A Way Home

Chapter Nine: I'll Be- Jacob Noah

Considering that they had spent the last few days practically attached at the hip, Spot found it surprisingly easy to avoid Joy.

It's not that he wanted to avoid her, he told himself, but that he felt so bad- so angry over what Jack had done- and for making what seemed to have ended up an empty promise.

Joy had busied herself the rest of the day with helping David plan what the next big element of the strike would be, and with trying to talk Katherine into writing about the strike again.

She hardly noticed that Spot had practically disappeared, until when she finally stopped to take a break, as all the other newsies were beginning to hang around the bunk room, she saw him sitting alone on the fire escape.

"Hey."

Spot didn't look away from the sun set as she sat down, "Hey."

Wrapping an arm around his waist, she shifted closer to him, "Bad luck today I guess."

"I'm sorry," His voice came out closer to a whisper than he'd intended, "I think we might not be able to win this any more."

"I didn't think so either. You gonna pack up yours and go back to Brooklyn then?" she asked with a sigh.

"Maybe- I'm sorry I let you down- 'bout all this."

Joy frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I promised ya.... Itd already a broken one..."

She shook her head, "It's okay, Sean. Honestly, I already knew we weren't going to get very far with this."

They sat in silence for a few moments, until Spot finally asked, "What'd Jackie boy say to you? At the distribution centre."

"That all I'm good for is running and hiding. And that I won't be able to get anywhere." She sighed.

"Are you kidding me?" He asked, incredulous, "I'll fucking kill him, Liette I swear-"

"Shhhhh. It's fine."

"Well did you at least bite him back?"

Joy chuckled, "I told him that he certainly seemed to do a good job seizing the day. Shoulda seen his face, looked like I'd shot him."

That got Spot smiling, even if it was only a little as the quiet consumed them again.

"Are you going to take your boys back to Brooklyn?" Joy asked eventually.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, "Not sure- does it seem like David will keep up the strike?"

"From what I can tell. But it seems so... Hopeless to continue. Kids are gonna get hurt worse than they already have been." She sighed.

"Maybe I should get them back to Brooklyn then, spare 'em the harm," he paused, glancing up at the sky before looking back over at her, "I'm not sure I want to leave you though- what if you come with me? Transfer to Brooklyn?"

Joy bit her lip, thinking for a long moment, before beginning softly, "You take me back to the first grade, feel like a kid on my first date, I thought my heart would break my rib cage. I'll say it's crazy just to say that I've loved you since the first day."

The boy sighed, "I'll feel the butterflies escape, and everything inside will come awake."

"And I'll fall so deep into your ocean, never let you go, swear to god i'll never let you go. And I just feel all your devotion, swimming through your soul- I believe I believe I believe in you..." Joy turned to look at him, brushing a stray piece of hair away from his face.