Discalimer: You get it by now don't you. I don't own anything from the movie.

A/N: Sorry it took so long for the update but I had a horrible cas of writer's block which is not completely through as you can tell from the length of the chapter. So just bear with me.

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Joanna woke up on the floor of her room with a pain in her chest and her head. At first she didn't remember what had happened, all she knew was that her step-father had come home drunk and...SPOT!! She sat up like lightning and looked around the room for any signs of Spot. Nothing was there but a spot of blood where her head had been. She brought her hand to her temple and felt a small trickle of blood, but that was the least of her problems.

In her mind, Joanna replayed what happened when Jonathon came home.

**Flashback**

"Spot you have ta get outta here. He'll kill ya if he finds ya here."

"I ain't gonna leave ya here like dis Jo. I can't"

"Please Spot!" The footsteps were getting louder and closer, Joanna could see a shadow of feet through the crack in the door. She looked back at Spot and saw something in his eyes that she hadn't seen there before. A smile was beginning to curl around his lips.

And then there was the shatter of breaking glass. Spot fell to the floor unconscious and Joanna saw Jonathon standing above him with a broken beer bottle in his hand. Before Joanna could scream, he hit her head with his fist and she joined Spot in the darkness.

**End Flashback**

A million thoughts raced through Joanna's mind as possibilities of Spot's condition occurred to her. Jonathon wouldn't have killed him would he? The door opened and Jonathon stepped in, completely sober for once in his life. When Joanna saw him she backed away until she hit a wall. She had cornered herself and had never been so scared in her entire life.

But she had to know. "Where is he?" she asked, unsuccessfully trying to hide the fear in her voice. Jonathon laughed and sauntered closer to her. "Where is he?" she asked again, her voice getting weaker.

"Why worry your little head about it...Jo? Is that what he calls you? Jo?"

"Don't call me that. Don't you ever call me that!"

He slapped her face. "Don't raise your voice to me! You forget who you're dealing with here." She curled into a ball as Jonathon kicked her in the stomach, knocking out her breath. "Now normally if you had snuck someone in here to try and take you away from me, I would be VERY angry with you, but this time it was to my advantage. Considering you have been hiding as a newsie for all this time, I assume you heard of the murder of that showgirl. I also assume you know who did it." As he said this, his lips curled into a sly smile. Yes, Joanna remembered the woman from before she ran away and had immediately known that Jonathon had been the murderer.

"What does that have to do with Spot?" she asked, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer. In answer, she received another swift kick to the stomach.

"Don't interrupt me girl. Now you want to know what this has to do with...Spot, was it. Well Spot is conveniently covering for me with the police. I believe his trial was set for sometime next week." With that Jonathon started laughing. In her pained state, it took Joanna a moment to comprehend what she was just told but when it hit her, she felt pain beyond anything she ha ever felt before. And anger just the same.

"NO!" she screamed with all of her energy, trying to hit Jonathon with what little strength she had left. But Jonathon was too strong for her. He kicked her to the floor and began hitting her face and kicking her stomach until it seemed like she was unconscious.

When he left the room, Joanna stood up and walked to the window. She was limping because when Joanthon attacked her and Spot, she landed on it. She prayed it wasn't broken but the pain was too intense for it not to be. She bit her lip to keep from crying out and she climbed down the fire escape and hurried as fast as she could toward Brooklyn.

As she was walking, she hit her bad leg on something and landed on top of someone walking the opposite direction. When she looked into his face, she was ecstatic to find it was Lightning, leader of the Queens newsies. At first he didn't recognize her because he had never seen her as a girl.

"Lightnin' it's me Jo. From Brooklyn. Look I'se sorry I didn't tell ya I was a goil but-"

"Shh Jo. Spot told me everything. But what are ya doin' out here?"

Joanna looked down as tears filled her eyes. She took a deep breath. "Spot came up ta me room and told me about Sarah and da plan. But whil he was dere, Jonathon came in and knocked us both out. Now Spot is in wit da bulls for moider and I had ta come find help. But I t'ink me legs broken."

Lightning's eyes widened, but he knew he ould dwell on all of this later. He picked Joanna up and started walking in the opposite direction of before.

"Lightnin' where are ya goin'?" she asked.

"To Manhattan. I know it's late but we gotta tell Jack." Neither of them spoke the rest of the way. Lightning walked as fast as he could carrying Joanna and thought about Spot's new predicament. A million questions flew through his mind, none of which he was bold enough to ask Joanna considering her composure.

They reached the Manhattan Lodging House as the sun was rising. Kloppman could be heard waking the boys upstairs. Lightning layed a now sleeping Joanna on the couch and waited for Jack to come downstairs.

When Jack saw Lightning, he immediately began to worry until he saw his little sister wake up on the couch.

"Jo!" he cried, running over to hug her. She started to cry as they embraced and neither let go for the longest time. But then Jack remembered that Lightning was still here and wondered why Spot wasn't.

"Lightnin', where's Spot? Wasn't he stayin in Queens?"

"Ah Jack," Lightning began. "Spot's in a bit of trouble"

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CLIFFIE!!!! You know what to do. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!