Hello! I'm so excited to post this chapter! I'm glad to have so many people reviewing my stories!! Thank you guys so so much!

Alright so I've been getting a lot of Jatherine and Davey requests. In my other stories their harder to fit in and I will do my best to make sure that they're there but in this story I promise if you continue reading till the end you'll get your Katherine moments and your Davey moments. Also, make sure to tell me if you have any ideas for other stories that you might want to see. Thank you! And I love requests, keep em comin'!!

Fanz4life: You reviewed my other story and I just saw it a few minutes ago and you asked my who my favorite Newsies ship was. It's definitely Jatherine. I love how Katherine stands her ground in the relationship and Jack let's her because, in the long run, she's always gonna be right. They're perfect for each other. Thank you for asking! Keep the questions coming!

Guest reviewers: Do keep in mind it takes a few days for me to be able to read your reviews for some reason. But I promise once I see them I love to answer all questions and immediately take all requests into consideration and if I'm too late to answer you in one of my fics, I'll definitely answer you in another one! Thank you!

Enjoy!

It was eight PM. All three boys sat awake, around the apartment, in silence. Jack was sitting at the single, small, round table with the single chair. In his right hand, he held a small pencil that had clearly been broken in half if the ridged end and missing eraser had anything to say about it. Every few minutes he'd glance up at the couch, watching his brothers for a minute, and then his eyes would slowly return to the old sketch book on the table.

Race sat upright on the far right of the couch. With one hand, he played with his little brother's hair and with the other he tapped anxiously on the arm of the couch. There was a take out bag at his feet, crumbled up, empty. He kicked at it, bored and was ready at any moment to kick it under the couch as quickly as he could. On his left, Crutchie was laying with his head on Race's hip. The older boy had his elbow resting on Crutchie's shoulder while his hand combed through the fourteen year olds soft, blond hair. The younger boy laid on his back, a book in his hands that rested against his knees. On the coffee table that sat in front of the couch were a box of tissues that Crutchie would grab at every few minutes and wipe at his nose with before disposing them in the empty bag that his older brother kicked at.

Jack knew what was coming. He tried to think of anyway out of it. To stop the inevitable, but found he couldn't. So he just sat there while he could. Enjoying the peaceful moment while he could. And then it was suddenly broken. The door swung open and Race immediately kicked the take out bag under the couch and out of sight. Jack closed his sketch book and slid it underneath the cushion of the chair he'd previously occupied before rising up and moving to his two little brothers. He slipped the broken pencil into his pocket and grabbed Crutchie's book from him, shoving it into a drawer of the coffee table almost silently. Neither boy on that couch flinched, as if they'd done this one hundred times. Then Jack sat on the left arm of the couch waiting for what was to come. But what he wasn't expecting, what none of them were expecting, was for two pairs of footsteps to enter the room.

"Beer?" One voice asked. The old man from earlier.

"What do ya think?" The other answered. His voice was not as rough as the first. It had a higher pitch to it and held a certain level of sarcasm. Jack sighed.

"Weasel." He muttered under his breath. He closed his eyes and tried his best to keep himself calm. If not for his own sake, for the sake of his brothers.

"Well what do we have here?" The second man, Weasel, asked when his eyes landed on the three boys on the couch. He rounded to the front of them and laughed at the way they were huddled on the couch together.

"Oh that reminds me." The old man's gruff voice spoke and Jack saw Crutchie grab Race's hand that had been running through his hair. Jack stood carefully, silently and then sat down on the couch, in front of Crutchie's torso. The foster father came back into the room and set down two beer bottles on the coffee table and turned to the boys. "This one," He pointed to Race. "Was talking back to me this morning." He said.

Weasel glared at the poor boy who didn't look up to meet their eyes. "Well, looks like these boys need to be taught a lesson." The man looked around for a moment, before whispering to the other. "Ya want me ta fill up the tub?"

Jack scooted closer to Race and put an arm out in front of him. He knew what was about to happen and he couldn't quite contain his panic. But the foster father smirked and nodded, letting Weasel walk to the bathroom, where water was turned on and had begun to run.

Race's eyes widened. He looked up and his eyes locked with Jack's. He saw no less fear in the other boy's eyes than he felt surging through his thin body. "No." Jack's voice was breathless and terrified. "Please no. Take me instead. Do whatever ya want but leave him alone." Jack looked up at the man, ignoring his little brother's small pleas to stop it. Jack saw the man's smirk turn into a laugh and he felt a fire burn inside him.

"You are somethin', Kelly." He laughed. "But your brother is the one that needs to learn to keep his stupid mouth shut." He explained before stepping closer to the three of them and making a grab for Race. But Jack stood up fast and challenged the man, their faces inches apart. The man's anger grew by the second. "You really want some of this, boy?" He spat, glancing over for only a second as his friend returned to the room.

Jack was so angry he could've been sick. "I don't care what ya do ta me, Spider." Jack shot back, bitting the last word like it was a poison. "But if you hurt my brothers, I don't care what it takes, I will destroy you." Jack's face was shifted into anger as he spoke to the man he hated so much.

Crutchie and Race sat on the couch in terrified silence. Race held Crutchie so close to him as he watched the scene unfolding in front of them. Crutchie had sat up when Jack got closer to the man and Race had to hold him back by wrapping his arms around the boy's waist and keep him from doing something stupid. All they could do was watch as the man sneered at Jack.

"You think that you'll be able to take them in when you turn eighteen?" The man barked a laugh and shook his head. "The system might consider it. But if their guardian of four years goes in and says that you can't handle that, who do you think they'll listen to, huh?" He roughly hit Jack's chest with both his hands, forcing the boy to take a step back.

Jack's face quickly turned from one of intense anger to one of a scared, shocked boy who didn't quite know what to do. His eyes widened and he forced himself not to glance back at the two boys that were his reason to live. "You wouldn't." It wasn't a statement. It was more of a plea. His voice shook a little and he felt his hatred for this man grow as he laughed at Jack's floundering.

"If there's one thing you should know by now, Jack," The man clipped off the name like it was nothing. "It's that if you cross me, I will take everything you care about, everything you love, and crush it." He smirked again as Jack didn't have a comeback. Then he nodded to the boys on the couch. "Now move." He ordered, gruffly.

Jack's face returned to its defiance and he pushed the man back, the same way the man had before. "No." He breathed, dangerously.

"Jack-"

Jack put up his hand, signaling Race to stop. He hated the way the boy sounded so damn scared. Scared that this man would actually ruin their future and sabotage their family. "You can say anythin' ya want ta any judge in the world but it doesn't matter how hard I have ta fight, how far I have ta run I will get my brothers. Ya can't keep 'em from me, Snyder. I will always find them." Jack spat at him, furious. "No matter what you do, you will lose. And I will always be the one standing here, between you and my brothers." Jack's voice was, unexpected to him, confident.

Snyder's smirk faded and he became angry. "You made a mistake, Kelly." And then hell broke loose. The old man grabbed Jack by the collar and threw him to the ground making a lunge for the two boys on the couch. He wasn't expecting the boy to jump on his back and wrap an arm around his throat. He clawed at the kid's upper arm but found he was having trouble breathing.

Jack had him. He could've knocked him out and then he could've gotten his brothers out and away from this awful place. Away from everything. But he forgot. Forgot about the other man. Weasel. Jack heard Crutchie scream and looked up before he felt a hand on the back of his neck. He felt it squeeze and he suddenly felt his strength giving way. He was pulled from the man and thrown to the ground, luckily landing on his feet before he saw the Spider in front of him and had no time to react before the man's fist made contact with his left eye.

Crutchie jumped when he heard Jack scream and it took Race holding him back for him to stay put. He watched as two men hovered over his brother, kicking him in the gut and in the head. He had to listen to his brother cry out in pain while his other brother held him still. Crutchie knew Race was trying to control the fact that he was shaking, holding back tears of anger and pure fear.

Once they were done with Jack, they advanced on the two younger kids. Snyder stepped to them first but Race quickly sat in front of his baby brother, shielding him for all of a second before Snyder socked him on the same cheek he had this morning, causing the already forming bruise to shoot pain through the boy's head. He fell to the ground holding the painful spot on his face before Snyder kicked him in the chest.

Weasel took over for Snyder, grabbing Race by his upper, left arm, and forcing him to his feet, ignoring Jack's cries, Jack's pleas for them to stop.

Snyder watched as Race was dragged to the bathroom, screaming for help. He wasn't able to bring his legs underneath him all the way, causing him to literally be dragged. The boy fought hard but was thrown into the small room and his two brothers could only hear his screams.

Snyder stood over the youngest boy. He sneered at the kid who was cowering away from him. He grabbed the boy's right leg and the small kid screamed as he twisted his already bum leg. He was dragged off the couch and he screamed. He begged for help. He called out for his brothers but no one came running. He felt kicks to his stomach, his chest, his head, his arms and his leg was being thrown every which way. All he could do was scream. "Jack!" He cried. "Race!"

"Crutchie!" Jack screamed from his pathetic position on the ground, against the wall as he desperately tried to stand, to run to his brother's side, but was unable. He held himself around his burning, aching torso and was forced to listen to the screams. His eyes became heavy and suddenly he was somewhere else. Outside somewhere where there were cop cars and an ambulance. There was a woman, on a stretcher inside , but she wasn't hooked up to machines of any kind and the paramedics were sadly shaking their heads.

Jack heard Race's screams become younger and he looked another way to see a young boy with the brightest, teary, blue eyes and curly blond hair being shoved into a police car. He watched as the car pulled away and his heart ached as the boy turned in the seat and started pounding on the back window, screaming for help. Then Crutchie's screams became sobs and he looked around one more time to see a small boy with a crutch under his arm, being lifted up and dragged away from him. He was calling out for someone to stop this.

This was wrong. Jack knew it. It was wrong. Three little boys. All they had was each other. All they knew was each other. They weren't ready to be thrown into a cruel world, alone and unprotected. But all Jack could hear were screams as his world went black.

Race fought and he fought hard. The poor kid was forced to his knees in the middle of the bathroom the man's arms were around him, making it nearly impossible to stand up. He screamed for someone to help him but Weasel grabbed his hands and some duck tape from under the bathroom sink and, once his hands were behind his back, Race was powerless to stop it. He hated to admit that, as strong as he was and as hard as he fought, these guys were stronger than him. As he cried for help, Weasel put a hand over his mouth and laughed as he tried to struggle out of the grip.

Race's first instinct was to bite the man. But he knew in the long run, it would only make things worse. So he settled for trying to struggle his hands out of the tape. Sadly, he knew he was stuck when Snyder walked in and all he heard from the other room was silence. His innocent blue eyes looked up at his hated guardian and the man laughed when he saw that Racetrack was past terrified.

Race tried to hide it but found even he couldn't convince himself that he wasn't petrified in the moment when his brothers were silent and he was stuck in a room with two mad men, a tub full of water and no way to get out.

He struggled hard when Snyder forced him to face the tub. Weasel's hand was no longer over his face, so he screamed. For anyone. He just wanted anyone to come running. But Snyder quickly quieted him by shoving his head into the ice cold water.

Crutchie heard the muffled screams. It lasted for about a minute before he heard the coughs and gasps of air for a few seconds. Then it started all over again. He heard Snyder laughing and Weasel egging him on. He felt the bile rising in his throat as these men took pleasure from this torture. He tried to cry out for his brother. Either of them, but found himself too weak. His bones ached from being sick and being beaten, so Crutchie finally gave up and let the darkness take him, hoping he'd wake up to the arms of the only two people he cared about.

Race was sure he would drown. He was sure he'd never see his brothers again. He'd never get to turn eighteen, or leave the system or be with Jack and Crutchie and be happy. His life was gonna end right there. He stopped screaming when he started seeing black spots. He almost let it happen, if not for the pull on his neck that allowed him oxygen.

He sputtered, coughing like crazy, hunched over on himself, desperately trying to shield himself from being pushed under again. Race hated water. And there was a reason for it. But, once more, they grabbed him by the back of his shirt. He gasped and cried as they picked him up off the ground and threw his whole body into the freezing liquid. It was so cold, Race could hardly move. They held him down as he fought for the surface, even under water crying out for Jack. It was when Race's vision was almost completely black that they decided to pull him back up.

They let him collapse on the ground, gasping for needed air. They let him enjoy his ten seconds of glory before Snyder ripped off a strip of duck tape, smoothing it over the boy's mouth, causing him to go into a state of panic. Race kicked at the men but they caught him and dragged him by his ankles through the house. Down the short hallway was a closet. It wasn't a big one, but it did lock from the outside.

Race hadn't noticed that there were tears streaming down his face due to all the water that was there. But he saw his foster father open the door to the closet at the end of the hall. It had a few coats in it but other than that it was pretty empty. He shook his head, pleading with the men through the gag to not do this. To just leave them alone but they just laughed and threw him inside, locking the door before they walked away leaving a screaming, terrified boy behind.

Crutchie woke up to darkness. He blinked a few times in a panic, thinking for a moment he was blind before he looked down to his left to see a thin line of light trailing in through a crack in the bottom of a door of some kind. He moved around a bit, feeling the ground but he realized his crutch was not in the room with him. He heard rapid breathing that was not his own. The boy tried to move around again and when he moved his leg he lightly kicked another.

"Race..." Crutchie breathed, somewhat in relief. As his eyes adjusted, he was able to make out Race's heaving form. The older boy's head was leaning up against the door and his legs were bent in front of him. His arms were behind his back and Crutchie realized that the boy must be bound somehow. He saw the tears glistening on his cheeks from panicking and he saw them run over the smooth grey strip over his mouth.

When the younger boy tried to move, he realized how much everything hurt. He groaned and let himself rest for a moment before beginning to crawl towards his brother. The older boy looked at him and shook his head, knowing that he must be hurting, but Crutchie continued anyway and grabbed his brother's bound wrists in his hands. He peeled off the tape and his brother's hands immediately went to the tape over his mouth.

Crutchie slumped against the back wall, breathing hard. Everything hurt. He waited patiently for Race to finish and couldn't be more relieved when Race pulled him into his embrace. Though, Crutchie realized, Race was ice cold and shaking.

"C-Crutchie." Race whispered, relief flooding through him. The younger boy didn't know what else to do but to collapse into his big brother's embrace. He felt Race press a light, brotherly kiss to his forehead and start rocking back and forth before he even realized he'd been crying. He let Race rest his chin in his own mess of hair and they sat there, quietly sniffling and wiping away tears. Waiting for someone to find them.

Jack's whole body screamed in pain when he tried to roll over. His eyes slowly slid open and he looked around, carefully. It was very dark, most likely only an hour or two after he passed out. Snyder and Weasel were no where to be seen. But at the moment, Jack didn't care. Despite the pain that shot through his beaten body, he pushed himself to his feet. "Crutchie?!" He cried looking around, praying for some sort of response. "Racetrack!" He tried. But the apartment remained quiet. Or so he thought before he heard something knocking.

Jack followed the sound. It was a steady beat, coming from the back of the small apartment. He silently walked to back of the short hallway and seethed when he found where it was coming from. Jack sat on his knees in front of the closet door. "Race?" He called, gently.

"Jack!"

Jack heard shuffling from the other side of the door after he heard Crutchie's relieved voice. He heard Race gently speak. "Slow down Crutch. Sit still. Your leg still ain't right." It was incredibly hard to hear but Jack strained his ears to be able to listen to his brothers on the other side.

Jack tried to calm himself down by taking a deep breath. He leaned his head against the locked door that stood between him and his brothers. "Are you guys alright?" The oldest boy sighed. His response was silence.

Race leaned his head up against the door. He hugged his little brother closer to his left side and sighed. Then he asked, nervously. "Are you alright?"

Jack shook his head. He wanted so desperately to say yes. To continue to trick his two baby brothers into thinking he was invincible and would always be around to protect them, but he couldn't. "I-I'm gonna get you guys outta there." He promised, opting to not answer Race's question.

"You've got all night." Race said, wiping away the tears from his little brother's scared face. "The Spider won't be back till tomorrow. Told me when he threw Crutchie in here that he... uh..." Race sniffled. He looked down at his brother's face and sadly finished. "He wanted you to know what it would be like when your eighteen. Said he wouldn't be back till tomorrow."

Jack growled. He never knew that he could hold such hate for someone. Jack could take the abuse. He had. Multiple times. What he couldn't take was the way he was forced to hear his brothers' screams. The way he was forced to watch as they were beaten right in front of him and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Just as Jack reached for the door handle, to try anything to open the door, a knock was heard. It was the same knock he'd heard earlier that day. And Jack sighed.

"Stay quiet." He instructed gently. "I'll be right back, I promise. Someone's at the door." He slowly moved from the door, wanting nothing more than to get his brothers out of there. But he had to deal with this first.

The knocking continued. It didn't stop until Jack cracked the door open to see Davey standing there, smile gone. He looked to be very concerned. When his eyes locked with Jack's, his worry seemed to grow. "Jack what the hell happened?!" Jack closed his eyes as the kid's shout, noticing for the first time how much his head hurt. When he closed his eyes, he realized there must be a pretty bad bruise forming around his left eye.

"Nothin'." Jack scoffed and then tried to shut the door. "Thanks for stoppin' by." But Davey put his hand on the door, preventing it from shutting.

"Your foster father screamin' at ya and then hittin' ya isn't nothin', Jack." David pointed out.

Jack looked up at the boy with wide eyes. "I don't know what you're talkin' about." He tried, but he knew it wasn't convincing enough as Davey laughed. It wasn't a humorous laugh, it was more of a laugh that told Jack he didn't believe him.

"Jack I heard him yellin'! I heard you screamin'! And some other kids too!" David sighed as Jack remained silent. He lowered his voice, but still spoke urgently, "I'm callin' the cops." He grabbed his cellphone from out of his pocket and started dialing in a number. But he was not prepared for Jack's response to that.

The door slammed shut and the chain was removed and before David could even register that the door had reopened, the phone had been snatched from his hand. "Hey! Jack!" Jack hung up the phone and held it out of his friend's reach.

"You ain't callin' no one!" Jack yelled. "I told ya ta mind your own business." David heard Jack, but he let his eyes wander to behind the boy. Jack stood in the center of the wide open door but Davey could still see around him. The apartment looked to be a decent size. But things were thrown everywhere and there were new red stains on the carpet.

Without any invitation, Davey pushed past Jack and into the apartment. "Jack, who are you protecting?!" He yelled as he got a look inside. Things were broken and the place was just a full on mess. But the thing that caught his attention the most was a crutch, disregarded on the ground next to the couch. He crouched down and picked it up, only to have it snatched from his hand by the other boy.

"What the hell do ya think your doin'?" Jack asked, angry at the boy for completely ignoring him. "This ain't none of your business!"

"If you don't tell me what's going on right now, I will call the cops." David challenged. He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to help. This boy was clearly in some kind of trouble. "Who are you protecting?" The boy asked from his position on the ground. Jack stood in front of him shaking his head, angrily.

"Ya wouldn't understand." He explained, his voice losing its natural confident touch. He looked down at the crutch and wiped at the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes.

David sighed in sympathy. He stood and placed his hand on Jack's shoulder, gently. "Try me."

Jack looked up into the boy's light brown eyes. Trust was never something that had come easy to him. He couldn't afford to just throw it around like it was nothing. But there was something about this boy. He seemed to be so understanding and Jack found himself asking, "Can you pick a lock?"

Be sure to check out my other fics! I lied earlier in my other story. Sorry. I will probably be posting the first chapter to Just Breathe by the end of today. I just can't wait. Davey is in that one more.

I do feel bad, starting on Friday I don't know when I'll be able to post. My family and I are going camping at the beach. Yay. So it may be every few days or maybe even just a whole week. I'll do my best.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what you'd change and what you'd improve by leaving me a review! Love ya fansies!