Post-Strike AU. Aly/Dew Drop belongs to heythatsmycigar18. She is not my own. :) Aly is also going to be a permanent character in this book but her love interest is gonna be with Aly in some AUs and an OC that I have in others (that's not really an OC because this character was mentioned in another oneshot in this book and she's actually a character in another fandom but I'm kind of adapting her to be an OC in this book. It's confusing but it works, I promise.) Falcon belongs to Runner_Weirdo, Katie belongs to BeckyMerari1909, and Pups belong to 23gatkins.  I don't own them. Flavi and Elley are mine.

Aly James races through an alleyway to the circulation gate just in time for the evening edition.

Until she runs straight into someone or something.

"Hey! What...?" A voice that only kind of has a New York accent calls out and Aly stumbles back against one of the brick buildings in the alleyway.

"Sorry!" she calls out in her best impersonation of a Newsie accent that she can muster. Everything in her schooling screams at her not to.

"Who are you?" the boy asks, taking of his Newsie cap and running a hand through his dark hair, "I've never seen you before. And your accent doesn't really sound much like a Newsie's. Which is saying something because I only can kind of do the accent."

"I'm Dew Drop but you can call me Dew. I just started selling papes shortly after the strike. I would've done it sooner but my father didn't want me getting hurt," Aly answers, "Who are you? I've seen you around before but never met you."

"I'm David Jacobs but the boys call me Davey or The Walking Mouth," the boy answers, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Something that Aly finds very cute.

"You were involved in the strike, weren't you?" Aly asks, realizing that the name sounds familiar.

"Yeah, I was one of the leaders. It was...an exciting time. It was hard because I was trying to provide for my family and keep my brother safe and...Les!" Davey cries out mid conversation.

"Who's Les?" Aly asks, slightly concerned.

"Les is my younger brother and he and Boots decided to have a race around the block but they got a little carried away and ran off the 'course' that they had made up," Davey explains, "I've got to go find them before something bad happens."

"Can I come help?" Aly asks.

"You're more than welcome to but I'm not sure we're gonna make it out of here without any bruises," Davey says giving a brief shudder, "It'll be worse if the boys get any though." Without another word, they take off running. Aly struggles to keep up with Davey as he weaves his way through the streets calling for the two boys. At one point, the two of them dart out into the open on a busy street.

Right across from The World  where Aly works as a reporter....

For her father...Joseph Pulitzer.

A man is standing up on the ledge high above the street, writing the headlines for the evening edition and a group of boys wait down below. Boys who Aly has seen before but has done her best to distance herself from. She doesn't want to reveal her true identity to anyone because it could land her in trouble. She usually shows up later and buys the evening edition once a bunch of the other boys have gone.

Aly spots Jack Kelly, another boy that she recognizes because her older sister, Katherine is dating him. Katherine claims that she's levelheaded and for the most part, she is....until she starts talking about Jack Kelly. Aly has yet to meet Jack in person but she's seen him in the office from time to time. Katherine has only been seeing Jack since the strike ended just a couple of months ago.

Aly freezes from across the street and Davey shoots her a worried look.

"Is there something wrong?" Davey asks. Aly shakes her head and breaks out of her thoughts.

"No! Of course not," she says quickly to cover up any concern that she has had, "I just....got lost in my thoughts. I've never met you and the other boys before. I've seen you but I've never met you and it just is making me a bit nervous."

"That's understandable. I won't let anything happen to you. Trust me. These boys can be a lot but I'll be here to help you out," Davey says as he leads her over to the group of boys.

"Davey!" a younger boy cries out and runs forward, "You won't believe it!!! I won!! I  won I won I won!!" Davey breathes a huge sigh of relief and hugs the boy tightly.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright. Mama would have killed me if you hadn't been," Davey exclaims.

"But Davey! I won!" the boy exclaims and then he catches sight of Aly, "Who's she? Is she a new kid?"

"Umm...sort of," Aly states but the younger boy runs off into the crowd of boys to go get someone before she can finish explaining her situation.

"That's Les," Davey says matter of factly and Aly nods.

"I can see that. He certainly has a lot of energy," she replies. A few minutes later, Les comes back with another boy in tow.

"Jack! You gotta meet this new kid. Her name's...what's is your name, new kid?" Les asks.

"Les!" Davey exclaims.

"It's alright, Davey," Aly reassures him, "My name's Dew Drop, but you can call me Dew if you like."

"I'm Les! And this is the famous Jack Kelly!" Les introduces.

"Pleased to meet you," Aly says and Jack nods.

"The pleasure is all mine," he says before spitting into his hand and offering it to her to shake. He watches with a raised eyebrow as she moves back slightly. Without waiting another second, she spits into her hand and returns the favor.

"I still think that's disgusting," Davey says as his nose wrinkles up.

"It's...interesting. I'se new and never done that before," Aly says, still trying to perfect the Newsie accent.

"Yeah, you and your accent," Jack answers, "Let me guess. You ain't always been a street kid?"

"My parents had money once but we lost it all," she answers, "I had some schooling but it don't mean that I ain't no street kid." Jack merely shrugs and raises his hands up as if to say that he surrenders. Davey looks at her in awe.

"You're a lot like me then," he breathes out softly, "I went to school but then my father got injured and I had to go work as a Newsie." 

"Yeah, guess I am," Aly lies through her teeth. It pains her slightly to lie to him but at the same time, she's just doing it to keep all of her jobs and her family intact.

"Well, we gotta introduce her to everybody else, Davey!! Wouldn't she like Flavi, Katie, Pups, Falcon and Elley?" asks Les.

"Oh yeah, the girls always like to meet others. They're uh....Dave, what's that kinda big word that starts with a 'd'? Dropsticly?" Jack asks when he can't find the word.

"Drastically?" Davey asks in response.

"Yeah that!" Jack answers excitedly, "The girls are drastically outnumbered so they always like it when another girl comes along." He turns in the direction that the rest of the Newsies are in before shouting, "Ells! Get over here!"

A young dark haired girl with small streaks of brown in her hair races forward.

"Heya!" she exclaims when she sees Aly, "I take it Jack wants to introduce us. I'm Elley Kelly, this bummer's little sister." She elbows Jack gently as she says this.

"Ells?" A voice calls out through the crowd, "Where'd ya go? We'se ain't done talking yet!" A very attractive looking boy comes to stand next to Elley and he stops in his tracks.

"I'm talking to...? What's your name?" Elley asks, realizing her mistake in getting so carried away.

"Dew Drop, or you can call me Dew," Aly answers.

"Nice to meet you!! This boy who I'm positive has mush for a brain, is Mush," Elley replies and the boy next to her smiles and waves.

"Please to meet ya!" he says.

"There's some other girls around that you might get to meet later," Elley says, "But they're busy. Ya got a selling partner?"

"I was gonna ask her if she wanted to sell with me," Davey speaks up and Elley's eyebrows raise.

"Well....interesting idea, Mouth. I'm surprised you want to sell with someone who ain't my brother," she says teasingly.

"I've gotten considerably more confident in my paper selling skills since the strike happened," Davey defends himself.

"Papes, Davey. They's called papes," Elley corrects him. He sighs and rolls his eyes. "So, you're feeling confident enough to take a new Newsie with you?"

"I'm not new," Aly says, "I'm just new to the group. I've been selling ever since the strike ended. My father didn't want me to get involved in the strike and I've been a bit apprehensive to join the group."

"Apprehensive. Ain't dat a big word..." Jack mutters, "Ya know, you and Mouth are gonna get along real well. He helps me come up with big words when I can't think of em."

"I've noticed," Aly replies without missing a beat, "Why don't ya call him Book Brains instead of The Walking Mouth?"

"Because....his Newsie name was one that we came up with during our strikin days," Jack explains, "That and Book Brains don't fit."

"So, Davey," Mush starts with a slightly devious grin on his face, "How come you was gonna ask Dew here to sell papes with ya?"

"We ran into each other in the alley," Davey explains, "Just a few minutes go. Some of you can be a bit much and Dew Drop seemed like she needed someone a little more.....relaxed."

"Some of us?" some of the nearby boys ask but before the situation can escalate further, the circulation bell rings and the gates swing open. The sea of Newsies parts to allow Jack to walk through and up to the front of the line. Davey gestures Aly forward and she gets in line. Les comes bounding up to his brother.

"Can I please sell with Boots and Dutchy today? Please? Dutchy says I can," Les begs and both Aly and Davey chuckle.

"As long as you're home by sundown," Davey says, "And you stay very close to Dutchy. And you do everything he tells you to. And you have him walk you home. You also need to stay with Boots. Don't talk to strangers more than necessary. Stay out of bad parts of town unless Dutchy's with you." Les stares at him dumbfounded.

"Anything else?" he asks. Davey sighs and shakes his head before turning back to Aly and buying papes. Les goes off to find Dutchy and Boots to sell with them.

"I'm assuming you know how this works?" he confirms and Aly nods her head in reply.

"Of course. I'm not new to being a Newsie," she says. She and Davey buy a hundred papes each and then hit the streets.  "You got a favorite selling spot?" she asks him.

"I don't but I like to sell near this little bookstore on a street not too far from here. We could start there," he suggests, "Unless you have a place you like to sell?"

"Why don't we start there and then I could show ya my favorite selling spot if we don't get much business?" she asks and Davey nods. The two walk down the street in silence as the sun slowly starts to set over the tall buildings of the city. They stand a few feet away from each other and start shouting headlines. Davey gawks at Aly's abilities to make up headline so quickly.

After a couple of hours, they decide to walk over to Central Park to see what papes they can sell. The sun continues to set as all kinds of people take evening walks in the park. Aly starts shouting ridiculous headlines once again and Davey approaches her.

"How are you so good at coming up with headlines like this?" he asks, "I'm terrible at it. I've been at this for a few months."

"Well so have I," Aly continues, "I just have a knack for making up these kinds of things."

"Yeah, but these are kinda like ones people who write stuff for the newspapers would come up with but better...."Davey says. Aly steps away and starts shouting headlines about some child's toy getting stuck in a drain and flooding an entire neighborhood. A young man, who she recognizes from The World, steps up to buy the paper.

"Aly?" the boy asks as she sells him the pape, "Is that you? It's Leo from The World."

"I uh...think ya got me mixed up with someone else," Aly says, "Never heard of an Aly. My name's Dew Drop."

"You look a lot like someone I work with," Leo goes on and Aly tries not to stiffen. He knows who she is. She has to get away.

"Well, I work for The World  but I work out here. Air's better, nicer views, breaks whenever ya want...." she says and Leo eyes her suspiciously.

"Whatever you say," he concludes after a minute, "But I'll ask my friend Aly at The World  about this some time. Have a good night, Dew Drop."

As soon as he's gone, Aly rushes over to Davey.

"We need to leave," she says.

"What? Why? We both still have a few more papes to sell," Davey pleads but Aly shakes her head. There's no way she can stay around here.

"Is there somewhere a little more private we can go? I uh...saw somebody I wasn't comfortable with here," Aly tries to lie. Davey raises an eyebrow at her suspiciously.

"Okay...whatever you say. My family should be getting ready to eat dinner. We can take the long way to my family's apartment and sell the rest of our papes on the way," he decides. The two of them start to walk away from Central Park and sell their papers as they go along. They run out of papes shortly before they reach the Jacob's apartment and Davey starts walking faster. The two of them enter a slightly rundown tenement building and approach a door. Davey knocks three times and then opens it.

"Davey!" a young woman with light brown hair says as they enter. She hugs him tightly and smiles at him, "I'm so glad you're home."

"It's good to be home," Davey says, "This is Dew Drop. She's a Newsie who just started selling shortly after the strike ended. I ran into her in an alleyway when I was looking for Les."

"Pleased to meet ya," Aly says with her accent.

"Your accent's easier to understand then some of the other Newsies," Sarah comments.

"Yeah...I went to school for a bit before I became a Newsie," Aly says hesitantly. Les comes running out from a back room in the apartment followed by an older woman.

"Les! I wasn't finished drying your..." she starts but stops when she sees Aly, "David, you didn't tell me you were bringing a guest."

"I didn't know I was bringing a guest home tonight," Davey explains, "This is Dew Drop."

"Any friend of David's is welcome in this home," the older woman says, "I'm Esther Jacobs. Welcome to our home."

"Thank you," Aly says kindly and Les smiles up at her, dressed in some clean white pajamas.

"Hiya, Dew! You staying for dinner?" he asks.

"If it's alright with your folks. I certainly wouldn't mind," she replies amicably.

"You are more than welcome to stay for dinner," Esther says pleasantly before turning her head and calling into another room, "Mayer!"

A man comes out from a different backroom with a soft smile on his face.

"Hello, David!" he calls out.

"Hi, Papa. This is Dew Drop. She's a Newsie I met today. She's staying for dinner if that's alright with you," Davey says.

"Oh of course. I'm afraid we don't have much but Newsies are accustomed to such conditions if you understand what I mean," Mayer Jacobs says. Aly nods her head.

"I'd be thrilled to eat whatever you are serving," she says. The family sits down and eats dinner. Aly eats the soup that Esther has made with pleasure. There's something quite comforting about eating a simpler dinner than she's used to having. Hopefully her parents will think she went out with one of the sons of her father's newspaper friends.

"Did ya sell a lot of papes with Dew today, Davey? Is she good at selling?" Les asks excitedly over the meal.

"She is pretty good at selling papes but her headlines sound more like ones that they would come up with in the office except they're a bit...splashier," Davey describes.

"I have some friends who work in the pape business," Aly explains, "I've learned to know what makes for a good headline and how to spice it up a little bit."

"Can I sell with you two tomorrow?" Les asks.

"Sure," Aly says right as Davey says,

"I don't know. Dew Drop and I were having fun with it being just the two of us."

"David!" Esther says, "You need to look after your brother."

"He does, Mrs. Jacobs. You won't have to worry about that," Aly says, "I almost would think he's a mother with the way he worries over Les." Davey shoots Aly a look and Aly bites her bottom lip. "Sorry, I may have went too far," she says. She scoops some more soup into her mouth wishing that she hadn't been quite so candid.

The rest of the meal continues on with pleasant conversation. Aly observes the family's dynamics as they interact and eat together. She sits quietly, pleased to see a family that gets along so well. Her family dinners are usually about some topic in regards to the city or the family that either makes someone angry or everyone very uncomfortable or both. Once the meal is finished, darkness has set upon the city. She is sitting around and chatting about her life before the Newsies with Sarah and Davey when she notices the small clock on the wall and realizes how late it is.

"Oh! I didn't realize how late it was getting. My pa's not gonna be happy with me," she gasps.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you and get you into trouble," Davey apologizes.

"Ain't your fault," Aly says, "It's my fault for not keeping track of the time or telling you that I had a curfew. Guess you forget when you're having fun."

"Guess so," Davey agrees.

"I know I definitely do," Sarah adds, "Especially when I hang out with the Newsies at the Lodging House."

"You mean with a certain Newsie???" Les asks and Sarah rolls her eyes.

"Les...." she says, "There's so many of them. How could you possibly know which one it could be?"

"Well...the current one is Finch," Les says. Aly raises her eyebrows.

"Haven't met him," she says, before stealing a glance at Davey and thinking that maybe she has all that she needs right in front of her.

"Anyways...if Dew Drop needs to be going, then I should get her home," Davey explains, "I'll see you guys when I get back."

"Thank you for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs. It was a pleasure meeting all of you," Aly says in gratitude. Davey escorts her out the door and the two of them walk down and out to the street. 

"It was really nice having you stay for dinner. I think my family liked you," Davey says, "Even though, they're not necessarily used to Newsies." Aly laughs lightly as they start to walk.

"Yeah....my home is in a nicer part of town. We were able to keep our house," Aly says, "Despite everything else that happened in my family." 

"Oh...that's interesting," Davey remarks. The two of them begin walking and they chat lightly about various topics such as the strike and Davey's involvement in it. They eventually wander to the nicer part of town with Aly leading the way. Aly stops in front of a nicer apartment building.

"This is where I live," she says.

"Wait! Don't you want someone to walk up with you to the door? You know...just to make sure you get in okay?" Davey asks.

"You really are The Walking Mouth. You just never quit talking," Aly says teasingly.

"Hey! I'm just trying to look out for you," Davey defends.

"Alright alright," Aly says as she chuckles, "You're more than welcome to come up with me, Davey."

The two Newsies walk up the stairs side by side, their shoulders occasionally bumping into each other, causing the two of them to jump apart as though they had been shocked. Aly leads them up in front of a door and she grins.

"This is my apartment. I'll see you tomorrow evening?" she asks, "At the circulation gate?"

"Absolutely," Davey says, "Rest well. See you tomorrow. Carryin the banner!" Aly chuckles at the phrase. She watches Davey leave the apartment before she raps lightly on the door.

"Kath? It's Aly! Can you please let me in?" she calls out. The door swings open and Katherine Pulitzer stands on the other side.

"Father isn't going to be happy with you," she says, "I'm not sure we're gonna be able to get all of that dirt off your face before you have to go in tomorrow."

"It's not my fault that the city streets are dirty," Aly quips back sassily.

"No, but you should just stay home or here in the evenings," Katherine replies, "Although, if you had to pick a Newsie to fall for, Davey is a good one."

"Who said I was falling for anybody?" Aly asks with a surprised tone in her voice, "You can't keep your hands off of Jack."

"Yes, but I try to give him some space. We date secretly and not as often or openly," Katherine answers, "I'm trying to make Father understand that Jack is a good man. It's not an easy feat. I don't want to go behind Father's back and I don't. Don't do it. It just puts our family more at odds than it is already."

"Yeah but...." Aly tries. Katherine shakes her head.

"Don't do the same thing with Davey. Jack's more about breaking the rules but Davey isn't and neither are you. I know you hate the awkward family dinners out of all of us," she says before taking on a sly expression, "Although......I'm sure Davey wouldn't mind being with you. He is a sweet one and is the least likely to get himself killed. He's also such a gentleman and he's smart."

"Sttooooooppppp," Aly whines, "You're terrible." She wanders into the bathroom to change and wash up for bed.

"Well, you can have sweet dreams about Davey in the guest room. I'm going to bed," Katherine says, "Good night."

"Good night," Aly replies.

The next morning, Aly sits down at her desk in The World, trying to write an article but her mind keeps going back to Davey and his boyish good looks.

"Miss James," one of her superiors approaches her, "Can you sign off on this paper?"

"Of course," Aly answers and she signs the paper Aly James, her byline, hiding her true identity. An identity hidden by many many layers.

She gazes out the window and begins to write an article about the wonderful nature displays of Central Park and how they make for a wonderful place to spend time with a loved one. Her thoughts never leaving her wonderful evening with Davey.

One night that she hopes, hoping against hope, will lead to many more.

A/N: heythatsmycigar18, I'm sorry that this took SOOOOOOOOO long to come out. I hope it's worth it though. I'm really in the mood to write Newsies, Star Wars and really all of my fandoms so I'm actually feeling in a good mood to write. I hope everyone enjoyed it!! This was a fun one to write and I'm excited to explore Aly as a character. Anyways, this is the update for the week because the rest of my week is gonna be REEEEAAAALLLLL hectic. So yeah!! I'm hoping to release War Wonders and a Jack Kelly X OC book called Brooklyn's Bridge (not to be confused with Nycnewsgirl's Brooklyn's Bridges). It features Bridget Conlon, a younger sister of Spot Conlon, and her friendship with Jack Kelly. You'll see if you read the book. And yeah!! Some other stuff might start coming out soon as well! We'll just see. The Mush x Peter Pan x Sailor crossover thingy is gonna be next for this book and it's gonna be so cute and so exciting. Anyways, I hope you guys have a great week! Thanks for commenting, voting, reading and doing whatever it is you do.

See you around, friends!!

-Aisling