Hey, everyone. This is the last chapter, so I hope ya'll like it. To my reviewers, thank you for being so supportive. I grin like a freakin' idiot when I open my email on my phone and it says I have reviews. Like, seriously, my roommate hits me with pillows and tells me to stop smiling like a dork. Anyway, that's about all I have to say. Enjoy the chapter, my ostriches!

Jack and Crutchie finally made it back to the lodging house over half an hour later. Crutchie had tried to convince Jack to stop and just take a break, but the older newsie refused to. When the two boys finally reached the lodging house, Jack stopped for a brief moment. "You okay?" Crutchie asked, craning his neck to make eye contact with Jack.

"Yeah, I'se good. Just don't want to wake de other boys, is all."

"I can be quiet," Crutchie whispered.

Jack grinned slightly. "I know that. The question is whether I can be quiet carting your sorry butt in dere." Jack gave a slight shrug that accidentally jostled Crutchie's leg, leading to the boy gasping in pain. "Sorry, sorry." He readjusted his hold on Crutchie to make sure he wouldn't accidentally hurt the boy again. "Well, let's see how quiet we can be."

The door to the lodging house gave a slight squeak as Jack pushed it open, but he continued onward, trusting that none of the boys had woken to the noise. Just as Jack stepped further into the room, a whispered voice called out, "Jack, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Go back to sleep," he whispered back.

There was a moment of silence and Jack could just barely make out a figure watching them from across the room. "Is that Crutchie?" the voice called out, much louder than a whisper. Jack immediately recognized Race's voice.

"Yes, now shush, Race."

"Why's 'e 'ere?" There was a touch of bitterness in his voice. "Thought 'e didn't want to be with us newsies."

Before Jack could respond, Crutchie spoke up. "I was wrong, Race. You'se guys is my family. Don't want no more rich people in my life."

Race nodded slowly, before his eyes drifted to Crutchie's gimp leg. He stared at the wet spot on the pants before asking, "That blood?"

Jack tried to crane his neck to catch sight of the leg, but wasn't able to maneuver that easily with Crutchie on his back. "It started bleeding again? Crutchie, why didn't you tell me?"

"Why's 'e bleeding?" Race asked, worry flashing as he tore his eyes from the suspicious stain.

"You was busy. It doesn't 'urt—" Crutchie gasped, suddenly, belying his words. Between clenched teeth, he continued, "It don't 'urt much."

"Why's 'e bleeding?" Race asked more urgently.

Jack continued to ignore the other boy. "You shoulda told me, Crutch. I coulda stopped, coulda helped."

"Guys, tell me why 'e's bleeding," Race commanded.

Crutchie sighed wearily. "I just wanted to get home. Didn't want to be out dere anymore."

"Let's get you to your bed, then I can take a look at your leg."

"What's wrong with 'is leg?" Race tried again.

Jack finally turned to the boy. "Will you shush? We'se trying to be quiet and not wake da other boys."

Race crossed his arms smugly. "Tell me what 'appened to Crutchie or I'll wake everyone up."

The two boys stared at each other, challenging the other to make the next move. Finally, Crutchie spoke up. "The doc was trying to fix my polio. Didn't work so well."

"Why's it bleeding?" Race asked.

Crutchie shrugged, ignoring the pain that the movement caused. "He cut it open. Stitched it back up, but I suppose it just started bleeding again."

"Cut your leg open?" Race asked, staring disbelievingly at Crutchie. The younger boy looked away from Race, fixing his gaze at the back of Jack's neck and Race could see the truth in Crutchie's actions. "Damn…" he muttered, anger coloring the word. "I'll make sure that fancy doctor never—"

Jack cut Race off. "It don't matter anymore. Crutchie's here. 'E's safe now." With a slight smile, Jack added, "And if you'll get outta my way, I can get this dumb crip to bed."

"Hey! Who're ya calling dumb crip?" Crutchie sputtered, trying to keep the grin from spreading across his features. He had missed the other boys, had missed their friendly banter. Crutchie wondered why he had ever decided to leave them. This was his family and he wasn't going to ever make that mistake again.

"You, ya idiot," Jack responded playfully. He made his way past the sleeping boys towards the bedroom he shared with Crutchie. There was no way he was going to let Crutchie sleep on the roof, not when his leg was still hurt the way it was. Jack, as gently as he could, deposited Crutchie on the bed, before pulling the boy's pant leg up to observe the wound. Blood seeped around the black stitches, dark against Crutchie's pale skin. Race suddenly appeared, hands full of bandages. "Thanks," Jack muttered, taking the gauze that Race wordlessly offered him. Trying to ignore the way that Crutchie bit back a moan, Jack wrapped the leg in the white gauze, being extra careful of the recently stitched up wound. Jack stepped back to admire his handiwork when he finished. "There. Good as new."

Race nodded, patting Crutchie on his shoulder. "Get better, kid."

"Thanks," Crutchie murmured quietly.

"And no more run-ins with evil docs," Race added, shooting a grin at Crutchie.

"Never again," Crutchie agreed rather quickly.

After Race had left the room and Jack had climbed into his own bed, Crutchie whispered, "I'm sorry, Jack."

"What for?"

"Leaving. Shouldn't 'ave done that."

Jack smiled slightly, resettling back into his pillow. "It's okay, Crutch. You're safe now. I won't let dem Maddoxes anywhere near you."

"Thank you. For everything," Crutchie whispered.

"Yeah, just get some rest," Jack suggested, closing his eyes. Everything was going to be okay.

Everything was not going to be okay. Jack had been awoken by Davey shaking him to alertness. "Jack. Jack! Ya gotta get out here."

"What's going on?" Jack asked blearily, looking up at Davey in confusion.

Davey shot a glance at Crutchie, who had woken up to the commotion. "Da Maddoxes are here. They want Crutchie."

"What?" Crutchie breathed hoarsely. He was supposed to be safe now that he had made it back to the lodging house. They weren't supposed to follow him here, they weren't supposed to ever make an unwanted appearance in his life. "Jack," he whispered urgently, not knowing exactly how to express his fears, but if the look on Jack's face was any indication, the older boy knew exactly what Crutchie was feeling.

"I won't let 'em get you."

"How?" Davey asked. "They're at the front door, demanding to be let in."

"Well, we won't let 'em in," Jack said, standing up. Crutchie made to get up, but hissed as the stitches stretched at the movement. "You stay here," Jack told the younger boy. "No moving."

"But—" Crutchie began.

Jack shot him a confident smile. "We're just gonna tell the Maddoxes to leave and you're going to lay dere and get better. End of story."

Davey led Jack out of the room, only pausing to smile encouragingly at Crutchie. "It'll be okay," he reassured the younger boy. The two newsies made their way past all the other boys to the front door. Jack nodded at everyone, before pulling open the front door and coming face to face with a livid Dr. Maddox.

"Where is my son?" Dr. Maddox growled.

Jack grinned cockily. "You lost your own boy? That's mighty embarrassing, sir."

"I know you have him and I want him back."

"Crutchie?" Jack asked. "We don't know where he is. I 'aven't seen him since you kicked me out yesterday. Maybe," Jack suggested, "Crutchie didn't want to live with you'se guys no more and just up and left."

Mrs. Maddox stepped forward, waving a sheet of paper in Jack's face. "He's our son! This paper proves that we legally own Christopher and you can't just steal him."

"Crutchie ain't some object to be owned," Jack growled. "He's a kid."

"Well, he's our kid," Mrs. Maddox said, pointing to the adoption papers. "Christopher signed right here. That makes it legal. We will get the police to arrest the lot of you if you don't give him back." She paused for a second. "It doesn't have to be like that, though. I know you're Christopher's friends and I wouldn't want any of you to be arrested or roughed up by those officers, so if you just return Christopher to us, everything will be okay."

"That's tempting, it is," Jack began. "But we'se gonna have to say no." With that, Jack slammed the door shut in the Maddoxes faces, locking the door.

"What's going on?" Specs asked, speaking up for the group of boys.

"We ain't giving Crutchie back."

Romeo called out. "I thought Crutchie wanted to live with 'em rich people. What's he doing back here?"

"Yeah," a couple of the boys grumbled in agreeance.

Race quickly spoke up. "That doc experimented on Crutchie. His leg was tore open and all dat." He nodded towards Jack. "We ain't letting Crutchie outta our sight."

"Is he okay?" young Les asked.

"He'll be fine. We just gotta keep the Maddoxes away," Jack said.

"Yeah? How're we gonna do that?" Mush asked. "Askin' ain't gonna help much."

For once, Jack was at a loss for words. The boys glanced around. There had to be something they could do to keep the evil doctor and his wife at bay. Race finally spoke up, "What about a strike?" Everyone gave him strange looks, prompting him to continue, "Of sorts…"

"How do you mean?" Romeo asked.

"Like, block the doors and windows and not let them in?" Race suggested.

"That's not a strike. That's a barricade," Davey pointed out.

Race shrugged. "It don't matter what it's called, so long as it works."

"It's the only idea we have," Jack announced, grabbing a chair and shoving it towards the door, jamming the back of the chair under the door handle to prevent the door from opening. "I vote we go for it." The other boys quickly followed Jack's actions, yanking furniture from other rooms and piling it against the door and the lower level windows.

The commotion of chairs banging against walls and indignant yelps as boys were trapped between beds and walls brought Crutchie out of his room. "What's going on?" he asked. He was leaning heavily on his crutch and knew that Jack would probably get mad at him for dragging himself out of bed, but Crutchie needed to see what was going on. The Maddoxes were here because of him, so everything that was going on, it was his fault.

"It's a barricade!" Les shouted excitedly from his perch on the top of the tower of chairs.

Davey quickly waved his brother down, before turning to Crutchie. "Should you be out of bed?" he asked, his dark eyes settling on Crutchie's injured leg.

"I'se fine," Crutchie reassured the older boy. "Just wanna know what's going on."

"We'se keeping the Maddoxes out," Specs explained, carting the last chair over to the door.

Romeo shouted from his perch near the window, "Da officers are comin'!"

Crutchie stepped forward, but Jack suddenly materialized beside him. "What're you doing, Crutch?"

"I wanted ta—"

Jack cut him off, gently guiding him back towards their bedroom. "I've got this handled. I don't want ya hurting your leg anymore."

Crutchie frowned. "Jack, I can—"

He was cut off by the sound of a window shattering. "They'se coming!" Romeo shouted, backing away from the window. The room quickly dissolved into chaos. Specs swung a pot of toilet water at the officer crawling through the window, which only made the man angrier, not stopping him as Specs had hoped. Race grabbed a frying pan and took a defensive stance beside Specs, waiting for the officer to actually breach the window. Across the room, another window was shattered and Mush stumbled backwards when an officer punched him in the jaw. The barricade wasn't working, Jack quickly realized and he grabbed Davey's arm in order to pull the other boy into the fray.

Davey pulled his arm out of Jack's grasp, a confused, distant look on his face. "This isn't right," he muttered.

"Well, yeah," Jack agreed. "They'se trying to get Crutchie."

"No. This isn't going to work…" Davey trailed off. He suddenly looked up, catching Jack's eyes. "I'll be right back," he informed the older boy, before vaulting out of one of the broken windows and dashing past the bewildered officers.

Jack watched Davey disappear around the bend, completely leaving them to try and defend against the angry officers. "I can't believe he'd just leave like dat," Jack muttered, turning back to Crutchie. "We ain't losing that badly."

The younger boy swallowed thickly, before suggesting, "Maybe… Maybe I should just give myself up, y'know? Stop all of this."

"Crutchie, he'll tear ya open," Jack admonished quickly. "No, there's gotta be another way."

"They'se railing on us pretty hard," Crutchie pointed out quietly. "I don't want da others to get hurt."

"And we don't want you to get hurt."

"I don't know," Crutchie began hesitantly, but was interrupted when Specs stumbled backwards, his glasses askew. Specs' nose was gushing blood and the boy shook his head for a moment, before pulling himself back into the fight. Crutchie quickly shot a glance to Jack. "We'se gotta stop this."

"And how do you suggest we do that? Other than sacrificing yourself, ya chowderhead."

Crutchie shrugged. "We gotta do something."

"Are ya guys gonna help or just chat?" Race shouted, swinging his frying pan at an officer who had made it inside the lodging house. The metal connected with the man's head with a resounding ring. Race cheered as the officer collapsed to the floor, totally unconscious.

"Stay here," Jack told Crutchie, before swinging into the fight and kicking an officer in the stomach.

Crutchie worked his way around all the fighting, glancing out one of the windows. He craned his neck, trying to see where the Maddoxes had ended up. From where the window was positioned, there was no way to see the front porch. Crutchie had just given up when Mrs. Maddox's face appeared right in front of the window, staring in at him. He startled and accidentally put all of his weight on his bad weight, nearly collapsing as the pain consumed his right side. "Christopher," Mrs. Maddox said, "Come with me and this will all end."

"And what?" Crutchie asked. "You'll cut me open again?"

"It's for the good of the community. The needs of the great outweigh the needs of the few," Mrs. Maddox hissed.

Les' shout drew Crutchie's attention from the window. The younger boy scampered away from an officer, but the officer was closing in. Mush immediately came to Les' rescue, hitting the officer with a cane that Crutchie didn't realize they even had.

"Your friends can't hold these men off forever," Mrs. Maddox pointed out, drawing Crutchie's attention back to her.

"But—" Crutchie began.

Mrs. Maddox continued, ignoring the interruption. "Besides, you should really learn to obey your parents. If we say that you must come with us, then that is what you're supposed to do."

Something inside of Crutchie snapped at those words and he slammed his crutch against the wall beside the window, causing the older woman to jump backwards in shock. "You'se not my mother!" he shouted.

"This says otherwise!" Mrs. Maddox screamed back, waving the adoption certificate around. "You signed it; you agreed to this!"

"Excuse me, ma'am." The words startled both Crutchie and Mrs. Maddox who whipped around to face the new arrival. It was a tall man with a bristling black moustache and dark hair that had just begun to recede. Behind him, Crutchie noticed, Davey stood with a slight grin on his face.

"What?" she asked caustically.

"May I see that certificate?" he queried, his voice very calm in comparison to Mrs. Maddox's indignant shrieks.

She stared at him for a moment, before replying, "No! It's mine. It means that I own that boy!" Mrs. Maddox swung her finger to point at Crutchie.

"That's the thing," the man began. "I don't think it does."

"Who are you to say that?"

The man unconsciously straightened his back, before announcing himself. "I am Robert Davis, graduate of Cornell Law School."

"That give you no right—" Mrs. Maddox began.

"I believe it does. If you are illegally trying to take this child," here he gestured at Crutchie, before continuing, "then I would have to have these officers arrest you and your husband on charges of kidnapping. However, if you cooperate and we discover that your adoption certificate is a fake, I will be able to file all this under a tragic misunderstanding. Everyone can go their own way and there will be no more trouble." With a slight smile, Robert Davis continued, "I suggest you take the latter option."

Mrs. Maddox glanced at Crutchie, before sighing and handing over the paper. "We did love him, you should know. I just wanted to give him a better life."

"I'm sure," Robert Davis agreed, looking over the certificate. "Yes, I'm sorry to say that this is a fake. You cannot possibly take this boy away." He looked Mrs. Maddox in the eyes. "Call the police off and I will let you and your husband leave, so long as you promise to never come back."

"Fine…" Mrs. Maddox grumbled, making her way to where her husband was rallying the officers against the boys. Shortly after, the officers began to leave, Dr. Maddox shooting Robert Davis an angry look, before taking his wife away from the Lodging House.

Robert Davis turned to Crutchie. "They shouldn't be back to bother you ever again."

"Thank you," Crutchie breathed. For a while, he had been worried that the only way to protect his newsie brothers was to give himself up and Crutchie had really not wanted to do that.

Before the lawyer could step away, a small voice shouted, "Uncle Mike!" Les barreled out the front door, colliding with the lawyer and hugging the man's legs. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

"Mike?" Crutchie questioned. "I thought you said your name was—"

"Robert Davis?" the lawyer grinned. "No, it's Michael Jacobs. I'm Davey and Les' uncle. Davey came and got me in order to get you out of this mess."

"So… You're not a lawyer?" Crutchie asked.

Mike Jacobs laughed. "Heaven's no. I don't even know if that certificate really was fake. I'm an actor. Not a big one, mind you, but I can play an imposing lawyer if need be."

Before Crutchie could ask anything else, Jack made his way to his friend. He grasped Crutchie's shoulder, before asking, "You okay, kid?" He looked out the window, noticing how Les was still clinging to a man in front of the Lodging House. "What's going on?" Jack asked, glancing at Davey who was grinning wildly. "What happened?"

Crutchie grinned. "Don't worry 'bout it. The Maddoxes won't be coming back again."

"You went to get help?" Jack asked Davey.

"Well, yeah, the barricade wasn't working. Did you really think I was just running?"

Jack shrugged. "Wasn't entirely sure what you was doing."

"Jack, we're all brothers. I wasn't gonna ditch you just because the odds weren't in our favor." Davey turned to his uncle. "Thanks, Uncle Mike, though. We couldn't have gotten them to leave without you."

"Well, if you ever need my help again, you know who to call," Davey's uncle said, before hugging his nephews and walking away.

Crutchie smiled softly. "That was quite the adventure, eh, Jack?"

Jack snorted slightly. "Yeah, an adventure that needs cleanin' up after." He gestured at the chairs strewn across the floor and the broken windows. "You'se all best be getting started."

"Hey, watch it," Crutchie warned, unsuccessfully trying to keep from grinning. "You'se not my mother."

Just a short heads up, I will be publishing the first chapter of my next Newsies fic by the 11th at the latest. Hopefully sooner, but UGH finals. Anyway, thanks again for sticking with me through this fic!