Guardian Angel

Dinner

As I was placing the finishing touches on the table after hiding the shirts in the kitchen with the chef, I began to hear voices. Soon, all of the Brooklyn newsies began to walk into the Lodging House and up the stairs, not even bothering to notice us. I stood next to the table, quietly giggling into my hand at them, until Cheer walked in with Spot. Both boys turned to face me as they walked inside, Cheer immediately recognized my presence and Spot feeling that something was different in his Lodging House.
"Angel!" Cheer exclaimed happily. He ran to me and I bent down to meet him and pick him up in a hug. Cheer giggled happily and I laughed with him as I watched every single newsie's head snap towards me.
"What are you doing here?" Spot asked coolly but rudely, trying to contain his obvious surprise. I calmly raised an eyebrow at his rude remark and stared straight back at him, never flinching under his calculating gaze.
"I can't come and visit my favorite newsie?" I asked innocently as I slowly put Cheer down. I could see out of the corner of my eye that all of Spot's newsies were watching our exchange intensely.
"Well I am flattered but I know that you did not come just to visit me," Spot drawled cockily as he slowly stepped forward. I absolutely hated the smirk on his face and the way that it made my stomach feel like there were a hundred butterflies fluttering around inside of me. I thought I was going insane.
Instead of letting him see this and the effect he was having on me, I simply smirked back and said, "Of course I didn't just come to visit you. Like I said before I came to visit my favorite newsie, Cheer." Cheer giggled at this and I could hear some boys stifling a laugh. I just turned slightly to face the rest of the newsies, ignoring Spot's glare, and continued on, "But... I did bring a little surprise for each of you." Each face lit up with a mixture of surprise and curiosity.
A boy who looked to be about ten was the first to speak. He was skinny, anyone could see that through his overly large, red shirt. He looked up at me with black hair flopping into his big brown eyes as he politely asked, "Miss? What's our surprise?" as he pulled off his light blue cap.
Bending down to his height I asked him, "Well, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?" He gently shook his head and I smiled, standing up to address the rest of the newsies. I smiled lightly at each one, ignoring Spots protests and claims of not needing charity, and gently said, "Come on now. All of you sit down at the table." When I saw the hesitant looks they were giving Spot I quickly added, "You wouldn't want to be rude to a lady, now would you?" and they were all rushing to get a seat at the table. I smiled at their obedience and giggled as I passed a fuming Spot as I made my way to the kitchen door.
"What exactly do you think you are doing?!" Spot hissed in my ear as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards him. His grip was tight and I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of it but it was never tighter than necessary, confirming my thought that he would never hurt me. I spun around to face him, his grip on my wrist never faltering but allowing me to turn around, taking the moment to realize just how close he was. There were barely a few inches between his face and mine and it made me nervous. I wondered if he always looked so kissable but I quickly shook that thought out of my mind and looked at him closely, seeing the proud fire that burned deep in his stormy grey eyes. His face looked cool and collected but I could feel the anger radiating off of him, making a small shiver run down my back.
I summed up my courage and gave him a slightly pleading look and asked, "Please? Your boys need some kindness in their lives. Let me show it to them." Spot's face softened ever so slightly and he looked at the table full of boys who were talking amongst themselves excitedly and sighed. He turned back to me and gave me a slight nod, letting go of my wrist, and then sat down at the head of the table. I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at his approval and hurried to the kitchen to help the waitresses' bring out the food before Spot could change his mind.
I carried out the first tray full of food, smiling as the boys eyes lit up with excitement. Each plate was filled with chicken, pork, or beef with mashed potatoes, vegetables and lots of gravy. I gave each newsie a plate, receiving a thank you from each newsie in return. I saved my second to last plate to give to the king in order to see his reaction. Due to overcrowding at the table, I had to lean over Spot's shoulder in order to set the plate down, leaving the last plate for me. As I did Spot whispered in my ear a quiet "Thank you Angel" and I smiled a "your welcome" sitting down next to him with my own plate of food.
I ate my smaller plate of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy slowly as I watched the boys around me. Most were eating quickly, having obviously been hungry and by the time I was halfway done with my plate of food I had made another decision and needed to talk to Annie. I quietly excused myself from the table and walked swiftly into the kitchen.
When I returned to the table I was beaming, extremely pleased with myself and how the previous conversation had went. Spot looked at me cautiously as I sat back down and asked "Why do you seem so excited?"
I glanced around, making sure all the surrounding newsies were buried in their own conversations. I turned back to him to see his eyebrow raised as he smirked at my poorly contained excitement to tell him. "I have arranged for a Sunday dinner every week for the next few years for each of your newsies and any newsies you gain in that time," came my giggled reply but I quickly added, "and its already been paid for so there is no way for you to refuse" before he could refuse.
Spot stared at me and for the first few minutes I searched his face frantically but was unable to read any expression on his face which made me worried and nervous. His molten silver eyes pierced straight through me but I decided to stare straight back, not letting him see how nervous he was making me. Slowly he began to shake his head, muttered something about me spoiling his boys and continued to finish his dinner.
"That's it?!" I exclaimed staring at him. I had been expecting a huge argument about how I wasn't allowed to order and pay for their dinner and all I had gotten was muttering! My jaw had to have dropped as he just calmly stared back at me while eating his dinner. "That's all you're going to say?!"
"Well it's your money to spend. All I can do is try and keep my boys from going soft with all the spoiling you're doing." He shrugged as he pushed his empty plate a few inches in front of him. He looked down at me and gave me a small smile. I stared at him because instead of his usual smirk that makes me feel like there are thousands of butterflies fluttering around in my stomach he actually gave me a smile, which of course wasn't much better than the smirk seeing as it made my heart melt. My staring was interrupted by the waitresses leaving with all of the empty plates and promises to see both the boys and me soon.
I grinned at him giddily and said, "You have no idea what I have planned," and giggled at his confused expression before jumping out of my seat and hurrying into the kitchen.