***Edited***

Enjoy!

The sun was just peaking its way through the window as Jen awoke; sitting up in her bed and looked around. No one else was up so she quietly went to the wash room and got ready for the day. The night before some of the guys around her size gave her some of their extra clothes, so she slipped into those and found the loose shirt and pants were so much comfier then the restricting dresses she was used to wearing. Once she was dressed she went to the window, opened it, and slipped out into the crisp air of the morning. She made her way up the fire escape to the roof; it was so peaceful, not a single cloud in the sky and other than a few rustling noises from below all she could hear were the birds singing. Jen sat on the ledge letting feet dangling over the edge, facing the sunrise. The view was stunning; the sunlight was hitting the water just right, making it glow.

"Jen?" A surprised voice said from behind her making her jump a little. Once she was balanced again she turned around to see who belonged to the voice. It was Spot; he was just finishing buttoning up his shirt as he sat down next to her. "Why are you up so early, and takin up my thinkin space?" He said jokingly.

"Sorry, if I knew it was yours I wouldn't have intruded, you should really look into gittin your name written up here so there's no mistaken who owns this here roof." Jen replied in a very sarcastic manner. "I've always been a early riser, and it's so beautiful up here I just couldn't resist."

"I know what you mean, I come up here in the mornings to clear my head, specially on days like today when there's goin to be some important business goin on, and speakin of that we should be headin out soon, we're only gonna sell for half the day, then head to 'Hatten to get you ready for tonight." He stood and walk back towards the fire escape.

"What do you mean, get me "ready" for tonight?" He stopped and looked back at her as she began to get up as well; he snickered a little before he answered.

"You're just gonna have to wait and see." And with that they quickly made their way down the fire escape and through the bunk room window.

It had been a little while sense Jen went up to the roof so most of the boys were awake and getting dressed. Jen was a little shocked when she crawled through the window, for there were forty half naked boy just walking around like nothing was wrong, but to Jen everything was wrong. In all her life she had only seen her brother and stepfather dressing and even that was rare, so being surrounded by guys was a completely new thing for her, and she didn't know what to do. Jen stood at the window pain for a few brief seconds then she found her way out, she quickly walked to the door that led out of the bunk room, and out of the awkwardness that filled her.

After a few minutes she heard Spots voice coming from the stairs yelling something to the boys, and then the stair case was filled with the Brooklyn newsies. Jen made her way into the crowd of boys following them down the Brooklyn streets. When they reached the circulation office the gates were just opening. Spot was the first one to walk in; he had his cane thrown over his shoulder as he walked to the other end of the large outdoor room, to a big window which had a board covering it. When he got to the window he took the tip of his cane and knocked it on the board a few times. After a moment or two of rustling the board that covered the window was pushed away and exposed a rather short and chubby man, with red hair and millions of freckles engulfing his face. His name was Fitzwilliam, but all the boys just called him Fitz.

"Hey ya Spot, what can I get ya today?" the man behind the window said in a very heavy Irish accent and a gleeful grin on his face.

"I'm doin good Fitz, how 'bout yourself? And I'll be havin my usual." Spot said as he put two bits on counter.

"Well me kids got the flu, but other than that the day's going fairly good." Fitz said as another man in his twenties placed a hundred papers on the counter space in front of Spot. Then Spot motioned Fitz to come closer, and Spot placed a few coins into his hand.

"See that girl back there, well she's new so I'm goin to be payin for her papes today so she can get on her feet." Spot said quickly and quietly into Fitz ear. "But you can't tell her I was the one that paid. If she asks just make up some one, but not me."

"Whatever you say Spot." Fitz said as he winked and then scanned the line of newsies and spotted Jen. "She's a pretty one."

"I know what you thinkin but you're wrong, there's nothing goin on, she's new to bein a newsie and it's nice to get some help when you're just gettin started. I know it was for me anyways." Spot walked away with his papers to the same place he sat yesterday afternoon.

"Ten papes please." Jen said placing five cents on the counter. The younger man put down the papers and Jen quickly counted them. "There's thirty here?"

"Yes ma'am, Tweet over there paid for twenty of them." Jen turned her gaze the Fitz to Tweet, who was perusing the headlines next to Spot.

"Okay then, thank you." Jens face still had a look of shock and amazement as she walked over and sat down next to Spot. She looked over her papers until Spot got up and motioned her to follow. She quickly got up and before she was out of the gates she turned around and yelled. "Thanks Tweet." Tweet looked up at her a little confused but he nodded back to her anyways. When Spot heard her say that's he knew what she was thanking him for, and knew he had no idea, and that brought a big smirk to his face.

Spot and her went to the same place they sold yesterday. They both sold rather fast, Jen was a quick learner, so it was easy for her to learn to make the headlines sound high class as well as worthy of reading. After all their papers were sold they got their lunch from the bakery once again.

Just as Spot had said earlier they didn't sell the afternoon edition and headed to Manhattan instead. They stopped a few times once they got across the bridge, but they were only brief stops where Spot said hi to the Manhattan newsies. They walked until they came across a building that had a sign above the door that read "Ivory Hall". Spot lead Jen through the doors and into a huge room, it was filled with several tables and a stage at the far end.

"Medda you here?" Spot shouted into the empty room. There were a few short seconds of movement behind the curtains of the stage and then an extremely made up woman in a beautiful dress appeared.

"Oh Spot I haven't seen you in such a long time, where yah been?"

"I've been round." He said with a smirk on his face. "But here's the girl Tweet told you bout. You think you could find somethin for her to wear for tonight?" Spot said as he pulled Jen in front of himself. The woman hurried down the stairs of the stage and made her way to Jen.

"Oh my, you are a gem, I already have a dress in mind!" Medda said as she looked Jen up and down.

"Good well I'll be back for yah a little before the party starts, okay then I better be gettin on me w…." Before he was even done with his sentence Medda was dragging Jen back stage.

"That sounds good, see you then." Jen shouted from behind the curtains still being led away by Medda. She finally stopped when she got to a door, and opened it. The room was huge and crammed full with millions of beautiful dresses.

"Are all these yours?"Jen said in awe.

"Yes my dear, these are mine. I own this theater as well as perform in it." She said with an added chuckle. "And I think this one will suit you just right." She pulled out a dark blue dress; the top was very fitted with sparkles all over it. The bottom on the other hand was quite flowy and puffed out at the waist. It was the prettiest dress Jen had ever seen.

"Wow that's beautiful, thank you so much!" Medda brought it over to her and helped her slip into it. She was right, it fit Jen perfectly. When Jen was all dressed Medda took her in to another room and put a little make up on her.

"You're done, and beautiful, if I might add!" She said as she spun Jen around to show her herself.

"Thank you so much, for everything." Jen said and turned around and gave Medda a huge hug, and that's when they heard a knock from the door. They both looked over to see Spot leaning on the door frame with a smirk on his face.

"Medda you've done good, but when do you not." he moved closer to them and spun Jen around looking at her from all angles.

"Stop flattering me Spot." She said as she wrinkled up her nose and put her fan that she was holding up to her face. "Now I'm going to get myself ready, I'll see you both when the party starts; make yourselves at home until then."

"So how you like the place?" Spot asked as he walked back out on stage looking over the big room.

"It's lovely." She waited a little bit and then she added "Thanks Spot." Jen looked out into the room with a smile on her face.

"For what?"

"For what?" her voice was full of surprise. "For everything, you let me come an stay at the lodgin house, you paid for my papes yesterday, not to mention my lunch too, you make me feel safe, what more could I ask for?" She looked down to the floor and then back at spot with a small smile still left on her face.

"I won't ever let anyone hurt you, you better believe that. Any man that hits a woman is a pathetic coward, and a worthless man." His said as his eyes filled with rage, his whole body seem to stiffen up as if he was remembering something, something that had scarred him, something he hated.

Jen walked over to Spot and put her hand on his arm, snapping him out of the other world he seemed to be in. "I know you wouldn't." she looked into his eyes giving him a reassuring smile, he gave a smirk back.

They talked for about an hour just about the life of the newsies. Spot told her stories about his time as a newsie, and the strike. By the end of his stories she felt as though she knew most of the Manhattan newsies, Spot told his stories in such details she new Cowboy or Jack Kelly always wore a cowboy hat and he was the leader of Manhattan, Racetrack Higgins was an Irish gambler, Kid Blink wore a patch over one of his eyes and many more things about many others. Sometimes she even thought that he had to be making it up, like him fighting off five of the bulls(cops) by himself, that broke up the rally there at Medda's but he reassured her that it was all true.

Then they heard the door to the theater open and they both turned to see who was going to be there first party guest.

"Ah, if it ain't Jackie boy himself." A smirk appeared on his face as he walked towards Jack, both spitting into their hands and shaking. "I was startin to wonder if you were goin to show your face or not."

"Have you ever known me to be one who doesn't show when I say I will?" Jack said with a chuckle. "And who is this pretty girl over here?" he looked over to Jen.

"My name is Jen." She said as she blushed a little, Jack Kelly was quite attractive. "You must be Jack Kelly, I heard a lot about yah."

"Hopefully all good stuff." Jack flashed Jen a quick smile making her blush more. "My boys should be arriving anytime now, so what did you want to talk about Spot? Tweet only said a little, but told me you wanted to talk to me about it."

"I've been hearing things Jackie boy, hearing things bout a territory war that might be comin up in the near future." Spot had lost the smirk that was on his face, he had put on a face for business. His voice was stiff, the concern for his close friend stayed safely hidden just how Spot liked it. "Da Bronx has been talkin with Queens, and from what I've been hearin they're wantin Manhattan."

"Both of them." His face turned from cheerful to concern in a matter of seconds. "Do you know when?"

"It could be anytime, and Brooklyn will be there for yah when the time comes." Spots face was serious but this time a little unease slipped its way through, though only for a moment.

He was concerned with what could happen to Manhattan. Jen had thought it was all about him and showing how great Brooklyn was, all the stories he had told her always ended in "they woulda died without Brooklyn" or "an Brooklyn saved the day again." Jen was lost in her thoughts, which seemed to happen a lot. Normally her thoughts would revolve around a world she had made in her head were everything was perfect but all she could think about now was "Who is Spot?" At first he seemed to be someone completely different from who she was seeing right now. On the bridge when she first met Spot he was free, he didn't seem to be hiding anything, he wasn't holding back his emotions. But right now as he talked to Jack his real feelings were hidden and when they slipped through, he retrieved them as fast as he could. Why?

Jen was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when the room began to fill with newsies. They were a ragged bunch, there were a few that looked like they had a homes, family, mothers, but the rest looked as though they had just woken up and gotten ready in 5 seconds. She saw some familiar face from Brooklyn mixed in with crowd, but they weren't that familiar either seeing as though she had only met them yesterday.

Jack and Spot were done with the business talk and came back and sat next to Jen at the table, and then others came. David was the first newsies that came and sat down with them, he was about 18, curly hair, well-mannered, he was one of the kids that didn't live at a lodging house that was obvious. Jen had heard about him before, just by a different name, for some reason Spot calls him Mouth but no one else seems to do that. She was about to ask why but then a guy came up, his arm around a girl, and the conversation turned to them.

"Mush, Scarlet we were wonderin when you were gonna show up." Jack spoke up "This is Jen, Jen this is Mush and that's Scarlet."

Scarlet was a tall, scrawny, red head with pale skin and lots of freckles, but unlike most the red heads Jen had met, Scarlet was really pretty, in an odd sort of way.

"Hi." Jen said with a smile on her face she was happy to meet another girl, and Mush was probably the best looking newsies, no guy she had ever met. They all went back to talking about what they had been talking about before.

"Hey Scarlet go show Jen around, go introduce her to some more newsies or somethin, we've got some guy stuff to talk bout, stuff you wouldn't understand." Mush said with a smile on his face giving a little laugh at the end.

Scarlet looked at him with a surprised look on her face. "Whatever ever you say master." She said mockingly pushed him and then turned to Jen. "Come on let go get somethin to drink, leave these boys to their "guy" talk." She smiled at Jen and Jen smiled back. They both walked away from the table and headed to the back of the room where there was a table with different drinks on it.

"So, you Spots new girl or somethin?" Scarlet asked.

"No." Jen said shaking her head and adding a laugh. "No, I'm a newsies; well actually I just started, Spots showin me the ropes."

"You're a girl newsie, in Brooklyn?" Scarlet said in shocked voice.

"Yeah, is there somethin wrong with that?"

"Yeah, well no, it's just it doesn't happen. What's it like bein a newsie over there?" she said now very interested.

"It's great, once you show 'em up at poker." Jen was proud of her winnings.

"You're a poker player; I'm startin to like you Jen." Scarlet said flashing Jen a smile.

"So what 'bout you? You an Mush over there look pretty close." She said as she looked back over her shoulder at the handsome young man sitting at the table they had just left.

"No, no ,no, he's like a brother to me, the thought of me an him together disgusts me." Scarlet said as she scrunched up her face.

"If he disgusts you somethin has got to be wrong with you." they both burst out laughing, everyone around turned and look at the two girls, including all the guys at the table.

Scarlet and Jen talked with one another for most of the night. They had a lot in common, they both liked poker, they were both 16, though Scarlet had been a newsie since she was 12, both of their families are dead, and that's just a start. Jen really enjoyed having a friend that's was a girl to talk to, especially since there weren't any in Brooklyn. It seemed to Jen that they had only been talking for about 30 minutes, but when they got back to the table the party was ending and most of the newsies there had already headed out. There was only Spot, Jack and Mush left at the table.

"You were gone all night, we were bout ta leave without you." Mush said turning towards them as they walked up.

"Why didn't you? I coulda made it home all right." Scarlet rolled her eyes and gave him a grin.

"So, you enjoy yourself tonight?" Spot questioned Jen.

"Yeah I did, it was a lot of fun." Jen answered.

"We should be heading back now we've got a long walk an it's getting dark." And with that everyone at the table got up and headed for the door.

"Tell me if you hear anything else Spot." Jack yell as himself, Scarlet, and Mush headed to the Manhattan lodging house.

"I'll will think 'bout it." Spot said looking back over his shoulder at Jack, flashing a sarcastic smirk.

Spot and Jen made it back to the lodging house pretty later and most the boys were sleeping. There were a few still up talking about the party but when they Spot walk in they swiftly made their way to their bunks and fell asleep.

"See yah tomorrow Jen." Spot said as he made his way to his own bed.

"Yeah." Jen said as she yawned and fell back on her bed and quickly fell asleep as well.

Thanks for reading.