"C'mon, Davey we're going to be late!" Les Jacobs shouted as he ran down the sidewalk. His older brother Davey Jacobs lagged behind much to Les's dismay.

They were running a little late getting to the distribution center because, well, let's just say it'd been a bad morning.

Anyway, Davey was lagging behind pretty far and didn't notice his brother had slipped into the busy crowd of New York until he looked up.

His eyes darted around nervously.

"Les?" No answer.

"Les?!"

He began running a bit, scanning the busy streets, trying to find his ten yr. old brother.

He did a double take when he spotted two very familiar brothers cornering Les. "No," he whispered, pushing through the crowd.

He had to get to Les. If anything happened to his brother he would never forgive himself.

Morris was just about to swing when Davey reached them just in time and stood in front of his brother.

"Pick on someone your own size," Davey growled.

Oscar chuckled evilly and said, "Fine by me."

They pounced. Davey attempted to fight back but it was no use. Both boys were stronger than him and it was two against one.

"Les, run!" Davey shouted.

Les looked fearfully from at the brother and back to his brother who was losing the fight horribly.

Les took off and ran the fastest he'd ever run in his life with only one thing on his mind.

He had to find Jack.

He ran up to the distribution and ran past all the boys, who shouted their complaints but made no movement to stop the younger boy.

"Jack!" Les shouted.

He stopped and looked around frantically. He wasn't here.

"Kid, you ok?" Race asked.

"Where's Jack?"

"Over there talking with Crutchie, what's the rush?" Race asked with a slight, nervous, chuckle. He'd never seen the kid so scared.

Les ran over to Jack and grabbed his arm. "Jack, come on!" he shouted. "Whoa, slow down kid. What's the matter? And where's Davey?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

But Les was so out of breath he could barely get the words out. "Davey, Delanceys, help," he panted.

Jack's eyes widened when he understood.

He called a few of the other boys and Les ran back to where Davey and the Delanceys had been.

The Delanceys were gone, but Davey was unconscious on the pavement.

The group ran over and began looking over the injured boy.

"What do we do?" Les asked, near tears. "Let's get him back to the Lodge House," Jack said and the Newsies nodded.

Mush and Jack put Davey's arms around their shoulders and together, the boys went back to the Lodge House.

They gently laid him on the bed and they finally got a good look at the injuries. It wasn't good.

Les stayed by Davey with Romeo's hand on his shoulder and the rest of the boys watching their brother worriedly.

Jack was talking to Race, Specs, and Crutchie over in the corner. Les could just barely make out what they were saying.

"…. not good…. what…. do…."

"Maybe… could…."

"No….. what if…."

"No…. Ace might….."

"….. could try…."

They group came over to the rest of the boys and Jack went out the door.

"Where's Jack going?" Les asked.

"He went to ask Kath about something," Crutchie explained.

Specs got a warm wash cloth and the boys began attempting to wash some of the blood off.

It'd been almost two hours and still no sign of Jack or Katherine.

Davey was paler than he was when the boys first brought him in and Les had worried himself to sleep on accident.

The boys were taking turns watching Davey and making sure nothing changed.

The only thing that changed was that Davey would grunt, flinch, or make some sort of weird noise every now and then but he stayed asleep.

Suddenly, the door burst open making all the boys jump and waking Les up.

Jack came in followed by Katherine.

Jack kicked all the boys out into the other room so he and Katherine could figure out how bad it actually was and when they were finally allowed back in, they saw various bandages wrapped around Davey's bare torso.

"He's going to be ok, Les," Jack said as the boy rushed over to his brother.

As if on cue, Davey shot up, fully awake and looking around wildly. He then groaned and grabbed stomach with his non-injured arm.

"Hey, take it easy, Mouth. You ok?" Race asked, sitting in the chair next to Les.

Davey looked around, confused.

"The Delanceys-," he started.

"We know. Your brother here," Jack clapped Les on the shoulder, "came got us. We found you in the alley. We brought you here and Ace fixed you up."

Davey looked around at the newsboys faces.

He and Les hadn't known these boys for more than a year. Why did they care so much?

As if reading his mind, Jack said, "Because you're family. And family's gotta stick together."

Davey hid his smile as he was forced to lie back down, knowing he would be safe.