Well, this story is coming to the end, this isn't the end, just to let you know, but it's nearing a close. I hope you enjoy! Notes!

SakiSaki: Yes, I have seen West Side Story, I own it. I love that movie! It's great. I did realize that those lines came from that musical. LOL. :)

Rebelchic17: I made you cry? Sweet! LOL. You know I go for that stuff. LOL. :)

elleestJenn: I answered this question/comment before, on the whole switching back and forth from Jenna to Toothpick thing. I write her as Jenna so signify her difference and how she still feels different from the other newsies. The newsies refer to her as Toothpick on a friendly level. If you see a newsie refer to her as Jenna it's suggesting that they're feeling something more than friendship, like love, or a sincere care for that person, like with Crutchy.

Racetrack's Goil: I myself don't find Jenna much of a Mary Sue. I haven't had anyone else mention this, if I had I would take this comment more into account. I think I've made her enough of a rounded character. It is true that I have everyone liking her, but I don't think that's so unbelieveable, and I didn't find her flat, but I guess I could be wrong. Thanks for the comment and I'll take this into consideration. I'm glad you like the basic plot, keep reading if you choose too. Also, your comment was only on chappie 1, you may learn more as you read on, of course I have no way of knowing how much you've read based on the chappie comment, so, okay, I'm rambling. LOL. :) Thanks for your contructive critizism whatever I choose to do with it, I do appriciate them and don't take offense to them unless they are blatantly meant to offend me, and believe me, I've received those on other stories where I really do have Mary Sues. :) Not fun. :( Anyway, thanks:)

Chapter 19

"Sarah," Jack breathed as he saw the girl rush to his bedside.

"Jack!" she cried, rushing to his bedside and kneeling beside it, tears bursting from her eyes for the first time up the sight of the poor boy lying in the hospital bed.

"Sarah," Davey whispered, putting a hand on her shivering shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Les gathered around her as well and she held him tight with one arm, the other resting on the bed, hand on top of Jack's.

"It's all right, Sarah, I promise, it's only a shot in da arm," he assured her.

"Oh, Jack!" she wailed. Mush and Racetrack just stood there, feeling uncomfortable.

"Where's Toothpick?" Jack questioned.

"Outside," Sarah replied shakily.

"Jack," came a voice from outside. In walked Spot, Connie clutching onto his shirt.

"Spot," Jack said. "What are you doin' here?"

"Connie missed Sarah and Toothpick so we came back for a bit," Spot replied.

"So dis is Connie," Jack said, looking down upon the trembling girl.

"Yeah," he said. Jack smiled softly and Connie offered a quivering smirk. "What happened?"

"Just a shot in da arm," Jack shrugged nonchalantly.

"Ya gonna be okay?" Spot questioned.

"Yeah, fine, the docs are takin' out da bullet in a minute and I gotta wear a sling for a while, dat's all," Jack replied. "Don't worry, Sarah, I'm gonna be all right."
"I hope so, Jack, I don't know what I'd do if you died," she cried.

"It's just a shot in da arm, Sarah, nothin' fatal," he assured her. "Nobody died of a shot in da arm."

"Y-you're right," she sniffled, pulling her head away from the bedside where her face had been buried in the sheets. "I'm sorry, Jack, it's just, if I were to loose you, I don't know what I'd do. I love you so much."

"Where's Jenna?" Mush asked immediately as he and Racetrack came out of the hospital to meet a sea of faces.

"She went home. The poor thing was exhausted," Crutchy explained.

"We have some good news, I wish she was here so we could tell her too," Racetrack said.

"What is it?" Boots demanded. He had led Sarah, Spot, and Connie to the hospital room and then gone back outside to join the newsies.

"Jack's gonna be fine, they're takin' out the bullet and he's gonna be in a sling for a while. Good ol' Jack's actually glad, says it's a great sympathy act," Racetrack explained with a chuckle. The rest of the newsies joined in, that would be Jack's way of thinking.

Jenna's cry should have been loud enough to wake all of New York. It was surprising that the newsies didn't hear it. She knew it was coming; she just wanted to know why now. The pain was just too much for her and whereas minutes ago she had thought she had not another tear left in her body now there were too many. Her face was a pool of salty tears. First Jack and now this. She had fallen into her apartment to see her mother's figure sprawled on the bed, more pale than she had ever seen it.

"Mom, Mom," she started, eyes widening when she realized the truth. "Mom!" She fell to her knees in a violently shaking heap. "I was so close! I almost had the money, Mom, I almost had it!"

Her thoughts weren't for herself, where she would live, how she would get by; they were for her mother. She felt pitiful. She was so close. In reality she couldn't have done a thing, it wouldn't have helped, her mother was too far into the cancer, but it was the feeling of despair that came over her. She knew it wasn't her fault; it was inevitable that it would happen. She rushed out of the apartment, running as far away as she could before she collapsed on the doorstep of an abandoned house and wept her heart out.

Both Racetrack and Mush were looking for Jenna. Racetrack knew she was Mush's girl but it was their usual harmonica time and if she was too upset to play with him he'd play for her. Mush was looking for her for the simple reason that she was his girlfriend. Racetrack, however, found her first.

"Toothpick!" he cried, rushing up to her limp body on the broken down doorstep. "Toothpick." He took her in his arms as she began to sob into his shirt. "Don't worry 'bout Jack, Toothpick, the doc says he's gonna be fine." Unfortunately this information would no longer stop her tears.

"Oh, Racetrack!" she wept.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? This ain't about Jack anymore, is it?" he said, lightly stroking her hair. She shook her head violently.

"M-Mon," she managed to utter. This was all Racetrack needed to hear.

"Oh, Jenna," he breathed, holding her tighter and closer.

"Racetrack," she cried, unable to say anything else.

"Shh," he whispered.

"Racetrack, why?" she choked, barely breathing, gasping for air.

"I don't know, Jenna," he replied, about to cry himself. Her shivering body, her broken wail, and her beet red face were too much for him to stand. The pain he knew she was feeling was horrible but not nearly as horrible as the fact that he knew there wasn't anything he could do.

"What am I gonna do?" she demanded.

"I, I don't know," he muttered ashamedly. "Oh, Jenna, please don't' cry; I, I can't stand it when you cry." She sniffled and gradually began to stop shaking, pulling away to look into his eyes.

"Why?" she asked. This was the moment, he had to tell her, there wouldn't be another chance like this if he was given an eternity.

"B-because I love you," he said.

"W-what?" she breathed, not believing the words she had just heard.

"I love you," he repeated in a whisper, feeling so ashamed.

"R-Racetrack," she said softly, falling gently back into his arms, head resting on his chest. Beneath it she could hear his heart beating a mile a minute. "I love you, too."

He drew away as she pulled away too. He stared deep into her eyes, somehow questioning her words. She had no conceivable reason to utter those words if she didn't mean them; she had a boyfriend. There was no lie in her eyes and they slowly came together, faces centimeters from the other. His lips brushed against hers gently and then connected. It wasn't anything like she had dreamed it'd be; it was better. She didn't know exactly what feeling she had hoped to attain but whatever it was she got it. Racetrack's lips brought no sense of longing as Spot's and Mush's did. She felt complete for that span of time. The fact that her mother had died that day seemed not to exist when their lips were touching. She felt safe and protected from the horrors all around her. As they pulled apart she brought him back into her.

"No, don't," she whispered breathlessly. The second their lips were apart she had felt a horrible longing. The reality that her mother was dead came back stronger than ever. The vision of Jack lying in the street, blood flowing from his arm, consumed her thoughts. Racetrack held her close and when they finally pulled away again she felt a little better.

"Jenna," he breathed in his heavy Brooklyn accent. She felt shivers run up and down her spine as he said it. He gently began to remove her hat and as he did so her long wavy locks fell right into place around her torso. "Why don't ya ever wear your hair down? I love it." He ran his fingers through her silky hair, cupping his hand around her right cheek.

"I'll have ta tell Mush," she whispered. Racetrack suddenly sat upright, the revelation coming over him like a stomachache. "Don't worry." She placed her hand gently upon his. "Everything will be all right."

"Mush! Mush!" Jenna cried as she ran up to the boy who had been anxiously searching for her.

"Jenna!" he cried, arms wide open. She didn't rush into them though, just looked solemnly at him.

"Mush, I, I have somethin' ta tell ya," she said. He already had a hunch where this was going before she started. "I, I don't love you, I love Race, and I always will." Mush just stood there as if in a daze.

"I guess I always know," he said softly.

"Oh, Mush," she said sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, so sorry."

"No, it's all right, I guess I knew it could never be the way I wanted," he said.

"Mush!" she cried, falling into his arms. She wanted to cry to show her extreme apology but she just couldn't. He stroked her hair gently to let her know everything was all right between them.

"It's all right, Toothpick, it's all right," he assured her soothingly.