A/N: Here it is! The long-awaited (by, like, three people) conclusion to The Bean Trilogy!! (Any ideas for a new name for the trilogy? I don't like the title much.. It's sorta plain.)

~~~

Bean looked around the street, suddenly distracted from her conversation with Jack and David. Who had said her name? She scanned her eyes across the crowd of people around her, until here eyes fell on a tall, muscular, red-headed boy, at the age of seventeen. His face was spattered with freckles, and his bright green eyes stared intensely at Bean.

"Teddy?" she asked, her voice squeaking

Ted nodded, smiling.

"Ohmygoodnessgracious!" she shrieked as she ran up to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "I haven't seen ya in forevah!"

"How have you been, kid?"

Bean looked at Ted quizzically. "Kid? I'm nearly a year oldah den youze!"

"Hey where did you get that accent? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd been hanging out with street trash these past couple of years," he said jokingly.

Bean cringed at Ted's choice of words, then she realized that he didn't know what she had been through since her adoptive parents died. She decided she should introduce him to some of the guys. "Heya, Ted, why don't I intraduce ya tah some o' me friends?"

Ted nodded. "Sure, if it'll get us away from all these street rats. Is there a newsie farm around here or something?"

Bean sighed as she ignored his question and dragged him off towards Jack and Mush.

"Hey Bean, who's dis?" Jack asked as he eyed Ted up suspiciously.

"Jack, Mush, dis heah is me ol' friend Ted Richards. I knew 'im when I lived in Queens wid da Parkers. An Ted, dese are two a' me frien's, Jack Kelly an' Mush Meyers.

Ted looked at Bean strangely. "The Parkers? Sammy, why are you referring to your parents like they weren't even related to you? And why is this kid calling you Bean?"

Before Bean could reply, Mush offered his hand out to Ted. "Nice tah meet ya, Ted!" he said cheerfully, being polite as he always was to strangers.

Ted stared at Mush's hand, black from newsprint. He could read a few of the lines from the day's top story on his palm. Finally, after a long, awkward silence, and a lot of staring, Mush put his hand down.

"What kind of a name is Mush?" Ted asked rudely.

Mush looked at the ground, embarrassed. "Well, me real name's Derek, but when I was lil' dey called me Mush cuz a da color of me skin. Now dey call me dat cuz I turn tah mush every time I see a pretty goil," he looked up at Bean. "Which is every time I'm around you, B," he said in mock seriousness.

Bean giggled. "Aww, Mush!"

Ted feigned choking. "Sam, Sam, tell me this isn't your boyfriend!"

Bean rolled her eyes. "Eww, no!"

Mush pretended to be insulted. "I coulda done witout da 'Eww,' Beanie!"

Bean continued. "My boyfriend, er, fiancé, is right ovah dere," she said, motioning towards a group of people a few yards away.

Ted smiled when he saw a group of well-dressed people alking amongst each other. "Introduce me to this lucky man!"

The two walked over, Ted slightly ahead of Bean. Ted stopped by the well-dressed group, but Bean continued on.

After a few perplexed looks from the well-dressed group, Ted realized that Bean had walked on, and he ran to catch up with her. He was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her with him.

Bean grinned at Ted. "Ted, dis is Anthony Higgins, me future husband," she said proudly as she rested her head on Race's shoulder.

Ted mouth hung slightly open as he stared at the couple. For the first time in his life, he was at a loss for words. "This.this.this is your. your. f. f. fiancé? But.but.he's.he's."

Race's eyes quickly grew wide and he pulled Bean aside. "How do you know dis guy?" he asked urgently.

"He's a childhood friend. I grew up next door tah him." she asked, perplexed.

"But, he. he."

"What?" Bean was baffled.

Race shook his head. "Nevah mind." he said as he turned to leave.
Bean grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards her. "What da heck is wrong with you, Race? Yer actin like some sorta psycho today."

Race shook his head. "I'll tell ya latah, look, I gotta finish sellin me papes," and with that, Race whisked off, disappearing into the crowd.

Bean turned back to Ted. "So, Teddy, what have you been up to lately?"

Ted smiled. "Why don't you come back to Queens with me? You can see everyone again. We all wondered what happened to you."

~~~

**About an hour later**

"Sammy Sammy Sammy!" Leona shrieked as she greeted her long lost friend. "What happened to you? You look great! Where have you been? Meet any new boys? Bet you couldn't find anyone better than your Teddy Bear. Have you lost weight? What have you been up to? Did you get a job? Or did you finish school? Or did you run away to join the circus? I don't see any clown makeup. I hope you weren't in Manhattan all this time. All those crude newsboys. The ones around here keep to themselves, but I hear Manhattan is crawling with those street rats. I can't believe how great you look! Did you."

Bean put her hand over her best friend's mouth. "Leona, babe, take a breath. And tah answer yer questions, I lived on da streets, got taken in by da newsies, became one myself, then I took a job as a typesettah and now I'm a part time writer for the New York Sun. I've been in Manhattan the whole time. Yes, I met boys. Lots of them. Dated two of 'em, too. Skitts and Race. And now I'm engaged to Race. So yeah, I met one bettah dan Teddy. Yeah, bein' a newsie gives ya plenty of exercise, so I lost some weight. I finished school, and no, I didn't join the circus. Okay?" Bean took a deep breath. She wondered how Leona could talk so much without a breath.

Leona pushed her silky black hair out of her eyes. "Wow. It seems like your life has been a lot more exciting than ours back in little old Queens. Nothing exciting ever happens around here. The biggest event so far this year is when Debbie fell in the pond in Central Park. Wait, did you just say you were ENGAGED?"

Bean giggled. "Yep," she replied as her face turned seventeen shades of pink and red.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" Leona's mouth dropped open. "When's the wedding? You better invite me!"

"Well, we haven't even been engaged a whole week yet, so we haven't exactly set a date."
"Wait, what did you say his name was?" Leona asked curiously.

"Race. Well, Anthony Higgins, really, but his nickname is Racetrack."

Leona's faced scrunched up as she thought. "Why does that name sound so familiar? Racetrack Higgins.Racetrack." she trailed off.

Bean looked at Leona, perplexed. Leona, however, just stared into space, brooding intensely.

"Samammy!"

Bean didn't even have to turn around. Only one person called her by that name. Peter.

"Petah dahhhhling!" Bean said in a horribly fake British accent. "How are you!"

"I'm wonderful!" he said, giving her a tight squeeze. Bean tousled his messy light brown hair as she gasped for oxygen. Peter, not knowing his own strength, was squeezing her lungs right out of her throat. Luckily, he loosened his grip as he tried to stop Bean from messing with his hair. "No touching the hair!" he said as he frantically tried to smooth it down, to no avail.

A few hours later, Bean began her long trek back to Manhattan. She smiled inwardly as she reminisced about her childhood. She grew up on the same street as all her friends. She and Leona had windows right across from each other, and would stay up late at night, talking about everything, whispering across their yards. Ted lived on the other side, and Bean would awake every morning to pebbles being thrown at her window. She'd look out at the ground below and there Ted would be standing, flashing her that million-dollar smile of his. They'd always been close, and their other friends would tease them about how they were going to get married some day.

As Bean approached her house, she saw Race standing in her yard with an angry look on his face.

"Hey, sweetheart!" Bean called out to him, "Why da long face?"

Race glared at her for a moment. "Bean, you were supposed tah meet me at Tibby's an hour ago! Where were ya?"

Horror spread across Bean's face. "Oh, no! I completely forgot! I am sooo sorry!" she said as she approached him. "Ted wanted me to go to Queens with him to see my old friends, and I guess I just got distracted."

"Hah, Ted, what a joke." Race muttered under his breath.

"What was that," Bean asked, puzzled.

"Aw. nuttin," Race responded.

~~~

A/N: So. Like it? Hate it? I don't know what I think about it yet. Should I continue? Review please! I'll give you a cookie! Or a fudge-dipped newsie of your choice! (Unless it's Specs or Itey.. I'm keeping those for myself!!)