Note: hehe. Hi everyone! So I haven't posted in forever! So here you are. I apoligize for the lateness. But now big things are planned for this story, and the real action kinda starts the next chappie! Please stick with me, I have a busy life, but I will still try to make time for all of my readers. I anticipate the next chapter coming sooner. :) Thanks for your support!

Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, just the Duncan family, and the plot of this story, and so on and so forth.

A Change of Time Chapter 6 - Back To The Machine

Sharon nervously walked beside Melody, twisting the skirt she wore, Melody's only spare. Apparently Sharon's clothing was too strange, and her skirt too short to wear to her new job. Though her friend had already done much for her, Melody had insisted on her wearing it.

"Stop worrying!" the blond said, laughing good-naturedly. "You'll do fine."

"I hope so," Sharon said, blowing a piece of chestnut hair out of her face, and pushing it into her braid. "I hope I can do it. I don't know if Mrs. Denville likes me." Melody burst out laughing again at this statement.

"My dear, if you don't think Mrs. Denville likes you.. well, it's pretty obvious to me. You just have to get to know her. It's just her personality." Sharon nodded uncertainly.

The two girls continued to the bakery in almost complete silence.

When they reached the door of the brick building Sharon would be working at, she pushed it open slowly. Mrs. Denville looked up from behind the counter. Her face lit up into a wide smile.

"Sharon lass, welcome!" The large Scottish woman hurried to the girl, enveloping her into a smothering hug. Sharon didn't have much time to figure out why the woman's attitude had changed because Mrs. Denville was already talking, as Melody waved goodbye.

"Now you will be helping out behind the counter," Mrs. Denville instructed. "Later I may move you to ovens, but since it's your first day, we'll start you off simply." It didn't take long for Sharron to figure out what she was supposed to be doing, and by five o'clock, when she left work; she found that she actually enjoyed it.

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It had never occurred to Sharon that the answers to her questions might lie in the machine. When she finally thought about it, she realized that it would wise to check out, especially if she had to figure out the reason she was here.

That evening not long after she was back from work, she finally thought about it. "Maddy," she said, brushing her long brown hair with a hairbrush Melody had lent her. "I want to go to the place where the machine is today." The little girl nodded solemnly, it was too solemn for a ten year old.

Sharon took her sister's hand, and they walked out of the bedroom, and down the stairs. Before they reached the bottom, however, Sharon noticed an obstacle to their plan. Spot Conlon leaned against the lodging house door, arms crossed, with a self-satisfied smirk covering his lips. Sharon waited for him to move, but when he didn't, she tried to open the door. He promptly took his cane and shoved it in her way, smacking her outstretched hand in the process.

"Ow!" she complained, rubbing the offended fingers. "What was that for?" The boy just kept smirking, as if he knew he didn't have to answer to her. She placed a hand on her hip, staring daggers into his direction. When he refused to budge, she gave an exasperated sigh, and dragged Maddie away.

She remembered there being a backdoor in the place. Looking around, Sharon finally found it, in the back, of course. When she finally reached it, she shoved it open, triumphantly. Almost instantly her face changed from an exuberant smile to an angry frown. The metamorphosis was a comical sight, but none of the people present thought the situation was comical at all. Spot Conlon, was, of course, standing outside the door, having crossed around the front from the main entrance in almost creepy swiftness.

"Are you going to let me by?" she asked in a clipped tone, forgetting her first fear of the Brooklyn leader in the heat of the moment. He studied his fingernails, as if he were ignoring her, but still blocking the doorway. Sharon decided to try something else.

"Melody says you don't hit girls, so what was that for?" Spot's blue eyes met hers, then, to her chagrin, his lip turned upward.

"Naw. I don't hit ladies. Now sometimes some littul kids need ta be corrected.." he stared pointedly at the red mark forming on her right hand. She put it behind her back, glaring at him.

"Yeah, well, you aren't my father, so please let me by!" Spot frowned; taking a stance that clearly said he was not going to be moved. "Look, what do you want me to do?" Sharon asked, spreading her hands apart in a gesture of surrender.

"Well, I ken see dat you'se was goin out.." here he shook his head, and actually grinned, as if he couldn't believe her naivety.

"So what?" she asked carefully.

"So you aren't goin' out alone, simple as dat."

"Well, who's going to solve that problem?" she said rolling her eyes. "Melody is off helping someone sell the evening edition, and most of the newsies are gone too. In fact, you're about the only newsie I've seen around."
"I'll come with you," Spot said simply. Sharon stared.

"What?"

"I said I'd come with you'se," Spot tapped the ground twice with his cane before tucking it into his belt loop. "And I mean ta do it." Sharon sighed.

"I-I changed my mind," and with that, Sharon grabbed Maddie's hand and ran back up to Melody's room.

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It was probably ten o'clock when Sharon opened the bedroom door as quietly as possible. Melody and Maddie were sleeping, but she could hear the boy's across the hall, making a ruckus. With silent steps, the girl crept down the stairs, and she was relieved to see that Spot Conlon did not stand at the door of the lodging house. She creaked it open, and stepped into the warm night. She walked along, and suddenly, she felt a bit fearful. It wasn't a wise thing for a girl to be alone at night in Brooklyn; it was something she knew very well. But sometime between her encounter with Spot, and this moment, she had realized that this was something she needed to do alone.

Trusting her memory not to fail her, Sharon traced her steps back to the dark alley where the machine was located, keeping in the dark shadows. When she finally found the area, she hurried to the machine. Creaking open the door she went in, and closed it behind her.

Sharon studied the panels and buttons before her, trying to figure out what to do. She noticed a keyboard of some kind, and ran her fingers over the letters on it. She wasn't sure what to type. Finally she said pressed some keys, and what she typed came up on a thin rectangle in front of her. Melody Conlon..

The machine started to buzz and beep, and instead of how it had been the first time, now Sharon saw images flashing on the screen of Melody, accompanied by words.

Melody Conlon had no trouble herself

Sharon didn't understand it, but she quickly typed in something new, after which she stared at the screen, wondering why she had typed it.

Spot Conlon. Suddenly images were flashing again, these ones even swifter, and Sharon could not keep up with them. Then the machine started to turn, and the screen flashed red. Sharon spun around to look at the little timer by the door.

May 21st 1900.

Mr. Duncan had said that the machine was programmed to go where help was needed. Did something happen to Spot on May 21st 1900? Sharon waited with baited breath while the machine slowly came to a stop, then the door opened. She was staring into another alley, and there she saw three figures.. and one of them was holding a gun.