Rose woke up to the sound of Cora crying for milk. She looked out the window and saw that it was indeed morning, and by the smell coming from downstairs, breakfast was being prepared. Stretching her muscles, she got up and took Cora out of bed.

"Why you must be feeling better if you're crying for some milk. Do you feel like eating anything solid along with the milk, darling?"

Cora stuck her bottom lip out in an adorable pout. "Me want daddy."

Rose chuckled and cuddled the child, thankful for every moment she got to spend with her. She may lose a lot, but as long as she had her baby girl, she would be alright, she was positive of that. "Come darling. Let's see if daddy is downstairs. I am sure he would love to know that his princess is feeling better."

Sure enough, Rose entered the kitchen to find Jack at the stove, making what looked to be coffee. Rose cleared her throat before entering the rest of the way into the kitchen.

"Rose? Cora's awake? How is she?" Jack questioned, turning away from the stove to take his daughter, who was reaching for him.

"She seems to be feeling better. Her fever is gone and she is asking for milk."

"Daddy, me thirsty," Cora stated, playing with the color of Jack's shirt.

"Well, daddy will get you some milk," Jack kissed the child's blond curls before handing her back to Rose. "Would you mind putting her in her chair while I get the milk?"

"Not at all," Rose smiled, carrying Cora over to the table, hoping that she would be able to keep her mind preoccupied for a little bit. There was something she had to do, but in all honesty, she was not in a hurry to do it. Once it was done, it couldn't be undone and things won't be the same afterward.

A comfortable silence fell over the room as Jack and Rose took care of their daughter together. Rose couldn't help but savor these calm moments, where it was just the three of them. It kind of gave her a sense of what could have been if she had never lost her memories. But she had and she knew that this peace couldn't last. She couldn't let it.

"So, did you have a peaceful rest of the night last night?" Jack asked, finishing feeding Cora her eggs.

"Yes. No more bad dreams or anything. I apologize again for waking you up."

"There's no need to apologize," Jack shrugged, getting up to place the used plate and fork into the sink. "I do wish you'd come to me, though Rose. I could help you at least put some things in context. We did go through it together."

"I know...it's just...I feel like we're in two different spaces and I don't want to pull you back where you may not want to be."

"Most likely, I'm already there. Do you honestly think I could ever get over what we had gone through? We were on that ship from beginning to the very end, Rose. Just because it may seem that I'm over it, doesn't mean that I am."

Rose sighed, feeling sad for herself. She had it all once, now she had to let it go. It was the right thing to do, but it was the hardest thing to do as well. Looking at Jack, she saw all that she had ever wanted and loved. But he deserved more. He deserved better. She could give him better. "Hannah was kind to stay up with me last night. She's a good person Jack."

"I know. We kind of grew up together. She'd never turn away from someone who needed help."

"Kind of like you," Rose's smile was small as he turned to face her.

"I suppose. I didn't really help you two years ago," Jack sighed, again feeling a little self-blame for being unable to help Rose before she had lost her memory. She had once said that he could read people, but somehow he had failed to read her.

"But you did help me, as much as you could. You got me to see that there was another way to get out of marrying Cal. Plus, you saved me, Jack. I don't think I would have been able to survive Titanic if it hadn't been for your quick thinking."

"Yeah, after you saved me, coming into a flooding room with an ax instead of getting on a lifeboat," Jack chuckled. "You're something else, Rose. Really, we had saved each other. I just wish I had been able to do more...that I knew just how much you were struggling with what happened."

"Jack...there may not have been anything that you could have done. It may have happened anyway," Rose shrugged, slowly approaching him and taking his hands in hers, looking into his eyes so he could see the sincerity there. "Some things happen for a reason. Titanic, my memory loss...all of it."

"And what possible reason could that be, Rose? We were happy. We had Cora and each other. You were free from Cal and your mother. So what was the reason for you losing your memories?"

Here it was. The time for her to do the right thing because when she thought about it, Jack and Hannah seemed meant to be. They had more in common and she was good and kind and would never hurt him and Jack trusted her. There was once a time that she had thought that she and Jack were soulmates. Now she felt she had been wrong. She wasn't his soulmate. She couldn't be. She wasn't selfless and kind, not like Jack was. Not like Hannah. As much as she loved Jack, so much that her heart ached, he deserved better. He deserved someone like himself. Someone like Hannah.

"Because you weren't meant to be with me, Jack. You were meant to be with her."

"What?"

"I've been thinking Jack. Ever since I remembered how Helga died...I've come to a realization...one that I'm not sure I would have ever come to if my memories hadn't been lost. You are a kind, compassionate, good person. You didn't even wait and asked if I needed help that night we first met. You just helped because, that's who you are. You're kind and selfless and you would help a stranger without being asked...just like Hannah did for me last night. Neither of you froze out of fear. Neither of you had let your head get in the way. I'm not like that, Jack! Helga needed me to help her and I froze. I had let my fear get in the way!"

"Rose, you can't possibly hold yourself responsible for that! We were in a horrible situation and..."

"I know what you're going to say because Hannah said it last night. She absolved me of any responsibility and you're about to do the same. But I can't let you do that and I can't ignore what is staring me right in the face. It's as clear as day. Selfless people belong with someone just as selfless as they are. You belong with Hannah...you should be with Hannah...not...with..me," Rose swallowed, feeling her emotions rising up in her chest, nearly choking her words. Her heart was screaming at her to stop, but for once, her head was in charge. Not her heart.

Jack was speechless. Was he hearing Rose right? Was she actually telling him to choose Hannah? "I...I don't understand...Rose..."

"I love you, Jack. I'll probably love you until the day I die. You mean so much to me...but I'm not the one you belong with. Fate had put you with someone that's not all messed up like I am. It had put you with someone you can trust, love, and be happy. Someone who can give you everything I want to give you and more. I wish it was me, but...let's face it. We're at two different parts of our lives. I'm stuck between the past and the present while you're stuck between the present and the future and it's the future where you belong. So...this time...I'll be the selfless one for once. I'll do what needs to be done. I'll let you go to where you belong. To the future with Hannah..."

"Wait...don't I get a say in this? I mean...I still have very real feelings for you, Rose and we have a daughter together. What about Cora? You can walk away from me, but..."

"I'm taking the choice from you, Jack. It's an unfair choice for you to make anyway because...you're so full of love and you shouldn't have to choose. So I'll choose for you. I mean, wasn't that what the whole affair on Titanic was about? Me making my own choices? Do you really want to stand in the way of that?"

"When you put it that way...but still..."

"There's no but still about it, Jack. You belong with Hannah and as for me...I'm Cora's mother. I'm always going to be here for her to love and co-parent her. I'm not going anywhere. I promise you that. As for me and you…we're friends. Just like you said when I first came back. We can be friends."

"You can just stand there and watch me move on with someone else? Just like that?" Jack didn't know why he was questioning Rose like this. He should feel relieved. She was taking an impossible choice out of his hands, and a part of him was relieved. But there was another part of him that wanted to fight her on this...even though it made sense not to. He had to let that part go somehow. He had to let Rose make her choice. It was probably best for all of them.

"If it means that you'll be happy and loved I can. All I ask for is access to our daughter. She's the one thing out of what we had that I will not give up."

"Good. Because I won't let you give her up. She needs you and...I need you to be here for her."

"I need to be here for her as well."

"And this doesn't change my feelings for you, Rose. I...I won't say it again after today but...I love you. What we had...it had changed me for the better and it gave me Cora. I don't regret any of it and I'd do it all again. Saving you, the talk on the deck, the first-class dinner, the steerage party...and the Renault. Not to forget the best drawing I had ever drawn."

Tears spilled from her eyes at Jack's words. She couldn't believe that she was walking away from what she knew was the love of her life. But she had to. She didn't deserve him, not after failing Helga and he deserved to move forward with the plans he had before she had reentered his life and turned it upside down. "I love you, too Jack. I don't regret anything we've shared. I never will. I may not always be your wife, but I will always be your friend. That is a promise I can keep and will keep."

Their eyes met, speaking of the emotion that was swirling inside them both at that moment. Determination, resignation, and above all else, love. It was there for both of them to read and neither resisted as their lips met in one last passionate kiss. It was the last kiss that they ever planned to share. After this, there would be no more, at least that's what they silently promised themselves. They were letting it all go. Titanic, their marriage, and the passion that they hoped would tamper down somehow. After this moment, the only thing that they hoped would bind them together would be Cora and a friendship that would make it possible to co-parent her successfully.

Rose was the first to pull away with a stifled sob. She quickly wiped away her tears and forced a smile. "See, isn't this better? Me making the choice?"

Jack's chuckle had no humor in it. In fact, he looked pretty grim. "I wish there wasn't a choice to make. But...you probably made the right one. This is probably the best for both of us."

"It is...it is. I...I better go. Um...we'll have to sit down and make a schedule for when I can have Cora, right? And...wow. I have to find a place to live. Somewhere permanent so Cora can have a room of her own...and I better get started on that now. Um...I'll see you in a few days I suppose," Rose rambled on, not knowing what else she could say. Things felt so...awkward now. It was over with Jack...yet it wasn't. It may never be. But she wasn't going to dwell on it. She was going to move forward with her life. Build some kind of life that she could have with her daughter and be happy.

"Good-bye Rose," Jack winced, hating how final that sounded. It wasn't like he was never going to see her again. She'll be by, perhaps to go over more memories, and mainly to see Cora. She was always going to be a part of his life. Just not in the way she once was. Which had to be okay.

"Bye, Jack."

At that moment, Hannah came into the kitchen to see Rose tenderly touch Jack's face one last time, then turning around and silently walk out the kitchen door that leads outside. She didn't even look at her.

"Jack?" Hannah stepped further into the kitchen, wondering what she had just witnessed. "What was that?"

Jack sighed and looked at the door that Rose had just walked out of. "That was good-bye. Our marriage is over."

Hannah blinked, surprised and taken aback. She didn't know what to feel about this. "What?"

"Rose made a choice. The choice was for me and you to continue with our plans while she and I remain friends and co-parents."

"And how do you feel about all of this? Are you happy?"

Jack looked at her and made himself smile, a smile that he didn't really feel for a reason he didn't want to contemplate. "Of course. This solves everything, doesn't it? I'm sorry for all the havoc this has caused you. If you don't want to marry me anymore, I'd understand."

"Oh, I still want to marry you. I do. I'm just worried. I mean...you still have feelings for her. Feelings that haven't disappeared. What of them, Jack?"

"It's simple. They're feelings for a time long past. A time that I have to move away from and that's what I'm going to do. Rose will always be important to me. She's Cora's mother. But that's all she can be now. We're in different places in our lives now and it's best that we both realize that and move on to the next phase of our lives. My phase is moving on with you and Rose's is to get back on her feet, be a great mom to Cora, and move on with her life, wherever that may lead her. She'll be fine and so will I. We'll all be fine."

Hannah sighed, a major part of her choosing to believe in Jack's words. That he was leaving his love for Rose in the past and was going to concentrate on what they had for now on. But a small part of her, a part that she had grown good at ignoring, knew that nothing was that simple. Despite Jack's words, that part of her knew that Jack was lying to himself. He was in love with Rose and a part of him was sad that the redhead had decided to let him go. That small part knew that it wasn't just Cora that bounded Jack and Rose together, but it was a part that she was always good at ignoring. Now was no different.

"Well...I'm glad. I'm glad that all of that is over and now we can all move on with our lives."

Jack simply nodded as he walked over and scooped his daughter up into his arms. Yes, it was all over and it was time to move on. The question was, is moving on really possible? Or were he and Rose just fooling themselves?

(A/N: Don't kill me! I promise this story is a slow burn. So things may seem hopeless now, but hang in there! Btw, there will be a time jump coming in either the next chapter or the one after that and a certain Mr. Calvert will be making an appearance soon:) Thank you again for all of the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate it!)