JACK AND ROSE: PRESENT TIME
Chapter Twenty-Three

Jack woke up holding Rose in his arms. He smiled and kissed her gently. He looked around the room and saw Fabrizio sleeping on the hard floor. Dominique was sleeping in the other room, and Tommy was on the other bed.

Jack looked at the clock. It was 6:00 AM. He decided to take a shower.

After he was done, he got dressed for the day. He saw Rose stirring in her sleep. He whispered her name and she opened her eyes.

"Good morning beautiful," Jack said.

Rose rubbed her eyes. "Good morning cutie," she said as she stood up and walked to the bathroom.

When she came out Jack asked her, "Do you have any nail polish?"

Rose laughed. "Why?"

"Do you?"

Rose nodded and went to her bag. She got out some red nail polish and handed it to Jack.

"Shh, come here," Jack said as he took her hand. They sat by Fabrizio, who was still sound asleep on the floor.

Jack started to paint his nails, with Rose laughing.

"Oh, Fabrizio looks so pretty," Jack said when he was done in a girlish voice.

Rose started to laugh harder. Since it was almost 8:00 AM, and they had nothing else to do, they decided to go swimming.

Rose and Jack got on their suits and went to the pool they had on the ship.

Rose and Jack both thought back to their first date at Rose's house, and their first kiss.

They did what they did on their first date, they held hands and jumped in at the same time. It was cold.

They swam around for a while, enjoying each other's company.

Then, they saw Fabrizio and Dominique coming their way in their swimming suits.

They jumped in and swam to Rose and Jack.

"Where's Tommy?" Rose asked.

"He said he needed more rest," Fabrizio replied.

Jack started to laugh as he looked at Fabrizio's nails, which he obviously hadn't noticed. Rose started to laugh too.

"What?" Dominique asked.

Rose whispered what happened in Dominique's ear and she also started to laugh. Jack finally pointed to Fabrizio's nails.

"What the?" Fabrizio questioned.

"When? Why? How?" Fabrizio asked as he looked down at his painted finger nails.

"While you were sleeping," Rose said through her laughter.

Fabrizio smiled slightly. "Don't worry, I'll get you guys back."

After about an hour, they all got out of the pool. "Jack, do you think the ordeal with Cal is over?" Rose asked.

Jack shrugged. "I dunno Rose, I just don't know. But one thing's for sure, whatever happens, we'll go through it together."

Rose smiled. She had total trust in Jack, but she knew what kind of a man Caledon Hockley was.

Chapter Twenty-Four
Stories