Hello friends!

So this is a request that I got a while ago from FuriedNight. I'm sure it's not exactly what you asked for, but these kind of fics have always been difficult for me to write. I feel so uncreative everytime i try to write The Refuge, but mostly this will be about what happens afterwards.

I'm trying something new with pagebreaks. Let me know what you guys think!

The request was simply for Modern day Jack at the Refuge. So I hope this is somewhat heartbreaking but also good?

Anyways! Please enjoy!

Midnight. It was midnight. At least, Jack hoped it was midnight. The clock that had ticked on the wall had stopped ticking ages ago. The only thing the boy had as a means of approximating time was the window on the far wall of the small room. Through the bars Jack could see that it was dark out. He could only pray that everyone was asleep at that point.

Tonight was the night, he assured himself. He was getting out tonight. He was sure that if he didn't get out tonight, he'd be dead by morning. So he did was he had to.He grabbed a backpack that he'd stowed away behind the crummy mattress in the room and silently placed it on his back. Then he was creepy to his door.

It should've been easy. He just had to pick the lock on the door and then it was a b-line to the exit. He could do it. It was easy.

Only... it wasn't.

The lock gave way after a few moments of working it and Jack could've cried in relief. His muscles ached and screamed at him to lay back down, but he refused. This was his chance. Everyone else was asleep. If he didn't leave now, he feared he'd never get the chance. So he carefully pulled the door open and crept out, sure that he had made no kind of noise.

As it went, he guessed noise didn't matter.

His first steps outside his prison triggered a very excruciating alarm that just about scared the child out of his skin. Before he even had time to think, he launched himself forward, running and desperate for an escape. What he hadn't expected was for there to be a set trap at the top of the stairs. He stepped and a rope tightened around his ankle and before he could even think about trying to get out of it, the thing pulled him backwards and upwards until he was hanging above the ground, his bag slipping for his shoulders and onto the ground as he cried out in a panic, trying to get out.

That was when the loud siren ceased and the boy froze in pure fear at what would happen next. He could hear the footsteps and the cane that tapped the hardwood floor with it. He tried to keep his breathing quiet, but all he could hear was his own heart beating rapidly in his chest. He feared it was beating so loud that the man behind him could actually hear it. Just as he might've started begging for forgiveness, there was a sound that Jack dreaded hearing; an electric sound. And before he could get one word out, a cry ripped from his throat as electricity rushed through his entire body and he lost control of his own muscles.

It wasn't long before Jack was being dragged back into his room of isolation. He'd lost count of the days he'd been locked in, of the days he'd gone without seeing another boy or kid stuck inside this mansion that they called an orphanage for troubled boys.

The ten year old was tossed to the ground like a sack of potatoes and the door slamming masked his helpless sob as he struggled to regain control over his own arms. He never got the chance. His screams didn't phase the evil man who shamelessly kicked at his weakened body as he screamed and begged for a break.

"I'm sorry!" he wailed, his small voice cracking as it was so high it was making his throat go raw. "I'm sorry! Please! I won't do it again!"

He made he same promise every time. The man above him just laughed at him as he yanked on his hair and threw him to the wall. As the man very well knew, Jack could not stand on his own. And before the boy fell to the ground, a much bigger, much stronger body was pressed against him, pinning him to the solid wood and laughing as he sobbed. "Please, Mr. Snyder!" Jack squealed again. "I'm sorry!"

"You will be," came the growl that made the child's skin crawl. And his screams echoed through the whole, giant house. Yet, no one came running.

The air was getting thinner. Jack could hardly breathe.

Six months… that's how long it's been. At least, that's how long Snyder had told him it'd been. To the small, crumbling little boy it felt like years.

The young boy had lost count of how many times he'd gotten caught trying to run. Every time ended in disaster. Every time ended with the boy, bloodied and barely breathing on the ground as he pathetically attempted to pull himself back together.

There had to be other kids in the house. Jack swore he remembered at least fourteen other boys alone, before he'd been dragged to solitary for standing up for the six year old who'd dropped Snyder's glass plate.

He was going to die. Jack had acknowledged that the minute he was dragged through the huge doors of the place, kicking and screaming to be let go. Snyder had a certain fascination with him and that would be what killed him, the boy was sure of that much. Every time anyone came to the house to try and help them, Jack was locked away, unable to even see the potential foster parents that most likely wouldn't even be willing to take him home. He was broken. Anyone could see that. No one wanted a broken ten year old. They were after the babies and toddlers.

He was as good as dead. So when Jack gave up trying to move off his spot of the ground and let his eyes slip closed. Just as the night before, he wished they wouldn't open again.

But they did. And when they did, he didn't expect what he saw.

"Good mornin', baby…" a kind voice greeted as he forced himself awake. He was too weak to move, but was able to roll his head up so he could see what looked like an angel kneeling above him. Vaguely, the small, malnourished boy could feel something soft brushing through his hair. He tried to mumble something out, any kind of response or question coming out in inaudible mumbles. "Shhhhhh…" the angel soothed.

For the first time, the thought occurred to Jack that the ground had become exponentially softer than it had been before. In fact, he was on some kind of bed. "It's okay, honey…" the woman above him promised in the sweetest whisper he'd ever heard. "You're comin' home with me today… how's that sound?"

Forcing his eyes open, Jack was sure his shock was clearly seen. The woman speaking to him say to his right, smoothing down his messy hair and holding onto his hand with the other. Behind her was the man he hated more than anything in the world. And he tended immediately when he saw the angered loon on Snyder's face. But the woman wouldn't stop speaking to him; soothing him.

"Shhhh… it'll be okay, baby…" she smiled, gently scooping him up and taking the child into her arms. "You're with Medda, now…"

Jack stiffened when arms encircled him. His whole body went rigid for a moment before the calming voice told him it was okay to relax.

"He's a real handful, Ms. Larkin," Snyder's voice warned as he glared down at Jack, silently telling him to make a fuss or become difficult in some way.

The scared little boy couldn't.

Too many burns… too many bruises… too many scars… he just couldn't take it anymore. So he buried his face in the woman's shirt and held on tight. As he did, the woman cradled him to her. "Oh yeah… quite the little trouble maker, he is," she responded, sarcasm dripping from her voice. And with a snide comment to the evil man on her way out, Jack was… free?

That was the first day the little boy had somewhere-

Someone to call home.

It was a curious thing to him. Family, that is. Jack had never had a mother, but this woman was somehow willing to pull him up and into her arms and keep him there forever.

From that day forward, Jack's favorite meal would always be pancakes and bacon. It was the first meal he could ever remember eating. The one his new mother had made for him that first day she'd brought him home.

From that day forward, Jack would always let the smell of strawberries soothe him. That's what she smelled like; strawberries and flowers and everything good in the world.

From that day forward, Jack's favorite time of day was sunset. The first time his new mother woke him up from a nightmare after he'd fallen asleep in her lap, she took him up to the roof and let him watch the sunset.

But from that day forward, Jack never could forget about the horrors that he'd lived through in his life.

"Get up, boy! No one wants a lazy child!"

"Stop squirming! Stay still!"

"You're so pathetic! It's a wonder you're still alive."

"Medda!" Jack would wake up in a cold sweat, tears streaming down his face. His back burned where he knew his scars were and he sobbed, gripping at his blanket until Medda… his mother, rushed to him and gently took him in her arms. "Mama…"

"It's okay, baby… he can't hurt you no more…" she promised him.

For weeks she told him that. No one could hurt him. That was when the nightmares died down. But it wasn't till a few months of living with his mama that they stopped completely. Not till there was another little boy sleeping in a bed across the room from him...

"Jackie?"

"Yeah, Tony?" Jack whispered sleepily as he snuggled into his bed and turned over so he was facing the scared little boy across the room.

"Are you gonna be my brotha' now?" The kid asked, hesitantly. Jack could make out his big blue eyes in the dark and he smiled, sitting up and nodding.

"Yeah, kid. Looks like I is."

The little boy across the room, the one who was only two years younger than Jack, nodded, his eyes still wide. He was scared and anyone could see that. "Do brotha's protect each otha'?"

How was Jack to know, really? He'd never had a brother, much less a younger brother. But as he thought back to the past few months of his life, he realized that all Medda had ever done for him was always to protect him. Why should brothers be any different?

Without a word, Jack gestures for the kid to come closer to him. There was no hesitation that came before the feet padding across the room. Jack fling up the blanket before Tony climbed onto the bed with him, letting it fall back around them as the boy he'd known for just a few weeks snuggled into him, seeking comfort and protection.

"I's gots ya, kiddo… go ta sleep…"

The nightmares stopped so he could fend off those of the ones he'd come to love the most.

Snyder told him he was worthless. Snyder told him he was unlovable. Snyder told him he was disgusting and lazy and would never amount to anything in his life. Snyder told him he was weak. The little boy squished up against his chest suggested otherwise.

Just when Jack thought he'd been given everything he'd ever wanted… a house, a mother, a brother, life came in with another surprise.

"Hi! My name's Charlie!"

A little sliver of sunshine that was optimistic from the very start. He always had a smile on his face and his eyes were always filled with so much wonder and love for the world around him.

That is, until the lights went off and he thought no one was watching. That's when he finally let the tears fall and the insecurities catch up with him.

"Charlie?"

"Yeah, Jackie?"

"You ain't useless, ya know that?"

The response he got was simply the boy staring up at him in their darkened bedroom with wide eyes and shocked features. No one had ever said that to him before.

Jack got up and nodded for his adopted brother to do the same. Tony, or Race as he was now known as, did so immediately. It wasn't long before three boys were all lying in the same bed, shoulder to shoulder. Race had grasped onto the silently crying boy's hand and Jack simply nudged him a little bit. "That crutch don't make ya who ya are… you is strong an' brave and you's my little brotha'."

"Mine too!" Race agreed.

And for the first time in Jack's whole life, he felt complete and he felt safe.

"You's too, Racer…" Jack agreed. And from that night on, they were always together; the three of them.

There is the first of the two chapters that I have of this fic! Let's say I'll post the next one after... 15 reviews. The next chapter is a bit more heartbreaking and intense, but I love it.

Guys! Me and my good friend bexlynne made a joined account! It's called NewsgirlsInNeverland! We posted two fics so far. Please go check them out! All of your feedback would be greatly appreciated! We have a crossover with NCIS/Newsies posted (chapter 1 at least) and another called Newsies In Wonderland and Well... that one speaks for itself. So please go check them out! Feel free to review or PM us with questions or ideas or thoughts. We love hearing from you guys!

Okay guys, so I'm currently trying to catch up on requests. If you have anymore, keep them coming! I love hearing your guys ideas! I'm gonna try to write the next five i have before updating anything, haha, but it shouldn't take too long.

As always, thanks for reading! Please make sure to tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what you'd change or what you'd improve by leaving me a review! Love ya, babes!