#could not think up stuff to do for finch n teddy n i considered making them separate pages bc of it but theyre such a group pair

[vhvrs]

all the lil af icons i whipped up for this year!

[deliciouspeachpirate]

“Take my hand. Just trust me.”

A/N Here you go @prettyinlimegreenboots! I hope you like this! Its a little bit all over the place and the ending is a little wack, but I’m still happy with it. I think it’s actually the longest thing I have written to date. It does have character death, mentions of alcohol, and some generally sad stuff so please be careful! I have several other fics I’m working on right now so it will take a bit, but requests are always open! Enjoy!

It was late November and the days were starting to get shorter and colder. So far selling wasn't too much harder than normal, though the loss of so much daylight made it a bit more difficult. Jack knew that pretty soon fewer people would be willing to take even a few seconds longer than needed outside to buy a newspaper and that the boys were going to need all the money they could get for the coming winter. Winter was like a downward spiral. It got colder and people needed better coats, mittens, etc, but it was harder to sell enough papes to pay for it. Not to mention that after getting new clothes you still had to get food, figure out how to keep the lodge warm enough for everyone, keep the boys from getting sick for as long as he could, and then take care of them once they did inevitably get sick, all while making far less than they did in the summer. Winter was always the hardest time to be the leader of the newsies. Jack couldn't bear the thought of what might happen if someone got really sick and they couldn't afford medicine or a doctor. He couldn't bear the thought of loosing one of his newsies. His friends, his brothers, his family. They were all each other had and the possibility of someone getting sick and not recovering was very real. It had happened before and he didn't know if they could get through it again.

A little boy was lying in bed, extra blankets, some of which the older boys had given up, pulled up to his chin so that only his clammy face was visible. Despite the blankets and sweat slicking his hair down against his cheeks and forming beads on his forehead, his was still shivering. He hadn't left the bed for weeks. What had started out as a small cough and runny nose had spiraled until he collapsed one day on the way back to the lodging house.

Jack couldn't believe he had let the kid sell, but everyone needed the money and he couldn't let a little cough mean this kid didn't eat or sleep in the lodging house that night. He would have payed for him himself, but he had just bought a new coat for little Romeo and couldn't afford to cover the kid's board until he felt better. It was his first winter as Manhattan's leader. He was only fourteen at the time and didn't know what he was doing. How he wished he didn't let that little kid sell.

Crutchie hadn't smiled in at least a week. Race had stopped talking almost entirely, only ever saying anything that didn't directly have to do with selling to Jack and Albert. Even the younger kids were picking up on the fact that this was not just some ordinary cold. The entire lodge was quieter than it had ever been before. He hadn't stirred in days. They couldn't get him to eat anything and had resorted to forcing little sips of water past his lips hoping it could help. Jack didn't know what to do. They couldn't afford to get any help for him, but none of the methods they knew were helping. He was slipped away more and more every day.

Specs had been sitting with him when it happened. It was one of the few times Jack had ever seen him cry. One moment he had been breathing shakily, the next no sound came from his at all.

Jack was drawing in his penthouse, trying desperately to relax and rest a bit before he went down to replace Specs for a few hours until Finch's turn. It was freezing and a light snow was falling but Jack couldn't bring himself to care. Suddenly a chocked cry came from the bunkroom below him. Jack felt his stomach drop and he knew what had happened even before he saw the tear working its way down Specs' face.

They couldn't afford any real coffin for tombstone for him. He was taken away in an ordinary pine box and buried in a peasant's grave with nothing to mark who he was. There was no fancy church service. No pastor to say anything over his grave or to pray over him. The boys didn't have time to say their goodbyes, though most of them had been for days. The world stood still and he felt like there was nothing in him when he saw the box get taken away. He had kept his tears at bay, refusing to cry in front of the boys he was supposed to lead, to protect. But he had failed and now one of them was dead

Finch didn't come home that night. When Jack caught him as he stumbled through the door the next morning, his eyes were red and he smelled like alcohol. The tears hadn't dried yet on his cheeks. Jack couldn't find it in himself to tell Finch off, even if he knew he should. He was never quite the same after the kid's death.

That same winter, Jack decided that he wasn't going to let one of his boys go without something they needed if it was at all in his power to get it for them. He vowed to take care of them, no matter what it cost him. No one would go without a roof over their head, dinner, or mittens, even if it meant Jack had to give up his own. No one became a newsie just for fun. They all had something they were running from, some hardship in their past, or something they wanted to forget. Jack decided that as leader it shouldn't just be his job to tell his newsies what to do, but to take care of them. Starting in the winter of 1896, Jack made sure that the Manhattan newsies were a family.

Jack pushed away the memories of his failings in his early days as leader. He tried to think about what Crutchie had said when he'd confided in him on the roof top about how he felt after the ordeal. Crutchie had reminded him that he had been a fourteen year old kid, forced to take care of a bunch of other children after the disappearance of their old leader, and had no experience or help from anyone. No one had told him how to lead them and he was just trying to do the best for his boys. As much as it hurt and as easy as it was to blame himself, he couldn't have known and it wasn't his fault. All the same, Jack had vowed not to let anyone suffer if he could do something about it.

So when he was on his way back to the lodging house after selling his papers and came across a little girl shivering in an alley way, his mind was already made up about what he was going to do.

She was tiny, probably about eight. Judging by her thin frame, dirty dress, and the fact she was in an alley by herself with winter coming on, she probably didn't have anyone to take care of her. Unfortunately, it wasn't at all uncommon in New York for a kid to be living on the streets. The girl hadn't noticed Jack yet, so he approached her cautiously and knelt down a few feet away.

"Hey there, sweetheart. Watchu doing out here?" He spoke to her in the higher, gentler voice he typically saved for when one of the littles was scared.

She jumped and turned to look at him, not saying anything. She didn't seem to afraid of him, more surprised that he was talking to her. Years of experience taught him that if she had expected him to hurt her she would likely have flinched away or tried to run rather than just jumping. Given that, she likely hadn't been kicked our or run away, rather being on her own through some kind of accident.

"My name's Jack, how bout you tell me yours? If you'd rather not we can just go get ya something to eat instead."

The little girl's eyes brightened a little bit at the prospect of food and she smiled a bit, but she didn't seem keen to up and leave with him just yet. Jack smiled a little at her and scooted so that he was sitting with his back against the alley wall across from her.

He put his chin in his hands and said, "Ya know, its pretty cold out here. I live a few blocks away with my siblings and its nice and warm there. They'd like you, and we even have a few girls livin' with us too!" His smile fell the tiniest bit when he saw her look down and bite her lip. She was clearly hesitating and he didn't blame her, but his heart hurt to know that someone so young already knew that some people might want to hurt her. He took a deep breath and held out a hand to her.

"Hey, squirt, I ain't gonna hurt you. Take my hand. Just trust me. If you don't like it back home with me, ya don't have to stay." His voice was soft now, just barely above a whisper as he looked into her eyes, silently begging for her to take his hand.

She considered him for a moment, taking in his face. Finally, she smiled shyly again and took his hand. Jack's face split into a wide grin as he helped her stand up and he was rewarded with an adorable gap toothed grin in response. The two of them walked hand in hand to the end of the alley where Jack scooped her up into his arms, balancing her on his hip. She immediately snuggled against his side, melting into him as he moved his thin coat to cover her shivering form.

"Ya know what squirt, I think I'm gonna call you Teddy, is that okay?" She giggled a bit at that and he felt her nod against him as he walked down the street towards home.

Jack knew he would never forget that little boy lying sick in bed, and he would never stop being afraid that he would lose another of his boys, but he was building something better than they had ever had before and he was going to help anyone who needed him if he could. Teddy was one of his siblings now and pretty soon she would be integrated into the rest of their crazy, loving family. He couldn't wait for the sleeping girl in his arms to wake up and see that she wasn't alone anymore and never had to be again. He was going to keep her safe.