From now on, expect updates on the weekends. I'll try and update both Saturday and Sunday, but no gaurentees. This is a longer chapter, longest so far. Got some more Newsies in this. Well, one. But you all know and love him. ;)

I have a poll up on my profile for those of whom are fans of all my writing, not just CTS. It's just for me to get an idea which stories to update first. Vote for your favorite story, and from now on the one with the most votes gets updated first. No worries, I'll still be updating on the same day, but one story will have a chapter written and uploaded before I even work on the others. So, if you really like this, vote, and you'll get updates first:)

Still own nothing…

Chapter Four

Mae sat in silence along with the rest of the boys as Snyder and his cronies ran frantically around the refuge, yelling as they went. Whistles rang out throughout the square as the bulls run into the dark night in search of the escapee. Mae could hear Snyder yelling above the high pitched whistles and couldn't help but smirk. That's one less pay check Snyder would get, not to mention the trouble he would get into for losing an inmate. Served the prick right, many would agree.

Go Jack!

Though as Mae continued to smile at the hot water Snyder was now tip toeing through, she couldn't help but wish it had been any other kid but Jack that had escaped. Racetrack was due to be released in less than a week while Mae still had three left of her sentence. She hadn't made friends with many of the other boys in the dorm, not realizing that Jack would escape a month before his sentence was up. She had been hoping to meet up with Racetrack upon her release and wait for Jack to be let go.

But apparently, those plans were long gone now.

Damn cowboy.

--

It was nearly three in the morning before Snyder and the bulls returned to the refuge. The boys cheered loudly as they walked dejectedly back into the stone building before rushing into bed as Snyder cut power to the rooms. Mae slipped silently into her bunk, thinking of a plan for when Racetrack left her. She highly doubted there would be a way to escape the refuge, not after Jack's successful run. Any chances Mae had had to make a break for it was ruined for the price of Jack's freedom.

At least someone got out.

Snyder would no doubt double his security at night, during the day, hell, even during a lunar eclipse. Even though he had no idea how Jack had escaped, Snyder wouldn't take any chances. How could he eat his professionally prepared gourmet food every night if all of his money making ragamuffins were escaping every other minute? No, Snyder cared too much about money to let any more kids slip through his fingers.

It was starting to look like Mae would be forced to serve out her demanded sentence and take things from there. She could always meet up with Jack and Racetrack in a few weeks, there wasn't much hurry anyways. It wasn't like she had anywhere to go. No one was waiting for her back in Chicago, expecting Mae to be back before dark. She was on her own.

Maybe for not much longer, though. Mae listened to the snores of the boys around her and instantly picked up on Race's light ones. He and Jack had accepted her instantly, showing her who to trust and who to avoid in the refuge, proving they weren't complete street rats with no manners. In fact, they had taken the impounded girl under their wing and treated her with respect. They were the type of boys you only came across every once in awhile, and Mae wasn't planning on letting them go on without her.

--

Mae was shaken awake the next morning by a bored looking officer who informed her that a visitor was there to see her. Mae stared dumbly back at the old and tired looking officer, who repeated the news twice before shaking his head and walking out of the still waking dorm. Racetrack leapt out of his bunk below her, chattering away at her luck of a visitor. The shock of the news took a few minutes and Racetrack slapping her across the face lightly before it sunk in. She climbed out of bed, uncertain as to who would be coming to see her.

She knew no one in New York, state or city. There was no one back in Chicago who liked her enough, or knew where she was, to come and see her. In jail, no less. Mae pulled on a pair of trousers, torn and beaten below the knee, over her sleeping shorts, pulled on the suspenders and preceded to the door, still confused. Even in Chicago no one had bothered to visit her in the refuge, granted, most of the time she was never brought in alone, but still. Mae shook her head. She'd find out soon enough who had come.

"So," Racetrack asked, bounding up to the confused girl enthusiastically. "Who's comin to youse?

Mae shrugged her shoulders, looking back at the eager boy, and a hand on the door. "No idea, kid."

Race shrugged his shoulders and waved to her as the officer appeared at the door to escort his friend to the visiting hall. Lucky girl, that one. Not many kids had people to come and visit them in the refuge. Most didn't even have families that noticed when they were gone for days at a time. Heck, she wasn't even from around either. Race shook his head, a small grin on his face. Lucky girl, indeed.

--

Mae flew past confused and landed roughly on completely lost. She sat across from a boy she had never seen before in her life. Ever. He did, however, seem quite popular with the officers around them. A few smirked at him while a few even saw the boy sitting in the visitor's hall and threatened to cuff him for something they knew he had done. Many of them knew him by name, suggesting he too wasn't the most innocent boy around.

Not that this, Spot Conlon, looked innocent at all.

In fact, he looked like an arrogant little bugger to Mae.

A smirk was firmly planted on his young face, though Mae wouldn't be surprised if he was older than she was, and he was slouched in his chair comfortably, not at all bothered by the fact that he and Mae didn't know each other in the slightest. Red suspenders held up his beaten trousers over a plaid shirt, the top few buttons left undone.

The two teens stared at each other in silence, neither one making the first move. Mae stared at him crucially, trying to rack her brain for any recognition of the boy sitting across from her, but kept drawing a blank.

She really wanted an apple right about then, to help her think.

She had no idea who the boy sitting across her was, though he obviously knew who Mae was. It was starting to piss Mae off, a lot. The entire time she was staring at this 'Spot' kid – what was it with the lame nicknames in New York? – he smirked back at her, not helping Mae's attempts in the least. His hands hanging over the edge of his chair lazily, bothering Mae.

Could the boy not slouch like a sack of potatoes?

She would laugh one day when the boy across from her was old and wrinkly, not to mention a cripple from his lack of posture. The image of her envision made Mae laugh aloud, making Spot give her a funny look.

"What?" he asked, instantly supplying Mae with the information that Spot was from Brooklyn.

The new information helped little as Mae continued to ignore Spot and searched her brain files once again. Spot Conlon. From Brooklyn. Mae shook her head as she drew another blank. Nothing.

"Do I know you?" Mae asked finally, somewhat surprising Spot with her sudden question.

He gave a laugh and shook his head, "Not that I know of, love."

Mae winced at the name but said nothing, even more confused. Did this boy have nothing better to do than walk into the refuge and ask to see her? How the hell did he know her? If she didn't know him, how did he know her? Mae eyed Spot warily, noting the laughing twinkle in his eye.

Stalker.

"Why are you here again?" Mae asked, knowing full well she hadn't asked a first time. If he really was a stalker, screaming bloody murder would attract some kind of attention. Mae glanced around the empty hall and vacated guard posts. Or not..

"Doing a favor to a friend," Spot answered, breaking through Mae's thoughts, causing her to look back across the table and away from the empty posts.

"Friend?"

Spot nodded leaning forward a bit, leaning his head on his palm, not taking his eyes off of the still utterly confused Mae. "Mutual friend."

Mutual friend? How the hell could they have a 'mutual friend' when Mae didn't have any friends in Manhattan, or New York none the less.

Mutual friend my ass. Where the hell are the bulls when you need them?

Mae looked around the hall again, looking for a way to get rid of the boy before her. "Don't have any friends, buckwheat," she told Spot with a sorry but sarcastic smile/ "Sorry."

"Cowboy never said you were completely nutty," Spot announced, finally straightening up in his seat for the first time since Mae had seen him. "Although, I do think he'd be rather upset if he heard you denounce him as your friend in public, seeing as he wanted to help bust you out.."

Once again, just when Mae thought she had everything figured out and a-okay, someone had to mess things up again. What the hell was he talking about now? "Bust me out?"

Spot nodded, once again slouching back into his chair with a small smirk. "Figured you'd want to get out, something about getting caught the first time," he laughed at Mae's frown at the referral to her unsuccessful escape plan. "Seeing as he can't come get you himself, he asked a favor of ole Brooklyn."

It took a second for it to sink in; Mae was having a slow morning, to say the least. "You're here to break me out?"

Spot nodded again, smiling a bit as he watched a look of pure joy come across the younger girl's dirt smudged face. He didn't have time to react as she leapt out of her chair and somehow caught him in a hug, releasing him before Spot could to anything about it.

A blush touched Mae's face as Spot gave her an odd look, but she didn't seem embarrassed, much to Spot's surprise. He shrugged it off and stood up from his chair, only a few inches taller than Mae, which cause her to smile.

"Don't comment, kid," Spot threatened, walking towards the exit with Mae close behind him. "I'm still da King of Brooklyn. Remember that."

Mae snickered lightly, turning it into a cough when Spot turned to glare at her. He continued down the hall at a casual stroll, seemingly without a care in the world. Mae stopped at the doorway of the visitor's hall, unsure whether she was to follow.

"Uh," she called after Spot, causing him to turn, "King of Brooklyn? Bulls?" she questioned, not wanting to get caught for the second time, without even leaving the premises.

"Have no fear, love," Spot said, walking back to her and grabbing her by the wrist, "Brooklyn's got it all figured out."

Mae stumbled a bit to keep pace with the older boy but stopped short when she was pushed out the front door. Spot looked at her oddly as she took a deep breath of air and a smile spread across her face. He smiled slightly, understanding.

"Smells better, don't it?"

Mae nodded her head, eyes closed. "Freedoms the best smell there is."

Spot looked at the odd girl before him and shook his head. "C'mon Rerun," he called, walking down the front steps quickly. "Gotta get you back to Cowboy before the boy has a heart attack."

Mae took another deep breath of cold air before reopening her eyes. She looked down to where Spot was waiting for her and back to where Racetrack was no doubt watching from their window. She gave a wave to window and turned to run down the steps, running past Spot with a laugh.

"Nut job," he called after her, walking slowly behind the now skipping girl.

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