Disclaimer- I don't own the outsiders. Wish I did, but no such luck.

AN: Ok, Sorry I haven't written in forever for those of you who are reading, I have an idea of where I want to go with this but I'm still not sure how I'm going to get there.

Darry POV

She sat back down on the couch and started to explain herself.

" Well, we'd known each other since we were two. He was the closest thing I ever really had to a brother, or any kind of real family for that matter. I was two and a half years older, actually. But Dally grew up so fast that it never seemed like there was much of an age difference. Both my parents were drunks and so was his dad. His mom was real cool, though. But on night his dad came home really hammered, he started threatening her and went at her with a broken bottle. He beat her and screamed at her and threw her off the back porch. She wasn't a very strong person, physically. I don't know how she lasted as long as she did with Dally and his father. But Dally lovered her, I could always tell how much he lover her and how much he hated his old man. Anyway, Dally was there the whole time. Someone called the cops but she was already dead. Dally ran as soon as he knew that. He came and found me. We sat on my back steps and he told me what had happened. He had bruises and cuts all over and I knew his father had gotten to him first, that he had tried to stop his mother from getting hurt. I'd never really seen him cry before. He sobbed for almost an hour before anger took over. He started running and wouldn't let me follow him. I was worried, but I figured he just needed some time to cool down. I looked for him later but couldn't find him. I didn't think he would be at his house, but I checked anyway. There was a police car parked out in front and another on driving away. The police said they just caught this ten year old kid, he had robbed a supermarket, carrying a loaded gun then tried to kill his own father. He was going to have a trial and then maybe get put in jail."

We'd never known any of that about Dally. I'd figured he was just a tough kid who got tougher in jail, sent in there for some stupid punk trick. It made me hate him even more for dying. But I didn't really hate him, I couldn't.

" I visited him almost everyday. They kept him in there for about six months. When he got out he seemed like a different person. Like I hardly even knew him anymore, like he didn't care. He stopped talking to me, startedhanging around with a lot of rough hoods. One time they went and trashed the ring-leader of the Socs house. They broke windows and all kinds of junk. The Soc came home while they were still there. The rest of the guys split, but Dally was too preoccupied to notice the pissed off Soc standing right behind him. He managed to get away that time, but after that they were out to skin him. He told me he was leaving, told me he didn't know where but that he'd write or something."

"And that's when he ended up here," stated Pony.

"But why'd ya come now, and how did you know where to find us?" asked Soda.

"He wrote every once in a while. It was out of character for him, but he wrote about Johnny and the gang. He wanted me to come out here too. He gave me your address and, well, I…" she looked uncomfortable," I got into some trouble, I just had to leave."

She had her hand resting on her arm and I noticed a large bruise.

"So," Ponyboy asked, "what do you plan on doing now?"

"I,….I really don't know. I guess I'll find an apartment or something."

"If there's something we can do to help…," I offered. I somehow felt like I owed it to her.

"Thanks," she said, then sat there for a few moments, as if she was trying to grasp a concept," So Dally's really dead, huh?"

It took me by surprise but I answered, "Yeah."

"Mind me asking how?" she almost whispered.

"The Police." I couldn't handle telling the whole story.

"Our friend Johnny," Pony started to explain," he was the only thing Dally ever really loved. There was this fire and Johnny got hurt pretty bad. He died in the hospital and Dally just broke. He went and robbed a grocery store. The police came after him and he pulled out a gun on them. It wasn't loaded but the fuzz didn't know that."

"Oh," she said quietly. A tear slid down her cheek and she brushed it away angrily, "I've got to go."

Soda was putting on his DX uniform and I realized I was probably late for work. "I've got to go to work, if you want me to drive somewhere?" I asked.

"Um, alright", she said.

I looked over at Ponyboy. I wasn't too keen on leaving him here alone since everything that had happened, but I was confident that he was pretty much recovered. He hadn't had much trouble explaining it to Lena, it seemed like was accepting it now.

He seemed to read my thoughts when he said, "Don't worry, Darry. Two-Bit 'll probably be here soon anyway.

"OK, see ya later, not too many smokes today, 'ya hear?", I warned him.

"Yeah, yeah."

Lena followed me outside and I opened the door of my old, beat-up Chevy for her.

Yay! Chapter 3!

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