Down at the local Irish Pub Killian sat next to a greasy short Italian looking boy, known by the name of Nero.

"You talk to her for me?" asked Killian as he sipped on his whiskey sour. Nero nodded, ice to his face.

"Yea, I talked to her alright." he growled smoking a cigarette. Killian nodded a smirk on his face as he licked the remaining whiskey off his lips.

"Good."

Laughing and talking Sneaks, Gypsy, Marsh, Bittah and Relic swallowed down on some food. Tears were in the eyes of the newsgirls as they continued to laugh hysterically as Sneaks attempted to imitate the girl they had seen earlier with David. Sneaks held her head high and stuffed some food down the front of her shirt. Finger to the end of her nose she pulled it up as far as she could. She walked around as if she were all hoity toity and full of sass. A boy clearing his throat sent a nasty glare their way. Sneaks stopped mid sentence as she turned around her nose still pulled up. David stood there with Jack and Queens. Tears clearly lined her eyes. Relic stood up when she saw Jack.

"We don't mean nothing by it I swear." said Relic quickly. She held out her dirty hand to the girl. Queens looked at her and then her hand and then walked away swiftly. David looked at them before running out after her.

"Good job teaching her to act like that Relic." snapped Jack. Relic looked crushed.

"Jack…"she started. But Jack walked the other way. Relic watched him leave and Sneaks slowly let go of her nose. Bittah, Gypsy and Marsh sat there mouths open wide as they watched the scene before them.

Drawing a bath in the boys washroom Spot boiled the water and kept adding to the slowly filling bath. He watched the water steam so he knew it would keep warm, long enough to get cleaned off. He lit a few candles to keep the light in the washroom going. The boys had long gone to bed and he had assumed Irish had to, since no noise from her room could be heard. He began to undress and stepped into the warm water that was just a bit to warm from his taste. He sank underneath the water then up again wiping his face off. He sat back and relaxed lost in thought. He didn't hear the knock at the door.

With no response from the knock Irish walked into the washroom thinking it was safe to enter and draw a quick bath. She turned to close the door and turned back around. She gasped.

"Oh Spot, I'm sorry!" she said turning around quickly. Spot jumped in the water making it splash and putting out three of the five candles. Quickly Irish turned to open the door.

"No, wait. I'm done. Hold on." he said grabbing a towel and wrapping it around himself as he got out of the water.

"You decent yet?" she asked without turning around.

"Yea, I'm decent." Spot said wiping the water from his face. Irish turned back around and looked at the boy who stood before her, her face was still flushed red.

"I'm sorry, I knocked and no one answered, so I figured it be alright if I came in." Irish said her face still flushed.

"Sorry, I thought you had gone to bed." Spot said looking at her. He felt his eyes graze over her body.

"You mind if I draw a bath, my body hurts and I think a bath would do me some good." Irish said looking away from him.

"Yea, ya can help ya self." he said moving away from the bathtub.

"Can you unbutton my dress?" she asked softly. She always had Bittah help her. Bittah knew she had scars. And the recent marks she held dearly on her stomach away from wandering eyes. She knew Bittah would never ask questions. Spot looked at her and gently walked up behind her and began unbuttoning her dress.

"This must be a huge task every morning." he tired to joke softly. She forced a small laugh.

"That it is." she whispered. Her rough New York accent had faded away into a softer Irish one.

"Never knew ya talked like dat." said Spot softly.

"Me mother was born and raised in Ireland. Came over here and married some Brooklyn man. She made me learn how at talk in the way of me true home land." she said softly. Spot's fingers gently brushed her back. He unbuttoned the dress down to just below her waist. Then he gently pushed the blue fabric off her shoulders. Her back and bare shoulders showed scars that had to be years old, some looked rather new. Softly he ran his fingers down her back exposing her mid and lower back where dark bruises were visible.

Relic and Bittah walked home from Tibby's. They had left long after Marsh, Sneaks and Gip.

"You sweet on Jack?" asked Bittah carefully. Relic glanced over at Bittah then back at the street.

"Maybe." she shrugged. As she headed down towards a bar. Bittah followed suit.

"I think a drink is in for a requirement tonight sweetheart." Bittah smiled as she threw her arm around Relic. Relic nodded as she counted the money from her pocket.
"I'se got enough for bout four drinks." said Relic with a slight hint of disappointment. Bittah counted her change.

"Don't worry I'se got ya covered."

Irish slowly uncrossed her arms in the front, while doing so her dress slowly slid down her arms exposing more of her back. She slowly pulled the dress down in front of her, as it stuck a bit around her hips. Spot took his hands away but stood in place. Irish stood still, only her underwear, which was a pair of boys underwear covered her lower half. She turned her head to the side for a moment and glanced at him then faced forward again. Spot hesitated a moment before coming up behind her. His hands gently touched her milky white sides and pulled her up against him, so he could feel her skin against his own. He kissed her temple then slowly turned her around. She then crossed her arms over her chest as Spot turned her around. His eyes grew wide with shock when he saw her stomach. Dark bruises were on her hips and lower abdomen. He bent over and gently touched them and he felt her pull away from his touch. He stood up and looked at her. Tears on her eyes. She blinked a few times and bit her lip trying to hold the tears in.

"Ya lucky Spot," she whispered, "Almost no one sees me cry." she said her voice cracking when she said the word 'one'.

"This is what the fight was about wasn't it." said Spot now understanding what had happened earlier.

"Somewhat. He wasn't the guy who did it." she whispered as the first tear broke free.

"Hard times Low times, sometimes we live in defeat!" sang Relic glass in her hand, doing her own rendition of Medda's song. Nero and Killian sat a few tables away watching them with a smile. Bittah was going from table to table singing with various men, when she approached the pairs table she caught Killian's eye. The boy had the body of a mineworker, strong and thin. He had beautiful gray eyes that were accentuated by long dark eyelashes. Bittah came and sat herself down on his lap singing along with Relic as she did so.

"Evenin' gentlemen, how are you tonight?" she laughed looking between Nero and Killian.

"Just fine miss." Nero said winking at Killian before excusing himself.

"Care to join me for a walk?" Killian directed at the blonde girl. Bittah smiled, all warm from the alcohol.
"Sure mistah, give me a minute." she ran over to Relic and whispered a good bye before going to meet Killian at the door.

Last thing Relic saw was Bittah exit the door and Killian glance over at her and wink, then close the door behind him.

Once outside Killian and Bittah were all over each other. Passerby just ignored them.

"Let's just go somewhere a bit more private." whispered Killian as he took Bittah's hand and led her to his house, above a church.

"Hurry up, get into the tub before the water gets cold." said Spot pulling away from her, intimidated by the tears. Irish didn't cry, at least not in front of people and it made him uncomfortable. She nodded and he exited the washroom. Closing the door behind him Irish climbed into the tub leaving her hair dry. She soaked in the tub a moment just giving Spot a chance to get dressed.

In the bunkroom Spot pulled on a pair of pants and threw the wet towel on a bunk. Then went back into the washroom, locking the door behind him.

She had left the three candles unlit and let the two burn down to almost nothing. He pulled up a chair from the sink which a younger newsie used to stand upon to pretend to shave. Irish had her eyes closed and the water had turned a slight brown color tinted slightly with red from the dried blood. Sitting down in a chair Spot looked down at Irish. He could barely see her body outlined in the water.

"Wanna tell me wha-…" asked Spot carefully choosing his words.

"I met this guy." she started quickly, cutting him off. Spot kept his mouth shut and listened. "He's a real good looking guy. He told me about this church. I wanted forgiveness, for everything I had done. For the work, for the murder, for everything. I don't know anything about God or anything, but he told me I would be forgiven. So I started goin' there. Talkin out loud asking for someone to forgive me. Wanting someone to forgive me. He told me that we all had deeds to pay for, and if I wanted to be forgive I had to do what he said. So I did it. I did it all. When I told him I wanted to be done being forgiven he'd get mad, and he'd hurt me. But those eyes, oh god those eyes they were just so entrancing, I couldn't say no. I couldn't stay away from those eyes. They looked just like…" she stopped and looked away from Spot.

"Like what…" Spot asked looking at her intently.

"no one." Irish said sitting up quickly splashing water on the ground and knocking the candles out. The room grew dark. Stumbling out of the tub Irish groped around for a towel. Upon finding one, she wrapped it around herself and dried her body off. She grabbed for her clothes but hit Spot's hand instead. Slowly Irish stood slowly. Only shadows could be seen from the windows, but barely any light came through. She held on to Spot's strong calloused hands, from years of work. With the other hand she reached in front of her, her hand hitting Spot's soft flesh. A shiver went through Spot's body as her gentle fingertips traced his chest. With his free hand he felt her for face, his fingers gently caressing her jaw line before he cupped her chin in his hands. Slowly he brought his face to hers, and kissed her softly on the tip of her nose, then kissed her on the lips. She put her arm around him pulling his chest to hers as the towel fell down around her ankles. Pulling her delicate body all the way up against his own he wrapped his arms around her. Before pulling away slowly and wrapping the towel around her and carrying her to his room. He shut the door locking it behind him.

Bittah awoke the next morning, her head pounding and her insides churning. Next to her lay the bare back of a sleeping man. She put her feet on the cold wooden floor and then began to get dressed. She hesitated a moment before leaving the room and heading to the distribution center.

Upon arriving there she was met by a frantic Jack.

"Where is Relic?" he asked concerned.

"I don't know, she was supposed to come home." said Bittah confused and not really at all capable of dealing with this right now. A pale faced Sneaks came barreling into the distribution center.

"Bittah, jack, da bulls, dey are at da lodgin house. Dey found Relic last night." she said in a scared voice. Bittah and Jack looked at each other.

"Jack stay here, send Gypsy to Brooklyn and get Irish back here now." she said. "Da bulls dey can't see ya. Or ya will be put in da refuge." Jack nodded but his face showed panic. He'd go to Brooklyn himself. He needed some answers.

Bittah took of running towards the lodging house and bounded up the front steps inside. Kloppman stood there hat off talking to the bulls. All three men looked at her.

"Harmony," began Kloppman. He used a different name for the newsies to hide their identity.

"They found Relic this morning in an alley. Some woman was kind enough to take her to the hospital, but they don't know if she will make it."

Bittah looked back and forth between the three men.

"Dat's bullshit." she muttered. Anger fumed inside of her.

"Where is she?" she asked the bulls.

"Down the block from here." he said pointing towards his right. Bittah didn't wait. She ran to the hospital and into the waiting room demanding to see Relic. Finally a nurse after much deliberation let Bittah back into the room.

"Just please miss, be prepared. We haven't seen a girl in this bad of shape in a while." warned the nurse. Bittah entered the room to see Gypsy and Marsh standing against the wall eyes wide and tears on their cheeks. Bittah looked to the bed. The sheets were dyed red from the blood. Relic's face was swollen and her lip cracked and scabbed. Anger grew inside of her.

"It was him." whispered Relic hoarsely. "It was him." she said before she began to cough and blood dripped out of her mouth. Bittah looked at Gypsy and with out saying anything Gypsy understood. Bittah ran from the room, hatred and anger fueled her exhausted body as she headed towards Brooklyn.

A loud banging on the front door awoke Irish from her deep slumber. She shivered and pulled the blanket up around her and then looked beside her. Spot lay next to her, his key hung from his neck against his chest that slowly rose with each breath. Half awake Spot pulled Irish to him. She nuzzled up against his neck, trying to get warm. When shouting erupted downstairs.

"I don't give a flying fuck if you don't know where Spot is. You find him now!" bellowed Jack. The voice of the other newsie couldn't be understood but stomping of feet up the stairs were clearly audible. A moment later there was a pounding at the door.

"Spot, open the damn door now, I don't care what whore you have in your bed, open your fucking door now." growled Jack.

Pulling away from Irish, Spot stood and pulled on a pair of pants then went over to the door to let Jack in. When Jack came in and caught sight of Irish, his face flushed red.

"Excuse me." he said flustered.

"Don't worry about it." Irish yawned as she stretched.

"Now why in hell's name are you hollerin and screamin like dat around here at dis time!" asked Irish pulling the blanket up around her.

Jack looked at her a moment and rubbed his jaw.

"Relic didn't come home last night." he said. Irish just shrugged.

"Relic does dat all da time. She must of found some guy or place to crash." Irish stated simply. The three girls were never staying at the lodging house where they paid to board.

"Da bulls, dey found her, dis morning. Something ain't right." said Jack shaking his head. Anger grew inside of Irish.

"I'll be out in a minute Jack." she said motioning to the door. Jack took the hint and left. Irish stood quickly and searched for her dress. She pulled it on and Spot buttoned it up for her. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun and turned to face Spot.

"Spot…" she started but stopped.
"I know, you've gotta go." he said with a nod. He felt a weird pang of worry, and jealousy for her leaving for Relic. Irish nodded and started to walk away but stopped and came back to him.

"Spot." she said getting his attention, before kissing him deeply on the lips. He kissed her back and then slowly pulled away.

"Go." he said. Irish nodded and putting her switchblade into her boot she exited the room, and flew down the stairs.

"What happened with you and Irish last night Spot?" asked Jack a moment after Irish had left.

"ya know Jacky boy. I can't really tell ya, cause I really don't know." he said. He wasn't lying. He had slept with many women, and her with many men, but something about her made last night just feel different.

"She'll be alright Spot." reassured Jack. Spot nodded and then motioned him into his room.

"You make sure you find out what you can and let me know. Dis sounds like its more den just something dat Bittah and Irish can handle on dere own." Jack nodded.

"I promise ya, I won't let nothing happen to 'er." Jack said with a stern voice. He spit into his hand and held it out. "Ya got me word."