The door revealed Fabrizio's familiar face. His familiar face dropped at
the site of Jack Dawson.
"Dios mio," he whispered, moving closer.
"Fabrizio..." Jack said, opening his arms. "I can't believe it's you, you don't know how..." Fabrizio embraced his long lost friend without another word.
"It's me, my friend," Fabri, balancing himself a little, "is it you or a ghost I see?"
"It's me if it ever was, ragazzo mio!" Jack gripped his friend's shoulders. He felt so relieved, so relieved to find him, so relieved to be welcomed.
"You're alive. I can't believe you found me."
"But I did find you. And *we're* alive."
Fabrizio pulled back adjusting himself on a cane. Did he break something? Jack didn't notice he had a cane before. "Please, come in," he said, wiping his eyes. "This is a miracle."'
"You have no idea," Jack shook his head gently, overwhelmed with joy but at the same time pretending that he hadn't noticed Fabrizio's cane, even as he limped further up the stairs to where he lived. Jack felt concentrated on Fabri, staring openly so long as he had his back turned. He hadn't broken anything. He was lame.
"Sorry, it takes me a little longer now," Fabrizio smiled at his old friend as he sank into a chair. "I must look so old now, no?"
"No, no," said Jack. But he did seem much older than his twenty-three years, if only in his eyes.
"Rose isn't here..." Fabri stopped himself, "She is alive too–" He held his hands, using gestures as was his custom.
"I know. I was able to track you both down. I'm so glad I found you. I've been living with Tommy Ryan for a while. I live in Washington State with him and his wife now. We've got a great life. I work in their bookstore. Just like back home when my parents' had their shop. It's amazing we're all alive. I'll bring them here. You and Rose should come to Seacouver, it's a gorgeous city. Where's Rose? How is she? How have you two been getting on?"
"Jack Dawson, you're ranting, but it's unbelievable Tommy's alive. We're all very lucky," Fabrizio laughed slowly. "Rose isn't here. She's down in the Pompeii ruins, if you believe. She'll be back later tonight. She works too much."
"I do! Tommy had a friend that was down here and mentioned you too...I hope to see Rose."
"Jack, I owe you a story."
"I owe you one too."
"You might have trouble digesting mine," Fabrizio warned.
"Wait till you get mine," Jack said. He didn't know what he was going to tell Rose, but Fabri would get everything. Jack nervously tapped his two suitcases with his foot, the regular one–and the curiously long one.
"You noticed I walk different, no? You see my cane?"
"Yes." Jack wouldn't lie anymore.
"I should have been dead. The funnel on the ship...it came down...I must have been twenty yards from it when it came down but it looked like it was coming right down on me..." He closed his eyes, breathed, and opened them again. "But it missed ne and I ended up in the water. I can't explain how I got there, but I'm alive as you can see. Somebody picked me up. And I woke up deaf in my left ear with twisted limbs. Rose found me. Said she'd lost you. But I guess that makes two unexplained miracles, eh?"
Jack sighed. Jack's escape wasn't a miracle, he just couldn't die. Fabri, on the other hand, he didn't get the "baby buzz" Tommy had mentioned. He was mortal.
"I was still in bad shape when she take me in and get us a hotel room in New York. Nursed me back to health. She had money on her she didn't really explain where she got it from. Must have pinched it from the fiancé of hers somehow. That's how we pay for our education over here at the university. Eh, look at me. I becoming an educated man!"
"Sounds like you made it through a lot."
"We did. After we brave a boat again. We come back here. L'America lost its flavor for me. You know, too big a price to pay. I paid for it with your life, or it felt like I did. Rosa and I, we'd been living few block away from each other for a year, down at the Lower East Side. I like it there, but like I said, too big a price. So I say to Rose, with all that money of hers she had hidden away, I could take her to Napoli, live near my mama. So we go. She convinces me to enroll at the University with her just a few weeks after we get settled."
"So now what? Tell me more."
Jack, naive to the last, Fabrizio shook his head.
"This is what you have to digest, ragazzo mio," Fabri sighed, "We'd been friends a good few years. We'd grown so close. And we were the only two that had been through what we'd been through. We were the only two alive who knew what is was like to lose you..." Jack had felt uncomfortable as soon as he saw Fabri's new gaze. This was it. He inwardly braced himself. "...I fell in love with her, Jack," Fabri said.
Jack couldn't breathe and tried to remind himself that though he may have been first, he had three days with her, Fabri was her best friend for four years.
"That is, we fell in love," Fabri continued, "We were like that for a year or so. I asked her to marry me at Christmas. And money was getting tight so she moved in with me, we get married in the spring. I said it might not be appropriate before the wedding, but that women, she don't care about nobody else's standards...besides we've already been...you know...for a while. She said she didn't care and people could call her what they liked. I hope this doesn't hurt you, I know how much you both cared."
"She, um...I only knew her for a little bit. I'm happy for you two, really." God, it even hurt to say the words.
"I knew you were a friend," Fabri pushed himself up with a little difficulty going over to Jack. Jack likewise got up and hugged him. He closed his eyes and held his friend close, though he felt as if he'd unwittingly betrayed him. Yes, he felt betrayed, but no one was to blame. Somehow that made it harder. Jack had to remind himself that the name Jack Dawson had belonged on a headstone in the lives of Fabrizio De Rossi and Rose DeWitt Bukater, er Dawson.
"Why does she use my name?" Jack asked, perhaps adding to the new awkwardness between him and his best friend.
"Oh," Fabrizio pulled away, "she didn't want to be found, so she took the name of her last friend–you. She says how much she owes to you. She admired you so much. You gave her that chance. She loved you for it you know," Fabrizio said, a little pained, "even after so short time, she loved you for it, really loved you." Fabri would have preferred to choke on those words. IT was no longer a dead man that made him jealous. Jack was very much alive.
Jack realized what he had to do.
"But she loves you now."
"Yes. Will you see her? You owe her that. We're all friends to start out."
Jack lied, saying he would come back tomorrow to see them. Told Fabri about El Paso and Seacouver and Tommy and Rita and Juniper Street Books and Annalee–glazing over certain details. Then he decided to tell Fabri the one burning truth. Brotherhood couldn't be broken. Even if he left the next day and never saw him again, he had to save their bond, despite separation, despite sharing Rose. He had to save this bond.
"Fabrizio I want to show you something," Jack said, pulling a pocket knife from his pocket.
"What are you doing?"
"Watch." Jack sliced his hand open with one cut.
"Mamma mia! Jack!"
Jack moved his hand to Fabrizio face and move his opposite thumb over the wound, wiping away the blood. Fabri watched in amazement as the wound healed before his eyes.
"It's not possible."
"Fabri, look," Jack grabbed Fabri's wrists with his bloody hands, "I heal like magic..."
"I see that."
"I can't die. When Rose said she lost me, she did. It's no miracle–I'm immortal." Fabrizio looked about to protest when Jack pulled him closer. "If *you* don't believe me I've got nothing left to believe myself, brother! My parents, Dan, I told about it all, I know now! I can only die if someone cuts off my head. Please believe me if ever I was your friend. I will never age and I will live forever unless another immortal cuts off my head."
"Why would he do that?" Fabrizio asked.
"It's a long story."
"With a claim like that you owe me a God damn long story."
Jack gave it to him and left to go back to his hotel. He told Fabrizio to tell whatever he wanted to Rose. Fabrizio was his friend of years so he spilled everything. Rose...he had loved her. But he thought he could deal with her better as a sweet memory better than a harsh reality.
"Hey, Fabri?" Jack asked.
"Yes, Jack?"
"What do you see out your bedroom window?"
"Mt. Vesuvius. What else?"
Jack smiled.
"Will I see you before I die?" Fabrizio knew Jack wouldn't stay. In a way he was relieved. Sad, but relieved.
"I hope so."
"Good."
"I know men don't say this too often to each other, but...I love like I ever loved a brother."
"I love you too, brother. Take care of yourself."
"I hope you and Rose find happiness. You two deserve nothing left."
"I know. Keep that head of yours, see everything you can see in all that time you have. It's nice to know you'll be around for a while," Fabrizio hugged him.
"Tell next time, brother." Jack gave his friend one last pat on the back.
"God keep you, ragazzo mio."
"Dios mio," he whispered, moving closer.
"Fabrizio..." Jack said, opening his arms. "I can't believe it's you, you don't know how..." Fabrizio embraced his long lost friend without another word.
"It's me, my friend," Fabri, balancing himself a little, "is it you or a ghost I see?"
"It's me if it ever was, ragazzo mio!" Jack gripped his friend's shoulders. He felt so relieved, so relieved to find him, so relieved to be welcomed.
"You're alive. I can't believe you found me."
"But I did find you. And *we're* alive."
Fabrizio pulled back adjusting himself on a cane. Did he break something? Jack didn't notice he had a cane before. "Please, come in," he said, wiping his eyes. "This is a miracle."'
"You have no idea," Jack shook his head gently, overwhelmed with joy but at the same time pretending that he hadn't noticed Fabrizio's cane, even as he limped further up the stairs to where he lived. Jack felt concentrated on Fabri, staring openly so long as he had his back turned. He hadn't broken anything. He was lame.
"Sorry, it takes me a little longer now," Fabrizio smiled at his old friend as he sank into a chair. "I must look so old now, no?"
"No, no," said Jack. But he did seem much older than his twenty-three years, if only in his eyes.
"Rose isn't here..." Fabri stopped himself, "She is alive too–" He held his hands, using gestures as was his custom.
"I know. I was able to track you both down. I'm so glad I found you. I've been living with Tommy Ryan for a while. I live in Washington State with him and his wife now. We've got a great life. I work in their bookstore. Just like back home when my parents' had their shop. It's amazing we're all alive. I'll bring them here. You and Rose should come to Seacouver, it's a gorgeous city. Where's Rose? How is she? How have you two been getting on?"
"Jack Dawson, you're ranting, but it's unbelievable Tommy's alive. We're all very lucky," Fabrizio laughed slowly. "Rose isn't here. She's down in the Pompeii ruins, if you believe. She'll be back later tonight. She works too much."
"I do! Tommy had a friend that was down here and mentioned you too...I hope to see Rose."
"Jack, I owe you a story."
"I owe you one too."
"You might have trouble digesting mine," Fabrizio warned.
"Wait till you get mine," Jack said. He didn't know what he was going to tell Rose, but Fabri would get everything. Jack nervously tapped his two suitcases with his foot, the regular one–and the curiously long one.
"You noticed I walk different, no? You see my cane?"
"Yes." Jack wouldn't lie anymore.
"I should have been dead. The funnel on the ship...it came down...I must have been twenty yards from it when it came down but it looked like it was coming right down on me..." He closed his eyes, breathed, and opened them again. "But it missed ne and I ended up in the water. I can't explain how I got there, but I'm alive as you can see. Somebody picked me up. And I woke up deaf in my left ear with twisted limbs. Rose found me. Said she'd lost you. But I guess that makes two unexplained miracles, eh?"
Jack sighed. Jack's escape wasn't a miracle, he just couldn't die. Fabri, on the other hand, he didn't get the "baby buzz" Tommy had mentioned. He was mortal.
"I was still in bad shape when she take me in and get us a hotel room in New York. Nursed me back to health. She had money on her she didn't really explain where she got it from. Must have pinched it from the fiancé of hers somehow. That's how we pay for our education over here at the university. Eh, look at me. I becoming an educated man!"
"Sounds like you made it through a lot."
"We did. After we brave a boat again. We come back here. L'America lost its flavor for me. You know, too big a price to pay. I paid for it with your life, or it felt like I did. Rosa and I, we'd been living few block away from each other for a year, down at the Lower East Side. I like it there, but like I said, too big a price. So I say to Rose, with all that money of hers she had hidden away, I could take her to Napoli, live near my mama. So we go. She convinces me to enroll at the University with her just a few weeks after we get settled."
"So now what? Tell me more."
Jack, naive to the last, Fabrizio shook his head.
"This is what you have to digest, ragazzo mio," Fabri sighed, "We'd been friends a good few years. We'd grown so close. And we were the only two that had been through what we'd been through. We were the only two alive who knew what is was like to lose you..." Jack had felt uncomfortable as soon as he saw Fabri's new gaze. This was it. He inwardly braced himself. "...I fell in love with her, Jack," Fabri said.
Jack couldn't breathe and tried to remind himself that though he may have been first, he had three days with her, Fabri was her best friend for four years.
"That is, we fell in love," Fabri continued, "We were like that for a year or so. I asked her to marry me at Christmas. And money was getting tight so she moved in with me, we get married in the spring. I said it might not be appropriate before the wedding, but that women, she don't care about nobody else's standards...besides we've already been...you know...for a while. She said she didn't care and people could call her what they liked. I hope this doesn't hurt you, I know how much you both cared."
"She, um...I only knew her for a little bit. I'm happy for you two, really." God, it even hurt to say the words.
"I knew you were a friend," Fabri pushed himself up with a little difficulty going over to Jack. Jack likewise got up and hugged him. He closed his eyes and held his friend close, though he felt as if he'd unwittingly betrayed him. Yes, he felt betrayed, but no one was to blame. Somehow that made it harder. Jack had to remind himself that the name Jack Dawson had belonged on a headstone in the lives of Fabrizio De Rossi and Rose DeWitt Bukater, er Dawson.
"Why does she use my name?" Jack asked, perhaps adding to the new awkwardness between him and his best friend.
"Oh," Fabrizio pulled away, "she didn't want to be found, so she took the name of her last friend–you. She says how much she owes to you. She admired you so much. You gave her that chance. She loved you for it you know," Fabrizio said, a little pained, "even after so short time, she loved you for it, really loved you." Fabri would have preferred to choke on those words. IT was no longer a dead man that made him jealous. Jack was very much alive.
Jack realized what he had to do.
"But she loves you now."
"Yes. Will you see her? You owe her that. We're all friends to start out."
Jack lied, saying he would come back tomorrow to see them. Told Fabri about El Paso and Seacouver and Tommy and Rita and Juniper Street Books and Annalee–glazing over certain details. Then he decided to tell Fabri the one burning truth. Brotherhood couldn't be broken. Even if he left the next day and never saw him again, he had to save their bond, despite separation, despite sharing Rose. He had to save this bond.
"Fabrizio I want to show you something," Jack said, pulling a pocket knife from his pocket.
"What are you doing?"
"Watch." Jack sliced his hand open with one cut.
"Mamma mia! Jack!"
Jack moved his hand to Fabrizio face and move his opposite thumb over the wound, wiping away the blood. Fabri watched in amazement as the wound healed before his eyes.
"It's not possible."
"Fabri, look," Jack grabbed Fabri's wrists with his bloody hands, "I heal like magic..."
"I see that."
"I can't die. When Rose said she lost me, she did. It's no miracle–I'm immortal." Fabrizio looked about to protest when Jack pulled him closer. "If *you* don't believe me I've got nothing left to believe myself, brother! My parents, Dan, I told about it all, I know now! I can only die if someone cuts off my head. Please believe me if ever I was your friend. I will never age and I will live forever unless another immortal cuts off my head."
"Why would he do that?" Fabrizio asked.
"It's a long story."
"With a claim like that you owe me a God damn long story."
Jack gave it to him and left to go back to his hotel. He told Fabrizio to tell whatever he wanted to Rose. Fabrizio was his friend of years so he spilled everything. Rose...he had loved her. But he thought he could deal with her better as a sweet memory better than a harsh reality.
"Hey, Fabri?" Jack asked.
"Yes, Jack?"
"What do you see out your bedroom window?"
"Mt. Vesuvius. What else?"
Jack smiled.
"Will I see you before I die?" Fabrizio knew Jack wouldn't stay. In a way he was relieved. Sad, but relieved.
"I hope so."
"Good."
"I know men don't say this too often to each other, but...I love like I ever loved a brother."
"I love you too, brother. Take care of yourself."
"I hope you and Rose find happiness. You two deserve nothing left."
"I know. Keep that head of yours, see everything you can see in all that time you have. It's nice to know you'll be around for a while," Fabrizio hugged him.
"Tell next time, brother." Jack gave his friend one last pat on the back.
"God keep you, ragazzo mio."