UNABLE TO STAY, UNWILLING TO LEAVE
Written by Rose Austen
Based on some situations originated by James Cameron.

Rose let Jack drag her through what seemed like endless passageways. She was drenched and freezing and finding it very hard to care what happened to her. How could she have been so stupid? This wasn't a game any longer. This wasn't about annoying her mother or making Cal jealous. Flirting with Jack had seemed harmless before, but now the world was coming to an end, and she realized she was losing the only person she cared about.

She hadn't seen Mr. Andrews since he'd told her where the Master-at-Arms had taken Jack. She'd owed Jack that much; after all, he'd been sincere in his efforts, and she couldn't help if it she didn't love him any more than she loved Cal. She'd been wrong to use him that way, but it was only now that she could see clearly. But she'd wasted all this time, when she could have freed him and then searched for Thomas. Now she'd never even get to say good-bye.

She thought back on the all-too-brief time they'd spent together. That first day at lunch, she'd thought he was the handsomest man she'd ever seen, his suppressed laughter at her comment about Freud intriguing her. And the admiration in his eyes when she'd asked him about the lifeboats--no other man had ever complimented her on her intelligence. She was sure neither Cal nor Jack cared if she had a brain in her head.

But most of all, when Thomas told her the ship was sinking, she could hardly take it in, so conscious was she of his closeness, of his hands on her, even through the fabric of her coat. No doubt he thought it was shock and fear that left her trembling, but she barely registered the fact that she might die; he had never touched her before, and it was all she could think of.

How could she have been so blind, not to recognize in him the one man who understood her perfectly, who made her feel not only beautiful but clever, whose very touch set her aflame. And, remembering the way he always looked at her, the one man who truly loved her. She knew now, with a clarity born of despair, that she loved him, too. What a fool she'd been. But now it was too late.

She barely noticed her surroundings; one room filling with water seemed just like any other. Jack urged her to hurry, when what she really wanted to do was just stay and wait for the end. What was the point of struggling? What was the point of anything now?

She recognized the stained glass windows of the first-class smoking room, and then a tall figure, standing motionless in front of the fireplace. She stopped, pulling her hand from Jack's.

"Mr. Andrews."

He looked at her, seemingly in shock. His lifebelt lay on a table. "Oh...Rose."

"Won't you even make a try for it?" She couldn't bear the thought of him facing death alone, although in the back of her mind, she'd always known he'd choose to take responsibility and stay.

"I'm sorry I didn't build you a stronger ship..." His voice broke. "...darling Rose." He held out his lifebelt but, ignoring it, she threw herself into his arms. In spite of the chaos around them--Titanic's metallic death groans, the terrified screams she could hear faintly from outside--she felt sheltered, and more content than she'd ever been in her life. All she wanted was to stay in his arms, and she clung to him, until he gently pushed her away.

"Please don't make me go," Rose whispered.

"You must, Rose." His eyes no longer held that dazed look; in them she could see mingled heartbreak and the love she knew was mirrored in her own.

"Come on, Rose. It's going fast." She'd forgotten about Jack.

It was like having the heart torn from her body, but she took the lifebelt and let Jack lead her through the revolving doors. She looked back for a last glimpse of Thomas, who stood at the fireplace, his head bowed.

Outside in the freezing air it was bedlam--people clawing at each other, panicking like maddened animals, looking for a way out that didn't exist--and it shocked Rose from her lethargy. The silence of the first class smoking room, with its fireplace still blazing, seemed like a refuge of quiet and warmth--and love, because Thomas waited there.

All her life she'd done what other people told her to do--her mother, Cal--just once she was going to do what she wanted to do, what her heart told her to do. She tore free of Jack's grasp. "Jack, I can't."

"Rose, there's not much time." He tugged at her arm.

She looked back towards the room they'd just left. "I can't leave him."

"Are you crazy, Rose? What is he to you?"

"He is my life," she said simply. She handed Jack the lifebelt. "You'll be all right, Jack; you're a survivor. But will you do one thing for me?"

"What?" Jack was still staring at her incredulously.

"Tell them. Tell everyone that Mr. Andrews had nothing to do with the sinking. Tell them his ship was a wonder, truly." She gave him a little push. "Go on, Jack. Good luck." She couldn't waste anymore time.

Running back through the revolving doors, she saw him still standing by the fireplace, setting the clock on the mantel. She put her hand on his arm. "Mr. Andrews...Thomas..."

He looked up. "Rose, what are you doing here?"

"You stay, I stay."

"But the boats...you might still be able to..."

"The boats are gone, but it wouldn't make any difference. I left you once; I won't do it again."

He grasped her shoulders and looked at her with those eyes that saw everything, and revealed everything as well. "You're not frightened, Rose?"

"Only of a life without you."

"Oh, Rose..." He kissed her then, and in his kiss was all of his strength and gentleness, and the passion of the life they would have shared together. As the world splintered into a million pieces, his arms tightened around her, and Rose's last thought was that Thomas would never let her go, that they would be together always, through the cold, swirling darkness that enveloped them now, and in the clear, white light that waited beyond.

The End.

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