This will be my Last Chapter for a while. Please R+R and I will post again soon :)

10. A Verdict

Meanwhile, in the court room the jury had come to a verdict. Imogen Carraway was sentenced to twenty years in prison and would be forced to give up her child once it was born. Imogen however, could be the one to decide who the child would go to. Imogen already had three children, all with Jonah. Ella Carraway was currently eight years old whilst her sister Charlotte was six and Avalon, four,

Rose finished her meeting with Mr Bukater, which turned out to be a mixture of sorting a divorce and catching up after more than a decade of lost years, and left promptly, eager to avoid the crowds from Imogen's trial that had just finished.

Matthew Bukater had continued working as a lawyer. He had married his lover who became his wife, but they never had another child. His wife had died in only May last year.

She got outside and crossed the over to the park which had a footpath that would lead her home. The sunset filled the skies with an array of pastel coloured like an artists paint tray. Speaking of artists, she saw Jack on a bench and approached him. "Hello, Jack." She said cautiously.

"Hello Rose, where's your husband?" He asked.

"He was having and affair as well. With Imogen, my best friend." She answered without emotion to her voice but really, the question had just ripped open her heart.

"You too? Rose, I'm so sorry." He stood up and hugged her.

"I'm for you too...for everything." She told him. After all Lizzy had had an affair and been violently murdered, life must seem quite bad for Jack right now.

"Are you walking home?" He asked her.

"Yes. Although it won't be my home much longer. I'll be moving out as soon as we have the divorce." Rose said.

"I'll walk you home," Jack said. They began walking when he said "It may be a little inappropriate, two ex lovers living together, but I you need a home, you're welcome to stay with me and the kids." He offered.

"Of course Jack! I'd like that." Rose exclaimed. Living with Jack would be her dreams come true.

"You're children would be welcome too." He said.

"Thank you. Henry works every day so it would be practical if they stay with me. Oh Jack I'd be so grateful. It would only be until I find a new home." She assured him.

"You could stay as long as you like." They stopped walking for a moment and gazed into eachothers eyes. Nothing could happen between them, they could not confess their feelings for one another whilst Rose was still a married woman.

"So, Jack, what have you done since Titanic?" Rose asked.

"Well I just carried on as an artist, exploring my impressionist and abstract sides a little more..."

"I thought you hated that surrealism kind of thing." Rose commented.

"But you liked it. I thought I'd give it go, for you... And it turns out, it's not so bad. Interesting actually." He explained.

"I'm so glad you like it! I love the way it awakens your imagination and can be whatever you want it to be to mirror what ever you feel!" Rose cried practically bursting with passion.

Jack laughed. "Then I joined a small talent agency which was where I met Lizzy. She reminded me a lot of you and I fell in love, we married in 1918 after I returned from war. I was called for duty in 1917 and promised to marry her when I returned. I was Private J. Dawson in the trenches and saw a lot of horrific deaths. Luckily I survived but I still live with the memories. After losing you and all the deaths on Titanic, I thought I would never see such tragedies ever again. Most people don't ever witness a massacre, watching thousands die around you and live to tell the tale. I've done that twice and it'll haunt me forever."

"Oh Jack, it sounds horrible. I can't imagine it. Basically living Titanic all over again. It must be soul destroying."

"It was. But I came home and married Lizzy and we built a life together. Time isn't the only healer, love it too." He explained, "she became a successful actress and that's where all our money came from. But now she's gone...I don't know how I'll support my kids."

"I'll pay you rent when I come to stay." Rose promised.

"Thanks. It's just a favour I would let you stay whether you pay me or not but I do need the money. So thank you very much, Rose." He nodded at her, "So, tell me about your life."

"Well I started acting in a small theatre in downtown New York. I was just out at a pub one evening where I met Henry who had just graduated university and had a small job in a bank. He's in a quite high position now." Rose told him.

Jack whistled, "married into money then, didn't you." He said winking at her, she laughed.

"Anyway since then, we married in 1914, had two children, Paul is 7 and Jessamy is 5." Rose told him. "I've been working as a teacher in a girls finishing school. My years of practise came to me quite handily. A few months ago I started acting again. I got a job at a prestigious theatre. The same one as where Imogen worked actually."

"Well Rose I'm really happy for you. You're finally living your dream." He said.

"More or less" Rose's face fell but Jack couldn't notice through the shadow of the trees under the evening sun. The thing was, that Rose had had two dreams both which had become a burning desire whilst on board Titanic nine years ago. One dream was to be an actress, a dream she was pursuing and was nearly there. Jack was her other dream, even whilst she thought he was dead, he was still her dream. And now she was so close to him physically, their arms were brushing together as they walked, but emotionally, she felt so far. He was a man who had just lost his wife and she was a married woman.

It seemed all the odds were against them, once again.

END OF VOL. ONE