Who would have thought that keeping a relationship would be so hard? Kit wondered as she sold her newspapers. The group had been back in Lincoln for almost a month and both Kit and Buddha had come to realize that things were going to have to change when it came to their relationship. First the other person wasn't just across the road and that on top of the fact that they both had jobs that had weird hours cut into their alone time.

Kit sighed as she hoisted up her last 10 papers. On top of the weird hours she was, along with Cray and Josh, a co-leader of the newsies. More often than not she had to settle small fights that broke out among the 6 girls who now sold on a regular basis, along with helping them keep their place among the selling newsies. That didn't include time she spent helping Karen out around the house when she got off. Well at least tonight she and Buddha were going out for dinner, nothing fancy but it would be good to see him and catch up.

Kit sold off the last of her papers and started to head back to the house to clean up. As she walked she hummed to herself until a hand reached out to grab her on her shoulder. "Hey there Kitten." Kit turned to look at who had stopped her. "How bout you and me go out and I'll show you a good time?"

Kit looked from the first guy to the second one, "Let's not and say we did Shoe." Kit finally responded keeping the look of revulsion off her face. Why did the Johansen boys have to show up and ruin her day?

"Now come on kitten you know that you would love to go out with Shoe here." Frost said putting an arm around her shoulder.
"No Frost I don't want to go with Shoe. I have a boyfriend." Kit said shrugging off the offending arm.
"Oh come on Kit why would you want to stay with a boy when you could have a man?" Shoe asked stepping in front of Kit.

"A man? I don't see any men around here Shoe. Now if you'll excuse me I have a date that I don't want to miss." Kit started to move but Frost caught her arm.
"Listen here girlie. You should dump little Buddha and start dating my brother or things might start happening to you and your family if you know what I mean." Frost said his eyes and voice as cold and hard as frost in the winter.

Kit looked a little frightened but didn't hesitate to meet Frost's glare. "I will date who I want to date when I want to date and nothing you can say or do will change that."
"We'll see about that. Tell your little boyfriend to watch his back, might want to pass it along to your cousins too." Frost said squeezing her arm before letting go. Kit rubbed her arm knowing there was going to be a bruise as she watched the two bullies go. She didn't want to let on that she was scared and began walking back to the house without saying anything.

"Kit where have you been?" Karen greeted Kit as she came in the door, "I was going to send Josh out to look for you."
Kit shrugged off the concern, "My papers just took longer than I expected to sell. If Jeremy shows up before I am ready tell him I'll be down quick." Kit explained as she went up the stair to her room to change.

As she pulled off her shirt she glanced at her arm where Frost had grabbed her, "Shoot that is one ugly set of bruises. Good thing my sleeves will cover them." Kit mumbled out loud to her self as she started to get ready. She was finally ready 30 minutes later, her hair done up properly and a smidgen of blush on her lips and cheeks. She grabbed her shawl and purse as she blew out the light in her room and closed the door.

Buddha was waiting in the hallway as Kit came down the stairs. "You look pretty, I am going to be the most envied man in the entire restaurant." He whispered in her ear after giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Kit couldn't help but blushed, she knew she wasn't pretty but if Buddha thought she was that was enough for her. "So where are we going for dinner? Or are you keeping it a big secret?"

"You'll find out when we get there." He smiled at her pout before calling out to the living room, "Don't worry Joel I'll have her home before 10." Joel grunted from behind his paper and the couple were soon on their way to dinner.

As they ate their meal and worked on catching up on each other's lives Kit absentmindedly rubbed her bruised arm. Buddha noticed and looked concerned. "You okay Kit?"
Kit looked up from her spaghetti, "Hmm?"
"You keep rubbing your arm. Did you hurt it or something?"

Kit shrugged her shoulders, "It's nothing. I accidentally ran into someone and bruised it." Without even thinking she lifted the short sleeve of her dress and showed him the bruise.
"Kit that looks like someone grabbed you." Buddha tried to get a better look as Kit quickly pulled down her sleeve.
"It's nothing, I just ran into someone."
"Who did you run into Kit?"

"Just the Johansen boys." Kit tried to play it off like it wasn't a big deal.
"You ran into them and it wasn't a big deal? What did they want?" Buddha's nose flared a bit at the news of who she had met.
"They were just being themselves. And Shoetree asked me out." Kit imperceptibly shivered.

"Well how did you get the bruise." Buddha asked insistently.
"Well Frost grabbed after I had said no and threatened me." Kit kept her voice low, "He said that if I didn't go out with Shoe they would make me date him, to keep you guys safe."

Buddha came to sit next to her, "Are you sure you are okay?"
Kit nodded, "I will be fine, it's you and the guys I am worried about. What if they weren't just talking? What if they will really take you guys out? Maybe it would be better if we broke up." Kit began to babble until Buddha put a finger on her lips.

"Calm down Kit, all of us will be just fine. We don't need to break up because of some bullies. I'll be just fine and so will the rest of the guys. It's getting late, we better get going." Buddha stood up quickly and held on to Kit's chair as she got up.
Kit looked into Buddha's eyes trying to gauge how much he believed his own words. Buddha looked back at her and smiled. "Hey it's me, you can trust me right?"

Kit couldn't contain her grin, and settled on snorting, "Yeah sure I can trust you." Buddha smirked before putting the money for the meal on the table and leading her out into the balmy summer evening. They walked in a comfortable silence hand in hand. So caught up in their thoughts neither noticed the two figures coming out of an alley until it was too late.

"What do we have here?" Shoetree asked grazing a finger along Kit's jaw. Kit wrinkled her nose in response to the smell of cheep liquor rolling off of both men. "Kit, Kit, Kit what did we tell you about hanging out with this riff raff?" Shoetree tried to click his tongue in mock disappointment but only succeeded in making spittle land on Kit's cheek.

She raised a hand to wipe it off glaring at Shoe and moving closer to Buddha. "What do you want Shoe?"
"What I always have wanted. You." Shoe's hand moved from her face to her shoulder as he pulled her away from Buddha. Before either had a chance to react Buddha was being held by Frost and Shoe had covered Kit's mouth with one hand and held her close to his body with the other. "Now pretty girl we are going to have an object lesson. Maybe this time you'll get the message."

They were dragged into the alley that the men had come out of moments earlier and Kit watched in horror as Frost began to trash Buddha. It wasn't a fair fight from the beginning. Frost had roughed Buddha up a bit before they made it to the alley and he was still a bit out of it. Kit watched with tears in her eyes as Buddha finally collapsed, it had to be over now right?

How wrong she was Frost then began to kick and punch the already down man. Finally it was over, Frost stood up with a sick smile marring his almost cute features. "Well little brother seems that the girl is all yours."

"Well you know I like my girls willing. I can wait till she is willing. Don't worry princess he won't die. At least, not yet. Just remember this is only the beginning. Tell that little brother of yours to watch his back." Shoe's smile was almost evil as he let Kit go. Both Shoetree and Frost walked out of the alley leaving Kit and an unconscious Buddha behind.