Chapter Nineteen- A Selfless Gesture

It didn't take long for Bill to find Nancy. She was sitting on the kerb of a near deserted pavement, arms tight around her knees. Despite her hunched and defeated looking posture, she was looking very pleased with herself.

"Nancy, wot on Earth are ya playin' a-"

"Oh, 'ello Bill! I've been lookin' for ya!"

Nancy seemed perfectly at ease with the situation, smiling at Bill as she got to her feet and dusted herself off. Bill hadn't the faintest idea why she was looking so pleased; she'd gone out to find him and hadn't, and now she was sitting on the pavement in the cold for no apparent reason…it didn't make sense!

"So Fagin says."

"Fagin?" Nancy's eyes were wide with worry. "You've been back to the den?"

"That's 'ow I found out you weren't there. The old 'un's worried."

Nancy laughed.

"Why should 'e be? I've just been out on the job like normal!"

"You told 'im you were goin' to look fer me…I came back wivout ya, of course 'e's gonna be worried!"

Bill wasn't sure why he was getting so het up over this; since when had he cared about how Fagin felt? Since when had the tinkling laugh of a child made him feel so strange, so different? He shook his head, as if trying to clear his mind of these thoughts once and for all.

"I did go out lookin' for ya; no-one 'ad any clue where ya'd gone an' we was all gettin' worried. So I went out, see, but I couldn't find you nowhere. I came 'ere to look for ya part of the time-" Nancy gestured to the street; one of the richer ones lined with expensive looking shops and stalls. "Then I realized wot a great place this'd be for a spot of stealin'. There was a market on an' everythin'!"

Bill chuckled at Nancy's childlike ingenuity, his previous concerns and sorrow pushed to the back of his mind in the young girl's presence. Her energy, her enthusiasm, her smile…

"See, look wot I got!"

Carefully checked there was no-one about to see them, Nancy crouched down and began rifling in the pockets of her dress, distributing her wares onto the pavement for Bill to see. There were three paper bags crammed with sweets, two heavy looking wallets, six brightly coloured handkerchiefs, a miniature wooden figurine of an owl and another of a dog (the second slightly chipped), a small posy of flowers and a brown leather dog collar, a silver tag attached at its centre.

Bill's eyes widened with every new item Nancy produced; clearly the market had been selling all sorts for her to have acquired such a variety of strange and unusual items. He picked up the miniature owl and examined it, his brow furrowed.

"Wot's all this then?" he asked Nancy finally, placing the figurine back down beside her other trinkets.

The girl beamed up at him.

"They're presents, see? The sweets're for Norman, Frankie an' Morris, the wallets an' handkerchiefs are for Fagin, the owl's for Ezra an' the dog's fer Archie, since 'e likes Bulls-Eye so much. Tha' dog collar's for Bulls-Eye; we can't go losin' our mascot, can we? I was gonna get you a nice bottle of gin but it wouldn't've fitted in my pockets after this lot…sorry…"

Bill found himself blinking back tears at Nancy's selfless gesture; tears of incredulity, tears of pity, tears of humbleness. She'd risked getting caught, all to get them presents! What a stupid but…generous thing to do…

The next thing Bill knew, he had knelt down to Nancy's level and engulfed the smaller child in an embrace.

Nancy appeared stunned at first by the spontaneity of it all, but she hugged him back all the same, her grin returning to her face. Had she just seen Bill blinking back tears? Was he, Bill Sykes, actually hugging her? Just for pinching everyone some stuff? Just for going out on the job?

Nancy wasn't as confused as Bill with regards to her emotions; she was surprised that Bill was acting this way; he usually didn't act as though he cared, about anyone or anything, but now it was clear to her that he did care. About the gang. About her.

"Thanks, Nance," Bill said as he let go of her, ruffling her hair in an affectionate manner. "You're a good 'un."

Nancy giggled as Bill's large hand tickled the top of her head.

"You are too, y'know," she said, bending down to retrieve her presents and stow them carefully back in her pockets. "I think you're…well…nicer than you let on. You just need to show it more." She smiled up at him again, having pocketed the last of her goods, wondering what his reaction would be.

Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" he said, in mock incredulity. "An' who says I ain't nice, eh?"

He fished about in the pocket of his coat; he hadn't gotten about to emptying it of the smaller trinkets from the previous nights housebreaking. There must be something in there he could give to Nancy, anything at all…

His fingers closed around a necklace, from one of the many jewelry boxes the house had contained. This, however, was one of the plainer items of jewelry; a simple black velvet choker with a small diamond at its centre. It was beautiful in its simplicity, and Bill sincerely hoped Nancy would like it.

Acting as though this was what he'd been looking for all along, Bill tugged the necklace from his pocket and handed it to the girl before him with a small smile.

Nancy gasped, her sparkling blue eyes wider than ever at the sight of the necklace.

"Oh my…Bill, 'ow did ya…"

Bill chuckled.

"Just put it on, will ya?" he said, his tone more lighthearted than he thought it would have been for a long time, were it not for Nancy.

Nancy eagerly fastened the black velvet cord about her neck, and then hurried to the nearest shop window to see her reflection. The necklace was perfect in every way…it didn't matter that Bill had stolen it, how else was he supposed to get it? It was beautiful, it made her feel beautiful…

She turned back around, her smile wider than it ever had been.

"Thank you Bill!" she cried, running over to him and hugging him tightly, although she was barely higher than his waist. "Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it…" Bill said, beginning to feel a little awkward at Nancy's excited exclamations. It was only a necklace, for gawd's sake, not a whole box of the things…

After a moment or two of Nancy clinging onto him without word being spoken, Bill gently prized the girl off him and suggested they get back to the den, to hand out her gifts. She agreed, her smile seemingly affixed to her face, taking his hand in hers as they walked back to the den.

Before they proceeded up the worn wooden steps, however, Nancy let go of Bill's hand and darted away, tugging the posy of flowers from her pocket as she did so. Bill followed her at a more leisurely pace, just in time to see her kneel at Jeremy's crude headstone and place the flowers atop his grave.

She returned to Bill's side after a minute or two; Bill pretended he hadn't seen her; she clearly didn't want to discuss it.

"Bill?" she asked just before they reached the door, glancing curiously up at him, the diamond on her necklace twinkling in the starlight, the sun long gone.

"Yeah?"

"We're friends now, ain't we? True friends? Forever?"

Bill smiled fondly at her and nodded.

Bill and Nancy.

True friends.

Forever.

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A/N: Thank you, Katarina Sparrow, for inspiring me when writing Nancy. ^^ I love ya, my dear!

Here's hoping you all enjoyed this very fluffy chapter (here's also hoping a certain Mister Sykes stayed in character!) XD

Please R&R!