(Lost glances up sleepily from her messy computer desk and blanches slightly at the sight of the audience.)

Lost: Hi, sorry, (yawn) this chapter is late. It took longer than I thought to type up. Explinations at the bottom again.

Ivy: Where did the gang go?

Lost: Vacation for another couple of chapter I think. This part is too much for them.

Ivy: (put) I want a vacation!

Lost: Later! I don't own aything but Jo, her family, and any greasers/socs not named in the book.

(Lost disappears as the story comes into view)

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"You're shitting me." Dally stated.

"No I'm not. I've already decided on this town. Why wouldn't I? You guys are here. Also, this will get Johnny and Steve away from their dads and there would be less of a chance of you three being split up – not that I'm doubting or anything. I know of a house in Greaser territory by the park. It has 4 bedrooms and a finished basement we can turn into another bedroom. Darry can have one to himself, I can share with Johnny – we'll get 2 twin sized beds, Pony and Soda cand share another, and Steve can have the last one with an extra bed for Two-Bit or Dally and the basement for anyone who needs a place to crash. There's a stairwell and door that leads into the basement so if everyone's asleep, they won't be disturbed."

"What about bathrooms?" Johnny asked.

"Well, there's a half-bath downstairs naturally, a full one in the basement and 3 upstairs – two attached to rooms and one in the hall. I figured Pony and Soda gets one attached, Johnny and I get the other one, and Steve and Darry can share the one in the hall. If no one's crashing we can use the one in the basement, too."

No one spoke for a few minutes and I began to get worried that I stepped my boundaries. "You guys don't have to do this, it was just a thought and I didn't mean to offend you or anything. I only wan-" I was cut of mid-rabble by Pony clamping his hand on my mouth.

"Jo, shut up and let us think. I personally think this is a great idea. We'd have to talk to our social worker and make sure this won't hurt us but, I'm all for it."

"Let's go look at the house at least." Soda added.

"Okay." Darry said.

"Ewww!" Pony suddenly shouted, jumping up. "Jo, that's disgusting!" I sat and looked around innocently.

"What did I do?"

"You licked my hand, that's what! Ya coulda just moved my hand." I pouted.

"That's no fun!" I replied. Laughter rang out until we heard a shout from the door. I got up to see what was going on and found part of Tim's gang, Curly included, bloody and beaten.

"Shit!" I shouted, "Two-bit, Pony, Pup! Bandages and damp towels now! Darry, Steve, Soda, help the guys in and comfortable! Dally, go find Tim and Burmly – I have a bad feeling about this."

The boys quickly set to work. Along with Curly was three other boys of High School age or a little older. I couldn't tell how badly they were hurt yet as they were completely covered in dirt and blood. No one appeared to have broken anything and for that I was grateful. The three boys were sitting tiredly while Curly looked ready to pass out. I went to him quickly as the boys put the required items next to each injured one.

"Okay Curly, you gotta tell me what happened for me to help ya."

"Socs, they suddenly came, two car loads. We tried to scare them off with knifes and bottles but, they were to many. We played possum and they soon left us alone. If we had kept fighting they woulda killed us. They left a warning though." Curly stopped to cry out in pain before continuing. "They, they said we had to watch our backs more and that they were after Jo and Johnny 'cause of Bob."

I paused socked for a second before continuing my work. I was numb at the thought of the Socs hunting me and Johnny down. The next two hours appeared to stretch on forever with tension in the air. I had just finished tying off the last bandage on Ryan when Tim, Burmly, and Dally ran in.

"What the hell happened!" Tim shouted as he looked his brother and gang over.

"They're after us." I stated softly though everyone heard. "They want revenge. They want to get Johnny for murderin' Bob and me for not stopping him. They want to get us for the one night. They want to get me for being a traitor. They, they want to kill us." I was slightly hysterical by the end of it and was lost in my thoughts.

"Jo," Pony said softly, kneeling in front of where I sat on the floor. "Jo, look at me. Come on, you gotta calm down. Just breath and let us handle it, we won't let you down. Come on and focus now." I slowly shifted from my thoughts to Ponyboy's whispers.

"Oh, Pony." I sobbed out, "I, I should have done something, anything. It's my fault he's dead for not doing something! I,I…." Here I trailed off as Pony pulled me into a hug whispering reassuring words as Johnny put his hands on my shoulders.

"What are we gonna do?" Johnny asked the older boys.

"Simple, Good King Johnnycake, you enlist us brave and courageous knights to guard you and the beautiful kind lady, Princess Josephine!" Two-bit joked.

"Two-Bit!" Everyone groaned as I laughed softly.

"Thanks, Two-Bit, you always know when we need a laugh. Unfortunately, you're right, we're not going to survive long on our own or together. They outnumber us at every turn with a lot of us in the reformatory or prison. That means that we need to keep a low profile now, (coughDallycough) got it?" I stated

Positive agreements, along with some grumbles, came from every corner. "All right," said Darry, taking charge. "We need to set up some plans of how to counteract them now. For the moment, neither of you two are leaving this house. Jo, you can't anyway because of these guys and Johnny, you may as well stay and help her to easily guard you guys." We nodded our heads in response. "It's summer, so we don't have to worry about school. Steve, Soda, and I gotta work all day. Two-Bit, Dally, if one of you guys could be with them at all times, I think we're good for now."

Everyone nodded their heads. The elder members of our gang, Tim, and Burmly headed into the kitchen as Pony, Johnny, and I grabbed blankets and pillows for Curly, Kurt, Billy, and Ryan. The three of us then entered the meeting.

"Burmly and I will warn our gangs have the loners hook up with one of the three gangs to keep track of anyone going missing. The Socs could pick them off one by one and we wouldn't know until it's too late and they outnumber us even more. No one is to go out alone." Tim stated.

"Depending on what happens from now until the boys are healed will decided if it's safe enough to let you outta the house. Someone will still be with you at all times unless you're at home, Jo. If we take you there don't leave the house until someone comes back." Dally told us.

We nodded our heads and Two-Bit yawned loudly. "Pony, you, Johnny, and Jo go crash in our room. I'll be in when we're done." Soda ordered. We nodded again and collapsed onto the bed. We stared at the ceiling for a while, basking in the safety we felt with each other before falling to sleep.

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(Lost bounces back into the room as the projected story disappears and cowers at the audience's glares)

Lost: Eep! I'm really sorry! I had to have them get hurt! It works for the story, trust me. Plus, we got a little Jo/Pony action too!

Ivy: Like anyone really cares about that at all.

Lost: Of course they care!

Ivy: Then how come Rugrats101 was the only one to review last chapter and Softballchicka dreowa the chapter before?

Lost: Because everyone else was busy or too in awe of my writing skills. Never mind, I'm just gonna go start the next chapter.

(Lost turns to her messy desks sighs and mutters 'They better appreciate this. I haven't talked to me friends in a week because of this.')