Author's note: Thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, or set up an alert to this story! ~ Screamer

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Mush paced nervously on the sidewalk outside the offices of The New York Sun, the bright September sun beating down on his neck and causing beads of sweat to form. Or at least he hoped it was the sun, and not his nerves about talking to Tricks for the first time in nearly a week.

After some needling, Skittery had told him that one of Tricks's new responsibilities was getting lunch for the staff. Mush hustled to sell all of his morning edition papes, then ran as fast as he could halfway across town to Newspaper Row. The clock on The World's building next door indicated it was 12:36pm; Mush panicked thinking it was possible he'd missed Tricks, that she'd emerged from The Sun's doors a few minutes before he'd arrived at noon.

Just as he'd worked up the courage to approach The Sun's doorman, Tricks strolled out, the bright sun picking up the red in her hair and setting it ablaze. Mush whipped his hat off his head as he approached her, he nervously spun it in his hands as he worked up the courage to speak up.

"Tricks, I -"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she replied coldly, barely pausing as she walked past him.

"Hey," he said, half-running to keep up with her stride. "Don't be like dat-"

"Me? I ain't the one who's been avoidin' you all week," Tricks shot back, ducking around a passing group of ladies and putting more distance between her and Mush.

Mush stepped off into the street to avoid knocking into the group of women. "Can ya just stop and tawk to me for a second?" He pleaded.

"No," Tricks spat at him, stopping in front of a small deli. Mush noticed she had a neatly folded piece of paper in her hand. "I'm workin'."

"Five minutes," he begged. "Just five minutes, huh?"

Tricks folded her arms over her chest as she contemplated his request. "Fine. Wait over there," she finally answered, motioning to a small park across from the deli before opening the door to the shop and disappearing inside.

Mush strode across the street, picking a spot with a clear view of the deli and leaning against the wrought iron fence as waited. When Tricks emerged, she turned left and Mush panicked, thinking Tricks was giving him the slip. He was just about to run after her, when she walked up to a street vendor's cart and purchased two hot dogs and a cola. Seeing Mush, she quickly crossed the street and motioned for him to follow her to a nearby, shaded park bench.

She silently handed him one of the two hot dogs, and Mush hesitantly sat, leaving a few inches between them on the park bench. They ate in silence.

"I've gotta be back in ten minutes," Tricks said, finally breaking the silence. "If you're gonna talk, talk."

"Race...Race said ya been writin' headlines-"

"That really what ya came here to talk about?" she interjected with a sigh.

"No," Mush admitted, looking down at the ground. "Came to say...I'm...I'm sorry."

"Can ya at least look at me when ya talk to me?"

Mush shook his head and kicked at the dirt with the toe of his shoe. Looking at Tricks meant two things: he's completely forget the speech he'd rehearsed in his head all morning, and Tricks seeing the dark purple and yellow bruise still marring the skin under his right eye.

"Mush, if all you're gonna do is mumble into the ground, I'm leavin'."

He took a deep breath, but said nothing.

"Mush," she pressed, the agitation apparent in her voice. Mush took another deep, steadying breath and looked up. "There," Trick said with a small smile, "Wasn't dat hard-"

Before he knew what he was doing, Mush had closed the space between them on the bench and pressed his lips to Tricks's. It lasted for only a few moments before Tricks pulled away.

"Mush!"

"See, dat's why I didn't wanna look at yeah," he said angrily, jumping up. He felt his check burning red with embarrassment. "The second I see ya, I go crazy."

"I'll reserved your bed at the asylum," Tricks joked.

"S'not funny!"

"Sorry, it's not," Tricks assured him,the smile still lingering on her lips (that smile did not help matters). "You were gonna apologize?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mush said distractedly as he paced in front of the bench, "I'm sorry.

Tricks shot him a look and narrowed her eyes. "What?" he asked.

"That's it?"

"I was dumb," Mush relented, sitting back down next to Tricks.

"Uh huh."

"Ya know, it ain't easy, datin' Jack's sister-"

"You think it's easy being Jack's sister?" Tricks said, angrily crushing the wrapper from her lunch into a ball. "Youse just mad because you spent all that time suckin' up to him-"

She had a point. After Jack caught on to Mush's secret trips to visit Tricks, Mush had gone out of his way to move into Jack's inner circle, and his good graces. It was easier to continue defying Jack's orders when Jack trusted him. But that wasn't the real reason he was angry.

"It's embarassin', havin' you lie for me-"

"I was lyin' for me, too-"

Mush shot her a look of annoyance at being cut off. "And den, I get this," he pointed to the bruise under his eye, "And I can't really hide it from you-"

Tricks let out a small laugh, "A month ago, ya show up unconscious-"

"-and I tell ya," he pressed, his embarrassment growing in to anger, "ta just leave it, but ya won't listen."

Tricks looked down and said nothing. "I'm getting tired," she finally said, her voice barely a whisper. "Of men tellin' me what to do. First Jack, now you..." She trailed off and cleared her throat. "I gotta get back."

"Can-can I walk wit ya?" Mush asked as Tricks stood.

Tricks shrugged. "Yeah," she replied, holding out her hand to him. Mush grinned as he linked his arm through hers.

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Jack was on edge. The Sullivan trail was still dragging on, after a delay when one of the jurors passed out in the jury box and then another delay due to a death in the trial judge's family. To top it off, Tricks had informed him her new task at The Sun involved sifting through papers from the original trial in 1890 for quotes and fact checking. Jack just wanted the trial to be over so he could plan their next move and ensure Connor Sullivan remained out of their lives.

And then there was Mush and Tricks, who'd both been combative and moody since their mostly-silent argument about Jack's fist meeting Mush's face. Whenever they fought, they were miserable...and that misery seeped into everyone else's lives. Somehow, trying to organize a city-wide strike seemed easier than managing his sister, whose mood seemed to change quicker than the headlines.

Tricks was currently snoozing halfway across the room, having made up with Mush and taken back up sleeping in the boys bunkroom. Jack discovered they were no longer mad at each other when he caught them making out at the door to the Lodging House. Frustrated that Mush didn't seem to be afraid of him, he'd dragged Tricks into the Lodging House by her collar, determined to set some ground rules for her relationship with Mush.

But she'd laughed in his face and called him a hypocrite, citing his relationship with Sarah and how David must feel that same way that Jack did. Annoyed that she was right, Jack dropped the subject, but now, as he settled into bed, he decided that the sleeping in the bunkroom would stop. Tricks had a perfectly good room to herself downstairs, he thought as he drifted off to sleep, and the Delanceys were behind bars. Jack was tired of being on alert, even when he was trying to sleep, and constantly trying to keep tabs on Tricks.

Sighing bedsprings woke him from his slumber that night, and he cracked one eye open. Mush was snoring soundly in his bunk, but Tricks was gone. She'd managed to silently creep out of bed without waking Mush or Snipeshooter, who slept in the lower bunk. She was currently perched on the sill of the window at the far end of the bunkroom.

Cursing himself for not going back to sleep, Jack climbed down from his bunk and softly walked over to the window, where Tricks sat bathed in moonlight as she stared at the silent street below.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, handing her a blanket.

"I'm alright," she said, quickly wiping her eyes with the back of her hands and shrugging off the blanket. "Go back to bed."

Jack tucked the blanket around her. "Already up," he said, slinking to the floor beneath the window and resting his head on the wall. "Not surprisin' wit Mush snoring like that."

Tricks laughed, a couple of tears sliding down her cheeks, "Yeah, he can carry on a bit, can't he?"

Jack nodded in agreement. "So if it ain't the snorin', why ya up?"

"Just...can't sleep," Tricks said evasively with a shrug.

"Nightmares?"

She nodded, then looked up and let out a small laugh. "Is it crazy to be afraid of somethin' when you don't know what it is?"

"It's not," Jack said with a sigh. "Floorboards again?"

Tricks nodded and Jack sat up slightly. "Dat's where we hid," he told her, looking her straight in the eyes. "When he...when the cops came lookin' I made ya hide behind this big grate in the front room, right near this big piano."

"Knew it was about...him," Tricks said, looking out the window. "Spend all day readin' about him, and then he shows up in my goddamn dreams."

"Hey, we's fine," Jack reassured her.

"But what if-"

"He ain't outta jail yet," Jack whispered. Tricks bit her lip in response, trying to hold back whatever it was she wanted to say. "Ya trust me?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," Tricks said softly.

"If he gets out, we'll deal wit it ok? C'mon...let's go back to bed," he said, standing up and reaching for his sister's hand. After a moment of hesitation, Tricks reached out, letting Jack take her hand like when they were younger.

"Sure ya don't wanna sleep in ya own bed?" he asked as they walked through the soft cacophony of sleeping, snoring, Newsies. "Seems like it'd be a hell of a lot quieter."

"I'll be fine," Tricks shot back as softly bounded back up the bunk where Mush slept. "You're welcome to make yourself at home down there."

"Not a chance," Jack whispered back.

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