"Even with Ralphie's money, there's not enough for a ticket home," said Adelaide. "Even if only one of us went."

Skittery sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking over the pencil scratchings on the napkin. The newsies around them in Tibby's laughed and joked. "What if I went, and then sent him home?"

"How would you get home?" asked Adelaide.

"What if I worked my way back?"

"That would take you months."

Skittery paused for a bit. "What if you and I took the train out there, and stayed?"

Adelaide looked at him. "Stayed in Ohio?"

Skittery shrugged. "Once we get Tumbler, we can go anywhere." Adelaide looked at him for a few beats. "As long as we're all together, who cares where we're at?"

Adelaide opened her mouth to respond when the door to Tibby's was kicked open.

"Where is he?" said Blade.

Adelaide stood up. "What are you boys doing here?"

"We want the kid," Fire says, standing in the middle of Tibby's.

"Why?" Adelaide asked, walking over to where Snipeshooter stood, rooted to the floor. She put her hands on his shoulders. "He had nothing to do with Ralphie's suicide."

"Yeah, well, we ain't so sure it was a suicide," Blade said.

Adelaide swallowed. "Did Spot send you over?"

Fire rolled his eyes. "We're here on our own. We know Ralphie would never kill himself. And the only one who had any problems with him and had any balls to stand up to him was that kid!" Fire pointed at Snipeshooter.

"Ralphie may have made life hell for Snipes, but he made life hell for a lot of people," Adelaide said. "People with more means to off Ralphie than him. And I don't think Spot would appreciate some innocent kid paying for someone else's mistakes."

Invoking Spot's name cooled them down a bit. Blade and Fire exchanged a glance and then looked back to Adelaide and Snipeshooter.

"This ain't over," Blade said, pointing at Snipeshooter. With that final warning, they turned and walked out of Tibby's.

As soon as the door closed, Snipeshooter turned to Adelaide. "It wasn't me, Aide, I swear! I was no where near the bridge that night!"

"I know." She nodded. She knew because she was on the bridge that night - and Fire and Blade should have been looking for her if they wanted payback for Ralphie's death. But she swallowed all that and tried to forget.

"You ain't gonna let them get me, are ya?" he asked. Adelaide could see real fear in his eyes. His jaw moved as he clenched it, trying not to cry.

Adelaide pulled him into a hug, holding his head to her chest. "Of course not, Snipes." She kissed his mess of curls. "Just don't go anywhere alone, okay?"

Snipeshooter nodded and walked back over to his table with Shadow and Boots.

"What in the world happened in Brooklyn?" Skittery asked as she sat back down.

Adelaide looked at him.

"What?" she asked, trying to hide her panic. What did he know? How did he find out? Did he know about what Ralphie made her do? About what she did to Ralphie?

"Before you two left for Brooklyn, you wouldn't touch Snipes with a ten foot pole. Now you two are thick as thieves."

"Oh," she grinned, mostly with relief that Skittery was still in the dark. "Well, when you go through what we went through, it's sink or swim, you know?"

Skittery nodded, but Adelaide didn't fool him. He always had a sixth sense when it came to her.