Disclaimer: I do not own any Outsiders character but I do own Texas and Dakota Winston.

Rating: PG13 for some cussing and violence and abusive behavior.

Chapter Two

Dakota stood timidly on the back porch while the sun went down. Inside her home she could hear the yelling and screaming of her Mother and Randy. Outside the sun glistened her blonde curls and the sounds of music reined the back area.

Tex sat in the grass taking long drags on his cigarette. He was sick and tired of sitting outside every fucking time his mother and her god-awful boyfriend got into a fight. Cracking his knuckles he looked up to see Dakota glaring at the sun.

"Whatta ya doin,' kid?" Tex asked as he stood up and brushed the grass off his jeans.

"Ya ever wonder if Daddy looks at the sunset?" Dakota asked tilting her head in a skeptical way.

Tex shook his head, "No."

"Why?" D asked a little disappointed by her brother's response.

"'Cause grown men don't look at the sun, D," Tex said firmly as he walked over next to her.

"Mr. Curtis does," D replied.

"Who the hell is Mr. Curtis?" Tex asked a little offended that his sister would mouth back to him.

"Tyler's neighbor. He's got a daughter 'bout your age who baby-sits Tyler," replied Dakota.

"Don't Ty got four older brothers to baby-sit her?" Tex asked a bit shocked that Tyler's parents could afford to pay for a baby-sitter.

"Yea but they joined some gang north a' here. They head out every mornin' to meet with the guys," D answered.

Tex nodded in reply as he finished off his eighth cigarette of the day.

"But yea Mr. Curtis says Daddy can see the same sunset that we see every night," D continued, "And he sa-

"D it's all just a bunch of bull!" Tex interrupted, "Dad don't see no sunset every night. He don't care just like he don't care 'bout us!"

"That ain't true, Texas Winston. He does too care!" Dakota cried back.

"Oh really?" Tex asked, "Then where is he, D? I didn't see a check in the mail last time I checked."

Dakota looked away from Texas. She wasn't about to cry about something as stupid as their father but what was that feeling that was stinging the back of her eyes?

"D…I…" Tex was trying to get an apology out, but the truth was that he couldn't get it out. Tex could count out on his fingers how many times he'd apologized to someone. He rarely apologized for actions let alone his words.

Dakota sighed, "Just shut the fuck up, Tex."

"Hey, don't you dare talk to me like that!" Tex scolded. Here he was trying to apologize to her and the little rugrat makes it all worse. As if he wasn't pissed enough already.

"Hey, guys," Sylvia, said in a cheery voice as she opened the back door. She was still wearing her waitress uniform from earlier except now it was wrinkled. Her make-up had smudged and her bright red lipstick smeared right across her checks. A nice new shiner lay above her jaw on the right side. Tex could feel anger well up inside of him at the sight. He wanted to kill Randy more than anything at the sight of his mother and yet he did not.

Tex had two feelings towards Randy: love and hate. Love because he was talking some sense into his mother (well kid of) and hate for hitting his little sister. He didn't like anybody to smack his little sister.

"Can we come back in?" Dakota asked. Tex knew it was about dinnertime and she was probably hungry.

Sylvia nodded her head opening the door wider so that the two children could enter inside. What Tex saw amazed him. The house was a mess. The couch was tilted and the coffee table was flipped over. A lamp in the corner had shattered.

"What in th-

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Texas Dallas Winston," Sylvia scolded. She hated the fact that her children cussed and stole and did awful things but she was a single working mother that didn't have a lot of time to support them let alone teach them not to cuss.

"Go wash up, D," Tex said firmly. He didn't want his little sister to see their house in this condition. He didn't really care if she saw their mom in bad condition because D had seen some pretty bad sights. But the house was another story. It was where they lived and Tex thought that if she saw Randy do this to their house D might not want to come home. Dakota obeyed reluctantly as she wandered into the bathroom, her gaze never leaving the living room.

Tex opened the fridge to see nothing. There was no food or drinks. There wasn't even the milk bottle that had been delivered that morning.

"Where's the food?" Tex asked angrily. Sylvia glared at her son.

"I threw it all out," she replied as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"Why?" Tex asked getting more and more angry by the minute, "I didn't know if you knew this but we gotta eat, Ma."

Sylvia winced at the sound of the word, Ma. That was what she had called her mother. Her kids had never acknowledged her as Ma. It was always just plain old Sylvia.

"You called me Ma," Sylvia said shocked.

"Yea so? You are our mother. Oh damn, you forgot that you had two kids," Tex mouthed (snapped). He was sick of his mother's clueless ness. He had a life and a kid (Dakota is the kid) to watch out for; he didn't need his mother's sorry ass in his way.

"It's just that you've never called me Ma 'fore," Sylvia replied.

"That's 'cause you really ain't one. But I ain't gotta choice. You're the only one I'm gonna get, sadly," Tex replied as Dakota walked out from the bathroom.

"Texas Rich-

"Shut the hell up, Ma!" Tex yelled angrily, "I'm sick of this clueless shit that you're always pulling. You know that ya got two kids that need to eat but ya throw out all the food. Ya know Randy-

"Randy?" Sylvia interrupted, "What does he got to do with this?"

"Everything, Sylvia! Have you ever seen the way he beats D? Or the way he gets drunk and smacks you? Or are you just too blind to see that you're bein' abused?"

Sylvia lowered her head. Tex spoke the truth but she didn't want to admit that just like the way she didn't want to admit that her life sucked. The only time she had really been happy was when Dallas Winston was in her life. Sure she cheated on him while he was in the cooler but what girl didn't? She loved Dallas anyway. Plain and simple.

Sylvia excused herself to her room. Texas sighed in relief. Now that his mother was gone he could figure out what he was gonna feed the kid.

"Whatta ya want for dinner, D?" Tex asked.

"Um…" Dakota thought for a few seconds before answering, "A cheeseburger."

Tex nodded, "We're gonna head down to the Dingo to get it, kay?"

Dakota nodded as she ran off to get her coat. The two left…their mother still alone in her room. Tex wondered what she was doing in there but brushed the thought off of his mind. He didn't care.

Okay that was Chapter Two. Woohoo I LOVED all of the reviews. Here's the thank-u's:

Miru Amai- thanks so much for your review…I'm glad that you like the story.

Margaret Ames- thanks so much…I hope this chapter was good.

Ale Curtis-Carter- man you read everything I write (which is totally awesome!) thanks for your review!

Dreamer for lyf- I am so HAPPY that you like my story. I read one of yours and loved it. Thanks!

Mrs. Benji Madden- I love your penname…Good Charlotte ROCKS and Joel is so hot! Lol! Oh and no Randy is the soc from the book (I actually just kinda pictured the dude as a Randy). Thanks for your review…it is highly appreciated.

Banana422- OMG…I am so happy that you like this story! Thanks for the review and please continue reading!

Streetpanther1- thank you so much for the awesome story idea. I'm going to do something based on those lines but it will have a different spin. But I did like your idea. I think it would be cool if you started a story about that…but wait I own Tex…well if you want to write a story using that idea feel free to use Tex (just mention that he's mine, lol). Thanks for the 2 reviews :)

Not-that-kinda-gurl- I am SO glad that you like this story. As you know I love your stories; Against All Odds and Do You Dare so I'm flattered that you like this story.

OTHlover04- THANK YOU!