The week passed by painfully slow as the guys' anticipation for Halloween night grew; they began, executed, and finished several projects in the dance studios, completed a couple video games in the evenings, and there was plenty of Hockey to watch. They kept each other laughing and grounded, their thoughts often running away when left idle.

Spirits were high, and the weather seemed to keep them sharp and aware of the cold yet to come. But the Autumn wind carried a hum of a shared excitement: the last weekend of fall break.

"You believe the clothing they make now a days?" Racetrack asked incredulously with half a cigar between his lips as they carried debris and equipment back and forth from the studios and Steve's truck. "It's made somewhere else an' worse than what we had, who knew?"

They laughed, each thankful for the hot showers they were able to take every day, the heating, the food...every day they were mentally comparing, and found reason to adapt and like this era...

Mush couldn't believe he was still waking up to texts from an actual earth angel, and he was happy to hear Jack and Tiffany's muffled voices through the wall the next night, and the night after that, as David typed away madly for hours on his computer in the main room.

Honey FaceTimed him Wednesday evening too, and they talked into the wee hours of the morning until Racetrack threw a shoe at him, and their laughter under his bed sheets echoed beautifully in his memory.

He thought about the image of her on his iphone over and over; her elven face and full blooming lips had him aching, and he wanted to touch her smooth skin again - he swore there were flecks of gold all over her. She'd worn a dark green silk hair scarf tied from the base of her head to her crown, the knot full and fashionable, and was wrapped in a matching silk robe, the color complimenting her beautifully. She had laid back on her bed, thick fluffy blankets and pillows all around her. His eyes were helplessly glued to her. She looked like a goddess.

But she was easy to talk to as well, and even easier to listen to. He was more than happy to talk about anything besides their life stories, and he was pleased how easily their conversation flowed - like water through a stream into a river. They laughed when they liked something together and teased each other when they disagreed.

She had a cadence to her voice, partly from her warm Scottish accent, but it was like a song he wanted to dance to. And he wanted to dance with her, badly.

"I've seen your videos on Instagram," he told her smoothly. "So don't even try to play down your talent to me."

She had smiled and ducked her head to hide her warm rosy cheeks, her eyes glassy and hooded. They had laughed when they realized they both smoked joints before bed.

"I knew I picked a good one," she'd said with a smile just for him.

If she only knew that he'd been thinking the same thing, utterly lost in her, and that she'd sent him straight to the stars.

He had never felt this comfortable or eager with a girl...though, he didn't have much experience to begin with.

Before finding the Newsies in this life, Mush had been raised by his mother's sister in Queens after his mother ran off...he never heard from her again, and didn't like to dwell on her too much. Not much different than his actually story from a century ago.

But his aunt was kind and loving enough, and she had two daughters of her own. They weren't involved very much with Mush because they were so much older, and Mush had a constant feeling that he was imposing. But he was grateful for his Aunt and everything she did for him, the closest relationship he'd ever had with a woman other than Medda.

He had little experience now, even at 22 years old. He was still his "old" self; playful, cautious, and girls - especially this one - still turned his head. But the guys in 2016 versus young men in 1900...there was definitely a difference in upbringing, even for street rats.

Then again...he wasn't the street rat he once was.

Come Thursday morning though, he didn't hear from Honey. And Mush, like Jack and Spot, sent good morning texts, but didn't hear back from any of them. They carried on with their day like normal, laughing and cutting up, trying not to think about it so much, or check their phones.

But Jack was distracted enough - his brow furrowed while they worked on the studios, Mush knew his thoughts were elsewhere. He wondered what all they'd talked about so far in their late night conversations...Jack shared bits and pieces with Mush on the side, but Mush got the idea Tiffany was being very careful in what she disclosed, and Jack caught on to her vagueness.

"'s ok," he said truthfully. "We're just talkin', an' I can't assume she's gonna be like how she used to be, ya know? But even then she kept things to herself, so who fuckin' knows. But I hafta be careful too - it's so easy talkin' with her, I catch myself sayin' too much...make me sound like an old dirtbag."

Mush laughed at his friend but spoke sincerely. "She wants to tell you things, man. You know that, anybody can see that."

"I jus' don't want ta worry so much," Jack muttered. "I don't even know if there's anything to worry about."

Thursday night passed still without a word, but the guys kept busy with dinner at the neighborhood pub and the hockey game on the TVs, their friend and bartender Conner distracting them with off-colored jokes. It wasn't until Friday morning, just before noon, that Mush heard from Honey again.

Hands covered his eyes - he was in line at the campus coffee shop.

"Boo," said a voice sweet and low in his ear, and he felt someone pressed to his back...

He turned around, seeing eyes just below the level of his and the color of hazel green glass, lined with doe lashes. He smiled instantly- drinking in the image of her in the daylight; the day was cloudy, but Mush swore the sun just came out.

"What's up, angel?" He said smoothly, stepping towards her a little. "How was the trip?"

She didn't budge an inch - she let him step up to her, smiling big at him, her eyes cast down flirtatiously, and he knew they could both feel the energy between them.

"Hi yourself... It was fine. Sorry it had to end early."

She was wearing a rust colored corduroy dress over a white turtleneck, knee high white stockings with black platform strap heels, and a long emerald green sweater, her curly hair wrapped up in a mustard colored scarf and long feather earrings dangling around her jaw. A vision of Autumn.

"Early?" Mush caught the word and the look in her eyes.

She was so expressive with her face - from her annoyance at people to her excited expression right before eating (she sent him a good number of selfies with food) - he now recognized the disappointment in her eyes, which were slightly swollen. The giddiness of seeing her wore off, and he saw the emotional heaviness she carried on her shoulders and in her voice.

"What's wrong?" He touched her elbow lightly and she responded by pressing closer to him.

She tilted her head up, reading his eyes for a long moment before deciding... "I guess you'd find out eventually, whether I keep it from you or not."

They got their coffees and went outside, standing under a brilliant orange maple tree. He stood beside her silently as he studied her face and sipped his coffee. She was tired, and she'd definitely been crying. His eyes darkened with concern.

She sighed, turning toward him, and spoke carefully as her eyes glanced around them through the steam of her drink.

"The club we work for...It's about as high roller as it gets in New York," she said evenly, regarding him every second as if seeking for confirmation that he was safe. "We were actually a little surprised that you guys got in. Sure got our attention either way."

Her smirk didn't touch her eyes, and he could tell in her demeanor that she didn't like speaking about this. She hesitated, and then spilled what she was holding back.

"Tiffany is their best girl. There's no contest, everyone knows. There's a long list of clientele who come in every night just to see her..." She shivered a little and tried to hide it by taking a sip of her coffee. "She's asked off a lot recently, and us being her family, we wanted to be there for her and... Let's just say the club lost out on some money this week, and her absence has attracted the boss's attention." She swallowed hard, her eyes glancing around. "He could give a shit about the rest of us. It's her they want there the most, to attract business and...offers."

His mind was spinning - he didn't like this, not one bit. "Who is he?"

Honey paused, caution veiling her face. "I can't tell you. Please understand...The ownership isn't public knowledge for a reason...and his attention isn't a good thing."

His eyes flashed with anger and questions but he held them back.

She turned her gaze to the parks ahead of them, courtyards filled with fallen leaves, the campus maintenance crew blowing them around with their equipment.

"We had to come home yesterday to work last night or we would've been exposed to the school...and worse."

"Worse?" He felt a hot ripple go through him, fury. "Wait, they blackmailed you?"

Honey closed her eyes, "not exactly."

She waited and Mush could see in her expression, even with her eyes closed, that she was mentally resigning to something, something she didn't want to disclose - she hadn't planned on telling him this much.

He was watching the curls on top of her head blow around gently in the sudden gust of wind when her eyes opened again as she took his hand, "Come with me."

She tossed her empty coffee into a trashcan, and Mush drained and tossed his too. He followed her in the opposite direction of the job site - completely forgetting about Racetrack and Snoddy's coffee order.

They approached a big rounded building and Honey opened a side door on the second floor. It was the arena; host for what sports the school had, concerts, graduation ceremonies, big events. As they walked through a corridor, passing open doors to sections of seats, Mush could see the hundreds of seats in the dark, their shadows cast over them from a single column of light over the exposed basketball floor below.

He felt his phone vibrate, glanced down to see Racetrack had texted him an emoji of coffee with a question mark. He typed one handed back as he kept up with Honey: delayed, i'll explain later

She led him to a concrete staircase and he climbed after her up to the high seats where they looked down on the arena floor, not a soul in the place.

Honey sat down and patted the seat next to her, a small smirk on her lips and in her eyes. The single light over the court barely illuminated her face; she was amused by his questioning glances around the arena.

He slid down into the seat beside her, wondering what was so dark that she needed this kind of privacy to tell him. He rubbed his palms over his thighs before leaning forward on his knees, tilting his head to the side to look at her.

But she was looking down at the basketball court, sadness touching her eyes as she motioned with a nod for him to follow her gaze. He looked down, seeing Tiffany.

Her long dark hair was up in a messy bun, and she was wearing a black long sleeved leotard. He couldn't make out the expression on her face because she kept her head down, but he could see the sweat on her toned body, the frustration emanating from it.

His ears perked when a song began on the impressive sound system… Bruce Springsteen. (I'm On Fire)

"We've been here since early this morning," Honey said just loud enough for him to hear her, the music covering them. "Couldn't sleep, and I knew she couldn't either. So we came her for practice, blow off some steam. I showered a couple hours ago but she's been at it relentlessly. I swear she never tires...

"I know it may not make sense... Why we work where we do," her eyes were bright as she spoke, aware. "It's not our scene, or crowd. But the reason behind it all is someone else's story to tell." Her eyes were glued to Tiffany as she spoke.

Mush listened with every fiber of his being. He had to keep himself still against the urge to fidget.

"What I can tell you," she took a deep breath and exhaled noisily in release, making him chuckle. She looked at him with an exasperated look, smiling, "I think you know well enough by now that my name isn't 'Honey'."

Mush let out a loud laugh and she laughed in response, the music still too loud to hear them over.

"Alright, good, got that cleared up," she touched the feathers of her earrings around her face, trying to hide her smile...was she blushing?

But he couldn't help asking. "So…think you might tell me one day? Your real name?"

"Think you'll tell me yours?" She challenged with a sweet grin.

He laughed, called out. "Caught me."

She inhaled deeply again, bringing her knees closer to her as she put her shoes on the back of the seat in front of them. "Full disclosure depends on several other key elements...four of which are my friends. And the biggest reason for secrecy being that one down there."

Mush turned his furrowed gaze back to the young woman on the floor...he watched her move to the music, the beat of the song weaving around them. Her movements began slowly and then steadily faster, spins and anything that moved her trained body across the floor.

How she threaded moves together to make the art she created with her body had him mesmerized. Leaps and twists, barrel rolls and stretching limbs that sought to shorten the distance between her and the sky...she was in another dimension and they got to watch.

It reminded him of the time they watched her dance for the first time, at Medda's theatre...

"Is she in danger?" he whispered. He hoped his voice wouldn't betray him, the hurt that lingered deep in his memories as he watched her.

Honey was mesmerized by her friend's dancing too. "You guys really don't know who she is, do you?"

Mush turned to look at her almost too abruptly. But there was an amused gleam in her eyes, and the tension in his shoulders dropped a little. She licked her lips, hiding her growing grin.

"Her mother was one of the best dancers of the decade. She really was." Her voice was touched with admiration, love. Sadness returned to her, "...and her father was a famous director in Hollywood. Tiff's family legacy is…" she laughed a little. "It's well known, to say the least. She works hard to keep that life disconnected from her while she...works at the club, and attends this school... She goes by 'Tiffany' here, different last names, end of story. And as long as she dances at the club on command, she doesn't have to...accept other offers."

His eyes widened as he regarded Honey's blank face, her eyes sharp on his.

"Sorry to leave off the sugar coating." Her voice was bitter, resentful. But it wasn't aimed at him.

"Can't sugarcoat shit and change the taste, Honey."

She nodded in somber agreement, her eyes falling to her hands in her lap. Her fingers fidgeted with the sleeves of her sweater. "'ey, everyone makes choices… It's just not the choice any of us would normally make. But she's my best friend, a sister. I'd do anything for her...or her mom."

She looked up to his face, her eyes sad but determined. "You must understand: we're not being forced. We signed contracts, and that was the deal in each of ours; we're not the first dance students they've recruited from the school…they know how expensive NYU is. And they'll dangle that carrot in front of any dance student who will listen."

There were plenty of things she was leaving out, he could tell by the way her eyes cut away from him and looked down at Tiffany who was still pushing her body through each song that played, barely stopping.

"But hopefully we'll be the last batch," she said quietly. "Only time will tell if telling you all this was a good idea...I don't know why I felt like I could tell you any of it." She met his eyes, a deep emotion brimming behind them. "It's been eating away at me...and I know it's been eating away at her, along with everything else...I do worry about her. I love deeply, and I love her like crazy." Concern blanketed her face. "But..."

Her eyes read his, ran over his face. He saw the bright attraction in her eyes.

"I think I picked a good one," she said softly to him.

He normally would have smiled, felt elated. But he couldn't shake her words going around in his head.

"What did you mean by 'offers'?"

She sighed, perhaps disappointed that he wouldn't drop the heavy weight she'd just passed to him without knowing. She dropped her eyes again, her face like stone. Something told him she understood his loyalty to Jack like her loyalty to Tiffany.

"What's believed to be a woman's greatest asset?" She whispered, meeting his questioning gaze. "It's believed to be the best card a woman has in her hand to play...and it's a card men will pay almost anything to have."

He felt cold chills erupt all over him. Holy fuck.

"The Black Diamond sells more than just a good time," she confirmed darkly. "And their mistake is thinking it's their secret to keep."

He opened his mouth to ask another one of the hundreds of questions he had buzzing around angrily in his brain like a hive of hornets, but both of their heads snapped up at the sound of clapping hands, the sound echoing harshly all around them.

A young man in an all black suit was striding down a staircase opposite them, and Mush's hands tightened painfully on the armrests of his seat at the sight of him.

Kid Blink.

Below, Tiffany's body came to a halt at the disruptive sound, her chest heaving. She was exhausted, Mush could see that painfully when she stopped. But when she turned to see who had interrupted her, she visibly bristled and gave a quick rigid signal to the sound booth, killing the music.

"Why the Hell is he here?" Honey hissed, venom in her Scottish accent. "Son of a bitch knows better than to come on campus."

The young man was smiling like an asshole, slowly coming down the stairs with a hand in his pocket, the other holding a cigarette between his lips.

Kid Blink.

Mush didn't know Honey's eyes were on him. "You know him?"

He tried to relax his jaw and his hands, and he tried to not let her see the heartbreak in his eyes. He tried to hear what Kid Blink - Cage - was saying to Tiffany, tried to rationalize why he was such an asshole in this life...and now even afraid for him.

Who did he work for?

He answered without looking at her, "...I first saw him at the club."

"You're lying."

Mush turned to meet Honey's gaze, now touched with uncertainty and distrust, bristling with sudden anger. Jack was right - these girls had noses for bullshit and liars.

"Yes," Mush said calmly after a moment of watching her, the sight of her next to him barely soothing the hurt in his heart. She seemed to see the emotions in his eyes...his own rage and despair. "I know him. But I haven't seen 'im in...a very long time."

She watched him carefully, and he knew she was asking herself if she could trust him. She seemed to decide to, and turned her concern back to Tiffany.

"I should get down there," she said as she watched the two of them, Tiffany's body tense with restrained fury. "Before she slaps him again. Tiffany can only get away with so much, and she knows that...but her temper doesn't."

Mush scoffed a soft laugh humorlessly. "Sounds familiar."

"I don't like when she puts her safety on the line in order to get ahead," she said angrily, protectively. "These men are not the ones to play games with...but I've already told her that a million times."

His brow furrowed at her words, still watching the two across the arena. He wanted to tell him the fuck off and punch him in the face, in the eye that was supposed to be patched. He could see the rigidness in Tiffany's strong shoulders and back, her fists balled up as Cage spoke to her with a nasty grin on his lips. They were close enough to hear each other, but Tiffany kept her distance. Cage seemed to enjoy rattling her.

"Want me to go over there with you?" Mush asked evenly, his voice dark.

Honey touched Mush's forearm, gaining his full attention again. Her bright eyes were touched by his words and she smiled a little for him.

"And 'ave that face broken? Hard pass."

He laughed at her tone, and was almost lost in her again. But he eyed the black suit across the way. Brother from the past or not...he wasn't awake yet, as far as Mush could tell. And that, in his mind, gave him the pass to punch him, if necessary.

But it pained his heart beyond words, to see him over there and like that.

Kid Blink.

Her voice broke up his thoughts, "I'll be fine, and so will she. We work tonight, and she has to work tomorrow night too, unfortunately… as 'payment' for leaving town. Don't worry," she squeezed his arm in assurance. "She only has to dance."

Mush exhaled, thankful she answered his unspoken question; Jack had been in the back of his mind the whole time. "You have her temper to worry about, I've got his…"

"There's nothing for him to worry about," she reassured. She paused, smiled coyly before meeting his eyes once more. "We all know who'd she rather give herself to..."

Before he could say anything or register what she'd said, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Still come by tomorrow night - we'll think of somethin'."

Mush was still troubled, but he calmed himself enough to let her go alone. He smelled sage and incense in her hair, warm and comforting.

He didn't have any place to tell her what to do, now or ever. "Ok...be careful, doll face."

"I'll see you soon," she breathed before standing and turning to go down the aisle steps, her long sweater trailing her. He heard her angry mumbled Scottish voice, "now to see what that asshole's sayin' to her…"