Haha! Thanks for all of the reviews! I guess you guys liked that part at the end from Dally's POV.

I don't own the Outsiders

Dally's POV

Because that's all Johnny was now. He was so weak, he might as well already be underneath the cemetery grounds, rotting in the cold. Alone.

His chest was moving up and down, and this was the only thing keeping me sane.

But I knew it would stop moving. Soon. It would stop moving, and my friend would be dead. It would stop moving, and I would have to be strong for Austin. I couldn't freak out this time.

Johnny POV

My thoughts were muddled. I heard Darry, Soda, Steve, Two-Bit, Pony, Dally, and Austin at my bedside, but I couldn't reach out to them.

Dally still held my hand, and occasionally a different hand would hold mine. Rough, baseball mitt sized- Darry's. Calloused a deft fingered- Steve. Or warm and childlike- Pony.

I was most aware of my surroundings when a doctor came in. He described to the gang about "Karposis Sarcoma." It was basically a rash that was a symptom of my death. Not that we needed one.

"The next week will be crucial, but if he survives it, he will survive healthily until the next bout of sickness."

Weeks passed, although I honestly felt like only ten minutes had passed. The only times that stretched out for what seemed like days were the times when I was alone, although this rarely happened, according to Dal.

I mustered all my strength and forced out a tiny grunt, more of a sigh than anything.

Dally was immediately speaking, jabbering on to me in a frantic yet somehow comforting tone.

"Is he in pain? Does he need more drugs?" Darry asked the doctor cooly. At least someone was keeping their head.

"Yes, I think so-" I felt fear overwhelm me. I didn't want to be drugged up. I didn't want my thoughts to be so uncomprehensible. I sighed again, trying to make it sound indignant.

"No." Dally translated. "Please. I-I don't think Johnny would have wanted it." I wanted to scream "I'm still here!" but I couldn't even move my leaden tongue, much less scream.

I waited impatiently for the drugs to wear off. However, the minute they did, I wish I had more painkillers.

I did manage a full groan this time, although it sounded like a dying cat.

"Johnny? John?"

"Give him some space, Dally." I recognized this as Ida's voice.

"Ida?" I said, although it was really unintelligible.

"Yeah Johnny?"

"Hi." I breathed. "Why can't I open my eyes?"

"Uhh...you can."

"Oh." I searched for the muscles, and immediately regretted putting them to use. The light was blinding. I squinted and found shadows of various shapes and sizes still gathered around my bed.

"How do you feel?" The shadow shaped like Pony asked, treating me as though I were about five.

"Like shit." My voice was more coherent now, and Dally laughed, although he sounded more relieved than anything. "Sorry Pony."

"What?" Pony sounded confused.

"I said I would be there when you got home." Pony laughed humorlessly.

"Yeah, you gave me a scare there."

"Austin?" My thoughts were disjointed, but this one seemed very important. The room was deadly silent. "Austin?" I said louder.

"Johnny, we took him to the doctor."

"Why?"

"Well, you have to take babies to the doctor." Ida explained. "And...it seems as though Austin isn't your brother."

"You got a genetic test? What do I care if he's my brother or not?" I was sitting up straighter now will Dally's help, and I had stopped blinking in the brightness.

"Well..." Ida intoned slowly. "We didn't exactly get a genetic test. But...Austin has a disease. A genetic disease. Osteogenesis imperfecta. IO."

"So, what the hell does that mean?"

"John," Dally took over the explaining. "How old do you think Austin is?" I felt ashamed that I didn't know this, didn't know my own brothers- half brothers- birthday.

"Uh...I don't know, maybe three months?"

"Austin is almost a year old." There was silence.

"That's impossible. He's so small-"

"IO is also called "brittle bone disease." He is small because his bone structure is weak. The truth is...we took him to the doctor because...he rolled over in his crib and broke his arm."

"WHAT!" I guess I could scream. Suddenly I felt wide awake. "Where is he?" Ida handed me the bundle that was Austin, and I cringed at the white cast. I took a deep breath. "Is he in danger?"

"Yes."

"Well then." Absolute silence as the gang waited for my response to the situation. "Well then, we are just going to have to be very careful, aren't we?"

The doctor walked in there, accompanied by Darry would must've run to get him when I woke up.

"Doctor," I asked politely. "Do you have a pen?" He nodded, and handed it to me.

I raised my heavy arm to the cast and painstakingly wrote my name on it. It was barely legible, but it brightened up the too white cast. I handed the doctor back his green pen. He had a bemused expression on his face.

My head fell back onto the pillow. Austin was taken away from me, and I made a sound of protest.

"Johnny, you are about to fall asleep. I don't want you crushing our little brother." I laughed at Dally's words, but shuddered at the mental picture. I would have to be so careful around my little brother. All I had wanted for him was a healthy and happy life. Then I remembered that he would grow up poor and surrounded by saddened shadows of my friends who mourned my death, so all I had wanted was a healthy life for him. And god, or whatever higher power was out there, had taken away even that last hope for my baby brother.

Not the most comforting news to fall asleep to.

The doctors called my recovery a miracle. The gang called it good karma. I called it prolonging the inevitable.

I was staying at the Curtis' house most of the time now. I couldnt really be taken care of because Ida was always at work (Dally had secured a job for her- bartending at Bucks. She complained that it was as degrading if not more so than prostitution.) Also, the gang was prejudice against her, something Dally and I tried to help.

Dally spent every second with me. His reputation had entirely transformed. He wasn't hard Dallas Winston- genius in crime- anymore. Now he was Dallas Winston- pansy that takes care of that-kid-with-the-weird-looking-baby-brother.

I felt fine again. The gang let me walk around and stuff after a screaming match on the subject between me and Dal that had caused the neighbors to call the cops.

I didn't use this privlage too much, mostly because Austin was a full tim job, especially with his cast and new-found genetic disease.

But every night from exactly six oclock to seven, I sat at Buck's bar, keeping Ida company while the gang babysat my brother.

I had no doubt that they would take in Austin as their own when he was older. Now, I worried about him getting hurt physically more than emotionally or mentally. The Curtis' weren't rough with Austin now, as a baby, but they might forget when he grows older, and I wouldn't be around to protect him.

That Wednesday night I left to go help Ida a little bit. She was being hit on by an ugly trucker when I arrived.

"Honey!" I called out to her, just to put the guy in his place. Ida and I had already decided that it was best to pretend we were dating.

"Hello sugarplum." Ida grinned at me, the kind of 'I-have-a-secret-that-would-make-you-laugh' grin that was the reason she was probably the most sought after girl in highschool, even though her looks were average.

"Hey, Ida." I slid onto a bar stool and she passed me a beer glass full of applejuice. The doctor told me not to drink alcohal (even though technically he had no evidence that it would hurt my system.) Ida kept a thouroughly clean glass for me and even filled it with a "beer-looking substance."

"So, Johnny, how goes it?" I shrugged. She probably knew the answer to that question. It was going as it did everyday, no worse no better. Still the looming fear of the killing cough, still the whisper of death as he snatched at my back.

"What about you Ida?"

"Well..." And that's when she told me.