Author's Notes: Chapter Five makes me nervous for several reasons, but here it is. Special thank you's to stress and kaitins for feedback on the last chapter! Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie Newsies, or any of the characters from it. Disney laid claim to them before I had the chance. I still love ya, Disney.

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Chapter Five
Home?

She was exhausted.

No, more than exhausted. She was bordering collapse. Perhaps death, even. Her lungs were surely shriveled up. Her feet must have had several blisters. And blisters upon blisters. Her body cried for rest. Her stomach was begging for nutrition. Her mind was telling her stomach to shut up.

She had no idea what time it was. She only knew that it was way past sunset. Ellie had never been outdoors for so long in her life. Her place had always been inside the Richardson's home, being controlled by the Richardsons. She begrudgingly found herself in the same position, except it was these two children that had somehow attached her with strings. She had just finished accompanying the children with selling the evening papers and while the children were still bounding on their last remnants of energy, Ellie had drained her share long beforehand. It was now the second night away from the Richardsons home. She was surely fired by now. Jobless. Homeless. Tired. Hungry. She grimaced slightly at the sting on her arm. And still in pain.

"Home!... well, most of the time." Clue bounded towards a modest building. The Newsboys Lodging House. If this was home, then why were the boys sleeping outside last night?

"Didn't have enough money last night," Alec explained, unknowingly answering Ellie's unspoken question. "But with you on our team, we got enough money for… I don't know how long, but a lot of nights inside the Lodging House," he grinned proudly.

"You earned it," Ellie sighed. She had unwillingly taken responsibility for two children who probably did not need her in the first place, and now that she was sending them home she felt relief. And a pang of apprehension. They stood outside the door of the Lodging House.

"Get inside. And promise me you'll both work as hard as you did today – no more sleeping outside, okay?" It was a feeble attempt for reassurance.

Alec looked at her, confused. "Are you leaving?" The kid sure was sharp.

"I have a home, too," Ellie said. "And I've been away from it too long."

"Okay," Clue said.

Relief poured through her. That was easier than she expected.

Then, "We'll see you tomorrow!"

Ellie's shoulders slumped slightly. "Actually, I -,"

"You kids sleepin' in for the night?" came a voice from behind her.

She was once again spared from having to dump the truth on them. She turned to face her savior. Instantly, her eyes narrowed as the figure emerged from the darkness.

The crazy man.

He stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw her. Skittery swallowed before continuing towards the Lodging House. Truth was he had been thinking about her all day since the incident. She had saved his life, after all. When he thought he would never see her again, she reappeared in his territory, at Tibby's. Now here she was again, glaring at him as she had in each instance they had met. She had interesting eyes and – anyway, he hated her for clogging his mind. The last thing he wanted to do right now was confront the girl whom he had been thinking about when his head was as fogged as it was at the present moment. He lifted his cigarette to his lips, carefully avoiding Ellie's eyes.

"Do you know the fastest way I can get to Queens?"

She was talking to him. Dammit, so much for his invisibility act.

"Queens? Yeah." He stopped in front of her. "Why, you thinking of taking a trip?" The tone of his voice was not pleasant.

"As soon as you can tell me how to get there," Ellie replied.

Skittery's brows drew in puzzlement. "Now?"

"Yes, now."

A pause. "You can't go now," he answered.

"Why not?"

Skittery nodded toward Clue and Alec. "Better get your bunks before they run out," he told them. That got the boys running. With a flourish of bye's, they dashed into the Lodging House.

Skittery leaned against the wall of the building and faced Ellie again. She looked downright terrible. He had figured as much – she looked too soft to handle the life of a newsie. Even in her current condition, her fingernails were still clean, her clothes barely soiled and her hair still retained the faint scent of… what was it? Roses, he decided. It was refreshing, not like the candied perfumes most women wore which always left a trail a block long.

What had she asked? Oh right.

"You can't go now because it's night."

She cast her glance downwards. "I can handle myself, thank you."

"I meant," he reached over his shoulder to stub the cigarette out on the building wall, "that there ain't no trolley to take you there now."

"Oh. Then I'll walk," Ellie said, and inwardly groaned as soon as the words were in the air. Ellie knew there was no way she could walk back to Queens, especially since her feet were throbbing and crying for rest. Nevertheless, she had already decided to ask someone else for directions. She attempted to turn away from the crazy man when he suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm. She let out a sharp gasp as pain pulsated through her arm.

Skittery frowned at her reaction, instinctively relaxing his grip though not releasing her arm. Their eyes locked for several moments, as Ellie waited for him to let go and Skittery froze as guilt settled in. So she had injured herself this morning, he realized. He was hoping his eyes had played a trick on him when he glimpsed red on her shirt but even so, his conscience had been nibbling at him all day. Now it was gobbling him up.

"Come on," he said gruffly.

Ellie followed him wordlessly into the Lodging House, confused and uncertain but most of all, drained. Her fatigued body had finally overcome her stubborn mind and, though she hated to admit it, she was ready to accept any form of shelter.

"Heya Kloppman," Skittery greeted the elderly Lodging House keeper as he rummaged through his right pocket and, coming up with only lint, pulled at his left pocket. He fumbled with two coins and slapped them onto the counter as he signed his name into the ledger. Kloppman noticed Ellie and gave her a nod and a smile which she returned.

"Good luck with this one," Kloppman said to her, thumbing towards Skittery, still hunched over the counter.

Skittery looked up abruptly, tightening his lips. "She's not my girl, Klopps." Then he added, "You have that, uh… kit? She needs some bandaging or something."

Ellie was looking longingly towards the chair by the window, not catching Skittery's request. When she turned back, he stood in front of her holding a worn cardboard box. He led her to the chairs and plopped down. She was so grateful she nearly smiled at him but caught herself when he glanced up at her. Ellie dropped onto the chair and instantly melted into the seat as her body relaxed.

"Give me your arm," Skittery said.

Ellie looked at him questionably. "Why?"

His response was to reach over and pull at her shawl, revealing the blood stained sleeve underneath. He removed the lid of the box and placed both on the floor, pulling out a roll of bandage. Ellie straightened and stretched out her hand expectantly.

"I'll do it," she said simply.

"I'll do it," he replied without looking up. He was unrolling the bandage.

"It's my arm. I'll do it."

"I said I'd do it."

"Don't be so stubborn."

"Get used to it."

He grasped her outstretched hand when a whistle rang throughout the room. Ellie and Skittery turned towards the sound.

Several onlookers were standing by the doorway. The whistle had come from Race who grinned at Skittery. In fact, there were a lot of grinning faces. The newsies were walking in in bunches as they had finished yet another day of selling. She recognized Jack as he pulled up a chair and pat Skittery hard on the back, all the time with the same, strangely encouraging, grin.

Ellie took the opportunity to snatch the bandage from Skittery's hand. Her action prompted a shift in attention as the grinning faces turned to her.

They were not grinning now as they focused on Ellie's injured arm. Her left sleeve bore a gaping tear. The blood dried against her skin, red-brown in color, staining her white blouse.

She sat back in her chair uncomfortably. "It - it's not as bad as it looks," she said, trying to downplay the mess exposed on her arm.

"The battle wound!" came a cry from the staircase.

Clue and Alec bounded down the steps. They stopped by her side and gazed, wide-eyed, at her bloodied arm.

"Does it hurt?" Clue asked her.

"Not much," she answered hesitantly.

Skittery stole the bandage back when her attention was on the kids. "It was my fault --," he began to confess.

"It was Blade, wasn't it?"

Skittery, surprised, looked at Mush, who stood solemnly in the middle of the group of newsboys. Mush's expressions were always readable and the one he had now was one of guilt.

"It was Blade," Mush answered himself. He bent down to examine her arm. "I'm really sorry, Ellie Vivien. This… this is my fault…" Mush sputtered.

Skittery slowly put the pieces together. Ellie's gash was not an injury, it was a wound.

Mush was sure that Blade was responsible, but the rest of the newsies needed confirmation.

Jack asked, "Blade really did this to you?"

It must have been her exhausted state of mind, her confusion, and the fact that Skittery had stolen her limp arm and began to wind the fabric around it, but all Ellie could manage was a feeble shrug. A murmur of condemnation filled the lobby of the Lodging House.

If this gash was any proof, Blade had carried out what the newsies had drearily expected.

She had finally crossed the line.