FOURTY SEVEN - ANGER
Jack got off the train when it reached New York. He didn't bother finding somewhere to stay or leave his stuff. He went straight to the address Molly had given him. He waited… and waited… and waited… it had been hours and still no sign of Rose… until…
Jack spotted Rose leaving her apartment building and rushed over to her "Rose!" He shouted "Jack?" She turned to look at him, shocked "how did you find me?" She asked confused "Molly" he replied "she promised she wouldn't tell you" she sighed "we need to talk" Jack said, clearly angry "let's go upstairs" Rose gestured inside the apartment block "what about Cal?" "What?" Rose's eyes widened "oh yeah, Molly told me about that bit too" "he's out of town for 2 weeks" she said as she showed him in. "How are the children? Did Eliza have a nice birthday?" She asked but Jack laughed in disbelief "you walk out on us in the middle of the night, no goodbye, no explanation and now you're stood there asking if my daughter had a nice birthday? you've got to be joking" she noticed how Jack called Eliza his daughter, and not 'their' daughter, and she felt like a knife had been stabbed in to her chest.
"But as for 'how are they?', Teddy cried himself to sleep for 2 months, he has nightmares every single night, just as he did when Elizabeth died, he sleeps in my bed most nights, he would ask for you endless times a day for 2 months after you left and he asks me everyday if you left because of him. Eliza? She said her first word a few days after you disappeared, you know what it was? 'Mama'. My daughter said her first word and she was asking for you. It was like she looked for you after you left, and she cried a lot more. So yes, the children are great and not at all emotionally damaged, thank you for asking"
Rose sighed sadly "do… do they still ask for me?" "Barely… I think Eliza has forgotten, and Teddy brings you up every so often" he said, he saw the hurt in Rose's eyes and regretted that comment.
"Why did you leave Rose? What could have possibly happened that made you think leaving was a good choice?!" He snapped "my Mother…" "I thought as much… what did she say?" "She said I'd never be a good Mother, that I didn't know how to be" "oh for Christ sake Rose! Of course she would say that! She hates me! She never wanted us together! So imagine her anger when she found out we were a couple raising two children! How god damn stupid can you be?!" Rose suddenly realised that everything Jack had just said was right, how could she listen to her Mother? "And Cal?! What's that all about?! You left me and the children for HIM?!" He continued to shout "No! No it wasn't like that! He found me here in New York! He'd been watching us in Santa Monica! He knew about you, and about the children! He said if I didn't agree to stay with him, he would hurt you all! I wasn't going to let that happen!" "What? So now you live together, just sleep together every now and then, then he skips back to Philadelphia for a few weeks?!" "I never wanted any of this, Jack… I'm sorry" "oh you're 'sorry', that's OK then… I'm sure 'sorry' will pay for the years of therapy my children are sure to have" he laughed in disbelief and shook his head before hearing footsteps and Rose gasped "oh my god, Cal… you have to hide" "I'm not hiding, I'm not scared of him" Jack said "you might not be, but I am! Jack, I know you hate me, but if you care about me even a tiny bit, you'll get in that closet and stay silent until I can get him out the apartment" Jack was angry, but he would always care about Rose, so he got in to the cupboard, remaining as still and quiet as he possibly could.