Written by Alanna
Based on some situations originated by James Cameron.

Slow down
Make it last
I'm having the time of my life
And take a photograph
I don't wanna leave this behind
What seemed so out of reach
We're holding it right in our hands
Let's give up everything
Let's jump in and never look back
Let's jump in and never look back.

Jack sighed sadly, sitting on the rock hard, dirty sofa. The date was April 15, 1913, a year after the sinking of the Titanic. Jack didn’t know why he had survived. He was less now than before he was on the Titanic. He was living in the crummy basement of an abandoned bar that was rodent-infested and bitterly cold in the winter. Jack hated the way his life had turned out, especially since he had lost Rose. Jack had checked all the survivor lists, but he had not found her name. He had searched for her, but he hadn’t found her anywhere, and he had come face-to-face with the cruel reality. Rose was gone, and he would not be with her until he died and returned to the Titanic.

"I wish you were here with me, Rose," Jack muttered to himself as he got up from the rock hard couch, walked over to the dresser, grabbed a piece of moldy cheese, and picked up the newspaper. As he began to pick to mold off the cheese, something in the newspaper caught his attention.

April 13 will be the one year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. If you wish to pay your respects to those lost in the sinking, go to Pier 54.

Jack’s eyes widened when he saw the news and he dropped the cheese, but he didn’t care. A memorial for those lost on the Titanic? Should he go? Jack silently reprimanded himself. Of course he had to go! He had lost his love a year ago today. He had to go to pay his respects. If he didn’t go, he knew that Rose would be hurt.

I’m coming Rose, Jack said to himself as he set the newspaper down, grabbed his dark green, not warm enough jacket, and walked out of the shack he called home. He had an hour’s walk to the pier. He knew that he didn’t really want to walk and stand in this cold weather, but something inside him told him to go. Something was telling him that it was important that he go to pay his respects to Rose. It was very important to him.

This is all I ever wanted
But life got in my way
You’re all I ever wanted
I didn't see how it could change
That something was missing until today.

Not far away from the pier, Rose sat on her bed and sighed sadly. She knew very well what day it was. It was a year after she had lost her beloved Jack. She didn’t want to be happy. She had loved Jack with a passion. She still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Jack was dead. She knew it had been a year since she had lost him, but it still felt like it was just yesterday. Rose felt a silent tear stream down her cheek. She had a good life now that she was free from her mother and Cal. Not long after she arrived back in America, she had found Molly. Molly had taken Rose in and had sworn to her that she would never see her mother or Cal again. Molly had taken care of Rose and given her everything that she needed, but she couldn’t give her Jack, and he was what she needed most.

"Rose, honey, come on. Get dressed." Molly said in a rushed voice as she barged into Rose’s room. Rose broke from her thoughts and looked at Molly, confused.

"Why? Where are we going?" Rose asked. Molly looked at Rose quickly before slipping into a black dress.

"We are going to the memorial for the Titanic," Molly informed her as she slipped into her black shoes. Rose sat up and looked at Molly with wide eyes.

"There is a memorial today?" Rose asked skeptically. Molly nodded as she sprayed on some of Rose’s perfume.

"Yes. I just read about it in the newspaper. I think we should go to pay our respects. I know that you lost people you loved," Molly said, staring at Rose knowingly. Rose bit her lip and looked Molly in the eye.

"But what if it’s too painful to be there?" Rose asked, trying to keep herself together. Molly looked Rose in the eye and, judging by the seriousness in her expression, Rose knew that she was going to say something straight from her heart.

"Would you rather go and it be painful or would you rather feel regret because you didn’t go to pay your respects to Jack and all the others who were lost?" Molly asked, making Rose think. Rose just stared and blinked in surprise. How did Molly know she didn’t want to go? Was there something in her eyes suggesting she didn’t? Molly always seemed to know.

"I’ll be ready in a minute, Ma’am," Rose said politely with a forced smile. Molly nodded her head with a smile and walked out of the room, allowing Rose to get dressed and ready.

Once Molly was out of the room, Rose quickly walked over to her closet and pulled out the beautiful dress she had worn the night the Titanic sank. It might have been just a year, but Rose was amazed that she could still fit into the dress. When she slipped into it, Rose was shocked when she saw that the normally tight bodice was hanging loose on her. She must have lost weight due to her always running around on the stage. But maybe most of it was because she didn’t feel the need to eat. She couldn’t bear to eat anything, because Jack would never eat a meal with her again.

Once she put on her white shoes, Rose turned to her mirror and stared at herself in astonishment. In just a year, Rose saw herself becoming older. She didn’t look like a young girl anymore. She was beginning to look more and more like a woman. She saw her face beginning to look more like an adult’s. Rose continued to stare at her reflection and let a sad smile grow upon her face. She knew that Jack would be proud that she was still alive, and she knew that if she went to the memorial, he would be proud to know that she had never let go of him. Letting a single tear stream her cheek, Rose sprayed on her perfume and wiped away the tear. She and Molly left the house and headed for the pier. If there was one thing they didn’t know, it was that they were in for the surprise of their lives.

The city comes alive
As soon as you walk through the door
Another sleepless night
But I don't wanna sleep anymore
I don't wanna sleep anymore.

Jack stared at the ships and sighed. He remembered when he and Fabrizio had won those tickets. He and Fabrizio had had nothing, but winning those tickets had given them something. They had run onto the Titanic, expecting a better life in America. Jack looked at the ground sadly. Fabrizio had never gotten a chance to experience the great things in America. He, along with the majority of the passengers, had died without even getting a chance to smell the New York air. Jack sometimes wondered why he still breathed in the air when he had lost so many people who deserved it more than he did. He knew that Rose did. Jack bit his lip as he walked along the pier, trying not to bump into the hundreds of people who had come to pay their respects.

Did all these people know someone on the ship? Jack asked himself, irritated that everyone was bumping into him. Jack stood two rows away from the edge of the pier and stared at the empty water with blank and lifeless eyes. Just standing there and staring at all the ships and the ocean brought back memories of the Titanic, both the painful memories and the joyful memories. Jack struggled not to let tears stream down his cheeks. It would have killed him if he had started to cry.

Rose, I need you so much now.

This is all I ever wanted
But life got in my way
You’re all I ever wanted
I didn't see how it could change
That something was missing until today.

Not far from where Jack stood, Rose and Molly walked into the crowd of people. Rose felt like a stranger in an unfamiliar land. Everything seemed so different, even though she had been to this pier several times since she had returned to America. She suddenly felt like she was in a foreign country, just the way she felt when she first boarded the Titanic. She felt like a prisoner in a land of freedom. Now that she was back, almost a repeat of last time, she felt like that once again.

"Molly, I’m going to move a little closer to the front, all right?" Rose informed Molly as she began to walk away.

"I’ll come looking for you at the end. Okay, Rose?" Molly asked Rose as the younger women walked to the second row. Rose stood beside an old woman who had tears streaming down her cheeks. Rose assumed that she had lost her husband in the terrible sinking. Watching the poor old woman cry made Rose begin to tear up. It made her think about what it was like leaving Jack behind.

Rose, keep yourself together, Rose told herself, trying not to break down sobbing.

Climbing so high
Just don't look down
We can see everything from here
For once in my life
Feet off the ground
I don't wanna come back down.

Jack sighed in boredom and began to look at his surroundings. Everyone seemed colorless and had the same faces. No one seemed different. They all looked the same--colorless, dead, and disappointing. Jack sighed sadly when something caught his eye down the row. Red hair. Jack turned his head fully to see who the head of red hair belonged to. He gasped loudly. It was Rose! She was alive! But how? Wasn’t she dead? Jack blinked once more to make sure that he wasn’t hallucinating, and he wasn’t.

Rose? Jack whispered to himself as he continued to stare at her.

He didn’t know if he should walk over to her. What if it was just a women who looked like Rose and would be offended if he asked her if she was Rose? Jack was not ready to make a fool out of himself on a day when he should be paying his respects to Rose. Maybe he was acting strange because it was the one year anniversary. Jack was about to turn away and think it all out when he heard a familiar voice call Rose’s name. It was Molly. She had lived, too. Rose turned and waved at Molly. Jack knew for sure that that was his Rose. She had the same beautiful smile.

Jack stared at her and saw that she was beginning to walk towards the front. Jack followed quickly. He didn’t care that he was pushing people aside to get to her. He couldn’t bear to lose her again. He followed her and saw her stop right at the edge of the pier, staring at the water and all the men and women as they began to prepare for the memorial service. Jack bit his lip. He had to do this. It was now or never. If he didn’t do this, he might lose her again, and he might never be fortunate enough to find her a second time. Jack walked up beside her and took hold of her hand. Rose didn’t look at his face. She looked at their hands, which were intertwined with each other, and then she looked at his face. She didn’t gasp or say anything. She just stared into his eyes in shock. Jack licked his lips nervously.

"Rose…I finally found you."

So take a photograph
We’re having the time of our life.

"Jack? You’re alive! But how? I looked on all the survivor lists and I couldn’t find your name anywhere," Rose said, backtracking in her mind to remember if she had read the list carefully. Jack smiled at Rose.

"I wasn’t on any of the survivor lists because a fisherman and his family found me and they kept me on their boat. But I checked the survivor lists and you weren’t there," Jack said. Rose bit her lip nervously. She didn’t know if she should tell him that she had taken his name.

"I took your name, Jack. I hope you’re not upset. I thought you were gone and I wanted to just have that little part of you with me and I didn’t…" Rose rattled on, but was stopped by Jack laying his fingers across her lips.

"I couldn’t care less if you took my name. All I care about is that you’re alive and all right. And judging by Molly still being alive, I’m guessing that you have a home that gives you good shelter," Jack said. Rose nodded her head, looking at Jack’s dirty clothing.

"And judging by the way your clothes are, I’m guessing you’ve been living in a place that rats have been living in," Rose said sympathetically. Jack nodded his head, embarrassed by how grungy and dirty he looked.

"Yeah, we get along great," Jack said, lightening the mood. Rose looked into his beautiful eyes and smiled.

"Come live with Molly and me," Rose said. Jack blinked hard.

"What?"

"Please, Jack. We can start a life together before we get enough money to buy a house, and we can make everything count. Jack, I can’t let you live in a place where the vermin gets the best of you! I want you to live with me and Molly! That’s all I could ever want! Jack, I love you!" Rose told him.

"Y-you…love me?" Jack asked, a smile creeping across his face. Rose nodded her head as she moved in closer to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I love you more than anyone I’ve ever known," Rose said with a smile. Jack smiled at her as he cupped her cheek with his hand.

"I love you so much, Rose," Jack said, moving in to kiss her. Rose and Jack stood lovingly in each other’s arms as the memorial service began. They let go of each other, smiles on their faces.

"Want to get out of here and…can I take you to the stars?" Jack smirked playfully at Rose. Rose smiled and held his hand tightly.

"I don’t see the need for us to be here anymore. We found each other," Rose said with a smile. They smiled and laughed happily as they walked back to Rose and Molly’s home. It took a year after the sinking for them to realize that being together was all they ever wanted.

This is all I ever wanted
But life got in my way
You're all I ever wanted
I didn't see how it could change
This is all I ever wanted
Nothing will get in the way
You're all I ever wanted
I knew that somehow it could change
I didn't know what I was missing until...today.

The End.

Stories