Family Don't Break

CHAPTER 25

JACK'S POV:

"We're never going to find them." I sigh. "Shut up, Kelly. We're going to find them. Your moping doesn't help." Spot hisses. "There are only three workhouses in New York, so they must be in one of them." Davey insists. "That's three options, filled with hundreds of kids each." Albert leans back in his chair, as angry as the rest of us.

"God damn it! This is all your fault, Jack! You let Race go back to get her!" Spot pushes his books off the table, standing up. "You think I wanted this to happen? I was going to go get her but Race said he would do it! I didn't have time to argue." Spot marches over to me. Even with his short stature, he seems to loom over me. "If anything happens to my boyfriend, I swear to God Kelly, I will kill you. I won't hesitate."

"Hey, my girlfriend is in there too. You're not the only one suffering right now." I shout back. I stand up, balling my fists. "I'm just as worried as you, Spot." Davey comes in between the two of us to make sure we don't throw punches. "Fighting won't do either of you any good. Now come on, let's get back to work. The sooner we figure out where they are the sooner we can get them out."

We take our seats around the table again. "Alex's parents called again this morning. They wanted to know if we'd found her yet. They're pretty freaked out. They wanted to come and look for her, but I told them to stay put. We'll have a better chance of getting her out than they do. They said to keep them updated. They're going to try and talk to some of the officers, see if they can find out where they went." Finch says.

"Jojo, Ike, Mike, you three check out the Ferennel workhouse. Specs, Mush, Albert, you go look at the Martin workhouse. Romeo, you and I will check the Berendam workhouse. Katharine is pulling some strings to see what she can find. Until we know something, Jack and Spot, you two stay here and wait for a call from Alex's parents." Davey explains.

"Fine. But if you hear anything you call us right away." Spot says. Davey nods in agreement. The boys hurriedly leave, all going their separate ways. The room is too quiet and you could cut the tension with a knife.

Both of us look like crap. Neither of us slept a wink, and we have dark circles under our eyes. I didn't even change out of my clothes from yesterday. "Jack, what if we don't find them?" Spot's voice cracks. His usually stony exterior is breaking. "I-I don't know." I admit. "I'm scared, Jack. I'm really scared. I can't lose Race. I've already lost so many people. If I lose Race, I don't think I can keep going."

I know what he means. Everytime you lose someone you love, a little part of you dies. You feel that hollowness forever. You learn to ignore it, but it never goes away. There's a limit. You know that when that one person dies, you won't be able to recover. You'll finally have lost too much. The only part of your heart still beating will still.

"You know, I never thought I'd meet the one." Spot nods in agreement. "Then I met Alex, and it just clicked. I knew. She's the girl I want to marry, start a family with, grow old with. She understands me. I've never loved anyone like the way I love her." I fight back the tears that come to my eyes as I share this. I'm never this honest with anyone but Alex.

"I know what you mean. Race kinda grew on me. Like one day, I looked at him and realized 'holy shit, I love this dumbass'. He's the only guy for me. I've been with other people, but none of them loved me like he loves me. The way he smiles, the way he kisses me. I've never felt so loved or loved someone so much. He's an idiot, but he's my beautiful idiot." Spot smiles wistfully.

Both of us are missing our other half. Both of us are worried sick. We don't always get along, but the two of us have more in common than we think. We're going to have to work together to find our loves. We will get them back, whatever it takes.