Author's Note: So, about that promise for posting the rest of the story in August...yeah. Sorry about that. Here is the rest of Part 2. I'm not sure if I'm going to publish Part 3 or not. I'll wait to see about the reception of the end of this part. You guys might not want to hear anymore after this, haha. Thank you to all my faithful readers. I've got more stories in the works, so I hope I don't disappoint!
David walked into Brooklyn and marched across the docks under the glares of the Brooklyn newsies. He found Charlotte and Spot easily enough.
"Well look what the cat dragged in," said Spot, giving him a hard stare as he approached. He sat on a crate with his arm around Charlotte.
"I'm not here to cause trouble," said David, putting his hands up.
"You better not be."
David looked at Charlotte. "Charlotte, come home."
"I don't have a home anymore," she said.
"You can stay with us," said David. "I'll bunk with Les so you and Sarah can have your own room."
"There's nothing left for me in Manhattan," said Charlotte.
"What about the Women's Medical School?" asked David.
Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Who's going to pay for me to go? I have no more family, David. My mom came here from the old country, and my dad's only sibling was Uncle Ben."
"So that's it?" David raised his voice. "You're just going to throw away your whole life for a boy who is, at best, keeping you around until the next girl comes around?"
"He loves me, David."
"No, he doesn't. If he loved you, he'd want you in a real home, not living on the street. If he loved you, he'd want you in school, so you could finish and join the nurses school, like you always wanted. He doesn't love you. He loves himself."
"Go away," Charlotte said, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. Even from a distance, David could tell his words hit right where he'd been aiming.
David said nothing, just walked away. As Charlotte watched him walk away, she knew he was right, but she didn't care. There was only one person would made her feel safe and that everything was going to be okay, and he was sitting next to her.
"He's right," said Spot. Charlotte looked up at him. "You belong with a family. All of these boys would kill to have their own families again. And I don't want you to have to give up your dream of becoming a nurse. But…it's up to you."
Charlotte sighed and leaned against him. "I just need some time…away."
Spot nodded. "I can arrange that."
"I give up," David said as he threw up his hands and sat down at Tibby's. "I'm done caring."
"What happened?" Jack asked.
"Charlotte has decided that instead of staying around and dealing with her problems, she's going to run off to Brooklyn and stay with Spot."
That particular phrase got the attention of Adelaide, who'd been sitting a couple tables behind Jack and Sarah in Tibby's. She turned her head ever so slightly so as to better hear the conversation behind her, but not so much as to look like she was eavesdropping.
"What?" Sarah asked. "Where is she going to stay?"
"I don't know. Probably in whatever hole in the Spot Conlon rules from."
"Are you going to go get her?" Sarah asked.
"No," David said with the tone of a man who was utterly defeated in all ways. "She won't listen to me. She is too blinded by Spot to see any form of reason. She doesn't even realize that she is throwing her life away for this boy. She won't finish school, so she won't be able to go to nursing school. The best she can hope for with that guy is Queen of the Guttersnipes."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jack said, as a guttersnipe himself.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I just…" David sighed. "She deserves so much more."
"It sounds like she made her choice," Jack said.
"I hope she's happy with it, because this isn't one she can bounce back from. And I'm done trying to help her."
"David, if there's one thing I've learned about you, is that when it comes to caring about things – people especially, you're all or nothing," said Sarah. "You can rant all you want about being done with her, but if she walked through that door right now and begged for your help, you would move Heaven and Earth to make things right for her."
"I should have him arrested," David grumbled.
"On what grounds?" Sarah laughed, as if it was the most ridiculous notion in the world.
David said nothing.
The group went silent, so Adelaide's attention turned back to Skittery, sitting patiently across from her.
"You done?" he smirked.
"You can't tell me that wasn't interesting."
Skittery shrugged. "Maybe if you have a vested interest in the life of Spot Conlon."
"Maybe I do."
Skittery looked over Adelaide's shoulder and watched David, Sarah, and Jack walk out of the restaurant.
"He's stubborn, but he's loyal," said Adelaide. "That's why he's never going to give up on her."
Skittery raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you don't think so?"
"I know so," Adelaide grinned. "David either cares deeply or not at all. No matter what he says or thinks, if Charlotte ran back to him right now, he would take her back in a heartbeat."
"Care to make it interesting?" he smirked.
Adelaide pointed at him. "You've been spending too much time around Race."
"That boy has been dropped by her too many times. Everyone has their limits."
Adelaide watched him for a beat. "Do you?"
Skittery rolled his eyes. "We're different. They barely courted. We…" he gestured between them, "We've been through hell and back. It's different."
Adelaide grinned and took his hand from across the table. Skittery ran his thumb across her knuckles.
"So I guess you're heading to Brooklyn?" Skittery asked.
Adelaide tilted her head and furrowed her brow.
Skittery rolled his eyes. "Something happens with Spot Conlon and you're not gonna rush over there?"
Adelaide shook her head. "Nope. Some things are more important." She grinned. "Like having lunch with you."
Skittery winked at her as their food arrived.
