A/N: HI! I am sorry for going MIA! I just had a huge writers block with this story and no matter how hard I tried to get over it, I couldn't. There's like twelve drafts of this chapter in my computer because I couldn't make up my mind on how I wanted it to go and how I wanted things to play out. But, here it is. I'm in the middle of studying for my finals, so there might not be another update for another few weeks – so many papers to write and not enough time to write them. But, I haven't forgotten about this, promise. Enjoy this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Outsiders.


Ponyboy had his first nightmare on Friday.

He had fallen asleep early in the day. After coming home from work, he skipped out on dinner, something that seemed to cause Darry and Soda a little concern, and went straight to bed. An hour or so later, after all the dishes were clean, when Darry was sitting in his chair reading the paper, Jacquelyn had taped on the door and saw that he was passed out cold on top of the sheets. She didn't bother to wake him, she just tugged off his shoes, that were going to need to be replaced soon, and tossed a blanket over him before returning to the living room. Soda. Steve, and Two-Bit had gone out. Drag racing at the Ribbon, Steve had said as he practically dragged Soda out of the door. That left she and Darry lounging on the sofa; Darry flipping through a list of plays and players from the previous season and Jacquelyn laying with her head on his lap flipping through the channels.

She'd settled on Gunsmoke. She knew that if she kept flipping, no matter how distracted he seemed to be, Darry would take the remote and pick something for her. Which usually was whatever sporting event was on at the moment.

The sound was very subtle to begin with and she was sure that she had imagined it or it was something that was coming from the television. However, as it persisted during a small shootout, she allowed it to have more of her attention. She glanced up briefly to see if Darry had noticed, but he was preoccupied with the book in his hand.

He did, of course, notice the next sound. A sort of strangled half-sob, half-shout, coming from down the hall. He was up and down the hall, discarding the book on the coffee table, before she could even really sit up. By the time she managed to stand, Darry had already flipped on the light in the room where Ponyboy was.

"Jacquelyn." he called down the hall.

"Yeah?" She stopped walking, the tone of his voice indicated that he wanted her to do something.

"Get some water."

The brunette slipped into the kitchen and grabbed a cup from the cabinet. She snagged a few pieces of ice from the freezer, noticing that they needed to go shopping, dropped it into the cup and then filled it with water. Quietly, she made her way back towards Ponyboy's room and peeked into the door.

Darry was sitting on the edge of the bed, running his fingers through Ponyboy's now messy hair and rocking him back and forth. He was mumbling something to him and from her distance she couldn't exactly make out what he was saying. However, she could hear the word 'baby' being uttered repeatedly.

She continued to hang back in the doorway, feeling awkward.

Darry glanced up at her briefly and motioned for her to come into the room, with his free hand. She held back for a moment longer, not wanting to feel like she was interrupting. This was the first time that she felt like she was intruding in the family dynamic since she moved in with them. Darry looked over at her again and saw that she hadn't moved. There was a brief moment, where he was torn between speaking to his fiancee, who he could tell was feeling uncomfortable, and continuing to comfort Ponyboy, who had stopped crying at this point. However, it passed without a second thought. As important as Jacquelyn was to him, Ponyboy was his brother. So in lieu of breaking the calming mood that he had created around Ponyboy by raising his voice above a whisper. He just gestured for her to come into the room again. And this time she did. Softly, padding over to him and sitting on the edge of the bed next to him.

"Ponyboy," Darry said. His voice was very quiet and Jacquelyn could tell that it was taking a great deal effort to speak with his voice that low. Even when Darry wasn't yelling his voice projected and carried.

The youngest Curtis turned his red rimmed eyes towards the eldest Curtis.

Once again, Jacquelyn Ross felt like an outsider. She felt like she shouldn't even have been in the room with them. As Ponyboy sat up, placing himself between she and Darry, she handed the cup of water to Darry and stood off the edge of the bed. Darry glanced at her as she made her way out of the room, but there was nothing that he could do at this moment to comfort them both.

Half an episode of Gunsmoke later, Darry appeared in the hallway. He reached into the room he'd just left and flicked the light off before closing the door behind him. '

"Hey," he greeted the brunette lying on the sofa as he ran his hand over his face. In response, she swung her legs off the sofa and allowed him a place to sit. "Are you alright?"

The brunette scoffed, never taking her attention away from Gunsmoke. Why was her condition even in question? She wasn't the one that had had a nightmare. She was fine. "I'm fine," she confirmed. They were quiet for a moment. "How's he?" she questioned.

Darry's eyes turned towards the door. "I think that he'll be okay," he replied after moment. He leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

"I don't think that he really has any other option, but to be okay," she replied quietly. "I don't think that any of us has any other option but to be okay."

Before Darry could respond to her the front door, swung open on its hinges. The occupants of the living room looked over towards the door immediately, a harsh look in both of their eyes.

"Why are you here, Jacquelyn?"

The brunette was caught a little off guard, by the use of her full first name from Sodapop Curtis. He wasn't the type to call her by her full first name.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't see the bride before the wedding," Soda continued.

To that Jacquelyn laughed. "You sound like Gina."

Gina had been pestering her all day, literally all day, about how she couldn't go home. She couldn't see Darry before the wedding. She went on and on about bad luck and ruining the marriage. About halfway through the day, Jacquelyn had taken to just ignoring anything that Gina said that sounded like it might have been related to the wedding. Eventually, Gina had picked up on what she was doing and just gave up on talking to her about the wedding all together.

"Well, she's right."

Jacquelyn rolled her eyes. "Well I'm already here and I'm comfortable. We'll just have to cross the bad luck bridge when we get to it." Soda's eyes were hard as he looked at Jacquelyn. "You're kidding." The brunette moved quickly, turning to look out of the window behind her. In the driveway, she saw Gina Field's vehicle. "You're kidding!" she repeated, still in shock at what was happening. Gina was using Sodapop to get her out of the house. "This is ridiculous."

From outside, Gina honked her horn. "Go!"

Jacquelyn fought the idea of going for another moment. On one hand, she lived here and she shouldn't have to leave because of bad luck. She also didn't really want to spend a night away from Darry. On the other hand, she saw that Gina was trying so hard to give her the full wedding experience, even if they were just going to the court house. And she appreciated that. After thinking everything over, Jacquelyn stood from the couch and started to gather her things.

"You're leaving?" both Darry and Soda asked, the shock in their tone identical.

"Yeah," she replied as she walked down the hall to throw some overnight things into her bag. She had already left her dress and all the things she would need for the wedding day at Gina's place, so she just needed an overnight bag.

"I didn't think that it would be that easy," she heard Soda say to his brother.

"She's full of surprises," she heard Darry answer.

Unable to decide if she should be offended or not, Jacquelyn shouldered her bag and started out of the bedroom just as she did she heard the front door swing open and shut again. With an irritated sigh, she called to the front of the house. "Fields, calm down. I'm coming, alright?"

"I think that it's you that needs to calm down," the voice answered, and it wasn't one that belonged to Gina.

Jacquelyn looked up quickly, completely caught off guard. "Tim," she said after a moment of looking at the young man before her. It had been a while since she had seen Tim. Sometime during the middle of her senior year, when she'd gone to his house to get Dally after a rumble. While Tim Shepard was a Greaser, their circles didn't run close at all. She'd only met Tim through Dallas Winston. He was greasier than she preferred. "Sorry, I thought that you were someone else."

"Clearly."

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Jacquelyn asked.

"Getting married tomorrow, right?" he posed. To that Jacquelyn nodded and readjusted her bag on her shoulder. "And the kid is shipping out soon?"

"Next Sunday," Soda answered through gritted teeth.

"I just wanted to wish my best, to you both," Tim said awkwardly. Tim was never the one to express any feelings to anyone. So to hear him just out and say that was very uncharacteristic of him. However, maybe losing Soda to the draft had a bigger effect on the Greaser community than she'd thought, even the greasiest of them.

She took three steps towards Tim Shepard, the tough Greaser, and hugged him. She felt every muscle in Tim's body tense as she did. She was sure he glanced in Darry's direction to see if this was okay. He didn't even relax when he patted her on the back. After a moment, Jacquelyn released him and stepped back, a lopsided smile on her lips that would have put Soda's to shame. "Thank you, Tim," she told him. "There's a get together here after if you wanna come. You are more than welcome."

Surprise flicked through his eyes. He more than welcome. He hadn't been more than welcome anywhere, ever. Tim shook his head. "No. It, uh, wouldn't be the same..." Tim stopped talking immediately, realizing what he was about to say. It was true what they said about Jacquelyn Ross, he thought to himself. She makes you want to talk to her. Tim took a step back and turned towards the door. "Yeah, well, just be safe kid," Tim told Soda, trying to regain his cool appearance.

Soda grunted in acceptance.

"I miss him too, Tim," Jacquelyn voiced as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder. I miss Dallas too, Tim.

Tim's hand froze over the door handle and he inhaled audibly. "You're a sharp broad, aren't you?" he questioned as he pushed the door open, popped his collar and walked off the porch.

As if nothing had happened, she leaned over the kiss Darry, who was looking at her as if she had two heads. "What?"

"Why did you - ?"

"Everyone needs a hug sometimes," Jacquelyn told him as she adjusted her bag and walked towards the door. "I'll see you both tomorrow," she commented as she grabbed her shoes and opened the door. "Bye!"

After she left, Soda stood watching the spot where she'd been standing. It took him a while to formulate what he wanted to say. "She's -"

"I told you, she's full of surprises," Darry repeated before opening the playbook again.

"She just gets people. She just knows. She and Tim were having their own separate conversation just now, weren't they?" Soda asked as he looked over at his brother. "We heard one thing but they were talking about something else."

"Something like that," Darry agreed.

Soda was quiet again, looking down at his shoes. "She reminds me of mom."

Darry stopped flipping through the pages of the playbook and turned his eyes to his brother. Jacquelyn reminded him of mom? Darry chuckled and closed the book all together. "She doesn't, doesn't she?" he agreed as he let his attention fall on the television set.