Darling, now you can keep us both locked in your safe. Rose.
She had to fight to control her smirk as her pen graced across the paper, her white-knuckled grip stopping her hand from shaking in nervous determination. Perhaps it was her newfound happiness that had brought on this sudden rebellious urge. Or maybe she was still riding high on the buzz of having posed naked for a man she'd met two days ago. Whatever had brought this urge on, it felt new and exciting, and she loved it.
"What're you doing?" came Jack's voice as he joined her from the sitting room, having put the furniture back in place.
Rose paused and reached for the black case where the diamond now lay once more.
"Will you put this back in the safe for me?" she asked Jack as she handed him the case.
It wasn't that she wanted to hide the fact that she was gleefully rubbing her happiness in her fiance's face. It was more that she didn't want to have to spoil their time together by the very mention of that awful man's name. The less said about him, the better.
Jack couldn't help but sigh at the haul of goods inside the hideous safe. He slid the velvet case into the only vacant space, amongst stacked piles of banknotes and several other cases, perhaps containing similarly-cut rocks of ridiculous value. Human wealth was a strange thing; the fact that possessing a bundle of papers and a few choice shiny stones could send you hurling to the top of the pecking order of life had always seemed completely absurd to him, in fact to most werewolves as a whole. But that was before he had actually seen such treasures. After seeing the Heart of the Ocean, with it's sleek-cut edges and hue of the deepest blue, even he had to admit that it was an item somewhat awesome to behold.
Left alone in the sitting room whilst Rose changed out of her robe, Jack found himself wandering out onto the promenade. He glanced around at the private deck, devoid of life, with it's wooden planks polished to a high sheen and it's ornate deck chairs and tables that had scarcely been used. He cast his mind back to his own cabin down in Third Class; a cramped room shared with three other men. The Third Class dining room; a bare hall with never enough tables and hundreds of people jostling for space.
The sound of the water below crashing against the ship's steel echoed around the vast, empty deck. What a waste of space.
He leaned out of the deck window, relishing the feeling of the chilly night wind that whipped through his hair. He breathed a deep lungful of the salty sea air. It was amazing how well a deep breath of icy fresh air could calm an anxious mind and soothe a body that was aching to shift.
After several minutes he turned, with one last disapproving look around the waste of space that was the promenade, and made his way back inside.
Rose couldn't help but smile to herself as she tied the pink sash of her dress behind her. This was the dress her mother had sighed and muttered over as the sales girl packaged it up. Not for the first time, Rose had completely disregarded her mother's choice in clothing and had picked out the layered white and pink dress, with a bodice of lavender. Rose's favourite colour, and her mother's most detested. Which was precisely why she chose to wear it this evening. In any case, despire her mother's otherwise opinion, Rose thought the dress rather suited her.
The look on Jack's face as she rejoined him in the sitting room was all she needed to see to assure herself that she had made all the right choices that day. It was a look of awe that gave thanks for ever having found a person who could only be described as a work of art. It was a look that had never once overpowered Cal's cold expression when he looked at her.
Indeed, Jack never failed to be enchanted by Rose, whenever he laid eyes on her, and now was no exception. In fact, so taken in was he by her beauty that he didn't even notice the sturdy footsteps marching their way along the corridor outside until they were almost at the door.
"What is it?" Rose asked, noticing his alarmed change of expression.
"Shit... someone's coming. We have to go"
Rose glanced around frantically before grabbing Jack's arm and leading him towards her bedroom, escaping out of sight just as the front stateroom door was opened with a polite but steely call of "Miss Rose?" from Lovejoy. The pair glanced at each other, and their surprise melted into childish excitement at their close shave.
Through the bedroom they silently hurried, where Rose's Sunday clothes lay scattered around the room. They forced their stifled giggles down into mere grins as they wove their way out into the corridor, their hands gripped tightly between them.
"That was close" Rose murmured with a grin as they walked.
"Don't speak too soon" said Jack as he picked up the awful familiar scent of charred wood drifting along with the sound of stomping footsteps. He glanced behind him to see Lovejoy himself in the distance, walking slowly so as not to attract the attention of the various people surrounding them, but with his black eyes narrowed and angry.
Rose suddenly broke into a run, dragging Jack along with her.
"Go!" she shouted, urgent but excited as she hauled him along the corridor towards the lift. The shocked and disapproving faces of the surrounding people meant less than nothing to her.
"Wait, wait!" she called, shoving a lift operator out of the way and slamming the doors shut herself. As the lift slowly descended, and Lovejoy's face, twisted with annoyance began to disappear, Rose stuck her middle finger up at him, collapsing into giggles again as she did so. Jack had seen that gesture before in various pubs and had figured out that it must mean something unpleasant. The fact that Rose seemed to have been dying to offend this desperately dull man for so long assured him beyond doubt that it must be offensive, and he found himself bursting out laughing at the manservant's shocked expression as he disappeared above them.
Down several floors they went, until the grandeur of First Class faded into the stark surroundings of Third Class.
"Where now?" Rose gasped, panting through her laughs.
"Ah... this way, come on!" Their hands still clasped tight together, Jack led them down a flight of stairs, clumsily crashing into a waiter with a food trolley in the process, and through to another seemingly endless corridor. Surely now they were safe.
"God, he's tough, this fella" said Jack as they leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.
"Never mind tough, he's devoid of all amusement" Rose laughed, rolling her eyes. "I think it comes from being a cop for so long"
"A cop?" Jack's joy faded slightly. His love for Rose had not diminished the fact that he distrusted other humans as a rule, and a police officer was the highest predator to fear.
"Yeah, he was a cop for years" Rose continued, oblivious to Jack's alarm. "Cal's father hired him to keep his little boy out of trouble. Well, to make sure he made it home with a full wallet, more like"
Jack couldn't believe his rotten luck when the man himself suddenly appeared in the small window of the door they hid behind, red and sweaty from running, and eyes angrier than ever.
"Oh shit!" he gasped as Lovejoy spotted them.
"Go!" Rose cried, shoving Jack into a run.
Lady Luck seemed to be a tricky mistress this particular evening. On the one hand, the end of the corridor only boasted one escape door. On the other hand, it was a door Jack recognised from his many hours spent wandering the ship. Not the most ideal route but better than nothing.
"Quick, in here!"
He pushed Rose through the door, following behind to slam it shut behind them. All he could give thanks for was that the sliding bolt was on their side of the door.
The noise in the tiny room they now occupied was deafening, even for Rose's ears, never mind Jack's much more sensitive hearing.
"Now what?!" she shouted over the roar of the machinery.
"I guess the only way is down!" Jack shouted back.
Rose looked down at the tiny hole in the floor, with fiery steam and orange embers pouring out of the top. Surely Jack didn't mean they would have to climb down into what looked like Hell itself.
And so, not for the first time that evening, Rose found herself in the midst of what she previously deemed unthinkable. As they charged down the aisle of mighty boilers, tearing past the army of coal-shovellers with looks of shock and amusement etched on their blackened faces, Rose could do nothing but laugh. The fiery steam swept over her skin and scorched her eyes. But with Jack running alongside her, a laughing smile to match her own, she was sure that the flames of Hell itself wouldn't even tickle. With him didn't just feel free. She felt invincible.
Nonetheless she was thankful for the cool, if a little damp, air of the cargo hold they took refuge in after finally finding a door out of the boiler room. She breathed heavily as she glanced around her, and as she came down from the euphoria of the chase, she realised this was the same cargo hold they had been in just hours earlier, where Jack had confessed his secret.
"Do you think we lost him?" she asked Jack, the echo of her voice startling her a little.
"I damn well hope so" Jack laughed, taking her hand in his own once more.
Surely they were safe here. The place was deserted, and very much isolated from the passenger decks, which was why he'd chosen it to risk his shifting in the first place.
"Y'know I've never really looked around this place before" he confessed.
"Well then, let's explore" Rose grinned as they crept around the vast stacks of wooden crates and piles of sacks. They'd almost given up on finding anything of particular interest until finally they discovered the greatest find. A motor car. A shining Renault, red and gold metal gleaming in the faint light of the hold.
"Woah..."
Jack stroked his hand along the shining metal of the car. Even if it's purpose seemed pointless to him, he couldn't deny that the machine itself was a work of art.
"Not bad" Rose remarked with a shrug. "I've seen fancier"
"God, you humans" Jack grinned as he shook his head at her "You create machines that defy the very laws of nature and all you can say is that you've seen better"
"Well it's true" Rose replied, feigning a haughty accent with her nose in the air. "Nonetheless, I suppose it will suffice"
She cleared her throat expectantly as she stood tall and proud in front of the passenger seat.
Realising her game, Jack opened the door for her and held out his hand, as he had seen humans do when they worked with cars. Chauffeurs. Yes, that was their name.
"Thank you" said Rose as she took his hand and stepped up into the car. The car smelt plush and new, it's fine upholstery clearly never having been sat upon by a real passenger. She glanced around at the silk curtained windows, and the single rose in a tiny glass vase upon the wall, and she smiled.
Deciding he may as well have some fun as well, Jack climbed up into the driver's seat, marvelling for a moment at the tools before him that all made the machine work, before sounding the horn.
"Where to, Miss?" he asked in the poshest accent he could muster as the sound of the horn bounded off of the walls around them.
Rose leaned in close to his ear through the front window, and whispered, "To the stars"
She barely allowed Jack time to register her words before she hooked him under the arms and dragged him back through the window, the pair of them laughing anew, and into her arms on the seat.
Their laughs faded as they gazed into each other's eyes, completely absorbed in one another. Their breaths shallowed and their nerves mounted as they simultaneously realised what was to come. Jack forced his hand to steady as their fingers interlaced together nervously.
"Are you sure?" he asked, staring deep into Rose's brilliant green eyes.
"Than I've ever been about anything before" she replied, quiet but firm. She nestled close into Jack's side, relishing the warmth of him in the cold air of the hold, but also finding comfort just from having him close. She brought his hand to her lips and kissed each of his fingers softly, before looking up to drink in the beauty of his face once more.
"Put your hands on me, Jack" she whispered.
He hesitated. His heart pounded in his chest, and he froze. He couldn't even explain why. Was this really happening? Could this all be a dream? He was almost afraid to obey her, for fear that this entire heavenly moment would shatter like glass the moment he touched her flesh.
Taking a deep breath of confidence, Rose gently guided his hand to her breast, leaning up to capture his lips in a hungry kiss of passion. And suddenly, the world around them ceased to exist. There was no car, no hold, no ship, no ocean, no world. Just the two of them, two souls joined together, united in the passion of their love for each other.
I'm sorry it's been so long. Just over a week ago I suffered the sudden loss of a very good friend, which forced me to make an emergency trip home to Malta. I haven't felt up to writing since then. I'm slowly getting my drive back now, though.
I'm sorry if this chapter doesn't feel very interesting. I've said before that I don't like having to write out unchanged parts of the original story, but it's all part of the overall plot. I promise the next chapter will be a lot more interesting, as long as you promise not to hate me :P x