A/N: S. E. Hinton owns all rights to the characters in The Outsiders and her other stories, I only own my imagination. Disney owns Star Wars, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are owned by Nickelodeon, I think. Please don't sue me if I missed anything!

Once the adoption was finalized, we were able to take Johnny home with us. He was wary of his new surroundings at first, and he kept walking around the house, avoiding every closet he either saw, or thought he saw. Buttons, as always, was his constant companion in his explorations, and when he found his room, he made sure to touch everything except the closet door at least once. I followed him soon after and helped him lift the lid off the toy box. "These are all your very own toys, Johnnycake. See? You have soldiers, all sorts of action figures, and even some Ninja Turtles." He watched as I pulled out Luke Skywalker and Raphael. "You can have all kinds of adventures with these guys. I even got you a Millennium Falcon that you can put them in." I decided not to tell him about my copy of Gone With the Wind just yet. That waited on top of the mounted bookshelf for when he got older.

I watched him play for a few hours before dinner, and I have to say, the kid was certainly creative. I'd never seen Luke Skywalker take down the Mystery Machine with He-Man and some jacks before, but Johnny sure knew it could be done. Buttons, of course, helped along the way, and that sock monkey was the one thing he carried with him to the dinner table. Spaghetti-O's were on the menu tonight, since we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, but Johnny didn't seem to mind. He just ate in silence, only looking up to drink his milk once in a while. I gave him a chocolate graham cracker after dinner, which he was nibbling on as we relocated to the TV room. "When's everyone dropping by?" Cathy wondered, momentarily tearing her eyes away from our boy.

"I think they're gonna come by throughout the week. Two-Bit said they'd all try to come one by one, so they don't freak Johnny out."

"Will Soda be first?"

"I hope so. It'll be great for the two of them to bond right away."

The doorbell rang as soon as I went for ice cream. Contrary to what I'd expected, it was Darry. "Sorry about dropping in like this, but I just couldn't wait to see him. How's everything going?"

"It's fairly smooth so far. We're all in the TV room. Want some ice cream?"

"No, thanks. Oh, wow. He does look like Johnny, doesn't he?" Darry murmured, slowly entering the room and sitting down a little ways away from him. Johnny snapped to attention when he heard the new person, and surveyed my brother with the calculating gaze of a soldier in battle. He squeezed Buttons for moral support, but drew back sharply when Darry reached out his hand. "Skittish little thing, isn't he?" he whispered to Cathy.

"It's okay, Johnnycake, this is your Uncle Darry. He's very nice, like Daddy." Cathy reassured.

Johnny didn't move from his position, so I pushed his graham cracker closer to him. He didn't take it, but instead, his little chest heaved as he started shaking and turned white as a sheet. He pushed his thumb into his mouth and rocked back and forth in the corner of the room, eyes wide, and softly whimpering against his sock monkey.

"Looks like I really fubared this, huh?" Darry observed.

"No, you're okay, he's just kinda overwhelmed right now. Hey, Cath, let's see what happens if you turn off the TV." I edged close to Johnny, but not too close. "It's okay, Johnnycake, no need to cry. Everything's gonna be just fine." I started to stroke his hair, and he stopped rocking. "Good, good, just calm down now. Everything is just fine, Johnnycake." I wasn't expecting him to crawl into my lap, but once he did, I held him against my chest. "Easy there, Johnny. Shh, shh, shh, it's okay, Daddy's got you, you're safe, honey. You're safe now."

Eventually, Johnny calmed down enough to glance at Darry over my shoulder. He smiled and waved at Johnny, and I gently kissed his forehead. "See? It's okay, Johnny. He's very sweet, I promise. Can you say 'hi' to him?"

"Hi." Johnny vocalized, before burying his face in my chest again.

"That was pretty good for a first meeting. When I first met him, getting him to talk was like drawing blood from a stone." Cathy said, playing with my hair. Johnny pushed himself out of my lap, reaching for his graham cracker, and bit off half of a section.

"He loves those things." I smiled, watching him finish off his snack.

"I have a feeling that Johnny's gonna have one hell of a sweet tooth. You might wanna stock up on chocolate cake mix while you still can." Darry joked, leaning forward slightly to watch his new nephew.

"Hopefully he won't want it for breakfast every day. At least for right now, one graham cracker seems to suffice." I couldn't get over how sweet he looked huddled in the corner crunching on that graham cracker. I don't think I'd ever seen a kid that cute before, and now he was ours forever.

"I'm gonna go get some wipes. Want anything while I'm up?"

"Could you get me some ice cream, Cath? I got kinda distracted, and forgot I wanted some."

"Sure, babe. I'll be right back."

"You think that you or Cathy will ever be his teacher, Pony?"

"I hope not. High school English is hard enough without having your dad or mom as your teacher. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I think; it's still twelve years away."

Cathy returned with three Styrofoam bowls of ice cream, and four plastic spoons. "Let's see what happens, shall we?" She set the wipes down by her feet. Johnny looked curiously at everything, and furrowed his brow when I gave him a spoon. He stuck it in his mouth, but then locked onto the ice cream. I helped him get a spoonful of mine, and I took a spoonful too, so he wouldn't eat alone. "You like it, Johnnycake? Go see what Mommy has."

"Want some strawberry? Here, let's put some on your spoon."

"I think he likes it better than the vanilla." I said.

"Go see what Uncle Darry has. You'll like that the most." Cathy couldn't keep the grin off her face.

"We chocoholics have to stick together." he whispered after helping Johnny with the spoon. Johnny sat down against Darry's knee, and looked up at him once he'd finished the bite. "Want more, kiddo?" Johnny nodded. "Okay, give me your spoon."