Titanic

{Chapter Twenty-Nine}

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Jack stood at the window of the enclosed promenade in Rose's suite. He stared out into the night beyond, watching the sea foam that spread out from the sides of the great ship. The chilling winds caused Jack to shiver. He went back to the sitting room, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm, just as Rose entered.

"It's getting cold," he told her.

She was fully dressed now, wearing a flowing lavender dress - a color Ruth never appreciated - and no corset. Her ruby curls cascaded down her back. A naturally beautiful goddess.

"You look nice."

"Thank you--"

They heard a key in the lock. Rose took Jack's hand and led him silently through the bedrooms.

"My drawings!" Jack whispered. He had left them in the sitting room.

Lovejoy entered by the sitting room door. "Miss Rose? Hello?" He heard a door opening and went through Cal's room toward hers.

Rose and Jack came out of her stateroom, closing the door. She led him quickly along the corridor to the B Deck foyer. They were halfway across the open space when a door opened in the corridor and Lovejoy came out. He saw Jack with Rose and hustled after them.

Rose saw him coming. "Come on!"

She and Jack broke into a run, surprising the few ladies and gentlemen about. Rose grabbed his arm and rushed them past the stairs to the bank of elevators. They ran into one, shocking the hell out of the operator.

"Take us down! Quickly, quickly!"

The operator scrambled to comply. Jack even helped him close the steel gate. Lovejoy ran up as the lift started to descend. He slammed one hand against the bars of the gate. Rose flipped him the middle finger - a very rude and unladylike gesture - and laughed with Jack as Lovejoy disappeared above. The operator gaped at her.

Lovejoy emerged from the stairs and made his way to the lift that Jack and Rose were in. The operator was just closing the gate to go back up. Lovejoy ran around the bank of elevators and scanned the foyer...no Jack and Rose. He tried the stairs going down to F Deck.

The F Deck corridor was a functional space, with access to a number of machine spaces - fan rooms, boiler uptakes. Jack and Rose ran along it.

He crashed into a tea cart, knocking everything off of it, before tripping and falling on the ground. He stumbled back up, fumbling to put the objects back onto the cart.

Rose couldn't contain her laughter.

"Sorry!" Jack called back to the steward.

He grabbed Rose's arm and pulled her along, before they both collapsed and leaned onto a wall, laughing.

"Pretty tough for a valet, this fella. He seems more like a cop!"

"I think he was. Cal's father hired him to keep Cal out of trouble...to make sure he got back to the hotel with his wallet and watch, after some crawl through the less reputable parts of town..."

Jack took Rose's hands, pulling her closer. "Kind of like what we're doing right now--oh shit!"

Lovejoy had spotted them through a cross-corridor nearby. He charged toward them. Jack and Rose ran around a corner into a blind alley. There was one door, marked Crew Only, and Jack flung it open.

They entered a roaring fan room, with no way out but a ladder going down. Jack latched the deadbolt on the door, and Lovejoy came slamming against it a moment later.

"Where do we go now?" Rose shouted over the loud fans as she covered her ears.

Jack did the same. "What?" He grinned at Rose, pointing to the ladder. "After you, m'lady."

Rose shook her head. "No, you first!"

He scrambled down the escape ladder before helping Rose down herself, and she jumped into his arms. They looked around what appeared to be the boiler room in amazement. It was like a vision of Hell itself, with roaring furnaces and black figures moving in the smoky glow.

A worker confronted them. "Oi! What are you two doing down here? You shouldn't be down here, it could be dangerous--"

Rose grabbed Jack by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him along. They ran the length of the boiler room, dodging amazed stokers, and trimmers with their wheelbarrows of coal.

Jack shouted over the din. "Carry on! Don't mind us! You're doin' a great job, keep up the good work!"

They went through the open watertight door into boiler room six. Jack pulled her through the fiercely hot alley between two boilers, and they wound up in the dark, out of sight of the working crew. Watching from the shadows, they saw stokers working in the hellish glow, shoveling coal into the insatiable maws of the furnaces. The whole place thundered with the roar of the fires.

. . . . .

Amid unparalleled luxury, Cal sat at a card game, sipping brandy.

Colonel Gracie was praising the ship's speed. "We're moving like hell, I tell you. I have fifty dollars that says we make it into New York on Tuesday night!"

Cal looked at his gold pocket watch and scowled, not listening.

. . . . .

The furnaces roared, silhouetting the glistening stokers. Jack kissed Rose's face, tasting the sweat trickling down from her forehead. He leaned in closer, until their lips touched. They kissed passionately in the steamy, pounding darkness.

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Lucky!  I wanna steamy kiss from Jack!