(Hospital)

When the four make it to the hospital, they couldn't see him right away. Bexley was on Soda's lap, sleeping after dozing off. Soda gently stroked her hair with his fingers. He was also dozing off in his seat.

Darry tried to get Two-Bit to go home, to be with his mom and kid sister, but he wouldn't leave. He kept blaming himself for what happened to Ponyboy. But the three siblings knew that it wasn't his fault and tried telling him.

After a couple of hours, a doctor in a long, white coat walked out into the waiting room. "Family of Ponyboy Curtis?" the doctor said. The four quickly jump out of their seats and walk up to the doctor.

"Is he okay?" Soda asked. "He's stable now. Although his fever is still high and he had to be put on a ventilator to help him breathe. He also has an IV in each arm to serve a different purpose: One for antibiotics and the other for electrolytes. You can go see him, but family only." the doctor informed them.

The doctor led them in the direction of Ponyboy's room. "I must warn the four of you, he's still contagious. Seems to me you four have been exposed to it." the doctor warned them. That didn't matter to them at the moment, all they wanted was to see their brother.

(Ponyboy's hospital room)

The four make it to Ponyboy's room. Darry nervously swallowed before turning the knob to open the door. Upon opening the door, they were met with a distressing sight. Ponyboy was hooked up to a ventilator like the doctor said, along with a few IVs.

He was ghostly pale. Even though he looked like he was asleep, he looked as if he was in pain. Darry sat down in one of the couple of chairs in the room. All they could do was wait for him to wake up.

Many hours went by and it was now nighttime. Bexley was laying on the sofa that was in the room, fast asleep with Sodapop. Two-Bit hadn't fallen asleep, he kept pacing the room.

Darry refused to sleep until he knew that Ponyboy would be okay. After another hour, a female nurse walked in around 11 pm. The woman looked a bit older than Darry with blonde hair and chocolate-colored eyes and he seemed more patient than the other doctor.

"Don't worry, he'll be just fine. You four should head home and get some sleep. He'll wake up in the morning. You can come see him then," the nurse assured Darry. They assumed that Ponyboy would wake up the following morning and he could go home tomorrow. Ponyboy's fever had gone down significantly and they prayed that he could keep any food down.

After she left, they waited another hour or so before Ponyboy woke up. Darry noticed this and stood up right away. "Pony? Can you hear me?" Darry softly said. Ponyboy's glassy green eyes opened up and they focused on his oldest brother.

"Darry? Wh-Where am I?" he asked, looking around in confusion. "You're in the hospital, honey. Don't worry, you're getting better." Darry said gently, stroking Ponyboy's soft hair.

"What happened to me?" Ponyboy asked. "You weren't breathing and you were dehydrated," Darry replied, forcing back a sob,
"Two-Bit called an ambulance and they brought you here. Ponyboy tried sitting up, but Darry was forced to push him back down; he didn't want Ponyboy to unhook his IVs.

"We're not gonna be able to afford this, Darry," Ponyboy whimpered. "Easy, Pony. You need to focus on getting better again. We'll think of something." Darry said. He didn't want his kid brother to worry about all of that while he was in the hospital.

Ponyboy couldn't help but feel guilty about costing Darry more money when he was already struggling with just paying the bills. "Pony, you have nothing to be sorry for. It's gonna be okay. You're gonna get better and maybe you'll come home tomorrow. You need to worry about getting better. Now get some rest," Darry said, kissing Ponyboy on the forehead.

Darry was relieved that Ponyboy would be okay, so he was able to relax finally.

Sometime after, Soda woke up in confusion. He saw that it was darker than before. Blinking the blurriness away, he saw that they were in the hospital. He looked down and saw Bexley fast asleep on his lap, her breathing steady and slow.

He saw Darry asleep in the chair, arms crossed over his chest, and his head dangling a little. Two-Bit is asleep on the floor with a pillow and his leather jacket as a blanket. He was happy they were getting sleep.

Soda's neck was stiff and his head pounded behind his eyes. He brushed it off as lack of sleep, especially lack of a comfortable bed. Looking over to the bed, he saw that Ponyboy was sleeping normally. It was much better than before.

After a few minutes, Soda shifted a bit and fell back asleep once again.

The next morning, Soda felt that his head was going to explode. Voices filled the room. He was too tired to even open up his eyes. The light would only make him feel worse than before.

"But Ponyboy was sick! This could've happened to anyone!" Darry shouted, sounding angry. Soda couldn't make out what was being said. "Our biggest concern is that he was left in the care of an 18 year old boy with a dangerous fever. Not to mention, he had stoppped breathing while in his care." another voice said.

"Two-Bit said that he could do it. We needed someone to look after him since Soda and I had work and Bexley had school," Darry replied. Bexley had woken up to the sound of the voices, causing her to moan from being tired.

"Huh? Wha… what's going on?" she moaned. Soda opened his eyes and looked down at her, watching as she sat up. He rubbed both legs because she had put them to sleep from them being used as a pillow the whole night.

"I don't know, baby girl," Soda replied, his voice scratchy. Soda listened closely that it was the social worker. His heart stopped, making sense of their words. He couldn't tell Bexley because nows not the time to have a panic attack.

"Soda, you okay? You're awfully pale," Bexley said, noticing how pasty white Soda was. Darry noticed too and put a hand against Soda's forehead. "Yeah, you're feeling a bit warm too," Darry said.

"That was the social worker, wasn't it?" Soda asked. "You heard?" Darry asked, giving a nod. "Yeah," Soda said. Bexley looked over at Pony, who was still sleeping. "Darry, how is he?" she asked worriedly.

"He's doing much better. His fever had gone down to 100.5. He had some water some time ago and their gonna let him out if he can keep it down. They need to get him to eat some soup at least," Darry said. Soda and Bex saw that Two-Bit wasn't in the room.

"Where's Two-Bit at?" Soda asked. "He went to get us something to eat. He'll be back soon." Darry answered. There wasn't much to do other than wait. Wait for the worst to happen.