Oh my gosh, I can't believe how good it feels to start another Titanic story! I have missed this so, so much! I've pretty much been planning this story in the back of my mind since I finished my other Titanic one a few months ago, and I really hope everyone likes it! Alright, enough with me talking. :) Just remember to review, please!

"Come…Josephine…in my flying…machine…" Rose sang quietly, grasping Jack's hand and staring up at the stars. She wondered if there were people up there, people who had never experienced the kind of horror and grief that she had been subjected to in the past six hours.

Suddenly, a brightness shone in her peripheral vision. Rose let her head slowly turn toward it, at first believing it to be simply a figment of her desperate imagination, or perhaps the light that people saw when they were dying. But then she saw the boat, and heard a man's voice, even though her frostbitten ears couldn't quite make out the words that he was shouting.

Relief flooded through her. They were safe! She and Jack would get their happy ending after all. "Jack!" she cried, her voice hoarse. "Jack, there's a boat! Jack!" He didn't move.

"Jack!" Rose shook him harder, frustrated that he wasn't responding. A horrible thought occurred to her, planted in the back of her mind. "…Jack?" she asked timidly.

He still didn't move, and she wrinkled her brow. Why was he pretending? Why was he teasing her like this?

The tears started to flow, as if her body knew what her mind refused to accept. "There's a boat, Jack," she said, even though she knew, deep down, that he would never get on that boat.

She laid her head back down on the board, her body shaking from grief. She could feel his arm clamped around hers protectively, the last gesture that he would ever make. This can't be happening. Jack was a survivor; he had told her so himself!

But there he was, frost covering the eyelids that would never reopen. She had let him die, without even offering to share the door. It felt as though her heart was being ripped out of her chest and stomped on.

Slowly, her eyes closed as she succumbed herself to death. If he wasn't going on, then neither was she.

Never let go, Rose. You must do me this honor. His last words vibrated inside her mind. Suddenly, her eyes flew open.

She had made him a promise.

"Come back!" she begged to the boat that was now swiftly retreating into the distance. "Come back!"

The boat didn't turn, and Rose knew that she would have to fight for her survival. "I'll never let go, Jack. I promise." She kissed his hand, then, wincing, watched as he sank down into the depths.

The only man that she had ever truly loved was now falling away from her, the ripples distorting her last view of him, until he was gone.

Gone.

Dead.

For a moment, Rose felt a strong desire to jump in after him, to pull him back up into her arms. But she knew that she would never feel his warm embrace again.

The boat was almost gone, and now was not the time to mourn.

She plunged into the water, gasping for breath as the icy waves threatened to pull her down to wherever they had just taken her lover. Eventually, she managed to reach the board where a dead man had a whistle in his mouth. Without thinking, she pulled it from him and blew hard.

She didn't stop blowing the whistle, even as she felt strong hands pull her out of the frigid water into a boat, even as she was wrapped in a blanket like a baby and told to lie down and rest. Eventually, they took the whistle away from her, turning away to look for more survivors.

The whistle had given Rose something to think about, to focus on, other than what had just happened.

Still dazed from frostbite, she looked over beside her, half-expecting to see Jack lying next to her. "We made it, Rose," he would whisper. "We survived, just like I told you we would."

But when she looked over, there was only an empty blanket, unused and unloved. And then it all came rushing back to her.

The first time she saw his face, when she was about to end her life forever…when he said she slipped, lying for her even though he barely knew her…when he taught her to spit, and she realized that she could be herself around him…when she saw his face at the dinner party, with his piercing, ocean-blue eyes…when he told her that he loved her…when she realized that she loved him, too…when they kissed, feeling like they were flying…when she said that she was getting off of the ship with him, and knew that she meant it…when she jumped back onto the ship for him…when he promised that they would survive…when she thought they were both going to die…when she thought they were both safe…when she realized that she would never again see his smile, hear his laugh, feel his tight, safe embrace…when she let him go, for the last time…

Gone.

She closed her eyes, pleading God to take all the bad memories away.

When Rose opened them again, she had to squint against the sun. She must have fallen asleep, and now all of the people in the lifeboats were being transferred to a ship with the name Carpathia printed on the side.

Rose kept quiet as she was helped on board the ship, and refused the hot tea and soup that was offered to her. She felt as though she didn't deserve anything nice after she, the snooty rich girl, had lived, and Jack, the brave, loyal, sweet, humble, perfect man, had died.

A terrible jolt went through her. Jack had died. She still couldn't believe that it was true. She put her head in her lap, trying to comprehend why fate had let her survive and Jack freeze to death.

Suddenly, a haughty voice rang out. "Rose!"

She peered up with heavy eyes at a tall, blurry figure, at first not understanding who it was. "Yes?" she said politely, her first-class instincts kicking in.

"Where have you been?" the voice demanded. Her vision cleared, and with horror, she saw that it was Cal.

Hiding her fear, she faced him. "What do you want, Cal?"

He looked taken aback at the frosty tone of voice that she used. "I…I'm glad you're safe, and that that gutter rat isn't with you any—"

"Jack is NOT a gutter rat!" she shrieked, jumping to her feet. Several heads turned their way, and Cal glared at Rose, clearly not wanting her to make a scene, but she didn't care. "He was ten times the man you will ever be, and I wouldn't be standing here without him! And…" she added, her voice faltering. "And…I'm not sure I deserve to be."

She broke down in tears. I let go of him, she thought. I didn't share the board with him. It's my fault that he's dead. Maybe I just deserve to die.

Cal rolled his eyes, disgusted by her theatrics. "Come on, Ro—"

His scorning was interrupted by a loud shriek. Rose looked up through her tears to see her mother engulf her in a tight hug. "Rose! I thought you had died!"

"No, Mother, I'm fine," Rose said stiffly, not hugging her mother back.

"I was so worried, Rose! I can't imagine what I would do if I lost you," her mother sobbed, her voice muffled in Rose's shirt.

Rose let her body go limp. She was too exhausted to argue, and too depressed to realize what was happening as Ruth took one of her hands and gently led her back to first-class.

Oh, Jack, she thought desperately. I don't deserve any better than Cal, after letting you freeze to death.

Eventually, her mother and Cal left her alone in the spacious, first-class room that was now her temporary prison, and she quietly cried herself to sleep.