Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait. I meant to have this updated the following week after chapter two but then I had a severe case of writer's block and then my computer crashed and I lost all my files – including the first half of chapter three. But, I decided that this was as good a time as any for the next chapter. Poor Katie – she was designed to be a poor sap. I guess, in her case, she can't have beauty and a brain. In a way, she seems to me to be Spot's ideal bride, a trophy wife, per say.

Well, I hope you like the next chapter. Lots of reviews equals happy author equals quicker chapters. Yes, I am a poop. And if you want a role in this story, I need names, ages, looks, personalities, and anything else you'd think I would need. Woot. A PM or review is fine for the information; any questions, PM me.

Disclaimer: Spot Conlon, as he is a character from the 1992 live action musical, Newsies, is the property of Disney. Anyone else mentioned in this fiction will be the creative property of me.

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Ballad of the Street Rat

07.31.06

Spot Conlon is the most notorious street rat in all of New York. A womanizer, a thief, a murderer, Conlon can do no wrong.
That is, until he, on a whim, marries and begins a cycle of events that will change the city forever.

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Who, being loved, is poor? – Oscar Wilde

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Part II

She woke up, that first morning as Mrs. Liam Conlon, all alone. His pillow was lying haphazardly along the edge of the bed they now shared; the clothes he had shed so quickly upon their arrival were missing. Liam had already left for the day.

Katie was not surprised. Just prior to their quick wedding in front of the 'honorable' Judge E.A. Monahan, an old friend of her new husband, Liam had taken her slender hand in his and told him of his occupational intentions. She had had her suspicions that his income came from less than desirable means; though he never told her anything about himself apart from his name – and that took the first three weeks of their courting to convince him to share even that – she was not that naïve. She had heard stories about the criminals, beggars and thieves that ran rampant across Brooklyn while she stayed and studied in Massachusetts. Could her loving husband be mixed up with such scoundrels?

Regardless of what she thought her new husband had done in the past – it was his insistence on keeping the past in the past that had aroused her suspicions in the first place – there were two things that Katie could be sure of: that she loved him and that she could trust him. He was her husband now. He wouldn't lie to her.

Would he?

Liam had promised her, now that they were legally husband and wife, that – even though he was already a 'businessman' – he planned on pursuing a career in the banking profession. According to him, to be a banker, it would be much safer and more profitable for the newly wedded pair.

Sweetly, Katie had offered to introduce him to her father; Harold White was, despite his flaws and – unknown to his precious daughter – his underhanded dealings, a prominent lawyer in the city. If Liam was looking for a legitimate profession, there was nothing finer than the noble profession of law. But Liam had disagreed; as he explained to a confused Katie, his talents lied in handling in money. Therefore, he would be a banker.

She had nodded her understanding. And then they were married.

Now, though, as she stretched out in her marriage bed – the bed which, last night, had claimed her innocence – Katie assumed that Liam had already gone ahead to act on his promise from the day before. "He must have gone to look for a job down at the bank," she mumbled as she rolled over until she was on the edge of the bed. She slid off of the sheets, untangling her naked body from the blankets, before stepping onto the hard floor. Her bare feet flinched slightly at the cold but she grew accustomed to the sensation as she crossed the lavish room.

The Conlon apartment was much larger than Katie would have assumed; one look at Liam and the manner in which he went about his life, and you would not expect him to have a three room apartment with an indoor water closet, porcelain bath tub and large gas stove. He had an expensive furniture set that filled his sitting room but, as Katie noted earlier, the bedroom was missing a nice shag carpet.

Katie reached for her silk dressing gown; it had been a wedding gift from Liam. He had it waiting for her for when they arrived in the apartment together, for the first time, last night. It had taken all of his charm to entice Katie to remove her clothing and climb into their bed in order to consummate their marriage. In the end, he had given her the robe as a compromise. Liam was aware that his young bride was quite ashamed to show her body to him; she was not above exchanging her white embroidered wedding dress for the translucent pink robe. Even though her husband was able to see through the material, she felt much more decent wearing the coverlet.

It wasn't until the Sun had set and Liam had lowered the shade, emerging the apartment into a sudden darkness, that she was comfortable enough to disrobe. It was then that she gave her new husband his wedding gift.

Katie smiled as she wrapped the chilled gown around her slim frame. She raised her hand to her cheek; as she stood there, in Liam Conlon's bedroom, naked with only a silk robe to keep her modesty intact, a feverish feeling overtook her. Her marriage had been consummated in his bed – their bed. She was truly Mrs. Liam Conlon.

There was one thing now that she had to do.

She had to share the news with her family. There was no use, keeping their relationship secret. They were married.

And, besides, her father and brother must have wondered why she never returned home to her bed to sleep last night.

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Spot Conlon stretched his arms out behind him as he hurried from his apartment. He yawned and, his arms still outstretched, he moved his right hand to smooth his fair hair down. Despite her innocence and obvious inexperience, Katie had kept him up late last night. He had only just woken up when he had to; he only had enough time to pull on the same clothes he had on the day before kissing his wife gently on her pale forehead and exiting the bedroom.

My wife. It even sounded strange inside his head, almost like he was thinking about someone else and not him. I'm married. He had never thought it would happen. He had always assumed that he would surround himself by whores and strumpets, without ever tying himself to one specific gal.

But then he met Katie…

It's not that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever met; that honor was held by a performer girl from China he had seen down at the fair one night last summer. And she sure wasn't that intelligent; if she was, she would have surely figured out what kind of 'businessman' he really was.

To her he was just her Liam. She was aware that his nickname was Spot but, as she said after she finally convinced him to share his Christian name with her, she wanted to call him what his Mama called him. That was what finally got him to ask her to marry him. And, on the 3rd of July, they were finally married.

It was a lot easier than I thought.

The girl was so sweet and trusting; in a way, Katie reminded him of his mother. Margaret Conlon shared the same fair hair as Katie did, and both women kept their eyes widened in a perpetual state of innocence. And were the only women to ever call him by the name of 'Liam'; Margaret with her last breath, Katie with her loving expression as she took him to be her husband.

There had been one photograph of his late mother in the apartment where he grew up with his father – everything he thought he knew about Margaret was gleaned from that faded black & white picture; he kept it resting atop his nightstand within his bedroom, having stolen the frame that held it after killing his father. Katie had remarked on the image after entering the room for the first time the night before. "She was beautiful," the young women had said, looking at the women who had died giving Liam Conlon life.

All Spot could do at that moment was echo the words toward Katie. Whether he meant them or was just eager to get his young bride into his bed, Spot didn't know. But he did appreciate her acceptance of his mother. He was sure that, if Margaret had survived, she would have liked Katie too.

Just then his thoughts, which were seedily returning to the night before when he had finally convinced Katie to remove the silk robe he had gifted her with, were interrupted when he heard a familiar female voice call out to him.

"Man alive! Say it ain't so, Conlon. You didn't really go out and marry some dame, did ya?"

Spot Conlon spun around. Maybe it had not been the smartest idea to show off Katie to Rick when he saw him playing dice yesterday. He should have remembered that news such as his getting hitched would spread throughout the city before he even had time to blink.