For anyone who realized there were a couple of questions still needing answers... :)

Epilogue.

I would not change one damn aspect of my life because of Ricky, I had decided. I could not allow him that power over me. And so I still left work through the back door and I still walked down that service alley. I might never do it without looking up and down, checking if I could see anyone, might never do it quite as carelessly as I used to, but I did it.

Sometimes I was still surprised, but then sometimes I didn't mind.

"Hey there, Tink."

"What are you doing here, Mathews?"

"Always so gracious, that's what I like about you, Miss Evie. Always so polite when you thank me for saving you the bus ride home." Two-Bit opened the passenger door on the Plymouth and bowed low, like Errol freaking Flynn, as I climbed in. I poked my tongue out at him.

As he drove, he yakked nonstop - about the weather, about some baseball team I didn't even know he followed – which distracted me for a few minutes, but eventually I noticed we were going in the wrong direction.

He twigged that I'd noticed, but he didn't explain, which should have been my first clue that something was up. He let the car wheeze to a stop by a derelict lot overlooking the river, almost under the shadow of the bridge.

"Okay. You got me. What're we doin' here?" I smiled. And the second clue was, he didn't smile back.

He nodded to the broken down trailer that was the lot's only ornament. "Looks like a movie set, don't it? 'The villain's hideout'."

"Two-Bit, what are we doing here?"

He climbed out, walked around in front to lean on the hood as if we were there simply to look at the view of the river. I followed, still completely in the dark. He used the last match in a creased book for the weed in the corner of his mouth, but it blew out before the cigarette caught. I handed him my lighter. For some reason he thought that was funny and he made a show out of placing it back in my hand, once he'd lit up.

"So. Here we are, just you an' me, Tink. We got something we need to talk about."

"We do?"

Two-Bit nodded. "Something you don't know we got in common. A secret."

I looked at him and he looked at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, cursing that my voice came out so quiet.

"Evie." It was gentle, not a reproach.

"I don't keep secrets no more," I lied.

He nodded slowly, his gray eyes holding mine. "I do."

There was a bird flying over the river, darting up and down, like it was looking for something it had dropped in the water.

"I do, an' I gotta tell you, it's hard work. Secrets are heavy, y'know." Two-Bit blew out a long, steady stream of smoke. "How about I tell ya a story? A little fairy tale, with all the usual characters. We got a princess, of course, and a hero and a villain. That's what you need, right? And somewhere lurking around we got a prince, who ain't the same person as the hero, not in this story."

I gave him a confused look. He shrugged.

"You wait, it'll all get clear. So, let's say this prince and princess, they're all loved up and together and shit, over in their kingdom, right? But the villain, a real bad guy, he kidnaps the princess 'cause he's holding this beef that goes way back...You with me, yeah?"

Now I shifted uncomfortably, but something kept me quiet.

"So, when the princess comes home and she's all beat up, the prince and all the heroes – wait, did I say, there's like a whole bunch of heroes livin' in this kingdom? Well, there is. The place is lousy with heroes. Anyway, they all want to ride out and teach the bad guy a lesson. Fair deal. This is what heroes are for. But the princess, she don't want none of her heroes messed up. She says she's okay, it's gotta be forgotten. They don't like it, but they listen to her an' none of 'em do anything."

He glanced across, to see if I was keeping up.

"Except, this one hero, he can't help finding out where the bad guy is laying low. Uses magic steppin' stones, like a grey Chrysler, that kind of shit..."

Damn. And he never seemed like he was paying attention to details.

"So, he tracks down the bad guy. It's like a real villain's hideout, y'know." His eyes flicked across to the trailer. "An' he can't help but look him up, just to let him know how bad he is. With his fists. Not his blade."

At this point in the story, my heart was beating very fast. I leaned back on the hood, like him, so I wouldn't be looking right at him, just checking on him sideways. Two-Bit nodded to himself, as if confirming the next part before he continued. He finished his weed and sent the butt flying in a high arc towards the riverbank below us.

"So they go a coupla rounds. An' the hero gets in a few good jabs, two or three right hooks, maybe a slug to the guts. He does a good job of teaching the bad guy some manners an' he's walking away. You get that, Tink? He's walking away, when two things happen. He loses something and the bad guy hurts him."

I looked up sharply. Ricky hurt him? I saw that this was all about us, this story, he was telling me that he was the one beat up Ricky, before Sandy killed him. We knew someone had, I remembered the cops hoping to find evidence of a fight on Steve –

Wait. That was the day Two-Bit was supposed to pick me up from work and Darry showed, instead. Was that where Two-Bit was?

Of course it was. He'd provoked the fight at Sylvia's to hide the fact that he was already bruised. But it wasn't that bad, was it, for him to be talking about 'being hurt'?

He cleared his throat and continued his 'story'.

"First things, first. The hero loses something he'd forgotten was in his pocket. Something he'd borrowed from the prince." He looked so guilty as the penny in my mind finally dropped.

Holy shit, Two-Bit had Steve's lighter.

"Randle, gimme a light, you miserable fucker." When was that? Weeks before it all happened.

"I think that's when I must have lost it. I don't think...I don't think Kathy took it deliberate, although I guess Murphy could've planted it, if he got it off her. Either way, I wouldn't have let Steve take the rap because of that, Tink, I promise. I would've coughed to it. That's why I went to the station, I looked for it at home and realized I lost it, but when I got there, they were already releasing Steve..."

He'd forgotten this was supposed to be a story, in his guilt and his need to explain. I smiled, to let him know it was okay. I knew he would have said something, if they'd charged Steve because of the lighter. I wasn't so sure about Kathy's role in it.

But I was still confused, because I hadn't known any of this and he said we had a secret in common. And he also said that Ricky hurt him.

"So how was the hero hurt?" I asked quietly.

For a second I thought he'd chickened out of saying, because he took a couple of breaths without answering. Then he looked out over the water again.

"The hero...the hero gets hurt by the bad guy's words. Even lying on the dirt, the bad guy can still talk and he tells the hero a secret. About the princess. And what he did to her. Worse'n just hitting her. About the worse thing a bad guy can do..."

I closed my eyes as he went on. Remembered how I'd thought he was being weird with me, how he'd asked me if I was okay and hugged me out of the blue. Right after Ricky died. Right after Ricky had told him...

"Like I said, secrets are heavy. Some more than others. I think this might be a two person secret. 'Cause I ain't doing so good, holding it up on my own. An' if it's heavy for me, it's gotta be real heavy for you, Princess."

When I felt Two-Bit's hand touch mine gently, I opened my eyes. He was solemn, almost nervous.

"I'm okay. I promise." I told him, sliding up next to him, leaning on him. "But maybe we could hold this secret up together."

"You tell...the prince?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly. But he's smart, that prince. He knows."

"And it's okay, between you two?"

I nodded.

It was like a weight had been lifted off him for real. He leaned against me, both of us pushing our shoulders into each other, watching the bird swoop over the water.

"I'm sorry I didn't kill the villain. I wanted to. Guess I suck at the hero deal. I just...couldn't."

"Good. I'm glad you didn't. That's exactly what I didn't want. I need to keep my champion around."

"Your what?"

"Didn'tcha ya know? In them kind of stories there's a special word for the hero who looks after the princess, even though he's her friend, not her prince. 'Champion'."

"Yeah?" A grin split Two-Bit's face.

"Yeah." I leaned my head against his shoulder. "Fuckin' tuff title."

THE END

A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you. If you have read, reviewed, followed or faved this story, I appreciate it! I hope this epilogue cleared up any final questions, despite being told in Two-Bit's own particular style? If not, let me know!

Evie and Steve's story continues in 'Love Me Two Times', posting...right now - please look out for it.