Jack looked back at Lovett, Bodine and his nurse who were fixed on his every word.
"I saw my whole life as if I'd already lived it. An endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches... always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter."
"Did you ever consider, well, you know" asked Bodine hesitantly.
"Suicide?" asked Jack plainly. "That night I did, but somebody was already there."
Jack looked out at the wreckage and saw an old bench, which immediately took him back to the night he nearly jumped off the Titanic.

1912

Jack Dawson, a boy of eighteen, was considering ending his life. Dinner had just about sent him over the edge, all of the people talking about money as if it meant more than oxygen. He didn't really matter to them, or to anyone. He lay back on the bench and gazed at the stars, feeling more and more insignificant as he looked at all of the glowing orbs in the big black night. The silence was golden as he lit a cigarette, something he hadn't done in a while. The silence was disturbed by the fast clicking of heels on the deck above him. In the shadows, a sobbing woman ran past him at the speed of an unstoppable train. When the moonlight illuminated the mystery woman, Jack saw who it was. The woman he saw on the third class deck at lunch. She looked different though, she was dressed quite finely. Concerned, he sat upright and followed the sound of her noisy shoes.

Surely enough, he reached the edge of the ship and the red haired woman had climbed over the rail and was facing out towards the endless ocean. She was still there. Jack quietly sighed with relief, but knew that she had to be stopped.
"Don't do it" said Jack cautiously.
She turned to face him, he saw the pain in her eyes and the tracks of tears that stained her cheeks.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" she said, trying to force a voice of authority.
"Come on, just give me your hand and I'll pull you back over."
"No! Stay where you are! I mean it, I'll let go!"
He edged closer, removed the cigarette from his mouth and indicated he was throwing it away. She didn't move.

"So, you'll let go will you?" he asked slowly.
She looked at him as if he was a simpleton. "Yes, I will, now leave me alone" she said, her voice wavering.
"No you won't" Jack said confidently.
"What do you mean no I won't? Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do. You don't know me!" she cried angrily.
"You would have done it already" said Jack, hoping to make this woman reconsider.
She couldn't reason with him. "You're distracting me. Go away.
"I can't. I'm involved now. If you let go I have to jump in after you."
She shot him another simpleton look. "Don't be absurd. You'll be killed."
Jack took off his jacket "I'm a good swimmer"
"The fall alone would kill you" she retaliated, finding every excuse not to listen to this stranger.
"Which is why I'm not looking forward to jumping in after you." Jack said, hoping his voice didn't show insincerity. Just moments before he would have been the one jumping. "But like I said, I don't see a choice. I guess I'm kinda hoping you'll come back over the rail and get me off the hook here."

She considered this, not for one moment taking her eyes off of this man. He studied her expression; her poker face did not reveal any clues as to what her next move would be.
"Come on, you don't want to do this. Give me your hand." He reached out his hand, praying in his head that she would see sense.
Slowly she released one hand from the rail and turned around to face him. She gasped as she realised it was the man who had viewed her from the upper deck.
"I'm Jack Dawson" he said, awkwardly shaking her hand.
"Rose Dewitt Bukater" she replied.
"I'm gonna have to get you to write that one down" he said honestly. Rose gave a small laugh and held onto his hand tightly. Whilst climbing the rail, the satin material of her dress got caught under her foot and suddenly she slipped and was falling. She screamed a sound like murder that echoed in the empty air.

Jack held a tight grip on her hand and instructed her to let go of the rail with her other. She shot him a bewildered look, trying to predict his next move. "I've got you. I won't let go" Jack promised. He managed to pull her over the rail and they landed on their backs on the floor. Jack kneeled over her, making sure she was alright. The shock had obviously set in as she struggled for breath. Unfortunately for him, the master at arms had arrived to find him on top of Rose. The master at arms blew his whistle, and soon followed the quartermaster.

Nathan Hockley had been on the way back to his room after joining his companions for brandy and discussing foreign trade. He saw the handcuffs about to be slapped onto Jack and made his way down. "Jack, what the devil is going on here?"
"We caught him terrorizing this young lady, we heard her screaming and surely enough we caught him in the act" said Quartermaster Lowe solemnly.
Nathan Hockley spoke softly only in earshot of Lowe "But Mr. Dawson is in first class, he is far more civilised than the third class criminals who commit this sort of felony."
Rose, who had said nothing the entire time unwrapped herself from the blanket they provided her and went over to explain.
"Mr. Lowe, please stop! It was an accident!"
They all turned to Rose, their facial expressions ranging from confused to curious.
"Stupid really" she continued hurriedly, "I was leaning over and I slipped. I was leaning way over, to see the... ah... propellers. And I slipped. I would have gone overboard... and Mr. Dawson here saved me and almost went over himself."
"Was that the way of it?" asked the master at arms.
Jack looked straight back to Rose, whose eyes pleaded for his alibi.
"Yeah, that was pretty much it" Jack said, feeling a relief that connected the two of them.

The authorities quickly dispersed without so much as asking for her name, and Nathan turned to Jack with an inquisitive stare. "Well all's well and back to my brandy, join me Jack?" he asked, making it sound more like an order. Jack saw Rose was about to leave. "Yeah, just wait a moment."

He jogged over to Rose, and Nathan watched with a disapproving glare.
"Rose!"
She turned around, still shaking with adrenaline and from the cold.
"Yes Mr. Dawson?"
"Join me for dinner" he spluttered suddenly, "please."
"Mr. Dawson, I wouldn't quite belong-"
"Please" he insisted. "Tomorrow night."
She shifted on her feet uncomfortably. Either he didn't think she was a third class girl or he didn't care.
"Fine" she said reluctantly. "I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Dawson. Goodnight."
With that she headed around to the steerage stairs, and Jack walked towards Nathan who was drawing conclusions. "Don't forget who you're engaged to" he said seriously. Jack nodded with a blank expression, secretly glad to now have a name to the face he was searching for.