A/N: ModernAU and Josie is five.
Crutchie hated his leg. Yes, hate is a strong word, but he did. I was practically useless most of the time, and when it wasn't, it was in this horrible, cramping, fiery pain. But that was the bad days.
Today? Well, today started as a good day. Then it slowly transformed into a bad one. A very bad one.
Crutchie woke up feeling great. The birds were singing, the air was pretty warm for an October day, and everyone had gotten plenty of food the night before so they were all in pretty good moods.
As he came down from his room that he shared with some of the other boys, he found the boys running around the Lodge, talking, and getting dressed. A normal day in Crutchie's eyes. As he began a conversation with Les about dogs, Specs and Mush told the group to start heading for the distribution center.
As he headed over, it began. It started with a just a twinge of pain. Small enough to consciously ignore, but still enough to notice. When it happened, it had surprised Crutchie enough to almost make him wince. And Finch, who had been not too far behind the crippled boy, noticed.
He quickly caught up to Crutchie and asked, "You ok, Crutchie?" "Yeah, I'm good, why?" Crutchie smiled. "Just wonderin'," Finch said softly.
Crutchie bought his papers then went to his usual selling spot. It was a near a pretty big suburb and the kids and their parents would always pass him on their way home from school. Most of the time it was a pretty good spot.
As the kids started coming home from school, Crutchie prepared himself for the craziness. Pain suddenly shot through his leg, making him almost fall to his knees and grunt. He probably would've if he hadn't grabbed onto his crutch for dear life. He managed to sell a few papes, but the pain in his leg almost made it impossible.
A few of the moms seemed to realize he was in pain and ask if he was ok and if there was anything they could do. He shook his head and they bought a few extra papes out of sympathy and pity.
He somehow managed to sell all of them. Right after he was done, he began limping back to the Lodge. Maybe if he just laid down for a little bit in his bed… Yeah, that'd help.
He managed to make it back without running into any of the other boys and collapsed into the nearest bed he could reach. He groaned in pain as the the pain increased and clenched his jaw.
It felt as if someone had taken the muscles in his calves and twisted them, then began stabbing them with knives. It was so intense that he almost felt that he couldn't move. He heard the door open, but he had his eyes squeezed shut so he couldn't see who it was.
"Crutchie?!"
It was Henry.
"What's wrong? Is it your leg?"
That one was Albert.
Crutchie nodded and Henry said, "Albert, go get Jack." "Where is he?" Albert asked.
"He's at-he's at work," Crutchie stuttered. He opened his eyes and saw Henry and Albert next to the bed. "Ok, I'll stay with him, you go get Jack," Henry said and Albert nodded, running off.
"What happened? Did it just start hurting?" Henry asked. Crutchie nodded and Henry left for a bit. He came back with an ice pack. "I'm going to put this on your leg, is that ok?" Henry asked and Crutchie nodded in response.
Henry did so and at first it hurt, but then it started to it started to hurt again so Henry took it off. "How was-how was selling?" Crutchie asked.
"Good, I guess. Albert and I sold togethah. We took our break in Central Park and chased some pigeons. Got yelled at by the park officer. Normal day. How about you? Other than your leg of course," he said.
"Not much- much happened. Um, I sold all-all of my papes somehow and-and came back-back here," he stuttered. It was hard to talk because of the pain and Henry could notice. He started to say something when the door opened and the brothers saw Finch, Sniper, Jojo, and Race walked in, laughing about something.
They stopped when they saw Crutchie. "What happened?" Jojo asked. "His leg's actin' up. Albert went to get Jack," Henry explained. "How long ya been here, Crutch?" Race asked. Crutchie hated that they were making such a big deal. It was just a little cramp. Right? He knew they were just concerned, but he was fine.
He tried to sit up as he explained, "Not too long." He managed to successfully sit up but another cramp in his leg made him grab it in pain. "Here's the ice pack, wanna try that again?" Henry asked. Crutchie sighed inwardly before nodding and Henry place it on his leg.
That helped a little. It allowed Crutchie to relax for a bit. The boys talked for a bit, placing the ice pack on and off of his leg. The cramps were getting worse and worse. Soon it was dark outside and the rest of the boys were home. Except for Albert.
"Where is he? Shouldn't he have been back by now?" Henry asked. Mush started to say something when the door burst open and Jack and Albert came in. "You ok, Crutch? Al said your leg was messin' up," Jack said.
"It keeps cramping, but it's not that big a d- ah!" he groaned. The worst cramp yet shot through his leg and he couldn't speak. "We need to go to the doc. Mush, start the van. Specs, call Ace and tell her where we're going," Jack said.
The boys helped who didn't have assigned jobs got Crutchie into the van, making Crutchie's cheeks burn with embarrassment. He kept his head low on the way to the hospital, feeling embarrassed and slightly humiliated. When they got there, his leg just happened to cramp up again and the doctors admitted him quickly.
Katherine was tired and slightly irritated. She'd had a long, stressful, day and was ready to go home and be with her daughter and husband. She'd prepared a nice meal this morning in the crock pot and was ready to go home, relax, and maybe watch a movie or something. Then her phone rang.
"Hello?" she asked after answering. "Kath? It's Specs. Jack told me to call you cause we're takin' Crutchie to the hospital cause his leg keeps cramping up real bad. I think he wants you to meet us up there," Specs said.
"What? Is he ok?" Katherine asked, standing. "I think so. I think he's tryin' to hide how much it actually hurts. He doesn't like it when we make a big deal out of his leg cramping, but this time it's important," Specs explained as she heard voice in the background.
"Ok, I need to pick Josie up from kindergarten then I'll meet you guys there. Call me if anything happens," she said and hung up. She sped through the rest of her work then dashed out of the building.
She got into her car, started it, and drove to Josie's kindergarten. Well, sped, is a better word. Crutchie was a very close friend of hers and she was worried about him. She picked up Josie, who told her all about her day on the way to the hospital.
"Why're we at the doctor, Mommy?" Josie asked. "Uncle Crutchie isn't feeling very well so we're going to go visit him," Katherine explained as they walked in. They found the group of Newsies and Katherine went up to them. Josie giggled happily when she saw them and squirmed out of Katherine's arms.
While Katherine tried to figure out what was going on, Josie went around and told her uncles about her day at school.
Jack, who had been with Crutchie, came out and explained that the doctor didn't know what was wrong with Crutchie's leg and that they were giving him some pain meds and sending him home in a few minutes.
Katherine went back to the room to talk to Crutchie. The almost adult was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, staring down at his hands. When Katherine came in, he looked up and plastered on a fake smile. "Hey, Kath!" he said.
"Hi, Crutchie. How're you doing?" she asked, sitting in the seat that was next to his bed. "Slightly better, I guess," he shrugged.
They were quiet and Katherine could tell something was bothering him. "What's wrong?" she asked gently. "What do you mean?" he asked. "I don't know if it's motherly instinct or what, but I can tell something's bothering you, Crutch. Talk to me. We're friends, remember?" she asked. He nodded with a small sigh.
"I don't know. When the guys carried me out of the Lodge, it made-made me feel so helpless. I hated it. And I feel horrible that they made such a huge deal about my leg and the doc can't even find anything wrong with it," Crutchie explained.
"Well, I know they didn't try to make you feel helpless. They were just trying to help you. And about your leg, they don't mind Crutchie. They're just glad it's nothing serious. Trust me," Katherine said, placing her hand on his. He nodded with a small but real smile.
"Thanks, Katherine."
The door suddenly opened and Josie walked in. "Uncle Crutchie!" she giggled, running over to him. He picked her up and set her on the bed with him. "Are you ok? Mommy, said you weren't feeling good," she said.
"Yeah, I'm ok, Josie," Crutchie smiled.
A/N: So I kind of wrote this in a mad dash to get it done because I'm very rushed at the moment. Anyway, I hope you like it! I wanted to do some Crutchie angst and this was the first thing that came to mind. TTFN!