July 1899

Newsies Strike, Day 2

"Callie."

Callie looked up and saw Jack and Davey standing off to the side. Jack jerked his head for her to come over. She walked over to them.

"Yeah?"

"You think you could talk to Spot for us?" Jack asked, shifting his feet.

Callie shook her head. "That's not a good idea."

"Look, this strike ain't gonna work without Brooklyn's help, and everyone knows Spot always listened to you."

"Yeah, listened. In the past. He's not gonna want to see me now."

"Can you at least try?" Davey asked.

Callie looked at him. "Trust me…he's done listenin' to me."

Davey sighed, his hope dashed.

"Looks like we got bum information about a strike happenin' here today." Callie tensed at the familiar voice and turned around. Her and Morris locked eyes for a moment, but his facade didn't break. The Delancey brothers had plenty of practice breaking up strike demonstrations with real unions. Breaking up a newsie strike would be child's play to them.

"Hey," Elmer said, walking up behind Callie. "We missed you at supper last night."

Callie hesitated. "I had to take care of a few things," she said vaguely, walking through the circulation gate. She stood with the rest of the newsies, not moving. She watched Morris and knew he was watching her too, as if both of them daring the other to make a move. She kept her eyes on him while Jack made his plea to the scabs. She'd been half-tempted to be one of them, knowing no newsie would soak a girl scab. But over the past month, the lower Manhattan boys had wormed their way into her heart. They gave their friendship willingly and expected nothing in return.

As soon as the scabs threw their hats in with the newsies, and things got chaotic, Morris grabbed Callie's arm and pulled her through the side door and up to his office.

"What are you doing?" asked Callie once he'd closed the door to his office.

"It's gonna get ugly down there," said Morris. "And the cops are already on their way."

"How do you know?"

"Because we were told to call 'em."

"Don't you hurt those boys!"

"I don't have much of a choice here." He got to the door in two quick strides and opened it once more.

"Morris, you're better than this!" Her volume cause him to pause and look at her. She hadn't intended to raise her voice that loudly. A few beats of silence passed between then, the noise down below tuned out. "Don't do this," she added softly.

For a moment, she saw him hesitate - really hesitate. For a moment, she could've sworn he nearly stayed up there with her. For a moment, she saw who he used to be.

But the moment passed as quickly as it had come. "Stay in here until it's all over," he said and then he was gone.

She stepped across the office, hiding behind the curtain so she couldn't be seen from below, but so she could watch what happened.

"Oh good," Elmer's face melted into an expression of relief as Callie walked into Jacobi's. He walked over and pulled her into a tight hug. "We couldn't find you after the fight. We thought you mighta gotten arrested."

Callie's stomach turned with the guilt, knowing she'd been safe in Morris's office while the newsies had been getting beaten. "Yeah, I managed to escape," she said quietly. Elmer pulled back and Albert pushed out a chair for her with his foot. "You guys look like you really went through the ringer," she said, sitting down.

Finch nodded. "Those Delanceys have some tough friends."

"Where's Jack?" Callie looked around, realizing why it was so quiet.

"We think he got arrested when they got Crutchie," said Specs.

A little hope dared to rise in Callie's chest. Without Jack to keep them going, the strike probably wouldn't last very long, which meant no more of her friends getting beaten up, and less chance of her running into a cop who recognized her.

"Hey," Elmer nudged her gently, watching her expression. "You okay?"

"Yeah," said Callie, forcing nonchalance. "It's just…strikin's a dirty business, you know?" Elmer nodded. "Davey and Les cut and run too?"

"Nah, they just went home. Buttons too."

Callie nodded.

"So what are we gonna do now?" asked Specs. The newsies were quiet, none of them knowing what the next step should be.

"I think that's a question to sleep on, Specs," said Callie, standing up. "I'm headin' back to the lodging house and getting some sleep."