Argh! This one was really hard to write. I did my best (even looked for typos…sorry about that Sara). But thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and hope you like this one. The week is starting up again…ick ick! So I'll do my best to have at least one chapter up (even though I would like more.) But keep the reviews coming, they make me want to write : )

Love to all!

Chapter 22

The boat and everyone in it were silent. It was over, Titanic was gone. Yet even then you could still hear the cries from the water. Screams, pleads, for anyone who could hear to come and help.

It killed me to think that one of them could be Sarah. I had no idea where she was. The last I heard from Lights was that she ran after Rose when he was loading 6. That was right before I left. I shook my head, and struggled to hold back the tears. I couldn't lose her, I just couldn't.

And all those other people…

In the dark clearness of the night I couldn't plainly see anyone's face in my boat. I turned anyway and announced my plan. "We're going back…" I looked out towards the other lifeboats floating around us. I could see three, and a collapsible. I called them over.

Carefully they rowed towards me and we gathered the five boats together, instructing the passengers to hold them in place. I turned on my flashlight and then together the other crew and I helped the passengers in mine step carefully over the sides and into other boats. I made my way from the front to the back. The last passengers were three women, who I could barely see in the dim light.

"Alright then…you're turn."

Each of them held a baby in their arms.

"Mr. Lowe?"

The woman who I had just helped up struggled with the baby who was fast asleep in her arms. It was Mrs. Hansen.

"Sarah, have you seen her?" It was the only thing I could manage to say.

She was covered in warm clothes and could barely stand properly, but she managed to shake her head. "I haven't seen her, I thought…"

I shook my head. A tiny tear began to fall down her cheek but she wiped it away quickly. "She's all right, she has to be…"

I nodded, clenching my jaw tightly, she was right…I hope.

I helped her and another woman, who I assumed to be her nanny, onto 10 and then went back for the last. A shawl was wrapped around her head, I reached for her hand to help her, but she kept her hands hidden. Something was right about this; I ripped the shawl off of her head and saw that it was no woman but a man.

My anger was reaching its boiling point; I couldn't even begin to find the words I needed to tell him off. Furiously I pushed him into the other boat, deciding I would worry about it later.

"All men, man the oars."

I took my place at the front, flashlight in hand and we began to row

It took us a few moments to reach the area. Debris was floating everywhere, chairs, cork; I aimed the light farther and instructed the men to keep rowing. That's when I saw them.

Not clearly at first, they appeared to white blobs quietly bobbing up and down in the cold water, but then I saw their faces. Frozen open, blue, gray, any horrible color that signaled death. The men carefully maneuvered around the bodies, trying their best not to hit any of them. And the farther we went the more we saw.

"Is anyone alive out there…can anyone hear me!" my voice echoed out over the water, but no one answered.

It was getting harder and harder to have any type of decorum. I watched as one person after another pass me. Some didn't even look dead, they looked to be a in a deep sleep, but you knew they were…you just knew.

Sarah, please, if you're out there hold on, please hold on…

Tears began to fall down my face, as I stood there and watch as we floated by a mother, her small baby frozen into her embrace.

"We waited too long…"

I wiped the tears away quickly. "Well keep checking them! Keep looking!"

As long as I lived I would never be able to forget that sight. The little thing never had a chance to live…it wasn't fair. Instead of letting myself cry again I pushed the men on, calling out into the night, hoping someone, anyone, would answer.

We rowed and rowed, passing one body after another. I nearly gave up hope when I heard it. Faint, yet persistent, a whistle. I looked back to the men at the oars, just to confirm I wasn't the only one who had heard it.

Every last one of them was facing the direction I had heard it from.

"Come about!"

I shined the light on the area, the whistle became louder, and from where I was I could see a woman, pale, but still alive, with the whistle in her mouth. We moved towards her as quickly as we could. As we got the closer the she got louder and louder and finally we reached her. It took all of us to pull her into the boat and we immediately began to cover her with blankets. I pulled the whistle from her mouth and she immediately went unconscious, just as I realized…

"Rose…"

"Sir?" one of the oarsmen looked at me quizzically.

I fell to my knees and began to shake her. "Wake up!"

She moved limply in my arms. I checked her pulse just to make sure, yes she was still alive.

"Rose! Wake up!"

Finally her eyes fluttered she looked at me, taking a moment to realize who I was.

There were tears falling down my face. "Please, tell me she wasn't with you." I begged. The other men looked at me as if I was mad, but I had to know.

She shook her head. "No…" he voice was barely an audible whisper.

"No…"

I watched as her eyes closed and drifted back off into a world filled with a lot less cold and death, one where she could find warmth and peace. I sat back against the side of the boat, still holding the whistle in my hand.

"No" I repeated to myself. Did that mean Sarah had gotten on a lifeboat? God I hoped so.

She was everything. Just thinking of her smile gave me enough strength to travel the ocean for days, even in this cold. I never loved anyone like that before. I didn't care that she was rich, or too young, or that her family would rather her die than marry someone like me. I didn't give a damn what anyone thought, except her.

I knew I wouldn't be able to go on if her life had been taken.

Sometime later…

We picked up 4 more people, only four. We kept looking but after an hour or so it seemed hopeless. I stayed by Rose the whole time, checking every once awhile to make sure she was still with us. It was the closest I could be to Sarah at the moment and I knew that if she was here, she would be doing the same.

Slowly the sun came up on the horizon and began to light up the sky and for the first time we began to see the other lifeboats. There were a few near ours, but some so far off in the distance, it was hard to identify them, but they clearly couldn't be anything else.

I manned the tiller, staying down on the floor of the boat with Rose near me. The light must have woken her, she stirred and her eyes peaked open and she looked up at me. Her strength was minimal but she managed to say my name.

I took her hand into mine.

"You're going to be okay."

She nodded and I encouraged her to get some more rest. Her eyes closed once more, just as on the horizon, I could make out one of the green flares from a lifeboat near the front. It waved back and forth and then just beyond that, just barely, you could make out the shape of a ship.

We were saved.