Midnight couldn't come quickly enough.

That was all I could think as the hours seemed to crawl by. I'd wasted some time by watching the boys have boxing matches with one another but even that wasn't enough to fully distract me. Of course, Rose and Tear who were standing next to me noticed that I was a bit fidgety and asked me what was wrong. Unable to hold it in anymore, I dragged the two of them into the hallway and told them that Spot was taking me somewhere around midnight. They started squealing and gushing about how Spot was taking me on a date. I quickly protested that it wasn't a date but couldn't keep the smile off my face at the thought of it. The two girls immediately promised that they would stay up with me until midnight and even said they would help me look better for the date. Again I protested the idea but when those two set their minds to something there is no changing their course. The best I could do was make them promise not to tell any of the other girls to keep more rumors and stuff from spreading. Not that I didn't trust them, it's just that in a small Lodging House it wouldn't be hard for the boys to overhear something and then I'd be dealing with Jack or Break or someone asking me all sorts of questions. Or worse, preventing me from going.

Rose and Tear managed to keep me distracted for most of the night until it was time for my "date" with Spot. They wanted to give me a makeover before it but I firmly refused. They kept nagging, however, and eventually we settled on letting them darken my lashes and do my hair and that was it. They combed my hair after taking it out of the usual braid, turning it into soft waves. Rose even brought out a tiny bottle of perfume that Medda had given her as a present and dabbed a small amount on me despite my protests.

Once they deemed me ready we basically sat around in the empty room across from the girls' bunkroom, staring at the clock. We didn't want to keep the other girls up while waiting for it to turn midnight and in the empty room we were able to debate where Spot was taking me. After the minutes managed to crawl by, it was finally time for me to meet up with Spot. Tear and Rose wished me luck and giggled as I walked out the door, causing me to roll my eyes at them.

I carefully walked down the stairs and looked around for some sign of Spot but he wasn't there so I figured he must be waiting outside. I quickly ran down the rest of the steps and came to a stop in front of the door, pausing for a moment to catch my breath. I self-consciously smoothed down my hair even though I didn't have a mirror and straightened up. Taking a deep breath, I slowly pushed the front door open and stepped out onto the top step. Instinctively I looked around and Spot's figure caught my eye, leaning against the brick wall only a few feet from the door. He looked up at me expectantly and I could tell that he'd slicked his hair back nicely for this. Suddenly I was extremely grateful for letting Tear and Rose talk me into doing my hair for this date.

"You came," Spot said, sounding like he'd half-expected me to not show up.

"Of course!" I replied, trying not to betray how nervous I was also.

Spot tried to regain his composure and looked me up and down.

"Your hair looks great. And so does the rest of you of course," Spot said quickly, looking a bit flustered still.

I'd never seen the King of Brooklyn look so caught off guard and the sight made me smile.

"Thanks," I replied shyly, "You look great too,"

Spot smiled broadly and gestured with his hand down the street.

"Shall we get going then?" he said, imitating our hoity-toity act from earlier today.

"Of course," I replied, although I was so anxious I could feel my heart racing.

Here goes nothing.

/

At the Black King HQ

Slick slipped into the room quietly, closing the door just slightly in case he needed to get away quickly. Night's temper had gotten increasingly worse over the past week and from what Slick had heard Actor hadn't been the only one on the receiving end of one of Night's tirades.

Night was sitting at his desk once again, reading over the notes he had received from all of his birdies over the course of the day. Slick knew that at least half of those were fake but of course he would never tell Night that. Still, judging by the furrow of Night's brow and the confusion on his face it was clear that Night could tell that something was wrong with the notes. Slick made a mental note to tell the other "traitors" still in the Black Kings that they needed to be more consistent and careful with the information they were sending back.

Slick stood there with his usual straight posture, waiting for Night to finish reading everything. Night, of course, took his sweet time finishing up, Slick noted with some annoyance.

Finally, Night put down the last note and looked up at Slick. Slick could see how much of a toll this war was taking on Night by the bags under his eyes but Slick felt no pity for him.

"Any news?" Night asked.

"Not much. Holler has popped up a couple of times around Manhattan but always in broad daylight and always surrounded by Newsies," Slick recited.

Slick could see Night tense up at the sound of Holler's name but didn't say anything so Slick took that as a sign to continue.

"Other than that it's been pretty quiet. Only a few fights here and there, mostly with some of those Street Fish. What I've been hearing mostly is that the Newsies and Street Fish keep meeting. Apparently they're planning something big," Slick said.

Night stayed silent for a few seconds to absorb the information before continuing the conversation.

"And you still haven't heard anything from Actor yet?" Night questioned.

"Nothing," Slick lied smoothly, remembering how he'd disposed of the note from her when she thought it was going straight to Night.

"Hmmm," was all Night said in reply, looking down at the notes scattered over his desk.

Night fell silent and continued to look over the notes again and again while Slick just stood there. Slick felt a bead of sweat slide down the back of his neck as a small ball of fear began growing inside of him. Had Night found out about his deception? Why wasn't Night doing or saying anything?

After a pause that was far too long in Slick's opinion, Night finally spoke again.

"Send Executioner in here. He should be outside in the hallway right now," Night said calmly, dismissing Slick without looking up.

Slick nodded his head as a reflex before turning and walking out of the room, trying not to do it too quickly. True to Night's word, when Slick opened up the door he saw Executioner casually leaning up against the wall directly across from the room, playing with his switchblade. Although Executioner didn't stand out in height or build or even facial features, he had an unquestionable reputation in the gang as the guy who disposed of or dealt with anyone who stepped out of line. Traitors and deserters were somewhat of a specialty of his.

"Night wants to see you now," Slick stated.

Without even glancing at him, Executioner straightened up and dropped his switchblade back into his pocket before striding past Slick into the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Slick let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding before turning and practically jogging away down the hallway. Executioner had always given him the creeps and although he was fairly confident that his secret was safe, he couldn't help but worry that Night was in there putting a hit on his head right now. Slick wanted to stay and listen but he knew from years of experience that unless Night was yelling at the top of his lungs, that room was basically soundproof.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder what poor soul was about to face the wrath of the Executioner.

/

Executioner stood by the door, listening intently for the sound of Slick's footsteps as the guy walked away. He took note of how fast Slick was walking and smiled slightly with satisfaction knowing that he still caused terror even among the veteran gang members. Once he was certain Slick had left he turned to face Night and took a few more steps into the room. Night had been studying the notes on his desk still but looked up at the sound of Executioner's footsteps.

"You called?" Executioner asked casually, feeling a twinge of excitement thinking about what Night was going to have him do.

"I have a problem that needs to be taken care of. Nothing too serious, I just need you to cause a little chaos and teach someone a lesson. I want this to send a message," Night explained seriously.

"Just tell me what to do," Executioner replied with a knowing grin.

/

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked Spot as we walked through the dark streets of Manhattan.

"It's a secret," Spot replied with a small smirk.

I sighed and rolled my eyes but I was very curious to see where we were going. I could tell we were heading in the direction of the bridge but I didn't think that Spot would be taking me all the way to Brooklyn for something.

We fell into silence for most of the trip although I wasn't very surprised. It was much better to not talk when the streets were so quiet to avoid attracting attention. Apparently that was a lesson both Black Kings and Newsies learned. Even if we had been able to talk I'm not entirely sure what I would've said. I was nervous and I could feel my cheeks heating up even without saying or doing anything.

After a while we finally turned onto an all-too-familiar place: the Manhattan docks. I stopped short in surprise when I saw them; I'd been so nervous about this date with Spot that I hadn't been really paying attention to where we'd been walking towards. Immediately I flashed back to the times I'd met up with Night and Holler on these docks and I felt a wave of guilt wash over me. Night… I should be working for him right now. Instead I was on a date. And Holler. Seeing the docks also brought back the anger I still had over Holler turning traitor.

"You ok?" Spot asked, his voice betraying some apprehension.

I finally snapped out of my thoughts and forced a smile on my face despite the conflicting emotions inside.

"Yeah! I'm just surprised, that's all," I replied quickly.

"Well the real surprise hasn't even happened yet," Spot said, grinning.

He made a movement as if to take my hand but quickly pulled back.

"Come on," he said casually, trying to cover up his previous action.

He turned and started walking down past the docks. I followed, feeling a bit of disappointment that he hadn't grabbed my hand. As we walked past the docks, I couldn't suppress my old habit and counted them off one by one in my head. When we reached the 20th dock, Spot turned to walk down it. I shot a guilty glance at the 21st dock to our left, where Night used to always have his meetings. I wished we weren't so close to it but I said nothing and just continued to follow Spot. When he reached the very end he found two crates and pulled them over so that they were right next to one another.

"Come sit down," he said, gesturing towards the crates.

I walked over and sat down on the right one, looking out over the river. The water looked black and barely reflected the few lights that shown on its glassy surface that occasionally rippled with a rogue wave here and there. I'd almost forgotten how peaceful the water could be when it wasn't being constantly churned up by boats during the day. Even noisy, abrasive Brooklyn had finally quieted down for the night.

"Actor," Spot said suddenly, grabbing my attention, "Look over there"

I followed where he was pointing towards and made out a dark shape on the river, moving silently. It was rather big so I guessed that it was a supplies ship but it only had lights on in the very front and very back.

I was about to ask Spot what was so special about the boat when suddenly a light turned on in one of the windows. Then two more. And then four more. More lights sprang up all around the boat until it shown like the sun, even lighting up the pitch-black water surrounding it. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and just stared at it in surprise.

"It's a boat that carries supplies further up the river. I don't know what its name is but it comes once every week after midnight. I'm not sure when they started to do the light show but I always come out here to watch it ever since I saw it for the first time," Spot explained, gazing at the boat that was still flickering with dozens of lights.

"Wow…" I breathed, taking in the sight.

We stayed silent as it slid past quietly on the water, barely making a sound. I watched it as it traveled along and headed past the Brooklyn Bridge, even straining my neck to try and make out the faint afterglow of the lights on the mysterious ship after it disappeared out of sight.

"That was beautiful," I said faintly, still looking after the ship.

Spot didn't respond right away but I was too lost in my own thoughts about the shining boat to really notice.

"Actor," Spot said taking a deep breath.

"Yes?" I said, turning my attention back towards him.

"I know that when we first met, I was a bit of a jerk to you," Spot started to say.

I smiled at the memory, remembering how freaked out I had been to literally run into him in the Lodging House and how I thought he was the biggest jerk ever at first.

"I didn't trust you and I didn't know what to make of you," he continued, "I was suspicious and didn't think you were good for the Newsies. But as I got to know you I found out why you were so guarded. You had a tough life and you were right, you did what you had to in order to survive. I have no right to judge you for that,"

I looked at him in surprise. Where was this confession coming from?

"What I want to say is…" Spot said nervously, "I think you are a very strong girl. No matter what you have to deal with you find a way to survive. I really like that about you. And you care about others. You want them to be happy and to not hurt which was surprising for me. I know that sounds bad but just coming from your past and all I expected you not to care…"

Spot continued to ramble on but at some point I stopped listening. I was too fixated on how he looked and acted, nervous as hell yet so cute. Spot was twice the man that I'd ever known before. I couldn't remember a single guy that ever fought for me before or looked at me the way he did.

I decided in that moment to hell with everything and threw away my last shred of sense. I knew what I really wanted for once in my life. So I leaned over and kissed Spot on the lips, silencing his rambling. He tensed up in surprise at first but quickly melted into the kiss. He took control of it and gently cupped the back of my head with one hand, wrapping the other arm around my waist to pull me closer. I gladly obliged and grabbed the front of his shirt tightly, loving the way his arms embraced me. My heart was going so fast that I thought for sure I would die of happiness here on this dock.

Finally, we both broke the kiss, not because we wanted to but because we needed air. We sat there silently, our foreheads touching as we both tried to steady our breathing. I had just gotten my heart rate under control when Spot pulled back slightly to look at me seriously. I just looked back at him with curiosity, waiting for him to speak.

"Will you be my girl?" he asked abruptly.

His question caught me off guard and I took a moment to think it over. The idea sounded great but as much as I wanted it I couldn't deny the fact that I was still spying for Night and I don't think he would want me to get distracted by some romance on the side. Plus trying to have a relationship in the middle of a war didn't seem very appealing anyway.

"I…I don't think I can right now. Not with everything that's going on. But I do like you Spot. Really," I said, smiling softly.

Spot nodded his head, accepting my answer.

"I understand. Just promise me you won't fall for any other guy?" he asked, grabbing my hand and lacing our fingers together.

Spot's hands were much rougher than mine after years of selling and fighting but I kind of liked the way they felt. He was very gentle but I felt like he could protect me no matter what. I felt…safe.

"I promise," I said sincerely, giving his hand a small squeeze.

Spot smiled back at me and I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt this happy.

Maybe for once something could go right for me.

A/N HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! Well technically that isn't for about 22 more hours for me but I figured that I'd wish you guys it anyway. This is my last chapter of the year but I'm very excited about the chapters that are coming out next year (wow that sounds really weird…). Anyway hope you all have a great time no matter what you end up doing and thanks for all the support this past year! I couldn't have done it without you. Also, a shout out to Percyjacksonfangirl11, yes I did do well on my finals! Thanks for the confidence boost