(A/N: This was by far the hardest thing I have EVER had to write. I was up this morning around 3am, about to go to bed. When I go to sleep, I usually put a movie in to listen to. I was looking through my DVD case and noticed I hadn't seen the Outsiders in a long time. So, I popped it in, turned off the light and laid down. Well, as you may know, I get the best ideas while watching the movie. So, of course, I had a great idea to add to my list of things to add. Except, the words kept coming so I decided to start writing the chapter instead. You should never leave unwritten words in your head or else they disappear :P. Want to know something funny? The DVD started messing up right after I wrote Rae's break…and the inspiration completely went away. Anyway, enjoy. –November 28, 2009. Current A/N will appear at the bottom this time.)

Chapter 35

"NO!" Raelee shrieked, even though she knew it was too late. She heard the gunshots and saw her brother drop to his hands and knees. "DALLY!" she screamed and took off towards her brother. She saw him look up at her and mouth her name.

"Rae…?" he said, staring at her. Time seemed to slow. He watched, in slow-motion, as his sister ran towards him, looking as if she were scared shitless. He tried to crawl to her. And then he felt it. He felt his eyes burn. He felt his chest tightening. He felt the sting of the bullets in his body. What have I done? he asked himself. A tear ran down his face. The moment it hit his cheek, time sped up again. He grunted in pain and rolled over on to his back.

Rae's legs almost gave out on the way, and as soon as she reached her brother, his heart had almost stopped. She dropped down next to him. "Dally...," she started. "Dally, don't leave me." She saw him look up at her and he was gone. Rae stared at him in silence for a moment, and then started screaming. "NO!" she yelled at his dead body. "YOU PROMISED, DALLY!" She hit the hard pavement with both fists clenched. "You promised you would always be here for me…" She felt someone move close to her and lift her hands off the ground. "LET ME GO!" she shrieked, at the top of her lungs, and forced her hands away, from who she now knew was Steve, trying to make sure she didn't hurt herself. She looked up at him, her eyes blazing as dangerously as Dally's had when he was upset. Steve retreated for a moment, taken aback by her eyes. But, then he wiped his own tears from his eyes and grabbed her face. She tried to jerk away from him, but he held on tightly.

"No," he said. She tried again. "No, Rae." She was trying to look away. She couldn't face anyone now; she couldn't look at anyone in the eyes or else she would break. Dally would hate that. Dally would be disappointed if she broke. He was always telling her to suck it up and be a man, right? Right? "Rae, please." She heard Steve begging her to stop and look at him. Her chest was heaving. What should she do? If she looked at him, she would certainly cry. She wasn't supposed to but…

"Rae…" She felt strong arms warp around her waist and heard Soda's voice behind her. He hugged her tightly. "Rae, come back to us. Please." She felt her body shaking, hard. "It's okay to cry." She directed her blazing eyes towards Steve, who had a fresh batch of tears streaming down his face. He nodded. The hardness in her eyes went away and she felt the tears start flowing out, uncontrollably. Steve released her head, and she dropped into his chest. She grabbed on to his jean vest and sobbed. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly. Soda kept latched on to her waist as well, and not long after, she felt water soaking through the back of her shirt.

"Dally…," she sobbed, over and over again.

By then, all of the cops had since deserted the area, leaving the gang and the body alone. Most of the boys were frozen into place, staring at Dally, not believing what they had just seen. Rae kept Steve and Soda close to her, crying for over an hour. Two-Bit, on the other hand, stared down at Rae. He was distraught, just like the rest of them, but he knew that if they took Rae away again and put her in the system, it would only make her worse off than she was now. And he had an idea. He saw Steve and Soda stand up, pulling their friend with him. She was still crying, but not like before.

"Oh my god," said a voice behind them all. Two-Bit tore his eyes off of Rae to turn around. Tim was standing there, staring down at the body. Beside him was a wide-eyed Carrie.

"What-," Carrie started, but stopped suddenly when she saw her friend.

"We need to go," Darry said, finally out of his trance. "They'll be back to collect the body and take us all away."

"No…," Rae pleaded. "Don't make me leave him…" Soda let go of her and let Steve support her solely.

"I know you don't want to leave him, Rae. I know. But…" He looked over to her. He saw her look down at her brother's body, and then drop to the ground. Steve tried to catch her as she fainted, but didn't make it. He quickly scooped her up.

"Let's go," Two-Bit sighed. They all seemed rather reluctant, and passed by Dally's body slowly. By the time they had gotten back to the Curtis house, Rae had woken up and was crying into Steve's shirt again. He let her down on to the chair and went to get a box of band-aids to cover everyone's minor injuries. He stopped to look in the mirror of the bathroom. He didn't notice his newly chipped tooth as much as he noticed the tear stains on his dirty face. He was about as used to crying as much as Rae was, but he had never had anything to cry about. Not like Rae. He didn't know how to handle the death of someone close to him. Steve blinked out of his trance and grabbed the box of Mickey Mouse band-aids (courtesy of Two-Bit, of course) in the cabinet below the bathroom sink. When he went back out, Rae was curled in a ball, her face hidden in her arms. He knelt down in front of her.

"Hey, kiddo," he said softly. "I need to put a band-aid on that cut on your face." Slowly, she picked up her head, keeping her eyes averted from him. Her eyes were red-rimmed and still a bit wet, but she had ceased crying, at least for now. He cleaned up the cut on the side of her forehead, and had to use two band-aids to cover it up. He moved away from her once he was done and passed the box on to Darry. Steve sat down on the floor, next to Tim and Carrie. Both of their hands were on the floor, but his was on top of hers. As they all bandaged up their wounds, Rae came out of her ball a bit and had a look around the room. It felt weird. Dally and Johnny had always been there when everyone had gathered, especially after a rumble. Would it feel this way for the rest of her life? At this point, it sure seemed like it. She had started to come to the realization that they wouldn't ever be coming back to sit with them. To laugh with them. To make fun of them. Or, to be a family again. What would become of her? She heard someone put the phone down in the other room. Two-Bit walked into the room, for the first time in his life, grim-faced.

"Well," he announced to the entire room. "I've talked to my mother and she agreed to adopt Rae. So, as long as the judge agrees, she can stay here with us." If it had been under any other circumstance, everyone would be smiling and cheering. Instead, they all were silent. A few of them, like Darry, nodded in approval. But there were no smiles. Everyone was solemn. "We'll have to go to court for it, obviously. Mom says it's okay since my sister moved out of state after Bob's murder…" Rae nodded and looked away from her friend. She curled back up in to her human ball and stayed there for a long time.

There was a knock on the door and Rae jumped out of her light sleep. The room was dark. Someone had turned out the light. She looked down and saw the outline of her friends' sleeping bodies. All of them were still there, except for the brothers, who were in there own beds. The knock came again, but this time louder. Suddenly the light came on. She immediately hid her face, not used to the brightness. The people on the floor started to groan. When Rae could stand the lights, she moved her hands. Carrie had fallen asleep in Tim's lap, and he had his hand on her shoulders, his body was still in the same position it had been when she fell asleep. Two-Bit was stretched out on the couch and Steve now took up the rest of the front-room floor. Dally walked in to the door, still half asleep.

"Sorry, guys," he said and went to open the door. There was an officer standing there, shivering in the cold weather. "Yes?" The other man held out a piece of paper.

"Tomorrow you need to go to your lawyer's office to discuss your argument for keeping custody of your brothers," he said, then pointed at Rae. "And bring her." Darry glanced over at his friend and nodded.

"Thanks," he said. The police officer nodded. Darry closed the door and and took a look at the letter. After a minute, he looked around the room. Everyone was looking up at him with half-opened eyes. "Sorry. Go back to sleep." He walked back to his room, turning the light off on his way out. Rae turned sideways in the chair and hugged her knees so she would fit. She laid her head against the back of the chair. She remembered sitting in Dally's lap just like this only a few months prior. She shut her eyes, tightly, and pretended he was there, holding her.

(A/N: Ok guys. Like said before, this was so hard to write. I'm sorry to those of you who begged me not to kill Dally off. I really am. He's my favorite character and I would have loved to let him live. But, I wanted to make this as close to the real story as I could aside from having Rae there. And no, this isn't the last chapter I'll write for this story, but it is close to the last. I want to thank all of my readers who have stayed with me, even through my long break. And to my new readers. Thank you all so much for your support!)