However when the bus rolled away, she noticed a figure standing there, jeans and a dark tee shirt was what he was wearing, and he had a tribal tattoo on his bicep, half visible under the sleeve.

"K-Kessler." Violet whispered fearfully.

He walked across the street and took her hand in his, pulling her against him and he kissed her, passionately. He held her close to him and wrapped a hand around her waist, holding her tightly in place. If Violet hadn't had been feeling vulnerable and confused, she would have fought him off. In her state of shock and her state of weakness she let him kiss her. She let him run his hands up and down her back, like she used to dream of when she was a teenager.

Kessler came to his senses first, and she looked at him, noticing a calm look in his eyes for the first time since she chose Darry over him. "I want custody over Hailey. I want to see her and be in her life. That's all I want, that's all I've been after."

"Kessler… That's… That's not all you were after. Why, after all of this time of trying to kill me, would you come to me calm and this is all you want? Why didn't you just do this in the first place?" She asked calmly, trying to keep the accusing tone out of her voice.

"Because Darry is out of the picture, and I can get you back." Violet took a step back,

"Darry isn't out of the picture now. He's at home. And you will not be getting custody with Hailey, not after everything you've put me through." She said, before turning her back and walking back into the house. Her mother looked over at her from the small kitchen window, she was burping Darrel.

"Who was that dear? He doesn't look to happy…" She started and Violet shook her head.

"Hailey's father and he wants custody. But he's put Hailey and I through a lot, and he doesn't deserve custody." She said softly, taking her son back from her mother and rubbing his back. Her mother only nodded and went back to making dinner.

Violet walked out into the backyard, sitting on one of the lawn chairs and watched the clouds as they rolled over, her son sleeping soundly on her shoulder. Her eyes closed as she felt the exhaustion creep into her system. She nodded at her mom as she began to doze off, her mother saying something along the lines of, she was going to the grocery store quickly and would be back soon. Violet dozed off, the feeling of the warmth from her son and his small heartbeat against her shoulder lulled her to sleep, and she didn't awake for what felt like hours. And when she did, she felt cold and noticed the sun had already set and it was later in the evening. She stood up, and Darrel squirmed a little bit once he had been moved to a more comfortable position for Violet.

"Violet, honey, dinner's ready!" Her mother called from inside the house, and Violet walked up the small stairs and opened the back door, walking through the living room and into the small kitchen, sitting Darrel in her lap once she was seated. Her father smiled at the two and reached to get Darrel,

"There's my little man!" He said, holding him up before kissing his head, sitting him in his lap and started to eat the spaghetti.

"I'm going to go see if Hailey is up," Violet said, before walking down to the spare room. She reached for the door handle, and slowly opened it. Reaching to flick the light switch she hoped her daughter had slept somewhat. However she wasn't prepared for the sight before her, and she screamed. This was the worst of her fears, walking into her daughter's room to find an empty bed.

Darry hadn't gotten out of bed the whole day. He drank what beer was left in the fridge, and simply went and lay in bed, with the door closed and the curtains drawn shut. He knew what this ache in his chest was; he knew that this was what heart break felt like. He hadn't felt this feeling before and hoped no one ever went through it again. Many dark thoughts went through his head at that time, and he didn't care about having to be there for his brothers, for the gang. He wanted his fiancée and his children back. Having them all leave at once made it almost unbearable and Darry just wanted the pain to stop. Soon after laying down and thinking these thoughts, the tears began to run down his face. Only moments later, it seemed that the sobbing came, and he cried for what felt like hours into his pillow.

His sorrows drowned the sound of his bedroom door opening, and when his youngest brother sat on the bed in front of him, he was embarrassed, but when his younger brother pulled him into his embrace and held him tightly, he started to cry again. As much as he didn't want to admit it he needed his brother's strong embrace, reminding him that he couldn't go. That he was still needed here, still wanted.

Ponyboy sat downstairs in the small office working on his essay. This is his final copy and it was due over the Easter break. He sighed and sat back in the chair, tapping his pencil against his paper in an annoyed fashion. This paper was on the life of Abraham Lincoln, and if he was in turn, the best president the American's have had. He was pro, he loved Abraham Lincoln. But that wasn't what was bothering him; it was the quietness of the household. Scout slept soundly on the dog bed in the study, but there wasn't any tiny footsteps padding around as Violet and Hailey or Darry and Hailey played with each other. At first he figured his brother had gone for a nap, but once he had seen the number of beer bottles sitting on the table he knew otherwise and his imagination was driving him crazy with the amount of different things that Darry could be doing. Attempting suicide was the first and most predominant on his mind.

Sobbing was what brought him out of his thoughts and he knew that Darry needed a shoulder to cry on, someone to let him know he's not lost everything.

"Scout, come on girl." He said, patting his leg. He picked her up as she yawned sleepily and walked upstairs into his brother's room and he felt his heart yearn for his oldest brother, this being the second time that he was heartbroken over this girl, the third time he was crying his heart out. He placed Scout on the bed and sat beside Darry, pulling him into his arms.

"It's okay Dar… It's okay… You're going to get her back… It's alright… It's going to work out alright? Everything will get better…" He said softly, and things of the likeness until his brother had calmed down enough to fall asleep without hiccupping every other second. He hoped that he never went through this with Lexi, because if his brother-the strongest person he knew- was this broken, he didn't know how he would handle it.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! And big shout out to GreaserGirlie who got her wisdom teeth pulled today, feel better!