July 28th, 1922

When he finally saw her, her back turned towards him, her fingers untangling the braids in her hair, Jay was certain his heart would explode. He was certain he'd die right there, on the carpeted floor of this goddamned theatre. He wanted to speak, but his mouth felt as dry as this morning's newspaper, and he swallowed three times before he felt slightly confident. Rather quickly, though, his next problem arose. What do you say to the love of your life, after you thought her to be dead for a decade? I love you? I've missed you? What if they were way past that? What if things had changed? What on earth could possibly convey everything he'd felt in nine years?

Jay swallowed another time.

Rose's red curls fell loose across her back and she stepped aside, into the mirror. Her fingers moved to take out her earrings when in the corner of her eyes, she saw a figure standing just a few feet away from her. The figure had dirty blonde hair and piercing eyes, even in the darkness of this room. Rose realized he looked like somebody she once loved, only older. She squeezed her eyes together while her head struggled to make sense of the situation. Was it-? No. It couldn't be. Immediately after, though, she understood that it was him – and her eyes opened wide, her lungs gasping for air. When she turned around, it became painfully clear that it wasn't a trick of the light or a moment of exhaustion, like she'd thought it to be. There he stood, partially hidden in the shadows of the room, a pained, exhausted look on his face. He wore a suit, instead of a corduroy pants and a linen shirt, and there were wrinkles around the corners of his tired eyes – but it was him.

For what could have been minutes, both stood completely frozen, their hearts racing in their chests, an atmosphere of uncertainty and disbelief circling around them. Finally, Jack stepped from out the shadows. He walked towards her with big, fast paces, his hands reaching out for her and he grabbed her face, terrified of her disappearing in front of his eyes. Without giving it another thought, he pulled her against him and kissed her. Rose froze, ever so shortly, before she regained familiarity with the warmth of his hands and the smell of his body, nearly collapsing as a result. Her hands desperately grabbed at his hair and she tried to pull him closer, tighter up against her body, fearing that if she'd let go – he'd suddenly be gone. But the longer they stayed that way, bodies and lips pressed against each other, the clearer it became that this was real. When the realization finally hit them, it hit hard.

Rose cried. Tears started streaming down her face and Jack tasted their salt. When he pulled back to look at her, Rose cried even harder. She grabbed his face and ran her thumb across his bottom lip, checking if it was really him. ''Jack'', she whispered, and suddenly she laughed, despite the seemingly ever-flowing tears. Jack laughed too, though it sounded hoarse and slightly hysterical. He smiled, pressed another long, hard kiss against her lips and wiped away the tears on her cheeks. ''Hi, Rose'', he whispered against her lips. Then he hugged her, and as she buried her face in his chest, he had to remind himself not to squeeze too tight. Now that they were together, it was hard for him to contain himself. Years and years of emotions and memories came flowing over him like a tidal wave - and he felt like a person he hadn't been in a long, long time.

It took them both a few minutes to accept what had just happened, but when they did, Rose's legs gave in and she had to sit down on the floor. Jack followed, holding on to her hand tightly. Though he tried his hardest, he couldn't get his eyes off her. Her porcelain skin, her green eyes, the red of her hair and the rose of her lips, she was as beautiful as she was when they'd first met. His heart nearly burst.

''Where have you been, Rose?'', he asked, softly caressing her hair. ''Where did you go?''.

''Everywhere. I promised you, remember?''.

Jack smiled; his bottom lip trembled and he swallowed hard. She got away from them. She'd broken free. ''You're alive'', he whispered, more so to himself than to her. ''I tried to find you, Rose. I searched for you that morning! I thought-'', his voice broke, but he forced himself to keep it together. ''I thought you'd drowned''.

''I'm sorry'', she whispered, ''I had to hide, Jack. My mother and Cal, both of them survived and they were looking for me. And I- I couldn't go back to that life, you know that! Not after… not after you''.

''Why didn't you look for me? I searched for you every day. Every day I went out and searched for a trace of you. For God's sake, I've shown your portrait to almost everyone in the city. Please!'', he broke down this time and tears formed in his eyes. Rose had never seen him like this. ''I never stopped searching'', he whispered. ''Why did you?''.

Rose's heart broke. Her hands grabbed his face and she forced him to look at her. ''I thought you were dead. Believe me, please'', she begged, softly shaking him. ''Remember when the ship went down? Do you remember how it drowned you? You weren't wearing a vest, Jack, but I was – and I fought to get to you! I fought to pull you back up, I really did, but I couldn't hold on to your hand. I tried. I tried and I was too weak and you – you disappeared!''.

Both of them were crying now.

''I came back up and all I saw was darkness. I called out for you, I begged for you to please call my name but the screaming was so loud, Jack, I couldn't hear myself think! And then I swam. I started swimming until I couldn't feel my legs and my lungs felt like they were bleeding. I was so cold, I-''. Her hands shook violently. The images that came creeping back into her head terrified her, but she couldn't stop. Words came out like seawater that she coughed back up. Maybe it was, she really didn't know. ''I couldn't do it! I'm so sorry, but I was so cold, Jack. I thought you were dead!''.

Jack swallowed. He saw the look in her eyes. It was regret, it was anger and sadness and despair and absolute terror. He grabbed her, pulled her up against him and tried desperately to stop her from shaking. ''I'm sorry!'', she cried out, her nails digging into his arm. ''I-''.

''It's all right'', he whispered, slowly stroking her hair. ''I believe you''.

Rose nodded and cried. She cried, cried and apologized until she lay like a ragdoll in Jack's arms. Her eyes were swollen and her throat dry. She was empty.

As she lay there, Jack thought about that moment. They'd counted the seconds, fully prepared to be sucked down into nothingness. He'd told her to take a deep breath and he had told her to keep kicking. In that moment, Jack knew that he wasn't wearing a lifejacket and he knew that he would have to fight twice as hard to stay afloat. He thought he could do it. But when that ship went down, it took everything in its path with it – and no matter how hard he had tried to hold on to Rose, he simply wasn't strong enough. He'd floated into darkness, not knowing which side was up or down, not being able to see his own hands in front of his face. But Jack had never been someone to give up and he'd fought for his life. By the time he finally re-emerged above the water, which felt like hours to him, his lungs burned like hellfire and his body was utterly, completely exhausted. He grabbed on to something – or someone, he couldn't remember – and that was it. That was all he remembered.

Now, though, it didn't matter. Rose was here, in his arms. She was safe, she was healthy, and that was all he'd ever wanted for her. As he tried hard to force those dark memories from his mind, Rose lay in his arms, softly breathing – slowly slipping away into a time that was long behind them. The couple sat there, on the floor of Rose's dark dressing room, feeling happier and more confused than they'd ever had in their entire lives.