XXXXXXXX

The stab wound had been bad, but in the end it wasn't anything a doctor couldn't fix up with stitches. While Darry was being taken care of by the doctor, Sodapop and Ponyboy waited outside of the emergency room as the youngest Curtis brother badly needed a cigarette due to the fact that he couldn't stop shaking. However, the cigarette was doing little to calm his nerves due to the fact that Sodapop wouldn't stop badgering him.

"I can't believe you got yourself involved in this," Soda hissed. "What in the world were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry, Soda," Ponyboy responded, quite miserably due to the guilt he felt about Darry's injury. "I don't know what else to say."

Soda sighed as he shook his head.

"Come on, let's go back inside."

Finishing the smoke, Pony managed to relax just a little and followed his brother back in the hospital. They took a seat next to each other and continued to wait for the doctor to finish up.

"I still can't believe it," Soda said, yet again, while shaking his head which caused Ponyboy to roll his eyes this time.

"Soda, don't you think you're making too much of a big deal about this?"

Soda snapped his head over to give Pony a look of disbelief.

"No, I don't."

"Soda-"

"How much do you know about bridge wars? I mean, did anyone ever tell you why it stopped happening in the first place?"

Pony thought hard about that for a few moments before answering.

"Yeah…Curly told me some kid got hurt pretty bad. Is that right?"

Soda nodded.

"Yeah. It was Darry who did it."

That caused Ponyboy bolt right up in his chair.

"What!?" Pony yelled, completely shocked at what he had just heard.

"Shhh."

Hospital workers were now looking in their direction but Pony was oblivious to that as he stared at his brother intently, wanting to know the story.

"Are you really telling me that-"

"It wasn't intentional," Soda sighed heavily as he began to explain. "Look, it was the summer before Darry's senior high school year, his buddy Paul Holden got them both involved in bridge wars."

"Did Darry make it to the end?"

Soda nodded.

"Yeah, and I was there. It was the last fight, Darry knocked this kid off the bridge…I forget his name, but when he landed, his head hit a rock underneath the water. It put him into a coma for three and a half weeks."

"How could you not tell me about this?" Pony asked. At the moment he couldn't help but feel a little hurt at being left out of such a thing. Did they not trust him, or think that he wouldn't understand?

"How could I? You were still pretty young at the time, and Darry and me made a pack to never tell anyone about it. The kid woke up but really didn't remember much about what happened. Bridge wars went away, but man, Darry was racked with guilt. If he had gotten caught he really would have been in a lot of trouble."

Just then, a doctor walked over to them.

"Your brother is fixed up and ready to go."

"Thank you, doctor," Sodapop as he and Ponyboy both got to their feet.

They moved ahead for the room Darry had been placed in but before they could go in, Ponyboy put his hand on Sodapop's arm to stop him.

"Wait, give me a minute. I need to talk to him first."

Although he was a little scared about seeing Darry by himself, he knew he needed to do this. After taking a deep breath, Ponyboy walked in to see Darry sitting on the table. He was finishing putting on his shirt which was now stained with dried blood. The sight overwhelmed the younger teen because he knew this had been his fault. Darry must have picked up on that because he quickly said;

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Darry…I'm sorry. For everything."

"Yeah, me too."

Ponyboy walked closer to the table. When he spoke again, he made sure to keep his voice low.

"Soda told me about what happened. That you were involved in bridge wars a few years ago."

"I was," Darry admitted as he lowered his eyes, seeming ashamed of that. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought you'd be following in my footsteps there, kiddo."

"Did you do it for the money?" Pony questioned.

"I figured I could start saving for college," Darry confirmed, then became curious himself. "What did you want the money for?"

Ponyboy looked down at his feet, now feeling guiltier, if that were even possible.

"I was going to run away."

Darry raised his eyebrows as he just stared at his youngest brother, the disbelief was evident. Ponyboy couldn't meet his stare as he just continued to look down, shoving his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't begin to chew on any nails.

"Are you serious?" Darry finally spoke again, sounding a little angry, "I mean, jeez Pony, I know I hit you and everything but-"

"It wasn't about the hit," Pony interrupted in a quiet voice, "I heard you, Darry."

"You heard me?"

"You said that you thought I'd be better off in a boy's home."

Giving him another look, Darry replied in a low forceful tone;

"I never said that."

"You did. It was the night after our fight, you were talking with Sodapop and said maybe I'd be better off in a boy's home."

Darry cocked his head. At first, he was ready to vehemently deny the accusation yet again but then he really started to think. He knew he had gone to a bar with his work buddies, he knew that he had talked to Sodapop about the fight, but really couldn't recall saying that. But Ponyboy was insistent that he in fact had.

"Pony…I had been drinking that night."

Ponyboy blinked in surprise when he said that. As far as he knew, Darry never drank.

"I really don't remember much about that night, or what I said," Darry continued. "But I never would do that. You've gotta believe me, little buddy."

A small smile then appeared on Ponyboy's face. Darry normally only called Sodapop 'little buddy.' Darry smiled back and right at that moment, finally, an understanding came between the two of them. Pony came forward and threw his arms around Darry's neck, hugging him which Darry returned.

Just then, Sodapop finally walked in and saw the scene taking place. He placed his hands on his hips as he looked on, his eyes becoming glassy as he interrupted;

"Oh, you guys are finally talking. It's funny that it took you two nearly getting killed to do it."

"We didn't nearly get killed, Soda," Darry said easily, hoping to keep his brother calm as he and Pony let go of each other. "We're fine."

"But it could have been worse, it could have been a lot worse!"

"It could have been, but it wasn't." Pony responded, as he could see that Soda was really starting to lose it. "What's with you?"

"What's with me?" Soda questioned in a high pitched voice, almost incredulously. "I can't stand it when you two fight! It's like being in the middle of a damn tug-of-war. When you fight with each other, you're fighting with me too, you know."

Pony's mouth fell open. He had never thought of that. Darry had look of concern of his face as well as they realized what he was saying. Just about any time they fought, they expected Sodapop to take their side.

"I mean, it'd be easier, I guess, if I could take sides, but I can't. I see both sides. I mean, Pony, you need to think a little bit more. Darry could have put us both in foster homes and worked his way through collage. But he didn't, he's given up his whole life so we don't have to be with strangers. You need to remember to appreciate that, it may not make him the king, but gosh, think about that."

He took a deep breath.

"And Darry, you need to try to understand him more, and stop hollering at him for every little thing he does wrong."

Tears welled in his eyes.

"It's bad enough to have to listen to it, but then y'all try to get me to take sides against the other. You can't do that. It ain't fair. And you two don't see that."

Ponyboy felt sick and ashamed. He had made his brother cry, Darry too looked like he felt.

"We're all we've got left," Soda continued, trying to keep his voice steady. "If we don't have each other we don't have anything. So please…please don't fight anymore."

There was a long, silent moment as they took in what was said. Darry got up off the table and put his hand on Soda's shoulder.

"Sure, little buddy. We're not going to fight anymore." Darry then looked back over at Pony. "Okay?"

"Yeah. I promise to try."

Darry nodded solemnly.

"I promise too."

They pulled each other into a bear hug, and right then at that moment, felt more together then they have in a long time.

XXXXXXXX

A week had gone by since the end of bridge wars, but Ponyboy knew he still had some loose ends to tie up. Making sure Dally was by his side, he went over to Buck Merrill's place and gave him back the money he took, the forty dollars plus an additional forty to make up for it.

"I'm sorry Buck," Pony apologized. "Are we cool?"

"Yeah, you live." Buck growled after he took the money and saw that Pony had coughed up some interest to make up for his stealing. "But I don't ever want to see you around here anymore? Got it?"

"Got it."

Breathing a sigh of relief after getting that over with, Ponyboy knew he had one more thing left to do. He had promised Johnny that the two of them would run away. Now that he had worked things out with Darry, running away was the furthest thing on his mind, but he had no idea how to tell his best friend that.

He had gotten Johnny to agree to it, sold him on the idea, how could he tell him that he wasn't going to do it now? Would Johnny run off by himself? And even if he didn't, he still had nothing to go back to.

"Come on kid," Dally said, interrupting his thoughts as they left Buck's place. "Two-Bit and Johnny are going to meet us at the Nightly Double."

"Yeah," Pony muttered as he hopped into Dally's car. "So, have you heard anything about Tim?"

"Na, I wouldn't worry about it. He's pissed off about losing, especially to you, but he ain't gonna try anything. You're pretty much in the clear."

Ponyboy nodded. Although he'd love to see someone cut Tim like he had done to Darry, it was for the best for things to calm down. The last thing they needed was for a war to start up between the two gangs.

"So, I take it you ain't thinkin' of runnin' away anymore," Dally then said, "What'd are you gonna do with the cash?"

"I don't know. Save it for a rainy day, I guess."

Dally snorted as he muttered 'a rainy day' under his breath. Ponyboy smiled as he saw the Nightly Double come into sight. Everything was starting to go back to normal. Sodapop had moved back into their room, Darry and him were getting along better than they had in a long time, it was if-

Ponyboy then blinked as he realized it.

Sodapop's room was empty.