and stroked the side of his chin. Her head bobbed back and forth emphatically. "Grace will be f - fine," she choked. Tears fell, hitting Jason's life belt and smearing into the blood.

"We'll protect her," Richard agreed, reaching for Jason's hand. "I promise you: Grace will be fine."

Jason tried to nod, but his head went limp in Adrian's hands; his eyes still frozen on her.

Adrian shuddered and sobbed, lifting her crimson hands from Jason's head.

Richard reached around Adrian and brushed his hand over Jason's face, shutting his eyes. He stood and helped Adrian to her feet, backing her away from the grizzly scene. "We can't get on here."

Adrian shook her head into his chest. She wiped her hands onto her skirt but her skin still seemed permanently stained pink. "This side of the ship is sinking," she said, trying to compartmentalize her emotions. "We – we have to get to the other side."

"That's a long run."

"We have to try," Adrian breathed. She watched her words dissolve into ice crystals and disappear into the blackness of the night. "We told Jason we'd protect Grace. And goddamnit, she will be protected!"

Richard weaved his hand into Adrian's. "Run!"

If it hadn't been so terrifying, it might have been like running through a circus fun house. Adrian couldn't trust her body to do what she wanted because every time she tried to order it around, the boat would shift, and she along with it. Several times she found herself thrown into Ricky or vice versa. Sometimes even other objects or passengers who were also running for their lives. At one point they even stopped beside the railing near the front of the boat and looked over the side: it dripped with people who were falling or jumping off. The crashes as they hit the water made Adrian suspect that was what Death's footsteps sounded like.

Richard urged her along. He couldn't afford to watch the deaths; he couldn't bear to think of Adrian being one of them. As he dragged her up the rapidly tilting deck, they passed a priest who was diligently reciting prayer. Richard thought he looked calm enough; ready to meet the maker that he so fervently believed in. There was a part of him who wanted to feel bad for the man because he didn't believe there was any God. Not one that would let him live a life like the one he'd lived with Robert and not one who would kill so many innocent people so cruelly, like the ones that he witnessed dying horrible, violent deaths all around him.

Adrian felt the worn out soles of her shoes slipping against the wet, sloping deck. She stumbled once, twice, thrice. Each time Richard gripped her hand, pulling – sometimes dragging her – upright again. Suddenly the railing was in sight. It was almost impossible to reconcile the fact that the place they were now grabbing onto for dear life was the same place that he'd stood at not a day ago, kissing Richard and feeling like she was the Queen of the World.

As the railing craned further and further towards the sky, hundreds more people fell victim to gravity. Some let go willingly, finally accepting that they had lost. Others hung on until their fingers grew number or broke. The screams and cries permeated the air like a hot disease. Richard found his shoes slipping and sliding. He already knew that his arms wouldn't be strong enough to hold himself to the railing, much less him and Adrian. "Hook your feet!"

Adrian grit her teeth and swung her legs up with all her might. The heels of her shoes caught one of the bars and she struggled to keep her feet locked onto them. Then it occurred to her: "We need to be on the other side. We're being pulled down. If we can get onto the other side of the railing, we won't be exhausting ourselves to hold."

Richard pressed his lips to Adrian's cheek. "You're brilliant!"

As Adrian began to try and turn herself around, darkness enveloped them. There was an echoing pop followed by a surprised hush as the lighting on the entire ship vanished. A sickening crack followed. The sound reminded Adrian of the time her father had broken his arm. But it was bigger: a million million arms shattering in synch. And then a rush of frozen air as the end of the ship fell backwards through the air, plundering back into the water and knocking countless people overboard due to the sheer force. But almost as soon as it had settled, the end began to tilt again, this time with a speed that stole away her breath.

"Get over! Get over!" Richard yelled. He pushed against Adrian, straining to get her over before they both let go.

Adrian let her legs free and swung them, catching herself on the top bar enough to hoist herself over. She found herself on the other side and moved over allowing Richard enough room to do the same. Even as they pummeled towards the great Atlantic, Adrian felt a calm in the fact that she and Richard had made it this far. Maybe there was hope after all? And then she realized: "Ricky…this was where we first met. Where we first kissed."

Richard wrapped his arm around Adrian's back and pulled himself closer to her. "This was the first place I ever trusted anyone other than myself."

"Trust me now when I saw that this ship is going to suck us under and you're not wearing a life belt, Ricky. So do as I say: take my hand and kick like the whole world depends on you. And whatever you do: Don't. Let. Go." Adrian wrangled for his hand and once she found it, she stole her eyes away from the fast approaching water to look at him one more time.

"Never!"

"We're gonna make it, Ricky!" Adrian felt the spray of the water hit her face. "Breathe!"

And he did. His lungs burned right up until the moment his nose touched the water and then he held everything he'd taken in as the current pulled him under. Suddenly the paint of every night with his father came back to him, converging into one titanic memory, and corporealizing itself in the form of the form of the whole of the Atlantic ocean bearing down on him. The final blow was the moment he felt Adrian's fingers ripped from his own.