Note: I did change Molly's illness two chapters ago. It is a brain tumor, not a liver tumor. Check it out, if you want. It's only changed slightly during Two-Bit's nightmare.

Soda's POV

Pony clutched to Darry like he was his only lifesaver in the middle of the ocean. I watched with fear as Pony sobbed. His chest heaved with every cry. He sounded so saddened. I had never heard cries like that. His cries were worse sounding than when we had lost our parents.

Pony pulled at Darry's black muscle shirt so that Darry's neck showed, down to his chest where a light tuft of hair began. Darry just held Pony, seeming not to know what else he could do. I was scared. He'd never acted this way. I thought things were getting better.

Pony was quiet. Hell, he was always quiet. I never thought anything of it. He didn't talk much anymore, not even to me. It bothered me when he wouldn't talk to me when I knew something was wrong. Was this him letting out all he's kept inside?

Darry and I locked eyes. We both didn't know what to do. Pony was shaking and thrashing in Darry's arms, seizure-like. Darry tightened his grip and the thrashing was contained for a while. I wished he wouldn't be like this. I wished he'd be happier. What have Darry and I done wrong?

Soon Pony's cries turned into full-out howls. Darry tried to muffle the sounds by pressing Pony's face into his neck once more. They were still loud to my ears. Much too loud. Each cry cut me inside until I couldn't stand it.

I stood up and ran from the room. I could feel Darry's eyes on my back. I didn't care. I couldn't take this! I was helpless to him. I couldn't save him, couldn't protect him. What good was I to him?

I went into the bathroom where I was quietly sick for a few minutes. My stomach heaved. I could feel my pulse throbbing at the side of my head. I should go back to our room and help Darry. But what could I do?

I went out to the living room. I could still hear Pony scream. I covered my ears and rocked back and forth, the tears spilling down my face without my knowing. I couldn't stand this! It was too much. Too much.

Darry suddenly rushed through the door to our room. He looked briefly at me and I could see concern written in his eyes. But he quickly turned back and went in to the kitchen. I heard something rattling around. Then he came running back with a paper bag in his hands.

I heard Darry ordering Pony to breathe. A few loud gasps later, Pony seemed to calm.

I tentatively returned to our room. I saw Darry on the bed with Pony, rubbing circles on Pony's back. Pony lay face-down. He whimpered continuously. I saw how the sweat had dampened his back and into his shirt. There was a darker ring around his neck and along his lower back. It was plain to see against his gray t-shirt.

Darry spoke in a low voice, as though he was calming a spooked horse. In ways, Pony was like that. It made sense that Darry would talk that way to him, though Darry hadn't been around horses much.

Pony reached out and grabbed a fistful of the sheets. He opened and closed his fists methodically. Every time he closed his hand around the sheets he squeezed until his knuckles were white. Then he'd release.

Within minutes, his hand motions slowed until they eventually stopped. It was then that I chose to walk forward, to return to the bed beside Pony.

Darry watched me, taking his gaze off Pony. I didn't mean to leave, to chicken out. I'm sure Darry felt the same way, but he was stronger. He was able to stay. It was what made us different. Darry could get through anything. He was tougher, stronger-willed than me. I envied his courage.

"Are you all right, little buddy?" He asked.

I shook my head no. I let my guard down and I began to cry. I hated doing this to Darry. He already had to deal with one crying brother. That was hard to handle, too. But, here I was, crying.

Darry took hold of my shoulders and brought me to his room. I supposed it was so we wouldn't bother Pony. That's the last thing I'd want to do. I had already deserted him when he needed me. Why do I always mess up?

We sat down on his bed. He hugged me close and I cried into his shirt, already damp from Pony's tears. He'd have to change before he went back to sleep, if he ever got around to it.

"I'm...s-sorry," I stammered through broken sobs.

"Sh. You didn't do anything wrong." Darry rocked me back and forth and I began to calm.

"What was that all about?" He asked once my tears were spent.

"I'm sorry. I didn't m-mean to leave you alone with him. It was just so, so hard hearing him like that." I shuddered as one of Pony's howls screamed through my head.

"It's okay. It was hard on me, too. I don't know what's wrong. It scared me, though."

"I know. I don't know what was wrong. One minute I was asleep in bed, the next I heard this loud bang and I look over and Pony's on the floor. I don't know w hat happened."

"Those screams are going to haunt me for some time," Darry said thoughtfully.

I nodded in agreement.

"I think I'm going to take part of the day off tomorrow. I'll go in early and then try to come home around noon," Darry said.

"That's a good idea. Maybe I'll take off the morning and go in after you get home."

"He's not going to school like that."

"No. I wouldn't think of him going."

We sat there in silence, both lost in thought. I was glad Darry was taking part of the day off and not all of it. We couldn't afford that. As much as he deserved a full day off, we just couldn't risk that. It was hard enough to make payments while working full time. I knew someone would have to be with Pony and I didn't want to make one of the gang stay with him, incase he had another episode. They weren't good with stuff like that.

"You'd better get back to bed," Darry said as he got up and went to his dresser.

I got up to leave as he pulled out a plain white cotton t-shirt. He took off his black one, then put on the white.

When I got back to the door, I turned.

"Sorry about your shirt," I said, smiling.

"Get to sleep, goof," Darry laughed.

I went to bed and found Pony in the same position he had been in. I sat down on the bed, the springs creaking beneath the mattress. I rolled onto my side and stretched my arm across Pony's back. He made a whimpering sound and I rubbed his back. The sound died off and he began to sleep peacefully once more.

For which I was very thankful.

Two-Bit's POV

It was hard to believe this had all happened over something so simple. Well, it wasn't simple. It was abnormal, but we never thought it would be something this serious.

Molly had had these weird episodes where she shook uncontrollably. It reminded me of a seizure. When I was in the sixth grade, one of the girls in my class had had one right in the middle of math. It scared me at the time. Seeing it happened to Molly made it worse.

Mom and I took her to the doctor. She needed the transportation, otherwise I wouldn't have gone. The doctors ran some tests and a few days later we came back to hear the results.

There was a large tumor taking up most of Molly's brain. The doctor said that was what caused the seizure-like symptom. He also had mentioned mood changes. I hadn't realized it had changed, but Mom agreed she had been acting a little odd lately.

The doctor said the tumor hadn't affected her or given her any symptoms for a long time because it was asymtomatic. It had only brought on the symptoms then because it had grown to such a large size.

In her case, she would have had several more months had it been detected earlier, though there still was not a high survival rate. With her age and the position of the tumor, she only had three or so months to live. It was the news that would affect our family forever and would change my life.

The doctor gave her drugs that would control the seizures. She wouldn't feel much, though there would be many changes due to how the brain would be affected by the tumor. The doctor figured that she would live a few more months, slip into a coma, and eventually die.

At twelve, she was supposed to be a happy, normal girl. She was supposed to have decades of life before her, not a matter of months. It wasn't fair. She did not deserve to go through this. She knew what to expect. She knew what was going to happen. The doctor said not to take certain things she said to heart, that her anger wasn't her. I knew different.

Molly hadn't accepted her fate. It was her way of sulking in bitterness. She didn't want to accept it, couldn't or wouldn't. I wasn't sure. One thing I knew, though, this was the real Molly. It wasn't some strange way the tumor was changing her brain. No, it was the bitterness of a broken-hearted little girl who was going to die. And I, as her big brother, felt compelled to save her. But there was nothing I could do.

I went into Molly's room. She hugged a pillow to her chest and stared at one of her old doll houses. She was to old for it now, but it was still in there, mocking her. She would not have time to play like that. She would not grow old and pass it on to her daughters or her granddaughters. It was final. She would die young, barely having time to live a life at all.

I sat down on the bed beside her. She didn't take any notice in me. I placed my hand on her forearm, trying to comfort her.

"What can I do, Molly? What can I do to make you better?" I asked her.

She looked up at me then. Her eyes held her grief, her tiredness. She was sick of going on, ready to give in. I could tell and it scared me.

"There's nothing you can do now, Two-Bit. You promised me I'd be all right, that you'd take care of me. But there's nothing left. All I have left to do is die." She turned on her side once more and stared off into the distance, her own little world.

"Molly... please, don't talk like that."

"Like what? Like I'm about to die? Like there's nothing that anyone can do except sit back and wait for me to die? There's nothing, Two-Bit! I thought you'd realized that by now! Stop living in your own little fantasy world and come back down to earth! I'm going to die and there's nothing you or anybody else can do about it!" She screamed as tears flooded down her face. I could feel tears in my own eyes, but I forced them away. Greasers don't cry.

"I'm not ready, Molly," I said as I took her in my arms. "I'm not ready to let you go. I can't. I've barely gotten to know you and now it's almost too late. I'm sorry I haven't been there for you. I didn't mean to walk out on you like Dad did to us. I didn't mean to." I was near tears, but I fought them with all my strength. If she saw me break, she'd know how scared I am. I couldn't have her know I'm scared when she's already frightened enough for the both of us.

She wrapped her thin arms around me and squeezed tightly.

"You didn't abandon me, Two-Bit. You've been the perfect brother. You've never gotten on my nerves or picked on me, at least." She was attempting to find something humorous, to cheer me up. That fact alone gave me hope that she wasn't that far gone, that she wasn't so wrapped in her grief that she couldn't find something funny.

I chuckled, but it wasn't too convincing, even to me.

"I didn't mean to be gone so much."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not."

"Fine, it's not. Two-Bit, you're fine the way you are. Just promise me one thing."

"What's that?" I asked, looking down into her eyes as she tilted her head up to look at me.

"Don't go get drunk and leave Mom alone when I die. She'll need to have someone to take care of. She already feels like she's a failure since Dad left. I don't remember it because I was so young, but I doubt she had anything to do with it."

I felt a fire burn inside my chest. Dad made Mom feel guilty about what had happened? She didn't deserve that. He had been a stupid drunk who didn't give a damn about his family. Mom had done all she could. She didn't need to feel guilty. I hadn't known she felt that way, but now that I did, I planned to do something about it.

"I promise," I said, though Molly had already fallen to sleep in my arms.

I kissed the top of her head, a sign of affection I rarely used. If the gang could see me now... I thought to myself with a sad smile.

If the gang could see me now, they wouldn't know what to say. No one does.

Whose POVs do you guys want in the next chapter?