A Promise Worth Keeping

By Molly The Monster

Setting: The fire escape of Katherine Plumber, 1899

It was over. It was done. They had won. After all they had gone through–the fights, the lies, the fear–it had all been worth it. Tomorrow, Jack Kelly would be on the streets selling papers again, the price would be back where it was supposed to be and Weasel was going to buy back every paper they didn't sell. Jack couldn't wait to see the look on Weasel's face–he was even considering holding onto one or two just to make sure he got to see it.

Everyone had played a part. Davey was the one who started all of this. All the boys–Crutchie, Race, Specs, Albert, all of them–had played their part. Medda had helped them out, letting them use the studio. Spot Conlon and the Brooklyn newsies had done more than their fair share. Even little Les played an integral role.

But there was one person who made this all possible. One person whose faith in him meant more to Jack than anyone else's. They had talked early in the day, but everyone else had been around. He wanted to see her, he wanted to see her alone.

Which was how he found himself climbing up the fire escape of her apartment building. When he first found out this was where old Joe was living, he didn't believe it. Then he found out Joe was just waiting for his magnificent 73rd Street mansion to be built–apparently the old mansion was too small.

Even though this was only his temporary living, still, it was pretty nice.

This wasn't the first time Jack had been there. He was a little embarrassed to admit that he'd been by the day he'd met Katherine. Of course, that time he hadn't climbed the fire escape.

It was one, two, three, four flights up. With the soft glow of the lantern in her bedroom, Jack could tell Katherine was in her room–and still awake! Her back was to the window, and he would have been perfectly content to just watch her move about all night. But he didn't want to scare her, so he crouched next to the window, knocking on it swiftly. Through the closed window, Jack could see Katherine jump in surprise, whipping around to face the window. Her eyes were wide and her hand was pressed against her chest.

Well, so much for not scaring her.

Her face softened slightly when she saw Jack grinning outside the window, but then her expression changed to something that looked a little like panic. She quickly crossed the room and crouched down near the window to open it. "What are you doing here?" Katherine asked in a whisper, a smile on her face, though her eyes still showed that same hint of panic.

Jack leaned against the window frame. "Well, hello to you, too, Miss Plumber," said Jack with roguish grin.

Katherine rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth were still curled in a little smile. "Hello, Jack," she said slowly, dramatically, her voice teasing. But then her tone quickly turned to one of more urgency. "What are you doing here?"

What was he doing there? Truth be told, Jack wasn't sure. He just knew that he wanted to see her and before he knew where he was walking, he was at her apartment.

He didn't answer her, he just titled his head to the side, regarding her curiously. She was dressed in a long nightgown, her curly brown hair falling about her shoulders differently than usual. It took Jack a moment to realize it was because her hair was completely down instead of pulled back on the sides like it usually was. It was different, she was different, but in a good way.

"I like your hair," he said, ignoring her question to compliment her instead.

"What?" she asked taken aback, her hand instinctively smoothing her hair down, wondering if Jack was making fun of her. Even with the dim lighting, Jack was sure she was blushing.

Her insecurity amused Jack. Didn't she know she was beautiful no matter what her hair looked like? "Your hair's down," Jack pointed out. "I don't think I ever seen you with your hair down. I like it."

Katherine pushed her hair back, feeling the blush creep up on her cheeks. Only Jack Kelly could get her with something like that. It was barely even a compliment and she was blushing, dying to get him out of there so he wouldn't see her soft red cheeks. A few weeks ago she would have thought that that was just a line, but now she actually believed him.

"You should go," she said, quickly glancing over her shoulder at her bedroom door. "My father hasn't gone to bed yet. He usually says goodnight to me before he goes off to bed. You wouldn't want him to catch you here."

Jack laughed lightly. "Oh, come on," he said, dismissing her concerns. "I ain't scared of him. After all that's happened we's practically old friends."

Katherine struggled not to roll her eyes again. "Old friends" was not exactly the way she'd describe the relationship between her father and Jack, despite the fact that the strike was now over and everything settled.

"Look, Jack. I really think–"

Katherine was cut off by a knock on the door. She jerked around, her eyes landing on the door. She knew who was on the other side and panic was starting to set in. The two of them were going to be in a whole lot of trouble if her father caught Jack there.

But when she turned back around to face the window, Jack was nowhere to be seen. Katherine heard the door open behind her and she whipped around to see her father standing in the doorway. She took one more glance over her shoulder–Jack was still gone–before facing her father again who was looking at her strangely.

"Hi, Daddy," said Katherine with a nervous grin, feeling her heart quicken in her chest.

"What are you doing?" her father asked, the confusion evident on his face.

Katherine only felt panic for a moment before she managed to regain her composure. "I was–er–I was just looking at the moon." She gestured behind her, somewhere off in the distance.

Her father still looked confused, but the answer seemed to satisfy him. "All right. Well, I know we didn't get to talk about what happened today. I just thought–"

"You know what, Daddy?" said Katherine, cutting him off. "It's late and I'm tired." She faked a yawn. "Maybe we can talk about this tomorrow? Over breakfast?" Katherine smiled as sweetly as she could, channeling her younger days. She'd always been a daddy's girl growing up, although she now preferred to be treated like the smart, independent adult that she was. But still, in times like these, her old tricks came in handy.

Her father nodded. "All right, then," he said stiffly. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," said Katherine, her smile as sweet as ever as she waved slightly until he had closed the door.

Katherine quickly stuck her head out the window, taking a glance around the fire escape. Her instincts were right–Jack hadn't gone far. The fake, sweet smile on her face was quickly replaced by a bemused expression when she spotted the boy laying face down on the fire escape, his hands covering the back of his head like he was trying to protect it from gun shots or a bomb. "Not scared of my father, huh?" she teased, leaning her elbow on the windowsill and placing her chin in her hand.

Jack removed one hand from the back of his head and turned his head to look up at Katherine from his spot on the ground. "Maybe a little," he said sheepishly, a small hint of a smile on his face. He rolled onto his back before sitting up so they were at the same level.

"You should go," said Katherine softly. As much as she hated to admit it, she didn't want him to go. But it was late and it was more than inappropriate for him to be there, even if he was just on the fire escape. "You still haven't even told me why you're here."

"I don't know," said Jack honestly. "I guess I just wanted to see you."

Katherine couldn't stop a small smile from forming on her lips. The smile, however, quickly faded as it suddenly dawned on her. Of course! How could she have been so stupid? "Oh. All right. I know why you're here," she said, leaning away from the window a little and looking away from him. "You're leaving, aren't you?"

"What?"

"You're leaving, right? You're going to Santa Fe. You're here to say goodbye, aren't you?" she accused. He wasn't supposed to leave. Especially not when he'd said he wouldn't. Katherine felt an odd sort of heaviness in her stomach. He was such a jerk! He was a miserable little louse who couldn't be trusted and–

Jack laughed and Katherine fixed him with a glare so deadly that Jack actually found her rather frightening. "No, no. Ya got it all wrong. I ain't goin' nowhere," he said.

Katherine wanted to believe him. Really, she did. But why else would he have come here if not to say goodbye? Her face softened a little, but her guard was still up and she was still suspicious. "Then will you please tell me what you're doing here?" she asked.

Jack shrugged, not really sure how to answer. "I don't know. Maybe I just wanted to say thanks. For everythin'," said Jack, looking Katherine straight in the eye, his voice serious.

"You already said thanks," Katherine reminded him, not believing that's why he'd come.

"Maybe I just wanted to say it again," he teased.

The two were quiet for a moment. "You're really not leaving?" asked Katherine, unable to look at him. Her voice let Jack know she wanted an honest answer.

"I told ya: I ain't goin' nowhere," he answered.

"Good, because I don't want to wake up one morning and hear from Crutchie or David that you hopped on the first train to Santa Fe," said Katherine, tilting her head to look Jack in the eye. These days Katherine spent most of her time trying to prove to everyone that she was smart, independent, capable of taking care of herself. She didn't need a man–not her father, not a husband–to take care of her. It was practically the 20th century for crying out loud! She didn't want to be one of those women who was dependent on men–not for money nor attention. Even so, the thought of Jack leaving was devastating to her...not that she'd ever admit it, especially not to his face.

"Them guys wouldn't last two days without me," said Jack with a smirk. "I gotta stick around. For them." That was Jack Kelly. He couldn't tell the whole truth–he just told part of the truth. Sure, he really did think the boys needed him. After all they'd been through, he couldn't just abandon them. But there was one part he was content to leave out: in his heart, he knew he needed them more.

"Promise?" asked Katherine.

"Promise," said Jack. Katherine smiled softly. Looking at Katherine, her hair, her eyes, her smile, her lips–oh, those lips. He could stare at those lips all day. One look at her, and he knew it was a promise worth keeping.

But Jack Kelly couldn't stay serious for long. "How's about we seal it with a kiss?" he asked with a devilish grin, leaning in through the open window.

His face met the palm of Katherine's hand as she pushed him away and out the window. "Easy, Casanova," she joked, a smile on her face. "You need to go," she added, because honestly, she didn't trust herself with that boy out there on the fire escape. He did things to her, like allowing him to be out there so long no matter how inappropriate it was.

"All right, all right," said Jack, a smile still on his face. "I can take a hint. I'm goin', I'm goin'." He stood up, brushing off his pants as if they weren't dirty when he got there.

He headed for the steps that led down the fire escape. He'd barely got down two steps before Katherine leaned out the window and stopped him. "Jack," she called in a harsh whisper.

Jack stopped, turning to look at the girl in the window. "Yeah?"

Katherine bit her lip. "Do you think you would miss me if you left?" she asked, before she chickened out.

Jack seemed taken aback by her question, but he smiled slightly. "I don't know," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "Maybe." He took another step down before stopping, turning back to look at Katherine. "Why? Ya think ya'd miss me?"

"I don't know. Maybe," said Katherine with a smile of her own. The two didn't need to say anything more. Just the look between them answered the question.

"Goodnight, Miss Plumber," said Jack with a nod. "I'll see ya tomorrow."

Katherine couldn't help but grin. "Goodnight, Mr. Kelly."

I have a slight Newsies obsession. It's a problem. I know Jeremy Jordan was the original Jack, but while I was writing this, I was picturing the lovely Corey Cott. I read pylades32's story Of Fire Escapes and Innuendo and now the only thing I can think of is Katherine and Jack having to sneak around behind ol' Pulitzer's back and Jack sneaking on her fire escape and it's all West Side Story and beautiful and romantic and then this was born!

This one-shot was dedicated to TamariChan, Prunella7, RangerManaInSnuggieWar, JilyEvotter19, Emullz, SkewedViEW, DobbyLovesSocks and Julie London for reviewing my last one-shot, A Kiss Under Mistletoe.