Katherine

Katherine paces the kitchen of her new apartment anxiously. It's been an entire week since Crutchie was released from the Refuge – though it could be more aptly described as thrown out - and no progress has been made. Well, of course progress was being made, just nothing of true meaning as far as she was concerned.

Getting the information for her article hadn't been too terribly hard, but it had definitely been emotionally draining for all involved. The boys over at the boarding house who had experience with the Refuge had been very helpful, but with every word that came out of their mouths, she got more and more anxious about that place. The boys had definitely given her looks that signaled they weren't even telling her the worst parts about their time there. Race had been the worst culprit and has been dodging her ever since they'd talked. In the end, she'd taken everything and written what she considered a thoughtful, but darning expose of the Refuge only to have it denied by every paper in town. Bill and Darcy had read it over as well and had agreed it was a good piece, but they had yet to think of any solutions to getting it printed.

The whole situation frustrated her to no end. This was no doubt the effect of her father meddling in her life and career again. He'd even admitted to her face that he thought she was a talented writer, but he was still denying her the opportunity to show it off. Katherine had confronted him about his hypocrisy shortly after trying to guilt him in to printing the article himself. That particular fight had been their third in just the last week and the cause of her seeking her own apartment. Finding one hadn't taken too long, considering the second she dropped the name 'Pulitzer', people were generally more willing to help her. At least her father's name was good for something.

She'd ended up choosing an already sparsely furnished apartment just blocks from the Refuge, which she could see if she went out and sat on the fire escape or snuck up to the roof. The place was small compared to what she'd grown up with and what she'd imagined for her first place outside of her family's house would be, but it was more than she needed. There was a quaint living room and kitchen, a modern washroom, and two bedrooms. Her mother would have protested about the part of town the building was in, but then again, she would have also protested about Katherine becoming a reporter. Katherine muses that maybe she should stop holding so much value in her deceased mother's thoughts. At the end of the day, she is happy with it and that was really all that mattered.

Katherine turns to walk back down the hallway from the kitchen, where she's been slowly sipping at a mug of tea. The weather had finally started turning cold enough to make the drink not entirely unbearable. Glancing out the window, she notices the black clouds looming on the horizon and infers that the first big rain of the season is probably coming sooner than later as well. Figuring she'd need her winter clothes soon, Katherine opens her winter clothes trunk she'd just shoved under her bed when everything had been delivered. She'd hadn't planned on needing any of that clothing anytime soon and it was going to need to air out a little bit before she could wear it out.

Her progress comes to a halt; however, when the first thing she sees upon opening the trunk is Jack's newsie cap. Of course, she hadn't forgotten it was in there, but she's still caught off guard by it. Katherine slowly reaches to pick it up and lets the trunk lid slam down so that she can sit on it. She slowly rotates the hat in her hands, wishing for the entire world that it's owner was here instead. Just as she did those couple of weeks ago in the cellar, she hugs the hat to her chest, but this time allows a few tears to fall before brushing them away.

It's killing her not knowing. Some of the boys had run by the Refuge a couple of nights ago to snoop around and see if they could discern any information about Jack, but they had returned empty handed. Apparently none of the kids there had seen or heard of him being there – at least not recently. When she had finally pestered her father enough, he had gone to speak to Snyder about releasing Jack. He'd returned assuring her that Jack was indeed at the Refuge, but that Snyder was not allowing him an early release despite her father's attempts to convince him. Katherine doubts her father put much effort in to trying to convince Snyder, considering his personal feeling towards Jack and the newsies in general.

So she's stuck here, at a crossroads, not knowing entirely what to believe. At this point, she's more inclined to believe the newsies, who have been so helpful in getting her information for her article and know more about Jack and the Refuge than anyone else. But she wants to believe her father; at least the part that Jack is indeed in the Refuge. It's better than guessing as to where he is, right? Katherine groans. The whole situation is just too confusing. She wants Jack out of the Refuge and to know he is safe, is that too much to ask for? Because right now she doesn't even have a clear answer on whether he is in the Refuge and the last time she saw him, he was being dragged away to be soaked by the Delanceys.

Steady knocking coming from her front door suddenly interrupts her thoughts. Katherine yells out, "One moment!" before standing from her seat on the trunk. She glances out her window to see that the dark cloud has consumed the sky and is releasing heavy rain upon the city. As if it were something much more fragile that a piece of cloth, Katherine carefully sets Jack's hat on the edge of her bed and quickly makes her way towards the front door.

Katherine take a moment to brush the creases out of her skirt before opening the door to find a soaking wet Race and Davey standing on the other side with a small wooden crate. "Come in, come in!" She ushers the boys inside and runs to her linens closet to grab them some towels. It may not be cold enough for the rain to turn to snow yet, but it's certainly too cold to be dripping wet.

Katherine hands over the towels to the boys and returns to her kitchen to make them each a cup of tea. Once the tea is made, she hands them each a cup and leads them in to the living room. Davey carries Race's mug of tea, while Race still hugs the crate to his chest. Race only relinquishes the crate to set it on the floor between his feet once he's seated on the couch beside Davey.

Unable to tolerate the silence any longer, Katherine begins, "So what has you running all the way over here boys?" She's well aware neither of them typically sell in this part of town: Race typically sells over by the horse tracks and Davey's been covering Jack's spots over near the Bowery.

Race holds his mug on his lap and rubs his still damp hair with his other hand. "Wells, I saw the cloud comin' and figured it was probably gonna rain so I should get Jack's stuff off the roof so it don't get soaked." He gazes down at the crate between his feet. "I kinda forgot how much Jack draws. He don't 'xactly like sharin' them with nobody. He keeps it all up in his penthouse and I didn't wants it to get ruined."

Davey reaches in to the box and pulls out a tube, which he turns over in his hands a couple of times. "He drew everything Kath. There's loads of drawings of the Refuge in here. I know you're having trouble getting your article printed and I was thinking that maybe if you had a drawing to go with it then maybe you'd have better luck." He hands over the roll to Katherine with an excited smile.

Katherine gingerly takes the roll and uncaps the end of it to find loads of rolled papers on the inside. She gently pulls them from the tube and lays the stack of papers flat out on the coffee table, or as flat as she can with how the paper has warped to the curve of the tube. Carefully leafing through the top couple of drawings – which are all just as amazing, if not more so, than the sketch Jack drew of her at the theatre, Katherine pulls aside the ones whose subjects she can't place. There are plenty of sketches of animals, the skyline, the other newsies, all with finely crafted lines and more suitable for display than being rolled up in a tube. The others, which Katherine assumes must be depictions of the Refuge, are just as clear but made much more poignant by the rougher lines and crumpling of the papers. It looks like Jack drew these particular pictures almost in a rush; just to get the images out of his head, then considered crumpling them up and trashing them before ultimately stuffing them in the tube alongside his other drawings. Katherine allows a small smile to creep on to her face at the thought.

When Katherine looks back up to the boys seated across from her, she sees Davey looking down at the pictures with something resembling curiosity, while Race looks on almost in disgust.

"Wow…" Davey lets out finally. "I knew from his paintings at Medda's he was good, but these are something else." He reaches out and pulls the top drawing off the larger – not Refuge pictures – pile to examine it closer.

Race on the other hand, seems to have zeroed in on the top picture of the Refuge pile, which is a sad depiction of some sparse bunk beds filled with as many boys as they can fit. There are also some rats circling the floor, with one big one in particular standing on its hind legs attempting to nip at the nearest boy's dangling foot. "Yeahs, he's got it perfect." Race gruffly lets out, a sharp contrast to Davey's near-exuberance.

Taking this as her chance to ask Race about the content of some of Jack's Refuge drawings, Katherine tentatively asks, "Is that really what the boarding rooms look like in there?" She wants him to answer no, that this was an artistic exaggeration by Jack, but it doesn't seem like she's going to get that.

Race humorlessly laughs, "On a good day."

Davey's finally turned his attention away from the drawing in his hand to the same one Race and Katherine are looking over. "That one would go well with your article Kath." He pauses for moment. "It stark and shocking. It'll definitely gets people's attention and make them feel something."

Katherine hums. "Yeah, I was thinking that too." She leafs through the next couple of Jack's drawings in the pile designated for Refuge related pictures. There's one of two older boys beating up a younger one that is even more striking, but doesn't as directly connect to her article. She pulls another one to the top of the stack. It's hard to make out what exactly the picture is of, considering the whole page is nearly shaded over with pencil, but Katherine thinks she can make out a staircase somewhere in the background.

"That'd be the basement." Race spits out. He's not looking at the picture anymore, having instead chosen to stare at the remains of his tea.

"How do you know? I can't make out anything much besides maybe a staircase?" Katherine prompts.

Race huffs. "That's all that's there really." He takes another sip of his tea, clearly trying to avoid talking more about this particular drawing.

Katherine takes the hint and places the picture back at the bottom of the stack. She's dying to know why that particular drawing has Race so spooked, well maybe she isn't considering what the newsies have told her about the Refuge, but she lets it go.

She and Race go through the rest of the stack of Refuge drawings and he gives her a brief description of each, some descriptions more brief than others as the topic seems to wear on him. Davey also frequently interjects with comments about how each picture would present with her article, although Katherine is fairly sure she is going to go with the first picture she saw: the one with the overcrowded bunk beds and rats.

Once the stack of Refuge drawings has been gone completely through, Katherine watches Race very deliberately look out the window to notice the rain has stopped before announcing, "I's gonna go," and walking out of her apartment quicker than she thought possible.

Still a little stunned by Race's abrupt exit, Katherine completely misses whatever Davey is saying. "Sorry, I didn't hear."

"Oh, I was just saying please don't take offense. Race has made it very clear to me that the Refuge is the one subject he has no interest in talking about." Davey rubs his neck, signaling his discomfort, "I'm fairly sure he's only talking to you about any of this because he wants Jack out."

"I'd never hold it against him!" Katherine exclaims perhaps a little too loudly. "I kind of got that idea after he talked with me for my article. From what Crutchie has told me, it also sounds like the whole boarding house is in a bit of disarray without Jack there and Race is running himself ragged trying to keep everything in order."

The pair sits in silence for a moment before Davey smiles hopefully again and asks, "So do you think these will help you get your article printed?"

"I…I don't know honestly. I'm sure my father is behind the scenes ordering everyone not to print anything I write. I'm not sure if having an accompanying drawing is going to change much, even if it is this amazing." Katherine rubs her face, trying to conceal some of her frustration.

"Maybe you're missing a step," Davey interjects. Katherine, thoroughly perplexed, just looks at Davey hopelessly. "There's a whole stack of drawings here that might not go perfectly with your article, but still make a pretty big statement about the Refuge."

"I don't understand where you're going with this Davey."

"Miss Medda's been having dinner every Wednesday with the Governor, right?" Davey is absolutely beaming now. "What if you gave the rest of these drawings to Medda to give to him along with a letter or something –"

"And maybe he would do something about the Refuge!" Katherine interjects and finishes, finally understanding where Davey's train of thought was heading.

"Exactly! I can't imagine him being happy with how the place is being run, considering it's the state that is funding it and he actually has the power to do something about it." Davey finishes.

"And…and then if does something about it I can hopefully get my article published as an exclusive before any other reporter has any time to do the in depth research." Katherine's smile now matches Davey's. "This is amazing Davey, thank you!"

Davey is hopping up and Katherine is tempted to laugh about how juvenilely he's displaying his excitement. "Well come on, let's go! If we leave right now, we should be able to get Jack's drawings to Medda before her dinner with the governor tonight!" He's carefully grabbing the tube from Katherine and rolling in the Refuge stack of drawings – sans the bunk bed one Katherine wants to use with her article.

Katherine jumps up to quickly grab the bunk bed drawing and her article from where is lies besides her typewriter on her desk. If they're lucky, then they'll meet Medda in time for her to pass along the tube of Jack's drawings to the governor and then she'll be able to drop off her article at The Sun just in case they want to print it. Katherine lets her hopes soar that just maybe things might be starting to look up.

-Later that evening-

Katherine is dropped off at her apartment by Davey, who had insisted, 'It's too dark for you to walking about by yourself. Let me walk you home.' She'd scoffed and argued that it was unnecessary; she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, thank you very much, but hadn't had much choice when Davey just kept walking with her anyways. It wasn't like she could force him to not follow her, and anyways, he'd been a huge help today.

They'd turned the corner to Medda's theatre just in time to see her climbing in to a waiting carriage. Davey had called out for her to wait and they'd raced the rest of the way to explain the plan to a more than willing to help Medda. She'd taken the tube of Jack's Refuge drawings and exclaimed that she'd 'make sure the governor would do something about that dreadful place'. From there, Katherine and Davey had run by The Sun to drop off her article and Jack's drawing with her former editor with the heavy implication that he'd likely have a need to print them soon.

Unlocking the door and walking inside her dark apartment, Katherine makes a beeline for the crate that Race had left by her couch. On the way to Medda's, Davey had explained that it held all of Jack's belongings that Race had pulled off the roof. Race had wanted her to hold on to it. According to Davey, Race had tried to make up some sorry explanation as to why, but he's pretty sure Race just can't stand to have it around. It's just a constant reminder of Jack, and by extension, the Refuge.

Looking through the crate, Katherine doesn't find much. There are two spare undershirts, a spare button down, and a spare set of pants. All the clothing has little specs of paint dotting it, like it was clothing Jack set aside to exclusively use when painting. Katherine smiles when she thinks she recognizes some of the colors from the most recent backdrop Jack painted for Medda smeared across the sleeve of the grey button down shift. Beneath the clothing, there's also a neatly folded worn knit blanket and a bundle of blunt pencils and stained paintbrushes tied together with a piece of string.

Feeling a bit like she's violated some of Jack's privacy by going through his things, Katherine moves the box in to her guest bedroom and sets it on the trunk at the end of the bed. Remembering the stack of drawings without Refuge relation still laying on her living room table, she returns to the living room to grab those and carefully lay them in one of the guest room dresser's drawers. She figures it's as safe a place as any in her home, considering the guest room has yet to actually have a guest occupy it.

Katherine carefully shuts the guest room door and wanders the rest of the way down to the hall towards her room. She nearly stubs her toe on her winter clothes trunk, which she'd failed to properly unpack earlier and had left sitting right inside the doorway. Sighing, she delays the task of unpacking it until tomorrow. It's late, she's tired, and the hope that the Governor will do something about the Refuge can only keep her running for so long. She changes in to her nightgown and pulls back the covers of her bed only to almost pull them over where she'd set Jack's newsie cap that morning. Katherine carefully picks up the cap and walks it over to the guest room, where she places it in the drawer with Jack's drawings. It makes more sense than replacing it in the trunk with her winter clothes, where it will just distract her again when she actually unpacks it tomorrow. Katherine falls asleep relatively hopeful that the day's planning will bring about some change.