*Hides awkwardly behind fake plant.*

Hello...

Sorry for, you know, not updating in a while. I've been busy, what with the new ONESHOT SERIES I've started (Go check it out, if you like that thing! I'd love you forever!), plus school and family and other stuff. That, and I'm at a moment that makes this seem super cliche, which it kinda is, but I want to make it unique, and I'm not that good at writing tension-filled scenes, so I've been writing and rewriting it, writing in different POVs to figure it out, and it's annoying...

BUT here's chapter 4, a long overdue somewhat fluffy chapter. I hope you like it!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Newsies. DUH.

I woke up to silence, and a cold back. With an open arm, I pulled the back of my dirty shirt down over my scars, pushing myself up from the limp mattress and around easily.

Med watched me warily from across the room as I lowered myself back to my bed. "Mornin', kid."

"I-I'm not a kid. I'm sixteen." I mumbled, trying to straighten my back out on the bed. "I just don't look it."

"Sure, kid." He smirked, returning to his book while I leaned my head back and puffed out a few breaths.

The door creaked open slowly, and Nicky slipped in with a breath of cool air that circled the room. She nodded a hello to Med before taking a seat next to me. "Sleep well?"

I nodded silently, the pain finally subsiding. "Good enough."

"Great, now roll over."

A groan escaped my mouth as Med chuckled and stood up from his bed. "Find the ointment I was tellin' youse about?"

She nodded, holding up a small jar with a smile. "This'll make you feel loads better, I promise. Now turn onto your stomach."

I reluctantly obliged, gently turning my leg over first and following with the rest of my body. She lifted up the back of my shirt, grimacing.

"You look shitty."

"And you don't look half bad." I deadpanned.

A snicker was passed from Med to I, only silenced by Nicky's fingers thwacking the back of my head mercilessly.

Slowly, easily, I felt Nicky's thin fingertips graze the scars on my back, as tender as a mother handling their newborn. My back tensed in pain while she went over the 'S', carved into my flesh.

"You're welcome in advance, stupid." She muttered, focused on my back.

"Hey, I ain't stupid." I mumbled into the mattress, which reeked of sweat and urine.

"Maybe. Maybe not." She replied, pressing her fingers into a deep gash on my back, making me wince in pain. "Sorry."

"S'okay."

We fell silent again, and soon enough, my whole back was filled with the jelly, and for once, the pain that was radiating from my back had subsided, and the cold set in. It felt nice to sit for a minute and not be in constant anguish.

"Better?" Nicky finally said, her voice the tiniest bit above a whisper.

With a knot in my throat, I nodded at the girl, shooting her a smile. "Thanks."

And as suddenly as she came, she nodded curtly, dropping the canister of cooling jelly on the bed next to me and rushed out the door, hugging her arms to her sides. My eyes bulged along with Med's, as the door was left ajar, and another door slammed down the hall.

Med was the first one to speak up after a moment.

"I think youse might'a just cracked Nicky, kid. Congrats." He murmured, before chuckling to himself and returning to his book, quiet and concentrating on the page like the first day I came here.

"Word round the halls is that there's gonna be a rally in Newsies strike tomorrow. We might get out." A gentle voice whispered to me in the dark, while all the other boys in the refuge were silently sleeping the night away.

I was in the midst of writing my next letter to Jack, detailing Nicky in ways I could never say to her face. A few drops of wax melted down onto my fingers while I furiously wrote, trying to write away the feelings I felt for her.

"What?" I whispered, picking my head up to look out into the darkness for the girl that took ahold of my mind and wouldn't let go.

There was a figure leaning against the post of a bunk bed, just barely visible in the moonlight. Her hair was tumbling down her shoulders like the first night I saw her, in grace and beauty.

Grace and beauty, that's a good one…

"Are youse writin' to Jack again?" She asked, taking a few steps towards me, crossing her hands over her chest and watching me with curious eyes.

"Yeah, figured I could give 'im a little news while I'se is locked up in here." I nodded, leaning back to look at my letter that filled up half the page. "Just about you and Med, and everythin' else, you know?"

She nodded silently, taking a seat next to me on the floorboards, tucking her ankles under her and resting her chin on the thin mattress I sat atop of. "Wanna read it to me?"

"No!" I said quickly, clenching the letter in my hand, crumpling the heartfelt words to my chest. "I mean… Not yet."

"Not yet?" She asked sweetly, smiling the trickster smile that melted my heart, like Jack did with the ladies that bought his papers. "Why, didja write somethin' 'bout me in there that's embarassin'?"

I blushed, barely noticeable in the candle light. "N-No, it's just brother stuff. Newsies lingo. Youse wouldn't understand."

She rolled her eyes, her hand as quick as a whip grabbing my letter out of my hands and bouncing over to her seat by the window, a tiny chuckle escaping her chest. "To my brudda, Jack. This is Crutchie, again. I think i'm doin' somethin' stupid here."

Nicky's voice slowed down as she smirked at the page. "See, there's this girl named Nicky here at the Refuge. She's…"

Her eyes flicked up to mine, softer this time.

"She's beautiful. Like the beautiful that youse see's when you thinks about Santa Fe." She whispered, leaning against the post of the bed while reading the rest of the letter quietly.

"I like her. She's got a gentle, smiley face with those big, soft brown eyes that turn you to a puddle when she looks at youse."

My hands shook nervously as she read more of the letter out loud, a tick I developed after the Polio came to take my leg.

"But, this is the Refuge. You don't make friends in the refuge. But, but I… I think I might like her..." She lightly lowered the letter, staring at me with those entrancing eyes.

"She's pretty. Real pretty. And her hair reminds me of yours in the morning. Brown and curly."

"I thought I crossed that out!" I said, snatching the letter out of her hands, only to let it be taken from me once more.

"I ain't gonna let her stay here any longer. She needs to get out and see the sun, but I can't ask her to come be a Newsie. She lost her brother when she was younger, and I don't know if she's got more family somewheres, but... But I think I like her a lot."

That was the last sentence I wrote, and the room quickly grew silent when she lowered the letter, and stared up at me with a small smile.

"Did you mean that?" She whispered, handing back the letter to me. "The whole, beautiful thing?"

Blood rushed to my cheeks once more as I dropped my gaze to the floor, watching the floorboards with fascination. "Well, I mean, you are really pretty, Nicky-"

"No one." She started, a serious smile on her face. "Has ever called me beautiful."

Silence washed over us once more, as I gathered up the courage to speak once more. "Well, you are. Really beautiful."

And in that instant, I felt the thin arms of the girl I liked wrap around my neck, squeezing me with all the strength her body could muster. The candle light flickered out by the sudden movement as I tenderly wrapped my arms back around her, a smile on my face as wide as I could possibly fit it.

"Thank you." She whispered, pulling away and pressing a hasty kiss to my cheek. My mouth flew open in astonishment as a slow hand reached up to my cheek, fingering the place where her thin lips once were. "Goodnight, Crutchie."

Without words, I gave a small wave, my hand still stuck to my cheek as she slipped out of the doorway, as quick as a blink.

The rest of the night was filled with dreams about us, and the life we'll have when we get out of this Refuge.

SO what did you think? Sorry if it was weird and stuff. I'm running out of ideas! Help!

Please review, and have a great day! :)