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. This fic is too much fun... BTW, notes to reviewers are at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 10: Chino

Ice stared at Baby John for a minute, before speaking. "What is it, Johnny-boy?"

"Raquel needs to see Chino!" he exclaimed before finally taking some time to breathe.

"Chino?" Action snapped. "What the..."

Ice waved him off. "What Action here means is, why does Raquel need to see Chino?"

Baby John tried to explain as much as possible without getting Raquel in trouble with the Jets.

Raquel touched his arm, and then she took over. "Chino is my brother."

"She has to see him!" Baby John said.

"Now, Baby John," Ice said. "Does she have to see him at..." he checked his watch, "Eleven-thirty at night?"

Raquel sighed. She supposed Ice was right. There was no point in going to see Chino in jail at this time of night.

"You'll have time to see him," Action said, bitterly adding, "It ain't like he's goin' nowhere. At least, not for the time bein'."

Raquel was saddened by Action's words. Baby John knew what she was feeling, and he took her in one arm, pulling her close to comfort her.

It was then that A-Rab walked over. He wanted to be angry about Raquel and Baby John, but he just couldn't. As he looked at them, he kept thinking that they looked like the last two kids left in an orphanage, holding to each other, because there was nothing else to hold on to. "So Baby John finally got hisself a dame," he thought with an almost sad smile.

Raquel tried to fight the tears back. Now that she was not trying to maintain her cover and complete her plan, thoughts of Chino were in the forefront. Even though she fought the tears, one managed to slip, and escape down her cheek. But Baby John was there to wipe it away. He embraced her gently, and kissed her. "Good night, Raquel," he said, lovingly.

"Good night, John," she replied, kissing his chin. "And thank you."

As Raquel went behind the sheet, A-Rab and Snowboy winked at Baby John, whose words could not express all that was being said in his smile.

OoOoOoO

The next morning, Raquel was the first to wake up. She sneaked out of her little "room" into the main room. She moved silently over to Baby John's pallet. "John," she whispered, touching his face.

"Hm?" Baby John replied, making it obvious that getting up in the morning was not one of his talents.

"John, please?" she said softly.

"Wha... Oh! Raquel!" he exclaimed, tacking a big yawn on the end of his sentence.

She smiled at him. "Good morning sleepy head."

"Good morning to you, too."

"Please, John... can we go see Chino now?"

"Course we can," he said, touching her cheek. "Anything you want."

Raquel smiled. "Out of bed, lazybones."

Baby John threw aside his blankets, and got up, waking up Ice, who was a light sleeper. "What's going on?" the Jet leader asked.

"Nothin'," Baby John replied. "I'm just gettin' ready to take Raquel to see Chino."

"Oh," Ice replied. "Nothin' else?"

"No," Baby John replied. "You can go back to sleep."

"OK," Ice replied, stretching before he rolled over.

Raquel got dressed, this time in a plain dress Graziella had given her. Baby John put on a blue button top and his dress pants from the night before.

As they left the cellar, Baby John said, "Hey, you wanna get something to eat?"

Raquel smiled weakly. "You get something. I'm not hungry. I just want to see my brother."

"No," Baby John said. "I won't eat without you. Besides, if does you no good to see him if you faint while you're talking to him."

"Sí, butJohn... I am so worried about him!"

Baby John sighed. "Please, Raquel? Please eat? For your own sake. Besides... Chino doesn't need a starving sister to worry about."

Raquel finally gave in. "OK."

She and Baby John caught a quick breakfast before going to see Chino.

Once inside the prison building where he was being kept, Raquel walked over to the first official looking person she saw. "Excuse me?" she said, her politeness covering her anxiousness.

"Yes?" the man replied, turning to her.

"I..." her anxiousness made her stumble over the English. "I am... aquí... I mean, I am here to see Chino Martín."

"Chino Martín? Lady, don't you know..."

Raquel interrupted. "Señor, he is my brother. I must see him before..."

The man looked at her sympathetically. "He's your brother?" He laid a kind hand on Raquel's shoulder. "I'm very sorry about his sentance, miss."

Raquel nodded. "So am I."

She felt Baby John's reassuring hand on her back, and she knew that, no matter what, he was there a hundred percent. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "If you need me, I'm here."

The man took her aside, and another police officer checked her for weapons. She spoke softly, "John, come with me."

He shook his head. "No, Raquel. This is your time to be with your brother."

"Please, John?" she pleaded. "I can't do this alone."

He sighed. "OK."

He was checked for weapons, too. The two of them were lead down a hall to Chino's cell. Raquel almost cried when she saw Chino sitting in the corner of his cell, his face buried in his arms.

"¿Hermano?" she whispered.

"Raquel?" he replied, looking up in surprise.

"Sí!" she replied, fighting tears as she saw her brother's face, red from crying.

"Oh, hermanita!" he cried out. "Hermanita, I thought you were... dead. When Del Campo found that my..." he looked around to make sure there were no guards with in hearing distance. "gun and knife were gone... He thought you had gone to take your own life."

"No. No, Chino. But I almost made a terrible mistake..."

"What mistake?"

Raquel looked to Baby John, and it was only then that Chino noticed the tall blonde boy standing behind her. "Raquel," he said. "¿quién es?"

"Es mi amigo..." she said, before looking at Baby John and realizing that, out of the last exchange he had understood no more than her name. "He's my friend. Baby... I mean, John."

"Baby John?" Chino asked. "The Jet?"

"Sí, Chino," she replied. "Baby John the Jet."

"¿Qué... What is he doing here?" Chino asked, less angry than confused.

"I..." Baby John stammered. "I... mean... ah... Raquel and me... are friends..."

Raquel smiled. "John is a good friend. So I asked him to come with me."

Chino looked at her, even more confused. "¿Por qué, hermanita?"

"Because, Chino," she said. "We are friends. Very good friends."

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Chino asked, smiling a little in spite of himself.

"Well, hermano, what is it that you think it means?"

"That you and this boy are not just friends."

"If we were, would you mind?" she asked, hoping for her brother's blessing.

Chino was silent for a long moment. He glanced at the tall Scandinavian boy, then at his beloved sister. "Oh... hermanita, one thing I have learned is this... American's are not all bad. So, if... if he is good to you... if he treats you with respect... like a lady, not like some garbage he can use and throw away... If he is good to you, Raquel, then, no, I do not mind."

"Oh, Chino!" she exclaimed. "Do you mean it?"

"Sí," Chino said, reaching through the bars to touch his sister's cheek. "I love you, Raquel. My only sister."

Raquel smiled at Chino. "I love you, too, Hermano."

"I want you to be happy, hermanita." Chino said, shaking his head. "I will not do to you what 'Nardo and I did to Maria," he added, sounding defeated.

Raquel's face was full of sorrow. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Is it true that they sentanced you..." she could not complete her question.

"To death? Yes, it is true."

"Oh, Chino!" she cried.

Chino wanted to cry, but he couldn't. He was the big brother. He had to be the strong one.

Baby John walked closer to Raquel and Chino. "Thank you," he said softly to Chino.

Chino nodded. "You be good to her, Baby John. I will not be here always, but I have friends... and if you hurt my little sister, they will make you wish you had never been born."

Baby John nodded. "I will take good care of her, Chino. I promise."

Chino looked at him. "You better."

Chino reached out through the bars to shake Baby John's hand. When the young Jet took the brown hand and gave it a firm shake, Chino felt better about the young man. His handshake was firm and sincere. And Chino believed that one could learn much about another from his handshake.

The guard came and told them that their time was up. Chino sighed. He kissed his hand and touched it to Raquel's cheek. "I love you, hermanita."

"I love you, too," she replied, giving him a hand-kiss on the cheek as well.

There were tears in her eyes as she and Baby John followed the guard away from Chino's cell.

And noone noticed, but there were tears in Chino's eyes, too.

OoOoOoO

A/N:

Tonyboy- I'm glad you like the chapter. I definately appreciated the compliment! That was really nice of you to say that! Eight is a cool number, I guess. lol. I love 7 and 3. Red has also been my fave color for ever! I love it. I always wanted to be the Red Ranger back in the day when I watched Power Rangers. lol. Yay! I'm so proud of myself! Yeehaa! Don't worry about the $10 million. The nice reviews are quite nice enough! Thanks! That stinks that he's not the choir pastor anymore, though. Sorry about that. I really missed our church pianist when she moved away. But she moved back, because she's too much of a homebody. lol. Yeah... I'll probably be missing out on that movie, then. Oh, well. It's all good. Well, I don't think it will make your voice sound worse... It's more the actual way that you sing. Like, the girl I was talking about... she doesn't sing clearly anymore, and it's hard to understand her because she won't open her mouth. She only opens it wide enough to get 2 fingers in, where we always learned in choir to open your mouth and let the sound out, but to shape the vowels properly... But I'm sure you'll be cool with it. Never having heard you sing, I wouldn't know, but I'm sure you're great if you have a wide range and all. That sounds good... But sometimes its just your technique that needs improvement and all... That was my problem when I started chorus. I've never seen Friends, but there's actually a place where someone posted a picture of Action connected to a picture of Joey, and it's crazy how much they look alike! Here's the URL to it, if you wanna see. http/ You know, you should get an account at then we could talk and all. I think that would be fun! If you do, my username's bethie88, so leave me a comment. lol.You're just a fun guy to talk to... There's also a community on there for WSS, which is very cool! BTW, I dreamed a few nights ago that a local teen actors group was putting on WSS, and I got the part of Anita. And then, William (The guy I told you about) was going to come see it just for me! It was a nice dream. Also, I just read a story you'll probably like. It's called Lammastide, and it's about Tony!

Translations?

Hermano-Brother

Hermanita-Little sister

Quién es?-Who is he/she

Es mi amigo- he is my friend.

Por qué?- Why? (lit. For what?)