A/N: So this is so far off of what my other stories are like, people who've read my other stories may not- or may- like this. I haven't really experimented with mixing things around a lot yet. I'm trying to stick with one story line and leaving it at that, but I really wanted to see what kind of reaction I would get from people if I wrote something else.
This is an OC story. For those of you who've read No Safe Place, or are reading Dancing Across the Sky, this has Mia in it.
Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton does. Isn't she like that smartest person ever?! :)

XXX

Mia stormed down the sideway. She didn't know where she was going, cause she really didn't have anywhere to go.
Even at the mere thought, tears sprang to her eyes and she leaned back against the streetlamp over her head. Mia looked up at the sky to see dark clouds forming.
"Just like you." Mia said out loud to the night sky.
"Just like who, doll?" Mia didn't even jump at the voice coming from the darkness. Numbness had taken over her body yet again and nothing affected her anymore as it was.
"Go away, Tim." She said quietly. "Not tonight." She heard a soft chuckle before she felt his presence up beside her.
"You say that every night. But you never decline." Mia sighed and looked away from him.
"Well tonight I am." She said. "I don't want to be around anyone tonight."
"Except for him." Tears prickled her eyes at Tim's words. It was true; she did want Dally's company tonight. 5 years was a long time to go without your best friend by your side.
"Don't cry, doll." Tim's voice was softer then it normally was as he leaned against the post beside her. "I'm sure he's watching you and calling you a wimp." Mia didn't even bother to deny his words, only because of the probable truth behind them.
"I'm sorry, Dally." She whispered quietly into the night air. It was cooling off and she could see her breath, and was starting to shiver.
She felt Tim shift beside her before a heavy coat was place over her shoulders.
Mia breathed in the smell of cheap cologne, stall cigarettes, alcohol and hair grease. It smelled so familiar to her that Mia could almost picture Dally being the one standing beside her, telling her that she was being a big baby over the situation. That just because he was dead, didn't mean she could go loony and start forgetting who she was and where she came from.
Tears leaked from her eyes and she turned to bury her face in Tim's shirt. She clung to it as he wrapped his arms around her to keep the jacket from sliding off her shoulders.
"God, I miss him so much, Tim." She sobbed quietly into his chest. "I wish he was still here." She felt Tim take a deep breath before letting it out.
"He never was one for sticking to one thing for long." He said as he got Mia to put her arms into the jacket so that it would stay on her. "But he was never one to leave you on you own. He's still here, and he always will be. Just for you, Mia." Mia felt a smile tug at the corners of her lips. In the light coming from the lamp over there heads, Tim didn't look like the kid that Mia had met when she and Dally had gotten cornered on their first day in Tulsa, only to have this kid and a couple boys help them out. He looked much older, like a man who had fought most of his life, and been in jail a few too many times to count.
He was the exact image of what Dally would be if he was alive right now.
Mia looked up at Tim for a moment before moving to stand on her toes. Tim leaned down and their lips met in a gently kiss that sent Mia's nerves buzzing through her head.
They pulled away and looked at each other. Tim smirked at her and wrapped his arm around her waist and used the other to wipe away the tears on her face.
"Baby don't cry." He said softly before turning her around and leading her back to their house.
It was nights like this, where she remembered everything so clearly, where she felt like she was right there again, watching Dally get shot by the cops, that made her thankful Tim Shepherd had changed his ways to look after her. She was glad to have someone to take up at least a small amount of space that Dally had left in her heart. She hoped someday that Tim could fill the whole spot, and remind her that life really was still worth living, even if it meant without Dallas Winston to clear the way for her.

XXX

So how was that? I know that was like, way off what I normally write, but I go through these stages of liking almost all the boys (Greasers only) in The Outsiders. This story just popped into my head late one night- and I mean late. So just tell me what ya think.

~Stay Gold