Rose threw her arms around Cal's neck giving him a kiss on his cheek. She obviously didn't seem to mind Daphne's presence or more likely hadn't noticed her. She was as happy and content at the moment as could be and couldn't imagine that anyone else was feeling anything less.

"Oh, darling, I'm so glad to see you here. I've missed you so much," she proclaimed cheerfully.

Daphne began nervously playing with strands of her hair and Cal shot her a glance, once Rose had finally let go of him. He forced a smile towards his fiancée, finding her behaviour a little bit over the top. Even if Rose didn't seem to mind about Daphne, someone else clearly did – Ruth. She was furious at what she saw especially, when imagining what might've happened beforehand.

"Rose, dear, these are no proper manners…now stand up straight," Ruth scolded her daughter, before turning her attention to Daphne, who found this incident very amusing.

"You're a very authoritarian person, Mrs. Dewitt Bukater. Rose, if you're not careful, she may even choose your nursing home," she giggled noting how Rose's and Cal's faces turned into smiles as well, but she stopped at once, when she perceived Ruth's ice cold stare.

"Is something wrong, Miss Gilman?"

"No…I…it's just…no…," she muttered embracing herself with her arms as if to warm herself up. "Brrr…it's really chilly here…don't you…?"

But Ruth simply continued to shoot her a dirty look causing Daphne to take a step back.

If looks could kill…

Ruth Dewitt Bukater was a master at riding roughshod over someone. She knew exactly how to manipulate people to get what she wanted.

"Mr. Hockley, don't you want to enlighten us and tell what she's doing here?"

Cal didn't like at all how she was speaking of Miss Gilman as if she wasn't even in the room or was just some minor girl from the streets. She was a decent young woman for god's sake and supposedly Rose's friend, Cal would've thought that this alone would make Ruth treat her appropriately.

Apparently he had been wrong.

"I don't think this is any of your concern. Miss Gilman and I have simply discussed something in private. It's nothing to be troubled about," he told herr in harsh tone.

Ruth Dewitt Bukater had to realize that she couldn't get away with everything.

"Mrs. Dewitt Bukater, we didn't…," Daphne wanted to explain herself, but didn't get a chance to being instantly interrupted.

"Nobody was speaking with you, Miss Gilman," Ruth hissed.

"Ruth, please…she was just helping me…," he stopped looking at Daphne for a quick second as if to tell that she didn't need to fear Ruth. "In fact we met only because of Rose. Just a minute ago we were talking about some surprise for…," he didn't get any further as Rose was once again tossing her arms around him.

"Oh, Cal, is this true?" she smiled and walked over to Daphne hugging her friend too. "Oh, I love surprises…I can't wait to see what it is."

Great now, I've to think of something.

But it had been the first thing that had come to his mind and he couldn't take it back now. He could tell that while Rose was happy and content, Ruth seemingly didn't really buy his scam. Daphne had stepped backwards now feeling Amy Jenkins' eyes on her.

These two put together were truly like Satan in incarnation. No wonder they liked to spend time with each other.

Rose was clutching Cal's hand trying to get something out of him tickling him slightly, but he wriggled out of her grip.

"Pleeasse…Cal…," she begged looking at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Rose, it's a surprise. If I would tell you, it wouldn't be…"

Rose made a sound as if she was angry, but nonetheless gave up turning her attention to Amy, who was still staring penetratingly at Daphne not caring a bit that she was Rose's friend as well.

"Amy and I had so much fun today. Right?" Rose didn't wait for an answer and simply continued not minding at all that Amy wasn't listening. However, all others did. "By the way I've a decided that Amy should be my maid-of-honour…I hope you're not angry, Daphne, but…"

"No, no…I'm not mad…it's your wedding…"

Daphne wasn't angry that Rose hadn't chosen her, but more that Rose had picked Amy Jenkins of all persons. This vile shallow woman was no one she wanted to see near Rose or any other one of her friends.

"Yes, Rose asked me today and of course I couldn't reject. We had a magnificent day, doing some shopping…we would've invited you too, but well Rose said you had to work…always so busy…," Amy sneered.

Daphne faked a smile. She was glad she hadn't been asked to come with them, because otherwise she would've had to pretend some liking for Amy Jenkins and she couldn't stand this woman even for five minutes.

"You've a new pearl necklace, Mrs. Jenkins? It's beautiful," Daphne got out coming to the conclusion that she had to say something nice as not to wipe the smirk off of her face.

"Yes, indeed, isn't it, Miss Gilman? My husband gave it to me today. I had no clue of course and oh god…imagine my surprise when…," she laughed phonily "Tyrell is such a sweet spouse. I can never thank heavens enough for having met him."

Daphne and Cal shared a knowing look. Daphne wondered, if Amy was simply stupid and really had no idea of what was going on in front of her eyes or if she was just play-acting as to be able to go on living a comfortable life in high society. She figured the latter to be true. From what she had heard of various people Amy Jenkins wasn't descended from a well-to-do family, but rather had a very dubious personal history. Now she was acting more papal than the pope.

"Really…nice…," Daphne looked at Rose. "Sorry again that I couldn't come with you…"

"Oh, it was no…"

"Indeed…," Ruth sneered having a pretty good notion of what was going on here.

"Well anyway I promised mother to help her with some donations. Rose, Mrs. Dewitt Bukater, Mrs. Jenkins, Mr. Hockley," she nodded towards everyone. "I wish you a nice day."

"I'm going to escort you out," Cal began about to lead her to the door, but Ruth interrupted him.

"No, I will," Ruth gave Daphne an evil glare. "I mean…I'm sure you would more like to stay here with your fiancée."

"Of course…thanks Ruth," Cal mumbled though not really happy with the outlook.

Ruth didn't seem to like Daphne very much.

"We'll be in contact, Mr. Hockley…for…well you know…"

"Sure…," Cal smiled back winking at her.

At this Daphne felt Ruth's grip tightening around her arms and she pinched her slightly. Once they were outside and Ruth had made sure that the secretary too wasn't listening she angrily turned to Daphne lowering her voice.

"Mrs. Dewitt Bukater…"

"Look, I don't know what game you're playing here, but it's going to stop now. Mr. Hockley is the fiancé of my daughter…who you claim to be your best friend and you will stay away from him or…"

"Or what? You may pester around your servants, Mrs. Dewitt Bukater, but I'm not…"

She felt Ruth grabbing her arm a second time. It hurt badly. She had never known that the fragile looking Ruth Dewitt Bukater was able to display such muscles.

"I don't like to be fooled around, Miss Gilman. Once more you have no business with Mr. Hockley and if I should see you together with him again…alone…I will make you very very sorry…," she smiled at her deceivingly making Daphne to be scared stiff for a second. "Is this in any way unclear?"

"No…," Daphne said having found her voice again. "No, everything will go as you want. Your wish is my command," she even made a little curtsey to emphasize her point.

So this was Rose's mother, the true nature behind her sweet smile and ladylike appearance having come out at once. Daphne was glad that hers was different and that she didn't belong to this family.

"Good girl," Ruth patted her on the shoulder.

Daphne understood immediately that it wasn't meant as a soothing gesture, but more exactly to remind her to better take her seriously.

"I'm certain that you don't want to make Rose unhappy…you know how much she loves this man…"

…

When Jack returned from work he observed an unknown man sitting in the kitchen. This had to be Horatio. Sally had stated that he was mostly staying at home as he was old and wasn't light on his feet anymore. On the way here Jack had bought a newspaper to look through the job announcements. He didn't want to stand out with Sally working twenty for seven.

"Hello, you are, Horatio, right? I'm Jack Dawson, Sally's friend," he offered his hand for the other one to shake, but Horatio simply continued eating just glancing blankly at Jack.

"Yes, I know who you're, Mr. Dawson. Sally told me. She's a good friend of me as well. A very good friend…"

Jack found him not very welcoming, but rather very distant and cold towards him. Hadn't Sally mentioned how nice and pleasant he was to everybody? Jack decided to ignore his behaviour for now and began to read the newspaper. They still had huge articles about the Titanic – the trials having just started. They were questioning various passengers and crewmembers. Jack doubted that anything could really be proven and moreover, even if it was, the victims were already lost and no one could bring them back to live.

There was an interview with Molly as well. Skipping through it Jack found out about her work for the Titanic survivors and that she didn't want to be called a heroine, stating in one sentence – I've only done what everyone would. I don't deserve any more praise than the anyone else.

Jack knew this wasn't true, remembering Molly's words to him about Rose he realized now how right she had been. It was true he didn't know anything about Rose and had obviously deemed her to be someone that she wasn't. He turned over to the next page. There was a photograph of the ship leaving Southampton and underneath a drawing of the sinking Titanic. It was actually a pretty faithful sketch making Jack speculate, if the artist had been on the ship as well or had simply a very good imagination.

"You're interested in ships, Mr. Dawson?"

Jack looked up. He had completely forgotten about the other one's presence.

"Not really…just…you know the Titanic…," he stammered feeling uneasy for once. "…it's all over the news and…I wanted to avoid it, but…I guess in the end I'm just as curious as all the others," he forced a smile hoping that this man would warm up to him a bit and that he wouldn't ask him too many questions.

"Are you interested in ships?"

"Yes, very much…in fact I've been a seaman my whole life. I grew up in a small town in England and being the fourth son of a family with seven children I didn't have much to look forward to. I signed up on a schooner, when I was seventeen…sailing in the Levant…working as…now you know general servant…but I got to see many interesting cities like Marseilles, Naples, Alexandria, Algier, Port Said…"

"Yes I know Naples too…have been there some time with a friend…," at remembering this Jack grew sad for a minute.

"I was so proud of being a sailor that I even changed my name to…Horatio is not my real one, but I had such a liking in Mr. Nelson that everyone used to call be this and I decided to keep it...," he smiled at the memory.

"And then?"

"Nothing more...the ships became bigger and more luxurious and I even made it to the rank of a sailor. I've met these kind of people…," he gazed towards the article "…they may be rich, but believe me Mr. Dawson they are having just the same problems as we do…in addition to those concerning their money," he laughing sipping some whiskey. "A habit inherited from working at the sea…"

"Do you have any family?" Jack asked feeling that he needed to get some more information out of this man, who was pretending to be Sally's grandfather.

"No, I've never been married…although I had girls in practically every town we navigated to…but no one of them wanted to live with a man, who would be away from the family for two-thirds of a year…that was too much of a compromise for them…and for me it would've been too much of a commitment…in addition I fear I'm not the faithful type…," he was laughing once more this time a distressed one. "…however, I consider Sally to be my granddaughter. That's why I was so reserved towards you at first. I didn't mean to sound severe, but I don't want to see her hurt. Don't make her unhappy. She's a good girl, who works hard for her dreams and doesn't deserve to be wounded."

"I won't…I promise…she means a lot to me as well," Jack mumbled. "How did you meet Sally?"

"It was about two months ago…at the souvenir shop…well actually in front of it…I had begged her boss for some money and Sally helped me out of it, when she wanted to call the police….she's a dreadful creature…"

Both laughed.

Horatio asked himself, if there was something else going on between them. Sally had spoken in the highest colours of Mr. Dawson and he himself also seemed to have feelings for her. He couldn't hide it from Horatio, who had met a lot of young people to detect the signs of upcoming love.

Hopefully this would turn out right.

"Why don't we open some fresh new bottle of whisky, Mr. Dawson and celebrate our new bound friendship. I would also like to hear something more about you as well."

"Sure, yes…why not…"

…

Daphne threw herself into helping her mother to prepare everything for her monthly charity bazar – trying to get her mind off of Mr. Hockley. Her mother was very happy about her daughter's engagement, but wondered what had caused her sudden change of heart. Daphne normally wasn't so eager to spend time with her.

"How is Tracy? I haven't seen her for so long. I hope she's okay," her mother tried to make up some conversation not liking the silence.

"She's fine…you know, how she's always out and about," Daphne grinned.

Marion Gilman looked at her daughter. She could that she was hiding something. Daphne may be a responsible young woman, who was making something out her life, but she wasn't able to keep a secret. Her other friend, Rose, hadn't been here too for a long time.

So maybe it was about her? Had they been quarrelling? Daphne was sometimes ruthlessly candid, when it came to voicing her opinion and Rose Dewitt Bukater she remembered as a fairly delicate girl, who was constantly under her mother's wing. Rose had always been very shy, but also very polite, while Daphne had more than once gotten herself into trouble at school. At one time she recalled how her daughter had even fought with some a boy, who had insulted a friend of hers in some way. The boy had had a bleeding nose afterwards. There had been no consequences from the family later on, but simply because the boy's father had found it shameful that his son was beaten up by a girl and hadn't wanted it to come out.

Of course it couldn't be secreted for long. From this time on Daphne hadn't been considered marriageable material anymore by those families, who mattered. And some other boys had started t to play boyish games with her, admiring her for what she had done. Marion would've never thought that her daughter would marry someday and both her husband and her were very surprised, when she introduced them to Matthew Weingartner.

"You're so quiet today."

Daphne instantly knew what she really meant. Her mother was sometimes so prying – like every mother, but she realized that she only wanted her best. As she didn't want to talk about herself, she decided to tell her mother the story for Tracy and Mr. Jenkins, of course without mentioning any names. Hopefully this would satisfy her for a while.

"It's just the work. My colleague…"

"Tracy?"

As Daphne had never mentioned anyone else from her job, it was no surprise her mother came up with Tracy first.

Daphne nodded knowing it wouldn't help to lie to her mother.

"Do you think that it is right what she does? You see, we met this man in a pub and…he was…I mean is married and she…you know, I like Tracy…she's a nice girl…but…"

"I like her too, honey. I think you should invite her more often and I think you shouldn't bother yourself so much with the lives of others," her mother smiled at her. "Tracy is a good friend of yours and a good friendship is worth more than some affair…," she picked up a crate placing it near the exit. "Well, I believe we're ready now. I do hope your father gets home in time to drive us to the market. I don't want to hire a taxi again."

Her mother came up to her putting an arm around her to comfort her.

"I know how hard and complicated life can be sometimes for a girl your age. Believe me, before I married your father I was very uncertain concerning him. I mean I knew that I loved him, but I was so young and naïve and didn't know, if it work out for a whole life…but well it did and I couldn't be more contented…," she offered her daughter a smile and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "You've made the right decision, dear. Matthew is a good man and he loves you. You two are going to be very happy together."

Daphne grinned back, though knowing this was only partly true. She remembered Ruth Dewitt Bukater and her threat. She couldn't speak with anyone about it. Her mother would go and tell it everyone of her friends and her father would want to have satisfaction, whatever that meant – but surely nothing good for the Dewitt Bukater. Unlike Rose's family her father had never cared very much about his so-called reputation, but more about justice as he put it. However, Daphne didn't want any scandal and moreover she didn't want any dispute with Rose.

"You could call Rose too, you know."

"Rose?"

Why on earth was her mother coming up with her now? Had she said anything to make her suspicious?

"I'm sure she'll love to help out. Sadly so many of our commitee are ill at the moment and we could really need someone…come on call her and get over with whatever argument you're having with her."

"How do you…?" Daphne's mouth stood open for a moment as she was clearly stunned.

"I'm your mother, honey. Mothers know everything," they laughed together. "Now, come on tell your friend. I'm sure she'd love to assist us…with a mother like Ruth Dewitt Bukater I'm certain she doesn't get to spend much time alone…"

So true, mother, so true.

…

Sally found Jack sitting on a bench outside their flat, drawing. She was late from work as they had done inventory, of course without any extra pay. The best she could hope for was some hours off some time in the future. But she doubted it.

"Hey," she smiled at him sitting down.

"Hey," Jack grinned back though not really in the talkative mood.

He had had a very long conversation with Horatio, who had told him to be careful with Sally. Then they had spoken about their lives and their travels around the world, but when it came to talking about ships and some catastrophes Horatio had been into Jack had become awfully silent hoping that Horatio hadn't noticed.

'The Titanic must've been a wonderful ship to sail on to…I would've loved to see their machinery and….and of course the exquisite rooms…now for sure I'm glad that I wasn't travelling on this one…luxury surely doesn't compensate for death…'

Jack had forced a smile at this and luckily Horatio had continued with most of the talking.

'Just imagine that ice cold water…I went swimming once in September…in France and it was already pretty cold…but the shore was near so no danger ahead…while these poor people…I remember the water being freezing,' he sighed.

Yes it was…like a thousand stitches…as Jack remembered telling Rose to prevent her from jumping of the ship.

Without asking Sally took the portfolio out of his hand. He had drawn the picture of a young woman. Sally instantly knew who it was.

"Jack, I realize how hard this is, but…"

"She told me that she didn't want to see me anymore…that I shouldn't bother her…and how she loved her fiancé and that I'm only jealous, when speaking ill of him…"

"Well, Jack, you're jealous….she's right about this…but I'm not so sure anymore, if you're really in love with her or simply want her, because you can't have her…I mean you wouldn't the first man with this problem."

"What do you suggest I should do now?" he looked up at her.

"I guess this is up to you."

"You're really a great help," Jack growled. "Molly has told me the same already…how I wouldn't know what I want…

"Another truth…Jack," she spoke up "…alright, I tell what you…we…will do. We invite her over here and you tell her everything that about the Titanic and what happened between you two…and I mean…everything…if you want I'm going to stay with you, but that's up to you…"

"Jack, you don't know what her family said to her…maybe they told her something evil about you…expressing the whole truth to her is the only way to win her back…"

"Maybe you're right…," he mumbled his head hanging down.

Jack thought about what she had said a minute before, about him not really loving her and then he remembered Molly and wondered if he really knew anything about real love. He turned his head towards Sally. This girl was his knight in shining armour, always there, when he needed someone. He was probably not thanking her enough for it.

'She's a nice and decent girl…only there to make others and especially you happy; Mr. Dawson and I really hope you're treasuring her…don't waste that friendship…'

Jack asked himself what Sally had told Horatio about their relation and if he knew anything intimate about their past. He certainly had acted like it, but on the other hand hadn't seemed very happy about the fact that Jack was now living here with them.

"Of course I'm…what do you always say…oh yes…make it count…well then let's do it…live up to your motto, Jack…I'm going to visit her tomorrow after work and invite her for the weekend. I think we're both free on Saturday?"

Jack nodded taking his sketches back looking once more at one of Rose. She was smiling back at him in picture, something that he rarely saw nowadays of the real Rose. Somehow he doubted that Cal or Ruth had told her anything about him. They were surely too concerned to trigger her memory about him.

"She's a beautiful girl, Jack…and if she is what you want…I'm going to help you to get her…," she put her hand on his. "I'm not entirely sure that she's the right one for you…but I'll be convinced of the opposite…"

He smiled weakly at her. On the Titanic everything had seemed so simple between them and when Rose had told him that she wanted to leave the ship with him, he had been on top of the world. At the moment he wasn't so certain any longer. He wasn't even sure any more about the fact, if her memory loss was the only thing that kept them apart.