Disclaimer from Chapter 1
okay guys, sorry I took so long to update. I was kinda hoping that if I waited I would get some more reviews, even if they were those angry "why haven't you updated, you stupid bitch?!?!?" reviews. Now I know that Juls is reading this right now going "I want to review but my dumb-ass computer wont let me!!!" So, sorry to Juls, I love you babe, and I know your out there reading! To every one else: please review! I love to hear from you guys, and really reading your reviews are the highlight of my day. Pathetic isn't it?
To hotsoptslingshit- I concede to your superior knowledge of the movie Newsies! You were right and I stand corrected. To everyone who has no idea what I'm talking about: I was mistaken, Mr. Jacobs's is named Mayer. I know this now to hotspotslingshot, who was kind enough to look it up on the web and show me the full credits. I just didn't have the time to do it with work, friends, planing to move out of state for school, plus the sewing project I have been commissioned to do this summer. It must be really nice to not have a schedule that allows that kind of free time! I'm sure you have a bright future with PABBIS or some other similar company. Thanks again!
Chapter 8 (yay)
As it turned out Cate or Lily was a very quick study when it came to fighting. It only took Jack two weeks to teach her the basic punches like: right hook, jab, and upper cut; along with some general technique and strategy like putting all your weight behind a punch. All in all, it had only been one month after that first night when Jack decide to test Lily's abilities. And he knew just how to do it:
"Hey Dave, you got a minute?"
"Sure Jack." David got up from his place in the booth next to Race and followed Jack over to a corner. "So, whats going on?"
"I tink dat Lilys ready to leave the apartment, I've taught her most every ting I know about fight'n, really all she can do now is practice and get some real experience. De problem is dat when ever we practice she knows I'm come'n and she expects it. What I need to do is get someone to surprise her, so we can test how well she does."
"So, whats that got to do with me?" David saw the look on Jack's face and it dawned on him, "Oh no. No, no, no! Jack, if shes half as good as you say she is, shes gonna beat the crap out of me. I'm not a punching bag."
"I know dat Dave, but we need to know, and she has ta have the confidence that comes from defenden herself against someone." David shook his head and was about to say no again when Jack spoke first: "She needs your help heah Dave, do it for her."
It worked just like Jack had hoped it would. David didn't want to become a human punching bag, but he would do anything for Cate. Even take a beating
Yes, she was still Cate to him. Everyone else had adopted the nick name, and she had grown used to being Lily, but David couldn't bring himself to call her by her new name. To him she would always be Cate, the girl he and Jack had found. The girl who had won his heart while she was still bruised, battered, and scared to death of him. Oh course, this ment he had to be careful. While she was always Cate in his head, he had to call her Lily in public. To do otherwise was to possibly put her in danger. Her father was well known enough that someone would recognize her, and Flanagan wasn't a very common name, even among the Irish immigrants.
Letting out a sigh David nodded his head, "Okay, tell me what to do."
"Its simple really. Tonight while we're on de roof practicing I'll keep her back to de door. You sneak up and grab her from behind. I'm sure dat she can get away from you, but I want to make her sure too." David nodded again and Jack clapped him on the back and lead him back over to the other Newsies. "Trust me Dave, every ting will be fine. And hey, I promise not to let her beat you too much." He laughed at David's forlorn expression and walked off, there was one other person he needed to talk to.
Kid Blink was sitting with Mush about and Skittery, joking about the pretty girl who had turned down Morris Dalancy in front of all the Newsies that morning.
"I swear," he laughed, "if Morris was any slowah he'd be moven backwards." Mush and Skittery had just burst into another fit of laughter when Jack walked up.
"Hey Blink, can I have a woid?"
"Okay," he got up and walked with Jack a little ways away from the table.
"Blink, I got ta ask you a favor."
"Sure Jack, anyting. Yous only got to ask."
"Well, yous remember dat goil dat Davey and I found a few months ago?"
Blink nodded, "Lily, right? De one Dave likes."
Jack smiled, "Yeah, dat one. See, wes trying to get her to leave de apartment, but shes too scared. I's been teachen her to fight, and shes really good, but I was tinking if she knew more people before she left, was comfortable and felt safe wit a big group of us, den she wouldn't be so scared. I was wondering if next week you could come back to de Jacob's apartment wit me and Dave and meet her? You would be de foist new person she's gonna meet.
"Yeah Jack, I could do dat. Tanks for asken me."
"Good, it would only be a short visit, but we could do more aftah dat, depending on how well she does during dis one."
"No problem, just tell me what day and I'll be dere."
With all his plans set up Jack left to finish selling his papers for the day, it wouldn't do to be running late tonight. He was done by five, but then waited for David and Les to sell their last papers too so they could head home for dinner.
Every thing that evening went just as it always had. Cate would cook an amazing dinner, tonight Sarah and David did the dishes, then they would all sit around and do what ever house-hold tasks they had to take care of.
Lily and Jack were up onto the roof practicing as usual, Jack being sure to keep Lily's back to the door. It had been half an hour when David silently crept up through the door. Jack glanced up and behind Lily to see him approaching carefully. Quickly looking back at Lily's face, so she wouldn't curious he had her go though the different stances.
David sighed to himself, he was almost there, right behind her. Taking a deep breath he reached out and wrapped his arms around Cate, making sure to pin hers to her side.
What happened next was somewhat of a blur to David, but Cate knew exactly what was going on. From the moment she felt strong arms close around her everything Jack taught her came rushing back. She brought her heal down on her attacker's foot and his grip immediately loosened, she took advantage of this and used her elbows to push away from his body. Spinning around she used her momentum to put all of her weight into a left hook and followed through with a jab to the gut. Her assailant stumbled back and she swept his feet out from under him, sending him falling backwards.
David hit the ground with a loud, "Oouf," and the wind completely knocked out of him. He laid there on his back clutching his stomach and looked up at Cate. Suddenly realization dawned in her beautiful eyes.
She let her hands drop out of the defensive stance that she had taken, in case her attacker got up and came at her again, when she saw David sitting on the roof in front of her.
"David! Oh my God! Are you okay?" She knelt down next to him and pulled his upper body so that it rested in her lap, his back to her. "What were you doing? Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."
He finally got enough air in him to answer her, "The ferocity of your attack seemed to say otherwise."
She wrapped her arms around him from behind. "I'm so glad your okay." A sudden burst of laughter interrupted her rant. "Oh, and Jack Kelly, what do you find so funny about this?"
Gaining control of his laughter he smiled at the couple on the ground, "You did real good kid, bettah then I thought."
"What! Are you telling me you guys planed this?"
Jack nodded, "I had ta know, how you would deal with a real attack, one dat wasn't expected."
David, who had really been enjoying laying against Cate with her arms cradling his body to hers protectively, suddenly found himself rocking back towards the roof. Cate stood up and walked over to the door.
"In that case, I'm not sorry. That was a mean trick, and I think you got what you deserved," and with that she stormed off down the stairs, slamming the door behind her.
Jack looked from the closed door over to David and started to laugh again. He walked over and offered the other boy an hand up. "So, was it really dat bad?"
David pulled himself to his feet and rubbed the side of his head where Cate had hit him. "Are you kidding? That hurt like hell! She hits hard." He was silent for a moment, "although, the part where she was worried abut me was really nice. Hmmm, do you think if I let her hit me again she would hold me like that again?" He shot Jack a sheepish grin. The other boy just burst into peels of laughter again. David couldn't help it, it was contagious. Giving into his own laughter he mentally promised himself that it would not be the last time she held him like that.
Surprisingly enough, Lily wasn't really that mad at them. By the next day she was willing to talk to them again, just as long as they promised never to do anything like that to her ever again. They both agreed readily. For all that Lily had once been the meek little thing they had found on the street, she sure had a temper. And now that she was used to them, she wasn't afraid to let it out and scold them for behaving like the dolts she told them they were.
Jack, now more convinced then ever that Lily was ready to meet some new people, asked Blink to come to the apartment the next Thursday. This was good for two reasons, the first being that Les never sold with them on Thursdays, so they wouldn't have to worry about him, and the second being that Lily didn't cook lunch for them on Thursdays, so she wouldn't have to make extra food for Blink.
David wanted to tell Lily that they were bringing Blink home, but Jack insisted that it be kept a surprise.
"I don't know Jack," David argued on their way to the distribution office. "She didn't take to kindly to our last surprise," he said running his fingers over the bruise on his temple, which had now faded to a nice blueish green color.
"Just trust me Dave. Its not like wes gonna sneak up on her dis time, we'll introduce dem and she'll be fine."
David shook his head a little, but by this time they were in line to get their papes and Mush came up to them.
"Hey Jack, how come Blink gets ta meet da mystery goil, and da rest of us can't?"
"Wes try'n to introduce her real slow ta new people, so she don't get to ovahwhelmed."
Mush thought about this for a minute then nodded his head, "Dat makes sense. Can I meet her next?"
Jack glanced at David, who just shrugged his shoulders, then turned back to Mush. "Okay Mush, we shes used to Blink you can meet her, but it may be a little while."
Lily and Les were fencing when the other boys and Blink walked through the door. Les was using his wooden sward to back her towards the door, while she was brandishing a large wooded spoon at him. Jack had opened the door and ushered Blink in before him and David, expecting Lily to be in the kitchen cooking.
As Les forced her back towards the door Lily heard it open. She wasn't worried, it was time for David and Jack to be getting home, but instead of the two familiar voices greeting her she heard something else that made her blood run cold.
A hand on each arm kept her from backing up any farther and a voice next to her left ear said "Hello doll".
Just like the week before, instinct kicked in and she was slamming her foot down on that of the person behind her. But this time her arms weren't pinned to her sides. She threw her left elbow back into her assailants's stomach, then used the momentum from that move to spin around and throw a cross-jab into the young man's good eye. Then she used her left arm to place an uppercut square under his jaw, which sent him falling backwards. She took this opportunity to grab Les, wrench the sward out of his grasp, and drag him to the other side of the room near the window. She held the sward with both hands and was prepared to hold the attacker off long enough for Les to climb out the window, when she saw Jack catch the would be attacker as he stumbled back and David come running into the room.
Jack looked from the slumping Blink in his arms to Lily who was poised to fend off another "attack" across the room. David also instantly understood, he ran over to Lily and pulled the sward out of her hands.
She looked up at him with tears and confusion in her eyes, then threw her arms around his neck and buried her face against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, holding her tightly against his body. He stroked her air and whispered comforting words to her.
Les peeked around Lily's skirt, "Blink?" He ran over to the stand in front of the chair Jack had lead Blink to. "Are you okay?"
Blink tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace when he felt pain shoot through his face. "Heya kiddo. I'll be fine, doesn't hurt that bad." He tried not to make another face even as he said it.
"Hey Les, could you get me a piece of meat from de icebox?" Jack asked. Les nodded then trotted off into the kitchen.
David pulled away from lily a little bit and looked her in the eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that were now watery from the tears she was trying, and failing to hold back. He brushed his thumb gently along her cheek to pick up the stray tears that were still falling.
"Its okay," he whispered to her, "hes a friend, someone Jack and I wanted to introduce you to."
She glanced over at the boy sitting at the table. Jack had put a large slab of beef on the boy's good eye and was looking at his chin.
She turned back to David and sighed. "And I punched him in his only good eye."
She looked so sad that David pulled her into another hug. Jack chose that moment to walk over and ask Lily if she was alright.
"Yes, I'll be fine. I was just so startled." She looked sad again, "thats the second teenage boy I've beaten up in a week." Jack and David both laughed, and she looked indignantly at them. "Its not funny! How am I ever going to meet new people and make new friends if I keep punching them?" If anything this just caused them to both laugh harder.
When Jack got himself under control he looked at her. "Does dat mean you still want ta meet him?"
Lily looked at David, who still had his arms around her waist. He gave her a little squeeze and smiled at her in a reassuring way, then let go. She turned to Jack and nodded.
The three of them walked over to Blink and he pulled the meat off of is eye so he could see them.
Jack took Lily's hand and lead her forward. "Blink, dis is Lily, and Lily, dis is Kid Blink, hes one of me Manhattan Newsies."
Blink held his hand, and she tentatively shook it. "Its nice to meet you Lily. Jack and Dave have told us all about you, and I'm glad to finally meet you." He smiled at her, "and let me just say, dat is one hell of an uppercut."
Lily blushed, "Its nice to meet you too Kid Blink, and I'm really sorry, you just startled me . . ."
Blink held up a hand to stop her, "Its just Blink to me friends, and no need to be sorry. I was warned you didn't like strangers, I should'a not grabbed you like dat."
The rest of the afternoon went pleasantly enough. Lily seemed to warm up to Blink a lot, although, she did stay close to Jack or David for most of the time Blink was in the apartment. But by the end of the day she had worked up enough courage and guilt to be comfortable enough to touch him a little to look at his bruises and tell him that the would be just fine, but he should probably wash it with cold water some tonight and again in the morning. And she also informed him that he would have a lovely bruise on his chin, along with a black eye.
As he walked into the lodging house later that night Race looked up from his poker game and whistled.
"Blink, nice shinah! Who gave you dat one?" He called from the table.
Blink just flicked him off and went into the wash room. Cold water on his eye was starting to sound good. Jack walked over to the table and pulled up another chair to watch the game.
Race looked up from his cards and glanced at the washroom door. "Hey Jack. Whats up wit Blink, who hit him?"
Jack sighed, "Well yous remember how I was take'n him to meet Lily today?" All the boys around the table nodded, "well, ya see, he kinda snuck up on her, and she kinda beat de shit outa him." The whole table erupted in laughter.
"Yous guys wouldn't be laughing so hard if she had hit you," Blink said, coming out of the washroom with a wet rag held around his eye. He pulled up another chair to the table. "She hits like a fucking train! You can ask Dave, remember those bruises he had last week? Dey were from her too. Apparently she doesn't like to be snuck up on." All the boys chuckled again.
Mush turned to Jack. "He Jack, remember how I asked you if I can meet Lily next?" Jack nodded, "Well, I tink I've changed my mind, I don't want to get beat up."
thanks again for reading guys! please, Please, PLEASE review. I promise the next chapter wont take so long.
estrellalily
okay guys, sorry I took so long to update. I was kinda hoping that if I waited I would get some more reviews, even if they were those angry "why haven't you updated, you stupid bitch?!?!?" reviews. Now I know that Juls is reading this right now going "I want to review but my dumb-ass computer wont let me!!!" So, sorry to Juls, I love you babe, and I know your out there reading! To every one else: please review! I love to hear from you guys, and really reading your reviews are the highlight of my day. Pathetic isn't it?
To hotsoptslingshit- I concede to your superior knowledge of the movie Newsies! You were right and I stand corrected. To everyone who has no idea what I'm talking about: I was mistaken, Mr. Jacobs's is named Mayer. I know this now to hotspotslingshot, who was kind enough to look it up on the web and show me the full credits. I just didn't have the time to do it with work, friends, planing to move out of state for school, plus the sewing project I have been commissioned to do this summer. It must be really nice to not have a schedule that allows that kind of free time! I'm sure you have a bright future with PABBIS or some other similar company. Thanks again!
Chapter 8 (yay)
As it turned out Cate or Lily was a very quick study when it came to fighting. It only took Jack two weeks to teach her the basic punches like: right hook, jab, and upper cut; along with some general technique and strategy like putting all your weight behind a punch. All in all, it had only been one month after that first night when Jack decide to test Lily's abilities. And he knew just how to do it:
"Hey Dave, you got a minute?"
"Sure Jack." David got up from his place in the booth next to Race and followed Jack over to a corner. "So, whats going on?"
"I tink dat Lilys ready to leave the apartment, I've taught her most every ting I know about fight'n, really all she can do now is practice and get some real experience. De problem is dat when ever we practice she knows I'm come'n and she expects it. What I need to do is get someone to surprise her, so we can test how well she does."
"So, whats that got to do with me?" David saw the look on Jack's face and it dawned on him, "Oh no. No, no, no! Jack, if shes half as good as you say she is, shes gonna beat the crap out of me. I'm not a punching bag."
"I know dat Dave, but we need to know, and she has ta have the confidence that comes from defenden herself against someone." David shook his head and was about to say no again when Jack spoke first: "She needs your help heah Dave, do it for her."
It worked just like Jack had hoped it would. David didn't want to become a human punching bag, but he would do anything for Cate. Even take a beating
Yes, she was still Cate to him. Everyone else had adopted the nick name, and she had grown used to being Lily, but David couldn't bring himself to call her by her new name. To him she would always be Cate, the girl he and Jack had found. The girl who had won his heart while she was still bruised, battered, and scared to death of him. Oh course, this ment he had to be careful. While she was always Cate in his head, he had to call her Lily in public. To do otherwise was to possibly put her in danger. Her father was well known enough that someone would recognize her, and Flanagan wasn't a very common name, even among the Irish immigrants.
Letting out a sigh David nodded his head, "Okay, tell me what to do."
"Its simple really. Tonight while we're on de roof practicing I'll keep her back to de door. You sneak up and grab her from behind. I'm sure dat she can get away from you, but I want to make her sure too." David nodded again and Jack clapped him on the back and lead him back over to the other Newsies. "Trust me Dave, every ting will be fine. And hey, I promise not to let her beat you too much." He laughed at David's forlorn expression and walked off, there was one other person he needed to talk to.
Kid Blink was sitting with Mush about and Skittery, joking about the pretty girl who had turned down Morris Dalancy in front of all the Newsies that morning.
"I swear," he laughed, "if Morris was any slowah he'd be moven backwards." Mush and Skittery had just burst into another fit of laughter when Jack walked up.
"Hey Blink, can I have a woid?"
"Okay," he got up and walked with Jack a little ways away from the table.
"Blink, I got ta ask you a favor."
"Sure Jack, anyting. Yous only got to ask."
"Well, yous remember dat goil dat Davey and I found a few months ago?"
Blink nodded, "Lily, right? De one Dave likes."
Jack smiled, "Yeah, dat one. See, wes trying to get her to leave de apartment, but shes too scared. I's been teachen her to fight, and shes really good, but I was tinking if she knew more people before she left, was comfortable and felt safe wit a big group of us, den she wouldn't be so scared. I was wondering if next week you could come back to de Jacob's apartment wit me and Dave and meet her? You would be de foist new person she's gonna meet.
"Yeah Jack, I could do dat. Tanks for asken me."
"Good, it would only be a short visit, but we could do more aftah dat, depending on how well she does during dis one."
"No problem, just tell me what day and I'll be dere."
With all his plans set up Jack left to finish selling his papers for the day, it wouldn't do to be running late tonight. He was done by five, but then waited for David and Les to sell their last papers too so they could head home for dinner.
Every thing that evening went just as it always had. Cate would cook an amazing dinner, tonight Sarah and David did the dishes, then they would all sit around and do what ever house-hold tasks they had to take care of.
Lily and Jack were up onto the roof practicing as usual, Jack being sure to keep Lily's back to the door. It had been half an hour when David silently crept up through the door. Jack glanced up and behind Lily to see him approaching carefully. Quickly looking back at Lily's face, so she wouldn't curious he had her go though the different stances.
David sighed to himself, he was almost there, right behind her. Taking a deep breath he reached out and wrapped his arms around Cate, making sure to pin hers to her side.
What happened next was somewhat of a blur to David, but Cate knew exactly what was going on. From the moment she felt strong arms close around her everything Jack taught her came rushing back. She brought her heal down on her attacker's foot and his grip immediately loosened, she took advantage of this and used her elbows to push away from his body. Spinning around she used her momentum to put all of her weight into a left hook and followed through with a jab to the gut. Her assailant stumbled back and she swept his feet out from under him, sending him falling backwards.
David hit the ground with a loud, "Oouf," and the wind completely knocked out of him. He laid there on his back clutching his stomach and looked up at Cate. Suddenly realization dawned in her beautiful eyes.
She let her hands drop out of the defensive stance that she had taken, in case her attacker got up and came at her again, when she saw David sitting on the roof in front of her.
"David! Oh my God! Are you okay?" She knelt down next to him and pulled his upper body so that it rested in her lap, his back to her. "What were you doing? Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."
He finally got enough air in him to answer her, "The ferocity of your attack seemed to say otherwise."
She wrapped her arms around him from behind. "I'm so glad your okay." A sudden burst of laughter interrupted her rant. "Oh, and Jack Kelly, what do you find so funny about this?"
Gaining control of his laughter he smiled at the couple on the ground, "You did real good kid, bettah then I thought."
"What! Are you telling me you guys planed this?"
Jack nodded, "I had ta know, how you would deal with a real attack, one dat wasn't expected."
David, who had really been enjoying laying against Cate with her arms cradling his body to hers protectively, suddenly found himself rocking back towards the roof. Cate stood up and walked over to the door.
"In that case, I'm not sorry. That was a mean trick, and I think you got what you deserved," and with that she stormed off down the stairs, slamming the door behind her.
Jack looked from the closed door over to David and started to laugh again. He walked over and offered the other boy an hand up. "So, was it really dat bad?"
David pulled himself to his feet and rubbed the side of his head where Cate had hit him. "Are you kidding? That hurt like hell! She hits hard." He was silent for a moment, "although, the part where she was worried abut me was really nice. Hmmm, do you think if I let her hit me again she would hold me like that again?" He shot Jack a sheepish grin. The other boy just burst into peels of laughter again. David couldn't help it, it was contagious. Giving into his own laughter he mentally promised himself that it would not be the last time she held him like that.
Surprisingly enough, Lily wasn't really that mad at them. By the next day she was willing to talk to them again, just as long as they promised never to do anything like that to her ever again. They both agreed readily. For all that Lily had once been the meek little thing they had found on the street, she sure had a temper. And now that she was used to them, she wasn't afraid to let it out and scold them for behaving like the dolts she told them they were.
Jack, now more convinced then ever that Lily was ready to meet some new people, asked Blink to come to the apartment the next Thursday. This was good for two reasons, the first being that Les never sold with them on Thursdays, so they wouldn't have to worry about him, and the second being that Lily didn't cook lunch for them on Thursdays, so she wouldn't have to make extra food for Blink.
David wanted to tell Lily that they were bringing Blink home, but Jack insisted that it be kept a surprise.
"I don't know Jack," David argued on their way to the distribution office. "She didn't take to kindly to our last surprise," he said running his fingers over the bruise on his temple, which had now faded to a nice blueish green color.
"Just trust me Dave. Its not like wes gonna sneak up on her dis time, we'll introduce dem and she'll be fine."
David shook his head a little, but by this time they were in line to get their papes and Mush came up to them.
"Hey Jack, how come Blink gets ta meet da mystery goil, and da rest of us can't?"
"Wes try'n to introduce her real slow ta new people, so she don't get to ovahwhelmed."
Mush thought about this for a minute then nodded his head, "Dat makes sense. Can I meet her next?"
Jack glanced at David, who just shrugged his shoulders, then turned back to Mush. "Okay Mush, we shes used to Blink you can meet her, but it may be a little while."
Lily and Les were fencing when the other boys and Blink walked through the door. Les was using his wooden sward to back her towards the door, while she was brandishing a large wooded spoon at him. Jack had opened the door and ushered Blink in before him and David, expecting Lily to be in the kitchen cooking.
As Les forced her back towards the door Lily heard it open. She wasn't worried, it was time for David and Jack to be getting home, but instead of the two familiar voices greeting her she heard something else that made her blood run cold.
A hand on each arm kept her from backing up any farther and a voice next to her left ear said "Hello doll".
Just like the week before, instinct kicked in and she was slamming her foot down on that of the person behind her. But this time her arms weren't pinned to her sides. She threw her left elbow back into her assailants's stomach, then used the momentum from that move to spin around and throw a cross-jab into the young man's good eye. Then she used her left arm to place an uppercut square under his jaw, which sent him falling backwards. She took this opportunity to grab Les, wrench the sward out of his grasp, and drag him to the other side of the room near the window. She held the sward with both hands and was prepared to hold the attacker off long enough for Les to climb out the window, when she saw Jack catch the would be attacker as he stumbled back and David come running into the room.
Jack looked from the slumping Blink in his arms to Lily who was poised to fend off another "attack" across the room. David also instantly understood, he ran over to Lily and pulled the sward out of her hands.
She looked up at him with tears and confusion in her eyes, then threw her arms around his neck and buried her face against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, holding her tightly against his body. He stroked her air and whispered comforting words to her.
Les peeked around Lily's skirt, "Blink?" He ran over to the stand in front of the chair Jack had lead Blink to. "Are you okay?"
Blink tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace when he felt pain shoot through his face. "Heya kiddo. I'll be fine, doesn't hurt that bad." He tried not to make another face even as he said it.
"Hey Les, could you get me a piece of meat from de icebox?" Jack asked. Les nodded then trotted off into the kitchen.
David pulled away from lily a little bit and looked her in the eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that were now watery from the tears she was trying, and failing to hold back. He brushed his thumb gently along her cheek to pick up the stray tears that were still falling.
"Its okay," he whispered to her, "hes a friend, someone Jack and I wanted to introduce you to."
She glanced over at the boy sitting at the table. Jack had put a large slab of beef on the boy's good eye and was looking at his chin.
She turned back to David and sighed. "And I punched him in his only good eye."
She looked so sad that David pulled her into another hug. Jack chose that moment to walk over and ask Lily if she was alright.
"Yes, I'll be fine. I was just so startled." She looked sad again, "thats the second teenage boy I've beaten up in a week." Jack and David both laughed, and she looked indignantly at them. "Its not funny! How am I ever going to meet new people and make new friends if I keep punching them?" If anything this just caused them to both laugh harder.
When Jack got himself under control he looked at her. "Does dat mean you still want ta meet him?"
Lily looked at David, who still had his arms around her waist. He gave her a little squeeze and smiled at her in a reassuring way, then let go. She turned to Jack and nodded.
The three of them walked over to Blink and he pulled the meat off of is eye so he could see them.
Jack took Lily's hand and lead her forward. "Blink, dis is Lily, and Lily, dis is Kid Blink, hes one of me Manhattan Newsies."
Blink held his hand, and she tentatively shook it. "Its nice to meet you Lily. Jack and Dave have told us all about you, and I'm glad to finally meet you." He smiled at her, "and let me just say, dat is one hell of an uppercut."
Lily blushed, "Its nice to meet you too Kid Blink, and I'm really sorry, you just startled me . . ."
Blink held up a hand to stop her, "Its just Blink to me friends, and no need to be sorry. I was warned you didn't like strangers, I should'a not grabbed you like dat."
The rest of the afternoon went pleasantly enough. Lily seemed to warm up to Blink a lot, although, she did stay close to Jack or David for most of the time Blink was in the apartment. But by the end of the day she had worked up enough courage and guilt to be comfortable enough to touch him a little to look at his bruises and tell him that the would be just fine, but he should probably wash it with cold water some tonight and again in the morning. And she also informed him that he would have a lovely bruise on his chin, along with a black eye.
As he walked into the lodging house later that night Race looked up from his poker game and whistled.
"Blink, nice shinah! Who gave you dat one?" He called from the table.
Blink just flicked him off and went into the wash room. Cold water on his eye was starting to sound good. Jack walked over to the table and pulled up another chair to watch the game.
Race looked up from his cards and glanced at the washroom door. "Hey Jack. Whats up wit Blink, who hit him?"
Jack sighed, "Well yous remember how I was take'n him to meet Lily today?" All the boys around the table nodded, "well, ya see, he kinda snuck up on her, and she kinda beat de shit outa him." The whole table erupted in laughter.
"Yous guys wouldn't be laughing so hard if she had hit you," Blink said, coming out of the washroom with a wet rag held around his eye. He pulled up another chair to the table. "She hits like a fucking train! You can ask Dave, remember those bruises he had last week? Dey were from her too. Apparently she doesn't like to be snuck up on." All the boys chuckled again.
Mush turned to Jack. "He Jack, remember how I asked you if I can meet Lily next?" Jack nodded, "Well, I tink I've changed my mind, I don't want to get beat up."
thanks again for reading guys! please, Please, PLEASE review. I promise the next chapter wont take so long.
estrellalily