Summary; Written for the RBLH (RAINBOW BRIDGE LODGING HOUSE; WWW . GEOCITIES . COM / INSTITUEOFGRACE). After a disastrous fire sends Jack & Stress up to Rainbow Bridge, a cocky Canadian tries to put himself between the pair. Will it take whatever's at the end of the rainbow to keep them together? It just might.

Disclaimer; I do not own, nor stake any claim, to any of the original newsboy characters -- they are the property of Disney. The main characters Stress and Riley belong to me. Any other character, when noted, is property of their respective owner. The Rainbow Bridge Lodging House belongs to Dice & Iris.

Originally Posted: 08.01.02 – 08.05.02

Rewritten: 05.08.06

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IV. DISHONESTY

Before any of the other boys in the lodging house had woken up for the day, Riley strolled through the door. "Morning fellas."

"Morning? It's morning already?" Jack mumbled before realizing who it was that was waking him up. His eyes jerked open and he lifted his head from his pillow. "Riley?"

Riley crossed the room and opened the blinds, letting the rising sun fill the bunkroom with light. "That would be me."

"Oh boy..." murmured Race as he ducked his head under his pillow. He wasn't sure if he was hiding from the rising sun or the imminent fight between the two boys.

Jack sat up in his bunk and reached for his shirt. "Riley, it's good to see you. Actually, I'd say it's great to see you. I've been wanting to talk to you. Would you mind heading out with me while I sell some papers this morning?"

Riley's smile grew three times as wide. "That's just what I wanted to hear, Cowboy."

- - -

"Stress, can we talk to you for a minute?" asked Iris as she, Stress and Dice left the distribution center later that morning.

"Sure, no problem, girls. What do you want to talk about?" Stress asked distractedly, anxiously keeping her eyes open in search of Jack. Before falling asleep the night before, she had decided to come clean and tell Jack exactly what had happened between her and Riley. "If he loves me, he'll believe me, right?" she wondered, not paying attention to where she was going.

"Stress?" Dice tapped her on the shoulder, knocking her out off her stupor.

"Huh— what? Did you just say something, Dice?" Stress rubbed her eyes and tried to stay focus.

Dice and Iris exchanged a look before leading Stress down the street. "I just thought we might wanna find a place to talk for a few moments," Dice explained, walking into a nearby park, and setting her stack of papers atop a pile of fallen leaves. She took a seat beside them before gesturing to Iris and Stress to do the same.

"Works for me," agreed Iris as she sank down next to Dice. Stress shrugged and joined the two on the ground.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Stress repeated, brushing her long curls out of her face.

Iris opened her mouth to speak but paused abruptly when she heard a familiar voice discussing the exact subject that she and Dice were trying to bring up.

"So, Riley, let me ask you a question. What do you think of Stress? You know, my girl?" From behind the large oak tree in the middle of the park, the three girls heard Jack's voice clearly.

"What the—" whispered Stress before being hushed by Iris.

Iris held up one finger to her mouth. "I wanna hear this," she hissed. Stress nodded. She did too..

The three of them sat in silence, then, as they listened to an interesting conversation unfold between Jack and Riley.

- - -

After he finished getting dressed and washed up, Jack walked with Riley down to the distribution center. The two of them bought a small stack of papers each and, without a word spoken between them, began to walk towards the park, both thinking that it would be a great place to sell and, of course, have a private discussion.

When they reached the closest park near the center, Jack sat his papers down next to an old oak tree. Taking a deep breath, steadying himself in case he didn't like Riley's answers to his questions, Jack spoke. " So, Riley, let me ask you a question. What do you think of Stress? You know, my girl?"

Riley set his papers down next to Jack's and smiled. "Why do ya ask that, Cowboy?"

"Well, cause, I kinda saw something yesterday that might tell me that you think very highly of her, if ya understand what I'm saying."

Riley pretended to gasp in surprise as he brought his hands up to cover his face in surprise. "Oh no, Cowboy, you didn't see the two of us up in the sickroom yesterday, did you?"

"What?" Jack asked, sticking his hands in his pocket to keep them from wrapping around Riley's skinny neck. "I saw you and her together in the library but I didn't know nothing about you being in the sickroom with her." He was shaking by the time he finished his sentence; it was taking every ounce of self-control he had to keep his composure.

"Never mind then, Cowboy," Riley answered quickly. He took a step away and bent down to pick up his papers before he began to head away from Jack

But Jack wasn't ready for him to go just yet. Drawing his hands from his pockets, he reached for Riley's arm. "I don't think so, pal. I want you to tell me what's going on and now." He pulled on Riley's arm until the two of them were facing each other.

Riley smiled an inner grin. It's working just as well as I thought, he noted, before looking in mock remorse at the shorter boy. "I know that this is going to be hard to hear, but I hope you understand. Ya see, me and Stress are together now. We, uh, sealed it last night while you were out. And man, is she a tiger."

The words echoed around Jack's mind as he listened to the taunts about Stress. "You're a liar," he said in a low voice, squeezing Riley's arm for emphasis.

Riley grinned an insufferable giin. "Oh, am I?"

Jack took one look at the expression on his opponent's face and couldn't control himself any longer. "You ass," he snapped as he swung his fist upwards, meeting Riley right in the eye.

Riley staggered as he took Jack's blow. In his anger Jack had dropped his hold on Riley's arm so he was able to back away. But, oddly enough, he didn't retaliate. At least he didn't retaliate with his fist; instead, Riley used words. "That's alright," he answered, rubbing his eye with his hand. "I expected that to be your reaction. No wonder Stress told me last night that you were too rough with her. Of course, stupid me, I thought she meant in the bedroom. I never would have guessed you would smack a girl around, Cowboy."

Jack flinched as if the words were cutting deeper than any knife would. Is that what Stress is telling people?

Riley took that moment to throw one more insult Jack's way. "Well, Cowboy, I'd love to stay and chat with you, but Stress is probably getting lonely without me."

Jack stared in horror as he watched Riley strut away as if he had the entire world in his pocket. He does, Jack murmured, picking up his papers and preparing to head back to the lodging house. Or at least, he has my world in his pocket. Or better yet, his pants.

- - -

"Stress, are you alright?" whispered Dice as she gently shook Stress' shoulder. It had been a good ten minutes since they had overheard Jack and Riley's conversation and Stress had yet to utter one word.

"I…I…I…." she began, stuttering uncontrollably, the severity of her anger keeping her from speaking straight. "I mean, what the hell just happened here?"

Iris shook her head, her brown braids swinging from side to side. "I dunno, Stress. But it sounded like—"

"I know exactly what it sounded like, Iris. It sounded like Riley just told Jack about a whole lot of stuff." Stress dropped her head into her hands and groaned. "Why me?"

"Uhh? Question? You didn't actually do any of that stuff that Riley said, right?" Dice asked, uncertainly.

"Of course not. I love Jack and I would never do nothing like that behind his back," she cried through her hands. "Especially not with a creep like Riley."

"Well, you better tell Jack that before he gets the wrong idea," stated Iris.

Stress slowly brought herself to her feet. "You know what, girls. I think you've got the right idea. After listening to Riley's lies, he's gonna wanna hear the truth." Stress handed her papers to Iris. "Here, you two can split my papes. I'm gonna go back to the lodging house to find Jack."

Dice and Iris watched as Stress quickly made her way out of the park. "I just hope that Jack listens to what she has to say," muttered Iris.

Dice nodded. "Yeah. I mean, after all that jazz that Riley told him, I wouldn't be surprised if Jack just plum ignored her."