Chapter 7

Jesse returned to his empty cabin, then reaches under his bed for his sack. He throws the bag onto his bed and began digging in there, trying to look for his best clothes. Eventually, he found his suit and tie; the same ones he wore back when he was on both the Mauretania and the Olympic for those exact dinner parties when he was with his father and new employer. Once dressed, Jesse stood in front of the small basin, getting ready for his big night having dinner with his new friend and Cal up in the first-class dining area. He threw on his jacket, then brushes his hair with his damp hands before turning off the water. He straightens his coat for the final time, and before he proceeded to leave his cabin, Tommy, Fabrizio, Karl and Eric, and a few other men burst into the room, out of the blue. Tommy held out his hand, and Jesse shook once more, while Fabrizio pulled Jesse and embraced him once more, before wanting to ask him to take part in the largest party the third class has ever seen, and they wanted him to plan it out, although he wouldn't be the only one though, as they were hundreds that would be there to help plan out the largest party as well. He smiled at his friends, and told them he would be back down later to be with them, just that he needed to take care of something first.

Jesse makes his way to the Grand Staircase, after picking a locked gate that he had opened earlier to go to the first-class to meet with the ship's designer. He had assumed an officer had locked the gate once more, even though he had discreetly closed it. This stair starts out as a single flight on F deck, then spreads out on E deck landing, and he stops at the C deck landing. From here he felt like he was back on the Olympic once more, as he could see corridors that led to the basic, yet lavish first class berths, and he was lucky he got a single room for himself, as his father and employer had accompanied themselves in private staterooms his employer paid for in the upper decks. He continued up the lavish stairs, until he reaches A deck. He looks around, acknowledging people who did the same. He sees the Honor and Glory; Crowning Time between A deck and Boat deck landing, with a little clock located within. He cranes his neck upward to see the domed covering over the staircase, and takes in the spectacle. Since he had been in both Mauretania and Olympic before, he already knew how to present himself to these first-class people.

He sees Jack standing at the foot of the stairs, and was a little nervous, but at the same time he had an air of confidence, as he makes his way around the banister of the A deck staircase. Jack looks around, and he also acknowledges to these people as well. Jack began to cross his arms, until Jesse instructs him to never do so, especially in this social part of the ship. Jack flinches, and gets surprised, as Jesse came literally out of nowhere. Jesse shows him how to stand, with one arm on his back, and the other cocked, as if to accept a woman's arms. He even showed Jack how to shake hands, and they both practiced, even as Jack was nervous as Jesse had become even more handsome, in his suit and tie, and his hair was neatly parted that framed his face.

"Now you're ready to do the real thing," Jesse says softly, and brushes Jack's shoulders. Jesse turns his head toward Honor and Glory, and makes a double take again as he saw Rose coming down the stairs.

"Here comes your escort for the dinner." He says. Jack looks up, his heart pounding in his ears. Rose is smiling as she comes down the stairs, to both Jack and Jesse. Rose is almost shocked, as they both looked nearly identical, except for their hair and eye colors, and Jesse was a little bit tan, and slightly taller. Jesse slowly walks back, as Rose makes her way down the final steps. They meet at the landing, near a cherub statue, and Jack slowly kissed her gloved hand.

"I saw that in a nickelodeon once and I always wanted to do it." they both smiled. Jack eventually locks arms with Rose and proceeds to the dinner. She turns back to where Jesse was, and also wanted him to be with them, but he said he'll stay back for a bit. Jack and Rose walk over to Cal and another, but older woman. Rose gets Cal's attention, by saying "Darling, surly you know Mr. Dawson."

"Dawson?" Cal says, surprised. Then he laughs.

"That's amazing. You could almost pass for a gentleman." By which Jack replies, "Almost." And he gave a wry smile. Then Cal eyes Jesse behind Jack and Rose, but he only smiles back, then gives a quick wave and nods. He follows them both down the stairs, then Jesse looks around and he is back on C deck once more. There are even more people flocked at this deck than the ones before. He felt like royalty aboard the Titanic, especially in this upper-class part of the ship, even though he was coming in from the third class. While Rose was introducing Jack to various rich passengers aboard, Jesse shook hands with people who had never even met before.

"Care to escort a lady to dinner?" a woman with booming voice asks Jesse. Jesse turns around, then cocks his arm, and she puts her arm there. Cal calls from the front of them "Sweetpea! Sweetpea."

Margaret Brown lightly taps Jack on his shoulder, saying "Ain't nothing to it, is there, Jack? Remember, they love money so just pretend like you own a gold mine and you're in the club." as they are walking towards the dining area.

"Hey Astor?" she says.

"Hey Margaret, nice to see you" Mr. Astor says.

"J.J., Madeline,' I'd like you to meet Jack and Jesse." Rose introduces.

"How do you both do?" She greets both Jack and Jesse.

"Hi there," Mr. Astor says, then asks Jack, "Are you of the Boston Dawsons'?" Jack is taken aback by the question, but quickly answers, "No, the Chippewa Falls Dawsons, actually."

"Yes, I see now." says Mr. Astor. As they continue to walk to their tables, Captain Smith catches Jesse's eyes, who then acknowledges the captain, while still escorting Margaret Brown. They eventually make their way to their tables, with their escorts, while other wealthy passengers eye Jack, most were intensely eying Jesse, much to their delight. Both of the men take turns kissing Mrs. Dewitt Bukater's gloved hand, and they sit at the table.

"So, tell us of the steerage accommodations, Mr. Dawson and Williams. I hear they are quite good on this ship." Ruth says, after she had taken a small bite of her food.

"The best we've seen, ma'am. Hardly any rats" Jack says. Everyone shares a chuckle. Even Jesse agrees.

"Both Mr. Dawson and Williams are joining us from third class, as they were of some assistance to my fiancé." Cal says, taking a small sip of his wine. A steward wanted to pour Jesse some wine in his glass, but he declined, and asked for water instead, then takes a bite of his biscuit. He nearly coughed, as the bread was too dry for his liking, and slowly puts it down. Meanwhile Rose adds, "It turns out Mr. Dawson is quite a fine artist. He was kind enough to show me some of his work today." as she looks at Jack. While one of passengers was ready to ask Jesse, he was soon interrupted by Cal.

"Rose and I differ somewhat in our definition of 'fine art'." he says, almost sarcastically. "Not to impugn your work, sir." Jack just simply brushes the remark away, like it was nothing of importance. Rose notices that Thomas Andrews is writing in his notebook, completely ignoring the conversation.

"Mr. Andrews, what are you doing? I see you everywhere writing in this little book." Rose takes the little pad, and reads the contents. "'Increase the number of screws in hat hooks from 2 to 3.' You build the biggest ship in the world and this preoccupies you?!"

Andrews smiles sheepishly. Mr. Ismay leans in. "He knows every rivet in her, don't you Thomas?"

"All three million of them." he answers.

"His blood and soul are in the ship. She may be mine on paper, but in the eyes of God she belongs to Thomas Andrews." Ismay gave a small chuckle, then takes a sip of his wine.

"Your ship is a wonder, Mr. Andrews. Truly." Rose says, then turns her attention to Jesse, who was looking around at the elegant dining room, then back to the crowd. He took a sip of his water.

"Thank you, Rose." Mr. Andrews says, then also turns his attention to Jesse, who had admired the dining room.

Jesse slowly gets up from his seat, hanging on to his coat flaps, as Jack looks at him. Jesse mouths 'party,' as he pushes his chair back to the table, and grabbing a piece of appetizer from his plate.

"Thank you for this lovely fine evening dinner, but I must be getting back." Jesse says, bowing a little. Everyone acknowledges, while Rose looks at Jesse. With a small strand of hair falling over his eye, he gives her a slight wink, before leaving the elegant dining room. Jack smiles, then he continues on with his dinner amongst the first class. Jack turns back around once again in time to see Jesse walk past the crowds of people eating their dinners, and some of the passengers even look at him as well, with awe, then he disappears around a corner.

So like Jesse. Jack thought, as he knew Jesse disappears as quickly as he appeared, much like Houdini.

Jesse acknowledges a passing officer who was making his rounds as he makes his back to the Grand Staircase. He climbs his way back up to the boat deck, discreetly removing his tie and puts it in his coat pocket. From there he jogs along the length of the boat deck to once more make his way to the Aft Staircase. These staircases only takes him as far down to C deck, where he was totally unfamiliar with this part of the ship, unlike the time when he was back on the Olympic just a few months prior. He looks around at the various first- and second-class rooms, before finally making his way through long corridors among the second class until he arrives to another locked gate. He ran his hand through his sleek hair, as he had on a clip he discreetly put in his hair to keep it in place, and not to fall over his eyes while at the dinner. He takes it out and uses it to pick his way around the locked gates, as he continually makes his way deeper into the ship to the awaiting steerage passengers in the galley. Jesse shakes his head to tousle up his thick hair once more, then he closes the gate as if to appear it has been locked. He makes it back to another corridor, going down some more stairs even, until he is back with his own passengers once more. He finally arrives to one of the large third-class galleys where a large group of people were already setting up for the biggest party for the third class. There he takes off his jacket, and a passenger happily hangs it up for him. He rolls up his sleeves and begins to help out organizing with Fabrizio, Tommy, his own friends along with a dozen other passengers as the party began to go underway.