A/N: Whoooo! Two chappy's in one night! Beat that! Read and Review and stuff pleases!
Note, flashback in Italiacs.

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That night was a difficult one in the Girls Lodging House. Little girls ran, reckless and screaming, around the bunkroom and washroom. Many tired ones were crying, others were having a water fight in the washroom. The oldest girls were ready to pull their hair out.

"Where's Bow?" Fidget wondered as she braided a younger one's hair.

"Where da heck is Curly!" Cat cried, frustrated, chasing a giggling seven-year-old girl around the rom.

Giggles tucked in a crying five-year-old. She stroked the little girl's hair and shushed until the girl quieted. Then she kissed her forehead and stood.

Lucks smiled and ran a hand through her short blonde hair. "Giggles, you'se'd make a great muddah..." Then, the youngest of the group, a little three-year-old, Cupcake, tugged on Lucks' pants.

Lucks looked down at the girl's dirt smudged face. Her lips were pushed into a pout and tears were running down her cheeks, streaking the dirt.

Lucks kneeled to her level and pushed Cupcake's messy blonde hair behind her ear. "What's da mattah, Sweetie?" She comforted.

Cupcake sniffled. "I fell down an'...an' g-got h-h-huht." She pointed down at her bloody, scraped up knees.

"Oh, ya poor t'ing, Let's get ya fixed up." Lucks picked up Cupcake and carried her into the washroom to wash up and bandage the girl's knees. "Dere. All bettah." Lucks smiled and Cupcake hugged her. Lucks, suprised, hesitantly hugged back.

The two of them were interrupted by a shriek from the bunkroom followed by a mumbled, laughter, and then finally Giggles' voice explaining, "she's in da washroom, Race."

An embarrassed Racetrack walked into the washroom and let out a fake shudder. "Dere's a side 'a' Flash I never wanted ta see... ohh... Gives a whole new meanin' ta da woid 'Flash'." Then he smirked in spite of himself.

Lucks snorted, picked Cupcake off the counter and carried her over to Race. "I told ya ta knock when ya visit aftah eight!"

"Hello beautiful." Race greeted, grinning.

"Heya, Race." Lucks replied, smiling sweetly.

"I wasn't tawkin' ta you. I was tawkin' ta dis dollface." Race winked at the small child on Lucks' hip. "What's ya name, Doll?"

Cupcake blushed furiously and muttered her name.

"Cupcake, huh? Well, how's about I call ya Dollface? Juss me an' you, kay? It'll be ours liddle secret."

Cupcake blushed more and nodded before burying her face in Lucks' shirt.

"A'righ', Dollface," Race smiled. "why doncha get ta bed now? When I see'se ya tamarrah, I'm gonna wanna dance, an' I want ya well rested, kay?"

The little girl nodded, Lucks let her down, and she ran into the bunkroom, blushing... but everyone could see the grin on her face.

"Cute kid." Race commented.

"She's too young fa ya, ya know?" Lucks informed him, raising an eyebrow.

Racetrack smiled, still watching the door to the bunkroom. "Ya juss jealous, Lucks, dat's all."

Lucks slapped him playfully. "Yeah, you wish, Higgins." She laughed.

Race laughed too and turned toward her. He grabbed her waist before she ran off and pulled her closer. She pretended to pull away and he planted a kiss on her lips.

"Hey! Lovahboy!" Flashbox interrupted, clearly annoyed.

"Well, hiya, Flash. Good ta see ya got ya nigh' gown on safely." Race grinned.

"Shuddup." She snapped back. "Have ya seen Curly?"

"An' Bow!" Giggles chimed in from the bunkroom.

"An' Bow." Flash nodded.

"Oh yeah!" Race remembered. "Dat's why I'm heah!"

Lucks hit him over the head so he wouldn't have to suffer it from Flash. Besides, she enjoyed abusing him.

"Ow..." He frowned before looking back at Flashbox. "Yeah, Curly went ta Brooklyn ta see Spot. She told Jack ta tell me ta tell you." He smiled, obviously happy to have done his job.

Lucks raised an eyebrow in Cat's direction, thinking of what on Earth Curly could be doing in Brooklyn this late at night. Cat grinned and put a finger to her lips, attempting to shush Lucks' thougts.

"An' I t'ink Bow's wit Snipes sumwheah. He wasn't at da lodgin' house eiddah." Race answered to the second question.

"Sumwheah?" Fidget bit her bottom lip, worried.

"Race, why doncha be a doll an' find da ten-year-old we treat like our sistah." Flash sneered.

"A'righ' den." Race said cheerfully taking his orders. He kissed Lucks softly before letting go of her and walking out of the lodging house. "Ladies." He tipped his hat to a group of giggling thirteen-year-olds before leaving.

The girls replied by giggling some more, blowing kisses, and practically singing, "Nigh' Racetrack."

Lucks almost glared. "Bed time." She growled.

They all looked startled and rushed into their beds. Satisfied, Lucks turned back into the washroom and began brushing her teeth.

--

A half-hour passed without a sign of Racetrack, Bow, or Curly. The older girls were starting to get worried. None of them slept. They just sat on two bottom bunks, Cat, Giggles, and Fidget on one, and Lucks and Flash on the other.

Flash nervously nibbled on her thumb nail as she always did. Lucks sat silently with her quilt wrapped around her. Cat looked carelessly over a paper Flash hadn't sold from the day before. Giggles braided Cat's long black hair. And Fidget lay on the pillow, silent, and stared at the brass of Lucks' bed next to her.

Another half-hour passed, and as the grandfather clock downstairs chimed eleven o'clock, the girls started to panic.

"I'm goin' ta find dem." Lucks announced, standing up and pulling her pants up under her night gown. Then she slid on one of her shirts (which actually turned out to be Race's). The other girls looked startled. She tucked her nightgown and shirt into her pants and pushed her hat over her messy blonde hair.

Before she or anyone else could say anything, the door burst open and Bow came running in. Tears streaked her round face and she pulled Lucks towards the door.

"Bow, slow down! What happened?" Lucks frantically asked the child.

"Screams...Brooklyn...Racetrack yelled!" Bow wailed.

Lucks stopped dead in her tracks. "W-w-what about Race?" She stuttered.

"N-n-no time! G-g-gotta go! Brooklyn!" Bow pulled her sleeve.

"Is Curly huht?" Flashbox jumped out of bed and rushed over, kneeling down to Bow's level.

Bow continued crying. "I dunno! Come on! We gotta go!" Bow grabbed Flash's hand now and pulled her towards the ddoor.

Cat, Fidget, and Giggles ran after them, but Lucks replied where she was at, her feet glued to the floor. She was petrified and all that was going through her mind was the fact that Race could be in Brooklyn... dead.

Giggles glanced back and ran to Lucks' side. "Come on, I'm shoah everythin's all righ', juss sumone playin' a trick 'a' sumthin'." She comforted, taking Lucks' hand. She doubted her own words.

Lucks swallowed hard, nodded, and then allowed Giggles to drag her along. They followed the girls. Flash kept on asking questions, and Bow, hysterical, only answered in fragments.

"I'll go get Jack." Cat volunteered and began running for the Boys Lodging House.

"No! Snipes!" Bow grabbed Cat's arm and pulled her along.

After minutes upon minutes of running after Bow, the girls ended up in Brooklyn. They were standing in an alley way. You could just barely see the docks about twenty paces in front of them, and the moonlight reflected off the dark water.

There were three figures in their sight. All of them were standing. Two were muttering to each other. The third figure was crying on one of the others. Then a fourht figure could just barely be seen. It was laying the ground, face up, not moving at all.

Lucks knew it had to be Race's lifeless body and she shuddered, holding in all of the emotions that wanted to burst out of her own small figure. She felt lifeless herself. She inhaled quickly, but couldn't look away.

Then the position of the moon changed, lighting the standing figures' faces. There was only one face Lucks couldn't take her eyes off of. She ran out of the alley way and onto the docks, nearly toppling over the figure.

Race felt Lucks' arms wrap around his neck, her head rested on his shoulder, tears streaming onto his shirt. Her felt warmth and reassurance that everything would be all right... well, for now, at least. He wrapped his own arms around her shaking body and held her tightly until she pulled away.

She looked him up and down. Racetrack's face held an expression that Lucks couldn't read. His face was soft, but his dark eyes were sad and frightened, something she'd never seen in them.

Then, Lucks noticed his shirt. The middle of it was drenched in blood. She covered her mouth suddenly and looked down to find that her own shirt was bloody too. That meant it was still fresh.

"Are ya huht?" She gasped.

Race solemnly shook his head and nodded to the figure on the ground. Lucks turned around to see a girl, probably no older than herself, dead, with a hole right through her middle. She shuddered and looked away.

Next to her stood Curly, the crying figure that Lucks saw before. She was now crying on Cat's shoulder as the two hugged. Giggles, Fidget, and Flashbox were also crying, holding each other. Bow was sobbing and sniffling next to them, staring at the dead body on the docks.

Spot stood a little ways off, talking to one of his boys, then he walked back to where the others stood. His expression was not a happy one.

Flash sniffled and wiped away her tears. She put on her business face (well, as best as she could), and looked from Race, to Spot, and back to Race. "Whad happened?"

At that moment, Jack Kelly and his gang loudly came onto the docks. "Oi! Whad happened heah?" He called out.

The girls whipped around and Giggles ran into Mush's arms. He held her tightly, confused and tired, and shushed her.

Cat walked over to Blink and sobbed. Blink was also confused, but not as tired as Mush, and held her, kissing her forehead and wondering.

Fidget hurried over to Skittery, unable to control her crying. He looked shocked, and also confused, seeing as all the boys were, and took her hands in his own. He kissed her cheek and gave her a small hug, rocking her back and forth until she stopped crying.

Bow ran to Snipeshooter, violently wiping the tears off her cheeks. Like she was actually going to cry in front of him. No. Then Snitch called out to her. "Bow, cummere." She looked up at Snitch, and went over. He kneeled to her level and wiped the tears off her cheeks. Then he hugged her. "Everythin's gonna be okay."

Curly followed the rest of the girls and hugged Bumlets, then Swifty, Specs, and Dutchy. She watched Jack and he waltzed over to Race, Spot, Flash, and Lucks.

"Whad happened heah?" Jack repeated, looking at the dead girl on the ground. He was definitely as tired and confused as the others... with a little more anger.

"Kelly, seddle down." Flash spat, obviously annoyed. "We're all juss as scared as you are."

"I ain't scared." Jack sneered.

"Hey, hey, hey, quiet down, will ya? I don' want da bulls comin' around heah again." Spot grumbled. "Jack-boy, why don' you getcha boys, and Flash getcha goils and go ta da barracks an' sit down." He said, attempting not to shout in their faces. "I'll meetcha in dere aftah I do sum stuff out heah. Den we'll tawk when everyone," he looked directly at Jack, "composes demseleves."

Then, Spot walked away to talk to some of his boys.

"Spot's right, let's go." Race said, wrapping his arm around Lucks' waist and kissing her on the forehead.

Jack rolled his eyes and walked over to his boys. "Come on, everyone inside da barracks, let's go."

"Come on, ladies." Flash said, glaring at Jack.

The boys and girls followed their two leaders into the Brooklyn barracks. They all went into a large room downstairs. There were two large windows, both of them broken, their drapes tattered. When the wind blew, it made an eerie noise and trailed through the room, causing each and everyone of them to shiver. On the wall opposite the windows, there was a tattered old couch that emitted a musty smell every time someone sat down.

Jack and Flash stood at opposite sides of the room, Flash by a window, Jack by the couch, and they glared at each other. Lucks stood, her arms wrapped around Race and his around her. Every time she'd shiver, he'd hold her closer and she'd kiss him softly. Mush and Giggles were doing the same, and Cat and Blink. Fidget's crying had subsided to sniffles and she held Skittery's hand cautiously. Bow was now shaking violently, her teeth chattering. Snipes, being the brotherly type, rubbed her arms, causing friction and making her warm. He hoped it'd help. Curly was muttering to Itey that she thought she'd be okay, and then she had started crying again and he hugged her. Other than that, everyone was silent.

It seemed like hours before Spot finally arrived. When he did, everyone jumped as he came into the room. The wood creaked under him as his black boots tapped on the floor. His cane was still in his belt loop and it tapped almost silently against his side as he walked. The key around his neck made a small 'thump-thumping' noise against his chest. As it caught the light, it gleamed and reflected off the walls. The light hit him only once, revealing the blood on his shirt and hands. He stopped in the dead center of the room and looked around.

"Race," he started, though he wasn't looking at Racetrack, he was looking at Curly. "Will ya be so kind ta tell us whad happened?" Then he looked at Race.

Race nodded, sighed, let go of Lucks, and began to tell his story.

--- (cue flashback) ---

Racetrack Higgins walked into Brooklyn, not a care in the world. He had a job, to retrieve Curly and Bow and make sure they arrive home safely. He was walking along the Brooklyn bridge and he looked down into the icy waters. He smiled to himself and continued walking.

He was on the docks now, and almost at the Brooklyn barracks, no sign of Bow or Snipeshooter. Then, suddenly, something he'd never expected to see in Brooklyn, was standing right in front of him... in Brooklyn.

A girl, a young girl, about Lucks' age, maybe a little older, was staring into the darkness in front of her, looking afraid and lost. "Excuse me, Miss," Race tipped his hat to her. "Can I help you?"

She raised a thin eyebrow. She had long, dark hair, tanned skin (though that couldn't be seen in the darkness), and dark eyes. She looked confused at Race. "I'm sorry, I don't understand you." She said, though she spoke in thick Italian. Race understood every word.

"I said, can I help you?" He repeated, though this time in Italian.

"Yes, I'm a little lost. I'm supposed to be staying with people in..." She replied, looking down at a scrap of paper and squinting. She was having trouble seeing it in the dark, obviously. "The Bronx." She finished in American.

Race nodded. "I can help ya. You see those two buildings." He pointed at two just behind her.

Then she turned around. That moment seemed to have lasted forever to Race. He watched it all as though it were in slow motion. As she began to turn, there was a voice yelling, "Now, Snake?" It was also in Italian. "Now." And then BOOM

The girl was shot in the ribs. She turned around quickly, fell forward onto Racetrack and then she fell to the ground, dead.

Race heard a scream (obviously a girl's) from the barracks. "Sumbody get help!" He yelled to no one in particular as he leaned down to make sure the girl was dead. After he said it, he heard footsteps running, echoing through an alley way.

Seconds later, Spot, Curly, and a few of the Brooklyn boys could be seen on the docks. Spot and Race began to talk, Curly was already crying on Spot. More and more Brooklynite's came onto the docks. Then the girls arrived, and finally, Jack and the boys.

-- (end flashback) --

After Race finished telling the story, he looked around the room. Another breeze came in and he shuddered.

"Race, ya said sumone yelled 'Now Snake?' in Italian?" Flashbox asked, trying to get all the facts straight.

Race nodded and then looked straight into Lucks' eyes. Snake was the name of one of the Italian men outside the lodging house window that afternoon. Something was going on.

Jack turned on Spot. "So, Spot, where's dis Snake, fellah? He residin' heah?"

"Shuddit, Kelly." Spot hissed.

"Boys!" Curly came out in between them. "Can we stop, please? Ain't we tryin' ta figyah sumthin' out?" She stared at Jack, her eyes pleading, and then at Spot, the look on her face changed, however, to anger. Both of the boys were silent.

"Does anyone know anyt'in' about dis 'Snake' poison?" Cat asked, looking around the room. note: poisonperson

Lucks opened her mouth to say something, but caught Race's stare and her face fell. She shook her head and looked at the ground.

Giggles yawned loudly, and then uncomfortably shifted in Mush's arms.

Spot looked around the room. Everyone looked so tired. He himself was ready to fall asleep. "I don' t'ink ya should go home tanigh'." He stated, looking directly at Curly.

"Spot's righ', it's pro'lly not safe." Curly glared at him slightly, before looking around the room.

"You'se can all stay heah tanigh'." Spot offered, scratching his head. "We'll investigate moah in da mornin'." He glared at Jack.

"But whadda bout my goils." Flash sighed.

Everyone was silent, thinking. Jack had other boys back at the lodging house, but they could take care of themselves.

"I'll go." Lucks piped in, quietly. Everyone was silent.

"Ya can't go by yaself." Fidget muttered.

"I'll go wit her." Race said, wrapping a protective arm around her waist.

"Dat such a good idea, Race?" Spot raised an eyebrow.

"I can take care 'a' myself." Race furrowed his eyebrows. "We'll watch out, a'righ'?" He then turned soft and looked at Flash, as if to ask for her permission.

Flash walked over to them and hugged Race. Genuinely hugged Racetrack Higgins. "Don' let my goils get huht, Race." She whispered, ready to cry again. She was so afraid to even look outside of the barracks. Then she hugged Lucks and kissed her on the forhead. "Dat means dis one too." She sighed and looked Race directly in the eye.

Race smiled and kissed her cheek. "I'll take care 'a' dem Flash, donchoo worry. It's only fa a nigh' anyways." He grinned.

Lucks bit the inside of her mouth. The other girls came over and hugged her and told her to be careful. The boys came over and shook Race's hand. He felt as though he was going on a big adventure and would never come back, even though he was only walking to Manhattan.

Then they all parted their ways and Lucks and Race walked, hand-in-hand, to the Girls Lodging House. They made it safely there, not one single bit of trouble, to find that every single girl there was asleep.

"See, I toldya dey'd be fine." Race grinned and kissed Lucks on the forehead, attempting to lighten the mood. Then, with the flickering laps, he looked down at himself, and then at Lucks. "Ya don't happen ta have anythin' I can change into?"

Lucks smiled and walked over to the trunk on the foot of her bunk. She opened it up to reveal another one of Race's shirts. "Ya leave dese heah a lot." She smirked.

Race laughed and stripped out of the blood stained shirts, pulling on the new ones. "Well, if you'd stop takin' dem offa me." He grinned.

Lucks shrugged. "What can I say? Ya hot."

"I know." He chuckled. Then, Lucks began to take off her own shirt (which he knew was his anyways) and her pants. He blushed slightly and looked away.

"Ya can look, ya know? I'm still wearing my nigh' gown." Lucks pointed out, rolling her eyes. She took the two blood stained shirts and put them in the washroom, then she came back and blew out all the lamps but one, on the far side of the room.

She sat on her bed and pulled the covers up over her feet. The window let in a cool breeze and she shivered. She pulled the covers up past her chin and stared at Race. He was laying down on the bed next to her, staring back.

"I was really scared, Race." She whispered, choking back a tear.

Race nodded. "Me too."

The breeze blew in again and she shivered. She brushed her nose passed her knees and started to cry. Race got out of his bed, pulled up her covers to he could get under them, and he held her. The two of them fell back onto the pillow and he held her as she cried.

--

End Note: Okay, so how ya liking the drama, huh? This fic is FAR from over, just remember that. And don't you love it how I left you with the 'I'm pregnant' thing at the end of the last one... oooooooo! Spot kept staring at Curly, maybe that'll give you some hint as to what he thinks about it. As for that and Curly and Jack's previous relationship...I'll fill ya in more later! hahaha! Have fun kiddies! Read and review! I'm out! Lucks ; )