JACK AND ROSE: TOGETHER FOREVER
Chapter Forty-Five

August 9, 1914

Rose and Jack stood at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was nighttime and the whole city was lit up. To Jack and Rose, it was the perfect way to end their vacation in Paris. They were leaving first thing tomorrow morning and Rose had suggested they come back and stand at the top one last time. Now, with the wind blowing their hair, they stood watching Paris from one of the tallest buildings in the world. Rose sighed and leaned back against Jack.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“No,” Rose mumbled, “just tired."

Jack nodded as Rose went back to looking out at Paris. Something was wrong, and he could tell. Only, Rose wasn’t telling him anything. Since about last week she had been quiet, almost as if she were pre-occupied with something. Or if she were thinking long and hard about something. But whenever he asked if something was the matter, she would say no. ‘Maybe she’s just getting a little homesick,’ Jack thought as he pulled her closer. They had been in Paris some time now and even Jack was started to get anxious to go home. He missed just sitting back and relaxing at home with nothing to do or anywhere to go. Ever since they had gotten to Paris, they had been going 90 miles an hour with everything. Jack looked down at Rose again; she was looking out at Paris with an amazed look in her eyes. She was leaning backwards against him and his arms were wrapped around her. Jack smiled and pulled her closer to him. Rose squeezed his hand in her own.

“It’s so beautiful,” she suddenly whispered.

“Yes, it is,” Jack whispered resting his chin on the top of her head.

“We’ve never been up here at night,” Rose went on.

“No, it really is more beautiful like this though,” Jack answered.

“Yeah,” Rose whispered nodding her head. They stood there for a few more minutes before Rose suddenly put her hands to her temples and groaned.

“Rose? Are you sure you’re okay?” Jack asked, getting worried.

Rose shook her head and sat down on a near by bench. “I have this dreadful headache that keeps getting worse,” she mumbled as Jack sat down next to her.

“You wanna go back?” Jack asked. If she was getting sick, he didn’t want to make it worse by having her out and about on the town.

Rose shook her head again, “No. Jack, I’m sure I’ll be fine tomorrow and I don’t want to ruin our last night here. Who knows if we’ll ever be back.”

“You’re sure Rose? I don’t mind. We can go back,” Jack offered lifting her head with his finger.

She looked into his eyes, “No Jack, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

Jack nodded, “Okay. Just tell me when you want to go back alright.”

Rose nodded back, “Yeah, I will.”

Jack smiled, “We could somewhere else, maybe it’s the altitude that’s giving you this headache.”

Rose bit her lip, she was pretty sure it wasn’t the altitude that was causing her to suddenly get this headache. Highs had never given her problems before. Maybe she was really was getting sick. She nodded, “Okay. Let’s go somewhere and sit, on the ground. Maybe it is the altitude.”

Jack nodded and took her hand. He helped her up and Rose smiled as best she could at him. She didn’t want to ruin their last night in Paris just because she wasn’t feeling well. They took the elevator to the very bottom and stepped out onto solid ground, Rose not saying anything the whole time. Once they were walking on the grass, Jack made Rose sit down. She didn’t argue and thankfully flopped down on the ground, lying her head back and taking a few deep breaths. Jack laid down next to her and Rose snuggled up in his arms. Somehow sitting like his with him made her forget about not feeling well. Jack kissed the top of her head and then looked up at the stars. He sighed, causing Rose to turn and look at him.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Hmm, no, I’m just happy we’re going back tomorrow. I miss home,” Jack said.

“Me too,” Rose whispered. “I miss our bed. I’m sick of hotel beds.”

“Yeah,” Jack mumbled.

“Are you nervous sat all about the ship?” Rose asked. Jack shook his head, “I don’t know. Mostly yes, but some part of me is saying its going to be okay.”

Rose nodded, “Yeah, that’s how I feel too.”

Jack smiled, “We’ll be okay Rosie."

Rose smiled, forgetting about her headache for the moment. “You always make me feel better,” she whispered.

Jack smiled, “I just want you to be happy Rose.”

“I’m very happy Jack,” Rose said sincerely. “Good,” Jack whispered. “Is you’re head feeling better?”

“Yes,” Rose said. It was almost true. The bad part of her headache was gone and she could barley feel it now. But she didn’t want to worry Jack.

Jack smiled at her; “Maybe it was the altitude.”

“Maybe,” Rose whispered back, though she doubted it.

“How about we get one last picture and then head back,” Jack whispered.

Rose nodded and pulled the camera out of her peruse. She handed it to Jack.

“Okay, stand right there,” Jack directed jumping up and pointing to a spot on the grass. Rose got up and stretched before standing where Jack said to. Jack looked through the shutter and smiled. He saw Rose standing there with the Eiffel Tower in the background. “Okay Rose, that’s a good shot. Now smile,” he said. Rose laughed and smiled like she didn’t have a headache or a care in the world.

*****

Rose lay in bed, not being able to get to sleep. Her headache had returned and was causing her to lie wide-awake with nothing else to do but think. Jack was asleep next to her and had been for some time. From outside the sounds of the night came through an open window across the room from the bed. Everyone once in a while, someone would walk by talking with someone else, a car would go by, or the clamping of horse’s hooves would sound against the pavement. The only light was the moonlight spilling in through parted shades. Rose sighed and tried to go over things in her mind. Why was she getting these headaches? And why had she been so tired? One more thing crossed her mind as she lay there in the dark. She had skipped her period last week. To Rose, that was really unusual. Ever since she was about twelve she had always been on time or a day or two off either way. She was wondering if maybe it was because of the combined nervousness and excitement of going home, and on another ship. But then again, nothing like this had ever happened before. Even after the Titanic experience, she had been right on time. Rose shook her head and tried to remember everything her mother had told her about why she could skip her period. ‘Lets see,’ she thought, ‘stress? I haven’t been under any stress lately. Diet? I eat well. Nervousness? I’m not paranoid about anything. And even if I was, I don’t think that would do it. Exercise? I’ve been exercising more then I do at home. Pregnant-’ Rose stopped thinking and sat up in bed. “Oh my God,” she whispered out loud. She heard Jack groan and she felt him roll over. Rose glanced at him, he was still asleep. ‘Good,’ she thought. ‘Oh my lord, pregnancy. Why didn’t I think of this before? But wait, I don’t have any of the other signs, except for headaches. I haven’t felt really sick. And not really tired, just worn out tired.’ Rose glanced at Jack again before getting out of bed quietly and slipping into the bathroom. She closed the door before turning on the light and then sat down on the toilet. First, she grabbed an aspirin out of her makeup bag and swallowed it down, trying to get rid of her headache. Then she pulled a piece of paper from Jack’s pant pocket. Nothing was on it so Rose grabbed a pen too and started sketching out a calendar on the paper. Once she had two mouths down, July and August, she started filling in dates. “Okay, last time I got my period was, ah, let’s see, the 15th of July,” she whispered putting at little star on that date. Then she counted off twenty-one days, because she got her period every three weeks. Rose found the date and put a little star on the 4th of August. Then she counted about ten days, because that was about halfway through her time, from the 15th of July. That put her at the 24th and 25th of July. She stuck another little star in-between those dates. “Now, let’s see,” Rose whispered trying to think back. What had she been doing on those dates? ‘Were those the days we were up in the mountains?’ she thought. “Oh my God they were!” she whispered. Rose bit her lip and stood up, sticking the paper in her makeup bag. She looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t be sure yet, technically nothing else was wrong. And she couldn’t be sure that the calendar she had made was totally to scale. But things did fit together well, and she did have reason to believe she was pregnant. ‘I guess I’ll just watch things for a while, see what happens. It could all be a bit mistake,’ she thought.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the bathroom door. “Rose?” came Jack’s tired voice.

Rose made sure no evidence of her writings was around and called, “Yes?” She didn’t want to tell Jack about her suspicions yet. It would just be getting his hopes up and if it were a false alarm, he would be disappointed.

“Are you okay?” he asked, clearer this time.

“Yeah,” Rose said pulling open the door. Jack was standing there in a pair of pants only, his hair was messed up totally, and his eyes were barely open due to the sudden light. Rose bit her lip to keep from laughing. “I was taking some aspirin,” she said turning off the light and walking back out into the bedroom.

Jack nodded, “Your headache back?”

“Just a little. I woke up and it had come back. I couldn’t sleep so I decided to get up and try to get rid of it. I didn’t wake you did I?” Rose asked as she got back into bed.

Jack shook his head and got back into bed also. “No, I kind of woke up and rolled over to hold you and you were gone. That’s when I noticed the bathroom light.”

“Oh,” Rose whispered getting snuggling under the covers.

Jack wrapped his arms around her and Rose took his hand in her own. “You okay now?” he asked.

Rose nodded, “I will be. Thank you Jack.”

Jack closed his eyes and smiled. “Goodnight Rose,” he whispered.

Rose squeezed his hand. “Night Jack,” she whispered back. In a few minutes Jack was fast asleep and Rose just laid her watching him. She loved doing that, just watching Jack sleep. She thought about her suspicions while she was doing this. What if it was true, and she was pregnant. Oh, it would be wonderful to finally have a child. She smiled and closed her eyes. If she didn’t stop thinking about it now, she’s never get to sleep. Rose sighed and led her mind relax, willing herself not think about children. But one last thing came to her mind as she finally started to fall asleep, if she was pregnant, how was she ever going to tell Dianna?

Chapter Forty-Six
Stories