Katherine Pulitzer was in trouble, and she knew it. She had already spent much more of her last paycheck than she should have, and she was barely going to manage enough to make rent for the month. She clearly couldn't ask for any kind of raise - Mr. Norton, the new owner of The World, was already ordering for people to be fired left and right. Asking for a bigger salary would be the equivalent of asking to be fired.

She grimaced as she placed the few extra dollars she had into her wallet. It was times like these that made her wish that she hadn't moved away from her mother, but even if she still lived in the Pulitzer Mansion, it wouldn't be all that much better – it seemed as if family name wasn't enough to keep the Depression from affecting you. Especially since Kate Pulitzer was now widowed, she was essentially living off of their savings.

Katherine sighed as she looked around her small apartment. She wondered, if her father had managed to hold on for a few more years, how her life would be different. She wouldn't be working for The World, that much she knew. Her mother would have more financial stability. Hell, Katherine herself would have more financial stability - her father always helped her in that aspect, whether she wanted him to or not.

But he was gone now. And it was up to her to support herself, and her mother whenever she needed it. So that was what she did. No matter how much it might be killing her to do it.

oOo

Jack Kelly couldn't exactly say that he was loving life. It was January in New York City, and that made everything that had been hard even harder. When it was cold outside, everything was worse.

All of these difficulties, of course, didn't even have anything to do with the Depression that was supposedly going on - it didn't affect him much, all he knew was that he was making less money, and it cost more money if he wanted to spend the night with a roof over his head. That certainly made everything harder.

He often opted out of the option of a roof and bed at night. He didn't mean to stop paying his lodgings fee, other things just got in the way. Crutchie needed to see a doctor about his leg, Elmer needed new gloves, Buttons couldn't afford dinner. Nobody ever had enough money for anything. So, if Jack had to go a day or two without a meal, or spend some nights in a covered alleyway, that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Everyone was making sacrifices these days. Some more than others. Jack Kelly was one of the people who made more sacrifices, so that his boys didn't have to. Because, as much as he didn't like admitting it, sometimes his boys were worth more to him than he was to himself.