Dang, it's been a hot minute. (Actually, it's been exactly 20 days, which is pretty cool.)

Review Responses:

Huffelpufdraws: I'm honored that this is engaging enough to read in class, but be careful! Don't make your teacher mad. HE DID THE THING WHYYY JACK... Ah, thank you! Sorry about the pain tho. Hi hello Tommy Boy will walk through fire for Les Jacobs, the kid's like the little brother he never had. Let's just... get both Race and Jack to a good therapist. Like now. Please. PAIN AND AGONY INDEED! I'm glad being in public spared you from crying. Some people aren't so lucky...

Dylan Quagmir: Why. Why did you ever think that would be a good idea. My apologies for making you cry in public. (But please, do send other theater nerds this way.)

Okay, let's hurry things up and get to the chapter, because in the one after this y'all finally get to have [redacted for spoilers]. Here we go!

Chapter 67- Albert

Tuesday, September 21, 1999, 6:00 p.m.

Albert didn't care that Tommy Boy had gotten to him first; he was going to kill Jack Kelly. No one put dumb ideas into his best friend's head besides him. No one.

It was all Jack's fault that Race was currently sprawled on the bunk above, one arm dangling over the side as he rambled about how to rescue Crutchie. Albert wasn't listening closely, he was just trying not to take it too seriously.

After the chaos that had followed Jack leaving the rally- various borough leaders yelling at each other and cursing the name of Kelly in more than one language- the Duane Street gang had been quick to take their leave. They'd found Race in the hall on their way out of school, looking near tears. Apparently, he'd had a conversation with Jack and, big surprise, it hadn't ended well. Now, for god knew what reason, he wanted to break into the Refuge.

Specs had looked sick from the moment Race first said that, and the second they'd returned to the apartment, he'd sought out Kloppmann, pausing only to show Smalls to the roof first. She'd tagged along to Duane Street with the guys, having some vague plan about needing to see Jack's penthouse. Meanwhile, Henry had begun his usual habit of rage cooking while the others watched from the living room. Albert would've been out there still if it hadn't been for Jojo. Attached at Henry's hip as they now were, they had come back to the apartment as well. Once the cooking had turned into more kissing than actual food preparation, everyone else had recognized that there would be no dinner in sight for a while.

So the other three boys had taken refuge in their respective rooms. Albert was growing hungrier by the minute. He wondered if Henry and Jojo had finished yet.

"Maybe I could break da window from da outside, and carry Crutchie through it," Race mused.

Albert rolled onto his back and shoved his feet into the mattress above him, which was quite a bit harder than he'd anticipated, but served its purpose. "Cut that out, will ya?"

"But Jack told me ta break out Crutchie!"

"No. He didn't."

"Yeah, he did."

"Sarcasm, Race."

"It wasn't."

"Sure."

"I gotta free Crutchie, an' Jack'll come back."

"That ain't how it works, dumbass."

Race swung his legs over the edge toward the ladder, climbed down one rung, then jumped the rest of the way. "Just 'cause you don't think so, don't mean-"

With an abrupt creak, the bedroom door swung open, and Specs walked in, looking as far from his cheery self as he could get. Studying him, Albert sat up. "Specky, what-"

"I talked ta Kloppmann. And it's over. It's all over."

"What-"

"With Crutchie. He's gone."

"He's dead?!" shrieked Race.

Specs shook his head, swallowing hard. "No no, 'course not. But when he gets outta the Refuge, he- he ain't comin' back here."

"Wait, what?"

"He's got a few months sentence wit Snyder an' then they's gonna send 'im somewhere else. Some foster couple in New Jersey."

"So people want him?" Albert stood, unsure how to feel.

"Yeah."

"That's-"

Race interrupted, "But why can't 'e come back 'ere?"

"Child Protective Services looked over our records," explained Specs, his voice rough. "Elmer's the best outta all of us, and y'know that ain't sayin' much. Between you bein' you, Racer, Henry's issues, the lies my adoptive parents told CPS when they kicked me out, and Albert's, uh... incident, they decided this isn't a good place for Crutchie. An' some random couple saw his file, I guess, so..." Specs stopped, pressing his lips together.

"They wanna take 'im in?" Albert wondered, "Like, for real?"

"That's basically what they said."

"Don't Crutchie get any say in this?" asked Race, "What if he wants ta stay with us?"

Specs covered his mouth with his hand, collapsing onto the bottom bunk of the room's second bed. He pulled his glasses off and tossed them onto the pillow, moving both hands to cover his eyes.

"Specky, hey," Albert sunk onto the blankets next to him, awkwardly putting an arm around the older boy. "It's gonna be okay."

"I was s'posed ta talk to 'em!" Specs cried, dropping his hands. "Kloppmann told the Child Services people I knew Crutchie best, an' could vouch for what he wanted! I was s'posed ta tell 'em da otha' night."

"So? Didn't you?"

When Specs spoke again, the words were barely comprehensible. "I was at Romeo's."

"Oh shit..."

"I just wanted a break, that's all!" Specs let his face fall back into his palms. "An' now Jack'll neva' forgive me."

"Hey..." Albert gave him a few light pats on the back. "This ain't about Jack right now. None a' what happened is yer fault, I mean, a seventeen-year-old shouldn't be expected ta handle all that. An' anyway, if some people actually want Crutchie, that's a good thing! It'd be worse if 'e had to stay wit Snyder, y'know?"

"I know," said Specs, voice cracking completely. "I should be happy for 'im."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Huh?"

"You's entitled ta feelin' like crap about missin' him. Ya can know he's got a good thing goin' for 'imself an' still feel awful personally."

That was, by far, the wisest thing Albert had ever said in the history of forever. While he was mentally congratulating himself, Race shot the reasoning down. "But he's our Crutchie. He's s'posed ta stay here."

Albert shrugged. "Ain't technically ours. An' we could use da extra space."

"Extra space?"

"Y'know what I mean, it'll be less crowded…" Albert was only making this worse.

"An' I s'pose next you'll be throwin' me out ta live wit Spot, huh?"

"That ain't what I-"

"How couldja not show up fer that call?" Race demanded, stepping right in front of Specs. "You knew how important it was. You knew Crutchie needed ya."

Specs raised his head, scrubbing his face with his hands. "I- I figured Kloppmann... I thought he'd have it... I dunno. I should a' known better. I'm- I'm so sorry, Race."

"Why didn'tcha let da rest of us in on what was goin' on, huh? We could a' helped!"

"I didn't think- I didn't wanna worry da rest a' youse."

"If you would a' asked us, maybe Crutchie wouldn't be gone right now."

"Racer, back off, alright?" Albert got to his feet, hand still resting protectively on Specs' shoulder. "Don't turn this on him."

"But it's his fault."

"I don't care. Shut up."

"It's da truth!"

"Enough, okay? Stop beatin' 'im up about it!"

"I'm just sayin', if Crutchie needed rescuin', I could a' done a betta' job-"

"Racer, go! Get out!"

"I only wanna state my opinion-"

"An' we don't wanna hear it! LEAVE!"

"FINE!" Race stormed out, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the lamp on the bedside table.

Albert glowered at the door for a long minute, ceasing only when Specs said his name. "Al, you shouldn'tve-"

"He needed ta shut his mouth, he ain't even mad at you."

"He is. I don't blame him."

"But it's not your fault."

"It is. I had a responsibility and I messed it up."

"Sure, but Racer's actin' like he's neva' done the same damn thing."

"You can talk about it when he cools off."

"He won't cool off if he's still mad at Jack."

"Al… It's like I was tellin' ya earlier, 'bout Smalls? Sometimes you gotta be the bigger person and apologize. Even if the otha' guy's bein' a dick."

"In a minute." Albert flopped backwards onto his bed. "Stupid Jack Kelly." He kicked his legs at nothing. "Dumbass cowboy ruinin' everything!"

Specs sighed. "This goddamn strike… it's destroying us. We should end it."

Surprised, Albert stopped kicking, pulling himself up as he asked, "Whaddaya mean?"

"It needs ta be called off before anyone else gets hurt." Specs brought out his phone. "I'mma call Katherine."

"What, no!"

"I mean it this time. We need to be done with this. There's no point in even tryin' ta win, ya heard what Jack said."

"I don't give a damn what Jack says! This ain't about him anymore!"

"Say we somehow manage to win, which we won't, it ain't gonna be permanent. We gotta call it quits while we're still ahead by this last bit."

"Crutchie would want us to keep goin'."

Specs shook his head. "No, Al. No."

"Look, this ain't about budget cuts, or savin' Medda's job, or any a' that otha' shit. Now, this is for Crutchie. If we're gonna lose him, we's gotta prove we tried everythin' we could ta prevent it."

"Albert."

"I'm not talkin' crazy! We hafta stand up ta Pulitzer this last time, in Crutchie's memory, an' we gotta soak 'im good!"

"The rally was s'posed ta be the last thing we did."

"So we do anotha' last thing."

Leaning against the bedframe, Specs rubbed his temples. "Look, do whateva' ya want, just leave me out of it."

"I will, I'll handle everythin'. Lemme call Plumber an' we'll figure it out. We're gonna soak 'em for Crutchie!"

"You genuinely wanna do it fer Crutchie, huh?"

Swinging the door open and motioning out toward the hall, Albert smirked. "C'mon. Can't let the kid down. Y'know you want to..."

Specs groaned, pressing his hands on his knees to get himself off the bed. "Fine. I'll soak 'em with you. But that is it."

"Soak 'em for Crutchie!" Albert punched the air.

"For Crutchie. One last time."

Specky and Al, best brothers! (Please they're so wholesome I love them.)

So I'm over here trying to edit this chapter and losing it laughing over the vivid image of Albert laying on the bed and aggressively flutter kicking.

This isn't really relevant, but it's important to me that you know this.

Anywho, please leave a review, and when I'm done with my million midterm projects, I'll join you at the next chapter!