I know that I already posted this week but I love the love this story gets and it is addicting to know what comes next :)
Writing about three other stories right now so a little crazy; this ends on chapter seventeen I think but the next few are pretty intense until the end. Thank you so much for the love, you all keep a locked down gal happy when all she wants is a pub and a dance!
Stay safe!
Chapter eleven:
Pulling out a faded and damp ten dollar note, followed by two fives; Jack laid them out next to the fire on the stove. Two chairs with his and Rose's damp garments sat beside him, drying them the best that could be in such a short period of time. He had emptied their bags of its contents and laid them out neatly also in front of the fire in order to dry them off. It was warm in the room, enough to shake the chill from their bones for the time being. The cold had driven almost everyone to the brink of insanity.
The rain still lashed upon the thin windows, but it did nothing to disturb Rose's deep sleep. Since she had fallen into the single and rickety cot, she had yet to open her eyes as she had finally succumbed to the utter exhaustion. Watching the window rattle against the weight of the wind; Jack did contemplate just when they would feel the warmth again. His own shivers had subsided as soon as he had mended the wilting fire which had been in the stove but Rose had struggled and had fallen into bed still wearing the borrowed clothes from aboard Carpathia.
His pocketful of change; 55 cents, had afforded he and Rose two nights in a hotel an hour or so's walk from the docks. In a vaguely familiar area, of which he was sure he had once roamed as a teenage boy during his first time in the City, he had led her to rest. When he had come here the first time, he would find beds in all places; parked motorcars, under bushes and bridges, anywhere he could get his head down, but for Rose, he knew that he had to ensure that she was warm and safe. He feared that the cold had affected her more than he, even though he had suffered and had felt the water first hand, Rose wasn't accustomed to exposure of such extreme weathers.
Glancing about the room, he found peace in the utter silence. Rose's breathing could be heard; slowly as her chest was rising and falling with her lips parted just enough for her to occasionally gasp for air. The fire crackled now and again and he sipped tepid tea to keep away the dehydration and the chill. Never had he been one for tea, but it was wonderful at this moment to taste something different and warm.
The hotel owner, he was sure, suspected that they were survivors as her overenthusiasm to accommodate guests at such a late hour was unusual. Mrs. Gamble had offered freshly made scones, tea and a bucketful of coal to keep the stove going for as long as it would. The tin bath was going to be fetched in the morning and more refreshments and so he had thanked her generosity without another word. They needed little attention about them for the time being, although he did doubt that Cal would come looking for them, at least not right away.
Contemplation was the only time killer. His own head filled with such deep thoughts that he was almost dreaming. Sleep was never something he could do easily and so after five or six hours on the cold floorboards, he had found it better to sit upright. His eyes had wondered about the room; taking mental notes of what would be needed to be done as soon as Rose awoke. He was a man of action; always was. The next move was always lingering about in his head and as cosy as this room was; he wasn't about to keep himself and Rose cooped up there for longer than it was needed.
Arriving at the hotel, finding a vacant room and without so much as one question asked was very lucky. By now, the entire City would be filled with survivors occupying the local hotels tenfold but Jack had known to be nearby, to witness the faces of those who were lost would be like returning to a nightmare. One could surround themselves with the disaster or they could attempt to find a norm; to move forwards and for Rose's life to begin. He craned his neck, placing his tea cup back down upon the wooden floor, he turned to her sleeping form.
There was something beautifully intimate about watching the woman he had fallen deeply in love with sleep. Yes, he loved her. At some point, during the hours they had spent on the deck speaking, he had realised just how he had felt. Auburn hair fell about her face, her arms outstretched and her left hand fell just above her face. If his drawing materials had been nearby, he would have sketched her right there. Warmth filled his belly and it planted a smile upon his face. This was some version of heaven. The settled feeling within his belly was newfound to him, completely.
The warmth from the fire had turned the ten and five dollar notes crispy, the colour had returned slightly and so did a glint of giddiness within Jack's stomach. The money would be enough and more to provide what Jack needed. They were the notes which he had won in the game of poker; he had kept the higher token and Fabrizio had taken the change, for he never had fully grasped monitory value even in his own currency. His Ma was the one to taken charge on such matters. Jack's head dipped; Fabrizio. His heart lowered in his chest. If there was any one more deserving to arrive in New York it was him. Jack would write a letter to Fabrizio's Mother as soon as he had pen and paper to explain just what had happened.
As for Jack, he would find employment once he was sure of their next steps.
Some minutes after that, he must have fallen asleep. He was awoken by an ice-cold hand at his face, stroking across his forehead and down to his cheeks.
The light outside told him that it was daylight.
''Good morning,'' a quiet voice came, ''please take the bed.''
A sharp pain crossed his entire neck and back as he realised that he had fallen asleep with his upper body leaning against the chair. The fire in the grate was low and the water on the stove would have grown cold by now.
''No, I am all right.''
His eyes opened to find Rose; a pale blue dress adorning her body, the upper body agape with her bare shoulders exposed. It was a sight to ensure that he was now fully awake as she leant over him; her eyes filled with concern and confusion. He furrowed his brow at her expression.
''What is it?''
Rose straightened, her cheeks flushing. ''I-I have never-'' A foolish frustration escaped and she felt the need to wilt into the floor. ''I have never dressed unaided before.''
Awareness fell over Jack's stiff body. ''It is all right.''
His eyes didn't waver from hers and she found no hint of pity in them. ''There are many things you will learn to do for the first time and soon it will be second nature.''
''Yes, I suppose,'' her cheeks remained flush.
Her hands held the dress in place at her chest, she found herself starting to shake as he approached her to help. His bare hands near her body were enough to cause her to fall to pieces with nerves.
''Turn around so that I can see.''
Slowly, she presented him with her back. Bare. Without a stitch beneath it. A loud pound came to her heart, echoing all the way up to her throat as it did. ''I-I cannot reach the buttons.''
Around ten or so were unfastened from the waist up. His fingers reached forward and she could already feel the tremble in them. He brushed against her bare skin as he pulled the dress together at the top to ensure the top button was secure first before he would do the rest. As he tickled against her nape, she gasped, recoiling as he went and her back went ramrod straight.
''Are you all right?'' Jack pulled his hand away at once, sensing her prickle at his touch.
She nodded, swallowing the nerves away. It was as though she had been burnt with hot ash, trickling all the way down her spine and then into her stomach. His touch was like pure magic all the way across her body and even a gasp wasn't enough to let out how much he affected her.
''Yes. Just the cold, I am sorry.''
If he knew the true reason, he never let on. He tenderly pulled her buttons and secured them all one by one, every now and again she had the same flash when he came into the smallest contact with her skin but she managed to keep it under wraps as she bit at her lips to stop herself from sighing. The calloused fingers were wonderful, tickling as he went downwards. The gentle way of which he pulled at her dress and the whole process felt like a small version of torture. Her body seemed to want to be free of the garment and not secured inside it. As the last one was fastened, he placed his hands upon her shoulders to turn her about to face him.
Something in the air had changed then. His eyes were a stark blue in the light of day; charged with something which she hadn't witnessed until then. She could tell by the rise and fall of his chest, how he seemed to supress the need to gasp for more air and when she finally noticed the few days growth of hair upon his chin and upper lip; her unsteady hand was already reaching up to his cool face to touch it.
Why had she not noticed that before? Jack had been the most handsome and beautiful thing Rose had ever seen, but somehow, now with the shadow upon his face and the narrowed, focused gaze she felt that he was somehow more of a man and not a boy.
Her hand grew clammy for some reason as it brushed down against the tuft of growth, downwards and then to his neck and the open collar of his shirt. Her hand rested there; flat at the base of his neck and his breathing had shallowed and his heart galloped. Yes, he felt the same from her touch as she had from his own.
What was happening?
Time stood still. Pinned beneath his gaze was the place where she found herself these days the most terrified and yet the freest.
Moisture seemed to come to her eyes and she toyed with the idea of removing her hand for fear of what would happen if she kept it right there. Adrenaline seemed to charge her body in some way as though it was bestowing a need within her. An urge to lower her hand, beneath the smattering of hair which she could feel below her palm. An urge to follow it down lower, and lower beneath his shirt and so on -
Then, the other urge, to run from the room, to dampen her stupid thoughts, but this way she knew he would chase her, find her and pin her against the wall to kiss her senseless...
He would never let her go; she knew that she that as she was pinned beneath the heat of his gaze. It lit a fire within her which she never thought would be ever ignited. She felt desired...
The desire wasn't from a place which she had encountered before. It wasn't indecent at all; not like the stares of Cal she had felt upon her on more than one occasion. Jack's desire seemed to have come about from the exchange just now, between them the heat seemed to rise and it was then, that all cold that Rose had felt since the sinking disintegrated. It didn't matter that the fire in the grate was almost out. Her skin burned, tingled, beneath his gaze. Her eyes gathered about his body, slowly down and then back up. A flush came over her from the awareness of her feeling matching his own. His nostrils flared as he concentrated on the steadiness of his own breathing but his racing heart which she felt against her hand betrayed his cool exterior.
Both of their defences were down, lowered so far down that they were sharing the same world; finally. Rose was weak against his stare, forever pinned and feeling so utterly exposed beneath it. It was an intoxicating few moments, that seemed to go on forever; the wind rattled against the window harshly but it didn't break their moment.
''Breathe,'' he urged her, breaking their silence. ''Sometimes, you have to remember to breathe.''
A gasp came out, as she felt dizzy. He grasped her hand across his heart, she felt it race more there. It was as though she had been underwater and then risen to take air for the first time in forever.
''I feel breathless, sometimes.''
''I do, too.''
Her eyes questioned his own, but he dismissed it with a lopsided smile which disturbed her senseless.
''What is it?''
Rose didn't dismiss his approaching hand as it ran from the base of her neck up to her cheek, which still had a faded mark from where Cal had struck her.
''Rose-,'' he started, but his steel confidence seemed to fade off for just a second until she urged him to speak with a nod. ''Rose, I have fallen in love with you.''
Her senses were divided in all ways. Beneath the Jack Dawson, she had come to know so well, was an endless beauty which she had failed to see before. He looked broken in a way in which she had never seen before. He was a man who had experienced a past which was lonely and the sincerity within his voice as well as the hesitance warmed her...
''Jack,'' she whispered, her eyes teary and her stomach soaring. They were the most beautiful words of which had ever reached her ears. ''I love you, too.''
The gap between them seemed to be too wide, and they collided, possessively pulling at the other in order to achieve some sate of cherishing the other. In the midst of it, their lips found the other, clashing and urging. The urge to remove all layers of clothing and lay unabashedly naked with Jack pulled at her. Instinct was what she followed as her hands were in his hair, pulling at the thin collar of his shirt as something to steady her unsteady legs. How could one even lose sense of their limbs when so engrossed in another person?
For the first time, Jack's tongue flicked against hers in a testing move which she responded well to. It seemed to ignite a further flame, one which burnt higher than before. Her stomach clenched as she tried so hard to not put her hands on his bare skin once more; it burnt, it bit at her and it was a newfound fire which she had grown to both fear and love at the same time.
Jack's stubble brushed against Rose's fair skin, causing a shiver to start there, almost like it caressed her in a way nothing else ever had. His hand came to her waist, to her hip and then it stopped there where it lingered, trembling beneath the thin layer of her dress. She sank into him, feeling every inch of his body rest against her as they fell backwards against the door with a loud clatter, both weak and unable to support their own weights. The fact that neither of them had taken a gulp of air for some time didn't seem to matter as Rose pulled Jack to her, his torso rested against her own. Desire flooded her, and she knew that he felt it as well. Perhaps it was that what drove her to the new realms which she had never encountered. It was risky for her to feel about him the way that she did. To give her heart to another; so young and so soon was wrong and yet, right in so many ways.
The need to have him closer to her in some damned way made her want to claw at him; the urge was new and tempting to follow and yet, she stopped herself in many ways. Withdrawing herself from him would be very difficult. It seems she was falling into him more with each passing day, sucked into the world further, fully excited and intoxicated by his presence and the way he kissed her now, in comparison to their first kiss aboard the Carpathia. The stark contrast was vast.
To gain air, Jack moved to her neck, sucking and kissing his way down to her exposed decolletage. Her hair tickled at him as the way her fingers kneaded in his hair set off a rage in him which he had never felt before. The way her touch seemed to grow with each kiss made him burn even more with the same fire which seemed to match her own. Her breaths were fast, needy and shallow...
A loud knock to the door behind them frightened them both to their very souls and ensured they ceased their passionate embrace right away. It came again, booming against Rose's back, sending her tumbling about with wide eyes.
''Stop banging, you randy bastards.'' A Londoner broadly called from behind the door. ''Some of us wanna sleep.''
Try as she might, Rose couldn't stop herself from falling about laughing. She clutched her stomach and leant against Jack, who buried his face into her neck, overcome with chuckles. Some one thought they had succumbed to the passion of their desires. Her cheeks should have flushed but they didn't.
''I'm terribly sorry.'' She called back, in the worst British accent Jack had ever heard. ''I will try to keep it down.''
The giggles didn't stop for some time.