The next couple of days went by slowly. I didn't get much sleep, or alone time and so I was overtired and grumpy, and combined with missing Dally I was just a mess overall. Darry had insisted on Monday that I not be left home alone, he and Soda couldn't afford to take time off so it was left to Ponyboy to keep an eye out for me. Naturally Johnny was there too, but they were quiet and knew to leave me alone, so at least for the time that everyone else was at work I had some peace and quiet. Angela had popped round for a bit yesterday, which I was appreciative of. The guys didn't understand the impact this was having on me like Angela would. I guess it's something only a girl understands. The guys would never experience what I was right now and to a degree they just didn't know how to consol me. Angela, however, could and so I was grateful for her, she promised to come around again on Friday to keep me company as she had to work today and tomorrow, so I looked forward to that.

I was having trouble sleeping; every time I dozed off I'd be woken with a nightmare about that night. What's worse was knowing that he was still out there and would have no repercussions for his actions. Luckily Two-Bit came by this morning with some good news. It was Wednesday and the seniors were meant to go to school for an assembly. Being one of the school's more sociable events Two-Bit of course attended. It was at the assembly that he found out Bob had some 'family emergency' and was at his grandparent's house in Texas and wouldn't be returning till the start of semester 2. I'm guessing he'd realised that he was a dead man walking around Tulsa so he went down to Texas to let the dust settle.

Ponyboy had to go to the library at school and Johnny had gone with him, so Two-Bit left them at school and was going to go back and pick them up later, in the meantime he brought me some lunch from the Dairy Queen and told me all about Bob. I was glad, for some reason it just made me feel a bit safer. We'd still had no news on Dal and when he'd be out so I spent most of the day sulking.

After much insistence from me that I would be fine Two-Bit left again to go 'run some errands' before picking the boys up from school. I was pleased with the silence of the house. It wasn't that I wasn't grateful for the guys for looking after me, but I just hadn't had a minute to myself since I got back from hospital and I just needed a break. It was only 1:30pm and Two-Bit and the boys wouldn't be back till 4:30pm so I decided to make the most of the time. I had another bath to try and relax me, it helped soothe my muscles and various bruises, which by this point had reached the climax of their swelling and blue/black colour. After that I settled back into bed, hoping to catch some sleep. I knew it wouldn't be long till I woke up with a bad dream or a flashback from Saturday night, but I did find it easier to sleep during the day.

xxxx xxxx

I woke up just after 3pm covered in sweat, my heart racing and breathing heavily. It took me a couple minutes to calm myself and remember that I was safe and at home in my bed. I gulped down some of the water I had on my bedside table and just sighed and lay back down to stare at the ceiling. Then I heard someone come in the front door, I looked back at my clock, it was only about 10 past 3, no one was due home. My heart, which had just slowed back down, began to race again. I sat up against the wall, grabbed my switch blade from under my pillow and flicked the blade out. There was a slight knock on my door as it pushed open, I was shaking from head to toe, then I realised, it was Dally.

I burst into tears as he sat down on my bed, wrapping his arm around me. I fell into him and sobbed my heart out. He didn't say anything; he just rubbed my back and let me cry into his lap as I lay down. Before I knew it I had cried myself to sleep.

xxxx xxxx

This time I woke up naturally, which I was surprised at, no sweat and no tears. I realised I was alone in bed, cuddling into Dally's jacket, which he must have taken off when he got out of my bed. I smiled slightly at how silly that was of me and glance at the clock. 7:05pm. Man, I'd had a great sleep, one I had definitely needed. I hadn't slept that long through since this whole thing happened. I could hear voices in the living room through my slightly open door, so I stopped to listen as I moved to get out of bed.

"I swear to you Darry, I had no idea that was going to happen." Dally sounded pretty rough.

"No one's blaming you Dallas. This is purely down to the Socs, we need to sort it out before it goes any further."

"Damn right, it kills me to see her like that."

"I know man, that's the longest she's slept through since it happened, but she'll bounce back, she's a tough girl."

A new voice entered the conversation, "I won't argue with that! Angela always said she was somethin' special… So we on for Friday night then? 7pm in the lot." It was Tim Shepard.

There was a chorus of agreement from the other voices in the room, I wondered how many people were out there so I decided to make my presence known. It wasn't until I heard a couple of gasps from the guys that I realised I was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Tim and a couple of his guys, Phil and Mark, hadn't seen me since it happened and I'm guessing my various cuts and bruises were a lot to take in. I just nodded and sat down next to Dally, pulling the blanket from the back of the sofa down to cover me.

Dally piped up again, "As you can see, we really need to teach those guys a lesson." There was another round of agreement as Soda, Two-Bit, Steve, Johnny and Ponyboy nodded their heads.

Tim got up to make his way to the door, "Alright well we'll see you guys on Friday then," he paused to look at me, "don't worry Blue, we'll walk all over 'em!" I smiled appreciatively back at him as he, Phil and Mark left.

Darry said he'd go sort dinner for me and made his way to the kitchen. I took my chance to figure out what was going on Friday, although I'd already guessed.

"What's going on then?"

"Gunna have it out with the Socs on Friday. Rumble has been organised." Dally was still in a funny mood so I let him get on with it, just happy that he was back.

"Pity Bob won't be there. I'd like to see him get what's coming to him." I really wanted him to suffer, although at the same time I was glad because Dally probably would kill him and he didn't need that on his hands too.

"So it was Bob then?" Dally turned to face me, and when I nodded his jaw clenched along with his fists and he looked away again, grabbing his beer and downing the remainder of the bottle.

Steve jumped up and got another round of beers for everyone.

"So ya'll are fighting then on Friday?"

"You know it baby! Can't let them get away with doin' what they did to you. They'll be sorry they ever messed with ya." Two-Bit popped the lid of his beer off as Steve handed them round.

"Just be careful though ya hear, one invalid in this house is enough."

"You know us Blue, we can take care of ourselves." Steve winked at me and took a few gulps from his bottle.

It felt good having everyone back again. Now that Dally was here I could truly relax. I was grateful to everyone, especially my brothers but the past few days I knew I was missing something, I knew I needed Dallas there. It was ridiculous how quickly I'd become attached to him in that way, but I guess with being friends for so long first before we started dating these feelings just came natural.

We all watched the television for a bit, my favourite show I Love Lucy was on so I made everyone watch it. Dally just laughed at how ridiculous it was, there were plenty of jokes from Two-Bit about her being a dumb broad, but it was good, it was almost back to normal. Pony turned in for bed about 9:30pm and Steve and Two-Bit took that as a sign to leave so they finished their beers. Steve's dad had been a bit better lately so he didn't need to spend as much time on our sofa. His father could be a real piece of work when he wanted and he and Steve got into it a lot so it wasn't unusual to find him on the sofa in the morning, but I guess he was trying to give us space these past few weeks, he still wasn't too fond of the whole Dally situation.

I think Johnny was glad when we all cleared off to our separate rooms. He had unofficially moved in at this stage. Darry had told him he was to stay here after he turned up to our house a few days after the birthday party absolutely black and blue, it was the last straw for Darry so he made Johnny stay. Not that Johnny's parents cared, but I guess for Johnny it was hard having no place to call your own, he wasn't welcome at home, he was plenty welcome here but he didn't have his own space. Darry was planning on rectifying that however. Our back door had a small porch room to go through before you stepped onto the veranda. Dad had already taken some of the space to create my room, but Darry's plan was to ensure the rest of it was air and water tight and get another bed and make it a room for Johnny. It was pretty tiny, but I was going to make some curtains for it to ensure its privacy and it was just big enough to fit a single bed in. We hadn't told Johnny yet, we wanted it to be a bit of a Christmas surprise.

Dally had been fairly quiet all evening, I knew this was tough for him and I wasn't sure how he'd react seeing me again when he got out of the cooler given his immediate reaction on Saturday night at the hospital. But so far so good. He made his way to my room and took of his shirt and jeans and sitting on my bed in his boxers. I shut the door and decided to get changed into something a bit warmer, as it was freezing tonight. I grabbed the sweat pants and the jumper and slipped out of the tshirt and shorts. Dally was staring at me the whole time, looking at the marks all over my body. I was worried about what he thought and ashamed at the state of me, so I hurriedly shoved on my warmer garments. When I finished he was still looking at me, his eyes unreadable, so I made my way over and sat on the bed next to him.

"Dally? Please say something."

"I dunno what to say." He was exasperated.

"I'm sorry." I looked down at my hands.

"What in the HELL have you got to be sorry about? Huh?! It's that fucking animal that needs to be sorry." He grabbed my hand.

"I know, but I don't wanna be a burden on you, I don't want you to look at me and just see this, see what he did to me and hate me." I was on the verge of tears again, that was my worst fear in this whole situation, that Dally wouldn't want me after this. That's what I'd thought at first when he stormed out of the hospital. But then Two-Bit gave me the ring he'd apparently wanted to give me and I got confused.

I was just staring at me incredulously, "Is that what you think?" I just shrugged in response, still looking at my hands, "Well don't. I love you, and I hate him for what he did to you, not you."

I snapped my head up at that. It was my turn to stare at him, I don't think he even realised what he said, and so I responded. I kissed him with everything my broken spirit could muster and pulled away. He just sat there stunned.

"I love you too."

Then it dawned on him, "Oh, right." He gave me an awkward smile, embarrassed now that he'd gone all soppy, surprised that he'd let that slip out. Dally never really expressed any feelings other than anger so he had kind of shocked himself. I felt special though, knowing that I was probably the first person he'd ever told he loved. After a second he pulled me back in for another kiss, murmuring that he was sorry for the past couple of days, that he didn't know what to do, stopping for a second to say "you know, you're the first person that's ever said that to me, I could never hate you."

I let myself be pulled in by his kiss, by his smell and by his touch. I forgot about everything, for a few seconds, but when he moved his hand from my face to my shoulders, resting on the bruise of Bob's hand it hit me again. I panicked and jerked away. He punched the bed beside him and apologised, saying he didn't know what to do.

"It's fine, honestly, I feel safe with you, safer than I've done in days. It's just gunna take time."

"Yeah, of course, sorry." He didn't know what to do with himself so I pushed him down to lie on the bed and pulled back the comforter and climbed over and under the covers. He wriggled about and got under too. He put his arm around me and pulled me into his chest. I snuggled in and traced my fingers along his chest. It felt nice and safe here between the wall and Dally I knew I'd get a good sleep.

He was rubbing my back, getting comfortable for the night's sleep when he said, "just one thing though Blue."

"Mmhmm."

"Don't tell anyone about all that soppy stuff."

I just giggled slightly in my dozy state and nodded against his chest, "yeah I must admit it was a bit much even for a girl." He gave a short laugh in response and continued tracing my back again.

I was dozing off, thinking about how I thought I was wanting Dally these past few days because I needed him, but I realised it was really because I was worried he needed me, I had a feeling it was going to be me helping him through this rather than the other way around. He just doesn't cope well with strong emotions, and given the life he had I could understand why. I was almost asleep when he stroked my hair and said he loved me again, this time realising he'd said it and testing how it sounded, reassuring himself. I kissed his chest sleepily and fell into a deep sleep.