" Hey, kid, get up," Gin gently touched Elizabeth on the shoulder as she gave a jerk and opened her eyes.

" What?" Elizabeth yawned, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she looked around. Gin was standing next to her with a few of the other girls around, Athena being the closest besides Gin.

" Come on, da newsies are here," Athena replied helping Elizabeth up. "We better get ya, uh, lookin' a little bettah," Athena gave a small half smile as she waved over a girl. "Megan, please help her," Athena said as Megan gave a nod and pulled Elizabeth into a dressing room.

" You could have at least knocked," Jade's voice greeted them as Megan ignored her and began to fix Elizabeth's hair. " Megan, that will take you until next week, give 'er ta me," Jade said pushing Megan out of the way. Within a few minutes Jade and done a 180 on Elizabeth's hair. It suddenly looked less frizzy, and more calm and tame. She pulled half of it back, braiding part of it and letting the rest be pulled back in a half ponytail like Elizabeth had seen Sarah's hair done that morning. When she was done she tied a bow in her hair and smiled at her creation.

" There," she replied holding her arms over her chest and then turning to head out the door as Megan glared at her with greeted teeth.

" Come on," Megan said as Elizabeth got up and followed her out the door.

Elizabeth couldn't believe her eyes. The place was full of newsies, all from Manhattan and Brooklyn. Brooklyn took up most of the room. She could see Spot smiling and raising his beer mug up to Jack Kelly's as the crowd cheered and clapped.

" Dis is only da begining!" Jack yelled as the newsies settled down al ittle to listen. Elizabeth could see David being patted on the back by a large Brooklyn newsie, that Elizabeth took to be Graft, for his was the biggest newsie there. "Soon, we'll have all o' New York wit us once dey see da paper tomorrow!" Jack finished as Elizabeth saw David look her way. "Now, how 'bout we leave it to the goils to do the rest of the entertaing?" Jack asked.

" I'll drink ta dat, Jacky-boy!" Spot smiled as he hopped down off the stage and took a seat next to the big newsie that Elizabeth guessed was Grafter. When she saw Sneaks sit down next to them, she knew it had to be.

" Hi," David smiled as Elizabeth turned nearly losing her balance at the suprise of him being over there so quickly. "I'm sorry I left this morning without saying anything. I told my sister to make sure you were okay," David said Elizabeth blushed, then suddenly remembered what she had done to Mr. Jacobs. "What's the matter?" David asked, reading Elizabeth's facial _expression.

" I--I said some pretty mean things to your father," Elizabeth frowned, allowing her eyes to stare down at her feet, not allowing them to look at David's baby blues.

" What? Why?" David asked seeming slightly confused by what Elizabeth had just told him.

" He, he showed me this article in the paper, and, it got to me. I snapped, I didn't mean to," Elizabeth spat up, suddenly lifting her head to meet his gaze.

" What news paper article?" David questioned as Elizabeth sighed and pulled out the piece of paper, handing it over to David.

" Hello Newsies," Medda's voice called from the stage. " We have a great show for you tonight. Please give a warm welcome to Nightingale." she called as Gin took the stage with the boys clapping.

" Wait, you're telling me your family is back looking for you?" David's eyes raised up to meet Elizabeth's. Elizabeth's heart fluttered as she gave a weak nod, not wanting to think about it, but to just have David hold her in his arms. " What are you gonna do?" David questioned as Elizabeth looked down, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

" I don't know," she replied as David pulled in her a tight hug. "All I've wanted was to go home-- until I met you," she confessed looking up at David's face, the piano growning louder as Gin's voice rang sweetly through the air. "You find yourself falling down

Your hopes in the sky

But you heart like grape gum on the ground

And you try to find yourself

In the abstractions of religion

And the cruelty of everyone else

And you wake up to realize

Your standard of living somehow got stuck on survive

When you're standing in deep water

And you're bailing yourself out with a straw

And when you're drowning in deep water

And you wake up making love to a wall

Well it's these little times that help to remind

It's nothing without love

You wake up to realize your only friend

Has never been yourself or anybody who cared in the end

That's when suddenly everything fades or falls away

'Cause the chains which once held us are only the chains which we've made

When you're standing in deep water

And you're bailing yourself out with a straw

And when you're drowning in deep water

And you wake up making love to a wall

Well it's these little times that help to remind

It's nothing without love, love, love

It's nothing without love

We've compromised our pride

And sacrificed out health

We have to demand more

Not of each other

But more from ourselves

"Cause when you're standing in deep water

And you're bailing yourself out with a straw

When you're drowning in deep water

And you wake up making love to a wall

Well it's these little times that help to remind

It's nothing without love, love, love

It's nothing without love

It's nothing without love" Elizabeth burried her head into David's shoulder. Her cries were silenced by the aplause from the newsies as Gin took her bow and walked off the stage. Elizabeth suddenly realized what she needed to do.