This one was requested by Marina_Stilinski. Thank you for requesting!!
WHACK!!
"Go away, Race!" Ariana groans from her bunk as Racetrack Higgins smacks her over the head with a pillow, "Thought you were taught not to whack a sleeping girl over the head with a pillow by your mother."
"Don't have a mother," Race says playfully and runs off to get ready for the day. Ariana sighs and wanders over to one of the windows of the Lodging House to look out the window. That dog from the night before is still sleeping out on the front steps of the Lodging House.
"Mutt, what's the dog still doing out there? Thought you told it to go home," A sleepy Jack Kelly says as he climbs in the window from sleeping on the fire escape. Crutchie follows him down. The Newsies are slowly moving around and waking up.
"I don't know why it stuck around," Mutt says as she moves away from the window and starts getting ready for her day.
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Later on in the day, Mutt is selling her papers near Sheepshead since Race sells his at the track. Mutt and Race usually walk back to the Lodging House so Mutt doesn't have to walk alone since she hates walking alone. She is in the middle of hawking a headline about some fancy people having a fight when she hears the sound of paws on the street. Ariana turns around and notices the dog from earlier standing there. His coat is littered with all kinds of tree debris and such. Mutt begins to pull it out of his fur.
"What happened to you?" She asks softly and the little dog whimpers and moves closer to her, "You can stay right here with me. No one's going to hurt you." Mutt continues selling her papers until Race walks out of Sheepshead.
"You ready to go home?" He asks her and Ariana gestures to the small stack of papers she has in her hands.
"I still have papes to sell," She says and Race takes three from her.
"I can help with that," He says and the two begin hawking headlines. Race sells out and Ariana gives him one more. Their fingers brush as she hands over the paper and she feels sparks run through her body. The two finish selling their papers and they start to walk back to the Lodging House. Both Race and Mutt look behind them to see the dog following them. Race steps toward the dog but Ariana stops him.
"Wait," She says and Race crosses his arms.
"We can't let this dog follow us home," He says and Mutt sighs.
"He just needs a home and a family, can't we give him that much?" Ariana asks. Race shrugs and keeps walking. Mutt follows him and the dog follows her. He is a Golden Doodle and he is a slightly bigger dog.
"Don't let Jack catch him," Race warns as they walk further into Manhattan. Ariana and Race arrive back at the Lodging House to discover that Jack is out on a date with Katherine. Race wanders off to play poker and Ariana decides to play with the dog outside the Lodging House. The air begins to cool around them as night falls on Manhattan. Mutt continues to play with the dog until it gets dark. She climbs up the fire escape and sits on it with Crutchie. Inside, Ariana hears the boys complaining as Race wins their money off of them in poker. She turns her head and smiles at Race's look of triumph. Crutchie notices her watching,
"You seem to be paying more and more attention to Race lately." Ariana feels her face flush red.
"Crutchie, we're just friends. Race is my best friend, how could I not pay attention to him?" She asks and Crutchie smiles. Tucking a stand of her wavy blonde hair behind her ear, Mutt watches the city streets below. People walk around, hurrying to and from various places in the city. Eventually, a chill runs down her spine and she decides to head in. Crutchie smiles and waves.
"Goodnight, Mutt," He says and Ariana waves back,
"Goodnight, Crutchie." She climbs into the Lodging House and sits down next to Race, who is quiet for once. Only because he is strategizing for his next play in Poker.
"Race, you gonna play or not? Ain't got all night," Albert says. Mutt pokes his Ace and Race shrugs, considering her input. He pulls out a different card instead and plays it. Mutt shakes her head.
"What are you doing?" She asks and Race shushes her. Albert looks over at the two of them with his eyebrows raised.
"No plotting," Kid Blink says as he throws a card in. Mutt rolls her eyes and notices Jack walking back up the stairs. She pulls out an old sketchbook that Race found for her when they were younger and she begins to draw a picture of the dog. Jack hurries past everyone and runs out to the fire escape, saying hi to a few of the Newsies on his way out. The Newsies all exchange shrugs. It is pretty normal of Jack to just run in only to go out on the fire escape. Mutt goes back to drawing the picture. She completes right as the boys decide that they need to go to bed. Jack pokes his head in the window and yells that lights out is in ten minutes. The boys scramble around and Mutt hurries off to bed.
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Mutt wakes up the next morning to Race hitting her with the pillow again.
"Race! How many times do I have to tell you that girls don't like it when you wake them up by hitting them with a pillow?" Mutt asks and Race chuckles.
"You can never tell me enough times," He says, "I'll just keep doing it." Mutt groans and gets out of her bed. She walks over to the window and sees the dog still sleeping on the front steps.
"He's still there?" Jack asks when he sees the dog, "I thought we told him to leave!"
"Maybe he just wants to stick around," Mutt says and she decides to get ready for the day. Race waits for her at the bottom of the steps. Mutt gently ruffles his hair as she starts to leave. The two of them step out onto the streets of New York City and join the banter that the rest of the boys do in the mornings.
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Mutt and Race arrive at Mutt's selling spot. The dog follows them the whole way. Race turns around and glares at the dog.
"Don't you know when to let people just go off by themselves?" He asks and Mutt pets the dog in a sympathetic manner.
"Leave him alone, Race. He's just looking for some love," She says as she strokes the dog's soft fur. Race rolls his eyes and starts walking towards Sheepshead.
"See you in a few hours?" He asks me and Mutt nods.
"See you in a few hours." Race smiles and walks the rest of the way to the track. Ariana pats the spot next to me and the dog lays down. She begins to sell her papers and time passes as she does. Mutt uses headlines that she knows will tug on the heartstrings of the people of New York City. She is shouting about a family who has lost a significant amount of money when a gunshot pierces the air. A few moments later, the police are hurrying through the streets. Patting the dog's head, Mutt runs toward where the police are going, hoping to find a good headline. To her horror and surprise, the police hurry into Sheepshead.
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Mutt does not even think twice before hurrying inside. Her gut feeling tells her that Race may be in trouble. She pushes through the crowd with the dog right at her heels. Ariana glances around for Race, but all she can see are rich men dressed in fancy suits with pocket watches that glisten in the sunlight. All of them are bellowing about the heat and that they should not be held here because of course, they weren't the ones who committed the murder. None of them will let Mutt through so she quickly starts hawking headlines so that people maybe will let her through. Her shouting causes people to move and Mutt gasps as what she sees next. Racetrack is down below by the stables and one of the police officers grabs him from behind. Mutt tries to get closer to see what has happened. She gasps when she sees one of the police officers pull a dead body out from inside the stable.
"No!" She gasps and her eyes get even wider when she sees Racetrack get handcuffed. Mutt pushes through the crowd and slides down the stairway railing to get to Race. "He's innocent! Let him go, please!!" She cries out. Race looks worried as Mutt gets closer.
"Get out of here, Mutt! Please!!" Race cries out, worried for Mutt and the fact that the police could arrest her too if she got in the way.
"Race, you didn't do it!! What happened?" She asks, trying to figure this out for herself. One of the police officers gently moves Mutt to the side.
"You can arrange a visit with him later on. Let's let the grownups take care of this one, sweetheart," One of them says gently and Mutt sighs.
"Stay out of trouble, Mutt," Race calls out as the police officers haul him away and Mutt feels tears enter into her eyes, "I'll be out before you know it." Mutt and the dog do the only thing they can do. Both girl and dog run to where Jack usually sells his papers. They are going to need all of the help that they can get.
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Jack Kelly is standing on the fire escape at the office for the Sun. He is trying to see if Katherine is back from her lunch break but, he does not see her. Jack decides to continue selling his papers in hopes that maybe he will run into Katherine while he is out. He jumps down and wanders back over to his selling spot. Jack is just about to lift a paper into the air to sell it when he hears a voice,
"Jack! Jack! It's an emergency!!" Mutt and the dog come running up to Jack on his corner of the street.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Jack asks and Mutt is trying to keep herself from crying.
"Someone was shot over at Sheepshead and they arrested Race for the murder!!" Mutt cries out and Jack looks shocked.
"Race does same crazy things, but he would never murder anyone," Jack says and Mutt asks him,
"What should we do?"
"Try to solve the mystery and save Racetrack from being charged with murder."
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Later that night, Jack comes up with the idea to sneak into the police station and steal the list of everyone who was at the tracks at the time of the murder. Jack and the Newsies make a scene out on the street that brings the police officers out to make them stop and the boys continue to bring the police officers away from the station. Mutt quietly sneaks in and pokes around in the office. She eventually discovers the list and puts it in her pocket. The dog is waiting outside for her and Mutt sneaks out with the list.
"Okay, let's go," She whispers to the dog and the two begin to run back to the Lodging House. Jack spots Mutt leaving and runs away from the police officers. He weaves his way through back alleys until he finds Mutt.
"Did you get it?" He asks her and she shows him, "Great!! Now, let's get back to the Lodging House and..." Jack stops when he notices that they are being followed.
"Jacky Boy, you really shouldn't mess with things that aren't yours," Oscar Delancey says and Jack looks at Mutt.
"Run," He whispers and Mutt takes off through the alleyways, the dog right at her side. Mutt hears the sounds of Jack and the Delanceys scuffling in a fight. She does not stop to look behind her and quickly scales the fire escape. The dog stands below and starts to whimper when he realizes that he cannot climb up with her.
"Stay there," Mutt says and she hurries into the Lodging House. Finding a piece of paper, Mutt writes down all of the addresses and names of the people that the police wrote down in the log. She tucks the piece of paper into her pocket and hides the police log under a loose floorboard. Some of the Newsies wander back in and Mush spots Mutt putting the floorboard back into place.
"What are you doing?" Mush asks and Mutt shushes him.
"I'm not doing anything. Thank you for your help earlier. Now, we can start talking to people and busting into places to figure out who the killer really is," Mutt says. Mush nods nervously before walking off to go find something to do. Jack comes back a few minutes later with a few more bruises than when he left. Mutt hands him the piece of paper and Jack nods his head approvingly.
"We can get somewhere with this. Katherine may be willing to talk to some of these people. I get the feeling that not a lot of them are going to talk to us," Jack says and Mutt shrugs sadly.
"I'm sure we can talk to the jockeys. They wouldn't mind talking to us," She says and Jack nods. The next day, Mutt marches straight into Sheepshead with the dog right at her heels again. In between one of the races, Mutt sneaks into the stables and begins to talk to the various jockeys, who are all sad because one of the best jockeys was the person who died. None of the jockeys showed any severe animosity, it was nothing more than the occasional "He beat me and I didn't like it" sort of rivalry. Mutt was still suspicious since one particular jockey seemed to be holding back a little bit. She had tried not to be too intruding or accusing, all she wants is to see the real killer brought to justice and Racetrack freed from the Refuge. Still, the last jockey she interviewed seemed a little nervous to speak to her. Mutt watches from one of the sidewalk areas and hawks the headlines for Race since he can't. She wishes he were here so that they could watch the races together and spend time together. Mutt really misses Race and she's not really sure why. Deep down, she gets the feeling that it's not just because they are friends. but maybe something more. Mutt watches the race and she notices several men talking in low voices about the race while one man stands above them all watching it carefully. She hears them arguing loudly about all of the various jockeys. Mutt turns around ready to ask what this is about when she hears a voice calling out her name,
"Mutt!" Mutt turns and sees Crutchie standing at one of the doors to the track. He waves her over and Crutchie walks with her out of the track.
"Crutchie, what are you doing all the way out here? Wasn't that a long way for you to walk?" She asks and Crutchie waves away her worries.
"Don't worry about a thing, Mutt," He says, "Now, Jack wanted me to tell you that he and Katherine found out some valuable information." Mutt raises her eyebrows in anticipation. Crutchie continues, "They discovered that one of the jockeys was in some kind of trouble. Actually all of them are in really trouble, but the one who got murdered was in it the worst and he was the best jockey."
"Someone was blackmailing them?" Mutt asks and Crutchie nods.
"Someone still is blackmailing them into giving them their money. A shady character has gotten their hands on Sheepshead," Crutchie says carefully.
"The jockey who was murdered was known to the other jockeys as one of the best jockeys," Mutt says and Crutchie nods.
"That's where you come in," Crutchie says, "We need you to figure out why the jockey may have been murdered." Mutt nods and ventures back towards the gate to Sheepshead. Crutchie calls out to her, "Be careful!! I have a feeling that one of the jockeys did not kill another jockey just to get even on some competition." Mutt nods again and heads inside with the dog right behind her. After a race ends, Mutt hurries down to the stables to talk to the hesitant jockey from before.
"Excuse me," Mutt says kindly and the jockey looks a little startled.
"Please don't turn me in," The jockey cries out nervously, "I lied to you saying I didn't know anything about this whole mess. I'm the reason James is dead." Mutt lets out a little gasp.
"You killed James the jockey?" Mutt asks nervously and James nods, his head shaking as tears run down his face.
"I really didn't mean to, but James could be so....arrogant sometimes and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I shot him," The jockey confesses. Mutt glares at him.
"You're the reason Racetrack is in jail!" She cries out and the jockey nods sadly.
"I am so sorry, Miss, but I had to do it," He says, "I had to kill James." Mutt spots a police officer walking around on the ground around the tracks. She runs up to him and pulls the jockey in tow.
"This man murdered the jockey that was killed yesterday," She says and the jockey behind Mutt nods his head in agreement. The police officer handcuffs him and starts reading him his rights. He turns to Mutt and nods to her,
"Thanks for the tip, little lady," He says.
"I'm sorry that I killed him," the jockey says to the police officer and to Mutt.
"Sorry ain't gonna get you out of the prison cell I'm afraid," The police officer says as he hauls the jockey away and Mutt calls out,
"Officer! Is Racetrack Higgins, the boy you took to the Refuge because you thought he was the murderer, going to be released?" The police officer nods.
"I'll see to it as soon as I get back to the station, Miss," He says and walks away with the jockey in tow. Mutt runs over to the Refuge and waits outside the gate for Racetrack to be released. Soon after, Racetrack is walked out and he has bruises all over him.
"Racetrack!" Mutt cries and she throws her arms around him and kisses both of his cheeks. Race kisses both of her cheeks back and takes her face in his hands.
"Ya look more beautiful than I remember," He says and Mutt chuckles.
"So, why did they accuse you of the murder?" She asks and Race shrugs.
"Someone knocked me out and when I woke up, I had a smoking gun in my hand and I was lying on the floor of the stable," He says and Mutt raises her eyebrows.
"That's odd," She says, "That jockey wouldn't have been able to knock someone out, shoot someone and then put the gun in an innocent man's hand before getting away."
"I don't know," Race says, "All I saw was a white glove that put the gun into my hand right as I was closing my eyes. They looked real fancy too."
"Do the jockeys typically wear gloves?" Mutt asks and Race shrug.
"It depends on the jockey. Why? You think a jockey shoved the gun into my hand?" Race asks and Mutt shrugs.
"Possibly, but the jockey that the police took in custody wasn't wearing gloves. Although, he was a little too quick to confess," She says and Race nods.
"Typically, that means someone is cracking the whip higher up the food chain. Someone else may be about to bite the bullet," Race says.
"What should we do?" She asks.
"Figure out who higher up the food chain is and I'm pretty sure there's only one way we can tell," He says with a smirk, "Let's go watch some races."
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Mutt and Race both pick a different side to watch and Race scopes out the some of the boxes that have the best seats. At one point, Race points to a fancy box and whispers to Mutt,
"Sneak in there and eavesdrop on them." Mutt nods her head and looks at the dog.
"Stay here with Race, buddy," She says to the dog who nods. Race pats the dog and continues watching the race. Mutt sneaks to the back of the box and opens the door very quietly. She crawls down to the bottom and just sits in the back.
"Number 7 isn't going to make the cut this week," She hears a fancily dressed man in a dark suit say to one of his partners, "We'll arrange for a meeting in abandoned alley and throw him in the river."
"Sir, he's one of the best jockeys too! You already killed off James this week," Another man says and the first man growls loudly.
"Don't tell me what to do, Arnold," He growls, "This is my operation to run here, not yours." Mutt continues to listen and she now knows that she has found everything she needs to know. She reaches for the door handle to leave when someone flings the door open and spots her.
"What are you doing here?" He cries out and all of the men turn.
"Get her," The first man growls and one of them quickly slams a hand over Mutt's mouth before she can scream. She struggles and quickly kicks one of them in the knee. To her chagrin, he doesn't budge. Mutt bites his hand and she hears him yell loudly at her. Mutt lets out a loud scream and attracts the attention of the dog. The dog comes running at the man holding Mutt and starts barking loudly. Mutt struggles to free herself and the man will not let go despite the dog.
"Shut it, dog, " The man yells as he swats at the dog. Race is still watching the race and does not notice the commotion. The dog jumps up at one of the men and Mutt continues to struggle. Suddenly, she feels something hit her over the back of the head and the world goes black.
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Racetrack whistles loudly as the horses he is rooting for crosses the finish line. He looks around for the dog and notices him running right toward him. Something is hanging out of his pocket, a white glove.
"Where's Mutt, Pup? Where's Ariana?" He asks and Race notices that all of the men in the box that Mutt was supposed to be sneaking into are gone. Race takes the white glove out of the dog's mouth and let's the dog smell it. "Can you track that?" He asks the dog and the dog runs right out of the track with Racetrack hot on his heels.
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Mutt wakes up with both her arms and feet tied to a chair. A rag is jammed into her mouth to keep her from crying out.
"Boss," She hears someone shout, "the girl's awake." The man who they called Boss turns around with a pistol in his hand.
"It's too bad that you got on the less lucrative side of this operation but, it's important that the information that you know dies with you!" Boss shouts and Mutt struggles in her chair. There is a very high chance that she will never make it out of this alive.
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Racetrack and the dog run to an old abandoned warehouse and the dog wanders over to a back door. He paws at it and whimpers. Race tries to pull the door open and discovers it is locked. He finds a large rock and manages to break the lock with it. The dog looks upset and Race shrugs,
"What? It was a really flimsy lock!" Race tries to reason and he rolls his eyes as he carefully pulls open the door. Both the boy and the dog quietly weave their way through the small abandoned warehouse and here shouting coming from behind a door. Race gently pulls on the door and discovers that it is open and he sees a man holding a gun at Mutt. Both the dog and Race charge into the room. Race tackles the man to the ground and the dog snatches something up off the table. He runs off it with it and Race reaches toward Mutt's ropes. He punches the boss in the back of the head which renders him unconscious. Race unties Mutt's hand and yanks the rag out of her mouth.
"Race!" Mutt cries out, but he cuts her off with a swift kiss to her lips. Mutt kisses him back and Race goes back to fighting while Mutt unties herself. She tries to help fight and holds her own against some of the guys. When all of them are unconscious, Mutt and Race go back to the Lodging House to find the dog there. Mutt takes the folder from him and looks through to see information on all of the operations that went on with the man's business. The Boss was Alexander McCarthy who was a very rich man looking to make a quick buck at the races by stealing the jockey's earnings. If they didn't earn enough or didn't do something he wanted, they were shot. Mutt reads to find out that McCarthy had "terminated" three jockeys and Race peeks over her shoulder.
"Looks like that's enough information to turn it into the police," He says and the two walk over to the police station with the dog in tow. Mutt and Race hand it over and later that night, McCarthy and his gang are arrested. Leaving the dog in the hands of Crutchie, Mutt and Race set out to Central Park to enjoy the cool evening air of the city and maybe some more than just the cool evening air, but that's what they told the rest of the Newsies. Race takes Mutt's hand and smiles at her as they walk through the park.
"Thanks for saving me earlier," Mutt says softy and Race smiles at her.
"It's no problem," He says and the two intertwine their fingers. Mutt smiles at their intertwined fingers and gently swings their joined hands. "You saved me earlier. It was all I could do to return the favor," He says.
"I want to return a different favor," Mutt says and Race raises his eyebrows.
"What would that be?" He asks and Mutt kisses him. Race kisses her back and the two smile as they part. Mutt leans her against his shoulder.
"I like these evening walks," She says, "We should do them more often."
"I would like them better if you would be my girl and go on them with me all the time," Race says and Mutt smiles up at him.
"I would love nothing less," She says and Race kisses her yet again.
AN:/ What did you think, Marina_Confetti? Did you enjoy it? I hope you did. This one I had no idea what I was going to do for and then this came up. I tried to keep it shorter since I just wrote something that was like 7000 words earlier this week, but you know how that goes with me. I hope this came out in a timely fashion too. :) What did the rest of you think of it? As I said earlier in my announcement, I am still taking requests but this book is sort of going to be put on hold once I finish the one after this one. I would like to finish some other stuff first before I do this a whole bunch more. You can still request but just know that I am going to wait on it for a little while. In the meantime, I am going to go watch some Psych and get inspired for the next chapter of that. Keep your eyes peeled for some oneshots. I gave you some warning of what's coming at ya in the announcement today too. :) A Singin In the Rain crossover, another Peter Pan crossover (I'm sorry and your welcome), and an Anastasia crossover are I think what I'm gonna do next. I might just throw some Modern AU or Pre-Strike(which I haven't experimented with yet but I kinda want to) or Post-Strike in there to mix things up to. I also kind of want to tease the actual content of the 50s book with a 50s oneshot but if I do that, I might as well just write that book, ya know? Okay. Enough about my writing crisis. I have too much inspiration. Feel free to use my ideas too. As for War Wonders, I really want to work on it. I just need some help with the villain development and maybe plot development. The oneshot was easy because it was like a snapshot. I'm not sure about a whole plot for that. I don't know yet. We'll get there. Anyways, thanks for reading, voting, commenting and doing whatever it is you do. You guys are amazing, just thought you should know that. :) See you around, friends!!
-Aisling