It had been hours since Jack had left the bow of the ship, wanting to be alone to think about what had just happened. Rose had just left him. She had just walked away so he could sort out whatever this was between himself and Mary. It had hurt her to do it and that was the last thing Jack had ever wanted, for Rose to be hurt. But she was and he still didn't know what to do about Mary, or even how he felt about her. He didn't think it was still love. If it had been...he wouldn't feel so strongly about Rose. Right?

Sighing, he looked around, realizing that he was back in the second class section of the ship. He leaned against the railings and stared out at the ocean. He couldn't believe it. Everything had seemed so simple. So perfect. Now they were all complicated again. It wasn't fair.

"Jack?"

He turned around and frowned to find Mary standing behind him, her gloved hands clasped in front of her, her eyes studying him curiously.

"Mary," He simply stated, turning back around to stare out at the ocean, not knowing what to expect now.

"You are alone, I see," Mary walked up to stand next to him.

"That I am. Maybe I'm meant to be that way," Jack winced at his own words. To his ears, he sounded rather bitter. Well why shouldn't he feel bitter? Mary had left him to remain with Johnson and when he finally moved on, she showed back up to ruin everything. "What do you want?"

"To talk to you. Alone."

"Well, I'm definitely alone now," he winced, knowing that he was being more harsh than she deserved. Why was he? It wasn't like she had planned to show up on the same ship. It wasn't like she had moved on with someone else while still harboring feelings, no matter how slight they may be, for him. He was the guilty one here. Not her. Right?

Mary decided to ignore his ill manners. He was unhappy about something, but she wasn't going to pay that much attention at the moment. "She's beautiful. Fancy too. Not that she's dressed fancy, but one can tell that she is. Wherever did you find her?"

Jack sighed, not wanting to talk about Rose, but then again how can he not talk about her? If he was going to get anything sorted, he had to be honest with himself and the women involved. "The pub. She walked in and fell into my lap."

"Love at first sight, huh?"

He shrugged, not knowing how to describe it. When Rose had fallen into his lap, he had been fascinated by her. How unusual to have a beautiful high class girl just fall into his arms and then look at him like he was her entire world. Then that fascination quickly turned into love, with the help of memories from another reality.

"You do love her, right?" Mary asked, studying him closely, trying to read his body language. As a prostitute, she made reading the signs her Johns gave her as part of her skills to make it worth their money. She used that skill now to read Jack.

"I do."

"Well that was fast," Mary chuckled. "It wasn't that long ago since Johnson sent me away."

"Well what did you expect? I begged you to leave him, but money was more important to you than I was," Jack looked at her, clear anger in his eyes. He had been hurt by her rejection. He had even thought that maybe love wasn't for him after all. But then Rose came and made him believe again.

"He would have killed you if I had even tried to leave, Jack. I was saving your life," Mary placed a hand over his, her voice pleading with him to understand. She knew that she had been breaking his heart at the time. She just hoped that her decision hadn't made him hate her. She couldn't handle it if he did.

"So you didn't dump me for money?"

"No. Money had nothing to do with it. I just didn't want to get you killed. That is all. It broke my heart to end it. It really did. And now here you are with another woman. I wonder if it was real..."

Jack sighed and turned his attention back to the ocean. "I don't even know what's real anymore."

"What we had was real, at least I thought so."

Jack laughed and shook his head. "Really? Anymore real than what I have with Rose?"

"What is it that you have with this Rose?"

Jack opened his mouth then closed it again. What he had with Rose, it was based off of something that didn't even exist anymore. But that didn't make his feelings for her any less real. He still felt them. They were still his. It didn't matter where they came from. "What I have with Rose is love. I would die for her. That's what I have with her."

"Already?"

"That's the thing about love. It doesn't matter how long you know a person. What matters is how you feel for that person. How they've touched your soul. How they fit your soul and she fits mine."

Mary, in all her cynicism rolled her eyes. She believed in love, but not in the kind of love that Jack had just talked about. "You were always a romantic, even though you try not to be."

"If you're such a cynic, then why are you here, trying to convince me that what you and I had was real?"

"What we had was real. Okay, it wasn't the kind of fairy tale love where one dies for the other. But it was real enough. It was honest."

Jack laughed. "Honest? You say you love me but when I ask you to stop sleeping with other men for money, you refuse."

"I had explained that already."

"It's not enough, Mary."

"What?"

"Your excuse. It's not enough. I'm not asking you to be willing to die, but I'm asking you to be willing to stop sleeping with other men. For me to be the only one. To love me that much to do that. Now that's honest."

"Jack..."

"You don't love me. Nowhere near enough. That's being honest. I need someone that…," his words were cut off when Mary grabbed him by the material of his shirt and pulled him into a passionate kiss, taking him off guard.

It was at that moment when Rose walked up, saw them and watched as his arms wrapped around the blond's waist. Not saying a word, she walked away.

Unaware that they had been seen, Mary released Jack and smiled, wiping her lipstick off his lips. "That's honest. I still love you Jack. I know that you still feel something for me. You want me to be honest, well there you go. That's as honest as I can be for you. Is that enough?"

Jack opened his mouth then closed it. He pulled away from her and shook his head. "I need to think."

"You do that. And while you're at it, ask yourself if that new girlfriend of yours really is willing to leave the high life behind. Girls like that rarely are."

"You don't know her."

"I know women like her. The respectable type. All elegance and class. They marry millionaires. Not poor wandering artists."

"And who do prostitutes marry? Their Johns?"

Mary just smiled sardonically. "Poor wandering artists."

Giving him one last wink, Mary sauntered off, leaving Jack once again to his thoughts, which was now more confused than ever.

…..

Rose sat on a bench, staring out at the ocean, finally letting her tears fall. She had spent the last ten minutes fighting them, but finally she couldn't stop them anymore. She had gone through a whole year mourning Jack's death. She had wished upon a star to save him and it came true. She thought it was a chance for them to seize the chance to see where what they had on Titanic would go. But now it seemed as if it was fated to go nowhere. Just when she thought that she had a chance, it was snatched away.

Angrily wiping away her tears, she wondered what the point of the wish was. Was it just to tease her? Make her see that no matter what, her and Jack weren't meant to be? That it was best to lose him on Titanic and live life with good memories of their time together than this?

"Wishes are tricky things indeed. Sometimes we live to regret them. Do you regret yours yet?" A familiar voice spoke into her ear. She looked to her right to find the brightly colored dressed woman that she had spoken to after she had made the wish in the other reality sitting next to her, a knowing light in her eyes.

"You," Rose glared at the woman, accusingly. Was she the reason why things were so messed up now?

"Every reality has it's obstacles. In the old one, it was the iceberg. In this one, the iceberg is the other woman. Which do you prefer? Do you regret your wish? Do you want to take it back? Return to the old reality, where she won't have him either? Or would you rather keep this reality and see if this obstacle can be overcome?" The woman smiled, her eyes laughing. "Do not take too long. The decision may be made for you."

Rose wanted to yell at the woman. Blame her for Mary's existence. Tell her that she wanted to take the wish back. That if she couldn't have Jack, no one could! Especially not that tacky tramp! But then she thought of Trudy and Fabrizio. They both had died unfair deaths on Titanic and now they were alive and together. They had a chance at love and a long life together. Was it fair to take that away from them just because she couldn't have what she wanted? Even if it was her wish? Did she really rather have Jack dead than in the arms of another woman? Looking down at her hands, feeling hopeless, she knew the answer.

"Do you want to take it back and return to the 1913 of old?" The woman repeated the question.

"No. No I don't want to take it back. Trudy and Fabrizio deserve a chance at a life together. At least someone will benefit," Rose sniffed, hot tears dripping onto the polished deck.

"Good girl," The woman got to her feet, her eyes shining with mirth. She placed a hand on Rose's shoulder and made their eyes meet. Rose found herself almost hypnotized by the swirling cosmos inside the woman's eyes. "Not all is lost. It may be harder to come by, but all things hard to come by is worth it, yes?"

"I don't know what you mean."

The woman just winked and then walked away, disappearing through a door leading into the first class part of the ship, leaving Rose alone and miserable.

Well, that was that. She had a chance to take the wish back, but she didn't...she couldn't. No matter how devastated she felt. This reality was it. It couldn't be changed. Fabrizio and Trudy had each other because of her wish. But who did she have?

Sighing, she got to her feet and began to walk until she reached the stern of the ship, hot tears falling from her eyes. In the old time line, she had met Jack at the stern of Titanic. She had been about to jump, desperate to get out of the engagement to Cal. Now...in the new time line, she felt worse than she ever had in the old one. Hopeless and alone. She hadn't taken back the wish, but did it really mean that she had to live out this existence? She didn't think she could. Not after all that had happened.

Not wiping away her tears, she gripped the railings and had placed a foot on one of the rungs when she heard a gasp from behind her.

"Miss? What are you doing? I hope it's not what it looks like," A voice spoke out, stopping Rose from going any further.