Disclaimer: I don't own! I just love playing with the characters. SE Hinton owns and even Ford Francis Coppola probably has more rights than I do.

A.N: Ponyboy may be a little OOC in this chapter. I contribute it partly to the head wound to begin with.

Summary: What if instead of staying and fighting the Socs, Ponyboy and Johnny decided to run? What if the Socs tried to chase them down…..with their car….

Chapter 4: Bad Attitudes; Broken down

"Get it away from me!"

"Son, you need to calm down!"

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

Ponyboy Curtis had awoken and frankly he was feeling very violent. At first when he awoke he felt groggy but slowly he began giving the staff a hard time. Ponyboy was on IV when he came in and a few seconds ago he had ripped it out of his skin, not caring nor feeling the sting. He was currently snapping and growling at anyone who touched him.

"You need to change into this gown and get in bed. We need to reinsert the IV back into your arm just as a precaution. Your head is not to be messed with." The male nurse tried again. He really hoped the doctor would hurry up and get his family back in here.

Ponyboy glared and snapped. "You wrapped up my head and leg. It will do. Now let me out of here!"

"I can't do that, son."

"Call me son, again and I will knock you the heck out! You hear me!"

"Family for Ponyboy Curtis?"

Darry looked up and was out of his seat before anyone else, minus Two-bit who was still standing. Sodapop stumbled to his feet a moment later, with Steve's help. Dallas pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on.

"Yeah?" Darry asked his voice shaking once.

The doctor looked grim. "Come with me", he ordered turning and walking down the hall. The rest followed him.

"What's going on?" Darry demanded.

"Ponyboy is awake, but he's resisting help. Perhaps you could calm him down. We'd hate to give him a sedative with his head wound; we want to keep him awake since he has awoken now."

They heard Ponyboy yelling even before they got to the room and entered.

"Ponyboy!" Sodapop cried joy at seeing his younger brother awake.

Ponyboy looked up from glaring at the male nurse. "Finally someone with some god-given sense."

"Hey, Ponyboy you doing alright?" Sodapop moved to Ponyboy's side glancing at the male nurse who held the gown. All Pony had on was his jeans, well what was left of it. One of the pants legs was cut off and his leg was wrapped up. Sodapop figured they might have started undressing him when Pony woke up.

"I would be better if they quit touching me. And I refuse to wear that gown."

"I don't blame you", Steve murmured glaring at the thing.

"We need to put the IV back into your arm", the doctor said picking up the needle.

"You don't let me out of here, and that IV will be in you."

The gang stared at Ponyboy. He was not one to act like this.

Sodapop tried to placate his younger brother, "Pony, let the doctor do what he must."

Ponyboy reached out and grabbed a handful of his brother's shirt surprising the gang even further. Sodapop blinked at this, his mouth hanging open slightly.

"Sodapop..." Ponyboy said softly and calmly yet a hint of danger.

"Yes, Pony?"

"You're my brother and I love ya, but do you want to wind up in a bed next me?"

Sodapop shook his head. "I hadn't planned on it."

"Then don't start. Cause if you don't let me out of here...you will be in a bed next to mine. Now...get me the heck out of here!", Ponyboy near yelled the last part as he threw Sodapop's shirt back to him, making his brother stumble back a little.

Darry shook himself out of his shocked stupor after a moment had past. His younger brother meant business. Frankly, Pony was scaring him. He glanced and saw Soda's own shocked look back at him as he straightened out his shirt. "Okay, alright, look how about we let you sit with us in the waiting room...huh?"

Ponyboy's eyes narrowed. "I hear a stipulation in there somewhere."

"A stip-u-what?" Dallas asked. He, Steve and Two-bit was lingering by the door. All had the sense not to jump into the conversation at the moment.

"As long as you let the doctor put you on IV and you can roll it around, we'll let you sit with us", Darry said in his firmest voice.

A collective breath was held as Darry and Ponyboy held a stare down. Sodapop kept looking between the two of them. Finally Ponyboy nodded and held out his arm. "Fine."

The doctor looked fairly relieved at this.

Ponyboy sat glowering and glaring at everything that moved in his line of sight. He was wearing a hospital shirt and his messed up jeans. He had refused to wear the gown. The IV sat next to him as he leaned his head in his other hand as he continued his glowering and glaring. The gang backed off and didn't really bother him much. Silence was an unwilling company. But it was early in the morning and Darry and Soda were worried about Ponyboy getting his sleep. He need rest after what he been through and this wasn't helping him any. No one had mentioned Johnny to Ponyboy and Ponyboy hadn't mentioned it to them.

Truthfully, they didn't know how to play this. There was some awkwardness and tension within the group.

Sodapop glanced at Darry who was sitting on a chair next to the couch he and Ponyboy was sitting on before looking at Ponyboy who was sitting next to him. He ventured cautiously, "Maybe...maybe we can get you a bed and you can lay down Pony."

"You can lay off", Ponyboy snapped.

"Okay, Ponyboy, what's with the attitude?" Darry asked a little sharper than he intended. He was getting sick of the attitude. It wasn't like Ponyboy to act this way.

Ponyboy turned his deadliest glare to his oldest brother before he turned away and continued to glare at anything and everyone.

"Aww, come on, Pony! You can talk to us" Two-bit tried with a light voice.

"I don't want to talk you."

Two-bit looked slightly hurt at that. Steve twitched at the attitude. It was working his last nerves. It was taking everything in him to restrain himself from yelling at Ponyboy and possibly making Sodapop upset.

"Why don't you want to talk to us?" Sodapop asked gently.

"Cause I don't." Ponyboy snorted.

"Okay, seriously, I've had it!" Dallas snapped, "I've waited long enough. I'm sick your attitude, boy! You better cough up what happened tonight and you better do it fast!"

Dallas pushed himself off the wall and came to a halt in front of Ponyboy glaring down at him. He stood in front of the group as he waited for an answer. When Ponyboy didn't say anything Dallas asked through gritted teeth, "What happened?"

Everyone saw Ponyboy's glare, waver once. His breath caught.

"Oh, Pony..." Sodapop murmured.

"Don't…." Ponyboy's voice broke once and he cleared his throat, "Just don't."

"We need to know." Darry said softly.

"What's to know? Huh? What do you people want to know? That my best friend could be dying as we speak? That if it wasn't for me, he would be okay and none of this would be happening? What do you want to know?" Ponyboy's voice broke once again by the last sentence.

Sodapop reached to pull him into a hug, but Ponyboy pushed him away. "Don't touch me", he snapped.

"Pony, please." Sodapop had tears in his eyes as he tried again only to be pushed away again.

"Ponyboy, this isn't your fault. Don't be stupid." Dallas snapped.

Darry felt his own guilt well up that he had been pushing back all night. "Dallas is right. If anything, all of this could have been avoided, if I hadn't..."

"Shut up, Darry. Don't...this isn't your fault, either", Ponyboy shook his head.

"I'm the one that pushed you and made you run out the door", Darry stated softly. Suddenly, everyone minus his brothers were looking wide-eyed at him.

"You did what?" Dallas asked with some anger in his voice. Steve and Two-bit stared at Darry shocked.

Darry groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Ponyboy came home late and I was worried only to find out he had slept late in the lot with Johnny."

"Of course, I had to butt in", Sodapop muttered bitterly.

"I yelled at Sodapop for butting in and Ponyboy yelled at me for yelling at Soda and then I lost it." Darry concluded.

Dallas rolled his eyes. "Although, I should knock you out...which I will...later...it's not your fault. You couldn't possibly known what would happen."

"Please...don't..." Ponyboy stopped and shook his head, tears filling up in his eyes. "None of you were the one..."

"One what?" Sodapop asked dreading the answer.

Ponyboy leaned forward and held his face in his hands. He could still see the bright lights, hear the tires squealing. His leg still throbbed with memory. Sodapop cautiously, placed an arm around Ponyboy's shoulders and was happy that he didn't push him away.

"We had gone to the park to cool off. Well, I wanted to cool off enough to come back home and Johnny went with me. We were sitting on the monkey bars minding our own business...when..." Ponyboy's voice caught as he trailed off.

"...Breathe..." Sodapop murmured quietly, feeling a tremor run through Ponyboy's frame. He rubbed Ponyboy's back and muttering other comforting words.

"This car...a blue mustang came riding into the park."

Everyone looked at Two-bit who had let out some choice words.

"What?" Darry asked blinking at this.

"Don't tell me it was those clowns?" Two-bit asked, a bit to his voice.

"What clowns?" Steve asked.

Ponyboy nodded. "It was. The leader was drunk. He said, 'weren't you the greasers that were picking up our women?'" he gave a breathy laugh. "We weren't picking up nobody."

"Cherry and Marcia's boyfriends or whatever they are suppose to be", Two-bit said.

"That red-haired chick and her friend?" Dallas asked.

"Yea, after you left, and I came, we were walking them home. Or rather...to the borderline. It wasn't anything. They were nice broads. We didn't have any problems with them and they didn't have it with us. Then their boyfriends came riding up in a blue mustang. Almost got into a fight but the girls went with them and avoided that." Two-bit explain.

"That doesn't explain why the heck they were in our territory", Steve growled.

"Does it matter?" Ponyboy cried lifting his head up once, "Johnny asked me if I wanted to split and at the last moment I agreed. I had a bad feeling about staying there so figured we should bounce. But I didn't expect...if I had known...I would have stayed and fought, then maybe Johnny would be okay."

"You don't know what would have happened if you hadn't bounced, Pony. I'm glad you did", Sodapop stated.

"No! You don't understand!" Ponyboy groaned, "Those…those…." He paused to get himself together. "They got into their car...and started running us down."

There was a collective violent, 'what' in the group. It made Two-bit, Steve and Darry shoot up from their seat.

"What? They tried to run you down...with their 'effing car?" Dallas exploded. He had started to violently pace back and forth like a caged lion, muttering choice words to himself.

"Pony, what happened next", Darry asked kneeling in front of his little brother.

"Me and my clumsy self", Ponyboy said bitterly, "We got down the hill and I tripped on a bottle. And then…" Ponyboy made a noise in the back on his throat.

"Then what?" Steve asked.

"It all happened so fast. I think the car was right on us and it would have hit me but…but…." Ponyboy shuddered.

"But what?" Sodapop asked his breathe catching in his throat.

"Johnny, pushed me out the way and took the hit!" Ponyboy cried before he started to violently sob.

Dallas had stop pacing and turned to stare at Ponyboy who was wrapped up in Sodapop's arms. Steve and Two-bit had wide-eyes and their mouths hanging open. Darry had sat down on the floor, his behind plopping down on the ground, his own eyes wide and mouth open.

"I think I got knocked out momentarily cause the next thing I remember is hearing Johnny calling me. And then I was running to get you and Darry and then….."

"Shhh, baby, shhh", Sodapop comforted.

The only thing that broke the would be silence again, was Ponyboy's sobs and Sodapop's comforting no-nonsense words. Everyone else was still and quiet as a statue.

TBC….