Crutchy sighed. It was early afternoon, and while he'd been selling for several hours already, Elise still hadn't emerged from the lodging house. This worried him, so he decided that since he'd sold over half of his papers at this point, he was worthy of a break. He headed toward the lodging house like a man on a mission... okay, well, he didn't really have a mission, but Crutchy always liked the phrase.

As he entered the dormitory, Elise was nowhere to be seen. The boy turned, ready to bolt down the stairs, crutch and all, when he heard the sound of gagging from the lavatory.

His heart sank. That sound was becoming increasingly common. Crutchy had a young mother at one point; he knew what that sound meant. He prayed to God he was wrong.

Standing by the window, he waited. Five minutes. Ten. Finally, Elise staggered out, sobbing, whispering to herself, "No, no, no..."

He watched her for a moment, then decided to step gallantly into her life, the valiant Prince Charming, to rescue her. His crutch landed on a playing card left haphazardly on the floor and, as he tumbled to the ground, he knew his goal of bravery had been defeated.

Elise spun around, white as a ghost, half from surprise and half from illness. "Crutchy!" Her hand fluttered over her heart in that common gesture girls often use to calm themselves. Crutchy flashed her his most charming grin, and laughed.

"Sorry. Kinda clumsy." Through years of practice, he managed to pull himself to his feet with very little difficulty. "You okay, Elise?"

She wiped her tears on the sleeve of her nightshirt and nodded. "Yes, I... um, just a touch of the flu, I suppose." Elise sniffled and turned away, busying herself with straightening her bunk. "I'm fine... shouldn't you be out selling your... papes?"

Crutchy couldn't help but smile a little at her homage to the newsies' dialect. "I just came by to see you were okay."

"I am."

"Elise."

She turned to see that his smile had faded, the lighthearted sparkle had left his eye. She sighed. "It's been over a month since I... ugh, I can't talk about this with you." Elise collapsed into her bunk, folding into herself and trying not to cry. "It's not what you think. It's not what I think. It can't be, it can't happen to me."

"Past couple'a weeks you been sleepin' in late. You wake up, you're sick. You look hungry, but you won't eat." He leaned his crutch against the wall and lay down beside her, wrapping an arm around her. "It ain't fair, it ain't right, but it is what you think. I'm pretty sure." Taking in a deep breath, he looked into her deep blue eyes. "Look, Elise, I..." He shook his head. "You'll be alright. I can promise you that."

Her eyes swam. "I won't. I've got no money, no job, no husband. Hell, it won't even have a fath--" She cut herself off, her cheeks blazing in a combination of anger towards the brute responsible and embarrassment that she'd cursed. "I don't even have a family anymore. I'm still a child myself, how can I raise one of my own?"

Crutchy just looked at her, having a million things to say but no words to say them with. She did so have a family here, with blood in Penny, with bond in the newsies. She had a hundred hands waiting here to help her out, a hundred hands willing to help her even with a baby. And what's more, that baby could have a father, maybe in him...

He sighed. The thought was almost laughable.

Crutchy was plagued for days by the thought of Elise and her baby. He stayed as close to her as he could, keeping an eye on her, being the friend she needed. He knew, every day, when he looked into her eyes, when he held her hair for her when she was sick, that he loved her – despite, or perhaps for, her unstable state of mind and body.

But something in his gut told him that's just how it was going to stay, with him being the sweet, lovable friend. Just friend.

He'd finally broken and told Jack one night as they stood on the fire escape. Crutchy knew that Jack, being forever the brains of the operation, would know exactly how to solve the problem. They looked from the window, over the heated poker game, across the room to where Elise and Penny were talking quietly in their bunks.

"Pregnant."

"Yeah. Looks like it... I mean, from all the things me mum..." Crutchy sighed, looked over the dusty streets below. The boys rarely discussed their parents. "Sick in the morning, all that stuff."

"Pregnant." Jack blinked, turning the thought over in his mind.

"That's what I said."

"As in, with a baby."

The fearless leader leaned back against the bricks, taking a long, contemplative drag from his cigarette. He closed his eyes and blew the smoke out slowly, dramatically. "Let's go back inside." He stubbed his cigarette out with his boot, and walked back into the dormitory, Crutchy following.

Jack walked over and took Elise by the hand, leading her out to the fire escape. Crutchy's eyes followed them closely... Brave, heroic Jack, always prepared to help a damsel in distress and save the fair maiden from certain doom.

Crutchy laid down on his bunk and sighed. "I could do that," he mumbled to no one in particular, and turned to the wall.

A/N: Thanks bundles to my two - count 'em, TWO! reviewers, I love you both! Hope everyone liked this chapter, I feel much better about it than I did the last one. Anyhow, please R&R, and I shall hope to have a new chapter up preeeetty soon... with something far more interesting than the lodging house! I love youse guys! MUAH! -Layne