Chapter Two

If We're United

A/N: Congrats to Chloe Chamberleign and Nicely Nicely's Little Sister, the first reviewers of Chapter One :) People like you make my spirit do a happy dance that is much too ridiculous to describe :P

Ace woke up with a peeling headache and numb toes.

'Oh my word…' she winced, curling her blankets tighter and tighter around her body until only her head was exposed. She sat on her feet and felt her teeth chatter uncontrollably.

'It's s-so c-cold,' whispered Skates, who sat up in her bunk at the same time, breath as white and puffy as steam engine clouds.

'Quick, let's get dressed so I can get some coffee in me already,' said Streets, nudging Vi and Madison awake. Every limb in the Riverside shack trembled.

Ace pulled on all three pairs of socks she owned at once, before stuffing them painfully into her winter boots, whose leather had stiffened overnight. When she ran out of extra layers, she stuck her head out of the door to find several inches of white, powdery snow caked over everything.

'Wow, Dave wasn't kiddin'…'

'Snow?!' gasped Skates, joining Ace at the door, wide-eyed. 'I can't believe it…'

'Why not?' said Rich, tucking her brown hair under her cap. 'Happens every year.'

Ten minutes later, the newsgirls were leaving footprints in the new snow. They picked up their usual round of morning coffee in tin mugs, which they cradled and nursed all the way to the distribution center.

Ace drained the last lukewarm dregs as they watched an extraordinarily chaotic display unfold outside the gates of The World.

'Duck!' cried Darlin', and in good time - a snowball whizzed past Vi's left ear, followed by three other strays.

'We're really caught in the line a' fire,' yelled Ace over the laughter and shrieks of the newsies' mass snowball fight. They stuck together and put up elbows as shields, occasionally scooping together some snowballs of their own in retaliation.

The eight of them had just reached their Duane Street friends when the circulation bell cut through the commotion on the streets. Surprisingly, the thirty-something boys quickly wrapped up their battle and filed into a queue, albeit not an orderly one.

'Pretty magical mornin', ain't it?' said Dutchy to Frames, as she hopped over to greet him and Specs. The others had quickly taken to calling them the 'Three Glassketeers' on account of their shared spectacle wearing.

'Aw yeah,' she replied, sniffing with every breath.

'Wow, an' I thought my nose was red dis mornin',' remarked Specs. Self-conscious, Frames touched the tip of her nose, as if somehow that would tell her anything. She looked around at the girls, and only now realized how scarlet theirs were too.

'Well, you can't have snow without a little nip in the air,' she half-shrugged, half-shivered.

'Heya Blink,' said Darlin', sidling up to her beau in the line. She tactically slung his arm over her shoulder and soaked up his radiating heat.

'Hey,' he smiled, using up all his stores of willpower not to kiss her in public. When he got a good look at her face, however, the smile disappeared.

'Whoa.'

'What? What's wrong?' she said, alarmed. He rested a hand against her cheek and widened his eye at the contrast in temperature.

'Your skin's so cold, hun. Practically blue.'

'Is it?' Darlin' felt her own face, and stared at her hands: translucent and purpler than any pair of hands should ordinarily be.

Everyone else picked up on it too:

'Ya look like Death's daughter,' said Racetrack, pulling a face at Streets' pallor and raccoon eyes.

'Good morning to ya too,' she replied hoarsely. 'I had real trouble sleepin' last night, it was so cold.'

The hoarseness in her voice inadvertently made it easier for Streets to pass herself off as a boy, but this was a small consolation in the larger scheme of her drained energy. Jack, papes in hand, looked over Ace with uneasy eyes.

'Gotta admit…you an' the others look under the weather today, more than usual.'

'Ain't we all?' said Ace, longing to crawl back under her blankets. She nodded at Wiesel. 'Mornin'. Eighty papes please.'

'Eighty papes fer the new guy.'

She pursed her lips and drummed her gloved fingers on the counter.

'Weas,' said Ace. 'It's been over a month now. Don't I merit gettin' called by my actual name?'

'Eh,' replied the clerk indifferently. 'Maybe one day, but right now it just suits ya too well.'

Ace, with her resting deadpan expression, slid one of the papes off her pile, smacked herself in the face with it, and moved along.

'Suits me,' she muttered, shaking her head. 'What does it take, I ask ya?'

'Listen Ace,' said Jack, as they sat next to each other and opened up the broadsheets. 'You sure you're okay to sell today? Youse all seem ta' have the same bad case a' the shivers.'

'I'm fine, Jack, thanks,' she responded, too quickly. The fingers on her left hand subconsciously moved to massage away the pain in her temple. 'The shack's just not exactly insulated for the season, is all.'

'Well that ain't good,' chipped in Snitch, joining them. 'If you're sleepin' in there every night, what're ya gonna look like by Christmas? Half-dead?'

'Probably full-dead,' rasped Streets, stack under her arm.

'Ace,' said Jack, more pleadingly. 'Ya can't.'

'Can't what?' she said gruffly, scanning the less exciting headlines.

'Stay in that shack, at least not when it's this cold. What if one a' ya gets really sick, or worse - all a' youse?'

'You know what,' said Ace, giving him a sardonic side-glance. 'You're right. Let me just pack up my bags an' telegram my butler so he can chauffeur me to my suite at the Waldorf Astoria.'

Jack closed his paper and sighed, knowing she was right and feeling annoyed about it. Ace copied him, watching the circle of the Manhattan newsies and her girls grow around them.

'Jack, I know it's a sucky situation,' she said, lower. 'But unless you can suggest a good alternative, then we simply got no choice but to stick it out until winter's over.'

Her partner turned down the corners of his mouth and folded his elbows over his knees. Frames kept sniffing, while Madison spluttered out a cough every so often. On impulse, Jack then put forward this suggestion:

'What if ya stayed wit' us?'

All conversations in the immediate vicinity ceased. Ace stared at him, unsure of which feeling to prioritize. She went with incredulity.

'What…Are you crazy?'

'But it'd be perfect,' he protested. 'The lodgin' house is warm, it's got beds, the fireplace, plus youse already sell wit' us here. Might as well cut yer commutin' time in half.'

'Jack, this is nuts - ' began Racetrack.

'And runnin' water,' added Jack. The girls' eyes went to him like hawks to a mouse. Rich and Darlin' stepped towards Jack with wide eyes, like he held the keys to the city.

'Running water?' parroted Rich.

'Heated too,' said Jack. 'If ya ask Kloppman to use his stove.'

The newsie practically folded at the knees, hands pressed to her lips.

'Ace…'

'The rainwater bucket was iced over this mornin',' piped up Skates. Their leader opened her mouth, only to shut it again and look stumped. Then, as if acting on a sixth sense, Ace turned around to see the Delancey brothers eavesdropping on their conversation from behind the grille. She sent them visual daggers before leading Jack towards the gates by the elbow. The others flocked after them, keen to know the outcome of this new debate.

'The answer ain't as simple as ya might think.'

'Why, Ace?' said Jack. They stopped outside the gates, the prints of many newsies already grinding the powdery snow into slush. 'You're the Riverside leader, it's your call. If ya want to, just say yes already.'

'But it ain't my call to make, Jack,' she said, one hand on her hip. 'It's Kloppman's.'

As soon as she said it, the newsies experienced a collective thought: Ah.

'He's a sweet old guy,' Ace continued. 'But he's still your landlord. What exactly d'ya think he's gonna say to eight…different…newsies sharin' quarters with over a dozen newsboys, huh? It's a very thoughtful offer, but realistically speakin', I just don't see it workin'.'

'Ace is right,' sighed Skates. 'We'll be fine, Jack. Just a little more wood on the bucket fire, a few more cheap blankets, an' we're good.'

Jack took in the girl's pale face and doubted every word, but decided to hold his tongue for the time being.

'Yeah,' said Madison in between coughs. 'A little cold's nothin' some roast chestnuts an' strong coffee can't cure.'

Without further ado, she held up a paper and got into selling character.

'Extra! Extra! Brand new reports on the American-Philippine War, read all -'

Unfortunately, another coughing fit meant she had to cut her own sentence off. Mush gently slapped her between the shoulder panels as she folded in half. Jack moved his eyes from this sight to his girlfriend, who sent him a look of mild despair.

'At least let me try for ya,' he said, patting the top of her arm. 'I'll talk to him, you'll see. In fact…' he said more loudly, getting the attention of the other Riverside girls. 'After sellin', get all your stuff together from the shack and come to Duane Street. You're sleepin' outta the cold tonight.'

'Jack,' said Ace, before he turned on his heel and went into the streets to sell. She rolled her eyes and threw her hands to the white sky. 'Ai ya…Jack.'

She went after her partner, which the newsies took as the signal to split up into groups of their own. Now they were professional and focused, leaving all desires to start another snowball fight at the gates. After all, that would endanger the papes.

A/N: Review, review, review! I answer every single one on a note of thanks ^_^