A/N – thanks for the reviews – I was afraid everyone would stop speaking to me. Sometimes when I begin a story, I don't know what the characters are going to do. I didn't actually know Darry would be this stubborn until I started typing. I'd really like to know what you think of this chapter, since there's a scene involving no one in the original book.

Note to Keira – what things did you notice? The only thing I consciously changed was I fiddled with the time-line, so those are mistakes. If you can post a review or e-mail me and I'll fix it.

This is a little lighter – I can't have 15 chapters of angst.

Chapter 8: Girls' Day Out

On Wednesday morning, the kitchen was full of Curtises – by blood and by marriage. The house hadn't been so full, Soda thought, since they were teenagers and the gang used the place as a drop-in center.

Clint and Cinnamon had packed up and right after breakfast, Clint was taking the kids back to Kansas City. He needed to get back to work and the kids had to get ready for the start of school, but he promised to come back late Friday night and every weekend. Cinnamon had taken a leave of absence from her job and was prepared to stay in Tulsa for as long as necessary. Ponyboy had called his editor, who told him to take a couple of weeks and then work from Oklahoma if he felt up to it. Michelle's job was taking care of Danny, so the three of them were there for the long haul.

Soda smiled, happy to have them all under the same roof, even with the current circumstances. Darry would probably be released that afternoon so he could spend some time at home with his family while he felt relatively well.

He poured a second cup of coffee and felt Laura come up beside him. Without turning around, he said, "No."

"I didn't even ask you!"

"You ain't going overnight to Oklahoma City with a boy."

"Laura, my, my, my," Ponyboy said, amused.

"It's not like that," Laura protested. "The concert will be out really late, and we're staying with Tom's brother."

"No."

"If I was going with Miranda, would you let me go?" Laura challenged. "Or Becca, or Elizabeth?"

Soda considered that. "Mm. Yeah, probably."

"Yeah? Well, what if I were a lesbian? What's the difference?"

Soda choked.

"Mommy," Sarah asked Cinnamon, "What's a lesbian?"

"It's a girl who marries a girl instead of a boy," Cinnamon said.

"Is Laura a lesbian?"

Clinton and Pony were shaking with silent laughter.

"No, Laura is not a lesbian, and she is not going," Soda snapped.

"What's wrong with being a lesbian?" Michelle couldn't resist.

"Yeah, that would be better than marrying an icky boy," Sarah declared. "All boys are icky except daddies and uncles."

"And brothers," Clint reminded her.

"No, Johnny's icky," Sarah said.

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with … Glory be, never mind," Soda said in exasperation. "Laura. You can go to the concert with Tom and come home after. I'll give you my cell phone and you can check in. Or you can go with Becca and I'll give you money for a hotel. You are not staying with Tom at his brother's house. And I will find out, so don't even think a hotel room with Tom would be a nice plan."

"I -- "

"And didn't you tell me you needed to go shopping for school clothes?" Soda interrupted.

"You're going to bribe me with designer jeans?" Laura said hopefully.

"I'll take you, if you want," Cinnamon said. She looked at Michelle. "Girls' day? What do you think? We could use a break."

"I'm a girl," Sarah said. "I could come and be a lesbian like Laura."

"Laura is not -- " Soda began, and then looked at his younger brother. Ponyboy's face was practically purple, he was trying so hard not to bust out laughing. "You're enjoyin' this, aren't you?"

"As a matter of fact," Pony managed.

The Curtis house was still on the north side, and it was still not in the rich section, but the neighborhood was much less dangerous than it had been 20 years ago. The Greaser and Soc rivalry had faded and Laura's friends included boys and girls who lived in million-dollar homes. Most of the kids Laura knew shopped at the Eastland Mall so that was where she directed her aunts. She had $200 from Soda and strict orders to spend it wisely, but both Cinnamon and Michelle, caught up the fun of trying on clothes and shopping the sales, bought her an outfit each.

Laura collapsed in a chair in the food court and Michelle went to get drinks. "This was fun," she said. "Daddy means well, but he makes the most ridiculous suggestions, you know?"

"Do I know?" Cinnamon said. "Please. You've seen pictures of my high school graduation, right?"

Laura giggled, thinking of the dress she and her friend Becca privately called "the pink monstrosity."

Michelle returned with three Cokes and a plate of French fries. "I just saw the cutest pair of shoes," she said. "I don't know. They're completely impractical for chasing a three-year-old."

Cinnamon gestured to her jeans and sweatshirt. "Clint always says they're going to put me on the don't wear that show."

Laura laughed. "It's called 'What Not To Wear,' Aunt Cinnamon."

"I'm perfectly happy in my old jeans. I'm used to it. I mostly wore your dad's old jeans growing up. And since I get to wear scrubs to work, there's no need to be fancy. Uncle Clinton says he's glad I'm not high maintenance."

"Did you meet Uncle Clint in nursing school?" Laura asked, sipping at her Coke.

"Sort of. I was doing a clinical – my practice in the hospital – and he came into the emergency room. He'd fallen up a flight of stairs and busted his nose."

Michelle choked. "Holy cats, Cinny. I knew you met him in the ER, but --"

"I know. He said he liked me right away but he didn't ask me out until two weeks later, because he said he was sure I wouldn't date such a stupid boy." Cinnamon sighed. "He was right. I married him instead."

"What about you, Aunt Michelle?" Laura asked.

"What about me? How'd I meet your uncle Pony, you mean?" At Laura's nod, Michelle answered, "OK, I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to repeat it."

Cinnamon and Laura both nodded.

"The official story is – the produce section of the grocery store."

"That's what I thought," Cinnamon said.

"The real story? God, he's going to kill me. OK – the real story is traffic school. I had a million parking tickets, Pony had a million speeding tickets, he was sitting behind me, and the rest is history."

"Traffic school? That's all?" Laura said. "Why is that a secret?"

"Because he didn't want to hear Darry and Soda give him grief about it for the rest of his life. And you know they would have." Michelle pitched her voice in a perfect imitation of Sodapop. "'Glory be, Pony, y'all gonna kill yourself with that lead foot. And after what happened to Mom and Dad, I'd think you'd be drivin' like an old lady.'"

She was dead-on. Cinnamon and Laura both burst into laughter and Cinnamon suddenly wondered if that was the real reason Soda didn't bother to keep his license current.

Laura took a deep breath. "What about my parents?" When no one answered, she said, more clearly, "How did Daddy meet Emily?" She had a hard time thinking of her as "Mom" – she didn't remember her at all and had only seen a few photographs.

"You should ask him," Cinnamon said.

"I have. Repeatedly. He won't talk about her. He doesn't say anything bad about her, exactly, but he won't discuss it."

Michelle held up her hands. "Sorry, sweetie, that's before my time."

Laura looked pointedly at her other aunt, and Cinnamon said, "At the station. She came in for gas. Soda said he pumped her gas and told her she owed him ten bucks and her phone number. And she gave it to him. You might not see it, because he's your father, but he's pretty charming."

"And damned handsome," Michelle said.

Laura sighed. "My girlfriends see it. 'Oh, Laura, your daddy's so cute!' And I'm like, 'Dude, he's my father!' Ick."

"I know," Cinnamon said. "Half our school wanted to be friends with me so I'd introduce them to Soda."

"Why'd she leave?" Laura asked suddenly. "My mother. Why didn't she stay?"

"They were young, Laura," Cinnamon said. "Your dad was 22, but Emily was only 19, I think."

"I can't imagine having a baby at 19," Michelle said.

"I know," Cinnamon said. "When my mother was 25, she had four kids under the age of six. I don't know how she did it."

"So Grandma was young," Laura said. "So it's not like it's impossible. And Uncle Darry was only 20 when he took on the rest of you." Laura thought of that sometimes, having all that responsibility, and it always gave her new-found respect for both her oldest uncle and her father. "Didn't … why didn't she want me?"

Cinnamon was startled to see tears in the young girl's eyes. She leaned across the table and put her hand on top of Laura's. "I don't think she didn't want you," Cinnamon said carefully. She was mentally cursing Sodapop; this was a conversation he should have had with his daughter long ago. "Remember, Laura, I was at school then, so I only know what I heard from Darry. But they were young, and your mom … your mom still had some living she wanted to do. Your daddy was so taken with you, he wanted you from the minute he heard you were coming, so he was happy to take care of you and let your mother do what she needed to do."

"Did she drink?" Laura said. "I thought I heard Uncle Darry say once she drank. Or did coke, or something."

"I heard that, too, but remember, sweetie, I only met her twice," Cinnamon said honestly. "I don't know first hand."

"Daddy doesn't have any patience for that," Laura said thoughtfully.

"No, he never did," Cinnamon said. "And maybe it was better for you, if Emily was like that, for you to be away from her. And maybe … maybe she thought it was too late, after a time. Soda kept talking about finding a place of his own, for the two of you, but you were settled into the house, and so there you stayed."

"I can't imagine not living with Uncle Darry," Laura said, and then uttered a little gasp as she realized what she'd said.

Cinnamon pointedly ignored the double meaning. "Your uncle Darry got a crash course in parenting with us. It was a bumpy first year, but he did OK. I think part of you guys living there was because your dad didn't want to leave Darry alone."

"I've thought that, too," Michelle said. "Darry comes off a lot tougher than he really is." She looked at Cinnamon. "Do you remember how he cried at our wedding?"

"Uncle Darry?" Laura asked, shocked.

"Oh, yeah," Michelle said. "His baby brother was getting married. He denied it though, until the pictures came back." One of those photos, a shot of Darry, Soda, Cinnamon and Ponyboy with their arms all wrapped around each other, Soda kissing Pony's cheek, was framed in her living room. "I remember the first time I met him, I kept thinking if he didn't like me, that'd be it, Pony and I would have to break up. But he's a pushover. You just gotta know where to push."

She was right, Cinnamon thought. In many ways, Darry had been strict and stern and demanding, but he was also fair and loving and fiercely loyal to his family. He had always taken good care of them, even when they were grown. Cinnamon was not looking forward to finding out what it would be like to lose that.