Chapter Sixteen: In Which Papers are Printed and Decisions are Made

Word Count: 1,395

Manhattan, 1899

Mush had never actually been inside The World building, and this would have felt like breaking and entering if it weren't for the fact that Katherine had keys. Where she got those keys, Mush wouldn't ask, but it wasn't like it was important anyway. They were doing something monumental - this was no time to be pedantic.

Katherine, Jack, Davey, and Race were inside getting everything ready, so Mush and the other newsies stood outside waiting for them to unlock the door. It was cold, being nighttime, so everyone was huddled together in as many layers of clothes as they had. They'd also brought as many people as they could – friends, family, and acquaintances that knew how to operate a press. This was going to a big job, and as excited as he was to print these papers and put an end to (or at least make more people aware of) Pulitzer's superciliousness, he was nervous. How many ways could this go wrong? And what would happen if it did?

He turned to Romeo, whom he was standing beside. "Do ya think this'll work?"

Romeo shrugged. "Why wouldn't it? We've got people on our sides and spite in our hearts." He grinned. "It's a perfect storm. 'Sides, we can't be the only ones who wanna out Pulitzer. Someone out there's gotta agree with our cause."

Mush nodded. "I guess."

After a moment of staring at him quizically, Romeo smiled. "Anythin' else ya wanna ask?"

He didn't answer.

"Aw, c'mon, I can see it plain on your face, even as dark as it is. What is it?"

"...could ya at least give me a hint of what je t'aime means?"

Romeo laughed. "I shoulda known! I can't tell ya anythin', but Cassie's literally right over there. Why don't ya ask her?"

Mush took a deep breath. "Ya know what? You're right. I'se been puttin' this off for too long."

"That's the spirit!"

Mush walked over to Cassie, who was talking with her friend, Jenny. When he approached, Jenny stopped talking and smiled knowingly with a glance towards Cassie. "Oh, hello, Mush. I haven't seen you in a while."

Cassie turned around. "Hey, Mush," she said, smiling.

"Hi, Jenny, Cassie. Um, Cassie, can I ask ya somethin'?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Uh, what does - "

Just then, Racetrack threw open the doors. "Guys, come on in!"

The entire crowd of newsies and otherwise rushed in and followed Race to the basement.

Once inside, they worked like a well-oiled machine. Two of Katherine's friends and some of the newsies' friends worked the press, and everyone else waited for the papers to print so they could start putting them up and spreading the word. They worked tirelessly almost all night. Mostly in pairs, the newsies that weren't operating the press went outside and posted the papers to walls and lampposts. Of course, they had lots left over to give out in the morning – not for money, obviously; that would technically be selling a newspaper and thus defying their strike.

Cassie and Mush handed out papers together that next morning.

"Mush?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah?" He turned to look at her, and then back around to ask a lady if she'd like a paper. The lady shrugged and obliged, and Mush turned back to Cassie.

"What were you going to ask me yesterday night?"

"Huh?"

"Last night at The World building, you – please sir, take a paper, free of charge – you said you wanted to ask me something. What was it?"

"Uh…" Now's your chance, Mush! What does je t'aime mean? "I forgot."

"Oh, I hate it when that happens," said Cassie, sounding convinced enough. "Well, when you remember, ask me."

Mush nodded. "Sure thing." Why was this so hard? It was just a question, and it was just Cassie, right? It wasn't like he was proposing to her.

Maybe he was scared of the answer. What else could it be? Even though he knew for sure now that Cassie wasn't lying about her crush on him, it might still be something mean. Or something extreme. Maybe it was just something that he thought he wouldn't want to hear.

He decided that he wouldn't ask her – he'd find out for himself. There was, after all, a library near the lodge. There had to be French books there somewhere.

They handed out papers for a while without conversation, and when they were almost out, Cassie finally broke the not-quite-silence.

"So. How many people do you think will actually show up to the rally?"

"A fair amount, I'd say," said Mush, grateful to finally get his mind off of French. "Definitely not everyone, but I think we can count on a lot of people."

"You might actually be right. I'm sure someone cares. Someone has to. And with all the papers we have out, plus the ones the others gave, the chances of every single person just not caring whatsoever are probably pretty slim."

Mush smiled. "Yeah."

That afternoon, Mush stopped at the library. For once, he thought, it was of his own volition; not to ask a favor or to make Cassie happy. He was doing this for himself, sort of. He stepped inside.

I love you.

Je t'aime meant I love you.

Cassie loved Mush.

But did Mush love Cassie?

Platonically, sure. But romantically…maybe?

Mush was glad he had ventured to find the answer for himself – that conversation would have been awkward to have. But now he was left with his own racing thoughts to make multiple decisions: Bring it up, or don't bring it up? Do I love her, or do I not? How do I respond to that, if at all?

He closed his eyes and sighed. He was definitely overthinking this. People said they loved things and other people all the time. That didn't mean they meant it in the most extreme ways. Jack was always saying he loved Medda's show – that didn't mean he'd go off and marry it, now did it?

Cassie knew a lot of French. There were certainly other things she could have written to him that would have been stretching it more than just an I love you.

And Romeo, the little bum. Of course he knew what je t'aime meant. Of course he wouldn't tell Mush. Of course he'd be trying to set Mush and Cassie up.

The other newsies knew, too, he realized. They just wouldn't tell him. He had been oblivious.

Mush put the French to English book back in its place on the shelf and decided that he would give his answer to Cassie for once and for all.

He went back to the lodge thinking about how he was going to tell her.

"Hi, Mush," Cassie said cheerfully when he approached her and Romeo. "Where were you?"

"I stopped by the library on the way here."

"Oh?" asked Cassie, sounding rather surprised. "What were you reading?"

He shrugged. "I looked around..." That wasn't a complete lie. He had looked around – for the French books, at least – but Cassie didn't need to know that until he gave her his answer.

"Aw, you didn't find anything you wanted to read?" Cassie asked, pouting slightly.

"I think that's more your thing, Cassie," Romeo joined in, saving Mush from having to respond.

"I guess you're right."

"I always am." Romeo grinned. "So did you guys hand out most of your papes?"

"Actually, we gave away all of them. Cassie says there's a pretty good chance of people comin', too."

"Mm-hm. And some of us invited our friends and family, so if they show, we'll have enough people to attract attention for sure. There's no way Pulitzer won't roll back prices after that," Cassie added.

"I hope so. We can't strike forever."

"We can't, but…we've gotten this far – might as well finish strong."

A/N: Thanks for reading! This was a nice chapter to write, but the next one will hopefully be even better since it's the chapter where Jack confronts Pulitzer. A lot of Once And For All is, I think, more for the sake of choreography than anything else, so I didn't get to write as much of it as I wanted to, but I hoped you liked the chapter anyway. I would really appreciate if you could review and tell me what you think!

-mouse :)