The street outside the station was bustling with people. Girls and boys alike were waiting for the council members, screaming and waving pieces of paper at them as they exited through the rear door of the station building. Link straightened his jacket before making his way over to the crowd with a wave and a charming smirk, taking the first pen and paper he encountered. He was signing away on autopilot when a conversation somewhere near by caught his ear. It was the sound of her voice that drew his attention, and he looked around for a moment, not seeing the girl he expected anywhere near him; then he looked down.

His gaze fell on Tracy, kneeling to be at eye level with a small child in the crowd. The girl was holding one of those weird head signs with Tracy's face on it, clutching an autograph book to her chest, and she was crying.

"They said I couldn't ever be a dancer like you 'cause my legs are funny," the little girl said, her voice shaky. Link noticed the awkward braces strapped to the child's skinny legs and found him self listening intently as Tracy gave her reply.

She reached up and took the girl's quivering chin and gave it a soft squeeze. "Don't you listen to those people; there are a lot of folks out there who have a lot of mean things to say, but you are the one who gets to decide where you go and what you do. Look at me; they said mean things about my legs too, but here I am, dancing on the Corny Collins show!"

"And showing the rest of us up, if I might add my two cents," Link said as he kneeled down beside them his eyes on Tracy for a moment before he shifted his attention. "Wouldn't you agree, sweetheart?" he asked, addressing the little girl. She looked at him wide eyed and nodded, even as she ducked behind her book for cover. Link felt his heart twist in his chest in that moment, and it was such a foreign feeling that he almost lost his balance. He looked back into that little girl's green eyes and gave her a soft smile as she responded to his statement.

"She's real good. You are too Link," she said blushing and swaying side to side.

"Oh my goodness, it's Link!" Tracy said enthusiastically, smiling at the child. The fan-girlish tone in her voice caused his heart to speed up a bit, and his eyes studied her as she interacted with the child. "Get him to sign your book quick, before the other girls grab him away!"

Link laughed lightly at her little display, and the girl quickly thrust her book out to him. He smiled at her and took it gently. "What's your name, Darlin'?" he asked.

"Nell," she said softly.

"Nell," Link repeated and addressed a quick note to her by name. "Never give up on your dreams," he said aloud as he wrote, then signed his name across the page and handed it back to her with a wink. She smiled broadly as she held it close to her chest for a moment, and then darted back to her mother.

"That was really nice of you, Link," Tracy said once the little girl's mother had led her away. She had turned slightly to face him and her rich brown eyes focused on him intently.

"It was nothin'," he responded, suddenly feeling dangerously close to letting his cool falter. She was making him feel very, very different than he had ever remembered feeling before.

"It was something," she said, "you just made her day." After a brief moment, she asked, "why do people have to be so mean? Where does it come from?"

Forgetting that they were kneeling on the sidewalk with a sea of people raging above them, Link just gazed back at her. "I wish I knew."

He looked into her eyes; finding so much there to be seen, so much to try to understand, that it was mesmerizing. He didn't even stop to wonder why she hadn't moved, why she was looking right back at him as if searching him thoroughly.

"Link!" Amber's somewhat shrill cry cut through all the other noise and he jerked to his feet, looking around for her location. Tracy stood up beside him, a bit more slowly, smoothing her dark plaid skirt with her palms.

"Well, I'll see yah later," she said quietly and moved away.

"Yeah," he replied uncertainly. He tried not to watch her go, tried to focus on the people in front of him shouting his name; but kept looking over at her smiling face as she talked with each person who demanded her attention.

And for a moment, he thought he heard bells ringing somewhere in the distance…