Courage

Chapter 5

AN: A somewhat uneventful chapter, but... there's maybe some fluff, sort of? You guys can be the judge of that.

Needless to say, Jack and Katherine's trip to The Refuge had definitely not made them feel better. In fact, as they walked  back to Newsies Square, Jack was feeling pretty miserable.

"So we gotta go through with this Children's Crusade, huh?"

Katherine stared at him. "'Go through with it'? Of course we do, we have to get this strike ended somehow. And you heard Davey, it's a good plan."

"Yeah, I didn't mean... 'course it's a good plan, I just..."

"What is it?"

Jack was struggling for words, something that Katherine knew was rare for him. He stopped walking, and she stopped with him as he seemed to have an internal struggle with himself. He sighed.

"I'm scared."

Katherine had never heard him admit that before, and she certainly didn't expect it to be her that he admitted it to. "Jack - "

He put up a hand to stop her, needing to get this out. "You heard Pulitzer, if we don't end the strike, he's gonna put all the boys in The Refuge, I can't let that happen. And... if I'm being honest, Kath? I don't wanna go back there."

Katherine took both of his hands in hers, and held them tightly. He seemed to relax slightly, at least physically. "We are going to do everything in our power to keep that from happening. Even if it does happen, we're going to win the strike, and then we're going to get The Refuge shut down and free all the boys that are there. That will happen, even if I have to single-handedly do it myself."

Jack was silent for a long moment before he spoke again, his voice barely above a whisper. "I love you."

Now, Katherine didn't read all of those women's magazines that told you what to do in order to have a successful relationship, and how long it should be before each romantic milestone. But judging by the grin slowly forming on her face, this was exactly the right way to do things.

"I love you, too."

oOo

When Davey was tossed back into the main room, he tried desperately to stay on his feet, not wanting to look weak in front of everyone - especially Les - by collapsing. But the intense burning sensation coming from his back had other ideas, and he stumbling, falling onto his hands and knees.

"Davey!" Les immediately scrambled over to him, and he tried to wave his little brother away.

"I'm fine, Les." Every single kid in the room knew he wasn't. After they'd all had at least one turn alone with Snyder.

"No, you're not!" Les's eyes were filling with tears, and Davey wanted nothing more than to get him out of this place, but that wasn't going to happen. "You're not okay, you're... you..."

"Les." Davey tried to make his voice as calm and steady as possible. "It'll be okay. Help me up?"

The young boy nodded, sniffling in an attempt to hide his tears as he stood up and held his hand out for Davey, who very gratefully took it. Davey winced as he stood up, the bloody marks that he was sure had formed underneath his shirt stretching as he straightened up. He tried to ignore it, placing a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder.

"It'll be okay."