~Kate~

I think Ryann's story shocked a few years off my life. I am ok with Soda doing things, but Pony will always be a kid in my mind.

Ryann is trying not to laugh.

"Ok wow." I say. "I will never again look at Ponyboy the same way."

"Hey, you asked." Ryann says dissolving into laughter. "Oh, that was mild compared to that one time….."

I hold my hand up. "No, no, no, I've heard enough. Thank you." It only makes it worse when the boys come home. The three of them come up the steps and both Ry and Jilly lose it, cracking up.

"What, am I missing something?" Darry asks looking at us like we are all sporting an extra limb or something.

I shake my head. "Nothing honey."

"From the look of those two we're missing out on something pretty steamy." This makes Ryann and Jill laugh even harder. I change the subject,

"You guys have been gone a while do anything fun?"

Soda shrugs. "You know… stuff."

I'm not sure I like how vague he's being. "Stuff as in…." I press.

"Drove around, went to the cemetery, had lunch, got tattoos, came home." He says nonchalantly, "Nothing special." He turns to go in the house.

"You what?" I ask finally getting what he said.

"Huh?" Soda says innocently. He gives me the smile and the eyes.

"Oh no that is not going to work on me, mister. You did not go out and get tattoos." I look at Ponyboy and Darry.

"It was his idea." Darry says pointing at Soda. Somehow I'm not surprised, Jilly wasn't kidding when she said Soda knows how to manipulate people. Worst part is that half the time I'm not sure he even knows he's doing it. It comes naturally to him.

"If it was his idea to jump into the Mississippi River would you two do it?"

Pony shrugs. "Depends is the water cold?"

I smack him on the arm. "Don't be a smart ass." He grins at me. "Well…..let's see them."

"I have to take my shirt off." Darry says.

"That's fine." Jilly and Ry say together, they look at each other and start laughing again.

"Don't mind those two, I think they are still jetlagged." I say. "Get on with it."

"I am not stripping in the front yard." Darry replies.

"C'mon Dare I'm sure your neighbors won't mind." Soda replies, nodding towards the house across the street – the Nelsons. They have a teenage daughter and we noticed her and her friend are gawking at the house. I can only imagine how much they heard of our conversation. Soda grins. "Alright. I'll go first." then pulls his shirt off, giving the girls across the street a wink. He always was one for an audience.

We all inspect his arm, he couldn't have picked anything better to symbolize his relationship with Jillian, and by the way she kissed him she felt the same way.

"Oh, what the hell." Darry took off his jacket and pulled off his shirt. I have to admit what Darry got was very sweet and it totally rang true of our relationship.

"Ahem…." I say to Pony who is leaning against the railing his arms crossed over his chest.

"Your turn, Studly." Jilly grinned.

He grumbles a bit before pulling his shirt off. I think we are all expecting Ryann to be angry; she is the epitome of prim and proper. I can't imagine her ever dating a guy with a tattoo, let alone be married to one. I lean forward reading aloud the three lines he got tattooed.

'You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.'

"Ohh, that's so romantic." It sounds vaguely familiar but I'm not positive. I can tell Ry knows when I hear her gasp behind me.

"Oh my god." She says softly standing up. He turns around at the same time she gets to him, wrapping her up in his arms. The way they are looking at each other makes me think we should probably give them some time alone.

"Care to enlighten us?" Darry asked.

"It's from Pride & Prejudice." Pony explained. "Ry had to read it in college and we both liked the phrase so we had it split into three sentences and engraved into our rings."

"I love that book." I gushed. "That's so perfect."

"That's deep, little brother." Darry teased.

I can't resist but to tease them.

"You two stay away from my kitchen counters."

Pony looks at me his face flushing pink. "Ryann Charlotte Curtis you seriously did not tell them about that?"

She shrugs and gives me a sheepish grin.

"Don't worry Kate they aren't big enough." Jilly starts laughing.

Soda and Darry just look lost. "Clearly we missed something." Soda muttered to Darry.

"I don't want to know." Darry shook his head then turned to his brothers. "Oh, before you two get comfortable doing whatever, I have a box for both of you in the basement with your old junk in it. You need to go through it and if you don't want it throw it out." He turns to go in the house and everyone follows.

~Soda~

Darry led Pony and me to the basement. He'd been trying to get it finished to add some room for the kids to play but has been too busy lately to get at it.

"If we could stay longer, Pony and I could help."

"Speak for yourself." Pony began "You guys are the handymen. I'm the bookworm. I'm lucky to be able to hang a picture."

"Aww, come on, Pony. Women love a man with a tool belt and no shirt." I informed him. "Darry should know, huh, Dare?"

"Yeah, and you can go from countertop to workbench." Darry grinned and winked. The girls told us what the big joke was about. Normally, Darry would leave it alone but he couldn't resist anymore than I could.

"Oh not you guys too." Pony moaned in frustration. "Could we drop it please?"

"Ok ok." Soda agreed. "Where are the boxes, Darry?"

He pointed to the area on the other side of the stairs.

"I can't believe you didn't throw this stuff out, Dare." I stated as I peered into the box with my name on it.

"Wasn't my place. I figured you'd come back and look for it, eventually." He told us then was called upstairs to take a call.

The first thing I pulled out of the box was my old DX work shirt. Man, that brought back so many memories. I picked up so many chicks in this shirt. Met Sandy while wearing this shirt – trash, keeping the hat, which I put on my head. The next thing I pulled out of the box was a book I had to read in school and it was my favorite. "The Red Badge of Courage". Great. Just what I need, a reminder.

"Good book." Pony stated he then realized. "Sorry, Soda."

"It's ok. I don't regret it anymore. I miss you guys but I'm happy in Canada, with Jillian. She's the best thing that ever happened to me."

"It's quite obvious that you're in love with her." Pony grinned.

"Oh yeah. From the moment I met her. I knew she was the woman I was going to marry." I told him. "She was only 17 at the time and I was 20..but…"

"Cradle robber." Pony teased.

"I just know a good thing when I see it." I grinned then threw some old papers in the trash. "Apparently you and Darry do too."

"Yeah..." Pony agreed though he was focused on the copy of Gone With the Wind he was holding. Then he pulled out a composition book and thumbed through it.

"What's that?"

"It's um…the essay I wrote…about us, the gang. Everything that happened the week that…"

"Oh wow. I forgot about that."

Ponyboy walked over to the steps and sat down.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah." He poised to ask me something. "Soda, did you ever tell Jillian about what happened 15 years ago."

I sighed. "Well, I told her what I knew. The highlights. Stuff I though was relevant to tell her."

"How did she react?"

I shrugged. "She was cool about it. It was the same time I told her my real name and where I was from..."

"She wasn't upset?"

"Well, I think she was a little hurt but she understood why I couldn't tell her."

"I wish I knew how Ryann would react, for all I know she'll flip and we'll be heading for divorce court."

"Pony, come on. Ryann's great. You're not giving her enough credit." I paused. "She's not a child, she's your wife. Trust her."

"No secrets."

Soda raised his brows. "You know what to do."

"Yeah." Pony flipped through the pages of that notebook once more. "I just found out how I can tell Ryann about my past. It's all in here."

Soda placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. Just as Kate called us up for dinner. "Come on, Studly." I laughed and headed up the stairs, stepping over my kid brother.

"I am SO gonna kill you for that!"