Spot had been pacing for hours that day, ever since the sun came up. He had not been able to sleep all night, something in his heart jumping ever so slightly as soon as he dozed off. He knew something was happening and would not let himself falsely hope that Bitter would be back today by some strange miracle.

He tried to sell his papers for a good hour or two, but found his concentration shot. He knew there was a train from Chicago coming in that night. He had been stalking the trainyards for a series of nights, finding out every train that had stopped in Chicago, or had even passed through the town before getting to New York, in hopes that Bitter would be on one of them.

Spot tried taking a quick nap, but his thoughts overcame his need to sleep, and soon found himself pacing once again. He was about to sneak out the window for another trip to the train station, when a knock came to his door and Buttercup's rough voice said, "Spot, I'se know yer in dere."

He sighed and hurried over to the door, letting BC in, receiving a knowing look from her as she saw the open window. "Goin' somewheah?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she motioned toward the window with her head.

Spot frowned, "Not anymore," he said, a bit on the upset side.

"Well, I wouldn't mind goin' ta de trainyards," BC said, satisfied with Spot's bewildered look.

"You'se been followin' me," he said dumbly, sitting down on the bed as he watched BC nod her head.

"I know yer worried about 'er Spot, but she's gonna come back whether you check the trains for her every night or not," she said, her voice becoming softer as she continued on. "But if it makes ya feel bettah, I'd like ta take a lil' trip dere, wit actual company an' not spyin' on anyone," BC added with a smirk.

Spot chuckled, "Figures ya'd say dat," he said, getting up and leading her quickly out of the room. The two newsies were silent on the way to the yards, the streets of Brooklyn getting more dangerous as the sun faded out of view. BC struggled to keep her mouth shut, seeing the look Spot had on his face, knowing he was thinking about things. Bitter's disappearance was having a horrible effect on Brooklyn's tough leader and BC prayed that Bitter would come back soon so he could get the lodging house back into shape.

It easily took them an hour to get to the barren train station, the complete abandoned look of the place only unsettling Buttercup's nerves more as they made their way across the various tracks. Spot jumped as a loud train horn sounded, the bright light coming from the front of the train blinding the two of them for a few minutes. They dodged out of the way and hid under an empty boxcar, waiting for the train to stop fully. Many figures jumped off the train before it had stopped, none of them in the shape of a girl.

BC was about to tell Spot it was time to leave when a figure limped off of the barely moving train, curses from the girl's mouth echoing over the loud sound of the stopping train. Spot looked at Buttercup, eyes wide with dismay as he began to realize that the voice sounded much like Bitter's. He did not wait a second more and grabbed BC's arm, dragging her out from underneath the boxcar and racing over to where the figure of a girl had stopped to rest.

"Bittah?" Spot called out, praying that it was truly her.

"Who's dere?" Bitter's rough voice questioned, limping out into the darkness, trying to see who the two figures belonged to.

Spot smiled brightly, knowing it had to be her and ran at her. "Bittah!" he exclaimed, pulling her into a quick hug, which made the hurt girl yelp in pain.

"Jesus Spot," BC said, cautiously approaching the two, pulling Spot off of Bitter as she sounded another yelp of pain. "She's fuckin' hoit," BC stated, taking out a small flashlight and shining it all over Bitter's body to see how bad she was off.

"Bittah, what'd dey do?" Spot asked, the concern in his voice obvious as it softened from its earliar tone of excitement.

Bitter turned her face away, staring at the ground and twisting her body away from them. "Bittah?" BC started, touching her friend's shoulder lightly.

"I'se fine," she muttered quickly, obviously trying to hide what had happened.

BC looked at Spot who just sighed in response. "Come on Bittah, let's get ya back ta de lodgin' house an' den we'll talk ok?" he said, tugging carefully on her arm.

She nodded, limping past them, holding onto her side as she walked.

BC pushed Spot in front of her and watched him try to comfort her, lightly putting his arm around her shoulders, talking quietly. She watched tears slip out of Bitter's eyes as she whispered hoarsely back, Spot not satisfied with her answers by his obvious look of concern and hurt.

BC hung her head, trying to think of what could have possibly happened to Bitter that was so bad to make her close off like she was doing. "Spot, why don't you run back to the lh and get some boys ta help Bitter back, she doesn't look like she can walk much further," she said, watching Bitter's face turn paler with each step she took.

Bitter's face lit up in approval, stopping in her footsteps, glad to get away from the prodding questions Spot was asking. Spot bit his lip, looking from Bitter to Buttercup and then nodded quickly, running off back to the lh to get some help.

Buttercup helped Bitter sit down next to her on the deserted street. "How bad off are ya?" Bitter asked.

Bitter sighed, "My ribs are the worst," she said quietly.

BC let out a deep breath, "Let me take a look?" she asked.

Bitter nodded and laid down in compliance, pulling up her shirt slowly for BC, who tried to keep in the gasp that was forming at her lips. Her whole midsection was a purplish black color, some of her ribs obviously broken and out of place. "Oh shit," she muttered softly, getting a look of concern from Bitter.

"They hoit pretty bad," Bitter said, pulling down her shirt, "but ya ain't settin' 'em heah or I'll pass out. I don't know why I hasn't yet."

BC smirked at the face Bitter put on, her pride obviously still in tact. "So ya gonna tell yer best friend what de hell happened dere an' why you'se in shit condition?" she asked frankly.

Bitter closed her eyes. "Let's jist say some awful shit BC, awful shit, I was hoit more den jist physically BC, if ya know what I mean," she said, wiping the unwanted tears away.

BC's mouth dropped, "Dat bastard...he...," she gasped out loud, Bitter's nod confirming her thought.

"Twice, well two full nights of hell," Bitter muttered softly, trying her best to keep back the tears she had been hiding for so long.

"Oh shit," BC muttered out loud. "I'm so sorry," she said, carefully hugging her friend. Bitter just shook her head, not wanting to go into any more discussion about the subject.

BC pulled apart from her after a few minutes of letting Bitter cry into her shoulder. "Ya want me ta tell Spot, or do you want ta?" she asked after moments of silence.

Bitter brushed her tears away with a dirty hand. "You," she whispered, closing her eyes as she inhaled deeply, which only made her lurch with pain as her ribs started to give her more trouble. "Oh shit," she muttered, turning paler with each word she spoke and each breath she took.

"Bittah ya ok? Bittah?" BC asked, her voice cracking with worry as Bitter turned paler and paler by the minute. "Bittah speak ta me, talk ta me," she whispered, holding the malnourished girl in her arms.

Bitter closed her eyes. "Get me back ta de lh," she whispered weakly, instantly going limp in Buttercup's arms as she lost consciousness.

"Oh shit," BC muttered to herself, attempting to pull Bitter up and carry her, but even as malnourished as Bitter had become, BC could still not lift her body up, no matter how hard she tried.

"SPOT!" BC screamed as three figures appeared on the horizon, tears streaming down her face without her permission.

Spot came running along with Blue and one of the other Brooklyn boys. "Oh shit," he muttered, seeing Bitter unconscious. "We gotta get her to the lh, now," he said, motioning for the two boys to pick Bitter's body up.

"What happened?" he asked BC as they jogged towards the Brooklyn Lodging House.

"We was talkin' an' all of de sudden her ribs were givin' her more trouble den usual an' next thing I knew she was out like a light. An' dose ribs look awful, someone really hurt her," BC said, watching the two boys in front of her closely as they carried Bitter, walking as fast as they possibly could.

Spot bit his lip, "I should've nevah sent 'er ta Manhattan," he muttered, his voice getting choked up as his eyes watered a little, the tears not daring enough to trail down his face.

"An' Spot, dere's something else," BC said, pulling him back away from the other two boys' hearing. "De leadah dere, he uh, raped her, two whole nights, all night long each time," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder to let him know she was still there. His eyes slowly faded into thought, blanking out from everything else that was happening as he took in the fact that someone had hurt his girl badly, hurt her in the worst way.

He didn't even remember getting back to the lodging house. He sat in a chair next to his bed, where Bitter had been put. He watched blankly as one of the girl's fixed up her ribs and various minor cuts, with the careful instructions of Needle, who was still in no condition to do much doctoring work.

Spot only came out of it a day later when Bitter woke up from her unconscious state. He smiled and kneeled down by her bed, taking her hand into his own, fighting back the tears as she gave him a sad smile. "Did BC tell ya?" were the first words out of Bitter's mouth.

Spot nodded, happy that she was still alive through all of this. He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I'se nevah gonna leave ya again," he promised, smirking at the odd look Bitter sent his way, her old self pulling itself back together.

"I love you," she said after a few minutes of silent talking.

Spot almost jumped for joy, as she had only said those three words once before. "I love you more," he retorted happily.

"We'll see about dat," Bitter said, poking him on the nose. "So when do I get ta see me goils?" she asked with a smirk.

Spot laughed, knowing that things would soon get back to normal.

I'll put the Epilogue up soon, I swear. I know you all hate me for keeping you waiting.