ALL THE WAY
Chapter Seven

Rose quickly walked up the front steps to Brittany's modest home, a soft blue-colored Victorian beauty that was just a few blocks from the Dawsons'. Michael and Jillian, each carrying a pack full of things, were right in front of Rose and Luke was doing his best to keep up with everyone.

Before Rose even had a chance to knock, Brittany threw open the door and smiled excitedly. "Hey!" she yelled happily as Jillian and Michael reached up to hug her.

"Hi, Aunt Brittany!" Jillian screamed, smiling brightly.

"Shh, Jillian, calm down," Rose cautioned as she watched Michael and Jillian run into the house, yelling something about finding Cameron.

Brittany smiled at Rose and then leaned down to Luke's height. The boy was hiding behind his mother's leg, holding onto a blanket. "Hey Luke...are you ready to come and spend the night with me?" she asked softly, slowly standing up.

Luke nodded solemnly, before looking up at Rose. "Me go with Jilly and Mike?" he asked.

Rose nodded and leaned down to kiss him. "I'll see you tomorrow," she whispered.

Luke nodded and then started into the house. "Bye, Mommy," he called, running in the direction that Jillian and Michael did.

Brittany took Luke's bag from Rose, who was calling good-bye to Jillian and Michael. There was a distant reply from the children from somewhere inside the house.

Rose laughed and then thanked Brittany.

"Oh, it's no problem. It gets a little quiet around here," Brittany said.

Rose sighed. "Well, I just hope they behave themselves. You know how wild they can get, especially Michael. Last week I caught him putting peanut butter in the dog’s hair. And I still have no idea why. It took three baths to get the stuff out of Addy's hair and Mike just stood there the whole time and laughed."

Brittany started laughing at the image of Michael smearing peanut butter in Addy's hair. Rose glared at her after a moment, making it clear that she didn't think it was funny.

Brittany mumbled sorry and then cleared her throat. "So what is this project?" she asked, changing the subject.

"What?" Rose asked, totally confused as to what Brittany was talking about.

"When Jack asked me to watch the kids he said something to the effect of 'Rose and I need to work on our project.' And then he didn't give any explanation."

Rose blushed deeply and looked down at her feet. "We, ah, its just something...well, it's...." she trailed off, not knowing how to explain. How like Jack, she thought, to call it "the project." She'd have to tease him about that later.

Brittany started laughing when she realized what they were up to. She rolled her eyes. "I should have known. Hmm, well, good luck...I guess," she said to her.

Rose looked up and smiled. "Thanks," she said, still blushing. "I think."

Brittany smiled back. "Glad I can help. Now get out of here."

Rose mumbled another thank you and good-bye and the left Brittany and Cameron's house. As she started home, Rose hummed to herself and dreamed about the next twenty-four hours. The anticipation was making her light-headed and giddy, making her smile and sigh. It was going to be wonderful.

She hurried home just then and pushed open the front door. "Oh, Jack Dawson!" she called happily, closing the door behind her.

Jack heard Rose call and he quickly came downstairs. He picked her up and spun her around, making Rose laugh and shout out his name. As he put her down, Rose kissed him on the cheek and let him hold her in his arms.

"Have I got an evening planned for you!" he whispered excitedly.

Rose raised her eyebrows, smiling at Jack. "Whatever do you mean by that?" she asked, teasing him in her own way.

"Well, I thought, tonight, we would go out for a nice dinner--"

"Jack, we don't need to do that," Rose interrupted.

Jack held a finger to her lips, telling her to be quiet. "Just listen," he whispered. "We are going to go to dinner and then I got us theater tickets!"

Rose gasped. "You did what?" she asked, her eyes open wide in shock. "We actually get to go to the theater?"

Jack nodded, enjoying her reaction. "The tickets are for seven, and I got the dinner reservations for five o'clock, so we'd better get going. It’s almost four as it is."

Rose smiled and pulled away from Jack. "All right. I am going," she said starting toward the stairs. Jack watched her go and smiled, his mind wandering to the night’s plans.

*****

"Jack, these seats are wonderful! They must have been a fortune," Rose exclaimed, commenting on the private balcony theater seats Jack had gotten. They were close to the stage, high up in their own little area. There were only two seats, perfect for Jack and Rose.

The evening so far had been a wonderful experience. Jack had taken Rose to her favorite Italian restaurant, spoiling her in more ways then necessary. They had both ordered wonderful dishes, shrimp pasta for Jack and spaghetti for Rose, and had ordered a bottle of the restaurant’s best wine. That bottle, now only half full, was tucked away in Rose's deep purse. It was to be used later, when the couple got home.

After dinner, instead of taking a taxi, they had walked to the theater, enjoying the crisp October weather. After arriving at the theater just as it was opening its doors, Rose and Jack had spotted some friends and chatted for a little while.

Now, as they were getting settled, Rose was anxiously awaiting for the performance to start. She loved plays, and she had a feeling this was going to be wonderful. The actress playing the lead character had come all the way from France to perform. And the lead actor was one of the best in America. The story was about family loyalty, forbidden love, and obeying society's laws, all during the Revolutionary War. Rose thought it was an exciting plot, and kept reading over the summary that was written in the playbill.

While she was doing this, Jack noticed that she was getting a little restless at waiting for the performance to begin. So he reached over and softly took her gloved hand. She looked over and smiled, making his heart soar.

"You look beautiful," he whispered, just as the lights started to dim. An announcer came out stage and began talking about the rules and such, but neither Rose nor Jack was listening. Rose was caught up in Jack's eyes and Jack was thinking about how gorgeous she was. Dressed in a black flapper style dress with a slightly low neckline, Rose's curves stood out like never before. Her hair was done up in a French twist, but over the course of the evening, some loose curls had come out in the front and were now lying softly on her forehead. Around her neck was the locket he had given her for Christmas a few years ago. And on her ears were simple gold earrings that perfectly set off the rest of the outfit.

Rose blushed when Jack didn't divert his eyes after some time and turned her attention back to the play, feeling his hand let go of hers and then he put his arm around her. Rose leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. And then the play started.

Rose and Jack got caught up in the beautiful story and were soon so focused that they forgot about reality. There were tears in Rose's eyes when the woman's true love went off to the war, leaving her to deal with her controlling parents by herself. And both of them cheered, inwardly, when the girl, Caroline, talked down her parents and told them she was running off to marry her true love, not the man her parents wanted. Then there were more tears when Caroline realized that her love was missing in action. The story turned out happy though, the girl and boy getting to be together in the end.

Rose and Jack were some of the first ones standing afterward, both of them clapping wildly.

*****

Rose burst through the front door, laughing at a story Jack had just told her. Jack came in behind her, his own laughing filling the quiet house. He closed the door and the pulled her toward him. Rose was still giggling, but her mood changed when she saw Jack's eyes. There was nothing there now but love. And Rose felt her legs start to go weak. "Maybe we should go upstairs," she said breathlessly, her mouth becoming dry.

"We're not going upstairs right now," Jack whispered. He reached behind her and undid her hair, letting the pins drop to the floor.

"Why not?" Rose curiously wondered, her eyes meeting Jack's.

Jack started to smile and pulled her closer. He whispered something in her ear and Rose pulled back, totally shocked. "Jack! We can't do that! There are way too many rooms in this blasted house. We'd be here all night."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Exactly my point, my dear. Besides, we would leave out the bathrooms and the children's rooms. Come on, we have this whole house to ourselves for one night. Even poor Addy is outside. Why don't we take advantage of it?"

Rose bent down and pretended to be really interested in taking off her shoes. When she succeeded in doing this, she stood back up and sighed. She covered her mouth with her hand and started laughing. "Oh! All right, Jack. You win," Rose said after she calmed down, her eyes still shining.

Jack smiled and took her hand. "Come on. We're going to start from the bottom and work our way up," he said, starting to pull her along.

Much, much later...

"Oh, dear, can you believe we just did that?" Rose asked. She looked over at Jack and blushed at the memories.

Jack yawned and nodded at the same time. He smiled and then pulled Rose closer, putting his arm around her shoulders. Rose softly rested her head against Jack's and closed her eyes. They were in their own room now, and had been for a couple of hours. But before they had actually gotten to their room, they had made passionate love in every room in the house. Well, except the children's bedrooms and all the bathrooms, like Jack had said. Rose had thought it was going to be a little, well, stupid. But once she and Jack actually got started, which didn't take long, she found it to be romantic and exciting. This night would stay locked in her mind for a long time.

Just then Jack turned his head around and pushed his forehead against Rose's. Rose first opened her eyes and then leaned over to kiss him softly. Pulling away, she let her hands roam over his bare chest, drawing little circles and triangles.

"I heard you told Brittany about 'our project,'" Rose said suddenly. She started giggling. "Is that what we are going to call it now, 'our project'?" she mocked in a deep voice.

Jack started laughing at his own wording and then moved so that he and Rose were both lying on their sides. "I had to tell her something," he explained, still laughing.

Rose laughed harder at that and didn't stop until Jack kissed her. "Hey," she said, pulling away, trying not to laugh again. "Our project," she mocked once more, causing her to erupt into giggles again.

Jack reached over and tried to tickle her but Rose moved out of the way and sat up. He followed her and instead of tickling her, grabbed her arms from around her back. Rose stood there laughing, while Jack rested his head on her shoulder.

"Be nice," he warned, although Rose could tell he was trying not to laugh as well.

"I will," she finally promised, calming down.

Jack kissed her shoulder and then let her go, lying back down as he did so. Rose followed him and they fell back into the places they had been before sitting up.

"I do love you, Rose, even when you tease me," Jack whispered, kissing her hair.

Rose looked over at him and sighed happily. He looked adorable at the moment, his hair hanging in his face, his body gorgeously bare, and his eyes filled with love. There was a content, calm, refreshed look on his face that made Rose smile.

"I love you, too, Jack. I hope this all works out," she said, kissing him gently again.

Jack closed his eyes and found her hand under the sheets. He brought it up to his lips and kissed it softly, making her close her own eyes and cuddle closer to him.

"I'm going to sleep now," she whispered. "Good night, Jack."

"Good night, Rose," he whispered back. He let their joined hands rest in the little space separating the upper half of their bodies. Jack heard Rose sigh happily one last time before slipping into a peaceful sleep.

Chapter Eight
Stories