Disclaimer: This is a non-commercial work of fanfiction. Anything recognizable from Newsies belongs to Disney and not to me.


Chapter 2: The Landlord's Daughter

"Ow, Les! Have a care, will you?" David winced in pain as his younger brother inadvertently set a large box down on his foot.

"Sorry David," Les apologized, quickly pulling the box back a few feet.

It had likely been an honest mistake; the apartment was still a disorganized mess, and it was difficult under the circumstances to find any unoccupied floor space.

The last few days had been busy ones for the Jacobs family. The move into the tenement had gone smoothly enough, and thankfully the apartment had been spotless upon their arrival, but there was, of course, a welter of tasks to attend to: furniture to situate, dishes to unpack and reorganize, food to restock. It was rather disorienting to try to fit the everyday objects that made up one's life into a new and unfamiliar space, no matter how many times one had done it before.

This afternoon, Les was moving boxes here and there around the apartment while David folded the basket of laundry that had been brought down from the clothesline on the rooftop. It was absent-minded work, and he actually didn't mind it; it helped keep his mind off of the nervous feeling that had settled in his stomach ever since his family had arrived in Manhattan.

His anxiousness would hopefully simmer down once he and Les started school - then, there would be a routine to each day, the possibility of new friends to make (assuming that all went well), and at the very least, a regular schedule of scholastic tasks to keep his mind busy. But it would likely be several days before the family was settled enough to allow for this to happen.

Until then, he was left to ruminate and brood.

He had nearly finished folding the pile of laundry when his mother came in the door, having returned from an errand.

"David," she said, holding up a paper-wrapped package, "do you know anything about this?"

Confused, he finished folding the garment in his hands, then walked over to examine the object that his mother was holding out to him.

"I wasn't expecting anything," he said, bewildered as he opened the package to reveal a plaid work shirt.

As he lifted it up for examination, a slip of paper fluttered to the floor, and he stooped to pick it up, the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fitting together as he read the note written in an unfamiliar hand:

Please accept my apologies for the accident last week involving the paint. I hope that you will accept this replacement as a token of my sincere desire to make amends. I procured the measurements from your shirt on the clothesline, but if the fit isn't right, let me know. I work for a tailor and can take care of any necessary alterations.

-Sadie Becker

"Well, that certainly was thoughtful of her," his mother remarked, reading over his shoulder.

"Yeah...it was." David put the note on the table, examining the shirt again. The white band collar made it more casual than what he normally wore to school, and he didn't think that blue was really his color, but the garment was well-made and new, and it looked like it would fit.

He was surprised that the girl - Sadie - had thought to replace his paint-stained shirt. Even though she'd clearly been sorry for the mishap, he hadn't missed the merriment in her eyes, or her poorly-concealed amusement at his predicament. It had miffed him somewhat, but he hadn't been petty enough to press the issue, especially not with the landlord's daughter. Instead, he'd stiffly brushed off her apology and then had taken his leave, secretly thinking that she was a rather careless girl and hoping that he wouldn't have any run-ins with her in the future.

But she had surprised him. And now, he supposed that he would have to see her again...to thank her for the shirt, if nothing else.

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, David went back to sorting the laundry.


Surprisingly, it was nearly a week before the two of them crossed paths. David tried in vain to visit the landlord's office in an effort to catch Sadie, but she was never there when he stopped by, and it felt overly-familiar to knock on the door of the Becker apartment. A note seemed too impersonal, so he uneasily let the situation be.

The work shirt turned out to be comfortable and an accurate fit, and David found himself wearing it more often than he'd expected, especially on the days when his mother needed him to run errands since the formality of school attire wasn't necessary.

It was on one such a day that he was making his way back to the tenement from the grocer's, burdened with several heavy bags of produce. He had stopped briefly to re-adjust the weight of them on his shoulders when he heard a voice behind him remark playfully,

"Blue's a good color on you."

David turned in surprise to see Sadie Becker perusing him (or, more accurately, his shirt) with an approving smile. "And it looks like I wasn't too off in my measurements, either," she added.

"The fit was perfect," David replied, a little taken aback by her friendliness but eager to clear the air if she was.

With another easy smile, the girl extended her hand. "We didn't get off to a good start, and it was my fault. I hope that you'll give me another chance…"

"David," he finished, shaking her proffered hand. "Thank you for the new shirt. You didn't have to do that, you know."

"Oh, but I did," Sadie demurred. Before David could reply, she motioned to the bags of groceries. "Are you on your way back home? Let me help you with that."

"Oh, no, that's all right," David protested. "I - " But Sadie had already taken one of the bags from his hands, and he found himself quickly shouldering the rest and walking along beside her towards the tenement.

"So, will you be starting at school soon?" Sadie asked conversationally.

"I hope so," David sighed. "It's just been too busy - my dad started a new job, so he's been working long hours, and my brother and I have had to help our mom out more. It might be a while before things settle down enough for us to get away."

"Don't worry, you're not missing much," Sadie consoled him. "I actually find our lessons and our schoolmaster quite tedious."

David fell silent, unsure of what to say in response to her flippant remark and quietly agonizing over how to convey his differing opinion on scholastic endeavors without offending her. Sadie seemed unruffled by his lack of an answer, however, and before he could think of something suitable to say, they arrived at the tenement, climbing the stairs to the Jacobses' apartment on the second floor.

David opened the door, ushering Sadie inside and catching the attention of his mother who was at the sink in the middle of scrubbing a bowl of potatoes clean. Les was shelling peas at the kitchen table.

"Sadie, this is my mom and my little brother Les. Mom, Les - this is Mr. Becker's daughter, Sadie."

"You mean the girl who ruined your favorite shirt?" Les asked, looking up from the peas and staring at Sadie curiously. David winced in embarrassment, and Esther quickly hushed the younger boy, but to their surprise, Sadie laughed.

"Yes, that's me, I'm afraid," she admitted, sounding both amused and a little self-conscious. "The mishap probably could have been avoided if I'd listened to David's advice about getting a ladder." She gave Les a slightly teasing smile. "I'm sure you're much smarter than me. You must follow his advice all the time."

Les snorted. "Hardly! I'd never have any fun if I did."

Esther shook her head, her expression one of mixed exasperation and fondness. "I apologize, Sadie, for Les' cheekiness, but it's lovely to meet you. And it was very kind of you to replace David's shirt. I've always thought that blue was an agreeable color on him."

Unhappy to find himself the subject of discussion, David quickly broke in. "Here are the groceries, Mom." He set his bags down, taking the one from Sadie with a quiet word of thanks. "I'll leave the change on the table."

"Would you like to stay for dinner, Sadie?" Esther asked. "It's the least that I can do when my son has made you trudge all the way here, carrying our groceries like a pack mule."

David made a sound of protest. "I didn't - I wouldn't -" He glanced helplessly at Sadie, who let him flounder a bit before replying.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Jacobs, but I actually have to get back home. Perhaps another time, though? I'm sure you're a wonderful cook."

"Of course. Come by any time," Esther said with a smile.

Reiterating her thanks, Sadie turned to the boy at the table.

"Goodbye, Les," she said. "It was nice to meet you, and it's certainly a relief to know that I'm not the only one around here who doesn't listen to David's good advice." She winked at the aforementioned boy before giving Les a conspiratorial half-smile. "I'll see you around."

"See you around, Sadie," Les replied with a grin. As the door clicked closed behind her, he turned to his brother. "I like her," he declared. "You ought to bring her around more often."

"If you like her so much, why don't you bring her around yourself?" David asked, a bit peevishly. He felt irrationally discomfited and couldn't pinpoint why. There was something about Sadie's easy, familiar manner that threw him off balance.

It wasn't exactly an unpleasant feeling...but he disliked it all the same.


A/N: Let this chapter be proof positive that a backstory can be developed for anything, including Davey's Act 2 shirt. Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought!