Cherry ran out of the restaurant, coat flung over her body for warmth from the cold. She rushed through the entrance and to a bench that sat right against the exterior brick wall of the restaurant. She hastily sat down on the cold metal bench and let hot tears run down her cool and red cheeks. Her body shook from her sobs and from the sudden cold temperature she'd exposed herself to. She used her jacket sleeve to wipe off her face as she swallowed back another cry and tried to calm herself down.

Cherry looked up from the ground when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. When she looked up, she could see her sister running toward her, and her future brother in law trailing not too far behind her. She looked down again as she shifted over to the end of the bench, making room in case the other two wanted to sit down. When they reached the bench, the older Valance girl sat down next to her sister, letting their guest sit idle on the other end.

"You ok, Cherry?" Madeline asked her sister in a gentle tone.

Cherry scoffed. "Yeah, just peachy," she answered sarcastically.

Madeline wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulders and pulled her against her comfortingly. "What's wrong?"

"Ponyboy and Johnny were doin' self-defense, ok? Bob was askin' for it. He was a jerk and he treated people like dirt."

"This isn't just about that, Cherry. I know you, and I know there's something else goin' on. Now out with it."

Cherry was silent for a moment. "I don't know…"

"This is about Soda, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Cherry caved after a moment of silence in a weak voice, "I really miss him."

"Yeah," Madeline nodded understandingly, "I know you do."

Cherry felt tears begin to form in her eyes again. She shut them tight, letting tears leak out from the corners of her red and puffy eyes. Her body began to shake again with her cries, and she shifted slightly as she was pulled closer by her sister in an attempt as some sort of comfort. She let her older sister hug her tight, both for comfort and to probably try and help to keep her warm. The two were both silent as they sat on the bench, ignoring the questioning looks they got from those who would walk past them on the sidewalk.

-/-/-

Dallas sat silently next to the two sisters. He leaned his elbows on top of his knees and fumbled with his hands. His gaze was fixed on the ground as he sat hunched over at the edge of the bench. Every so often, he'd look over at the two sisters, who sat quietly, with the exception of the lows sound of cries from the younger of the two girls. Nearly every time he looked at the two, he could Madeline's sat and sympathetic gaze.

"He misses you too, ya know," Dallas commented quietly.

Both girls turned to him. "Huh?" Cherry asked in a weak voice.

Dallas looked at them and sat up straight. "I said that he miss you, too."

"How do you know?"

"Whenever he writes to everyone, he writes a little note for each of us. In, like, every one of them, he tells us all that he misses you."

Madeline looked back and forth between her sister and her fiancé. She didn't know what to say at the present moment, so just chose to stay silent.

"He writes that to me, too," Cherry mumbled a bit sadly.

"You miss him a lot, don't you," Dallas commented, more in a statement rather than a question.

Before anyone could answer or got the chance to speak, the three looked up and saw an all too familiar face. Unfortunately, it was the face of someone who was too involved in what was happening, but didn't want to be seen or thought about.

-/-/-

Sandy slipped her coat over her shoulders, bid her parents and grandmother goodbye, then kissed her baby girl's forehead. The baby girl smiled and began to kiss both of her mother's cheeks what felt like a hundred times. The young mother smiled proudly, picked up the baby girl and held her tight. She then kissed the baby girl a few more times, making her giggle, then handed her over to her father.

"I'll be back in a little while," Sandy said reassuringly, "But if for some reason I'm not home by 7:45 tonight, could y'all put Sara to bed for me?"

"OF course," her father answered, "Just don't be out too late."

She gave a smile. "Don't worry, I won't. I'll even call to keep y'all updated on where I am, ok?"

When this was agreed by the elder man, sandy gave one final goodbye and walked out the front door. She fumbled with the cold metal keys in her hand as she walked to the car. She unlocked the car door and got into the driver's seat of the vehicle. Sliding the key into the ignition, she started the car engine and turned the car on. She then drove the car out from the driveway and into town.

Sandy was going out into town and ever the surrounding towns for a couple of reasons. One: she hadn't had a night to herself in over a year and almost two years, since before she got pregnant. Two: she still had some Christmas shopping to do for her family and a few friends. Three: her parents thought that maybe she'd like to go out through her old home once again. She agreed to this, even though that meant being away from her daughter a little while longer than usual, but she'd be a liar if she said that she didn't appreciate the alone time.

Sandy drove into town and parallel parked against the sidewalk. She got out of the car and walked onto the sidewalk of the street. She turned her head and scanned the stores and shops and the surrounding area. As she looked through the crowd, she stopped when she saw three familiar faces. They were two females and one male. She felt like her eyes were deceiving her at first, but hen confirmed that the three she saw was who she though they were.

I have to tell her, Sandy thought, I have to tell her what really happened.

Sandy took a heavy breath before she crossed the street. She hugged herself to help keep herself warm and looked back and forth way as she crossed the street. When she reached the other side of the street, she looked straight ahead at the group, then walked toward them.

When she approached them slowly, they all looked up at her a bit bitterly. "What're you doing here?" Dallas asked, remembering what she had done to his friend.

"I'm visiting my parents," Sandy answered, unshaken by his attitude.

"Then where are they?"

"Back at home."

"Where you should be."

Sandy looked down for another moment and took a deep breath, then looked at the two redhead girls. "Cherry, can I talk to you?" she asked.

Cherry looked up and gave her a questioning look. "I've seen you before," she claimed.

"Yes, you have. I wish I could say it was recreational, though."

"Hey, haven't you caused enough trouble?" Dallas snapped.

Sandy glared at him, challenging him. "Well, maybe I'm trying to fix it, Dallas. Ever think of that? And you shouldn't talk about causin' trouble."

Dallas let out a humorless laugh, partly ignoring her final comment in his response. "Yeah, like that's possible at this point."

"Dallas," Madeline growled in warning, "That's enough."

"Cherry, can I talk to you for a second?" Sandy asked desperately, her voice suddenly changing from its angry tone, "It's real important and I think you should know this."

Cherry looked back and forth between her older sister and her future brother in law, then back at the blonde standing in front of her. "Yeah, sure," she answered and got up from her spot on the bench.

Sandy and Cherry walked a distance away from the bench, out of earshot from when the angered Dallas Winston and the concerned Madeline Valance waited. The two girls stood around thirty steps away from the two, their faces and figures illuminated by any store or street lights in the area. The two girls stood awkwardly for a brief moment, both not knowing how to start off the conversation.

That was until one of the two found the courage to speak up and the words to say.

There aren't too many chapters left for this story. Once completed, it'll probably be sixty to sixty-five chapters long, based off of my estimate. I'll probably update in another three to four weeks. Who knows, if we're lucky, maybe in two weeks. But if not in two weeks, look for at most four weeks. That's the longest I ever take to update on a story and that's by my decision. Mostly cause I don't want people going like "when are you updating" or that stuff cause it's happened before to me. I'm not trying to sound rude, but I think any online story writer knows what it's like and it can be kinda irritating.

Anyway, hope you liked the chapter. Peace from all the hippies of the world. =^-^=