Disclaimer: I do not own any original Newsies characters.

"Now remember, they ain't gonna be too keen on welcoming you," Jack warned when they stood just outside the lodging house. "Did you bring back all der stuff?"

Danny nodded. He carried a small makeshift bag in his right hand.

Jack looked up at one of the house's windows and then back at Danny.

"I dunno why I'm doin' dis," Danny heard Jack mutter beneath his breath. "Look, I'm going to go talking to dem foist. You wait here, k?"

Danny nodded again and watched Jack climb the few stairs. When he opened the door, light and laughter flowed into the dark, silent night. Danny looked around the street after the door had closed. A few carriages roamed the street still, probably carrying their rich masters and mistresses to a late night party. He saw a white cat stalk along the side of road, daintily picking its paws over trash that had spilled from a nearby alley. In the distance, he found a person walking down the street with his head hung low and his feet shuffling. Danny, realizing it might be a newsie coming back to the lodging house, scurried over to the side of the building and sank into its shadows. He waited and watched as the figure drew closer and eventually turned to the lodging house, climbing the steps and walking in through the door. Danny had recognized him because of his eye patch, but he didn't know his name. He stepped into the street again and waited for Jack.

His feet mindlessly tapped to the crackling and upbeat music that wove its way through the night air while happy thoughts zoomed through his mind. Jack didn't hate him as much as he had thought and he was being offered a home! The wonderful part about it was that he was so undeserving of such kindness. After every horrible thing he had done, Jack seemed to understand why. And Danny was sorry. Really sorry. He knew he should of never made that bet with Racetrack, but he had seen no better way to prove to Racetrack that he could... well, he didn't know what he had wanted to prove. He didn't know why he had made the bet either. Maybe he had thought that Racetrack would be better friends with him for some reason. And going to Spot really was to get revenge on Racetrack for treating him like dirt. That's all it was; he hadn't wanted to get the whole Manhattan newsie bunch in trouble with Spot; just Racetrack. Everything had spun out of control from there. Pestering the newsies was just a way to get their attention, to let them know he was still alive and lonely as ever. He would of never dreamed that they would've gotten so fed up with him that they would send Jack all the way to Brooklyn to deal with him...

Fifteen minutes had passed when Jack finally opened the lodging house door and stepped out. His expression was one of frustration.

"Danny, I don't think it'll work out," Jack said, sitting down on a step. He put his elbows on his knees and brought his clasped hands to his lips.

"Why not? They can't be too mad. I brought back their stuff! Did you tell them that?" Danny came over to Jack and sat down next to him.

"It's not just der stuff, Danny. You stole time, papers, and customers. Dose can't be replaced," Jack replied. Danny hung his head.

"Racetrack was da one who really seemed ticked at da idea of you staying here," Jack mused when Danny didn't say anything.

He looked up with a weak smile. "He got it real bad." Danny's smile disappeared however, when he remembered his business with Knives.

"Just give me a chance, Jack. I gotta prove myself!" Danny said, turning to Jack. "If I don't, they'll hate me forever!"

Jack seemed to consider this for a moment. Then he said, "Fine. It's your death wish."

Danny grinned and got to his feet. His hand reached for the doorknob, but stopped.

"Aren't you coming?" Danny asked when Jack didn't move.

He shook his head and said simply, "I ain't going to defend you. It's your battle."

Danny looked down for a brief moment. Jack was right. This was his own battle, one that he had win if he wanted any friends in Manhattan. Taking a deep breath, Danny slowly turned the doorknob and pushed open the door.

When he stepped into the lobby, Danny saw nearly all the newsies sprawled out on the couches, the floor, and some chairs. When he shut the door behind him, almost everybody looked up from what they were doing. The room went deathly silent. He scanned for Racetrack and found him in a circle of boys, a number of cards in his hand. Racetrack was looking at him with a hard glare.

"Well, well. Looks like he has more guts than we thought," one of the older boys said, standing up.

"Jack wasn't lying," another boy commented. He also stood up and approached Danny. "This guy wants to stay here after all he's done."

Danny shrank back a step. "I – I came to say-say that I'm sorry," he stuttered.

Mush came forward too. "Sorry don't always cut it, kid," he said.

Danny fumbled to open his bag. He reached in and grabbed a pouch of change. "Here," he said, throwing it to the kid he had stolen it from. He caught it with a shocked expression. Danny quickly pulled out other items and handed them back to their rightful owners.

"Whadda 'bout my tricks, Danny?" Racetrack asked quietly.

"Yeah and yesterday's papes," someone tossed in.

"My customers?" another asked. Danny looked down.

"I can't get those back...sorry," he mumbled. "Go ahead and beat me up for it. I don't care."

He felt Racetrack staring at him. A couple of the newsies actually advanced on him. So what. Let them get it out of their system.

Danny stood there, waiting for the fist to hit his face, but it never came.

"Hold up, guys! He said he was sorry!" Danny glanced up to see a kid about his own height jump in front of him.

"Awuh, come on, Boots. Quit being such a sucker," one of the boys who had his fists up complained. Danny quickly glanced over at Racetrack, but he wasn't there anymore.

"He said he was sorry," Boots repeated. The boys didn't move. Then an elderly man with glasses and a bowler hat broke through the circle.

"Move aside, move aside," he said, pushing boys out of his way. When he reached Danny, he grabbed his arm and tugged him away from the newsies.

"Anyone's allowed to stay here as long as they can pay!" the old man shouted, his voice beating out the boy's protests. Danny followed the man numbly to the desk.

"What's yer name, son?"

"Danny."

"Hmph. Well ya don't have to pay," the elderly man said, running a crooked finger down a list in his book. "Last time you were here, you paid but didn't stay. Bunks are upstairs." The man pointed to the staircase. Danny nodded. He turned back to the glaring newsies. He walked past them to the staircase, keeping his head down. Their glares were like daggers piercing his skin. Only when he was climbing the stairs did they go back to what they were doing. Danny sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The next morning, Danny was up before the rest of the newsies. Working at the stables, he often had to rise and muck stalls or groom horses before even the sun itself graced the sky with its presence. It was necessary if he had wanted his pay for that day. But he wasn't at the stables anymore; he was at the Manhattan Newsboys Lodging house. The thought made him smile, despite his poor circumstances.

He leaned his head against the backboard of the bunk. Last night, he had chosen the bunk farthest away from the boys. It was at the very end of the room in a dark corner. No one was sleeping above him so he had placed his belongings up top.

Suddenly, Danny heard slow, heavy footsteps climbing up the stairs. Soon the old man who had signed him in last night swung open the door and marched in. Danny watched in amusement as he went from bunk to bunk, hollering 'Get up!'s and threats that made the boys scramble out of their beds.

When he came to Danny's bunk, he smiled. "I like you already, kid." Danny grinned and got out of bed as soon as the man moved on. He stood by his bunk for a moment and observed what the newsies did. Most of them dragged themselves to the wash room while others began putting on their clothes. Danny had slept in his clothes and didn't want to go and make a scene of himself in the washroom, so he waited.

"Hey Danny. Ain't ya gonna at least brush yer teeth?" Danny looked at the bunk across from his. Boots was talking to him while pulling on a shirt.

"I don't have a toothbrush," he responded quietly. Boots frowned.

"Use mine," he said. Danny shook his head. Boots shrugged. Newsies were quickly filtering out of the room and Boots followed them. Danny, not knowing what else to do, trailed after Boots.

The old man was taking a head count as the boys rushed down the stairs and out the door.

"Danny!" he called out. Danny was just about to exit through the door, but he stopped and turned around. "You got enough money for papers this morning?" the old man asked.

Danny smiled and nodded and then raced out the door to catch up with the rest of the newsies.

For the whole walk there, Danny kept his distance from the group. He knew they were ignoring him by the way they went on laughing and talking as if he wasn't even there. Danny wished he could join in and be one of them, but he also knew he had a lot to prove before that happened. And that was fine. At least he was here and Jack and Boots were somewhat cordial to him.

When he reached the distribution center, Danny quickly got in the back of the line. He noticed that the older boys got the first half of the line and the younger boys got the second half. Looking up at the front, Danny watched Racetrack talk with the kid who had an eye patch and then move up and purchase his papers. As Danny drew closer to the front of the line, Racetrack plunked down on the platform and started flipping through a newspaper.

"Hey! Danny!" Danny jerked his head to the side to see who was talking to him. A boy who glasses and a bowler hat on was waving wildly. Danny gave him a questioning look.

"Come sell wid me!" the boy called with a big grin. Danny was confused. Just last night everyone had been giving him a hard time and now one of the newsies wanted to sell with him?

Danny was about to shake his head 'no', but then the boy with the glasses was rudely shoved aside by another boy.
"No! He's selling wid me!" he said. The newsie with glasses shoved him back.

"I asked him foist!"

"So? You can sell wid him tomorrow!"

"No, you can sell wid him tomorrow!"

Danny's brow furrowed. Why did they want to sell with him? It didn't add up.

The two boys bickered until Jack came over and stepped between the two.

"Would you two kids stop?" Jack said, glaring at both of them. "You guys are skilled enough to sell widout a cute kiddy."

Danny raised an eyebrow. So, that's what it was. They were just using him.

"Besides, Racetrack is gonna sell wid Danny today," Jack added with a smirk.

Danny's gaze flew to Racetrack who had jumped up off his feet.

"What? Are you saying Racetrack isn't skilled enough?" the boy with glasses retorted.

"Jack! Dat ain't right!" Racetrack protested. Danny looked uneasily at Jack.

"You da one who brought him here in da foist place, Race. You teach him how to sell," Jack replied and then hefted his stack of papers on his shoulder.

Racetrack grunted and glanced over at Danny with a this-is-your-fault kind of look. Jack left the area, alone, and the two boys who had been fighting over Danny wandered back to a place in line.

Racetrack was waiting impatiently by the big gates when Danny climbed down the loading dock's steps with his papers in hand. Racetrack took off without a word. Danny quickly followed him, trying to keep up with him as the older boy walked unhesitatingly through Manhattan's streets. Danny really didn't want to lose sight of Racetrack. Unfortunately, he had never spent much time in Manhattan, so Danny had no idea where he was going.

At one point, Danny nearly lost him when Racetrack made a sudden sharp turn down an alley. When he had backtracked and turned down the same alley, Danny saw Racetrack making another turn.

"Racetrack!" he called and started running. When he had the turn, he saw Racetrack and quickly caught up with him.

"Racetrack!" he repeated, now by his side. "Please slow down!"

Racetrack barely glanced at him. "Why? You're a kid; you got a ton of energy."

"Not when I'm dodging carts and people," Danny replied and looked at Racetrack pleadingly.

When Racetrack didn't say anything, Danny said," Come on, Racetrack! I said I was sorry!"

"So now you think you can come live wid us?" Racetrack asked, sending an icy glare Danny's way.

"It was Jack's idea..." Danny didn't know what else to say.

Racetrack snorted. "Yeah, well, he ain't exactly in my top ten right now."

"Can't you just forgive and forget?" Danny asked meekly. Racetrack stopped and whirled around to face Danny.

"Don't go preaching to me, you little thief!" Racetrack nearly shouted. Danny opened his mouth to defend himself, but Racetrack rushed on. "I had enough problems in my life before you showed up! But what you did-- you know what? Here! Take back your stupid money! I don't even want it anymore." Racetrack pulled out the bills from his pocket and threw them on the alley's floor. He strode off angrily down the alley. Danny scrambled to pick up the money and then chased after Racetrack.

"It wasn't 'cause of the money!" Danny said while trying to match Racetrack's fast pace. Racetrack turned his head to stare at Danny.

"It wasn't?! Then what da heck was your purpose in torturing me?!" Racetrack shook his head in disbelief and gave Danny a shove. He quickly caught up with Racetrack again, now angry.

"'Cause of that!" Danny exclaimed, standing in front of Racetrack and blocking his way.

"I only wanted to be your friend! But ever since day one you've treated me like dirt. I thought that making that bet would prove that I was really thirteen instead of seven!"

Racetrack had a hard expression displayed on his face. "Yeah? Well you didn't handle losing in a mature way."

"'Cause I realized you had taken advantage of me!" Danny protested.

Racetrack sidestepped around Danny and kept walking. Danny didn't tag after him this time.

"We both did something wrong, Racetrack!" Danny called after him. "I apologized and now its your turn!"

Racetrack kept walking.

"Fine! I'll go sell by myself!" Danny tried again. "But if I don't come back tonight, you'll know its because I got lost and some goons beat me up!" Danny huffed and turned on his heel when Racetrack disappeared around another corner. He could sell his papers and without the help of an inconsiderate jerk.

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Hey! You! Get outta da way!" Danny quickly scurried tot he side of the street at the fat man's shout. A loaded wagon sped down the road. Danny mumbled an apology to himself and started walking on the sidewalk.

Danny had been selling all morning. His throat was dry, his stomached ached with hunger, and he still had fifteen papers left. And for the past hour, he had been wandering around looking for Tibby's. He figured that if he got there, he could find Jack or Boots and follow them around instead of selling by himself and getting lost at every turn.

When he reached an area that looked somewhat familiar, he decided to ask somebody for directions.

"Excuse me," he said timidly, standing on his tip-toes and tapping the man on the shoulder from behind. Danny was surprised to see he was a newsie when he turned around. Danny only recognized him because of his long, jet black hair. The newsie stared at him for a moment and then realization spread slowly to his features. He didn't show hate or dislike, but something more like suspicion.

Comforted by this, Danny asked, "Can you point me in the direction of Tibby's?"

"Actually, I was just going there meself," he replied, a smile curving his lips. Danny gave him a relieved and grateful expression. When the older boy started walking, Danny quickly followed.

"You don't hate my guts?" he asked curiously once he was padding along side the newsie.

He shrugged and casually said, "Da boys are kind of over-reacting, in my opinion. But den again, I wasn't one of yer targets." He looked over at Danny with an amused smile and added, "You'se was pretty sneaky. I'm Bumlets, by da way."

Danny grinned. "You were gonna be next."

Bumlets pretended to be shocked and he took a fearful sidestep away from Danny.

"Suppose I should hate yer guts den," he said and then laughed.

Danny shook his head and also laughed. "Nah. I'm just kiddin'," he said. "Why do they call you Bumlets?"

"Its a long story," he replied with a smirk. He stopped and looked up. "And here we are."

Danny looked over and saw that they were standing right in front of Tibby's. Bumlets pulled open the door and the two boys walked in.

The atmosphere of the diner was pretty much the same compared to the last time he had visited. Bumlets was quick to wander off to his own table of friends, leaving Danny alone by the door.

"Danny!" he heard someone call. His gaze flew to the left side of the room where Jack was waving him over. As Danny crossed the room to his table, he noticed Racetrack sitting next to Jack along with another boy whose stiff, clean clothes and straight face set him apart from the rest of the newsies.

Jack was the only smiling face as Danny pulled another chair up to the table and sat down quietly.

"Alrighty, since we're all here and David's been informed of what's goin' on, let's discuss what we're goin' do," Jack started. Danny quickly raised a hand. Jack smiled.

"Yeah?"

"What ya talking about?" Danny asked, biting his lower lip.

"We're talkin' about how we'se gonna clean up da mess you made wid Spot," Racetrack replied shortly.

"Thank you, Racetrack," Jack said dryly.

"What's he got to do with it?" Danny questioned, pointing to whom he was guessing to be 'David'.

"A month or so ago, David helped us get Spot to join us in da strike. He's a real good thinker," Jack answered. "We hope he can help us get back our alliance now."

"He don't look too happy to be here," Danny noted.

"I'm not happy to be here," David finally spoke up. "Jack all but held a knife up to my throat to get me to agree to doing this."

The three at the table smirked and chuckled, but David still sat there with a begrudging expression.

"So, dis is what's gonna happen," Jack began. "We'se gonna get there and say we wanna apologize so Spot will let us in. Den, David will explain what really happened. Racetrack will say dat he didn't mean the things he said and Danny will say he was lyin' and just did everything cuz of his internal conflict. Hopefully, Spot will understand and we can restore our alliance."

David was smirking at Jack's use of big words, but Danny caught Racetrack looking at him funny.

"Everyone got dat?" Jack asked. The other three boys nodded.

David rose out of his chair. "Is that all?" It seemed like he couldn't wait to get away from them.

"Yep. Just be at the lodging house at five tonight. We'll hitch it on a trolley to get there faster and back before its too late," Jack said. David nodded again and then left to go sit at another table.

"What's his problem?" Danny asked, glancing back over his shoulder at David.

"Nothing," Jack replied with a faint smile. "That's just David for ya."

A/N: So things are coming together, but we'll just have to see what Spot says. ;D

The next chapter is the last chapter sadly and I don't know if I'll be doing anymore fanfiction. It was funny how I was actually able to complete 15 chapters of this story, then when I tried to write another fanfic, I couldn't seem to focus on it! I have a wonderful story about Jack partially written, but I'm stuck again and I don't know if I'll pick it up back or not. D:

We'll see. Thanks for the reviews and faves! Love ya guys!