Chapter One

Author's Note: So I decided that doing a Christmas story would be a good idea, well, a Newsies one, so here I am. I don't really know how this will turn out but I'm rather interested to see what happens. By the way, have any of you out there seen The Battle of the Five Armies yet? I saw it last night, and boy, did I fangirl a lot. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. Who else has seen it? Okay, I know I got off topic but here we go…

This was hardly how Crutchie had imagined Christmas being again. Every year something went wrong in the newsies' lives and someone did something or caught something like a cold. Crutchie knew this because he always ended up getting sick. He was the most likely one to do so, and because of this, he always knew that Christmas was going to be full of coughs and sneezes. He was the only one of them who had managed to get sick almost every year and because of this he was always stuck up in bed.

So this year, Crutchie had wanted to get through everything without a single sneeze or stuffy nose. But so far, it looked like this wasn't going to work because he had already been caught by Jack while he was sneezing up a storm. The worry in Jack's eyes told him that there was going to be a lot of being stuck in bed again for him.

They never worked on Christmas day and because of this, they were spending the last few days selling as much as they could. Only a few days until Christmas and he didn't have a major cold yet. In consideration, he was lucky.

As he stood on the street corner shouting out headlines, he noticed a young woman coming his way. It was Katherine Pulitzer, and he knew where she was headed. Crutchie let her approach him because he didn't feel inclined to move towards her.

"Hey, Crutchie, where's Jack?" she asked.

"I dunno. What are ya holding?" replied Crutchie, inclining his head towards her hand that was behind her back.

"Just a little something I got for him. Are you feeling okay? You look a little bit pale."

"Nah, I'm fine. Youse are da one who has ta find Jack. Have fun wid that." Crutchie said, pretending to be fine when he actually felt horribly groggy and hot.

"If you say so, but I don't know… you are sure you're okay? You just look… horrible." said Katherine, coming up closer and putting her hand on his forehead to check for a fever, pushing his dark black hair out of the way. "You're warm. Does Jack know that you have a fever?"

"He nevah checks. Don't bother ta tell him. Please." he pleaded. He didn't want Jack to find out. There just was too much to do.

"I can't make a promise like that. He doesn't need to not know. What's the matter?" she asked him when he looked at the ground.

"It's just dat every year I been getting sick an' stuck in bed. It ain't fun, you know, and I don't enjoy it. Every year I get sick at Christmas an' every year, Jack makes me stay in bed just because I gotta cold. I guess he jus' doesn't want me ta get polio or nothing again."

"Oh. You had polio?" she asked.

"Look, it ain't youse business and I ain't gonna tell ya 'bout it." Crutchie said, frustrated and angry.

"I know it isn't. I'll go find Jack now. But Crutchie," she said, turning to look back at him, "Be careful and be safe. I don't want you getting any worse out here."

He watched her leave. So Katherine would tell Jack. What was the big deal? But he knew it was much more than that. It was the fact that when Jack found out, he would get worried. Crutchie didn't want that. The leader of the newsies was already stressed out. Romeo had the stomach bug. Race had been missing for several days and while they were trying to convince Jack that Race knew how to take care of himself, Jack was already too worried. Mush was always getting into fights, and no matter how it seemed that he would never do that, he would and did. And now, he, Crutchie, was getting sick with something probably horrible. Jack wouldn't be able to stay calm with this.

The snow glistened in the setting sun as he hobbled back to the lodging house. People passed by without a glance at him. They never looked at him. He would watch them, bustling back and forth, holding boxes and bags filled with gifts. He would trudge home, trying not to get pushed over or knocked over. It was then that he began to feel the pain in his bad leg. He tried to ignore it and when he got to the lodging house, he didn't feel like making a big show and collapsing in his bed.

But Crutchie didn't get the chance to. Jack was waiting for him at the door, and he looked worried. Crutchie sighed, knowing what was coming next, and sure enough, the minute he stepped onto the ground in front of the lodging house, Jack began to talk.

"How long have ya been feeling this way?" he asked him. "You know that you shouldn't do that. I've told you enough times that going out sick is a bad idea!"

"Jack, I…" said Crutchie, but he didn't have time to say anything.

"Katherine told me all about it, about you being sick an' all! Look, it ain't fair ta ya but I know how this is gonna have to go. You hafta stay here tomorrow morning. I won't permit you going out there where you could become more sick and faint or something." said Jack, looking at him. Several newsies were watching from behind him.

"Jack, I didn't mean ta not tell ya…"

"Oh really? I know you wouldn't. You are da kindest person heah yet ya don't know how ta tell me something that was gonna help you." said Jack, who looked quite infuriated.

"Jack, please…" he said.

"Look, you just ain't gonna go out tomorrow. That's the deal I gotta make with ya." Jack said. He continued talking and reprimanding, but Crutchie barely heard it because he felt really warm and his leg was in pain.

"Jack, catch him!" yelled Buttons. Crutchie realized he was falling and Jack ran over and grabbed him. The last thing Crutchie thought was "here goes another Christmas" and the last thing he saw for a while was Jack's worried face.

Author's Note: Well, I hoped you liked chapter one, and I know it might be a little bit drastic but it's gonna be fine. After all, it's a Christmas newsies story for goodness sake! Well, thank you again, and please review, review, review!