Authors Note: this story takes place before the book but sandy left. Johnny and Dally are alive!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything! All rights go to S.E. Hinton!

Sodapop's POV:

A loud knock on the door woke me up from a light sleep. I moaned and turned over to find Pony opening his eyes and moaning.

"Soda, there's someone at the door," he whispered, pointing in that direction and rolling over to go back to sleep. I rolled my eyes and got up, walking like a zombie all the way to our front door. I turned the knob and opened it, and to my surprise, no one was there. I looked around the door and stepped out, almost hitting something hard on the ground on my way out.

I then heard a quiet crying, like a baby. I looked down and saw a rundown basket with a blue blanket covering it. What on earth could that be? I leaned down and carefully and quietly as I could, lifted up the blanket revealing a baby boy that didn't even look a year old yet. The baby looked up at me and started laughing which put a little smile on my face but didn't get rid of the shock.

Why on earth would someone leave a poor innocent baby at our doorstep? I quickly turned around and screamed for Darry and Pony, never taking my eyes off the baby. I heard they're scattered footsteps coming closer to me.

"What is it Soda, and why are you up so…" Darry stopped mid-sentence because he had seen the baby. Pony looked like he was about to pass out, but when his eyes locked with the little guy, his eyes widened.

"Soda, there's a note," Pony said pointing to a little blue note on the baby's chest. I turned and bent down, grabbing the little note carefully and opening it. I couldn't read very well, because I could never learn. I looked at Pony with pleading eyes to read it out loud for me. He sighed and took it from my hands and took a deep breath and started:

"Dear Sodapop Curtis,

I'm sorry for dropping this bomb on you so quickly, but it's urgent. I'll just get it over with, you're this poor little boy's father, and his mother was your ex-girlfriend Sandy. That is why she left; she didn't want to drop this on your shoulders because she was afraid of how you would react. I'm sorry to say that her life was cut drastically short last week, when she died in a terrible car accident. Nobody knew where to put the poor fellow and I remembered you were the father. I already called social services and they said its fine, if it's fine with you. When you get this and decide to keep him, call them.

I think I should tell you some stuff about him first. I gave you his toys and some of his food that he loves. He loves bananas and any other fruit known to man. His name is Patrick Curtis and he is only nine months old. We haven't figured anything else out yet because he's so young, but I really hope you decide to keep the little guy,

Yours truly,

Patricia Landwood, Sandy's mother"

When Pony finished, I didn't move a muscle. Tears started forming in my eyes and before I knew it, I was crying and Darry and Pony are giving me a bear hug, calming me down.

I couldn't believe Sandy left because she was pregnant, and it broke my heart to know that she didn't want to stick around and raise him with me. She probably thought I was too young to handle a baby, and she was probably right, but I had a right to know anyway. It was almost a year since she left and every day I had waited till she came back for me, but it had never happened. Now, it would never happen because she's gone, and now she left me in charge of him.

I started to sniffle and they let me go, letting me take it all in by myself. I looked down at my new son, Patrick, and smiled at him. What was I going to do with a new baby? I didn't even know how to raise myself, let alone a nine month old kid. I looked back up at Darry, who knew exactly what I was going to say.

"I'll help you," he said, smiling down at Patrick. Pony smiled at both of us, walking over and picking up his new nephew. Patrick seemed to like him, because he fell asleep in his arms.

"I think we need a good night sleep," Darry said, yawning. I agreed, I needed a good night sleep to get away from this nightmare.

"Darry, can he sleep in our room," Pony asked, looking at the peaceful looking Patrick.

"Sure just keep an eye on him." Darry said goodnight and walked back to his room while me, Pony, and Patrick went to our room.

When we got in the room, pony put Patrick gently on the bed and turned to me.

"That's a surprise," he said.

"Yeah."

"Well can I ask one thing," he asked giving me a pleading look.

"Sure anything bro."

"What does it feel like to know that you brought a new life into this world," he asked seriously. That was a hard question to answer. I looked up in thought and stood there for a minute.

I looked straight into his eyes and smiled," Pretty good, now come on, let's get some sleep," I told him and dragged him in bed. He smiled and closed his eyes, falling asleep.

My eyes were getting heavy and I thought about Patrick as I fell into a deep sleep.

Authors Note: how was that? Please review and tell me if I should continue.