A/N: THEY'RE BACK! :) How many of you guys are newcomers and how many of you read It Happens That Way! :) No need to read IHTW if you don't want - though I think it's a great read :P - all you need to know is that PonyxScout(from TV show) happened! :P Anyways, share in the reviews how many are new and how many are here from IHTW! Also, ENJOY :P

I've missed this couple SO MUCH in the last year! :) I can't believe how much I missed writing in Scout's POV. Of course, sorry if it is a bit iffy. I'm a bit rusty with these characters. BUT ENJOY AND REVIEW! :)

Scout

Three years ago, Darry married the love of his life. Two years ago, Darry had a baby boy named Hal. One week ago, Darry found out he was having another baby.

Three years ago, Pony and I had our seven year anniversary of dating. Two years ago, Pony and I had our eight year anniversary of dating. One week ago, Pony blew me off to hang out with Two-bit and Steve.

Now tell me how that's fair.

Darry and Frankie had the life that people dreamed of. Comfortable, happy, a family. They were so nice to each other all the time, and little Hal was so adorable and loved. Looking at their relationship, how could a girl not want to advance in her own. Of course I didn't want to marry Pony right now, no! We were perfectly happy as a couple...but we had been in the same relationship for eight years. We did the same things we always had. Pony still lived at home with his brother. I had moved in with another greaser girl after the mishap with my mother, and I was still there. And dammit if that wasn't the most irritating thing in my life!

Ponyboy was still working for Darry's old company, making a good deal of cash after working his way up in the business over the last eight years. Ponyboy was twenty three years old, and I was twenty two. Was it too much to ask that we move into a house together? I didn't even want a big house, either, just a little one bedroom that we could enjoy together. But Ponyboy seemed perfectly happy where he was, and hadn't even brought up the subject. I could have, sure, but wasn't the guy supposed to make big steps like that?

At the moment, I was sitting in Pony's lap on his couch, as we had a sort of double date with Darry and Frankie. Soda and Liz had been here as well, but left a few minutes before to go home - where they lived together! Soda had only been dating Liz for four years and they lived together. Moving in together probably shouldn't be such a big deal and something to be angry about, but when you're in a relationship for almost nine years and haven't advanced in any significant way, the smallest things seem monumental.

"So, Scout, you going to stay over?" Darry asked me, glancing briefly at the baby monitor on the table. Hal had been put to bed a little over an hour ago.

"Um, no, I don't think so. I have to get up early for work in the morning." I replied, looking at the floor as I answered. I didn't have to get up for work until eleven thirty, but I didn't really want to stay the night with Pony. I had been thinking about mine and Pony's relationship a lot that day, and my irritation was just too much.

"You don't have to be at work until one," Pony said, and I cursed at myself for letting him read my schedule every time I got it. We just wanted to have some days to go out together. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing, Pony, I just want to go home, okay?" I snapped, standing up from his lap suddenly. "In fact, I should probably go now. Georgia doesn't like me to get home late, it always wakes her up."

"I'll walk you out," Pony mumbled, standing from the couch and following me out the front door. Once we had made it into the yard, he grabbed my arm and stopped me, looking confused. "Tell me the truth."

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, alright?"

"No, not alright!" Pony snapped. "The last few weeks you've seemed angry at me for something. I keep telling myself it's just stress from work, but I don't think that's true anymore."

"Like I said before, it's nothing!"

"Talk to me, Scout! We've been together for a long time, you can tell me anything." he insisted.

"You're exactly right, Pony! We have been together for a long time, but it's kind of hard to remember that!" I suddenly shouted, jerking my arm free from his grip and taking a few steps back. He looked even more confused now, stepping back himself.

"Scout-"

"No, you want to know what my damn problem is...here I go." I interrupted. "We've been together for almost nine years, and what have we done to prove that? We kiss and hold hands and sleep together. I feel like we're still teenagers Pony!"

"What-"

"You know how long Sodapop has been with Liz? Or how long Two-bit has been with Kathy?"

Ponyboy nodded and went to reply, but I interrupted him again.

"A hell of a lot less time than we have, and what do we have to prove that? Nothing!" I let out a long sigh. "Dammit, Soda lives with Liz and they've only been together four years!"

"Scout, we've talked about this. We're not ready for marriage-"

"I'm not talking about marriage, Pony! I'm talking about the fact that our relationship is stale. We do the same things we did as teenagers. I mean, Pony…" tears started forming in my eyes, and I wanted them to stop, but I couldn't make them. "Are we just beating a dead horse? Holding onto something out of obligation?"

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. The look on his face when I said those words made me want to just die right there. He looked absolutely broken. If I had known that such a simple statement would hurt him so much, I would never have even thought it. Before I could apologize, Pony turned his back to me and sighed. I knew he was hiding the tears.

"Be careful on your way home." he muttered, and then jogged back to the house.

I watched him go with tears falling down my cheeks. What had I just done?