Jack
Soft. Warm. Upon waking, those are those first two things that register with Jack. That he was lying on something softer than he had ever laid on in his life and that he was warm. Yesterday hadn't been some elaborate hallucination then. He wasn't there anymore as soft and warm were definitely not words that could be used to describe the Refuge. He is out...somewhere. Actually, he isn't sure where he is, just that it's not that darn cell.
Jack slowly opens his eyes. Wherever he is must not be too bright, because he is able to keep them open for more than a second without being forced to slam them shut. He takes a moment to take in his surroundings. He's laying on a bed with a blue blanket draped over him. The sheets to his left are rumpled, as if someone had been sitting there at some point, but the spot is currently empty. He vaguely recalls Katherine sitting there while a doctor, one of his regulars, looked him over. There is a window to his right, and a door in the corner of the room in front of him.
He involuntarily tenses at the sight of the closed door. He's sure it will open, most doors do, but the idea of being shut in a room, even one as nice as this one, is unsettling. He pushes himself upright, grimacing a bit as the pressure on his ribs shifts. Jack sits there for a moment longer to take stock of himself and settle his breathing. Looking over himself, he realizes he's more bandages than not. He's never actually had his injuries treated by a doctor before, it's not like it was something he could afford with what little he made selling papes, and he feels a bit guilty that Katherine would spend money on a doctor for him. His injuries would heal up fine enough without all these wrappings. They've always healed up fine before, even if he begrudgingly admits that they've never been this bad or numerous.
Jack slowly makes his way towards the door, careful to walk on his left heel so not to put pressure on the cut at the front of his foot. It's an awkward way to walk, but there's no way he's just going to sit around and do nothing until that's healed. Anyways, he wants to check in with his boys and needs to get back out selling.
He pulls the door open and is greeted by the sound of bare feet running down the hallway. Katherine suddenly appears in front of him with, "Jack! You're up!" Her face displays a mix of surprise and concern.
Jack puts on a smile. "Yeah." A moment of silence. "You not expectin' me to wake up or something?"
"You're supposed to be resting! And keeping off your foot!" Katherine counters and pointedly looks down to where he's gingerly holding his left foot off the ground.
"I rested. And now I's fine." Jack cockily smiles. Katherine just stares at him, aghast. "You's seen my shirt?" He gestures towards his chest, which is bare besides the bandages wrapped around it. "I's gonna go see my boys-"
"Jack Kelly." Katherine interrupts him and places her hands on her hips. "You are not walking halfway across town on your own. You are going to rest."
"I's done plenty of resting. I've done nothing but sit around in a little room for weeks!' Jack yells back. He immediately regrets saying that the second he sees Katherine's face fall at the reminder and guilt washes over him. "Just, can I have my shirt? Then I'll be out of here. I can rest at the boarding house."
Katherine turns and walks in to another room before returning with his grey shirt and bashfully handing it over. Jack slowly pulls the shirt on, hoping Kath's not looking close enough to see him wince when his shoulders stretch. He struggles to button up the front with the way his right hand is bandaged and eventually gives up half way. When he returns to look at Kath again, she's solemnly staring at him. "What?" he asks.
"You don't have to pretend to be fine around me Jack. I don't want you to, actually. Just like I don't want you to leave just yet. I feel so bad for what my father did and I just got you back and-" Katherine rambles.
Jack daringly grabs her by the check and pulls her in for a kiss, effectively shutting her up. When he pulls away, Katherine's face is flushed red. "Ace. It wasn't you. It was your father and you don't have ta feel bad for what he did. You's ain't him and I promise I ain't gonna mix the two of ya up." He tries to put on a reassuring smile.
Katherine takes a moment to gather her thoughts and compose herself before responding, "Will you at least stay a little longer? I know the boys were planning on stopping by at some point. And if you really want to go back to the boarding house tonight, I'd feel a lot better if you went with them instead of by yourself." Katherine finally breaks the silence.
"I guess." Jack smiles teasingly. "You make me sound like some fine lady in need of an escort."
"Well then may I escort you to the living room Mr. Kelly?" Katherine jokes and holds out her elbow, which Jack takes with a laugh before they begin to make slow progress in to the living room seating area. Jack takes a seat on the plush sofa and looks over Katherine's sparse sitting area. It's drastically different than her father's home, at least from the impression he got of it when the Delancey brothers were marching him through.
The one thing that manages to catch his attention is the framed drawing on the wall across from the couch where he is currently seated. It's the sketch he'd drawn of Katherine at Medda's all those weeks ago. He's both proud and embarrassed that Kath is displaying his drawing. While he's distracted, a glass of water is pushed in to his hands and Kath plops down on the couch beside him. He absentmindedly sips at the water while they sit in silence.
Kath seems to notice what has caught his attention. "You know, your drawings really did do all the work. They're what convinced the governor to close the Refuge and what got my article published. I've said it before, but I think it's worth repeating: you're talented Jack."
Jack huffs. "There's loads of people better than me."
"Don't downplay your talent Jack." She lightly swats him on the arm and he pretends that it hurt until he sees she's taken his reaction seriously.
"I was just playin' Ace. That didn't hurt." He tries to calm her.
"Well it's not funny." She pouts and crosses her arms across her chest. Jack thinks it's cute, even if it is a bit childish. "You know, my editor was really impressed by your drawing. He's interested in hiring you to illustrate for the paper if you're interested."
Jack smiles before thinking the idea through. "You're kidding right? He'd take one look at me and change his mind. Anyways, I doubt your father would ever let that happen."
"Jack, he's well aware of who you are. 'Jack Kelly', the newsboy leader isn't exactly unknown to the newspapers. He doesn't care about your past, just your talent. Your drawings catch people's attention and that sells. You should know what sells a paper better than anyone."
"Well there's still your father after my head. There's no way he'd let that happen," Jack scoffs, unwilling to let himself believe this was even a possibility.
Katherine turns to look at him in the eyes before saying, "Jack. He can't get to you anymore. Don't you see? Anything he does against you or any of the newsies just serves to make him look worse and he'll avoid that at all costs. Keeping you from taking the illustrator job certainly wouldn't look good for him right now."
Jack allows himself to hope a little and smile, "You really think I should try, Ace? I mean, I can't draw much right now with all this stuff the doctor wrapped around my hand." He raises said hand for emphasis.
Katherine earnestly laughs. "In a two or three weeks then. I think you'd be great at it and you'd be wasting your talent if you didn't pursue the job, but you have to make the decision yourself Jack."
Jack takes a moment to think the idea through. He'd always known he couldn't be a newsie forever, but he hadn't honestly thought he'd be around long enough to age out and need to find a new job. "I guess I can't be a newsie forever." He sees Katherine start to beam. "Ace, I ain't saying yes, but I'll think about it." There was no way he was cornering himself in to this decision.
After a few minutes of silence, "So Ace huh. Like an Ace up your sleeve?" She prompts inquisitively.
"Something Race said. I think it fits. I can stop if you don't like it." He offers.
"No, I like it." Jack glances at her to see a smile spreading across her face. They sit in awkward silence for a bit longer before Katherine speaks up again, "Seriously though Jack, how are you feeling? Please don't sugar-coat it. I can have Dr. Richardson come back if I need to."
Jack sets his now empty cup on the table beside the couch. "I'm fine Ace. You don't need to be spending money on me by having a doctor come here."
Katherine groans. "Jack. I want to spend money on you. I care about you and want to make sure you're happy and healthy. If it makes you feel better about it, think of the money as my father's instead of mine." Jack smirks. "So, seriously how are you feeling?"
He's saved by knocking at the door. "Don't think you've avoided the question," Katherine tells him as she rises to answer the door. Jack fumbles with the sleeve of his shirt; trying to roll it up a bit so the rough fabric isn't rubbing at the raw skin of his wrist.
"Jack!" a young voice is yelling from behind him. Jack smirks as he recognizes the voice as Les's. Before he can answer, the kid is on the couch beside him and pulling him in to a tight hug. Jack tries to keep the smile the only thing displaying on his face.
"Les, be careful!" Davey's yelling at the kid as he runs up to pull him off of Jack.
"He's fine Davey. He's just excited and I ain't breakable," Jack reassures him, even if he's glad to have the pressure off of his ribs.
Suddenly, there's a hand on his forehead and an older woman, who he assumes is Les and Davey's mom, is tutting, "Still got a bit of a fever honey."
Jack turns to look at Davey, whose face is bright red. "Sorry Jack, Kath; our mother insisted on coming."
Davey and Les's mother hangs around for the better part of an hour. She had brought ingredients for soup with her and she and Katherine puttered away in the kitchen to make it in to something edible. Les took that time to fill Jack in on all his improved headlines from the last couple of weeks and bragging about how many papes he had sold. Jack had no doubt the kid would be outselling him sooner than later. He'd probably make a great Manhattan leader after Race if he hung around long enough.
When the soup was done, Mrs. Jacobs had pushed a bowl in to Jack's hands, given him a commanding, "Eat," and grabbed Les to disappear through the front door. Les had protested, but she had exclaimed that they would eat at home with his father and that it was far too dark for him to walk home with Davey when Davey was done visiting.
The remaining trio sits around the living room, slurping at the soup. Jack admits, the soup is delicious and better than anything he's eaten in a long while, even before his most recent stint in the Refuge. He fills quickly though; his stomach no longer used to eating more than a couple scraps at a time. Not one to waste food, he keeps slowly forcing the soup down until the bowl is empty.
"You want some more Jack? My mom made plenty," Davey spouts when he notices Jack's empty bowl.
Jack, somewhat ashamedly, admits, "No…I- I don't think…" He lets himself trail off in to silence. Newsies never say no to more food, and yet here he was doing exactly that.
A hand appears on his shoulder and he tries not to flinch, repressing the association the Refuge formed of being dragged down to the basement after eating. He must have failed at the whole not-flinching thing though, because Davey, whose hand is now hovering above his shoulder, is looking at him with terror written across his face. "Jack- Jack I'm sorry. What did I do?" The 'what did they do to you' goes unsaid, but is clearly what Davey's actually asking.
Jack shrugs it off, "I's fine. Just startled me, that's all." Davey and Kath both look at him with disbelief. "Really, I's fine." He insists.
Today must be his lucky day, because he's saved from more questioning by knocking at the door once again. He sighs in relief when Katherine leaves it be and goes to answer the door. Davey's still staring at him though. Let him stare, there's no way Jack's going to let Davey haunt himself with his memories. Whatever he's imagining can't possibly be worse than what Jack could tell him. Jack returns Davey's stare.
Neither of them has given in to blinking yet when Race steps in between the pair. "Hey Jack! 'S good to see you up." Jack shifts his gaze up to Race and smiles. "So why's your shirt half unbuttoned?" He leans in closer to not so subtly whisper in Jack's ear, "Yous and Katherine-"
Jack interrupts, "Get ya head out of the gutter Race. Nothing like that." He playfully shoves the other boy, whose still smiling like he's uncovered some dirty secret. He backs up to sit so close to Davey on the other couch that he's practically sitting on the other boy's lap. Davey looks beyond flustered, though Jack's not sure whether it's from Race's suggestion or the fact he's basically on his lap.
Crutchie comes over next and sits beside Jack on the couch. Jack reaches across to hug his friend, but a very small kid he's never seen before crawls up to plop down between the two. The kid turns and stares up at him with his big green eyes. "Hey Crutchie, whose this?" Jack questions, feeling a little uncomfortable under the new kid's stare.
"Oh, I guess you wouldn't have met him." Crutchie flinches, though Jack's not really sure why. "This here is Mouse. He was my bunkmate at the Refuge and he's one of us now."
Jack smiles and ruffles the new kid's hair. "Hey Mouse. I'm Jack, nice ta meet ya." The kids eyes widen.
"I's seen you before." The kid whispers. Jack looks to Crutchie, who seems to be just as shocked and confused as Jack.
Jack smiles uncomfortably, "Yeah? And where have we met kid cause I sure don't remember ya."
"Maybe you mean you've heard of him before Mouse? I mean, this is my friend Jack I told ya stories about before we went ta sleep," Crutchie optimistically offers.
Mouse turns to Crutchie to simply say, "No." He then turns back to Jack and point him, "You was in the basement with me. You slept a lot."
Jack feels all the blood drain from his face, but quickly frames a smile and replies, "So you was making those sounds. I thought I was hearin' rats or just imagining things." He regrets those words the second they leave his mouth. Davey and Katherine are looking at him with fear emblazoned across their faces again. Darn, he's said too much.
Mouse smiles and shakes his head before asking with all the innocence only a child could muster, "Have you slept enough now?"
Even Jack can't keep himself from laughing at the question, "I's almost caught up on sleep I think."
"Good," Mouse smiles and gently wraps him in a hug.
Jack looks over Mouse to Crutchie, whose chuckling and smiling too, "He your new selling partner now? This kid could sell more papes than Les and I together." Crutchie nods.
He hadn't noticed Katherine leave, but she's suddenly back, balancing three bowls of soup. She carefully hands one to each of the newcomers before taking a seat on the opposite side of Davey as Race.
"So when's you coming back to the boarding house?" Race asks between mouthfuls of soup.
"Soon as I can. I hears you's been running things while I was away," Jack replies. If he's really going to consider the illustrator gig, then he's got to make sure the boarding house and his boys have got someone else looking out for them. He'll always be around, of course, but the newsies need a leader that's right by their side.
Race smirks and looks down, "Just did my best."
"He did great," Davey buts in.
"Pfffft, I think 'great's stretchin the truth a bit much, even for a newsie Dave," Race retorts.
"I'm sure you did great Racer. You'll be a great Manhattan leader someday," Jack softly smiles.
"You's not leaving us are ya Jack?" Crutchie pipes up from beside him, worry etching itself across his face. "I knows you wants ta go to Santa Fe, but already?"
"No!" Jack reassures the group. "Just, ya know, I'm gonna age out eventually. Just gotta make sure everything's taken care of for when that time comes."
Jack feels Crutchie relax beside him. "Race missed ya a lot Jack. Wasn't sleeping at all," he teases.
"Awww, did ya miss me?" Jack taunts the younger newsie.
"No!" Race retorts and flings a spoonful of soup in Jack's direction.
"Hey! I don't care how you eat at the boarding house, but here food does not get flung around," Katherine interrupts.
Jack chuckles and Race's apologetic look. "Sorry Kath." The boy sets his bowl on the table as if to remove any further temptation.
Davey looks at the now pitch black sky out Kath's window and stands, "Well, I best be getting home. Keep resting up Jack; we can wait for you to be better."
Everyone stands and makes their way towards the door with Davey. Mouse detaches himself from Crutchie to hug Jack around the legs. "Bye!" He innocently calls up to Jack.
Davey opens the door and hold it open so Crutchie and Mouse can walk through. Race turns one last time to Jack looking as if he's got something to say, but ends up giving him a light hug instead before disappearing through the door. Jack watches the group disappear down the hall.
"You're not going with them?" Katherine asks him, the surprise evident in her voice.
"I think they'll be fine without me for a bit longer," Jack smiles and Katherine hugs him. He hesitates for a moment before hugging her in return, resting his chin on her head.