Chapter 20: The Break

A/N: Title refers to three things in this chapter. The bottle, the endeavor of Mr. Sikes, and Nancy's emotions snapping like a twig. Really hope everybody enjoys this one, I did my best. Thanks so much to all my wonderful reviewers, and bare with me please, I'm very busy as of late. :-D Please R&R.

Warning: Contains stress, mentions of violence, and very flirtatious behavior.

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Best friends didn't even begin to cover it. Dodger had been in the gang for two months now, and he and Nancy had become thick as thieves quite literally. Every morning they were off together, picking this pocket or that, getting into some kind of trouble. Dodger was good at what he did, he was downright fantastic. Even Bill Sikes had made comments on occasion and that couldn't make Dodger happier. Life in the gang had settled into a much more comfortable rhythm for everybody now. Mornings were spent laughing over a breakfast of moldy sausages, days were spent laughing over pick pockets, and nights were spent laughing over card games (which Nancy continually lost now). Even Fagin had taken a certain liking to the new boy, they talked about nearly everything. Slowly but surely Nancy was watching Dodger replace her as the best pick pocket in the gang. She tried not to dwell on this disturbing fact and to focus instead, on the tasks at hand. Said task at the moment being a rather intense game of cards.

"You've got nothin' Dodge," she warned him as she looked at her hand. This was true, she really had something next to unbeatable.

"Keep tellin' yerself that Nance," Dodger said laughing. All the other boys had folded long ago, this was just between the two of them now.

"Alrigh' then, if you're so confident why don't you-"

"Bill m'dear, I didn't 'ear you come in!" Both Nancy and Dodger's heads snapped around to look at the housebreaker so fast it was a wonder one of them didn't manage to break their neck.

"Bill," Nancy said with a smile. She dropped her cards face up on the table, the game long since forgotten.

"Hullo Nance...Dodge." Dodger gave a little tip of his hat and laid his own cards face up on the table, never one to be distracted from a game.

"I win Nance."

"Uh-huh," she said. She wasn't even listening, and Fagin could do nothing but laugh at her apparent captivation with the newest body in the room. He had noticed this more and more in Nancy as the months had worn on, Bill entering the room sent her to another sort of world entirely.

"Where's the gin Fagin?" Bill asked. Fagin sighed, Bill never asked for spirits unless he was in a rather bad mood.

"Come to discuss business then have we my dear?" Sikes nodded gruffly and Nancy was already on her feet and sweeping across the room to snatch the gin bottle. It was all but habit to her anymore when Sikes came over. She set two cups down between the men, now seated at the table as Dodger moved his card game elsewhere, and poured Bill his glass.

"How's business been for ya then Bill?" she asked with a smile. She didn't dare sit down when Fagin and Bill had serious matters to discuss, but that didn't mean she couldn't still move her body in a flirtatious manner. As she went to pour Fagin his glass she propped one knee up on the bench, being sure her ankles were showing beneath her shredded deep green skirt, and stretched her body across the table to pour for Fagin. She batted her lashes toward Bill a few times before she turned around and headed back across the room. Fagin had also been noticing this kind of behavior as well, but plots formulated by these observations were put on hold as Bill began speaking with him.

"Fine Nance," he said gruffly. He took a deep swig of gin before turning his attentions off the captivating young girl and to the old man across from him. "I'm going on the job tonight Fagin," he said darkly. Nancy's spine stiffened as she picked up on the tone in his voice, there was something more then usual in the wind. She was walking very slowly across the room, the gin bottle clutched tight in her hand in case either man requested a re-fill.

"As is your nature Bill my dear," Fagin said gripping his glass a bit more tightly. The old miser was fearing a discretion of the monetary kind, that perhaps this would be yet another unpleasant conversation over the housebreaker's pay. He didn't want that taking place here, not with Nancy and the boys around to hear the shouting, or maybe even see him get hit. Bill had become very violent towards his old benefactor as of late.

"It's not a normal job Fagin, my biggest pick yet but it ain't gonna be easy. Only way in is a little window on the first floor." Nancy was unaware of her grip tightening precariously on the bottle in her clutches.

"Are you going to be able to do it Bill?" Fagin asked.

"'Course I can do it! Like I says, it ain't gonna be easy, that's why I'm 'ere." Fagin quirked an eyebrow curiously at the man sitting before him and Bill leaned in and spoke to Fagin in a severely lowered voice. "I can't fit through the only entrance, I need a little one to come with me." Again Nancy's grip tightened instantly around the bottle, so much that her knuckles were turning white.

"What's up wiv you Nance," Dodger asked as he looked at her dangerously tight grip.

"Not now Dodge!" she hissed violently.

"A what my dear?" Fagin was asking.

"Don't be daft, one of the kids Fagin. I want to take one of them with me to fit through the window. I'm bound to get caught if I don't. Which one of um can do it without getting caught?" He took the last sentence slow, emphasizing each word. Nancy's face had drained of it's usually attractive color, her usually rosy cheeks were liquid paper white. The job was dangerous, really dangerous. And Bill was going. With one of the little ones. She looked around quickly at her friends, all but Dodger was engaged in a game of marbles, blissfully unaware of what was going on. Her wide doe-like eyes turned to study Fagin, who was sitting there deep in thought.

"Dodger," he said leaning back in a resolved way. "The Dodger can do it."

Both men were instantly ripped from their conversation by the sound of a loud smash. If it wasn't for the blood on Nancy's delicate hands, somebody would've believed she'd dropped the bottle laying in shards at her feet. But Dodger had been standing right there, and he'd watched those now bloody hands crush it. She seemed unaware of both the excited face on the boy next to her and the mess she had just created when she looked from Fagin to Bill in outrage.

"No," she said. Her voice was very deliberate, like the time Bill had first announced he was leaving. She took a step forward and crunched the gin soaked glass beneath her boots.

"What do you mean no," Bill growled. Fagin, sensing the housebreaker's mood, instantly got up to stand by the young girl. She was absolutely trembling with anger as she stared both Bill and Fagin down in turns.

"Nancy my dear, no worries," Fagin said trying to lead her away from the mess. "They're just going out on a job like any other-"

"There will be other bleedin' jobs," she hissed through her teeth. "Let it go. If it's tha' dangerous then it ain't worth going." She looked ready to kill but Sikes had just cracked a smile at her words.

"Actually Nance, that's all the more reason to go. More of a challenge," he explained taking a laid back drink of gin. He was the only one in the room so inclined as to be chipper, the rest were downright somber.

"You shouldn't 'ave to take a young one with you. This is a bad, bad idea. Do you 'ear me?"

"Loud and clear," Sikes mumbled into his cup as he took another sip. Dodger, instantly misinterpreting her words, stepped forward, a grin on his face.

"Don't worry about it Nance. I'm not scared to go, in fact I'd be 'appy to-"

"It's not you I'm worried about," she growled viciously. Instantly Dodger stumbled backwards as if her words had been an undeserved slap to his face. He'd never seen his friend in this state before, he wasn't sure how to react at all.

"Nance-" Bill started, but he never got to finish because Nancy was really laying into him now.

"Don't you Nance me like I'm a child you 'ave to explain somethin' to! I don't care for the challenge of it all, what you do is impressive enough and it puts food on the table. You start challenging yourself and pretty soon you take on more then you can handle. And do you know what happens?" She slammed both her hands down on the end of the table and looked him dead in the eyes. "You know what 'appens then Bill Sikes? You. Hang. Just like Ace." Her voice broke a bit at the sound of her old friend's name. All was dead silent for a second and then Nancy continued on in a very small voice. "Don't ask me to lose another friend that way Bill, jus' don't." Bill sat there in total shock at her boldness and then he moved his large hand out to wrap around hers in a comforting way.

"I won't get caught Nance. I swear it'll be alright." At Bill's words Nancy's spine stiffened and she yanked back her hand from his grip. Bill's face took on the expression of one who was mortally wounded as Nancy stalked across the room and wrapped her shawl around her shoulders. She turned back, tears searing her eyes, and bore those crystal blue orbs right into Bill's very soul. A less hearty man would've dropped his gaze under the intensity with which she stared him down, but he managed to look her in the eyes somehow.

"If you want to be a damned fool go on then. Just don't ask me to sit around and watch." And with that, the young girl pivoted on her heel and stormed off into the night.

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Nancy returned from her walk several hours later, her head clear and her eyes dry. When she entered the flat she noticed two things upon removing her shawl. The boys were all in bed, and Dodger was gone along with Bill. Silently she moved over to where Fagin was seated at the table, staring into the fire. She stood near him a moment, her breathing absolutely ragged as she tried to think of something to say. But when she did speak her question was one of the most obvious in the world.

"Did they go then?" she asked quietly. Fagin simply nodded and did not pry his eyes from the flames. Nancy noticed somebody had mopped up the mess she'd made out of that bottle earlier. Finally, she moved to the chair by the window, and for the first time since she was six, Nancy prepared to wait up all night for Bill Sikes to return home.