One Hand, One Heart

- -

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life.

- -

Brooklyn

"Spot, are you alright?" asked Roman. "You've been, well, not yourself lately." Spot looked up at him, the sorrows of a boy forced to grow up to fast evident in his eyes.

"I'll live," he responded indifferently. Roman nodded and sat down on the bunk beside Spot. Spot sighed in frustration.

"I just don't get it, Roman. Since when has Kelly been good at defenses? I mean, less that a year ago the guy needed us just to win a damn strike and now, all a the sudden he's king of the world. Just today, two a me boys got beat up for gettin' too close to Manhattan's borders." Spot glanced over at Roman, stern blue eyes demanding a response. Roman lowered his head, resting it on his hands.

"Listen, Spot. I don't know what to tell ya. I know I'm supposed to be your advisor and all, but Kelly's gone mad. I don't know him anymore. None of us do. Maybe that's why he's got the advantage. You haven't changed. He still knows you and can predict every move you'd make."

"So I gotta change," stated Spot.

"Well…" Roman began, unsure of how to answer. Luckily, he was saved by an intruder making his presence in the doorway known.

"Jesus, Spot, lighten up. You don't need to change, ya need…" The intruding boy paused for a moment, raising his hand to his head. His eyes widened and he snapped his fingers. "A party! That's it, that's what ya need…and dames, ya always need dames."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Yea, Riff, that's just what we need in the middle of a borough war. A leader who's too busy getting drunk with whores every night to protect his people." Riff held his hands up in self defense.

"Whoa there, calm down, o holy one. Ain't nothin' wrong with drinkin' or whores, they're both in the bible ain't they?"

Roman shrugged, "How should I know? I'm just saying it's a waste of time for…"

Spot cut him off, "Boy, you're me best friend, but sometimes ya gotta learn when not to run your mouth. Now, what were you saying about a party, Riff? I could use a little relaxation after all that's been happening."

- -

Manhattan

"Jack wants me to go on a date with Mush Friday night," Juliann complained as Sarah combed through the knots in her strawberry blonde locks.

"Mush is a nice boy," Sarah replied. "You'll have fun."

"Yes," Juliann agreed. "Mush is a nice boy, but that's it. Someone to have fun with, a friend. I could never love him."

Sarah laughed, "No one ever said you had to love him."

Juliann raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Have you met my brother?"

"Alright, alright, I admit, Jack does have his heart set on this relationship," Sarah conceded. "But I know Jack, he'll understand if you just talk to him."

"Nooo, he'll just try to talk me into seeing things his way," Juliann argued. She turned around to face Sarah. "And if that doesn't work, he'll just charm you into helping him gang up on me," Juliann added impertinently, a playful twinkle glittering in her pale green eyes. Sarah gave her a reproving look, trying unsuccessfully to hide the smile working its way up to the corners of her mouth.

"Turn around. I still need to braid your hair." Juliann sighed, realizing that she would get no further in her anti-mush argument that night, and slid back around in her seat to face the mirror. She stared at her own reflection as Sarah parted her hair into three sections and began to twist them together. She resembled her brother. A gentler, more feminine version of Jack people called her. Normally she was flattered by the comment, but today, being as frustrated with her brother as she was, she cursed it.

"Done," said Sarah. She flipped the long braid over Juliann's shoulder for the girl to have a look. "Now, off to bed."

"Since when did you become my mother?" Juliann questioned indignantly.

"Since Jack set it up for you to move in with me and family, giving me strict instructions to treat you exactly as he would," Sarah responded smartly. "Now go." Sarah pointed to the cot across from her own bed and waited until Juliann was in bed before turning around to fix her own hair. She finished quickly, her experienced fingers braiding her own hair with ease.

"Sarah," Juliann asked as Sarah made her way to her own bed.

"Yes."

"Since I am undoubtedly going to be forced to go a bad date and spend Friday night utterly miserable, couldn't you at least allow me the satisfaction of a later bed time?" Juliann begged with an exaggerated tone of desperation.

"Enough of the dramatics, Juliann. You sound like one of Medda's showgirls," Sarah reprimanded. She leaned over and turned off the kerosene lamp, plunging the room into darkness. Juliann let out an annoyed "hmpf" and rolled over to go to sleep.


Author's Note: First of all, if anyone is still interessted in this story, I want to apologies for the deplorably long amount of time it took me to update. Honestly, I was lost, really busy with school, lost, suffering enough of my own personal dramas to have any time to write one, and, did I mention lost? Eventually, I kind of just forgot about my dear Juliann and Roman, whom I've a death date with that's long overdue (hah! I'm so evil). But today, I was randomly looking through old files on my computer, found this, remembered how sweet it was supposed to be, and decided I just HAD to finish it. So yay, I'm back, and I promise with much quicker updates. Also, one last apology, to both my old readers and the multitudes of new ones (yea, who am I kidding), for the large amount of spelling and grammatical errors in my first chapter. I think this one is better in that department, but I promise to use a beta reader for my next chapter if you just stick with me on this. Oh, wait, I lied, one more thing. I'm deviating more from my original idea, so even though this is still inspired by Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story, there will be a lot of deviance from the plots of both stories. But hey, its my story, isn't that the point?

Disclaimer: Yea, I don't own newsies, or R&J, or WSS, or any of the characters except Roman and Juliann (whom I own only in name).