Chapter 20

3 months later

Alice's POV:

The addition to the house was almost finished. We added two more bedrooms to the bottom floor and two more bedrooms and another bathroom to the second floor. The house was now being baby proofed. While the men were painting the house additions I couldn't be there so I went back to my old home, Dally came with me to ensure I was ok. Dally couldn't always come with me because I had forced him, along with a little help from Darry, to get a job. He now worked with Soda and Steve at the DX. He normally just pumped gas and worked inside the store.

I was very proud of Dally, he had grown up very much in the past 9 months and he was much more responsible. He was ready to be a father and he was going to be fine. We had six other guys able to help us with the baby. Not to mention my brother's and Two-bit's mom said she would be glad to help when she could. Even that soc Ponyboy knew, Cherry said she would help if needed. Because of this I felt everything was going to be ok.

I opened the front door to the Curtis's, and now my new home, and smiled. Dally was on the couch and Darry was in the kitchen talking to Pony. Everyone else was scattered around the room. Dally looked up at me.

"Hey babe, the house is finally done today. And Tim, Darry, Steve, Soda and me already moved your bed and other stuff into our new bedroom. And we took my bed into one of the others and Two-bit's mom came by and said for us to come get one of hers and Two-bit's old cradle."

Dally stood up and put his arm around my lower back. "I wanna show you our room!" he said like an excited four-year-old.

I laughed and smiled and allowed him to lead me to our room, which had been added by a door in the dinning room. Once we got to the door he covered my eyes with his hands and pushed the door open with his foot. With my eyes still covered he walked me into the room. He then removed his hands and I gasped.

"Dally I love it." I turned around to face him and threw my arms around his neck, bringing us as close as we could get. I kissed his cheek ad then turned back to examine the room.

It was a dark blue with white trim and a hardwood floor. The bed was in the middle of the room and had a white comforter and dark blue sheets. There was a small white rug at the end of the bed and two bedside tables on either side of the bed. My dresser was also in the room and most of my clothes and Dally's were divided between the large closet and the dresser. There were sheer drapes hanging from the one window we had in the room, which looked into the backyard.

"Would you like to see the baby's room?" he said after a few minutes of watching me turn around the room and look at everything.

I nodded and he led my out of our room and then once we reached the stairs he picked me up.

"Dally put me down you are going to hurt yourself. I'm not as light as I was a few months ago."

He ignored me and continued to walk up the stairs, at the top he sat me back down and we turned left and went to the last door on the right. He opened the door and let me walk in the room.

The walls were painted a light creamy yellow. The window had sheer white drapes just like our room. There was a white crib towards the window. A changing table was on another side and a white dresser and a corner full of toys also sat in the room. I turned back to Dally who was leaning in the doorway and smiled. I turned back and saw a white rocking chair sitting beside the crib. I went over and sat in it and looked up at Dally who was now standing in front of me.

"In a few days we are going to be parents. I can't believe it."

"Alice…" I looked down at Dally who had kneeled down in front of me. "I can't believe I'm going to say this but I'm scared." He looked down at the ground. "I don't want to screw this up. I don't want to be my father, I want to protect you and our kid. And I'm scared I won't be able to do that or I will mess up."

"Dally… sweetie… it's ok. You wanna know the truth. I'm scared to babe. You aren't your father nor will you ever be. So don't even worry about that. You are going to be a wonderful father Dallas, don't let yourself think any different."

He reached up and kissed me and just then I felt a pain in my lower abdomen. I put my hand on my stomach. "Dallas!" I looked up at me with worry in his eyes. All the guys had heard me scream and everyone but Johnny, who couldn't get up the stairs in his wheelchair, stood in the room. "Dally I think we need to go to the hospital." He nodded his head.

"NOW!" I screamed. Dally jumped up and with Darry's help they got me to the truck. Darry drove.

"DALLAS PARKER WINSTON never touch me again."

"Babe, you don't mean that you are just in pain." He said through gritted teeth as I squeezed his hand harder.

"OH YES I DO!" I yelled back.

"Alice, now I need you to push on the next contraction."

I nodded and in about 15 seconds pushed as hard as I could.

"Ok keep going come on you're almost done."

Cries soon filled the room and I fell back against the pillow. My grip on Dally's hand loosened but I didn't let go of his hand.

The nurses brought our baby over after a few minutes. "It's a girl." She placed our daughter in my arms. "Do you have a name for her?" asked another nurse that had a clipboard and pen.

I looked over to Dally and smiled, we had chosen names a few weeks ago. "Jennifer Marie Winston." She nodded and left the room.

I smiled down at the small baby in my arms. Dally was sitting beside me and watching our baby and me with a true smile on his lips.

Jennifer had a mix between Dally's cold ice blue eyes and my bright blue ones. She had dark brown hair and was so adorable.

The nurse came back in. "There are some boys out here that would like to see you. They insist that they are family, I doubt it."

"Ma'am they are the closest thing to a family we will ever have." Dally said. She nodded and opened the door.

Two-bit, Pony, Soda, Steve, Darry, Johnny, and Tim came in the room. Curly was still in the reformatory. The guys smiled at the small baby in my arms. Dally stood up and I placed Jennifer in his arms. He then walked to the guys and showed off his daughter. I smiled; I had everything I ever wanted. Now I just had to keep everything together.