Toby woke up to find Mommy and Daddy not in the bed with him. He got out of bed and went to look at his baby sister, but she wasn't there either. He walked out of the bedroom and into the living room, noticing Soda and Pony sitting on the couch, Ana on her mommy's lap.
Toby felt a tinge of jealousy and ran over to his mommy. Pony smiled and picked his son up.
"My mommy." The toddler said to his baby sister. Soda laughed, taking Toby from his mom. Toby tried wriggling out of his daddy's grasp.
He grabbed his sister and handed her to their daddy, then crawled onto their mommy's lap. Pony couldn't help but smile at his son.
Darry walked in through the door. "Guess what, boys?" He said happily. Pony and Soda looked at each other.
"I found you guys a house." Darry said with a smile. Pony and Soda looked at Darry and smiled.
"Really? Is it big? Does it have a swimming pool?" Soda asked excitedly. Darry shook his head.
"It ain't big, but it does have a swimming pool." He answered.
"Won't that be dangerous for the kids?" Pony asked worriedly. Darry shook his head again.
"It's got a fence around it, so you won't have to worry 'bout one of 'em possibly drownin'." The eldest brother answered.
Pony's worry faded away and turned into joy. Toby looked up at his uncle, confused.
"Where we going?" He asked. Darry looked down and smiled at his nephew.
"Toby, you, Mommy, Daddy and the baby are leavin' this home and goin' to a new one." He answered the toddler.
Toby crossed his arms and pouted. "I don't want to leave!" He protested. Darry looked at his brothers, cocking an eyebrow.
They both shrugged and Ponyboy picked up his baby. Soda went and grabbed the suitcases, taking them out to the car and putting them in the trunk. Ana squirmed in his arms as he did all this. She wasn't too fond of change.
"Ana, we'll be okay, sweetheart." Soda comforted her. She looked up at Daddy and then all around the outdoors. She looked at a bird as it flew overhead.
Soda smiled at his daughter and finished up with the last suitcase. He then shut the trunk and walked back inside.
"Can I hold the little one?" Darry asked, referring to the baby in Soda's arms. Soda smiled and handed Ana to her uncle. Ana cooed and wriggled in Darry's strong hands, getting comfortable quite quickly. Darry smiled wide and held his niece close.
"I'm gonna miss you guys." He said sadly.
"Then don't make us leave." Toby stated. Darry laughed a bit at that.
"I wish you guys could stay, but I can't sleep with your little sis here screamin' at all hours o' the night."
"Then get rid of her…" Toby said, still jealous of her. Soda laughed.
"We can't, Toby, she's part o' the family. And besides, you'd miss 'er too much to get rid o' her."
"That's not true!" Toby pointed out. Soda laughed again. Pretty soon, Pony came out and got in the car.
Ponyboy couldn't believe he was leaving home. The same home Mom and Dad lived in… where our family started…
Soda got the kids in and started up the car.
"Wait, Soda!" Pony suddenly exclaimed. Soda looked at his lover, cocking an eyebrow. Pony got out of the car and rushed back inside the house, running straight into Darry's arms.
"I'll keep her quiet. You'll never hear her. Don't make us leave." Ponyboy cried into his older brother's chest. "Please let us stay." He cried.
Darry held his baby brother close to him, letting a few tears slip out of his eyes. "You really wanna stay?"
"Yes… I-I don't wanna leave…"
Darry rubbed his baby brother's back; he started crying along with the small boy. Pretty soon, Soda came in.
"C'mon, Pony, we need to get goin'." He said.
"I'm not leavin'." Pony said, gripping onto his eldest brother. Soda sighed.
"So I basically packed up all our suitcases in the trunk and got the kids in the car for nothin'. Thanks, Ponyboy." He snapped, going back to the car.
Ponyboy looked up at Darry, who was still crying a little. "He'll get over it." Darry said.
Toby got out of the car and waddled up to his mommy and uncle. "We not moving?" He asked, cocking his head to the side a bit.
"Nope." Darry said. A smile spread across Pony's lips hearing Darry say this. Soda walked in with two suitcases, tossing them back in the room. He went and got the last suitcase, still frustrated with not moving into their own home. Finally, he walked in with Ana, taking her out of the carseat and putting her back in the crib.
Pony pulled away from his older brother's arms. He walked over to his aggravated lover and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm sorry… but I can't leave this house." He said.
Soda sighed. "Why'd you suddenly decide to stay? Why put Darry and me through all that trouble only to decide at the last minute to stay, huh?"
"I thought of all the fun times we had with Mom and Dad." Pony mumbled while choking back tears.
Soda ran a hand through his hair. Memories of their mother and father immediately ran through his head. He teared up a bit.
"I can't leave." Pony said as he started to cry. Soda held his lover close to him and immediately started to cry along with him.
"Then why didn't you just say that when Darry told us that we had to move out?" He whispered.
"I didn't think it would bother me this much." Pony cried. Soda sniffled and then wiped his tears away.
"So we're stayin'? No new house? No pool?" He asked jokingly, forcing a smile.
"Yes, we're stayin'." Ponyboy said with a smile. Sodapop frowned a bit, but soon plastered the smile back on quickly. They soon heard the door open a bit. Ponyboy looked towards the door and saw his tiny son standing there.
"Hey, sweetheart." He said softly. Toby crawled onto the bed and started to tug at his mom and dad's shirts, trying to pull them off the bed.
"I wanna go to the new home now, Mama! I no wanna stay!" He exclaimed.
"Why d'you wanna leave now?" Pony asked.
"Cuz this home's too small for us. New house be bigger." Toby said, making Soda laugh a bit.
"We're not leavin', Toby…" Pony said slowly. Toby pouted and crossed his arms.
Ponyboy picked up a picture book that was so full, it had pictures falling out of it. "Toby c'mere." He said slowly. Toby crawled over to his mommy and sat in his lap.
Soda went to check on Ana, closing the door behind him.
Ponyboy opened the picture book, showing a picture of his mom and dad. "This is your grandma and grandpa." Toby lightly touched the picture.
"Grandma and Grandpa?" He questioned. His mom nodded.
"Grandma and Grandpa lived here. They raised me, Daddy, and uncle in this house…" Pony said slowly.
"That why you no wanna leave, Mama?" The little toddler asked.
Ponyboy smiled and nodded. "Yeah, baby." He said, kissing the toddler's cheek. Soda walked back in.
"Daddy!" Toby said excitedly, running to the edge of the bed and reaching his arms up.
Soda chuckled slightly and picked up the doll. "Hey there, baby."
"Mama show me picture of Grandma and Grandpa." Toby said. "That why Mama no wanna leave to new home."
"Aren't they beautiful?" Soda asked, remembering his parents. The little toddler nodded in response. Pony smiled and teared up, but he quickly blinked them away.
"Can I see that picture album?" Soda asked. Pony nodded and handed the book over. Soda set Toby down and walked out of the room with the photo album in hand. He walked into the living room and sat down with it. Flipping a couple of pages over, he looked at one pic of Darry, not even a few hours old, in their mom's arms, swaddled in a blanket. He smiled and then looked at the next photo of Darry and their dad. He couldn't help but notice how much Darry looked like Dad. He was the spitting image of him now.
He flipped the page over and looked at the photograph of their mother and father. Darry was in the photo, he looked to be about 3 or 4.
Their mother's stomach was a little big; she was probably about 2 or 3 months pregnant at the time. He smiled as the photo of his mother reminded him of Ponyboy when he was pregnant. He then looked at the next photo of his mom holding a newborn baby, noticing there was a little caption written at the bottom. 'Welcome to the world, Sodapop,' it read.
Soda had had a small smile on his face; now he had a huge grin spread across his face. "That's me." He mumbled to himself. He flipped to the next page, showing Darry and himself in front of a birthday cake. 'Soda's first birthday!' The caption read.
Soda decided in that moment that he was going to do all this with Ana and Toby. He walked back into the room and set the photo album back in the drawer. Ponyboy saw small tears in his lover's eyes and smiled, knowing they were tears of happiness.
"We ain't movin', but we are gonna create our own photo album." Soda declared.
"Wait, what?" Pony asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"We're makin' a photo album like Mom and Dad did for us." Soda stated with a smile.
Ponyboy looked at Soda, thinking he was just messing around. He gave him a 'you've-gotta-be-kidding-me' look. Soda beamed and that's when Pony knew that he was serious.