"Jack! There youse is!" Romeo exclaimed as Jack, Race, and Finch stepped through the door. "Ise saw youse leave, but ya never said where youse was goin'!"

"Where were you?" Henry asked.

"We was hangin' round Bronx, meeting their new leader, and let me tell ya," Race struck a match against his thumb nail, quickly lighting his cigar. "He's off his trolley!"

"What'd he do?" Albert asked, perking up.

"Do you mean before or after he threatened to kill us?" Race asked, leaning back in a chair next to Jojo.

"He threatened to kill you?" This time Buttons was looking up, shocked at the nonchalant attitude from Race.

"Five times, I counted," Finch added, holding up one hand, all fingers extended.

"Did ya tell him to leave us alone?" Tommy Boy asked from his seat next to Sniper.

"Youse bet I did," Jack said loudly. "I told him to stay outta 'Hattan or else!"

A cheer went up from the boys. Race shook his head as Jack put off telling the boys the bad news.

"So theyse gonna let us be?" Jojo asked excitedly, his eyes drifting to Mush, then Race.

"...Not exactly," Jack admitted.

"What do ya mean 'not exactly'?" Mike asked, stopping his celebration with Ike.

"Theyse ain't gonna leave us alone, unless we give 'em somthin' that I ain't willin' to give."

"What's so important that you ain't willin' to give it up?" Albert asked. "Your-"

"Manhattan." The boys all froze at this, Albert stopping mid-jab. "That good for nothin' filthy little-"

The boys watched, amused, as Jack gave Hook several new names.

"As much as I loves hearin' this, what was the point?" Elmer asked.

"He wants me to give him control of 'Hattan so he can ruin it, same he did Bronx."

"He didn't really ruin Bronx, there was never anything there to ruin in the first place!" Race grinned.

"Either way, he's got those boys out killin' kids who get on his bad side. I ain't gonna let none of youse work for him. So what do you guys think, do we let him waltz over here and push us around 'til he's got control of the place or is we gonna fight back?"

"Fight!" The boys shouted excitedly.

"Wese gonna soak 'em so bad, theyse gonna wish they was never born!" Albert yelled, receiving cheers of agreement. The boys were fired up and talking back and forth between each other. Jack took that as an opportunity to look around the room.

Albert, Elmer, and Finch were talking quickly, making fists and pretending to fight each other. Mike and Ike sat near Tommy Boy who had thrown something at Sniper's head. Race sat next to Buttons and across from Jojo, the boys laughing at whatever Race had just said. Finally his eyes landed on who he'd been looking for.

Crutchie stood at the edge of the room, staring at Jack with hurt in his eyes. Crutchie turned and limped out of the room, Jack following a few steps behind him.

"Crutch! Wait! What's wrong?" Jack asked. Thankfully Crutchie stopped, though he didn't turn to face Jack.

"Why didn't ya tell me youse was goin'?" He asked softly.

"Crutch, I didn't want youse to feel left out."

"So ya didn't tell me youse was goin' 'cause you was afraid I'd be upset? How'd you think I'd feel knowin' that my best friend, my brother, kept somethin' from me!"

Jack winced. He felt guilty now, but still didn't regret his choice. "If I told ya youse woulda wanted to come with us."

"Course I woulda! I can help too! Just cause I'm a cripple don't mean I can't do nothin'!"

"Don't call yourself that!" Jack said stepping in front of Crutchie so they could speak face to face.

"Don't change the subject," Crutchie countered quietly.

"Crutch, I know youse capable. Heck, you can probably do more than half o' the guys in this city can. I just didn't know nothin' bout what was goin' on in the Bronx and I wasn't goin' to risk youse gettin' hurt."

"Because I'm a cripple," Crutchie inferred.

"No! It had nothin' to do with ya leg!"

"It was all about my leg Jack. You would put Finch and Race in danger? Why would you risk them over me, 'cept because they could run if they needed to?"

Jack went silent, he had no other excuse. He hadn't brought Crutchie for the exact reasons Crutchie himself had just listed.

"Remember the strike, how you got caught and brought to the refuge?"

"Course Ise remember," Crutchie muttered, staring at the wall.

"Youse was lucky. They hurt youse, but these boys from the Bronx don't mess around. If you get caught, they'd have no problem beatin' ya to death."

"I know-"

"No, ya don't know. Crutch, it's bad enough me goin' there. When youse there, youse can only worry about yaself. There ain't no stop and go back for someone, if your buddy is caught, youse gotta leave."

"I don't see how this is any different from the strike. They beat me, and no one, includin' yaself, came back for me!"

"Look Crutch," Jack placed his hand on Crutchie's shoulder, but Crutchie shrugged it off. Jack frowned at him. "I don't have enough time to always check and make sure youse doin' okay! I didn't bring ya cause I didn't need to sit there worryin' about ya the whole time when Ise was s'posed to be talkin' to the boss!"

"Well I'm sorry that Ise such an inconvenience," Crutchie glared, turning around and heading back to the boys.

Jack stared, watching him go, then ripped his hat off, punching the wall. He stormed up the stairs, headed for the roof, cradling his hand.

***

Race was seated at the table, smoking a cigar and listening to Finch talk about Hook to the other boys. He had his legs propped up on Buttons' lap. The boy had shot him a glare, but hadn't done anything to move the boots that rested across his knees.

"Any o' you seen Specs?" He asked suddenly, Hook's threat popping back into his mind.

"Not for an hour or two," Ike replied.

Finch looked up as he too remembered what the boy had said. "Wese gotta find 'im!" Finch ran out the door and the boys heard a crash as he rushed down the hallway.

Albert and Romeo poked their heads into the hallway to find Finch sprawled out on top of Specs.

"Specs! Youse alright!" Finch exclaimed, propping himself up on his elbows. "Wait, youse fine, you ain't soaked!"

"I didn't know I was s'posed to be," Specs answered, glancing from Finch to Romeo and Albert in confusion. Albert shrugged and Romeo stepped forward, pulling Finch up by his elbow.

"Why'd you want Specs to be soaked so bad?" Romeo asked as Finch brushed his shirt off.

"I didn't, but Hook said that he had some boys after ya!"

"Hook?"

"We'll explain later," Romeo said.

"I was only down the street! How'd I miss so much?"

"Ya didn't miss nothin'," Albert complained. "I'm the one who missed all the fun, like I usually do."

"Ah, stop your bawlin'!" Finch rolled his eyes, pushing past them back into the makeshift sitting room.

"Who asked you?" Albert glared, giving Finch a small shove.

***

A few days had passed since the meeting and Davey was worried for his friends. Only a few had gotten into fights, and those were small scrapes at the most, but the threats he'd heard about took up most of the space in his mind.

Davey no longer let Les out of his sight when they were outside and his family had noticed.

"Son, Les only needs one mother!" His father had laughed one day when they walked through the streets together, after Davey had tried to convince Les to hold onto his sleeve.

On another occasion he'd been scolding Les for disappearing for a couple of minutes. His mother had laughed, straightening his shirt and said, "David, what am I supposed to do all day, with you doing one of my jobs?"

He couldn't help it, his parents had no idea of the danger that Les could be in. He'd considered telling them a few times, but was worried they wouldn't allow him to sell anymore, and then they'd run out of money.

That day he almost changed his mind.

Davey hadn't actually seen Henry, but as all the boys headed to Jacobi's, Les had told him about how the boy had come in, his face and arms covered in scratches.

At that time, the injured boy was less of a concern to Davey since after telling the story Les had asked his brother what a brothel was, prompted by Albert making a joke about the origin of the scratches.

While Davey was glad they could laugh off the scuffles, he didn't find anything funny about the growing frequency of the attacks.

He slowly sipped his water as he sat quietly on the edge of the group.

"Hey Dave! What's got you so down?" Romeo had sat down beside him and was finally paying attention to his silent friend. "Do youse feel sick?"

"No, I'm not sick."

"I see... So it's a girl that's got ya mopin'!"

"No, I don't got-have... There's no girl," Davey finished.

"So the problem is that there's no girl. Don't worry Davey! I know plenty! I'll introduce ya to one of 'em!" Romeo winked and nudged Davey with his elbow.

Davey turned pink and shook his head. "It's nothing to do with a girl. It's about what's been goin' on."

"...What about it?"

"I've got a bad feeling about all of this... I'm thinking about telling my parents."

"No!" Romeo exclaimed. "Whatever ya do, don't do that!"

"Why not? Maybe they can help..."

"By doin' what? Callin' the bulls? Youse saw how well that worked out for us durin' the strike!"

"I know, but they're my parents. They should know."

"No one else has said nothin' to their folks. Henry visits his mother every Sunday, he ain't breathed a word to her. If youse told your parents, they'd only worry about ya! You can't tell 'em! Promise me you won't!" Romeo was serious, one of the few times Davey had seen him this way.

"I don't know Romeo..."

"Don't youse believe that us standin' up for ourselves is the right thing to do?"

"Of course. We can't just let them walk all over us," Davey agreed.

"The bulls ain't gonna see it that way. All theyse gonna see is all the little street rats causin' problems."

Davey watched the boy for a minute. Romeo had a point. Besides, Davey had grown closer to the boys since the strike and he didn't want any of his new friends getting in trouble for defending themselves.

"I won't tell my parents, just as long as Les doesn't get hurt."

"We ain't gonna let Les get hurt," Romeo scoffed. "Now get over here and have some fun."

Romeo dragged Davey over one of the bigger groups that included an angry Albert and a smirking Race. Davey quickly joined in with the boys, fitting in as easily as he could, having been raised so differently.

The bad feeling slowly slipped away from Davey, him forgetting that anything bad had happened recently, until the bell rang as Specs brought in Henry, whos scratches were sort of bandaged.

But Davey remembered his promise and intended to keep it. At dinner that night in the Jacobs home, the four members of the family gathered at the table, talking as they ate.

"How was your day, boys?" Mrs. Jacobs asked with a happy look towards her sons. "Anything exciting happen?"

Les' face lit up, but before he could say anything Davey stepped on his toe. Les winced and almost spit out his soup in surprise.

"It was fine, no different than yesterday," Davey spoke in a tired tone.

"Well I hope tomorrow is more interesting for you," Mrs. Jacobs said with a smile.

"I sure hope not," Davey mumbled.

"What was that, Dave?" His father asked.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything."

***

Sorry that was short and pretty much a filler. But I did throw in a reference, I'm hoping you guys caught it...

Also, updates may become less frequent. I leave for vacation in Europe one week from today. While I'm there I won't have time to write, so I'm going to spend this week getting as much written as possible. Then when I'm in Europe I'll just edit and publish before bed so I won't leave you guys two weeks with no updates. Hope that's okay!!!

Thanks for reading!
-Anna