***Edited***
Hope You Enjoy

"Jen ya have to go now." Luke's voice had an edge in it that Jen had never heard before.

"I ain't leavin ya here, I can't he'll find ya." She shouted through her tears.

"Jen my legs broke and I can't go no farther, and if you don't go he'll kill the both of us, so go on get outta here."

"B-but…" Jen hated the idea off leaving him there, she couldn't do that, she wouldn't.

"NOW." He screamed at the top of his lungs as he heard the footsteps getting closer and closer. Jen looked at him, he was her only family left and she was going to have to leave him, she hated having to leave him there alone, but that's what Luke wanted and right now all she wanted was to do what he wanted her to.

"Goodbye Luke." she whispered quietly as she turned her back to him and began to run down the Manhattan ally.

She turned down the next opening and got about half a block away and then she stopped; the footsteps she had been listening to stopped and her step-father Frank's voice took their place. He was yelling at Luke, Jen was too far away by that time to understand what he was screaming but she knew they weren't pleasant words coming out of his mouth. All the yelling stopped when she heard a gun go off, everything was quite after that, the only sound left in the air was the echo of the shot that had just been fired.

Tears began to form in her eyes blurring her vision as she began to run again, Frank had killed her mother, and now her brother, and if she didn't get away fast enough she would be his next victim. Every step she took made it harder and harder for her to breathe, but she continued on, maneuvering her way through allies and streets as fast as she could.

It was two in the morning and the only light on the streets were the dim street lights that didn't illuminate much. She didn't really know where she was going so it didn't really matter whether or not she could see anyways. She had been running for at least thirty minutes before she stopped, she was standing at the edge of the Brooklyn Bridge, she had heard stories of Brooklyn before, most of them being about the kinds of crime that happened there, she had once heard someone say it's the most feared city in all of New York. She took a step onto the bridge taking in a deep breath, Frank would never even think about entering Brooklyn, not even if his life depended on it, that was one of the things she had figured out about Frank over the past eight or so years that her mother had been married to him, he had never told her why he wouldn't, he only said that he wouldn't take a step into it.

She got to the half way point of the bridge and stopped, she didn't know what she was thinking, she was going to go walk the streets of Brooklyn at two in the morning, when the scariest people were out an about just waiting for a girl like her to fall into their hands. 'How stupid am I?' she questioned herself.

She needed to rest, her legs were in pain beyond belief, and her head was throbbing, so she slowly slid down the railing of the bridge until she felt the ground below her. She sat there and thought for a while, trying to calm herself down, trying to think of scenarios of what could have happened in that ally that didn't end with Luke being killed. But she knew that he had to be dead, how could he not be, everything was against him, Luke had a freshly broken leg, He couldn't run from Frank, and Frank had a gun, there was no way for Luke to escape.

Her eyes began to droop after an hour or so, she tried fighting it but that got her nowhere. Finally she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and they closed and she fell asleep almost instantly.

"Girl, wake up." Jen heard a child's voice say and felt her shoulder being shaken by a pair of small hands. She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice, she was shocked by her bright surroundings, blinded her for a few seconds. When her eyes finally focused she found a boy about ten years old staring at her. He had big green eyes, and blonde hair that looked like it hadn't been brush in years, if ever. He was dressed in a plaid gray shirt that had a few wholes scattered across it, his pants were brown and went down to just below the knees, they were in the same condition as his shirt, and neither looked as if they had been washed in quite some time.

"You okay there miss?" the boy said in a kind voice. "Girls like yourself don't usually sleep on bridges." Jen looked at him with a blank stare, trying to sort out where she was and what had happened last night. Her head was spinning; everything was coming back, her and Luke being chased, leaving Luke, the gun shot, and the Brooklyn Bridge. She fought the tears when she felt them welling up in her eyes, but the boy noticed her mood becoming sadder.

"I sorry, I didn't mean to upset ya, you can sleep on the bridge if ya wanna. I just…um sorry." the kid said to her trying to calm her down. He didn't know what he had done or said, but he apologized anyways.

"My brother, he's dead, he's really gone." she murmured to herself, disregarding that the boy was even there. Jen was lost in thought and memory, she was hoping that last night had been a dream, but when she saw the bridge she knew that last night had been completely real.

"Are you okay? What happen to ya?" said the boy when he heard her mumble those words, he was stepping away slowly making sure that if she was going to lash out at him he could get away before she could catch him.

"No, I'm not okay; I got no family and no where ta go." She said quietly, just loud enough for the boy to hear to her. A tear or two had fallen out of her eyes and were now making their way down her cheek, despite all the effort she was using to hold them back.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." he said as he disappeared into the busy streets of Brooklyn. The boy came back with an older boy around 17, with intense icy blue gray eyes and medium length dirty-blonde hair. He wore a plaid shirt with red suspenders and a gold tipped cane hanging from one of his belt loops.

"What's ya name girl?" said the older boy, his voice was warm but had a hint 'I don't really care who you are' intertwined in it.

"My names Jen Richards, and you are?" she said as quietly as she could, mimicking his tone. She didn't really want to be talking to anyone at the moment, especially someone who acted like he was too amazing to even be wasting his time on her.

"I'm Spot Conlon, and this here is Chaos." said the boy she now knew as Spot. His voice became more arrogant this time.

"He's the king of Brooklyn." Chaos chimed in.

"Well I've never heard of him." Jen said looking at the boy Spot had called Chaos. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Spot shake his head and glare at her.

"That's because you're just some stupid girl, Chaos thanks for the waste of time." Spot said in an even more annoyed tone as he started to walk back towards the Brooklyn side of the bridge.

"Well it's been nice meeting the both of ya but I got to be goin now, too." She said in a sarcastic voice. Chaos had been following Spot back to Brooklyn, but he turned around and walk back to Jen when she said those words, being still too young to understanding sarcasm yet. Spot saw him do this so he stopped where he was and turn to face the both of them to see what the boy was going to do.

"But you were just tellin me ya had nowhere to go." Chaos asked her in a confused voice. Jen smiled at the young boy, he was concerned for her even though they had never seen each other before ten minutes ago; she had never met anyone who had cared so much about someone they didn't even know.

"Well, where are you planin on stayin?" Spot asked just before she was about to say something.

"I don't know, I have nowhere to go, I was just goin to stay at any place I could find." Jen said to them as she searched her mind for a place she could go, where it would be safe and Frank couldn't find her.

"There's an open bunk next to mine Spot!" Chaos said excitedly, turning away from Jen and back to Spot, tugging on his shirt sleeve. Spots face didn't exactly have the same expression on it as Chaos', Spots was more annoyed and bored.

"Yeah there is, but she ain't no newsie, and that bunk's for a newsie." He said to Chaos while he stared at Jen.

"Come on Spot, just let her stay for a few days." Chaos pleaded with him.

"You know what," Jen spoke up before Spot could object to her staying with them. "I was thinkin about becoming a newsie, so I guess I'm lucky you found me." Spot shook his head a little, but there was a hint of a smirk on his lips.

"So you want to be a newsie do yah?" he paused, looking at her and laughed a bit. "Fine you can have a bunk, but just so you know if you're gonna be a pain in my neck I won't hesitate to kick you out."

"And where do you newsies call home?" Jen asked quietly to the two boys.

"The one and only Brooklyn lodging house, of course." Chaos answered proud of his home and being a part of the famous Brooklyn newsies.

The two boys turned and started walking towards busy streets, but not hearing her footsteps behind them Spot stopped and turned around. "You comin, or do yah want to live on the bridge?" Jen glanced at him and then started jogging after them. After a couple minutes of walking Spot sent Chaos off to go sell the rest of his papers before lunch, and he took Jen the rest of the way to the lodging house by himself.

"So, what's a girl like yourself doin all alone on the streets of Brooklyn?" Spot said as he looked her up and down

"I was running, and I stopped to catch my breath, and must have fallen asleep." Jen said as the horrors of last night's excitement flashed through her mind. She didn't want to tell Spot everything; she didn't want him to feel sorry for her.

"And why were you runnin?" His icy blue eyes looked in to her dark brown ones searching for answers, and he found them, her eyes showed hurt, pain, and loss.

"Why do you want ta know?" she said trying to avoid answering his question for as long as she could.

"What did I say 'bout being a pain." he snapped, getting frustrated with her.

Jen took and deep breath in and out, trying to figure out a way of say what had happened last night quick and painless, but after a minute she decide to tell him everything, cause if she didn't let it out sometime soon she would explode. "My step-father, Frank, he got really drunk, and I guess my mother did somethin wrong and he just went off. He grabbed his gun and shot her, and then he came after me and Luke, that's my brother. We ran 'bout three blocks and then Luke couldn't run anymore, his leg was broken, he made me go on without him, I heard a shot and had to just keep runnin." Tears were now starting to fall from her eyes and staining her cheeks.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Spot felt a tad bit sorry for being so rude to her, she had just lost everything and he probably didn't make it any better, but in his defense she had been a little rude to him as well. Spot studied the girl walking next to him; she was about sixteen years old, and five foot three. She had caramel colored hair that fell just below her shoulders; it had a few spiral curls mixed in with messy waves. Her tear stained cheeks were perfectly rosy and her eyes were a deep chocolate color with a black ring surrounding the brown. She wore a light pink dress that was covered with white lace. 'What kind of monster could hurt this girl, what a bum?' Spot thought to himself, his hands now forming fist at his sides. He hated men who hit girls for no reason, he looked at them as less than human and wouldn't mind if they suffered slow and painful deaths.

They got to the lodging house right before lunch so there were a few newsies that were done selling their morning papers, hanging around before they left to eat lunch.

When they walked in all the boys looked up at them, they quickly glance from Spot to Jan and then back, not giving her much attention, they just figured Jen was another one of the girls Spot played with for a little and then would throw away like trash.

"This is Jen." Spot said quickly, not really saying it to anyone in particularly, but loud enough so everyone heard. All the boys looked at her for a few more seconds and then became uninterested and turned back to what they were doing before Jen and Spot arrived.

Spot led her passed about forty bunks and stopped beside one next to a window.

"This here will be your bed, is it up to ya likings?" Spot said in a sarcastic tone and glanced over his shoulder to see if she approved, but when he did she wasn't behind him, she was at the window looking out at the view of Brooklyn.

"She a beauty ain't she, although you can only see 'bout a quarter of the city from here. The roof's got one of the best in the city." Spot said as he walked over to her side at the window.

Next thing she knew Spot opened the window and stepped out onto a fire escape that led up to the roof. He turned around to Jen and motioned her to follow him, she then hesitantly step out onto the fire escape following him up three flights of stairs to the roof. Her eyes widened when she saw the spectacular view, he was right, you could see all of Brooklyn and part of the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan from the roof. The warmth of the sun against her skin brought a smile to her face. She never got to go outside much after her mom married Frank, he said that someone might get suspicious of the burses and have Jen and Luke taken away, she didn't believe him at first but then one day someone came and tried to take them away.

*FLASHBACK*

"Where have ya been Frank? It's almost midnight." Jens mom, Louise, whispered to Frank as he walked in the door. Louise tried so hard to make the marriage work, but it had only been a year, and it seemed as if every little thing she did made him mad. Frank was a different man now than when she had first met him, he use to play with Jen and Luke as though they were his own children, he would always tell Louise how beautiful she was and that he loved her. But when they got married the playing turned into hitting and the compliments into threats and insults.

"Don't bother me tonight Louise, I'm tired and I ain't in the mood for you barkin at me." She could smell the fowl scent of liquor on his breath, and hear the anger building up in his voice.

"Why do ya drink all the time, why can't you just be the man I first met, the one I was hopin I was marrying?" She screamed at him, tired of the hurt and pain he has caused her and her family.

"Well maybe if you were a good wife I wouldn't have to look for other things to please me." And with that Franks hand made its way across Louise's face, leaving a red hand print on her cheek.

"STOP!" Yelled Luke as he ran between Frank and Louise "She's a better wife than you ever disserved." But that didn't help in the least bit, it only made it worse.

Frank went into a vicious rampage picking up the closest thing he could find and throwing it at Luke. Luckily it was only a wooden spoon, but it still cut his face above his right eye. After about fifteen minutes of a brutal beating of Luke, and Louise, he turned his anger towards Jen. She was hiding in the corner hoping that this time would be the one where he just forgot about her, but that would never happen, he always left her for last; she gave him the most pleasure. It seemed her every scream impelled him to hit her harder, and Jen was a fighter, she never gave up even at ten, she dug her nails into his face and gouged at his eyes. Even though Jen was tough she was no match for a man three times her age and size.

"You are all worthless, ya hear, worthless. No one cares if ya live or die, I'm the only one to take ya in, and you treat me with no respect." And then he stumbled his way in to his room and fell fast asleep, leaving Jen, Luke, and Louise passed out, spread around on the living room floor, looking as if they were dead.

The next morning before Frank woke up Jen and Luke snuck out to the market to get something to eat for their morning meal, when they heard a little old ladies voice ring out behind them "Luke, Jen Richards is that you I see?" the sweet old lady said.

"Aunty Caroline!" The children shouted out in unison, as they ran over to her and gave her a big hug. Aunty Caroline wasn't really their aunt, but she was the closest thing they had to one. They met her when Jen was about five and Luke eight. She was about sixty and she had just moved to New York from England, she started working at the same floral shop that Louise did. Louise had found out that she was staying at a rundown apartment building and let her move into the spare room till she found her own place.

"It's nice to see you two again, it seems like it's been months." Then her voice changed to a more serious tone as she noticed the cuts and bruises all over the two children. "What happened to you two, how did you both get so many bruises and cuts?"

Jen and Luke shared a worried look between themselves remembering what Frank had said would happen to them if they told anyone what really went on in their home to give them the bruises and cuts.

"Well you see Auntie Caroline, me and Jen were wrestling and we got too close to the stairs and we went toppling down them." Luke spoke up with a somewhat convincing voice.

"Are you sure you fell down some stairs, and no one hurt you?" she could tell that the falling down the stairs line had been rehearsed.

"Yes ma'am, it happened just last night." Luke didn't have to lie about that part. "We should be headin on home now, but it's been nice to chat with ya." He said as they turned and disappeared into the business of the market.

That night two police officers knocked at their door wanting to talk to Jen and Luke, but the falling down the stairs act convinced them and they left without a second glance at the clearly abused children. After that nights visit Frank was more aware of where he hit them and very rarely let the escape the imprisonment of the house.

*NOW*

"So I'm guessing that you like the sun, judging from that great big grin on ya face, sunshine." Spot said as the smirk on his face grew to almost the size of hers.

"I never really got to go outside all that much." She looked around and let her eyes rest on Spot. She felt a warmth and understanding from his smirk, and safety in his eyes.

"Well that a shame, there's so much that's you've been missin being cooped up inside for all your life. So I might be wrong but I'm guessing you haven't eaten yet, have ya?"

"You got that one right, I haven't eaten since yesterday morning." She said now aware of the angry growls coming from her stomach.

"Well good thing I was the one who found ya, we newsies know the best places to eat." He smirked at her, he had changed his whole demeanor towards her, he wasn't acting like such a jerk now, and she liked him a lot better this way.

Spot took off down the stairs with Jen a step or two behind. Instead of going back through the window they had come through, they went all the way down the fire escape and into the ally. They walked for about five minutes, when they turned a corner and walked into a small restaurant with a sign above the door that read "Chances".

The booths in the small restaurant were full of other newsies talking up a storm, about twenty of them in all. They filled the room with laughter and stories of their morning. As Spot and Jen walked by, each of the newsies nodded in acknowledgement, some added a casual "Hey ya Spot", or "How you doing Spot?" When Spot and Jen reached about the middle of Chances he stopped and took out the gold tipped cane that hung from his belt loop and tapped it on the ground a couple of times, and the room went silent.

"Hey ya bois, this is Jen, and she gonna be stayin with us." Spot said in a commanding voice and no one asked any question, some nodded and others said stuff like "Hey ya Jen." They all seemed pretty nice. She nodded back and smiled as she continued following Spot to the very back table. There were three boys seated in the booth they stopped at. Two of them were around Spots age and the other one was Chaos. Spot let Jen slip into the booth next to Chaos and pulled up a spare chair from another table for himself. The minute Jen sat down, Chaos was bombarding her with question.

"So are ya really gonna be stayin with us?" "Did you like the lodgin house?" "Where's your bunk, is it the one by mine?" He asked his questions so fast she had no time to answer any of them before he went on to the next one.

After a few minutes Spot got tired of the pointless questions and quieted him down. When Chaos came to a complete stop Spot introduced Jen to the other two boys at the table. The first ones name was shadow, he had dirty blonde hair that fell just above his brilliant green eyes. Spot had introduced him as his 'second in command', when she heard that, her mind wandered back to the comment Chaos had made earlier on the bridge about Spot being the king of Brooklyn.

She wondered how a kid that lived in a lodging house, and made only a few cents a day by selling newspapers could be considered the king of Brooklyn, she also didn't understand why a newsie would need a second in command, was it really that complicated being a newsie?

The second older boy at the table Spot had called Tweet, both for the reason he whistled all the time and he was one of the best birds to come through Brooklyn. Tweet was probably about 16, his hair was short, only about an inch or two long, and it was jet black and wavy. His eyes were brown with gold specs scattered in them making them look as if they were almost glowing. But the one thing that stood out the most about him was the huge scar reaching from his hair line in the center of his forehead across his eyebrow, just missing his eye, to his right ear.

"So Tweet, anything new in the Bronx?" Spot questioned. "Have they moved any more, or did they learn their lesson?"

"Nah it seems the brawl last week put them back in their place. But I've been hearin some rumors from Gun bout the Bronx gangin up with Queens, an goin after Manhattan." Tweet answered looking Spot straight in the eyes.

"When did you talk to Gun?" Spot asked in a more concerned tone now. He knew that Brooklyn could handle a turf war, but Manhattan, even though they were tough, they couldn't handle two territories coming at them at once.

"He told me earlier this mornin, he said he was gonna find ya, but I guess he didn't.

"Well I wasn't sellin this mornin so he probably couldn't find me. But now that I know, I want you to go tell Jackie boy bout this news, they might already know but we better make sure, that way nothing jumps out at them that they didn't know was comin sooner or later. It's been a while since we've done anything at Medda's set something up for tomorrow, we can talk business then." With that Spot sent him to Manhattan.

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