The Paths

[David Jacobs]

To look at them on the surface, David was sure that no one would think anything was wrong, but he knew better. Fighter's eyes held the same shadows that his did, the set of her shoulders was different somehow and David just knew...they were different now. No matter how hard they might try to fight it, no matter how much they wanted to go back to the ways things had been, they couldn't.

He watched her pull out a cigarette and a semi awkward silence filled the space between them until Fighter asked how he was and he shrugged, preparing to brush it off with his usual protests of being fine. But it seemed silly to do that with Fighter, she had been there through it all, knew the ugly sides and hiding them now seemed almost silly. "Managing," He said finally because it was the truth and the most honest word he could come up with for what the past few days had felt like.

"What about you?" He asked, curbing the urge to reach out and touch her shoulder. Whatever had happened, they still barely knew one another and David didn't want to cross any lines with her or make her uncomfortable.

[Fighter Mallory]

Fighter nodded to his response and shrugged at his question, "Eh..can't complain. I'm keeping it together." And that's really all she could do. At this point things just felt so out of hand to her but she would never tell anyone that. Hell she'd never admit it herself. That's why she'd bought the opium. She wanted to just get lost in a world where it didn't matter what she'd done.

Fighter took another drag of her cigarette and offered it to David, unsure if he smoked or not. She figured not but after everything he'd done for her the least she could do was offer it to him. After everything she still couldn't bring herself to just outright thank him for sticking by her side and helping her get Gwennie out of that building. She really did appreciate it though even if she had no idea how to put that in words. That girl was the closest thing she had to family and she was glad she'd gotten her out of there relatively unharmed.

"You seen any of the Manhattan kids?" Fight knew Davey didn't live at the lodging house but she was still curious to see what had happened to everyone. Once she'd cleaned herself up and made sure Gwennie was okay she'd walked back to Brooklyn. She couldn't take the crowd that night and she didn't want anyone tending to her wounds because she didn't want them to see the very clear evidence of her guilt. Hell if it had been up to her she would have headed straight back to the lodging house but she wanted to be with Gwennie until she was sure the girl was in safe hands.

[David Jacobs]

He waved off her offer of the cigarette, though most of the Newsies smoked, it had never appealed to David though he appreciated the offer for what it was and shot her a small smile. In some ways he was the most comfortable that he had been since that night standing here with her, no judgment, no war stories to share, no explanations, because she had been there and she already knew.

"Most of them made it back," David said, rocking back on his feet and allowing his gaze to drift back over towards where the lodging house sat. "Still missing a few and I haven't managed to actually see Jack yet but I think we made it out alright. How about Brooklyn?" He knew Jack was alright had heard from some of the others that had seen him around and David had made a point of stopping by Irving Hall almost daily and he'd been spending more and more time in the lodging house with the other Newsies. If anyone could understand some of his turmoil, it was them.

"How's Gwennie?" He asked, thinking of the young girl he'd carried out of the work house and into the city, not sure he'd ever forget the feel of her tiny arms wrapped around his neck.

[Fighter Mallory]

She gave him a nod when he waved off her offer and took another drag, thinking about how much had changed for her in such a short span of time. She felt like her life before the day at the factory was years ago. All of the horrible things she done pressed down on her consciouns and she tried not to think about it. When he said most of them made it back she gave him another slight nod, glad they hadn't lost many.

"I haven't been spending much time at the house but I think everyone made it back." She had actually not really paid attention to anyone but Gwennie when she was there. Once she knew her friends were okay she put most of her attention on the girl. She figured she needed it after the months spent in that hell hole. "Good as can be expected."

Fight still wasn't sure exactly what they'd endured there but Gwennie was resiliant and it seemed like she'd come out mostly unscathed. She'd had a few bumps and bruises and lost a bit of weight but it could've been worse. Fight had heard about the kid from the Bronx and was just thanking god it hadn't been Gwennie. She wasn't sure she would've been able to deal with that.

[David Jacobs]

"I'm glad she's doing alright," He said softly. He couldn't exactly explain why he felt so connected to Fighter and Gwennie, the woman that he had fought side by side with and the little girl he carried out of hell. But he knew he'd do it all again if he had too, if it meant that Gwennie was safe and Fighter was standing here in front of him.

That was the sort of bizarre thing about this entire hellacious workhouse experience: it had brought them all together. The thing that deep down David had always wanted, for all the boroughs to get along had been accomplished by some horrible evil...he didn't think that was a good thing. But whatever the reasons, he felt bonded to this girl from Brooklyn, was haunted by her eyes and though he thought of reaching out and touching her shoulder, he resisted since he imagined she wouldn't appreciate it.

"I wondered about you after we got back," He said finally, lifting a hand and rubbing at the back of his neck. Their friendship, if you could call it that, was by turns comfortable and awkward and David was still trying to navigate the waters. "I...I'm glad to see..." He was going to say that he was glad to see that she was okay but knew the fallacy in the statement. "...you..."

[Fighter Mallory]

Fighter didn't say anything really she was thinking about the girl who had become family to her. She wished she had thought to keep a closer eye on her so that she never would have had to go through what she went through. Honestly Fight wanted to shield her from the harshness of the world they lived in and she had been thrown into the pits of it when she'd been taken. Fighter felt as though she had somehow failed her and she knew she'd be trying to make it up to the girl for awhile.

There was only one thing that had come out of the situation that could be deemed positive. Fight had never felt about someone the way she felt about Davey. It reminded her of the way she had felt about her uncle but it was still slightly different. The fact that he had stuck by her side through the entire ordeal had earned him her complete loyalty. It was something she couldn't say she felt about anyone else besides Gwennie. Lucky and Smalls were pretty much on the same page but somehow in the span of a few hours Davey had earned a spot in her life that no one else had.

Fight ducked her head for a moment when he said he'd been wondering about her. "Didn't stick around 'hattan too long." The feeling had been mutual. He had been on her mind since she'd gone back to Brooklyn. She'd hoped he'd been faring well enough but she was glad she'd run into him and had the oppurtunity to check up on him. Fight gave him a smirk, "You ain't the only one." Of course she was joking because she wasn't very good at expressing what she felt when it wasn't anger.

[David Jacobs]

"It got messy," He said, because Irving Hall had filled up fast and Medda and the others that were treating the wounded never seemed to stop. It was easy to get lost in the chaos and David could appreciate her need and desire to get away from it all. It had been like that for him when he got home, Les all wide-eyed and full of questions and all David wanted to do was punch a wall or run forever or just get away.

And he hadn't been sleeping, if it really mattered at all. He pretended because he didn't want to worry his family and then would duck out on the fire escape and sit there for long hours the way he had done with Jack back when they first met. He knew enough about himself to know that there things inside of him that had fundamentally shifted and he was still grappling with what exactly that meant.

He smiled a little when she offhandedly admitted to being glad to see him and for some reason it pleased him. Shoving his hands back in his pockets he glanced back towards Manhattan and then back at Fighter. "You heading somewhere? Maybe we could grab a bite or something..." He shrugged his shoulders, the fact was he didn't feel much like be alone at the moment but her company was the only kind that felt appropriate at the moment.

[Fighter Mallory]

Fight nodded a bit, "Yeah I saw people coming in." She knew she didn't have to say anything beyond that because they'd both seen their friends. Cuts, bruises, blood, weary eyes... it wasn't a sight she wanted to see again. The face that had troubled her most outside of her own and Davey's was probably Zekes. Then she'd heard about the kid and it made sense.

She hadn't really spoken to anyone besides Gwennie because she wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't sure what people knew and she hoped it wasn't much. She hoped they'd been to caught up in what they'd been doing to be concerned with her actions. They were her friends and she knew they'd understand and would be the last people to judge her but she would judger herself even more harshly if they saw what happened. She'd done what she'd felt was necessary but at the time she hadn't expected the extreme guilt that was coursing through her body.

Fight gave him a shrug when he asked if she was heading somewhere and if she wanted to grab some food. "I don't have anywhere to be. Where did you want to get food at?" If he said Tibby's she was out of there. She in no way wanted to deal with a bunch of newsies. Somehow though she thought he may feel the same way she did. The comfortable way she felt around Davey now didn't extend to the rest of Manhattan or any other borough and she felt like he may feel the same way.

[David Jacobs]

Everyone had heard about the Bronx kid, and David remembered being there when a few of the Bronx kids had found out, cries from that corner of Irving Hall had been nearly unbearable. Images of Newsie faces, of his friends had mixed and mingled with all the vivid memories of his night fighting beside Fighter and his eyes darkened for just a moment; sometimes it threatened to be too much.

"What about Romano's over in Queens?" He suggested, because it was neutral ground for them both and a little out of the way so he doubted they'd run into anyone they knew. He sensed her need to be somewhat alone, craved it himself though he sought out her company. It was odd the things that bonded you to others, before the warehouse he doubted him and Fighter would have even given each other a passing glance, he'd had to pick up her name off of another Brooklyn newsie at Irving hours after their intense moments. But now, now he couldn't imagine another soul possibly understanding how he felt the way that Fighter did.

[Fighter Mallory]

"That sounds good, haven't been there in awhile." Fighter appreciated the fact that he had chosen somewhere she didn't have to be surrounded by people she didn't really want to deal with. Finishing her cigarette Fight tossed the butt and stuck her hand back in her pocket. She fingered the small package in her pocket for a moment before focusing again.

She started walking in the direction of Queens, straying off the path and cutting through the tree line. "Parks to big to walk around, waste of time." She turned her head to make sure he was walking with her. "So uh... what have you been doing?" She wondered how he kept his mind off what had happened. Then again judging by his appearance she doubted he could.

[David Jacobs]

He followed her lead when she veered off the path, ducking under a branch and taking two long strides to fall into step beside her. In a way it reminded him of that night when they had run through the trees to get back to Manhattan after rescuing Gwennie. But it was different in the light of day, just the two of them cutting through the park and people going about their daily lives around them. It felt normal and different all at the same time and David decided there wasn't much use in trying to make sense of it.

"Hanging around the lodging house mostly," He said, scratching at the back of his neck before letting his arm fall to his side. The lodging house felt more like home now anyway and he felt a certain responsibility to be there after everything. "Check in at Irving when I can." He shrugged a let silence lapse for awhile, mulling over his thoughts, allowing some of the darker ones to wade their way in because he felt as though he had permission to now.

"Thinking a lot..." He said quietly, face hardening a little as he looked down at one of his hands before shoving it deep into his pocket. He wondered if it was odd that he could still vividly see the red stains that had tinted his hands, even after washing. He sucked in a breath and then looked over at her, watching her carefully. "How are you, really, Fighter?"

[Fighter Mallory]

Fighter brushed past the jutting branches without even really looking where she was going. She'd walked through this park so much growing up that she felt as though she knew every nook and cranny of it. She knew all of the shortcuts to take and where to watch out for roots sticking out of the ground and low hanging branches. She figured he'd probably spend a lot of time at the lodging house. A moment like what they'd all been through had a way of bonding people like nothing else could.

"How's everyone fairing there?" She knew some of the kids with more serious injuries had stayed there. At least the ones who weren't comfortable with going to the hospital. They all had suspicions and the fact that the cops had been involved in the kidnappings had just ingrained them in their souls. Fight nodded to his last sentiment. That's pretty much what she'd been doing since then, but her thoughts were dangerous. To her health at least. She always seemed to take the easy escape and now it seemed like the easy escape was a hazy drug filled world.

She paused when he asked her how she really was and turned to look at him. She shrugged, not really able to put how she felt into words. "I'm managing."

[David Jacobs]

"Faring alright," David said, looking over at Fighter with a slight smile. "You know us Manhattan kids, bright outlook and all that." He shrugged and kicked at a stone embedded in the dirt. "Most of them seem to be doing alright, kids are resilient sorts and the rest of us...we manage." He knew that a lot of the wounds were still to fresh, both figuratively and literally. With a little time he thought that things would ease their way back into normal, life had a way of readjusting.

He reached out and caught her arm when she said she was managing, pulled her around so they were facing one another and he searched her face with his eyes for a long time, seeing a sadness, ache and guilt in them that he knew well because he sometimes caught it in his own when he was looking in the mirror. "It's okay, you know...it's..." He sighed and struggled for words because he wanted to erase the look out of her eyes and knew that it wasn't possible to do that with a few simple words. "Just...it's okay."

[Fighter Mallory]

Fighter nearly hissed at him when he grabbed her arm. One thing she despised was being touched but somehow it didn't bother her quite so much when he did it. She restrained herself from saying anything or doing anything which wasn't a normal reaction for her. She just gave him a shrug, not willing to respond to what he said. She understood what he meant but it didn't change anything for her.

Pulling her arm from his grasp she took a step back and crossed her arms defensively. "I know it's okay. Like I said I'm surviving, can't expect much more from life." She gave him a hard stare for a moment and then it softened just a tiny bit. She hadn't meant to snap at him, it was just her automatic reaction in this type of situation.

[David Jacobs]

Touching her had been an instinctive move on his part and he'd realized almost instantly his mistake when he felt her go near rigid in his grasp, but he couldn't take it back now. He had only hoped that it would make her understand, at least a little bit, that he didn't blame her for anything that had happened. He had been there and he knew what the fight was like, they had both done what they needed to do and there had been consequences, hard to swallow ones, but they had, had reason.

When she pulled her arm from his grasp he held his hand there for a moment, palm facing her to show he was sorry before letting it fall idly to his side. Her eyes were intense as she watched him and he stayed still until he saw her eyes shift and soften slightly and he smiled at her, a little upturning of the corner of his mouth. "I know, Fighter I just..." He shrugged helplessly, feeling something inside him turn over and he wanted to turn into himself. "I want it all to be okay...for you, for me...for all of us."