A/N: Huzzah! My first story finally up! I hope y'all like it…

When Jack Came Home

            Jack Kelly, a.k.a. Cowboy, had been staying in Santa Fe for a few months. A lanky, good-looking brunet of eighteen, he walked up to the Newsboys Lodging House. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and walked in. The moment he did, he heard several deeply familiar voices.

            "Throw it ovah heah!"

            "Gimme back me haihbrush!"

            "Ovah heah, Race!"

            I'm home, Jack thought. He felt the void that had been gnawing in him since he had left fill. He turned around.

            "Heya, Kloppman."

            "Heya, Kelly," an old voice answered, looking up from his paper. Kloppman ran the lodging house, and he was a friend to all the newsies. Kloppman made a motion with his head toward the upstairs, and Jack smiled in reply. He walked up the stairs and, not to his surprise, the newsies were playing keep-away with a hairbrush.

            "I got it, Blink!" Race shouted, but then spotted Jack and let it hit him on the chest.

            "Cowboy!"

            "Jack, it's Jack!"

            "Kelly, I knew you'd come back!"

            "Well if it ain't Cowboy!" The newsies all shouted and scrambled over to the doorway to greet Jack.

            "Hey, hey, theah's enough a'me for alla yous," Jack grinned while trying to greet everyone at once.

            One girl in the bunk room, a tall girl with long brown hair and brown eyes, hid her hairbrush under a pillow. She made her way to Jack; when she finally had fought her way through the crowd to him, they locked eyes. They said nothing, just embraced, a relief they had been waiting for for months. After a few moments, they released.

            "Heya Angel."

            "Heya Jack."

                                    *                                  *                                  *

            Later that night, Jack and the girl, named Lisa but nicknamed Angel, stayed up late playing poker. It was long after all of the other newsies had gone to sleep, so they sat in the washroom playing on an upturned washtub.

            "Straight," Jack said smugly, a satisfied smile making its way across his face.

            "Full-on flush," Lisa replied, and she smiled widely.

            Jack laughed and leaned back in his chair. "Yoah too good foah me, Angel," he said.

            Lisa shook her head and smiled while reshuffling the cards. "I know."

            Both laughed again, and Lisa dealt another hand.

            Jack fanned out his cards. "So, anyt'ing new aroun' heah?"

            "Nah, not really," Lisa shrugged.

            "What abou' yous? What's new wit yous?"

            Lisa blushed a little, but quickly concealed it with her poker face. "Nuttin, really," she said.

            "You shoah?" Jack asked, gesturing with his hand. "Ya seem kin'a differen' now…yer lettin' me call ya Angel…" Jack grinned sneakily. He knew she hadn't thought about it.

            Mock offense flooded Lisa's laughing face. "Ain't nuttin' changed roun' heah! I'm jus' lettin' ya off easy 'cause yer back!"

            Jack chortled, and asked for two cards in return for the ones he'd just laid down. Even though she was joking around like always, he sensed something more in Lisa, that had never been there before.

            Maybe I've jus' been gone too long.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

A/N: Okay! So there's the first chapter! I will be updating every week. Oh, and constructive criticism is certainly welcome. I'll also so Shout Outs!