Irish Flare sat on the couch, playing with her hands as she waited for Jack to fetch Snitch from upstairs. Although their meeting for a date of some sort had been planned for a few weeks, she was still a nervous wreck. She held her breath as she heard noise on the stairs and a tall lanky boy appeared, his aqua eyes lighting up as he saw her. He brushed his dark brown tresses away from his face nervously as he approached her.

She stood up quickly, feeling quite short when she stood next to his towering build of 6'0". Snitch smiled at her, baring his buck teeth for a moment. "Shall we?" he asked, offering her an arm.

IF nodded quickly, taking his arm and letting him lead her out of the lodging house, both too entranced in each other to notice the hoots and hollers coming from the scattered Manhattan newsies. "How was your day?" she asked once they were in the street.

"Airight, got all me papes sold, was anticipating a visit from ya. Jack wanted me to tell you thanks fer bringin' his girl home, he was too proud ta do it 'imself, feels responsible or sumthin," Snitch said, his words jumbled together nervously as he spoke.

"Well, it's a good thing Bittah saw her," IF said. "Did you guys evah figure out what ezactly happened?" she asked.

Snitch shook his head. "She hasn't spoken much when she's awake an' only Jack goes to visit her, he hasn't said anything tho, no one asks eiddah."

IF frowned. "You'll let me know when ya find out tho?" she asked.

He nodded. "A 'coise," he said. "Well dis is de place," he said, stopping in front of a run-down looking building with few advertisements. A single dirty sign was up in the front. Vincent's Café.

Snitch pulled her anxiously inside. They had to seat themselves, but otherwise it was quite a trendy place, the inside of the restaurant looking more fancy than the outside and was very deceiving if a couple had never been to the joint.

The food served to be delicious, the couple uneasily eating as they tried not to stare at one another while they ate. Snitch was the first to be done and sat smiling at Irish Flare, making her eat more carefully, not wanting to do anything wrong to turn him off from her. "Good?" he asked when she slurped the last of her food up into her mouth.

She nodded, putting a hand nervously over her mouth while she chewed the last of her meal up. Snitch chuckled and put his hand on hers once she was done.

To both of their surprise, she didn't pull her hand back and instead smiled at him and leaned over the table with a confident smile. Their lips met for a few fleeting moments, the ecstasy of the kiss entrancing them both so that those few seconds seemed like minutes of spiritual entwinement.

IF pulled back flustered, tucking her black hair behind her ear nervously as her cyan eyes darted around to see if anyone had noticed, but she had no one's attention but Snitch's. The pleased look of astonishment lay on his face as he soaked in what they had just shared.

* * *

"Spot, she can't sell tomorrow," Winter said, crossing her arms.

He sighed. "She's lost a lot of blood you say?"

Winter nodded. "Bittah ain't gonna like you telling her dat," a voice interjected from the doorway of Spot's room. An Irish-looking girl scowled at their surprised expressions. "Like you didn't know one of us would eavesdrop if ya left da door open," she added, both now glaring at her.

Spot shook his head and sat down. "She has a point about Bittah though," he admitted.

Winter smirked, a plan forming in her head. "Why don't we just let her sleep in an' one of us could stay behind an' make sure she stays dat way?"

Maverick chuckled. "I dunno if any a' de goils are gonna agree to dealin' wit 'er, she's mighty stubborn."

"Well den one a' de guys kin do it," she said, averting her eyes towards Spot to seek his approval.

"I'll jist stay wit 'er, de last thing I need is 'er givin' one of me boys a blind eye fer a week," Spot said with a shrug.

Winter frowned at his comment, many of the boys had seemed less playful the past few days and what he had just said made her wonder if something was going on that he was holding back from the girls. If any of the girls had known, Winter would have been the first to find out. "An' what does dat mean?" Maverick retorted, thinking the same thing as Winter.

He didn't answer her and instead turned to Winter. "How late is IF gonna be out 'til?"

Winter shrugged. "I dunno, it's gettin' late, she may just hafta bunk dere, she knows de rules about being out on the streets past midnight, nobody breaks that rule except…"

"Bittah," he ended for her, smirking.

"I don't see why you keep letting her get away wit it," Maverick pouted, shifting her position from the doorway to a step back into the hallway, making like she was going to leave.

"Dere's no stopping 'er," he commented. The only response he received from Maverick was a slight smirk to her expression and a quick nod of the head as she left.

Winter just smirked, knowing exactly what Maverick was thinking and headed to the door with a yawn. "Well g'night an' g'luck wit Bittah tomorrow."

He nodded in response, shutting the door once she left. He knew what the two were hinting at and he chose to ignore it outwardly, but internally he was thinking about Bitter. He couldn't deny the feelings he had for her, but he wasn't going to risk anything. Not yet anyways, he thought to himself as he climbed into bed.

* * *