AN: Another chapter guys! Thank you Ealasaid Una for the review. It made my day. To all the other people thank you for reading. I own nothing of Newsies and here's the second chapter!
Jack and Blink watched the girl shift from side to side knowing something was bothering her. They both knew she was dressed fancy but the pain and hurt on her face when they found her made them believe otherwise. No one who got everything on a silver platter would walk in a thunder storm not knowing where they were. They had to figure something out. She couldn't stay here forever. She probably had family she needed to get back to. Blink pulled Skittery into the shift of watching her so she wouldn't panic when she woke up. Jack pulled in Race. Race didn't really care so after an hour of his shift he would leave making Skittery pull his extra hours.
He didn't mind too much. He could have sworn he had seen the girl before. The more time he spent around her he felt like he was getting closer to finding out how he knew her. It was during Skittery's double shift that she seemed to squirm more violently. It all ended quickly when she screamed something in Russian. He could have sworn he had heard it somewhere before, but he wasn't sure. He didn't have time to try and translate the scream because she was staring at him with huge eyes and seemed to be scanning the room for a way out.
"Calm down. Yous is safe. Jack and Kid brought ya in when ya were wanderin' in da rain." He tried to explain. He saw her breathing slow down and knew she was trying to relax.
"Where...where am I?" she asked in a quiet voice that seemed to not want to know the answer to her own question.
"Yous is in da lodge." Skittery replied not understanding her look of terror. "Ya alright?"
"Umm...yeah...I'm fine. How long have I been here?" she said quickly changing the subject.
"Day or two." he said as footsteps pounded up to them.
"We heard a scream..." Blink said staring at the conscious girl on the bed.
"She's awake." Skittery said getting up and heading to leave and try to figure out what she screamed.
"Where's Race?" Jack asked looking for her on duty guard.
"Sheepshead by now." Skittery said jumping down the stairs to the other boys that had come back from selling.
It took a minute for Jack's anger to fade. When it did though he had so many questions for the strange girl.
"Who are ya? What ya doin' walkin' in the rain? Where ya come from?" he asked question after question without breathing.
"My name is Anastasia. I was walking in the rain for my own reasons and I'm originally from Germany, but I've lived in Manhattan for eight years now." she said not approving of the drill of questions.
"Why yous was walkin' in da rain could help. Unless ya wanna be on the streets." Jack mumbled with an evil smile.
"Jack..." Kid Blink said warning him off the topic but he didn't go for it. He kept waiting for a response. Finally she broke.
"I was kicked out. Apparently a master pick pocket can't hide anything." She snapped at him turning over and away from the boys behind her.
"Told ya Jacky." Kid blink's voice echoed.
It was in a dream that Skittery finally found the answers to the questions that plagued him. He was on a giant boat with the bright Spanish sun shining down on the deck and all the people on it. He saw a girl leap for the railing but was stopped by a huge muscular man holding her back. She screamed the phrase but this time he understood its meaning. "Don't leave me!" she shouted as tears ran down her face. A woman with chestnut hair cried into a tall dark haired man's chest. The crying girl seemed to have a mix of both of their hair giving her a dark brown almost black color.
"Skittery..." Someone said faintly. "Skittery." louder. "Skittery!" Kloppman's voice finally woke him up. He shot up and grumbled something even he didn't understand.
Skittery looked over to see where the girl was. She was awake and hiding in a corner with a blanket so someone else could use her bunk to sleep on. She looked tired, but she seemed t be refusing any attempts to sleep. Skittery slide between people trying to reach Jack and talk to him about the girl and what they were going to do with her.
"Jack what we gunna do wit' 'er?" Skittery asked.
"Not sure Skitts. Ya got any bright ideas?" Jack asked as he continued to get ready.
"She looks tired. Maybe someone could stay wit' her and den go sellin' or sumtin." Skittery suggested not liking the look Jack was giving him.
"Knew we kept ya he'e for a reason Skitt! Yous can watch 'er." Jack replied with a fiendish smirk.
"I didn' say me!" Skittery yelled startling the half asleep girl in the far off corner.
"I'll give ya half of what I make taday Skitts. Just make sure she's safe." Jack said his face getting very serious.
"Deal." Skittery said spitting into his hand and waited as Jack did the same and shook hands with him.
As the other newsies left, Skittery helped the half asleep Anastasia back to a bed. Skittery took the time to catch up on his sleep as well. His darkness known as sleep was shattered by stifled cries. He looked up and Anastasia was crying in her pillow obviously trying not to wake him up. He got up and sat in the floor by her bed.
"Don' cry. There's no need ta." Skittery said in her ear.
"There's a lot to cry about...no one sees most of it though." She said looking out of her pillow. "Did you know that pick pockets like me...we're told to stay away from newsies? Bad for everything. They said they destroy our family of younger pick pockets. Funny how things happen." she mumbled.
"Oi! Anybody home?" Spot's voice reached Skittery's ears.
"Yeah Spot. Just me dough!" Skittery shouted back. There were heavy footsteps as Spot scrambled up the stairs. He stopped short though when he saw Anastasia.
He took his hat off and walked over to the bed swatting Skittery with his hat in the process.
"Ya ain' alone up he'e." Spot hissed. "Spot Conlon at your soives ma'am." Spot said bowing slightly avoiding her red rimmed eyes.
"Anastasia." she said holding out her hand and letting him shake it.
"Lovley name. Russian I think." Spot said sitting on the bed.
"I haven't been called Russian in six years." Anastasia said with a small smile.
"We all are American I s'pose. Afta all we live he'e." he said with a big smile on his face.
"Spot, I t'ink we was getting ready ta leave..." Skittery interrupted looking at Anastasia hoping she saw how much he wanted to leave.
"Right. Need to get some new clothes. Can't really walk around New York dressed like a pris." She replied standing up and falling on Skittery from not using her feet for so long. Her elbow hit him in the nose and with a scream of pain and a shriek of apologies Skittery's nose had become a gusher of blood.
"I can take her out. Jus' so ya can clean up Skitt." Spot said pulling her off of the bleeding Skittery.
"Yea yea. Whateva." Skittery said jumping to his feet and escaping to the bathroom.
"I'm so sorry!" She said covering her mouth as he walked away.
"Come on. Let's give him some peace." Spot suggested pulling her towards the stairs.
It wasn't long after that that people started to come back to the lodge. Jack climbed up the stairs just as Skittery got his nose back into place and the bleeding had stopped.
"Where she at?" Jack demanded after searching the room and not seeing a trace of her.
"Spot took 'er out." He said absent mindedly trying to scrub some of the blood off of his shirt.
"Spot? Skitt are ya dat stupid ta let Spot take a goil anywhere?" Jack said annoyed as he climbed down the stairs heading for the Brooklyn Bridge.
"Glum and dumb ain' ya Skittery?" Races voice echoed with a laugh. He was neither of those things. Just home sick. He'd been home sick for ages but doesn't make it go away. Skittery caught up to Jack to help search for the missing girl that someone would be missing.