A/N – I know this is short, sorry guys. Also, I'm sorry for the delay, there will be another chapter shortly I just have to go over the plot for this story again, I feel like I'm losing it completely. Let me know what you think if anyone's still reading this. And yes, there IS a plotline to this story by the way!

Pistol awoke to someone shaking her by the shoulder roughly. Blinking groggily and shivering, she peered up through her sleep filled eyes to see an irritated Jack standing over her. Yanking her to her feet, he propelled her down the stairs and into the girl's lodging rooms which were empty, beds made and floors swept. Jack might have been a lazy street kid, but he took the running of the lodging house seriously and expected his newsies to do their chores with the efficiency of soldiers.

Wrapping her up in a blanket, he thrust a mug of bitter coffee into her hands and instructed her to drink. Pistol found that she was half-frozen; apparently sleeping on the roof in the early part of November wasn't a good idea. She also had a nasty crick in her neck from sleeping propped up against a wall. Jack flipped a chair around and sat on it the wrong way, resting his forearms across the back. Staring at her, Pistol dropped her eyes under his intense brown-eyed glower feeling the same painful dullness grow inside her.

"What Jack?" she finally whispered. Jack sighed and flipped a long strand of his brown hair that was always falling into his eyes back onto his forehead. The lodging house was oddly still and she realized that she must have missed the first edition of the paper, not having been awoken by the usual mad dashes to the wash room and the D.C.

"Pistol…it's getting hard watching you and Blink around each other. Can't you guys just…I don't know, work things out?" Pistol snorted mirthlessly and gripped the mug of coffee tightly, letting its warmth seep into her hands. Lifting one of her shoulders in a half-shrug, she sat with Jack, not speaking for another minute or two.

"He was pretty worried about ya this morning when he didn't see you walking to the D.C. with everyone. I kind of figured you'd be up on the roof; it's one of the places I used to go. I told him I'd find you and not to worry."

"Yeah then I bet Ruth stepped in and comforted him, huh?" Jack winced at her bitter tone and didn't answer, which was confirmation enough for Pistol. Letting her chin drop onto her chest, she felt tears begin to sting the corners of her eyes and a sob stick painfully in her chest. Jack noticed the white-knuckle grip on the mug and gently took it away from her.

"God Pistol cut the shit." Pistol's head snapped up and a fire that hadn't been seen in her eyes for two weeks flared suddenly giving Jack hope. Clearing his throat, he leaned forward and gripped her shoulder firmly; looking her dead on, making sure she was paying attention to his words.

"If you feel half of what I think you do for Kid Blink you'll get up off your ass and not let that skirt worm her way into the picture. I couldn't turn her away last night, Pistol not with our relations with Hebrew so shaky. Nor could I let her go to Brooklyn where the kids would rip her to shreds. Hebrew will come for her soon, she won't be here long. Now go and find Kid and fight for him, because if you don't you're gonna lose him. He's a simple, honest guy and if you screw with his feelings too much he won't make the effort, you know that."

"If he won't make the effort then why should I?"

"Because you know you have to. I don't know exactly what happened between you guys a few days ago, but it really messed him up bad, he's been as sullen as Skittery lately. Who else is he going to turn to if he can't go to you?" Pistol played with the frayed end of the blanket and tucked a stray lock of her red hair behind one of her ears. Jack watched her internal struggle silently play across her face.

"You like him?"

"Yeah"

"You love him?"

"I think so."

"Good, he's selling at Grand Central, go get him."

Blink watched Ruth as she sat beside him on a bench at the train station, and fluttered her eyelids at him and smiled. He noticed with some interest that although it seemed she was dedicated to seducing him, a corner of her gaze always remained watching the crowd as they walked by. Shrugging inwardly, he let the girl pull him into an embrace. He wished that it was Pistol sitting with him instead of Ruth, but she had rejected him quite firmly. Doing everything except screaming as she ran away seemed like a pretty strong rejection to him. So he had decided to do what any boy his age would do, lose his hurt by paying attention to another girl.

He liked being with Ruth, he couldn't deny that. She was very pretty, and polite, and above all feminine. He wasn't one of the boys who liked overly girly girls in comparison to the newsgirl's often tomboyish behavior. In fact, he rather preferred it. But there was something about a girl who wore perfume and even rouge along with a nice dress and a ribbon in her hair that made him look twice. 'I could get used to this' he decided as the subtle scent of her engulfed him. It was then that he noticed Pistol, skipping no hopping down the steps into the train station. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her.

She always hopped down stairs; he had never been able to figure out why. It was a sort of hop-skip-jump combination that never failed to amuse him. Forgetting that he was angry with her for one brief moment, he watched her as she leapt up onto the back of a bench a few feet away and scan the crowd, one hand over her brow, the other dramatically resting on a cocked hip.

Spying them, he saw her stiffen and then slowly climb down from her perch. It wasn't long before he saw the bowler hat that Misery had given her with it's crimson ribbon bobbing towards them. Ruth pulled away at Pistol's approach, not quick enough to hide the disgust that the other girl's appearance apparently made her feel.

"Hey Blink!" Pistol crowed cheerfully, pointedly ignoring Ruth, which seemed to infuriate the other girl. Blink smiled at her in greeting before suddenly remembering that he was angry with her. Crossing his arms over his chest which involved removing one from it's resting position around Ruth's shoulders, he glared at Pistol. Pistol's overly-cheerful grin faltered and she put her hands on her hips raising a copper eyebrow in response.

"What?"

"Where the hell were you last night?"

"Up on the roof"

"Why the hell were you on the roof?"

"Because I felt like it, why do you care?"

"You know I care"

"Hmph," Pistol's muffled grimace of acknowledgement made her thin face look tired and drawn. Blink suddenly stood up, tired of this constant emotional battle with Pistol. He loved her as a friend, as a little sister, and lately, he was damn sure as something else. But she would never let them see if they could be anything like that. He knew she was terrified of letting their relationship go any further and to tell you the truth, so was he. Maybe it was better this way.

Dragging Ruth to her feet, he gave Pistol a cold look and walked away. Ruth wound an arm around his waist and together they left Grand Central. Blink felt a dead weight settle in his stomach and he frowned for the rest of the day. This was only the beginning of bad times between him and Pistol, of that he was certain.

Pistol's mouth hung open as she watched the pair walk away, Ruth hanging all over Blink like the hussy she was. Feeling tears prick hotly at the corner's of her eyes, she blinked them away and stood up, determination painted all over her face. Kicking the bench in frustration, she yelped as the pain hit her toes. Tossing her red hair up underneath her hat, she took off in the opposite direction, running until she felt her chest was going to burst and she panted like a dog on a hot summer day.

Two pairs of shoes entered her field of vision as she bent over, one hand supporting her as she leaned against a wall. Looking up, she saw an amused Emotions and Wolf standing in front of her. Greeting them, the trio walked over to a spot in a nearby park, sitting down to talk. Pistol told them about her meeting with Ruth and Blink in the Station, and Emotions growled.

"They're letting her stay there? What are they crazy?"

"No, just boys"

"Hey I resemble that remark," Wolf's tone of voice was joking as was his face, and Emotions smiled at him and pinched his arm. He swatted at her and Pistol laughed for the first time in a few days as she watched them go through their slapstick routine, which ended with Wolf putting Emotions in a headlock and tickling her till she screamed 'Uncle'.

"Seriously though, what's his deal? He's been up your butt for years and now this Ruth girl comes along and it's 'See ya Pistol, thanks for the memories'. Well I don't like it one bit, this is fishy."

Pistol giggled at the stormy expression on Emotions' face. Deep down, she knew exactly why Blink was hanging around Ruth and she was almost positive that it wasn't totally because of Ruth's pretty face. Shrugging slightly, she perked her head to one side as she saw Ruth walking down the sidewalk in their direction, except on the other side of the street. The two Brooklyn newsies noticed and Emotions looked at her expectantly, while Wolf smiled a lazy grin that spread across his lean face like melting butter.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Obviously, I mean how DOES Spot get women? He's so anal if you stuck a lump of charcoal up his arse it would turn into a diamond." Pistol and Emotions stopped and looked at Wolf with matching startled expressions on their faces. He winked and stood up, grabbing them both by their suspenders and hauling them up into the air while both girls yelped and twisted, trying to kick him.

"You are SO weird," Emotions said in between hysterical laughter. Wolf kissed her demurely on the cheek and set them down, striding off after Ruth without looking back to see if they would follow. Pistol trotted after them, trying to keep pace with their longer strides, walking double time. She wanted to see what Ruth did on her own, maybe then she could find out why the girl had taken such an intense liking to a boy she knew NOTHING about.

Shout Outs

Allie – Thank you, sorry it took me so long to add to this story. Also, I know this is short, but never fear I'll update again. Thanks for reviewing!

Kays14 – Ahh, well what do you think about Ruth? You're about to find out in the next chapter or two what her deal is, I'm not sure how much longer I'll put it off. I don't think I CAN put it off much longer, haha…

Smiley Cad – Of course I appreciate your review, I'm sorry it was such a pain in the butt to do! Okay so more kissing and killing Ruth. I'll see what I can do ::nods::

Pistol: I like her…::points at Smiley::

My Dog Ate My Penname -- ::laughs at Spot and waves a hankie after him::

Spot: You're just going to let her take me? Just like that?!

You know it spanky! Don't stay out too late and eat all your veggies. Anywho, yeah Ruth is definitely meant to be an adversary in this story but of course, good triumphs over evil. Eventually. Yay for Broadway singing!!

Emotions – Yes my dear, things will work out very soon. I give this story maybe like three more chapters tops. It's not going exactly how I wanted it to but I'm going to dissect it and make it work. There will be more Blink/Pistol though don't you worry!

A/N –

Does anyone know where that movie quote came from? It's not mine, see if you can guess. I'll credit it in the next chapter.