(A/N: Yikes, this chapter is really long and really rushed, but have fun. I really don't like this chapter for some reason, but I hope it's enough for y'all)

The sun shined slowly crawled into the sky, shining on Y/N's eyes and effectively waking her up. She felt fine, much better than before, and found that she could fall back asleep. She climbed out of bed and quietly made her way down the long hallway of beds and to the entryway of the room, entertained by the golden color the sun castes across the room.

"Good to see ya alive, kid," Jack cheerily said, gently patting her shoulder. She looked up and grinned at him. Y/N hated to admit it, but she had grown quite fond of Jack Kelly and regarded him as an almost big brother.

"Nice to see you too, Jack," she replied, slightly giggling as he started yelling and shaking some of the boys to wake them all up. Within five minutes, they were all running out of the door, going out to their newspapers. Y/N had no idea how all the yelling and stomping had not woken her up before, because it was deafening.

As the boys ran by, some of smiled or winked at her, and she smiled warmly at everybody passing. "Mornin', miss Y/N," Crutchie said, tipping his hat as he hobbled by. "Good morning, Crutchie," she softly replied.

Once all of the newsies were gone, the now empty room was quiet again. Y/N made her way over to her sleeping little sisters, sitting on the bed next to them. She lovingly watched their peaceful, tired faces and how tranquil they looked for in their slumber. She sat there and watched over them until they woke up.

"Morning, you two," she spoke, brushing Sue's messy hair away from her face. She helped them get washed up and dressed, and soon they were all standing, ready for anything. "So, are we all hungry?" she inquired, which was met with eager nods. "C'mon, let's go explore."

So that morning they went out and explore. Y/N bought them a big load of bread, and they went to the park and ate their breakfast. After eating, the trio walked around the area, enjoying the fresh air and freedom.

They also ran into the occasional newsie. At one point, Y/N was walking down the street when suddenly Beth yelled, "Specs!" and the two little girls took off running down the street. Y/N almost had a heart attack, and when she finally caught up she saw her sisters clinging to some boy with glasses. She recognized him as the newsie her sisters were playing with the other night, and gave him an apologetic smile. "They really like you," she told him.

"I guess they do. But it's nice, I'm not used to being liked by girls," he replied, glancing at the little girls before looking back up and extending his hand. "You must be Y/N. I'm Specs."

Y/N shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Specs. Thank you for being so nice to my sisters." He shook his head and humbly responded, "Aw, it's nothing." "I, out of everybody, know my sisters the best and I know it's not. So thank you. I'll see if I can pry them off of you now."

She did manage to free the poor boy from grip of Beth and Sue, after much negotiating and assuring that they'll seem him again soon.

The three enjoyed wandering around so much that they lost track of time. Soon, the entire city glowed with a fiery orange light, and Y/N knew it was time to return to lodging house. She lead the girls in that direction, but the two tired, grumpy kids passed took up most of her attention. She didn't notice the two shady looking boys following her closely, and was shocked when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into a narrow alleyway.

She looked up and saw some boy, probably a few years older than her holding Y/N by her arm. Another boy behind him held the very frightened Sue and Beth. "C'mon, hand it over," the boy who held Y/N ordered.

"H-hand over what?" she asked, scowling in attempt to fake bravery. "Your money. Hurry up already," he growled impatiently. Y/N wasn't about to hand over the only money she had left, especially if she had a big chance to escape unharmed, so she lied and said, "I don't have any money."

He turned towards the boy behind that held the two little girls and said, "Abe, search her." He released Sue and Beth and stepped towards Y/N. She wasn't about to let some thug feel her down, so once she saw the opportunity to escape she jumped on it. Squirming free from the boy's grip, she swung her good arm at his face, sending him reeling back a few paces. She tried to run to her sisters but Abe pushed her back into the wall. "Run!" she managed to scream at her sisters before the boy covered her mouth with his hand. They ran to the wall, but the other boy grabbed them before they could get away.  She tried to bite the hand that was over her mouth, but nothing helped. Y/N was trapped.

"Hey! You get ya 'ands off her!" somebody shouted. Y/N turned to see Crutchie rushing over, before swinging a fist at the boy held Y/N. For being much small than Abe, Crutchie sure threw a good punch. The boy who had the two little girls released them, and they cowered away from the fight. The boy grabbed Crutchie's crutch and shoved him to the ground. "Stupid crip," he said, before turning back to Y/N.

She felt the rage boil up inside her, and suddenly everything seemed to suddenly move in slow motion. She punched the creep in the face as hard as she could, them swiftly picked the crutch off the ground and swung it as hard as she could at the other boy.

Snap

The crutch was on the ground, broken in two pieces, and the boy was on the ground gripping his side. Y/N shivered and her eyes widened in shock. She had no idea what came over her. The other's seemed in shock too, that is until the boy that was not Abe turned to her and growled, "Are you insane?!" He leapt towards her ready to attack when suddenly somebody started yelling, "What's with all the racket down there?!"

The two boys jumped up and scurried off right when a window flew open a few stories up and a grumpy looking lady stuck her head out. "What're you kids doing down there?" she shouted at Y/N. "Oh, um, I'm sorry ma'am, we're just leaving now!" The woman grumbled some content but annoyed noise and her head disappeared back through the window.

Y/N's hands were shaking uncontrollably as gingerly felt her bruised shoulder. She picked up the two pieces of the former crutch and helped Crutchie to his feet. "Are you okay?" she shakily asked. "Yeah, yeah, are you?" he asked. She let him lean on her arm, and she took a shaky breath. "I'm f-fine. Come one, let's go home."

So they all slowly made their way home, which took quite a long time because of their circumstances. They silently made their way up the stairs into the noisy bedroom of the lodging house. Jack and Davey were laughing about something but that look was wiped off their face as soon as they turned their heads and saw the condition of the four.

"What happened to you guys?" Jack asked as Y/N carefully helped Crutchie sit down on a bed and then sat down herself. Y/N's hands were still shaking as she pulled the broken crutch out from under her arm. "I-I, um, I broke Crutchie's crutch."

"You what?!" Jacked exclaimed as he rushed over with Davey. All of the boys turned at looked at Y/N, listening intently. "I w-was almost m-mugged by, uh, these two b-boys..." she softly explained, looking down at the floor and trying to catch her breath.

"You should 'ave seen 'er! Y/N soaked them so good they didn't know which way's up!" Crutchie excitedly exclaimed. "Oh, Crutchie, I wasn't that gr-great." "Nah, you were amazing!" He launches himself until the story about how Y/N saved both of them while she just sat there, feeling proud but blushing from all the attention.

Beth and Sue had already crawled into the bed in the corner of the room and fallen asleep, so Y/N focused on their small sleeping figures to calm down. She handed the broken crutch to Jack, where he examined it with awe. "You really did break this thing," he said. "I guess we better go get you a new crutch," he said to Crutchie.

They stood up, Crutchie leaning on Jack to support. "Y/N, we was planning to go to Medda's tonight afte' work. Yous wanna come?" Crutchie asked her. The other boys were already rushing out of the room, laughing and shouting in excitement. "No thanks, I'll stay here," she said, smiling at him.

Once she thought she was alone, Y/N broke. No tears, but the feelings of anxiety and fear were so overwhelming that she broke down, shaking and gasping for air. She jumped when suddenly somebody sat down next to her. He hesitantly wrapped his arm around her in a half-hug, and Y/N practically melted into him, shaking and shivering in Davey's arms.

They sat for a long time until Y/N started calming down. "H-how're you feeling?" Davey gently asked. "I-I-I...I d-don't kn-know," she meekly whispered, not daring to move. "Th-that's okay, you don't, um, you don't have to know."

The two sat like that for a long time, neither person saying anything a neither of them wanting to break apart the embrace. Y/N felt so scared, so vulnerable, and all of the bottled up emotion she had inside came pouring out. She had been holding it all in since she was surrounded by strangers. She trusted the boys, but still, she was cautious.

But she felt secure when she was next to Davey. Not really happy, but just safe. The sadness and anxiety didn't go away, but at least now they weren't too overwhelming, and she didn't feel so fearful. Y/N wished she could just sit like that forever, safe in Davey's arms.