This is the story I was working on in November. I decided to go ahead and post it. Up on reading it again, it didn't seem so bad after all. So far it's twenty chapters in. I hope you enjoy it :)

Jack and Rose stood on board the Carpathia, hand in hand, their minds replaying the harrowing experience that they had shared on Titanic. Who would have thought that such a wonderful ship would only have a short time to live...that a newly found love soon evolved into a struggle for survival. They both had nearly died. But they hadn't. They had survived, thanks to Jack's quick thinking and Rose's refusal to leave him to the fate met by so many men that night.

Rose hugged her shoulders as the screams once again ripped through her mind. She shivered against the cold as she remembered being swallowed by the freezing North Atlantic, sure that she was going to die. Seeing her discomfort, Jack wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, wanting to keep her as warm as possible, even though he wasn't as warm as he normally would have been, the slight hypothermia he had suffered had sapped a lot of his body heat away, but there was no harm in trying.

"Are you okay?" He asked, rubbing her shoulders.

"I keep hearing the screams...feeling the cold," Rose closed her eyes, struggling to push the memories away. "I don't think they'll ever stop...the memories.."

"They will...with time. Someday, you won't even think about it anymore."

"How can you be so sure?" Rose frowned.

"I'm not. But bad things happen to people all the time and surely they get over the memories eventually. They have too, or how else would they be able to go on?"

"I suppose you're right," Rose sighed, feeling tired. She rested her head on his shoulder and watched as the statue of liberty came into view, a symbol of freedom. Hers. Or so she thought. Yes, she was fleeing the prison of first class life...but she was running into her own prison...the prison of her own memories and she didn't know if there would ever be a key to let her out. "I'm afraid, Jack. I'm afraid that I'll never get over it..."

He pressed his lips to her hair, the curls flattened from the rain and squeezed her shoulder. "You will. I promise. You'll get over it and so will I. We'll get over it together, Rose. We'll get over it and make it count."

"Make it count. That has a whole new meaning now, I guess," She forced a smile, forcing the memories back as she focused on the man beside her, grateful for his presence. She had almost lost him that night...but he had been strong and came back to her.

"It sure does, Rose. We'll make each and every day count. Not only for ourselves, but for the people we had lost. We're living for them, too."

She turned her attention back to the statue of liberty and allowed Jack's words to sink in. She was living for the people they had lost. Trudy...Thomas Andrews….John Jacob Astor and so many others. Her life had come at the price of theirs and she was going to honor them by making her life count.

"We'll be disembarking soon," Jack sighed, also gazing at the statue, his mind on Fabrizio who had wanted to see the statue so badly. Now he'll never see it at all.

"We're getting off together. Just like we had said...remember?"

Jack's smile was soft and tender, full of the love he felt for her. How could he forget? It was the moment when he realized that what they had was something that he never had before. Something real.
"This is crazy. Doesn't make any sense."

"That's why I trust it?" She smiled, finally feeling the hope that she had first felt in that moment, before the iceberg.

….

One Month Later…

Rose moaned as she tossed and turned in bed, the dream chasing her back into wakefulness. No, not a dream. A nightmare. She was on the wreck of what had once been Titanic, moving along the waltzing corpses of people that she had once known. At first, they had been unaware of her presence among them. But that didn't last. They soon sensed the beat of her heart and the heat of her living flesh. Moaning and wailing, begging to be rescued, they reached out for her, as if she was a life preserver that could restore life to them. She backed away, trying to stay out of reach as tears slid down her cheeks.

In horror, she realized that screams weren't the only thing that she heard from their gaping mouths. There were words too. Words...pleas for her to help them...help them, or remain. She kept backing away as they kept coming closer...kept surrounding her with outstretched arms.

"Help us! Stay with us!"

"No...no...I have to go...I can't…," Rose sobbed, backing up into an embrace that was as cold as ice. She screamed as she felt the arms wrap around her and…

Jack sat up at the sounds of Rose's screams and the wild movements as she thrashed around in her sleep, as if she was trying to get away from something. Rubbing the sleep out of his own eyes, he lifted her up into his arms and gently shook her awake.

"Rose, Rose wake up! It's only a dream. Wake up, Rose."

"No!" She cried out, her eyes opening wide and frightened as her trembling hands gripped his arms. Disoriented, she looked around, expecting to see the rotting Titanic with it's dead passengers reaching for her. Her relief was evident as she realized that she wasn't on the Titanic, but in the room that she and Jack had rented at the bed and breakfast that they had stopped in on their way to Santa Monica.

"Oh god, Jack…it was awful...I was on Titanic, but it was all broken and...the passengers...they were dead, but they weren't...they were trying to grab me...trying to..."

Jack gently wiped away her tears and pulled her into a comforting hug, hoping to push the nightmare away. "It's alright, Rose. It was only a nightmare. You're not on Titanic with the others. You're here with me. We survived Rose and today we're getting married, remember? All of that was a nightmare. Never to be thought of again. You can have happy thoughts now."

She closed her eyes and just allowed herself to sink into his embrace and breathe him in, letting him push away the horrifying vision of her dream. Happy thoughts...she should think happy thoughts...but was that even possible?

After a few minutes of just sitting there with her in his arms, he finally pulled away, feeling a slight sting of hunger.

"Are you okay? Will you be able to eat, or are you still upset?"

She wiped away her remaining tears and forced a smile, wanting to show Jack that she'll be okay. There was no need for him to worry. "I'll be fine. It was just so...real...it felt so real Jack..."

"I know, but it wasn't. All of that is over now Rose. You're safe."

"I know. You're with me. I'm always safe with you," She chuckled, kissing him quickly before sliding off the bed and picking up a plain white dress to wear for the day. "We better get down to breakfast before it's over. I'm positively starving."

She wasn't really okay to be honest. She still felt the dream wrestling to resurface, but Jack was right. The dream was over, plus this was her wedding day! It was time for nothing but happy thoughts!

Jack laughed and watched her dress, again wondering how he had gotten so lucky to have such a beautiful woman in his life. He had never felt this strongly for anyone before and knew that he never would again. Watching her dress, he made a promise to her and himself. He was going to take care of her through all of the turmoil that still hung over them. Yes, Titanic was still with them both, it might always be, but somehow they'll get through it together.