Chapter Eight

Blink leaned against the brick building, tense. He'd had an uncomfortable night. Skittery had told him more about women, and sex, than he had ever heard before. This new knowledge kept him up for most of the night, and now he was tired and frustrated. He knew there was little chance of him ever doing the things he'd heard about with Molly, and since he couldn't have that, he wanted to hit someone. All the newsies were gathered around, waiting for the bell and the gate to open. They watched the clock above the building, and when it struck time, they moved in unison through the gate. Blink's heart beat fast, his adrenaline picking up in anticipation. Suddenly the gates were closed behind them, and men poured out of the printer's office. They had clubs and chains.

Someone shouted, "It's the scabbers!"

Chaos broke out. Blink grimaced, the churning of people pushed around him as the men waded into the crowd. He pushed past some smaller kids, getting in front of them as a man came upon him. He put his fists up, dodging a fist barely. He hit the guy right in the side of the face, only to be felled by another man right behind him. Dizzied for a moment, he recovered, throwing himself right at the guy's torso. The newsies were brawling blindly, and obviously overpowered. Things began to look grim. A battle cry rang out from the roof, "Brooklyn!"

Blink untangled himself from the man, sparing a look up. At least a score of boys were on the roof with slingshots. A cheer rose up from the newsies as rocks rained down on the scabbers. Cries of pain mixed with cheers, and they went into a new fervor. Blink yelled, throwing himself on another man, knocking him down in his new burst of energy. He grinned, his adrenaline pumping as he threw himself into the fray and worked out his frustration.

Spot came around the front, unlocking the doors, letting in another dozen of his newsies into the fray. His shouts were met with joyous cries of "Brooklyn!". The hired thugs were overpowered and retreated back into the printer's office. Spot grabbed Jack Kelly in the crowd, and they shook hands in triumph. The newsies began celebrating in earnest. Blink raised his hands, yelling along with everyone, his adrenaline making him feel lighter than air. He didn't even notice the blood running down from his lip or his eyebrow.

He caught Spot's eye and Spot waved him over, shaking his hand hard. He shouted above the din, "I hears you's spending some time with Molly, am I right?"

Blink nodded, grinning foolishly from the excitement. "Yea," he shouted.

Spot gestured to a taller, older version of himself, who Blink recognized as his brother, Tommy. "Just a friendly reminder, my brother and I consider Molly our sister. Make sure you's treats her with respect, or we're gonna have a problem."

"You have my word." Blink spat in his hand, offering it to him. Spot took it, grinning, and Blink knew Spot liked him. Blink offered the same promise to Tommy. The man looked at him without humor, his jaw hard as he took the offered hand. Blink would not forget the warning in those eyes, this wasn't over as far as Tommy was concerned.

The farther Blink walked away from the fight, the more he calmed down, and once he was calm, he began to feel the pain. The boys had moved on to Tibby's for a while, to get food and drink. Blink bowed out early without eating, running to be on time at Molly's. People were backing out of his way on the street, but he didn't realize how grim he looked until Molly screamed at the sight of him.

"Nick! My God!" She rushed towards him, grabbing his face.

It wasn't so bad, the cuts had stopped bleeding a while ago, but he still had the dried blood all over his face. He tried to settle her, "I'm okay, I'm okay!"

"What happened to your lip?"

He grinned cheekily, wincing as the motion pulled at his cut lip, "A fist."

"And your head!" She examined another cut around his eyebrow, right above his patch.

"Elbow?" He thought for a moment, "Probably an elbow."

She shook her head incredulously and ordered, "Sit down." He did as he was told, straddling the bench while she got a clean towel and set a kettle of water near the fire. "What on Earth happened to you?"

"We went as usual to keep the others from buying papes, and they had men waiting for us. Things got heavy for a minute, but Spot showed up just in time!" She sat down next to him, and Blink flinched as she started dabbing at his lip with warm water to clean the blood away. He grinned, "We showed 'em anyways. And Denton, that reporter I was telling you about? He took a picture of us. Said it was gonna be in tomorrow's pape."

Molly's face was pale, "They attacked you?" She remembered the newsboys she had seen in the street, some were young children. Not nearly as old as Blink and the others. "What about the younger ones?"

"We got 'em out of the way. No one was hurt bad." Blink tried to reassure her.

"I didn't realize it would be so dangerous."

Blink frowned, tucking a loose hair behind her ear, "Don't you worry, there's nothing we can't handle."

Molly saw the swollen, bloody knuckles of his hands and pressed her lips together. She didn't say anything, but continued cleaning up his face. Blood had fallen behind the eye patch, and she tried to remove it to clean it up. Blink immediately pulled away.

He made sure the patch was in place. "I'll get it, you got a mirror?" He held his hand out for the towel.

Molly stared at him, holding the towel in her hand. She asked nervously, "Won't you let me see it?"

Blink grew embarrassed, but grinned crookedly to hide it, "No, you don't wanna, it's ugly. All the guys say so."

She pressed, "Please, Nick."

He gulped visibly. He was afraid of how she would react. He wasn't sure he could stand it if the disgust showed on her face. What if she thought about it every time she looked at him? He tensed as her fingers touched the strap again, and he almost stopped her. The look of her face was so determined, he let it go. She pulled it away, and he closed his eye, unwilling to see her face. It was a relief to have the itchy thing off, and he sighed.

"That's a right nasty one." Blink couldn't quite decipher the tone of her voice, but he was surprised to feel her lips press against the corner of the scar. He looked at her, and to his surprise and relief, she had no look of disgust on her face. She set the towel down on the table and whispered, "I have something to show you."

Molly began pulling up the right side of her skirt, and Blink looked over his shoulder nervously, instinctively checking if someone else was in the room. Blink's cheeks flushed and he asked nervously, "What are you doing?" He immediately thought of the new knowledge he had obtained and had to press his arm into his lap to hide his erection from her. She continued without a word, revealing her bare upper thigh. Blink gaped. On her thigh was a thick swatch of welted and scarred flesh, red in some spots, and thick white scar tissue in others. "My God, how'd you get that?"

She stared at the spot for a moment, before straightening the skirt of her dress once more. "Last summer, my mam and I were working. It was the hottest day either of us could remember. It was boiling in here, no breeze at 'all. She goes to see a customer, and I'm dying under the weight of the apron. So I took it off. But I wasn't payin' attention. I let the wax get too hot, and in my rush to take it off the heat, I spilled it."

Blink grimaced, imagining the moment.

Molly nodded, "Burned straight through my dress. Learned my lesson that day. But I was lucky that was all I did, and none got on my feet, thank the Lord." She took up the cloth again, dipping it in more warm water, and resumed washing Blink's face. "You're scar doesn't bother me. Even if I didn't have one of my own to boast. I don't care how you look, Nick."

He was pleased, and smiled as she steadied his face with her soft fingers. He teased, "All this time I thought you liked me for my looks."

She grinned, "Oh indeed. But I must not let you know, for you might have a mind to seduce some other lass."

Blink scooped her up into his lap, and she laughed. He wrapped his arms around her and she threw her arms over his shoulders. He tried imitating her accent, "Aye, no one compares to ye."

She laughed, "You'll make a fine Irishman yet."

"I hope so. Spot warned me I have a lot to answer for if I don't"

Her eyes widened, "He didn't!"

Blink nodded, "He did. So did his brother, though he looked none too pleased about it."

She seemed surprised, "Tommy?"

Blink frowned at the name, "Yeah." He thought for a moment, thinking how best to ask her, but it had been bothering him ever since Brooklyn. "Was there anything between you two?"

She shook her head resolutely, "No. He fancied me...still does I suppose. But that doesn't matter, Spot knows where I stand." She glanced at him, and rubbed his jaw with her thumb, "You know where I stand, right?"

He looked into her wide green eyes and couldn't say a word. He leaned in, pressing his lips against hers. Her soft lips moved with his, and he reached a hand up to brush back her hair, and as his fingers brushed her neck, she made a small gasp that made him grin. Her hands were on his neck, and he pressed her body a little closer to his. She leaned in eagerly, responding to him as he kissed her bottom lip. Her fingers dropped to touch the bit of skin at the neck of his shirt, and he sighed. Without thought, he found her neck with his lips, pressing hard. She gasped, her cheeks flushing in her surprise and her desire.

As he kissed her neck, she could feel something hard under her legs, and she realized that it was his penis. A chill ran up her spine as that warm feeling built between her legs again. It had been happening at lot more frequently lately, and she wasn't all together sure what it meant. Her mother had explained to her what it was that made a child, but she didn't go into details. As Blink's hands spread across her back, she closed her eyes, savoring his touch. His hands gripped her waist hard, and his lips moved down to her collar bone involuntarily. She gripped his shirt roughly, and sighed loudly, almost moaning from the touch of his lips. The moan made them both stop, and they looked at each other in surprise, their mouths open and breathing ragged. Molly blushed fiercely as he looked at her, and he looked ashamed.

He moved her out of his lap, placing his arms across his lap once more, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"What?" She looked dazed, her lips still parted. He wanted her so badly at that moment.

He leaned his elbows on his knees and put his hands in his hair, "I shouldn't do that to you..." Skittery had been thorough in his explanation of mechanics, but he didn't go far enough. Blink was now having a crisis of conscious. How could he make Molly do these things when they weren't married? He wasn't a religious man, but he didn't think he could do anything with her, knowing he could get her in trouble. Granted, Skittery had explained certain things you could do without worrying about a baby, but Blink looked into Molly's wide eyes and felt like he was about to take something from her. Something that maybe he didn't deserve. He raised his head, and Molly looked at him with concern. He took her hand, "I'm sorry, Molly. I didn't mean to get carried away. I shouldn't have kissed you like that."

She looked surprised and confused, "Oh."

"It's just that, I mean..." Blink cleared his throat, trying to order his thoughts, "I don't think we should..." He didn't know how to finish, but from the look on her face, he could tell she knew where his thoughts were.

"Of course, you're right." She looked at the floor, tugging at her skirt self-consciously. She thought for a moment, wanting to say something, but changed her mind, shaking her head. Blink wanted to ask her what was on her mind, but he couldn't bring himself to. He was still wrapped up in the pain in his groin, wishing desperately he could take it back. He knew if she offered, he wouldn't have to strength to push her away again. He would take her right on the floor, with the back window open into broad day light and everything, even knowing her father was upstairs.

The thought of her father sobered him a little. He stood stiffly, his hat in his hand and placed casually near his belt. "I should get going, the boys are all celebrating at Tibby's and they'll give me a hard time if I don't spend some time with them." He coughed, "That is, if you don't need me today."

Molly's face held a sad look that Blink couldn't stand to look at. She shook her head, "No, it's okay. You can go."

"Right. Okay then. Have a good day, Molly." As he backed out into the alley, he tried his best not to run away.