Pony's POV

I am beginning to think Darry is never going to stop spanking me when he tells me it's over. I don't want to move, unless it is to sit up and be held by one of my brothers. I am too scared to move. Too scared it is going to hurt to. Darry warns me that he is going to help me stand up. I brace myself for pain and surprisingly it just stings a little. I guess it helps that Darry's strong arms lifted me into a standing position.

"Do you want to put your jeans back on Pony, or leave them off?"

"I wanna leave them off. I'm so s..sorry Darry." I sob. He pulls me into his loving arms, wrapping me in his muscular frame, shushing me. I kick off my jeans and stay there, allowing Darry to hold me. Even though Darry is the one who just skinned me, all I want to do is hug him. I feel horrible about my behaviour in the last little while, about letting my grades slip and about drinking. I don't know how long we stand there, I soak his shirt with the salty water that is slipping from my face.

I think it's only been minutes but I ask him to let Soda in. He kisses the top of my head "I love you little buddy" he says, using Soda's nickname, and lets me go. He unlocks the door, looks back at me and walks out of the room. Soda runs into the room and practically tackles me into his warm embrace.

We let go of each other and I go and lay down on my side of the bed. Sobs are still coming from my chest, but I am not crying anymore. I feel Sodapop cover me up with the blankets on our bed and then crawl in beside me. He wraps his arms around me and we fall asleep.

Darry's POV

I can't believe I did that. I spanked my littlest brother. The brother I am supposed to protect. Not the brother I am supposed to harm. I sit down in my arm chair and let the tears fall from my eyes. Usually I would be afraid that one of the gang would come barging in, but I don't really care.

Things have gotten really quiet in Pony and Soda's room. I sneak in into their room to see the two of them passed out on the bed, Soda's arms wrapped so tightly around Pony that I don't think a tornado could tear them apart. I wish I could share that bond with my brothers. I glance at the clock on the night table. It's on 7:30pm, but I'm so exhausted after the nights events I decide to turn off all the lights and crawl into my own bed.

Soda's POV

I woke up to the familiar, unpleasant sound of Pony screaming. He was having another nightmare. I gently put my hands on his shoulders and shook him. Quietly I called out his name, telling him it's going to be okay. It's 2am and I don't want wake up Darry. We have all had a rough day and Darry needs his sleep.

Pony finally wakes up, looks at me and bursts into tears. He grabs onto my shirt and pulls his face into my chest. I have no idea what has made him so upset, but I know that I have to calm him down – to let him just cry until he feels better.

Pony's POV

I am clinging to Soda for dear life. When I woke up and realize that it was just a dream I couldn't help but be so relieved that I couldn't stop crying. I'm such a bawl baby today. Usually I can't remember my nightmares. I usually just wake up screaming or being shaken by Soda or Darry. But this time I remembered. I must have woken Darry up with my screaming because he walks into the room. I bury my face deeper into Soda's shirt.

"Soda! Get him out of here! Pleeasse Soda!" I beg quietly. Soda heard how desperate I was to get Darry out of the room and he told Darry very gently to go back to bed, saying he could take care of me.

"Okay Pone. What's going on? Why did you beg me to get rid of Darry?" He sounds worried.

"He...he..he's gonna beat me. He's gonna beat me till I can't breathe. Just like Johnny's dad did to Johnny. Da...Darry hates me Soda. He don't love me anymore. He just don't love me Soda." I just keep repeating that over and over.

"Ponyboy Micheal Curtis. How can you even say that? Darry would never harm you like that! He loves you so much, I can't even think of the words to explain how much he loves you."

"Thenn...then why did he s..spank me? Why couldn't, why couldn't he just ground me or something? He just wanted to hit me! He doesn't love me, I know he doesn't! He would rather me be dead! And that way he don't haveta put up with me!" I am crying so hard that I can barely breathe, I move closer to Soda and tighten my grip on his pajama shirt. Soda doesn't wait for me to calm down before he moves into a half sitting position and begins to rip into me.

"DON'T LET ME EVER HEAR YOU TALKING LIKE THAT AGAIN PONYBOY!" He waves his finger in my face and I flinch back a little. "NO ONE WANTS YOU DEAD! NOT EVEN STEVE WOULD WISH THAT ABOUT YOU!" I cringe at his sudden change in mood and voice and this makes all the pain I feel 20 times worse. He has never yelled at me like that before and it scares me. Now both my brothers hate me. He sees the fear and hurt that are plastered on my face and he immediately pulls me into him and begins to whisper. "Oh Pone! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to lose it like that! Darry...well he spanked you BECAUSE he loves you. He doesn't wanna see you or me put in a boys home. He wants to keep us in line...you know, the straight and narrow. Darry is just trying to protect you from everything Pony. He doesn't realize that it's not possible to do that, but he is trying his best. I'll bet ya my life that Darry bawled like a baby after he left this room. He just wanted to bring you back to reality. To make you realize that you need to smarten up and start doing better in school, and not get drunk when you're grounded. Ya dig?" I nodd my head.

"Yeah, I dig Soda. I'm sorry I said all that. I love you Pepsi-Cola." And I do get it. I understand Darry's reasoning for spanking me. I realize the pain I have caused him and that when I pushed him away 15 minutes ago, I should have been pulling him closer.

I hop out of my bed with full intentions of going to Darry's room to apologize for pushing him away, but I don't even have to go that far. I open my bedroom door to find Darry standing there, tears staining his tough cheeks. He wraps me in a hug, Soda joining in not wanting to miss out and for the first time since mom and dad died, I feel like we are going to be okay.

"Pony, if I knew that a spanking would have given you nightmares, I would have rethought your punishment! I'm sorry I scared you so much you thought I hated you and didn't love you! I love you and Soda so much it hurts! If anything ever happened to either of you, I don't know what I would do! And I guess that is why im so strict and want you to do good in school."

"It's okay Darry, I deserved it. You probably shouldn't have been so easy on me either. But thank you. And it aint your fault I get nightmares. It's just my over active imagination! I love you Superman."

"I love you too baby."

K...re-wrote some of the last part! Let me know what you think and should I write more or leave it as is?

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