The Grave Digger

Chapter 22: Back To Brooklyn

   Trigger Warning

   They were on the bridge, and Bones was getting extremely nervous. She didn't know why. When they got to where Marbles and Magnet were standing guard, she told them off, and convinced them not to tell Spot that she was there. They kept going, and they told David about Spot a little. Really, David had asked, "is this Spot Conlon really dangerous?" and they all laughed.
   When they reached the pier all so familiar to Bones, Spot jumped down from where he stood. "Well, if it isn't Jack be nimble, Jack be quick." Classic Spot, stupid puns first, then he's going to accept something from Boots, then ask about David. She saw that he hadn't changed Brooklyn much from when she was King. It had gotten smaller, of course, when they split the city into boroughs, but that seemed to be about the only change, other than the new newsies she had never met before. But a lot she did know, and when they saw her behind Jack, they nearly jumped, but she smirked, and put a finger to her lips, and they left her alone. She hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation going on, but she heard Spot start to call David the "walking mouth." She rolled her eyes. Finally, he said no. Bones stepped out from behind Jack. "Hey Spot."
   His eyes widened, but he smiled pleasantly. "Bones. Took guts ta come back here, huh?" She laughed. "Huh, well, I don't see you comin' ta try an' see me." Bones could tell he was terrified. He had thought she was dead. He didn't hear anything about her. "Well, I see ya're alive. Did ya come an' try ta convince me ta join tha strike?" She put her hands out next to her. "You caught me. What're ya gonna do? Arrest me? Been there, done that." She smirked, and pulled him to the side. "Spot, look, I ain't here ta say it's da greatest idea, cause it's not, bu' it's damn well betta then starvin' an' dat's what'd happen if they kept da prices up. I can hardly afford papahs wit da regular price, imagine the high-ya price. It'd be appreciated if ya helped a liddle. Jus' think abou' it." Spot was still scared of her. The only thing he could do was think about it. "Fine, I'll think abou' it." He was a little skittish, like a horse. "Don' be scared o' me, Spot," she whispered. He swallowed hard, and watched her leave. When Bones and the other three started to walk away, she turned around, and blew Spot a kiss and winked. He jumped, and she turned around and laughed at him.
   By the time they were back, everyone else was, too. They all said the same thing, none of the other boroughs would join unless Spot joined. Bones shook her head. This was a disaster. What was so great about Spot anyway? He wasn't the bravest person she'd met, he definitely wasn't the smartest. Maybe she had just known him for too long. But she didn't get it. She was about fed up, and if she had to force him to join with them to get the others to help, she would.
   The next morning, she couldn't shake the feeling something was going to go wrong. And she was right. They had been trying to get all the Manhattan newsies on their side, and they got in a little scuffle. They were ripping up newspapers, throwing them around, and throwing rotten tomatoes at the distribution building. It was really fun. But Weasel called the bulls on them. When the bulls showed up, Race picked Bones and her cane up, and carried her out of there. They didn't realize Crutchy wasn't with them until it was too late. Bones felt horrible. She should have tried to get him out of there, but Race had scooped her up.
That night, Bones had trouble sleeping. She wasn't going to sit there and do nothing. She was going to let Spot know that he should have helped. She snuck out of the lodging house, and made her way across the Brooklyn Bridge. She was angry. She stomped up the Brooklyn lodging house, not caring that she was waking up every other newsie in there, and she stomped all the way to Spot and pushed him against the wall. "You liddle joik!" She yelled at him. He tried to calm her down, but she was well past diplomacy. "They took Crutchy, ya hear! Crutchy!" She was crying at this point, and Spot dragged her into the other room, so the newsies couldn't hear them. "Bones, it's okay." He tried to calm her, but it wasn't working. "You joik!" She screamed, trying to punch him. But she didn't have the energy to punch him hard enough, and eventually she stopped, and just cried in his arms. He rubbed her back. "Bones, when's da last time ya ate summin'?" She sat down on the floor. "I don' know." Spot's heart fell. The room they were in was the room that was technically supposed to be for the King, but Bones had been a girl, so she never stayed in there. Spot crossed the room, and grabbed a bag of bread from his bed. He sat down in front of her, and handed it to her. She looked up at him. "I can' take this, it's not right." He raised an eyebrow at her. "You broke abou' five rules by stormin' up here, I think it's fine." She glared at him, but took the bread. After she finished it, they talked a little, and Spot was convinced to join the strike. But it was really late. "I's gotta go, Spot." He stood in front of the door. "No, I ain't lettin' ya walk across da bridge, an' take a chance o' ya fallin' asleep an' tumblin' off." She rolled her eyes, but he picked her up, and placed her in the bed. He grabbed some pillows, and he slept on the floor, making sure she went to sleep first.
When she woke up, the sun was not out yet, and Spot was still asleep. This let her easily slip away, and she snuck back over the bridge. As she was passing the graveyard, she saw Race, looking for her. "There ya are, we was worried sick!" He ran over to her. "I'm fine, I jus' had stuff ta do." Race looked back at the graveyard. "Ya didnt'..." he trailed off, but Bones knew exactly what he was thinking. "No, Race, ya know me better'n dat." But she wouldn't tell him where she'd been.
   Later, they were all over at the distribution center again, but the goons were there. They tried attacking the Newsies, but then a miracle happened. "Nevah fear, Brooklyn is here!" Spot yelled out, popping up from the roof. Bones laughed, while some of the other newsies yelled, "Brooklyn!" But she had to focus. Two of the goons were surrounding her, and she couldn't get away from them. One reached out to touch her, and the other grabbed her. She couldn't move, and she was trying to scream, but one of them had covered her mouth. Her screams were muffled, sounding something like, "mmmm! Mhmp mm!" Her legs were flailing, and they were carrying her away from everyone. At least, until Spot, Race, and David jumped them. The goons were a little confused, giving her the ability to bite the hand over her mouth. As soon as she sunk down, he let go, and David picked her up, and carried her away from them. She spluttered. "Ughh! Tha' was gross! Bu' thanks, Davy." He laughed. "No problem."
   The goons had kinda run away, and Denton, a newspaper man that was, for whatever reason, interested in the strike, was trying to take their picture. No one was ready, except Jack. Bones had hopped on Spot's back, but she ended up in between Spot and Race. After the picture, Race picked her up and carried her bridal-style. She laughed, but Spot took her out of Race's arms, and carried her like a sack of flour. She laughed even harder, which made Spot laugh, causing him to almost drop her on her head. "Spot, ya're gonna kill her, be careful," Race laughed. Bones couldn't see what happened because her head was facing Spot's back, but she had an... interesting view. "Bones!" Mush yelled, laughing. "What?" She looked up at him. He, Blink, and Jack were laughing. She rolled her eyes, and said, "it's his fault, he picked me up like this." Spot eventually put her on his back, piggy-back style. Race had picked her hat up when Spot carried her upside down, and he was fanning himself with it, again. She took it out of his hands, and slapped him with it.
   Denton treated them to lunch at Tibby's. Most of the time, she was sitting on Race's lap, and listening to everyone. At some point, Race kissed the left side of her head, where her ear should have been. She blushed, and she knew, everyone saw it. She wrinkled her nose, but stayed in the same position. So let them think the two were dating, that was fine with her. During the lunch time, though, they organized a newsie rally. Bones was excited, they had decided to do it at Medda's, and she had always meant to get down there.
   Bones wished she had fancier clothes. The only fancy thing she had was her ring, but if the younger newsies combined some of their extra fancy clothes, she had an outfit that fit her almost perfectly. Race laughed at her, he thought she looked ridiculous. And she still didn't have shoes. He kissed her ring, and she scrunched her nose, which caused him to pick her up bridal-style again. He carried her all the way to the theatre, although she told him to put her down many times. The whole time, she couldn't stop staring at Race. He was so funny, singing along, and telling stupid jokes. She just wanted to kiss him. No, Bones, that would be stupid, she told herself. But she really wanted to. But no matter that, she could have sworn she just saw some of the bulls.
   She nudged Race. He turned and saw them, too. Everyone saw them. They started to scramble out of there, and Bones and Race got split up. As she was running up to a balcony, her knee gave out under her, and she fell down a whole flight of stairs. She hit her head on the landing, and the last thing she remembered was seeing Race being dragged away, as she herself, was dragged out of there.
   The next morning, they were in front of a judge. But not just any judge. It was the same judge that presided over her case two years before. She gave a quiet yelp, and Race asked what was wrong. He couldn't believe it when she told him, and she hid behind him and Spot. She didn't pay much attention, until Spot said something stupid. "Hey, ya honah, I object." "On what grounds?" Spot smirked. "On tha grounds of Brooklyn, ya honah." Bones put her head in her hands, and took a deep breath. What. An. Idiot. She lost her train of thought again, until Race said, "ya honah, how 'bout I roll ya fo' it, huh? Double or nothin'." Everyone laughed, but Bones thought she was surrounded by idiots. They didn't realize who they were being sentenced by.
   She didn't pay attention to any of the rest of it, but she knew Denton had payed their fines. She didn't even pay attention when Jack walked in, and Race said, "hey, Cowboy, nice shina!" She didn't pay attention on the way to the restaurant. She didn't pay attention when Denton said he couldn't help them anymore. And she definitely didn't pay attention when David said they were getting Jack out of the Refuge. Race knew the judge thing freaked Bones out, but he didn't think it had freaked her out that bad. She was like a ghost. She wasn't listening to anyone, and she was paranoid. Every time someone touched her shoulder, it was like death himself was reaching out for her, as if she was scared they were going to arrest her again, and she would actually get the death penalty.
   She didn't help them try to get Jack out of the refuge. She promised she'd watch over the little kids in the lodging house. She had always been good at that, and the kids loved her. She was always nice, but she was also firm, so they wouldn't try anything with her. She watched as some of them played with wooden swords, and some of them read. They were very well behaved for her, and she was glad for that. It almost made her want kids of her own when she grew up. She had always had fun playing with them, and they listened to her well. In due course, she made them all go to sleep, although they did trick her into singing a lullaby. She didn't know how she knew one, but she did. She, however, waited for the others to get back. When they did, Jack was not with them, and Bones was not surprised.
   Race quietly went up to her. "How are you so good wit' kids?" She shrugged. "Don' know, jus' am." She laid down on her bed, which she had moved to Crutchy's so she could be over Race, and closed her eyes. She just wanted some sleep. But she didn't get any. It must have been the middle of the night when she woke up in a cold sweat. She was breathing hard. She had just remembered something she had been hoping she never would. She couldn't believe she remembered that. It answered so many questions, but it hadn't helped her much. It scared her. She didn't want to remember that. She slipped off her bed, and shook Race awake. "Huh?" he asked, a little disoriented. She waved him outside. She couldn't talk about it in there. As soon as they stepped onto the steps of the lodging house, she sat down, and said, Race, I remembered something."
   The next morning hadn't been any better. Finally, she had gotten some sleep, but not much. She couldn't focus the next day. Especially not when they found out Jack was a traitor. She couldn't form any words. He was like her brother. How could he do this? Hadn't he been the one to encourage the strike? But what hurt most, is when he told David that he wasn't a kid anymore. Those were the words Rebel had said to her during their last fight, right before he had slapped her. She nearly broke down crying. But she didn't. She put on a brave face, and just breathed. She didn't pay any attention to anything the rest of the day. She let her mind wander. She let it wander to what she had remembered, she let it wander to anything that would keep her mind off of Jack.
   But she wasn't expecting to meet someone she had known years before, that she hadn't given much thought to in almost ten years. She was standing in the middle of the pavement, hoping she might fall down dead, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "You're the little girl from the train." Bones recognized that voice. She turned around. "Lucy?" She smiled, it had been years. Lucy smiled. She was much older than Bones remembered, but it had been a long time. "I looked all over the city for you, dear, but I could never find you. But two years ago, I saw you in the papers, and I thought that couldn't have been correct, you would never hurt a soul, but I gave up because they said you had been sentenced to death, but when I saw you in the papers again, I was ecsatic." Bones smiled. It was definitely Lucy. "Well, I go by Bones now. And I'm a newsie. While I can't say I've been a sain', I def-nitly have not killed anybody. In fact, I was in Long Island when dey said I killed da guy in Brooklyn." Lucy looked sympathetic. "You haven't changed very much, but your ear is gone, and you have a cane, what happened?" Bones bit her lip. "I got hit by a streetcar." Lucy looked terrified. She hugged Bones, and rubbed her back. Bones didn't want to let go. Although they had only known each other for a few hours, Lucy had been like a mother to her. Tears welled in Bones' eyes, and she buried her head in Lucy's skirts. When she pulled away, Lucy was crying, as well. "I have to get going, dear, but please, be careful." Bones nodded, and watched Lucy walk away. She had just made it to the nearest alleyway, when she broke down crying. She could hardly breath she was crying so hard.
   She must have been crying for hours, and nobody had seen her. It was starting to get dark outside, but she couldn't stop herself. She was laying on the ground, she had been crying so hard. She hardly had the energy to do anything but let out shaky breaths. But she knew her face was still red and tear-stained. She may have stopped on the outside, but on the inside, she was still crying. She didn't know how late it was, but she could hear Race and Spot calling out her name. She didn't care. She crawled to the back of the alley, and when they passed, she made her way to the bridge. It had been a while since she had tried this, but, as always, she traced her hand along the railing before climbing up. She was wobbly from crying, and she could hear Race and Spot coming closer, but she didn't care. She wanted all of it to be over. She couldn't climb to a high part of the bridge, so she hoped she would drown when she hit the water. "BONES! NO!" she heard as she stepped forward. She hit the water, and she could feel herself drowning. But she heard a splash near her. Someone had jumped in. They dragged her to the surface, and she hated them. Why? Why couldn't they just let her go? They turned her on her side and patted her back hard enough for the water to come out. She coughed and spluttered, but she didn't want to. She kicked whoever had saved her. She hated them. She closed her eyes for a second, but when she opened them, she saw the most beautiful brown eyes. They were huge, and she completely got lost in them. The mouth of the brown eyes said something, but she couldn't hear. All she could focus on were those eyes. But the brown eyes were crying, and she was mad. Did she make them cry? How dare she be so stupid? Why would she do that? She regained control of her consciousness, and realized, those brown eyes belonged to Race.
   She was mad again. "Why did you do tha' Race!" She yelled at him. She screamed through her teeth, and started to cry again. She wanted to fly. She could fly if she jumped in the water. Why would he never let her fly? She looked at Spot. "Did you tell him to do that?! Why would you tell him to do that?!" She broke down again, trying to climb back to the bridge, but Race held her back. She kept kicking him, but he held on, still crying. "I HATE YOU!" she screamed at him. "Why would you save me?!" She couldn't get free of his grip. "Because I love you!" He screamed back. She stopped. He... he... loved her? She turned to him tears in her eyes. She let them go again, and she started shaking. "Why?" She could hardly speak above a whisper. Spot didn't know what to do. He just sat and watched, tears in his eyes because he thought Bones was gone for sure. It hurt him to see her so broken that she wanted to leave them, that she could even tell someone that she hated them.
   Race rocked her back and forth. He whispered soothing words in her ear, and he kissed her forehead. He motioned to Spot saying they needed to be alone, and Spot understood. He took off across the bridge back to Brooklyn. Race kept rocking her, until she fell asleep. He carried her to the lodging house, and up to his bed. He sat on the bed with her in his lap, rocking her again. Of course, they were still soaked, so he wrapped her in his and her blankets, just hoping she'll be okay. He didn't even bother to try to move. He pressed himself against the wall, and fell asleep with her in his lap.
   He woke up to someone slapping his face. Mush was standing over the two of them, Bones still asleep. As was everyone else... except Mush. Race squinted in the early morning light. "Why are ya soakin' wet? Wha' happened?" Mush asked. Race started to explain, but didn't want to do it there. "I'll tell ya later." Apparently, that was a good enough answer for Mush, and he left Race alone until everyone was awake.
   As Race had stepped outside to tell Mush, Les came running to them, telling them it was important, and they all needed to go to the distribution center. They got all the Newsies down there as fast as they could. Jack, David, Sarah, and Denton had made their own newspaper with Denton's article, and had the newsies circulate. Bones went up to all the kids she could, Race right behind her. "Can ya read?" she'd ask them. If they said yes, she'd tell them to read the paper. If they said no, she told them to ask someone who could to read it with them. It was very effective, but not nearly as effective as what Boots was doing. He stood on some roof, and threw them in the air screaming, "Carrying the banner!"
   When they had circulated the papers, she sat down with Les, and asked him to read it to her. He did, and she smiled. They were brilliant. All of a sudden, Brooklyn led a parade of thousands of people, protesting the unfair treatment.
   Finally, they won. It was a great feeling. And she was told that she was off the hook for the grave robbing and pick pocketing, and the state formally apologized for wrongfully accusing her of murder. She felt good. Jack was also let off the hook from the refuge, and they let all the kids that had been in the refuge, out, meaning Crutchy was allowed out. Bones was the first to hug him. She missed him, after all, they were best friends. Smirking, she turned to Spot, and he knew what she was thinking of. He chuckled, and shook his head.
   Now, she was standing next to Race again, but Jack was leaving. He was going to the train yards and leaving for Santa Fe. She didn't want him to go, he was her brother, after all, but if that's what he wanted, he should be happy. She looked at Race, and he slipped his arm around her waist. He bent down and kissed the top of her head. But something changed. "It's Jack! He's back!" she heard someone scream. She whipped her head around, and to her delight, he was back. She looked back up at Race, and saw him smiling, too.
   When Jack had just appeared back, people crowded around him, and Bones saw Sarah push through them. When she got up to him, Bones saw them kiss, and she wrinkled her nose. Her nose was still scrunched when everyone, including Jack and Sarah, turned to her and Race. Mush shouted, "your turn!" as Jack threw out some catcalls. Race picked her up, and kissed her. There seemed to be more cheering than when Jack and Sarah kissed, and she couldn't help but think, 'finally.'