Rose slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by the dim light of the bedside lamp. She groaned, knowing that if no light was coming through the window yet, it was far too early to get up. She tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but someone shook her arm. She looked up and recognized Jack leaning over her bed, his arm lightly shaking hers. She forced her eyes all the way open and noticed that he was already dressed and the couch where he slept was already made up. She looked up at his face again.

"Jack?" Her voice was thick with sleep, but he understood her perfectly.

"Yes Rose?" His voice was patient, as always.

"What are you doing?" she asked as a yawn escaped her lips.

He smiled. "Waking you up." He gave her a light pull. "C'mon, I've already let you sleep in too much."

She raised her eyebrows. "Sleep in?"

He nodded.

"What time is it?"

"Time for you to get up and ready," he said, gently pulling her arm again.

"I'm serious."

He smirked. "Well, so am I."

"Jack…" she said, lowering her voice.

"Yes…?" he replied back mockingly.

Rose sighed in frustration, but gave in. "Alright, alright. I'm getting up."

As she forced herself out of the warm bed, she stole a quick glance at the little clock next to the bedside lamp. It was 4:15am.

"Jack! Why do I have to get up so early?!" she demanded.

"Because our train leaves pretty early, and I don't think we want to miss it. Right?" His tone was still patient and even, but she sensed a bit of frustration behind his collected mask.

Her eyes widened as she realized what today was. "Oh my god, I forgot! We're leaving today!"

He nodded, and she instantly took off at a run. She dashed over to the little dresser the room contained and pulled out the one outfit that she hadn't packed the night before. Then she disappeared from the room, racing down the hallway to the bathroom. Jack watched her go and couldn't help but smile and shake his head. Sometimes he wondered about Rose; where she would be without a little bit of help. But she was a smart girl, he knew that. Just…not this early.

About five minutes later, she bounded back through the door, not a pace slower than before. Her face was red from the running and stress, and her eyes were wild as she glanced around the room for her suitcase. When she finally saw it in the corner, she ran over and attacked it like a lion would her prey.

"Geez Rose, calm down. Don't have a heart attack or something," Jack said with a laugh. "You've got time."

"But not enough," she replied as she dug around for the comb and hairbrush she'd bought the other day. When she finally found it, she was out the door again before he could respond.

He watched her again and sighed. She was such an over reactor, but then again, he was more of an under-reactor, so he couldn't know for sure. When she returned a minute later, it was only to grab her makeup. She disappeared again, and Jack wondered how long she'd be able to last without collapsing. Probably not much longer…

When she reappeared, she ran back to her suitcase and pulled out her pair of heels. She only had one pair, because she had decided that that was enough. A few days ago she and Jack had gone downtown and restocked their wardrobes, as everything that had owned had been lost with the Titanic. Rose still had endless amounts of gowns and jewelry and such, but it was all with her mother. And she never intended to see her again.

Once she was strapped into her shoes, she stood up and leaned back against the wall, gasping for air. Jack laughed as he watched her. She was such an over-reactor. He had definitely been right about that. But she was absolutely hilarious to watch.

"H-How do I look?" she asked breathily.

."You look fine, Rose. You always do."

"I do not," she replied.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay then, you look absolutely horrible." He pretended to cringe away from the sight of her.

She pouted. "Oh shut up."

He laughed and walked over to her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her up against him.

"You're beautiful, Rose," he whispered into her ear.

She smiled and let her head fall against his chest. Through his shirt, his skin was cool from the morning breeze, and it felt nice against her burning face. Running always did this to her, a trait that she rather detested. All the more reason to avoid running. She was not very active, not at all, but that was fine by her. As long as her figure stayed slim, she was happy.

Jack pulled away slightly to kiss her cheek, and then her pulled her back in for a second before releasing her. "Okay Rose, we should probably get going."

She nodded and went to fix up her suitcase that she had just about destroyed. When she finished, she looked up to see that Jack had made her bed and was sitting on the edge of it watching her. She blushed slightly and rose to her feet, then attempted to walk her suitcase over to the door.

When Jack saw that she was struggling, he walked over to her and gently took it from her, causing her blush to darken. He laughed as he picked up her suitcase and disappeared out into the hallway. She followed; glancing back once more to make sure that nothing was left behind. When she found nothing, she closed the door behind her and followed Jack to the elevator, her mind swimming with visions of the place that she would soon call home.

Down at the front office, they checked out. The man behind the counter smiled when Jack said where they were headed. He nodded in approval and then told Jack to keep an eye on Rose and make sure she didn't fall asleep in any grass. She blushed at this point, recognizing the man as the one who had given her the first-aid kit for her violent allergic reaction. Both men laughed, and Jack just put his arm around her and promised the man that he would take good care of her.

Once they were outside, he had summoned a taxi to take them to the train station. Rose was silent the whole ride, still flustered from the many embarrassing events of the morning. She was certainly going to have to work on watching things more closely, she decided.

About twenty minutes later, they arrived at the station. Jack paid the cabbie and then helped Rose out. He carried her suitcase for her again, as well as his own, because he knew she wouldn't be able to. He had no idea how she had managed to squeeze so much stuff into it, but she had. And unsurprisingly, that made it incredibly heavy.

"Jack?" she asked suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"How long is the train ride?"

He sighed. "I already told you this five times, Rose."

She blushed. "I know, but I forgot."

He rolled his eyes. "It's about two days from here to L.A., and then another hour or so to Santa Monica."

"Thank you."

He looked down at her. "For what?"

She smiled. "For allowing me to come home with you."

He smiled back. "No problem, Rose. You know, I would go anywhere that you wanted. I'd go anywhere for you."

"Same to you," she whispered.

They stood like this for a minute, watching as the faintest rays of dawn's first light broke across the horizon. It was a beautiful sight, and it signified a new beginning. It also represented a promise, a promise that just as the sun brought light to the world, they would bring light to each other every day they lived.

(A/N:) Gah! Does time really go by so fast? How did this happen?? Oh...I know why...

I'm so sorry that I made everyone wait so long! I'll try not to let it happen again, but I'm only human and I've got a lot of other stuff to do now that the school year is beginning to end...somewhat. At least that's what all my teachers are saying. And state testing is in a few weeks! Oh noes!

I'm going to try to write as much as I can...because in truth, I wrote this chapter just now in about thirty minutes. I haven't really been writing much at all, because now I've been doing a ton more reading. And I mean book reading, not fanfic reading (although I still do that too :) ) My friend got me to read Twilight, and man did I take a liking to it! It's now my biggest obsession, even over POTC (which quite frankly it pretty terrifying...I didn't know anything could beat that!) I zoomed through all three books in five days, and now it's all that my mind thinks of. But anyway...that's another story ;)

Sorry again for the wait! Please don't hate me! And please continue to review. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews I have recieved! You have no idea how they make me feel :)

-Lizzie