A/N: This story was inspired by spikessweetgirl75's "The Road Back Home". This story is a combination of our ideas (she came up with the idea of Rose having a mental breakdown, and I came up with this new twist). I've talked to spikessweetgirl75 and I have her blessing to go ahead with this story. Oh, and if you haven't read her stories yet, go read them! They're all fantastic. Enjoy the story!

Chapter 1

"Cora! Breakfast is ready!" Jack called to his daughter.

After Titanic, Jack and Rose had gotten off together, and started their life as a couple. They were married soon after, and only two months after their trip on the doomed ship, they received shocking news: Rose was pregnant.

Jack was quickly able to move on from the tragedy of Titanic, although he did have some nightmares and flashbacks. However, Rose's case was much worse. She was constantly flashing back, constantly having nightmares. She would see a random item that she had seen on Titanic, and she would lose all sense of where she was.

Once their beautiful daughter, Cora, was born, Rose had a distraction. Caring for her newborn seemed to bring her out of her depression and shell-shock from Titanic. 'Seemed to', being the operative phrase.

When Cora was only three months old, Rose had left them. Jack had tried to find his wife, not to mention Cora's mother, but he was never able to. And soon after her disappearance, he gave up, realizing that she obviously didn't want to be found.

Raising Cora alone was no easy task, but Jack had managed. He and Cora moved back to Chippewa Falls, where Jack still had his parent's house. Cora was sixteen years old now, and she was beautiful, smart, kind, and everything he had ever hoped she would be. He loved his daughter more than anything, and they were a family. They had each other, not to mention a few amazing family members. Jack had reconnected with Molly Brown from Titanic, who had helped him search for Rose and visited occasionally, in addition to his first cousin Lori, who was almost like a mother to Cora.

The hardest part of raising Cora was figuring out what to tell her about Rose, and at what age. Jack had made a decision early on to just tell Cora that Rose was dead. He knew it would be a lie, and a rather big one at that, but he didn't want his daughter growing up wondering why her mother had left, or worse, thinking that her mother would come back for her. He had decided that he would tell her the truth at eighteen, at which point Cora could search for Rose if she chose to.

"Coming, Dad!" Cora called back. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time before going downstairs to eat her breakfast.

Jack watched as Cora walked down the stairs. She was a beautiful girl. She had long, straight blonde hair, falling all the way down her back; she had beautiful blue eyes, the shape coming from Rose, and the color coming from Jack; she was a tall, thin girl, her body type a combination of Jack and Rose's (she wasn't quite as voluptuous as Rose was); she had Rose's porcelain complexion, maybe a tad darker; and lastly, she had Rose's smile.

It hit Jack like a ton of bricks sometimes when Cora smiled. She had her mother's features, and she was nearly the age Rose was on Titanic. Their facial expressions were the same, their laugh was the same, and even their voices sounded similar.

As Cora started to eat her breakfast, she looked over at her father and could tell something was bothering him. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Just reading the paper," Jack said, setting down the paper and smiling at her. "Why?"

"What I meant was, is something bothering you?" Cora asked. "You seem… out of sorts."

"I'm fine," Jack smiled. "I just got a letter from Molly. She'll be visiting in a few weeks."

"Oh, great!" Cora exclaimed. "It's been so long since we've seen her."

"I know." Jack looked down at the newspaper and took a sip of his coffee. Seventeen years since the sinking of the Titanic.

Cora was unconvinced. She still was sure there was something bothering him. "Is it Mom?"

Jack looked up from the paper and sighed. Cora knew how her parents met; Jack had told her everything about their time together, but just told her that Rose died shortly after her birth in an accident. "A little bit," he nodded. "It's the anniversary of the sinking of Titanic today. I had forgotten."

"I'm sorry," Cora looked at him, although he just looked down at the picture of Titanic in the newspaper.

Jack pointed to the stern of the ship. "I met your mother… right there."

"Really?" Cora asked. The way her parents fell in love always gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling, but that feeling was always accompanied by sadness that she never got to really know her mother or have her in her life.

"Yeah," Jack smiled sadly. He wasn't angry at Rose. Not anymore, anyway. When she disappeared, very little made sense about it. He thought they were so in love, and they had a beautiful baby. Rose wasn't the type to jump ship easily without cause. But somehow, one day, she had just left. Not only did she leave, but she left baby Cora alone in the house in the process. He was sure that she had her reasons, whatever they were.

But something about Rose's sudden disappearance had never made sense. Jack and Rose were in love the whole time they were together, but even if they weren't, Rose wouldn't just leave her daughter, her baby girl, alone in the house at only three months old. If she had wanted to leave, Jack figured they would've gotten a normal divorce, splitting their money and time with their daughter.

Jack tried his best not to obsess over Rose's disappearance anymore. After all, it had been sixteen years ago. He spent plenty of time after her disappearance hypothesizing and thinking, but it was useless. He couldn't waste time thinking about Rose; he had to take care of his daughter, he had to work, he had to move on. But he would never fully move on.

He zoned back in, tearing his eyes away from the paper. "You're gonna be late for school. You better go."

Cora glanced at her watch. "You're right." She picked up her back and gave Jack a hug. "See you later!"

"Have a great day!" Jack called as she ran out the door. He envied Cora sometimes. She was still so young, so innocent in so many ways. Thankfully, aside from Rose, Cora had been sheltered from any real sadness or tragedy. She often reminded Jack of himself when he was young: so carefree, so happy. She was an optimist, a naturally content person. But sometimes, some traits would come out that were from Rose. Most of all, she had Rose's fire and stubbornness.

Jack had managed to get a job just after Cora was born. He had settled and started working for a large corporation. He never wanted an office job, but with a wife and child, Jack did what he had to. He worked in a rather low position, just a regular worker, but he was such a people person that he became somewhat of a Human Resources worker. Whenever the corporate members of the company disagreed or fought, it was Jack's job to restore peace. And as it turned out, this job provided him with a steady income, a large salary, and flexibility in his work.

Thanks to his job and career success, Jack was able to properly provide for Cora. They lived in a large house (not a mansion, but larger than the two of them needed), had money for whatever life could throw at them, and most importantly, enough money to do what they wanted. Cora could have the best art supplies, whatever clothing she wanted, and enough for free play, and didn't have to worry about spending too much of her father's money.

Although his job was an absolute blessing, it meant that in Cora's early years, Jack couldn't be around as much as he would have liked. He had to work every weekday, and Cora was left in the care of her aunt. Cora didn't mind; she loved her Aunt Lori, but Jack often felt guilty. Luckily, as years passed, Cora had begun going to school all day, so it wouldn't make a difference that Jack had to work.

Now, Cora went to school at the exact time Jack would go to work. They got home at almost the same time, unless Cora was spending time with her friends or doing an activity. They would both work at the dining room table, cook and eat dinner together, watch some television, and go to sleep. They were quite close; they never fought, they always made jokes to each other and would laugh, and they both enjoyed the same activities.

Cora walked slowly walked to school, kicking the pebbles on the sidewalk. She loved her walks to school. They were only ten minutes or so, but she got to be alone with her thoughts. She was always busy doing something, and her walks felt like the only time she had to just stop and enjoy her surroundings.

Growing up, Cora had been a popular girl. Depending on who you asked, she may have even been the most popular. Although she was popular and her friends were also the most popular kids, she made it her mission to be kind to everyone no matter what, a quality that she knew her father was proud of. She always wanted to be a person that her father was proud of.

She knew she would always have Jack's love, but she wanted to be someone that her father could genuinely be proud of when he went around their town. She wanted people to congratulate him on raising such a wonderful daughter, not wonder how he had raised someone mean or unkind. Especially after how much Jack had done for her and sacrificed to raise her.

It wasn't only Jack that Cora thought about in this way. She also thought about her mother. She wanted her mother to look down at her and be proud of her. She wanted them to be reunited in the afterlife and have Rose be proud of her. Jack had always told Cora about how amazing her mother was. She never wanted to do anything that wasn't with honor and with integrity, just like her parents had clearly done.

Cora walked into the large brick building and went straight to her locker. She opened it and was greeted with pictures of her favorite people. There was a picture of her and Jack, a picture of her with her closest friends, and a picture of her with her boyfriend.

All of a sudden, Cora felt muscular arms wrap around her waist. She turned around to find her boyfriend, Lucas, smiling at her. "Hey," Cora smiled, giving him a light kiss. As far as Cora was concerned, her boyfriend was the most attractive boy in the whole world. He was tan and had light brown hair, but he had light blue eyes. He had strong arms that he would wrap around her and make her feel safe.

They talked for a moment before Lucas walked her to class. They didn't have many classes together, since Cora was in mostly honors classes, and Lucas wasn't. He was more of an athlete, and that was more of a focus for him than academics. Cora, on the other hand, was very focused on school and worked for the school newspaper, but also had a passion for art.

She went through her school day working hard, taking notes, studying, and learning new things. Unlike most people Cora knew, she liked school. She loved to sit in a classroom and learn new things. However, sitting at home for hours doing schoolwork… she hated that.

After school, Cora went home to find Jack already there. "Hey, Cora girl. How was your day?"

"Okay," Cora smiled, dropping her bag and kicking off her shoes. "How was yours?"

"Same old, same old," Jack sighed. He sounded exhausted.

Cora sat down and took out her homework. "Are you okay?"

Jack nodded. "Of course. Just a hard day."

"I'm sorry," Cora smiled sadly. "If you want, I can take care of dinner tonight. You can just relax."

"That's okay," Jack smiled. It was a genuine smile. "I'm your dad. Making dinner is my job."

They made dinner and sat at the dining room table. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah?" Jack looked up.

Cora hesitated. "How is it possible that after everything you've been through, you're still happy? Or at least happy-ish? You know, your parents died, then you meet Mom and go through Titanic, and then you lose her."

"Life only gives us what we can handle," Jack told her. "And it's not like my life has been tragedy after tragedy. I have a daughter I love, I have a job I love…" Jack shrugged. "I have a great life. It could be a hell of a lot worse."

"I guess you're right," Cora nodded. "Do you think about Mom often?"

"Every day," Jack admitted.

Cora nodded. "Me too."

Jack looked up at Cora. He didn't know why he was surprised; Rose was her mother, after all. "You do?"

"Yeah," Cora shrugged. "I think about what she would think of me, and I like to imagine that she's watching me."

Jack smiled sadly. These were the moments where Jack wanted to tell Cora that her mother hadn't died. She was out there somewhere. And Jack probably should have told her the truth.