Title: A Promise Kept
Author: Hermione Eveningfall
Fandom: Titanic (note—this is a "Jack lives" story so it is obviously AU)
Bunny #: 14
Rating: G-PG (mild language)
Disclaimer: All of the characters names belong to James Cameron
A Note: This is dedicated to the wonderful Tarotgal, who, through her brilliant talents has helped me considerably with my stories, and bringing such enjoyment with her own. Thank you very much and have a wonderful birthday! I hope you enjoy!

It was so dark, so cold. Every part of his body felt numb, and he felt as though someone were suffocating him with a pillow. But he didn't mind, really. He was so very tired. And he knew his Rose kept her promise. He even thought he smelled her sweet perfume-sweet as the lazy summer days when the rich flowers were in bloom.

Someone was singing softly in his ear, a song he recognized… one he'd known since childhood. "Come Josephine in her flying  machine…going up she goes…up she goes…" Rose sat beside Jack's cot in the Carpathia's infirmary, holding  tightly onto his hand. The events of the previous night left her  completely overwhelmed, more in shock than anything else. A single  tear fell down her cheek as she remembered the hundreds of bodies  screaming and thrashing for help in the icy North Atlantic.

She smoothed his warm greatful that he was still with her. `Please  wake up, Jack,' she begged, choking on a soft sob. His cheeks were  slightly blue and dark shadows beneath his eyes. Hypothermia. She  shuddered, remembering the physician's diagnosis. Jack had been in  the water longer, unable to fit onto the piece of debris he'd  insisted she continue to use. At first, when the lifeboat came back,  he would not wake up when she shook him or called his name. Ice  clung to his face and his hair, and he truly did look dead. Right  before she prepared to send him to the deep abyss, he'd gasped for  air, choking on lungs filled with water. Carrying him with her,  she'd swum to Officer Wilde's body, stealing the whistle from his  mouth.

When the lifeboat picked them up, Jack slipped into unconsciousness  again, and had not woken since. "My sweet Jack," she whispered, her  shoulders shaking as she began to cry softly, pressing his hand to  her lips in a soft kiss.

Jack's mind registered the sound of the sobs, though all he could  see around him was darkness. He fought to open his eyes, he fought  to speak, but all he could do was lay helplessly still. Rose. Rose lay her forehead on the mattress, wanting desparately to crawl  in beside him. Balance yourself like a bird on a beam…she sung in a  shaky voice, stroking Jack's cheek with her fingertips.

The tickle started slowly, originally a strange pressure behind his  eyes. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't ignore it.

She returned with the middle-aged doctor moments later, and Jack  broke into a fit of harsh coughing just at that very moment. His  chest ached, and the itch invaded his nose again. "Eh—Chsshhuh!  HuhEshhhuh!" There was no doubt that he was coming down with a cold.  He always tended to sneeze in doubles when he got sick.
"Blessings," the doctor told him through a thick, brown mustache. He  wore a pair of dark brown trousers, a tan cotton shirt and a pine  green vest, though that was covered by a white overcoat. He handed  Jack a clean handkerchief, and flipped through his charts. Jack blew  his nose, but even that normally simple process was absolutely  exhausting. "You are another hypothermia victim." He nodded in  understanding, and felt Jack's forehead, checked his pupils, and  felt his pulse. "I would hesitate to release him for at least  another couple of days, Mrs. Dawson," the doctor told Rose with a  sympathetic expression.

Jack blinked. Had he heard the doctor correctly? Mrs. Dawson? He  looked at Rose who's cheeks turned pink, but she did not turn away.
"He will be all right, won't he, doctor?" She asked. "He sounds like  he's coming down with a cold." She frowned at the harshness of his  cough, and felt more tears prick the corner of her eyes. The physician nodded. "Which is exactly why I am keeping him in bed  for a couple of days. When we reach the city, I will check him  again, to see whether or not he is fit enough to leave Ellis Island.  But, he's a strong man, so I have no doubts that he'll pull through  this with flying colors. He is already mending very nicely." Jack snorted. If he was mending nicely, then why did he still feel  so terrible? "HuhEshhhuh! HehChuuush!" He sighed wearily.

She smiled. "I'm sorry, Jack. It just…when you were so sick after we  were rescued, I was not thinking straight. I said the first name  that came to my mind." He could not hide his pleasure. "You do not have to apologize,  Rose." He squeezed her hand. "I love you. I am honoured that you  thought of me first." It was his turn to gain rosy cheeks. Rose wrapped her arms around him at last, holding him close,  burying her head against his shoulder. "Jack Dawson, there is no one  in the world I would want to spend the rest of my life with than  you. I want to be with you, always and forever." Jack closed his eyes, sighing in content. "Always and  forever, my Rosie." He brushed loose curls away from her eyes. "Will  you marry me and be the real Rose Dawson?" Rose covered her mouth with her hand, feeling as though she  were floating on a cloud. She had never felt happier in her entire  life.