One Blade Shy of a Sharp Edge

"D*mn bulls . . ." Fingers headed towards the lodging house. Her stack of papers had been confiscated earlier in the day, and Lansing had given her a fatherly admonition against cheating the public. Passers by may have heard her colorful description of the lieutenant’s ancestry and wondered exactly what breed of dog she was referring to.

As she reached the door, Mess stormed out, nose bloody, left eye blackened, and lip split with Ruby and Dice McKenzie trailing after him. Fingers followed. She had few kind words for Ash’s erstwhile boyfriend, but if someone had managed to wreak that much damage on one of the Harlem crew, she wanted to know about it. That was her prerogative, after all.

"I’ll kill ‘im!" Anthony declared. A streetlamp shook as he drove a fist into the side of it.

Fingers crossed her arms. "Tell me who, so I can help."

"Mess, love . . ." Ruby soothed.

Dice touched his arm "Mess?" Neither girl seemed to know what had happened.

"’Kenzie." Mess turned and buried his face in the Village girl’s shoulder. Fingers scowled. "D . . ."

The pickpocket’s shoulders straightened. Mess had, in her opinion, two things going for him: Ash, oblivious to it as both of them often were, loved him, and Diamond called him best friend. And the idiot had gotten himself in trouble.

"What about Diamond?"

"I’m gonna kill ‘im," Mess repeated savagedly. "’E kidnapped Iredell. Won’ t tell Dunromin wheah she is."

"Diamond?" Ruby repeated. "Flint’s missing?" she asked next.

Dat betta not mean what it sounds like. But the words were perfectly clear.

"His sista’! His own d*mn sista’!" Mess punched the lamp post again.

"Mess, what happened?" Fingers had her own differences with the Greenwich Village co-leader – as one sharp-tongued, hot-headed girl was bound to have with another – but she had to admit Dice sounded genuinely concerned about Mess. That is, she would have admitted it if she weren’t too busy boiling over with fury at the moment.

"He an’ Splints were talkin’, an’ I came in. He kidnapped ‘er. Da coward! ‘E said – D*mmit, she’s ‘is d*mn sista’!" he repeated.
 

Cody McGowan was a cheerful boy. Handsome, friendly, nice, and - according to Imp - the only perfect human being in New York City. He did not deserve the traumatic experience of finding Fingers on the doorstep of his home, mouth thin, eyes dark, and out for blood. "Wheah's. Connor."

"He's gone, Fingers," Cody replied, wide-eyed. "I can tell him you was here-"

"Don't bother!" she snapped.

"Dunromin heah?"

Coins shook his head. "Naw, he's still lookin' fer Flint."

"Fingers?"

She jumped and turned to glare at Souther. The normally cheerful redhead looked furious. No need to ask why.

"Somethin' wrong, Souther?" Coins asked from behind her.

"Ya lookin' fer Splints?" Souther asked, without answering the question. "He's at Mott Haven."

"'E's a bastard," Fingers replied flatly. Both knew she was not talking about Dunromin.

"Yeah, he is." Souther glanced aside, clearly still angry.

"D*mmit!" Fingers slammed a fist into the wall. Souther was - he was nice, really. Nice, honest, cheerful, and brave - unlike some people. "D*mmit!"

Souther sighed. "I'm sorry, Fingers."

"What's it ta me?" she snapped, glaring at him. Too nice, that's what he was. He looked hurt. "Ya's an idiot, Culligan."

"Naw," he smiled weakly. "Jus' optimistic."

Fingers glared. "Well, don't be!" She strode out of the building and headed for Harlem. D*mn you, Connor!

"What's goin' on?" Coins asked after Fingers stormed out. Souther, who had been looking after her, started. "We found out what happened to Flint," he said, turning to his friend. Coins frowned at the ominous beginning. "What?"

"She was kidnapped. Blind Diamond - Harlem guy - kidnapped her."

Coins' frown deepened. "A newsy?" He paused, thinking. "South of Houston sometimes?"

Scowling, Souther nodded.

"What's he got ta do with Fingers?"

Awkwardly, Souther replied, "Diamond an' Fingers are - friends."

Coins' eyebrows shot up. "But ain't you two . . . ?" Even more uncomfortable, Souther shook his head. "No," he said, reddening.
 

Ruby winced as another crash came from the washroom. She'd offered to talk, but Fingers had refused. Emphatically.

Breathless entered, eyes widening. She nodded at the banging from the washroom. "What's wrong with her this time?"

Ruby sighed. "Three words. Blind Diamond Connor."

Breathy looked blank. "Wha'd he do?"

Verity sighed. "And they were just starting to get along."

"Fingers? Get along?" Imp laughed without malice.

"From what I understand," Ruby said carefully, "Diamond's father is a - a hit man or somethin' an' Diamond kidnapped Flint for 'im."

"Flint? In da Bronx?" Rain asked.

"Diamond?"

Ash shook her head in disbelief.

"But - he's such a nice boy!" protested Gwen.

"I'd hafta go ta East Harlem an' hear da story at da guys' house," Imp agreed.

No one had heard the washroom door open. "Da story at da guys' house," said Fingers, chill radiating off of her, "is dat 'e admitted it hisself. Ta Dunromin an' Anthony." Her mouth twisted. "Before he bolted." She pushed away from the wall and stalked out of the house.
 

It was close to three when she finally returned to the lodging house and halted at the sound of soft voices from the parlor. A liddle late fer entertainin'. Someone was sobbing and someone - Ruby? Yes, Ruby - was trying to comfort them - him. And then she realized.

"Four Eyes, please don't."

"I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm me."

She didn't want to hear this. She didn't want to know what that - that - what he, damn him - was doing in their parlor in the middle of the night, and she didn't want to listen to him spilling his soul to a girl who didn't seem to realize she deserved much better. So why was she standing here outside the door unable to move?

"I love you."

She should be in bed. She should be asleep. She should be -

"I love you, too. You know that."

Why did she suddenly feel like another drink?
 

"What was O'Malley doin' heah last night?" she asked Blue Skies the next morning.

Skies turned. "Forlani," she replied. "Pistol found him stumblin' around da streets with a knife wound in his side an' brought him ovah."

Huh. Forlani. Dammit. She wasn't so stupid as to go battling windmills. Give her someone she could fight. Blue Skies watched, eyebrows raised, as she stalked away.
 

To Fingers' dismay, there were no more crises in the next few days. Wednesday, Souther came to inform them that Flint was safely home. Thursday, Mess confirmed this. Friday, Fingers went for a walk.
 

Fingers stuffed her hands under her arms to protect them against the March chill, and kicked the street. The snowdrifts of January and February were melting to dirty white islands amid the cobblestones. "Well, now, wha’d dey do? Glare at ya?"

Go ta h*ll, Connor.

Focused on her feet, she walked into someone coming around the corner and glared at him, only too ready for a fight.

Mouth open, Diamond stared back at her looking at least as stunned as she. Fingers’ immobility lasted for only a few seconds, however. She pulled a fist back in fury, driving it into the wall beside him at the last instant. D*mn – She couldn’t find a curse strong enough even in her extensive vocabulary.

"Hey!" He pulled her away with a hand on her shoulder. "If ya wanna hit me, hit me. Don’t hurt yaself fer my sake."

Perversely, the words only made her angrier. Who says I am? Blind Diamond Connor was far from the top of her list of concerns. "Let. Go. Of. Me. Connor." She shook his hand off and crossed her arms to look him over.

He had quite a few bruises and scrapes on his face and jaw, and if all of that was Mess’ work, her opinion of Anthony needed to be revised. She wondered if Iredell had gotten a few shots of her own in.

Diamond bore her scrutiny. "Ya hate me too?" he asked.

Fingers scowled. Hate him? "I’d hafta care," she spat, ignoring a voice suspiciously like Ruby’s that commented, Don’t you?

He nodded as if he’d expected no different. "Well, ya got plenty a’ company."

There was no answer to that. Diamond sighed. "Look. I screwed up. Royally. But if it helps any, I quit. I ain’t workin’ for ‘im no more."

An’ why do ya t’ink it matters ta me?

Don’t – The nagging commentator stopped without voicing its next thought at Fingers’ inward glare. They stood in silence.

"Well, I ain’t gonna bodder ya no more," Diamond muttered. "See ya around." He started back the way he’d come.

Fingers swore. "Who says yer goin’ anywhere?"

He turned. "Well, ya don’t seem ta be enjoyin’ my company too much."

She found a satisfactory retort, one that wouldn’t force her imply compromise. "If ya go out dere, ya’s gonna get killed, an’ dat’s my privilege."

"I ain’t gotten killed yet. Ain’t like nobody’s tried, but I can take care a’ myself." His expression was nearly as annoyed as hers must appear, but there could not be that much confusion in her eyes. There couldn’t be.

"Yeah, I can see dat," she snorted, giving his injuries a meaningful look.

"Yeah, well. It felt worse dan it looks, I’se shoa ya’ll be glad ta heah."

Fingers shook her hair off her shoulders in annoyance. Glad? That implied care – This time she silenced the voice before it could even start. Digging in the pocket of her skirt, she pulled out a handkerchief and shoved it at him. "’S my privilege."

He took the handkerchief, but looked at her questioningly. "I got soaked, Miss Mulcahy. I ain’t got a cold."

The remark set Fingers back on familiar ground. She gave him a good, old fashioned glare. "Clean yaself up." No point in having him injured any further if she wasn’t the one doing it. She crossed her arms again.

Diamond nodded thanks and managed to wipe some of the more prominent blood off of his face, but had little luck with the rest. "So, uh, how many people are waitin’ in line ta kill me?"

She couldn’t find a reply to that immediately and he grimaced. "Dat many, huh?" He glanced away at the bloody handkerchief. "I, uh, I’ll give dis back ta ya when it’s cleaner."

Fingers nodded, cursing herself silently. Diamond leaned back against the wall. "Well, ya haven’t killed me yet. Dat’s a good sign. Ya won’t talk ta me – dat’s a bad sign." He looked at her expectantly. "So what is it, Miss Mulcahy? Good ‘er bad?"

D*mmit, he knew very well! "Ya’s a bastard, Connor."

He quirked a humorless smile. "Yer gonna hafta be more original dan dat. I ’se gotten dat one at least four times taday."

"I don’t like ya!" She glowered. And it was true. It was. She didn’t like him. "Unfortunately, I don’t got much choice in da matta."

"Why not?"

Fingers glared. Even you can’t be dat slow, Connor.

"Seems ta me ya got a choice," he added at last. "Hate me or don’t."

She directed several minutes of silent curses at him. At last, she shrugged. "Ain’t woith the effort."

Diamond sighed, an edge to his voice. "I nevah told anyone I was perfect. It ain’t fair ta have it held against me." He turned to leave, once more.

"Nobody’s perfect, Fingers," said Ruby.

"Some t’ings make up fer dat."

"If I hated ya, it wouldn’t matta," she snapped at both of them. If she’d hated him, she could soak him, walk away and get on with her life, but the bastard had managed to worm his way under her skin, and . . .

Diamond turned to face her, true hurt and anger in his eyes, surprising her. "Ya said it yaself! I ain’t worth da effort." More quietly, but no less bitterly, he added, "I’d radder ya hated me dan have ya not care."

D*mn you, Connor! "I ain’t gonna try ta hate ya ‘cause I been tryin’ fer da last week an’ it ain’t woiked." If he wasn’t just trying to drag the words out of her, someone had named him more truly than he’d known.

Grey diamonds. He caught her eyes. "I don’t suppose ya could try fergivin’ me, just a liddle?"

The word wasn’t in her vocabulary. "Dere’s a lotta bastards in da world, I don’t give a d*mn about. Dis matta’s." Could she be any clearer than that?

"Why does it matta?"

Apparently so.

"I don’t know." If he couldn’t figure that one out for himself, she wasn’t going to spell it out for him.

"I don’t think dere’s much else ta say." Fingers had never understood how anyone could be that quietly intense. He was – "I still like ya, Miss Mulcahy, but I don’t expect ya ta like me back. So unless ya wanna say differently, ya might as well go on home."

He was that blind! "Ya wanna try it dis way?" she snapped. "I like ya! Wish I didn’t. It’d make me life a whole lot simpler." Not like exactly, but the only stronger words that came out of Fingers’ mouth were curses. And the last, at least, was true. She glared. "An’ you ain’t gonna repeat dat."

Silence.

Finally, Diamond murmured, "Who would I tell?" It might have been intended as a joke, but it came out painfully serious. He turned to lean against the building closing his eyes.

She should not pity him. Her own feelings were one thing – "East Harlem," she replied, "when ya get back dere. Tanight ain’t da best time." She turned away. "Dere’s room in da parlor."

Fingers could have made a comment about the strays the Harlem girls had harbored lately, but for once, it didn’t occur to her.

There was a sigh from behind her. "Dey don’t want me back. But if I run outta abandoned buildings, I might give it a try."

She paused and scowled without turning.

"Thanks, Miss Mulcahy," said Diamond.
 

"Diamond spent the night here," Ruby commented when Fingers returned late the next day.

"An' I should care because?" Fingers snapped, flopping down on her bunk and turning toward the window to file her fingertips. Contrary to popular belief, this activity did not hurt, although, at the moment she could have wished it did.

Ruby muttered something under her breath. It sounded like 'why I bother . . .' "Well, evenin' ladies," she said louder.

"Evening, Ruby. Have a good time."

"I'll be shoa of that," the redhead replied mischievously. Her footsteps clattered down the stairs.

After a few moments, Fingers turned. She watched Ash over her hands. The Filipino girl was curled around one of Verity's books and appeared completely oblivous to the world around her. Fingers scraped the file over her left index finger and scowled.

Ash glanced up. "Is something wrong, Fingers?" she asked uncertainly.

"No," the pickpocket said shortly.

"Oh."

Fingers moved on to her thumb. Several silences later, she remarked, "Ya's an idiot, Villaflores." Ash looked up again, startled, but did not reply. "Ya got half an idea what Forlani is?" she asked.

A very un-Ashlike fierceness came over the girl's face. "I-"

She hadn't been looking for an answer. "An' ya still like 'im," she interrupted.

"But-" Ash began again.

Fingers cut her off once more. "We's both idiots," she muttered.
 

Damn you, Connor!

"I still like ya Miss Mulcahy . . ."

Bastard.

She'd definitely stayed too long in Harlem. The idiocy of the people was starting to affect her. She knew better than to fall for someone cowardly enough to sell out his own sister. O'Malley was better. Hill was better! Not, of course, that she was falling for Diamond. Fingers threw the file across the room. Ash looked up, rather like a startled deer. She wasn't falling for him. It was too late for that. Damn you.
 

"Miss Mulcahy."

Fingers gathered her papers together and glowered. Diamond seemed not to mind the glare - or at least to accept it as a matter of course. "What?"

He sighed, frowning. "T'anks." There was the slightest edge to his voice.

"Fergit it," she growled. She strode off, daring him to follow, and cursing first him, then herself when he didn't.
 

He was there when she returned to the lodging house, and Fingers studiously ignored him. Apparently, he still felt more comfortable here than in East Harlem.

Damn him. She climbed out the window and up to the roof, returning only when she heard a knocking at the door.

Memphis was there, wearing a thin frown. "Wisp is hurt," he said.

Diamond paled, then swore. He raced out the door, Mess close behind him. Fingers stayed, shaking the memory of his expression from her mind's eye. "What happened?"

"Wisp," Memphis repeated. Fingers took note of the when he pronounced the name, then brushed the thought aside in frustration. "Some men - from Diamond's father - beat her." He seemed to be trembling on the verge of outrage. Fingers was equally furious. The delicate South of Houston girl could not offend anyone. Of all the targets for - revenge.

"I quit. I ain't woikin' fer 'im no more." She didn't even stop to question whether she believed him. She believed him. It didn't make him any less a bastard.
 

Fingers frowned as Memphis burst into the girls' bunkroom. The older McGowan was not one to lose his cool over something trivial. Nor was he one to forget manners. She stood up.

Memphis composed himself, losing none of the urgency. "Diamond and Penance were shot," he informed the room at large. "They went after Diamond's father. Penance is in a coma. Diamond's awake, but-"

"Wheah?" Fingers demanded before he could continue. With the answer to that, she was gone, leaving the rest to worry about 'when' and 'how' and 'why.'
 

If Sister Clara was startled to see a gangly unkempt eighteen year old girl burst into the lobby of St. Mary's Charity Hospital with murder in her expression, she didn't say so. "Blind Diamond Connor," she demanded without preamble.

"A patient?" She could see the girl biting off a sarcastic reply.

"Yes."

"Are you a relative?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Yes," she snapped again.

Sister Clara doubted it, but few enough of the patients at St. Mary's received visitors of any kind. "The men's ward, down the hall."
 

Fingers nodded sharply. At least the idiot hadn't gone and given the nurses some other name - it occured to her that she still didn't know his real name. He'd known hers when they met in January. From his father's connections, she guessed now. Damn you, Connor!

She entered the men's ward and found Diamond in one of the first bunks. She couldn't tell whether he was awake at first. Then he turned at looked at her.

Silence. She wasn't about to start crying like a baby. Diamond smiled faintly, but the smile faded as he winced. Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit . . .

Idiot. It was his own fault for going and getting himself into trouble. When he recovered, she was going to kill him. Dammit. She still didn't say anything.

At last Diamond whispered, "Don't tell me ya came-" He paused for breath. "All da way down heah . . . ta look at me." He winced again. Watching, Fingers might as well have been stabbed.

"Why shouldn't I?" she snapped, scowling to hide her reaction.

"Free country." He managed a fleeting smile. "But . . . I got ya ta tawk." She scowled more deeply. He looked as if he would say something more, but the pain kept him from it. Dammit, dammit, dammit!

She cleared her throat, trying to regain the composure she'd lost sometime during a February snowball fight. "'E betta be standin' cuz I'se gonna kill 'im."

Diamond shook his head, expression going vague at the dizzy caused by the movement. "Nah. Killed 'im."

His father. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Fingers glared at the wall, as if she'd like to soak it.

"Ya awright?" Diamond finally spoke again.

Fingers cursed under her breath. All right? She'd managed to fall for the biggest idiot God had created. He was lying in a hospital bed, barely able to talk through broken ribs, and he asked if she was all right? Damn you, Connor! "Whadda you t'ink?" she snapped in reply.

Hazily, he replied. "I t'ink . . . I ain't t'inkin' too clear . . . an' why don't ya tell me?"

Fingers glared at the floor, searching for words. "Nevah t'ought ya was dis much of an idiot," she snapped finally. "Shoulda known betta."

His voice was already a whisper, but it dropped even lower. "Fer once, Miss Mulcahy-" He paused for a deep breath. "I did somethin' smart."

Dammit, dammit, dammit! "Next time ya ain't leavin' me out," she managed.

"Nah." He managed to look serious, even through the pain. "Ya ain't gonna end up like dis on my account."

Why not?! It didn't matter did it. Damn him. Aloud, she only snorted and narrowed her eyes.

"B'lieve it or not," he said with something like a sigh. "I ain't lyin' ta ya."

She wanted to shake him. She would willingly have stepped in front of that bullet, and he was muttering about . . . Dammit! She turned and stalked out of the ward. Sometime in the past hour, the other Harlem newsies had arrived at the hospital, but she ignored them. She settled against the lobby wall, crossed her arms and bowed her head to hide her face. If anyone followed she didn't want them to accuse her of crying. Since she wasn't. No matter what it looked like.

A few minutes later, Ruby joined her. Fingers stiffened, but the girl did not say anything.

Eventually, Mess emerged from speaking to his best friend, and Ruby and the others followed him to the boys' ward.

Fingers continued to lean against the wall. Sometime around four in the morning, she fell asleep.
 

Fingers nodded gruffly, sitting. "Miss Greyson." Something about the delicacy of the younger girl required the honorific.

"Hello," Wisp smiled weakly.

"Fingers." She thrust a hand forward. She gestured vaguely. "Friend a' Diamond." How much had she been told? "Ain't gonna hoit ya again. He an' Ryrie took care a' it."

Wisp's smile faded. She'd heard enough. "Are they all right?"

"Gettin' betta'," Fingers mumbled, focusing on the opposite wall. She swore under her breath, stood up and stuck her head out the door. Catching sight of someone who looked vaguely familiar, Fingers waved the girl past and strode out of the restaurant.

She wanted someone to soak. Diamond had killed his father - I'd'a done it meself, dammit! - so that avenue of revenge was closed. No one knew where Forlani was; Luke wasn't inclined to leave calling cards.

That was when she noticed a familiar figure hanging around a store front a few streets away. Bacio "Kiss" Stefano hadn't been heard from since Penance killed his partner-in-crime Wick. "Lookin' fer someone, Stefano?" she asked, coming up to him.
 

Fortunately, the newsies gathered at St. Mary's were too busy with other matters to comment on the bruises Fingers sported. Unfortunately, the expressions on Ruby and Four Eyes' faces suggested that comments might be more welcome.

"What's goin' on?" she demanded as Ruby started for the corridor with Four Eyes behind her.

"Please." Ruby gestured around the bustling hospital. "Ain't nothin' gonna happen heah. It's aw right."

Frustrated, Fingers repeated herself, slowly. "What's. Goin'. On."

Ruby deflated suddenly. "Um . . ." She looked ready to cry.

Quietly, Four Eyes said, "Luke."

Fingers yelped. "Wheah?!" She swore, and headed off before either could answer.
 

The first room she entered was the men's ward. Diamond opened his eyes at her entrance. With a bare glance at him, she scanned the ward, then turned on her heel and headed for the next door. It proved to be the maternity ward and was equally empty of any sign of the terror of Harlem. She turned again to find Diamond behind her. "Forlani's heah," she said shortly.

"So I see," he replied, frowning.

She followed his gaze down the hall to the lobby and found the fight already in full swing. Cursing, she ran to intercept. Anthony, for some typically hare-brained reason, had apparently started the fight and was following through with determination despite the fact that he was obviously on the losing side. Everyone was on the losing side with Forlani. Ruby screamed for an end to the room in general, and Four Eyes, true to form, couldn't seem to decide whether he wanted to join the fight or run. Between them, Mess and Ruby shoved him out of the fight.

Disgusted, Fingers moved to intercede.

"No."

Diamond held her back with surprising strength for someone who belonged, by all rights, back in his bed. His expression showed no vacillation. He wanted to be at his best friend's side.

Over her dead body.

At least he seemed to realize he could do nothing in the fight. Fingers tugged at him. Now if he'd only let her go, so she could!

"Stay da 'ell away from Ash," said Mess, shoving out of Luke's hold.

Forlani smirked. "I think ya might wanna ask Ash if she wants ta stay away from me," he replied, winking at Ruby. "Ya think?"

Fingers tried to lunge at him, but found Diamond still holding her back and Mess in the way. At the edge of her line of vision Ruby and Four Eyes were competing to protect one another, rendering both effectively useless.

"No," Diamond repeated. "Foist, it's Mess' fight. Second, I ain't lettin' 'im touch ya. Or you touch 'im, fer dat matter." Fingers glared back. Someone needed to stick a knife in that bastard who wasn't already injured, damn it! Yes, she was injured herself, damn Stefano, but that was beside the point!

Mess shouted every expletive Fingers had heard in her life and several she hadn't. She made a distracted mental note to take lessons in the future - once she got away from Diamond and killed Luke.

He was nearly shaking with rage himself; surely she ought to be able to shake him off.

Forlani responded to Anthony's string of profanity with his own store of unrepeatables - mostly centering around Ash and calculated to infuriate Mess further.

He achieved his purpose. Outraged, Mess managed to pin Luke for a moment. It lasted long enough for slam Forlani's head against the floor twice before Luke turned the tables, stunning him.

Dammit! Nothing was working. At last, Fingers slammed her elbow right into Diamond's broken ribs. He swore and doubled over, releasing her. Trying not to acknowledge what she'd just done, she crossed the room to aid Four Eyes in dragging Ruby as far from Luke as possible.

"Let go a' me! Both a' ya, please!" she sobbed, crying for Luke to stop.

"So who's next?" Luke stood, wiping his nose. He grinned at O'Malley. "Shall we finish what we started?" He turned to punch Mess who had just managed to regain his feet, sending the boy to his knees.

Diamond knelt by his friend. "Y'awright?"

Four Eyes, meanwhile, seemed ready to take Luke's challenge. Ruby grabbed his waist to stop him as he stepped forward. Idiots! Swearing, Fingers shoved them both back into the hallway, muttering something uncomplimentary about their respective parentages.

By the time she turned back to the room, Forlani had vanished. She rushed outside, but he was gone. Like smoke, like the devil. Like Forlani.

Cursing, she went in search of a nurse to tend to the injured parties.

"Ya okay, D?" Mess was asking when she returned, towing a young nun who blinked in dismay at the violence.

"Yeah," his friend nodded. "But dat's da question I should be askin' you . . ."

He didn't appear too hurt, Fingers noted, avoiding a direct glance, but appearances were no guarantor where Blind Diamond Connor was concerned.

Mess shrugged angrily. "I'se fine."

"Yeah," said Diamond bitterly. "We'se all fine. Always." He glared at the room in general.

Fingers did not look at him, even when his gaze focused on her. "Get back inta bed," she said stiffly.

"Yer 'urt," said Mess at the same time, heedless of the blood flowing from his nose.

Diamond shook him off and looked at Fingers again, then at both of them. "I ain't five. An' I ain't any worse off dan you . . . an' I ain't goin' ta bed till ev'ryone is aw right. So quit orderin' me around!"

"Siddown, Anthony," Fingers snapped, finding a safe target and taking up Mess' place herding Diamond back to his ward.

Diamond whirled on her. "Ya've done quite enough tanight, Miss Mulcahy!" He stalked away, grabbing a towel from a stack of linens and holding it out to his best friend.

For a moment, she was still. Then she turned away, stalking out the door.

"T'anks," Mess muttered, taking the towel.

"Ya look 'orrible," Diamond replied. Cursing, he looked the way Fingers had gone and followed. He found her outside, engaged in a losing battle with the wall of the hospital. Pulling her away, he held her arms. "Stop it! Dat ain't Luke." He sighed. "I'se sorry. Shouldn't'a said dat."

And why not? It was a perfectly justified comment. It wasn't Luke she was imagining in the wall's place. "Come on now," he said softly. "I din't keep ya from killin' Luke so ya could come out heah an' beat up da wall."

She didn't fight him. She was uncharacteristically silent.

"Look at me," he ordered quietly. "Ya promise not ta beat up any more walls if I let ya go?"

Fingers stared at the ground, still silent, but he refused to give up. Why did she suddenly feel so tired? "Let go a' me, Diamond."

He dropped her arm, but didn't step back, puzzled. In three months, she'd never once called him anything but 'Connor.' For that matter, Fingers didn' t use first names for anyone but the Harlem leaders. When Phoenix asked not to be called 'Calia,' she'd stopped addressing the Midtown girl by any name at all. Half unconsciously, he swung his free arm around her shoulders. "C'mon, let's go make shoa dey don't drive da nurse crazy."

She tensed at the touch, unsure how to react to it. In silence, they moved back inside.
 

"Well, none a' us should really be goin' anywheah tanight."

Diamond glanced at Four Eyes, grimacing. "Couldn't if I wanted to."

"Floor looks comfy," Ruby quipped weakly.

Fingers snorted, but mildly. "Slept on it once. Ain't no rats."

"Dat's good," murmured the other girl, distractedly. "Rats are bad."

Diamond sighed, suddenly exhausted. His ribs and shoulder were throbbing, and he longed to fall into bed, but he glanced at Fingers. "Ya didn't hafta, ya know."

She glanced at him, then looked away at Ruby. "Brilliant, Gallagher." Locating a comfortable section of floor, she curled up.

Mess looked at her, a mischievous smile on his face. "Guess D don't need me."

"Go ta hell, Anthony," she replied mildly.

She was ambushed almost as soon as she walked into the bunkroom.  “Fingers! Have ya seen my locket?” Ruby asked.  “I always put it heah when I go to bed, an’ it’s gone.”  The redhead looked on the verge of tears.  That locket, if Fingers remembered correctly – and she prided herself on her memory – had belonged to Sebastian Deveer, lover and friend to Ruby and a Brooklyn newsboy until his throat was slit the previous fall.  “No one woulda taken it, an’ it didn’t fall behind anythin’ . . .”

Fingers watched her for a moment, then began rummaging under the nearest mattress.  She didn’t expect Skies to have anything to do with the missing necklace, but the bunk was there.

“Nobody woulda stolen it, right?” Ruby asked forlornly.  “Nobody heah would do that, right?”

“No.”  Fingers glowered.  She began checking the drawers of each nightstand, intending to have words with someone if it had been taken.

“It musta fallen into a crack or somethin’ . . .”  Scowling at her friend’s lost expression, Fingers searched the corners determinedly.

There was a knock on the doorframe.  “Evenin’ ladies.”

Fingers froze, then continued her search.

“Hey, Diamond, love,” Ruby said a bit more brightly.  “Don’t you look better.”

There was a smile in his voice.  “I’m feelin’ betta, too . . . thanks partly ta dat basket you girls sent.”  He paused.  “Did I come at a bad time?”

“No, it’s all right.  My locket . . .”  Ruby changed the subject.  “I’m glad you’re out.  How’s Penance doin’?”

She’d searched this corner before, but it gave her an excuse not to look up.

“She’s . . . betta dan she was.  But ya’ve lost yer locket?”

“I guess . . . I always take it off at night, so it don’t get broken, an’ I always leave it in heah, but it’s gone . . .”  Ruby was nearing tears again.

She didn’t need to look up.  She could read his expression by the tone of his voice.  He was frowning.  “Well I hope it turns up, Miss Gallagher.  I’d help ya look, but . . .” A gesture at the two girls.  “I’m thinkin’ ya’ve done that.”

“It’s all right,” Ruby replied, still audibly upset.  “I can’t think of any place we haven’t looked.  Thank you, though.”

She didn’t really have a choice; Fingers looked up.  “Hey.”

His right arm was still strapped tightly to his side.  He nodded to her.  “Miss Mulcahy.”

Silence.

Fingers huffed to herself.  “Since you know ev’rybody an’ ev’rythin’, care ta help?”

Diamond looked at her strangely as if trying to decide what she meant by that.  “Maybe I did come at a bad time.”

Fingers couldn’t have told him and didn’t intend to try, so she replied by scowling at the floor.  “Sit down.”

Somewhat to her surprise, he did.

Ruby stood up.  “I’m gonna go make some tea, see if I can think of any other places to look.  I’ll be in the kitchen if y’all need me.”  Before Fingers could stop her, the girl had retreated downstairs.

Dat-! She swore.

“I was jus’ stoppin’ by ta see how things are,” Diamond said at last.  “I was feelin’ kinda outta it, what wit bein’ held captive.”

Fingers avoided his grin, shrugging.  “Usual.”  She nodded after Ruby.  “Useta be Deveer’s.”

Whether he understood the significance of that or not, Diamond nodded.  “Where do ya think it went?”

She shrugged again, standing to dust herself off with indifferent success.  “I ain’t got it,” she answered matter-of-factly.

Diamond frowned, standing also.  “’Ey, what happened ta ya?” He stepped forward to look at her.

The bruises from Bacio’s fist still hadn’t faded completely.  Fingers retrieved her file in annoyance and shook her head vaguely.  At least he hadn’t noticed them when they were fresher and uglier.

“Unless ya got ‘em in yer sleep, I know ya’s got a betta’ answer dan dat.”

As if you can tawk!  Tossing down her file again, she looked up challengingly.  “What’s it ta you?”

Matter of factly, he replied, “Because I seem ta have da same problem you do wit not carin’.  It doesn’t work.”

Fingers shut her mouth.  She’d given him the right to ask; she should have known he’d use it.  He moved to stand directly in front of her.  “Why won’t ya talk ta me?”

Too close.  “Ain’t got nothin’ ta say,” she muttered.  Which was unusual in itself.  Being at a loss for words was an irritating state for someone accustomed to saying what she thought about any given matter at the top of her voice in the most unflattering terms possible.  “Stefano,” she finally conceded, glaring at the floor.  “I was lookin’ fer a fight, an’ he was handy.”

Diamond sighed, sitting down on the opposite bunk.  They both seemed to have lost.  She hadn’t realized they’d been fighting.

“Dey let ya out,” she stated finally.

“Dat dey did,” he replied with a nod.  He gestured with his one good arm to the other.  “Dis should heal before too long an’ same wit me ribs.  It was woith it.”

She took in the bandages strapping an arm to his side.  There were more wrapped equally tightly around his broken ribs.  “Yeah.”

Diamond caught her eye.  She never felt uncomfortable under any one else’s gaze.  “It was eidda me or him dead, ya know.”  She couldn’t answer.  “I hope I made da right decision,” he added quietly.  He stood up.  “I’ll be goin’ now, Miss Mulcahy.  Didn’t mean ta bodder ya.”

She cursed, following.  “Stop bein’ an idiot!”

“What?”

He kept pulling the rug out from under her.  “I’se said before dat if it boddered me, I’d let ya heah about it!”

He nodded.  Damn him, she didn’t know what else to say!

They stared at one another.

“I don’t know what ta say ta you; ya don’t have anythin’ ta say ta me,” Diamond sighed.  “What’re we doin’?”

She folded her arms.  “Well, whaddaya expectin’?”

“Apparently nothin’.”  He walked out of the room.

Damn, damn, damn!  “Ya ain’t bein’ singled out fer nothin’!” she called after him.  Stopping him at the head of the stairs, she scowled.  “I ain’t got nothin’ ta say, I don’t say nothin’.”

He nodded.  Damn him, had she ever heard him yell?  “I know.  But I also know ya spent da night at da hospital, an’ I doubt it was fer yer own health.  An’ ya called me by my first name.”  Fingers fought the red creeping into her face.  “Ya got a strange way a’ not singlin’ people out.”

An’ it’s so important fer ya ta heah me say it? she thought rebelliously.  Aw right.  “Yeah,” she challenged.

And?

“Well it’s plain as day I’m singlin’ you out.”  She started less at the words than at the pain in his voice.  He continued more angrily.  “What I’d like, jus’ fer once is da answer ta whedda ya like it or not.  An’ if ya don’t wanna give it ta me, I’ll be on my way.”

Silence.

“I’d’a t’ought ya’d’ve taken it as given by now.”  She meant it defiantly.  Cursing, she added, “I’se awready said I like it.”

He regarded her for a moment, then grinned.  “Well, den, Miss Mulcahy, ya wanna join me fer dinner?”

Stop smirkin’, Diamond, she thought without heat.  Rolling her eyes, she retorted sarcastically, “Naw, I don’t.  Whadda you t’ink?”

The smile faltered for a moment, then returned.  “I think, I’ll hafta convince ya.”  He stepped forward and kissed her.  It couldn’t help but be awkward, between his bandaged arm and ribs, but . . .

Startled and battling a blush, Fingers watched him move away, a nervous grin on his face.  Her lips tried to form a curse, but couldn’t find one immediately.  Instead, she placed a hand on the back of his neck, pulled him back and returned the kiss.

One awkward, but extremely pleasant and entirely too short moment later, Diamond stopped to look at her.  Unexpectedly, he began to laugh.  “Well, my dear Fingers, you surprise me yet.”

“Oh, my.”  A smothered giggle that could only belong to Ruby Gallagher, broke the silence after his words.  A few snickers echoed her.

“HELLO PEOPLES!”  Sketch bounded through to the bunkroom at the same moment.

Fingers turned fiery red, prepared to kill every person who had just interrupted.  Diamond grinned back at her.  “If we ducks out da window now, we might be able ta convince ‘em they didn’t see anythin’,” he whispered.

“Maybe,” a glare and a smile fought one another to an uneasy truce on her face.

“Or . . . we could turn around an’ have ‘em grin like idiots.  What’ll it be?”

“I don’t feel like soakin’ nobody right now,” conceded Fingers, without the least intention of telling him what she did feel like.

That grin!  “An’ at da moment, I don’t think I could soak ‘em or keep you from it.”  He glanced at the window.  “Shall we?”

“So, is he a good kisser?” Midway through rinsing her face, Fingers sputtered and turned a glare on her friend.  Ruby managed to make it to the washroom door just quickly enough to avoid being hit by a towel.  She poked her head back in.  “I’m serious!  He has a nice mouth . . .”  The towel hit the wall and fell to the floor.  Ruby grinned.  “Fingers, yer blushin’!  Dat must be a yes!”

“Evenin’, Miss Gallagher.”  Fingers cursed as Ruby disappeared back into the bunkroom at the voice.  She wasn’t blushing!  Was she?  “Miss Mulcahy!”  Diamond called cheerfully.  “I know yer in dere!  Quit playin’ around an’ come out!”

Fingers walked out of the washroom with dignity, willing the red out of her cheeks.  “Ya’s gonna die, Gallagher,” she muttered, passing Ruby and joining Diamond.

“Get in line!” Ruby muttered back.  “Have fun!” she called aloud.