A/n: Chapter Twenty-Five! I got guilted into updating. I was laying awake at like...midnight last night and I couldn't stop thinking about how long it had been since I had written a new chapter. So, to all of you who still care, I deeply apologize for the wait. I'll do my best to make this chapter worth it. :) You guys are still wonderful! Thanks.


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Shout ins:


Irish Rain: Yes, it's depressing. But I tried to make this chapter a little more upbeat. Insert a little humor and a little intrigue. So...hopefully, you like it. :) Thank you! (Hugs)

Sapphy: Thank you. Let me know what you think of the chapter! :)

Race loved the lollipop but I'm afraid now all the rest of the boys want one.

Newsies: (pleading eyes) Can we'se have lollipops, TOO?

snipah higgins: I wouldn't worry about Race going back alone. ;) Hope I haven't given away too much. It's not going to be the ending you guys think it is. Unless you're all telepathic. Which would be really cool if you think about it. Ahem, anyway. Yes, thank you for reviewing once again. :)

fivefold: A carrot? Gross. Oh, don't sob! It'll be okay. I promise. You'll all like the ending. But you might be surprised. I think it's a little unusual for a time–travel fic. So...anyway, THANK YOU! (Many hugs) And please don't cry!

ShortAtntionSpaz: Thank you for your review! :) I took your advice and gave Race some duct tape. And guess what the dummy did! He duct-taped me to my chair! Now I can't get up and go anywhere.


Race: You'se just sit deah and write like a good goil, Legs. And hey, Spaz, you'se is my newest hero!

Jack: I t'ought I was ya hero.

Race: Nah, Cowboy. You'se is da old hero. Yoah just a has-been, now. Guess ya'll hafta go off ta Las Vegas and do a reunion tour in a casino. And hey, I'll come wit and show ya how ta spend yoah money.


Moonlights Sundance: Thank you! And though, the update wasn't soon like it should have been, I hope you like it. (Hopeful smile) And yes, I'll be back to read more of your story. Hopefully, around the time I post this.


Bella7: I just can't get enough of your reviews. They are my sunshine, my only sunshine, they make me happyyyyyyyyy, when sky are graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay...you'll never know, dear, how much I love you, please don't take my Bella awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!


Boots: (cringes) Ya shouldn't sing, Legs. I t'ink it's bad foah me health.

Legs: (cryptically) So are marbles.

Boots: What?


Thank you! Let me know what you think of the new chapter. And I hope the writer's block leaves soon! :)


Nicnac: Oh, yeah, we'll have the baby in this story. I think so, anyway. No, no dead babies in this. How awful. (Shudders) Yes, have more brownies. (Hands plate around to all reviewers) Mmm...Shorty's such a good cook. Thank you once again! Here's more...



Raven: Thanks. :) Yes, poor Kristen. Heheh. Anyway, yeah, hope you like the Spot/Raven cuteness in this chapter. Mwah.

Dreamer110: Don't die, I updated! See? Thank you! And yes, Race is a little slow.

Racetrack: 'Ey!

Legs: If you're allowed to tie me to chairs, I'm allowed to insult you.

Spot: (muttering) I told ya she fought doity.



Artemis-chan: Thank you! I'm glad the questions are starting to be answered. I hope to answer many more in this chapter and the ones to follow. :) (hugs)


Nevaeh: I'm gonna have to practice saying your name out loud. I was wondering...(digs toe) Um, would you let me use your name in a few chapter of this story? It won't be till towards the end but I had this really good idea and I was sorta hoping to stick your name in cuz it was so cool. I will give you full credit for allowing me to use it, if you do. ;) I'll let you run off with some newsies! Anyway, thank you for your sweet review!

Kawaii Julie Sama: Yay, you loved the song! Oh, I am so glad! That made my night. :D K, here's 'nother chapter.

Shot Hunter: Heheh. Thank you. Yes, that's me, too...scattered.


Racetrack: Oooh, pokah! (rubs palms together gleefully)

Legs: He's just happy because he's already taken all of our money. He's become a loan shark on the side (to support his gambling habit).

Racetrack: Speaking of which, Legsy, don't you'se owe me some...money?

Legs: Uh...

Racetrack: Uh huh, pay up.

Legs: But...


Corky Higgins: Oh, Vinnie! (Sigh) You're so wonderful. Thank you for the song, you guys! You rock! You, too, Corky! :) Thank you for the extra great review!

Brownie/Melody: Yeah, Tanya's mom...yup. Um yeah. Don't know what to say about that. You'll just have to see for yourself. :D Thanks. (Hugs)

feisty2: I couldn't resist. Jessica is like...my hero. Lol. Thank you for your review, again! Mwah.

PsYcHoJo: Thank you! Yes, poor Racetrack. I should just go ahead and rename this entire story "Poor Racetrack." Hee hee...(hugs)

Kristan: Thank you. Yes, I hope it's a good plan. I think it is. We'll see how it turns out. :) You're always so encouraging! It makes me feel great. Have a brownie.


Gryffin Parker: I'd have to say that was one of the nicest reviews I have ever received! They're all so wonderful and that was so exceptionally wonderful! (sigh of contentment, reads review again, smiles) Thank you!

I love my characters and it makes me so happy when other people enjoy them. I never see Race and Jack and the other newsies as movie characters. They are always real people. And even my own characters like Katherine and LaShonda cease to live only on the page. It's more like pulling them out of their world for a few minutes to write down some thoughts before they leave for home again. I'm going to miss this story a lot. Good thing I have a good bit left to go! :D

Once again, thank you...(hugs)


Race: Yeah, yeah...enough wit da mushy stuff.

Legs: You know you love it. (Hugs Race)

Race: I'se don't like you.

Legs: Say hello to Gryffin, Racetrack.

Race: (glumly) Hello ta Gryffin, Racetrack.

Legs: Stop pouting.

Race: I ain't poutin'. (slumps off, a sullen expression on his face)




DISCLAIMER: Disney owns Newsies. I'm not making any money off this story. But if you (Disney or affiliate) want to sue me for my little piece of insanity, go right ahead. I can see the courtroom now...Mighty Million Dollar Corporation Vs. Innocent, Little Fanfiction Writer.


I do not own "Ben." He is a real person. Just ask Jessica Knight. (Wink) He is a brilliant American actor and will probably end up on Broadway. He will never see this story. But I wish I could tell him the kind of influence he's had on me, as an actor and a person. He continues to be an inspiration for my stage work and writing and the hero of my mind's theater.


I thank the authors who allowed me to borrow their oh-so-cool characters for this story. These characters include: Kate, Kristen, Jessica, Allesandra, Britt, Heather, and SARAH AND DIANE-new this chapter. ;)


I do own Tanya and any other characters you fail to recognize. If you want to use them in a story or whatever, by all means, let me know. :) The performed piece in this chapter is mine, as well.


And now...sit back, relax, and enjoy... "Chapter Twenty-Five."


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"...and smiled with unshed tears."

Clap, clap, clap. The actress bowed and sat down.

"Sarah and Diane? Do you want to go next?" Ben looked up from his notes.

Sarah McGregorn's green eyes shifted nervously, "Um..."

A kick from the strawberry blonde in the next chair brought the girl to her feet.

"Ow! Ok."

He motioned for them to step onto the stage in front of them.

"Remember to slate."

"Oh, yeah. My name is Sarah McGregorn."

"And I'm Diane Carter. And we will be performing an experimental piece by H.R. O'Leary entitled, 'Disappointed Eyes.'"

Silence.

Diane's previously sweet voice suddenly turned edgy and cruel, "We can play a game, can't we?"

Her blue eyes grew frostily playful, "Say you're just the conquest of the week.

"Please try to hide your disappointed eyes.

Let's play 'hide' and skip the 'seek.'"

****

"Raven?" the newsie's blue eyes turned to stare at the girl beside him.

"Spot?" she threw back, never taking her eyes from the street front as she fumbled with an armful of papes.

"Do you evah...wish you wasn't heah?"

Raven's voice grew curious, "What?"

"Do you evah...wish you was somethin' else? Dat you had money owah ya know..."

"Yeah. So?"

"Den what ah you still doin' heah?"

The newsgirl held her up her stack of newspapers in silent reply, her eyes still scanning for prospective customers. It was early, still. But it wouldn't be too long.

"You wanna sell foah da rest of yoah life?"

The papers dropped from her hands as she spun to face him, "What else can I do, 'uh?" She rolled her sultry eyes, pulling her cap tighter over her auburn hair. "You t'ink I like wearin' doity clothes? You t'ink I nevah wanna have a new dress owah a wahm bed owah be a lady? 'Uh?" She shoved him up against the alley wall.

Spot smirked at her small frame pushing him back into the bricks, "You'se do know I'm lettin' ya win."

She shoved him again and walked back towards the street.

"Don't I'se get a kiss foah carin'?"

"Go find Jack. I'm shoah he'll give you a big kiss."

"Aw, c'mon, Raves..."

"Get lost!" she groaned.

"Not until you give me my kiss."

She sighed, and with the air of a martyr, reached up on her tiptoes to brush his lips. "Theah," she said, stepping back, "Happy? Now, beat it foah I'se soak ya."

He winked as he passed her but stopping before he reached the end of the alley and turning, tugged at the edge of his cap, "Miss." And then he was gone.

Raven felt a warmth she didn't recognize. Miss? Since when did Spot Conlon call her 'Miss?'


****

"Please..." here Sarah's voice hesitated before she went on, stronger and more sure, "Please go sit in the closet, if you have to cry." She shook her dark head, "Whatever you have to do, just hide those disappointed eyes..."

Ben's eyes sparkled as he made another note to himself.


****

"Skyford."

"So now you remember me?" he smiled but his mouth was bitterly twisted.

"You never answered my letters."

"Letters?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, letters! I sent you so many of them!"

His hard expression melted, "I never got one letter, Kate."

"Well...well..." she tried to think of something to say, "Well, why didn't you?"

"I went to sea for three years. Hard to receive correspondence under the circumstances, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes, but...you never wrote."

Skyford shrugged, "You forgot about me."

"I did not! I wrote you!" she cried.

"How was I to know that?" he demanded.

"You were supposed to come home and rescue me."

"Katherine, what was I to think? I never heard from you after that day on the docks!"

"You never bothered to look for me!"

"I never had to. Your forsaken performance bill was on every saloon door I walked through!"

"I always told you I would go on the stage."

Skyford started to say something, then stopped and shook his head, "You always did get your way."

"When you weren't getting yours," she shot back.

Involuntarily, a smile reached their lips at the same time...

"I'm the Hungarian noble and you are my servant."

"You were the Hungarian last time!" Skyford protested.

"I am the lady. I have first choice."

"Well, I am the man so I have final say!"

"Oh, Skyford, that's so old-fashioned," Kate protested from the tree limb, before jumping to the ground.

"And that's so childish," he retorted, gesturing towards her dirty knees.

"Well?" she laughed, roguishly. "After all, I'm still a child." True, her skirts had not yet dropped to the floor and she continued to be dressed in the rather young-looking lace pinafore. But in sight, word, and deed, Kate Lawrence had abandoned childhood years ago.

Skyford picked absently at a flower, "You're almost twelve, Kate. When do you plan on growing up?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Just since you turned seventeen, you act as if the whole world was full of over-grown babies."

"Well, perhaps, it is."

"And perhaps..." Kate paused, searching for a proper insult, "And perhaps, you're a ninny, Skyford Brookes!"

The two stood silently aboard the ship, hurried crew pushing past them until, at last, the whistle was blown, "Shove off!"

Skyford took Kate by the arm and led her towards the cabins. "We're off. And you must get below."

And for the first time in a long while, Kate allowed a man to tell her what to do.


****

Racetrack had never seen anything like it. Jenny had tubes in her nose, tubes in her arm, and beeping, glowing boxes that reminded him of Tanya's television.

Tanya was at her side, straightening the sheets, and pushing back the hair that fell in her sister's face. "It's my fault," she whispered.

"No, it's mine," the newsboy whispered back.

"Tanya?" Jenny's voice sounded extra small in the muffling hospital bed.

"Yeah?"

"It's my fault. I stood on the chair."

"And fell off of it, too, huh?"

"Uh huh."

"Does anything hurt?"

"My arm. They put a needle there."

"I'm sorry it hurts." But Tanya wasn't looking at Jenny, anymore. She was staring back at the newsboy in the doorway. "It hurts me, too," she added, softly.

****

Kristen frowned and turned sideways. Yes, she was definitely expanding.

The sound of running water slivered from the bathroom and then stopped abruptly. A familiar strength warmed her back and Bumlets' face, foamy and wet, appeared behind hers in the mirror.

Silently, she stood and watched him slide the razor across his chin. He smiled and tapped her stomach playfully. Kristen lurched back, surprised and giggling.

****

Sarah had barely finished before Diane jumped in again, "Won't it be fun to pretend?" Her eyes looked excited and eager before she switched gears and deadpanned, "Won't it be jolly ignoring our folly..."


****

"Tanya?"

Tanya jumped, "Mom!"

Racetrack and Jenny looked up from the Barbies they had spread across her bed.

Mrs. Farthing's hazel eyes mirrored her daughter's in color but the two women still managed to look almost nothing alike. Darcy Farthing was tall and shapely. Her chocolate brown hair, now greying, had been cut in an accented bob. Her make-up was considerably heavier than Tanya's. Her pant suit swished as she embraced her older daughter.

Race stood up and backed away from Jenny.

Tanya's mother was at Jenny's side now, kissing and soothing, "Oh, my sweetie, are you alright? You scared Mommy, you know that? What happened?"

"I fell off the chair."

"Jenny, I told you..."

"I know!"

"Are you feeling okay?"

"They let me have ice cream."

Mrs. Farthing laughed, "Well, just as long as we have all the important things in life!" Her arm had fallen around Tanya's shoulders again when she noticed Racetrack. A shadow of recogniton ran across her face, but then she smiled, "Oh, you must be Anthony."

The newsie's face twisted in confusion.

"Tanya mentioned you on the phone. Twice. Thank you for taking such good care of Jenny!"

Tanya had seen a silent Racetrack. She had never witnessed a speechless one.

The newsboy felt his throat constrict. He assumed he was expected to say something. But no response seemed suitable. And he was distracted by a nagging wave of jealousy. Tanya had a mother. He almost hated her in that second. Oh, to feel arms around his shoulders, to hear soothing "I love you's" in his ear as the blanket was pulled up to his chin...

"Dove mia mama?" his heart screamed again. He wrenched himself free of the crying child and held out his hand to Tanya's mother, "Ma'am." He couldn't think of another thing to say. So he said nothing.

****

"Well, I better get going. If you wanna outsell the Cowboy, you have to get a head start."

"Oh, alright," Katherine fought to hide her disappointment.

Somehow, David saw it, anyway. His forehead wrinkled."


****

"I can't take in the sunshine," Diane told her audience sadly.

Sarah almost laughed,"I can't keep out the rain!"

"Oh, hide those disappointed eyes..." they begged.

There was a pause. Diane cleared her throat, "We didn't get the last stanza memorized."

"That's alright. Let's stop for a sec and talk about this," Ben was just about to begin when a loud crash was heard from the prop table on the back wall.

In an instant, their teacher's calm, soothing voice, calm soothing face had turned deadly and commanding, "ROBERT! Sit down!"

A boy in overalls shakily fell into the nearest chair.

Everyone was quiet. Nothing moved. And then Ben's face twisted into a grin and he laughed that silent, snorting laughter of his. He shook his head.

"As I was saying," he began again, eyebrows raised in mock indignation, another laugh, his features steadied again, "I really like where this piece is going. It's...it's really great. I need some more volume from you, Sarah. But you're doing a good job of balancing out Diane and her..." he swallowed as he searched for a word, "Frightening enthusiasm."

The group tittered and Diane took a bow.

"I know you don't have it memorized," the man stared at his notes for a moment, "Would you guys mind reading the last verse really fast so we can wrap this up and move on to something else? We'll go over it again, tomorrow. Oh, and speaking of which, has anyone talked to Tanya? I thought she had signed up for this workshop."

Diane thought for a moment, "She was at Greg's party a couple nights ago."

"Do you think she forgot?"

Sarah snorted, "Tanya?"

Ben shrugged, "Well, I don't know. Anything's possible."

"I'll call her when I get home," Diane promised.

"Alright. You guys go 'head and read the last part."

"I'm coming up for air. I think I've found relief. Until I see you standing there. Disappointed eyes holding onto me..."


****

a/n: There. (Gasp) Done. Did I promise a happy chapter? Well..uh...it was SORT of happy, wasn't it? I know what's happening next chapter so it will be up pretty soon. You guys should start preparing yourself for...THE BIG TWIST.


Review if you can. Love you all very much, Legs