There was a shared silence between the two as they absorbed the sight before them. Neither of them could believe their eyes, and yet this was everything they had ever wanted since 1912. Things had changed, and they had moved on in their own ways, but deep down, in both their hearts, they wanted to see each other one last time. Just once.

It had always been in their dreams, or a moment in time when they would drift out of their current situation and float around in their own thoughts, completely unaware of what was going on around them. But now, here they were, and as much as they had hoped and dreamed for this moment, neither of them quite knew what to say.

"You look amazing." Jack finally broke the silence, almost unable to say the words. They came out in a kind of choked whisper. Whether he was close to tears or vomiting, Rose couldn't tell.

Rose ran a hand through her hair bashfully, remembering back 30 years when she was able to follow the long red locks from her head to her waist. Now, the blonde strands went from her head to her shoulders. "I was under contract. I had to obey their demands and change the colour."

"You suit it."

"You think so?"

"Definitely, definitely! Very... very... sophisticated." Jack eventually managed to find the words.

Rose laughed ever so lightly to herself, unable to take her eyes off of him. There was another silence, and Rose ended it by saying the most logical thing that came to her mind. "You look like a man now."

Well, it seemed logical in her mind. Out loud it sounded very silly.

Jack smiled widely, trying not to laugh, his eyes transfixed on his dead lover. "Yeah, I guess three decades can do that to a guy, huh?" He crossed his arms, the muscles in them tensing, his tan showing in the light of the setting sun.

"Of course. Three decades could certainly do that."

"Are you saying I wasn't a man back in 1912? I was the manliest guy on that ship!" Jack put on a pretend serious face, his voice tinged with mock offence.

Rose laughed, louder now, and replied, "Oh please! Your arms were like twigs back then... compared to now anyway."

"I guess I'm kinda under contract too." He lifted the dog tag around his neck, showing it as if it were a prison-shackle rather than something to be proud of. "I had to do this." He lifted his arms and flexed, his large biceps bulging. "After all, someone has to be strong enough to punch the snot out of Hitler."

Rose stared at his arms in a kind of impressed state of awe and admiration. When they made love in the back seat of the car all those years ago, his arms around her felt like the safest place on Earth. But to be held in those arms now would make any girl feel invincible. "Well well well... If Hitler doesn't quiver in his boots over those bad boys I don't know who will."

"If only Cal could see me now." Jack winked an eye and tensed his arm muscles, punching the air.

Rose let out a weak whimper of a laugh, allowing her eyes at last to finally look away from him.

Jack sensed he had touched a nerve, and lowering his arms, taking a step closer, he said, "I'm sorry. Is it too soon to talk about... well, about... back then? We can wait."

Rose heard him, so sincere, so thoughtful, and so considerate. He had waited 30 years for her, and even now he was still willing to wait. "No, we can talk about it whenever you like... it's just... Cal, he's..."

"I know, I know. He has nothing to do with this. So anyway, I hear that you're married now, that's-"

"Cal's dead, Jack."

Jack stood in shock. He did not expect that at all. "Oh... I had... I had no idea."

"Wall Street Crash... 1929... He shot himself."

"My God... I feel bad for joking about him now."

"No, don't, please, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, I just... I just thought you should know, that's all." Rose took a step closer to Jack, watching his blue eyes, twinkling in the last moments of the sun. "So much has changed, Jack."

"You can say that again." Jack looked Rose up and down, scanning her body with his eyes playfully.

She blushed and crossed her arms in mock annoyance. "I meant you and I... we've changed... and it may be a little too soon to be so flirtatious. As you said I'm-"

"Married, I know." He finished her sentence, feeling like a schoolboy who had just been told off in the politest of ways by the pretty head mistress. As happy as he was for her that she had found love, and a man to protect and provide for her, the faintest hint of disappointment edged his voice. Her husband had done all the things he could never do. "So, how did this happen?"

"Well, I was working in New York as a waitress, and he came in one day, and-"

"No, I... I didn't mean him." Jack cut her off, almost uncomfortably.

"Oh." Rose stopped talking, awkwardly.

There was another silence, less romantic than it was the first time. As rude as it may have been, Jack didn't want to talk about the man who was lucky enough to be married to Rose. There was no point adding insult to injury. "I meant... how did this happen?" Jack walked closer towards Rose, the distance between them only a meter or so. To some reading this, a meter may seem like quite an insignificant distance. They had been worlds apart for 30 years. To be a meter apart now was beyond belief. "How did we end up here, together, after thinking we were dead for so long?"

Rose was speechless. He was there, right in front of her, a fully grown man, and she had no idea how it had happened. She wanted to give him an answer, not only for his benefit but for her own peace of mind. Her head was all over the place. As calm and composed as she seemed on the outside, inside she was a nervous wreck. "I didn't believe fate until now."

"What are the odds, huh? You get famous and come here to the middle of Greece to sing to a bunch of sweaty soldiers, and I am one of those sweaty soldiers?"

Rose laughed, her gleaming smile making Jack suddenly realise what he had been missing. "You make it sound all so romantic!" She giggled.

"Isn't it?"

Rose glanced up, caught off guard by the sound of Jack's now hushed and almost whispering tone. Jack looked into her eyes, like a deer caught in the headlights. Perfectly aware of the vehicle coming down the road towards it, yet not knowing if the car would swerve and avoid it, or hit it head on. Rose didn't know what she was going herself into. On the one hand, as Jack began to slowly walk towards her now, she wanted to push him down onto the sand and kiss him and cry and tell him how much she missed him. But on the other hand, she wanted to have a quick catch up, depart as friends, and go back to her married life. She hadn't had feelings for him up until now, and even now, as Jack was only inches away from her, his hand gently rubbing her arm, she didn't know if these feelings were all due to the intensity of the moment, or if they had been buried all this time. Rose didn't love him, she couldn't. Not like that anyway. As far as she was concerned, he was a corpse on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. He was a soul sitting on a cloud in Heaven. She forced herself to get over him, because she couldn't be in love with a man who had died and was far away in Heaven. But now, as the shadows of trees and tall cliffs stretched across the darkening island, and blue stars began to fade into focus above them, Heaven couldn't be closer if it tried.

"There hasn't been a single day go by where I haven't thought of you, even if it's only for a second. A lot has happened to me over the years. There have been good times... more often than not there have been bad times. But I've always wondered why God didn't just kill me when he had the chance. So many times I have come face to face with death, and yet every time I have walked away while others died. And I asked God so many times why he spared me?Why did he take the people I love and leave me here on my own?" Tears were beginning to build up in his eyes, and to steady himself he took Rose by the hands, stroking them adoringly. "Well now I know why."

Rose listened to him intently, feeling his hands. They had changed so much. They were no longer smooth and young. They were rough, hard working hands, his nails bitten terribly. She saw a single tear roll down his cheek. So much emotion and sentiment was spilling out of him, and Rose was finding it hard to cope. She could sense how much this meant to him. Now, as a fully grown man, Jack was showing more emotion than he ever did as a teenager. Rose was trying her hardest not to cry as well. It hurt seeing him like this. She gripped his hands tighter, listening still.

He looked down at her face. They were finally so close after being apart for so long. Rose had blossomed into such a radiant woman, and Jack couldn't ignore it. "Now I know why I'm here. I am alive because I had to see you again. I've been kept alive these past 30 years because God knew all along that we'd meet again. I dunno why he had to separate us in the first place. Maybe it was to teach us a lesson... to show us that we truly don't know what we have until it's gone." He brought his hand up to her face, and now, it was real. This wasn't a dream. She was here, he was with her, and everything seemed to be falling into place. For once in Jack's life, things were going his way. If all his heartache was to prepare him for this moment, then it had all been worth it. "Now I know what I lost Rose... I lost you. And I never want to lose you again... never."

And with that, Jack leaned in for a kiss. Rose stood in a state of disbelief. She didn't know whether she wanted him to or not. She understood his feelings, but she didn't know if she felt exactly the same way. Jack seemed very emotional, it wouldn't be right to let him kiss her. Not only that, but she was married. She couldn't let him, as much as she might have wanted this to happen in the past, this was the present, and she had to think realistically. Rose turned her head away, and Jack stopped, opening his eyes in confusion.

"Jack, I'm married. I can't do this. I'm so sorry." She turned around and ran off, the tears that she had been afraid of shedding in front of him now streaming down her face in the darkness of the beach.

"Rose! Please, come back! I'm sorry, come back!" Jack shouted, and he shouted, and he begged, and eventually he fell to his knees, sobbing and screaming into the night sky, watching Rose vanish into the distance yet again. "Rose!"

It wasn't that Rose didn't care about him, and as soon as she turned around and ran she regretted it. It was the confusion and conflicting emotions inside of her that scared her. Jack was so emotional, and so certain that God had brought them back together and that this was meant to be. The way Rose saw it, something wonderful had happened by complete coincidence that was going to turn everything in her life upside down, and she didn't know if she could cope with that right now.

Jack needed someone in his life. He needed someone to love and someone to love him. He had been married once, and although he loved Polly, he knew deep down that he was trying to get over Rose. And now that he had Rose, it seemed that she didn't want him. As Jack sat on the dark beach all alone, sobbing heavily, he took his dog-tag from around his neck, held the shining piece of metal tightly between his fingers, and pulling up his trouser leg, he began to cut away furiously at his skin, watching the bright, hot blood trickle down his leg and ruin the perfect sand.