Darry awoke to hearing his name, a hand gently on his back. "Mr. Curtis?" Darry realized he must have fallen asleep at some point, his head resting on his arms. He was still seated in the chair beside Sodapop's bed, his body leaning so it rested on the edge of the bed, next to Soda's arm. Darry coughed an apology and turned so he was facing the doctor. "May I have a word with you?" Darry was instantly alert, sending a glance towards Soda. Surely he would've known if something had changed? The doctor noticed and assured Darry that Sodapop, under the circumstances, was fine. Then what was the problem, and why did it remind Darry of being in the Principal's office? "Mr. Curtis, I've actually stopped in to inform you that your other brother, the one who fainted, awoke a few moments ago, appearing to have some sort of a nightmare."
The color drained from Darry's face. He thought they were over this for the most part. "Is he okay?" He asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer. Pony was usually pretty out of it and skittish after a bad nightmare, and having one in a public forum wouldn't have been particularly pleasant.
"He seemed fine after the fact. A couple nurses went in to check on him after hearing screams coming from his room. But other than being quite shaken, he was otherwise, physically, alright." He informed Darry it wasn't unusual for individuals to have nightmares after a traumatic event, something Darry had heard before. Darry thanked him and asked if it were okay if Ponyboy came in to see Soda, thinking it may put him at ease seeing his brother was essentially ok. Maybe his nightmare was stemming from his imagination, or thoughts of Johnny from three years ago, and seeing Soda would help resolve those things.
"I don't see why not." He answered. "You said he was pretty shaken up on his way into the building and all of that combined with seeing his brother lying in a hospital bed can be a pretty hard thing to take in. He's not the first person to faint after seeing a loved one in this state. But they tend to recover once the initial shock passes and are able to spend time with whoever is in the hospital. And the nightmare could have just been his mind processing it all." After Darry nodded his thanks, Dr. James checked on Soda before leaving to attend to other patients.
" Be right back, Pepsi-Cola." Darry said, calling his brother by their father's affectionate nickname for him. As he stepped into the hallway, he noticed a flurry of activity in one of the rooms down the hall, and quickly turned away. He didn't want to get into anyone else's business, especially considering he knew how it felt to be on that end of things. As he made his way to where he'd left Ponyboy, he thought of three years ago, when Pony had come home from the hospital after Johnny died, looking paler than he'd ever seen him, eyes glassy, and told the gang what had happened. He felt every heart in that room break. Was that what Ponyboy felt when he stepped into Soda's hospital room?
Ponyboy was headed down a bright hallway, not completely sure he was going in the right direction. He saw a nurse's station ahead of him and decided to stop and ask. As he approached the desk, he heard his name from behind him. He turned to find Steve and Two-Bit jogging towards him. "Ponyboy!" Two-Bit was a little out of breath, concern etched on his face. "What the hell happened?"
The older boys looked at Pony for answers. He had none to give them. What happened but another fire, another person they loved in the hospital. Too much, too much all at once and no explanation for any of it. "How'd you know to come here?"
"It was all over the news Ponyboy. But Two-Bit and me, we were walking to your house and saw the smoke. The fire is long gone now I guess, but the DX is just ash. We were asking around, everybody seems to know, they told us to come here." Steve looked at his feet. "Where's Sodapop, Ponyboy?"
"He's in a room right now. I think he's okay, but I haven't seen him, not really."
"Are you here by yourself? Where's Superman?" The nickname had a lot to do with Darry's muscular physique, though Ponyboy saw it as much more than that. Darry was the strongest person he knew, carried on through so much without breaking. Ponyboy often wondered what would be Darry's kryptonite.
"He's with Soda." Pony didn't mention the nightmare. The gang knew all about his nighttime issues, but he didn't want to add any more worry to their day. Plus, as if doing it once wasn't bad enough, was this something that was going to be a regular occurrence?
"Shit, Pony." Two-Bit commented, "You alright?" Two-Bit didn't like the fact that Ponyboy was walking around the hospital on his own. He'd gotten into enough trouble in the past from being on his own.
Ponyboy shrugged. "Yeah. I guess so." He sniffed, not sure what to say next. He felt fine, but that nightmare was starting to get to him. Why did he remember this one? It chilled him to the bone, it was bad enough that it happened at night, but now it was seeping into his life in ways it shouldn't. "Let's go see Soda, huh?"
The boys found out where Soda's room was located; luckily Ponyboy was headed in the right direction so they didn't have to backtrack. The halls weren't especially crowded, though they did get a few looks, having dressed in their jeans and leather jackets, hair greased back into slick cowlicks. The hospital had that scent that all hospitals seemed to radiate; a combination of sick and extremely clean. On the way there, they went between chatter and silence, not knowing how to feel in the aftermath of what could have been a terrible tragedy.
On the way, they bumped into Darry, who immediately wrapped Ponyboy in a hug. "You doing alright little buddy?" Darry's voice had a trace of emotion and Pony wondered if something had happened to Soda.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Pony said, his voice muffled in Darry's dusty work shirt. Ponyboy didn't realize Darry meant more than just the passing out incident, he didn't realize Darry knew about the nightmare. Pony didn't necessarily plan on telling anyone until he could figure this thing out. "Can we go see Soda? Is he okay?"
"He's the same as he was." Darry pulled Pony back so he was at arm's length. "Are you sure you're up to seeing him? Doc thinks it might be good to see him."
Pony shrugged. "Yeah, I want to see him." He glanced towards their buddies standing in the hallway. Darry hadn't seemed to notice them.
Darry looked at the two greasers and gave them a slight smile. "He's down this way a bit. He's hooked up to some tubes and wires and machines and stuff. Doc says its just for now. Just for monitoring. But that he seems to be doing pretty well. May even get taken off the machine soon. He inhaled a lot of smoke I guess so they want to try to clear out his lungs a bit I think."
The rest of the boys followed Darry to where Soda's room was located. The air seemed to still around them as they approached and stepped into the room. The first thing Darry noticed was that the tube that had been in his brother's mouth was gone, and the cuts on his face had had something applied to them. Darry breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was something.
"This is ridiculous!" Darry and Pony turned to see the anger (and maybe a few tears, though no one would bring that up), on Steve's face. "Those Socs had something to do with this and they are gonna pay!"
"Steve-" Darry began, but Steve cut him off.
"No Darry! I know those bastards did this. People died in that fire and I'll bet it was to try and fix whatever they thought Pony and Johnny did back then. We're gonna have to set this straight and—"
"Steve, shut up." They all stopped and turned to where the voice had come from. Soda grinned. His voice was hoarse, but understandable. "If anyone's gonna get em it's gonna be me."