Chapter 38

"Rose?" Jack cried. He looked across at her, frozen on the spot. She was lying on the bed and she was surrounded by doctors including the doctor he had spoken to earlier. The doctor turned to face him and started walking towards him.

"Mr Dawson. Can I see you outside?" the doctor asked, leading him out into the corridor.

"Is she alright? What's going on?" Jack asked, an urgency in his voice.

"She's doing fine. The nurse that has been looking after her came in to change the dressing on the wound on her stomach. While she was doing it, your wife moved her hand slightly so we believe she's almost ready to wake up.

Jack's eyes lit up. "Really? So she's going to be alright?"

"We won't know the extent of any lasting damage until she's awake but it's certainly looking a lot better than it was earlier." The doctor smiled. "Will you excuse me? Just sit tight." The doctor pointed at some chairs that were lined up along the wall. "I'm going to go check on your wife and I'll come back and let you know if you can see her."

Jack nodded as he watched the doctor walk back into the room and close the door. He looked at the chairs but couldn't force himself to sit down. He was too agitated so he began pacing the corridor, walking back and forth, willing the door to open again. After what seemed like a lifetime, the door made a squeaking noise as it was finally pulled open. Jack stopped walking and turned to face it, his eyes were alert and his forehead had beads of sweat falling down it.

"Mr Dawson?" the young nurse asked.

Jack nodded.

"Your wife is awake now. Would you like to see her?" The nurse smiled.

Jack hesitated for a second. He suddenly worried that she might have some lasting damage. What if she was paralysed? Or memory loss from the fall she had taken? What if she couldn't remember him? Jack knew that would kill him. If he was to look into his dear wife's eyes and she looked back at him like a stranger. Suddenly he felt his head nodding. Of course he wanted to see her. He had been sat waiting for hours waiting on her waking up and now she was, he couldn't believe he was still standing in this cold hallway.

"Mr Dawson?" the nurse asked again.

"Yes, I want to see her please." Jack said.

The nurse motioned for him to follow her as she walked into the room. Jack's eyes immediately went back to the helpless woman lying on the bed. She was almost unrecognisable from how he remembered her. Her hair was lank and lifeless. Her skin was almost grey, not the usual porcelain colour that it normally was. But then she opened her eyes, and underneath the lids were those enormous emerald eyes. They still had that same sparkle to them and brightened as she forced a smile.

"Jack?" she finally spoke and Jack could feel himself being completely overcome by emotion. He rushed to her bedside and sat down in the chair beside her.

"I'm here Rose." He grasped her hand, running his thumb gently over her knuckles. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

"Where am I?" she looked around her, confused by the people she could sense at the bottom of the bed.

"You're in hospital Rose. Do you remember what happened?" Jack asked softly.

Rose shook her head. "What happened to you?" she stared at Jack's face. His nose and under his eyes were swollen and his skin had turned a horrible shade of blues, reds and blacks.

"You think this is bad? You should have seen the other guy." Jack laughed.

Rose smiled. She looked over him, trying to remember anything from before she woke up. "I remember being on the beach. We had such a wonderful day."

He beamed. Perhaps she would remember, although Jack wasn't sure if he wanted her to. He thought that perhaps it might be better if she didn't remember, then Jack could deal with the burden of what happened alone. If he could prevent her feeling any hurt from it then he would. "We did have an amazing day. Do you remember anything else?"

Rose shook her head and sighed. Given the fact she was lying in this bed, in hospital when they should have been on their way to another destination told her everything she needed to know. Whatever had happened to them, it can't have been very good.

"It may take a while for everything to return to her Mr Dawson." The doctor finally said. "I think we should give Mrs Dawson some rest now. Come on." The doctor directed the other nurses and doctors out of the room leaving Jack and Rose alone.

Jack watched them leave before turning his attention back to Rose. "Only a few more days Rose, then we can get out of here and go home."

"No." She suddenly said. "I don't want to go home. We have another four weeks of our honeymoon left."

"But Rose, you should be home, resting. You've been through a lot." Jack rubbed her hand.

"Jack, we're never going to get this chance again for a long time. Eventually we will have children to look after as well and we can't disappear off to Europe when we feel like it if we have children running around." Rose laughed, stopping eventually we she saw Jack's face fall. "Jack?"

Jack didn't know what to say. As soon as she mentioned them having children, it became clear to him. She didn't know. She hadn't even known that she was pregnant. How could he tell her?

"Jack? What's wrong?" Rose tried to sit up but winced in pain as she moved.

"Rose, please rest." Jack held onto her shoulder, almost forcing her to lie back down.

"Jack, there's something you're not telling me. What is it?" Rose begged him.

"Oh Rose darling, how do I even begin to tell you this?" Jack placed his forehead on the bed and Rose reached over and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Jack, please, whatever it is I can take it." Rose urged him to open up to her.

He lifted his head and her hand fell to his cheek. She gently rubbed her thumb against it and smiled at him. "Rose, did you feel any different before this had happened? Did you feel different at all?"

"In what sense?" Rose was confused now, she didn't understand what Jack was getting at.

"Like did you feel strange? Ill at all? Were you sick?" Jack asked.

"I guess I've not felt too great the last couple of weeks. I just put that down to the amount of travelling we were doing. Why?"

Jack put his head back on the bed. "It wasn't because of the travelling Rose. You were pregnant." He whispered into the bedsheets. He wasn't sure if Rose had heard him but the gasp she let out told him that she had heard him perfectly.

"Wh..wh...what? I don't understand." Rose said, unable to take in what Jack was telling her. She couldn't be pregnant. She would have known. She thought back over the last couple of months and it was then she realised that she hadn't had her monthly cycle for a while. She had been so wrapped up in their adventures that she had completely forgotten about it. But her feelings of happiness at getting pregnant were short lived as she finally took in what Jack had said. "Wait, you said I was pregnant? Was? As in past tense?"

Jack nodded. He couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"You mean? I'm not anymore?" Rose could feel the tears building up in her eyes.

Jack shook his head. "You lost too much blood. The baby couldn't cope with it." He sobbed. Suddenly he sat up on the bed and lay down next to Rose, clinging onto her frail body. He finally let out all the emotion he had been carrying since he had woken up and clung to her for dear life.

"Jack. Shhhh." She soothed. She ran her fingers over the back of his neck and through his hair, trying to relax him. "It's alright."

Jack eventually managed to contain himself. He stopped crying and allowed himself to look up at her. "This isn't right." He smiled. "I should be comforting you."

"I'm not as fragile as I look Jack. I'm just glad that we're both alright." Rose told him, still brushing her fingers through his soft hair. "We can always have more children."

Jack nodded and buried his head back into her arms. She held him close to her chest so he could hear her heart beating. Eventually Jack lifted his head up to her and smiled as he saw she had fallen asleep. He climbed down from the bed and sat back in the chair beside her, finally allowing himself to sleep after an incredibly long day.