Steve got processed and sent to a cell. He was in a cell by himself, for now. He knew that could change. Thankfully the last time he was arrested was simply a scare tactic by the Tulsa police, so he was out after a couple hours, never having to share with a true criminal. This wasn't a scare tactic. Not this time. The fuzz had given Steve multiple warnings about his drag racing or reckless driving. He never injured anyone before. He rarely drove that way with anyone else in the car. Never got in an accident before. Anyone else who had been involved were other drivers getting the same warning. This was entirely different, but Steve wasn't so worried about his punishment right now. He was just worried about Ponyboy. He was worried about Soda.

"You'll be here for a long time, Randle. Just wait until the kid wakes up and tells the story."

Now that statement scared Steve.

Soda was pacing the waiting room. Darry managed to fall asleep in the room with Ponyboy, and Soda didn't want to disturb them. He was having a difficult time wrapping his mind around what he was told. Not about Pony's condition, but what Steve told him had happened. He couldn't accept it. That's not what happened. His best friend did not make a stupid decision and put his little brother's life at risk. That's not it. It was all a lie. It had only been two hours since Steve was taken away, and Soda was still having this internal argument and questions.

How could Steve do this? What in the world was he thinking? If Pony had only been banged up a little, Soda and Darry would be furious at Steve for being so careless, but it'd get figured out and things could go back to normal. Pony wasn't banged up a little, though. He was in a coma, his body figuring out how to heal, let alone wake up. How does someone's body forget to wake up? Soda wasn't an expert on cars like Steve, but he knew enough. The impact the car had to have taken to cause this, especially on just one of them, had to be pretty bad. Steve had to have been going really fast or attempting some stunt he hadn't done before. The more Soda thought about it, the more it pissed him off. He wanted to see Steve's car and the outcome of that, but he was sure he wouldn't be able to. The police had to have it or it got towed away if the damage was bad enough. Maybe he didn't want to see Steve's car and imagine how Pony looked during the accident.

Soda didn't know anything. That's what he was accepting just to shut his mind up.

It was reaching the late morning, and Darry and Soda were anxiously waiting for something to happen. Pony wasn't being induced into a coma anymore, so he could wake up if he wanted to. It would take time, but the brothers were anxious. Pony's vitals were stable and the doctor wasn't having anything extra done to him. That had to be good news, the brothers wanted to think. It was simply a waiting game, and Darry knew Soda was the worst at that.

"Can I call Two-Bit?" Soda asked. "Normally I'd be having Steve help me through a crisis, but...yeah."

Darry slowly nodded. "Yeah, little buddy, go ahead. Two-Bit should probably know anyway."

"Okay." Soda stepped out of the room. He spent the entire night feeling angry at Steve, barely getting any sleep. Now that he was facing Pony face-to-face, he sort of wished Steve was there to help him pass the time and believe things would be okay. Then he'd feel mad again. He didn't like the up and down of it. Two-Bit was the only option, not that Soda would've jumped to call Dally or Johnny if they were still around.

Two-Bit walked inside his home, feeling confused. Maybe concerned, but mostly confused. Did he miss something? He glanced at the calendar his mom had in the kitchen. Nothing was written down, not that he wrote things down on the calendar. But now he was thinking. Did Darry mention they were going somewhere that day? Two-Bit didn't have the slightest clue. If he was told something like that, how drunk was he to have completely forgotten?

He had driven to the Curtis house to hang out, but no one was home. He didn't see Darry's truck, but he walked right inside, and not one of the brothers was in sight. Two-Bit drove to the DX. Again, he was sure neither Soda or Steve worked that day, and he was right. They weren't there. He swiped a Pepsi to not waste time driving there though. Two-Bit had no idea where anyone was. It was rare for him to, but he dropped by the Randle house. Steve could usually handle himself, but Two-Bit got concerned enough if his dad really handed it to him this time. Steve's car wasn't in the driveway and no one answered the door.

Where was everyone?

Two-Bit decided to go home before checking town. It was just odd they were all gone at the same time, no sign of where they could be. He started making himself an early lunch. He didn't know what else to do. He'd try to find everyone later.

"If this is Prank Two-Bit Day, it's working," Two-Bit muttered to himself.

As he sat down on the couch, flipping through the TV channels, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Two-Bit answered.

"Hey, Two-Bit."

"Soda? Hey, where are you guys? I went by your house and Steve's house, and can't find anyone. Did y'all go on vacation without me, because I'm the easiest vacation partner. I don't have a job holding me here!" Two-Bit heard Soda give a small, semi-forced chuckle. "Is everything okay?"

"No, not really. Can you come to the hospital?"

Two-Bit's heart stopped for a second. "Yeah, I'll be right there." He hung up the phone before Soda could say anything else. He didn't even know who Soda was talking about. He was scared to ask over the phone.

Two-Bit didn't waste a second driving to the hospital. His nerves were high, though. The last time he was here was to visit Johnny and Dally. It was the last time he ever saw Johnny Cade, but he didn't realize that until after the rumble that same night. It was the time he gave Dallas Winston his blade so he could get to the rumble. He had to get a new blade since the fuzz took it off Dally's person when he was shot to death. Two-Bit still wished the police taking his blade was the only problem that night.

There wasn't good memories at this hospital for the gang. It was always someone who already died or was dying. Dallas Winston wasn't even dying in the hospital, but he still ended up dead that night.

Two-Bit headed straight to the cafeteria where Soda was waiting for him.

"Hey buddy," Two-Bit said, approaching Soda. He looked around, not seeing anyone else from the gang there.

"Hey," Soda gave a soft smile as he stood up and gave Two-Bit a hug. "You want to grab something to eat? I just sat down to try and eat a little."

"I'm okay," Two-Bit said, taking a seat. He watched as Soda took a couple bites of an apple. Two-Bit didn't ask. He didn't want to know. He was just going to wait until Soda spoke up. There were only so many people it could be. Was it Darry? Was it Ponyboy? Maybe Steve? How serious was it for all of them to be here? They were all here, right? Was it more than one who was hurt or sick? Too many questions, but Two-Bit couldn't get himself to spit any out.

"It's Ponyboy," Soda quickly said, as if reading Two-Bit's mind.

"Oh no," Two-Bit said, bringing his hands to his face. Not that his response would have been any different for anyone else, but it didn't need to be Ponyboy. It shouldn't be Ponyboy. Hadn't he, and his brothers, been through enough? "Darry and Steve are up there then? God, Darry must be a wreck."

Soda took a long drink of his juice.

"Well, go ahead and tell me the bad news. What happened to him? Please tell me it wasn't anything with the Socs? I'm so sick of their shit lately."

"It wasn't the Socs," Soda responded.

"That's good, at least. So what is it?"

"Steve's not up there," Soda simply said, referring back to Two-Bit's earlier question.

"Where is Steve? He wasn't at home. Was he here last night?"

"He was here last night. He's the one who brought Pony in."

"Huh?"

Soda looked at Two-Bit. He could already tell how much he was going to appreciate Two-Bit being there. It wasn't as if Darry wasn't going to be comforting to Soda, but Steve's involvement was truly tearing Soda up. Mix that in with Pony's condition, Soda was bound to explode and he needed someone there to help him. "Steve's the reason Ponyboy is hurt. Pony is in a coma, or at least he should be waking up soon."

"What did Steve do?" Two-Bit asked, feeling a bit of anger rise. He was aware Pony wasn't Steve's favorite person, but he wouldn't expect him to hurt the kid.

"I guess Steve and Pony went on some joy rides. Pony was interested in things, so Steve decided to show him some tricks in his car. They got in an accident."

"Oh my God...how bad of an accident?"

Soda looked at Two-Bit. "Pony is in a coma..."

"Sorry, sorry. I get it. I guess I meant what exactly was the accident? How bad is Steve's car?"

"I don't really know. I started thinking about the car though. Once the police are done, I'm hoping it gets brought to the DX to be fixed up so I can see. I might go ask the police about it."

"The fuzz is involved huh?"

"Yeah. They arrested Steve."

Two-Bit's eyes widened. "What?"

"Steve told me what happened last night. The police showed up and they said they were sick of giving Steve all these warnings about drag racing. He got arrested for reckless driving since he hurt someone," Soda stopped there, not wanting to use the terms possibly killed.

"I...I can't believe this. I'm so sorry Soda. I'm sure you're feeling..."

"Pissed? Yes." Soda slammed his hands on the table. "That idiot should've known better. Risk your own life driving like that. Not my brother's."

"Okay, okay, relax," Two-Bit said softly, noticing people, including security, were looking towards them. "Do you know what's gonna happen to Steve?"

"No idea. I don't care right now."

"Okay, that's fine. That's fair." Two-Bit kept a mental note to eventually go to the jail and check on Steve. He knew Soda would care eventually, even if they all were angry at him right now. "Want to take me up there?"

"Yeah." Soda and Two-Bit got up. Two-Bit was in shock walking in the room. The kid was not looking good.

"You...can barely see him," Two-Bit said quietly. All the tubes, wires, wrappings, oxygen. Two-Bit didn't know the lingo for everything, but he did know the more stuff attached to you the worse you must've been.

"Thanks for coming," Darry said to Two-Bit.

"Well yeah. I would've been here last night if I knew."

"It happened pretty late," Darry sighed.

"If Pony was out late, did you guys know he was with Steve?"

"He was at the library before the DX. Just thought he was really into a book. Now that I think about it, there's no way the library would've been open that late," Darry shuffled uncomfortably.

"Don't go kicking yourself. Even if you went to check on him at the library, you wouldn't have known where he was. Steve...simply shouldn't have done that."

"My knuckles hurt," Darry commented, giving Two-Bit a look as Soda sat next to Pony, not paying attention.

"Did it feel good?" Two-Bit smirked.

"Yeah, it did."

"So, what's going on? What are we waiting for?"

"The doctor induced him in a coma. He's in pretty rough shape and they needed his body to relax. He's not fully induced anymore, so he should be waking up within a couple hours as it wears off. At least, he's supposed to..."

Two-Bit patted Darry on the back. "He'll wake up. He will."