Author's Note: Thank you so much to my two always-faithful readers - BabyMyst and coveredinbees14. You guys are the best. :-)


"Well, these are useless," Skittery threw his stack of soaking wet papers on the ground. Adelaide was sure he would much rather throw them at the hansom cab that just drove through the giant snow slush puddle that soaked both his papes and him, but there wasn't anything to be done about that.

"Looks like what goes around, comes around," Adelaide grinned at him. Skittery was not amused.

Adelaide put her arm around Tumbler. "Come on, Mikey," she said. "Let's sell our way down a few blocks so Skitts can change into something dry."

Skittery took her hand a gave it a little squeeze as they walked down Broadway towards the Newsboys Lodging House.

By the time they sold their way to Duane Street, all of their papers were gone, but they were still in the hole, having lost Skittery's papers.

"I'll change, and then we'll get some early lunch," said Skittery before he walked through the door. Adelaide took Tumbler's hand and they walked over to a bench to wait for Skittery.

"You're quiet today," she said to him. He just shrugged. "Everything okay?"

Tumbler nodded and looked up at me. "I'm tryin' to be real good so you say yes."

Her curiosity piqued, she responded, "say yes to what?"

"Snipes and Boots are goin' to Coney Island tomorrow." Adelaide could see where the conversation was going - nope, no way, she thought. "Can I go with them?" He saw her inhale and hesitate, so he jumped in before she could say no. "Please, Aide? Snipes is always makin' fun of me for bein' a little kid, always havin' my big sister around. I'm eight years old now. I'm old enough to go off with my friends. And we grew up in Brooklyn, it's not like I'm askin' to go somewhere unfamiliar."

"Mikey, Coney is far away. You're gonna have to take a trolley if you want to get there and back with any time to do anything." She hoped that will deter him. There was no way she wanted her little brother walking around Brooklyn without her or Skittery or one of the older, more responsible and aware, newsies.

Tumbler looked down at his hands. "I know. I been savin'."

"You have?"

He nodded.

Adelaide clenched her jaw. She didn't want him hanging around Snipeshooter more than he had to, but she also knew it was important for boys to be able to prove themselves to each other. But Brooklyn?

"Aide, I promise we'll be careful," he turned towards her, folding his hands, begging, "We'll go around his neighborhood. We'll go far around it, so he doesn't even know we're there."

"Mikey, nothing happens that he doesn't know about."

"It was so long ago, Aide. And he hardly knew I existed."

She looked at Tumbler, trying to decide if he was right. He was right…

"Who hardly knew you existed?" Skittery sat down on the other side of Tumbler.

"No one," Adelaide said a little too quickly. Skittery looked at her and she know he suspected something.

"Aide won't let me go to Coney Island with the fellas tomorrow," Tumbler sighed.

"Why not?" Skittery looked up at Adelaide.

"You read the papes, same as me. You know the gangs there are as bad as the Fourth Ward here."

"Only in Vinegar Hill. If they go down through Brooklyn Heights as soon as they get off the bridge, they should be fine."

Adelaide gave him a look. She needed him to side with her on this. She needed him to help Tumbler figure out another way to prove his independence to Snipeshooter.

"We'll do that, Aide," Tumbler looked up at her, those big brown eyes pleading.

Adelaide had the sinking feeling that she would regret it.

"Okay."

Tumbler beamed and wrapped his arms around her neck. "Thank you, Aide!"

Adelaide looked at Skittery over Tumbler's shoulder, hoping he knew how unhappy she was with him. She was met with an inquiring look from Skittery.


"So what's wrong with Brooklyn?" Skittery asked later that evening as he walked Adelaide home. "I thought you two were from Brooklyn."

"We are." Adelaide didn't want to talk about it. There were still some things she hadn't told Skittery about Tumbler's and her life before they joined up with the newsies.

Skittery shrugged. "So what's the big deal?"

Adelaide took a deep breath. She knew this day would come at some point. "There was a time after we got kicked to the streets and before we came here…we had no money, no food…" Suddenly, everything came back to her at once. Sleeping on the floor of an abandoned factory on the Brooklyn waterfront. Never having any money, always having to hand it over for protection. Aways having Tumbler sleep between her and the wall, just in case…

"Aide," he said softly.

She looked over at him, and her heart melted at his look for genuine concern. "I'm sorry, I just…we fell in with some bad people, but they offered us protection…"

"We've all been there, Aide. You do what you gotta to survive."

She nodded, swallowing the lump forming in her throat. "We ran away from them. And I know for a fact that they were not happy about that." She bit her lip. "I just don't want them to find Tumbler tomorrow."

Skittery nodded. "I get it."

"But if they just stay on the trolley, they should probably be okay, right?" Adelaide said more to convince myself than him.

He nodded again. "Of course. And I heard Race talkin' about how he's goin' to Sheepshead tomorrow anyway. He's gonna ride with them."

She exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Okay. That's good."

"There's four of them going. They'll be okay."

Adelaide nodded.

They stopped in front of the Elizabeth Home for Girls, where Adelaide lived.

"I'll walk them to the bridge in the morning before I get our papes and meet you at our spot," he said, taking her hands.

"Thank you," Adelaide grinned at him.

Skittery smiled down at her and she stepped towards him and let him wrap his arms around her. She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. No matter what happened, she always felt safe in Skittery's arms.