Life With the Newsies- One Shots- OPEN to OCs

Wait For Me

Yes, it's a Hadestown reference. This is NOT a Hadestown and Newsies crossover though. At least, that's not the intention. This is sort of an AU where the strike went all wrong and nobody helped them. So, Post-Strike/Mid-Strike ish AU?? You'll figure it out as we go. Sadness warning: That's all I'm gonna say. 

He wouldn't give in. Teddy Roosevelt had been at a meeting. It was as simple as that. Katherine and her supervisor, Bryan Denton were unable to get to him. One simple problem felt like another nail in Jack Kelly's coffin. He could feel the walls closing in and quite honestly, he just couldn't take it anymore.  Pulitzer wasn't going to budge. Katherine had begged on their behalf and Jack had said that he and the boys would never give in on their end. All of the pleas fell on deaf ears. 

"Throw them all in the Refuge and put that shameless Vaudeville singer out of business!" Pulitzer thunders loudly. The police chief wastes no time in rallying up all of his officers to go arrest the Newsies. Katherine and Denton hurry after them to try to make it stop somehow. Pulitzer walks around his desk to the Newsie leader standing in the middle of his grand office space. The boy looks so helpless, so beside himself. He isn't going to be capable of doing anything productive. The boy looks so small, once a great leader of a great movement. Now, just a rabble rouser who clearly lost a fight that he had been hoping to win. The boy looks like what he really is, a poor orphan with nothing to his name, nobody to help him and absolutely, no place to call home anymore. 

"My friends are going to be killed because of you," the boy says quietly after a moment of silence, the anger clear in his voice as it shakes with every broken breath he takes. 

"This is all your fault," Pulitzer says quietly, "You don't deserve what I'm about to do but, I'm going to do it anyway."  He walks back behind his desk and opens a desk drawer. Pulitzer pulls out a stack of bills and hands them to the boy. 

"Why are you doing this?" the boy asks coldly. Pulitzer walks back over him and gently puts a hand on his shoulder as if he were talking to one of his sons. 

"Jack Kelly, I believe you need some time away from the city. Katherine told me all about how you were going to go to Santa Fe someday. Why don't you take the chance now? This is all your fault. No one in the city is going to want you around and if you stay, I'll tell the authorities that you are a criminal in many aspects. Enough that will leave you seeing bars for the rest of your life. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave the city and never come back. Do you understand me? This is all your fault and you might as well start over and forget any of this ever happened. Besides, the city doesn't need rabble rousers like you. We have enough of those already. Now, you will be on the four o' clock train to Santa Fe and if you don't get on the train, you'll be in jail for the rest of your life starting this evening," Pulitzer states with almost no emotion making Jack think that he didn't have any at all. 

"This ain't right. You can't throw me in jail for my whole life just because I didn't leave when I was supposed to!" Jack protests and in return, he receives a cold hard slap across the face. He falls onto his rear as his faces throbs in pain. The pain seems to last agonizingly longer than usual. Jack has been slapped plenty of time throughout his life but, for some reason, this one seems to hurt more than the rest of them do. Jack pushes himself to his feet and sends Pulitzer a a look that could kill. 

"I can do whatever I want without question. Now, get out of my office and make sure that you make the four o' clock train to Santa Fe," Pulitzer snarls and Jack hurries out of the office.  He runs past the secretary, who waves at him as he runs by. Jack doesn't wave back. The old Jack Kelly died when Pulitzer slapped him across the face, he sees the world in a different way now. All of the hope has been snuffed out permanently. Jack hurries out of the World building and nearly collapses into a heap on the sidewalk. He picks himself back up and hurries to the rooftop of the Lodging House to gather his things and to think. Trying to avoid Kloppman as best as he can, Jack scales the fire escape ladder faster than he ever though possible. Once he reaches the top, he hurries to his bed and collapses from pure exhaustion and sadness. He was never going to be the same again. No one could save Crutchy and it wasn't like the boys would fight the guards. Well, they might, but Jack wasn't going to count on that. All of them knew to some extent how the Refuge worked and Jack was hoping that each and every one of them played their cards wisely. Maybe someday, he could fix things. Maybe someday, he would be welcome in this city again. New York City had been his home for a long time and honestly, he never wanted that to change. As much as he loves the idea of going to Santa Fe, home is here with the boys. The boys, who are probably going to die because of him never being able to close his mouth. Jack hears footsteps and closes his eyes, desperately trying to block the world out, trying to think of something happier. Like one of his paintings or the cool nights and late night talks with Crutchy on the fire escape. Crutchy....he kept creeping back into Jack's mind. He wouldn't want Jack to give up but, he also would understand if this was the best Jack could do right now. At least, he hoped Crutchy would understand. Jack forgets about the footsteps until he feels a pair of arms around his shoulders. His eyes fly open and he sits up straight only to be pulled in to someone else.