"Blink, I told you why I have to go back. I'm sorry." Cecile said, folding one of her dresses that Medda had given to her and put it into a trunk she had recently bought.
"But why? You have money, we could hire a doctor to stay with you night and day." Blink protested, standing in the way of her trunk. She looked at him, pushing past him with her elbow.
"Blink. I would die and I don't want to die. If I want to have any hope of pulling through this, I need to go back to my grandfather. He will bring in the best doctors from around the world. Something our meager funds could never do. Please, Blink. Don't make this any harder than it already is."
There was a silence as Cecile locked up her trunk. "Please, Blink. I care for you so much - you have been such a great friend to me in these last couple of months. Don't ruin my memories of you, be my friend until the end." She sighed. "Don't let Jack in the vicinity of the statue tomorrow. I don't want to see him. That would be more than I could bear." Blink nodded as Cecile hugged him.
"Are you performing tonight?" He asked her.
"Yes I am, I'm singing something that I wrote for Jack. Let him know that its for him after I leave if he doesn't realize it tonight." Cecile told him.
Jack fidgeted in his seat at Irving Hall nervously. Cecile had been avoiding him for the past couple of days and he was worried that the I love you ordeal had been the cause of that. He planned to confront her about it tonight after the show.
"Hiya Jack." Blink said, sitting next to him.
"Hey Blink." Jack said halfheartedly.
"Whats the matter?"
"Women. Don't ever let yourself become engrossed in one. It ain't a good idea."
"Might be a little too late for that." Blink said.
"Right." Jack said, remembering Blink's ladyfriend. "Well, can't help you out there."
"Hey, Jack. Cecile wanted me to tell you -" The lights started to dim and Medda came on stage.
"Shhh.." Jack said, swatting the back of Blink's head.
Caitlyn was the first onstage, doing a flashy number followed by Charlotte and Eronn doing a cute cabaret-type performance.
Cecile stepped behind the curtain, looking at the scene around her. She would miss the hustle and bustle of the theater and that nervous feeling she got right before she went on.
The curtain lifted, revealing Cecile in a simple white dress and a bouquet of red roses sitting on top of the piano. She began singing, her sweet voice rising to the balconies where Jack was sitting.
"Like the sound of silence calling,
I hear your voice and suddenly
I'm falling, lost in a dream.
Like the echoes of our souls are meeting,
You say those words and my heart stops beating.
I wonder what it means.
What could it be that comes over me?
At times I can't move.
At times I can hardly breath.
When you say you love me,
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me,
For a moment, there's no one else alive.
You're the one I've always thought of.
I don't know how, but I feel sheltered in your love.
You're where I belong.
And when you're with me if I close my eyes,
There are times I swear I feel like I can fly
For a moment in time.
Somewhere between the Heavens and Earth ,
And frozen in time, Oh when you say those words.
When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
For a moment there's no one else alive.
And this journey that we're on.
How far we've come and I celebrate every moment.
And when you say you love me,
That's all you have to say.
I'll always feel this way.
When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
In that moment I know why I'm alive.
When you say you love me.
When you say you love me.
Do you know how I love you?"
Blink looked over at Jack to see if he knew that it was for him. Jack was sitting in his chair, a look of amazement on his face. He stood suddenly and started making his way toward the exit.
"Daisy, what are you doing?" Cecile asked, standing in the doorway of her dressing room with an amused look on her face.
"Playing dress up." Daisy said, lipstick smeared all over her face and one of Cecile's hats on her head.
Cecile laughed. "Come here. Let me clean you up." She look one of the towels and wet it, starting to wipe the red goo off of the young girl's face.
"Daisy, what are you doing?" Nick asked his little sister, re-entering the room with a candy bar in his hand. "I told you not to touch anything!" Daisy looked up at her brother with tears in her eyes.
"Its ok. Why are you guys back here?" Cecile asked, giving Daisy a hug.
"Daisy was bored during the show so Blink told me to take her back to your dressing room and to amuse ourselves until you came back but I got hungry so I went to go get something to eat." Nick sputtered. Cecile laughed.
"You two are too much." She looked at Nick's face. "You need to be cleaned up as well." She started to wipe the chocolate from his face.
She looked up, after hearing a noise in the doorway, and stood when she saw who it was.
"Nick, take Daisy into Caitlyn's dressing room please." Nick looked between the two people and quickly did as he was told.
"Hello Jack." Cecile said quietly. Jack said nothing, just stood there staring at her. She wiped her hands on the napkin and set it down on her dressing room table, turning to look at him again. "So now you know the big secret. I love you." She said, rushing through the last part.
"God, I love you too." Jack said, crossing the room and kissing her. She melted into his arms and wrapped her arms around his head, thinking this would be the last time he would love her like this. A tear ran down her face.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, kissing away the tear. Cecile shook her head.
"This is all so surreal. I don't want it to ever be over."
Jack laughed as he caressed her face. "You won't ever be able to get rid of me." Cecile kissed him again, as if to seal his promise. If only you knew, Jack, she thought.
"C'mon, let's go to the party. Let me change." Cecile said, pushing away from Jack.
"What if I stayed and you changed?" Jack asked suggestively, raising an eyebrow.
"You know I'm not that kind of girl, Mr.Kelly. Now out." She shut the door after Jack and sunk to the floor, burying her tearing eyes in her hands.
"Where's Spot?" Cecile asked Blink at the party later on.
"He stayed in Brooklyn." Blink said, squeezing her arm encouragingly.
"I thought he would. He was pretty angry about my leaving. God, he wanted us to be just like we were when he left. We were nine, now we're both 17 and we lead completely different lives. This is not where I'm supposed to be! Can't he see that?" Cecile said angrily to Blink.
"Cecile, relax. Enjoy the night while you can." Blink told her, crossing the room to find his special someone.
"Jack, can we leave?" Cecile whispered in his ear. Jack looked at her. "Not for that, Jack Kelly. I just want to be somewhere alone with you." He took her hand and they said their goodbyes and entered the dark streets of New York.
"I know someplace that we can be alone." Jack said, holding her tightly. He led her onto a rooftop that overlooked New York's developing skyline.
"Its beautiful." Cecile said. "I love you Jack. I just want to let you know."
"I love you too and nothing will ever change that." She just smiled weakly.
"You'd be surprised, Jack."
"No, nothing will ever change." Jack insisted.
"Let's just focus on tonight and me and you." Cecile said, kissing him softly.
Cecile woke up with the sun and looked around groggily, trying to remember where she was. The last night came flooding back to her. She looked at Jack's sleeping form beside her and kissed him softly. She took her letter to him out of her pocket and put it in her place and left quietly, pausing once at the top of the fire escape but not looking back.
Three hours later, after saying all of her goodbyes to many of the Newsies, she sat on her trunk in front of the Horace Greeley statue mentally saying goodbye to many of the things to which she had grown accustomed. Her golden hair was perfectly curled and pinned, without a hair out of place underneath the dove gray hat she had bought to go with her matching traveling suit. She coughed into her handkerchief and looked around the busy square, hoping to see one face that would not show.
Jack Kelly stirred in the bench where he had spent the night and moved his arm. Something was missing, a tiny voice whispered to him through his dream. He shifted and lazily opened one eye, allowing it to adjust to his surroundings. His free hand searched the empty spot next to him, where one hour before a young girl slept next to him.
His hand reached a worn envelope with Jack written across the front. He looked at it curiously before opening it. His eyes quickly skimmed the first paragraph of the letter, widening with shock, before he began to understand what was written on the page before him.
"Hey." Cecile turned to look at the figure that had sat next to her.
"Hey." After a long pause, she put her head on his shoulder. "I was hoping you'd come. I missed you last night."
"Well, it's a little hard saying goodbye to your sister in front of all these boys that look up to ya." Spot said. The pair sat in silence for a while. "I still don't understand why you have to go and not come back." Spot finally said. Cecile groaned.
"We've discussed this a thousand times, Cedric. We both know why."
"You could stay and live with me. I could get ya a good doctor. I know a guy on 56th Street. After ya get better, you could -
"Be what? A Newsie? I was raised to become something more than that Cedric. I want to become something more than that. And besides…- She held back a sob. -We both know that the likelihood of me getting over this is not very big."
"But at least you'd be happy with us in your last days." Spot protested.
"Cedric, I was so happy living with Grandfather and going out every night. It was just a, a different sort of happy than being with you and the other Newsies. It was a different experience, but each of them good." She sighed and kissed his cheek.
Jack tore through Blink's normal selling spots, looking for the Newsie. He finally spotted him, selling a paper to a young couple.
"Blink. I need to talk to you now!" Jack said urgently, pulling him away from future buyers.
"Whats the big deal?"
"Where is Cecile? I need to talk to her now!" Jack insisted.
"Isn't she at Medda's?" Blink asked, feigning a look of innocence.
"Don't do that to me Blink! Not now, its too important." Jack threw the letter at Blink's face. "I need to talk to her before she leaves!" Blink thought for a while and then shook his head.
"She gave me strict orders not to let you anywhere near Horace -" Blink stopped, realizing his blunder. Jack released his grip on Blink's arm and ran in the opposite direction.
"How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned." Cecile quoted as her brother looked at her. "Alexander Pope." She explained. "Isn't it beautiful?" Spot shrugged. He didn't really see the beauty in a bunch of words.
"I guess. What does it mean?" Spot asked.
"To me, it means that happiness can't go on forever because life happens, even when you're busy making other plans. People just can't go on living a blissful life like we've been doing the last couple of months - things just don't work that way. But I guess, I don't know - its good that bad things happen because without the bad, we wouldn't have the good. If we never experienced bad, we wouldn't know when we were happy and we wouldn't be able to experience life's simplest joys. If I hadn't gotten sick again, I would never realized how much I love you or Jack or Blink or Caitlyn and how great these months have been." She gave him a hug. "I love you Cedric."
"What's going to happen Cecile?" Spot asked her, helping her up as they saw a black carriage enter the square. She shrugged.
"I don't know Cedric." She straightened her dress. "But you'll always have my key." She patted his chest, under which lay a bulky, old-fashioned copper key. "All you have to do is knock and I'll let you in. Goodbye." She gave him a quick hug before he hurried off, not wanting his grandfather to recognize him.
"Josh!" Cecile squealed as her older brother stepped out of the carriage. She threw her arms around his neck.
"We've missed you so much! Shh..don't tell but Grandfather has a surprise party waiting for you back at Pemberely. He's told everyone you were in Maine, visiting some distant relative of ours." Josh explained as the driver took her trunk and strapped it in. He took her hand and helped her into the carriage but not before she looked around once more.
"Are you expecting someone else?" He teased. Cecile glanced quickly around the square once more and coughed into her handkerchief that was slowly becoming covered in red. "Grandfather also has doctors waiting for you." Cecile smiled weakly.
"Let's go Josh. I'm eager to get home and tired. I've had a long night." She climbed into the carriage and adjusted her hat before the driver headed off.
"Please don't let me be too late." Jack pleaded as he ran into Horace Greeley Square. He looked around, not seeing any girl that matched Cecile. "I missed her." He thought, tears coming to his eyes. "And she's dying."
A/N: Don't worry, its not over. This ending would suck if this was the last chapter…I still have a tiny amount of ideas for this story. Anyways…thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed it and special props go out to Rae Kelly who has reviewed every single one of my chapters even if I haven't done the same to her. And now for the lovely disclaimer: I don't own the quote (Alexander Pope does), the song is When You Say You Love Me by Josh Groban and I don't own any of the Newsies or any of that good stuff - although I wish I did because then I wouldn't be going into debt paying for my college.
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