A/N: Bob is still alive. As I said before, only the beginning of the Outsiders with the drive-in movie and Cherry and Marcia happened. Nothing else.

Chapter 6

Just as we thought Amy was getting better, she got worse. Her fever, which had been down to around 101 degrees the past few days, suddenly shot up to 104 degrees, and she was no longer coherent when she was conscious, which wasn't very often. Darry, me and Soda all took turns sitting at her bedside, wiping her forehead with a cool cloth and soothing her when she had wild fever dreams. She screamed and cried out in her sleep. It hurt me to think that my perky twin sister was scared, and I knew she was scared. I didn't know if she remembered where she was or why she was there, and I had no way of making the wild, terrifying nightmares she had stop. I felt horrible. After all, I was her older brother, if only by a few minutes. Older brothers are supposed to soothe you, assure you everything's alright, check for monsters under your bed, like Darry and Sodapop did for me when I was littler. I couldn't make this monster go away. This monster was inside my helpless sister, and I was powerless to stop it. We could only sit by her side and wait patiently; praying that the antibiotics the doctors pumped into Amy would work, and try not to think about what would happen if they didn't. There were no more visiting hours, at least not for us. We came whenever we had a moment's spare time, and stayed until we had a previous engagement to go to that we couldn't worm our way out of.

It was one of those days. I was the only one visiting Amy at the moment, Darry and Sodapop both had to work. Both their bosses had said that they didn't have to come to work if they didn't feel like it, seeing as Amy was so sick. But I knew that both of them wanted to work. Darry and Soda both knew that their money was the only thing holding our family together, and stopping the state from splitting us up and sending me and Sodapop to boys' homes. Also, I think that both of them needed to work, in a sense, with things being so tough for us right now. Darry threw himself into his work, tried to bury the pain he was feeling under all those bundles of roofing. Soda couldn't hide his pain, he wasn't too good at that like Darry was. But at work, he could spill the pain; share it with someone else, namely Steve. Steve was Soda's best buddy, and he was a good listener. He would just stand there silently, absorbing all Soda's pain, never speaking unless he sensed that Soda needed some moral support. Then he would wrap his arms around Soda, let Soda cry into his shoulder, maybe throw in an encouraging word or two. And Soda needed that support. I don't think he could have gotten through this without Steve. Serious reality doesn't get through to Soda often, but when it does, it hits him real hard. This was one of those times when reality had hit him so hard that he was no longer the happy-go-lucky teenager that he usually is. Instead, he was a lost, confused, wandering kid who needed someone to turn to. That someone just happened to be Steve. Sometimes he would confide in me, when we were alone together in our bedroom at night. But usually it was Steve.

I sat thinking this over, glancing every so often at my watch. Soda had told me to meet him at the DX where he worked. He had been asking me to do that a lot lately. I think we all grew closer when Amy was lying in the hospital, fighting for her life. We all talked a lot more to each other, and I realized that Darry really did love me, that sometimes he had to be a little harsh with me in order to protect me. I think the reason we all grew closer was that we realized that we might lose Amy before we ever really got close to her, and we wanted to make sure that we didn't make the same mistake with any other member of our family. Anyway, I was supposed to meet Soda at the DX at 1:00, and it was about a quarter to twelve. I got up and started to pull on my jacket. It would take me about ten minutes to walk to the DX. It wasn't really winter, but it wasn't quite spring yet, either. You know that month and a half or so around March and April where the weather switches back and forth? On this particular day, it was cool out, so Darry had made me wear a light jacket. Ever since Amy got into the hospital he's been a lot more protective, but I don't mind. I know it's just because he loves me so much that he doesn't want me to get hurt. I turned to leave, but just then I heard wild screaming coming from Amy's bed.

"Noo! Bob, don't do this! Don't do this! No...I'll do it. I'll do whatever you want!" Amy yelled. Her eyes snapped open, and they were unseeing, bright with fever. Amy thrashed wildly in bed, kicking and screaming, trying to rid herself of the unseen danger. Her screaming was no longer words, just incoherent screams as she struggled. I whirled around and dropped to my knees by her bed.

"Shh...Ames, it's OK. It's OK, no one's gonna hurt you. I'm here, no one's gonna hurt you. I'm here...it's OK." I stroked her pale skin, feeling the heat under my hand. Her screaming subsided and drifted off into indistinguishable muttering. It was a few minutes later that her words caught up with me. Bob...wasn't the Soc that was Cherry Valance's boyfriend? That big dude who had all the rings on his hand...wasn't that Bob? Then I remembered that Bob was the Soc who had jumped Johnny, and cut him up so bad with those rings. Bob was the Soc that had scared Johnny half to death. But what did he have to do with Amy? That was something I resolved to find out. Finally Amy fell back to sleep, her breathing irregular and raggedy. I walked to the DX lost in thought.

Soda took one look at my face and knew something was wrong. "Pony, come here for a sec." He pulled me aside and pointed down at the front of a red Corvette that was awaiting an oil change. "Sit." I sat.

"OK, Ponyboy, I know something's bothering you. Spill." I took a deep breath, trying to sort through all this. It wasn't easy. All the sleepless nights lying awake worrying about Amy, all the days sitting by her hospital bed, they started to catch up with me. I was dog tired. I pulled out a weed to steady my nerves and took a long, shaky drag on it.

"Well, it all started the other day with Johnny..." I started, and I launched into the story of how Amy had reached Johnny's side when he got jumped, and how she had made no move to help him. I told Sodapop how she had cried, kneeling by Johnny's side, and how she had told him that she was sorry for something. Then I filled Soda in on what Amy had screamed in her feverish dream back at the hospital, and how I had made the connection with Johnny's jumping. When I finished, Soda gave me a long look. I knew he was worried.

"But it could be nothing, right?" I asked quickly. I didn't like the look on Sodapop's face. I didn't want him to worry over something that I had said, just because I was being paranoid. "I'm probably just being paranoid, right, Soda? It's nothing. Just a coincidence. Forget I even said it." Soda continued looking at me in that thoughtful way. It was starting to creep me out. Soda never looked at me like that, it was always Darry that had the serious looks. Soda was the one who was bubbly and fun and who often told me that I worried too much. I was hoping that today wouldn't be an exception. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

"I don't like the sound of this." he said slowly. "Amy's hiding something, and it's something big, maybe even something dangerous. I don't think it's just a coincidence that she was dreaming about the Soc who beat Johnny up." I was still trying hard to take back what I said, because I didn't want Soda to worry for no reason.

"But remember, Bob is Cherry Valance's boyfriend. He stopped me and Johnny and Dally that night at the movies, remember? I told Amy all about what happened that night. She could be subconsciously thinking about that, or something, right?" I persisted feebly. I knew I was grasping for straws. But I really didn't want to worry Soda. I was wishing I hadn't said anything.

"Nah." he said finally. "I don't think that's it. Something's goin' on." I had to agree with him. As much as I didn't want Sodapop to worry, my instincts told me that something big was going on with my twin sister.

"Now since we can't get anything out of Amy while she's this sick..." Soda continued slowly, trying to work things out in his mind. "We need to find the next best person. Who does she confide everything to, besides you?" The two of us sat lost in thought for a minute. Then, suddenly I had a flash of insight. I snapped my fingers triumphantly.

"I got it!" I cried. "Kiera!" Kiera Sanders was Amy's best buddy, and only girl friend. Kiera and Amy had bonded the first day of school, when they'd figured out that they both had CP. Kiera's CP was a little more severe than Amy's though, and she used a manual wheelchair almost all the time.

"Brilliant, Pony!" Soda praised me. "Shit, no wonder they've got you in the smart classes." Someone yelled from the front of the station, and Soda stopped talking.

"Hold your horses, I'm coming!" Then he turned to me. "Look, Pony, I gotta go, my break's over. Walk home, but be careful! The Socs have already jumped one Curtis lately, they ain't gonna be able to resist if another one walks right under their noses. If you see Two-Bit or Dally, ask them for a ride, you dig?" I nodded. Then Soda bent down and wrapped me in a hug. "We'll go see Kiera tomorrow." I nodded again and watched as Soda started fixing up an old Mustang. He didn't notice me. Finally I tore myself out of my thoughts and started to walk home, keeping an eye out for Two-Bit or Dallas. On the way home, I passed the vacant lot where Johnny spent most of his time, when he wasn't at our house. I stopped for a minute and wondered if Johnnycake was in there now. It was getting kind of cold, with a light breeze. I knew Johnny would probably have no jacket, only a t-shirt and jeans. He would probably be cold. I decided to make a small detour to see if Johnny was there. Sure enough, he was.

"Hey, Johnny." I said as I sat down next to him on the cold ground. Johnny barely looked up. "Hey Ponyboy." Johnny was sitting on the concrete, with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs. We sat in silence for a minute, just enjoying each other's company. Suddenly, I got an idea.

"Hey, Johnny, wanna come with me and Soda to visit Kiera tomorrow?" Johnny knew Kiera, 'cause Kiera spent almost as much time at our house as he did. I explained the whole situation with Amy and Bob to Johnny, whose eyes slowly got wider and wider, and his face slowly got paler and paler.

"I don't want to talk about Bob." he whispered softly. I knew he was still scared to death of Bob. Even mentioning Bob, or the night when Johnny was jumped sent Johnny into a terrified panic. I ruffled his greasy black hair affectionately.

"Aw, Johnnycake, it's not gonna be that bad. Soda's gonna be there, too. He won't let anyone hurt you, Johnny. It's gonna be OK." Johnny sat up a little straighter. I knew he knew that Sodapop wouldn't let anything happen to him. Besides, we weren't even talking to Bob himself, just talking about him. Johnny was silent for a few minutes, lost in a battle between his desire to do something for Amy, and his terror at anything connected with Bob.

"Alright." he said finally in a small voice. "I'll go. But only 'cause I love Amy so much." I grinned. I knew then how much he really did love my sister. He had needlessly put Amy first, ahead of his own fears. And he really did have a reason to be scared of Bob, it wasn't some silly, irrational fear. Bob had hurt him real bad and threatened him even worse. But Johnny loved Amy so much that he would do anything for her, even if it meant confronting his fears. That was when I realized that Johnny was on the way to conquering his terror of getting jumped again. He wasn't quite there yet, but he was close, real close. We sat there under the sunset sky for a few minutes before I realized that it was almost 8:00, and I'd better be getting home.

"If you get cold, come on over to our place, dig Johnny? I don't want you getting sick." Johnny nodded, and I chuckled to myself, thinking about how much I had sounded like Darry just then. I walked home in silence, thinking back over the day's events. I went straight up to my room. I couldn't wait to tell Soda that Johnny was coming with us to see Kiera tomorrow. Sodapop was sprawled out on our bed, reading a comic book. He looked up and grinned.

"Hey, Pony, where ya been?" I sat down hard near his legs, making the bed bounce a little.

"I was at the vacant lot with Johnny. He's gonna come with us to see Kiera tomorrow." Soda slowly propped himself on his elbow and twisted around to look at me with a mixture of shock and astonishment. The comic book lay open and forgotten on the bed.

"Johnny? But...it's about Bob! I figured he wouldn't want to go. He's terrified of Bob, any mention of him!"

"I know." I replied. "I couldn't believe it either. But he said he was only going 'cause he loves Amy so much. He really loves her, Soda." Soda shook his head slowly, a grin spreading across his face.

"Golly, Ponyboy, he really does love her." The smile disappeared. "But is he strong enough to handle what might happen to her?" I didn't really have an answer for that. How could I be sure if Johnny was strong enough to deal with Amy's possible death if I wasn't sure if I was strong enough, either? I tried not to think about the possibilities too often, but they came back to haunt me all too much. Every time I visited Amy, saw her tossing and turning in bed, flushed with fever, the little voice in the back of my head said This might be the last time you see her. She might not make it through this. I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to handle that if it happened, let alone if Johnny was strong enough. As a matter of fact, were any of us really prepared for the possibilities? Even Darry, who pretended to be so cool and tough, was he strong enough to handle the death of his precious little sister? He barely kept his sanity when Mom and Dad died. Would he lose it if Amy died, too? Just then I thought of something.

"Hey, Soda?"

"Hmmm?" came the response. Soda was lost in the pages of his comic book.

"Soda, don't tell Darry what we're gonna do tomorrow. I don't want him to know. He probably wouldn't want us messin' with things, you dig?"

"Mmhmm...dig." Soda stretched and yawned. "I think I'm gonna turn out the light now, ok Pony? 'Night."

"'Night Soda." Soda turned the light off and I fell asleep wondering what we might find out from Kiera the next day.

The next day came all too soon. Soda and I got up early and waited for Johnny, who was supposed to meet us at our house. Johnny came right on time, and we waited while Sodapop scribbled a quick note for Darry. Went to take a walk, be back soon. Soda and Pony. Then we set off looking for Kiera. We had decided to look at Kiera's house first, since that was where she usually was when she wasn't hanging out with Amy. Kiera was a good kid. She had a good family life, unlike most of the greasers around here. Her parents were great, especially her mother. Mrs. Sanders was the sweetest, kindest, most understanding mother I've ever met, 'cept for maybe my own mother, when she was alive. The one fault with Mrs. Sanders was that she was an alarmist. Kiera was constantly falling out of her chair, banging into walls, and so on. Each time Kiera got scraped, her own mother would almost have a heart attack from worry. Kiera's been to the hospital more times than the whole rest of the gang put together. So, each time she gets herself into a scrape, she just comes to our house and Darry and Sodapop fix her up.

As it turned out, we didn't need to go to Kiera's house at all. We found her halfway there, wheeling herself through the streets. "Kiera!" Soda proclaimed happily. "We were just looking for you!" Johnny stayed quiet. He's not good around girls, even girls he knows pretty well like Kiera.

"Hey guys!" Kiera grinned. "What's up? How's Amy?" The three of us exchanged glances.

"Amy's...holding her own." I answered. "She's still real sick, though. Actually..." I looked at Soda, who gave me a small nod of approval. "Actually, Amy was sort of what we wanted to talk to you about." Kiera looked concerned.

"What is it?" she questioned. Sodapop glanced around and shook his head.

"Not here. Let's go to the park where we can talk in private." Kiera didn't question the secrecy, but instead led the way to the park, wheeling her chair so fast that the rest of us had to jog to keep up with her. Once there, she let go of her wheels and coasted a few feet before coming to a smooth halt in the grass. I gulped and stared at the grass below my feet. We were right next to the fountain. This was where Two-Bit had found Amy, feverish and wet, almost two weeks ago. I searched the ground for some outward sign, a clue as to what might have happened that evening, even a drop of Amy's blood on the soft green grass. There was nothing. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened, and to most people who stopped in this spot, nothing had. Nobody cared about Amy. Nobody, but the four people present, and Darry, Dallas and Two-Bit. That was it. People would pass by, picnic in this spot, unaware of what had happened at that very spot to a young girl, disabled but full of life. Life would go on, and everybody would forget about the little crippled girl who got jumped by Socs and might have caught her death of pneumonia. Everybody would forget...except us.

Kiera finally turned herself around to look at the three of us with an expression that said I'm waiting. Spill. But all she said was "All right, you guys. What's with this talk in private business? What's the deal?" Johnny and I looked at each other, and then at Soda. Sodapop seemed to accept that he was the one to tell Kiera all this, and cleared his throat.

"Weell...we think that Amy's keeping a secret from us." And he launched into the whole story. I watched Kiera's face carefully as he talked, watching for some sign that she knew Amy's secret. But her face remained expressionless. Either she had no clue what we were talking about, or she was good at hiding her emotions. Very good.

"And so we figured since you're Amy's best friend, you might know what she is hiding..." Soda's voice trailed off and he looked at Kiera pleadingly, almost like a dog begging for food. Slowly, Kiera's calm face faded away, until I could see the emotion she was hiding underneath. There was panic, that was definitely there. There was also anger, sadness, and resignation. Kiera knew it was all over, that we had backed her into a corner. She had to spill what she knew. Still, she made a last-ditch effort to get herself out of this mess.

"I don't know if I should tell you guys..." she said slowly. Sodapop shifted position sitting on the edge of the fountain, and I knew he was resisting the impulse to reach out and shake Kiera by the shoulders. We needed to know this.

"Kiera. She's our sister. And this secret could be dangerous for her. You need to tell us. Please." Kiera sighed. She had been afraid of this.

"Amy's gonna kill me for this..." she muttered but nevertheless started, bit by bit, to unfold the secret that Amy had been keeping for months.

Amy had secretly been dating Bob. Not by choice, mind you, but he had threatened her with everything under the sun. Why he wanted to date Amy, of all people, that part was still a mystery, and why he wanted her so badly was also unknown. But he scared her into dating him.

"But I thought he was dating Cherry Valance." I interrupted at this point. Kiera shook her head.

"He was. But he was cheating on Cherry, by going out with Amy at the same time. Not surprising, the scum that he is. So he threatened Amy with...basically everything. And she got scared enough to buy into his threats, and go out with him. She was never really good at standing up to people." That was true. Amy may act cool and tough, but in reality she gave into peer pressure a lot. If it wasn't for Darry and Soda and me protecting her, she would've done something very destructive by now. I suddenly realized that Kiera was talking again.

"They had only been dating for a few weeks when Bob told Amy that he was gonna go out and jump 'one of her greasy friends' as he put it. He was drunk, of course. She knew it was going to be one of her friends, one of the gang. She wasn't expecting it to be Johnny. After all, he hadn't done anything to Bob. He barely even spoke most of the time. She wasn't even sure that Bob knew who Johnny was. But she changed her mind the night Bob jumped Johnny." I looked over at Johnny to see if he minded that we were talking about him like he wasn't here. His face was awful pale, and his breath was coming in short gasps. His eyes were closed. I knew that he, like the rest of us, was reliving that awful night when he had gotten jumped. Kiera paused a minute and then went on.

"She watched helplessly as Bob beat up Johnny. She wanted to stand up to him, help Johnny, and do something. But she was too scared of Bob and the threats he had made. As I understand it, he threatened to kill Amy if she interfered with his plans. And that included helping Johnny once he had gotten jumped. And to make sure that Amy didn't go back on her word, he sat in his car with his cronies just outside the park. There was no way Amy could get past them. The only reason she was able to talk to Johnny was that she had convinced Bob that she wouldn't try and help Johnny if he'd just let her talk to him. She wanted to tell Johnny that she was sorry for not helping him. But she couldn't tell him the reason why she didn't do anything, because Bob was watching her from the edge of the park. He could easily overhear what she was saying." Kiera's voice trembled a little as she went on.

"He...he beat her up something awful, guys. He was mad at her for two reasons: one-that she told Johnny that she was sorry. Bob wanted his girlfriends to be as cold and unfeeling as him, I guess. The other reason was that he somehow found out that Amy had told me that she was being forced into dating him. You know those leg cramps that Amy had that day?" I remembered well. She had complained of leg cramps all that night, and neither a book nor TV distracted her, like they usually did when she got leg cramps. "Yeah, those weren't leg cramps. Those were the throbbing of the bruises that Bob left on Amy. He basically tossed her around like a rag doll, which was pretty easy with her balance and all. He pushed her down; stomped on her, hit her multiple times. It's a wonder she didn't break any bones, just sprained her right ankle." I suddenly remembered Amy limping around that night, crying from the pain. Darry had tried to ask her what was wrong, but she wouldn't tell him. Eventually Darry had wrapped up the ankle best he could and asked no more questions.

"Well, why the hell didn't she tell us?" Soda demanded, his eyes full of fury. Soda doesn't get mad very often, but when he does, there's absolutely no stopping him. And the one thing that was guaranteed to make him mad was the mistreatment of his younger siblings. Kiera shook her head sadly. Sodapop was so predictable. She had known from the beginning that this question would be asked, and she had known that it would be Soda who asked it.

"There were a lot of reasons, Soda. She didn't want to tell Darry, because she didn't want him getting all protective and lecturing her about not giving into peer pressure, which she had heard a million times and wouldn't do her any good with Bob. She didn't want to tell you, Soda, because she knew that you would either tell Darry, or go out and hunt Bob down. She didn't want any of you to get hurt. She had seen how nasty Bob could be. And Ponyboy. Oh, Pony, she wanted to tell you so badly, and she almost did, many times. She knew that you loved her so much; she didn't think it was fair to keep a secret from you, Pony, especially because you told her all your secrets. She thought you had a right to know. She really was on the verge of telling you the night Johnny got jumped, you know. But then she saw how mad Bob got when he found out that Amy had told me, she couldn't imagine his fury if she told a family member. So she kept her mouth shut; for her sake and for her brothers." Tears filled my eyes as I realized how much pain, both physical and emotional, Amy had gone through to protect us, even though we were the ones supposed to be protecting her, us being the big brothers and all. God, she sure did love us.

"So what happened?" Johnny's timid voice cut into my thoughts. "Like, are they still dating? Were they still dating, I mean, before Amy got sick? Was he still hurting her?" I sat up in surprise. Usually Johnny's silent to the bone. Kiera gave a theatrical sigh. She sure was dramatic. I had told her many times that she should go into acting. But she always told me that the acting industry would never want a wheelchair-bound cripple like her. That was probably true. Disabled people weren't widely accepted in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Maybe in some other part of America, but not in Tulsa.

"Ah, that's where our story ends." Kiera sighed dramatically. "See, Amy finally got the guts to stand up to Bob. She told him he was the most hateful person in the world and she hated his guts. She said, and I quote: 'I'm not afraid of your threats anymore. You're not the boss of me.' He hit her so hard that she was knocked out for a few minutes. When she came to, he wasn't there. So she ran home, and she still didn't tell anyone what Bob was doing to her. When she went to the park later that night, a few of Bob's cronies caught up with her. She was too weak and sick to resist them, and they plunged her into the fountain. My best friend's dying, all because of that scum!" Her voice rose on the last note and she broke into tears. She wasn't the only one. Me and Soda were both crying, too. Johnny said nothing, only looked scared to death. I don't know if he was scared of Bob, hearing about what he did to Amy and all, or if he was just scared thinking about what happened to her. Because he really did love her, I had figured that out by now. The only question was, did she love him back? I thought so, hearing what Kiera had to say and sorting it out in my mind. I think we all were more confused now that we knew the whole story than we were when we just knew that Amy was keeping a secret. Finally, Soda swiped at his eyes with the back of his hands and started to calm down.

"I'm gonna kill that Bob, that slimy Soc." he breathed. "I'm gonna kill him for what he did to my sister."

A/N: Wow that was about 7 ½ pages, more than ever. Sorry for the long while before I updated, I wasn't quite sure where I was going with this. Never break off a chapter without a plan in your head for the next one. Now I've added Kiera into the mix...don't you just love that name, Kiera? Anyway, since this chapter took the better part of three days to complete, you better review!