"Tell me your story," Elise said, looking at Crutchy.

Crutchy looked over from Killian sleeping in his makeshift crib of a dresser drawer and some blankets. "Huh?"

"Tell me your story," she repeated. "Why you're a newsboy. How come you're an orphan. Everything."

"Uh..." he fidgeted in his chair a little bit. "Well, thing is, I ain't a orphan. At all... not like Blink and Jack, they got fathers out there somewhere but both their ma's are dead... see, I got a whole family."

"Then why are you a newsie?" Elise sat up in bed with interest, pushing her dark hair out of her face.

Crutchy sighed. "Um... I got a little brother, five-six years old by now, probably. Anyway, right after he was born, I was out playin' in the street with my friends and this wagon goes by. When me and my friends are runnin' to get outta the street, I trip. The wagon runs over my leg, an' messed me up real bad. I was laid up for months. Doc said I wouldn't never walk normal again."

Elise nodded, sighing. "So that's why you..."

"Yeah. Um, anyway, once I could at least get around again, I figured my parents didn't need a cripple to take care of on top of a new baby. So I took off. Lived on the streets a couple'a weeks 'fore I met Jack an' he took me in."

"Do you miss them?"

"My family?" Crutchy leaned back in his chair, studying the ceiling for a moment. "Yeah," he said finally, nodding. "All'a time."

"So why don't you go back to them? They do live in New York, don't they?"

"Yeah. In the Bronx. But they've prob'ly forgotten all about me by now."

"I doubt that."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both staring at the sleeping baby. Elise wondered how anyone could possibly forget about their own child.

"Can I ask you one more question, Crutchy?"

"Um, sure."

"What's your name?"

He went quiet for a minute. "It's, um... it's Jacob. Jacob Rosenberg."

"Jacob Rosenberg." She repeated the name softly. "That's beautiful."

Crutchy smiled a little and nodded.

"Thank you for telling me that."

"Um... no problem, I guess... y'know, I never told my story to anybody before. I guess it feels kinda good."

With that, Elise leaned forward and kissed Crutchy. His eyes widened in shock for a minute, then they closed and he placed a hand on her cheek. He'd never kissed a girl before, except for his mother, and didn't know exactly what to do with his hands, or the rest of his body, for that matter. It was awkward, but it was nice.

Until the door opened.

"Crutchy, Skittery's here and he says he'll walk--" Whim stood in the doorway, with her mouth hanging open. "Um... he... he says he'll walk with you back to Manhattan..."

Crutchy pulled away from Elise, grabbed his crutch, and went out the door as fast as he could go. Whim remained where she was, staring at Elise. "Oh, Elise..."

Elise sighed and shook her head. "Come in, Whim, and close the door."

Whim complied, and sat down in the chair previously occupied by Crutchy. "This isn't good... I mean, you heard about what happened when Catch fooled around on Jack... he won't even speak to her no more. An' what with the two o' you havin' a baby together... oh, Elise, I don't know what he'll do!"

Elise frowned and looked down at Killian. Whim followed her gaze.

After staring for a few minutes, Whim turned back to Elise. "Killian ain't Jack's baby, is he?"

Laying back on the bed and choking back tears, Elise shook her head. "No. No, Whim, he's not."

Whim's dreamy brown eyes went wide again. "Does Jack know?"

Elise nodded. "It's a long, very complicated story." She rubbed at her eyes, then gently picked Killian up. "I'll tell it to you some other time. But right now... right now isn't a good time."

Killian opened his eyes, looking around for a moment, then started to fuss a little. He stared intently at Elise's bodice, and Elise began to laugh. "If Skittery's here, that must mean Penny's home, right?"

Whim nodded. "Yeah... she seems awful shook up about somethin' though. Won't talk to nobody," she said as she gently stroked Killian's dark hair. "She didn't even give Skittery a proper kiss goodbye 'fore goin' to take a bath. She was real intent on that bath, too. Weird." She shrugged.

"That is strange. Well, when she gets out of the bath, would you send her in here?"

"Sure." Whim continued admiring Killian. "Golly, Elise, you made one good-lookin' baby."

"Well, thank you, Whim, but this good-looking baby is dead-set on getting fed right now."

Whim nodded, still staring, then after a few seconds, looked up. "Oh! Right. Well, I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yes, you will," Elise said with a smile as Whim walked out, then began to unbutton her bodice.

Penny sat in the bathtub, dissatisfied that the water was cold. She just didn't have the energy to boil a pot of water and haul it upstairs from the kitchen, so she had to settle for an ice-cold bath instead. She did her best to ignore it.

For the past ten minutes, she'd been scrubbing herself with an old rag and the coarse soap that was given to them by the nuns. Her skin was now pink and raw and a little tender, but she couldn't stop scrubbing. She felt dirty, filthy, used. She couldn't get clean enough.

"Um, Penny?" A small, mousy girl around nine years old, whose name Penny couldn't remember, stood in the doorway of the washroom. "Are you done in the bath yet? Me an' Les got in a mud fight today an' Sketch says I gotta take a bath a'fore I go to bed."

"Oh... um, yes, I'll be out in a minute." She set the soap and rag on the small table, then got out and drained the bathtub. After she dried and got dressed, she walked out into the bunk room and Whim looked up at her.

"Penny, Elise wants ta see ya in her room."

Penny nodded and padded over to the spare room. Pushing the door open, she peeked in.

Elise lay back against the pillows, cuddling a sleepy-eyed Killian. The baby toyed with her hair a little bit, and the both of them looked quite content. Elise looked up and smiled. "Hi."

Penny waved and shuffled in silently.

"Whim said you were upset." Elise patted the bed next to her, and Penny crawled in under the covers. "Did something happen at work?" She noted the sad, lost look in Penny's eyes as she nodded. She looked so small, helpless... even more defenseless than Killian. "Are you going to tell me about it?"

Penny sighed and reluctantly went into detail of her ordeal in the alleyway.

As she finished, they were both crying. Elise wiped her eyes and clutched Killian to her chest, remembering. "Does Skittery know?"

"I didn't tell him."

"Are you going to?"

Penny shook her head. "I don't know... I want to, but I'm afraid of what he'll do. How he'll react."

"Whatever he does will only be in defense of you."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Penny sighed and gently took Killian from Elise's arms, cradling him and taking comfort in the fact that at least one good thing had come from all of this.