Chapter 16

Jesse and Rose push their way through the crowd as they make their way back to the Grand Staircase.

"Let's go and find Mr. Andrews; he's the designer of this grand ship." Jesse says, nearly out of breath, as a panicked first-class passenger violently bumps past him, nearly knocking him, before he regained his balance.

"You know Mr. Andrews?" Rose asks, a little shocked, as Jesse straightened himself out.

"Yeah, we met earlier. He wanted to give me a grand tour before he was cut off by the captain." Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. He also gets to meet the Captain as well? she thought. They soon spot a familiar face among the crowds.

"Mr. Andrews! Mr. Andrews!" Rose yells before catching his shoulder. Mr. Andrews looked at the two people in shock. He had thought Rose made it to a lifeboat, like he told her to earlier, and he looked lost at Jesse's presence.

"Miss Rose! Mr. Williams! What are you both doing? Get yourselves to a lifeboat!"

"Mr. Andrews, where would the master at arms keep someone who was under arrest?"

"Rose," Mr. Andrews says, sternly.

"Please, Mr. Andrews, someone I love very much is in terrible danger. We need to get to him. We will do this with or without your help; it's just the without will take much longer." Rose pleads. The man sighs tiredly, but seeing the determination in the young woman's eyes, he agrees to help.

"Very well." he sighed tiredly, "Take the elevator to E deck. Go left; down the crewman's corridors and make a right. Left, down and right. Got it?"

"Left, down and right, got it." Jesse giggles as he made a mental note. "Let's go!"

"Hurry my children!" Mr. Andrews calls to them.

"Yes sir!" they yell back, as Rose held on to Jesse's hand.

The two make it to the elevators. There they find the attendant, blocking the entrance as he tells people that they are closed. Rose walks up to him. "I'm sorry but the lifts are closed." he says, still standing his ground.

Rose, now flustered and angry, pushes the attendant inside. "That's it! I've had had it! I'm through being polite, dammit! NOW TAKE US DOWN!" Jesse raises an eyebrow, but follows them inside, then closes the gate. The attendant cranks the lever.

"E deck." Rose says, and Jesse waves to the people as the elevator disappeared. Rose looked up at Jesse's chin, then to his adam's apple as it bobbed, then he looks down. She could feel herself blushing and tingling as Jesse gave her a warm and beautiful smile, once again showing those dimples. Even the attendant seemed nervous at the beautiful sight of Jesse, as he gracefully moved his head to one side, then brushed his hair from his eyes, before craning his neck back to the attendant, and flashed him a smile. Rose thought she could see the attendant blush a bit, although she could tell he was clearly nervous. As they descend further down to the lower decks, they could hear water sloshing below them, and the ship's creaks and groans as the weight of the Atlantic slowly pulls the ship down. When the elevator finally reaches E deck, a sudden rush of freezing water comes in, soaking the trio right to their bones. Jesse fights to open the gates, then jumps before the elevator comes to a stop.

"No!" Rose says as the attendant tries to crank the lever to go back up. She pushes him aside, then goes through the open gates. The attendant looks at them, shocked.

"You guys are crazy! I'm going back up! I'm going back up!" he panics as he cranks the lever to go back to the upper decks. Jesse watches the water pouring out of the elevator as it was going back up. Jesse looks around the corridor, then finds where they needed to go, then he points, and says, "Let's go." as they turned left, into the crewman's corridors. The two slowly slosh through the dangerously cold water in their quest for Jack's rescue, as the electricity in the corridor begins to fail around them.

"Jack!" Rose began calling. "Jack!"

In his makeshift prison Jack looked up, and thought he was hearing things. He then began to listen to where it was coming from, until he hears a voice calling for him once more, then he hollers.

"Rose!"

"Shh." Jesse shushes. Then he heard it again, although faintly, over the noises of the ship.

"That way." he points, into a nearly darkened corridor. Rose was stunned by Jesse's excellent hearing.

"Keep calling him," Jesse says.

"Jack!" Rose calls. With Jesse's hearing, they hear Jack clanging onto something as he's calling out to Rose, though muffled and distant.

"Rose, I'm in here!" Eventually, after hearing where the source came from, they make it to a door, which was halfway submerged. Jesse opens the door.

"Jack!" Rose says, entering the water-logged room.

"Rose! Jesse!" Jack was overjoyed at seeing Rose, but a little lost at Jesse's entrance at first, but nonetheless, he was overjoyed seeing him as well. Overjoyed, Rose throws her arms at Jack, embracing him.

"Jack! Jack! I'm so sorry!" she says, tears now streaming out of her eyes, as she kissed him with growing passion.

"Cal had his butler put it in my pocket." Jack says. Now it was Jesse's turn to be lost.

"I know, I know! I couldn't get away from Cal; he wanted Jesse and you to be there, but Cal got angry when Jesse didn't show up soon, and you were hauled away. He almost killed Jesse too after he was brought in by the stewards. He managed to fight Cal, and then get away as well." Rose then kisses Jack even harder, now with more passion. Jesse began putting two and two together, and shuddered again.

Jesse puts his fist to his mouth, then clears his throat, attracting the lovers; forgetting Jesse was still there, then they broke apart.

"Listen, Rose, Jesse. You're going to have to find a spare key." Jack tries to nod and point at the cabinet, while Jesse sloshes his way to the next room. He hears Jack say, "It's the little silver one, guys." Jesse digs his way through the desk drawers in the next room, throwing them aside when he found none.

"They're all brass ones!" Jesse hears Rose yelp; then he hears Jack, "The desk, Rose. Try the desk." as he makes his way to the cabinets behind him. He hears them talk again, as he rummages through the papers in the cabinet, then throws them in the water with frustration.

"Rose, how did you figure I didn't do the robbery?"

Rose: "I didn't. Jesse's the one who helped me get through that tough situation, then I knew you were innocent."

After a while, Jack: "Keep looking! Keep looking!"

Rose: "No key! There's no key!" Jesse hears Jack, "Jesse; your pin! Do you have it?" as if he remembered. Jesse makes his way out again, digging in his pockets, then feeling his shirt. Rose, meanwhile, was digging through the final drawer before throwing that empty one aside. She looks at Jesse, with a grim look on his face. Jack, trying to stay calm, takes a deep breath, and says, "Then you both are going to have to find help. Hurry!" Rose gives Jack a helpless look, but Jesse pulls her aside, saying, "He's right. Sulking about it won't help. Let's go, and fast." They both walk out, with Jack saying, with awkward mumbling, "I'll just wait here."

Jesse and Rose slosh their way to a nearly darkened hallway. They come to a junction after climbing the stairs they took earlier.

"Rose, you go where you came from; I'll go this way." Jesse points, but Rose didn't want him to leave, as she began to cry, and grabbed his arm. Jesse took ahold of Rose's shoulders gently. Rose slowly looked up at Jesse's beautiful face, as the lights began to flicker around them.

"Rose, don't worry about me. I'll try and find help as best I can. Go and save Jack." They both embrace, then Jesse leaves. Rose tearfully watches Jesse as he puts his hands to his mouth like a megaphone, then yells, with a slightly deepened yet beautiful voice.

"Anybody still here?! We need some help!" Then he turned in another corridor, still yelling as echoes only responded, until she could hear no more, soon replaced by the ship groaning and creaking. She then yelled herself. "Hello! Is there anyone here?! I need help!" She heard nothing, just the ship answering her in groans and creaks and even an occasional electrical buzzing and popping.

Rose finds a staircase, and runs up, nearly slipping from her wet clothes. The hallway is empty, except for abandoned luggage and belongings that littered the path. She yells, "Hello! Anyone! Please I need help!" Suddenly a hysterical man comes out of nowhere, bumping past her as he ran. Rose tries to grab ahold, but the man pulled away too quickly, then continues on running. Rose leans against the wall. Jack is trapped; she is without help and Jesse is now missing. She could feel her tears welling, until she heard footsteps approach her.

Jesse! she thought. Instead, it was a steward. He was carrying a bunch of lifebelts, and he was confused and lost, and was also pale, as if he had seen a ghost. She felt enlightened when he showed. Rose rushes to him and grabs him.

"Please, help me," she says, breathlessly. "Please, there's a man trapped below and…"

The steward, while seeming not to listen to Rose's pleas, instead says, "Are you crazy?! You need to go up towards the lifeboats." Lifebelts in one hand, he grabs Rose's hand with the other. "No, please, you're going the wrong way! There's a man that needs help!" Rose shouts, but the steward still doesn't listen, as he drags Rose to the upper decks. With the man still mumbling incoherently, Rose impulsively punches the man in the nose, dropping his lifebelts, and falling backwards towards a wall, before crumpling down. He holds his nose, then fiercely looks at Rose. "To hell with you!" he snarls, before getting up and running away. Tears flowing from her eyes, she was alone again. The ship darkens for a moment as she stands there, breathing hard. When the lights come to, she sees a red box in front of her. Rose perks back up. Grabbing the hose, she smashes into the glass with the metal hose tip, then grabs the axe.

When Rose returns to the staircase, to her horror, the water level has doubly risen since she has been gone. She cautiously enters the hall, putting the axe over the opening above, then throws off her jacket. Rose slips into the freezing water, gasping as she goes. She holds on to the network of pipes before realizing she was going nowhere at this pace. Holding the axe above her head, she fights the current, despite the axe dragging her down.

She reaches the room, where Jack is relieved seeing her, but a little concerned she was carrying something that would turn deadly in an instant. He was standing on the desk, trying to avoid the water rising around him.

"Jack! Will this work?" Rose asks.

"I don't know, but I guess we'll have to find out," Jack answers. Rose approaches Jack, ready to impulsively swing the axe. "W-w-w-wait!" Jack gasps, eyes widening. "Take a few practice swings over there first." He tries to point to the cabinet with difficulty. Using the axe, she moves a chair, then closes the door of the cabinet, then takes a swing, leaving a large slit.

"That's good, Rose. Now try to hit it in the exact same spot, Rose. You can do it!"

Rose brings the axe up, tries to aim at the slit, then swings. She misses by nearly a foot. With her heart pounding, there wasn't much time left to do anything else.

"Okay, that's enough practice." Jack nervously sighs. He pulls his hands on the pipe, making sure the chain is fully stretched out. Rose brings the axe up.

"W-w-w-wait! Hold your hands, like this." Jack tries to gesture how to hold the axe properly, even with the difficulty of his cuffs. Rose properly holds the axe, as instructed by Jack.

"Okay, Rose. Swing it really hard and really fast." He strains, then braces himself, expecting the worst. "Okay. Go!"

Rose brings the axe down. The axe makes a sharp "CLANG" as it is brought down to the chain, and the pipe. Jack looks at his hands, now separated, though still cuffed. He laughs, then embraces Rose.

"You did it!" he yelps, relieved he could use his hands again. "Come on." he says. "Oh sh-! Oh sh-! It's cold!" he winces when his body hits the cold water. The two slosh through the water, away from Jack's makeshift prison. Rose leads the way she came from.

"Where's Jesse?" Jack asks. Both suddenly felt silent. Rose felt the guilt surge through her as she had brought him down after he tearfully said goodbye to his friends.

"I'm sure he's okay. He's smart, and has probably found his way back up to the crowds." Jack reassures her, and Rose sighs. She looks to where she came with the axe earlier. It was filled with water, and showers of sparks rained down.

"That was the way out…" she began. Jack takes her hand.

"We'll just have to find our way out. Come on!" he says.