That night, after everyone had spread the word about the rally, Elizabeth was pacing around one of the sleeping rooms in the Refuge, thinking about what she had heard from her sister. A city-wide rally for all the newsies? Oh, if only she could go. After all, she wanted to be a part of all this so badly now. With what she's been through, how could she not want to support the rights of the young boys and girls in the city? What kind of doctor would that make her someday? A horrible one, that's what.

Maybe she could make it after all. It was getting dark now, and she wasn't injured. Maybe she could sneak out the window by following that plan that Crutchie made, using the blankets to climb down and out the window, then be out of there in minutes. She considered the fire escape at first, but she came to the conclusion that the structure would be too noisy in the middle of the night. A single wrong step and it would ring out, alerting all the cruel people who worked there of her plan. She'd get caught instantly, and who knew what would happen to her if she did?

Well, actually, they'd get caught. She couldn't do this without taking Crutchie with her. After all, she came to take care of him. She couldn't just leave him behind in this place. If everything worked out the right way, she could stay out of the Refuge entirely once they were gone, and so could Crutchie. They'd be free again. Oh, the freedom would be so incredible right about now...

It was official, at least in the young girl's mind. When the sun went down entirely, and the city was finally sleeping, she and Crutchie would run away and disappear like she wrote in her letter. But first, she just had to actually tell him the plan. His leg was already starting to get better, she had discovered, so they might be able to make it. Though it definitely wasn't as good as it had been before the injury, it was good enough that he might be able to limp at a much slower pace, or move quicker if he was leaning on Elizabeth's arm.

She strode across the room towards Crutchie's bunk, letting a small smile form on her face as she thought about what they could potentially be doing, where they could potentially be in just a little while. If only, if only.

Crutchie was sitting on the edge of his bunk, his eyes trained on the nearest window to his bed. He wouldn't admit it, but he was looking out the window at the streets, or as much of the street as he could see. He was hoping to see Jack or one of the other newsies come by again. But, he doubted any of them would show up, at least not today. It was too late in the day, and none of them were dumb enough to come near the Refuge at night.

Elizabeth positioned herself at the bottom of the ladder, looking up at Crutchie with a small smile. "Hey, Crutchie, mind if I come and join you up there?" she requested.

Crutchie snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look down at her. "Liza. You surprised me," he admitted softly. With a motion of his hand, he called her up there. "Yeah, sure, come on up."

Elizabeth nodded quickly and climbed up the ladder, then took a seat beside him with her legs dangling off the edge of the bed. Once she was settled into her place, she asked, "How are you feeling? Is your leg doing better than it was before?"

Crutchie shrugged a bit, letting his gaze fall to his legs. His good leg was feeling moderately better, but it was nowhere near as good as it had been before he was attacked by Snyder. "It's alright, I guess," he admitted, sighing softly. "Why?"

Elizabeth smiled at him. "Well," she started, "because I care about your well being, and because that might be important due to what I have to say to you."

He tilted his head in curiosity, looking over at her with confusion on his face. "What's goin' on?"

The young lady grinned at him and immediately sat up straighter. In a quieter voice, so nobody else could hear what she had in mind, she informed him, "Tomorrow night at Irving Hall, the newsies are hosting a rally for all the newsies in New York. If you think you can make it out of here using that escape plan you came up with, we can get out of here and back to the lodging house, and we can meet all of our friends at the rally. What do you say?"

His eyes lit up at her suggestion. "There's a rally? We gotta go, then!" he replied, trying to contain his excitement. He spotted Snyder passing by, so he knew that they had to be very careful right now not to be caught. When he was out of sight, he continued to speak. "When should we go?"

Elizabeth flashed a smile in his direction. "When the sun goes down, we wait until everyone's in bed, and then we sneak out with your plan. We can secretly prepare before they give us tonight's food ration."

Crutchie nodded in agreement, giving her a smile almost as nice as the one he gave her that first day, when he sold her a paper. That was how Elizabeth knew that he was going to be okay.

No, they were going to be okay.

They didn't need to say anything else, as they had covered everything necessary. So, with a shared nod, Elizabeth climbed back down the ladder and onto the floor, ready to get started.

After her feet touched the ground, she started to fix her hair, using it as a cover for her glances around the room. She was trying to get an idea of where she should try to prepare the bed for their escape. Whose bed was close enough to the window that they could manage to climb out from it? And, who would be most likely to allow them to use their bed like that in the first place?

The young woman silently rejoiced when she realized that the bed best suited for their needs was none other than Patrick's. She knew that Patrick liked her, so if she asked, he would likely say yes. Out of all the boys in the Refuge, he was the most likely to allow them to use his bed in the first place. What a relief.

Patrick himself was sitting on his bed, Elizabeth's copy of Treasure Island resting in his lap. He had been desperate to find out what happened next, even though they hadn't gotten all that far into it the night before. He had learned how to read before he was taken to the Refuge, so when he asked to borrow the book until storytime that night, Elizabeth had been more than willing to allow him to read it. Everything was lining up pretty well for her to be successful in her endeavor. After she had finished tying her hair into a bun, she went over and lightly touched him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, Patrick. Mind if I join you for a minute?" she inquired.

Patrick looked up almost immediately, then lightly closed his book with a soft thud. "Yeah, sure. Whaddya need, Doc?"

Elizabeth's eyes lit up a little bit at the nickname, like they had started doing each time somebody called her that. It filled her with a little bit of hope that it wouldn't be just a nickname someday. "Well," she started, "Crutchie and I need your help with something."

The younger boy smirked at her. "Yeah, I's figured that ya needed somethin', but what?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath, then quietly started to explain, "Well, Crutchie and I want to try and escape tonight. We have a plan, but it requires a little bit of work. That work would be much easier if we could use your bed, since it's so close to the window. Do you mind? If you want, you and your bunkmates can have my bed for the night. It's much warmer than this one anyway. You can have it if you all promise not to tell anybody what we're doing."

Patrick considered this for a minute, scratching the back of his neck and messing up his bright red hair. "Well, if youse wantin' ta run away, you can use my bed, if you promise me one thing," he finally declared.

Well, that was a relief. He was okay with it, if they got one thing for him. He couldn't be asking for much, so they were completely safe. Elizabeth gave him a smile and commented, "What do you need?"

The boy grinned at her. "Take me with yous."

This time it was Elizabeth's turn to go quiet and consider this request. She had no problem with Patrick. He was a nice kid, so if he wanted to get out as a part of their little team, what was wrong with that? "Okay, you can come with," she decided, knowing Crutchie wouldn't have an issue with it either. "But, no telling anybody else."

The boy pretended to tip a nonexistent hat in her direction. "Yes, miss. I won't tell nobody," he replied proudly. His big, brown eyes were full of excitement at the possibility of finally getting out of here. He didn't remember how long he'd been at the Refuge, but he knew that he hadn't seen his mother in a very long time. He wondered if she still lived in the same home, and if she was still looking for him after all these years. With this escape, he'd hopefully have the chance to find out.

"Wonderful. Help me tie all the sheets in a line, will you? That's how we're going to climb down to the ground," Elizabeth requested, gesturing to the blankets that were strewn all around him. There weren't many, and they were pretty thin, but there were enough to make it down to the alley, which was all that mattered. When Patrick agreed, they moved the book off the bed and got to work.

*****

The city was finally sleeping. All the young people at the Refuge were nestled snug in their beds and asleep, except for Crutchie, Elizabeth, and Patrick. Elizabeth had helped Crutchie out of his bunk and onto the floor, and they were standing at the edge of Patrick's old bed, making sure they were all ready for this. After all, taking this chance was a big step. If they got caught, they were coming back, likely battered and bruised.

But, without even saying a word, they agreed that they were ready. Patrick tossed out the line of blankets and poked his head out the window to see how far it went. The end of the line was dangling only a few feet above the ground, which would make it easy to drop and run when they were climbing down. Maybe this plan would work out.

Elizabeth volunteered to go first with a silent lift of her hand. When she received a confirming nod, she adjusted her purse on her shoulder and swung a leg over the windowsill. With a deep breath, she grabbed onto the rope and started to climb down.

She wasn't as strong as she could have been, but she managed to get herself down. When she reached the end of the blanket rope, she dangled and carefully dropped down to the ground, landing silently. She immediately moved off to the side to allow the next person to climb.

This time, it was Crutchie. He held out his crutch over the alley and dropped it into Elizabeth's arms after a bit of shuffling around, then started to climb. Although his legs weren't good, his arms were strong, and he made it down the rope without a single problem. When he reached the end, he carefully got down with the assistance of Elizabeth, who immediately returned his crutch to him.

Then it was time to wait for Patrick. He was a little slower, but within a minute, they were all down and ready to go. After another silent check, they started to make their way out of the alley as fast as they could go. It wasn't very fast, due to Crutchie's legs, but they still made it work. As they moved, Elizabeth wrapped an arm around him to give him some support, which did allow them to pick up the pace just a bit.

They were around the corner and on the next street when they heard the sound of footsteps behind them, moving quickly in their direction. "Please, please don't let it be who I think it is," Elizabeth murmured, but it was too late.

The newcomers rounded the corner. It was Snyder and his goons. They had been spotted. It was over. The three kids tried to move faster to get away, but they couldn't. Crutchie collapsed, his foot twisting slightly on the uneven road and bringing Elizabeth down with him. Patrick stopped to try and help them up, but it wasn't worth the effort. They were quickly overtaken, and all three were forced to the ground.

Elizabeth's world went dark.

*****

When Elizabeth's eyes opened the next morning, her head was pounding and her left arm ached. She lifted her head off the ratty pillow and looked around, instantly filled with disappointment. She was back in the Refuge, with an off-white strip of fabric wrapped around her head. A purple and green bruise ran along her forearm, the same one that ached so badly.

She carefully pushed herself so she was sitting up, only to realize that somebody was sitting on the bed beside her. She immediately shifted and turned, finding Crutchie sitting there beside her. "Hi," she greeted softly, then immediately felt she had to apologize for the night before. "Sorry my plan didn't work out," she whispered, looking down at her folded hands.

Crutchie shook his head, then apologized, "It's not your fault. You did your best. I was just too slow."

She shook her head and was about to protest when her arm ached again. She reached out with a groan to try and figure out was wrong with it. Her eyes immediately widened when her fingertips pressed against the bruise. She could feel that her bones weren't in the same position as they normally were. Her arm was broken.

"Are you okay?" Crutchie immediately questioned at the sight of her in distress.

She sighed and moved her hand away from the bruise before she responded, "I think my arm got broken last night. But, I don't remember it, because everything went black after we hit the ground."

Crutchie nodded. "Patrick saw one a'da goons stomp on your arm right before he got soaked," he explained as he reached down to lift up Elizabeth's bag from the floor. "Let me help you," he offered, digging around until he pulled out the strike banner from inside the lining. The fabric tied around her head made sense now, as she could see that the banner had one of the edges torn off.

"Are you going to try and set my arm?" Elizabeth asked.

The blonde boy nodded. "Yeah," he started, "I'm going to try ta. But I'll probably do it wrong. Tell me what I do wrong and help me, will ya?" When Elizabeth nodded, he started to wrap her arm in the banner. After a bit of guidance, five minutes later her arm was set, and the word STRIKE was still prominent for all to see due to the way he had aligned it.

"Thank you, Crutchie. I really appreciate this," she said gratefully, a smile playing on her face.

Crutchie just smiled in response. "Just promise that we'll wait to escape next time, will ya?"

She didn't hesitate in nodding to agree with him, causing her head to pound a little more. But, she still managed to say, "I promise."

Crutchie smiled at her, and then spit into his hand, holding it out for her to shake. Elizabeth clearly reacted negatively, because he immediately offered some words of reassurance. "Jack says t'sa price a doin' business. Ya don't have ta do it if ya don't wanna."

Elizabeth shook her head, but ignored the pounding this time. Instead, she spit into her right hand and grabbed onto his, giving it a quick shake. "No escapes until we heal. Now, we just need to hope we heal fast, or we get out of here soon."

*****

A/N

Hey! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Honestly, I had a lot of ideas for scenes in the Refuge, and this was one of the first ones to come to mind. Maybe I should have just written a story about the Refuge rather than this, but too late now.

I'm getting close to the point in this story where I'm no longer ahead of myself. Right now, I believe I have chapters written up until chapter seventeen. I'm going to try my best to stay ahead and write on schedule, since that was something I struggled with at the beginning of my writing career on Wattpad, but if something ends up falling apart and I don't update on time, I'm sorry. College applications are kind of more important, and I'm literally going to be taking as many AP classes that fit in my schedule this year. As much as I love writing, my schoolwork and applications kinda matter a bit more for my future. No matter what, though, I will find time to finish this story at some point.

Anyway, please vote, comment, and follow! I really want to know what you think. See you next week!