XXXXXX

"Johnny? Can you hear me buddy?"

Slowly coming to, Johnny opened his eyes and found that he was staring up into the face of Buck Merrill who was standing over him.

"Where am I?"

"You're at my place."

Carefully sitting up, Johnny found that he was on a couch and looked around to see that Buck's place was completely trashed. The television was broken, the bar stools were thrown about and all of the bottles of alcohol were broken.

"What happened here?"

"The Brumley Boys trashed my place." Buck sighed. "When I got back here I saw that they were running out and I followed them. I guess you were at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Yeah." Johnny kinda smirked. "Suppose I was."

"What were you doing at the lot by yourself anyway?"

"I uh…I was on my way to the Dingo."

"Are you okay? You don't need to go to the hospital do you?"

"No. I'll be alright. I'm glad you came around when you did."

Buck then smiled.

"I'm glad that I found you too. I was going to wait until tomorrow to try to find you, but I guess I can take you up there now."

"Take me where?" Johnny asked, now confused.

Waving him towards the door, Buck was now grinning even wider.

"Come with me."

He got up and followed the older man outside to his car. Buck started it up and turned the radio on as he got on the express way and began taking them to the next town of Cherokee Heights. Again, Johnny asked where they were going but Buck only smirked again and didn't answer.

When Buck got off the express way and back on regular roads he then turned into the parking lot of a cheap, run down motel.

"He just got back this morning." Buck began as he parked his car in front of a door. "He asked me to find you and bring you here."

"Who?"

"Come on."

Johnny opened the door and followed Buck up to the door that read '101'. Buck then knocked and waited for the door to be answered.

"Buck what's going on?" Johnny asked as he looked at him.

The door then opened.

"Hey kid."

Johnny then froze when he heard that voice. He hadn't heard it in a while, but he knew it from anywhere.

He turned his head and standing right there was Dallas Winston smirking down at him.

"You've been keepin' your nose clean, kiddo?"

Not being able to help himself, Johnny threw himself at Dally and hugged him tightly. If it was anyone else, Dally would have thrown them off him but he only returned the hug as Buck laughed and walked in to the room and closed the door behind him.

"Dally? What are you doing here?" Johnny asked when he let him go.

"I told you would see me again."

He then noticed the bruise on his face.

"What happened to you?"

"Oh. I got jumped by the Brumley Boys."

Dally could only stare at him.

"Are you serious?"

"Oh yeah." Buck answered for him. "They trashed my place too."

"Damn sons of bitches." Dally cursed.

"Damn right. I should have shot their asses."

"Yes you should have."

Dally then shook his head as he sat down on the bed. Even an eight month absance from town wasn't enough to make the Brumley's forget about the blood feud he had developed with them over the past two years.

Johnny then bit his bottom lip as he took a step closer towards him.

"Dally...the whole gang misses you. They have no idea what happened to you."

"Yeah, well. I can't risk coming back-"

"You're wrong." Johnny then said. "My mom and I went to the station a few months ago. They told us they don't have any suspects for what happened. And not much evidence. They only found a size ten shoe print in the backyard."

"I were size ten." Dally said.

"Come on Dally." Buck spoke. "The cops ain't gonna figure out it was you just based on that."

Dally then sighed before he looked at Johnny.

"Speaking of your mom, how have the two of you been doing?"

Johnny had to stop himself from wincing, remembering what she had told him about having to move in just two weeks. He knew he should have told Dally right then, but just couldn't get himself to do so.

"Good." He finally answered. "She got a day job and we talk a lot more than we use to."

Dally nodded.

"What about school?"

"I'm going to be a senior next year. Along with Soda, Pony, and Steve."

Reaching forward, Dally gave Johnny a light slap on the back.

"Good for you, kid. It looks like you did everything I asked."

"I told you I would. Especially after all you did for me."

The two of them looked at each other for a moment before Dally leaned back and took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one up.

"So will you come back?" Johnny asked.

Dally looked up at him before looking towards Buck who nodded and grinned.

"Come on, it's a short drive."

He nodded before taking a deep breath and getting to his feet.

"Alright, let's go."

A bright smile came over Johnny's face as he had to stop himself from hugging his friend again but Dally shook his head.

"I'm not saying I'll stay."

Johnny's smile quickly disapeared and Dally sighed and continued.

"I'll stay at Buck's place for a few days...if everything seems okay-"

"You'll stay?"

"I'll think about it."

The three of them exited the room and headed towards Buck's car.

"Wait." Buck then said. "Don't you have to pay for your room?"

"Ah, let em sue me." Dally responded as he got into the front seat.

"Glad to see time away hasn't changed you."

Buck started up the car and began driving them back to Maplewood. On the drive, Johnny and Dally kept talking with Johnny mostly asking Dally questions.

"So where did you go?" Johnny asked. "Did you leave Tulsa?"

"Yeah." Dally answered. "I went to Texas. Went from town to town, made sure not to get in too much trouble."

They continued talking, Johnny told him what was going on with the rest of the gang and Dally told him what he'd been doing since he left. Finally, Buck drove them in front of the Curtis house and waited for them to get out.

"You wanna come in?" Dally asked Buck.

"Na, I need to get back to my place. It needs a lot of fixing up."

"Alright. I'll be there in a little while."

Both Dally and Johnny got out of the car and made there way up to the door. From the sound of voices coming from the house, Johnny knew that someone was home. He slowly opened the front door and saw Ponyboy, Sodapop, Two-Bit, and Steve all sitting in the living room talking.

"Hey guys." Johnny said, getting their attention.

The four boys looked over at him, then all collectively froze when they saw who was standing right beside him. After a few moments went by, Two-Bit shot up to his feet.

"Dally!"