*Twenty-Four*

Never An Absolution

"My God, Michaela." Lowe whispered to himself. "I should've went back."

Missy was seated closest to him. "Officer Lowe, she wanted to go. I asked her to come with me. She declined. She wanted to help that family. You shouldn't blame yourself." She tried to be comforting but that was impossible.

He stared back into the night. Where Titanic had once sailed, now there were hundreds of screaming people. It hurt Lowe to watch this. But he still couldn't believe it was gone, Titanic the unsinkable ship of dreams. Vanished beneath the waters blue. And Michaela his love, his wife of four hours. Gone as well. It was too much to take, but he had to be strong for his passengers.

Meanwhile, on boat 6. Molly Brown fights with Quartermaster Hitchens.

"You don't understand, if we go back, they'll swamp the boat. They'll pull us right down, I'm tellin' ya." He said, obviously cold and annoyed.

"Knock it off you're scarin' me." Molly said. Then she turned to the women. "Come on girls, let's grab an oar."

"Are you out of your mind? We're in the middle of the North Atlantic. Now do you people wanna live or do you wanna die?" Hitchens asked.

None of the women move to speak up. "I don't understand a one of ya. It's your men out there! There's plenty of room for more!" Molly said defiantly.

"Yeah, and there will be one less on this boat if you don't shut that hole in your face!" Hitchens said angrily.

Molly looked around again, then slowly took her seat. Silencing herself.

Jack was ripped from Rose, when the ship went down, but he quickly swam to the surface. "Rose!" He called out.

She too was only a yard or so away from Jack, screaming for him. "Jack! Jack!" A man, who didn't know how to swim, panicked and grabbed Rose. Pushing her into the water. Every time she'd make it back up, she'd scream for Jack.

Finally he heard her. "Let go of her!" He demanded. The man was too frightened to release Rose. So Jack punched him hard in the face. He grabbed a hold of Rose.

"I need you to swim, Rose!" He drug her along. Kicking and pulling with all his strength. Until finally he found a board large enough for them both to lay on.

He helped her up first. Then he tried to lift himself onto the debris. It tilted and almost sank. He quickly righted it. Leaving Rose on, but he couldn't get on.

"You'll be alright now." He sighed. Knowing that he wouldn't be if he didn't get out of the cold water.

He looked around, but didn't see Zipper or Cora anywhere.

"Are they there?" Rose asked weakly.

Jack wearily shook his head. He held on tightly to the board.

"The boats will come back for us, Rose." He said shuddering from the cold. Barely able to speak. "They-they had to r-row away from th-the suction. But-but now they'll be coming b-back."

She looked at him a long moment. Neither of them knew how long it had been since the ship had sank. All definitions of time were lost to them now. All they could think of was the absolute pain they felt.

Suddenly Rose realizes they are going to die. And she wants Jack to know exactly how she feels about him, before they pass on.

"I love you, Jack." Her voice barely a whisper.

He looked at her sternly. Taking her hand in his. "Don't you do that. Don't you say your goodbyes. Not yet, do you understand me?"

"I'm so cold. I can't feel my body." She ignored his words.

"Listen to me you're gonna get out of this. You're gonna go on-" He was interrupted by splashing nearby.

He turned his attention to the distraction. He couldn't believe his eyes. He must be hallucinating, he said to himself.

"Zipper?" He asked weakly. She swam with one arm, floating mostly with the aide of the lifebelt. She held Cora on her shoulder. The child was conscience, but very cold, tired, and scared.

"Listen to me, Jack. I've seen this m-movie. I-I d-don't want it to end this way. You-you can't die, you hear me? You ju-just can't." She came over close to them. Needing to get Cora out of the water.

Then it hit Jack, he was supposed to die. Now she planned on changing it. How could she?

"Rose get off the-the b-board." She stuttered over her words. She was so cold. It had taken her so long to find them.

"Wh-what? She can't." Jack said.

"She-she'll get back on. Now d-do it p-pl-please." Zipper said. She wanted them to hurry.

Rose slowly slid back into the waters. Her coat, the one Cal had given her, was slightly frozen to the board.

"Now-now Jack get over on the other side."

He did as she said.

"Now-now you b-both get o-on. At the same ti-time." She exhaled her breath slowly trying to stay warm. Which was utterly impossible.

She watched as they did how she hoped they would in the movie. Both climbing onto the board. It was balanced weight. Jack and Rose were both safely out of the water.

"He-here." She handed Cora up to them. Hoping she was light enough to not cause problems.

Rose and Jack both covered Cora in their arms, trying to keep her warm. When they were all so very cold.

"What about you?" Rose's voice was soft, but not shuddering as bad as Jack and Zipper's.

"Don't worry about me." Zipper smiled. "It'll make everyone a bit-bit hap-happier if J-Jack lives." She thought back to the movie. Every time she watched it. She had felt bad for the people experiencing this death. Now that she was, it was so much more scary. She never realized how cold and painful it would be.

Jack and Rose were clearly confused. They had never seen this 'Movie'. But they now believed Zipper wholeheartedly.

"My-my husband will be coming b-back. So-so you have to hold o-on. Okay?" She asked.

"Same goes for you, Zipper. You-you sa-saved my life. And Cora's" Jack looked down at the child, who was breathing easier now that she was out of the water.

Zipper smiled. Knowing Jack was indirectly thanking her. She lowered her head to the board.

"No, Zip! Don't lie down." Rose pleaded.

"I'm so tired." Zipper whispered, basically giving up.

Jack passed out only minutes later, from the cold water. Cora was wide awake, her eyes filled with fear as Zipper wouldn't listen to Rose. Rose sang a song lightly to herself. "Come Josephine in my flying machiene and it's up she goes. Up she goes…"

She thought they were all going to die. She didn't see Officer Lowe coming back as Zipper had said. "Zip, please talk to me." She pleaded.

Zipper didn't move. Cora rubbed her cold hand.

Out in boat 14, Lowe had brought four boats together. He looked out at the hundreds of bodies floating on the water.

"Right! Listen to me men! We have to go back! I want to transfer all the women from this boat into that boat, as quick as you can please! Let's get some space over there! Move forward and aft." He ordered.

Before long he was standing at the front of the boat. Flashing his light around.

"Do you see any moving?" He asked his men.

"No, sir. None moving, sir." A crewman replied.

"Check them!" He instructed.

Officer Lowe looked down at all the dead bodies. As he Instructed his men to row easy and not hit any of them with their oars. He spotted a mother holding a baby in her arms. Frozen to death, to the point that they looked like statues.

"We waited to long." He said, in barely a whisper. A deep sadness consumed him. "Well keep checkin' them! Keep lookin'!"

Back on the makeshift raft. Cora and Rose both turned their attention to a light in the distance. It was a lifeboat. Zipper was right all along.

"Hello!" Officer Lowe called, flashing a flashlight over the ocean graveyard. "Is anyone alive out there?! Can anybody hear me?!"

"Jack, Jack, wake up there's a boat." After a couple moments she was able to wake Jack up. They both begged Zipper to wake up. But she didn't.

"Co-come on." Jack said. "We-we have to go it's our only chance."

With that they left Zipper clutching the board. They reentered the water. Their bodies so numb now that the water didn't faze them.

Jack carried Cora in his arm as he swam. Rose swam over to a dead seaman. She pulled the whistle from his mouth and began to blow it as loudly as possible.

"Come about!" Lowe called. Delighted that he had found a survivor. Jack and Rose swam towards the boat, as Lowe ordered it be rowed closer. First, Jack handed up Cora. Officer Lowe took her wrapping her up in a warm blanket. "There, You'll be okay now." He reassured her.

Next he helped Rose up. "Miss. DeWitt Bukater?" He questioned.

"Please, sir. If you wouldn't mind can you call me, Rose Dawson? I can't let them know I'm alive." She pleaded with him. He knew he shouldn't go along with that. But since she had been a friend of Michaela's he agreed to it.

He reached for Jack's hand. Jack climbed aboard the collapsed onto the floor. A seaman covered him in a warm blanket.

"Where's Michaela?" He asked, hope in his voice.

Slowly Jack shook his head. "She-she saved me and-and c-Cora. But-but she didn't make it." His teeth chattered as he spoke.

Officer Lowe hung his head, wishing he hadn't heard these words. If only they had come back sooner.

He continued to search the faces of those in the water, looking for survivors. But in his mind he traveled back over the past couple days. The first memory he had with Michaela was when she ran right into him. Knocking them both to the ground. Then their first kiss which was so unexpected. Then he thought of his wedding. How perfect it was. How foolish it was to think that nothing could go wrong. Everything ruined in only three short hours. All his plans, his dreams, hopes for the future.

"There's moving there, sir!"

Officer Lowe turned in the general direction. He spotted the person right away. Shock, surprise, love, joy, everything over came him at once.

"Go back!" He ordered.

Zipper was wearily swimming to the boat. She could barely move. The water made her wounded arm pain like nothing she had every felt. She couldn't feel her legs.

"Harold." She tried to call out. But couldn't, all her voice was, was a small whisper.

Officer Lowe jumped out of the boat unexpectedly. The icy waters engulfed him, but he didn't care. He swam to her quickly. His strong arms, cutting through the water quicker than hers could.

When he reached her, he hugged her, pulling her back to the boat with him.

"Harold. Come back." She kept saying, as if she didn't know what was going on. It's very likely that she didn't. She was on the verge of passing out.

The crewman reached down and pulled her up into the boat as Lowe lifted her. Then he climbed back aboard his ship as well.

He took the lifebelt off of her. And wrapped her in a warm blanket. Holding her close to him. Kissing her.

"God, I love you Michaela." He whispered.

She didn't reply she had fallen asleep. Rose and Jack huddled together with Cora sleeping between them. Rose handed the officer his hat, which he had thrown off when he dived into the ocean.

Officer Lowe brought five other people from the water. They thanked him. But he assured them that it was all in his duty. He had his arms wrapped around Michaela for most of the voyage.

There were seven-hundred people saved. Out of twenty-two hundred. This fact hurt Lowe deeply. Where was the absolution in that knowledge? Everyone here would be scarred for life.

When Lowe spotted the other boats. He had to use his flare to signal them. Eventually all twenty boats were brought together. Zipper slept through it all.

Finally when they reached Carpathia she awoke. He kissed her, then kissed the ring on her finger. Thankful his wife was alive.