Jennie wasn't quite sure where she was going when she left the apartment, she just knew that she needed to get out and think. The image of Crutchie's face, remorseful and ashamed, flashed across her mind but Jennie quickly pushed it away. She couldn't think about his feelings, not when her own were so complicated.

After walking for what felt like ages, Jennie found herself standing outside her parent's apartment building. Sighing heavily, she sat down on the stone steps outside and rested her head on her hands. She guessed it was about 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, judging from the fact that no one was about. The streets were empty and silent, creating an almost eerie scene as Jennie mulled over what she should do.

Clearly, none of this was Crutchie's fault. Jennie knew he would never do anything to jeopardize his position, so the company must have been making cutbacks to their staff if he had been fired. And yes, he had lied to her about it, but Jennie could understand and forgive Crutchie for that. He was a proud man, it was one of his strongest traits and it was often something Jennie admired in him. She wasn't surprised that he had tried to keep this from her, not once she really thought about it.

The question is, what to do about money? Jennie thought. She loved and believed in Crutchie very much, but she wasn't sure how long it would take him to find another job. And in the meantime, they needed a steady source of income. She was unwilling to take more money from Faith's savings, and those would run out soon in any case. Jennie glanced over her shoulder, briefly considering asking her parents for a loan, but she quickly shook the thought out of her head. She didn't think her parents could afford it, and even if they could she wasn't sure she could ask them for charity like that.

Perhaps a factory job. The factories were almost always hiring, especially younger women, and the pay was enough to keep them from starving on the street. Yes, that could work.

A nearby clock struck the hour, 3 o'clock in the morning. Jennie slowly stood, stretching to relieve the stiffness that had settled into her joints. She would tell Crutchie of her plan in the morning, but now it was time to go home and get some sleep.

-Break-

When Crutchie woke the next morning the other side of the bed was still empty, but it looked as though it had been slept in.

Crutchie slowly sat up, smiling to himself as he heard Jennie and Faith in the kitchen. Faith was chattering away happily about some innocuous thing, while Jennie made noises of wonderment and understanding at the appropriate places.

She certainly gets her sharp tongue from her mother Crutchie thought, smiling to himself. His smile quickly faded, however, as he remembered his exchange with Jennie the night before. What if she was still mad at him?

"Charlie? Are you awake?" Jennie suddenly called, pulling Crutchie from his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute!" he called back, swinging out of bed as he did.

When Crutchie entered the kitchen a few minutes later Faith was eating her breakfast and Jennie was cooking more, presumably for herself and him. Her back was to him, and so Crutchie cleared his throat awkwardly to get her attention.

"Good morning, Charlie," Jennie said, turning around and setting a plate of eggs on the table. She looked and sounded rather tired, but otherwise, she was behaving as normal. Crutchie decided to take her cue, and he sat down at the table with a smile.

"Papa! Papa look, I finished!" Faith cried happily, gesturing to her empty plate with the fork she gripped tightly in her chubby hand.

"So ya did! Good job, darlin'," Crutchie congratulated. "Ya wanna wash your hands, an' then pick a picture to color?" For her second birthday, Jack had given Faith a homemade coloring book. She had loved it instantly, and now almost a year later there were only a few drawings left to be colored.

"Okay!" Faith chirped, setting her fork down and running over to the sink. Jennie helped her wash her hands since she was still too short to reach the faucet, and Crutchie felt his heart swell with love as he watched them.

"Charlie? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Crutchie blinked, slowly floating back down to Earth. Faith was now gone, having apparently run off to the other room, and it was just him and Jennie.

His heart pounding, Crutchie nodded. Jennie sat down across from him, reaching across the table to take one of his hands. She regarded him with a tender look. "I forgive you, Charlie."

Those words broke Crutchie. He bowed his head as tears began to stream down his face, tears of both relief and guilt. "I'm sorry, so sorry. I should never have lied to ya."

"It's alright. I understand why you felt you had to," Jennie soothed him, rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand. "But… there are still a few things we need to settle."

Crutchie sniffled and nodded, swiping at his eyes with his free hand. "Yeah."

"One of us needs to be working," Jennie started. She had rehearsed this speech in her head while cooking breakfast, and she spoke slowly and deliberately. "We don't know how long it will take you to find another job, and we need money."

"I can find work Jennie, I promise," Crutchie protested, but Jennie held up a hand to stop him.

"I don't doubt that. And what I'm planning will only be temporary." Jennie took a deep breath. "I'm going to go and find a job in a factory today. It will pay enough for now, and they're almost always hiring."

"But… what about me?"

This was what Jennie had feared saying most. "You'll have to stay home with Faith for now. You can look for job openings in the newspaper, and you can go out whenever I have a day off."

Crutchie looked back down at his hands. He didn't say a word, but it was clear he was hurt by this.

"Charlie, I'm sorry. But I don't want to ask our friends for charity, and I know you don't either, so this is the only solution for now," Jennie tried to explain.

"Okay," Crutchie finally said, his voice soft and distant. "Well… you'd better get goin' then. Go find a job."

Jennie hesitated. "Will you be alright?"

"Yes." Crutchie's voice was suddenly hard with anger. "Go. I don' wanna stop ya."

Jennie stared at Crutchie for a moment longer, then slowly stood up and left the table.

-Break-

"Do ya know what that word is?"

"Um… cat!"

"That's right! Cat!" Crutchie grinned, turning to the next page of the book. Faith was sitting in his lap, and they were reading through one of her favorite books. It was the late afternoon, almost evening.

"An' this is…" Crutchie trailed off, pointing at the picture on the page and waiting for Faith to fill in the blank.

"Dat's a… a… I dunno Papa!" Faith exclaimed, her face so twisted with concentration that Crutchie felt like laughing out loud.

"It's a mouse, darlin'," he supplied. "A mouse in a house."

"Mouse!" Faith repeated happily.

Crutchie smiled at her and turned the page to continue when he heard the front door open, followed by the unmistakable click of Jennie's best shoes on the wooden floor.

"Mama!" Faith cried, launching herself out of Crutchie's lap and causing him to grunt at the sudden movement.

"Hello, sweetheart!" Jennie smiled at Faith as she appeared in the doorway to the parlor, scooping Faith into her arms and hugging her close. "Did you and Papa have fun today?"

"Yeah!" Faith nodded, burrowing her face in Jennie's neck. "We read and we colored!"

"How exciting!" Jennie glanced over at Crutchie, who was still sitting on the sofa. He had fallen oddly silent since she had walked in. She turned back to Faith. "How about you put your book away, and then you can help me make dinner?"

"Okay!" Faith agreed immediately, wriggling out of Jennie's arms and running into her room.

Crutchie stood up, leaning a little more heavily on his crutch than normal, and made to follow her. "I'll go see that she don't get into too much trouble."

"Don't you want to know what happened?"

Crutchie stopped. "Didja find a job, then?"

Jennie nodded, even though Crutchie's back was to her. "Yes, I did."

"Where?"

"The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory."

A/N: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was located on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the Asch Building. Most of the workers there were young immigrant women, who worked nine hours a day on weekdays and seven hours a day on Saturdays (with Sundays off). They earned between 7 and 12 dollars a week (approximately 191 to 327 dollars a week in today's money).