Chapter 1:Never an Absolution
In this chapter, Rose is on the lifeboat that rescued her. But there's an unexpected turn around to rescue a very unexpected person.
Disclaimer: Everything but the plot belongs to James Cameron.
Rose DeWitt Bukater sat motionless in the lifeboat the rescued her. The cold was biting; gnawing at her body, tearing at her limbs. She stared aimlessly into the blackness ahead of her, still unable to comprehend what had happened. She closed her eyes, and a face swam before them. They were concentrated eyes; focused, warm. Rose wrenched her own eyes open at this image. She wanted to cry, but it was as if her body forgot how to. She was an empty shell, emotionless and impermeable. Her eyes frosted over, like what the cold had done to the rest of her body.
Rose, see? This is why I didn't want to jump in after you, was the first thought that entered Jack Dawson's mind as he regained consciousness. He was floating, no, sinking, into the depths of the ocean. But wait, he wasn't chasing after Rose. That was days ago. He was...drowning. Freezing and drowning. The cold was pushing in on him from every angle. He was in so much pain, now that he thought about it. It was excruciating. But how did he get here? An image of he and Rose jumping the off of the Titanic's stern entered his head.
Rose. He could see her face clearly. He had to get to her. He had to make sure she was safe. Jack wanted to kick, he wanted to swim, but his legs wouldn't let him. He closed his eyes and Rose's face smiled back at him. With a burst of energy, he kicked his legs. He kicked again. And then again, and again until his face met the frigid air above him. Gasping for breath, Jack began searching frantically for Rose. He was swimming in a sea of lost souls, and there was no sign of her. His body was aching and he wanted to give up so bad, to let the cold take him, but he couldn't. Not without Rose.
Jack floated there for a few moments and then spotted the door that he had left Rose at. But she wasn't there. His mind raced for a few moments and his eyes darted around, hoping not to find her floating amongst the other lifeless frozen bodies around him. His mind finally settled. A boat, he thought. A boat had to have come to get her. Wait. Yes. There it was. He could see its light. He made an attempt at calling for help, but his voice wouldn't allow him. How would he alert the boat? He began looking anxiously again until his eyes rested upon something glistening a few feet away around a dead man's neck. It was a whistle. Using all of his might, he paddled to the whistle and blew it as hard as he could. Something about it tasted familiar. It tasted like Rose.
The boat was turning around. Was someone alive? Were they going to fetch them? Rose thought she had heard a faint whistle. But whatever the reason, Rose did not care. She was wrapped in her blanket too tight to move even if she cared to see action. After a few moments of back tracking, she felt a new passenger board the small life boat, but she neither dared to look nor cared whom it was.
Jack was huddled in what he wished was a warm blanket. He had spent the last five minutes trying to see if Rose was on the boat, but it didn't look as if she was. But she's fine, he thought to himself. There're tons of other boats ahead there, She's on one of those. Jack looked in the distance to see a mass of lifeboats, convincing himself that she was one of the passengers on them.
The small lifeboat paddled into the darkness and Rose stared straight ahead. She had heard a few other passengers whispering about a boat coming to save them, and she hoped it was true. She wanted nothing more than to get off of this boat and onto land. She spent several hours drifting in and out of sleep until during one of those drowsy bouts where she was awoken by the latching of ropes to the side of the boat. A ship had come to rescue them.
Rose sat tight as the small lifeboat was pulled up the side of the ship. As it made it's way to the deck, she was given a hand by one of the crew and pulled out. She didn't stay around and moved to another part of the ship as fast as she could. A woman was handing out new blankets and cups of hot coffee, which Rose took gratefully. She sat down behind a large steam vent, wrapped the new blanket around her, and sipped on her coffee. Then, for the first time that night, she cried.
Jack wandered the deck of the Carpathia for what seemed like hours trying to locate Rose. He knew she was there, but he could just not find her. She was probably wrapped in a blanket somewhere. He had probably passed her many times already. He had stopped several other girls already thinking they were Rose, and he hoped the next one would be her. When he felt a hand on his shoulder his heart began to race at the thought of seeing her face again. Jack turned around.
"Where is she?" Cal Hockley demanded murderously to Jack, his jaw quivering frighteningly.
"I, uh, I don't know," Jack stuttered, backing away from the man.
"God damn it, Dawson, where is she?" he said again, this time with more force.
"I don't know, Cal, I've been trying to find her," Jack stammered again, taking another step back from him. Jack had learned to be patient with this man and to get out of the situation as fast as possible.
"So help me, if I see you with her, you will not make it to New York alive. You will die in these waters like you should have!" Cal yelled, raising his voice so that several people around him turned their heads to watch the spectacle. With that, Cal turned sharply on his heel and marched away, leaving Jack motionless and thoughtless. He seemed to collapse on the deck, then, and put his head in his hands.
The sun had been up for a few hours now, and Rose was still as shaken as she was when she first was carried into the lifeboat. She had gone through bouts of crying and confusion, and it seemed now like she had nothing more to give. She knew they would be arriving in New York by that night, but what she would do when they got there, she did not know. Maybe she would go to Chippewa Falls. Or Santa Monica. She would start a new life, that she was sure of.
Rose turned her head, and her heart skipped a beat. It was Cal. Quickly averting her head she pulled her blanket over face so he would not catch sight of her. He was one part of her old life that she would never go back to.
Rose stayed in that position on the boat for the rest of the journey home. Once or twice she thought she saw Jack pass her, but she knew it was just her imagination. Nothing could bring him, as much as she prayed. She knew that some things were just impossible.
When the Carpathia entered New York's harbor, Rose was forced to vacate her spot. She queued to leave the ship, standing near the middle of the line that was unloading the rescued passengers. A man with a notepad stopped her as she neared the front of the line.
"Can I take your name please, love?" he asked her.
Rose hesitated for a moment and then said, "Dawson. Rose Dawson."
Jack was fidgeting. He had been standing in this line for long enough and still hadn't found Rose. His last chance to find her was coming. If he couldn't find her after he got off of the Carpathia, he knew he would have quite the difficulty locating her in New York City. He finally edged to the front of the line where a man asked for his name.
"Jack Dawson," Jack said, looking around hurriedly.
"Dawson? D'you have a wife? Or a sister? A Dawson's just passed through here a few minutes ago." The man flipped through the notepad he was holding. "Yeah. Rose. Rose Dawson."
"Rose," Jack whispered.
"You know her?" the man asked.
"Yeah," Jack said, as his eyes fell on a woman who had just left the ship and was standing on the dock below. "ROSE!" he called down to her.
Jack ran as fast as he could off of the ship, stumbling down the boarding ramp and hurling himself onto the dock. He sprinted to where she was standing, at least two hundred meters away. He came to an abrupt stop in front of her, her eyes huge and her knees looking weak. "Rose," he panted.
"My God," Rose said, looking as if she might faint.
"I found you," Jack whispered, regaining his breath. Rose nodded, and the two fell into an embrace that was likely never to separate.
A/N: This is my first Titanic fic, so please review and tell me what you thought! I'm sorry if it was a little confusing with all the switching POVs, but I really wanted to shpw what both characters where thinking. It shouldn't be too much like that in the next chapter. Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it!