A/N: Hey everybody! I'm so sorry I updated a lot later than I originally planned to but teachers are dumping a lot of tests and projects on us in the last two weeks of school! I'm planning on updating tomorrow for sure so please forgive me! And I really hope this chapter was worth the wait!

Disclaimer: Wish I own The Outsiders but I don't. But Sodapop is still MINE!

Darry POV: (Darry=Bold Speaker=italics)

Hello may I speak to Darrel Curtis, please?

This is him. How may I help you?

Mr. Curtis, I am Molly Heartland, a nurse from Tulsa Memorial Hospital. I wanted to speak to you about your brother, Ponyboy Curtis.

Oh, god no, I thought. Is he alright?

He and his friends Jonathan Cade and Dallas Winston were brought here from a fire accident. Your brother had some injuries from what the doctor has told me.

My heart sunk into my stomach. Soda and the boys were eyeing me with as much worry in their eyes as I had in my heart. Then I remembered I needed to respond, will he be alright?

Hard to say, as of yet. But since you are his brother and legal guardian, we're going to need you to come down here so we can talk to you about a few things.

Yes… o-of course. We'll be there. Thank you very much.

And then I slammed the phone back into its cradle so fast I thought it would break. "Sodapop, get your shoes on and get in the truck" I ordered. "Pony's in the hospital. So are Dally and Johnny. We gotta go, from what the nurse said Pony wasn't in very good shape." Soda's face grew in alarm by ten shades and he ran and got his shoes and rushed out to the car before I could even move. I was halfway out the door when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Two-Bit. His face had never looked so helpless so I was shocked speechless for a moment.

"Darry, what should Steve and I do? We don't wanna stay here waiting to see if those three are alive!" he said frantically. My voice rang with authority and instruction, "Two-Bit, you take your car and go ahead of us with Steve to the hospital. Once you're there, wait for us outside and we'll go in together to see them. Got it?" they both nodded their heads and raced to their car. Seconds later I heard them speeding down the street.

I then, rushed out to my own truck, which Soda was sitting in the passenger seat already. We began driving to the hospital as fast we could without getting pulled over by the cops. That was the last thing we needed right now anyways. "Darry?" Sodapop said. "What if Pony isn't okay? What if we lose him like mom and dad? I wouldn't be able to take that! I won't let god take away my baby brother! If he does I'll go insane! We both will! Oh, Darry, what do we do?" he sounded close to tears. So was I though, when I answered. "I don't know, little buddy. I just don't know." And we drove the rest of the way in silence.

When we got to the hospital, the guys were waiting for us in the parking lot and then we bolted inside, causing the waiting patients to stare at us oddly, but I really couldn't care less. My brother's life was all that was important to me right now. We skidded to a halt at the nurse's desk so fast that I thought I would fall over. The nurse looked very shocked for a moment. "Somebody called us down for my brother, Ponyboy Curtis. The nurse on the phone said he was in critical condition. Is he alright?"

The nurse at the desk immediately nodded and told us in a soft, gentle, and what was meant to be a reassuring voice, "Yes, your brother and his friends are quite the heroes. They saved a bunch of kids from burning to death in a church. Jonathan Cade has many back injuries and is in surgery right now so you won't be able to see him until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. We'll inform you more on his condition once we know more. Are any of you related to him by blood?"

We all shook our heads and Two-Bit answered, "No, but his folks aren't all that decent to him at home so I doubt they'll be coming down. We're about all the family he's got. And you can tell anything about what's wrong with him directly to me if you don't mind." We weren't surprised. We knew how much Two-Bit cared about Johnny.

The nurse nodded. "Of course. As for your friend Dallas Winston, he's the least injured of the three. He just has a burn on the upper part of his right arm. He should be able to leave by Thursday morning after we observe him." We nodded. "What about my brother?" Sodapop asked, always impatient but this was a good time to be. I was too.

She looked at us, slightly sympathetic. "Your brother has the worst of the injuries. It's nothing that will be long lasting when or if he wakes up. He will not be in a wheelchair or on crutches for any length of time considering the injuries on his back were not as bad as the rest. The doctor will tell you exactly what's wrong but all I know is that he is having an operation preformed on him now as well as a few tests. But you will be able to see him tonight, I believe. But you must wait here in the waiting room for the doctor until he gives any further instruction to you."

I nodded my thanks and we went to go sit down. I didn't like the sound of that. If he woke up. There was no if about it. That wasn't an option. He had to wake up. He just had to. I could feel the tears running down my face. As I looked out of the corner of my eyes I saw Sodapop sobbing into his hands and muttering, "Oh, Ponyboy. No, please not Ponyboy. Not my baby."

Poor kid. Luckily, he wasn't alone. I knew exactly how he felt. Because that's exactly how I was feeling right now.

Please, lord. I thought miserably. Please don't take my baby away from me. You've already taken away my mom and dad. Soda and Pony are all I have left. Please don't take them away. I know I'm too hard on Pony sometimes. But that's just because I want him to have a better future than the rest of us will. If you let me keep him, I promise I'll be a better brother to him. I'll spend time with him and listen to him more. I won't be so harsh. Just please… I can't lose him. Please.

Sodapop POV: I sat there and bawled my eyes out like a little baby. This couldn't be happening. Not Ponyboy. Anybody but Ponyboy. He was the best little brother anybody could ever ask for and if I lost him… I'd kill myself. I was saying a prayer to myself. Silently begging mom and dad to save him for me. To let him stay with us. So he could stay where we could take care of him and love him. I just wanted my Ponyboy back

Two-Bit POV: Poor Soda. Poor Darry. Poor Ponyboy. Poor Johnnycake. Poor Dally. Poor Steve. Poor me. None of this should be happening. Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dallas were supposed to be at home with us. Arm wrestling, watching T.V., eating, or… anything else!

Darry and Soda shouldn't have to see their brother be put through all this pain or put themselves through all this torture either. They were too young to deal with all this stuff. Which made me wish their mom and dad were here. Not only because they would know what to do. But because they were great. They treated us as their sons too and I missed them. As that thought came, I suddenly didn't feel like joking around for once.

Steve POV: I didn't wanna see this happen. Even if I didn't like Ponyboy all that much, I didn't want him dead. It would kill Soda, Darry, and the rest of the gang… even… even me! There I said it! Happy now? He was like a little brother to me after all these years of hanging out with Soda. And secretly… he had started to grow on me…

A/N: There you go! Extra long chapter in apology for a really late update! Review and tell me if you enjoyed it! Love you guys so much!

Thanks for Reading,

-thewolfgurlgleek =D xoxoxoxoxoxo