Disclaimer: Do I look like I own the movie/book? I'm still trying to remember if I read the book, cause I honestly cannot remember since the movie was so good. That honor belongs to SE Hinton.

A.N: My first ever The Outsider fanfic! (At least I don't remember writing any before---or any serious one for the matter) I hope it goes well.

I recently got to re-watched The Outsiders. It had been years since I saw it. I had forgotten about it until I came across it online one day. (Love the Complete Novel version. I'm still trying to figure out why they dropped Ponyboy getting jumped in the beginning, that was one of the best parts of the movie.) I honestly cannot remember if I read the book, I'm assuming I did, but I don't remember. I loved the movie when I was younger. (After seeing the movie, I had a Matt Dillon complex for awhile at the time, lol). So this is based on the movie.

This is an alternate ending to the movie. I got the idea from the end, where Ponyboy was reading Johnny's letter and he said that Ponyboy should show Dallas a sunset and let him know there is still good in the world. And I was like, Dallas shoulda got his sunset!

So guess what…by golly, Dallas getting his ever-loving sunset!

Bonus: I made my first Outsider music video. Dallas POV: Dallas and Johnny friendship tribute with a cameo by Ponyboy. Gotta say youtube and then the rest of the address (.com/watch?v=Nvg5GlmsEg0)

Summary: Alternate ending to movie. Everything happens but Dallas does not die. He survives, but would he allow Johnny's last request to be fulfilled and in the process began to heal both him and Ponyboy?

Chapter 1: I can't take much more of this

.... Like the way you dig sunsets, Ponyboy….that's gold.

Keep it that way; it's a good way to be.

I want you to ask Dally to look at one…..I don't think he's ever seen a sunset. There are still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally, I don't think he knows.

Your buddy, Johnny

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Ponyboy sat looking around at the white walls of the hospital room.

.....again.

He had been here when Johnny died and now he was here again. He sniffed. It had been two weeks since that day. The day that everything happened at once.

The rumble.

Johnny's death.

Dallas' attempted murder/suicide.

He had been shot at numerous times, but shot three times. He flat-lined twice since he was rushed to the hospital. Since then, Dallas has not awoken. As the days passed the doctors became more and more uncertain if Dallas would live. He was alive now, but he had not awakened to anything.

And the gang was all scared that Dallas would die, because all of them figured out that is what Dallas wanted. Ponyboy himself had been sick for the past week, everything that had happened caught up with him. Sodapop and Darry had been worry cause they said he had been delrious, thinking that Johnny was alive and Dallas was fine. He just recently snapped out of it to the harsh truth.

Johnny was dead and Dallas' fate was up in the air. Everything that had happened did and it wasn't a dream. Ponyboy couldn't pretend that it was a dream.

He brought his hands to his face to bury it in. It had been entirely too much. First he lost one friend and now he almost lost another. And as far as he knew, he was losing another.

When would it end?

He sniffed again.

He remembered Johnny's letter that he read two days ago. It was still fresh in his memory.

But mostly he remembered, Johnny's requests.

Only two things were asked of him: to stay gold and get Dallas to see a sunset and know that there was good in the world.

And to think, he might not have been able to fulfill the last request. Still might not be able to. Fulfilling Johnny's last requests to the best of his ability was all he had to hang onto of his deceased friend.

How stupid could Dallas be? Ponyboy shut his eyes wielding them tight.

"Stupid Dallas", he mumbled. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Y're.....upi'.....'ne", came a mumbled voice.

Ponyboy's eye popped open and his head shot up. He looked up at the bed to see Dallas' head twitch. He near shot over to the bed (not there was much space between them to began with) and stared wide eyed down at Dallas, his eyes wet with unshed tears.

"D-D-Dallas?" his voice shook.

Said male cracked open an eye to look at Ponyboy and it was all the Ponyboy needed as he lowered his head and tears began to flow.

"We-we were all w-worried. They saved ya…..and then…..week….and…..I", by now Ponyboy was babbling as he laid he head next to Dallas' arm shook with tears.

Dallas' eyes were opened half-lidded as he watched Ponyboy's shaking frame.

"You are so......so......dang........stupid!" Ponyboy cried.

It was a moment later before he felt a weight on his head and peeked out from his arms. Dallas' eyes were closed but he had managed to move his hand to rest on Ponyboy's head. Ponyboy laid his head back down staring up at Dallas. Soon he fell asleep.

"I'm so glad you are feeling better", Darry stated.

The next day the entire gang was able to meet in Dallas' hospital room by the time evening fell. Everyone was happy to see that Dallas was awake and starting to improve. Ponyboy had contacted them to let them know the good news. Said male sat next to Dallas' bedside, practically glued to the bed. Dallas hospital bed was up at the head allowing him to sit up. Sodapop sat across from Ponyboy while Darry was in an armchair in the corner. Two-bit and Steve lingered at the door.

"Yeah, man, you had us all worried", Sodapop stated with a small smile.

"I just want you to get better", Steve stated.

"Yeah, it's not the same without you", Two-bit commented.

"Naw, that ain't it. I want him to get better so I put him back in here for near giving me a heart attack!" Steve cried.

Everyone laughed as Dallas rolled his eyes. Ponyboy chuckled.

"No but really……" Steve paused and pointed to the others, "What they said."

"What did we say?" Sodapop asked his mouth twitching.

"Ya know......glad feeling better...all worried and all that", Steve muttered.

"What…a guy can get no love from ya, huh?" Dallas smirked. His eyes still held a red rim around them so his smirk didn't pan out as it did before.

"Shut up", Steve groused good-naturedly.

Awkward silence followed. No one knew what to say or what to do. Even Two-bit didn't have any two-bits he could throw in as he watched the cute nurse wander by. Darry sighed and began bouncing his leg up and down. Steve rocked back and forth on his legs. Ponyboy studied his hands while Sodapop was playing with a piece of bedspread. Dallas looked at all of them. Finally having enough, he spoke up with a sigh beforehand.

"Ya think someone died or something", he muttered.

Everyone stopped their movements and looked at Dallas. "What?" Dallas asked with a spark of his old attitude.

"That's the thing………you did almost die!" Sodapop cried, his eyes beginning to get a little misty at the memory of thinking that Dallas was dead. Ponyboy's own eyes were beginning to get a little wet again.

Dallas groaned and leaned his head back looking back at the ceiling. "Not you too! Ponyboy cried enough for the both of you.....don't start."

"I can't believe you are playing this off so easily!" Darry cried incredulously shooting out of his chair to come closer to the bed, "Don't you get it? I can't believe you didn't use your head. What you did was stupid man! Sheer unabashed stupidity."

"So I have been told", Dallas sighed closing his eyes.

Steve sputtered taking a step forward. "What's not to get? You tried to get yourself killed man!" He was appalled that Dallas didn't seem to grasp the full implication of the problem. "YOU tried to get YOURSELF KILLED! What part of this do you not get?"

"Screw that!" Two-bit cried, pushing off the wall he was leaning on, "You did die, man……twice…and they managed to save you......TWICE!"

"And I wish they hadn't wasted their time", came a muttered voice that stunned the entire room.

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.

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"I-I-I didn't take you……to be……suicidal…Dal", Sodapop stated finally managing to break the oppressive silence that hung over the room.

"I can't believe you would be that selfish!" Darry cried.

"HEY!" Dallas cried lifting his head, his eyes flashing, "It's MY life! I can do what I want with MY LIFE!" he cried shutting his eyes tightly and letting his head flop back on the pillow. It was tiring him to yell like that. He breathed heavily, sucking in a breath.

"Man, if you weren't in the hospital and just been near critical condition I'd beat the crap out of you!" Steve growled.

"Yeah, go ahead, beat me up.......do me that favor" came the hissed reply as Dallas lifted his head, opening his eyes to look at the group.

Suddenly everyone but Ponyboy had something to say. The argument flowed into Ponyboy's ears but he said nothing. It fact he had gone quiet, not knowing what to make of this. He was still shocked at Dallas's words. He never would have thought that Dallas would feel that way.

Was he angry to be alive?

Angry that he had been saved?

Ponyboy just stared at his hands still, his eyes wide. Slowly, mechanically his hands came up to clutch his head. He couldn't get the image out. He couldn't get the image of Dallas being shot in the park out of his head. Unconciously he began to rock back in forth. He couldn't get out the sound of the gun going off out of his head, that horrible sound- BANG!- BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG!........!

BANG....!

BA.....

Ponyboy snapped as he stood up violently with a cry. "Haven't our gang lost enough?" he cried before running out of the room.

"Ponyboy!" Sodapop called standing up. He turned to Dallas and hissed, "How insensitive can you be?" before running out behind his brother but not before sparing a seething glare in Dallas' direction to back his words.

Ponyboy marched down the hallway, huffing, not having any particualar destination. Pain and anger was flowing off him in waves. His eyes were blurred with tears. He reached up an arm to wipe across his eyes.

"Ponyboy…Ponyboy!" his brother called running to catch up with him. Sodapop touched his brother's arm only to have Ponyboy pull away.

"Don't touch me!" Ponyboy cried before continuing his walk.

"Pony......listen to me", Sodapop begged.

"NO!" Ponyboy cried spinning around to yell at Soda. Some heads had turned seeing and hearing the outburst yet Ponyboy was unaware of this, "He's stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he banged his head against his hand in emphasis. Soda panicked and reached to stop Ponyboy from hitting himself in the head. Ponyboy twisted away from his brother, "DON"T TOUCH ME!" he screamed but Sodapop was relieved he stop hitting himself. His younger brother continued,"Dallas is a selfish jerk! He sits there and says he wished he was DEAD! Haven't we been through enough?"

"Pony…" Soda murmured. He didn't reach out to try to calm his younger sibling.

"Haven't we?", Ponyboy asked again, "We lost Johnny and now we almost lost Dallas. We've lost our parents. Haven't we lost enough?" Pony slowed down breathing as sobs were beginning to come from him. He shut his eyes, as the tears pooled forth. "Haven't I lost enough?"

"Oh, Pony…" This time Ponyboy allowed Sodapop to pull him into a hug, "Come on, Pony, let's go." Soda led his brother down the hallway into a sitting room. Soda picked a relatively secluded corner and maneuvered his brother to sit down though Pony was clinging to him.

"I can't take much more of this", Pony sobbed unaware he repeated excatly what Johnny said seemingly so long ago, "I can't…I can't…"

"Shhh, it'll be okay", Soda murmured not knowing what else to say, yet trying to comfort his brother.

Ponyboy's head shot up, his eyes red and puffy. He looked at Soda. "What part of this do you think will be okay?"

Soda said nothing. What could he say?

"Dallas almost died and Johnny is dead. What part of this do you THINK would be okay?" Pony cried before dropping his head down again and continued to cry.

Sodapop feared for his younger brother's well-being. He felt that Ponyboy was at the edge of his limit. Ponyboy had already been sick the past week, worrying both him and Darry to no end. When he got better, he flat out refused to leave Dallas' side until he woke up.

Or until.....

Sodapop nor Darry had not the heart to deny him anything at this point. He had been through so much lately. If this kept up, they would lose Ponyboy, too.

And that frightened Sodapop like nothing else. His younger brother was right.....they had been through enough.

More than enough.

"Hey, how is he?" came a soft rough voice.

Sodapop glanced up at Darry who was walking towards them, before looking down at Ponyboy who had slowed his crying and was currently nodding off. Darry knelt before the two, trying to study Ponyboy's features. Ponyboy had his face near buried in Sodapop's shoulder.

"I don't know", Soda answered truthfully his voice quiet.

"Perhaps we should get him home", Darry suggested, at a lost at what to do.

"Nah, he wouldn't want to leave right now. It's best to let him just to stay here. He is pratically glued to this place. He haven't so much as set a foot outside of this place; he hasn't even set foot out of Dal's room in almost a week since he has awoken and came back to his senses. Pony would be furious if he woke up at home, now, I would reckon. He has been through a lot lately." Soda argued running his hand through his younger sibling's hair.

"He cannot deal with all this. He has dealt with enough." Darry stated.

"I know that, but I don't think either one of us can help him", Soda said looking up at Darry.

Both were silent after that. They figured only one would be able to reach Ponyboy in his current state. And that would be Dallas, but would even Dallas be in the right frame of mind to help the youngest greaser?

TBC....