Darrel Curtis.

"Mr. Curtis? You can go in now." The secretary told him.

He wore his father's suit and hat for the meeting, but even so, when he'd looked in the mirror that morning he realised he still looked, and felt, around 12 years old. More than anything he wished his father were there in that moment. He'd always known what to do and what to say under pressure.

Wish me luck Dad! He thought as he adjusted the hat and walked in.

Lucky for him, work was on hold for a few days pending a zoning permit. He never thought he'd be glad of a delayed job, but at least he'd had time to prepare. When he'd come home on Thursday only to find he'd missed the inspection he thought the might die from anxiety on the spot. Soda had been in pieces wondering if they'd screwed it or not, and the worst part was Darry couldn't tell them because he hadn't been there!

The woman behind the desk was the same one he'd met at the station when Johnny had been questioned. He'd been angry, sharp with her and the detective. He couldn't have made a good impression. His heart fluttered in his chest.

She stood to shake his hand, like a man. "Darrel. Glad you could make it. Please sit down." He sat stiffly in the office chair and waited for her to look through her notes.

"So when I inspected your house on Thursday I noticed you boys were doing some home improvements." She said casually.

"Yes indeed Ma'am… We're building a bedroom."

"I suppose building comes easy to you with your line of work and all?"

"It does." He replied tersely. Not wanting to give her a stick to beat him with. "I know what I'm doing."

"I noticed some debate over what colour to paint it." She said with slight smile. "Pink was Johnny's choice."

"He would choose that." Darry said fondly. "For Mary."

"I wont beat around the bush Darrel." She told him. "You have a very emotionally disturbed child there."

His eyes widened. "Ma'am no offence but… Mary is a month old… I fail to see how you could tell…"

"I'm not talking about Mary."

"Oh…"

"He's a gentle boy, kind, thoughtful, He doesn't lack intelligence… But he's clearly been though a lot more than he could handle."

"Yes he has Ma'am." There was no point in denying it.

"But having said that he's not the one I'm most worried about."

He frowned in confusion wondering which of the boys had given her concern and what the hell they'd said. Dammit! I should have taken the day off! and been there! "Ma'am?"

"You Darrel."

"Me?" He was lost. "I don't understand? I'm just fine Ma'am!"

"Darrel…" She said with a distinct sadness in her voice "…You're 21 years old. Under normal circumstances you'd be only just starting your professional life, maybe going to college or starting a career… Meeting girls, marriage, kids… As it stands you have two dependants and two more minors to look after knocking on your door."

"One…" He said softly, clearing his throat nervously "One dependant…Sodapop works full time." The last thing he wanted was to make his brother's positions less secure after everything they'd battled for.

"Still… Three dependant minors in a household headed by a single man your age? It's not an ideal arrangement."

He clenched his jaw. "Every house needs a mother." That's what they used to say at Sunday School. He closed his eyes for a moment. God… He missed her.

"Say whatever it is you're thinking Darrel… I can see you're upset, give me something to work with… Sell it to me! Why should I recommend that you get custody of two more children?

"Ma'am…" He took a deep breath. "When it comes to less than 'ideal' arrangements the Cade family would have been a case in point…" His eyes shone with anger. "I've known Johnny since he was three years old. When he needed his shoes tied or skinned a knee… It wasn't his parents he ran to… When he was jumped and beaten up on the street he didn't cry for them. Hell! When it was them doing the beating I was always the one he ran to… I was the one who patched him up and bathed him and put him to bed more times than I can count… It's my mother Mary is named for not his! You say 'minor dependant.' I say he's been my little brother since I was eight years old!"

Something softened in her expression. "Johnny told me he'd never had his own bed before… Tell me a little about his home life."

"He'd barely slept inside before unless it was with us Ma'am… I don't want to think about the sleeping arrangements in that hellhole to be honest with you… But it was pretty clear he preferred the abandoned lot, if he couldn't get our couch."

She watched him carefully until he squirmed. Saying nothing for a long moment. "Son… Let me give you a theoretical, but quite possible, scenario." She finally said, looking him in the eye. "Johnny gets tired of paying house and runs away… What happens to Mary?"

"Well he never would Ma'am… He's the most loyal person I know… But in that situation I'd keep looking after Mary as ever… And I'd do my best to find him too."

She nodded "Another one… Johnny has a nervous breakdown and ends up hospitalised… What do you do?"

"I visit him, take him home and look after him? I work a double shift to pay the bill! Hell, Ma'am! I do what I always do and make things work somehow! What does anyone do in a situation like that?" He was aware that he was snapping and shut his mouth, blushing. "I wouldn't see Johnny in a loony bin for anything though…" He murmured. "…I'd never let them take him."

"You love him." She said, matter of fact. "You're very protective of him."

He nodded, feeling a lump rise up in his throat. Damn! the woman had got right under his skin!

"Darrel… Is he very unwell… mentally I mean."

"His mother was murdered." He stated flatly. "I don't know anyone who would be OK after that."

" He said something that concerned me." She said, a little cautiously. "Something about not having a future without Mary."

Shit! She figured it out! He shrugged and tried to look unflustered "The… The baby had been a Godsend for him…"

"Has he ever talked about hurting himself? Suicide?"

Darry sighed… Might as well tell the truth. What do I have to lose at this point? "Not to me direct Ma'am… But I believe he used to say things to my brother sometimes… But not in a while." What the hell did those boys say to her last week? He didn't like this line of questioning, especially not in conjunction with her loony bin comment earlier.

"Mmm." She hummed sceptically and looked back at her notes. "What do you know about his relationship with his parents?"

He shrugged again " I know they didn't want him… They beat him a bunch… Always screaming at him and at each other… The old man use's to beat his wife in front of Johnny…"

"Anything else?"

"Ma'am?"

"Any… Degeneracy that you were aware of?"

"Well… Old Man Cade was a drinker…" Darry didn't quite understand what she was talking about.

"I mean sexual degeneracy." She said.

He felt colour rise in his cheeks. "Oh! Oh… Um… I don't know… I know… Well… Pardon me Ma'am but it was always pretty obvious that Johnny's father wasn't his real father if you know what I mean. The old man is freckle white Irish…"

She shook her head. "That's not what I meant either… Darrel, I'm sorry to bring it up, but I'm asking you if you think worse things went on in that house than beatings… In that house with only one bed and three people…"

A shudder passed though his body. He felt his extremities go numb. "Oh…" He breathed. Oh God… He had a sudden flash of memory… Of Dally telling them what he'd caught Johnny at on Elgin street. "I…" He felt his throat close up. "…I sh… Sure hope not Ma'am!" He choked out.

"I'm sorry to shock you Darrel… But in my line of work it's not unusual to see children being taken advantage of… Sometimes even by their own parents."

"I… I don't know!" He told her, shaken to his core at the thought. "He's never said anything about that!"

"He's sixteen, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Is he interested in girls?"

Darry frowned. Now that she mentioned it he'd never really seen Johnny interact much with the opposite sex. Certainly not enough to date anyone.

"He's shy." He shrugged. "A little young for his age in that way."

"I'm going to throw you another, theoretical, scenario." She said, almost reluctantly "Either when he starts dating, or when his sister gets a little older, maybe the same age he was when his parents started losing their grip… He comes to you and tells you that awful things happened to him… Were done to him… How do you react to that?"

Darry bit his lip. Tears burning his eyes. "I don't like thinking about that possibility Ma'am… But… I guess I'd listen to him and…" He paused " I'd make sure he was safe thereafter I guess… Try to understand?"

She wrote something down. "Do you know why I became a social worker Darrel?" She asked.

"Ma'am?" He wasn't expecting that.

"It wasn't easy… I had to move out of state just to qualify… I had to hike a rough trail to get a job in this department… But I did whatever it took because I wanted it that bad."

"Um…" He cleared his throat nervously. "What made you want it that bad Ma'am?"

Her eyes hardened as she spoke, like she was remembering a slight. "I was an unwanted baby…" She swallowed. "I don't know much about my parents except that my mother was white and my father wasn't… I grew up in a Catholic children's orphanage with hundreds of other kids."

"I.. I'm sorry." He stammered.

"I never experienced a kind word or gentle touch growing up… Not once." She muttered, avoiding eye contact as she spoke. "I got this job to try and save other children from a childhood like mine… It's very rare."

"What is Ma'am?"

"What I saw in your house last week… I waked in to see the baby as the centre of attention, loved, catered to, cared for. I'll be honest with you, even in the best state home a child like Mary wouldn't get that kind of care… I have no doubt that you and your brothers love the baby. I have no doubt that you love Johnny too… But even people with the best intentions can end up not managing…You can't go into this with your eyes closed. It won't be easy."

"No Ma'am." He said. "Believe me I know that."

"You've already sacrificed a lot of your own future for your family and you'll have to sacrifice still more, if only in man hours to support them financially. That can lead to a lot of resentment… Especially if the children need extra care… And I hate to be the one to tell you, but Johnny will require special help. I could see he was struggling even on my short visit."

"I know." He nodded "I understand that… heck… I've felt it, the resentment… Right after my parents died… I could have run then."

"Yet here you are."

"Here I am."

"There are things that could be done to make it a little easier." She said.

"Ma'am?"

She looked though his file. "Were you aware that when you were given custody of the boys you were put on the new official foster register? It was the easiest way to do it at the time."

"Oh?" He wondered what she was getting at.

"It's a new system where children are placed with families on a temporary or long term basis instead of in institutions. Of course because the boys were your blood relatives you didn't get a foster allowance for them, but in Mary and Johnny's case…"

"No Ma'am!" He said categorically. "I don't want a handout! Thats not why I'm doing this!"

She put up a hand placatingly. "It wouldn't be a handout Darrel. It would be the state paying you to take the kids off their hands at a damn sight lower cost than it would take to keep them in a home…"

Darry opened his mouth, then shut it again. His eyes widened, his lower lip wobbled for a second. "Does… Does this mean…"

She smiled at him. "I'm going to recommend you for custody… It's not an ideal situation by any means, but from what I can see it's better than any of the available alternatives…"

"Th.. Thank you!" He stuttered. Beaming "My God Ma'am! Thank you!"

"Don't make me regret it." She told him. "I'll be doing regular home visits to make sure things are in order. I want to see the baby gaining weight and I'd like to see Johnny get his GED if at all possible…I understand he has some learning issues. I've been doing some research in that area and I think I might have some…"

He was crying. When had that happened? Her voice echoed in his head.

"I want you to fill out some forms for me OK?" he felt a hand on his arm.

"Yeah…" He nodded, wiping his eyes. "Yeah… OK."

"Congratulations Darrel… You are now a foster father for the state of Oklahoma."

Foster Father. He clutched the papers in his pocket as he walked up the porch steps two at a time. It seemed so strange to think of himself as a 'Father' of any type… Yet, when he held that little baby… He thought he just might understand what a father might feel… What his own Dad might have felt when he held him once.

"Johnny!" He called out in excitement. "Boys!"

He looked around the living room. Soda and Ponyboy were sitting at the table with worried looks in their faces.

"What happened?" He asked immediately. "Where's Johnny?"

Sodapop bit his lip and handed Darry a note scrawled on one of Pony's school notebooks. Darry knew the awkward, childish handwriting right away.

Sory boys I can't wate arownd to heer wat I alredy know. Ther aint no way they let sum one like me keep a baby. Dally and I are takin off before they come for Mary. I'm so sory. Plese try forgive me an thank you for evrythin.

Johnny.

"Shit!" Darry muttered. "When did you find this?"

"Saw it when I got home from school." Pony told him, looking jittery and half crazy with worry. "He took all her stuff. They're gone Darry!"

Darry squeezed his shoulder. He knew just how much his youngest brother loved both Johnny and the baby. "It's gonna be OK." He told them. "Come on…" He nodded at the door "We'll go find them before they do anything too stupid."

Buck was tight lipped until Darry started getting mad and threw the papers down on the bar.

"Here! Not that its your business but I got damn custody! Or as good as. The damn social worker's given me the kids!"

Buck perused the papers slowly. "Checks out." He murmured. "You gotta promise not to kill Dallas when you find 'em. Kid was just helpin' out his friend."

"I'm making no promises." Darry said darkly. "Just tell me where the little bastards are so I can bring them home… Please?"

Buck leaned back, sighed and looked Darry up and down. "They're near Windrixville. The abandoned church up top of Jay Mountain."

"Shit that's miles away Buck!"

"They left this mornin'" He said. "They'll be there by now."

"Thanks! " Darry said as he made to rush out.

"Take your papers!" Buck grumbled after him. "Johnnys gonna need to see those 'fore he agrees to come home with ya!"

"Thanks!" he breathed, grabbing the forms and racing back to the truck where his brothers were waiting.

"Got 'em!" He told the boys as he got into the cab beside them and took off.

"Where?" Soda asked.

"Near Windrixville."

"Man it'll be late by the time we get there." Pony said miserably. "What if Marys scared or misses us?"

"He won't let anything happen to Mary." Darry said with certainty. "Dally neither."

"But what…"

"Pony… Relax…"

The boy shut up at last, only for Soda to start. "Are you mad Darry? What are you gonna do to them?"

"Get some rest guys. You're riding home in the back of the truck with Dally." He said. with a smile. For once he wasn't freaking out in a crisis and he felt pretty good.

As they made their way out into the country he thought about how rare it was for the three of them to be together driving like this. How this was probably the last time they'd be alone like this. It wasn't that he didn't want what he now had on paper, but he felt an ache in his heart for the family he once had too. The last of the Curtis clan alone together, against the world.

"Boys." He said quietly. "You remember when Mom and Dad used to take us on road trips?"

"Yeah." Soda smiled sadly to himself. "Remember camping at Blackfoot Creek that one summer?

"Hell wasn't that the time Ma gave us all food poisoning from the bacon?"

"Oh Glory now I remember!" Pony exclaimed with a groan.

"I should have done more of that kind of thing… The camping not the puking… With you two these last couple of years." He said regretfully. "Life gets in the way I guess."

"You do just fine Dar." Soda said."You can't be all things to all people, you know that right?"

"Hard to forget little guy." He said regretfully.

"What in the Sam Hill are you two talking about?" Pony piped up, much to his amusement. "I swear sometimes it's like you two have your own language no one else knows."

"Well we had lots of practice at it before you came along." Soda said with a laugh, tousling his brother's hair.

"It's just rude is what it is." The younger boy grumbled, resting his head on the window.

Darry watched the sun get lower on the horizon as they made their way up the dirt roads to Windrixville.

"Pony?" He asked after a while "You like having Johnny around huh?"

"Well of course I do! What kinda question is that?" He snapped back.

"You don't ever feel a little lost in the crowd?" He asked, ignoring the teenager's tone for once.

Ponyboy was quiet for a little while, deep in thought. "I guess… I guess I don't mind being a little lost in our crowd." He said. "I'm not the youngest in the family anymore so I shouldn't act like it."

"You're a good kid, you know that?" Darry told him, he didn't tell him often enough. "And you'll always be my baby brother no matter what… That goes for both of you."

He didn't get a reply but he knew he'd been heard. It was rare that he was that frank with them.

They drove on in silence as the sun set.

The church was about as remote as you could get and still have a road. Derelict but with smoke coming from the chimney. The last of the purple evening light hitting it. They spotted Buck's firebird right away. Dally was leaning on it, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He looked up at them like a wild animal caught in their headlights.

"OK… Here goes nothing." Darry said getting out of the car and walking over to him. Leaving the lights on.

"Relax man." He said, holding up his hands to Dally, who looked about ready to fight him. "I come in peace."

"Fuck." Breathed Dally with a smirk. Following them inside.

The church was lit with a kerosine lamp, casting gold across the dusty interior. Johnny was sitting on a pew with his legs stretched out, the baby sleeping in his arms. He started when he saw them and went pale, then closed his eyes in a gesture of pure hoplessness.

Darry watched as Pony rushed over to him and started yelling at him. But he didn't want to wake the baby so did it in a whisper. Darry had to suppress his laughter. The look on Johnny's face when he looked over at him wasn't funny at all.

"I'm sorry man!" Johnny mouthed at Ponyboy. "I didn't know what else to do!"

"I don't care! I'd have come with you!"

"He would have too…" Murmured Soda "…The little sneak."

Dally stepped up beside them. "If you try anything, with him or the baby." He said through clenched teeth. "I won't make it easy for you. Neither of them are going to be put away on my watch."

"I said It's OK Dal!" He said firmly "I know how to handle a frightened kid…" Knowing that Dally was the only person Johnny really trusted in his bones. He took the papers out of his pocket and gave them to him. "Go read that to Johnny." He said. Go on!" Dally scanned the paper, raised his eyebrows and glanced up at him like he could believe his eyes. "For real?"

"Yeah… God help me. For real."

Dally sat down on the pew at Johnny's feet and read to him.

"I the undersigned hereby undertake to provide for the physical, educational and spiritual care of the minor children Johnny Cade and Mary Cade at my residence on East Admiral Boulevard…" Dally frowned and held the paper closer to the light. "…I Mildred Jones Child Service Agent for the City of Tulsa Oklahoma see fit to grant custody of the aforementioned minor children to Darrel Curtis until such time that they reach the age of majority…"

Johnny looked at them in astonishment "Holy shit you did it Darry?" He sounded like he was afraid to believe it was true. Darry nodded "You bet I did Kid. You two are mine now." The baby woke and began to cry. He held her up "He did it Honey! He did it!" He told her, a rare grin breaking across his face like sunlight. Only to be clouded over out by thought as he frowned. "But Dar… Don't we need a Judge and court and everything?"

"No Johnnycake. I'm technically a foster home since I got the boys… They can leave kids with me without me going to court for custody."

"A foster home?" Johnny asked as he tried to soothe the baby, his hands were shaking.

"Yeah that's a kinda new thing where they put kids with a family instead of in a home."

"I… I guess I luck…" Johnny squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed hard "…Lucked out huh?" He chewed his lip as he tried desperately not to cry.

Soda was try first one to hug him, rushing over and practically pulling Johnny into his lap on the floor as Dally took Mary out of his shaking hands. Then Pony jumped on them… Darry wasn't usually one for physical displays of affection but Hell! It was their first day as a family. He knelt down beside them, pulled Johnny out of the scrum and gripped the sobbing boy to his chest. "You're ours now Johnny Cade… No one can take you away from us!"

"You… You did it!" Johnny whimpered into Darry's neck. "How…"

"I fought for you!" Darry whispered into his ear. "Just like I always have and always will!"

They didn't go home that night, it was too late and they were all tired and emotional. Besides, Darry felt, as long as they were all together in one place the was all that mattered.

They slept on ratty blankets on the floor and pews of the old church. Warmed by the stove and each other. Soda and Ponyboy curled up together in a corner, Dally snoring softly as Johnny used his shoulder as a pillow.

Darry blew out the lamp. In the darkness he heard an angelic sound, a little babbling noise from the baby carriage, like a fresh water stream in a desert.

He lifted her out and wrapped her up in a blanket, placing her on his chest as he propped himself up against a wall. Her little eyes were shining up at him in the firelight.

In the morning they'd leave early, so that he and Soda could get to work on time. He was going to put Dally on baby-sitting duty tomorrow. Because Johnny wasn't fine… He could see the fragility in the boy right up close to the surface. Maybe Dally could call Steve and Two-Bit over too… Johnny needed his gang around him right now.

Some of the things Mildred had said earlier that day had him truly shaken up. He wondered how much had happened to that poor boy that he would never talk about?, Secrets that would seep out and poison his life later in a thousand tiny ways.

"Yeah I know Baby…" He whispered to Mary as she gurgled up at him. "…Dr. Spock would have an episode if he knew I was doing this huh? 'Sleep training' and all… But he 'Aint here is he?" He smiled, kissing her tiny head. "You're sleeping with old Darry tonight huh? On your first camping trip!"

That night he dreamed of a little girl of five or six with coffee skin, black curly hair and a beautiful laugh. She was leading him though a garden, under trees and through hedge mazes. Whenever he got tired and began to flag she looked back at him and smiled. And he found the strength to follow her.