Author's Note: It's funny how writing a more emotionally charged scene like that last one I did changes the movie for me. I was rewatching the "Jack's a Scabber" scene so I could rewrite this chapter and almost cried when David was shaking Race, begging for his help before Jack walked out, then again at the reactions of Mush and the other newsies. It's just so heartbreaking!
In completely unrelated news, my brother and I went birthday shopping to get him some clothes yesterday and I convinced him of the awesomeness of suspenders after finding a super cool shirt that had them attached. He didn't buy that shirt because of the price, but he'll be buying some suspenders soon enough. Success! :P
Thanks to my awesome reviewers who made my day with their comments: LucyofNarnia, Ealasaid Una, Mysterygirl, LC, Austra, and Narniafan96 . Here's some virtual suspenders for ya! :P

Chapter 29- Seeing Things

I'll save your seat
'Cause you don't stand for what you preach
You're singing with a broken string
Tell me what you really mean
Do you know what you are?
~Rollerblades: Eliza Doolittle~

It's like the world is crashing down around me.

It was her first coherent thought upon waking and it made her feel like she had forgotten how to breathe. Her heart slammed against her chest like it was trying to escape.

It wasn't until she swung her legs over the edge of the bed that she realized she had slept the previous night in Sarah's bed. David's sister was still asleep next to her. The same went for David and Les in their own bed.

Al didn't know how she had gotten here last night. She didn't remember if she had walked or if she had been carried. She didn't even know if she had gone back to the square with David or if he had gone to meet the others after bringing her home. It was all a weird, hazy blur.

Someone had removed her boots and her hat for her and she now put them both back on, made a quick trip to the washroom to relieve herself and wash her face, and slipped out the window of her friends' bedroom. After a moment's hesitation, she decided to climb back in and leave a note before she headed to the Lodge. The sky was gray with the earliest light of dawn and she walked briskly in the morning cold.

The more she thought about last night, the more she remembered. By the time she reached the Lodge, she remembered David saying something about her needing to breathe regularly or she would pass out. She remembered hearing his labored breathing above her and his arms around her back and behind her knees as he carried her. She remembered Mush's worried expression as he leaned over her, calling her name. She remembered Sarah dabbing her forehead with a wet cloth.

Al dropped her cigarette butt on the ground before stepping into the Lodge and immediately heading up the stairs. Kloppman was just coming out of the bunk room, having woken up the boys, and gave her a lopsided smile before heading down the stairs to do whatever it was he did in the mornings.

"Heya boys," Al said when she entered the room. Her voice was more hoarse than she had expected and she coughed to clear it. She noticed, with a pang, that her and Jack's bunk bed was still unoccupied.

"Mornin' Al." Skittery's voice was softer than usual and he approached her as he would a frightened animal that might haul off and bite him. It made her angry, but she tried to supress it by pressing her lips together in irritation.

"Mornin', doll!" Racetrack came from the other side and clapped her on the back. "How're ya feelin'?"

She let out a sigh of relief. Leave it to Race to call her a doll and thankfully not treat her like a porcelain one. "Bettah."

He nodded and no one pressed her. Most everyone was getting ready and ignored her until they were fully awake. She didn't intend to address them until they were. When she finally opened her mouth, they fell silent and listened.

"You all know Jack's in the Refuge," she began, putting on a mask of indifference. "But we ain't gonna let that stop us. Snyder an' Pulitzer are laughin' at us right now, thinkin' they got us beat, but we can do this- with or without Jack. He woulda wanted us to. We're finishin' this on our terms."

She didn't wait for a reaction or a response, but promptly turned on her heel, walked down the stairs, and right on out the door. She was lighting up a cigarette when David came around the corner and walked straight for her.

"Cig?" she offered. David gave a curt nod and she handed it to him. She decided they both deserved their own smoke after a day like yesterday and lit herself another as the boys started trickling out. They seemed more subdued than usual and it wasn't just them. When they had all gathered at the World Distribution Center, Al and David had to give another quick speech about the fact that the strike was not over just because Jack wasn't there. Al told them that, as Cowboy's second-in-command, they were to listen to her for newsie direction until Jack was back. If anyone had a problem with that, they could see her afterward. She didn't directly say that she would soak them, but it was implied well enough for them to get the picture.

David helped her down just in time for Spot to come sauntering up. The expression on both her and David's face, plus the blaring fact that Jack was still gone, kept him from his usual business of doing whatever it took to irritate Al. The cockiness was still evident in his eyes and the way he carried himself, that part of him never left, but he didn't try to flaunt it today.

"Nice speech," he told them, hooking his thumbs behind his suspenders.

"Thanks," David answered for her. She felt too tired to bother answering. Like it was taking all of her strength to get through today's strike. Maybe she would go back to the Lodge and take a nap after they were done. Yeah, that sounded like a perfect idea. How late had she been out last night anyway?

Racetrack came up beside them as the newsies assembled in front of the gates for their protest, asking Spot why he wasn't in Brooklyn. He answered something about Kiver taking over for the day. Al risked a sidelong glance at David, who had bags under his eyes. She wondered if he had fallen asleep immediately upon getting home last night or if he had stayed up trying to figure out what was going on with Jack. He hadn't told any of the guys what had transpired, she knew that much, likely because he was trying to figure it out himself. He was probably hoping to get more clarity on the matter later.

"Stop the World! No more papes!" someone started chanting. It caught on and then they were all screaming it, throwing their picket signs high with enough force to nearly dislodge them from their fingertips. The gates opened and it looked like the traitorous newsies were up to their old antics again. Al let out sigh that turned her stomach as the the carriage flew past them, nearly trampling half the boys. They reassembled, but started shoving one another. They were anxious and antsy, trying to figure out how to stop these guys without resorting to violence.

"Remembah, boys, no soakin' 'em!" she yelled as a reminder. It didn't make an impact. David rushed forward, trying to get some of them to stop, but it kept spreading. The infighting was growing worse. He grabbed Racetrack by the shoulders after a few seconds, when he saw that no one was listening.

"Race, please help me!" he yelled over the din, looking panicked. His nerves were clearly frayed. Racetrack knocked his hands off and glared.

"Alright, I ain't deaf!" he yelled back.

Al joined them in getting the boys to calm down and she was glad to see Spot join the effort. As they calmed, though, she noticed the way he suddenly stiffened. She wondered why.

"Race, come here. You too, Al." He was still stiff and she found herself placing a hand on his shoulder as if it would comfort him. Not that she had any comfort to give. He didn't relax, but he didn't shrug her off either.

"What?" Racetrack asked. David came up alongside Al, trying to find out what was going on, just as she was.

"Tell me I'm seein' things. Just tell me I'm seein' things."

Al took her hand off his shoulder, trying to see around the shoulders of the bulls that were now surrounding the gates. Even if the newsies had wanted to start a fight today, they wouldn't have gotten far. The World was prepared today. Why was that?

"No, you ain't seein' things," Racetrack responded, sounding all too bewildered. "That's Jack. What's he doin'?"

She caught sight of her brother seconds after her friend's claim. He was dressed in the fanciest clothes Al had ever seen him don. The gray suit favored him and he looked nice, all the way from his black cap down to his shiny new shoes. Weasel was holding his arm, but it was the fact that Jack was holding a stack of newspapers that made Al lose the ability to speak. His face was a mask of indifference and she couldn't tell what emotion that mask was hiding.

"But he's dressed like a scabbah," Mush said from behind them. By now Jack had caught the attention of the entire crowd. He pushed forward to a gap between two bulls, sounding nearly frantic. "Jack? Look at me, will ya? Come on, it's me, Mush! Look at me! What're you doin', Jack!"

It was Kid Blink's turn to react. He pushed past his best friend, angrier than Al thought she had ever seen him. "This ain't happenin'! What're you doin', Jack! Come on!"

He was pushed back into the crowd and little Boots reacted in turn. "Hey, what is this? Where'd you get them clothes?"

"Mr. Pulitzer picked them out hisself. A special gift to a special new employee," Weasel responded, confirming Al's worst fears. She threw a hand over her mouth, both out of shock and out of the fear she would throw up right then and there.

"Look at 'im in in his little suit!" Racetrack growled dangerously. It was rare for her to see him like this and it scared even her. "Ya bum! I'll soak ya! Ya fake!"

"No, no, no. Let me get my hands doity," Spot's Irish temper finally erupted as he pushed past Racetrack and jumped between the guards, nearly hurdling over them in his angry attempt to get at Jack. Mush, Kid Blink, and Racetrack jumped forward and had to pull him off of the bulls and back into the crowd before he hurt himself or got dragged off to the Refuge himself. Still, he could be heard raging, "I'll murder ya!"

David paced in front of the bulls, trying to catch Jacks' eye, but he was unsuccessful.

"Oh, you wanna talk to 'im," Weasel said in faux realization. He waved David forward. "Sure. Come on."

The bulls parted partially to let him in. He turned around and grabbed Al by the hand, pulling her out of her dazed stupor and out of the crowd toward Jack. The police tried to keep her from coming through, but she yanked off her cap, letting her hair spill out around her face. She then fitted the cap back over her head.

"I'm his sistah," was all she had to say and they didn't question her. They let her through with David.

As they stepped through, still hand in hand, Weasel narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well if it ain't little Melissa Sullivan," he sneered. "Go on ahead."

"Nice nose, Weasel," she retorted, sneering smugly at the crooked cartilage that she was responsible for. He glowered.

David let go of her hand as they both faced Jack, waiting for him to speak, to say something that would make them understand. Surely they just didn't have all the facts. Surely Jack hadn't actually sold them out.

Jack gave Weasel a disgusted glance and stepped further away from his listening ears. David and Al followed.

It was David who broke the silence. "So this is why you didn't escape last night."

"Yeah," Jack responded barely audible.

"You're a liar!" David seethed and at first, Al thought, Yeah, that's it! He's lying for some reason. This wasn't really why he left me. But he continued. "You lied about everything. You lied about your parents being in Santa Fe- 'cause they aren't. Al told me about them. You didn't even tell me your real name."

Jack's brow furrowed as he looked at Al, taken off-guard by the fact that she had told David about their past. She looked away. She couldn't even bear to look at his face right now. Her mouth felt dry. She didn't have anything to say to him.

"So?" Jack finally responded. "What d'you wanna do about it, Dave?"

"I don't understand you, Jack," David was wearing that same look of betrayal he had carried at the courthouse. "Do you know what state she was in when you went back last night? I had to carry her back. Carry her! I don't think she was even lucid until this morning."

Something flickered across Jack's face before it settled back into that stony poker face of his. He tried to touch her cheek, but she took a step back, leaving his hand empty and cold. She searched his eyes now, wanting to understand, begging for answers.

"I did this for us."

It didn't feel like an explanation. It felt like a slap to the face.

"You left me," she answered through clenched teeth; the first words she had spoken to him since last night.

She started to turn away. She couldn't handle this conversation right now. No, it was too much. She couldn't do this.

Jack grabbed her arm and spun her back around.

"You don't understand, Davy?" Jack asked. "Let me spell it out for ya. Ya see, we ain't nevah had anyone tuckin' us in at night- like you. It's just us. We gotta look out for each othah, alright?"

Al yanked her arm out of her brother's grip. "That ain't no excuse," she growled.

"You had the newsies!" David retorted. Al didn't miss the fact that he spoke in past tense.

"Aw, what'd bein a newsie ever get me but a dime a day an' a few black eyes?"

"It gave us a family," Al responded. He ignored her.

"I can't afford to be a kid no more, Dave. For the first time in my life, I've got money in my pockets. Real money! Money. You understand? I got more on the way an' as soon as I collect, I'm gone, I'm away, alright?"

"Well I hope you're fine with going by yourself, then. 'Cause I don't even know who you are anymore an' I sure as hell ain't goin' anywhere with you." Al started to walk away again, and, as expected was caught by the arm again. She started to wrestle her appendage out of her brother's grip, only to realize he was putting something in her hand.

He let go and she stopped long enough to see that he'd placed half a dozen quarters on her palm. She turned back around and let them fall to the cobblestone with a series of clinks. She walked into the crowd and straight to Racetrack's open arms. She gave him a brief hug before taking up her station beside him, glaring at her traitorous brother as he finished talking to David. Weasel had picked up the coins and handed them back to Jack with a clearly amused grin.

Where Al had once felt pain, she now felt numb. She watched as David was dragged away from Jack after trying to go at him. The bulls escorted Jack away with Weasel.

The newsies dispersed for the day not long afterward. Al reminded them to show up tomorrow. "This is not over!" she had told them. But today they would accept their defeat. Les went on about his theory that Jack was a spy, but no one had the heart to listen to him, yet neither would they shatter his hope.

Racetrack and Spot said they were gonna go get a drink while Al, David, and Les headed back to the Lodge together to make sure the boys were under control. Spot clapped Al on the shoulder, looking more than a little sorrowful.

"I wish I had been seein' things."