Specs POV

When I woke up that morning, I looked over at the chair and saw that
Whisper wasn't

there anymore. She must have gone back up to her sometime in the night. I stretched as

best as I could seeing that I was still in a great amount. I heard shuffling around in the

kitchen and guessed that Samantha was up. To my surprise though, it was Whisper

coming into the room with some food on a trey. She was already dressed in pants and a

grey over shirt.

"Go good morning."

Whisper said with a smile. She set the trey down in front of me and the
aroma of the food

filled my nostrils. Pancakes with orange juice and several pieces of bacon sat in front of

me and waited for me to gobble them up. Whisper sat down beside me in the chair, I'm

assuming she slept the night in and started eating a slice of toast.

"Aren't you going to eat anything else?"

She shook her head.

"I normally don't eat m much, s small s stomach, small appetite."

I smiled at her and started to laugh a little when my stomach let out a loud grumble. I

picked up the utensils and started cutting at my pancakes. I speared the piece and brought

the fork to my mouth, placing the delicious food in my mouth. After the first bite, I

quickly ate everything else up. I hadn't realized how famished I was. When I finished, I

heard Whisper's laugh be interrupted by several coughs. We both turned to look at the

door and saw that Chatterbox, Allison and Maggie.

"Whisper!"

I heard Whisper give a soft groan before she got up to let Chatter give her
a hug. Soon

Allison and Maggie gave her a hug as well.

"How are you Katie?"

Allison asked as they all sat down.

"B better. M more important things n now than Francis."

"She saw the guys take Dodger yesterday. Go wake the guys and we'll go get
her."

Chatter got up from her seat, left the room to come back with 3 very sleepy
guys.

"What's this about a whisper?"

Andrew asked, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. He looked towards the four
of us and

soon was fully awake.

"Katie!"

Michael's eyes along with Kid's grew large and the three of them came over
to us, picked

Whisper up and squeezed the living daylights out of her.

"Can't breathe."

"Oops, sorry Katie."

"Yeah, sorry."

The guys released Whisper and once everyone had something to eat, Whisper
told them

what she had seen yesterday. When she finished, Andrew spoke up.

"Well then, it's time we went and got your friend back. Show us the way and
we'll storm

the place."

Whisper shook her head.

"No."

I saw a small flush rise in her cheeks.

"Friends, I believe that we need a plan in order to get Dodger out of
there. I'll need a lot

of people to help out with this so we're going to need back up."

By her lack of a stutter, I realized that she was getting mad and wanted to
deal with the

problem we had before us.

"First though, we need to get Fast, Race, Spot and the others. Chatter, you
take the girls

and go get those three. Kid I want you to go get anyone from the Manhattan house that

you think will help us and take the boys with you. I'll fix Specs up and we'll meet at The

World for further instructions."

"I'm sure everyone will. She's great friends with all of them."

Kid Blink said as everyone left to get changed. I heard the chime on the
clock. It struck

12. My eyes grew wide. We had all slept for 12 hours?

"Whisper, how long had I been asleep?"

"Everyone's b been asleep for a long, long time. I've b been up since 7."

I had slept half the day away but I pushed that to the back of my mind and
focused on

saving Dodger.

"Well we had better get going."

Soon I saw Kid and the other guys leave while several minutes later, the
girls followed.

Whisper came over to me and with my weight against her; she helped me into a standing

position. With her help, we made it out of the house and started down the street to The

World. 10mins later, there were about 15 Newsies waiting to hear of the plan.

"Okay, listen up. Dodger's been kidnapped and I know where she is, she's
down near

Medda's. What I want us to do is go to Medda's to say we're there for the afternoon

show. While the show goes on, half of you will check the bottom floor while the other

half will check the top. Specs, Spot, Chatter, Kid and I will check the backstage areas. If

anyone sees Jack, try to avoid him as much as possible."

Everyone split up and we left the World in shifts so we wouldn't look
suspicious. My

group was the last one and with the help of Spot and Kid, we made it down there.

Kid Blink's POV

As Spot and I helped Specs to Medda's, I looked up at Whisper and it struck
me that

behind her quiet self, she had fury and determination. With her thinking up this plan,

showed that she cared about her friends a lot.

We made it to Medda's just as the second group entered the front doors. We
started for

them, but Whisper had other plans.

"Through the back, that way, we don't disturb the watchers."

She led the way through the back door and we soon met up with Medda.

"Why hello there. What are you five doing back here? You should be out
front."

"Medda, first we'd like you to meet Whisper."

"We met yesterday. How are you dear?"

Chatter, Spot, Specs and I all gave Whisper a confused look.

"I'm fine today ma'am. We were wondering if you've seen Dodger around
lately?"

Medda shook her head.

"She hasn't been in for several weeks. I'll keep an eye out for her
though."

Music started up across the stage and that was Medda's cue. She blew us
kisses good-bye

and went out onto the stage. We watched her for a little bit before Chatter spoke.

"Whisper, how did you get here yesterday? I thought you were in your room."

"I s snuck down h here while you all were out. I w wanted to m meet M
Medda."

Whisper's stutter had come back again, so her temper must have calmed down.
I took in

how she looked like she had when I had first met her, shy, bashful, scared. I was about to

say that we should get moving, when a thump could be heard below us. We looked at one

another and then heard another one.

"The basement."

Spot led the way to the door and lucky us it was unlocked. We made our way
down

slowly to see a single light on but no one.

"M maybe it w was rats."

A thump was heard again and was against the far wall. Whisper and Chatter
held Specs

up while Spot and I went to the noise. Getting there, we saw a wooden door. I knocked

on it.

"Hello, someone there?"

"MMM"

Spot and I looked at one another and he tried the doorknob. This door was
locked. We

started banging our shoulders against the door, hoping to knock it off its hinges, but it

wouldn't budge.

"Try at the same time. 1.2.3."

At the same time, we pushed our shoulders into the door, knocking it open.
Sitting tied to

a chair was Dodger. Her face was roughed up a little; one black eye, a cut under her

opposite eye and one over top of the scar she already had. There were small bruises

around her neck and down her arms. Her arms were tied behind her back, a rope was tied

around her stomach and each of her legs was tied to a chair leg. In her mouth was a gag.

We hadn't realized that the girls had brought Specs over to us.

"Skybright!"

I had only heard Specs call Dodger that when they had first started going
out. She had

given him a red mark on the arm from her fist, telling him not to call her that in front of

people. I saw Dodger's emerald eyes smile at the sound of his voice. Even though he was

still sore, Specs hobbled over to her and started untying the gag. Once it was off, he gave

her a passionate kiss. They released and he started working on the bindings around her

stomach.

"I'se so 'appy youse guys 'ave showed up. I'se ready to kill dose guys."

"What happened? I thought you'd be able to take them."

The rope dropped from her stomach and he started working on the hands while
Chatter

and Spot worked on the feet. Whisper hadn't come into the room yet, my guess she was

standing watch.

"I'se thought I'se could, but when I faced one of dem, da other came up
behind me and

knocked me out wit somethin."

All the ropes were released from her hands and feet and with the help from
Specs; she got

up to her feet.

"Take me ta Jack and I'se gonna clobber 'im."

"Jack did this?" She nodded.

"Since 'e wasn't getting anywhere wit Whispa, 'e wanted to take da closest
thing to 'er

but Chatter was always wit youse guys and knowing that if I'se was jist wit Specs,

getting me would be easy. 'E didn't do it 'imself since 'e knew I'se would hoit 'im bad."

A creak above us implicated that someone was coming. The steps were heading
to the

stairs and all of us looked at each other with worry.

"Tie me back up, and git unda those covers. Tie dem lose though so I'se can
git up

quick."

Spot and I worked on the ropes while Chatter and Specs got under the
blankets. I turned

to get Whisper, but she wasn't anywhere in sight. The footsteps started down and I closed

the door, scooting underneath just as the door opened.

"How are you doing Dodger dear?"

Dodger didn't answer, but I could just imagine the look she was giving
Jack. It was his

voice we were hearing.

"Aww, cat got your tongue? Just like Whisper, no wonder you two are so
close. Since

you two care for one another, we'll just have to do something to get her to come out of

hiding. I want to ask her out, but with her in that house of hers, I can't."

Dodger was still silent and I could see Specs wanted to jump up and clobber
Jack, but

Spot was holding him down.

"Get away from her Francis Sullivan."

A new voice entered the room; Whisper's. I lifted the blanket up a little
to see Whisper

standing in the doorframe.

"Ah, so you have come out of hiding. Maybe you're not the mouse I thought
you to be."

"Get off your high horse Jack.or should I say Francis. You made my life a
living hell

and I won't let you take out your frustrations towards me on Dodger. Let her go."

"Aww, c'mon. You can't blame me for stuff I did then, I was 12."

"Yeah, but most 12 year olds know that when parents die, you don't ridicule
the child,

even if she has a verbal disability."

I saw Jack's face smirk.

"Whatever happened to that quietness?"

"Thanks to Andrew, Michael and Brina, I overcame it."

I caught a fast glimpse of shock overcome Jack's face before he composed
it.

"Yeah right."

New voices came into the room.

"Believe it. We earned their trust after you left Francis."

I pushed aside the blanket and those of us under the blankets stood up. The
room now had

everyone either outside it or inside it that had been part of the rescue team. Jack's face

was mixed with shock and frustration.

"This isn't fair."

"Well what you did to Specs and Dodger isn't fair either." I said as Dodger
joined the rest

of us by the door.

"Why'd ya do it?"

I had never seen Jack cry before and when he suddenly did, he took us all
by surprise.

"You think it's easy being me? Leader of the Newsies, big protector to the
small? Before

Whisper came, I didn't have to worry about a girl turning me down. They had always

agreed to go out on a date with me."

I caught a glimpse of rage in Whisper's face.

"Francis Sullivan when you found out I was here, it should have clicked
that I wouldn't

go out with you if my life depended on it. You ridiculed me when I was younger, picked

on me for 2 years and you expected that just because we hadn't seen each other in what,

10 years, you expect me to forgive you?"

"I would have thought you would have forgiven and forgotten."

"Well it's hard when you are teased for everyday of most of your life."

"Can't we go on one date?"

Groans filled the room. I looked at Jack and for the first time since
Whisper had punched

him and he had gone all different on us, I saw the old Jack, the leader Jack.

"How about this, friends?"

We were all shocked to hear this. Whisper wanted to be friends with a guy
whom had

tortured her? She had just said that herself. Jack was even shocked to hear this since she

had pretty much just finished yelling at him.

"Francis, that p part of my life is finished. H how about we s start anew?"

Jack stood up from Dodger's chair.

"Hello, my name's Jack Kelly, or also known as Cowboy."

He stuck his hand out.

"H hello. My name is Katelin Standish, but most call me W whisper."

She stuck her hand out and the two of them shook. Dodger came up to him and
though

she knew he and Whisper were now on good terms, she still wanted to hurt him for

hurting her. She swung out and caught him in the jaw.

"Dat's for me face Jack."

He fell back into the chair while Dodger turned around and left the room.
Soon the others

left as well so it was only Whisper, Jack and I.

"Whisper c'mon. We had better get going."

She nodded and we started out the room.

"Whisper, I just want to say, I'm sorry."

Whisper gave Jack a soft smile and the two of us left him in the room to
think about what

he'd done.

~*~*A week later~*~*

No one's POV

It had been a week since the confrontation between Jack Kelly and Katelin
Standish.

Since that day, Jack had gone back to his old self. He helped out the younger kids like he

used to and didn't let Morris and Oscar bully them around. Whisper's speech became

clearer and soon there was no trace of a stutter. Dodger was still ticked off at Jack for

what he had done to her and rarely came around to Manhattan unless it was to see

Whisper. If she did see Jack, Dodger would either ignore his attempts to apologize or

leave the area.

Andrew, Michael, Maggie and Allison stayed for the week so they could hang
out with

their old friends and made several more before the left for Chicago. The relationship

between Jack and Whisper became a strong one of friendship and he stopped asking her

out when a new Newsie came to Manhattan. Kid Blink and Whisper's relationship grew

even stronger and he finally asked her out on a date. They ended up going to the park for

a picnic and ever since have never been separated. With the help of Kid Blink, Whisper

finally let go of her past and looked onward to her future with him, Chatter and all the

other Newsies.

A/N: DONE! This story is actually done! An entire year to finish this story
and I'm glad.

That means I've finished 2 out of 14 or 15 stories! YES! Well I want to thank all of you

who reviewed this story. All your comments meant a lot to me and I hope that you read

and review my other stories as well. Revenge will be done soon as well I hope while

Remember won't be for a while, that one takes a lot of effort and I'm still working on 5

stories that aren't even on the computer, they are in these notebooks. Well time for the

final disclaimer for this story. I DO NOT own the Newsies or Medda or Fastdancer or

Chatter. Those all belong to Disney, Fastdancer and Ice Renegade. I own everyone else

and the story line behind this story. I have a feeling I'm going to get flamed for this last

chapter, but I never intended Jack to stay bad. I needed something to end it. Well until

later my faithful reviewers, I'm off. Hausta!