It's been hours since her mother's arrival and Rose found herself hiding in what was Laura's room, listening to the bickering downstairs. It seemed that Ruth and Edith did not get along after all. Edith thought Ruth even more uppity than her daughter and Ruth found Edith annoying and overbearing and in need to be put in her place, which was beneath Ruth. Ruth may not be rich any longer, but in her mind, she was forever first class. She was not going to abide by Edith's bossy attitude. Rose felt guilty for leaving everyone else downstairs to deal with the fireworks, but she found the need to get away for a bit. After all, she was supposed to be avoiding stress.

"Rose? Are you up here?" Laura came up the stairs and smiled as she entered her room to find Rose hanging up one of her dresses. "Oh Rose, there's no need for you to do that. Stacy will be here tomorrow and she can unpack everything."

Rose frowned. "You brought your lady's maid?"

"Why of course. How else would I survive without one? I'm curious how you've gotten on without Trudy all of this time," Laura chuckled, taking a seat on the bed, also happy to be away from the arguing downstairs.

"People get along without maids all the time, dear," Rose laughed. "It's really quite satisfying to take care of things yourself. Of course, mother is horrified by my attitude."

"Aunt Ruth just likes the finer things in life. So, enough about your aversion to maids. I want to know everything that's happened since your flight from high society! I especially want to know about him," Laura patted the space next to her. "Come on, Rose. It'll be just like old times. You remember, those late nights in your room, giggling about all kinds of boys. Well this time, it'll just be one boy. Or two. I think that cousin of his is kind of cute."

Rose just rolled her eyes and took a seat. "You never change. You're still as boy crazy as ever."

"Nah, only when they're really cute. And like you can talk. I bet one look at Jack and you were Cal who?"

"It wasn't like that. You know that as well as anyone," Rose sighed. "You remember what Cal was like. How everything had changed when he came around. Everything was so dark and serious. Everything was either to his or mother's liking. I had no say in anything. Not even my clothes. I didn't have time to talk about boys anymore. I had to think of ways to survive."

"How could I forget? I remember being so mad at you for changing. I couldn't understand it. First you were my fun-loving, boy crazy, always getting into trouble, Rose. Then suddenly you turned into a robot who did everything Aunt Ruth wanted. You didn't even smile anymore...not really. Mother said it was because your father died, but I knew it was Cal. You didn't change until he showed up."

"I am so sorry for that. It was like I was walking in a dream, or rather a nightmare. It hadn't been long since daddy died and I was so afraid that something would happen to mother. She was being so melodramatic back then. She was even refusing to eat...then Cal came and she was normal again and I was afraid that if I miss-stepped, she would regress again. So I did what I could because...despite her flaws I loved her dearly. Unfortunately, she caught on to my frame of mind and used it to manipulate me."

"Oh Rose. I knew it! I knew that you were unhappy. I wished that I could have helped you. When did you start breaking free? Because I know you. You couldn't have kept that up for too long."

Rose laughed. Of course, her cousin knew her all too well. "You had that right. I had put up with it for the first six months….then we took that tour of France...and I couldn't take it anymore. I began to act out. I just did little things to get on Cal and mother's nerves, but it wasn't until Titanic that things really got bad."

"That was where you had met Jack. When you were trying to look at the propeller?"

"Oh, so mother told you that story, did she?"

"Mother couldn't believe that you were that silly. She had thought that you were smarter than that! I did too! What the hell, Rose?"

Rose couldn't help but be amused. "Don't worry. I was not trying to look at the propellers. That was just a story I told to save myself from the embarrassment. Jack just kindly played along."

"Okay. What is the truth then?"

Rose sighed and thought back to that night, not for the first time. It had been one of the darkest moments of her life that lead to the best moment of her life. "It had all became too much. I realized that I had absolutely no control over my life. I wasn't happy, I didn't want any of what mother and Cal had planned and they didn't care that I was miserable. So...I trashed my room and ran to the stern of the ship and climbed over...I was going to kill myself that night by jumping off the back of the ship. It had felt like it was the only way to regain control of my life at the time."

"Oh god, Rose! I had no idea that things had gotten so bad for you. I mean…."

"How could you have known. I didn't let on that I was unhappy in Philadelphia and you weren't with us in France. There was no way that you could have known and nothing you could have done if you had. But anyway...I was about to jump when a voice spoke up telling me not to do it. I turned my head to stare into the bluest eyes I've ever seen. He was kind, charming, compassionate...and insane. He said he'd jump in after me...and when I almost fell in any way after he talked me out of jumping, I had slipped and he still didn't let go of my hand. He nearly went over himself."

"Oh wow. So he really was your hero."

Rose simply nodded. "And he continues saving me, ever since that night. Whether it's from the sinking Titanic or my own troubled thoughts. Jack is...he is everything I've ever wanted to be."

"You really love him."

"Like no one else."

Laura sighed and leaned back against the pillows of her bed. "I wish I could find my soulmate. I doubt it'd be on a ship since mother had stated that we shall never sail again after the Titanic disaster. All the other men in our circle are either too old or too boring. Not that it'd ever stop mother from trying to make a match."

"You'll find him someday. I mean, I wasn't even looking when I had found Jack."

"That cousin of his...Donald is his name? He's rather cute. I always liked that kind."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh you know, the nerdy kind. He's slender with eyeglasses...but he's tall, blond, and he has the same blue eyes as his cousin's I bet. Just think if I married him! We'd be doubly related and maybe even see each other more than ever! Wouldn't that be exciting?!"

Rose laughed and gripped her cousin's hands, really liking the idea, but doubting that it would happen. "That would be lovely. If you can bring Donald out of his shell. He's so shy, plus he's a bit of a momma's boy. If you haven't noticed, Edith Dawson makes mother look like a humanitarian. But if you can bring him out of his shell and can handle her, maybe it can happen."

Rose didn't mean to encourage anything with Laura and Donald. She didn't think anything would happen...but what if it did? Poor Donald looked so lonely at times and the attention from her gorgeous, nearly free-spirited cousin could help him in so many ways. And if a romance and perhaps even marriage could come of it, all the better.

"Oh, I'm not afraid of her. If one can handle both Gloria Dewitt and Ruth Dewitt Bukater, I am sure that Edith Dawson can be no problem."

"Just be sure that you really like Donald, Laura. I don't want to see him hurt. He may seem like a pushover under his mother's thumb, but he's always been kind to me and Jack loves him. You have to be serious. After all, he's my family now."

Laura nodded, understanding Rose's concern. "Not to worry, Rose. I'll be a proper lady. Even Aunt Ruth would be proud. I just want to get to know him better. Besides, if I'm going to find my soulmate myself, I have to start somewhere."

"It sounds like it's quieting down," Rose whispered, noticing how the loud voices of her mother and Edith were now non-existent it seemed. "Do you think it's safe to leave this room now?"

"I don't know. But I bet Jack misses you. I'm sorry, by the way. About the accident."

"It's alright. Call me clingy, but as long as Jack is still on this earth, I'm beyond happy," Rose smiled, standing up from the bed.

"Hey, if my prince charming looked like him and I had went months thinking that I had lost him, I'd be more than clingy. He'd be sick of me by now," Laura laughed, following Rose out of the room.

…

It was late at night. Everyone had retired to their separate corners for the night. Jack was laying in bed, his portfolio in hand as he sketched a nude Rose, who was sitting on the bed facing him, her legs folded beneath her and her arms cradling her swollen belly. Jack had insisted on sketching her now, since they didn't know how much longer she'd be full of their baby. Jack smiled at the thought of their baby as he signed his name at the bottom of the now finished drawing. His hand reached out and rested against her belly. He gasped when he felt a slight kick.

"Hello there, baby Dawson. Not to worry. Daddy is just drawing you while you're inside your beautiful mommy. You'll be out here soon enough though, so don't worry."

"Are you finished?" Rose asked. She liked posing for Jack, but right now, she was tired and wanted to do other things, namely cuddle with her artist of a husband.

"Yes. All finished. I think it's even better than the one I did on Titanic," Jack chuckled, as she slid out of the position and slid her body to rest next to his.

Looking at the picture, she was again awed. She could never get used to her image in Jack's eyes. He made her looks like beautiful goddess. "You always draw me as a beautiful woman, Jack."

"You are a beautiful woman. You still doubt me?"

"It's not that I doubt you. It's just that I don't feel like the woman in this picture. She's a goddess. She looks like she's glowing and the pregnancy enhances that beauty. I, on the other hand, feel like a giant whale with swollen ankles and plump everything else," Rose sighed, handing the picture back to her.

"Believe me, the goddess is the truth. Ask anyone," Jack smiled, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "My beautiful about to bloom Rose. That's what you are."

His words touched something so deep inside her, tears came to her eyes. She blinked them back, not wanting him to think that she was upset. "I don't deserve you, Jack. You make me feel so beautiful all of the time. You give me so much of yourself."

Jack's arms tightened around her and he kissed her hair, enjoying the flowery scent of her shampoo. "You give me so much of yourself, too Rose. I may not be able to walk, but you make me feel like I can fly. Without you, I'd probably drown in self-pity, but you make me feel like it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't. I just need you with me, Jack. I...I just need you here with me. Not frozen in the North Atlantic and not burned to death in a mill. I need you here alive with me, " Rose rubbed the tears in her eyes away, annoyed at herself for again being so emotional. She sniffed as she felt his warm hands against her face, tilting it up to look into his pretty blue eyes.

"It's okay. It's okay, I'm right here. I'm always going to be right here. We've been through a lot haven't we?"

"We've been through too much. "

"Yeah, so being emotional is called for," Jack chuckled, kissing her curls once again.

Rose sighed happily, finding her body relaxing against her husbands. She felt completely happy and safe at that moment. She rested her head against his chest and just listened to his heartbeat. "I love you so much. You'll never know how much."

"I love you too, Rosie girl."

"Rosie girl?" She laughed. He had never called her that before. "Where did that come from?"

"Just trying out new names. You must be getting tired of the other ones."

"I love each and every name you have for me, sunshine."

Jack laughed. "Now that's a nickname."

"It fits you. Your smile lights up your face...well the entire room. Just like the sun. Plus you definitely light up my life," Rose smiled as she closed her eyes and began to sing. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when life is gray. You never know dear, how much I love you. So please don't take my sunshine away..."

"Well, it'll always be daytime for you, Rose. Because I'm going nowhere."

"Good. Because a rose needs the sun to help her grow."

"Makes sense," Jack smiled as Rose looked up and met his lips in a long, lingering kiss.