Reuniting with Roses

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rose flinches at the sound of the door being knocked, and Cornelia quickly removes a pin from Rose's dress, the pin pricking Rose. She lets out a little yelp, and Cornelia motions her to sit down while she heads to the door.

"It's probably just a ten minute warning," Rose tells Cornelia.

"Well, we've got to be sure," Cornelia says. Rose turns away and faces the mirror as Cornelia opens the door. Rose places her hands in her laps and sighs. Her worries are growing, and she wonders how she'll do today with filming.

As she daydreams, she is cut off by Cornelia who has a hand on her hip as she yells by the door.

"I'm sorry, but we're busy right now. You have to come back later."

"Ma'am, please. I've got to see her," Rose hears a familiar masculine voice. No, it couldn't be. That couldn't be Jack's sweet voice ringing through her ears.

The nerves are getting to me, Rose thinks as Cornelia continues to argue with whoever is at the door.

"Please, my name is Jack, Jack Dawson," she hears.

Rose gasps loudly, and her heart thuds against her chest. She drops one of the pins in her hands, and it creates a thud as it drops on the floor.

No, it couldn't be. It couldn't be Jack Dawson standing at the door. He died. She knows he died. She watched him float to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Rose feels tears gather in her eyes, and she shoots up from her chair, heading over to the door.

"I told you, we are busy," Cornelia argues.

"Move aside, Cornelia," Rose says through her teeth. "Let him in."

Cornelia surprisingly agrees to Rose, opening the door so Jack, or whoever this may be, can come in.

Rose nearly falls to the floor as she gazes into those familiar baby blue eyes. Her heart nearly stops, and she holds back her tears. This is the Jack Dawson she lost nine years ago, and here he is, at her doorstep.

"I-I'm sorry. I think I'm mistaken. Y-You look like someone I know...who died."

Jack takes a step forward. "No, Rose. It's me, Jack."

Rose lets a tear fall down her cheek now. "Jack," she whispers.

Cornelia's cough breaks up their moment, and she gazes as both Jack and Rose. "You two know each other?"

"He's real? You see him?" Rose asks, her voice shaky with tears. A laugh comes from Jack, and Cornelia stares at Rose as if she's gone mad.

Before anyone can speak again, Rose suddenly flings herself into Jack's outstretched arms. His fingertips brush her back, and suddenly his lips are on hers. Rose has longed for a kiss from Jack for nine years.

Rose's eyes are full of tears now, and she begins to sob into Jack's chest. He rubs her back as she cries, and she cries harder. This doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel real. How can this all be real?

Rose looks up, gazing into Jack's eyes who are watery too. "What? How?!"

"I swam to a lifeboat," Jack says, rubbing a tear that slides down her cheek.

"B-but you were dead!" Rose's voice quivers with each word she speaks. "I watched you. I watched you sink down to the bottom of the Atlantic."

Jack kisses her again, wiping another tear from her eye that is black from the make-up that has been smudged. But Rose doesn't care about the make-up, the dresses, or the acting anymore. This is what she has wanted all along.

"I was alive, Rose, and I'm here now," he says, and Rose begins to cry into his chest again. She's longed for him for nine years, and now here he is, right at her doorstep.

Rose continues to cry as she hears footsteps enter into the room. "Five minutes until..." She can tell it's a crew member, and she hears him whisper to Cornelia who says something back that Rose can't quite catch through her sobs.

Rose looks up, and the man jumps at her appearance. Rose can only imagine what she looks like at the moment. "I won't be ready by then!" she shouts, crying into Jack again.

He rubs her back again. "I've been looking for you for nine years, Rose," he whispers into her ear.

Rose wishes she could say the same. But no, she's spent the last nine years looking for an acting career, thinking Jack had died on that April morning. "I love you, Jack," she whimpers.

Suddenly, Jack picks her up, carrying her over to the couch located behind Rose's oval mirror.

"I love you too," he says, sitting down on the couch.

Rose continues to cry, and Cornelia says something that Rose cannot understand. Jack replies, but Rose is too busy crying to listen or care.

Jack then begins to rock Rose back and forth, and her sobs begin to decrease slightly. Her sobs begin to turn into yawns, and Jack begins to softly sing to her.

"Come Josephine in her flying machine, going up she goes, up she goes..." As he continues to sing, Rose gazes up into his baby blue eyes and smiles. She smiles a real smile this time, one she has not shown in nine years. Before she can help herself, she falls asleep in Jack's arms.