As Katie made her way to the fruit stand where she first saw Kid Blink the next morning, she justified to herself her decision to ignore Skittery's threats. Why would someone spill a secret if he still thought he could get something out of it? Not that she was planning on giving him any more to keep him quiet. His advances didn't scare her, she just felt frustrated with his holier-than-thou posturing. She got enough of that from her brother. Wasn't she making a living? The money in her pocket was every bit as valid as the few pennies he dragged home every day after hawking headlines from dawn until dusk. Rather than being frightened at what Skittery might do, when she arrived at the fruit stand, she instead felt angry at his stupidity, which she didn't blame entirely on him. She figured it was some fundamental flaw in the male race.

So, when she caught sight of Blink selling his papers, she smiled and headed towards him, ready to face whatever his opinion of her would be. After all, she hadn't put overmuch effort into this friendship, and if she never got to write that story for Brian Denton and the Sun, she would be no worse off than she was to begin with.

Despite her resolve to accept whatever reaction he might give, she was so relieved to see his cheerful smile answering hers as she struggled toward him in the crowd that she nearly tripped over the smaller newsie that was standing in his shadow. Though she managed to keep her footing, she did make a rather undignified "oof" sound as she felt an impact somewhere around her navel. She looked down to see a filthy face scowling up at her under a mop of matted black hair. He looked deeply offended that she didn't consider him to be as tall as everyone else in the crowd, as if it were merely her fault she found him to be short.

"Watch where yer goin' lady!" he bellowed. Or at least he tried to bellow; it came off as somewhat of a screech.

She suppressed a smile. "Terribly sorry. Lost my head there for a moment."

"Yeah, you almost lost a lot more than that," was his testy response.

Blink cuffed him roughly in the back of the head. "Rat, is that how we address a lady?"

Still scowling, he rubbed the back of his head and replied, "What kind of a lady goes runnin' into somebody." His complaints trailed off into unintelligible mutterings, and Katie was able to turn her attention to Blink.

"Racetrack becoming too much competition for you?" she smiled, gesturing at his pint-sized selling partner.

"Nah, Race's around here someplace; we just brought Rat along for the day." He dropped his voice to a whisper so Rat couldn't hear it above the constant murmur of the crowd. "He's been havin' a little trouble keepin' his head above water. We thought we could give him some tips. The kid could stand to learn some manners too," he grinned.

"That's awfully kind of you." They protect their own. It's almost like a family structure, she thought. Yet again, she yearned for some writing material to record her musings.

"Well we're not all barbarians, no matter what idea you got from Skittery."

His statement startled her out of her inner dialogue. What had Skittery told him? She sputtered, "What? Skittery - what? I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."

"Skittery, you know, he was that rude bastard we met outside Tibby's yesterday. Didn't want ya to get the wrong idea on account of what he said."

"Tibby's, right. Well, no harm done." She smiled weakly, too relieved to formulate a proper response.

"Well Rat, what do ya say we go find Race and take a little break to talk with our friend here?"

"A break? I ain't even sold ten papes yet!" Rat protested.

"Well maybe if you kept your mind on yer sellin' instead of nickin' fruit from the stand when old Pam ain't lookin', you'd 'a sold more by now."

The seemingly permanent scowl on Rat's face deepened at the insult, but he turned obediently and darted through the crowd ahead of them to find Racetrack.

"Hey Rat, wait! You dropped your -" He was too far away to hear Katie call as she bent down to retrieve the button that had fallen off his shirt onto the ground.

"Good eye," Blink complimented as they followed in the smaller newsie's wake.

When they caught up with Race, the four of them sat companionably on a bench chatting idly about their days. Well, three of them chatted; Rat struggled to reattach his button to his shirt, his tongue jutting out from the corner of his mouth in frustrated concentration as he poked his finger with the sewing needle for the fortieth time. Blink mocked him for being so inadept at the task that every newsie, whether he wanted to or not, had to be able to do. This, of course, only made him more impatient and more reckless with the needle.

"So Katie, you missed quite a lunch yesterday," Racetrack mentioned. "Although I s'pose who needs a free lunch with what they're payin' you over at the Sun."

Katie somewhat resented his implication that her means were so far above his own. She also didn't want to erase the possibility of being invited for a free lunch again, so she made up a plausible excuse to explain her lack of funds. "The thing is, I don't really get a salary at the Sun." Racetrack looked at her quizzically. "They pay me per story. So if the news is slow, I live off cabbage soup." He grinned in understanding.

"Well, if spendin' some time with the newsies can help you get a paycheck, we're happy to oblige. As long as we can see a cut of the profit, that is."

She smiled at his joking tone. "Alright Race, when my paycheck for this story comes in, we'll see if we can afford to get you a new cigar." She gestured to the battered cigar he was chomping even as they spoke and he smiled sheepishly.

"Anyways," Blink joined, "you did leave pretty quick yesterday. Didn't even really get to introduce ya to any of the guys."

"Yeah, well, I -"

"Damn!" Katie was saved from having to make up another lie by Rat's overloud curse as he poked himself for the umpteenth time.

"Rat, just let me do that for you," Katie sighed, frustrated. "It'll take far less time and you'll get far less blood all over your shirt." Even as she was saying this, she whisked the needle away from Rat and had the button securely reattached before he could make many protests.

Surprisingly, he looked even angrier once his button was back in place. Without a word, he took the apple he had undoubtedly stolen from Pam, the woman at the fruit stand, and thrust it into Katie's lap. Startled, she tried to give it back to him.

"Thanks, but I don't - "

He refused to take it back. "Newsies don't take charity!"

"It wasn't charity, I just - "

"Just keep it," Blink said calmly as Rat glared up at her stubbornly. "He hasn't got anything else to pay ya with."

"No, but I don't need - "

Blink silenced her with a look that clearly said she'd better shut up because she was treading on a delicate issue, so she smiled meekly at Rat and tucked the apple into her apron pocket.

"That was some pretty fast needlework," Race cut in to break the tension.

"Thanks. I've been patching up holes for as long as I can remember. I don't even have to think about it anymore."

"You hear that Rat? Maybe if you practiced a little more you could end up spendin' more time sellin' papes and less time patchin' up all those damn holes you put in your clothes."

"How'm I s'posed to practice if I've gotta sell papes anyway ya dimwit?"

"Katie could do it!" Blink suggested.

"She's not the one who needs the practice," Race noted, looking pointedly at Rat.

"No, I mean Katie could patch up the holes while we're all out sellin' papes. That way we wouldn't miss so much time. I mean, I'm loads better than Rat here at sewing on buttons, but it takes me about ten times longer than Katie to do it. And even so it just falls off again a week later." His voice gained speed as he got excited about his idea. "I wouldn't have a problem payin' her either. Say, a half a cent per um.thing."

"Yeah, and then you wouldn't have to worry about starvin' before you sell your next story!" Race had warmed to his friend's plan.

Katie was taken aback by their generosity. They must really hate to do their own mending, she thought. Quickly, she weighed the pros and cons of their proposition in her head. She was reluctant to find herself indebted to these boys. No matter how friendly they seemed, a debt of any kind was dangerous. Plus, Kevin and herself were not exactly in dire straits financially. Her job at Medda's paid well enough for the two of them to live. However, she was intrigued by the prospect of income she could do with as she liked and not have to hand over to her brother who insisted on managing the family's finances. It would also give her more of an opportunity to talk with the newsies and do research for her story. In the end, it was the last argument that swayed her.

"Alright, I'd be happy to do your mending. As long as you advertise me to your friends of course. I doubt doing mending for only three boys could keep me from resorting to cabbage soup." She smiled and Race and Blink grinned back at her. It seemed even Rat's scowl had lifted a little. Of course she could have been imagining it.