A/N disclaimer, I do not own newsies! But I do think some thank you's are in order. To Emador for your ongoing support, BabyMist, for your very kind review/PM, and to Colleen: yes I am Irish (and proud of it!), and I think irish names are just so beautiful, and there will be more in the story! Thank you again to all who read! Now on with the chapter! Oh, and I just had to use the songs "Larkin's Delight" as a chapter title for a couple reasons: 1. It has "Larkin's" (as in Medda!) in it, so she will be making an appearance (as well as some of our favorite Manhattners!), and it also inspired me to write some of the events in the chapter. (I'll let you know at the end A/N) Well, enjoy!

Chapter 4

Larkin's Delight

Aoife awoke to the feeling of warmth. As she slowly opened her eyes, she was greeted by sunlight streaming into her face. It took her awhile to adjust her eyes to the bright light but eventually she grew used to it. It didn't take her long to remember everything that had happened over the past day: her rude welcome to America, meeting Liam again after all these years, talking to the beautiful young woman Nuala had become, and now waking up in a strange Brooklyn warehouse occupied by a bunch of teenage boys, not knowing what in the world to do next. Her thoughts were interrupted as Nuala came into view at the foot of her bed.

"Maidin mhaith." Good morning Nuala said with a smile. Aoife couldn't help but smile back. "I would have woken you up sooner, but you seemed so tired, and I didn't want to ruin any good dreams you might have been having."

In all honesty, Aoife couldn't remember her dreams.

"What time is it?" Aoife asked.

"About half past eleven. But you don't have to worry about nothin'." Nuala said after seeing the shocked and worried expression Aoife wore at the mention of how late in the morning it was. She really must have been tired if she slept in this late! "The boys are out sellin' there papes, but they should be back soon. Spot and Ryder have some plans in Manhattan, maybe they'll take us with them. I bet you'd love Manhattan, it's different than Brooklyn, nicer even." Nuala informed with a small chuckle. "There are some great guys over there, you'd like them. But for now, you must be hungry." She continued producing a heel of a loaf of bread from behind her back. "It's not the best, but it's all we got."

Aoife smiled at the kind gesture of her old friend, and graciously took the bread. She graciously ate it even though it was about two days stale. It was one of the nicest things anyone has done for her in a long time. After she ate, Nuala offered to help dress her. Aoife was grateful that she would be getting new cloths, seeing the ones she wore yesterday were the only ones she had, and they were filthy!

She got out of bed and the two girls walked over to the same dresser Nuala had pulled the oversized shirt she was currently wearing as a nightgown. After a few minutes of debate, Aoife had decided on wearing a blue button up shirt under a white Henley shirt, a brown vest, and grey pants that were too big around her waist, so Nuala found a pair of brown suspenders from one of the boys. To complete her look Aoife plaited her hair over her shoulder as she usually did, and placed a brown cabby hat on her head.

"Did it take you long to get used to wearing pants?" Aoife asked.

Nuala chuckled at this. "I'm not gonna lie, it did at first, but after the first wee I realized it was the best decision I've ever made!"

"So what do you usually do around here?" Aoife saked.

"Well, I usually do sell papes, but Spot wanted someone to watch after you, and we all agreed it should be the one woman here. But when I di stay home, I usually lie to just tidy up around the warehouse…well if the warehouse can get tidy."

The girls made their way downstairs as some of the Brooklyn newsies were piling inside.

"Heya Aoif, glad to see Sleeping Beauty's finally up." Spot said waling over to her. "So Starlight tells me ya might be interested in going to see Manhattan?"

Aoife nodded her head.

"Well, I guess it would be okay. Come on lets go." Spot said as he walked out the door, Ryder, Archer, and a boy who Aoife had only caught a glimpse of when Liam first brought her to the warehouse. "You commin Star?", and she hurried up behind her brother pulling Aoife along with her.

The walk to Manhattan didn't seem too long, just a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and they would be there according to Nuala. So Aoife took this time to introduce herself to the third boy.

"Hi." She started. "My name's Aoife."

The boy turned and looked at Aoife. He had greenish, grey eyes and dark brown hair that fell in his eyes under his grey cabby hat. After a few seconds of staring at her, the boy smiled and held out a hand.

"Hi, I'm Echo." The boy said with a slight accent that Aoife couldn't quite place. "József is my real name, I'm from Hungary originally an when I first got here when I was 5, I would just repeat everything I heard to hopefully pick up on the language, and then everyone just started calling me Echo."

The two continued talking all the way over the bridge. Apparently Liam had filled all his newsies on some of her background (which she was grateful for, so she wouldn't have to do explain to each boy who asked), so she didn't talk much about herself. Instead she learned that his parents had both died on the voyage from Hungary to America so he was alone when he got to America. He had spent some times in some of the other borough's but finally settled in Brooklyn there he had met Spot when they were only about 14. 3 years later and they were still close friends.

Before she knew it, the small group of Brooklynites was in Manhattan and making their way over to a place called Irving Hall which Nuala explained was a vaudeville place the newsies loved to go to. Besides a theater it was also a secret meeting place. When Aoife stepped inside, she saw 4 to 5 boys already there. The tallest boy who was wearing a cowboy hat instead of a typical newsboy hat, and a red bandana tied around his neck walked over to Spot and spit shook with him then noticed Aoife.

"Dis da goil your boid was tellin us bout?" he asked

"Yep." Spot answered. "Cowboy, dis is Aoife."

The supposed "cowboy" reached out his hand (to Aoife's relief did not have fresh spit on it) and he gently kissed her knuckles.

"Pleasure miss, I's is Jack Kelly or Cowboy." The boy introduced his hand still holding hers until another boy pushed his way in between them and swiped her had out of Jacks.

"Hey dere miss." This boy was shorter and had blackish brown hair and dark brown eyes. By his accent Aoife concluded he must be Italian. "Da names Tony, but please call me Racetrack."

The second boy to approach Aoife was tall with a very boyish face.

"Hello, my name is David, how do you like New York so far?"

"It's not bad, Cassan." Aoife replied getting a grin out of Liam and a chuckle out of Nuala.

"It means "curly haired one" in Gaelic." Nuala explained receiving a good natured grin from David.

The last boy to shake Aoife's hand was called Kid Blink. He had blond hair and wore an eye patch over one eye.

"OK, so now dat we all knows each otha," Jack started. "Let's get down to business. Nuala, you can introduce her Medda right?" Jack asked as he started leading the group of boys to a private office like room. Aoife noticed Nuala's face drop a bit, but she composed herself and told Aoife to follow her to a backstage area filled with dressing rooms. As they got closer to their destination, Aoife could hear the faint sound of vocalizing. Once they got to the door, Nuala knocked and the singing stopped. The door opened to reveal one of the most beautiful women Aoife had ever seen. A fair skinned lady stood in the doorway wearing a beautiful turquoise blue dress that complimented her bright red hair that was intricately looped and pinned into an elegant up-do. The woman instantly smiled at the sight of Nuala and ushered both the girls in.

"Starlight!" she exclaimed giving the petite girl a hug. "It's been too long since your last visit! Oh, I miss being with you in my dressing room before a show. And whose this?" she asked once she noticed Aoife.

"Medda, this is Aoife McCarthy, my best friends from Ireland." Nuala answered.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you." Medda said.

"The pleasure is all mine mam." Aoife answered.

"So," Medda said taking a seat on a small footstool gesturing the two girls to do the same. "Have all the boys gotten together for another meeting?"

"Yes." Nuala answered, the single vowel word spitting out of her mouth as if it was a swear.

"Oh come now honey, you know they don't want you to get involved for you own good." Medda said gently.

"I know, but sometimes it just makes me mad. I mean, I'm a newsie too, I think I can handle it. It's just because I'm a girl and they feel like they need to protect me because of it."

"Sorry, I don't mean to sound like an amadán, but what are you talking about?" Aoife asked.

"It's okay Aoife, dot worry about it. It's just, all the boys have "business" meetings about problems that their territory is having but they never let me in on them. It's nothing to worry about though."

But then, Aoife had an idea.

"Cá bhuil an leithreas?"

"I'll show you." Nuala said. "Hey Medda, I'm going to take Aoif to the bathroom, we'll be back in a few minuets."

As the two girls closed the door Aoife took off in the direction that the boys were in.

"Hay, Aoife, the bathroom is this way!"

"Nuala, I don't have to use the bathroom. It was a cover story. We're going to do a bit of spy work."

As Nuala was registering what Aoife had suggested they do, a smile spread on her lips.

"Follow me." She said. They held each other' s hands as Nuala led them down a small hallway, up a couple flights of stairs and down a small passage to a small vent, just big enough for two pwople to see through.

"I don't know why I never thought of this before." Nuala whispered. And the eavesdropping began.

"That won't be good enough"

"Calm down Spot."

Aoife recognized Cassan's or Davids voice.

"No! I ain't gonna calm down! Those Queen's bastards think dey can just send their spies to Brooklyn and get away with it! That kid got what he deserved."

"Spot, we can't just go around beating up the other side. That would make up no better than them."

"You know what Mouth, you'se don't know nothing about dis! Dat little punk Blade thinks he can keep getting away with all dis crap that he does, so Brooklyn's gotta show him he can't!"

There was a silence in the room before the Italian boy Racetrack said "Well what do we do now?"

And Jack responded with an "I don't know."

The girls thought they were there long enough so they snuck back to the dressing room where Medda did in fact as them what took so long. Nuala covered by saying Aoife and her got distracted by the props that she used in the show. Once the three ladies were all settled in again, Medda asked Aoife the one question she was totally unprepared for.

"So, do ya sing?"

A/N Well there you are! My new OC's name József is the Hungarian version of Joseph. Irish lesson of the day! The Irish translation for the word "Idiot" is amadán (pronounced ah-mah-dawn) Cá bhuil an leithreas? means where are the bathrooms? And if some of story was a bit confusing (the "secret meeting" part) here's a bit of a recap. So basically Blade, the leader of Queens sent a spy to Brooklyn, but the spy was caught and Spot had him soaked. David doesn't like the idea of "beating up kids" but Spot thinks it's the only way they can show that they aren't scared. Hope that cleared some stuff up if it was confusing! Thanks for reading! Favorite, follow, review! The next chapter called "Warriors" should be up hopefully tomorrow!