Well, here it is...the final chapter of this fanfiction. Special thanks to theater104 for reviewing nearly every chapter and to all you lovely readers who stayed to the end :D Newsies forever!
After spending hours on end distributing as many of their papers as possible, all the Manhattan newsies gathered in front of the Horace Greeley statue. To their disappointment, it was just the Manhattan newsies. No one else.
"So, when's da others comin', kid?" Mush asked.
"They ain't comin'," Jack said dejectedly. "Ain't gonna be nobody but us."
Brenna went up to Jack and took his hand in hers. "You don't know dat. After all da work we put in, I find it hard to believe dat no one in New York is going to help us. Just…have faith."
Jack smiled at her and threw his arm around her shoulders, and this time, she didn't push him away.
"When the circulation bell starts ringing, will we hear it?" Les sang.
"Nah," Racetrack answered. "What if da Delancey's come out swingin', will we hear it?"
"No!"
"Atta boy!"
The newsies gathered together in a tight group. Suddenly, there was the sound of cheering and loud singing.
Brenna looked over. "Jack…" she gasped.
When you've got a million voices singin'
Who can hear a lousy whistle blow?
And da World will know!
Hundreds and hundreds of working kids swarmed the streets of New York. Brenna squealed and flung her arms around Jack in happiness. The look Sarah gave her did not go unnoticed.
Brenna noticed a familiar face leading another group of newsies at the front of the crowd. She had never been so happy to see the Brooklyn leader in her entire life. She fought her way over to him and gave him a smirk.
"Just couldn't stay away, could ya?" she smiled.
"Spot Conlon never backs down from a challenge."
She punched him playfully on the shoulder, an act he returned. Jack joined them and spit-shook with Spot. Then the rest of the newsies, including Sarah, fought their way to the front of the crowd, who were all yelling "Strike!" over and over again.
"Deah me!" Racetrack screamed over the commotion. "What have we here?"
They looked to the World Building and saw one of Pulitzer's men and several police officers standing at the door.
"I think they're looking for the leader!" David yelled.
"Well, dat's us!" Jack yelled back. "Let's go!" Jack grabbed Brenna's hand and she was surprised that he was taking her with him to talk to Pulitzer.
"Why am I here?" Brenna asked him once they were inside the building.
"Because if you can talk to Spot and get him to help us, ya most certainly can help us with this guy."
They were escorted up to Pulitzer's office, and Brenna felt a rush of anger flow through her at the sight of him. The one who had caused Jack to hurt all of them.
Jack pulled a copy of their newspaper out of his shirt pocket and put it on the man's desk.
"Extry, extry, Joe. Read all about it," he said smoothly.
Pulitzer put his hands on his desk. "I promised that if you defied me, I'd break you," he said. "I'll keep that promise, boy."
Brenna stepped up next to Jack. "We'll all die before you ever hurt him again," she said strongly. "You can only do so much, Pulitzer. Us newsies know how to work around threats like yours. We do it on a daily basis. But you don't care about dat, do ya?"
"I gave you a chance to be free," he said to Jack, ignoring Brenna's words. "I don't understand. Anyone who doesn't act in their own self-interest is a fool."
"Then what does that make you?" David asked.
"What?"
"Oh, this is our pal, Davey," Jack introduced as David stepped next to the two of them. "Da walkin' mouth."
"You talk about self-interest, but since the strike, your circulation's been down 70%. Everyday you're losing thousands of dollars just to beat us out of one lousy tenth of a cent. Why?"
"Ya see, it ain't about da money, Dave. If Joe gives in to nobodies like us, it means we got da power. And he can't do dat, no matter what it costs. Am I right, Joe?"
"I sent for the police," Pulitzer said. "They must be here by now. Send them in, Seitz."
Brenna watched the old man only take a small half-step, making no move to actually go retrieve the police. When he met eyes with Brenna, he winked at her and smiled.
"I'm not goin' back to jail, Joe," Jack said firmly. "Look out here. Right out here is where da power is!" Jack opened the window and a cacophony of voices rang out so loud, it hurt Brenna's ears. But it was a good pain.
"Close the window!" Pulitzer shouted. "Close the window!" He stepped out onto his balcony. "Go home! Go home! Go home!"
"I can't hear ya, Joe!" Jack yelled.
"Go home! Go home to your mothers and fathers! Go home!"
"I don't hear ya!"
Pulitzer covered his ears with his fingers and scurried back inside. "Now you listen to me!"
"Maybe you should listen!"
"No, no! You listen to me!"
"No, you listen!"
"Shut the window and shut up!" He crashed down into his seat, still holding his ears.
"There's a lot of people out there and they ain't just gonna go away. They got voices now and they're gonna be listened to. Putting me, or Davey, or even Trickster here in jail is not goin' to stop 'em! Dat's da power of da press, Joe!" He went to the window and closed it, silencing the shouts. "So thanks for teaching me about it."
"Those kids put out a pretty good paper there, Chief," Seitz said.
Pulitzer picked up the paper from his desk and read over it. "I ordered a printing ban on all strike matters. Now, who defied it? Whose press did you use to print this on? Whose? Whose?"
"Well, we only used da best, Joe. So, we just want to say…thanks again."
Brenna went up to his desk and leaned on it. "As my good friend, Racetrack, an avid poker play, would say, da cards are in your hands now. Your turn. So whaddya have to say for yourself? Do ya fold?"
Seitz opened the gates to the Distribution Center and David, Jack, and Brenna all came out. The newsies swarmed them asking them a million questions all at once. Jack leaned over to Les and whispered something in his ear before putting him up on his shoulders. Then he grabbed Brenna's hand and looked over at her. She smiled at him, not seeing that happiness in his eyes in a really long time.
He threw their hands up into the air, and they screamed together, "WE BEAT 'EM!"
If the cheers had been loud before, they increased tenfold. Everyone hugged and jumped on each other, elated.
Weasel walked through the crowd, having been fired from his job at the Center. Oscar was behind him and then Morris.
"Hey, Morris!" Brenna said, stopping him. His cheek had a massive bruise and he had a very dark black eye. He looked over at her and cautiously put his hands in front of him. "How's da eye? Ya know…I think ya should match."
Before Morris could do anything, she nailed him in the other eye giving him an additional black eye. He looked hilarious as he blindly tried to scurry away from her.
"Dat'll teach ya to ever mess with me again!" she called after him.
A wagon pulled up with two policemen…and Snyder sitting in the front. Seriously? Why did he have to come to every good thing that happened?
"Jack!" Les cried. "Jack, it's the Bulls. It's the Bulls. Let me down!"
Jack quickly put him on the ground. Brenna grabbed his hand and the boys tried to help them get away, but Denton stopped him.
"Jack, it's over." They tried to run away before Snyder caught them, but Denton grabbed him before he could do so. "No, no. You don't have to run. Not anymore. Not from the likes of him. Come on, Come on."
Jack and Brenna reluctantly went over to the wagon and watched as all the boys from the Refuge climbed out of the back. The last one to exit was Crutchy.
Brenna's eyes brightened up considerably as she realized what was going on. Snyder was in handcuffs and was being taken away to jail! Their story had worked!
"Ah, remember what I told ya, Mr. Snyder," Crutchy said to the man as he was about to be put in the wagon. "The first thing ya do in jail, make friends with da rats. Share what ya got in common!" Snyder got in the back of the wagon and a cop prepared to close the door. "Officer, may I please?" Crutchy asked.
"Sure kid!" the police officer answered.
Crutchy slammed the door in Snyder's face as hard as he could and locked it.
Brenna couldn't hold it in anymore. "Crutchy!" she screamed. She ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck, not caring if a boy was supposed to do that or not. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Heya, Tricks! Good to see ya again!"
The two of them went back over to the boys.
"You won't be seeing much of him anymore," Denton said. "Say goodbye Warden!"
"Goodbye, Warden!" all the newsies shouted in chorus as the wagon pulled away.
"Oh, Jack, you oughta seen it!" Crutchy said excitedly. "He comes stormin' into da Refuge wavin' his walking stick like a sword and he's leadin' in this army of lawyers and cops—"
"Who comes stormin' in?" Jack asked.
"Ya know, your friend. Him! Teddy Roosevelt!"
The newsies looked over to find the governor, Theodore Roosevelt, in a carriage of his own, happily greeting the workers.
"The Governor's very grateful that you brought this problem to his attention," Denton said. "I said you might need a lift somewhere. He'd be happy to oblige. Anywhere you want. And this time, you ride inside."
"So, can he drop me at da train yards?"
Brenna looked at him. He was doing it. He was going to Santa Fe just like he always wanted. But it was too soon. She wasn't ready for him to just up and leave.
No. It was his choice.
"Yeah, if that's what you want."
Denton led Jack and some others boys over to the carriage. Roosevelt shook Jack's hand warmly.
Jack looked at Brenna. "Well, this is it. I'm finally livin' my dream."
She nodded at him and tried to force a smile.
"And you're comin' with me…Brenna."
Brenna looked at him in surprise. That was the first time he had ever called her by her real name since she had first met him. He roughly pulled her towards him and crashed his lips onto hers. Her eyes widened in shock, but then she melted into the kiss with him. The crowd around them quieted significantly. When Jack released her, she looked at him for a few seconds, and then for the first time in public, Brenna took her cap off her head and let her hair fall down around her shoulders. The crowd cheered loudly as she revealed who she really was to practically the whole city. But she didn't care anymore. She was done hiding. She was ready to finally listen to the words in the song she had sung in the middle of the rain and truly let it go. She threw her cap up into the air and a lot of other caps followed suit. Brenna laughed as she caught her cap and then she and Jack climbed into Roosevelt's carriage. She couldn't believe Jack had invited her to come along. And she was not going to question it. They waved to the other boys and rode away.
"So, you are Jack Kelly?" Roosevelt asked Jack as they traveled on.
"Yes, sir."
"And who is your friend?"
"This is Trickster. Brenna."
"Nice to meet you, sir," Brenna said.
"I'm taking you to the train yards, yes?" Roosevelt asked.
"Yes, sir!" Jack said happily. "We are finally livin' da dream and headin' out to Santa Fe!"
Roosevelt sighed. "You know, kids, sometimes what you think you want isn't really what you want."
Jack and Brenna looked at each other wondering where this was going.
"Now, I may not know a lot about the life of a newsie, but I can tell that you have a lot of people here who care for you. My guess is you've been working together every day for years. Will this place you wish to go to really be the same without them?"
Brenna looked over at Jack. "He's right, Jack. Santa Fe is great and all, but here…is where our family is."
"For years I've dreamed of seeing Santa Fe." Brenna and Roosevelt looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "So I guess I can wait a little longer," he laughed. Brenna smiled and hugged him as Roosevelt ordered for the carriage to turn around.
They pulled back up inside the Distribution Center much to their fellow newsies delight.
Jack stood up and shook Roosevelt's hand. "Thanks for da advice, Governor. Like you said, I still got things to do. Besides, we got family here."
He hopped out of the carriage then turned and helped Brenna get out. The newsies all swarmed around them and clapped them on the shoulders happily.
"So, how's da headline today?" he asked David as he and Brenna walked up to him.
"Headlines don't sell papes." He looked over to Brenna.
She smiled at him widely. "Newsies sell papes," she finished.
"Come here, Davey!"
David grabbed his papers and handed them to Crutchy. Jack held out his hand, and David shook it…after spitting into his own hand. Brenna laughed as he finally became one of them. A true newsie.
Jack looked at Brenna, and pressed his lips to hers once more. The newsies cheered louder than ever, their wish finally coming true.
"Get 'em, Cowboy! You got it, Tricks!" Racetrack yelled.
Brenna laughed and Jack pulled her into a tight hug. She caught a glance at Sarah, who looked really upset, and she knew it was because she had a crush on Jack. And he was in love with someone else.
She left Jack's arms and went over to the poor girl. "Listen," she said in her ear, making sure none of the boys heard her. "You're a pretty girl. And I've never seen someone like you work so hard to help a bunch of people like us. No doubt one of these days you're gonna find a nice young man who treats you better than you ever thought possible."
Sarah smiled and at her and hugged her. They were going to get along just fine.
That night back at the Lodging House, everyone decided it was finally time to tell Kloppman Brenna's secret.
"Hey, Kloppman," Jack said to the man behind the desk. "There's somethin' we gotta tell ya."
The elderly man looked up at all of the boys' faces, specifically the one standing next to Jack.
"This here is Trickster. But dat's not her real name."
Brenna took her cap off in front of him and her hair once more tumbled out.
"Her real name's Brenna."
Kloppman smiled. "I was wonderin' when you were gonna tell me."
Brenna's eyes widened. "You knew?"
"I always saw ya run to the washroom before I came in and it didn't take much to put two and two together."
"And you didn't say anything?"
"If Jack Kelly was allowing a girl to stay here, then I knew it had to have been for a good reason. So I let it slide."
"In dat case," Jack said. "I wanna apologize, Kloppman. I shoulda trusted ya more."
All the newsies laughed and headed upstairs for sleep.
When the washroom was empty, Brenna went up to Jack with her arms over her chest. "Shall we talk about what happened today?"
Jack smiled awkwardly. "Well…I guess…I didn't wanna go anywhere without ya. You've always been there for me, and I didn't know what I'd do without ya."
Brenna felt a blush crawl up to her cheeks.
"Remember that mornin' we started strikin'? You asked me if I was okay because I was actin' weird?"
"Yes…"
"Well…I was actin' weird because somethin' happened dat night we came back from Davey's house. When you stayed outside, I watched ya from up here. I watched ya sing and dance outside in the rain, singin' dat really nice song about lettin' it go."
Brenna blushed harder. "You were watchin' me?"
"Yeah. It was so amazin' to see you so…free. Like ya didn't have a care in da world at all. I'd never seen ya like dat before. And then when ya came back up here and took your cap off, your hair was drippin' wet from the rain, and you just looked…so beautiful. I don't know, I guess dat was da moment I realized…I love you, Brenna."
Brenna smiled. "Well, you're lucky. Because I love you too. Apparently, da boys have been wantin' us to get together for some time."
"Looks like they're gettin' what they want," Jack chuckled as he stepped closer to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she rested her hands on his shoulders. They shared another kiss, much more romantic now that it was just them. At least they thought it was just them. Cheers erupted from their fellow newsies, who evidently had been watching the entire thing.
Brenna squinted at them playfully and went over to the sliding washroom door and slid it shut. She laughed as she went back over to Jack and kissed him once more.
Brenna had never felt happier to be a newsie.