9

Pure will and Determination

Alley woke up with nothing more then a headache, that she could feel anyway. She couldn't move so she just laid there thinking. I have to get out of here. I have to get myself up. Spot's gonna kill Jack I know he will. I have to warn Jack. I have to stop Spot. Tears began to fall. She hated being weak and the crying wasn't helping her cause much. She couldn't see out of her right eyes so she had to move her head to see if anyone was still in the house. She threw the covers off her with her good arm. She tried to move but she moved a bit to fast and fell back down on the bed. "Damn it." She finally got out of bed and stood. Her left leg and arm were useless to her. Her left side in general was just not in working order. She walked dragging her left leg behind her, her arm dangling to her side. Damn horse, Damn Delancey's. I'll kill them myself. I've just got to find Jack.

She walked down the road and finally got a glimpse of someone she thought was Jack. He wasn't wearing his normal clothes but she figured that he wouldn't be.

"Jack…Jack Kelly!"

He turned around a bit surprised. "You're still talking to me Alley after what I did." She came closer a little slow at first then just ran and collapsed in his arms.

"I don't care that you hit me, but Spot's out for revenge. He came and saw me when I wasn't at my best and he's out to get you. I just want you to run if you see him or any of the Brooklyn Newsies. Promise me you'll run. Promise me that you'll get far away from here." she was crying.

He pushed her away gently and took a good look at her. "Alley who did this too you. You look like a totally mess."

She buried her head into his chest and cried. "The Delancey brother. They…they I don't want to talk about it. She was shivering now. He held her close as she shuddered against him. She immediately back away form him as he tried to dry her tears.

"Alley why are you so jumpy?" Just then they heard Sarah yell from an alley. They ran in that direction and saw Dave fighting the Delanceys. Alley hid behind some crates as Jack went in to help. He fought them off and stepped on Morris in a place that would really hurt in the morning. They ran and Alley emerged form her hiding spot.

In Brooklyn earlier that morning. Spot woke still in a rage and one of his boys came to talk to him and he wasn't fully awake so he punched him. The poor kid ran away from him learning his lesson on not to wake Spot. Shadow, Dust, and O'Reily came to sit down next to him in his alley later.

"Spot?" He'd been lost in thought.

"Yes Shadow."

"How do you think she is this morning. I didn't see her and I wanted to know what you saw…We wanted to know." He was lying about not seeing her. In fact he had been to Manhattan earlier that morning. Just see if he could find her and he did.

"No you don't. You don't want to know how hard it was to look at her as she threw up and cried. You don't know how bad I felt when she pushed me away. She jumped away from me and wouldn't let me hold her. I just don't understand I want so badly to know what happened. To her. Jack's gonna pay."

"think rationally here Spot. Jack isn't the only one who hurt her. He's betrayed us all."

"Yes but I get the feeling that she forgives him. That she knows something we don't. And I get the feeling that she wouldn't be in the shape she was in if she had been fully alert. So it is partly his fault."

"Yes I know. But still don't do anything rash. She may never forgive you for that. We all want to track down who did this too her. Race and Blink told me that they went out looking because they thought the Delanceys' looked to happy. Maybe they are the reason she's the way she is right now."

"You've got a point there Shadow. And I bet it was them."

They continued to talk until one of the younger boys came running up telling them that they had seen Alley cross the Brooklyn Bridge and he was asking one to many questions so Shadow and Dust told him to leave.

O'Reily went out to get Alley. When he met her in the streets he stood there in shock at what he was seeing. Alley looked at him with anger and he realized that he had an expression that was not such a good idea to show. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. She just nodded and let him lead her to Spot.

She entered the alley and went straight to Spot who was sitting down. She sat down next to him almost screaming in pain. She laid her head on his lap and cried. She cried right in front of the guys that hadn't seen her cry since she was seven, and the one that had never seen her cry. Spot lifted her into his lap and hugged her. She didn't move away she just cried. They sat like that for hours until the final tear was dried away by Spot.

"there are we better now." Alley just nodded her head and put her ear to his heart. She fell asleep right there. Spot couldn't help but smile. That was how he wanted it. She was his all his and the boys knew it. Dust, Shadow, and O'Reily took the opportunity to go to the docks and take a swim.

"Well, there now maybe he won't do anything rash."

"What do you mean by that Shadow. I get the feeling you know something you aren't telling us."

"That I do O'Reily."

"Well brother what is it."

"Dust, O'Reily. I went into Manhattan a little earlier this morning before we decided to go see Spot. Well I saw Alley walking. She seemed to determined to find someone. A certain someone."

"Jack!"

"Yes Jack, She knows something we do not. I still believe she feels he's betrayed her but there is something that made her want to find him. I thought it was probably to warn him or something. So as I normally do, I followed her. When she saw Jack she ran to him. It seemed like she was crying but I couldn't see what she was telling him. I left after that. And found you two and we went to talk to Spot."

"So she knows something she isn't going to tell us."

"That would be correct."

Meanwhile Alley had opened her eyes and was staring straight into Spot's.

"Spot I'm scared. I don't want to go back to Manhattan alone, but I have to go back. Jack ain't a scab. He beat the stuffing out of the Delanceys' ta save David's skin this morning. He's not going back to work. He's finally gonna fight with us. I just don't want to go back because of the Delanceys'."

"Why Tru. What did they do to you?" She looked at him astonished that he used her real name. He only did that when he meant business and that was never good business.

"Don't hurt Jack or anything if I tell you what happened. Why you had to see me that way yesterday. Just don't hurt him."

"Alley I won't I promise." He knew in his head it would take a lot of time for Jack to ever explain himself to him, but if Alley didn't want him to hurt Jack then he would try his hardest not too.

"But I guarantee you, you will want too…Well when Dave went to get him from the refugee they had taken him to Old Man Pulitzer's so I hid in an alley near his home. When Jack came out he and Dave came down the alley. They got in a fight and David took off. Well I walked up to talk to him. To tell him just to wait it out. Not to go scab. Well he wanted me to run and I didn't so he slapped me." She felt him get tense. "You promised," she pleaded with him.

"I know." His arms held her tighter.

"Ow, that hurts."

He let go. "I'm sorry, continue."

"Well I fell to my knees and he helped me up, but he grabbed me real tight and I told him to let go. Well I ran from him after that. He was scaring me. Well soon after I collapsed in an alley. I couldn't run anymore and I was in so much pain. Well the Delanceys found me there." Tears began to fill her eyes again. "They kicked me. I tried to fight back, but I got brass knuckles to my stomach. I curled up in a ball and then Morris spread my legs out…and they…they." She burst into tears. He touched her stomach and came across blood that had not yet dried.

"A knife! They cut you with a knife each time you tried to struggle against what they were doing. They LEFT YOU FOR DEAD. THOSE MONSTERS." She jumped in his arms.

"Spot please don't yell. You're scaring me." She was still crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." He held her tight as the tears started to fall from his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and they held each other until she had to leave, but he wasn't far behind. He was determined to find Jack and tell him sorry. Of course when they got into Manhattan he turned around and headed back to Brooklyn with his gang who had followed him over and waited for her to return with news. He left her in the protective hands of Jack, David, and Sarah.

a/n: so i'm like totally out of it right now. I hope you like this chapter. My brain hurts and i'm out of it. Well i've got to go i'm sleepy not much to say thanks to my reviewers. talk to you alls laters byes.