Jack was quiet for the remainder of the day. When he wasn't outside, staring into space, he was with Josephine, holding her in his arms, reassuring her that he loved her and he was not going to be away from her again. Rose was kind of jealous, but she hid it, wanting to be understanding. Wanting to give Jack the space to think of what he was going to do next. Caroline's bombshell kind of knocked them all for a loop. It was nine months of stasis. Of putting off their plans. Jack couldn't just up and leave now. Rose wouldn't even ask him to, knowing how much time he had missed with Josephine. She would never ask him to up and leave a child that was his.

There was so many questions about that future that seemed so clear yesterday but was now full of clouds. But one question stood out to her. Was she going to lose Jack anyway? Maybe they really weren't meant to be and all of this was the universe's attempts to right itself?

Was this child even Jack's? After all, Caroline had been anything but faithful during their unhappy marriage. There was a good chance that the child wasn't his. That would leave her and Jack free and clear. But again, it would be nine months before that could even be determined.

Rose sighed, taking a step out onto the porch and stared up at the sky. Why? Why was everything trying to stand in the way of her and Jack being together? Other people met, fell in love, and lived happily ever after. Why couldn't it be that way for them? Why did they have so many obstacles keeping them apart? All of her life, she had to struggle for some semblance of love, then when she found it...she had to struggle to keep it. What was it about her that made having love so difficult?

"Are you okay?" Kathy Dawson stepped out onto the porch, having followed Rose, noticing how quiet both Jack and the pretty redhead had gone since Caroline's bombshell. She somehow felt that it was her duty to make sure that things didn't fall apart...to hold them together somehow. Caroline had already destroyed so much of her brother's life, she wasn't going to let her destroy this chance of happiness too.

"Yeah. It's just...I wasn't expecting any of this. Not Titanic, falling in love on that ship...then losing it...even Josephine couldn't dull the ache that losing him had caused. I wanted to die right along with him. It was Josephine and my Aunt Molly that kept me going. Then I come here, wanting to learn more about Jack, to know more about the boy he was...just to find him again. I can't lose him again. I never thought that I could love or be loved until Jack. He gave me so much in our time together, the universe can't expect me to just give him up. It just can't..."

"Hey, you won't have to. Jack is not going to stay with Caroline, not even for a baby. Trust me, on that. I highly doubt that baby is Jacks and if it is...well, Caroline is hardly mother material. Let's just say that," Kathy took Rose's hand and squeezed it in support. "Don't lose hope."

"I'm trying not to."

"Do you want to take a walk with me?"

Rose frowned. Did she want to walk through a town that probably thought of her as a homewrecker and whore? She couldn't really say.

"I'm going to go talk to Caroline's lover George. I doubt very much that he knows of this new development. I think he has a right to know, don't you?" Kathy asked.

"Normally, I'd stay out of such things...but you're right. He should know..."

"And what better way of him finding out than from us?" Kathy eagerly smiled. "Come Rose."

"Kathy," Rose stood in place, feeling hesitant. "People think I'm a homewrecker, don't they?"

Kathy sighed and shrugged. "I'm not sure. I had spread the word about what she had done to you two, so she doesn't look like a saint. And if need be, I'll spread word about her affair with George. Make her look even worse. Look, this is a small town. Small towns will always have these judgmental busy bodies running around. There's nothing to be done about them. But ignore them. Just be secure in your love for Jack and how you see the both of you and ignore everyone else. Besides, what they think is not important."

"You're right, of course. This is between me, Jack, and Caroline. They can mind their own business."

Kathy smiled, nodding her head. "Come on. Let's go find George. Give him the good news."

…..

They found George on the steps of the boarding house that Rose had spent her first night in. He looked rather surprised to see them both.

"Kathy. Bridget is out at the market," He said, pulling on his work gloves, getting ready to walk down to his job.

"We're not here to see Bridget, George. We're here to see you," Kathy replied, glancing at Rose then back at the brother of her best friend. "We have some news that you may be interested in."

"And what would that be, Kathy? If this is more diatribe against Caroline..."

Kathy rolled her eyes, annoyed already. "She's pregnant, George."

She hadn't really wanted to blurt it out like that, but he was obviously ready to be Caroline's knight in shiny armor. There really was no choice.

"What?" George went ten shades of pale. He knew that Caroline hadn't been feeling well, but he had never thought that it was pregnancy. He didn't know how to feel. Happy? Nervous? Suspicious, because there was a chance that the child wasn't his?

"She's pregnant. She says that it's Jack's, but we all know that there's a chance that it's not. That you could be this baby's father," Kathy explained.

"And if you are the father, she's using your child to hang on to Jack. Surely you can't agree with that," Rose spoke up, feeling like she should take part in the conversation, or why else would she be there?

George was quiet. He didn't know what to say to this. Caroline had said nothing to him about being pregnant. If it was true, he very well could be the father. More so than Dawson. It also meant that Caroline was indeed using this to hang on to Dawson so he couldn't leave her. Was he comfortable with this? Allowing her to use his could be child to hold on to a man that she didn't really love?

"George, my brother had missed two years out of his daughter's life thanks to Caroline's manipulations. Are you going to stand by and let her do the same to you?" Kathy asked, crossing her arms, demanding an answer.

"Caroline has said nothing to me about a pregnancy," George stammered, not wanting to believe that the woman he loved would go this far. That she would risk their love just to get back at her husband, who had fallen out of love with her a long time ago.

"Why would she when she knew that this would be too far? That you may stop her?"

"George...you don't know me and I don't know you. But I want the same thing you want here. I just want to be with the one I love. But that's not happening because of her need to win and now she's dragging an innocent child into this," Rose spoke up again, hoping to reach some kindred level with this poor man who looked conflicted. He didn't want to think badly of the woman he loved. That was clear. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She knew that Jack loved her and would never do anything to hurt her. Sadly, the same couldn't be said for George and Caroline, who seemed to take great pleasure in hurting others.

"We just thought that you should know what's going on. We'll go now. Tell Bridget to stop by," Kathy took Rose's hand and lead her away from the boarding house. She didn't even look back to see what George was doing.

"What's going to happen now?" Rose asked, feeling horrible. This whole situation was so messed up.

"I don't know. Hopefully George will do the right thing and make Caroline come out with the truth. Or at least make it harder for her to make my brother's life miserable."

…..

Josephine was sound asleep. Jack went in search of Rose, but ended up on the front porch, not having found her. He knew that he had been neglecting her since Caroline dropped her news. But he didn't know how to act around her or what to say to make it all better again. So he had just gone silent and spent as much time with Josephine as possible, thinking on the situation, hoping to find a solution. But no solution had came.

Caroline was pregnant, which changed things. He couldn't just leave her. Yet he couldn't leave Rose and Josephine either. He loved Rose. Losing her had caused him to lose himself, which was how he had gotten into this mess. And he had already missed two years of Josephine's life. He wasn't going to miss anymore. Yet, if he left Caroline and this new baby...if he was the father...he'd be missing out on it's life too.

There had to be a way. There had to be a way to be with the family he loved and the child his misbegotten marriage had created. He just hadn't thought of it yet.

He sighed and looked down the dirt path leading away from the house to see Rose and Kathy approaching it, both seemingly deep in conversation.

"I don't think she'll listen to anything that poor man has to say," Rose sighed, keeping in step with Kathy.

"You're probably right, but hopefully this may wake up some fight in him and make things difficult for her in turn," Kathy answered, smiling when she saw Jack standing on the porch.

"Where have you two been?" He asked, curious.

"We went to pay your wife's lover a visit. We thought it was only fair to share the news of Caroline's pregnancy with him. After all, he may be the father himself," Kathy explained, walking up to kiss her brother's cheek before disappearing into the house, leaving Jack and Rose alone.

"You did what?" He stared.

"We went to talk to George. We told him that Caroline was pregnant and using the child against you. A child that could be his. We were hoping to awaken...I don't know...something inside of the man. Something to make him see Caroline for what she is and stop her."

"Rose...we don't even know if he is the father. The father can still be me, you know."

Rose arched a brow. "What are the chances? How many times have you two...performed your marital duties?" She winced. She didn't like to think of Jack with anyone but her, but she knew that he must have been in order for Caroline to be so certain that he was this child's father.

He didn't want to answer that, sensing that she hated the thought of him with Caroline. He couldn't blame her. He hated the thought as well. "Well...let's just say that George has more of a chance of being the father than I do..."

Relief swept through Rose. She knew she had no right to be jealous. After all, Jack was Caroline's husband. She had every right to be with him. But still, she felt sick at the thought of them together and it at least made her feel a little better knowing that it wasn't a common thing between them.

"I am horrible for begrudging her the love of her husband, but I can't help it. I'm...I'm relieved..."

"You're not horrible. This shouldn't even be happening. It wouldn't be if she had just left us alone...if she hadn't manipulated everything. Our separation, this new pregnancy with her not knowing who the father is...it's all her doing. She's the horrible one...not you," Jack gently took her by her shoulders. "You're the least horrible one in all of this."

"I'm wanting to take off with someone's husband. How does that not make me horrible?" Rose wryly smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Not that I regret it."

"The fact that I would have been your husband if she hadn't interfered," He pulled her closer.

"But before that, you were her fiancee...that I effectively stole away from her."

"Hmmm, you have a point there. Perhaps you are horrible after all...one horrible, caring, sweet, beautiful girl that I fell in love with on a ship two years ago..."

Rose giggled and stared up into his eyes, getting lost in them once again. "I love you Jack. Nothing she says or does can ever change that. I'm not giving up on you...on us. I don't care what she comes up with next. I'm not going to let her win."

"What if this is my child, Rose? I can't lose you and Josephine...but I can't leave my child if I'm the father..."

"Well, I'm perfectly ready to become a stepmother."

"To Caroline's baby?" Jack gave her a doubting look that made her laugh and shake her head.

"This child is not only an innocent, but a part of you. It didn't ask to be born to that witch or be put into this kind of situation. I'd love the baby as if it were my own, just as I know that you would love a child of mine, no matter who the father was. All children need love and affection and with Caroline as a mother...well it's going to need all the affection it can get."

"It'd be a lucky kid to have you as a stepmother," Jack pulled her closer, pressing his head against hers, feeling his chest fill with the love he felt for this woman in his arms, that had survived so much, from a loveless mother to a sinking ship.

"It'd definitely be lucky to have you as a father. Josephine can testify to that. It's going to be okay, Jack. No matter what the outcome is. We'll get through this hurdle. Caroline won't stop us from finally being together," Rose kissed him, really believing in her heart that nothing on this earth could come between them this time. She may have to fight for Jack, but it was a fight worth having and a fight that she'll win.