Jack twisted his newsboy cap in his hands as he waited outside of Pulitzers office. He ignored the look Hannah sent him as he continued to pace, nerves racking his body.
"Mr Kelly, just sit down." Hannah said from her desk, finding it impossible to concentrate as the boy paced up and down in front of her.
"I can't. I'm nervous." Jack said, stilling his movements for half a second before continuing to pace. He placed his cap back in his head before looking up as the doors opened.
"Kelly." Pulitzer said, his eyebrows knitting together in a frown.
"J- Pulitzer." Jack said, deciding he should probably be polite to Pulitzer today. He followed Pulitzer into the office.
"Sit." He said and motioned to the charge in front of his desk. "What do you want Kelly?"
"I wanted to talk bout Katherine." Jack said and his leg began to bounce up and down in nervousness.
"Why would you want to talk about my daughter?" Pulitzer said and leant forward, lacing his fingers together menacingly.
"I wanted to ask for your permission to marry her." Jack said slowed, feeling his heart beat in his throat. He swallowed dryly and waited for Pulitzer to answer.
"You, want to marry my daughter?" Pulitzer asked slowly, trying to stop a laugh bubbling up his throat.
"Yes, sir."
"And, do you love her? Do you have a ring? Do you have enough money to support her? How do you expect to support your family when she's pregnant?"
Jack's eyes widened as Pulitzer shot question after question at him. He loved her and he had a ring, nothing big or fancy. But he didn't have a stable job and he was still staying at the Lodging House. "I do love her. I love her more than anything in the woild."
"And your income?"
"I sell papes but I can promise youse I can support her." Jack vowed.
"I don't like you Kelly." Pulitzer said.
"I know."
"But you make my daughter happy, and I love my daughter. So you have my permission to marry her. But if you ever hurt her, Kelly I promise you, I will send the Delancey brothers after you quicker than you can sell papes."
Jack grinned and let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in. He stood up and laughed. "Thank you sir." He thanked, bowing before scurrying out of the room.
Why did he bow? Pulitzer would never let him hear the end of it.
——————
Jack couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he walked back to the Lodging House. All he had to do was grab the small ring and go to her apartment and then ask her.
No big deal right? He pushed open the door to the Lodging House and was surprised to find it abuzz with noise. The boys shouldn't be here, they should be out selling papes.
"Boys?" He shouted and was surprised to hear Katherine's voice among theirs. That was going to make his plan much harder.
"Why ain't youse selling papes?" He asked sternly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Kathy was just telling us a story!" Crutchie exclaimed from the old armchair. Despite being eighteen, he was still a five year old at heart.
"Really? What was the story?" Jack asked and came to sit next to Katherine, who lent into his side. "Hi." He whispered and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.
"Hi."
"Are youse gonna finish the story, or what?" Race asked, pushing Les off his legs.
"Oh right yeah sorry. And then Rumpelstiltskin promised he could spin the star into gold for her. And he did, he worked all through the night to spin the straw to gold. He didn't care about the girl, all he wanted was what was promised to him. All he wanted was that baby, her first born child."
Jack's eyes widened at the way she managed to quote the story without the book in front of her. It made him imagine her telling the story to their own little baby.
"The next morning, the woman awoke to find all the straw turning into gold. She stood up straight as the guards from the palace came in, along with the prince. She showed them all the straw she'd turned to god, and was allowed to marry the Prince." Katherine paused for breath.
"What happens next?" Les asked from where he was trying to push Race off the sofa.
"Two years later, the Prince and his Princess were happy, they had a baby on the way. But the girl hadn't told her husband about the deal she'd made. As soon as the baby was born, Rumpelstiltskin appeared and took the baby from her."
Jack laughed as the boys faces fell, clearly they were expecting a much better ending. His voice eyes lit up as Katherine finished the story.
"That story sucked!" Albert exclaimed, glaring at Katherine who shrugged.
"Yeah!" Elmer exclaimed, sticking his tongue out and frowning.
"Well, you guys asked for a story and I told you one. You didn't like Snow White, or Cinderella." She laughed and stood up. "Go make up your own story." She said and climbed out of the circle of boys.
"Hey, Davey." Jack said once he knew Katherine was out of ear shot.
Davey just nodded, taking a sip from the awful tasting tea.
"I asked Joe if I could ask Katherine to marry me." Jack said, dodging the tea Davey spit out in surprise. "That's disgusting." He said, mimicking what Davey had first said when he and Les shook hands.
"You? Oh my god! He said no didn't he? Or did he say yes?" Davey bombarded him with question, ignoring the look Jack gave him. His two best friends were going to get engaged.
"He said I could." Jack exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. "He also said if I hurt her he'd send the Delancey's after me."
"Well, if you hurt her I think the Newsies will do more damage than the Delancey's ever could." Davey said with a laugh.
Jack nodded, knowing it was true. "Yeah. And I got her a ring. Wanna see?" He asked, not bothering to hide the excitement in his voice.
"Oh my God yes!" Davey shouted, blushing as all the boys turned to look at him.
Katherine raised her eyebrow at Jack but he just shook his head. She frowned before turning back to the Newsies, who she was trying to teach how to make something other than sandwiches.
Jack laughed as Davey all but bounced out up to the rooftop. He followed the boy and pulled the ring box out from under a loose slab on the roof. It was a simple, plain ring. It had a golden band with a small diamond set on top of it.
"Jack, this is beautiful." Davey said, taking the ring box from him gently. He inspected it and saw something written in the inside. "What does it say on the band?"
"I dunno, something 'bout loving the person that wears it for eternity or something." Jack said and rubbed the back of his neck. "It was my mothers. You think Kath'll like it?"
"She'll love it." Davey reassured his friend, still not looking up from the ring.
"Thanks Davey." Jack laughed before climbing down the fire escape. "Ace?" He called, finding her talking to Les. He leant against the door way as she told him how to ask out the girl he liked.
Katherine looked up and saw him. "But, I think Jack has better advice." She said, smiling softly.
"How do you ask someone out?" Les asked, his eyes growing wide as Jack stepped into the room.
Jack smiled and grabbed Katherine's hand, pulling her so she was standing up. "So, what you do is you stand in front of them, and you look them in the eyes." He looked down and saw Les sitting on the floor staring up at them in awe.
"And then you list all the things you like about them."
"And then what do you do?" Les asked.
"Then you tell them that you want a future with them. You tell them that you want to grow old with them, that you want them in your life forever."
Davey stood in the doorway, listening to Jack talking and he knew what was about to happen. He run out to the newsies, who were lounging around and told them to come and watch what was happening.
"And then you ask them out." Jack said, gripping the ring box in his pocket.
"Show me, ask out Katherine." Les exclaimed. "I know you're already together but I want to know how to do it."
Jack took a deep breath, now or never. "You'd do it like this. Katherine, I love you, I love everything about you. The way your eyes sparkle when you've found a story to follow. I love the way your nose scrunches when you're dreaming. I love that, after the strike, you stuck by me. Through everything. You really are the Ace up my sleeve. And I want a future with you, I want to be able to grow old with you, I want to always be able to hold you when you're scared, or sick. I just want to be by your side for the rest of our lives."
Katherine laughed tearily, wiping her eyes and cupping his cheek. "I love you too Jack." She whispered, not noticing the newsies crowded around the door frame, looking at them.
Jack smiled at her before dropping down onto one knee, pulling out the ring box and opening it. "I love you Ace, and I was wondering if you would marry me?"
Katherine's eyes widened in shock and her hands flew to cover her mouth. Tears spilt from her eyes as she nodded, laughing when Jack cheered and pulled her into a hug. She felt him slip the ring onto her finger before he picked her up and spun her around.
Jack set her down before pulling her into kiss as the newsies cheered around them. "I love you." He whispered against her lips.
"I love you too. So much." She said and hugged him tightly. She felt the rest of the newsies hug them all and she laughed.