Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from the movie.
Evelyn was near tears. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly in an attempt to calm herself. "I think it's too soon," she argued feebly. His mind was already made up but that would not stop her from trying.
A glance at her face showed him just how worried she was. It warmed his heart to know that such a young girl could treasure an old man like himself. Joe smiled softly as he continued to gather his things, "Evelyn, it's been a week."
"Exactly," she argued. "Only a week. I'm not ready." Evelyn resisted the sudden urge to hold onto Joe and force him to stay. She knew her actions were unreasonable but couldn't stop them. As a prostitute she had dealt with men she wouldn't doubt had murdered people but the idea of being left alone with a building full of young men scared the living daylights out of her. Especially when one of them had recognized her.
Joe was aware of her worries. He stopped gathering his things and turned towards her, "You will do fine, sweetheart."
She shook her head, "How do you know? Boxer refuses to do anything I ask and I know Tease recognizes me and will do something as soon as you leave."
Joe smiled knowingly, "I would like to see him try." Seeing her dejected look, he put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her. "Don't underestimate the power Spot has over these boys. Everyone will come around eventually." His look hardened, "And if Tease does try something, you just let me know."
Evelyn felt her heart swell and smiled softly. She wiped her tears from her eyes, "But what about you? Where will you go?" She knew his wife had died but she had never found out if he had any children. Spot just assumed he had a place to go and had told her to mind her business when it came to Joe.
"Don't you worry about me, Evelyn. You have all these boys to worry about now." He saw that she still appeared worried and added, "I have a place to go and I have people who care about me."
But who will care about me, Evelyn thought selfishly. She kept her thought to herself and smiled, "Will you at least visit?" She didn't want to cry and hoped that if she acted strong, she would feel strong.
He nodded, "Of course I will." He looked around the room and sighed, "That's everything. Walk an old man to the door, would you?"
He held out his elbow and Evelyn took it to help support him. She worried about his health and hoped that wherever he was going, he would at least have time to rest. As they reached the door, he turned and kissed her cheek. "You're a strong young woman. You can handle these boys and remember, if any of them give you any trouble, let Spot handle them."
Evelyn smiled softly and enveloped him in a hug, "Be sure you don't forget about us."
She had to choke back tears as she watched Joe walk away. He had been the sweetest man she had ever met and she was terrified of what would happen after he left. In the week she had known him, Joe had been more of a father to her than her own father had been for her entire life. As he turned the corner, Evelyn turned back into the lodging house. She took a deep breath and looked around as she contemplated how her life had changed.
It was a huge jump from prostitute to caretaker. The hours were longer but the work was much easier. At least it was when the newsies listened. Most of them did, however, there were a select few that wouldn't listen for the life of her. Two in particular; Boxer and Tease. They were best friends and thick as thieves. Tease had recognized her the minute he set eyes on her. It had taken a day for Evelyn to place him but she finally recognized her as one of her customers. He had only visited her once which was why he was so hard to remember but he remembered her without a problem.
He refused to say anything within earshot of either Spot or Joe but Evelyn could see in his eyes just how well he remembered her. Evelyn could only assume that he had told Boxer about her past since he refused to listen to a word she said unless Spot threatened him. Evelyn was worried that, with Joe gone, the two might gain enough confidence to try something or tell the others. She hadn't said a word to Spot about Tease recognizing her out of embarrassment and he had attributed their insubordination to the fact that they didn't want to listen to a woman.
She decided to spend the morning cleaning the bunk rooms. It was the task which generally took up the bulk of her time and she hoped it would make her miss Joe less if she kept busy. She refused to make their beds since they all had the ability to do so but she could tidy up and clean the floors.
After she cleaned those rooms, she decided to move onto Spot's room. Joe had told her that Spot cleaned it himself but since she had been sleeping there instead of Spot until Joe's room was vacant, Evelyn knew it was her place to clean it. She had just finished making the bed when Spot walked in. She glanced up in surprise, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was just finishing up."
Spot smiled, "Hey Evelyn." He looked around whistled. "Damn, maybe I should have you clean my room," he teased.
She smiled and shook her head, "This is the last time I clean this room." She paused and frowned, "I'm moving into Joe's room tonight."
A frown crossed Spot's face, "Joe mentioned he was leaving today."
Evelyn smiled softly, "He left this morning."
"Are you going to be okay with that?"
She shrugged, "I guess." She gave him a look, "I'm just worried about certain people not listening to me."
Spot frowned, "Tease?" She nodded. "I never thought he would have that much trouble listening to a woman. No one else seems to mind."
She made a split second decision and decided to tell him the truth. If one person in the house could help her, he could. "It's not because I'm a woman, Spot. It's because he was..." she paused awkwardly, hoping that he would catch her drift.
He did and his face quickly turned to anger, "You've slept with my newsies?"
A look of disbelief crossed her face. He had no right to be angry with her. He knew exactly what she had been. She tried to brush his anger away by laughing, "Spot, did you really think none of your newsies had been there?" The look on his face told her she had only made it worse and she sighed, "Spot, listen. I didn't like to service newsies but I couldn't always turn them away because O'Malley didn't take to kindly to me turning away his money. There have probably only been four or five that I didn't turn away and I doubt they were all from Brooklyn." She refused to apologize for servicing them. As far as she was concerned, she had no reason to apologize.
He shook his head, "But you did. You slept with my newsies," he accused. He picked up his pillow and threw it against the wall angrily.
Evelyn shook her head, "I don't understand, Spot. You know exactly what I did. Why are you upset?" You have no right to be upset, she thought angrily. In spite of only being here a week, she knew enough than to push Spot's buttons. She had seen what happened to those who did.
"The thought of you sleeping with them. It's just..." He didn't finish but he didn't have to. The look of pure disgust and anger on his face said all Evelyn needed it to.
Evelyn felt her anger rise up and boil over, "You're upset because your newsies slept with a prostitute?"
Spot looked confused for a moment and shook his head, "No. I'm upset because you slept with my newsies."
She shook her head angrily and felt tears rush to her eyes. "Because I'm so horrible? That's not any better, Spot."
"Evelyn, I don't like the idea of you sleeping with anyone but I can't stand that my newsies have seen you...like that."
"Oh," Evelyn said softly. He was angry because he felt protective of her? It didn't make sense. He knew nothing about her. They hadn't had any deep conversations since she arrived. In fact, they had barely had anything but superficial conversations since Evelyn had been glued to Joe's side. A thought occurred to her as she remembered her conversations with Joe. "Does this have anything to do with Elizabeth?" she questioned cautiously.
Spot frowned, "Who told you about Elizabeth?" His eyes had narrowed and Evelyn wasn't sure if it meant he was angry at her for bringing Elizabeth up or if it was at the idea that someone was spreading his business.
"You mentioned her once," Evelyn said softly. "The first day we met, remember? You called me Elizabeth."
"Oh."
Evelyn's curiosity got the better of her and she pushed, "Who was she?"
"A friend." His face had softened and Evelyn could tell he was lost in memories.
She paused and debated asking her questions. After a moment, she spoke. "And you couldn't save her?" she asked as she remembered what Joe had said. Spot nodded but didn't say anything. She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, "And you think I need saving?" she pushed.
A newsie burst through the door interrupting their conversation and causing Evelyn to jump away. He smiled politely at her before focusing on Spot. "Spot, you need to get downstairs quick. Someone is down there yelling about how you stole Evelyn. Said she was their property." He glanced at her with a look of confusion written over his face. Evelyn felt her heart drop to her stomach and resisted the urge to faint. She had never been very good at handling confrontation.
Spot turned to her with a sad smile, "It looks like you do, Evelyn."
They made their way quickly down to the entryway with Spot leading the way and Evelyn trailing as far back as she dared. The entire time, Evelyn's heart was racing and she could feel sweat pooling. She had a feeling she knew exactly who was downstairs but she hoped against hope it wasn't him and he had simply sent a goon for her. As she saw the man causing the commotion, her worst fears were confirmed. It was Chester.
He did not look like the type one would imagine owned and ran a brothel. He looked as though he stepped out of the mayor's office with his tailored suit and fancy hair cut but Evelyn knew the truth. She knew that he was ruthlessly cruel and would break her without even a second thought. She moved slightly behind Spot and tried to be strong.
With a jerk of his head, Spot cleared the room of his newsies and they were left alone with Chester. Part of Evelyn wondered if that was such a safe idea but she also appreciated that no one else would witness her embarrassment. Or their murders, she thought. "Who the hell are you?" Spot barked angrily as he reached the man.
Chester spoke coolly, "You stole what belongs to me and I want it back."
"I didn't steal nothing so you need to get the hell outta here." Spot stood tall and strong. Evelyn wondered if he doubted Chester's strength. She certainly didn't. She knew that is spite of the fact that Chester did not look very big, he could easily hurt both of them.
Chester looked past Spot where Evelyn had stopped, "Evelyn, let's go. You've cost me a lot of money." Evelyn felt lightheaded as images of what would happen to her once she was back with him raced through her mind. She glanced at Spot, utterly terrified.
Spot had noticed her reaction and shook his head, "She ain't going anywhere." For once, Evelyn was very glad that Spot had the strong urge to protect her. At the moment, she didn't care that it was a misguided attempt to save her. She was just glad he was there.
Chester raised his eyebrow as if he couldn't believe a newsie was defying him. Evelyn couldn't believe that he was defying him either in spite of the fact that she appreciated it. Didn't Spot realize how serious this was? Someone was going to end up hurt and she had a feeling it would be her. Chester turned to Evelyn, deciding that the newsie wasn't worth dealing with, "Let's go."
She bit her lip as she shook her head, "No, I'm not going."
Chester shrugged, "Fine. But it you aren't coming, I expect you to pay for services lost."
Spot made a sound as if to argue but Evelyn put her hand on his shoulder and spoke, "How much?" She should have figured this was what he wanted. She didn't bring in much money so replacing her would be easy, however, you could never get out of the business without a fee. She felt stupid that the thought had never even occurred to her.
"Fifty."
Evelyn felt a surge of rage pass through her, "Fifty?" She shook her head, "I never even brought in that much business." She could never pay that off, and how was she supposed to send money? She shook her head, "That's impossible."
Chester's eyes danced playfully, "That covers the cost of finding a replacement for Lucas O'Malley." Evelyn glanced fearfully at Spot whose face had hardened. "Unless, of course, you want the police involved," Chester added. He seemed not to know that Spot had killed him but Evelyn figured he did. Kitty would have sold them out without a second thought. In fact, she was probably how Chester had found her. She made a mental note to scratch Kitty's eyes out the next time she saw her.
Spot turned to Chester and growled, "This is blackmail."
Chester laughed, "Of course it is." He glanced at Evelyn, "And if you don't pay, I'm sure Joshua wouldn't mind a visit from me."
Evelyn's heart sank and tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'll pay. Just leave him out of this. I'll do it," Evelyn rushed. "Just don't hurt him."
Chester smirked, "That's a good girl." He tipped his hat to them, "You know where to find me." With a final smug glance at Evelyn, Chester turned and walked out the door.
A/N: Sorry it took so long. I knew where I wanted to go, I just couldn't get there. I hope you like it. Remember, since you already read it, you might as well review it. It would make me happy.
