Hi everyone-
Once again, I have to apologize for the ridiculously long period of time between now and my last update. Life is hard sometimes, and I haven't really been getting a chance to write at all. But I am determined to finish this story, and I know how it's going to end, so I promise that I am going to work harder on getting it posted.
Anyway, thank you again for all of the incredible reviews, and the follows and favorites I've gotten. They mean so much! I hope you like this chapter.
"Les," Jack hissed, gently shaking the boy awake. "Wake up, we need to talk about something."
Les opened his eyes slowly and stared blankly at Jack, taking a moment to process what was going on. It was dark out, so Les knew it was still very much nighttime, and so he wondered why on earth Jack was bothering him.
"What do you want?" Les mumbled, rolling over. "I wanna go back to sleep."
"I know you do, but I need to ask you a favor, okay? It's important, I promise."
Les sat up slowly. "It's about Davey, isn't it?
"Yeah, yeah it is. Can you get up? We's going to the roof, I don't want no one hearin' us."
Les rubbed his eyes and looked around the dark lodging house. Everyone else was asleep. He fought the urge to lie back down; he knew Jack must really need him to wake up him up in the middle of the night. And if it was about his brother, then Les was all ears.
"Thanks, kid," Jack whispered as Les stood up. "Come on, this way?"
Les felt Jack's hand on his back, directing him to the fire escape that would give them access to the roof. As they crept through the quiet room, in the fog of his exhaustion, Les's thoughts wandered back to Davey. Seeing him get beat up had been a shock—even during the strike, he hadn't been hurt too badly, but now, he had broken ribs and bruises and wasn't talking about it. Les had always sort of thought of Davey as immune to the things that affected the other newsies, but tonight, he had been proven wrong.
They reached the window, and Les felt Jack lift him onto the fire escape. The night air was cold and sharp, but Les didn't mind; it woke him up quickly. And he could sort of see why Jack liked being awake at night too, there was something cool about having the city to yourself. Les felt like he owned the night.
Jack pushed him gently in the direction of the ladder that connected to the roof. Les began to climb, slowly and carefully, and heard Jack start to follow behind him.
They finally reached the roof, and Les had to stare. He'd never been up at night; he knew it was Jack's time to be alone and had never wanted to intrude on that. But it was amazing, and Les would have been happy to just sit and observe all the lights and streets and stars and buildings all night.
"Nice, huh?" Jack asked, coming up behind him and putting a hand on Les's shoulder. "Like it?"
"Yeah," Les said softly.
They stood in silence for a moment, Les deep in thought. His relationship with the newsies felt so easy to him; he felt just as close to them as he did to his parents. But he was starting to realize that it wasn't like that for Davey. Les knew things had always been harder for his brother, and, with a stir of guilt, it dawned on him that he had never really cared that much. It had just been the way things were.
"Alright, ready to talk?" Jack asked, and Les turned all of his attention to him. He was ready to do whatever he needed to do to help Davey.
Jack sat down, and Les copied him, leaning against the side of roof.
"So, I know you know there's something wrong with your brother. I'm guessing you got about as much of a clue as I do about what it is?" Jack asked, looking closely at Les.
"Yeah," Les said quietly. "He didn't tell me anything… but I heard him—crying last night."
"Crying?" Jack repeated. "Damn."
"I hope he's okay," Les said. It seemed like a stupid thing to say, but that was all he was hoping for Davey right now. That he would be okay.
"That's the thing Les, I don't really think he is. So I's gonna ask you a favor. I want you to keep an eye on him. You guys live together, you go lots of places together, you's brothers. So I need you to stay close to him, see if you notice anything or can figure anything out. Can you do that?"
"Sure," Les said. It would be his turn to take care of Davey, after all of the times Davey had taken care of him. It would be Les getting to make it up to Davey for the time Les had been so sick and Davey had sat up with him all night while he threw up, not even leaving to change his clothes when some of the vomit had gotten on his pants. And for the time Davey had won that essay contest and spent half of the meager cash prize on a toy for Les for his birthday. And for the strike, when Davey had saved him from the Delanceys and always made sure someone was protecting Les from getting hurt. Les almost felt proud that there was finally something he could do in return.
"Good. And if you do notice anything, tell me right away. We's gonna figure this out and fix it for Davey, okay?"
"Okay," Les whispered. "I'm glad you noticed something's wrong Jack. I mean, besides him getting beat up. Sometimes I feel like there's nobody who sees when he has problems, even I don't a lot of the times."
"Yeah," Jack said, resting his arms on his knees and looking out at the city skyline. "Yeah, that's somethin' that's my fault. I think we gotta pay more attention to him, not just assume he's fine because he ain't on the streets and stuff. You know? It's the same with you. I gotta work on that."
Silence fell between them again, and Les felt a little bit better. Jack would fix everything for Davey, and Les would do his part do make things better for him. He closed his eyes, letting the cold New York air rush past his face and imagining a world where Davey was happy.
Suddenly he felt a gentle prod in his side. "Hey, hey," Jack was saying, smirking. "Open your eyes. We gotta get you downstairs and back to bed, and I don't want you falling down the ladder 'cause you's too tired to see the steps."
Les grinned sheepishly and rubbed his eyes, watching as Jack stood up in front of him and then accepting his outstretched hand and letting Jack pull him up. As he began to climb down the ladder—slowly and carefully, with Jack right behind him—he felt a little better, a little more secure in the knowledge that there were people, himself included, who were going to help Davey to be okay.