Thanks so much to the reviewer that pointed out that we had put up a chapter twice- their was a glich in my computer, and I was so tired I didn't even realize it. But here's the new chapter!

and by the way, we don't own Newsies.

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Ashley was cornered by Erin right after Jewell told them her plan.

"Girls' meeting seven o' clock in the morning, at Tibby's; can you be there?" she asked hurriedly.

"Uh, erm, yeah sure," Ashley answered, somewhat caught off guard by the other girl's sudden appearance. "What 'bout Emilyanne?"

"She's in Queens. Could you go tell her? Please?" Erin responded, flashing her puppy dog eyes.

"Um... sure, lemme go get Blink then."

"Yeah, whatever," Erin said, rolling her eyes.

Ten minutes later Blink and Ashley were walking to Queens at something a bit beyond a leisurely pace. It was starting to get dark, and everyone knew it wasn't safe to be out at night.

"So what 'xactly happened ta our date tonight?" he asked, a bit put out.

"We gotta go get Emilyanne from Queens," she answered, linking arms with him, "Ah, cheer up Blink, we still get ta spend time together! It's fo da good of da strike, anyways."

"Yeah," he mumbled, still not entirely pleased. They walked down the street hand in hand in a comfortable silence. Ashley was about to say something when a male voice sounded behind them.

"Well, well, well, wadda we have heah?" It was the Delancey brothers, "Some o' da strikers I see." He turned to his oafish brother. "Wadda ya say we teach them da lesson wes taught deir cripple friend yestahday?" he continued, his sneer showing yellowing teeth.

"I shoulda known," Blink muttered angrily, "Think we can take 'em on?"

"Don't see why not," Ashley answered, "It's two ta two."

"But..." he interjected, looking somewhat embarrassed, "You sure ya can, ya know..."

Ashley flashed him a somewhat sick-looking grin, "D'ya honestly think I coulda grown up wit Spot and not know how ta fight?" They turned around fully just in time to see the Delanceys lunging at them.

Oscar grabbed Ashley by the collar and slammed her against a brick wall, aiming a fist at her face. She ducked out of the way just in time to receive only a glancing blow to her cheekbone. Quickly getting to a crouch, she lunged forward, throwing her shoulder into his gut and knocking him to the ground. Immediately, she straddled his chest, pinning his arms to his side and aiming blows at his face. Unfortunately, Oscar worked one of his arms free and sent her sprawling back with a hard punch at her left eye. Scrambling to her feet, Ashley looked over at Blink; he seemed to be holding off his opponent pretty well. He'd obviously received and landed some blows himself. Looking down, she saw a fist-sized cobble stone at her feet. She grimaced; it would be a dirty way to end the fight. But if this scrap lasted any longer, someone was going to get hurt even more. Turning around, Ashley saw Oscar coming at her. Hefting the stone in her right hand, she lobbed it at him and scored. He fell to the ground, out cold. Ten feet away, Kid Blink was resorting to similar means to end his battle, in his case with a piece of firewood lying nearby. Breathing heavily, she turned to look at him and grinned weakly.

"Ya okay, Blink?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Blink answered, wiping some blood from a cut on his forehead out of his eye. Ashley felt her own face, assessing the damage. She had a black eye where Oscar had punched her and a small nick on her eyebrow, but nothing too serious.

"Come on, let's go get Emilyanne." she said tiredly, "We should get back b'fore dark." Blink shrugged and they continued their walk down the steadily darkening street. Stopping under a nearby gas lamp, the pair faced each other.

"Ya know," he said, staring into her eyes and smiling slightly, "I'm kinda enjoyin' bein' yo babysitter." He leaned in and gently kissed her, running his hands through her hair, which had come untied in the fight. They moved slowly apart and once again continued walking down the streets of Queens, Ashley's head resting on Blink's shoulder. Turning the corner, they encountered Emilyanne and Skittery.

"Hey Sage!" Ashley called, waving a free hand.

As soon as Ashley and Blink had gotten close enough to the other pair, Ashley saw Emilyanne rushing at her.

"Are you two all right? What happened?" Emilyanne said, concern filling her voice. Emilyanne tried to get a closer look at the growing bruise on Spazz's cheek.

"We're fine," Ashley said, shrugging. Emilyanne didn't look too sure, but stepped back to be beside Skittery. Ashley continued, "Erin sent us ta get yous; there's a girls' meeting at Tibby's at seven in the morning."

Emilyanne groaned, "I'm not going to get any sleep tonight if we are going to make it there." She layed her head on Skittery's shoulder, and he put a comforting arm around her, grinning slightly, "If you want, I'll carry you."

Emilyanne smiled up at him, "That's a very gentlemanly offer, but I think I can make it on my own two feet, I wouldn't want to wear my defender out". Skittery and Emilyanne grinned at each other, than he put his arm around her waist and they got ready to go.

As Ashley and Kid Blink stepped closer, Sage's eyes widened in curiosity. "So what exactly happened to you two?"

"We'll tell ya on da way back," Ashley answered, sharing a glance with Blink, "Let's get going."