"...is anyone alive out there?"
Suddenly, Rose's memories vanished as she opened her eyes at the voice. She realized again what had happened. She was no longer on the ship. She was in the icy waters of the Atlantic. She looked toward where the voice was coming from and saw a bright light moving around. She focused more and saw that it was a lifeboat, coming back for people.
She looked down at Jack. His lips were blue and he seemed to be sleeping.
"Jack, there's a boat!" she cried as she shook his hands. "Jack," she repeated. "Jack, there's a boat."
But Jack wasn't waking up.
Her heart was broken. She knew that he wouldn't be waking up. She remembered her promise to him. She had to survive. She had to live her life the way she wanted. She was to get married and have lots of babies. And last, she was to die an old woman, warm in her bed.
She knew what she had to do. She had to let go of Jack. She might let go of him physically…but emotionally she would never let go.
As she started to let go, he suddenly stirred.
"Jack! Jack! Wake up!" she screamed at him.
Jack groggily looked up at her, ice in his hair.
"Can't a guy get some sleep around here?" he asked, a little smirk on his face.
"Oh, Jack, I'm so happy you're still alive. I was so scared!" she said. "There's a boat, Jack. They've come back for survivors."
"We have to get them over here, Rose. It's our only chance!" Jack said.
Rose looked around for a moment, trying to figure out how to get the boat to hear them. Suddenly, she saw a dead crewman in the water, frozen to death. He still had his whistle in his mouth.
"Over there, Jack!" Rose cried. "Jack, you need to get out of the water. I'll swim over and use the whistle. You need to get on the door."
"That's a great idea, Rose. It is a bit cold down here," Jack joked.
Rose smiled at him, knowing that she loved him with all her heart.
We made it. We're going to be all right.
Rose rolled off the door and made sure that Jack was able to get on. As soon as Jack was steadily on the door, Rose swam with all her might to the whistle. She couldn't feel anything, really, but she made herself swim. When she reached the man with the whistle, she didn't even have time to think about it. She grabbed the whistle and started blowing it with all the strength she had left.
The crewmen shone the light towards her.
"Over there!" one of the crewmen yelled.
Thank God…a survivor!
*****
After Rose and Jack had been picked up by the lifeboat, they just lay there, wrapped in blankets, trying to warm up as much as they could. A flask was being passed around. She drifted off for some time and awoke to Jack's voice.