AN: We've finally come to it. The final chapter. This was such a fun one to write, I really love it, and I'm glad you all enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for my new story that I'm really excited about which will be published in the next few weeks (or, more likely, sometime tomorrow so be on the look out).

It wasn't until a week after Jack was released from the Refuge that Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs deemed Davey well enough to leave the house and visit the Lodging House. They still didn't want him working though, and he knew better than to argue about that, no matter how much he wanted to. He knew he was lucky to be getting out at all. Les still wasn't allowed to leave the house without their parents, not even with Davey. This decision, of course, led to much complaining from the younger boy.

"Ma, please?"

"No, Les."

"But Davey gets to go, why can't I?"

"David is older than you, and is more capable of taking care of himself. And you're still hurt. No more arguing."

"But Ma -" Les cut himself off after he received a particularly stern look from his mother. He sighed and crossed his arms. "Fine."

Davey, who had been watching this exchange with a small smile on his face, placed an assuring hand on his brother's shoulder. "Don't worry Les, I'll make sure Jack and Crutchie know just how much you wanted to come."

"You'll tell 'em that I tried? That I wanted to come but Ma's just being unfair?"

He nodded, but for fear of getting his own stern glare, he quickly added, "I'll leave out that last part, but yes, I'll tell 'em. Don't worry."

The boy still looked considerably upset, but satisfied enough. "Okay."

Davey gave him one more reassuring smile, gave his mother a hug (she had been feeling much more affectionate than normal since they'd returned), before setting out, noting that he felt much less restricted by the masses of people around him than he had before. A perk of being kept in a dark empty basement for a significant period of time, he supposed.

When he got to the Lodging House, he opened the door without knocking, and wasn't surprised to see that it was mostly empty - all the healthy boys were already working. He entered and was greeted by the sight of Jack and Crutchie sitting on the couch.

Crutchie was reading a book, something he probably didn't get to do too often, and seemed mostly content. Jack, on the other hand, was sitting on the other end of the couch and was doing nothing more than adamantly staring out the window, clearly not happy about the fact that he still wasn't selling. They both looked up at Davey's appearance.

"It's about time you showed up, Jacobs." Jack said with a smirk, seeming pleased to have some sort of distraction.

"Hey, Jack." Davey grinned, sitting in between the two boys at Crutchie's gestured invitation. "Crutchie. How's it going?"

"How's what going? Nothing's happening here." Jack said with a pointed tone, and Crutchie rolled his eyes at him before turning to look at Davey.

"Not too bad. Your folks finally let you out?"

He nodded. "I'm finally healthy enough that the outdoors aren't going to kill me. No luck for Les though."

"Poor kid's probably gonna be stuck in there forever, if I know your Ma." Jack joked.

"I don't think he's getting out of her sight any time soon." Davey paused. "So, how're you two doing?"

Jack shrugged. "I've been better, I've been worse. Everything hurts, but that's to be expected."

Crutchie nodded. "It ain't great but it could be worse. At least we're outta there now."

Davey smiled softly. They could always count on Crutchie to look on the bright side of things. "Yeah, we're outta there now. And Snyder's in jail. It'll all be okay."

"If there's anything the Refuge taught me, it's that if you work hard enough, everything can be okay eventually." Jack nodded. "Really, we're already okay. Our bodies and minds just tell us otherwise. But we're okay."

"Yeah." Crutchie agreed. "We're okay."

And the three of them sat there, broken but healing, bruised but still going, and they really were okay.