A/N: Hey everybody! Prepare for a double update today! YAY! lol Okay, sorry, that rhymed though! Anyway, I didn't get as many reviews on Chapter 28 (which, btw, is one of my fav chapters, and did anyone find it a complete shock that Spot was alive? Cuz with one guy from my lh did…) as I wanted, but, I already wrote this and wanted to go ahead and post it, along with chapter 30 a little later. Anyway….Happy reading!

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Stranger

Back in Manhattan, Marsh was just coming around out of a very violent nightmare. After Bittah had stabbed her, she passed out, and her mind had drifted back to her past.

Six years ago, she had gotten in a huge fight with her father, and ended up running away from the tenement she lived in with her best friend. Determined to make it on her own, the ten year-old Marsh had quickly found out that the city actually wasn't as grand as it seemed.

After living on the streets for a while, she had decided to go home, only to wander back and find the tenement house had burned down, and there was nothing left of her family. Both her mother and father were dead, along with her brother, Kyle, and their dog.

Marsh could still remember the exact sight of the burned rubble, and it was hard for her not to cry every time she thought about it.

Finally, she drifted back to consciousness, and opened her heavy eyelids. It felt as though someone had filled them with lead, but she opened the anyway, and looked around at where she lay.

She was in the Manhattan infirmary, and by her side stood Specs and Gip. A doctor was over in a corner, talking with Jack Kelly and his girl Kit Kat. She was in the same bed that Kid Blink had been in when he died, with the same ragged white sheet hanging around it. Biting her lip, she felt the pain in her abdomen hit her hard.

"Marsh?" Gip's voice was worried, and a tad afraid.

Marsh nodded, not opening her mouth for fear that she might vomit.

"Y'all righ'?" Specs asked, giving her a concerned look as Jack looked their way. Once again, she nodded, and closed her eyes for a minute. Thinking of how to make the pain in her stomach less. A hand squeezed her shoulder, and she heard the voice of Jack Kelly speak next.

"You'se shoah she's gonna be a'ight?" he asked nervously. Marsh had never heard Jack nervous, but then she realized that he and the rest of the lodging house must have thought she was going to be their second casualty within one day.

"She's gonna be fine kid," a gruff voice responded. "Jus' let her rest, an' she'll be jus' fine."

Marsh couldn't see Jack nod, but he did before holding out a hand for the doctor to shake. "T'anks a lot, Doc. How much does we owe you?"

The doctor clicked his tongue and thought for a moment. He was a nice guy, and he realized that these were just poor street kids. But then he had also been pulled out of his practice for two emergencies in one day. However, he felt bad for Blink's death, and decided on a small fee.

"Jus' a dollah, kid. I'se ain't done much. 'Sides, your friend died earliah. An' you ain't got ta pay a doctah for woik 'e fails at."

Jack nodded, and handed over three quarters, one dime, two nickels, and five pennies that he'd collected from the lodging house kids earlier to pay for the doctor. Kloppman had contributed 50 cents himself, because he felt responsible for the kids that he watched over.

They all heard the door of the infirmary burst open, and Marsh's eyelids flashed up as running footsteps came their way. Vice, Gip's older brother, quickly stepped around the corner, a look of bewilderment in his deep blue eyes, and a puzzled expression on his tanned face.

He worried a cigar over in his mouth for a moment before he spotted Jack. "Jack," he said, his voice half-muffled by the cigar, "dere's…Someone heah ta see yas. Now. It's oigent!"

Jack sighed and nodded, squeezing Marsh's shoulder another time, he followed Vice back around the sheet, and out the door, shutting it quietly on his way out.

"What's goin' on?" Marsh asked, holding her stomach down.

A concerned, caring look came into Gip's eye as she regarded her injured friend. "We's…Aw Marsh…We's had a vote while you'se out a it. An' we voted ta go ta war."

Marsh nodded, and closing her eyes, slipped into her own thoughts, wondering over what would happen to all of them.

Jack followed Vice to his office, and opening his door, stepped in, shutting it quickly behind himself. Who could it be dat's needs ta talk ta me dis oigently? he wondered to himself, slightly annoyed, but his heart stopped as he saw the form sitting on the other side of the desk.

"Heya Jacky-boy," a familiar voice, dripping with its usual smirk greeted Jack as he stood there dumbfounded, looking at the small frame of his friend whom he had not seen.

His jaw dropped through the floor and hit the sewers below New York City's streets as he tried to get his mind back under control. Pulling his jaw slowly back up, he realized that he was paralyzed in his stance.

"What…? Huh…? Who….? How…? Wheah…? When…? What…?" he spluttered, sinking numbly onto a box.

"Aw, Jacky-boy, don' say yas t'ought I'se dead…"

"No….Dis…Dis can' be…You'se a ghost…"

"Do I'se look like a ghost ta you'se? I'se don' t'ink so. I'se me in da flesh an' blood."

Gaping, Jack lost completely control of himself, and just stared at the stranger he had not seen in weeks, and had presumed dead. His thoughts running at a mile a minute, he tried to come to grips with the fact that he was looking at the King of Brooklyn himself, the great, one and only, Spot Conlon.

A/N: What'd ya think!

Spot: I'se in it! Dey gotta t'ink it's great!

I think someone's a lil too full of himself. But anyway, please review!

Spot: Dey gotta review, cuz dey gotta t'ink it's great!

lol You're a character Spot. Please please please review though!

Spot: Review a I'se gonna soak yas!

Spot….sighs Oh well…It's hopeless to try and teach you manners. But please do review!

Shout Outs:

Jittery: lol More's on it's way soon! And I heart it too!

Jdsd: Thanks. And I will. Most probably because I'm afraid of what my reviewers'd do to me if I didn't. lol Nah, it's cuz I really love the story. But I can pretend, right!

Bittah: Yes! A twist! I love twists! Did you see that coming? lol Cuz I thought it was pretty obvious, but…Well, it might not have been. (Though, I did tend to give bunches of little foreshadowings on it…lol) And yes! I want fic! I demand fic! Give me fic! Or else I'll…erm…Sick Spot on you! lol hugs Keep reviewing and I'll write faster!

Anymore, much love all, and now I'm off to finish chappie 30 and get it up! Criss-Cross…And Spot…