A/N: So I'm writing this little fluff thing because it kind of came to me when I was trying to sleep one night and perhaps by actually writing this I will be able to fall asleep finally. Please R&R and enjoy! (And in case anyone here is an avid reader of the story IS FRIENDSHIP THICKER THAN BLOOD, I am going to apologize for how long it's been since we last updated. Don't lose faith in us, we're just trying to figure out where everything was going and we're kind of unhappy with how we last left it so getting around to fixing it is what's going to be the issue with us, but we do thank you for your patience.)

Chapter 1:

Cookie rolled over and coughed loudly. It was the second day she had been sick and no one was letting her out of bed. Notes even took the day off of work to make sure that Cookie was in bed resting. Not that Cookie was complaining too much, she really felt awful. She had a horrible fever and couldn't really stand whenever she tried to.

"How are you?" Notes asked coming in with a cool washcloth to put on Cookie's forehead.

Cookie tried to sit up a little bit, "Oh yeah I'm great, think I'll go for a walk and sell some papes." She coughed again, groaned and flopped back down on her bed. "You hear from any of the boys today?"

Notes nodded, "Mush and Skittery were here around lunch time but you were asleep. They didn't want to wake you." Notes put the washcloth on Cookie's forehead, "Here I want you to keep it on this time. It's going to help break you fever. Trust me."

"Yes mom." Cookie said in a joking tone.

Notes was about to walk out of the room when they heard loud noises coming from the street. "What is that sound?" Notes walked over to the window and gasped. "Cookie, it looks like a bunch of news boys but they're not from Manhattan."

Cookie's eyes widened as she remembered a conversation her, Jack and Spot had a few days prior to her getting sick. There was a new leader of the Queen's newsies and they weren't sure of what to expect from this new leader they had never heard of before. "Let me see." Cookie got out of her bed and managed to walk over to the window, holding onto the frame for support. The adrenaline, pumping through her veins was the only thing keeping her on her feet. She shook her head, "This aint good." She looked around, "Ok this is what we're gonna do. You're gonna get a head start and go find Jack. Tell him what's happened. Tell him it's Queens."

"What about you, what are you going to do?" Notes asked nodding.

Cookie chuckled lightly, trying to stifle a cough, "Me? I'm gonna make sure that they can't follow us, I'm gonna set up a trap."

"I'll just wait for you and we can get out of here together." Notes said, watching the group of newsies get closer to the lodging house.

Cookie shook her head, "No way. We need all the time we can get right now. That's means we have to get to Cowboy ASAP. And besides, we can move faster and more quietly throughout the city if we're not together. You know where Jack normally sells, go now, I'll meet up with you and the boys at the distribution center in a half hour."

Notes grabbed Cookie by the shoulders and looked her in the eye, "Promise?"

"Promise."

Notes nodded, opened the window and climbed onto the fire escape. "Distribution center, 30 minutes."

"Yes now get out of here!" Cookie watched Notes disappear down the fire escape before she closed the window and collapsed back into bed. She felt bad for lying to Notes but she knew it would be the only way to get Notes to leave without her. It was bad enough that whoever was coming was going to have Cookie, but she couldn't let them get Notes too. Jack would kill her.

…

Notes kept running until she finally managed to find her brother. "Jack!" She called out breathlessly. "Jack!"

"Notes?" Jack turned around at his sister's voice, concern filled his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Notes stopped and took a deep breath and explained to Jack what had happened at the lodging house. "Cookie said she would meet us at the distribution Center in a half hour. We should go wait for her there."

Jack nodded. They had been afraid that Queens would decide to make a move now that they had a new leader. "Yeah the boys usually head there before going back so we can tell them what's happened while we wait for Cookie." He led Notes back to the distribution Center, keeping an eye out for any unfamiliar newsie they came across along the way.

…

Cookie had been lying in her bed, dripping with sweat from her fever and from actually standing when the first news boys came in. They instantly recognized Manhattan's second in command and locked her in her room. She had just looked towards the window again and was contemplating making a break for it when the door to her room opened, breaking her concentration.

"Well, well, well, it's been a long time Cookie, hasn't it?" A deep voice said from the doorway.

She looked towards the door, "Ace. I should have known you were behind this." A young man around 19 walked into the room.

Ace had jet black hair and dark brown eyes and was smoking a cigarette which he stomped out on the floor. "You don't look to well huh?"

"Since when did you become leader of Queens?" Cookie said, rolling her eyes at Ace.

"I'm not leader of Queens." He motioned to the door. "She is."

A young woman with flaming red hair and blue eyes walked into the room behind Ace. "The name's Brass and I'm the leader of Queens now. I know, you're wondering what happened and let's just say, brass refers to the knuckles I used to get rid of the last leader."

Cookie just nodded her head. There had been very little news from the revolt and based on what she was hearing from this girl Brass, it seemed like a coup had happened. "Right so how does that explain you hanging around with a flea like Ace here?"

Ace walked up behind Brass and put his arms around her, "Brass is my girl."

Cookie started laughing, "You're kidding right?" Her laughing turned to coughing. "So, someone is finally taking an interest in you, that's rich."

"Just keep laughing." Ace's eyes blazed with a hidden anger that only Cookie could recognize. "I hope you don't mind but uh, we wouldn't want you going anywhere in your condition so…" he motioned to the window where a news boy was sitting with a hammer and some nails. "The window might give you a draft so I figured it would be best if we kept it shut." He started walking out the door, "And if you need anything, don't worry we'll have someone right outside the door for you."

Cookie easily saw the hidden message in what Ace was doing. He was practically holding her hostage and he wanted her to know it. "I have to get out of here." She looked over to the window and saw that it had been completely nailed shut. She shook her head; this was going to be more of a problem than she had originally thought.

…

Jack and the other Manhattan Newsies were sitting around the distribution center. Skittery and Mush had been pacing while waiting for Cookie. Notes looked at the clock, "She promised she would be here." It had been over an hour since Notes had taken off from the lodging house.

Race and Blink came back to the distribution center with worry written all over their faces. "We haven't seen her around the lodging house is crawling with Queen's newsies. What do we do?" Blink asked looking over the faces of his fellow newsies. He looked over at Mush, who turned away, trying to hide his tears.