JACK
Swim, Rose! SWIM!
She tries, but her strokes are not as effective as his because of her lifejacket. They break out of the clot of people. He has to find some kind of flotation, anything to get her out of the freezing water.
JACK
Keep swimming. Keep moving. Come on, you can do it.
All about them there is a tremendous wailing, screaming and moaning... a chorus of tormented souls. And beyond that... nothing but black water streching to the horizion. The sense of isolation and hopelessness is overwelming.
282 OMITTED
283 EXT. OCEAN
Jack strokes rythmically, the effort keeping him from freezing.
JACK
Look for something floating. Some debris... wood... anything.
ROSE
It's so cold.
JACK
I know. I know. Help me, here. Look around.
His words keep her focused, taking her mind off the wailing around them. Rose scans the water, panting, barely able to draw breath. She turns and... SCREAMS.
A DEVIL is right in front of her face. It is the FRENCH BULLDOG, swimming right at her like a seamonster in the darkness, its coal eyes bugging. It motors past her, like it is headed for Newfoundland.
Beyond that Rose sees something in the water.
ROSE
What's that?
Jack sees what she is pointing to, and they make for it together. It is a piece of wooden debris, intricaely carved. He pushes her up and she slithers onto it belly down.
But when Jack tries to get up onto the thing, it tilts and submerges, almost dumping Rose off. It is clearly only big enough to support her. He clings to it, close to her, keeping his upper body out of the water as best he can.
Their breath floats around them in a cloud as they pant from exertion. A MAN swims toward them, homing in on the piece of debris. Jack warns him back.
JACK
It's just enough for the lady... you'll push it under.
MAN
Let me try at least, or I'll die soon.
JACK
You'll die quicker if you come any closer.
MAN
Yes, I see. Good luck to you then.
(swimming off)
God bless.
825 EXT. OCEAN JACK AND ROSE still float amid a chorus of the damned. Jack sees the ship's officer nearby. CHIEF OFFICER WILDE. He is blowing his whistle furiously, knowing the sound will carry over the water for miles.
JACK
The boats will come back for us, Rose. Hold on just a little longer. They had to row away for the suction and now they'll be coming back.
She nods, his words helping her. She is shivering uncontrollably, her lips blue and her teeth chattering.
ROSE
Thank God for you, Jack.
People are still screaming, calling to the lifeboats.
WOMAN
Come back! Please! We know you can hear us. For God's sake!
MAN
Please... help us. Save one life! SAVE ONE LIFE!
288 EXT. OCEAN
Jack and Rose drift under the blazing stars. The water is glassy, with only the faintest undulating swell. Rose can actually see the stars reflecting on the black mirror of the sea.
Jack squeezes the water out of her long coat, tucking it tightly around her legs. He rubs her arms. His face is chalk with in the darkness. A low MOANING in the darkness around them.
ROSE
It's getting quiet.
JACK
Just a few more minutes. It'll take them a while to get the boats organized...
Rose is unmoving, just staring into space. She knows the truth. There won't be any boats. Behind Jack she sees that Officer Wilde has stopped moving. He is slumped in his lifejacket, looking almost asleep. He has died of exposure already.
JACK
I don't know about you, but I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about all this.
She laughs weakly, but it sounds like a gasp of fear. Rose finds his eyes in the dim light.
ROSE
I love you Jack.
He takes he hand
JACK
No... don't you say your goodbyes, Rose. Don't you give up. Don't do it.
ROSE
I'm so cold.
JACK
You're going to get out of this... you're going to go on and you're going to make babies and watch them grow and you're going to die an old lady, warm in your bed. Not here. Not this night. Do you understand me?
ROSE
I can't feel my body.
JACK
Rose, listen to me. Listen. Winning that ticket was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Jack is having trouble getting breath to speak.
JACK
It brought me to you. And I'm thankful, Rose. I'm thankful.
His voice is trembling with the cold which is working its way to his heart. But his eyes are unwavering.
JACK
You must do me this honor... promise me you will survive... that you will never give up... no matter what happens... no matter how hopeless... promise me now, and never let go of that promise.
ROSE
I promise.
JACK
Never let go.
ROSE
I promise. I will never let go, Jack. I'll never let go.
She grips his hand and they lie with their heads together. It is quiet now, except for the lapping of the water.
291 EXT. OCEAN
IN A HOVERING DOWNANGEL we see Jack and Rose floating in the black water. The stars reflect the mill ont surface, and the two of them seem to be floating in interstellar space. They are absolutly still. Their hands are locked together. Rose is staring upwards at the canopy of stars wheeling above her. The music is transparent, floating... as the long sleep steals over Rose, and she feels peace.
CLOSE ON Rose's face. Pale, like the faces of the dead. She seems to be floating in a void. Rose is in a semi-hallucinary state. She knows she is dying. Her lips barely move as she sings a scrap of Jack's song:
ROSE
"Come Josephine in my flying machine..."
ROSE'S POV: The stars: Like you've never seen them. The Milky Way a glorious band from horizion to horizion.
A SHOOTING STAR flares... a line across the heavans.
TIGHT ON ROSE agian. We see her hair is dusted with frost crystals. Her breathing is so shallow, she is almost motionless. Her eyes track down from the stars to the water.
ROSE'S POV... SLOW MOTION: The silhouette of a boat crossing the stars. She sees men in it, rowing so slowly the oars lift out of the syrupy water, leaving weightless pearls floating in the air. The VOICES of the men sound slow and DISTORTED.
Then the lookout flashes his torch toward her and the light flares across the water, silouetting the bobbing corpses in between. It flickes past her motionless form and moves on. The boat is 50 feet away, and moving past her. The men look away.
Rose lifts her head to turn to Jack. We see that her hair has frozen to the wood under her.
ROSE (barely audible)
Jack.
She touches his shoulder with her free hand. He doesn't respond. Rose gently turns his face toward her. It is rimmed with frost.
He seems to be sleeping peacefully.
But he is not asleep.
Rose can only stare at his still face as the realization goes through her.
ROSE
Oh, Jack.
All hope, will and spirit leave her. She looks at the boat. It is further away now, the voices fainter. Rose watches them go.
She closes her eyes. She is so weak, and there seems to be no reason to even try.
And then... her eyes snap open.
She raises her head suddenly, cracking the ice as she rips her hair off the wood. She calls out, but her voice is so weak they don't even hear her. The boat is invisble now, the torch light a star impossibly far away. She stuggles to draw breath, calling agian.
293 ROSE stuggles to move. Her hand, she realizes, is actually frozen to Jack's. She breaths on it, melting the ice a little, and gently unclasps their hands, breaking away a thin tinkling film.
ROSE
I won't let go. I promise.
She releases him and he sinks into the black water. He seems to fade out like a spirit returning to some immaterial place.