May 3rd, 1894

Despite all his better judgment telling him to sit still and mind his own business, Niner paced in circles around the cramped bunk room. It was merely routine. He would wake up with the sun. No breakfast here - only a meager meal for dinner in the midafternoon - but then he would walk his route.

No bag full of papers weighed him down, but the sight certainly did enough of that on its own. Occasionally someone would gripe at him to stop it, but those orders did little to release his anxious energy and so he continued walking. Others expressed curiosity at his daily movement and struck up a conversation. Not that there was anything new to talk about from day to day, but these became his "regulars", taking the place of those customers outside to which he would normally sell his daily wares.

Finch, however, having got the idea into his head that it was entirely his fault Niner was stuck here, took it upon himself to keep the older boy company by talking his ear off. Though Niner thought the incessant chatter, and whistling, and humming, and singing would grow annoying, the boys soon became companions, and Niner learned why his younger friend had earned his name. Finch likewise, couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the situation once he learned the story behind Niner's own moniker. The two traded stories in an attempt to pass the time and played cat's cradle with the loop of string he kept in his pocket and Niner had to admit that he did enjoy the company.

But no amount of joking and company could make the next six days feel anything less like six years. Niner's restless energy only grew as the long long hours passed and it didn't help that he nearly jumped out of his skin every time the heavy metal door slammed open for dinner because he knew it would only be a matter of time before the door slammed open and Snyder himself stood in the doorway.

"Sam Dobson and …" he squinted at his paper, searching for a proper name before settling for the nickname that was written, "Finch Fetrow! You're coming with me."

The two boys hesitated for a second and stared at each other. What could he want with them?

"Move!"

They scrambled to their feet and followed the man out the door. It slammed behind them as they made their way out into the brightly lit hallway and down into another office. Snyder opened it from a set of keys that jangled around his belt and let them in, then moved to sit behind the desk. He set the papers in front of him on the table and leaned forward. "So… is there anything you two troublemakers have to say for yourselves?"

Finch glanced up at Niner who shook his head slightly. "No." Snyder glared at him. "No sir," he amended.

"Good." He leaned back again and picked up the papers. "Dobson, your rap sheet certainly is impressive."

Niner bit back the urge to mouth off and settled for a simple smile and shrug gesture. (So? There was nothing either of them could do about it at this point.)

"How unfortunate that the juvie court only sentenced you to a week for the little stunt you pulled with that officer," he sneered. "But I don't make the rules, I just enforce them."

(How charitable). "Of course, sir," Niner said.

"And Fetrow," He continued, turning to Finch. "Stealing normally earns a much longer stay, and much harsher punishment, but as you're still below the age of sixteen, and this is your first recorded offense, you're off the hook after only a week too. I trust that you've learned your lesson but I'll be keeping a close eye on you. The both of you. If you try anything else, we'll be seeing each other again soon."

Though his words were all business, his tone made it sound like a threat. Niner tipped his hat at the Spider. "Well, thanks so much for your hospitality," he deadpanned, "Why don't we both scram and let you get on with your day?" He turned on his heel to make his way to the door but no sooner did he turn his back on Snyder did the guards grab them and roughly force them down the corridor. Soon enough, they were unceremoniously tossed out to the street.

Finch scrambled up to his feet and helped Niner to pick himself up out of the mud. He stood silent, unblinking, unmoving in the street, staring up at the building before them. Just like that, in a matter of minutes, they were free.

He turned to face the sun, now setting over the city, and laughed.

They were free.

Finch made his way a few yards down the street, eager to get away from that place as fast as he could before realizing that Niner wasn't following him. He hesitated, ran back, and tugged at Niner's hand to get him to move. "Come on, we gotta get away from this place and find a place to stay before it gets dark, else we'll be sleeping on the street!"

Niner tore his eyes from the sunset and turned back to Finch, "Do you have a plan?"

Finch stopped pulling. "Um. No?"

"Why don't you come back to the lodging house with me? You can stay with the Newsies until you're able to come up with a better idea."

Finch smiled and nodded his agreement to the proposition. "Thanks, Niner."

"Don't mention it." He turned on his heel and started striding in the direction of the lodging house, forcing the younger boy to scramble to keep up with his eager pace. After a week of worry, he was finally so close to home, and he didn't want to lose any time in getting there.

Back at the lodging house, Jack grumbled as he rose from his bed to address yet another argument, this time between Sniper and Albert. The two of them were often at each other's necks for various small offenses and he'd given up on trying to break up all the bickering in the past week since it rarely amounted to anything serious. But now, their shouting rattled through the whole bunk room, and Blue swung a pillow down from the top bunk to smack Jack in the face and ask if he could possibly convince them to shut up.

Not that he resented Blue for this treatment – he was the better of the two to deal with Sniper and Alberts fights as he was both of their friends – but the last thing he wanted to do with his evening was play referee. How did Niner ever put up with all this for the past three years he'd been in charge? He sighed. No matter, Niner wasn't here now and someone had to keep the peace.

Crutchie caught his sleeve as he walked past. "Do you want me to talk to them?" he asked. He'd often found himself mediating and diffusing hot heads before a fight could begin in the past week. Though usually left the breaking up of arguments to Jack's authority, it looked like the combined stress of being without their captain for the week, Sniper's pent up annoyance, and Albert's general irritability and pranking streak set this particular situation up to be a pain to calm down.

"Nah… you can go to sleep. I'll take care of these bummers," Jack answered. Crutchie shrugged and sat back, but he stayed up to watch as Jack crossed the distance to the two loudmouths and waited for a second to get a feeling for the conversation.

"I had my sheet right here and now it ain't!"

"Doesn't mean I took it!"

Jack stepped in now and held up his hands for silence, cutting the argument short even for just a minute, long enough for him to inspect both beds and find that the sheet was, indeed, missing. He frowned. They banned stealing from each other long ago, and both boys knew better than that. "Alright, alright, what's the joke here?" he asked finally. Of all the stupid things to be bickering about…

Neither answered for a second as they glared at each other, then Sniper jabbed an accusatory finger at Albert, "Jack, remember that one time he short-sheeted my bed?"

"Yeah it didn't work 'cause you never make your bed! Soon as you saw it looking nice you knew something was up!" Albert countered. "I ain't playing any games."

"That's what I'm saying now! It looks nice cause there's no sheet on it making it look unmade, so now I know something is up!"

"Well maybe if you made your bed every once and a while, your sheet wouldn't be missing!"

"So you admit it!"

"Hey!" Jack interrupted before the squabble could turn into an endless cycle of "did not, did too" and pushed both boys away from each other. "Time out! That's enough of that nonsense! Yellin' at each other isn't going to solve the fact that Sniper's sheet is missing and neither of you bummers knows where it is."

"But!"

"Shaddup. Albert, take the front half the room and look for the stupid thing. Sniper, you take the other half. Don't try and start anything with the others either. It's gotta be in here somewhere, how hard is it to lose an entire bedsheet?"

Albert opened his mouth to say something but Jack shushed him and pointed to the side of the room he was to search before crossing his arms and standing back to supervise the ordeal. Crutchie pushed himself to his feet, made his way over to his friend, and put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Why doesn't Albert sleepover on the top of my bunk tonight? It'll keep him away from Sniper, and I think we can find a spare blanket somewhere if the sheet doesn't turn up. Even an old towel would work, or he could wear his coat for the night. It's not the best solution but it would get them to go to bed."

Jack sighed as Sniper found his missing sheet shoved under the next bunk over, probably by some stray Newsie kicking it out of the way as they walked between the rows to their bed. "That's a good idea." He raised his voice. "Hey! Albert! You're sleeping over with Crutchie tonight. Move your stuff, quickly, and then both you go to sleep!"

The two did as they were told, and Jack turned back to Crutchie, his voice hushed again. "I just wish they'd stop. They wouldn't do this to Niner, would they?"

"Absolutely," Crutchie responded with a cheeky grin. "You just have the privilege of getting to deal with it this time." They started making their way over to their bunks. "I miss 'im too, but he's gotta be back soon. And he'd be proud of how you've taken over in the meantime!"

"I'd be proud of who?" came a familiar voice from the doorway. Jack whipped around at the sound, only to see their captain standing there – looking dirty and exhausted but real and safe and home.

"Niner!" Crutchie sprinted to him and fell into the older boy for a welcome hug, only barely keeping his balance in the rush of excitement at seeing their friend again. His hard expression melted into a face-spitting smile and he pulled Crutchie into the embrace as the others rushed to him too. Jack stood in shock for a second before joining the fray. Blue jumped off his top bunk to clap Niner on the back, and Jack gave him a friendly smack on the arm with his hat.

"You had us worried!"

"Another newsie from the Sun told us you were in the Refuge!"

"Are you ok?"

"How did the Spider catch ya?!"

"How'd ya get out?"

"Give the man some room to breathe!"

"Boy is it good to have you back again."

The questions and comments clamored and Niner had to nearly push the other boys off of him before he could answer any. Finally, someone noticed the small figure standing behind him in the doorway, looking just a little intimidated and a lot relieved at the sight of the friendly crowd that was a far cry from the bunkroom at the Refuge.

"Who's this?"

Niner pulled his companion forward into the room and pushed him in front of him to meet the others, putting his hands on the younger boy's shoulders. "Everyone! Meet Finch!"

A/N: Hello! I apologize for missing last week and I hope you enjoy this chapter. There are two more in this arc, so even though things are looking up here, we're not quite done yet! Thank you for reading as always! :)