HEARTS CAN BREAK
Chapter Nine

Cal could hear Jack and Rose speaking to each other, and his heart went aflame with envy, and then melted to cold steel. Every feeling he had ever had for Rose was evaporated in one instant, and he was unsure how to get them back. For although he had known that they were in love, he had never seen them display it so openly in public. Now, in front of every acquaintance Cal had ever made, his fiancée, with damp hair and love struck eyes, was kissing this--steerage boy--without any restraints at all! Obviously, they were so free at the moment that they didn't care.

As Lovejoy pulled him away from the rail where he stood watching, he managed to catch a last glimpse of the two and see Jack slip his hands down to the small of Rose's back while he kissed her, longer than before, and with more depth and love than Cal had ever seen. Rose had always frozen, lifeless, when he brushed his shoulder against her arm, or put a finger on her hand. He had thought it was because she wasn't used to being touched. Obviously, that was untrue. Just seeing this poor gutter rat loving on his beautiful fiancée was cutting through him. Even worse, she was enjoying and returning every kiss and caress he gave.

It was too late. He had tried, hadn't he? He had loved Rose, he realized now, but had not been able to display it and had waited too long to understand--waited until she was whisked from him in heart, soul, body, and mind.

There was only one thing left to do.

*****

Jack took in the scent of Rose's fiery curls pressed against his face--the scent of flowers, perfume, and silk--and let himself forget everything else for just a moment. As she pulled away to look at him, he grinned, which made her heart flutter. Their lips met again, staying passionately together. When they broke away, Rose fit herself to Jack's body, loving the feeling of his strong arms around her.

As Jack opened his mouth to say something, something that was dying to leave his lips, I love you, he happened to glance up. The first thing that greeted his eyes numbed his brain.

Caledon Hockley stood above them, holding onto a pillar on the staircase, a gun in his hand. He was cocking it and pointing it directly at them. His face was twisted and contorted with anger.

"Move, Rose!" Jack yelled, and began to run. Rose screamed as a gunshot rang out and a fixture on the Grand Staircase broke as a bullet pounded through it, inches from Jack's chest.

Terrified, Rose watched as Cal began to pursue them. Jack expertly took her hand and streaked with her down the Grand Staircase, guiding her around the corners as she continued to allow her eyes to dart back above. More shots flew by the both of them, barely missing their targets. Rose knew Cal was an expert gunman, a result of training in his country club, and she was just waiting to feel an unbearable pain piercing her heart, just waiting to see Jack fall. If he hurt Jack--

She didn't have time to think about it. Suddenly, she was jumping back into the icy water of D-Deck up to her knees. Not back here again, she mind-yelled. Jack was dragging her through the water.

Another bullet whizzed just past her head, embedding itself in a glass pane window. She let out a shriek.

"C'mon, Rose!" Another shot. Rose tried to run, but in the water, it was almost impossible.

"Rose! Go!" Jack yelled. He pushed her ahead of him into the dining saloon, which was nearer the stern. Because of this, the water level was less, and they were able to run on dry ground.

Legs churning and heads pounding, they finally made their way across the whole expanse, not hearing Cal shout behind them, "I hope you enjoy your time together!"

They tore over the fine carpet and around the back kitchens until they finally reached a third class staircase and hid in its nook.

"Shh," Jack whispered. Rose stood on the stair above him, her chest heaving. They were both lucky to have escaped with their lives. Jack stood next to her, one hand on hers, listening.

However, instead of hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, he heard screaming.

Terrified at what they were about to find but knowing they couldn't leave, both Jack and Rose fell down the last few steps and looked right. There, standing in the hallway with icy water swirling around his feet, a young boy stood. His burlap garment was starting to float around him, and he was shrieking for help.

Jack could not make this decision alone. In saving the boy, they risked themselves. In leaving, they risked another human.

Either way, they lost.

He looked over at Rose. "We can't leave him," she whispered. He had known what the answer would be. He looked behind her at the water already starting to pour down the stairs that they needed to get back up. The dining saloon was already flooded.

"All right. C'mon!" he yelled and raced to the little boy, water falling from the pipes above and streaming over the floors. He picked up the child and headed for two doors at the end of the corridor, the boy still screaming. It was then he saw the water gushing through the cracks and pressing at the other side. Quickly, he realized that if those doors gave way, a torrent of water would wash upon them and they stood little chance against it.

He turned automatically, hearing Rose sloshing behind him. However, terror engulfed his heart. Now the water was streaming down the steps so fast that it would be impossible to get back up. There was only one other way--a small hallway that led to the left.

"Go back!" he yelled, heading for the corridor. As he did, a man came running up to them. The boy's father.

"Co che! Co che la viate ona!" He yanked the shrieking child from Jack's arms and pushed Jack slightly backwards. With horror, the young couple watched as the father went and picked up a waterlogged suitcase lying strewn in the hallway. He continued to wade towards the doors, which were by now about to get pushed clean off their hinges by the force behind them.

"No! Wait! It's the wrong way! Come back!" both Jack and Rose cried behind him.

It was too late. There was a split second in which the man's eyes filled with terror and dread, and then the doors burst open. Suddenly, a solid wall of freezing, icy water was sweeping towards them.

"Run!" Jack bellowed over the roar of the water, and began to tear behind Rose, who turned the corner and blindly ran, searching for safety where there was none.

She felt a strong pull around her legs and, without warning, was falling into a current of rushing sea. It was cold--so amazingly freezing that she had to gasp in order to even think. Her breath was ice in her mouth, she felt penetrated--and Jack! Where was he?

Hands flailing, she allowed the water to carry her as she turned to search for him. He fell next to her, not willing to leave her. "Jack!" she cried, arms outstretched. He reached to her, but the gap between them was too great.

"Rose!" he yelled. He didn't know where they would end up, but he did know that he would die a million times before he allowed Rose to be hurt.

As suddenly as they had been swept up, they were slammed into a metal gate, another one of the horrible blockades in the ship. Lights flashed as a result of the water, the Titanic groaned, the water deepened.

Turning, Jack saw the small set of metal stairs they had been carried past. It was their only hope, but it was at least fifteen feet behind him and the water was torrenting at an incredibly powerful speed.

What choice did he have?

"C'mon!" he shouted over the roar of the noise around them. Going before Rose, he dragged himself against the current, the flashing hurting his eyes, the cold tearing through everything else.

He grabbed her hand, holding onto the pipes and the wall, pulling them along with all the strength he had.

Finally, he grabbed Rose around the waist and hauled her up above him onto the staircase. With an effort, he followed, and they ran as fast as their freezing bodies would go to the top, up each step.

"Oh, God!" Rose screamed. She felt despair running through her again.

At the height of the stairs, there was yet another locked metal gate that prevented them from escaping.

Jack, too, saw it and grasped the bars, rattling the gate's hinges. It was to no avail. The gate wouldn't budge.

"Help!" he shouted. Turning around briefly, he saw the green water lapping up towards them, slowly at first, but with more speed as the moments passed.

Both of them continued to yell, but seconds later the water was flooding around their feet and under the gate.

If there was ever a time to give up, it was now. They were both exhausted and could barely stand, but were being forced to fight harder than ever for their lives. No one was in sight, and they were trapped behind bars of steel that were as solid as ever.

Just as Rose was about to quit and sink to the floor, allowing the now shin-deep waters to overtake her, she heard a noise down the corridor. A steward, this one with straight dark hair, came running down the hallway. He was sloshing through the water, and the first thing Rose noticed was a ring of keys clanging on his belt.

"Wait, sir! Wait! Sir, open the gate! Please, sir, open the gate!" Jack yelled over the droning and creaking of the ship and the sea.

"Help us! Help us! Please!" Rose extended her hands through the bars. Her blue-green eyes flashed in fear.

For a moment, the steward considered. He began to turn around and make his way up the stairs, but he kept seeing Rose's young, terrorized face in his mind. If he didn't help the two, he sentenced them to death.

In a split second, he turned around. "Bloody hell," he muttered, and ran to the gate. The lights were now flickering on this floor as well, and the water was coursing in faster and faster until it was up to their knees.

The man unclasped the ring of keys from his belt and began fooling with them, his trembling fingers finding one out of the six and jamming it in the lock. It didn't work, so he let it fall as he tried another one.

"Come on! Come on! Hurry!" Jack and Rose cried, their eyes trained behind them on the ever-rising water level. "Go! Go!"

"Jesus," the steward mumbled, frightened by the cold and the dark and the water and the shouts. He first used one key, then another one, then another. There was only one more left, the one it had to be. Suddenly, a light near them burst and the sparks fell, glistening, before being carried downstream. "God!"

In the flashing, however, the man had let go of the keys. He had already been horrified and afraid, and had been shaking. When the light had gone out, he had ducked impulsively, and his hand had lost its grip. The keys fell down to the floor, which was buried beneath knee-deep water.

He turned to them, his face and eyes sad and frightened. "I'm sorry--I dropped the keys," he yelled loud enough for them to hear. Rose's eyes widened with panic and her skin turned pale.

Like it was nothing, the steward turned and ran back up the stairs, leaving the two to drown and freeze.

"No! Wait! Don't leave! Send more help! No!" Rose knew it was of no use, but she shouted after him anyway. With him, their tiny chance of survival disappeared as well.

Jack, whose mind was a bit more clear and practical, watched him for a split moment, but knew that it wouldn't help them to call him back. So, taking a deep breath, he plunged himself beneath the surface of the water.

Colors flickered green and yellow in front of him. He forced his eyes open against the painful, terrible cold and salt which bit through him like a knife. The Atlantic was more icy and powerful than anyone could ever imagine, and it took all of his endurance and love for Rose not to pop back up from the pain.

He groped through the three or so empty inches beneath the gate, his hand reaching and feeling. Nothing. Had the steward lied just so he could get out alive?

Just as Jack's lungs demanded air, his fingertips found a cold metal chain on the floor. The keys! Jack had found the keys. He grasped them, wrapped them around his wrist, and kicked to open air. Now the water was just above his waist.

"I got 'em!" he yelled, taking a breath. "I got 'em. Which one is it, Rose?" Her eyes flew momentarily over the set.

"The sharp one! Try the sharp one!" It was the only one the man hadn't attempted to use. She watched as he picked out her choice and thrust his arm through the bars, twisting his hand so he could pick at the lock.

"Hurry, Jack," she whispered, afraid, looking around her.

"Oh, no!" he shouted. "It won't go in!"

"Hurry, Jack." Although it was a repeat, she said it softer, forcing the words out.

"It's stuck! It's stuck!" Jack exclaimed. The sea had risen past their chests and the lights were now all but exploding, leaving them in pure darkness one moment and amazing brightness the next. Soon they were flickering on less and staying off more.

"Hurry, Jack!" she cried, terrified, as she felt water lapping around her neck and down her dress. The incredible loudness did nothing to quench her fears.

"It…I..." Jack concentrated less on talking and more on the lock.

Now, even struggling to stay above the surface, Rose's face was being buried by the depth.

"Hurry, Jack!" She fought her lips out of the water long enough to scream louder than she ever had.

There was a groaning, and then a sudden click. Jack breathed a sigh of slight relief. He had managed to unlock it.

"I got it!" he bellowed. "Go! Go, Rose!" He strained to open the metal against the current, but pulled it apart enough for both of them to slip through. With a gasp, she was somehow able to push her way past the landing and across the hallway. A pipe fixed across the ceiling blocked her way. She took a breath and went under the water to slip beneath it. Her hands flailed on the other side and she was able to resurface and take a breath and sit on the stairs.

She looked behind her. Jack was not there. Oh, God.

"Jack!" she cried, and felt her heart melt with happiness as his blonde hair and icy blue eyes appeared over the pipe. "Come on!"

He ducked beneath it and appeared next to her. "Move! Move!" he gasped, and they pulled themselves up the staircase. They had managed to escape the bowels of a monster--again.

Chapter Ten
Stories