"Honey, what do you think of Annie?" asked Anya. We had both taken a Saturday off to unpack the rest of the boxes. Davanee was spending the whole day with Two-Bit so we could get some work done.

"As what?" I asked.

"As a baby name" said Anya.

"It's ok. Isn't it a little too early to be going through baby names?" I asked. It had been about a month since Anya told me she was pregnant.

"Well, yeah, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it now. What do you think about Baby as a name?" she asked. She was flipping through a book of baby names while I was doing all the work.

"Could you imagine being an adult and having the name Baby?" I asked.

"Good point" she said, she flipped a little further until she found another name she liked.

"What about Lucky?"

"It's ok. It would fit perfectly in this family" I said.

"The family of strange names" said Anya, laughing a bit.

"You callin' my name strange?" I asked, pretending to be offended.

"No, I'm calling my name strange. How many Anya's have you met?" she asked.

"Besides you, none" I said.

"Thought so" she said, "what about Claire?"

"That's nice" I said. She continued to go through the whole alphabet. I didn't really want to choose a name just yet. I finished unpacking the boxes and started getting ready to go. We were going over to the old house to have dinner with Darry. We hadn't told him about Anya yet. I was hopping that his reaction would be better than the last time. I showered and got dressed. Then I helped Davanee get ready (two-bit had dropped her off about an hour earlier). She seemed pretty excited about going back to the house. We hadn't been over there since we moved out and we hadn't spoken to Darry a whole lot since. With work and school and everything else, talking on the phone was considered a luxury.

We arrived at the house around 6. Darry wasn't home from work yet. He said he wouldn't be home till 7ish. Anya started dinner. I finished up what little homework I had and Davanee played on the floor with some toys she left there. It felt like we had never moved out.

Darry came home around 7:30.

"Sorry I'm late" said Darry.

"That's ok" I said.

"Uncle Darry!" Davanee ran and gave him a big hug.

"Hey, kiddo" said Darry. It had been awhile since Davanee had seen Darry. She claims that Darry was her second favorite uncle (I'll give you one guess who her favorite was).

"Uncle Darry, guess what" said Davanee.

"What?" asked Darry.

"I get to go to work with Daddy tomorrow" she said.

"Oh, lucky you" he said.

"Dinner is ready" said Anya.

Davanee helped me set the table. She liked to help me for some reason. She also liked to help me cook. Dinner was far from quiet that night. It was almost as if we still lived there. After dinner, Davanee went back to playing with her toys.

"Darry, we have something to tell you" I said, "promise you won't get mad like you did the last time."

"I can't promise that but I'll try" said Darry, taking his plate to the sink.

"I'm gonna have a baby" said Anya.

"That's wonderful" said Darry, a smile creeping across his face, "congratulations."

"Thanks" said Anya. That was easier then I thought it would be. For some reason, I thought we would have a replay of the night Davanee came to us. I know Darry said he was sorry for what he said but sometimes I wonder if he really did mean it.

Anya and Davanee left before I did that night. I told them I would walk home.

"It's quiet" I said.

"Yeah. It's been really quiet since you moved out. The gang hasn't been around lately" said Darry.

"Maybe we're growing apart" I said.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, I kinda figured it would happen one day" I said.

"I think if Soda and Steve were here it would be different" said Darry.

"Yeah, probably" I said. I sat on the couch and watched TV while Darry read the newspaper.

"You know, I'm really happy about you and Anya" said Darry.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I dunno. I sort of thought you would respond the way you did when you found out about Davanee" I said.

"Well, that was different. You had her before you were married. This is somewhat different" said Darry, "but I don't know if you two will be able to handle two kids, especially one who is use to being the center of your attention" said Darry.

"I've been thinking about that. I think that in the end, she'll be ok. She told me that she's excited about having a brother or sister" I said.

"That's good. She should be. You know maybe you should write to Soda and tell him all about it" suggested Darry.

"I already did. We should be getting a letter soon" I said.

We talked for a little while longer until Darry offered to drive me home. He said that Socs were jumping Greaser more and more lately and he didn't want me walking home alone. When I got home, Davanee and Anya were already asleep. I crawled in bed beside Anya and fell asleep almost instantly. I expected to be woken up later that night but I wasn't. Davanee stayed in her bed all night. She hasn't had a bad dream in almost a week. I was hoping that they would just go away and I wouldn't have to take her to the doctors.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of "zip-a-dee-doo-da." I walked out to the living room to find Davanee watching that old Disney movie Song of the South. I remember watching that movie a least a thousand times when I was little. It use to be one of my favorites.

"Davanee, where's Anya?" I asked.

"She's in the shower" said Davanee.

"Did she turn the movie on for you?" I asked.

"No. I do that all myself" she said. For a 2 year old, she was pretty smart.

Davanee started singing along to one of the songs. Even though she was 2, I could tell she was going to be a singer when she gets older. She was always singing. For the most part, she sang Elvis songs and songs from Disney movies. I found it sort of funny that she could sing and I can't sing at all. She must have gotten the singing jean from her mother.

"Daddy, look" she said, pointing to the TV, "They no catch Br'er Rabbit."

"Wow. He must be a sneaky rabbit" I said, acting as if I had never seen the movie before.

"He is" she said, going back to the movie. Just then, Anya stepped out of the shower. She got dressed and joined me in the kitchen.

"Morning baby" she said, giving me a kiss.

"Morning" I said, "how ya feeling this morning?"

"Pretty good. I'm not sick this morning" she said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"That's good" I said.

"But I don't feel like going to school today or work" she said, her head in her hands.

"Baby, you know you can't afford to miss a day of work or school" I said, "I'm sorry but you have to go."

"But I don't want to" she said.

"But you have to. Come on, Davanee and I will drop you off" I said. Anya just stared at me. She thought about for a little while before saying "ok. I'll go."

After about an hour or so, Davanee and I dropped Anya off at school. She was late but the school didn't care. They were never that strict on being late. Davanee and I stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home. Once we got home, I was a bit surprised to see a letter sitting in the mail box. That letter could only be from one person, Soda.

The letter said:

Pony,

I'm glad to hear that everything is going great for you and Anya and I'm especially glad to hear about the new baby. If I'm lucky, I might be home before it's born. I doubt that I will but it's always a possibility. Things aren't going so good over here. Steve got sent to a new camp a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen or heard from him sense. I'm real worried about him. What if something bad happened to him? I know you tow don't get along but if you do hear anything about him, tell me. I want to know.

Your brother,

Soda.

I was kinda upset that the whole letter was about Steve but for soda's sake, I promised I would tell him if I heard anything about Steve. The rest of the day and that night were pretty quiet, but the next day wasn't. I was getting ready to take Davanee down to the DX when I got a call from Steve's mother. I was sort of surprised to get a call from her because she didn't like me very much. I was also surprised to hear that Steve was coming home.

"Hey Davanee, guess what" I said.

"What?" asked Davanee.

"Uncle Steve is coming home" I said.

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

"Yay!" shouted Davanee.

"Come on, let's go tell Anya" I said. Davanee had to go and tell everybody else. They all seemed equally excited.

"I wonder what's going to happen to Ally" said Anya.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Ally took Steve's job. I wonder what's going to happen when he comes back" she said.

"So she'll get a new job. It's not that big of a deal" I said.

"I don't think she can" said Anya.

"What makes you say that?"

Anya looked around for a minute, checking to see if there was anybody within hearing distance.

"I think she's a runaway" said Anya.

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

"She never goes home. She doesn't shower. She wears the same clothes everyday. She doesn't even brush her hair" she said.

"Maybe you should try to talk to her, get to the bottom of this" I suggested.

"I don't know. I don't know her very well" she said.

"You didn't know me very well when we were sitting in that doctors office but you talked to me anyways" I said.

"Good point" she said, "Listen, I should probably get back to work. I'll see you guys later."

"Ok. Bye" I said, giving her a kiss goodbye. I didn't have to go to school that night so I didn't have to my homework. For once in a long time, I got to spend more than an hour with Davanee. Lately I had been so busy I didn't have a lot of time to spend with her but that night it was just to two of us. We spent the night playing with her toys. Once we had played with all the toys and eaten dinner, I put Davanee to bed.

"Daddy, where the new baby gonna sleep?" she asked as I tucked her in.

"In our room" I said.

"What's its name?" she asked.

"I don't know. We haven't picked one yet" I said.

"You can call it Mickey Mouse" she said

I laughed and said, "I'll talk to Anya about it but for now it's time for you to go to bed."

"Daddy, stay here" she said.

"Why?"

"Protect me from the bad people" she said. I was hoping she wouldn't say that. She hadn't had any bad dreams in weeks. I thought she was doing pretty well until that moment.

I forced a smile and said "ok." I laid down next to her in her bed. She snuggled up under my arm and fell asleep. I could feel tears coming to my eyes. The thought of her getting hurt and me powerless to stop it was unbearable. I was about to fall asleep too when I heard Anya come home. I slowly got up and shut the door behind me.

"Hey" I said.

"Hey" she said.
"How was work?" I asked.

"It was ok" she said.

"I think I'm gonna go for a walk" I said.

"But it's late" said Anya.

"I know. I won't be long, I promise" I said.

"Alright" she said. I grabbed my shoes and left. I wasn't really sure where I was going. I walked for what seemed like ages until I passed the old house. All the lights were out so I figured Darry was asleep. He wouldn't like it if I woke him up so I just continued walking. I walked to the park. I was about to sit down under the tree when I noticed someone lying down. At first I thought it was Johnny but then I noticed the blond hair. I walked a little closer and whoever it was was awoken by the sound of my footsteps.

"Who's there?" they asked. It was a girl.

"I should be asking you the same thing" I said.

"What do you want?" asked the girl. The voice sounded familiar. It took me a minute to realize that it was Ally from the station.

"Ally?" I asked.

"How do you know me?" she asked.

"It's Ponyboy. We met at the DX a little while ago" I said.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was taking a walk" I said, sitting down next to her under the tree, "what are you doing here?"

There was a silence. Ally just looked the other way, almost as if something had caught her attention.

"Ally, what are you doing here?" I asked again.

"I ran away" she said softly, "my parents just got divorced and I couldn't take it. I had to get away."

"Ally, you can't stay out here. It's too dangerous" I said.

"I know" she said.

"You can come and stay with us for tonight" I offered.

"You'd let me do that?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure Anya wouldn't mind" I said.

"Thanks, Pony" she said, "you know you're really nice. I like you."

"I'm taken" I said.

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant I like you as a friend" she said.

"I knew what you meant. I was just giving you a hard time" I said, getting up. I helped Ally up.

"Let's go back to the apartment" I said.

"Ok" said Ally, "it'll be good to sleep someplace warm tonight."

"I bet" I said. The rest of the walk was spent talking about how Ally got to Tulsa. It turns out that she use to live in Texas. Once her parents separated, she hitchhiked her way here. She'd been staying at different places every night or so sense she got here. She said she even stayed at Buck's place one night.

We a couple of minutes away from the apartment when I remembered she said that she knew Dallas.

"How do you know Dallas?" I asked.

"I met him a Buck's a couple of weeks ago. He said that a kid like me shouldn't be staying there and he offered to let me stay with him but I turned him down. I thought I was making a pretty good decision sense I had a pretty good thing going on at Buck's. Buck kicked me out the next day and left me to fend for myself" she explained.

"Well that's Buck for you. He's not too fond of kids. But I'm shocked to hear this about Dallas. He's normally not that nice to kids, even though he has one of his own" I said.

"Really? I didn't know he had a kid" said Ally.

"Yeah. Her name is Bo. She's only a year old" I said.

A couple of minutes later we arrived at the apartment. We walked in to find Anya watching TV.

"You go out for a walk and you bring back runaway" snapped Anya.

"No need to snap, baby. Ally is going to stay with us tonight" I said.

"Great" said Anya, getting up and rolling her eyes. She walked to our room and shut the door.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into her" I said, "I'll get you a blanket and some towels. The bathroom is right there if you wanna take a shower."

"Thanks Pony" said Ally. Ally was in the shower before I could bring the towels and blanket back. I convinced Anya to let Ally borrow some of her clothes.

"Ally, there's some clothes and a towel sitting on the sink for you" I called.

"Thanks" she said from the shower. I walked back into my room to see Anya sitting on the bed with her arms folded across her chest.

"What's gotten into you tonight? You were fine when I left" I said.

"I dunno. Being pregnant sucks" she said.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad. It'll be over before you know it" I said.

"Yeah and then we'll have to deal with 2 am feedings and changing diapers" she said.

"Ok, the changing diapers thing is bad but the 2 am feedings aren't. Trust me. I've been there before" I said.

Anya smiled and said "I trust you." We went to bed on a good note that night. My mom always taught me not to go to bed angry. While I was lying in bed, I thought about my parents. I wondered what they would think if they could see me now; married with a kid. I know they wouldn't approve of it but they'd get use to it. They'd love Davanee and Anya.