Disclaimer: I do not own West Side Story or any of the characters contained therein. Raquel, however, is mine, so please don't steal her!

Author's Notes: Thanks to those of you who have read and reviewed! It makes me happy! lol.

wandathetiger- Thanks!

Tonyboy- Yeah. You're probably right. It's cool, though. He'll just be a little older in this fic. That is pretty cool about the actors being so much older than the age they were supposed to be. It's kinda like Beverly Hills 90210, where all those "teenagers" were really old. lol. I'm not going to say what will happen between Baby John and Raquel. But I agree that he needs some happiness. Poor kid. I've never seen the Broadway version of WSS. That probably explains why when I read fics based on the stage version, I'm like, "Who the heck is Diesel?" lol. Thanks alot for the review! BTW, I've never seen OKLAHOMA, so I don't think I'll understand what's going on in your fic... Sorry!

Eaglesgirl- Thanks so much! Hope WSS at your school went great...

Chapter 3: Raquel Meets Ice

Raquel walked over to Ice. "So you are Ice?" she said, emotionlessly.

Ice nodded. "Yeah. Who are you?"

"Soy... I am Raquel."

"What business you got with me?"

Raquel got set to put her plan into motion. "I have a warning for you," she lied.

"What kind of warning?" Ice asked. Though he agreed with Maria, that it was time for the hatred and fighting to stop, he was still a little wary of a warning from a Puerto Rican girl.

"Two of the Sharks are still angry about the rumble, and no amount of reasoning with them will change their minds. They say that if they see you on our turf, they will kill you. Especially Ice."

"Especially me?" Now Ice was a little worried. "Why me?"

"Indio and Pepe... they blame you for Bernardo's death. They say that if you had been man enough to fight your own fight, Bernardo would be alive."

"If I had fought my own fight? What? Everybody knows Bernardo wanted to fight with Tony, not me..."

"I know. But Pepe and Indio do not."

"Well, why did... why would you want to warn me? You're one of them."

"There has been far too much killing," she said, truly thinking of how much more there would be if her plan worked out how she wanted it to.

Ice nodded. "You got that right."

Raquel smiled when she saw Baby John, still looking at her. "What's the matter with you?" she asked him.

Baby John immediately took an interest in the concrete between his feet.

"Well?" Raquel said, thinking that she really should stop torturing the poor boy.

"Nothin'," Baby John said, embarrassed.

"Oh. I see." She turned her attention back to Ice. "And another thing... I must stay with you."

"What!" Ice demanded.

"It's a trick!" Action said, already firmly decided that no Puerto Rican would ever do anything to help them.

"Quiet, Action!" Ice snapped. "Who's in charge here?"

Action said nothing, but shook his head.

"That's what I thought," Ice said. "OK... so why do you need to stay here?"

"Because, the Sharks wouldn't risk hurting another Puerto Rican... And because Pepe said that if I left, I was not welcome to come back."

Ice nodded. He wanted to believe that she was truly trying to help him. And he also wanted to show Action who was boss. But he was going to keep an eye on her.

Action, ever the skeptic, was all set to keep both eyes on her.

Ice took her by the arm. "Come on," he said.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"To meet up with the others."

Raquel nodded, and followed Ice.

Baby John found himself hoping that they could trust the girl... and wondering why he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

A-Rab saw Baby John trailing behind, and he dropped back to walk with his friend. He grinned and threw his arm over Baby John's shoulders. "Hey, buddy boy," he said. "Better put your eyes back in your head."

"Huh?"

"They been buggin' out ever since that PR dame walked up."

"Aw, c'mon, A-Rab," Baby John said.

"C'mon what? It ain't like every buggin' one of us ain't been googoo about a broad before."

"But..."

"But what?" A-Rab said with a grin.

"She's... she's Puerto Rican... I can't..."

"So what?" A-Rab grinned again. "She a girl ain't she? It's about time you found one."

Baby John was embarrassed, but he didn't want A-Rab to know.

"It's OK, buddy boy," A-Rab said. "She's good lookin' enough. Got a nice pair of legs."

Baby John blushed a little. That wasn't what he'd been looking at, but when A-Rab mentioned it, he did look. And he had to agree with A-Rab. She did have nice legs. But he liked her face better. It was strong, but so beautiful. But he knew that she saw him as a little boy, and he didn't have a chance.

But he could hold on to hope. At least for a little while.