Well, here we are. I'm still getting my thoughts in order for this, so be patient. This story takes place following "Is Your Love Strong Enough", but I'll try to make it so you don't have to read that saga in order for this to make sense, although it greatly effects character development so I leave it up to you. I know where this leads, but I don't know how long it will be. Anyways, here we go.

All Roads Lead to Home

I stared straight ahead at the past while I gripped the steering wheel. I was like a fish out of water; I'd never felt so nervous in my life, not even when I'd proposed to my wife years ago. So much had happened over the years; things I tried to control even when I knew I couldn't and just like that it all blew up in my face.

"Are you sure we should do this?" I turned my head, as unsure as I'd ever been about anything. I'd never needed reassurance before, but the weight that was tugging at my insides demanded it.

"He wanted this; made me swear." Her China blue eyes bore into me and I let out the breath I'd been holding.

"He hates me," I whispered more or less to myself as I shook my head and looked down the dirt path that lead to the weathered looking trailer. "He hasn't gave word in years. Don't expect much; I don't think this is gonna give us the happy ending you think it will."

"We have to at least try, and he doesn't hate you. Family is everything, and I'm sure he knows that. We have to do this; I promised." She urged.

I felt my hands shake as I placed them in my lap. The pounding in my chest was merciless, and I only wanted to shift the car into drive and beat it out of there. Things had changed; life had changed, and I tried to pin point the exact moment in time when things got so fucked up that it became too late for any of us. Our pasts were so muddied and covered in the shit life threw at us, nothing would ever be clear.

"It's time." Her soft voice and staggering beautiful eyes pleaded with me.

I nodded reluctantly and took a breath that trembled as violently as my hands. I opened the car door, letting go of that breath, and finally let go of things past as I headed for the present.

"I couldn't believe what he was tryin' to pull."

Two-Bit shook his head as he handed me a beer and then leaned against the house to watch me at the barbecue. It was the end of July, and my brother's fifteenth birthday. With no real money in hand, I was thankful to still be able to give him the one thing he'd asked of me: I took a day off.

"Sounds like you gotta real problem." I commented as I took a pull off my beer.

"Tell me about it. Told the asshole my name was Ben Owner, not Ben Dover."

I chuckled as Two-Bit shared his woes over trying to sell his old Buick. He'd finally graduated and decided to get a job, but needed more reliable transportation. After the shock had passed, and we realized he wasn't joking, we all came to terms with how much things had changed, and were still changing for all of us.

"For cripe's sake. Get Steve and Soda to look at it."

"Yeah. I thought it'd be easier to just dump the bitch."

I shook my head. Some things wouldn't change. "Tell me how that works. What's that part about life bein' easy? Why don't you go back to Rogers and enrol? You can be a senior for life. Give it a few more years and you'll own that place."

"Don't think I didn't consider it." Two-Bit grinned briefly as he looked out at the backyard. His face fell a little as he nodded. "How is he?"

I followed his gaze and smiled softly. Ponyboy was sitting by himself on the patchy grass watching a jay bird quietly, with a pencil and sketch pad in hand. My youngest brother was a skeleton of who he once was but like Two-Bit, some things never changed. A lot had been ripped away from my youngest brother, but the moment we discovered his love and talent for drawing remained, it brought a bit of light and hope back to all of us.

"Y'know," I shrugged and frowned to myself. "He's doin' the best he can."

"You gonna register him back in school? He's gonna be stuck with Steve, y'know."

We looked at each other and both started laughing at Karma biting Steve in the ass. For years and years Steve damn near bullied Ponyboy into misery for being what he considered a tag-along. It never even dawned on Steve that his best friend worshipped his little brother as much as his little brother worshipped him.

"Well, I have my reservations. If things were different; different people. I don't know how he'll handle it."

"Think he won't be as smart as he was?" Two-Bit asked before taking a drink off his Budweiser.

"It's not that; Pony's plenty smart; even with the brain injury. I just don't know about all the bullshit with the socs. He's just so goddamned tense all the time, y'know? He doesn't need anymore to deal with."

Two-Bit nodded. "Yeah, we all thought Johnny Cade was jumpy. Can you imagine what he'd think of Pony?"

I smiled in fondness at the memory of our departed friend. He had an old gentle soul that was missed by all of us, and like Ponyboy he'd had a tough life.

"Sadly enough, Johnnycake would be the one person I think Pony would open up to."

"Whadaya mean? I thought y'all were tight, Darry?"

"We are," I looked back out at the yard to watch my little brother as he sat alone. "I don't think we've ever been this good, but it's not the same thing."

"Well there's always Sodapop. You don't reckon they'll run off and get married, do ya?" Two-Bit cracked up laughing and I just rolled my eyes.

It was no secret to anyone how much my two younger brothers adored each other before the incident, but after almost losing Ponyboy to the hands of his sadistic foster dad, that love became stronger than ever. It became a running joke with the guys, but it was juvenile and bothered the shit out of me. My brothers needed each other like they needed oxygen, and I wasn't going to stand silent and let people judge what they didn't understand.

"Sounds to me like you're a little jealous. Somethin' you'd like to talk about, Keith?" I challenged him with a frown.

"Well, yeah. I thought I was his best bud now. He don't call; he don't write. Barely cracks a grin at any of my jokes."

"'Cause we've heard 'em all. Why don't you try somethin' new for a change? You been puttin' us all to sleep." I grinned as Two-Bit suddenly clutched at his chest, mocking offence to my chiding.

"Watch this for a minute." I nodded to the grill as I slowly stepped away and headed for the yard.

I walked out a few feet past the old oak and slowly sat down beside my youngest brother. I watched on intently as he put the finishing touches to his sketch. My head shook itself in both awe and shame. The bird on Pony's page was as life-like as the one preening in front of us, and I inwardly cursed myself for not noticing these things before. Between the long hours and the hard work, and the trying too hard, and the incessant arguing, I'd always seemed to miss the bigger picture.

"What do you think she's thinking about?" Pony's raspy voice broke into my thoughts.

"Probably wondering where all the worms are hiding. Probably has a family to feed." I grinned as I watched Pony. He started to chew on the end of his pencil while focusing on the bird.

"Is it a mom or a dad?" Ponyboy's innocent question made me smile, and I brought my hand up to run my fingers in his hair.

His auburn locks parted naturally along the thick scars he received, as my fingers gently combed through the strands. The scars were a memento of his time in that foster home. It was work still in progress, but I was getting better at dwelling on what we had left as opposed to what was almost taken away along with the suffering we all endured.

"I think he's a dad, Pony." I explained as I dragged my eyes from my brother's scars to the blue jay out in the yard.

"How can you tell?" Ponyboy looked at me curiously, and I smiled.

"Well, it's a dad's job to leave the nest and bring back food. The mom stays behind to build and protect their home."

Ponyboy seemed to take a minute to digest my story. Truth was, I had no idea if the bird was male or female. The jays in these parts were all large and difficult to tell apart. It seemed like a logical conclusion however, and after pondering, he seemed satisfied and nodded while looking at his drawing. I slowly draped my arm around his shoulders.

"You getting' hungry, kiddo?"

"A little," Pony shrugged and then seemed to disappear as he stared blankly at nothing.

It was unclear if these episodes had anything to do with the trauma to his brain, but I sat next to him watching and waiting until it seemed to pass and he finally looked over to me and smiled.

"What time is it?"

"Almost supper time, little buddy." I grinned back at him. "You ready?"

Ponyboy shrugged his shoulder slightly while giving me a small grin. He opened his mouth to say something, when the commotion that was our brother made us both turn our heads.

"Alright, I'm here! You can start the party now!" Sodapop's arms were outstretched as he made his presence known to what was likely the entire neighbourhood.

I rolled my eyes as I stood up, holding a hand out for Ponyboy to grab on to. He snickered at his brother's antics, barely able to get up with my help. It didn't seem to matter anyway; once Soda caught sight of Pony, he came galloping like a colt over our way, jumping at his brother, and knocking the two of them on the ground.

"Happy birthday, Ponyboy!" Soda laughed as he lay on his little brother, messing up his hair.

"You two are nuts," I shook my head as my brothers started rolling around, wrestling in the dirt.

"It's a wonder you let these two out of the house." Steve frowned as he looked on at the spectacle that were my brothers.

I shrugged an insincere apology to him as I headed back towards the grill. Two-Bit passed me on my way; heading towards the guys. When I looked back, the four of them were involved in a full-blown wrestling match. I watched on intently, keeping an eye on my youngest brother to make sure the horseplay didn't get too rough. As I cooked him his birthday supper, he was laughing and having the time of his life with his favourite brother and our best friends.

It wasn't much, but I was satisfied to have been able to put a smile on my youngest brother's face for his birthday. The things that mattered most to us; friends and what was left of our family helped make the day a success. It'd been so long since I'd seen Ponyboy relaxed and able to have fun. Even if it was only just for one day, it was a relief to forget about everything we'd been through.

Two-Bit and Steve had left about an hour before I left my brothers in the living room to clean up the mess we'd managed to create in the kitchen. I could hear the quiet snickering between Sodapop and Ponyboy as The Honeymooners were on. By the time the show was over, I'd stacked the last clean dish to dry on the rack and dried my hands on my shirt while I headed into the living room.

I stifled a laugh when I found my brothers asleep; leaning back and leaning on each other on the couch. I reached for the blanket thrown over the back of the sofa, and draped it over the two of them. It wasn't that late, but with a hard day's work ahead of me, it was time for me to turn in. I knew that Sodapop would more than likely wake up and get Ponyboy safely to bed.

I had my shirt off before the door to my bedroom was even open, and the light was on as I shucked my clothes off and threw them in the hamper that was in the far corner of the room. As I made my way to the lamp on my bedside table, I noticed a sketch propped up on my dresser. It was the blue jay that Pony had drawn earlier on during the day. I held the picture in my hand, and felt the coarseness of the paper on my fingertips as they traced along the lines my brother had managed to mould into an image.

"You like it?"

Pony's voice rasped in the quiet of the room almost startled me. I turned my head and grinned at him peeking around the corner of my door. I didn't know where to start, or how to tell my youngest brother how talented I thought he was. I thought back to not so long ago, when all I did was push Ponyboy to get better grades in school even though he'd been put up a grade and had been on the honour role. At the time, this sort of genius didn't mean much to me. Now it meant everything.

"I thought you and your brother were asleep?"

"He's snoring." Pony frowned, and I gave a laugh.

"C'mere, Pony." I reached my arm out for my little brother, and he slowly limped his way to me; his left leg never quite letting up.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulders when he was close enough, and pressed my mouth to the top of his head. We'd finally reached a place where it was okay for us to be close. I'd been afraid to show my feelings before, and for the life of me I couldn't remember why. But things had happened and things had changed, and I wasn't about to go backwards.

"Thank you, Darry." Pony mumbled, and I squeezed him closer to me.

"You had a good day?" I looked down at him and smiled when he smiled and nodded.

"What's this for?" I motioned to the drawing I was holding, and my brother shrugged awkwardly.

"I want you to have it to remember me by."

"Remember you by? Planning on going somewhere, little buddy?" I teased, and he snickered back at me.

"No. But you said that he was a dad; going out and getting food for his family. It kinda reminded me of you, so I wanted to give it to you. Don't you like it?" Pony looked up at me worried.

"I love it, kiddo." I set the picture back on my dresser and turned to face my brother.

I wrapped both of my arms around him, and rested my cheek on the top of his head. It had been a great day, and a big step at getting life back to normal again. It wasn't lost on me that my youngest brother had been brought back to us by some miracle, and I was thankful everyday. I knew how lucky we were.

Pony tried to push me away, but giggled when I only held him closer. Eventually I had to let him go; I had to be up early in the morning to get to work. He watched me as I turned on the bedside lamp for him; something I'd gotten used to since the odd night would find my youngest brother in bed with me when things got to be too much for him. It took awhile, but I'd learned to sleep with it on.

"You wake your brother up and get him to help you get ready for bed." I mumbled as I peeled back the covers and laid in mine.

"I can do it," Pony frowned and I sighed.

"I know you can, but I just feel better if you're not left alone with it all. Savvy?"

"Okay," Pony shrugged as he turned around to leave. "G'night, Darry."

"'Night, kiddo. I'll see you tomorrow." I mumbled as my eyes closed.