I don't own the Outsiders!

(Pony P.O.V.)

After Steve left, we all decided to go to bed. I woke up to a big surprise! What was he doing here?!

(Tim P.O.V.)

I heard someone get up, I couldn't remember where I was. I was hurting, I felt like I had been hit by a bus. I acted like I was asleep because I was trying to figure out who was walking around.

"Tim?"

I was in the Curtis house, that was little Curtis talking.

"Hey kid." I didn't know him that well, besides I was hurting. "Y'all got something to fix me up?"

"Yeah hold on," then he left. I was trying to think of what I did last night to get here, and how I got hurt...

I was at The Way Out, on the west side. I needed to get a big some of cash. Keeping mom and my siblings with a roof over their heads and food to eat ain't easy. I don't have a job, so I use the five finger discount. Tonight I was going to be able to pay the bills. All I needed to do was steal some hubs from the Soc's fancy cars.

I guess the kid woke Darrel up cause he walked in carrying a first aid kit.

"Alright, what's hurt this time kid?" He must have been mistaking for Curly. We look the same, he is just shorter than me.

"Your mistaken, I'm not a kid."

"I don't care what you are, what hurts?" He said angrily
I guess Darry's not a morning person.

"Left leg, right eye and nose and the side of my head." I said quietly.

"Come into the kitchen, I've got to check your face in good light."
I got up and followed, I guess the scar gave me away.

"Oh hey Tim, I thought you were just one of Pony's friends."

He said as he looked at my face,
"Your nose is broken again, and your eye has already swelled and blackened. Your head has been bleeding, blood covered your pillow" he said as he went to get the pillow, he needed to wash it.

"What about my leg?" I asked as I sat on the counter.

"I don't know, it's pretty swelled. Can you move it?"

I tried to straighten it, and then bend it. I held my breath as the pain screamed in my leg.

"No I can't" I said honestly

He wrapped it up, put ice on it and helped me to the couch.

"You'er not going anywhere fast, you broke your leg. How many where you fighting?"

I had to think for a second, I got caught carrying the hubs to my car. I didn't see the group of guys standing outside by the road smoking.

They saw me before I saw them, I didn't have time to grab my blade.
I tried to fight them, but I was way outnumbered; five to one.

I took on three at a time, just like I did at the rumbles. I was to busy fighting to see the other two grab me from behind. They pulled my legs out from under me, I slammed face-first into the ground.

A heavy-set guy with blonde hair sat on my chest, and made sure I couldn't use my arms. His buddy's kicked me in head and ribs. I felt a hard kick from the toe of a boot in my left leg, I knew something was wrong.

About that time their girlfriends came out

"Just leave that trash on the sidewalk, and come on! We are going to miss our movie Josh." A girl in a light pink sweater said in a high squeakie voice.

" Alright" and with one last kick to the side of the head, the guys left. I sat up slowly, I grabbed my leg. It was swelling up fast, and it a big bruise that had turned a deep purple. They must have been wearing steel toed boots, getting kicked usually doesn't hurt that bad.

"Five" I told Darry

"Tim, I thought you knew better than to fight with odds like that!" He scolded.

"I didn't really have a choice..." I muttered

"You got jumped" he said quietly

"I got caught lifting some hubs on the west side, and I payed up." I said. My thoughts were the exact opposite. I got caught, but five to one ain't fair!

By then, all the guys were awake. They had been listening from inside the kitchen,
"Tim, are you alright?" Two Bit asked

"I've been better" I said

"We should take you to the hospital. If that sets wrong, the doc will have to re-break it." Darry said worriedly

"I'm not going to the hospital." I said with a hard icy tone.

"Tim, be reasonable. It would easier to just go now, before they have to re-break it! We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You are going to see the doctor." Darry laid down the law.

"I'm not going to any hospital, and you can't make me!" I yelled

"Want'a bet?" Dally said as he cracked his knuckles

"We can't beat the guy up, he can't fight Dally."

"That's the point! We knock him out and take him when he can't fight us!" He yelled
Tim shot him a look that said 'you wouldn't dare' "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Sure! Do you just want to go on your own free will?" Two Bit said

"No, I don't. I could just have y'all take me home and let it heal on it's own." I suggested

"Nope, now that we know you're hurt your not leaving." Darry told me

"Maybe we can just 'convince' him into going" Steve said with a look I didn't like. He walked over beside me, could see where this was going and tried to stop him.

"Don't!" I yelled just about the time he pushed down hard on my leg. The pain was unbearable, I was lucky I didn't scream. All of the sudden the room when black.

When I woke up I was in a big operating room, I was groggy. I looked to see an I.V. needle stuck in my arm, I felt my face pale.

I didn't do needles. Blades were fine, chains were fine, but I couldn't handle needles. That was the reason I never went to the doctor, he always wanted to give me a shot.

Fight or flight kicked in and I always picked fight. Most doctors wouldn't see me anymore, because I had tried to fight them. When I caught a high fever, they had to bring in restrains to give me the shots.

I looked up at all the stuff I was hooked up to, then I looked at my leg.

Big mistake. I saw my leg being worked on just about the time someone noticed I was awake.

"He is awake!" I heard a nurse yell, then they put some liquid in the I.V.
I felt sleepy, I saw a young nurse looking worriedly at me.

"What's happening?" I mumbled to her. I was trying not to flip at the sight of the needle in my wrist. She took my hand and pushed the hair out of my eyes, they had washed the grease out. It was getting pretty long, I noted.

"Honey, you are in an operation. They had to fix your leg, the bone snapped in half." She said softly

"I'm worried" something I never would have said without the stuff in the I.V. It had made me numb. I couldn't pick up my arms to fight. Thank goodness, there were not restrains.

"You will be just fine, your brothers are really worried about you too." She said with a smile

They said I was their brother, I thought grinning. Then I fell into a long restless sleep, I was dreaming. No, I was having a nightmare...

I walked in, my mom told me my fever was very high. I thought she was wrong, I was shivering. Ask me to goto the doctor, so I did.

I was fine until he pulled out a real big needle, I wanted to leave. I tried but my mom scolded me, she told me I was being silly. I just shrugged, and tried to leave again.

Dad was still there he told me to toughen up. Don't embarrass him by acting like a wimp in front of the doctor.

I couldn't help it, I yelled and fought till they brought in restraints. I got the shot, then after a few days my fever broke. When he found out I wasn't sick, he threw me out in the yard. It was raining and he beat the tar out of me.

He told my mom that she was raising a sissy and a failure. He couldn't be around such a kid, he said then he just left. I couldn't help but think, it was the needle that made me act like that. If that's what made dad leave, I didn't want to be around it anymore.

Needles made me look weak, the one thing I couldn't handle. It made him leave, I didn't need it. After all, you get well eventually.

I woke up in a normal hospital room. The first thing I thought was 'I'm going to kill Randal'.

Just about that time, Darry and Dallas walked in.

"Where is he?!" I demanded angrily

"He is at work, but you should be thanking him. If he hadn't done that, we never could have got you here. I you would have to be on crutches for real long time." Darry said.

"Do you remember anything about waking up in the operating room?" Dallas ask

"No I don't" I lied, I remembered everything.

"Good, that scarred us to death!" Darry said

"It didn't scare me at all" I lied again "I'm just ready to be out of here" I said truthfully
(Darry P.O.V)
I looked at Tim. The doctors thought I was Tim's oldest brother, so he let me look at his medical file.

Timothy Sheppard
born on November 5, 1947
Eighteen years old
Severe Vasovagal trypanophobia (a deep fear of needles, that can cause panic attacks and fainting)
Severe Resistive trypanophobia (a deep fear of needles and being restrained in a hospital setting, can cause extreme spike in blood pressure and induced fight or flight)
Triggered by seeing needle, is very combative take extreme care.
Slightly low blood pressure
Last updated ( 11-19-59)

That was before they updated it, the last time Tim had been to a hospital he was twelve. It had been six years. I was told he fought the doctor, so they restrained him. They found out the hard way Tim didn't like being restrained.

One thought that stuck with me was, Tim Sheppard is scared of needles. I was glad for Tim's sake that I had seen it instead of Dallas. He would never stop teasing him about that.

I would talk to him about it, after Dally left. I figured I would just get it over with and send Dally out.

"Dally, you need to leave" I said

"Why?" He said with a scowl

"I need to talk to Tim, alone" I said firmly

"Anything you say to me, you can say in front of Dallas." Tim replied, he didn't like the tone Darry used.

"Suit yourself" I said, Tim just nodded.

"I know you are afraid of needles Tim."

I hated to tell Dallas. His reaction was just like I thought it would be, he busted out laughing.

Tim looked Somewhere between a blank face, and shocked. Then I thought of something, I grinned at the thought. But Tim mistook it for smiling at his fear.

"You going to start laughing at me too? Go ahead, " he said, his words as sharp as a blade.

"No, I'm laughing at Dallas." I said, it was Dallas turn to be shocked.

"What's so funny about me?" He demanded

"Remembering how you looked, in that airplane on our trip to Washington." I said as I watched the color of Dally's ears go from pale to bright red.

When you want to know if Dallas is embarrassed, look at the color of his ears. He covers them with the long hair for a reason. You would never be able to tell by his face, but his ears are a dead give away.

We had family in Washington, so my parents got us a plane ride. Dallas is scared of highs, but he didn't know that when he got the window seat... I wish we got a picture of his face! Even I had to laugh.

Tim looked at me "Dallas is afraid of heights." It was Tim's turn to laugh.

Dallas looked mad, I didn't care. That evened out the playing field. Just about that time the rest of the guys came in.

In almost perfect unison
Dally said "Tim's scared of needles!"
And Tim said "Dally's scared of heights!"

Everyone laughed, they were two of a kind!

"Well everyone's afraid of something!" Soda yelled, "I'm scared of storms." We all nodded. Everyone but Tim, knew that.

"I'm afraid of dogs" Steve admitted. His dad's dog had bit him when he was little, but dogs still spooked him.

"I was scared of public speaking" Johnny admitted, "not anymore!" Johnny had gotten more talkive, Dallas grinned at him.

"I was scared of the dark," Pony said, now he just kept a light on.

"I'm scared of messing things up." I said, truer words had never been spoken.

"I can't stand spiders" Two Bit added, he often had someone else kill them. He was to scared.

(Back to Tim's P.O.V)

Well everyone is scared of something, I guess mine is needles. That's when Pony asked me the weirdest question,

"Tim, how did you ask a girl out for the first time?"

Hey y'all,

I know this chapter seems random, but I have a reason for putting this chapter in. I have never broken my leg, so I'm just guessing about how it feels. I know this is really long, so thanks for reading! Please review!