Author's Notes: Okay, sorry about the cliffie...I didn't realize that I'd be threatened with bodily harm. So, here it is, please don't hurt me! Oh, and yes, I went back to PinkPenguin, just because I want my peeps to recognize me!

I don't know what I would do

I'd be lost if I lost you

-Leann Rimes

AJ stretched herself across her bed and rolled over on her back. It was Saturday and she was being completely lazy, lying around in her room with Marnie, who was spending the day and then sleeping over. They were looking at magazines and listening to the Top 40 on the radio.

"Ugh," Marnie sighed when a Temptations song came on. "I'm so not in the mood for love songs right now."

AJ clucked her tongue in sympathy. "Have you even tried to talk to Ponyboy since the other night?" She asked.

Marnie shrugged. They'd basically just been avoiding one another. AJ rolled her eyes; now she knew how all of her and Steve's friends must've felt when they couldn't get their act together.

She rolled over on her stomach, but before she could say anything, Ponyboy had burst through her bedroom door.

"Pony!" She yelled. "What the hell, man?"

"There's been an accident!" He gasped out, his voice coming in short puffs of breath. "Steve, Soda, and Cade are in the hospital."

AJ sat up quickly. "What? What happened?" She demanded.

"There was an explosion or something." He explained. "I don't know, all they told me on the phone was that they were hurt. Two-Bit's waiting outside, he's gonna drive us down there."

AJ and Marnie dressed in a hurry and AJ scribbled a note to Amy, who had spent the night with a friend.

"So you have no idea what actually happened?" AJ asked once she and Marnie were in the back of Two-Bit's car.

"No…" Pony shook his head. "They wouldn't tell me shit on the phone."

Marnie reached down and grabbed AJ's hand. AJ was glad; she felt sort of faint. When they got to the hospital the four of the raced up to the third floor. The first person they saw was Cade, pacing the hallway, half of his face bandaged.

"Oh my God!" AJ cried, rushing up to him. "Cade, are you all right? What happened? Is Steve okay? What about Sodapop?"

Cade held up a hand. "I…I don't know what happened." He told them. "The boss left us a note to shovel the snow out from in front of the gas pumps. When we got out that Soda said he smelled gas and we found out that the valves were loose. I went inside to leave a note…and the next thing I know…the place is going up."

"What about the guys?" Pony asked in a fearful voice.

Cade shrugged. "I dunno…they were both out of it when I pulled them out." He said.

Two-Bit looked at him. "You pulled them out of the fire?" He asked. Cade nodded.

"I…I didn't even think. I just knew that those were my buddies in there and I had to get them out." He told them.

"I'm gonna find a nurse." Pony said. He walked off and came back a few minutes later with a young woman that AJ thought seemed familiar.

"What's happening?" She asked the woman. "Are our friends all right?"

"Sodapop's going to be fine." The nurse said. "His spleen was ruptured and he's in surgery now." She looked at Ponyboy. "Have you called Darry?"

And that was when AJ realized who she was. It was Carlene Adams, Darry's high school girlfriend.

"Yeah, but he's working on a house out in Medesta." Pony said. "It'll take him about forty-five minutes to get here."

"What about Steve?" AJ asked. "How is he?"

"Are you family?" Carlene asked, even though she knew AJ wasn't.

"No…I'm his girlfriend." She answered.

"I'm not supposed to release information to anyone but family members." Carlene said, but they could see she was wavering.

"Have you even been able to get in touch with Leland Randle?" Two-Bit asked gruffly. Carlene shook her head.

"We haven't been able to locate him." She said.

"We're his family." Pony said, indicating to the four of them. "His old man doesn't gave a rats ass about him, we do."

Finally Carlene gave a small smile. "All right." She relented. "For all intent and purposes, you're family." She flipped to the back chart. "Let's see, Steven Randle. Here we are. He's suffered some head trauma and some burns, and his leg is broken."

"What do you mean by head trauma?" AJ asked, gripping Marnie's hand again. "Is it serious?"

"We won't know till he wakes up." Carlene told her. "But you're more than welcome to sit with him. Just…I'm marking you as his sister, AJ."

"All right." AJ nodded. "Thanks, Carlene."

She was grateful; she knew that Carlene could lose her job for making false statements.

She went into Steve's room alone and when she saw him in the bed, she began to cry. His left arm was burnt and wrapped in bandages. His head was also wrapped up and there was a tube in his nose. His right leg was set and up in a sling.

AJ made her way over to the side of his bed and sat down. "Hi, baby." She whispered. "It'll be okay, I promise."

Out in the hallway, Pony had sat down on a bench, with Two-Bit on one side and Marnie on the other. He glanced at the wall clock, it had been nearly an hour, where was Darry?

Cade had already been released, his wife, who was due any day with their second child, had come to get him. Soda was still in surgery.

Marnie was sitting beside Ponyboy and she longed to reach out and touch his hand to reassure him, but she was scared to. He was angry with her and she knew that his brother being hurt didn't change that.

Pony was thinking similar thoughts beside her. He wished he had just asked her out instead of pretending to like other girls. Now he had missed his chance. He was feeling slightly guilty for thinking these thoughts when his brother was having his spleen removed and his buddy was lying unconscious across the hall. He saw a familiar shadow fall in the hallway and he jumped up.

"Darry!" He said, rushing to his eldest brother. They held each other for a second.

"Hey, now, Pony, it'll be all right." Darry reassured him, patting his back. He looked over Pony's head to see Carlene, the girl he had once been so in love with. "How's Soda?" He asked.

"He's still in surgery." She told him, pushing some of her red hair away from her face. "But he'll pull through it just fine. I hope neither of these boys was planning to enlist, because the military won't take either of them now."

Pony felt a rush of happiness. Now his worries about his brother being drafted could be laid to rest.

"No, neither of them were." Darry told her. "What about Steve? How is he?"

"We won't know anything till he wakes up." Carlene admitted. "AJ is with him now, but we still haven't been able to locate his father."

Darry snorted. "Imagine that." He muttered. "Carlene, what the hell happened? There was an explosion?"

Carlene nodded. "After the fire crews got the fire out, they found the remains of a Molotov bomb."

Darry felt his face pale. "What? Someone did this…on purpose?"

She nodded. "Seems like."

Darry shook his head and sat down hard on the bench. "Who would do this?" He asked.

They were there for several hours. A couple of times, Ms. Nora came by to check on them, making sure they were eating and reminded Marnie to call her mother and tell her where she was. Once Soda was out of surgery, they put him in the same room as Steve, to let him sleep of the sedatives.

"Once he wakes up, he'll be moved." Carlene explained. Darry sighed again.

"What is it?" She asked. He shook his head.

"I just don't know how we're gonna pay for this." He told her. "We're barely getting by as it is."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Carlene told him. "The DX Company is taking care of all three of their bills."

"What?" Darry was glad, it was one less worry from his mind, but he was curious as to why. "Why?"

"Well, one of the fire fighters found the note that Mr. Kincade had left about the gas valves being loose. That's the company's job, to keep up with stuff like that. If they didn't pay all the medical bills, you, the Randle's, and the Kincade's would all have grounds for a lawsuit."

"Oh." Darry nodded. "Makes sense."

"Of course," Carlene continued. "The real person at fault is who ever threw that bomb. Once we find out who that was, we'll have the real culprit."

Darry sighed. "I think I have a pretty good idea who it was." He said. "But I guess we'll have to wait for the boys to wake up to tell us."