Chapter 23: A Calm Facade

A/N: Okay I know this chapter is really short but it was one I really wanted to put in here. Hope this is living up to standards my dears. This is for Coralyne, Musical Twin, and ScroogeMcDuck. You guys have reviewed loyally through this whole thing. Thanks a million. :-D

A Quick Clarification: Alright I realize I've been skipping years a lot so a quick run down of every character's age.

Nancy: 15

Bill: 22

Edward: 14

Benjamin: 13

James: 16

Dodger: 12

Marshall: 16

Morice: 15

Fagin: Old, crazy, and loveable as ever, do the numbers really matter?

Warning: Contains swearing, yelling, and drinking.

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When Nancy woke next, it had to be late in the afternoon. All she knew was she was quite apparently the only child left in the flat. Not that she could still call herself a child after all she'd gone through last night, but she didn't much want to dwell on that. Quietly she got out of bed and was planning to tiptoe to the kitchen for a bite when she was stopped dead in her tracks. Fagin was sitting staring into the fire, his face looking rather haggard and worn. Instantly Nancy's teeth clenched as if on instinct, this was not the kind old man that had cared for her as a child. This was a monster. She walked directly past him and grabbed a bottle of gin out of the cupboard. His head jerked up as soon as he saw her, but he still looked just as sad.

"I didn't hear you get up Nancy my dear," he said. Nancy's knuckles turned white as her grip tightened dangerously on the glass bottle in her palm.

"Don't call me that. Never again Fagin, do you 'ear me?" She downed a considerably large gulp of gin and turned her attention to the opposite wall, determined to not look at Fagin if she could help it.

"Are you really so cross with me my d-" A death glare from the stunning girl at the table stopped him in his tracks "Nancy," he corrected himself swiftly. She wasn't looking his way anymore, her head was already turned once again. He sighed heavily and put his head in his hands, he did not know how to handle this, not at all. "Please don't be angry with me Nancy," he pleaded quietly. He was startled by the loud noise made when Nancy slammed her gin bottle onto the table outraged.

"Don't be angry with you," she shrieked outraged. "Do you 'ave...any idea what you put me through?"

"Nancy I-"

"Good God Fagin!" She cried, carrying on as if he hadn't spoken at all. She was gone now, letting fly all the anger of the night previous. "Look at me!" He turned his head so she grabbed him by his jaw and yanked his head violently around so he was forced to behold the terrible sight the girl was. "LOOK!" she ordered. "Do you see what you've done to me? Was it really worth it? All the money you couldn't live without, does it matter this damn much to you? Last night I lost my innocence, my happiness, and everything I held dear. Lord 'elp me Fagin if I didn't 'ave to keep on a brave face the whole time on top of all that. An' you are sittin' there pleadin' wiv me not to be angry?" Her voice was incredulous as she stared at Fagin who was averting his eyes again. He couldn't look at her that way, especially when she looked so broken. He couldn't look at those eyes...so broken!

He couldn't even respond, he was trying to collect his thoughts. He felt like crying from the very sight of her, and he was never a man for tears. She just stood there staring him down, never releasing her grip on his jaw.

"Have you nothin' to say to me?" She demanded angrily.

"I'm sorry Nance. Really, truly, honestly, I am. I knew...I knew from the time you were little and I brought you back that this was 'ow you'd end up some day. I just tried to avoid it my dear," she shot him a death glare but he pressed on "I really did." Finally he brought himself to face her and, stomach turning inside out on him, he continued. "I didn't want to imagine you, sweet, fun-loving, ill tempered little girl that you were doing this. Certainly you must know I can't bare actually seeing it. But the fact of the matter still remains that this is not a charity 'ouse Nance, I couldn't afford such a thing. Think of the position I'm in my dear, a lonely old man, with nothing but a secret box of jewels to keep me in my old age. If you wanted to stay 'ere, it's what you 'ad to do. But that does not mean that I don't feel awful about it." It was dead silent in the flat for a moment, so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop. Then Fagin looked up at Nancy, poor, broken, impure Nancy, and made one last plea for forgiveness he didn't deserve. "You know if I could afford to 'ave you 'ere for free I would. I never wanted this for you my dear." Silence followed his words and they resounded off the walls around them in a haunting manner. Finally Nancy released his jaw and seated herself at the table, taking another drink of gin. At long last, she saw fit to speak.

"Alright then," she said quietly. "There ain't no sense in bein' all dramatic. S'just my living is all." In reality it would probably take Nancy years to get used to the way things were, but that didn't mean she had to make everyone else feel as heart-wrenchingly guilty as she did.

"Really my dear?" Nancy didn't so much as flinch at him calling her that.

"Really." And for the first time in her life Nancy flashed a painfully fake smile that she would wear for years to come.