Spot walked out of the Brooklyn lodging house and crossed his arms. "What do you kids want?"

Davey and Crutchie stood on the stoop. "We were just wonderin' if you've seen Piper around, or heard anything of her," said Davey.

Spot stared him down. "What are you doin' in Brooklyn?"

Crutchie swallowed. "We're just lookin' for Piper."

"And you think I'd help you?"

"Uh…" said Davey.

"What, we go on strike together and suddenly you think I'd help ya?"

Davey and Crutchie exchanged nervous looks.

Spot smirked and punched Davey in the arm. "I'm just kiddin' with ya."

"Oh," Davey exhaled with a chuckle of relief. He rubbed his arm where Spot had punched him.

"I haven't seen her," Spot shook his head. "Sorry."

Davey's shoulders slumped slightly. "Well, if you hear anything will you send word?"

Spot nodded. "You got it."

"Thanks, Spot."

Spot punched Davey in the arm as a farewell gesture before retreating back into his lodging house.

From the rooftop, Piper watched Davey and Crutchie walk down the way they had come from, defeated. She clenched her jaw to keep the tears at bay.

Spot walked up the fire escape to where Piper was sitting, one leg dangling off the ledge and hugging the other to her chest.

"They won't be lookin' for you around here no more," he said.

"Thanks," she said. "I owe you one."

"So what's your plan? Hide on my rooftop the rest of your life?"

"You evicting me?"

"No. Stay as long as you want. Not sure how well the East Side will fare, but that's on you."

"They've got Tiny. They'll be fine."

"I know it ain't easy," said Spot, sitting down on a crate. "For any newsie it's hard to find someone who cares about you."

"Is Spot Conlon giving out relationship advice?"

"I'm just sayin' I get it."

Piper knew he did. He'd cared for Callie deeply before she left - he probably never stopped. But all she said was, "You don't know the first thing about what I'm goin' through."

"Fine," said Spot. "But one question - what's the problem? This is Davey we're talkin' about."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "I ain't barein' my soul to you, Conlon."

Spot shrugged. "Fair enough." He stood up. "I gotta get goin'. I got business. Stay as long as you need to, Barnes. I never got to repay Ray while he was alive. The least I can do is help you out."

Piper swallowed. She never wanted to take payment for any of the debts owed to Ray, but she wasn't going to turn up her nose at his hospitality - it was rare enough as it were. "Thanks."

Spot walked down the fire escape, leaving Piper alone with her thoughts. She looked in the direction Davey and Crutchie had walked. It pained her to think of everything she was giving up. Not just Davey and how he made her feel. But Les. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs. Crutchie.

The other night in the Jacobs' apartment scared her. It scared her how much she cared about Davey. It scared her how safe she felt around him and his family. It scared her to think that she could lose that one day.

Ray was one thing. Ray had taken care of her - made sure she had enough to eat, a roof over her head, and that she didn't freeze in winter - but he'd made her pay a price for it. Davey expected nothing and took nothing.

"Well, Davey, she must really like you," said Crutchie as the two of them crossed the bridge.

"Why do you say that?" Davey asked, pulling his coat tighter against the wind coming off the river.

"She only leaves the ones she really loves." Crutchie winked.

"What are you talking about?"

"You ever hear the story of how I landed with the newsies down here?"

Davey shook his head.

"Well," Crutchie began, "our pop hated me. He'd loved our mama so much and when she died, he blamed me. In his eyes, he only ever had one child - Piper - and he raised her as the son he always wanted. One evening when I was seven or eight, I accidentally broke this vase that was mama's. Pop got real mad and pushed me down the stairs. He just stumbled off drunk, but Piper was there to take care of me. She couldn't take me to the hospital and we couldn't afford a doctor, so she fixed my leg up. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't be able to walk at all."

Davey watched Crutchie, amazed that two people could have such different interpretations of the same event. Piper blamed herself for Crutchie's situation, while Crutchie was thankful for her help.

"As soon as I could walk again, Piper brought me to the lodging house," Crutchie continued. "The big guy in Manhattan at the time was Kicks. Piper asked him if I could join his newsies, and he told us to get lost. But this other kid came up to us and said he needed a new sellin' partner." Crutchie grinned. "One guess who."

"Jack."

Crutchie nodded. "He promised he'd look after me."

"So what's this got to do with Piper?" asked Davey.

"She left me down here to protect me. Because she loves me. It was our pop and then that jerk Ray that she stayed with for so long."

Davey furrowed his brow. "She's never said anything bad about Ray."

"She wouldn't," said Crutchie. "He took care of her after she ran away from Pop. But believe me - he was horrible. Ya see, Piper's problem is she takes real good care of everyone else, but takes lousy care of herself. After she brought me down to the lodging house, she went right back home to pop."

"What did he do?"

Crutchie shrugged. "She would never talk about it," he said. "But somewhere along the way she went from sweet and happy to scared and hurt.

"Even then she'd known Ray. She bought pop's pape from Ray every day. Eventually, he convinced her to run away - said he'd take care of her. But Ray was no better than Pop - he just made her think he was. He turned my sister into stone. She wasn't happy. She wasn't sad. She was just…blank. I don't know what he did to her to make her that way, but I know it wasn't good."

Davey shook his head slowly. "I had no idea."

Crutchie looked over at him. "That's why we gotta get her back to you. You're good for her, Davey. She just doesn't know how much she needs you yet."