A/N -- Okay so now you know that it is yet another Curtis sister Fic. Sorry for those of you who don't like them.

Disclaimer – I don't own 'The Outsiders' only the original characters

Chatper 4

"I think he went to buy some groceries," Darry said with a laugh. I looked at him skeptically and then laughed too. Dallas Winston grocery shopping. I never thought I'd see the day.

I thought back to the day before when Dallas and I had been sitting on the back porch having a cigarette. I had been telling him how worried I was about the visit from the social worker.

"I hate this. Its not fair. We've been getting along just fine and now some stupid social worker is going to come in here and scrutinize every little thing about us," I said with a sigh as I took a long drag on my cigarette.

Dallas let out a laugh, his eyes dancing. I stared back at him, my brow furrowed. I was annoyed that he would laugh at me. "It's not funny Dallas. Did you know last time the social worker was here she looked in the fridge?? The fridge! What did she expect to find? A loaded gun sitting beside the milk?"

Dallas laughed again and I glared at him. "I'm glad this seems funny to you, but it's not to me." I said with a huff, "If she looks in the fridge this time, what's she gonna find? A chocolate cake and beer! That's gonna look great, huh? One more thing we gotta do in the morning, go grocery shopping." I finished with a sigh. Dallas was looking at me with a funny smirk on his face.

"Ah it'll be okay," Dallas said with a shrug, not letting any of this bother him. I guess I was strung out enough for everyone. He turned and put his arm over my shoulder and gave me a gentle squeeze.

I smiled at him and nodded. I wasn't convinced, but his calmness was reassuring, "Yeah you're right. It's gonna be fine."

Who knew that Dallas would take my griping as motivation to go grocery shopping? I smiled at the thought of the tough hood wandering the aisles of the grocery store looking for eggs and bread. My thoughts were interrupted by Emma's high-pitched giggling.

Darry had scooped Emma up in his arms in one swift movement and was swinging her in the air. She was laughing so hard I thought she was going to explode.

A voice broke through the giggling, "You better put her down, Darry or she's gonna puke on you." I turned to see Dallas standing in the doorway holding a few bags of groceries in his arms.

"That'd be pretty funny!" Soda said, coming into the house behind Dallas, his arms filled with grocery bags.

"I'm not gonna puke Daddy," Emma said with a giggle as Darry put her down.

Dallas cringed at Emma's comment and looked down at her, "Why do you gotta call me Daddy?" he asked her slightly annoyed. He put the grocery bags on the coffee table and knelt down to her.

"Kat said I gotta call her Mom so don't that mean I gotta call you Daddy?" Emma said looking at Dallas, her eyes big, remembering the last time the social worker had visited.

Dallas's scowl turned into a big grin as he stood and picked her up. "Not 'til the stupid social worker gets her, Em. 'Til then not Daddy, just Dally!"

"Don't call the social worker stupid in front of Emma, Dally," I said to him.

"But she is stupid!" Emma said brashly. She looked at me quickly and noticed my frown, "Sorry Kat," she said sheepishly.

Dally smiled at me slightly in an effort to apologize. I smiled back at him and Emma, not being able to stay mad at either of them.

Steve came in the front door, only carrying one grocery bag. I laughed, "You're so helpful Steve-O!" I exclaimed. He turned to me with a scowl.

Dally put Emma down and she ran to Steve, "I can carry it Steve!" she said with enthusiasm, taking the bag from Steve and carrying it into the kitchen.

"I bet you can Em, it's so tiny," Ponyboy said with a laugh as he followed her into the kitchen. This earned him a playful slap across the head from Steve and the two of them started wrestling around the kitchen, running into Dallas and Soda who set their grocery bags down on the counter. Darry, Johnny, Steve and I joined Soda, Dally and Emma in the kitchen. Everyone was pulling things out of the grocery bags informing the others how much they liked this or didn't like that.

Two-Bit came through the doorway carrying a laundry basket, piled high with clothes from upstairs, "Here Kitty Kat, where do ya want this?"

I looked at him and groaned, "Two-Bit, some of those are clean! You just mixed up all the clean clothes with dirty ones!"

He looked back at me with a blank stare, "Well…I…ah man!" he exclaimed. "I've never done laundry before, how was I supposed to know?" I had to laugh. He looked so depressed, likehe wasa little kid who had just been told there was nosuch thing as Santa Claus.

"Don't worry about it Two-Bit, I'll just wash everything, okay?" I said. He gave me a big grin and I added, "and I'm teaching you how to do laundry very soon!" Hisface fellimmediately and he stuck his tongue out at me in retaliation.

I looked around the room taking in the action around me. I smiled. So much had changed this past year. I smiled again, my worries about the visit from the social worker fading slightly. I wanted to freeze this moment. All the people I loved in one room laughing and having a good time.

Steve and Ponyboy were still wrestling around. If someone had told me a year ago that Ponyboy and Steve would be goofing off together I would have laughed in their face. But here they were, actually enjoying each other's company.

Darry had Emma on his back and was spinning around in circles. She was laughing hysterically, tears running down her face. Emma had done something to Darry. He was the older brother I remembered from our childhood; happy, sweet, fun Darry that I had missed so much after mom and dad had died.

Darry put Emma down and she crawled gently into Johnny's lap. Emma hadn't just changed Darry; she'd changed all of us. Johnny whispered something into her ear and she looked up at him her eyes wide. When Johnny laughed, she did too. She wrapped her arms around Johnny's neck and kissed him on the forehead. Johnny smiled and that made me smile. Johnny loved Emma more that he'd ever loved anyone or anything.

Sodapop had taken a carton of eggs out of a bag and was trying to get to the fridge to put them away, but Ponyboy and Steve were blocking him. "Move it or loose it boys!" Soda said in a goofy, deep voice. Soda was still my happy-go-lucky, little brother, but he'd grown more responsible over the past year. He looked at Steve and Pony sternly as he put the eggs in the fridge, "The least you two could do is help." He stated trying to act stern. He broke into a grin that gave him away.

I looked at Dallas. Who ever thought he would go to a grocery store and actually pay for what he was taking? He'd changed the most this past year. He was still Dallas Winston, the tough hood from New York. But little things had changed, he smiled more, laughed more. He let people know where he was going and when he'd be back. He even got a job. A part time job, but it was a paying job nonetheless. To someone on the outside of our gang they would say that Dallas Winston hadn't changed at all. But we knew he had.

Two-Bit had joined the others in going through the grocery bags and had pulled out some grapes. "Grapes!" he exclaimed, "Where's the beer man?" I laughed. I guess some things never change!

I thought back to nine months earlier, when it seemed like things would never be normal again. So many things had changed in such a short period of time. I didn't think we'd make it through, but we had. I smiled, remembering.