Warning: Short, segue way chapter…but hopefully you all can enjoy!

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"Today is gonna be the day

That they're gonna throw it back to you

By now you should've somehow

Realized what you gotta do

I don't believe that anybody

Feels the way I do about you now

Backbeat the word was on the street

That the fire in your heart is out

I'm sure you've heard it all before

But you never really had a doubt

I don't believe that anybody feels

The way I do about you now"

-Oasis

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Ponyboy's POV

I jerked my car alongside the curb, the right front tire rolling up on the grass, blocking the fire hydrant. At the exact same moment that I was pulling in, so was Shakes.

He rolled out of his car lazily. "Hey man."

Slamming my car door shut as hard as I could, I pounded up to the house. Shakes frowned and hurried to catch up with me. "Whoa, Pone. Where's the fire."

I smirked at him and stopped dead in my tracks. "I saw him again."

Shakes seemed puzzled. He scratched his head. "Who?"

I raised an eyebrow and waited.

It took him a moment but he got it. "Oh shit! Pone!" he nearly yelled, his eyes wide. "What'd you do? Track him down in his cell?" He lowered his voice cautiously and looked at me from the corner of his eyes. "You weren't going to finish the job were you?"

"You're an idiot," I laughed. "Geez Shakes. Give me some credit." And then I explained to him what had happened at the hospital.

"Hmm. Explains that." Shakes nodded his head at my chaotically parked car. "He didn't get to you too bad did he?"

"No," I said. "I think I got to him."

We stared at each other; each of us unsure of what to say to the other when the front door opened and Darry stepped out, Dana behind him. She flitted a wave at me and smiled sympathetically.

"Ponyboy Curtis!" Darry hollered at us as we walked up to the house. "Who taught you how to drive? Two-Bit?" Darry frowned and pointed at my truck.

I raised an eyebrow and smirked at Shakes. "Well actually he did…" Then feeling reckless, I opened my mouth wider, prepared to shout the news to Darry.

Shakes put a hand out, stopping me. "Don't man. He doesn't need the grief." Snapping my mouth shut I nodded in agreement. It was rare form when Shakes took Darry's side.

"So. You're ok?" Shakes asked in a low voice, referring to Slim.

Darry, suddenly noticing that I had returned from the hospital, lowered his voice an octave as I approached. "How was...," he hesitated, "the hospital?"

I smiled up at him. "Fine Darry. Mr. Reynolds. He's going to be ok."

The tension left Darry's shoulders and he gently clapped me on the back. "Good Ponboy. That's real good."

XXXX

A few days later the doorbell rang. I thought I would have a heart attack on the spot. It was Karen Nichols.

She stood there, looking as if she had never seen me before. "You're only 17?" was all she said.

I died right there. I couldn't say anything; my voice was gone.

"Pone?" Two-Bit queried, coming up behind me. Two-Bit, Steve and I had been busy trying to short-sheet Darry's bed. Summer boredom had occured.

Startled back into the moment, I jumped and sputtered, "Two-Bit it's nothing. Go away. Please," I added emphatically as he stared at Karen. Sidestepping Two-Bit, I left the house, drawing the door shut behind me. "We can talk here," I told her, gesturing to the porch.

"Fine." She nodded briskly and pulled some newspaper clippings from her purse. "I saw you on the news a week ago. And then I remembered where I knew you from."

There was no need for me to take the articles but I did. They were the clippings from after I had gotten back from Windrixville. Rock solid and heart-breaking proofs of the past.

Karen leaned against our door and brushed her limp brown hair from her eyes. "How could you have went to Viet-…" she amended her statement, not being able to bear the words, "…over there when you were…what 15? 16?" Her calm voice was now shrilly.

Shifting uncomfortably, I gave her back the old clippings. "Mrs. Nichols, can I just tell you…I did what I had to do?"

She wasn't a mother any more. She was a scorned, bitter woman. Karen's eyes blazed and she snorted, "Real noble."

I bit my lip and stared past her into the setting sun. It was a brilliant blood orange. I tried to imagine my mother acting like this, like a child. But I couldn't. Instead I dropped my head, wishing Soda were here to help me out.

"You're not going to tell anyone are you?" My voice was strained as my mind whirled with the possible consequences of this becoming known...

Please? my mind added as a pathetic afterthought.

Karen fingered the clippings. "No," she said without conviction. "What difference would it make?" I stared at her with doubt. She still looked undecided.

Two-Bit chose that moment to peer through the blinds and make faces at me. I shook my head minutely and he popped them shut. He saw my pale face and got the point.

Stuffing the clippings back into her purse, Karen turned to leave. She made it down one step and then turned back to me, ripping out a clipping and holding it up to me. It was a picture of Bob. "You killed that boy."

I blanched. But Johnny wasn't here to take the fall; he wasn't here to defend himself. So I took it. "Yes."

"Yes. You did." She nodded, pleased with my confession. "You and your friends. You should be ashamed." Karen shook her head heatedly. "When I think that my son died over there and you little…Greaser came back fine. It-you disgust me."

"Lady," Two-Bit's furious voice floated out behind me, "get back into your Mustang. And drive away. Real fast."

Startled, Karen snapped her mouth shut and bolted for her car.

"Two-Bit," I said wearily as I watched her speed away, "you do have a way with women."

"What can I say kid? It took me a while, but I finally got my moves down pat." He stood by my side and waited. "So. What'd Super Bitch want?"

I was too exhausted to laugh. Instead, I ignored him and took a seat on the porch steps. "Hey Two-Bit, I never told you…it's fine for you to drink beer again."

Sinking down beside me, Two-Bit seemed embarrassed and sad all at the same time. "Caught on to that did you?"

I smiled at him. "Well, you don't pray, so I figured you'd stop worshipping false idols for a while in return for penance."

He grinned back at me and laughed, a coarse, hard laugh. "For once you're wrong kid. I do know how to pray." Then his gray eyes met my green ones, no eyebrows raised. "Hell, you're living proof."

We stopped looking at each other and watched the setting sun. Soon it would be night and I would dream again. I pulled out the bottle of aspirin Shakes had given me earlier and rolled it between my hands. With all the headaches I was getting I'd be a fool to leave the house without it.

"I may be in big trouble Two-Bit."

He scoffed. "You? Never."

When I didn't contradict him he added in a soft voice, "Can I do anything?"

"It's already done," I told him.

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