Chapter One

"GOOD FRIENDS will be there to take your drink away from you when they think you've had enough- but your BEST FRIENDS will look at you tripping over your own two feet and say 'Bitch, drink the rest of that. You know we don't waste that kinda shit.'"

Dallas was asleep on the couch, his shirt unbuttoned and the fly of his jeans undone. Jess shook her head and carried her sleeping son into his bedroom, laying him in his bed and tucking him in. When she walked back into the sitting room, Dallas was rubbing his head; his eyes had that far-away look they got when he'd been drinking. She went to walk past him, but he caught her hand and pulled her down onto the couch, straddling his legs

"Hey babe" his grin was more lopsided than usual

"Hey Dal" she gave him a tired smile, then scrunched up her nose when she caught a whiff of him, "You stink Dal, what have you been doing tonight?" other than the stink of whisky and tobacco, he stank like he'd rolled in some thing, his eyes lit up like a little kids

"Me and Shep" she cut him off before he could even get into it

"On second thoughts I don't wanna know. If you're even thinking about coming to bed, you better have a shower love" she stood up again, this time he followed her. Grabbing her hand again and pulling her back into his chest

"Wanna come with?" he whispered into her neck, Jess shivered, but Dallas managed to ruin the romance by staggering a little to the left, leaning heavily on her for support.

"Come on, lets get you cleaned up and into bed" Jess wrapped her arms around Dallas' waist, trying to support his weight as best she could. Helping him stagger to the bathroom, she shoved him into the shower, only pulling off his leather jacket and boots before turning the water on.

"Baby my clothes are all wet." He looked at her from where he was leaning against the shower wall.

"I'm going to have to as good as burn them to get that stink off, so what's a little water going to matter?" she was sitting on the bathroom sink making sure he didn't slip and hurt him self. The water seemed to be sobering Dallas a little, he managed to peel off his shirt and jeans before throwing them at Jessie. The wet clothes hit her in the face, she heard him laugh as she wrestled with them to get free. When she pulled them away, he was facing her, leaning against the shower wall, water running down his now completely naked body, his boxer shorts balled in his hand. She shook her head at him, normally she would have joined him in the shower with out a second thought, the sight of him naked always made her heart go a million miles an hour. But tonight she was tired, it had been a long night, Oliver was coming down with a cold, and Dallas was drunk.

"I'm going to bed Dal, night" she left him standing in the shower pouting like a little kid.

Back in her room, she pulled off her boots and dress and left them lying on the floor. When she was snuggled into bed in her favourite pyjamas, Dallas padded into the room, collapsing half on top of her, still dripping wet, and sound asleep. Jess let out a sigh, so many girls she knew would kill their boy friends if they did this to them, but Jess was one of the few women that could hack being with a cowboy. Squirming around under Dallas's bulk, she got the top sheet to cover any bits of Dallas not appropriate for her son to see, she fell asleep, her subconscious drifting back to the night Dallas had started chasing her.

XXX

New Years Eve at Jay's Bar was one of those 'You-had-to-be-there' events, where even the toughest Greasers in Tulsa had been known to get up on a table and dance, the prissiest girls making out with boys they wouldn't give a side ways glance any other day, and the owner Jules would let her hair down and shout the bar a round of drinks. Dallas Winston found him self sitting at the end of the bar, dateless, with a feeling he didn't recognise sitting in his stomach. He let his thoughts wander to the Curtis house, where he knew he would find Darryl looking completely exhausted, even while sleeping, Soda and Ponyboy would be out on dates, Johnny was heading home for the night the last time Dallas had seen him, Two-bit was out of town with his Mum and sister, and Steve was across the room from where Dallas was sitting, with a pretty bar maid straddling his lap, making her giggle, and making it damn hard for her to do what she was meant to be doing

"I'll kill that boy." Jules snarled,

"Come on Ma, you never minded where Old Stevie put his hands before, why start now?" Dallas looked up and caught the smiling eye of Jules's oldest daughter Jess, Her curly blonde hair was hanging in her eyes no matter how many times she wiped it away,

"I couldn't give a damn where he puts his hands when it ain't on my clock, go tell your sister to cool it" Jules called to her daughter as she walked away, tray of drinks balanced on her hip. The same unruly blonde curls held off her face by a ruber band pony tail

"My pleasure" Dallas heard the girl mutter, grabbing a handful of ice. Dallas shifted in the seat, a grin tugging at the sides of his mouth. As ice cubes rained down on Steve and Evie, Dallas turned to see a small boy, with a folded piece of paper in his mouth, trying to climb up onto the bar stool next to Dallas's. When he slipped, Dallas instinctively grabbed the back of the kid's shirt, pulling him up onto the seat. The kid looked up at Dallas with bright blue eyes and a smile

"Mamma's being bad." He said, nodding towards where Jess was doubled over laughing, Evie and Steve glaring at her

"She's you're mama?" Dallas scowled down at the kid

"Yeah, we live with Nana and Auntie Evie." The kid nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world

"Hey there baby, what can I get cha?" Jess's voice called from the other side of the bar, with out looking up Dallas called back

"You can get us a room if you wanna get out of this shit hole" he smirked up from under his blonde hair

"I wasn't talking to you" she handed a plastic cup to the little boy "And if you keep swearing around my son I don't think I'll be talking to you at all in the near future." She smiled, ruffled the kids hair and walked away, her cowboy boots clicking on the floor

"I don't like kids" Dallas scowled down at the kid who looked up at him

"Neither do I" Ollie smiled, Dallas shook his head and watched Jess pull a beer for a guy in a flannelette shirt and work boots.

"Where did the kid go?" Dallas looked up from the pool table in the middle of the room. Jess was handing a family a meal, tucking the tip in her apron, she turned to Dallas

"In bed, its ten o'clock" she took the half empty beer from the wooden edge of the pool table where the condensation on the outside of the glass was leaving a ring on the wood. Placing it on a coaster, she looked up at him from under thick dark lashes. "You need anything else?" They were standing awful close, barely a foot separated them, when he shuffled closer and took one hand off the pool cue he was leaning on, she smiled and stepped backwards, making her way back to the kitchens.

"I'll catch ya round Dal." And with that she turned on her heel and walked away from him. If she had allowed herself to look back she would have seen Dallas Winston raising his eyebrows and watching intently as she walked away.