A/N Sorry it took so long. I've been very very very busy. I'm moving to Texas in August. Hopefully I'll be able to wrap this story up in the next week or two.

Annabelle wanted to cry. She could feel her throat constricting painfully, her stomach churning into knots, and her eyes welled up with tears. James stood there starring at her. As her eyes met his the room began to swim. Static filled her ears, she shivered in a cold sweat, and then her vision blackened. The last thing she remembered was feeling the back of her head collide with the floor.

X

"Spot, won't you even look at me?" the flaxen haired young woman asked as she followed Spot. He was walking angrily away from her down the sidewalk away from the pier and toward the Lodging House. "Spot please!" She grabbed his hand and he stopped walking. He pulled his hand out of hers and turned slowly to face her. "Didn't you miss me?" Spot recognized the look she was giving him. Her big doe eyes, slightly protruding lower lip, the teasing way she tilted her head and exposed her neck. There was a time when he fell for it…there was a time he craved it.

"Ya wanna know what I missed?" he asked and a small smile formed on her face. "I missed the girl I fell in love with…before I found out what a manipulative little bitch she was." Laura's eyes fell to the ground.

"I deserved that. I don't blame you for being angry with me Spot. I'd be angry with me if I was you. I'm not asking you to forgive me right away…but I missed you, Spot. I want you back in my life. I still love you." She took his hand again and for a moment, Spot didn't pull his hand back.

"You know," he said and tightened his grip on her hand to which Laura smiled. "Ya must have practiced that…I almost believed that ya still loved me. But ya left a big piece of evidence for the whole world ta see." He lifted her hand and flicked her wedding ring before dropping her hand again. He turned and began walking away again.

"Spot, no, it's not what you think," she said and ran in front of him. "Please just let me explain." He walked around her and she continued to follow him. "How could I divorce him? It isn't proper, Spot. I would become a social outcast, filth. Everything I knew and loved would have been ripped away from me." Spot turned around so quickly Laura smacked into him.

"I would have been there!" he yelled. His voice crack…his throat swelled and his vision blurred. "Damn Laura, ya always thinkin about yaself. I was there for you, I was always there for you and ya left me like it didn't mean nothin! So don't feed me any of ya bullshit! Ya can't have ya cake and eat it to. Go back to ya husband, I'm done with ya."

"So that's how it's going to be Spot? I come to apologize and you just send me away? What about what we had Spot? I'm not giving up on us!" Tears were streaming from her eyes and Spot turned his back on her. "You still love me Spot, I know it!"

X

Annabelle awoke as she felt something cool pressed to her forehead. She opened her eyes and panic overcame her as she saw James towering over her. She sat up, her head pounding, and found she was laying on the couch in the parlor, James sitting next to her.

"Easy darling, you suffered quite fall. How are you feeling?" His voice was smooth, anger free. It petrified her. She removed the damp cloth from her forehead and set it aside.

"James what are you doing here?" Annabelle asked and her voice revealed how distraught she was. "I thought you were in Chicago…"

"I came back early. We do have a wedding to plan." Annabelle looked away from him. "And how have you been since I was away?" His tone had turned edgy. She didn't answer at first. "What's this?" he took the key around her neck and held it in his hand. "Rather…ugly isn't it?" Annabelle grabbed it from him. It was then she realized they were alone in the parlor. "I heard that you were quite…busy in my absence." Annabelle made to stand, but James pushed her back onto the couch and stood. He brushed the hair from the side of her neck revealing a small red mark on her neck. "Seems you've been very busy." Annabelle let out a small scream as he grabbed her by her upper arms and hauled her to her feet. "So who is it, Annabelle? Who is it that has captured your heart and kept it from me?" He forced his lips against hers and with her arms pinned to her sides she could only helplessly turn her face away from him. "Or is it that you've been warming his bed!" his voice came out like a roar. She pulled herself out of his grasp and back away from him.

"I don't love you James. I will never love you. Can't you understand that?" James threw his head back and laughed.

"Oh Annabelle, you are a fool. Love has nothing to do with marriage. It's business, dearest. Your parents owned six counties that have oil flows. Combine that empire with my family's law firm and I'll be the richest man on the eastern seaboard!" James began walking toward her, but she ducked around the other side of the couch to distance herself. "Now you be a good little wife and tell me who it is you've been seeing." Annabelle only shook her head. The door to the study opened and Mrs. Long walked in. James straightened and brushed his coat off.

"I hope I'm not interrupting, but Mr. Long is waiting to take you to your piano lessons, Annabelle," Mrs. Long said. Annabelle practically ran out the door without so much as looking at James.

Mr. Long was waiting outside with a handkerchief pressed to his lips when Annabelle bounded down the front steps. He stood upright and offered her his best smile.

"Please Mr. Long, we must make haste," she said as she jumped into the back of the coach. "Quickly, to the Brooklyn Lodging House." Mr. Long nodded silently and sped off.

The front door to Annabelle's house remained open as the two men stood watching the coach disappearing around a corner.

"Mr. Doyle, be a good man and follow her for me? I must know where my dear fiancé is heading off to."

"Yes sir…"

X

"Would ya push off?" Spot yelled to Laura as she followed him into the Brooklyn Lodging House. "I don't know how many ways ta say it, I want nothin ta do with ya." He stomped up the stairs to his room and threw the door open. He stormed over to his bed and began shoving random things in his trunk. Not because they needed to be there, but because he had the insatiable desire to slam something. The soft clicking of heels alerted him that Laura was still there.

"I don't understand why you're being so cold Spot…I know I hurt you, but can't you forgive me? I came back didn't I?" Laura asked in a small voice.

"Ya," Spot said as he turned to glare at her. "Ya came back and ya still wearing a wedding ring!" Laura walked across the room to him.

"If that's what's standing in your way, then here," she slipped the ring off her finger and put it into her coin purse. "I don't have to wear it around you." She placed her hands on his chest. "Don't you miss this Spot?" she whispered. "Don't you miss the way we were together?" She placed a hand on his cheek and his eyes shut. "Spot, I still love you." As she leaned in to kiss him he grabbed her wrists almost painfully.

"No, I don't miss it, Laura, and I haven't missed you in a long time. In fact, I haven't even thought about ya in weeks." Laura's face turned to shock. "Didn't I tell ya? I found someone else. Oh ya, and she's perfect in every way. I'm more in love with her than God should ever allow. She's tha air I breathe and the blood in my veins. So ya see, I aint got room for ya in my life no more." Laura jumped away from him as though he had burned her.

"I-I don't believe you," she said the shock evident in her voice. Spot felt an overwhelming sensation of accomplishment as he saw the pain cross her face. "No, that can't be…we belong together Spot. Does one mistake erase our history?"

"You made your choice, Laura. Ya chose a richie over me. Ya made it perfectly clear that all ya want is someone to hang on your every word."

"What is it with you and richies as you call them?" Laura snapped. "You had this problem even when we were together. For all the bigotry you accuse wealthy people of, you sure have your own judgmental thoughts."

"Ya maybe I do, but Annabelle aint like you. She aint like any of you. She's the best girl I've ever met and way too good for your snobby, self-righteous world," Spot snapped back. "Next time I try to cross your mind remind me to look both ways so I don't get hit by your lies. You lacerate me with all of these memories and now I wear these scars out on my sleeve. These broken hearts are left with scars because of your lies. And all this time it feels like I'm chasing shadows at midnight."

"If she's as amazing as you say she is, then how long do you think she'll stick around?" Laura asked. Her tone had turned icy and mean. "For all the reasons you hate me for leaving, I think the worst is that your pride was hurt. You know I left because of all the things you weren't." Spot turned around and angrily began slamming things into his trunk. "You could never provide for me the way my husband can. Look at yourself Spot, your life is going nowhere. So go ahead and blame me for why you're so angry, but you know deep inside I left because you weren't good enough for me." A moment passed when they were both silent. When she did speak again, her voice had dropped to its usual softness. "I love you Spot, make no mistake about that. But could you really expect me to stay? I'm back now, married yes, but I still want you. I'll give you some time to think about it." He should have turned and told her to never come back, but he didn't.

"The days fade and stars come out at night. And when the sun goes down I know exactly what I'll find. Some things in this life will never change. We both have apologies to exchange. These broken hearts are left with scars because of your lies. And all this time It feels like I'm chasing shadows at midnight. How could I let myself fall into your lies I only trusted you with all of my life. Now I am stuck here I'm trapped under ice. The only way out is for me not to ask why." He waited until her soft footsteps couldn't be heard before slamming his fist into the wall.

"Easy there," Roxie said from the bathroom doorway. She was leaning against the doorframe casually. Spot recoiled his hand, his knuckles bloody. "Couldn't help hearin ya conversation. Damn, never thought I'd see Laura back here."

"What's your point?" Spot asked his voice laden with anger. Roxie glided across the room and handed Spot a dampened rag. He took it and began wiping his hand clean.

"I think Laura said it all. Ya got a nasty habit of messin around with these richie girls, Spot. While I admire ya for ya ability ta smooth talk ya way into their world, the reality is ya aint part of their world."

"I don't need a lecture, Roxie, especially not from you," Spot said as he wrapped the rag around his knuckles. "I know how ya feel about Annabelle. It was the same way ya felt about Laura too."

"The truth is, Spot," Roxie said as she sat on the bed across from his. "I'm not here because of how I feel about Annabelle and Laura." Spot gave her a look that asked why she was here then. "I'm here because of how I feel about you." Spot opened his mouth to question her meaning when the pointed look she was giving him answered it all. "I've sat and watched you get hurt time after time by these richie brats and now I can't just sit and watch it again. It happened with Laura and like it or not it's ganna happen with Annabelle too." Spot stood and walked into the bathroom, but Roxie followed him. "What Laura said was right. Ya aint a part of their world and they aint a part of ours. It'll never work, Spot."

"Annabelle's different," Spot argued. "She aint nothin like Laura. She'd never leave the way Laura did, not in a million years. We love each other."

"Really? Do you really believe that? If Annabelle loves you so much, why hasn't she left her fiancé for you? Why does she still wear her engagement ring? Why does she always go back to her richie mansion at the end of the day? Because that's where she belongs. It's the same reason ya feel uncomfortable in her world. Because ya don't belong there." Spot grew silent. He placed a hand on either side of the sink and stared at his own reflection. Roxie appeared in the mirror behind him.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, what she was saying hit home. It was the fear that had been plaguing the back of his mind ever since he met Laura and now that he was with Annabelle it had resurfaced. He could feel himself teetering on the edge an unwanted familiar aching in his heart began again. His emotions were quickly shredded into tatters. Maybe it was the lack of sleep from the night before, the long walk to and from Manhattan, and then seeing Laura… his first love, but something Roxie was saying made sense. It made too much sense.

"You don't belong in their world Spot," Roxie said in a gentler voice as she approached him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned to look down at her. "You belong here in the Newsie world…with me." He knew what she was doing. He knew he should stop her. He knew he should push her away, leave the room, and find Annabelle. But he didn't. Part of him wanted it to happen. To prove the he was in control of his world. No one was going to hurt Spot Conlon and get away with it. No one could jerk his heart around like a whipped dog on a chain leash. Never.

Roxie stood on her tip toes simultaneously pulling Spot's mouth down and their lips met. He was unresponsive at first, just allowing her top kiss him. But as Spot pictures Annabelle's sweet face in his mind, an arm wrapped around her waist. Just as he was ripping himself back to his senses, a shrill gasp finished the job. The two separated and Spot looked up. Roxie grinned triumphantly and tried to wrap her arms tighter around Spot. He pushed her away however and ran from the bathroom after the brokenhearted onlooker.

A/N 'Chasing Shadows At Midnight' Pillar - One of the best bands EVER!