Author's Note: At the top this time :-) Anyway, I don't know what this is. I found it in a draft form and did my best to make it so it fit the story. But maybe it doesn't fit the story and it's just weird. I don't know. Let me know - you readers are the best judges :-) Enjoy!

"Do you love her?"

"W-what?" Race stammered.

"Your girl over there," Jack said, gesturing to where Spot and Tay sat in a booth across the room. "Do you love her?"

"You mean Tay? She's just a kid," Race answered.

"Nineteen ain't a kid," Jack pointed out.

"She's like a sister to me."

"So you're saying she's family."

Race mulled that over for a minute as he puffed at the ever present cigar stub in his mouth. He didn't love Tay in the way he'd first thought Jack was talking about but he realized that despite their ups and downs he did care for the girl. Why else would he have put up with all that nonsense for all those years?

"Yeah, she's family," Race admitted.

"I still remember the night she showed up at the lodging house. Just about frozen to death and kept refusing to come in. Looked pretty bad off."

"I remember." Race wondered if Jack also remembered the night a few days later when Spot had shown up and Tay had returned to Brooklyn with him. Seeing her show up on her own had been strange and although Tay never directly said what had driven her to Manhattan Race had had his suspicions.

"I mean, I get that they're together, obviously, but I can't say I really understand 'em."

"It ain't like it's any easier for me to understand," Race told him. "I've known them since they was kids and I'm still trying to figure out what the hell goes on. It's like I said, I just try to keep an eye on her."

"She came here a few weeks ago asking questions about that whole situation. She wanted to know what happened to Morelli," Jack explained. "I didn't know what to say so I kinda chickened out and told her to ask Spot."

"I did the same thing when she was sick in the lodging house. She wanted me to stop Spot from killing him but it ain't like anyone has ever been able to tell Spot what to do. Especially not after his girl ends up half-dead 'cause of some two-bit bastard trying to make a point."

"Davey!" Jack called out as David Jacobs stepped into the restaurant. Jack gestured for David to join him at the table he shared with Race. He moved to one side as David set down a small stack of books on the table and slid into a chair. "How's college treating you?"

"Okay, I guess," David answered. "I mean, between work and school I'm pretty much running on coffee and three hours sleep."

Race looked over and was surprised to see Spot cross the room with Tay as David had never been a particular favorite of Spot's but it was Tay who spoke first while Spot remained close behind.

"Jacobs–I mean, David. Can I talk to you?" Tay's eyes darted around the table as she pulled nervously at the sleeves of her dress. "Alone?"

The three people sitting at the table were all stunned but none appeared quite as shaken as David did. His face was pale and his eyes wide as he looked from Tay to Spot and back again. "Me?"

"Please."

"O–okay," David stammered. He got to his feet and stepped around Jack to where Tay stood at the end of the table.

"Bí cúramach," Spot told her.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "i gcónaí."

As the two walked away Race noticed that David kept looking back at them nervously which made sense because Spot was busy glaring at him. It wasn't until they stood outside on the sidewalk that Spot finally turned back to where Jack and Race sat.

"What's that all about?" Jack asked.

"Fuck if I know," Spot shrugged. "She said she needed to talk to him."

"You were good with that?" Race asked as he knew Spot had never been one to let Tay have a conversation with anyone, let alone another guy, without expecting to know exactly what was discussed.

"You ever hear her talk about this other man that Morelli worked with?" Spot asked, pointedly ignoring Race's question.

"The one who was at Grand Central with her?" Jack asked. Spot nodded. "She never said anything about him to me. She just pointed him out of the crowd as one of his men."

"Are you thinking of going after him, too?" Race asked.

"We'll see," Spot answered as he slid into a chair and lit a cigarette. He kept his eyes on the window where David and Tay could be seen outside. The way Spot studied the two made Race apprehensive but he wasn't exactly sure how to approach the situation. Spot had changed in some ways since the incident with Tay but there were clearly some things that hadn't changed at all.

David could feel a few beads of perspiration roll down his back as he followed Tay out to an open place in front of the restaurant window. His shirt stuck to his skin and he wondered what was so concerning about a conversation with Tay. It wasn't like Spot had asked to speak with him. Given that the last thing he'd seen before he had left the restaurant was two inquisitive looks from Jack and Race with one look from Spot that could only be described as murderous David was rather glad to be talking to Tay.

It had been years since he had spoken with Tay but he vividly remembered that day and night spent in Brooklyn after Jack had turned scab and Race had been determined to take David with him when returning Tay to Brooklyn. He'd been able to catch a glimpse of her at Grand Central but his main focus had been on keeping Spot away from the man that had taken her. He noted how much she had changed in those few years. Somehow she seemed smaller as though the past two months had taken more from her than met the eye. She was dressed simply and her hair hung down her back in a braid that gave the impression she was younger than her nineteen years. Her skin was pale and there was a haunted look in her eyes that reminded him of everything she had been through.

"How have you been?" David asked as he realized the polite thing to do would be to start the conversation with that question.

"I'm fine," Tay answered. "You can stop looking at me like I'm gonna shatter or something."

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to be polite."

"I know. Seems like your whole family has a thing about manners," Tay told him. She took a breath and bit at her bottom lip as though she was thinking of something. "That's kind of why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to say…to say thank you."

"Thank you?" David repeated in a weak voice. He cleared his throat before he continued. "I'm not sure what I might have done but I'm sure you don't need to thank me for it."

"You kept Spot from killing him," Tay explained quietly. "He would have killed him right there but you and Race stopped him so he wouldn't go to prison. So thank you for that."

"Race did more than I did," David admitted. "Jack had asked for my help and when I heard what happened I wanted to be able to do something."

"You always did like righting wrongs," Tay kidded with a small smile. David noticed that the smile did not reach her eyes.

"What happened to you was more than just wrong," David pointed out. He could only imagine what he might have done if anyone had done anything like that to his sister or anyone in his family. His role in the outcome of Tay's kidnapping had been small and he wasn't even sure he deserved a thank you. What kind of man would hear of things like that and be able to sit idly by?

"You know, Spot sent me to thank your sister one time," Tay said thoughtfully. "You two are a lot alike. Always trying to help."

"Curse of being a member of the Jacobs family," David joked. "That's kind of why I got into journalism. I wanted to be able to write about things like poverty and corruption in the hopes of helping people."

"So you want to be a reporter?" Tay asked. "I still have that newspaper from the strike. The one about the Refuge."

"Yeah, I want to dig into things like that and bring everything to light so maybe things will change or get better." David paused for a moment as he realized he was speaking more eagerly about his future occupation than he had in awhile. "School is the hard part because I just want to get out into the world and experience things. Like when I was a newsie."

"What's that like?" Tay asked. "I mean, going to school. What is it like?"

"You never went to school?" David asked with surprise.

"No, my ma taught us at home how to read and write and after I left there just wasn't…I mean, Spot said…it just wasn't for me. The nuns sometimes tried to make us go to class at the mission but all they wanted to teach us was how to cook or sew or take care of babies." Her cheeks were growing flush and David realized his question had been impertinent. He had been surprised at first when he realized how few newsies had been able to attend school but he didn't know enough about Tay's history before he made that mistake of asking about her education.

"It's okay," David began. "There's a lot of making sure you say the right thing because most of the professors think they know everything. A lot of reading and studying. It seems like that's all I do lately is read about other people going out into the world and discovering things."

"Spot reads a lot," Tay told him. "All sorts of things. He has all these history books and books about science and stuff. I just like reading stories."

"I remember you had all those advertisements about different places to travel to. I can lend you some books, if you'd like."

"No, thank you, Jacobs–I mean, David." Tay looked down at the ground and kicked her foot idly. "I probably shouldn't have said that. He wouldn't like it."

"Can I ask you a question? It's about that night we were all in Brooklyn. You, me, Race, and Spot."

"You mean that time during the strike? Sure, go ahead."

"I asked Race why you stayed with Spot even though…I mean, he wasn't…I just didn't understand why you would put up with the way he treated you. But Race told me that you loved Spot. Is that really true?" David didn't want to bring up the scene that had followed his question to Race as he had stayed out of sight then and wasn't sure Tay had even been aware of his presence that night. He didn't want her to think he was spying on her and so he decided to keep that part of it to himself.

"Yes," Tay answered simply. "Race was right. I love Spot, I always have."

"But he…he threatened you and Race told me about before when Spot would…" David stammered as he was unsure of just how to talk about Spot's past abuse of Tay. He remembered her being incredibly defensive about Spot before and so he didn't want to upset her.

"I don't really want to talk about that, okay?" Tay asked quietly.

"I'm sorry," David started. "I guess I'm just trying to understand why a person would stay with someone who treated them like that."

"Look, it ain't easy to explain," Tay told him. "It's not like how you love–it's just not the same as other people, okay?"

Tay rubbed at the bridge of her nose and David took a deep breath before considering the idea that he should just let it go. He hadn't understood what had been going on four years ago and he wasn't entirely sure he understood what was presently going on. Although Jack had asked for his help it seemed that David was an unwanted part of the solution, at least that's how it seemed to be in Spot's eyes. He hadn't exactly been welcoming when David arrived to help even though Race had explained Spot simply wasn't himself with Tay gone.

"What do you mean, how I love?" David asked, thoroughly confused. Tay stared at him intently until David felt the tips of his ears become red and he looked away. "Oh, I see."

"I had dinner with your family a while ago, they're really nice," Tay told him, changing the subject.

"Yeah," David answered, although he was only half listening. "Nice."

Tay pulled her braid over her shoulder and started to twist the ribbon at the end between her fingers. She was still looking at him even though David was trying everything to evade her gaze. There was an inquisitive look on her face as though she wanted to ask something but wasn't sure.

"You know, Spot would have never let Jack get hurt," Tay said softly. "He wouldn't have let any of you get hurt. It's how he is. He'll be terrible to your face but he won't let anyone else get near you."

David was struck dumb for a long moment as her insinuation made it's way through his thoughts along with about a million other thoughts, none of which he seemed to be able to focus on. He was angry but he wasn't exactly sure what he was angry about.

"So he beats you but it's okay because he keeps you to himself and doesn't let anyone else hurt you?"

"I said I don't want to talk about that," Tay snapped, her eyes flashing in anger.

"I mean, it makes sense. You tried to kill yourself that night because he cared about you so much, right?"

David took a step back as he let his last comment fly as he hadn't intended on bringing up that particular scene. He wanted to apologize the moment the comment left his lips but he was too shocked with himself to do anything but stand there with his mouth open in surprise. A dark look passed over Tay's features and he noticed the new scar on her cheek grew red as her cheeks became flushed.

"I understand why they call you the Walking Mouth," Tay told him. "You just can't keep shit to yourself, can you?"

"Tay, I'm sorry," David stammered. "I shouldn't have pressed you about anything. I apologize. I was just angry and lashed out."

Tay spent a long moment looking through the window to where Spot sat with Jack and Race. Spot was out of his seat and seemed ready to storm outside when Tay shook her head at him. He slid back into his seat but his eyes didn't leave Tay's face. David was sure if she had given a signal Spot would have jumped at the chance to come outside and beat David senseless. He was grateful that despite her annoyance at his statement that Tay seemed determined to not let that happen.

"He isn't always the way people think," Tay said in a low voice. She looked up at David. "It doesn't make any sense, I know that."

"Love doesn't make sense," David told her as a way to try and lighten the mood.

"They teach you that in college?" Tay asked with a small grin. "Always seems to work out in stories. At least it does in the stories I like to read."

"Let's just say more than a few authors have tried to cover it," David grinned back. He felt his anger dissipate as he thought back about the many poems and plays he'd been assigned that had tried to capture what love was.

"I guess you can't help who you fall in love with," Tay told him. She held out her hand and David took it gently. "Thank you, David."

She turned away and he followed her back inside the restaurant toward where Jack and Race were playing a hand of poker. Spot met her before she made it much beyond the door and he steered her away to another table across the room. David slid into a chair at Jack and Race's table and watched as Race threw a few pennies into the pot in the middle of the table.

"So? What did she want?" Race asked.

"To say thank you," David answered with a bit of a bewildered feeling.

"That's all? You was out there a long time," Jack pointed out.

"That's all." David turned his eyes to the table where Spot and Tay were engaged in conversation. He wasn't exactly sure how to describe the conversation he had just had with Tay. He was left just as puzzled as he had been that night in Brooklyn when he'd watched the two at the river's edge. David realized he hadn't expected anything from their conversation so he wasn't quite sure why he was feeling so confused. Maybe it was just the fact that what Tay said was true, it just didn't make sense.

Author's Note: Second verse, same as the first! OK, I know...why another author's note? I'm not really sure. I did want to go back to a previous chapter that mentioned Little Italy...just wanted to say I took that out of the lyrics for 'Carrying the Banner' where they talk about 'Little Italy is a secret'. Anyway, I know this isn't really focused on Tay and Spot but I wanted to show how they are growing a little. So I hope this chapter is okay :-)

As always, reviews are welcome and appreciated! Enjoy!

P.S. - Sorry this chapter is short...hoping for something longer next time!