Chapter 6:

Rae sat at the table staring at her plate of food.  Three days.  Three miserable days. Three long days since she and Spot had exchanged words.  She was beginning to regret what she said, even if she had been right.

Besides, she hadn't meant to offend him. She was trying to tell him that his face didn't matter. And... yes, she was tired of hearing him complain about it, because she had long since saw past it. It was his fault for blowing it out of proportion... Though she supposed she could have had a more tactful way of saying it.

With a heavy sigh, she poked her fork at the potatoes steeped in congealing gravy. After picking at her food for a few more minutes she stood and carried her plate to the kitchen, having lost all appetite

Already, Julie was in the kitchen, cleaning up. "Thank you so much for your help," Rae wearily said to her.

Julie looked at her plate, "Did you eat any of that, or just push it around on your plate?"

"I tried to eat it," she supplied helpfully.

Julie shook her head, but said nothing.

With a frown, she began to help Julie straighten up, scrubbing down the little stove and the countertops with more vigor than necessary.

Julie took the rag from her hands. "Go check on Sam, teach Kendra to walk or play with the twins.  Anything, but try to help me clean the kitchen."

She gave a small, wary smile. "I'm sorry... I'm just so... frustrated... I guess would be the word."

"Your frustration is getting on my nerves."

She frowned. "It can't be helped. Spot won't talk civilly to me. You'd be frustrated too."

"Have you tried telling him that you're sorry?"

"Well.... Even if I tried, he wouldn't listen. He's a stubborn old mule."

"So are you," Julie pointed out.

"That's beside the point," she muttered.

"No it's not.  I don't know what you two are fighting about, but neither of you are willing to admit that you might be wrong."

"No... the problem is he COMPLETELY misinterpreted what I said to him!"

"Have you even thought about the fact that you could have worded what you said a little bit differently?" Julie sighed. "I'm starting to sound like my aunt."

Rae sighed miserably. "I don't know...."

"Just go think about it while you put the twins to bed. It's getting late," she said, shooing Rae from the kitchen.

With a sigh, she nodded absently and went to put the children to bed.

Later that night Spot crept up the stairs and stood in the doorway of the room he had shared with Rae up until their argument a few days earlier, watching her sleep. He leaned against the door and let his gaze drift around the room before settling on her again, as she tossed fitfully for a moment before burrowing deep under the covers.

He had come out of the study in search of something to eat earlier and had heard the conversation between Rae and Julie.  Julie's words weighed heavy on his mind. Perhaps Julie had been right. He knew that he and Rae were stubborn. Perhaps it was time they settled their stubbornness.... He crept closer and knelt beside the bed.

Again, she shifted, as if, in her sleep, she knew he was watching.

Maybe he had misunderstood what she had been trying to say, maybe he hadn't, but he did know that he missed her greatly. And maybe... she missed him too? He reached toward her and hesitated slightly, before brushing the hair from her face.

She scrunched up her face and shifted a bit, but didn't wake up. After watching her for another moment, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. Again, she scrunched up her face, but this time she opened her eyes and murmured a drowsy "What?"

"We need to talk," he whispered.

She was still half asleep. "Huh? Whazza.... Spot?" She stifled a yawn and struggled to sit up- not an easy feat being as drowsy as she was.

He helped her sit up and placed another pillow behind her back.

"What's going on?" she stifled a yawn. It still hadn't clicked that Spot was talking to her again.

"What did you mean the other day when you told me to stop complaining about my stupid face?"

With another yawn, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "I was just tired of you complaining about how you thought you were some monster because of a couple scars... and I was upset that you couldn't accept the fact that I love you, scars and all."

He reached up and gently cradled her face with his hand. "I should have given you a chance to explain the other day."

She took his hand and held onto it. "Well... Perhaps saying stupid face wasn't the best way to put it..." she admitted.

"I've missed you," he whispered, taking her other hand and kissing it.

With a wavering smile, she touched the side of his face. "I've missed you too... you stubborn mule, you."

"No more stubborn than you," he whispered, kissing her.

She smiled. "No, I suppose not," she replied quietly, kissing him back.

"Move over," he said, kicking his shoes off.

With a soft laugh, she scooted over. "Not comfortable sleeping in the study?"

"I sleep better with you by my side."

With a smile, Rae snuggled close to him. "I love you, Spot."

"I love you too, sweetheart," he said, kissing her.

* * *

The thugs led Chris and Molly through a more unpleasant side of town. 'What sort of duchess would live in such dreary conditions?' Molly wondered.

They led them into a large warehouse and to one corner of the room where it appeared that a petite blond had set up court, a girl about Julie's age sitting at her feet.

"So uh... where's this Duchess?" Chris finally asked, trying to wriggle away from his greasy captors.

"You're lookin' at her," he scowled.

"What is going on here?" the blond demanded, rising to her feet.

"Found these two spies prowlin' around." The men shoved Molly and Chris at her feet.

"They'se newsies," one of the men said.

"We aren't newsies!" Chris retorted angrily.

The girl pointed to the rolled up paper sticking out of Molly's skirt. "Then what do ya call that?"

"We're just staying with some newsies right now.  Actually, we were going to be leaving town again shortly to go back and live with Spot and Rae again..." he lied

"Spot Conlon eh?" She gave a small sneer. And that's supposed to make me say okay and let you go?"

"Umm....yeah."

She gave a short laugh, and suddenly became stern. "No."

"Why not?" Molly asked.

"If I let the two of you go... companions of Spot Conlon, what do you think that would do to my reputation?"

"I'm confused," Chris muttered.

"I let you go, I will lose part of the reputation I've tried so hard to gain. Especially if I let you go to Spot. I'm going to be better than him, you see?" she explained. "I wish to be more feared than Spot Conlon hisself." She smirked. "And who will fear me if they think I've gone soft on two of his birds?"

"We aren't his birds. In case you haven't heard, he's moved clear across the state."

"Across the state or not, he still has a sort of reigning memory over New York. Everyone knows who Spot Conlon is. Everyone fears him. And I will not rest until it is ME they are afraid of!" she insisted, slamming her fist on her rickety desk with some sort of defiance.

"What are you going to do to us?" Molly asked.

"Well, considering I hadn't expected your arrival, I'll have to think about it." She drummed her fingers on the desk for a moment. "Take them upstairs and tie them up."

"Tie...?" Molly croaked as the men hauled her and Chris up the stairs. Once upstairs one of the men threw Molly to the floor, causing her to land awkwardly on her shoulder.

"Ow!" she yelped.

"Hey!" Chris yelled. "Can't you be a little nicer to her?!"

Carney backhanded the boy. "Shut up."

He glared at the man with the corner of his mouth bleeding a slight bit. "I'd like to see you make me."

He pulled a filthy cloth from his pocket and stuffed it in Chris' mouth.

"Well, that was effective," Molly murmured. He gave her a dirty look. "Sorry, sorry."

As soon as the ropes were tight around their wrists the men left.

"A fine mess we got ourselves into," she commented.

Chris replied with a series of muffled grunts.

"Lean down and maybe I can get that thing untied."

Chris did as told.

After several minutes of work, Molly was finally able to unknot the filthy cloth. "My fingers hurt," she whispered.

"They're bleeding a little," Chris replied.

She looked at them and frowned. "You know... I thought coming here would be nice... I could spend time with my brother and sister... I didn't expect to be kidnapped by a group of thugs and held hostage by their crazy ... leader, who, for some reason, hates Spot..."

"I'm suddenly wishing I could go back to Pleasant Valley and forget this whole nightmare even happened."

She looked at him. "Kinda makes you think that maybe Spot wasn't so bad after all."

"I guess not."

She shifted her weight a bit. "Maybe we can reason with that girl in the morning... Surely she'll understand we're just two kids who want to get home and be safe... I'm still hungry.... You don't think she'll hurt us, do you?"

"I sure hope not. I guess we'll know for sure if they feed us."

She frowned. "I hope they do."

"I wonder what you're brother is thinking about now?"

"He's probably worried out of his mind..."

"Do you think he'll figure out to look for us here?"

"I don't know... I didn't even know anything about this until just now..." She shrugged. "He may know more than he told me... I don't know..."

"Are you about to cry?"

"Maybe..."

"Here," he said, handing her the filthy rag.

She took it between her bound hands and awkwardly dabbed her face. "Thanks."

"Just trying to keep you from crying all over me."

She made a face at him. "You're real kind..."

"I try."

She rolled her eyes.

He leaned back against the wall. "May as well get comfortable...I'm thinking we are going to be here for a long time."

"I think you might be right..." she agreed with a frown.

Julie sat up suddenly in her bed.  Something was wrong, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Climbing out of bed, she checked Ann. The little girl was sound asleep. Maybe Andy? Turning to the other side of the room, where Ann's brother slept for the time being, she saw that he too was fine. Perhaps it was Kendra or Sam?... Maybe Spot or Rae? She stepped out of her room and paused near their door. Not a sound... What was it then?

With a sigh she headed downstairs to the kitchen. Maybe a glass of warm milk would help her go back to sleep. She pulled out a pan and some milk, set the pan on the stove, filled it with milk, and began to warm it up. Maybe she was just getting paranoid...

Spot stumbled sleepily into the room. "Julie? What are you doing up?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep... Something was bothering me... but I don't know what..."

"Got enough for two," he asked, nodding toward the pot.

She poured a little more milk into the pan. "Now I do..." She glanced at him. "Have you and Rae made up?"

He nodded, "A couple of hours ago," he said, digging in the cabinets.  "Where does Rae keep the chocolate?"

"The cabinet to your left. Second shelf."

"Thanks. Want to add some to your milk?"

After a moment, she nodded. "Sure... warm milk doesn't taste so great by itself anyway."

He stirred some chocolate flakes into the milk.  "Want to talk about it?" he asked, pulling two cups from the cabinet.

She shrugged. "I would... if I really had anything to talk about... I  mean... I just... felt... something happened. Maybe it was just from a dream..."

"Could it be your father? Or Chris?"

After a long pause, she nodded. "It could be... I think it's Chris, now that you mention it..."

He nodded thoughtfully.

She stirred the hot chocolate slowly. "When is he going to come back?"

"That's up to him, Julie.  When he proves to me that he can be responsible, I'll let him come back."

"But how will you know, all the way out here?"

"I sent a letter to Blank and told him to keep me informed."

Slowly, she nodded. Pulling the saucepan off the stove, she took two cups and filled them with the hot chocolate.

"Let's take these to the living room.  The couch will be more comfortable than these chairs."

Holding the cup in both hands, she followed him. "I miss him... even if he was a pain in the butt..."

Spot sat on one end of the couch. "Was Chris close to your father?"

She nodded a bit. "We both were... but perhaps he was a little more than I was..."

"I'm trying to understand him, but I'm not having much luck."

Julie shrugged a bit. "He gets this way every now and then, since we last saw our father... Not usually this bad... but I have seen him sort of behave... absent-mindedly every now and then."

"Everyone slips up once in a while, but his irresponsibility was getting out of hand."

She nodded. "Yes... even for Chris, it was bad."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Spot spoke again. "Julie, do you think you could watch all the kids for me for a couple of hours tomorrow?"

After a pause, she nodded. "Are you and Rae going out?"

"I want to take her down to the little cabin for a while.  But I want to surprise her, so don't say anything."

Julie smiled faintly and nodded. "All right."

He leaned his head against the back of the couch. "It's hard to believe that it's almost been a year since that shipwreck."

"A year?" Julie looked up and sighed. "I actually forgot about that...." She laughed. "Amazing, how I'd forget..."

"Kendra will be one in another month or so."

She whistled low. "And Chris and I will have lived with you a year... it seems almost like we always have lived here..."

"Rae and I have been here just over a year, but like you, it seems like forever."

"How long have you and Rae known each other?"

"Forever.....I think were met when we were eight or nine..."

"Wow... That's a long time!"

"It wasn't until three or four years ago that we got along."

She grinned. "Well, I'll say that I thought so... just by the way you two act sometimes..."

"We both almost got thrown into the House of Refuge the day we met."

"The what?"

"It's a jail...for kids."

She tilted her head to the side. "You two were almost thrown in jail??"

"It was all her fault," he said with a smirk.

With a laugh, Julie said, "And I'll bet she'll say the exact opposite?"

"Of course."

She grinned. "What happened?"

Young Spot Conlon walked down the streets of Brooklyn trying his hardest to yell out the headlines over the din of the noon day crowd.  He had to sell all of his papers, or he wouldn't have anything to eat tonight and he'd be stuck sleeping in an alley.  That's what two weeks of bad headlines had done to his meager savings.

His voice was already getting scratchy, and he hadn't even sold half of his papers yet. And it was hot. And it was sticky. And he was starving.

The next thing he knew he was on the ground, his papers getting trampled into the dirt by the passing crowd.

He moved to get up, but the person who had obviously knocked him over, shoved him back down as she used him to get back up on her own feet. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Watch it yourself, shorty.  You got in my way." She snapped at him.

"You shoulda watched where you were going! And who are you calling shorty?! You're shorter than me!"

"I was running from a very angry baker and his very angry wife...I didn't have time to look where I was going," she yelled, pushing her long tangled hair out of her face.

"Well take the time to look next time, why don'cha?! Ya just made me lose my entire day's pay!"

She pushed him. "You just made me loose my breakfast!" she yelled pointing to where a small dog was now eating the sweet roll that she had dropped. "I hadn't eaten in two days!"

"I hadn't eaten in four!" Well, that was a lie... more like three, but who was counting?

"Oh blah...at least you have a job, unlike some people," she said, dusting off her clothes.

"Then why don't you get one, eh?"

"I tried that...but that stupid man down at the distribution center said that selling newspapers wasn't a job for little girls. No one wants to hire girls, 'cept the sweatshops and I ain't about to go there."

"Then that's YOUR fault, ain't it?" Spot said smugly, as he walked off.

"There she IS! STOP THEIF!"

"Fudge," she muttered, shoving Spot out of her way as she ran away from the baker, the baker's wife and three very round bulls.

He sneered after her and then snickered at the people chasing her. Seeing that now smushed sweet roll on the ground made him hungrier than ever. Perhaps he had enough for a small bite to eat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out six pennies. "... Wait a minute. I had eight!"

With a growl he took off after the girl.  She may be able to get away from the bulls, but she'd never get away from him. No one stole from Spot Conlon and got away with it.

It wasn't too hard to track where the girl had headed, as her pursuers had made a nice line after her, according to who was faster. Obviously, the girl won out.

Her pursuers stopped on the docks, confused. The girl had disappeared. After a moment they walked away and a little head peeked up over the edge. The girl breathed a sigh of relief until a hand clapped on her shoulder from behind. "Gotcha!"

"Let me go, ya muttonhead!" She yelled, squirming and trying to get away from her captor.

"Gimme back the money you stole from me!"

"I didn't steal your money!"

"I had eight pennies before you ran into me and now I only have six! So give it back!"

She spun around and punched him hard in the stomach. "I didn't take your stupid money."

Spot doubled over, choking. "You" cough "did so!"

She stuck her hands in her pockets and pulled out nothing but some lint. "See! Nothing!"

He pushed her back. "What about your shoes? Or socks? Ya know, girls got lots of places to hide things."

She took off her ratty shoes and socks. "Happy?"

"No... 'Cause I still think you took them!"

"I'd love to stay and chat, but if you don't mind, I'm going to try to steal me some more breakfast since you ruined my first one."

"See! You are a thief!" He grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

She punched him again. "Don't touch me."

He shoved her back. "Nobody hits Spot Conlon!"

"Who do you think you are? The King of Brooklyn?" she snickered.

He gave her a once over. "As much as you are the pauper of it!"

"I enjoy my life, thank you very much. And if you will let go of my arm, I'll be on my way."

"I don't think so. Give me my money!"

She threw up her hands and growled. "How many times do I have to tell you? I don't have your stupid pennies. I go for the bigger coins."

"Yeah, I'd believe that except you said you didn't eat for days, and a penny will buy ya a little something. Two will buy ya a little something more."

"And a nickel buys a whole lot more."

"And that's supposed to mean to me...?"

"If you let me go I can go steal myself a nickel or two and get some food!"

"Oh, so you're gonna rob another newsie now?!"

"I don't rob newsies! Only the hoity-toitys."

He narrowed his eyes and gave her a hard glare. "Oh. That so, eh?"

"Will you just leave me alone? I was doing just fine without you in my life."

Shoving her one last time, he glared at her. "I catch you stealing from me again, you'll be sorry."

"You cause me to lose my breakfast and again and YOU'LL be sorry."

"Oh yeah? You think you can threaten me... .... ... who are you?"

"Rae Kelly of course," she replied saucily, before running from the docks.

"Kelly... I didn't know Jack had a sister...?"

She stopped and turned around. "Don't know any Jack...and I'm an only child...my parents left me out here a few years back...."

"That so, eh?"

"Don't start that again."

"Start what?" he asked smugly.

"Next thing you'll be telling me that I'm not a throw away and that I have a brother."

"What makes you think I'm wrong? I could very well be right, ya know."

Rae threw her hands up in the air and looked up at the sky as if to ask 'Why me?'

Spot smirked, leaning against the crates on the dock.

"See you around, shorty," Rae said, walking away once again.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' SHORT?!" he roared defensively. He was eight years old for goodness sake! He still had room to grow, or so he was told.

Spot glanced down at Julie. She had fallen asleep leaning against his shoulder.

With a smile, he protested quietly, "Hey, I didn't think it was that boring..."

She sighed in her sleep.

Patting her head gently, Spot slowly eased up and lowered her onto the couch, drawing a throw over her. Then he turned and went back to bed.

Rae rolled over when he crawled back in the bed. "Something wrong?" she asked, sleepily.

He shook his head, kissing her forehead. "No, Julie just couldn't sleep well."

"Is she sleeping now?"

He laughed a bit. "Yes... I think I bored her to death telling her the story of how we met."

She smiled and snuggled up against him. "That was quite a meeting."

"Indeed it was." He smiled, putting his arm around her. "And I hadn't even gotten to the best part yet, either... I don't suppose I have the knack for storytelling just yet."

"You ought to have plenty of time to work on it."

"I'd better," he replied with a grin.

She smiled. "Tell me about our second run-in."

"Mm, you need a good sleeping aid too now?" he teased.

She nodded and poked him in the ribs. "Tell me a story, Daddy,"

He laughed. "Mmm... the second time we met... start me off, I don't know if I remember when the second time was."

"I seem to remember you attacking me from behind and accusing me of picking you pocket again."

"Was that the second? I thought that was ...." He shrugged and laughed again.

It wasn't even a week after his first run-in with Rae Kelly, when Spot ran into her again. Or... she had ran into him, again. "Hey! Don'cha learn! Watch. Where. You're. Goin'!" he yelled when she bumped into him, walking by.

She ignored him and kept on walking.

He sneered but didn't run after her. He was on his way to lunch and didn't have time. He had saved up a lot this time to get a really good meal. He crammed his fingers into his pockets as he approached a small cafe and frowned when again he came up several coins short. "That girl...." he growled.

He turned and ran after her, shoving her hard when he caught up to her.

She shrieked in surprise, tumbling forward, and then whirled around. "YOU! What do you want?!"

"Give me my money back!" he demanded.

"What?" She gave an exasperated sigh. "I don't HAVE your money!"

"You bumped into again and I had more money disappear. YOU took my money."

"What makes you think I took it?! Why don't you check your pockets? Maybe you got a hole in 'em or something."

"There ain't no hole in my pockets," he growled.

"You didn't even check, you big muttonhead..."

He grabbed her shirt. "Just give me my money."

"Let me go! I don't have it!" She kicked him hard in the shin. "Let GO!"

He let go of her and grabbed his shin. "Are you really so hungry that you would take to stealing from a newsie?"

"I'm not stealin' from you!"

"But you are hungry enough to right?"

She remained quiet. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"If I buy you a couple of papes will you sell them and leave me alone? For good?"

"I don't need your help!"

"Come  on," he said, grabbing her hand.

He led her to the distribution center, where he used the last ten pennies in his pocket to buy her some papes. "Now get lost," he said, shoving the papers at her.

She rolled her eyes, lugging the papers away from the distribution office.

She stopped and put her papers on a crate and began flipping through the one on top.  After a moment she picked up her papers and walked down the street, not noticing that Spot was following her. "MAYOR HIT BY RUNAWAY BUGGY!" she yelled.

He paused and sneered. That headline wouldn't... sell... a thing... He watched as two older women approached and bought a newspaper. "Well..."

When she sold two more papers using the same headline he walked up behind her. "What page is that article on?" he asked.

She turned and smirked at him. "Page nine."

He flipped open the newspaper and scanned the articles. Nothing remotely of the sort, except for a picture of the mayor standing in front of a buggy, shaking hands with the driver. "Where is it?"

"Right there," she said, pointing to the picture as she yelled out the headline again.

"He's not getting hit by no buggy, you bonehead!"

She clamped her hand over his mouth. "Don't tell them that you idiot!" she hissed.

He jerked his head back. "They'll find out you lied once they open the pape up. What'cha gonna do then, when they chase after ya, huh?"

"I don't plan on sticking around long enough to find out," she said, walking away.

"One of these days, you'll get caught, ya know. An' someone ain't gonna like it."

She shrugged. "It ain't really lyin' anyway...just improvin' the truth a little."

"That's one heck of an improvement..."

"Hold these for me for a minute will ya?" she asked, shoving all but one of her papers at him.

He stumbled backwards from her push and was about to retort rudely, but she had walked off, forcing him to save it until later. He watched as she walked up to a grumpy old man that he had attempted to sell a paper to earlier that day. 'Ha,' he thought. 'She thinks he's gonna buy anything from 'er?'

"Buy a pape, mister," he could hear her whisper.

Folding his arms over his chest, Spot observed, smirking.

The older man shook his head.  Spot watched as tears began to fill her eyes and he had to strain to hear her words. "Please, sir...my brother is sick and the doctor said that he will die without medicine.  My daddy is dead and my momma can't work...please, sir, buy my last pape..." she begged.

Spot gave her a skeptical look. "Puh-lease!" he muttered to himself.

To his amazement the man reached into his pocket and handed her a coin.

She took it carefully and handed him a paper. "Thank you sir," she gasped, all choked up. Once the man left she walked back over to Spot, a victorious smirk on her face.

"I... what... you... that was so dumb! What, did you have a plan with that guy already?! How could he fall for that! It was SO obvious you were acting..." he sputtered.

"Never seen him before.  Hoity-toity's are easy to con," she said, taking her papers and walking away.

He ran after her, "Where did you learn that stuff?"

"Just from some fella who had a real hoity toity name himself... Francis Sullivan, I think it is."

Spot gave her a funny look. "Well...I guess I'll see ya around, kid," he said, wanting to get as far away from as possible as quickly as he could.

Rae simply shrugged and went on with her selling. 'Let him be weird,' she thought.

"Poor Jack," Rae said, with a yawn. "I really did give him a hard time about his name."

"Poor Jack?" Spot asked. "What about poor me? Every time I thought I had you figured out, you would go and do something that wasn't Rae Kelly."

She laughed and snuggled close to him. "I had to do something to keep you on your toes."

He smiled and tilted her head so that she was looking at him. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"It's after midnight.  We've been married one year today."

She smiled sleepily. "Happy Anniversary, Spot Conlon."

He gently kissed her. "Happy Anniversary to you too, Mrs. Conlon."

She burrowed her head in the crook of his neck between  his jaw and his chest and fell asleep.

He smiled and ran his fingers through her hair. "Sleep well, my love."