I'm really sorry this one took so long to get up. I finished it; then the computer it was saved on traveled to China. So I kind of left my main character unconscious for a coupe weeks while the computer toured the great wall of China without me. Sorry about that.

I was standing still in the middle of a ballroom, couples dancing in a swirling storm with me at the center. Everything appeared exquisite, but if I tried to focus on one particular detail, it blurred.

"Flora Magdalena Collins!" A loud voice echoed through the room. Everyone began to applaud… me. They were applauding me. But why? What had I done?

A hand gripped my narrow waist. Before I could react, I was pulled backwards into the dance.

I had no partner. I whirled from person to person, never seeing their faces. The sound of a string quartet swelled and strained over the quiet roar of the crowd. A lilting soprano sang a lament.

The music began to speed up. I spun even faster now, my feet pounding a rhythm that was both foreign and completely familiar. I could pick out some of the lyrics. The song seemed to be about whether to fetch a doctor for an injured girl.

The music was now at a feverish, panicky pitch. The singer was racing to keep up, her voice splintering over the chords. I couldn't even feel people hand me off anymore; I was whirling uncontrollably, but I was free.

The music reached a searing crescendo, and then silenced. Quiet applause pattered throughout the room. The adrenaline of the last minute faded to a dull throb.

And the floor dropped out from under me.

Suddenly I was falling through a black abyss, my hands desperately grasping at the air above me. I screamed, but the sound got lost in the air that rushed around me.

I hit the ground… but it was far too soft to be the ground. I twisted, trying to ascertain where I was. A bed?

"Ey, she's wakin' up!"

"Ey sugar, how ya feelin'?"

Faces swam into focus above me. Race, Jack, Kid Blink, Crutchy… what exactly was I doing in the boys bunkroom? Napping? I swung my legs off the bed, trying to hop , hands gently pushed me down.

"What are you doing?" I squawked indignantly. "I am perfectly fine!"

"No, you ain't!" Kid Blink rolled his eye. "Da docta said yous were… what'd he say?"

"In shock," Crutchy filled in the blank. "

"I'm fine," I assured them. They looked unconvinced. "No really! I feel superb. Never better. Now if you would just let me get up, and return to my room…" I tried to rise, but they pushed me back down again.

"Da docta said…" Kid Blink began, but I cut him off with a vicious glare.

"What doctor?" I asked. "If you paid for a doctor, when I'm obviously DID NOT need one…"

"We didn't pay for nothing," Race jumped in. "If yous like, yous paid for him."

"I didn't think yous needed one," Jack smirked. "But Davey insisted."

"David? He was here?" My eyes scanned the newsies, searching for him but coming up lacking.

"He and Sarah had to go home," Jack ran his hands through his hair. "Dinner, or something."

"Sarah was here?" I grinned wickedly. "As in, Sarah, David's sister and your ladylove?"

"Yous don't get ta treat me like dis," he affected a look of mock outrage. "I's seen da way yous look at Davey."

I attempted to keep my composure. "I am sure I don't know what you mean."

Race spoke in a highly insulting shrill voice. "Oh David! I swoon when you quote fancy books at me!"

"So? We love the same books! What's wrong with that?" I went on the defensive.

"And yous turn bright pink whenever somebody mentions him," Kid Blink added, batting his only visible eye. "See, yous is doin' it now!"

"I do no such thing!" Traitorous blushing!

"And even da way yous say his name is so cute!"

"I hate you all!" I buried my face in the pillows.

"Alright fellas, lay off," I heard Jack say. I peeked out from my fortress of solitude. Maybe I had been granted a reprieve from this merciless torture. "But, bein' completely honest, da way yous say his name is ridiculous."

"Is not!" I sat back up, glaring at them all.

"Prove it!" someone catcalled from the back of the room.

"You know what, I shall!" I took a deep breath. "David."

"See, dere it is!" Race grinned crookedly. "That weird way yous says it!"

"How? How do I say it?" I frowned incredulously. I didn't hear anything odd about the way I said his name.

"It's not so much da way yous says it…" Crutchy tilted his head thoughtfully. "It's da little things yous do when yous says it."

"Like blushing!" Mush added. "And yous smile in a really goofy way…"

"This is all patently untrue." I struggled to keep my cool. I did not do that! At all! "I do not blush, I have naturally rosy cheeks, and when I smile, which I do not do whenever I say his name, it is not in a goofy way!" I struggled up. "I don't have to take this! I am returning to my room!" I moved to take a step, fighting off the ringing noise in my head. Huh. I guess the doctor was right about the whole shock thing.

"Oh no you don't," Jack swooped in, and before I knew it, I was curled up like a child in his arms. "Da doctah said yous need ta be in bed for a week."

"A week?!" I spoke with unmitigated horror. "But I can't be in bed for a week! I have my job, and I need to keep paying you rent…"

He had the nerve to wink at me. "Sugar, we's bettin' dat soon, you'll have enough dough to buy da whole house."

"Nothing I say will change your mind about this, will it?"

"Nope."

I could probably blatantly disobey Jack and keep going out. I needed to keep working, and I needed to find out if Milena was alright after the Delancey's showed up. Sneaking out would be easy enough; I'd done it before without any problems. On the other hand, I had already crossed him once. If I deliberately disobeyed him again, I'd lose my chance to stay here until everything was sorted.

"Fine," I forced a smile. "I can do that." No way in hell was I going to stay cooped up in here while they all swanned about, probably having a good laugh at my expense. I needed to leave, at least for a little while. And Jack could absolutely not find out about it. So… how best to do it?

SO... I know I'm a horrible human being and don't deserve the love that has been showered on this story, but please review!