Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from the movie.

Another sleepless day had turned into night. The sun had sunk past the horizon in a painting of oranges, yellows, and pinks casting haunting shadows on derelict buildings and leaving behind an eerie mysterious darkness. A time of quiet and relaxation for most people in New York. Evelyn Svedlack was not most people; for her, night was the beginning. The whole night lay ahead of her, adventures awaited her. Not the kind of adventures most people would look forward to; Evelyn herself was reluctant to begin her repetitive nightly adventures but money had to be earned.

By leaning out her tiny third story window, Evelyn could feel the breeze coming off the water. It was her favorite time of night; before the customers came and after the busy hustle and bustle of Brooklyn calmed. Not that it stayed calm by any means. Nights in Brooklyn were generally louder than the days, particularly in the less monitored areas. Evelyn took a deep breath and let the familiar smell wash over her and calm her nerves. Each night brought unknowns which made Evelyn nervous. The only known in Evelyn's business was that there would always be business. No matter how poor a man was, he was always willing to spend a little for an hour of bliss.

A knock on the door pulled Evelyn inside. "Evelyn, it's a newsie. Should I say no?" It was Kitty. Kitty had once been in Evelyn's place but after sleeping with the boss she had been promoted. She now spent her time opening the door to the apartment and greeting customers.

Evelyn frowned to herself. Newsies never had enough money to get out of the job yet many of them kept wasting their money on prostitutes. She never felt good about servicing them and Kitty was well aware of that fact. Not that she felt great about servicing men in general but there was something about the young newsies that made her courageous enough to refuse from time to time. A flash of pain in her arm reminded her of the last time she refused and all courage was gone. "I'll do it, Kitty," Evelyn relented. "If O'Malley found out I refused a customer..." she left her statement unfinished. They both knew what he would do and neither one of them wanted to ponder on it all too much. She turned away from the window and checked herself in the mirror. Her long dirty blond hair was piled recklessly on top of her head and looked as though it were going to tumble down her face any moment. In her business, it didn't pay to try to keep perfectly coiffed hair. Deciding that she looked good enough for a newsie, Evelyn opened her door and arched her eyebrow in surprise.

The newsie standing in front of her was quite familiar to her. In fact, she had been buying a newspaper from him every day for the several months that she had been with O'Malley but this was the first time that he had shown up on her door. "If it ain't Spot Conlon hisself," she cooed as she leaned against the door. The young man in front of her smiled and Evelyn could tell he was used to his smile melting the hearts of ladies everywhere. "What brings you knocking on my door?" she flirted.

"Can I come in, Miss Svedlack?" He flashed her his smile again. Evelyn ran her eyes over him suspiciously a little harder than she did with most customers. Most customers didn't bother being polite, no customers did actually. She wasn't sure if his politeness meant he was new to the game or if it meant something more sinister. In spite of her reservations, she moved aside and motioned for him to come in. She watched him as he looked around her bare room. The tiny room contained a rickety dresser and a single bed. It was pathetic and she knew it, not that she particularly cared. This room was used for one purpose and one purpose only so there was no need for any fancy decorations to hide its true purpose. Evelyn watched the newsie's eyes flicker to and from the bed. She could feel him judging her. It didn't anger her; she was used to customers thinking little of her. They weren't the ones that mattered so she didn't let their opinions bother her. Spot turned and smiled at her but it wasn't the same enchanting smile as before. Evelyn had seen the same reaction many times; the magic of prostitution had faded for him and with it went his smile.

"What can I do for you?" Evelyn asked, her voice dripping with silky promises.

Spot looked unsure and Evelyn thought it was the first time she had ever seen him unsure of himself. He was fiddling with his ever present cane. I wonder why a healthy young man insists on carrying a cane, Evelyn mused. It was a momentary rumination because Evelyn quickly returned her mind to the present, sensing that he was slipping away. Losing a customer had even worse consequences than refusing one. Evelyn tilted her head seductively, prompting Spot to answer, "I'm not sure."

Evelyn sighed in frustration, "Didn't Kitty explain the services and prices to you?" She wouldn't doubt it if the girl didn't; she was the worst at what she did. Evelyn secretly disliked Kitty and thought she was taking advantage of her situation. If she had been given the chance to get away from servicing men and just working the door, she would have shown her appreciation by doing a much better job than Kitty. But that's what you get for sleeping with the boss. This was going to be a bad night, Evelyn grumbled to herself. She could feel it in her bones.

Spot shook his head, "She did." He said quickly, "I don't want any of them."

A frown crossed Evelyn's mouth as alarms in her head went off, "I don't do anything that's not offered." She moved slowly towards the door and prayed that Spot would turn out to be one of those customers. The ones that got their jolly off by hurting girls.

"No, I don't want any services." He looked disgusted by the prospect causing Evelyn to become confused. What the hell does this man want, she thought. His body language had shown his attraction to her since he had walked into the room causing his reaction to make absolutely no sense. As she stared at him in an attempt to figure out what he wanted, the look of disgust on his face angered her. It was one thing for people on the streets to judge her but when someone came to her place of business, to her home and blatantly judged her because of what she did to survive, Evelyn became defensive and distraught.

"Then what the hell do you want, Mr. Conlon?" she exclaimed angrily. "What was the point of coming here?"

"I wanted to get to know you."

His words stopped anything from coming out of her mouth. Evelyn was dumbfounded. She had never even entertained the thought that someone, knowing what she did, would possibly be interested in knowing her. As that thought crossed her mind, her eyes narrowed as the thought developed that this could all be a trick. There were stories of girls who had been lured away from the men who protected them and been murdered. I should ask him to leave, she thought. She opened her mouth to tell him so but that wasn't what came out. Instead she asked a question, "Why?"

"Why not?" he countered quickly.

Because of what I do, she thought, because of who I am, who owns me. She didn't say any of those things. Instead she stared at the disconcerting newsie in front of her and chewed on her nail as she contemplated who he was and what he could possibly want. She watched him watch her try to swim out of the confusion. He seemed earnest but he was a newsie, a con artist who couldn't be trusted. She was interrupted from her thoughts by a knock on the door. "Svedlack, what's going on?" a cold voice barked through the door. Evelyn could have recognized that voice in her sleep. She glared at the newsie, "Now you've done it." Her reaction caused Spot to stand taller and grasp his cane tighter.

Evelyn walked quickly to the door an opened it. The man standing there was large enough to fill the door frame. His muscles bulged and stretched his grimy, tattered shirt. If his size didn't scare someone, the look on his face would. O'Malley was brought into the business because of his experience with hurting people and his eyes showed that he had enjoyed every last second of it. His dark eyes quickly scanned the room and landed on the newsie. Evelyn knew this was not going to end well for Spot as O'Malley barked, "What's the problem?"

Evelyn smiled and tried to infuse as much charm as possible into her voice. "Nothing, O'Malley. We was just figuring out the arrangement." Evelyn spoke quickly. She could see that her words had no effect; his eyes had not even flickered in her direction. They had never left the newsie. O'Malley was like a pit bull locked onto his target.

He brushed Evelyn to the side as he walked over to the newsie and towered over him, "The arrangement is you pay and she services. Any problems?"

Evelyn watched in surprise as Spot took a step closer to O'Malley, "Yea, there are." Evelyn's mouth dropped. Was this newsie really going to start something with a man nearly twice his size? Over what?

O'Malley chuckled, "We can fix that." He pulled back his fist and Evelyn covered her eyes and looked away. She had seen this scene play out too many times to count and knowing exactly how it would end; she had no inclination to watch. She regretted that it had to happen to the newsie who had been so intriguing. Evelyn heard loud scuffling and grunting. She couldn't tell how badly the newsie was getting hurt but she knew it couldn't be good. She covered her ears and crouched in the corner as the noises got louder and closer in an attempt to stay out of the fray. O'Malley had never been the most accurate with his aim and a blow or two had landed in her direction before. Through her covered ears she heard a tell tale gunshot which scared the living daylights out of her and caused her to let out a yelp of fear. She turned to the two men and was shocked to see O'Malley lying in a pool of blood. The shock caused her to fall back onto her butt as she surveyed the scene. She couldn't see where he had been shot but it was obvious that he had been. He was lying face down and blood was blooming around his body. She looked up at the newsie who was panting and bleeding from several cuts to his face.

He calmly turned towards her, "Are you okay?"

Evelyn opened her mouth but nothing came out. She wanted to scream that no, she wasn't all right, that there was a dead body on the floor, but she couldn't speak. She couldn't think. Her mind was a foggy haze and all that she could think was there was a dead body. She took a deep breath and shook her head slowly as tears sprang to her eyes.

Spot walked over to her and held out his hand, "Let's go."

A laugh escaped from her lips and Evelyn knew she looked crazed. She felt crazed. The laugh seemed to break the barrier and she was able to speak, "Go? Go where? This is my house." Thoughts rushed together causing a traffic jam in her head hindering all ability to think rationally.

"Well, it's obvious that you can't live here anymore." Spot said. He leaned closer, his hand directly in front of her face.

"And where do you propose I go? You killed my boss." She laughed a crazed laugh again. Her voice kept getting louder until she was screaming, "You killed him. You fucking killed him!" She pushed his hand away and sobbed. Not only were her thoughts a jumble but Evelyn's emotions were a rampant unmanageable labyrinth.

He shook her slightly, "Calm down, Evelyn." She stared at him wordlessly. "It's not like he didn't have it coming." Spot added softly.

Rage built up in her, "Because he ran prostitutes? Do I have it coming too?" Rage was the easiest emotion to grab onto and Evelyn had latched onto it with her teeth and wasn't letting go. "How dare you come in here and just...just..." She had run out of energy when she saw the body out of the corner of her eye. She turned towards it, "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Evelyn, you need to calm down."

She shook her head, "I...I can't. What am I going to do? I'm going to get blamed for this? What's going to happen to me?" She curled up in a ball on the floor and moaned.

"We will figure it out later. We have to go." Evelyn shook her head and remained on the floor. Go? This was insane, she thought.

Spot shook his head, losing his patience. "Evelyn, listen. That guy wasn't the one in charge. If you stay here, the person who is in charge will come."

Evelyn frowned. She couldn't think. Her thoughts were coming in short irrational jumbles. Spot took her hand and pulled her up, having lost all patience and knowing that time was running out. "You need to come with me." Evelyn could only nod. Even going with the newsie was better than what would happen to her if the boss were to come and find her with O'Malley's body.

They started towards the door, giving the dead body and growing pool of blood a wide berth. Spot motioned for her to be quiet as he stuck his head into the hallway. After a cursory glance in both directions, he led her down the hallway. There was silence behind the few doorways and Evelyn figured the other girls had either been scared away after the gun shot or were hiding until they were told it was safe to come out as they had been trained to do. Spot led her to the door of the apartment and opened the door. Before he pulled her through, Evelyn took one glance over her shoulder and looked at the life she had known for the last several months. The crappy, insect infected apartment had been her only home for a long time. She felt a twinge of regret for leaving it but before she could ponder on it, Spot had pulled her into the hallway and off into the night.

A/N: Well, you've read it. You know the next step. For those of you who don't I will give you a hint. It starts with re- and ends with –view. Thanks a bunch.