A/N: Okay, I was completely lost last time and didn't understand how to make notes, but here it is. Please know that the first few chapters will be kind of boring, and there will be some references to lines from the book. You all know which ones those are, hopefully.

Also know that my brother likes to use bodily force to remove me from this computer, so I don't have the greatest conditions to write and update. So if there are days when I'm not on, don't be alarmed.

Disclaimer: Sometimes it feels as if The Outsiders own me. Enough said?

Soda's POV

It was later than usual by the time I got home from work. I'd had to stay late to help Steve with some car that was being a problem. When I stepped in the door, I immediately noticed the scent of baking food.

It was a big surprise since Darry's truck wasn't here yet- besides it was still too early for him to be home. Just as I stepped into the kitchen, the timer went off. I turned it off and looked in the oven. Chicken. It looked done, so I turned the oven off, but left the pan in there to keep it warm.

I stepped back out into the living room to make sure nobody was home. But I saw that Dallas' leather jacket was draped across the couch. We hadn't seen him wear it since the night Johnny and Pony disappeared… My stomach tightened. Something was going on here.

Walking down the hallway, I saw that the mirror was still fogged over a bit. Somebody had taken a shower a while ago. I licked my lips nervously. What happened?

I pushed the door to Darry's room open and saw that it too was empty. Like I said, he couldn't be home. But I was soon standing in front of the last door in the hall: the door to Pony's and my room.

I pushed it open slightly and peered in. And about jumped out of my skin. Some blonde-haired kid was sleeping in my bed! He was lying on his stomach, so I couldn't see the face. Not recognizing anyone that is might be, I pulled my blade out from my back pocket. Normally Darry didn't like Pony and me carrying blades, but since Johnny killed that Soc, things had changed- and you could never be too careful.

I started to step quietly over to the bed. Soon I was standing next to the person, who judging by his size was just a kid. I reached my hand out (the one without the blade) and grabbed his shoulder, then pushed him over onto his back and the kid's eyes opened.

Realizing whom it was, I was shocked so bad I couldn't move. Ponyboy looked up at the switchblade in my hand and asked, "You gonna use that on your brother?"

I pulled out of my daze and dropped the switch to the floor. I jumped onto the bed and yelled, "Pony!" as I threw my arms around him and squeezed him tight. He was hugging me just as tightly.

I couldn't believe it. Ponyboy was actually back home! Gosh, I had missed him badly. At night there wasn't anything put my arm around in bed. I would have given anything for him to be next to me having a nightmare- needing me to protect him.

We sat up, and keeping an arm tight around him, I asked, "What are you doing back? Is Johnny here?"

He gazed down at his feet. "No. I don't know where Johnny is anymore. Dallas came and said that he had found a better place for Johnny to stay, but he brought me back since there was no use for me to hide from the police…" Pony looked up at me. His eyes were wide. "Soda, is Darry mad at me?"

I pulled him closer to me and told him softly, "No way. He's worried sick about you. All of us were… Two-Bit was all for going to Texas to look for you. Dally managed to talk him out of it though."

"Are you sure? I didn't mean to…" his words dropped away and I could tell he was fighting back tears.

"Don't worry about it. You're back home. Safe. That's all we cared about," I told him rubbing his hair. Even before I knew it, the words flew out of my mouth, "What happened to your tuff hair?"

Pony shook his head. "Johnny thought it would be a good idea to disguise ourselves. Cut my hair and bleached it…" he smiled slightly, "You oughta see his head. It looked like it got caught in a lawnmower or something."

I grinned, feeling for the first time in days like I had reason to. Pony looked over at the clock. "Man! I better go finish dinner. Darry should be home soon."

So he went into the kitchen and I sat down on the couch, closing my eyes for a quick nap. I hadn't slept since Pony left that night, and I was exhausted. But I knew that I could sleep easier now.

Darry's POV

It was almost six o'clock as I trudged up our porch and entered the house. It smelled like something was cooking. I was glad that I wouldn't have to make dinner, that I could just sit down and relax.

Soda was sprawled out on the couch- asleep. It was a good thing. He hadn't gotten much sleep since Pony ran out. But I also noticed that there was noise coming from the kitchen. Like somebody was walking around or something. I knew that it was probably only Steve or Two-Bit. But nobody's car was parked out front…

Getting suspicious, I decided to look in the kitchen to make sure. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. Some blonde-haired kid was standing there with his head turned away from me. But he heard my footsteps and turned to look at me.

"Pony?" I wondered out loud. Unconsciously, I was studying him. His clothes hung off of his skinnier body, and his hair was chopped short and bleached blonder than Soda's.

"Darry…" he mumbled, almost inaudibly. "I'm sorry," he turned his gaze to the floor. But I saw his shoulders shaking slightly.

I stepped closer to him and put my arms around him. Amazingly, he did the same to me. He was safe, and he really was back. Not able to fight back my tears, I too started crying. "Oh Pony, I thought you were gone… for good, like Mom and Dad."

The two of us just stood there, in the middle of the kitchen, holding onto each other, needing to know that the other actually was there- alive. Finally, after several moments, Soda cleared his throat from his position leaning against the doorframe. "I hate to break this little party up, but I'm starving and ya'll are blocking me from my dinner!"

Pony and I turned and smiled at him. Soda was grinning back at us. Pony wiped his eyes and told Soda, "Well, since you're in such a big hurry, you get to set the table!"

He pulled out the chicken from the oven, and soon we were all sitting down to dinner. I couldn't help but feel happy. Pony was back. Things might actually start getting better now.

Pony's POV

That night, I lay in my own real bed, with Soda next to me. His arm around me, holding me close to him. But I didn't mind. I was back home. To stay.

The peacefulness didn't last very long. In the middle of the night I awoke with a jerk. For a moment, in the darkness, I thought that I was still in the church with Johnny. But feeling Soda's arm still tightly around me, I slowly came to realization.

I was back home, I kept repeating in my mind over and over before I finally broke through the fog in my mind. Remembering what had awoken me, I knew that returning to sleep was not even a remote possibility.

I had had a nightmare. But not the usual dream that's been occurring since my parents' death. This one I remembered every detail very clearly. It was Johnny and I in the church. But it was on fire.

It wasn't the fire itself that scared me so badly, no; it was the fact that Johnny was trapped underneath a heavy piece of timber wood. I tried desperately to lift it up and free Johnny, but it was just too heavy. He was screaming for help, but suddenly somebody grabbed me from behind and started to drag me away from Johnny. And because I was so helpless, he caught on fire. And his screams stopped. Signaling that he was no longer alive.

With as badly as I was shivering, I knew that I would wake Soda up, so I carefully pried his arm away and snuck out of the room. Quietly shuffling down the hall to the living room, I looked and was surprised to see that there was no occupant on the couch. Which was extremely rare.

I sat down on the couch, and gazed out the window. It was still a little too early for the sun to be coming up, but I just needed something to look at. I sat there for several minutes. I was oblivious to the person entering the room from the hallway, until a voice asked, "Pony? What are you doing up?"

I jerked around to look up at Darry. Trying to conceal my heavily beating heart, I answered calmly, "Couldn't sleep."

He walked around and sat down beside me on the couch. "You didn't have one of those nightmares did you?" he asked sheepishly.

I shook my head. "No, it wasn't that one."

He sat there studying me for a while before questioning, "Then what was it?"

I wasn't feeling very comfortable right then. Even though I knew there was a change between Darry and me, I still couldn't help feeling awkward with him. Especially when we were having a deep discussion like this. Finally I replied, "It was just a dream."

"Well, it must have scared you awful otherwise you wouldn't be out here in the middle of the night," a new voice spoke. Soda came and sat on the arm of the couch beside me.

I looked up at him, "It was nothing. I just couldn't sleep anymore. No big deal."

"Pony," Darry spoke softly. Out of character for him. "You don't expect us to believe that you couldn't sleep. You look like you barely had any sleep this week. You're exhausted. There's no way that you 'couldn't sleep.' Now, what happened?"

We sat there in silence while I was contemplating everything. I finally gave in. "Johnny and I were hiding up at an abandoned church in Windrixville," I told them. Giving a little information about what had happened to me while I was gone. It wasn't too much in-depth, because I knew I couldn't talk about it without crying. Soda placed his hand on my shoulder, and I told them about my dream.

When I was finished, we sat there in silence once more. But it wasn't awkward anymore. It felt… right. Like there was nothing to worry about anymore. And so I sat there in the serenity with my brothers.

Nobody even knew it when the sun rose.

It'll be probably on Monday or Tuesday when I update next. I have to go work all this weekend. I'll be back as soons as possible!