"Ponyboy Curtis, you move off that doormat and you'll be going to bed without any dinner," Darry called as Pony charged in the front door. As usual his threat had no effect on Pony what so ever, both him and Soda were well used to them by now, but Pony stayed on the mat anyway.

"Hi Two-bit, hi Dally," he said, smiling cheerfully at them.

"Hey little man," Two-bit replied looking up from the television set, Dally grunted.

"You stay right where you are," Darry continued, sliding past Ponyboy and shutting the door behind him. He smiled at Two-bit and Dally, vaguely acknowledging their presence before turning back to his brother.

"Wow, is the neighbourhood flooding or something?" Two-bit asked, taking in Pony's drenched clothes and Darry's wet hair.

"Naw, just raining," Darry told him, pulling off his waterproof and hanging it up. "But someone forgot his coat this morning."

Pony looked up at Darry innocently causing him to sigh in exasperation. Sometimes it felt like everything he said went in one ear and straight out the other.

"What was the last thing I said to you this morning?" He asked Pony, his anger being replaced by despair. Pony's brow furrowed and he began to rub the bridge of his nose, obviously thinking hard.

"Um..." he said finally. "To take my coat."

Darry felt a bit better. "Exactly, so why didn't you?" Pony was thinking again.

"It was Soda's fault, he was chasing me and I just kinda forgot." He said finally, deciding as Soda was at Steve's house for the evening, it would be safe to blame him.

Darry gave in and decided to just concentrate on getting him dry again before he caught a cold.

"Right you, lets get these clothes of you before you catch your death. The last thing I need is you getting sick." Pony smiled, knowing his brother was no longer cross with him. "Put yours arms in the air."

Darry peeled off Pony's wet t-shirt, pants and underwear before wrapping him up in a big towel from the bathroom. He went and heated up a cup of warm milk for him as Pony went and sat on top of Two-bit who was sprawled out on the sofa.

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough, Darry managed to get Pony ready for bed by 8:00 without to much fuss and even convinced him to practice a bit of his reading.

"The boy...th...thor..." Pony peered hard at the page, struggling to form the letters in to a word.

"Thought," Darry prompted him, giving him an encouraging squeeze. Pony was sitting on his lap and Darry was pointing to each word as Pony read to help him keep his place.

"Thought," Pony repeated. "That the man was a v...v-ill...village be..."

"Nope, look at the last three letters. What are they?"

"A, I, N."

"Right, now if that word said village, what would those letters be?"

"I, G?"

"Nearly, it's A,G,E. Vill-age. So if you...."

"Will you keep it down!" Dally snapped angrily, looking up from the tv for the first time that evening. "I'm trying to watch something here!"

Darry ignored him, Pony looked slightly hurt. Darry gave him a gentle tap on the nose to catch his attention again. "So if you put all the letters together, what have you got?"

"V-ill-a-in," Pony said slowly, letting the sounds roll off his tongue.

"Uh huh and what does that sound like?"

"Villain!" Pony said triumphantly, a proud grin appearing on his face. "Like in Batman."

"Exactly like in Batman," Darry said, just as pleased with Pony as the little boy was with himself. "Well done baby, that was really good."

Pony beamed, it wasn't often he got praised by Darry. Dally, however, was beginning to lose patients with the whole thing. They'd been going for 10 minutes already and were only on the first line.

By the time they were finished Dally was just about prepared to leave, the only thing stopping him was the fact that he had nowhere to go. He was in one of his dangerous moods, and everyone knew it. He and Two-bit were playing poker at the kitchen table, but neither of them were really into it. Dally had to much energy built up inside him and Two-bit was making a special effort not to cheat in case it gave Dally an excuse to loose it so really had no interest in the game either.

Meanwhile Darry had just slipped a very tired Pony off his lap and sent him into the kitchen so he could get a drink of water. Pony took a chair from the kitchen table and dragged it nosily over to the sink so he could reach the taps.

"Hey kiddo, you want me to help you with that?" Two-bit asked, looking for a chance to get away from the cared game.

Pony shook his head. "No, I can do it," he said confidently.

"Thank you," Darry reminded him from the lounge.

"Thank you," Pony repeated flatly, turning on the cold tap.

Having filled his glass up he clambered down again, careful not to spill any. He lugged the chair back cross the kitchen one-handedly and put it back at the table. What he didn't realise was that one leg of his pyjama bottoms was caught under it, so as he tried to walk away, he was jerked back. He lunged forward onto Dally who was sitting next to him. As he fell, his glass tipped and the whole contents went down the side of Dally shirt. Pony grabbed hold of the table with his free hand and just managed to keep himself from falling over completely.

As he heaved himself back up, Dally slowly turned to face him, still sitting. He was still holding his cards in his hands and was breathing very heavily. Ponyboy stumbled backwards, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"S...s...s...sorry Da...Dally," he stuttered, staring in disbelief at his drenched shirt.

Darry slowly got up, towering over Pony who tilted his head back to keep looking at him. He threw his cards down on the table and raised his hand. Two-bit seemed frozen to his chair, unable to do anything about the scene unfolding in front of him. Pony let out a small squeak, but it was enough to bring Darry running. He jumped in between Dally and Pony, shoving Pony safely behind him

"Pony go to bed," Darry ordered, not taking his eyes off Dally.

"But..." Pony began, peering round his leg.

"Don't even think about arguing with me. Bed, now!" Pony disappeared, glancing nervously back at his brother. Dally still had his hand raised ready to hit.

"Dally you need to calm down. He's only a kid, it was an accident."

"Then you sort him out, he's your brother. Did you see what he did? Didn't look much like an accident to me."

"No I didn't see it but I know Pony's not like that. As you said, he's my brother. He wouldn't just chuck water over you for no reason."

"He wouldn't Dally, not Ponyboy," Two-bit interjected. Dally slowly turned round to face him and fixed him with a stare that made even Two-bit duck his head.

"You'd better do something with him before I do Darry. I mean it, I ain't in the mood to take any of his bull tonight," Darry continued, looking slightly calmer but still psyched up.

"Ok ok I'll go talk to him now. You just sit down and relax yeah? Talk to Two-bit."

"Hmmmm," Dally said as he sat back down at the table, flexing his muscles menacingly and glaring at Two-bit.

Darry found Pony curled up under his covers and crying quietly . He sat down on the edge of his bed and put his hand where he thought his shoulder was.

"Come on out Pony, I wanna talk to you."

"No," came the muffled reply. "I ain't ever coming out."

"Ah it's not that bad. Dally's ok now. He was just angry because you got him all wet." Pony stuck his head up from under the duvet.

"It wasn't my fault! It was an accident, I didn't mean to do it. Tripped over that damn chair!"

"Hey watch your language," Darry reminded him, tapping him lightly on the cheek. "And I know it wasn't your fault, Dally knows it to. He was just in one of his moods and took it out on you.You understand me?"

Pony nodded slowly, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I thought he was gonna hit me Darry. I was really scared."

"I know you were baby, but it's ok now," Darry said comfortingly, giving him a hug. "You can say sorry to Dally in the morning, that'll give him a chance to calm down a bit ok?"

"Ok," Pony whispered into Darry's shoulder. "Do you think Dally will still like me?"

"Yeah of course he will. It's like when you got mad at Soda for running out your felt tips so you threw that toy horse at him and hit him in the belly. It didn't mean you didn't like him anymore, it just meant you were mad at him at that moment." Pony nodded again and stifled a yawn. "You ready to go to sleep now?"

"Uh huh, will you stay with me though. I don't like sleeping by myself. Please?"

Darry sighed. He had a million and one other things to do, but from one look at Pony's face, he knew which one he had to do first.

"Ok budge over then," he said, stretching out on top of the covers and shifting Pony over slightly. I'll just stay 'til he's asleep, he thought to himself, them I'll go talk to Dally.

Ten minutes later, both Darry and Ponyboy, were fast asleep.

Hi guys, I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed and not as good as previous ones. I've had alot of school work to finish off and well you know how it is. But that's all done now so hopefully my next chappy will be a bit better. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed my staory so far, I appreciate all your comments and advice.

luv Julia