Rose groaned painfully as she tried to move but was immediately met with resistance from her aching joints and pounding head.
She groaned again and felt a gentle hand rest on her shoulder. With a great effort she managed to force open her eyes open and found herself looking into Jack's soft blue ones.
He smiled slightly and gently caressed her bruised cheek "Hey, you're awake. How're you feeling?"
She groaned again, her eyes fluttering shut "Okay"
Jack let out a laughing breath and softly brushed his lips against hers before whispering
"That is a lie and you and I both know it."
Rose sighed as a tear streaked across her cheek she swallowed painfully looking around her unfamiliar surroundings "where am I?" she asked
Jack sighed knowing that she was attempting to change the subject "you're in the ship's infirmary" he explained gently "they moved you here after you passed out again"
"What exactly is wrong with me?"
Jack sighed running his hand over his face, his stomach churning at the thought of her suffering.
"You have a couple of broken ribs, sprained wrist and your pretty badly bruised as well as a large gash on your forearm" he winced glancing down at the bandage covering her arm.
"And… and the baby?" she asked quietly unable to look at him
His head snapped up and he gaped at her in shock "you know?"
Rose nodded and slightly her eyes focusing on the crisp white sheet, anywhere but his eyes
"I'd been feeling sick for over a week when Cal and Mother finally sent for a doctor in London"
Jack ran a hand through his unkempt hair "Do they know?"
Rose shook her head trying desperately to swallow back the tears "No" her voice barely above a whisper "I paid him not to tell, they think I had stomach flu" she scoffed at their ignorance
Jack sighed perching himself on the edge of the bed, which was really more like a small cot "When did he… you know?" His stomach rolling once more, not really sure he wanted to know the answer
Rose sighed squeezing her eyes shut trying to fight the images in her mind, the feeling of his rough hands on her porcelain skin "Last month, the night we were engaged, my birthday. We were in Paris and he'd taken my mother and out to dinner in some hideously fancy restaurant and made a spectacle of proposing to me…."
She trailed off her mind flashing back to that night, how mortified she had felt has he held out the ring, the eyes watching her expectantly and her mother's eyes boring into her.
She felt Jack squeeze her hand supportively, pulling her from her reverie she could feel his gaze on her but she still couldn't bring herself to look at him
"When we got back to the hotel he… he" her voice broke as a sob overcame her
Jack's heart broke has he gently pulled her into his arms, whispering soft words of comfort into her hair "I'm so scared" she sobbed into his shirt "I don't know what to do"
Jack pulled back putting his index thumb under her chin, forcing her to look at him for the first time while gently brushing away her tears with his other hand
"It's gonna be okay. We'll figure something out"
Hours later the pair lay together on the tiny hospital bed their limbs tangled together/ Rose's head lay on Jack's chest as he ran his fingers through her fiery red hair
"You don't have to stay you know. I wouldn't hold it against you" her voice was fragile barely above a whisper
"What?" Jack frowned pulling his head back, not sure if he was hearing her right
"Here with me. You could go on with your life, pretend you never met me. I wouldn't hold it against you" She repeated.
"Rose look at me" his tone left no room for argument and she finally lifted her eyes to his again, he was struck by how vulnerable she looked, almost like a child
"I'm not leaving you okay? I'm involved now. You jump I jump right?"
Rose nodded against his chest, swallowing back the lump that formed in her throat as another wave of emotion swept over her.
They lay in peaceful silence for over an hour before they heard raised voices coming from the corridor. Jack jumped off the bed and Rose immediately missed his warmth but smiled gratefully when he grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
The voices grew louder as the doors of the infirmary flew open. Rose's heart constricted with fear as Cal stormed in her mother, Molly and two men she didn't recognise trailing behind him.
"Rose my darling!" she shrieked throwing her arms around her daughter in an uncharacteristic display of affection
"That's him!" Cal exclaimed pointing at Jack who glared it him with such harshness that Rose almost shuddered "that's the steerage rat who attacked my fiancée!"
"What?" Rose cried looking frantically between her mother, Cal and Jack "that's not… Jack would never… Cal's the one who attacked me not Jack! He would never hurt me!"
Cal scoffed and turned to the Master At Arms "You see, he's obviously corrupted her. Arrest him!"
The Master At Arms rolled his eyes inwardly he'd been in law enforcement long enough and seen enough abuse cases to know exactly what was going on, but Hockley was the one with the money and the power arrogant as he was.
"Alright you're coming with me son. They'll decide what to do with you in New York"
"What? This is horseshit!" He cursed as pair of handcuffs were placed on his wrists. Rose was becoming hysterical as Molly desperately tried to calm her.
He was being pulled out of the infirmary, well dragged would be a more accurate description, when the doctor he vaguely recognised from the night before walked in.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded making is way over to Rose "this is a place of healing!" he glanced at the Master at Arms "Where are you taking him?" he demanded.
"We're arresting him for the rape and abuse of Ms Dewitt-Bukater" he explained
"Well if that's the case, then you have the wrong man"
"I beg your pardon?" Cal demanded glaring at the doctor.
"The young lady is three months pregnant and I believe that she has only known this young man for two days. Therefore he can't possibly be responsible"
There was a pause as they all turned to look at Cal, who for the first time was beginning to look nervous
"What? You can't possibly be accusing me? That's preposterous!" he stammered.
"That's ridiculous!" Ruth shrieked "Mr Hockley would never do a thing like that!"
"He did!" Rose cried, desperate for them to believe her "he's been hurting me for months! Since we were engaged!" she gasped her chest tightening as she struggled for breath "breathe darlin'" Molly murmured running her hand over her hair soothingly
She felt the world around her spinning as the raised voices grew further and further away. She was vaguely aware of some kind of mask being slipped over her mouth seeming to make breathing slightly easier, then a firm hand in hers. "Jack" she murmured her breath fogging the mask
"Yeah it's me," he whispered into her ear, his warm breath tickling against her skin "you have to breathe for me okay? Can you do that for me"
She nodded weakly inhaling "that's it deep breaths."
The world slowly came back into focus as she inhaled and she opened her eyes and saw that Cal and the Master at Arms had left the room but her mother remained. Staring at her, her expression unreadable.
She fumbled at the mask, pulling it away from her lips "Mother" she whispered
Ruth's eyes bore into her daughter's showing no signs of emotion. " You have no one to blame but yourself for anything he may have done to you" her voice cold "you've plunged this family into ruin. Our lives depended on the match with Hockley and you destroyed any hope of salvation we had. You are no longer welcome in my home or my family"
"Mother, please…" she begged a sob rising in her throat as Jack squeezed her shoulder in an attempt to offer her some semblance of comfort
"Ruth, be reasonable, it's hardly her fault-"
Ruth just glared at Molly, silencing her before she stalked out of the infirmary, her head held high, nose in the air, slamming the doors behind her. Leaving her sobbing, broken hearted behind.
An update! After God only knows how long! I have not forgotten this or any of my other stories. I have a ton of ideas for all of them swirling in my mess of a brain but things get in the way and I find it difficult finding the time to write them down. Free time as become merely an illusion.
If anyone is still interested, I'm not convinced about the Rose/Ruth/Cal confrontation, I'm not sure I really did it justice.