(A/N: Yes, I'm aware it's been a while- my apologies. Sometimes, there's a story that just needs to be told. I hope you enjoy!)
The Cowboy Returns Chapter 6: "La Vida"
Jack awoke the next morning, disappointed to find the previous day was not a dream. A part of him just wanted to sleep all day, and who would blame him if he did? Even just to step outside would be to risk his life. Another part of him, though, knew he couldn't just sit there and do nothing. Not when people needed him. Just like Game had said.
Jack looked at the list she gave him. He knew where most of these places were, but he would have to find other ways to get to them. The normal ways were too out in the open; he was sure to be seen.
He began his trek to the first address. The sun made him nervous; he had so much to hide now, and he didn't want the daylight to give any of it away. He walked with a purpose, keeping his head down. He only looked up after he passed another person, just to make sure their eyes didn't linger on him. He rushed through the back alleyways and forgotten streets, wishing he could walk at his own pace.
He inhaled deeply. He hated this. He hated having to hide in this city— his city. A place which was once his stomping ground had turned him into a peasant, a beggar. It only fueled his determination to bring down the Caps.
He arrived at the address and was surprised to find himself at a cathedral, a large cathedral. It had a name, though he couldn't remember now what it was. He knew this place.
April 24, 1900
"Congratulations."
He only said it because he felt like he had to. Did he mean it? Only somewhat.
The last thing Jack ever thought he'd be doing on the evening of April 24, 1900 was attending a wedding. The ceremony was short and simple. No dresses or tuxedos. Barely any flowers. What little money Mush and Aimsley had was spent on the reception, which was to take place at Irving Hall in thirty minutes.
"Wasn't it lovely, Jack?" said Sarah, as they walked.
"It was a wedding," replied Jack, nonchalantly. "Don't all of 'em look like that?"
Jack noticed Sarah roll her eyes. They walked in silence the rest of the way.
The reception at Irving Hall was just like all of the other celebrations the newsies had there. Plenty of poker. Plenty of booze. Jack loved it.
"Heya, fellas. Deal me in."
"You may not wanna do that, Cowboy. I'm on a roll."
"Hush, Race. You're out two bits," said Mush. "If that's you on a roll, I'd hate to see ya on a bad day."
Racetrack removed the cigar from his mouth. "One month on the new job and our Mush here already sounds like a tightwad. You're still just a precious bum to me!" said Racetrack, patting Mush on the cheek.
"How's that going anyhow? The job, I mean," said Jack.
"Pretty good. Ain't got any complaints so far. Medda tells me I'm the best stagehand she's ever had. Even throws in some bonuses for me on good nights, which has helped me an' Aims out a lot. Actually, we uh… oh, I was gonna wait to tell everyone, but I can't wait no more. Aimsley and I got an apartment!"
"You mean… you'se ain't gonna live with us at the lodging house?"
"No. Kloppman was doing us a favor by letting us stay there, seeing as I ain't a newsie anymore. I promised him I would try to find me own place."
"This calls for an announcement," said Racetrack, jumping up from the floor. "Hey everybody! Listen up, ya bums! Mush got a place for him an' Aims, which means we ain't gotta smell him no more!"
Cheers and laughter erupted as a result from Racetrack's grand speech. Jack sighed. Too many people were coming over to congratulate Mush, yet again; the poker game was over. It was time to visit the bar.
As Jack drank his whiskey, a familiar voice said, "Kelly! Where ya been, kid?"
"Heya, Medda!"
"It doesn't seem right for a handsome young fellow to be sitting alone at his pal's wedding reception. Where's your girl?"
"Sarah? She's somewhere around here. Probably with Aimsley and the other girls from the factory, complaining about how she'll never get her own wedding."
Medda smirked. "And why would she think that?"
He smiled slightly. "It's nice of you to pretend like you don't know nothing."
"I'm only half-pretending, Kelly. Of course I've noticed the fighting- we've all noticed that- but I would like to understand what is going on. If you want to tell me. Maybe I could give you the female perspective." She took a seat on the stool next to him.
Jack felt uncomfortable with the thought of sharing his feelings, but Medda was there and so was the whiskey.
"She wants us to get married. I know she does, even if she won't come out and say it."
"And what do you want?"
Jack took another sip of his drink. That was the question, wasn't it?
"Don't you think you'll want to marry her one day? She's a great girl, Kelly."
"Yeah, she is. An' I guess I want to marry her. Maybe. I don't know." He heard Medda laugh, and he gave half a chuckle at himself, too.
"I'se serious Medda."
"Serious about not knowing?"
"Well, uh… yeah. I mean, I… I'm alright with how everything is right now."
Medda raised an eyebrow.
"Ok maybe not now. But with how everything was until a couple months ago." Jack lowered his head, ashamed of his sadness.
He felt Medda put a hand on his shoulder. She left it there for a few moments, perhaps to see if he would say more, but he didn't.
"I may not know all the details, kid, but I do know that you won't find any answers in that glass."
Present Day
He crept through the creaky rows, running his fingers along the polished wood as he went. The sun illuminated crystal scenes from the life of the Holy One himself. They were detailed and beautiful. Had they been there during Mush and Aimsley's wedding? If so, he didn't notice. He regretted that. He hadn't enjoyed their wedding, but it was his own damn fault.
Jack looked around for… he wasn't sure exactly. He knew he needed to find a Cosa, but how? Surely they wouldn't be out in the open; they were on the run from the bulls. He didn't even know what they looked like. He consulted Game's paper for further instruction.
On the bottom, she'd written a phrase. It was in a language he did not recognize. An arrow pointed to the phrase, and at the end of the arrow were the words, "Say this to find them."
Jack heard a soft thump and looked to his left. A man had knelt in front of one of the saint statues. He was about fifty feet away. Jack took a deep breath. Not only was this awkward, it was dangerous. For all he knew, that man could be a Cap. More than likely, it was just a man praying.
"But he could be a Cosa," he whispered to himself.
Jack walked the fifty feet and stood in front of the statue of St. Joseph. The man had his head down, deep in prayer. He didn't seem to notice Jack impeding on his personal space, for Jack was standing so close that his leg brushed up against the man's upper arm. Jack was nervous. The chances of this man being a Cap were slim, but he felt his pulse rate rise anyway.
"Lo sono un amico del sole prima della luna," he said out loud, as if to no one in particular.
The man's head shot up. Jack tensed and then exhaled. This was not a member of any gang- good or bad. This was…
"Mush!"
"Cowboy! I thought that was your voice! When did you learn to speak Italian?"
Italian. That made sense.
Mush stood. Jack found himself no longer caring about social convention, nor how silly he looked. He hugged his friend.
"Oh wow, am I happy to see you!" Jack said when he finally let go.
"It's good to see you, too! When did you get back?!"
It only took a second to realize how inappropriate their volume level was. They quickly moved outside.
"Just got back yesterday."
"For good?"
"We'll see."
"Me an' Aims still live around here, why don't you come over?"
Jack felt foolish for not having thought of this before. He had been to their apartment a few times after Mush and Aimsley moved in, but it didn't cross his mind to seek them out. Given the circumstances, it didn't surprise him.
The apartment was closer to the cathedral than Jack remembered but certainly not any bigger. A small smile crept across his face when he noticed the modest table and chairs the newsies had given him and Aimsley as a wedding gift. A few feet over, Jack saw her- the most cynical hopeless romantic he had ever met. The girl who attended the city-wide rally and made the newsies her home. Her back was turned, and she looked to be spreading butter or jam or something or other on bread.
"Was the cathedral crowded this morning, my love?"
"Nope," answered Mush, excitedly. "But I did see a familiar face."
"Oh? Who was it?"
Mush gave Jack a nudge. "Heya, Aims."
Aimsley slowly turned around and blinked several times. Her face held a mixture of shock and joy, and before he knew it- Jack's lungs were fighting to operate. He wasn't sure he minded too much.
"Mi amor," Mush said through chuckles, "let 'im go. He's in enough danger as it is."
"Right! Right. Sorry. So you know about the Ca- oh, look! Luke's awake."
Jack turned his attention to the corner of the room Aimsley headed off to. He wasn't sure how he'd missed it before, but a small wooden crib sat in the corner by the bed, slightly raised above the floor. Aimsley bent over the crib and when she turned back around, she held the most miniature version of Mush he could ever have imagined. The baby- Luke- had apparently just woken up from a nap and looked happy to be awake.
The only word Jack could form was, "When?"
"He'll be five months old… tomorrow, actually. Little Luke," Aimsley said, sweetly, "come meet your Uncle Jack."
Aimsley crossed the room, which Jack was grateful for; he really didn't think he could move. She stopped directly in front of Jack, holding Luke upright so these strangers could easily see each other, even though the child's attention was occupied by something near the opposite wall.
"Jack, tell him hello."
"Heya, Luke," he said, feeling silly as he tried to get his voice to rise an octave. Luke shakily turned his head towards Jack's voice and looked at him with a quizzical expression that quickly shifted to a smile. Jack involuntarily smiled back as some unknown force told him to offer the baby his finger. Luke grabbed onto it and laughed, which made the three adults laugh.
"See, Cowboy? He likes ya!" said Mush, who had taken over preparing breakfast.
Jack wasn't educated enough to describe the precise feelings that washed over him in that moment. But what he did know was that he had no desire to ever take his finger away from the innocent soul that held it. Reality, however, always finds a way to bring us back.
"So Mush filled you in on your way here?"
"There wasn't much for me to fill, he seems ta already know."
"Yeah, I visited the boys last night," Jack said, removing his finger from Luke's gasp. "An' I saw Sarah earlier that evening." He stopped there, hesitant to reveal his most knowledgeable informant.
"Oh," Aimley said, trying not to sound too concerned, "how'd that go?"
"She was nicer than I probably deserved." Jack could only imagine what Sarah had said about him to the other girls at Balleyhill factory. And not just after he left- but before he left, too. He was sure it wasn't pretty. He didn't need to catch Aimley's worried tone to know that.
And then a thought occurred to him. A thought he felt foolish for not thinking before. Sarah's friends at the factory included Aimsley, who was right there in front of him, and Minnie- who, as of when he left, was going with Spot. Spot Conlon. Leader of Brooklyn.
"Where's Spot?!" Jack said, in almost a panic.
"Spot's fine," Mush said. Jack noticed Mush and Aimsley exchange uncertain glances.
"He's back. The game has changed," Aimsley said to her husband.
"Listen, Cowboy, we'se not supposed to be telling you this, but…" he sighed, "Where do I start?"
"Have the Caps taken Brooklyn yet?"
"Yes. After what happened with Roller, Spot stepped down."
"What?! Why?"
'Maybe so's he wouldn't be dead,' a very logical side of his brain said. Still, it irked him. Brooklyn was the most intimidating borough- physically, anyway. Stepping down seemed so… weak.
"Jack, I- I wish I could give you all the details, but I ain't a newsie no more. I haven't been for a while. All I can tell you is that Spot did the right thing. He'll have to tell you the rest himself. Me and Aims- we promised Minnie that we wouldn't tell nobody."
"We can tell you where to find him," Aimsley added, "You two have a lot to go over. But you mustn't tell a soul where he is. It could end badly for the both of you. Got it?"
Aimlsey gave him some bread and jam for the road, and Jack took off to the next location. He was glad for his visit with Mush and Aimsley- and not just because of the information about Spot (though he was very grateful for that, to be sure). It was nice to finally see people who were genuinely happy that he had returned. Though it was a bit unsettling to know that one of his best buddies was now a father, seeing their little family did create in him a certain warmth. A warmth he didn't entirely recognize but seemed familiar anyway. It was comforting that Mush's solid, caring nature and Aimsley's sweet-but demanding-air hadn't changed in the year he'd been away- even if everything else in Manhattan had.
An uneasy feeling settled into his stomach. It was time to see what had become of Brooklyn.