Author's note: Echo is mine, Brooklyn is hers, Psycho is hers. The Newsies belong to Disney. Anyone else is most likely mine. The song, What Makes You Stay is by Deana Carter. Er... yeah.

What Makes You Stay
By: Echo

Two weeks later I was getting a book of Shakespeare to read to Grandmother. She looked disappointed when I started reading The Twelfth Night. It was about a girl who cut her hair and joined the army, fell in love with the duke, who was in love with another girl, who was in turn, in love with the girl everyone thought was a boy.

She didn't say anything, despite the disapproval plainly written in her eyes, but stared strait ahead. At one point I thought I saw the beginnings of a smile but it was replaced immediatly with a scowl.

For once she stayed awake through the whole story, and for once I wasn't tempted to throw it in the fire. After I finished she sent me out of the room, instructing me to pick a book worth reading next time.

I went to the library and put the book of Shakespeare back in it's place, sighing as I looked through her idea of good books. Every one of them boring and incomprehensible. After a while I gave up and climbed towards the top shelves. The really good books were kept up there where no one would see them, gathering dust most of the time.

Before I could pick one I heard footsteps and climbed down as quickly as I could, wiping the dust from the books off of my dress. I muttered under my breath as I tripped over the darned "proper attire" Grandmother thought I should wear and looked up just in time to see Christopher Hodges walk through the door.

He grinned impishly. "Hello Chrissy. I heard you were back in town, thought I'd find you in here."

I smiled as politely as possible, but coulnd't keep the ice out of my voice. "Good day Mr. Hodges. How are you?"

He laughed a little and walked forward. "Really darling, call me Chris. After all, we were engaged."

I glared at him. "My name is Christina, and we aren't engaged anymore."

He walked up to me and held my hand. "I was hoping you would reconsider."

I glanced down at our hands and gently pulled mine away, afraid that if I moved any faster I might hit him. "I'm sorry sir, but I'm engaged to another."

He scowled and looked away. "Yes, so I've heard. Tell me, what does that str... er, newsboy have that I don't? Whatever it is, I'm sure it's stolen."

I smiled, genuinly this time. "Oh, it is. He stole my heart.. you could never do that Mr. Hodges."

He glared. "He's nothing, he'll never be anything. If you marry me, I can give you anything your heart desires."

I smiled teasingly. "You can give me anything my heart desires after I marry you? Sir, that is adultry and the seventh commandment strictly forbids it."

He glared at me, obviously angry, and I thought he was going to leave, but before I could react he pulled me toward him and kissed me. I sputtered indignantly when he finally let me go. "I think you should leave." I said, on the verge of loosing my temper.

He wrapped an arm around me again. "Oh really? Says who?"

"I, for one, and if you ever try something like that with my sister again I'll break your neck... if she hasn't done it already." We spun around and saw Ben standing in the doorway. Christopher put his hat on and glared at us both. "Fine. Good day madam."

I hugged Ben when Christopher left the room. "How long have you been here?"

He shrugged. "A few minutes. I wasn't going to say anything at first. Hodges and I had a little... dispute after you ran out on the wedding. But I thought it would be better to intervene while he was breathing."

I smiled. "I guess that is a good plan. From now on I'll have to find a better hiding spot though... this one's lousy, everyone knows I'm here."

Ben smiled a little. "Bibleophiles can usually be found in the library. But strangly enough, I don't see any open books you were reading."

I shrugged. "I was looking for one when.. he walked in. I had just finished reading The Twelth Night to grandmother. It was interesting enough to keep us both awake, it had a plot, and words you could understand... she hated it."

Ben laughed. "From now on choose something that would put an insomniac to sleep. That should meet her approval. As for you, may I recommend something on the top shelf? The good books are always on the top shelf."

I smiled. "I know that, that's where I find everything worth reading. But now that I think of it, I should probably find a pen and paper instead.. I promised Jack I'd write."

Ben frowned in disapproval. "Still seeing him?"

I stared at him suspiciously. "Yes I'm still with Jack. Do you actually think I'm fickle enough to run away from my own wedding and then forget all about him? Anyway, I don't know why you look so unhappy, you're the one that got him to come back to New York."

He flushed guiltily and looked down. "I just thought that maybe you'd.." His eyes narrowed into little slits as they passed over my hands and he looked up at me again. "What.. is that?" He asked coldly, pointing to the ring Jack had given to me.

I held it up, sending Ben a suspicious look. "What does it look like? He asked me to marry him."

Ben panicked for a second. "And you told him you would?!"

I glared at him angrily. "Of course I told him I would! What's wrong with you?!"

He tried to calm down. "You can't marry him Col."

"Why not?!" I asked furiously.

He froze, caught off guard. "Well.. you can't because.. well, because you're just a child."

I glared. "A child? Ben I'm almost twenty-two years old! I'm not a kid anymore."

He frowned, still trying to win. "He's too old."

"Too old? He's only one year older than me! You didn't have any problem with this before. Why do you hate him now?"

"I don't hate Jack." He said, but wouldn't meet my gaze. "I just don't think you should marry him... things have happened that you don't know about and it will only make it worse for you if-"

I slapped him and held back tears. "Why don't you just admit it? You don't have one good reason why I shouldn't marry him, you just don't want me to marry a newsie. But you know what? I'm a newsie too, and you're just like all the other high class superficial snobs."

He followed me as I started to leave the room, and tried to hide how hurt he was, more by my words than my actions. "Col, that's not true. I wouldn't object to this if I didn't have a good reason... but I don't want to tell you because I know it would hurt you."

I spun around and glared. "Just go away and stop lying to me. I don't care what they say, family is in your heart and not in your blood. The newsies are my family, they're my brothers, not you. So I'm sorry if you have a problem with the fact that they're my friends, or that I'm marrying one, but I don't care what you think. No true brother of mine would ever tell me not to marry the guy I love." I turned around and ran to my room, locking the door behind me. I waited by the window for the sound of footsteps up the stairs, but instead I saw Ben walk out the door with a dejected look on his face. He turned around once to look back at the house and then walked away with his head down. I fell onto my bed and burst into tears, heartbroken by the thought that Ben was just like everyone else and cared only about money.

"Look at me I'm in a place,
I never thought I'd be,"

Later that day Aaron came by to talk to me. I hadn't seen him since I left Boston, and he had changed a lot. He was taller, and not quite so skrawny, but I could tell by his smile he was still shy. "Hello Chris. Sorry I didn't write you for so long."

I hugged him. "That's okay. It's good to see you. How's Harvard? You haven't turned into one of those stuck up Boston guys, have you?"

He blushed a little and shook his head. "It's not so bad there. Actually, I heard you were engaged."

I frowned when I realized he had talked to Ben. "Yeah, have been for a few weeks."

He nodded. "I guess you haven't seen Hope yet."

I stared at him quizzically, wondering what she had to do with anything. "No, not that it's any loss. Why?"

He shrugged and looked away. "She uh... has a son."

"Poor kid." I said, and smiled. "So, you got a girl yet?"

He nodded. "Yeah, she's from Boston too. I think you would like her, she's really nice. Maybe you can meet her when you meet Ben's fiance and Hope's son."

I glared at him. "I don't want to talk to Ben and Hope so what makes you think I want to meet her son and... fiance?"

Aaron nodded. "Yes, fiance. They've been engaged for about three months. He thought I should tell you that he's sorry he never mentioned it and he hopes you'll have dinner with them tomorrow."

I turned away. "You shouldn't have agreed to be his messanger boy."

He sighed. "He told me you were mad at him, and why. But he's right Chris, and I don't want to tell you why anymore than he does."

I spun around and glared. "You're both idiots. I know why no one wants me to marry Jack, and it's not because I'm going to get hurt. The family name maybe, but not me."

Aaron frowned. "That's not true. You should know we don't care about that."

"Liar."

He frowned a little. "Look, just come over tomorrow, okay? Danielle, Maggie and I will all be there."

I shook my head. "No, I don't care who is going to be there I'm not going."

He glared at me. "Yes you are, even if I have to drag you there. There's something you have to know."

I blinked, surprised he was being so forceful. "I might come."

"Good, I don't feel like dragging you there." He told me before he said good-bye and left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I knew I wouldn't go to dinner with them when I woke up the next morning. But Ben had told grandmother about it and she insisted that I went. So at six that afternoon I started on my way to Ben's house. He smiled when he opened the door and saw me standing there. "Chris! You came!"

I forced a smile. "Yeah, I couldn't really avoid it since you told grandmother about it."

He frowned a little and showed me inside where Aaron was talking to two girls. One of the girls had lond sandy blond hair curled into ringlets and hazel eyes. She was slender, and only about 5'4". The other was a tall brunette with chocolate brown eyes. Aaron smiled at me. "Hello Chris. I'd like you to meet Danielle Marano and Margaret Kushner, Ben's fiance." He said politely, pointing to the blond girl first and then the brunette.

I smiled and shook with them. "Christina Collin, friends call me Echo."

Ben walked up to me. "So, Echo..."

I glared at him. "Friends, Benjamin. Call me Chris."

Margaret, or "Maggie" as Aaron called her, gave Ben and I an amused grin. "Sibling war?"

He nodded. "She's being stubborn."

I glared at him. "You're being... superficial."

Ben glared back. "See? Stubborn."

Danielle laughed a little as we started walking into the next room to talk. Before Ben and I could walk through the door there was a knock. He turned to me. "Chris, could you get that?"

"Sure." I said and walked towards the door. When I opened it I saw Hope standing on the other side beside a tall guy with light blond hair and blue eyes, just like hers.

She smiled. "Hello Christina. This is my husband, Ashton Winchester. Ashton, this is Christina Collin, my cousin."

He smiled and nodded a little impatiantly. "Nice to meet you. We came by to tell Ben that we can't stay for dinner, but it was kind of him to offer."

I frowned a little. "Would you like to come in?"

Hope shook her head. "No, but there's someone else I'd like you to meet Christina. This is my son, Francis."

I looked down and saw a little boy shyly peeking out from behind Hope's skirt and froze. "Oh my-"

She smiled innocently. "Is something wrong?"

I clamped my mouth shut, looking once more over Francis' brown hair, and his facial features and his smile. He was the spitting image of his father, and not Ashton. I looked up at Hope. "Cute kid." I said weakly.

She laughed a little. "Somehow I knew you would think so."

Ashton looked annoyed for a second. "I don't mean to rush off but we really must be going."

I nodded. "Yeah, I understand."

Francis smiled and waved with his little hand. "Bye."

Hope picked up Francis and started to follow Ashton but stopped and turned to me again. "Sometimes I think Francis would make the cutest little cowboy." She said smugly and walked away.

I shut the door and walked into the room the others were sitting in.

"I don't have the strength to fight anymore,
or a reason not to leave,"

Ben looked up slowly. "Hope?"

I turned my back to him and didn't reply. Aaron stood up and tapped me on the shoulder. "Did you see meet Francis and Ashton?"

I spun around and glared at Ben, saying the first thing that popped into my mind... which happened to be something in Italian I had heard Race say in a poker game once. Margaret's eyes widened and Ben turned to her. "Maggie, what did she say?"

Maggie shook her head. "I-I don't think you want to know."

Ben grabbed my hand and walked me out the door. "What was that all about?"

I glared at him. "Oh, like you don't know. Hope just happens to show up here, and she just happens to have her son with her... oh and wow, he looks absoluately nothing like Ashton! Oh yeah, and Hope thinks he would make a cute cowboy... geez, you think you guys are trying to tell me something? Why didn't she just stick a cowboy hat on his head, a red bandanna around his neck, and give him a stack of newspapers? Then he'd be just like dad."

He looked down at the floor. "So you noticed he's Jack's son."

I winced a little. "Yeah, it's kind of obvious. Anyway, I'm not quite as stupid as I look."

Aaron walked out and looked at me. "Are you really mad at us?"

I glared at him. "Are you stupid?! You won't tell me to my face that... she slept with the guy I'm going to marry and had his kid, but instead you let her rub it in my face and you have the audacity to ask if I'm mad?! Of course I'm mad!"

Aaron looked at the wall. "Ashton knows too."

I smiled coldly. "Oh really? And I care because...?"

He blushed a little and Ben glared at me. "Don't go off on Aaron, Jack's the one that caused all of this. Anyway, now that you know and aren't going to marry him I can go over to New York and give him a 'brotherly talk' and-"

I shook my head and poked a finger at him. "No you don't. Jack isn't the only one to cause this and I'm sure she was more the cause of that kid than he was, so don't blaim it all on him. The wedding is not called off, I don't want you two telling Jack I know anything, and you'll be getting a very unpleasant visit from me if you give him any 'brotherly talks'. Understood?"

Ben clenched his teeth and glared at me. "No, I don't understand."

I sighed. "Okay, when was Francis born?"

Ben looked at Aaron who counted on his fingers. "March 25, 1902. What does that have to do with anything?"

I did a little math in my head. "Jack was in Santa Fe, that was when he thought I was going to marry Hodges."

Ben shrugged. "So? Doesn't mean anything."

I glared at him. "He wasn't premature?"

Ben rolled his eyes. "No, he wasn't. But who cares when he was born that's not the problem anyway."

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, what is the problem then?"

He looked at Aaron as if to say, "Can you believe her?" and shrugged. "I don't know. Where have you been Col? Because I could have sworn this whole conversation you knew that Jack slept with Hope."

I glared at him. "Don't be a jerk."

"Oh, so I'm the jerk? Yeah, that makes sense." He said indignantly.

Aaron was starting to look worried and about that time Maggie walked into the room. "Is something wrong?" She asked as Danielle walked in behind her.

I smiled stiffly. "Nothing you or Ben should worry about." I said, sending Ben a meaningful look before continuing. "It was nice meeting you two, but I'm leaving now. Good bye."

Aaron followed me as I walked out the door and down the street. "Chris, don't get mad."

I kept walking. "I'm not mad."

"Yes you are, but we didn't mean for this to happen. You know we wouldn't hurt you for the world." He said sincerely.

I stopped and turned to face him. "Aaron, you and Ben are great guys. Okay? But he has to learn I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself, and you have to learn to tell me things because even if it is bad news I'm not going to tear your head off. I know neither one of you meant to hurt me, but you should have known to tell me yourself instead of leaving it to someone that you know hates me. So, yes, I am angry. But I'll get over it. Right now I just want to be alone."

He looked at the ground and got one of his pathetic little puppy dog faces. "I understand, and I'm sorry."

I frowned a little. "Yeah. Well, wipe that look off of your face because you're making me feel guilty."

He laughed a little and blushed. "Look, I'm gonna go back. Are you going to be okay?"

I nodded and smiled half heartedly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just want some time to think and cool off a little."

He shrugged casually, but looked concerned. "Okay. Just uh... think this thing through carefully. Ben might be right. Oh yeah, get some sleep."

"Okay, I will. Bye Aaron." I said quietly and waved a little.

"So tell me why I keep holding on,
to something I just cannot see."

When he went back inside Ben's house I crossed my arms over my chest and walked back to grandmother's house. The nurse looked up as I walked in. "Back already?"

I shrugged and hung my coat in the closet. "Yeah. I wasn't feelin' good."

She smiled sympathetically. "Hope you're feeling well in the morning miss." I nodded and walked upstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One Week Later

I looked up from my book as the maid, walked in the door. "Yes Rose?" I asked quietly.

She shifted her feet uncomfortably. "Well, Mrs. Winchester thought you might want to get to know her son better, and she had plans, so she brought him by for you to watch."

I grit my teeth. 'Hope, that little-' "Is Hope here now?" I asked and smiled a little.

Rose shook her head. "No mam, but her son is sitting in the hall."

I sighed. "I guess I'd better talk to him then." I walked into the hall just in time to see a little boy waddle to a chair as quickly as his short legs would carry him and look at the ceiling. I smiled a little. 'So he's an eavesdropper is he?' His big brown eyes lit up as he pretended to notice me for the first time and he smiled innocently. "Hello."

I kneeled beside him. "Who are you? A spy? We have to punish spies you know."

His eyes widened in fear and he shook his head. "No Aunt Christina, I'm Francis."

I pretended to be surprised. "Francis?! Well, you sure had me fooled." I said as I smiled and ruffled his hair.

He frowned. "My mommy says you're a-a-"

I laughed a little. "I can guess what your mommy says, but don't worry, I'm not as mean as I look."

"You don't look mean Aunt Christina." He said, fumbling over my name.

I smiled a little. "Don't bother with that Aunt Christina stuff, just call me Echo."

"Yes Aunt-"

I shook my head sternly. "Ah. If you keep trying to call me that I'll just have to turn you into a toad."

His eyes widened a little. "I don't wanna be a toad A... Echo."

I smiled. "Well, I'll think about leaving you a boy." I took his little hand into mine. "Come on, let's go in here." I said and led him into the library. He looked around curiously. "Story?"

I climbed to the top shelf and picked out one of my favorite books. Francis climbed onto my lap as I started telling him about the book. He frowned a little. "There ain't no such thing as unicorns." He said as I got to the part in the Enchanted Forest.

I smiled in amusement. "A sceptic? That attitude has to go kid. Really, saying there's no such thing as unicorns! Why, I've never heard anything so ridiculous."

He glared. "Well there ain't!"

"Isn't." I said firmly and then went on."And there is to. How dare you say unicorns don't exsist. One of Grandmother's horses is a unicorn!"

He shook his head and frowned. "Is not, it's a horse!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh really Mr. High and Mighty, how do you know it isn't a unicorn?"

He smiled proudly. "Ain't got no horn."

I laughed. "You are silly. You can't see the horn because you don't believe in it. Anyway, unicorns don't like rude little boys."

He frowned again. "I ain't a rude little boy."

"Am not." I corrected distractedly.

"My mommy does that too." He said quietly.

I wrinkled my nose. "Well, I ain't gonna do that no more." I said, making a note to myself to use ain't as often as possible then sighed a little. "Buttercup will be awefully disappointed when I tell her you don't believe in her."

Francis looked a little concerned. "Who's Buttercup?"

"Grandmother's unicorn." I replied forlornly.

He looked hurt. "You're gonna tell her?"

I nodded. "Yeah, and she'll be ever so upset."

He looked at his hands. "I don't wanna upset 'er... would it make 'er feel better if you told 'er I believed in 'er?"

I looked over at him. "Not unless you really mean it."

"Then I'll look at her today and decide." He said solemnly.

I smiled and went on with the story. I spent the rest of the afternoon with him and at twilight we walked in the mist towards the stables where Buttercup was kept. A young boy was walking Buttercup and the last rays of sun glistening off of the moisture in the air sparkled above her head, almost like a horn. Francis smiled. "Did you see that?!"

I nodded. "I told you she was a unicorn."

He motioned for me to pick him up so I did and he whispered in my ear. "Are we the only ones who know?" I nodded and he looked around cautiously. "Secret?"

I smiled. "Yeah, it's our secret."

His eyes lit up and he grinned and kissed my cheek. "Can I come see you again Echo?"

I nodded. "Anytime kiddo."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What makes you stay,
when your world falls apart,
what makes you try one more time,
when it's not in your heart,"

Hope kept bringing Francis by, probably not without some selfish reason, and after some time we became good friends... well, I couldn't talk to him about complicated stuff but he was fun to talk to about unicorns and dragons and he brought back a part of me I had forgotten. Despite our age differences, Frank became the only person I really trusted, since I never really made up with Ben or Aaron, who tended to follow Ben's lead. Frank because my solice from the storm, when the stress of life got to me Frank would show up all smiles and innocence and I was once again lost in a place of hope. In turn I became the person he turned to and a shoulder to cry on.

Grandmother hadn't changed much, even in the face of death, and her sharp comments cut everyone deeply. There were many times I regretted staying with her, for our relationship had never been a good one, but I had always held a small amount of respect for her out of some part of me that knew she was of the same blood as I was, but I also knew that if she kept being so cruel to everyone, the little respect I had would disappear all together and nothing would remain but hatred.

In a way I was glad I was rid of Ben, even if he was the one person I couldn't bear to hate. Unfortunately, since I didn't let Ben or Aaron anywhere near me and Frank wasn't a very intimidating kid, considering he was only three, Christopher Hodges became incredibly persistant and bold. He never did give up and was starting to get on my nerves. Eventually he talked to grandmother about it and three months after I had first showed up she called me into her room. "You wanted to talk to me?" I asked as I walked in.

She turned and eyed me skeptically. "Yes, I would like to discuss something with you. Mr. Hodges has asked me for your hand, he mentioned you have turned him down several times prior."

I nodded. "Yes mam, I did."

Her forehead wrinkled in disappointment. "He is a very suitable match; he's wealthy, has a respectable family, why did you refuse his proposal?"

I blushed and looked at the ground. "I do not love him."

She glared. "That does not matter, most girls do not love the men they marry, it's not necessary."

I winced. "I can't marry one man when I love another mam, I'm sorry."

She clenched her teeth. "I'll offer you more money than you've ever conceived of if you'll marry Mr. Hodges."

I frowned indignantly. Money? She honestly thought I was materialistic and shallow enough to choose money over love? "I'm sorry grandmother, I don't love him."

"You'll grow to love him." She snapped.

I looked away. "No, I wouldn't. I love Jack, and I always will. I couldn't live knowing I had thrown away the only man I love for money."

She glared at me. "I'm tired, leave me alone."

I nodded and turned to go. "You'll change your mind." I heard her say before I walked out the door. I grit my teeth, I would not change my mind.

"At the end of your rope,
when you can't find any hope,
still look at him and say,
'I just can't walk away,'
tell me what makes you stay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two months later

I walked into grandmother's room slowly and saw her laying in bed. She looked up and motioned for me to sit in a chair. "You ran away from one wedding, and turned down several proposals. Will you agree to marry Mr. Hodges now?"

"You get right to the point, don't you?" I said, but she didn't answer since it obviously wasn't meant as a question, so I went on. "Well, since you were so blunt, I might as well do the same. I wouldn't marry him before and I still won't. Take you money, I don't want it. The only thing in the world I want right now is in New York City selling newspapers."

She was silent for several minutes before she finally thought of something to say, and for once it wasn't sarcastic or mean. "I suppose I was a fool to think you would marry for money. Your mother was the same way. I don't know where she got it from though. When I was your age I married whom my parents wanted me to. Although my husband was a confederate, so my father wasn't overjoyed, but my parents did approve of him." She seemed annoyed for a second. "Oh, you're no use to me here. Ben and Aaron visit, and then there's always Hope and her son, Francis... Go on back to New York if your heart is set on marrying that boy."

"Oh! Thank you! I knew you couldn't be as bad as I always thought you were." I said and kissed her cheek, too happy to realize the words until it was too late. I held my hand over my mouth, wondering what her reaction would be.

"Go on and pack before I change my mind." She said crossly, but not seeming to notice my mistake.

I nodded and ran to my room, throwing all of my stuff into a small bag. "You look like a chicken with its head cut off. What are you doing?" I heard a male voice say from the door.

I looked up and saw Ben standing there. "Oh, hi. I was just... packing."

He nodded. "I can see that. But, why? I thought you were going to be staying here."

I shook my head. "No. Hodges kept bugging me to marry him and finally he took it to grandmother. She offered me money to marry him but I refused and when I refused again today she told me that with you and Aaron and Hope for company, and the nurse to take care of her, she didn't need me and if I was really determined to marry Jack I should go back to New York."

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "Trying to fit it all in one breath? Well, you seem happy about all of this so I might as well help you pack."

I shook my head. "No, you don't have to. I can do it on my own."

He shrugged and he picked up some stuff and put it in the bag. "So, what are you going to say to Jack?"

I smiled teasingly, knowing exactly where the conversation was going. "Oh believe me, we won't be doing much talking." I said hinting at something I knew would annoy Ben.

He glared. "You know, I never had a problem with Jack until all of this happened. I'm sorry Col, but I can't forget what he did... even you shouldn't be able to forgive him for this."

"Look Ben, I've told you once what I thought, I don't need to tell you again. All I have to say is that I'm going back to Manhattan and nothing has changed. If you even think of telling Jack I know anything, I swear to everything holy that you will live to regret it. Got it?"

He shrugged. "Sure Col, if that's really what you want."

I nodded. "It is."

He sighed a little. "Then I'm coming with you."

I frowned. "But, why? I'll be fine by myself."

He shook his head. "I'm going with you whether you like it or not."

"I'm not afraid of living alone,
was along before he came,"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New York City

I stepped off the train with Ben close behind. He smiled a little. "Well, nothing appears to have changed. Still the same filthy city."

I glared at him. "I like this filthy city, so be quiet."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm going to go to my hotel, would you like me to walk you to the lodging house?"

"No thanks, I'm fine." I said casually, smiling as I realized most of the guys would be done selling papes by now.

He cleared his throat. "Wrong answer."

I frowned. "Oh stop treating me like a baby! I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself... or I would be if you people hadn't insisted I wear this horrible dress." I snapped, motioning to the wine red dress I was wearing.

Ben looked almost embarrassed for a moment and kicked at that ground. "Um, right. I'll go now... I guess I'll see you before I go back to Boston then."

I nodded gratefully and walked to Duane Street. The guys were lounging around by the desk when I walked in. Race smiled as he looked up, the first to notice me. "Hey Echo, how's it rollin'?"

I shrugged a little. "Same as always. Won any good bets lately? Or are you still loosing them all?"

I heard chants of "Cho!" as Brooklyn and the others came down the stairs. I stared at Brooklyn. "So now you're calling me Cho... why?"

She shrugged a little. "To annoy you. You're back!"

I laughed. "Oh, am I?! Brookle, Brookle... I'm the one who's supposed to make stupid comments."

She looked at the stairs as we heard footsteps and saw Jack walking down, trying to tie his bandanna.

"I've been in love many times before,
but this time's not the same,
I've always been the first to say good-bye,
now that's the last thing I can do,"

"Hey Race, did dat horse at da tracks win taday?" He asked casually.

My heart jumped into my throat for a moment but I managed a smile at Race, then said jokingly, "Really Jack, why bother asking? Do they ever win?"

He froze for a second as he heard me and then looked up. "Echo?" He laughed as he walked over and wrapped his arms around me. "What're ya doin' heya?!"

I smiled a little and winked at him. "The old battle ax let me come back... why? Do you want me to leave?"

"What makes you stay,
when your world falls apart,
what makes you try one more time,
when it's not in your heart,"

He shook his head. "I don't think so, if I have my way ya won't be any farther than five feet away from me from now on."

I laughed. "Too bad. I'm going to scream if I don't get this dress off right now."

He grinned mischeviously. "That's okay, I don't mind watching."

I screeched indignantly and slapped him playfully. "Not funny!"

He hugged me again and pulled back when I sniffed a little. "Is somethin' wrong?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm just happy to be back, that's all."

"At the end of your rope,
when you can't find any hope,
still look at him and say,
'I just can't walk away,'
tell me what makes you stay."

He nodded a little. "Well, we were gonna go ta Tibby's so if yer really determined to get outa dat dress ya can meet me dere in about an hour."

I nodded. "Okay, sounds good to me."

He turned and started to walk out the door but hesitated and looked at me again. "Ya sure ya don't need any help gettin' outta dat thing? I'd be glad to offer a hand." He said with an impish grin.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "I'm sure, now get out of here and I'll see you at Tibby's."

He laughed and walked out the door. Sketch smiled a little. "Maybe you two should meet somewhere a little more private." He said teasingly.

I hit him softly. "Not funny. Now follow me."

He laughed a little. "What? I'm the one that gets to help take off the dress."

I smiled playfully. "Not quite. But you do get to help me take my hair down."

He frowned. "Oh no. Last time I helped you take your hair down the pins ended up in my hair."

I frowned. "I was six! Anyway, it's a pain doing it by myself because I always miss hair pins." After a few more minutes of argueing I got him to help take my hair down and an hour later we walked to Tibby's. I smiled at Jack as I walked through the door.

"When it goes this deep, feels this strong,
I can't convince myself, this love is wrong,"

Jack smiled weakly and walked over to me. "Um Echo... Can we talk alone?"

I nodded. "Yeah, of course." We walked out the door and he stopped by the entrance to an alley. "So, what did you wanna say?" I asked as he staired at the ground.

He sighed a little. "Look Echo, I think we should call off the wedding."

"W-what? But why?" I said, completely shocked.

He rolled his eyes a little. "Ya know why Echo."

I clenched my teeth. "Ben told you..."

"Yeah, Ben told me. I'd do the same thing if you were my sista'... and don't look at me like that, I can't stand it." He said as he finally looked my way and say tears building up in my eyes.

I looked down at the ground. "If I ever get my hands on that stupid little creep I swear I'll break every bone in his body."

"Hey." Jack said firmly and looked me in the eye. "He's right."

I shook my head. "No he's not... I love you and I don't give a damn what the hell happened in Santa Fe."

He smiled and shook his head. "You just don't get it... I care what happened. I don't deserve you."

"I don't care if you deserve me or not, you're the only thing in this world I want. I love you." I said desperately.

I saw a few tears starting to show and he looked away angrily. "Stop saying that."

"Why? It's true."

He shook his head. "No. Go find someone who can make you happy, I can't."

Before I could say anything else he walked back into Tibby's and I was standing alone on the street. I wiped a tear away and crossed my arms over my chest. I glanced at the sky. "He's the only one who can make me happy. So if you aren't too busy could you just do me a little favor and help me get him back, because I love him. I know I do." I said, then started walking to the lodging house.

"At the end of your rope,
when you can't find any hope,
still look at him and say,
'I just can't walk away,'
tell me what makes you stay,
tell me what makes you stay."
(What Makes You Stay, by Deana Carter)

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