Chapter 5: What's Your Story?

March 18, 2003

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, I feel loved again!  I discovered this story has six chapters, so there's only one left.  Enjoy!

Disclaimer: As always, not mine.

**Nina**

It was pretty late on Sunday morning.  I was lying on a bed in a room I didn't recognize.  Niko was sprawled out beside me, sound asleep, wearing only his jeans.  He looked pretty bad, what with one side of his chest covered with a purple bruise, a swollen black eye, and a long cut across one cheek.

Trying not to wake him, I crawled off the bed and left the room.  I padded down the hallway in my socks, surprised to find that I was at the Curtis's house.  In the living room, Two-Bit was sprawled out on the sofa and Steve was curled up in a chair, both of them also looking pretty beat up but sound asleep all the same.  Funny, I thought, I haven't seen any Curtises yet.

Darry, as it turned out, was in the kitchen, using a wooden spoon to stir something in a mixing bowl.

"Hi!" I greeted cheerfully, hopping up on the counter.  Darry looked at me, seeming surprised to see me.

"Hey, munchkin," he returned, looking me over carefully.  "How're you feeling?"  I thought that question over for a minute, remembering last night's events.

"Pretty good," I finally decided, grinning.  "My head hurts though."  He gave me one of those 'No, really?' looks that big brothers do so well.

"I'm not surprised," Darry said, turning back to his mixing bowl.  "Your head connected pretty hard with the curb last night.  You fought real good though, especially considering it was your first fight and all."  He smiled at me and I smiled back.

"What are you making?" I asked, charging the subject as he poured a dark brown mixture into a round pan.

"Chocolate cake," he answered, sticking the pan in the heated oven.  Darry handed me the bowl and began gathering what he needed to make the icing.

"Why?" I asked, running my finger along the inside of the bowl, then licking it clean.

"For breakfast."  My mouth dropped open.

"Breakfast?" I sputtered.  "You guys have chocolate cake for breakfast?"

"Almost ever day," he responded good naturedly.

"Wow," was all I could think of to say.  Luckily, Soda chose that moment to make his entrance, yawning and stretching.

**Soda**

I was still half asleep when I entered the kitchen to find Darry baking a cake and Nina sitting on the counter, licking the mixing bowl.

"Hi guys," I mumbled through a yawn.  Nina waved at me with batter covered fingers while Darry kind of nodded at me without taking his eyes from the frosting.  Watching Nina attack the mixing bowl, I came to the conclusion that she really didn't have any need for sugar.  She was practically bouncing off the walls already.

"Nice shiner, kid," I remarked sleepily.  She cocked her head sideways, a confused look in her eyes.

"Black eye," Darry supplied, noticing her confusion.

"Black eye?!" Nina squeaked, dropping the mixing bowl.  She jumped down from the counter and raced out of the room.  Darry chuckled.

"How're you feeling, little buddy?" he asked, finally looking at me.

"I'll live," I replied, grinning at him.  "How'd you sleep?"  Darry had spent the night on my old bed, which we'd unburied in the middle of the night so Niko and Nina could have his bed.

"Like a log," he answered with a wry grin. Nina bounced back into the room and onto the counter, fingering her eye.

"I've never had a black eye before," she told us, looking awed.  Darry and I laughed.

"Makes you look tough," I told her, and she grinned.  Before long, the cake was ready and the three of us sat down to eat it.  One by one the rest of the gang joined us.  Niko was the last to get up, yawning and stretching as he entered the kitchen.  He looked confused as he stood there, blinking.

"Is that chocolate cake?  How long did you guys let me sleep?  What time is it?"

"Almost ten," Two-Bit supplied before cramming another bite in his mouth.  Niko looked even more confused.

"And you're having chocolate cake for breakfast?"

"They say they have it every morning," Nina said through a mouthful of cake.  Niko looked at us like we were crazy for a moment, then sighed and took a seat.

"Pass me a plate," he said, sounding resigned.

**Darry**

Somehow I ended up washing the dishes, despite having been the one to make breakfast.  To my surprise, Niko offered to help, saying it was the least he could do since we'd let him and Nina stay the night.  Everyone else

"So, what's your story?" I asked as I scrubbed at a plate.  Niko looked at me oddly.

"My story?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know, how you got to be where you are now," I clarified.  I was curious about the whole deal with him and Nina, but he was quiet.

"The five of us have grown up here," I started, hoping if I told him about us, he'd tell me about them.  "My parents died in a car accident about a year ago, and I've been raising Pony and Soda ever since."  I was quiet for a moment, remembering.  "I almost lost them during the whole mess that went down a few months ago."

"My parents are dead too," Niko finally offered bitterly.  "My real father died when I was a baby, and my mom remarried almost immediately.  My step-dad was a nice guy, I mean, he helped my mom raise me and all.  When I was six they had Nina. 

"Two years ago someone broke into our house and shot them both.  The police never figured out who did it.  Since then, Nina and I have been bounced around our mother's relatives, none of whom want to take us, because for one thing, they disowned Mom when she married Nina's father, and for another thing, Nina's a halfie and they're all pretty racist."

I was stunned.  It sounded like life had been pretty rough for them so far.  Plus, I don't think I'd ever heard Niko say so much at once.

"A halfie?" I asked carefully, keeping my attention focused on the pan I was scrubbing.

"You know, a half-and-half."  I was still confused.  Niko sighed.

"Don't you guys have Mexicans out here?  Nina's dad was Mexican, our mom was white.  That makes Nina a halfie and the entire family social outcasts."

"I'm sorry," I said after a minute.

"Yeah, so am I," he responded sourly.  We were both quiet for a couple minutes, lost in our own thoughts.

"Hey, wait," I said as a thought suddenly occurred to me, "if Nina's dad was Mexican, how can her last name be Thatcher?"

"Mom gave us both her maiden name as our last names.  She figured it would be easier on Nina and me to have the same name."

"Oh."  We were quiet again.  "How long are you gonna be here?" I asked.

"Dunno.  When I graduate in a few months, Nina and I are officially on our own."

"That's rough," I remarked.  "Well, if either of you ever need a place to crash, our door is always open."  I grinned at him.  "Literally.  We never lock the doors."  It took a minute, but finally he returned the grin and talk turned to less serious subjects as we finished the dishes.