Spot and I staggered up a steep slippery street, the icy cobblestones making walking a bother. Spot wasn't much help, clutching his injured arm with the other, yet trying to support his weight as much as he could with his cane. Cursing a blue streak as I slipped and skidded on some black ice, I plodded on determined to get him home.

"Tá mé chomh dúr" I heard Spot hiss under his breath when he stepped down off of a sidewalk and the movement jostled his arm. I hadn't ever really heard him speak Gaelic so I was intrigued.

"What did you just say?"Spot cast me an amused look veiled with pain and a corner of his mouth turned up.

"I said I'm so stupid,"he managed, his voice wry. I barked out a laugh even though I really wasn't finding any of this funny. When the lodging house came into sight I could have wept with joy. Letting out a shout, I was relieved when boys began piling out of the building.

Handing Spot over, I brushed off all the curious questions and sternly directed them to bring him up to his room. Letting the warmth wash over me, I found myself faced by a very concerned group of girls, including Duck, Bookworm, Sprite, and Emotions.

"He just got shot in the arm, it probably will be fine," I hastened to explain what had happened, noticing that Actions was hovering around the edge of the circle. Bookworm and Duck bustled into the kitchen where I heard them set the kettle on and Sprite went off to see if she could find any clean rags.

The only thing that worried me, as I sagged against a wall was the risk of infection setting in. That in this time, would kill him for sure. I thought fleetingly of using the mirror and going back to my time to get some antibiotics but I wasn't sure if I'd be allowed to come back.

Emotions leaned up against the wall with me and handed me a cigarette that she lit for me. I think I inhaled it in a minute flat and started to head up the stairs when I felt a hand on my arm holding me back. Turning, I saw Emotions looking at me gravely.

"You look like you're going to drop any second, Riot maybe you should rest." Numbly I shook my head and pushed a lock of sweat soaked hair out of my face and tripped up the stairs to rush to Spot's room.

Four of our largest boys held him down on his pallet, two holding his arms, and the other two holding his legs. Spot was straining, his eyes glassy as he furiously demanded to be let up.

"I ain't no sissy, you bastards let me up. It's just a gunshot there's no need for all this damn fuss." When Spot's eyes landed on me, his neck worked furiously as he tried to sit up.

"Spot knock it off, we have to clean it first," I told him, using my best nurse's voice. He snorted at me skeptically and I moved around one of the boy's holding his arm's and brushed his hair off of his forehead. His blue eyes were full of pain and indignation, as well as shame.

Leaning over so that nobody could see, I brushed my lips against his dry ones and whispered soothing words to him. Well, I hoped that they were helpful but when I straightened up, he looked a tad better. It was slightly amusing to me that the leader of Brooklyn was this uncomfortable about a gunshot wound. But then again I had never had one so who was I to judge?

"Tá mé ag dul go dtí Gortaítear tú gach" Spot rasped out as Duck

and Bookworm entered. Duck was carrying a basin full of steaming water, and she looked at Spot with an exasperated yet fond look.

"He only speaks Gaelic when he's upset, emotional, sick or being a nancy-boy," she huffed. Bookworm put a small brown glass bottle next to the basin that Duck had set down onto Spot's desk. Spot craned his head to look over and made a face when he saw the bottle. One of Spot's boys held a whisky bottle to his mouth and Spot drank deeply. When he lay his head back down onto his thin pillow, he seemed more relaxed.

"What's all the fuss about, we're just going to put something on it and wrap it up, right?" Bookworm shook her head at my naivety and Duck gave me a mere shake of her head. Rolling up the sleeves of her gray blouse, she proceeded to relieve Spot of his shirt and we all made faces at the bleeding, gaping hole in his upper arm.

"No we either need to sew it shut or cauterize it." I swallowed a lump in my throat and didn't meet anyone's eyes.

Burning the flesh closed would provide some cover from bacteria but it was very risky. Duck peered over the injury, prodding with a finger her mouth pursed into a line. Spot made noises everytime she got near the wound and she finally whacked him upside the head.

"Looks like we'll just sew it up for now. Bookworm, go grab me some thread and the thinnest needle you can find." Lifting Spot's head, she held the whisky bottle to his lips and he drank more, some of the amber liquid spilling out of his mouth and sliding down his chin. I almost blurted out that alcohol would thin his blood and cause him to bleed more, but I bit my tongue.

Bookworm soon returned, followed by a trail of curious newsies but she shut the door firmly behind her. Duck was busy wiping Spot's arm with the hot water, cleaning it off as best as she could. Finally, she deemed him ready and threading the needle, she took a deep breath.

"Can't be any worse then sewing through leather right?" Casting a wan smile in my direction, she began. Spot swore fluently and didn't hold back, speaking in a few languages I was astonished that he knew. But then again it was probably phrases he picked up from the streets.

It was over before I knew it, and I stood with my hands clasped tightly in the middle of my stomach. The boys had cleared out of the room, and Duck finished the last stitch, biting the thread with her teeth. Spot jerked a little bit, but lay still his face pale. Bookworm patted his head, and the two girls left after gathering their supplies. Duck nodded towards the brown bottle and a pile of what I hoped were clean rags. Sighing inwardly, I gingerly sat on the edge of Spot's bed.

He looked over at me, his lips and jaw tight with tension. I hummed something tunelessly and taking up the bottle, opened it and sniffed. It was some form of iodine and shrugging, I dripped some onto my fingers and liberally spread it over the newly stitched wounds on the front and back of his arm.

Spot twitched and glared at me, but I just began winding bandages around his arm until it was covered. Then we sat in his dark room, a gas lamp the only light. Watching the flickering shadows, I felt Spot shift in the bed so that he was lying on his uninjured side, facing me. His eyes glittered in the dancing light and I felt his hand slid up my back. I didn't look at him, just turned my face away so that a curtain of my hair hid my expression.

Inside I was panicking because I wasn't sure what to do next. I could go home if I wished, and gripping the key around my neck I felt tears begin to prick the corners of my eyes.

"Hey why the tears? Everything is okay now, Spook and Cinder are in Harlem, Jinx is probably halfway to New Jersey by now and I doubt he's coming back." I sniffed and wiped my nose onto my sleeve. Spot sat up and pulled me against his chest, still bare from his arm being worked on. I relished the solid warmth of him before pulling away.

"I think it's time to find my sister," I heard myself saying. I didn't know why I was distancing myself but part of it had to do with not knowing if I was going to be magically whisked away and brought back to modern day New York.

Spot didn't say anything, just continued to hold me, and I felt his breath tickle the hair on the nape of my neck, as he pushed it aside to kiss me in that exact place. Shivering, I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest, rubbing them as if I was freezing. Really I wasn't, I was just freaked out by knowing that I had to make a serious decision soon.

"If you really want to go find her, then go ahead. I'm not going to keep you from family." Spot's voice was flat and harsh and when I looked over at him, he had moved so that his back was facing me. Frowning and cracking my knuckles like I always did when I was stressed, I left his room and fell into my bed in the girl's room.

The next morning I checked on Spot, and was a little upset to discover that he he was flushed and warm to the touch. I changed his bandages and he just opened his eyes and pierced me to the core. I hurried and made my way down to the basement as unobtrusively as I possibly could.

The mirror stood there as large and imposing as it had been before. Raising a hesitant hand, I lightly brushed the gilded frame and jerked my hand back when I felt something warm and tingly wash over me.

Taking out the key, tears dripping freely down my face, I whispered an apology to Spot and was about to insert the key when I heard someone call my name. Whipping around, I shoved the key back into my blouse and was startled to see Spot coming down the narrow staircase,

"Listen," he said pausing before me, his face serious. Grasping my hands in his, he winced slightly but continued.

"I know you want to find your sister and be a family again, but don't forget the family you have now, here. We want you stay Riot, all of us." I swallowed, a painful feeling as I had quite a lump in my throat. Spot swayed slightly and I steadied him as worry washed over me.

"Well everyone could cope here before I came, and everyone will cope when I leave."

"I won't." Spot's frank statement made my mouth drop open a little and I looked up at him wide eyed.

"You've changed me...not completely," Spot said with a smirk but he drew me closer and wrapped his arms around me so that my nose was pressed into the hollow in-between his collar bone and neck. I inhaled his scent and realized like a lightening bolt to the head that THIS was home to me now. Ghost Spot be damned, I was staying.

"You need to go back to bed and rest," I chided Spot gently.

"Make me," he said as his eyes lit up with a devilish light. Laughing I took his hand and we went back to his room. Later on, as I lay next to him, the shadows lengthening in the room once again, I was in a state of half-sleep when I heard a loud snort and felt an icy chill course through me. Looking up, I let out a strangled gasp that was almost a shriek, but Spot didn't waken.

Ghost Spot floated above me, his legs crossed, a huge shit-eating grin on his translucent face. Pushing myself up onto my elbows, I looked at him with a wild, desperate feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I'm not going with you, you can't take me back," I grated out, shrinking back slightly as Ghost Spot leaned closer to me. His icy breath fanned over my face and I shuddered.

"You did what I asked, and for that I thank you. But I'm not here to take you back...well not forcibly anyways." Confused I made myself relax by taking a few deep breaths.

"So? What does that mean then?"

"It means my fair Lily that it's your choice. Do you wish to go back to the comforts of your modern home and times or will you stay here in poverty with these street rats?" Angered at his cold words, I squared my jaw.

"I won't go anywhere without him," I said pointing behind me to where Spot still slept. Duck had taken some laudanum from her family's house, just a little bit to take the edge off so he could sleep for a few days since he still had his minor fever. Ghost Spot raised his eyebrows at me and then held up his hands in mock surrender.

"You don't want to go home?" he asked me. Stubbornly I shook my head and he stood in mid-air and gave me a courtly bow.

"As you wish then, you shall remain here. You have fulfilled our agreement and I am very pleased with you. For that I thank you and owe you my undying...well...my dead gratitude. But now since our business is concluded I will leave you." And with that the strange specter disappeared.

My heart pounding, I snuggled close to Spot and squeezed my eyes shut tightly. Mumbling in his sleep, he drew me to him so that my head rested on his bare chest. Running a hand through my tangled hair, he tightened his grip.

"Cailín álainn, is tú mo chroí. tá grá agam duit." Brushing a kiss onto the top of my head, I wrapped my arms around him and inhaled his scent.

As I drifted off to sleep, I knew that I had made the right choice and that this was the home I belonged in. Even though I was practically a hundred years behind my time I had found love and friendship and that alone was enough to get me through this tough life I had chosen. I had made my choice, and I was happy. Drowsily I kissed Spot's chest and knew that I had come home.

Cailín álainn, is tú mo chroí. tá grá agam duit = beautiful girl you are my heart, I love you

Tá mé ag dul go dtí Gortaítear tú gach = I am going to hurt you all

A/N - Ok this story was based on an Adicts song that I love but only part of the song, mainly the end. I'm going to post it so anyone whose interested can read the lyrics. THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO READ THIS!! I hope you enjoyed it, although I'm not sure about the ending. I know I didn't get to responding to comments on the last two chaps but I REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciate all the kind words and support that you guys gave me. I will be writing another story shortly so get ready with your character profiles!!! A/N

"Going Home" by the Adicts

It's so late now

Where's that spark?

Help us out we're in the dark

Institute of correction

Point us in the right direction

I lost in a foreign land

Burning on the desert sand

We hitched a lift

On a camel train

Now we're heading for the rain

Wherever you go

We go a stray

Won't somebody show us the way

When the right road has been found

We will be homeward bound

Going home, we're going home, we're going home

Gotta go to home sweet home.....