Steve: Remembering

Disclaimer: I own no one except for Teri.

I updated! I updated!!!! WHOO HOO!!! Okay, the story is almost done. There are 2-3 more chapters. Maximum. I'm so sorry it took so long to finish it.

Thanks for the reviews: Naria4 (Oh, that's okay. I'm glad you liked the story though! There's more coming your way soon!), Latinagal (I did? Wow, I didn't know I could do that!! Lol, well thanks for adding me!), Pony's girl (Awww thanks! You rock!), JustinMcBrideCSNStevesGurl (Yeah I know, stupid wolf. Urgh, I have way too much trouble typing wolf…lol sorry that was random. Thanks for reviewing!), GirlsDontCri (Thanks! Update your story soon! I'm dying of suspense here!), Lizzy Halliwell (Oh I'm sorry! This was a lot shorter than last time. I'm going to try and do that again =D), Blatty (YES!!! I KNEW I COULD ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING! Lol…I try I try. Thanks for reading the Everwood stories too, by the way.), Kimmerkay (He apparantly did, didn't he?), Jessie C (You'll find out how they're doing in this chapter!), and MissLKid (Laura…rp-ing is awesome with you. Thanks for reviewing! Hope to see ya online sometime…hopefully when I do, my teachers aren't loading me with homework, lol.)

 

            "I think he's coming around." I heard voices around me coming from every which direction. I didn't know who they were or what they wanted from all. All I wanted to do was sleep forever.

            "Steve? Steve, if you can hear us, twitch a finger." What? No way in hell was I going to comply with their stupid rules. Who were they to think that I would anyway? If anyone knew me, they knew I didn't take authority well. I heard a faint bustling of papers before someone touched my arm.

            "Steve? It's Soda. If you can hear me, please do something." Soda? Soda was here? That was the trigger. I slowly moved my arm, finding that it was harder than I'd expected. I heard mumbles of satisfaction and soon was reeled into curiosity. Fighting myself, I tried to pry my own eyes open, but it was like there was a heavy weight on them. Finally, after a few minutes of struggling, they popped open. A first everything was blurry like they tell you it is on television. But after a few seconds, my eyes adjusted to the frighteningly white room. I slowly recognized Soda's face etched with concern at my bedside and the tubes sticking out of me everywhere. Not to mention the multiple amounts of machines surrounding me. These guys in white lab coats stood at the foot of the bed, observing me. Now, not only was I curious, I was getting fidgety. Like Soda, I couldn't sit still for very long.

            "What…am I doing here?" I croaked out, my throat feeling extremely parched.

            "You're in a hospital buddy," Soda patted me on the arm, "Don't you remember?"

            I shook my head. Remember what? What in hell was there to remember? Soda looked at the doc and he shrugged, walking over to me slowly as if I were some little kid.

           "Steve," he started slowly doing check-ups on me, "do you remember who this is?" he pointed to Soda.

            "Yeah…" Of course I remembered who Soda was! He was my best friend!

            "Do you remember where you live?"

            "In Tulsa," I answered impatiently. The doctor nodded and went on with the check-up, whispering something to Soda before leaving the room to go check on someone else. I looked to Soda to clear up my confusion. What was going on? Why was I here? Soda pulled up a chair and sighed.

            "You've been out for a few days, buddy," he said smiling, "Everyone was worried about you. Even Two-bit. And when Two-bit gets worried, it's never a good thing. He was a nervous wreck the whole time you and Ponyboy were out."

            "Wait a minute. What happened to your brother?"

            "I'll explain," he said, "It's long though."

            "I've got time."

            "Okay. Well your school planned a survival trip. It counted for a big part of your final grade. Everyone was put into groups and stuff. You and Ponyboy were put into the same group."

            "How?" I wrinkled my nose, "Everyone knows we don't get along well."

            "Obviously the principal didn't give a damn because you guys not only were in the same group, you were in the same tent and you were assigned as partners."

            "Damn," I interrupted him again.

            "Yeah well I don't really know what happened on the trip because Pony doesn't really remember too much of it. He just said that he remembers fighting with you almost every single night. On the last day, you were given your final assignment and the teachers warned the both of you that you had one last chance to pull by with a C. You'd apparently failed all your other assignments. So the thing was, you had to go through this trail that was marked on a map and you had a compass with water and food with you. Both of you had to work cooperatively to get to the marker and go back to camp. You never made it to the marker. You never made it back. So when we found out they'd lost you, a search and rescue team went to get-" I cut him off. Everything was coming back and I suddenly had a somewhat clear version of what happened.

            "The wolf," I whispered. Soda's head snapped up.

            "What?"

            "The wolf," I repeated, "There was a wolf. And the compass…and the map!"

            "What? Steve, you ain't making sense."

            "No, no, no! I had the map and I was holding it the wrong way. You know I never pay attention in class! How was I supposed to know which side was up or down. And Pony had the compass set in the wrong direction. So we were totally off. And then there was this wolf thing. Pony hurt his leg and all of the sudden it came up behind us. And then I couldn't run and then…I fell. I blacked out but then Pony found me. And then I blacked out again. And now I'm here."

            "Yeah," Soda nodded, "We found both of you guys out cold. We thought you were both dead already. It was scary."

            "What happened? How'd you find us? Is Pony okay?!" I exploded with questions, just itching to get out of bed and figure it all out myself.

            "Whoa," Soda laughed, "Calm down Stevie. Pony's fine. He actually woke up last night. He has a broken leg that, luckily, doesn't need surgery otherwise we'd be in debt to the hospital for a long time. He'll just be wearing a cast and walking around in crutches a lot. He has a minor concussion and a small case of hypothermia. But other than that, he's fine. Now about finding you.

            We went with this search and rescue squad. There was a guy on there, Jake. He was a real bastard but he was the one that found you guys so I shouldn't be saying much about him. Anyway we landed and all I could see for miles was snow, snow, and snow. And for the first half a day, we searched high and low for you guys, but we didn't find nothing. I was getting panicked by the time night fell. But this other girl told me that we weren't gonna give up. So the next morning, bright and early, we went to look for y'all again. It took us until dinner time before we heard Jake scream that he found you and Pony. We practically ran all the way to get to you. Both of you were out cold and I thought you were dead because you were so cold and everything. But Jake said that you both had a faint pulse so it was okay. We brought you back here and that was 3 days ago." It took a minute until I could digest everything Soda had said and put it together with what happened that I remembered. Getting up the hill, struggling in pain, the fear I had when I saw that wolf. It all came back to me and I wanted to scream a shout of relief. But I didn't because Greasers don't do that sort of thing. I tried sitting up so that I'd be able to carry a normal conversation with Soda without feeling inferior. But as soon as I moved to get up, a sharp and familiar pain shot up my side. Only this time, there was more of it. Soda gently pushed me back down.

            "You gotta stay down for a while, buddy. You broke a lot of your ribs there. Even more than you did when we had that rumble that night…uh, yeah."

            "Great," I muttered. Soda smiled and started talking about the girls that we'd met back at the DX before the trip. He said that he and that one girl, Teri, got together while we were gone. Things were working out well for them and I was happy for Soda. It was about time he got someone new.

            "Hey Steve?" Soda stopped in the middle of one of his mindless rants.

            "Yeah?"

            "Are you okay?" I looked at him and thought for a minute before answering.

            "Yeah. I'm going to be fine."