Titanic - The Continued Story

Chapter 6 - Docking

Carpathia docked at Pier 54 in Manhattan, April 18, 1912, at 9:15 PM. It was dark and chilly outside, and thousands had crowded to see the miraculous survivors of the Ship of Dreams. Photographers stood at the front trying to capture the likes of the noteworthy mortals, like Molly Brown, or Madeleine Astor, who was now a mourning widow. The crowd was quiet. All that you could hear were gasps, murmurs, and cameras going off.

Jack and Rose were standing in line, holding hands, anxiously waiting to get off. Jack had gotten an old coat from a steward aboard the ship to take with him. Rose fumbled in the pocket of Cal's coat, pondering on whether to tell Jack what she had found or not. She wondered what his reaction would be.

"All right, clearance for third class passengers to disembark the ship", a steward shouted. Of course, they were the last. The press didn't care for the penniless survivors. Maybe they would take a picture or two for publicity, but no more. People aboard the Carpathia had been kind and gentle, of course, giving out spare clothes, food and assistance. But that is because they were involved in it all. The people outside have no real idea of how it had actually been.

"Rose, Mr Dawson", Rose heard Gwen's voice coming up from behind. "Do you have anywhere to stay?"

Jack and Rose looked at each other, then shook their heads.

"But we'll find something", Jack said.

"But it's almost night", Gwen uttered, "and my Lady said they'd be taking on survivors at the Jane Hotel, in Greenwich Village."

Jack looked at Rose. All he wanted to do was rest; not run around New York City at midnight trying to find a bed.

"That sounds nice", Rose said and clutched Jack's weak arm. "And where will you go?"

"Oh, we will be staying at the Plaza, her Lady thought she should stay here a while, and not go back with the Carpathia to its original route, you see, she says it's cursed. But perhaps we'll see each other again?"

Gwen started to turn around when Rose stopped her.

"Who's your Lady? If we ever want to see you again, that is", she said.

"Lady Laura Scarborough", Gwen smiled. "But what ever is your last name? I never seemed to catch it."

"It doesn't matter", Rose stuttered. "Just say you're looking for a Mr Jack Dawson."

Gwen nodded politely and left.

They arrived at the Jane. They got a rather small room for Rose's taste, but to Jack it was more or less a suite. The lower half of the walls were covered in white wooden wainscoting, and the upper in beige and green flowery tapestry. There was a little corner with an armchair and a couch accompanied with a dark wooden coffee table, on top of it a small vase with a couple of blue and pink hyacinths. The bed had a crimson red bedspread and was placed opposite to a little window facing down the Hudson River, the city lights from New Jersey lit up the skyline. A lamp beside the bed on the nightstand left a warm ambience in the room.

"This'll do", Jack said, as if he hadn't been content with sleeping on a staircase underneath the stars, but now he looked down on the bed as if it had been a hundred years since he's had a decent sleep. He took off his new coat and tossed it over the armchair.

"I suppose we'll just... go to sleep", he said, a bit hesitant.

It hadn't quite hit him until now that Rose might feel it inappropriate to share a room, nevertheless a bed, with a man, when they're unmarried. Of course, that hadn't stopped them before.

"I'll just go and get undressed", Rose said.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and do that", Jack insisted politely, and turned away as soon as he felt a bit of blushing coming on. "I'll just, I'll just sit here", he stammered.

Rose smiled at him and walked into the bathroom. The bathroom had the same decorated walls with cream colored stone tiles and a porcelain bathtub. She had stayed in a hotel room this size before, when she and Mother were traveling from Philadelphia to Lancester to visit a couple of family friends for the wedding of their eldest daughter. Rose wasn't more than nine or ten at the time, and so when the train had to do an emergency stop for - Lord knows what - in the middle of the stormy night, she found it quite exciting to be having to stay at a far-off, inferior and indelicate hotel in the middle of nowhere. Mother, however, didn't; she still remembers her whining and snobby comments to the train conductors, not to mention the ones aimed at the hotel staff. The hotel tried to do its best and give them their biggest room, and all sorts of room service they could provide; but it wasn't enough for Mother. It was inexplicable, she called it, and probably flea-infested.

She stood and observed herself in the bathroom mirror. Oh, how exhausted she looked. Her face was dry and even more pale than before, and the circles beneath her eyes had turned red and purple. Her lips were still in need of dense moisture, and so were her hands. She would kill for a bottle of hand cream.

She began to take off Cal's coat, gently hanging it on a hook on the wall, making sure the necklace was in there, safe and sound. She took of her heels with a deep sigh of relief; her feet had been aching for days now. She looked at her pink and lilac dress. It had gotten rather torn, even if it was new; sewn up for the journey and all. She slowly took off the dress, inch by inch; the dress she had put on merely four days ago and hadn't taken off since.

Her undergarments hadn't taken quite as much damage, but oh, for how she longed to take them off. She had untightened her corset aboard the Carpathia a bit, but certainly not enough for her to feel a bit relaxed. She started to untie it at the back to loosen it more, not realizing how hard it is to do it on your own and not with the help of a maid. Like Trudy.

She heard a knock on the door.

"Rose, I was just thinking, if you would rather have me sleep on the couch, I, I can do that."

Rose opened the door to Jack's consternation; just wearing her corset.

"Jack, I'd rather have you hold me through the night", she said, staring at him with her big doe eyes, as if this was the most serious thing she'd ever had to say.

Jack smiled: "I won't say no to that."

The two stared at each other, tired and exhausted, but full of excitement and eagerness on what's to come.

She put her hand on his cheek, not losing eye contact.

"Well, should we go to sleep", Jack said faintly.

Rose put her other hand around his neck, starting to move her lips as if she were to say something crucial.

"Kiss me, Jack", she said.

Jack was still for a bit. He never wanted her to think that all he wanted from her was her body. But in this moment, all he wanted was her body. More than anything in the world, he wanted to kiss her, all of her.

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into him and kissed her fervidly and vigorously. It was just as if all the tiredness and fatigue in his body evaporated like the sea on a hot summer's day. He bent down to kiss her neck and Rose leaned her head backwards and let out a sigh of fulfillment and desire.

"Oh, Jack", she managed to say between the kisses. She took down her hands from him and stroked them over his white shirt. Then she pushed away a bit, making him open his eyes again.

"I love you", she said. "I know I've said it before but-"

"I love you too", he interrupted her, without hesitating. "So much, Rose. So much", he said in delight.

Rose couldn't hinder a smile entering her lips, her dimples perfecting the look.

He pulled her into him again as he started walking backwards to the bed behind them. He fell onto it and Rose laid on top of him, kissing him and stroking his hair and chest as if it were the last thing she had to do on Earth.

"So much", he said.