A/N: Don't kill me! I know that I should've been back already but school was a hectic mess this week! And it took me a few days to get the entirety written for you! Thank you all for the amazingly positive responses about Danni and everything and the enthusiasm for this chapter! As the gang meets Danni this chapter we will get a little more in depth with her character as well as see how our favorite sick greaser is doing (PONYBOY!)! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned the Outsiders then Sandy would've died in an unfortunate "accident" right after she hurt the world's first best Curtis brother!

Danni POV: To say I was a bit nervous about meeting Johnny's friends was an understatement. It didn't help that I was meeting them under these circumstances at a hospital of all places. And now here we were, walking right up to Tulsa Hospital and all I could think was please let them like me, please let them like me.

"Danni?" Johnny asked curiously. "Are you alright? You seem a little off." Oh great, he noticed. But I smiled and nodded reassuringly anyway. "Yeah, Johnnycake I'm alright. Just a little worried. What if all your buddies don't like me?"

To my surprise, Johnny chuckled and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Don't you worry, Danni. They'll love you. They ain't cold-hearted, ya know? Just a little hacked off at people sometimes. And that's usually the socs so you'll be fine."

I would've protested, but because it was Johnny I believed him. I don't think I could've ever believed anyone as easily as I believed him.

Now we were inside the hospital, getting out of the elevator at the third floor and walking speedily down the hall. And then we came to a stop in front of a room that had four boys standing outside it.

One was handsomer than any guy that I'd ever seen. He looked like he had a good heart and he could make anyone laugh. But the undertone of his eyes looked quite dead. The one next to him was big and burly. He had pale blue green eyes, muscles the size of baseballs, and his eyes made him look older than he actually appeared on the surface if you know what I mean.

The other two with them looked just as bad as they did in terms of… well… they all looked fairly upset. The boy on the left looked about seventeen, tall and lean. He had greasier hair then most of the other boys and he looked extremely cocky and high and mighty (at least in his eyes), he looked as if he felt he were too cool to be here, even if he looked as put out as the rest.

The one on the right looked like he was about eighteen. He had rusty colored side burns and stormy gray eyes. He was wearing a Mickey Mouse cut off t-shirt and looked like he could really go for a drink. Finally, after a few moments they noticed the two of us standing there. All four pairs of eyes darted to me and took me in. They all looked a little startled. What, hadn't Johnny had girls around them before? I mean he must've… right?

"Hey guys… Pony alright?" Johnny asked no one in particular worriedly. Pony must be his friend that's really sick. Interesting name he has. "Yeah, Johnny. As far as we know." The one with the sideburns replied without taking his eyes off me. "Who's your friend?" he asked.

Johnny jumped as though he'd been pressed to a lightning bolt and chuckled halfheartedly. "Oh, right I almost forgot! Guys this is Danni. We were friends when we were younger before she moved away and now she's back! And Danni, this is Darry and Sodapop, they're Ponyboy's brothers, and that's Steve and Two-Bit, his name's Keith but you can call him Two-Bit. He prefers it."

I nodded in acknowledgement to each one in turn as he pointed to them all. I smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you guys. Johnny talks a lot about all of you."

They all said that it was nice to meet me too and then Johnny looked at Soda and asked, "Still no word from Dallas?" Dallas must be that guy that Johnny has developed some sort of hero worship for so he couldn't be that bad if Johnny liked him that much.

Just as Soda was about to answer the question we heard a voice say, "So who's this fine little broad right here?" we all turned around to see who I suspected was Dallas Winston. My first impression of him was… well he freaked me out to say the least. He looked like he could kill any one of us in a split second and not give it a second thought.

"Dal, this is my friend Danni. She just moved back to Tulsa today." Dally nodded his greeting and my smile faded. Apparently he wasn't one for showing any kind of emotion no matter what it be.

I noticed the gang was still staring at us weird and then I blushed, realizing that Johnny's arm was still wrapped firmly and protectively around my shoulders. It was such a tight grip it kind of hurt. Not badly enough for me to want him to take his arm off but it did hurt… wait what am I saying?! Why do I want Johnny to keep his arm around me?

Johnny seemed to notice it too because when he did he quickly withdrew his arm from me and tucked it tightly to his side. "Um… I'm gonna go get something to eat in the cafeteria. I'll see you all in a few." I patted Johnny on the back and waved at the others before heading to the lunch room and wondering what all of this meant.

Two-Bit POV: Woah nelly, this chick was smoking (not blonde but I would deal anyway)! But what confused me was how come Johnnycake had never told us about her? And even if he said they were friends… it sure as heck didn't look like that's all they were. He had his arm around her since they walked up and he hadn't even realized it until he saw we were staring at it. And the way he watched her leave, it was like he never wanted her to go again. I could tell we were all thinking the same thing. Johnny was whipped!

As soon as Danni turned the corner we all turned our eyes to Johnny, demanding answers. "Uh… well… how are y'all?" he asked, trying to change the subject hastily.

"Oh, no Johnnycake." Soda argued. "You've got a heap of explainin' to do here, man. What's really the deal between you and her because it sure as heck didn't look like y'all were just friends to any of us."

That last comment induced a tomato red blush on Johnny's face. He was so red I almost mistook him for Cherry Valance with shorter and darker hair. "C'mon, John," I whispered gently, trying to get him to talk and attempting to calm him all in these few words. "It ain't like we're gonna laugh at ya. We just wanna know what's really goin' on here, buddy."

He sighed, sounding very exasperated, threw his hands up in the air to make a point and said, "Sheesh, guys! Just 'cuz y'all don't know what it's like to have a girl as just a friend, don't mean that I can't! She and I were really close when we were younger but she moved away a long time ago after her father became the same way as my dad except he channeled his drunkenness in a different way than hitting his kid! He made a ton of bad decisions and the police thought he would escape jail at some point and go after Danni, considering they had always lived in the same house and loved the house too much to move. He knew that. So Danni's mom did the one thing he would've never expected to keep her safe. She moved to a place that he would never suspect… Tennessee. And he only wouldn't think of it because he didn't know her mom well enough to know that her mom loved the southern part of America. I haven't seen Danni in ten years and haven't heard from her in eight! We're just friends! Nothin' more! Got it?"

He had begun to shout towards the end and he was breathing real hard. We thought he was gonna pass out for a minute there until finally he regained his breath and composure and stopped his angry shaking. Steve looked like he was about to say something but he was cut off with another angry huff from Johnny saying that he was gonna go find Danni in the cafeteria.

Right before he turned the corner, I shouted after him, "Hey, Johnny!" I wasn't sure how this would turn out, but it was important enough to me to give it a shot. He whipped around. "What is it, Two-Bit?" he asked, sounding highly annoyed. But all the same I grinned at him like a Cheshire Cat. "Do ya think you could put in a good word with me for your friend? You're not interested and she's smokin' hot so I don't understand why, but I'd like to take her to the movies sometime." I meant it. She was actually really cute. Not like the usual greasy girls I date.

I think my plan had somehow depleted on me because all of a sudden Johnny was in my face with an angry look in his eye, like I'd never seen before (at least not on him). "Listen here," he hissed at me. "You're gonna hurt her. I don't trust you with her. She isn't yours. You wanna go out with her so bad then why don't you talk to her yourself when I'm not around to watch?" he said glumly and without another word, he stalked off towards the café.

I felt Steve slap me on the back of the head, hard and say, "Good going, Two." He was sarcastic, but he sure was right. If there was one thing that ever made a guy feel crummy, it was having Johnny Cade mad at them.

Darry POV: A few minutes after that very ugly encounter between us and Johnny the nurse had finished her tests and we were allowed in Pony's room again. When the four of us walked in and saw him, we didn't know what to think. He didn't even look properly like himself anymore. Ponyboy needed to be awake and alive and he needed to see the sunset and read books and watch movies… and do things Ponyboy does the Ponyboy way. And even though the doctor said it was unlikely, I would make darn sure he looked like himself and did all those things again.

We had all been sitting there for a few minutes, some of us just staring blankly and taking in what they didn't want to be true (Steve and Two-Bit), and the ones who were holding Pone's hands and rubbing his hair and praying he woke up healthy and happy again (Soda and me). But then all peace and quiet ceased when we heard his heart rate monitor beep and accelerate wildly and he began thrashing around wildly and moaning out in pain.

Doctor Andrews and four or five nurses came rushing in and wheeling his hospital bed away. Me and Soda ran after them quickly. "Where are you taking him?" Soda asked frantically. The doctor answered, "We are taking him into surgery. The lining of his heart has inflamed at an irregular pace and we need to calm it and reduce the swelling before something happens."

"B-But you can save him right?" I demanded. Doctor Andrews didn't say another word. That was all the conformation I needed. Once again, there was an unlikely possibility. Sodapop and I looked at each other. And then I think we realized, finally realized that what we needed to do was pray hard for god, mom, and dad to save him for us. So we sat down in the chairs outside the soundproofed operating room, crying and praying for our baby brother.

A/N: So how did you like that? Was it good, bad, did you hate it? Please let me know! And what do you guys think about Pony? What about Danni and Johnny? Isn't good ol' Two-Bit just an insensitive jerk? Haha that's why we love him, though! I SWEAR that I will update by Wednesday… if you review of course! I love you guys!

Thanks for Reading!

-thewolfgurlgleek :) xoxoxoxo