Disclaimer: We still don't own The Outsiders. We don't own "Believe Me" by Fort Minor either.

I guess that this is where we've come to,
If you don't want to,
Then you don't have to believe me.

"Whitey at 17th and Prospect."

Tim grinned down at her. He was in the best mood he had been in days. "Good goin', kid."

Ellie glared at him. "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to take care of it," he said simply.

"By beating Curly to a pulp again?" she accused.

"I do what I have to do, you know that," he replied.

"He looks up to you," she offered.

"Well, he's not going to be looking at anybody for a few weeks after I catch him red-handed, scoring drugs off a rival gang, especially one run by Will fuckin' Bridges," he said. "On my turf."

Ellie crossed her arms angrily and leaned back in the passenger seat of Tim's Bel Air. They were sitting outside of Jay's, drinking Cokes and eating from a platter of fries. Suddenly, she wasn't all that hungry.

Tim read her body language immediately and tossed down the fry he was about to eat.

"Christ, El, what the hell do you want from me?" he demanded.

She opened her mouth to answer but he cut her off. It was clearly only a rhetorical question. He didn't give a shit what she wanted.

"You always seem to forget that I'm running a gang here," he snapped. "A business, for chrissakes."

"A business? You're eighteen and a high school dropout. What do you know about running a business? A gang isn't a business. It's what you do 'cause you don't know how to do anything else but start trouble," she blasted.

"Yeah? That's better than the only thing you know how to do which is lie on your back," he returned, coldly.

All she could do was stare at him. He'd never said anything like that to her before.

"It's my kind of business and you don't need to worry yourself about it," he told her.

"I just can't believe that means you have to beat up your own brother for something that probably isn't his own fault," she replied, staring out the window and refusing to look at him.

"What d'you mean? Is somebody forcing him to smoke dope? Somebody making him go over to Prospect and score smack off Whitey Thompson?" Tim asked sarcastically.

"I doubt it was Curly's idea," she said, breaking down and looking at him. "You said it yourself, he ain't all that bright sometimes. I think Rick started all of this."

Tim laughed. Ellie shrank back in surprise. It wasn't a chuckle or a snicker. It was a laugh.

"Rick? As in Rick Bradley?" He grinned as he grabbed a few fries and stuffed them in his mouth. "Compared to Rick, Curly's a fucking genius. You know that's hard for me to admit, but it's the God's honest truth. Rick is a dumb fuck. I don't think he's got the brains to dress himself in the mornings, let alone convince Curly to start smoking grass with him."

"Then maybe you oughta get back to running your business," Ellie snapped, grabbing her purse and opening the passenger door. "Because you sure don't know as much as you think you do."

"What're you doing?" he asked. "Get back in the car, Ellie."

"I'll find my own ride home," she replied, slamming the door shut with as much force as possible.

XXX

She was determined to keep Curly and Rick from heading out to buy their dope. She was so angry at Tim that she desperately wanted him to be wrong about Curly.

Ellie was waiting outside of the Bowen Lounge at the corner of Pickett and Sutton, waiting for Curly and Rick to come out. She didn't really want to go in; she knew it had a reputation for generally rough behavior. After Buck's, there probably wasn't much she hadn't seen yet, but at least she knew the people to avoid there.

She was sitting on the brick ledge on the side of the building, swinging her legs back and forth, trying to figure out how she was going to convince the two of them to hang out with her instead of getting caught by Tim later that night. She was so distracted, she nearly missed them come out of Bowen's and had to jog after them to catch up.

"Hey Curly," Ellie said as she fell in step with them. "Hi Rick."

"What're you doing over here?" Rick asked. "Don't you have other friends to bother?"

"Don't you have somewhere else you can run your mouth?" she snapped. She turned to Curly. "What've you guys been doing today?"

"Just shootin' some pool at Bowen's," he replied. "Hustled some drunks out of a few bucks, too."

Ellie had an idea of how he was going to spend the money too.

"I suspect you already knew that part, though," Rick cut in, "since you been out here waiting for us for the better part of an hour. You really don't have any friends, do you?"

"What're you doin' tonight?" she asked Curly, ignoring him.

"Nothin'," he replied too quickly, seeming eager about the fact that she was asking about his social life.

Rick punched Curly hard in the arm.

"Oh, well, I guess I do have some plans tonight," he corrected, rubbing his arm.

"Yeah, we got some plans tonight, so I guess you'll have to find some other guy to keep you busy, sweetheart," Rick said with a mocking grin.

"Don't you got plans with Tim or something?" Curly asked.

Ellie didn't need to feign any disgust at the mention of his name. She was still reeling from the argument earlier.

"No, I don't have plans with Tim. I'm not really talking to him right now."

Curly seemed surprised. Rick seemed suspicious. She studied the ground in front of her as they walked. It wasn't exactly a lie; she wasn't currently speaking to Tim and wasn't planning on it until she absolutely had to.

"You guys think you can get outta your plans tonight? Maybe we can hang out and go to the movies or something?" she asked.

Rick raised his eyebrows skeptically. "How come we're friends all of a sudden?"

Ellie shrugged innocently. "I just thought you guys might wanna hang out and I don't have any plans. Why can't we hang out?"

The three of them kept walking until Rick broke the silence. "Yeah, alright. Wanna go to Charlie's with us?"

"Sure," she agreed. "What time?"

"Is 11 past your bedtime?" he asked.

"I'll be there," she assured him with a glare.

He smirked at her and, at Sutton and Front, they went their separate ways.

XXX

"What the hell are you doing that for?" Curly asked when Ellie was out of earshot. "Ain't we meeting Whitey at midnight?"

"God, you're so dense sometimes, Shepard," Rick scolded. "Don't you know what she's up to?"

"What're you talking about?"

Rick ran a hand through his hair. Curly was his buddy and everything, but sometimes he couldn't stand the kid.

"Do you really think she wants to hang out with us tonight?"

Curly shrugged. "Why wouldn't she?"

"Why would she?" Rick smacked the back of Curly's head. "Open your eyes! She knows something's up and she's trying to mess it up."

"You're nuts," he replied. "How would she know? Why would she care?"

"She's Tim's little spy, that's how she knows!" Rick snapped. "You're too busy daydreaming that she's in love with you to know what she's really doing."

"I ain't daydreamin' about my brother's girl. Not to mention she just said they ain't even talkin' right now."

Rick laughed. "Man, Curly. She's about as good a liar as you are smart."

Curly gave him a sour look. "Then what's the plan for tonight, asshole?"

"Easy. We stand her up. By the time she realizes we ain't showin', she doesn't have time to go tell on us. Hell, she's probably running off to tell Tim where we're supposed to meet her so he can be there too and keep us from going," Rick replied. He didn't know why he had to be the brains of the whole operation, but if Curly was in charge of anything, God help them all.

XXX

"You know," Monty said, leaned back in the passenger seat of Tim's car, "I'm thinkin' about making it official with Carol. What d'you think?"

"I think that'd be a good idea if her name wasn't Cheryl," Tim replied, flicking his cigarette out of the open window and studying the dark street corner of 17th and Prospect from their parking spot a block away. So far, there was no sign of anything.

Monty cocked his head to the side. "Hm. I thought her name was Carol."

"That was a few weeks, buddy."

"Oh right, Carol was that blonde with a boyfriend. I forgot about her," he muttered through a yawn. "No wonder Cheryl was so pissed with me the other night."

"You serious about going steady with her?" Tim asked absentmindedly. He was too focused on catching his little shit of a brother in the act of buying smack off the rival gang to care about Monty's love life.

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied. "I guess if you can do it, I can do it."

Tim chuckled. "It ain't lastin' much longer."

"Huh?" Monty seemed interested in this sudden development and straightened up in his seat. "You finally wise up to the fact that she's just a kid?"

"It was a business deal," he corrected. "Nothin' more, nothin' less. It ran its course. After this, we're finished."

Monty grinned. "It was a little more than business, you gotta admit that."

Tim glared at him. "Business. That's it."

"So what's this? She spies on your brother for her and she's served her purpose? That's a little harsh, ain't it?"

"When did you get so high an' mighty that you could start judging me?" Tim snapped.

Monty ignored him and leaned forward in his seat, looking across the street. "What the fuck? Speak of the devil."

Tim whipped his head around and narrowed his eyes as he saw what had caught Monty's attention.

"That fucking dumb broad," he hissed, starting the car and throwing it in gear.

The tires squealed as he made a u-turn. She looked terrified as his headlights caught her for a moment before the car jumped the curb and stopped in front of her.

She was already making excuses by the time he was getting out of the car.

"I tried to stop them from coming, but they didn't meet me where they said they would and I thought - "

He grabbed her by the upper arms and pushed her around until her back was against the passenger side door. Monty tried to open it but couldn't do it. Tim watched him from the corner of his eye as he climbed out the driver's side door and walked slowly around the car.

Ellie kept her eyes steady on the space in between her and Tim and refused to look him in the eye.

"Why the fuck are you here?" Tim demanded. She started to answer, but he cut her off. "No, I don't want these stupid, bullshit excuses you keep givin' me. Why are you here?"

"Hey, man," Monty broke in, "why don't you relax?"

"Shut up," he spat. "I want an answer, Ellie."

"Tim, it's almost midnight," Monty said. He put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back from Ellie. "Deal with this later."

Tim looked from him to Ellie and finally let go of her. "Get in the car."

She didn't say a word as Monty pulled the seat forward for her to climb in. He gave Tim an impatient glare over the roof of the car, but he ignored it.

Tim pulled the car around the block and pulled through the dark alley they had been sitting in before Ellie showed up. It was dark enough to provide cover for them but still gave a good view of Whitey's selling spot. There was still nothing happening. He figured there wouldn't be for a while now, considering how irresponsible Rick and Curly were and that Whitey wasn't the most punctual drug dealer in town. He and Monty had been watching him for a while since suspecting Curly was up to something, and he had never been the first one to show up for a deal.

He turned off the car and slammed a fist down on the steering wheel.

"You could have fucking blown this, you know that?" he asked, turning around in his seat to get a better view of Ellie. She looked small and scared in the backseat all by herself, and it pissed him off even more that she thought it was okay for her to come traipsing around this neighborhood in the middle of the night.

She had her hands folded on her lap and still wouldn't look at him. "I was just trying to keep Curly from getting in trouble."

"Maybe you oughta start thinking about keeping yourself outta trouble than worry about Curly," he snapped. "I just wanna know why the fuck you thought it would be a good idea to come here tonight."

Monty cleared his throat. "Maybe 'cause you asked her to stick her nose where it didn't belong in the first place."

Tim turned his glare from Ellie to Monty. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm just sayin' that she wouldn't be involved in anything if you didn't tell her to keep an eye on your brother."

Tim swiped a hand across his face, rubbing at his eyes. He couldn't believe that after all this time of Monty giving Ellie a hard time, he was actually going to stand up for her. Now of all times.

"Are you shitting me, Monty? This is my fault now?"

Monty shrugged, staring out the window, watching for any activity on the street. "Well, it ain't exactly the kid's fault. She was doin' what you asked her to do."

"I can't fucking believe you're gonna take her side. I never asked her to come down here," he growled.

"And if she hadn't done anything, you'd probably be spittin' fire about that, too," he replied. He sat forward in his seat and pointed in the direction of Whitey's corner. "I think we're in business."

Tim looked up to see Curly and Rick pacing at the corner. They seemed anxious, and Tim couldn't wait to rip them apart for what they were doing. He made a move to get out of the car, but Monty stopped him.

"Ain't I going with you?" he asked.

"No," he snapped. "You're so worried about Ellie, you can babysit her while I take care of this."

"Tim," he hissed before the door shut. "I thought we were in this together."

He leaned in the open window. "So did I. Watch her and make sure she doesn't doing anything else stupid."

Tim walked around the corner of the building that was partially hiding the car from sight. He glanced back to see if Monty was going to listen to him. He seemed to be staying put for the time being. At least he took orders well enough. That was more than he could say for most of the people he dealt with.

He made his way slowly and quietly, ducking into the doorways of abandoned or closed storefronts to keep from being detected. At least Whitey Thompson was smart enough to know to keep his drug running business on the deserted part of town, even if it was bordering his own territory. That was something of a surprise to Tim.

He was about as close as he was going to get undetected when he finally spotted Whitey sauntering up to the corner. He looked as strung out as he ever was, jittering in place when he finally reached his buyers. Tim waited until he saw the drugs and money switch hands. He had all the proof he needed to bust Rick and Curly and deal with Will and his gang.

"Hey, fellas," Tim called as he approached them. He took pleasure from startling the three of them.

"What's this about?" Whitey demanded. "You said two of you, not three. I ain't in the business of dealin' with surprises."

"No, you're just in the business of dealin' on my turf," he responded. "And you two are in the business of fucking over my gang, ain't that right?"

"No, Tim," Curly yelped, holding out the drugs. "We knew he was here, selling shit on your territory and we wanted to prove it. Ain't that right, Rick?"

"Yeah, that's what we were doin'," Rick added, giving Whitey a shove toward Tim.

"Get your fuckin' hands offa me, you traitor sonuvabitch," Whitey snapped, shoving him back. He turned his attention to Tim. "They came here for a clean buy offa me and I don't appreciate bein' lied to. As for territory, you talk to Bridges about that, not me. I don't draw the lines."

"No, you just snort 'em, is that it?" Tim asked, giving Whitey a shove. He looked over at Curly and Rick. "As for you two fucks, I'll deal with you later. Get outta here."

Curly gave him a horrified look. "Tim," he warned.

Tim looked back and all he saw was a gun pointed in his face.

I used to have a little bit of a plan,
Used to have a concept of where I stand
But that concept slipped right out of my hands.

A/N: Yikes! What's going to happen to Tim?!