Grace Dawson sat on the couch, looking between two of her previous best friends seated in chairs while she sat next to the girl who was becoming her closest friend, Rose Dawson.

"Alright," Myles said with a nod. "Let's get started."

"Where to begin…" Isadora murmured, looking thoughtful.

"From the beginning, of course," Grace told the pair.

Isadora smiled softly and began the tale. "Well… Theo, Myles and I were all distraught over you and Jack leaving with no explanation. Eleanor snuck away to see us a couple times, and she seemed pretty sad too, but her mother said she was acting stupid and forbade her to see us," Isadora started. "And you know Eleanor, she doesn't listen to her mother. So she kept sneaking away, but one day she was caught. Her mom got fed up and kept her locked up in that house for months."

"Ugh, I always knew Edith Fisher was evil," Grace cut in. "It's not a crime to want to socialize with people."

"Right," Myles said with a small nod.

"Anyways, she was finally allowed out again, and came to us again, but her mom had that Lewis guy follow her, and dragged her away again, right back to that house," Isadora explained.

"Why did she keep going to you two anyways?" Grace wondered aloud. "She wasn't exactly the greatest of friends with the two of you or Theo."

"I think she felt guilty that you and Jack had left. And she wanted you two to come back, but she knew if you were to come back, or even send a letter, it would be to one of us three and not her," Myles filled in.

Grae scoffed slightly, rolling her eyes. Eleanor had been nice enough, but was so self centered sometimes, it blew her mind. "It wasn't even her fault in the first place. In case she didn't notice, our parents had just died. Jack forgot about the sadness she caused in a second after that news," Grace said.

"We told her that, she didn't really want to believe it. I think it's hard for her to realize not everyone hates their parents," Myles guessed. "Eleanor was certain Jack had been struck with grief over her, and then without parents, he had decided to take advantage of the freedom they hadn't allowed him and run off so he didn't have to see her again."

Grace shook her head, not believing Eleanor's thought process. "She was just first in line of a lot of losses Jack and I would suffer, and believe me, she was in no way the worst," Grace commented.

"Excuse me," Rose cut in. Grace had almost forgotten about her, sitting there on the couch, "but who is this Eleanor?"

Grace gasped, realizing neither she nor Isadora and Myles had explained who Eleanor was. "Oh, of course you don't know!" Grace exclaimed. "She was another one of our friends, although in no way as close as Isadora, Myles, and Theo. Her family is the second wealthiest in town. She dated Jack for a little while but it was just… puppy love. The most they did was kiss. Her mom found out and was incredibly angry, because she wanted Eleanor to be with Clovis King, whose family was the richest in town."

"So Jack had a habit of going after seemingly unattainable first class girls?" Rose asks, sounding serious but there's a trace of a smile playing at her lips.

"I guess so," Grace answered, and she couldn't help but grin. She had barely thought about Eleanor in all of those years, and hadn't even drawn the parallels of her and Rose until Rose had pointed it out.

"First class?" Myles asked, looking curiously at Rose and realizing for the first time how regal her voice sounded and how perfect her posture and composure were.

"Unobservant as always, My," Grace joked, raising her eyebrows slightly as a playful smirk formed on her lips. She then sighed, looking almost sadly at Rose. "Yes, Rose is from high society," she told her friends.

"Okay, I know we agreed to tell you about Chippewa Falls because you're tired of telling the stories, but Myles and I are really in need of some sort of explanation," Isadora said.

"Rose and especially I have been telling the same stories on repeat for so long," Grace complained. "I've told Claude and Tommy and Theo and Rose and so many others about where I've been with Jack, and I was already getting annoyed with it before, and now I have to tell everyone the Titanic story to when I don't even remember half of it, I was running on so much adrenaline!"

Myles and Isadora's eyes grew wide at the mention of the ship that had sunk just mere weeks ago.

"Titanic?" Isadora asked softly.

Grace bit on her lip, her mind flashing back to images stained forever in her memory. The crowd of people waving them away. Rose standing on the wrong side of the rails. Jack showing Cora his drawings. The real party. Jack and Rose on the bow of the ship in the sunset. The iceberg. Lilly crying on a bunk in a water-filled room. Crowds gathered around third class entrances to the deck. Fathers bidding goodbyes to their children and wives. The ship as it broke apart. And finally, the hundreds of people in the water, clinging onto whatever they could find just to keep themselves afloat.

Grace shivered at the memories, and a glance at Rose showed that both girls were remembering their time on the ship that was doomed from the start.

"Grace… Grace, I'm so sorry," Isadora said, rushing to hug the girl. Grace felt tears spill from her eyes and cursed herself for crying so much. Of all of the people Grace had lost or left behind, the people on the Titanic, Jack, Tommy, and Fabrizio especially, were the ones who affected her for the longest, made her shed the most tears.

"God," Grace muttered as she pulled away, wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just keep thinking about it all… that night was just terrible," she said, biting her lip to keep from spilling any more tears. She looked at Rose, who had tears beginning in her eyes.

"You don't- you don't owe us an explanation," Myles said after a moment.

Grace shook her head. "It's only fair," she said softly. "You and Isa were- are some of my best friends. You deserve to know what happened to Jack and I on our travels… not all of it. I'll probably never tell anyone else all of it, not if I can help it. But most of it. Just… not now. Maybe not for a while," Grace said, committing herself to telling the story. She knew she'd have to tell it someday or another, but wasn't even near ready to at that moment.

"Take as much time as you need," Isadora said, feeling rather embarrassed that she had wanted an explanation from Grace and Rose so badly while the girls were obviously hurting over something.

There was silence in the room for a few minutes before Grace carried on the conversation. "So, what happened to Eleanor?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Isadora took a deep breath, glancing at Myles before continuing. "Well… that was the last straw for her mother, catching her sneaking out yet again after months in that house telling her just why she should not be doing that. We don't know what exactly went down in there after that, but soon after, word got around that she and Clovis were engaged. Everyone in Chippewa Falls was invited to the wedding, of course. I saw her that day for the first time in a year." Isadora let out a dry chuckle, reminiscing on the moment. "Her eyes were dead. All of the life had been sucked out of them. She looked like a dressed up corpse walking down that aisle…"

Myles nodded, looking at the floor as if he were lost in thought. "She had a baby a few months ago," he says. "Alexander, I think his name is… I saw her out right before you arrived back in town. She seems to love the kid enough… when she looked at him, it was the only time her eyes weren't drained completely of the life they once possessed."

"Wow…" Grace murmured, making eye contact with Rose. There was a trace of fear in the redhead's eyes, and Grace knew she was imagining that would happen to her if Cal ever found out she was alive and Rose was sucked back into that life she so despised.

"Eleanor was in no means my favorite person. She cares for people, but she never really can put herself in their shoes until she's in the same spot they are," Myles said. "But it's sad to see that life sucked out of her. She didn't deserve for her life to turn out like this."

"No one deserves for their life to turn out like that," Rose said, speaking for the first time in a while. Shebit her lip, looking unsurely at Isadora and Myles. "My life almost turned out like that," she then confessed. "Jack and Grace saved me. In every way a person can be saved."

Isadora nodded understandingly, even though she had no clue what Rose was going through. That was just one of Isadora's strong suits; her incredible ability to empathize with every person she had ever met.

"Anything else happen? Something less… depressing?" Grace asked.

Isadora and Myles thought for a moment.

"My brother got married, he moved to Michigan with his wife, because that's where her family is," Myles offered. "Like we said, nothing much has happened at all."

Suddenly, Isadora gasped. "There was a man," she began. "He came around about a year ago, looking for you, Grace."

Grace's heart immediately began to race. A year and three months ago, she had just left Claude, so it clearly wasn't him. And if it wasn't Claude, there was only one man it could be, someone who Grace had hoped to avoid for the rest of her days. "What did he want? What did you tell him?" Grace asked, her eyes wide with fear.

"Grace, are you okay?" Isadora asked, noticing her friend had gone five shades paler.

Grace nodded shakily. "Just answer the questions, please."

Isadora looked worried as she gave the answers to Grace. "All he said was that he wanted to see you. When we told him we didn't know where you were, he stayed for a few more nights, as if to see if you were all of a sudden going to show up, but then he left, and we haven't heard from him since."

Grace took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. She regretted having ever told him where she came from. She had been young and naive, and she had spent the time since then running away from her past as fast as she could, looking back only once.

"Grace… who was he?" Myles asked.

Grace shook her head quickly. "I can't- I'm not-" she said, and then bit down on her lip. "Excuse me," she said, and rushed outside, leaving Rose, Myles, and Isadora bewildered inside the house.

Grace ran and ran, finally making it to Lake Wissota. There, partially hidden by a bush, Grace cried into her hands, her breathing uneven and sharp. She was terrified. Not of the man who had come to find her, but of what him finding her would mean. She had sworn long ago she would forget about that time in her life, and for the most part, she had. There was no reason for him to come back now, or ever again. But Grace couldn't help but fill with dread anyways.

Back at the Dawson house, Rose, Myles, and Isadora sat in a shocked silence.

"Rose," Isadora finally said, "do you know what's going on?"

Rose shook her head, worry in her eyes. Whoever he was, he had hurt or scared Grace in some way, and Rose wondered what had been done to the poor girl. "No. The only boy she's ever mentioned was this French boy, but she certainly never looked like that when she talked about him," Rose said. "Then again, I've only known her for a few weeks."

"Well, this guy definitely wasn't French," Myles said. "Are you sure she or Jack never mentioned a boy that may have hurt Grace?"

"I'm sure. Grace… well, Jack didn't know about the French boy until we were on Titanic… and Grace has talked about how sad it made her to leave him, but she spoke so well of him… she'd be excited if he came here," said Rose.

Isadora sighed, looking at the door Grace had left through. She wondered if Grace rather be left alone or have someone with her… Isadora guessed that since she had run out to escape them, she would prefer to be alone.

"I guess Grace has more secrets than she let on," Isadora said, shaking her head.

"Everyone's got secrets," Myles pointed out, "just some people have bigger secrets than others."

Rose nodded in agreement. Her secret was that she was not, in fact, dead, although that was really only a secret from her mother and Cal. She had a faint curiosity about the secrets Myles and Isadora had, and began to wonder if Jack had any secrets she'd never get a chance to know.

Of course he did, Rose realized. She'd known him for only a few days, and she sure hadn't told him everything about herself, so there was no way she could know everything about him. It hurt to think about, that the man who was most definitely her soulmate would never fully know her and she would never fully know him.

"Are you alright, Rose?" Isadora asked, noticing that Rose was staring off into space, looking lost in thought.

Rose blinked a few times, feeling herself be brought out of her thoughts. She ran a hand over her hair as if to smooth it down and smiled cordially. "Yes. I apologize, I was just thinking about some things," she told Isadora, hoping her face didn't give anything away.

"Rose, you never told us what your last name is," Myles suddenly said, realizing he didn't know the girl's surname.

Rose felt heat creep up her cheeks, and didn't know how to respond to Myles's question. If she said Dewitt Bukater, she risked being caught and sold out, but if she said Dawson… Well, there would be a lot of explaining to do. "Dawson," Rose decided to answer, because explaining a bit of what had gone down with her and Jack, even if it was a lie, was better than getting stuck back with her mother and Cal.

Myles and Isadora looked confused, and Myles turned to Isadora, locking eye contact with her and raising an eyebrow. "Care to explain?" Myles said, turning back to Rose.

"I'm not exactly sure how to explain, I'm afraid," Rose told him. She looked at her hands for a moment, running her thumb over the tips of the rest of them. Rose knew this answer wouldn't suffice, of course, but she couldn't tell the full story just yet, so she came up with the next best thing. "I needed Jack and Grace when they came into my life, and I believe Jack and I would have stayed together had we been under other circumstances. So I took his last name."

Isadora and Myles both nodded, but curiosity was bubbling up in Myles. This girl was first class, or at least had been, and now here she was, sitting in the Dawson house's living room, in plain clothing, with the last name of a boy she hadn't even married. Myles had seen Eleanor and how trapped she was, but he had little other experience with high society outside of Chippewa Falls. He didn't know why Rose would choose to leave the comfort provided to her with money for the little of anything in the town she now lived in.

Myles wondered what Rose's story was, why she had left a life of money and privilege, and how Jack and Grace had managed to come across her. Why had she taken the Dawson name that, although loved and respected in Chippewa Falls, was most likely nothing compared to the name she'd had before. He understood Rose and Grace weren't ready to tell their story yet, but he was anxious to know all of the questions forming in his mind.

Isadora, forever the expert on reading people, seemed to notice the curiosity threatening to overtake Myles, and stood up. "It's getting rather late, Rose, and I hate to do this but we must excuse ourselves. My mother expects me home to help with dinner, my sister is bringing a boy she's been seeing over tonight and it's rather important," Isadora explained, smiling kindly at Rose.

"And I'm expected to walk her home," Myles added, grinning as he too stood up.

"It was very nice meeting you. I do hope to see you around," Rose said, pushing herself off of the couch to show them to the door.

"Of course," Isadora agreed. "And hey, I hope Grace will be alright. Make sure to tell her we didn't mean any harm by bringing him up."

"Also that if he ever comes back, we'll all make sure he never even hears Grace is in town once more," Myles told Rose, his expression playful but his eyes and tone very serious.

Rose nodded, taking a deep breath. She wondered how long Grace would be out, and how long she should wait before going to retrieve Grace on her own. The thought of that scared her, trying to navigate a town she'd barely seen to find a girl that had grown up there, who had probably run wild on explorations of the place as a child and knew all of the best hiding spots. Rose knew she could ask Isadora and Myles to help, but she didn't want to seem incapable or ask too much of those people she had just met.

"Thank you for having us, Rose," Isadora said as she opened the door to let herself and Myles out.

"It was a pleasure, really," Rose told her.

"We'll see you later," Myles said, stepping out after Isadora.

"Goodbye," said Rose, flashing them a friendly smile before shutting the door.

Grace had been at the lake for an hour alone, thinking all about all that had gone down since she was thirteen and her parent's lives had been taken in that fire at the church.

"What are you thinking about?"

Grace almost jumped out of her skin when she heard that voice, and turned to see a man with fair blonde hair and pale skin standing there. He was handsome and wore a boyish grin on his face. Grace could tell he was from a poor family, and he spoke with a subtle Swedish accent.

"You scared me," Grace said, taking a deep breath to settle her emotions as she stood up. Standing closer to the mysterious man, she realized he was taller than she had first thought, slightly taller than Jack had been.

He chuckled, letting his face settle into a playful smirk. "I'm Eric, and you are…?"

"Grace," she answered, smiling nervously.

"Happy to meet you," Eric said. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here all alone?"

Grace sighed, looking past Eric at the lake for a moment before returning her gaze to his blue-green eyes. "I needed some time to think about something," Grace told him.

"Ah. I come out here to think, too. It's nice. Very secluded," Eric commented, looking out onto the smooth surface of the lake behind him.

"Yeah…" Grace nodded absentmindedly as she wondered where this boy had come from. "Sorry to be rude, but I haven't been back here in years, and I… well, when did you come here? To Chippewa Falls, I mean," she questioned.

"Almost a year ago, now. I've lived in America for seven. My parents thought it would be better for our family out here, so they took us and sailed out. Stayed in New York, Georgia, Louisiana, and Michigan 'til we finally made it out to Wisconsin," said Eric. "You say you've been here before?"

Grace nodded. "Yeah. I grew up here. Traveled for about five years before stuff made me come back," she told him, chewing on her lip a bit.

"Five years? Don't mean to be rude, but how old are you?" Eric asked, his eyebrows furrowed together as he looked Grace over.

"Eighteen," Grace answered, tucking a section of hair behind her ear. "And yourself?"

"Twenty one."

There were a few moments of silence, neither quite knowing how to carry on the conversation. Grace wasn't sure exactly how she felt about this boy. She didn't feel the butterflies or anything else she had felt when she had met Claude, but Eric seemed charming and handsome.

"You looked very deep in thought when I came over. Are you comfortable talking about it?" Eric questioned Grace.

Grace bit the side of her lip, shifting her gaze away from his eyes. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone about John, especially not a man she had met only a few minutes ago. Grace swallowed, breathing in a deep, refreshing breath. "Let's just say… I was very stupid when I was younger. My parents had just died and I was struck with grief, and I let myself get into bad situations."

Eric seemed to understand, and scanned Grace thoughtfully. "I'm truly sorry about your parents. Grief can do a lot of things to people. I think it was part of the reason we moved from Sweden in the first place. Mother just couldn't stand being there after her parents passed."

"Oh," Grace replied. She guessed leaving a place after your parents' passing was fairly common. "I should probably be heading home. People are probably wondering where I've been."

"Just one more thing," Eric said.

"Hm?"

Before Grace could process what Eric was about to do, his lips were on hers, one of his arms was wrapped around her lower back, pulling her body into his, and the other was on her neck, keeping her head in place.

Once Grace realized what was happening, she gently ended the kiss, her mind in a whirlwind. "I have to go," she said, her voice barely even a whisper. Grace then rushed off, flustered over what had just happened.

While she hadn't loved the kiss, she hadn't quite hated it either. She suspected that if she had known what was happening, had been prepared for it, maybe it would have been nicer.

"Oh, Grace, there you are! I was just about to look for you," Rose said when Grace walked inside the house.

"You barely know your way around," Grace pointed out.

"I never said I was looking forward to it," Rose replied, making Grace smile faintly.

"I should show you around better, shouldn't I? Well, maybe tomorrow." Grace stood behind the couch, her arms on the back of it, leaning on them for support.

"That might be nice," Rose agreed.

"How long have Myles and Isadora been gone?" Grace questioned, remembering that the pair had been with Rose when she had run off and feeling a slight pang of guilt that she had left Rose there all alone.

"Oh, not terribly long," said Rose, her voice light and airy. "Isadora has plans for the night and Myles decided to walk her home."

Grace nodded, sighing. "I'm sorry I ran out like that. I just… have bad memories with that boy," she apologized after a minute of silence.

Rose sighed, looking at Grace out of the side of her eyes. "Do you ever think you'll feel ready to say what happened?" she said gently.

Grace thought for a moment before managing a weak shrug. "I… I never would have told you anything about him if Isadora hadn't mentioned him showing up," she confessed, and then bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. "Judging by the fact that he came by to find me once, he'll probably do it again, so I don't know if not telling people is a possibility at all."

Rose and Grace made eye contact, and Rose could tell Grace was extremely serious about this. She could also see the worry in her friend's eyes, which made Rose worry for her.

"I'm sure you have nothing to be afraid of. Whatever it is will be sorted out if he ever does decide to show up again," Rose tried to reassure Grace.

"I'd like to hope so," Grace replied with a sigh. "I just don't know how true that can be."