"I do." Kit felt her stomach drop to her knees and the color drain out of
her face. She slowly turned around balancing the sleeping Lacy on her hip.
"Hello Josh, how have been?"
"Hello Ami, I have been good, how about you?" Josh asked looking her in the eye.
"Pretty good." She felt her face flushing.
"That is good, so when did you get back in?"
"Wes rolled in a couple o' hours ago." Ami sagged in relief as Spot's arm went around her shoulder. "Hey Ise Spot Conlon Kit's boyfriend and youse?"
"Josh Olson." Josh held out his hand and Spot shook it.
"So how do youse know Kit?"
"We grew up together, and she dated my brother. Well it was nice to meet you but I have work in the morning. It was nice to see you Ami, glad you got back safe." Josh smiled at her then went down the hall to his old room.
"So was he the one youse scared to see?" Spot took Lacy from Kit as they walked toward Caroline's room.
"He was one of them. The other one is his brother."
"The one youse dated?"
Kit wearily nodded, too tired to even talk anymore. Spot noticed that she was practically dragging herself down the hallway. "Hey Ise gonna put Lacy to bed, why don't youse get youse self to bed."
Kit smiled, "That is so sweet but you have never tried to undress a sleeping kid. I'll help then maybe I'll just curl up next to her."
Spot tried to protest but Kit had already gone into the bedroom where the other two girls were already sleeping soundly. She had been right, it had taken the two of them working together to get Lacy undressed and into the clean shirt that Karen had put down on the bed. After tucking the small girl in Spot lead Kit out of the room and down the hall to the room that Karen had pointed out as the girl's room.
They stopped out side the door and Spot held on to her arm, preventing her from going in. "Spot I am really tired and I need to get to sleep before Tack starts talking." She looked up at him wearily.
Spot clearly uncomfortable about something nervously cleared his throat. "Ise just wanted to wish youse good night and sleep dreams. Get a good nights sleep Ami."
Kit sighed but smiled at his use of her real name and gave him a peck on the lips. "You know, sometimes your face shows all your emotions. Pleasant dreams Robert." She slipped into her room before Spot could even react. Spot ended up staring at the door for a second before shaking his head and heading to the room he was sharing with Cray and Swan. He pulled off his shirt, shoes and socks to the harmony of Cray and Swan's snoring. They had left a pillow and a blanket out for him to spread on the floor, as Cray was sleeping on the only bed in the room and Swan had claimed the chair. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep and soon he added his own soft snores to the concert in the room.
Spot was woken up the next morning by three cautious voices.
"Ise don't think wes should wake them Bait. Spot might yell at us." Spot heard a bit of fear in Jolly's voice and had to fight to keep from opening his eyes to see what the kids were up to.
"Don't be such a big scardy cat Jolly." Lacy said quickly. Spot barely opened his eyes and was surprised by the number of children in the room. Not only were Bait, Jolly and Lacy there but Lacy was carrying a one year old child in her arms and Two Bit and another girl about 2 were also standing there.
"Yeah Jolly Ise hungry and who else can wes wake up?" Bait spoke shaking off the other little girl's hand from his arm.
"Well Ise don't know, wes could try Carrie's ma or pop. Theys live here." Jolly pointed out, but neither Bait nor Lacy saw his logic.
"But we don't know Carrie's mama or papa. We only know Cray an' Swan an' Spot an' Jessie an' Mills an' Kit. An' we don't know where Jessie is sleeping." Lacy refuted with logic of her own. "Come on I am hungry and this baby is getting heavy."
But it was Two-Bit who decided it for them, she went over to the chair and climbed up into Swan's lap. "I HUNGRY SWAN." That woke Swan up very quickly and Spot had to sit up and catch Two Bit as she fell off Swan's lap as he stood up.
Swan was looking around frantically trying to recover his hearing "I'm up, I'm up. What's going on here?"
Two-Bit's yelling had scared the baby who was now wailing in Lacy's arms. Cray, who had also been awakened, went over and took the baby from the small girl and sat down on the edge of the bed to try to soothe him. A very feminine set of giggles brought the older guys attention to the door. There stood Kit, Mills and Tack dressed only in their nightdresses laughing at the spectacle the three almost grown guys and six children made. Behind them stood two guys and three girls somewhere between the twins and Tack in age Spot recognized as Josh and another three looked a bit like Kit and the last girl looked very out of place.
Spot saw the hilarity of the situation from the beginning and was soon laughing. Cray joined him after seeing the angry look on Swan's face of being woken up. "Swan you should see your face." Was all he could choke out before being over come with laughter.
Swan tried not to laugh but soon even he couldn't help it. Kit gained control of her laughter first and after tightening the belt of her robe began ushering the children out of the room. "You guys have 20 minutes to get downstairs if you want to eat. Karen and Joel have already gone for the day and if you think that Ise cooking breakfast of 17 people without some help youse got another thing coming." Spot hid a grin as a New York accent came out, which was a good think because Kit looked ready to kill someone. "Ally, Heather Celeste get some robes on and you can come down to help keep the kids in line, Mills and Tack you are going to help me make breakfast. Boys, don't think I won't feed you cause I won't." Kit tried to look stern but failed miserably. She hugged the taller of the two guys on her way out, "Introduce your self Brat."
He gave her a kiss on the forehead before going into the room. Josh went back to his room and came back with a shirt for him and a spare. "Here Wil don't think your sister wants you down there with out a shirt on."
Wil took the shirt and slipped it on over his head. "Thanks Josh." He then turned to the other occupants of the room. "So Craig you actually were able to bring her back with you? I am surprised." He spoke as he shook hands with Swan then Cray.
"Yeah it took just a bit of persuasion." Swan spoke as he pulled on a clean sock.
"And youse kidnapping her." Spot mumbled not quite under his breath.
"We didn't kidnap her Spot, just showed her that coming along would be better for her." Cray turned to the Brooklynite.
"Youse kidnapped her pure and simple. But it ain't a big deal youse didn't get too far." Spot smirked as he turned to the other two in the room. "Since these two seem to have forgotten their manners, Ise Spot Conlon."
"Wil Oberg. I'm Ami's brother." Spot spit into his hand and held it out. Wil did the same after a second. "And this is Josh Olson, he and Ami used to be friends when they were kids."
"Wes met last night, morning Josh." Spot and Josh shook hands again. "Nice to meet a real brother of Kit's." He spoke looking pointedly at Cray.
"Real brother?" Wil looked a bit confused.
"Yeah when Kit, Swan and Cray came rolling into New Yawk she and Cray claimed to be siblings. But it's all been straightened out ain't it guys." Both Cray and Swan nodded.
"So Crale who were the other two young ladies that you have brought into the nut house? And come to think about it there are about 4 more ankle bitters than usual too." Wil sat down on the chair trying to figure out who everyone was.
Cray took a seat on the bed leaning on the headboard, while the other 3 guys made themselves comfortable on the floor. "Don't get any ideas about those girls boy. The one with the black hair is my fiancée Kaitlyn. The brunette is Jessie, we've been calling her Tack though. The two little girls are Tack's sisters, Becca and Rachel, but they now only answer to Two- Bit and Lacy. Now the boys, they belong to Spot. Bait and Jolly Conlon. Right Spot?"
"They ain't my kids Cray, but since they are my sister's kids Ise guess Conlon works for the. But they've gone by Bait and Jolly so long that the last name don't matter much." Spot said with a wave of his hand. "Oh and don't call Kaitlyn that less youse want a black eye. Only Cray can get away with that, call her Mills."
Wil and Josh both nodded their heads, totally lost. "What kind of names are Bait, Jolly, Tack or Mills?" Josh finally asked.
"Newsie names." Spot said simply.
"You were all newsies?" Wil looked almost scandlized.
"Yeah, Mills lives in Manhattan, and the rest of us live and sell in Brooklyn." He saw the other two looking totally confused, "Manhattan and Brooklyn are parts of New Yawk City. Wes live in different parts of the city across the Bridge from each other. Ise the leader of Brooklyn; Bait, Jolly, Tack, her sisters, and Kit are all part of my newsies there. Mills, Cray and Swan are some of Jack Kelly's newsies."
"Why is Ami one of your newsies and Crale and Craig under some other guy?" Wil looked at Spot suspiciously.
"First cause Kelly kicked Kit out of Manhattan. Second cause Cray got a steady job working on that side of the Bridge. Third cause Ise didn't really like Swan all that much till after wes got stuck on the train together, still don't like him all that much."
Before Swan and Spot could begin to fight Cray cut it off, "Hey hate to break this up but it smells like breakfast is ready."
The guys smelled the air, catching the scent of coffee, pancakes and bacon all mixed into a very tantalizing smell. No one had to say anything as the five occupants of the room were up and out of the room in a flash clamoring down the stairs to stake a claim at the table.
A/N: Can you taste the tension in the room between Spot and the guys? Well I can't have everything all hunkie dorie because they are home. I need just a bit more conflict to end this story with. *evil grin* Well hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll probably won't be putting any more chapters up for a while. I have a paper, two exams and a presentation, all in one class due before the end of the month, but then I'll have 4 full days all to myself before the official start of the semester. Don't you just love college?? Well don't forget to review. Thanks Tiger and Kora for reviewing so faithfully. Quick question. For any and all that read. I am thinking of putting an old fashioned fight in between Spot and one of the other 5 guys in Kit's life. Who should it be? Cray, Swan, Wil (her brother) Josh (old friend) or Jeremy (her ex boyfriend)? Or should it be Spot and Kit? Well tell me in your review. Off to do actual homework. *waves good-bye*
"Hello Josh, how have been?"
"Hello Ami, I have been good, how about you?" Josh asked looking her in the eye.
"Pretty good." She felt her face flushing.
"That is good, so when did you get back in?"
"Wes rolled in a couple o' hours ago." Ami sagged in relief as Spot's arm went around her shoulder. "Hey Ise Spot Conlon Kit's boyfriend and youse?"
"Josh Olson." Josh held out his hand and Spot shook it.
"So how do youse know Kit?"
"We grew up together, and she dated my brother. Well it was nice to meet you but I have work in the morning. It was nice to see you Ami, glad you got back safe." Josh smiled at her then went down the hall to his old room.
"So was he the one youse scared to see?" Spot took Lacy from Kit as they walked toward Caroline's room.
"He was one of them. The other one is his brother."
"The one youse dated?"
Kit wearily nodded, too tired to even talk anymore. Spot noticed that she was practically dragging herself down the hallway. "Hey Ise gonna put Lacy to bed, why don't youse get youse self to bed."
Kit smiled, "That is so sweet but you have never tried to undress a sleeping kid. I'll help then maybe I'll just curl up next to her."
Spot tried to protest but Kit had already gone into the bedroom where the other two girls were already sleeping soundly. She had been right, it had taken the two of them working together to get Lacy undressed and into the clean shirt that Karen had put down on the bed. After tucking the small girl in Spot lead Kit out of the room and down the hall to the room that Karen had pointed out as the girl's room.
They stopped out side the door and Spot held on to her arm, preventing her from going in. "Spot I am really tired and I need to get to sleep before Tack starts talking." She looked up at him wearily.
Spot clearly uncomfortable about something nervously cleared his throat. "Ise just wanted to wish youse good night and sleep dreams. Get a good nights sleep Ami."
Kit sighed but smiled at his use of her real name and gave him a peck on the lips. "You know, sometimes your face shows all your emotions. Pleasant dreams Robert." She slipped into her room before Spot could even react. Spot ended up staring at the door for a second before shaking his head and heading to the room he was sharing with Cray and Swan. He pulled off his shirt, shoes and socks to the harmony of Cray and Swan's snoring. They had left a pillow and a blanket out for him to spread on the floor, as Cray was sleeping on the only bed in the room and Swan had claimed the chair. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep and soon he added his own soft snores to the concert in the room.
Spot was woken up the next morning by three cautious voices.
"Ise don't think wes should wake them Bait. Spot might yell at us." Spot heard a bit of fear in Jolly's voice and had to fight to keep from opening his eyes to see what the kids were up to.
"Don't be such a big scardy cat Jolly." Lacy said quickly. Spot barely opened his eyes and was surprised by the number of children in the room. Not only were Bait, Jolly and Lacy there but Lacy was carrying a one year old child in her arms and Two Bit and another girl about 2 were also standing there.
"Yeah Jolly Ise hungry and who else can wes wake up?" Bait spoke shaking off the other little girl's hand from his arm.
"Well Ise don't know, wes could try Carrie's ma or pop. Theys live here." Jolly pointed out, but neither Bait nor Lacy saw his logic.
"But we don't know Carrie's mama or papa. We only know Cray an' Swan an' Spot an' Jessie an' Mills an' Kit. An' we don't know where Jessie is sleeping." Lacy refuted with logic of her own. "Come on I am hungry and this baby is getting heavy."
But it was Two-Bit who decided it for them, she went over to the chair and climbed up into Swan's lap. "I HUNGRY SWAN." That woke Swan up very quickly and Spot had to sit up and catch Two Bit as she fell off Swan's lap as he stood up.
Swan was looking around frantically trying to recover his hearing "I'm up, I'm up. What's going on here?"
Two-Bit's yelling had scared the baby who was now wailing in Lacy's arms. Cray, who had also been awakened, went over and took the baby from the small girl and sat down on the edge of the bed to try to soothe him. A very feminine set of giggles brought the older guys attention to the door. There stood Kit, Mills and Tack dressed only in their nightdresses laughing at the spectacle the three almost grown guys and six children made. Behind them stood two guys and three girls somewhere between the twins and Tack in age Spot recognized as Josh and another three looked a bit like Kit and the last girl looked very out of place.
Spot saw the hilarity of the situation from the beginning and was soon laughing. Cray joined him after seeing the angry look on Swan's face of being woken up. "Swan you should see your face." Was all he could choke out before being over come with laughter.
Swan tried not to laugh but soon even he couldn't help it. Kit gained control of her laughter first and after tightening the belt of her robe began ushering the children out of the room. "You guys have 20 minutes to get downstairs if you want to eat. Karen and Joel have already gone for the day and if you think that Ise cooking breakfast of 17 people without some help youse got another thing coming." Spot hid a grin as a New York accent came out, which was a good think because Kit looked ready to kill someone. "Ally, Heather Celeste get some robes on and you can come down to help keep the kids in line, Mills and Tack you are going to help me make breakfast. Boys, don't think I won't feed you cause I won't." Kit tried to look stern but failed miserably. She hugged the taller of the two guys on her way out, "Introduce your self Brat."
He gave her a kiss on the forehead before going into the room. Josh went back to his room and came back with a shirt for him and a spare. "Here Wil don't think your sister wants you down there with out a shirt on."
Wil took the shirt and slipped it on over his head. "Thanks Josh." He then turned to the other occupants of the room. "So Craig you actually were able to bring her back with you? I am surprised." He spoke as he shook hands with Swan then Cray.
"Yeah it took just a bit of persuasion." Swan spoke as he pulled on a clean sock.
"And youse kidnapping her." Spot mumbled not quite under his breath.
"We didn't kidnap her Spot, just showed her that coming along would be better for her." Cray turned to the Brooklynite.
"Youse kidnapped her pure and simple. But it ain't a big deal youse didn't get too far." Spot smirked as he turned to the other two in the room. "Since these two seem to have forgotten their manners, Ise Spot Conlon."
"Wil Oberg. I'm Ami's brother." Spot spit into his hand and held it out. Wil did the same after a second. "And this is Josh Olson, he and Ami used to be friends when they were kids."
"Wes met last night, morning Josh." Spot and Josh shook hands again. "Nice to meet a real brother of Kit's." He spoke looking pointedly at Cray.
"Real brother?" Wil looked a bit confused.
"Yeah when Kit, Swan and Cray came rolling into New Yawk she and Cray claimed to be siblings. But it's all been straightened out ain't it guys." Both Cray and Swan nodded.
"So Crale who were the other two young ladies that you have brought into the nut house? And come to think about it there are about 4 more ankle bitters than usual too." Wil sat down on the chair trying to figure out who everyone was.
Cray took a seat on the bed leaning on the headboard, while the other 3 guys made themselves comfortable on the floor. "Don't get any ideas about those girls boy. The one with the black hair is my fiancée Kaitlyn. The brunette is Jessie, we've been calling her Tack though. The two little girls are Tack's sisters, Becca and Rachel, but they now only answer to Two- Bit and Lacy. Now the boys, they belong to Spot. Bait and Jolly Conlon. Right Spot?"
"They ain't my kids Cray, but since they are my sister's kids Ise guess Conlon works for the. But they've gone by Bait and Jolly so long that the last name don't matter much." Spot said with a wave of his hand. "Oh and don't call Kaitlyn that less youse want a black eye. Only Cray can get away with that, call her Mills."
Wil and Josh both nodded their heads, totally lost. "What kind of names are Bait, Jolly, Tack or Mills?" Josh finally asked.
"Newsie names." Spot said simply.
"You were all newsies?" Wil looked almost scandlized.
"Yeah, Mills lives in Manhattan, and the rest of us live and sell in Brooklyn." He saw the other two looking totally confused, "Manhattan and Brooklyn are parts of New Yawk City. Wes live in different parts of the city across the Bridge from each other. Ise the leader of Brooklyn; Bait, Jolly, Tack, her sisters, and Kit are all part of my newsies there. Mills, Cray and Swan are some of Jack Kelly's newsies."
"Why is Ami one of your newsies and Crale and Craig under some other guy?" Wil looked at Spot suspiciously.
"First cause Kelly kicked Kit out of Manhattan. Second cause Cray got a steady job working on that side of the Bridge. Third cause Ise didn't really like Swan all that much till after wes got stuck on the train together, still don't like him all that much."
Before Swan and Spot could begin to fight Cray cut it off, "Hey hate to break this up but it smells like breakfast is ready."
The guys smelled the air, catching the scent of coffee, pancakes and bacon all mixed into a very tantalizing smell. No one had to say anything as the five occupants of the room were up and out of the room in a flash clamoring down the stairs to stake a claim at the table.
A/N: Can you taste the tension in the room between Spot and the guys? Well I can't have everything all hunkie dorie because they are home. I need just a bit more conflict to end this story with. *evil grin* Well hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll probably won't be putting any more chapters up for a while. I have a paper, two exams and a presentation, all in one class due before the end of the month, but then I'll have 4 full days all to myself before the official start of the semester. Don't you just love college?? Well don't forget to review. Thanks Tiger and Kora for reviewing so faithfully. Quick question. For any and all that read. I am thinking of putting an old fashioned fight in between Spot and one of the other 5 guys in Kit's life. Who should it be? Cray, Swan, Wil (her brother) Josh (old friend) or Jeremy (her ex boyfriend)? Or should it be Spot and Kit? Well tell me in your review. Off to do actual homework. *waves good-bye*