Chapter Six

Cal's Back

"Slut!"

That was the first thing that Sarah had heard the next morning. It startled her, seeing as it was a man's voice. Rose never had a man over in her house. Ever. It sounded like it was coming from downstairs, too. And she wouldn't be up before her.

Sarah got up quickly and went down the stairs, almost stumbling down them. Her palms that were up on the wall kept her up.

"Sarah?" she heard Rose ask from the kitchen. "Is that you? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" she replied, straightening her nightgown.

"Sarah?" the man asked from the kitchen. "My Sarah?"

Her heart froze. She knew that voice all too well.

She walked to the kitchen where Rose was having a cup of tea with toast. Next to Rose, she saw Cal standing in a suit. She only caught one short glimpse of him so that he wouldn't think she could see him.

No. No. It couldn't be Cal. And he was in her house...with Rose...

Oh, God, she thought. Life just gets better.

"Rose?" Cal yelled. "What is she doing here?! She's mine!"

Sarah suppressed her urge to yell at him, to even look at him and send him daggers through her eyes. But, seeing as that it wouldn't be very convenient to Rose and it would probably scare Cal (although she thought it deserved the bastard right), she decided to at least try to act sane.

"How did you sleep?" Sarah asked.

"Great," Rose responded. "How about you?"

"Fine." Sarah put two pieces of bread in the toaster. (A/N: Were toasters even invented in 1927? Oh well, they are now!)

"Rose! What are you doing with my daughter in your house?!" Sarah heard Cal yell.

I'm not your daughter, she thought bitterly.

"Sarah, what are you doing here? You could be living with your grandmother in England, going to a good school, rather than being stuck here with this slut!" she heard Cal say.

Grandmother, she thought. Does she even know that I'm alive?

"You're quiet," Rose commented. "Is something the matter?"

"Hmm?" Sarah looked up from the glowing heaters in the toaster. "No. Everything's fine. Just thinking about things."

"What kind of things?" Rose took a sip from her tea, a smile creeping upon her lips. "Joey?"

That same smile came upon Sarah's lips. She buttered the two pieces of toast. "No, actually."

"Joey?" Cal asked. "Who's Joey? Sarah, I told you not to go around boys. Your mother instilled this hogwash into your head, didn't she?"

Yes, Rose actually taught me to follow my heart then conforming to someone.

Sarah went and sat across from her. "I actually came up with a great song idea for you."

"I'd love to hear it," Rose said eagerly.

"It's up in my room. I'll bring it down after breakfast. I don't know if you'll like it."

"What are you raising her to do?" Cal yelled at Rose. "Write songs?! Boys?! I knew you were nothing but a whore! Another first class girl gone. This had better not be another Jack Dawson!"

Sarah was amazed that Cal was saying all these horrible things about Rose right in front of her. But Rose's blank eyes indeed confirmed that she didn't hear a thing going on.

After finishing her breakfast, Sarah excused herself and went upstairs to get the song. Even though that was the furthest thing from her mind right now. Cal's spirit was in her house. Obviously he had unfinished business here, either with Rose or herself. Sarah took the liberty of guessing that it was a fair share of both.

Sarah remembered growing up with Cal and how he had such a strong hatred towards Rose. Her name was never to be mentioned in the house. She was never supposed to talk about having a mother, even. It was by luck that she even learned her name.

Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe on purpose Cal had told her, knowing that he would die a week later.

She had to ask the question to herself, How long had he been planning his death? Was I that hard to live with?

She sighed and held "Face Down", the song for Rose, in her hand. She turned around and nearly bumped into Cal. It was almost like he purposely was standing there to see if he could scare her.

Then she realized that he would now know he could see her.

"Sarah?" Cal asked. "Wh...What's going on?"

"What do you mean 'what's going on?' I think I should be asking you that," she defended.

"You can see me?" he asked, ignoring what she said.

"That's why I'm talking to you," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You have an attitude," he commented.

She walked briskly to the open doorway, but Cal got there fast. One thing she had learned while dealing with ghosts: they were a lot faster than humans.

"What right do you think it is that you have to talk to me like that?"

"What right do you think you have to go abandoning me?" she rebutted.

"I didn't abandon you, your mother did! And you're staying with her?!"

"Oh, please, she's not my mother. You were the one that killed yourself by Peterson's Detective Agency. I saw you that night."

Cal couldn't do anything but stick his hands in his pockets and stall for time. "And what were you doing there? You know you aren't supposed to be out when I'm not home."

"I went out a lot more than you think I did. While you were out drinking and...I don't even know what else. And if you have the audacity to say me going out to find someone who was a better mother than a father you would ever be was worse than what you were doing...You have another thing coming."

There. Sarah finally got it off her chest. She felt like she was a new person. Even if Cal looked about ready to hit her.

His already small brown eyes were narrowed down to just slits now. The last time he seemed this angry was when she had asked what had happened to Rose.

And just as quickly as she heard Cal call Rose a slut this morning, he was gone, disappeared into thin air.

Sarah in the spot she had been for a while, by her dresser, holding the lyrics to "Face Down" in her hands. The paper was now semi-crumpled.

She sat down on her bed and tossed the paper into a corner. The lyrics weren't that good, anyway.

Rose came into the doorway where Cal was a few minutes ago. "Sarah? Are you alright?"

She looked up. "I'm fine."

"I thought I heard you talking. It wasn't a..."

"A spirit?" She chuckled. "It was. It was Cal."

She watched Rose's expression change from blank to surprised, then angry, then a reflection of what must have been her face when she was with Cal on the Titanic (pre-Jack).

"Oh, God," was the only thing she heard Rose say.

I'm so sorry that this is so short! If you review I might put it up sooner...on that note...chocolate chip cookies for reviews!!