Dally walked into Buck's bar. He couldn't find Tim anywhere, so Buck's car was the next best thing. Not a lot of time was on the gang's side either. Who knows where Steve was or if he had already found Soda? With time racing away, Dally got up to the bar quickly and got Buck's attention. "What's going on?" Buck asked, noticing Dally's impatience.

"I need your car man, it's an emergency," Dally said in a serious tone. He sounded threatening too so that Buck would realize this wasn't any bullshit reason either.

Buck gave him a look, but didn't argue over it, "When will I have it back?"

"Probably tonight. The gang just needs it to find Soda before Steve does," Dally said. Buck handed him the keys and they both headed outside.

"That poor kid," Buck commented while at Dally's heels, "Randle needs to lay off and leave the kid alone you know? This is going too far. By now Randle's just going for attention."

"I know. Steve does need to lay off fast. I'm sure Darry will make that clear to him tonight," Dally replied. He got into Buck's car and quickly left the parking lot to get the boys at the park.

Steve didn't have anymore patience. He halted his own little search and arrived at the Curtis house. It felt a little off to be around the house, but Steve kept that eerie feeling behind him and hurried inside. He still had his struggles to hide away any cares towards the rest of the gang. It became a norm for him to hate Soda, and that was beginning to settle fine with him. Inside, there was a figure on the couch who jumped up at the slamming of the door. Johnny was frightened at the sight of Steve in the doorway.

"Where's Soda?" Steve demanded.

Johnny was shaking. He tried backing away slowly. He didn't know what Steve's intentions were. Was he going to hurt Johnny until he spilled something? Was he going to raid the Curtis house? Steve had already tried scare tactics at Johnny, but that's when there were other people around. What could he do now when they were alone?

"Do you know where he is at all? Any idea?" Steve asked, raising his voice with each word. Johnny only shook his head. Steve stared Johnny down for a moment before accepting the answer. If no one else was back at the house yet, he had to believe Johnny. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his blade. Johnny's eyes went wide as he looked down at it. "I wasn't here. Got it?"

Johnny nodded, not taking his eyes off the blade.

"Good. Keep it quiet. I got something more threatening in my car, if you know what I mean," Steve threatened, closing his blade. He turned and left the house. Johnny was frozen in his position until he heard Steve's car start and drive off.

After Dally picked up Darry, Two-Bit, and Pony from the park, everyone kept their eyes peeled on the road. There was no sign of Soda anywhere. Pony was near tears. Two-Bit tried comforting him in the backseat as much as he could. Darry looked like he could break the car door down and cause destruction all around town just to find Soda. It was a very uncomfortable car ride.

"I swear to God..." Darry said, his voice cracking as if he was about to cry, "If Steve got to Soda...if Steve put a hand on Soda..."

"Darry, don't think like that," Two-Bit pleaded. He wasn't sure how much longer Darry could be out searching before he did anything stupid.

"But we haven't seen Steve's car anywhere!" Pony yelled, "What if he got Soda and went somewhere nowhere could find him!"

Two-Bit rubbed Pony's shoulders, "Shh, Pony calm down. Let's not...overreact." Two-Bit couldn't even say that confidentially. He knew Pony's idea wasn't an exaggeration.

"No! Has anyone else noticed that Steve's car is suddenly nowhere! He was looking for Soda, we know that. We saw him at the park. What if he got Soda and is now gone? What if he made sure no one could find Soda ever again!"

Two-Bit pulled Pony into his chest and Pony broke down. He had to quiet down the young greaser before Darry blew his top. "Shh Ponyboy, it'll be okay. We are going to find him."

"This can't be happening," Pony bawled into Two-Bit's shirt, "We can't let Steve have him...he can't get Soda, he can't damnit."

Two-Bit rubbed Pony's back affectionately, "He won't get Soda. Over my dead body. We will find Soda." Two-Bit could cry himself. He had gotten so close to Soda. No one else knew about it, and that killed Two-Bit in this moment. No one was understanding the pain Two-Bit was going through being so scared for Soda.

"Let's try the house," Darry suddenly offered, "Before I completely lose it, let's see if he went home. Pony has lost it, I'm about to lose it, so let's go home to check. Just please go to the house now."

Dally nodded and drove towards the Curtis house. Pony cried into Two-Bit's chest the whole ride back. Darry peered back every now and then and Two-Bit could see how heartbroken Darry was from the night. Once they arrived, everyone rushed into the house, hoping for good news.

"I need to see Soda," Pony cried, "I need to see if he's alright."

They all saw Johnny on the couch, clearly shaken up. That made Dally mad, already knowing what happened.

"Steve showed up," Dally stated.

"No," Pony begged, "Please tell me Soda's here." Johnny didn't answer. Pony felt his stomach leap, so he hurried to the bathroom. He needed to get away from everything. He was at his wit's end.

"Did he hurt you Johnny?" Dally asked.

Johnny shook his head, "N-No. You guys weren't suppose to know he was here though..."

"Well, it wasn't that hard to figure out," Darry commented, turning to go towards the bathroom. He was going to try and soothe Ponyboy a little.

"Darry," Pony cried, "I can't do this. I need Soda here. I don't care if he's gay. I don't care about anything like that. I just want my brother here and safe and happy."

"I know buddy, I know. None of us care if Soda is gay. We all want him here. We're going to find him, and when we do, we'll all make that very clear to him so he doesn't do this again. I'll go back out to look and you stay here."

"No Darry please don't make me stay. I have to help you."

"Ponyboy, look at you. You are exhausted to the point of collapsing, yet you are jittery to the point of making yourself sick. You need to stay here and rest. I will find Soda tonight, no matter what. I am not coming home until he's here and safe. I promise."

"Fine..." Pony sighed, muttering something more, "Not like you're good to go back out either"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Darry said, getting up to leave the bathroom.

When Pony calmed a little, he went upstairs to his room.

"Johnny, can you go up with him?" Darry asked. Johnny nodded and went upstairs.

"I need to go back out," Darry said, looking between Two-Bit and Dally.

"Darry, you're just as exhausted as Pony. Let us go," Two-Bit said.

"No, I have to..."

"Darry, you are going to lose it," Dally butted in, "We'll go. You stay here for when he comes back. Besides, if I find Steve, I'm going to pumble him for coming to get dirt off Johnny."

"I..."

"No more Darry," Dally said, "Those two can't be left here alone."

Darry sighed, knowing he lost the battle.

"Just take care of Pony and Johnny, alright? They both need it," Two-Bit said.

"Alright," Darry ran a hand through his hair, "If you can, call me on a payphone with any news."

"Will do," Two-Bit said as him and Dally left the house.

"Johnny, is this my fault?" Pony asked as he lay in bed with Johnny.

"No, it's mine. He got upset by what I said," Johnny replied.

Pony had slowly began to calm down. He had dry tear stains on his cheeks and still had slight sniffles, but the choking cries had stopped. Johnny was glad he was able to calm his best friend down. This was too much for him, and Darry. Thankfully the distraction of caring for Pony calmed Johnny from his interaction with Steve too. "Oh Johnny, that's not your fault. I know you didn't mean it the way he took it. Deep down, I'm sure he knows you didn't mean it that way either."

"I hope so."

"What if they don't find him?" Pony asked.

"They will Pony. He's probably been wandering around this whole time. We can just get mad at him later for making us worry this long," Johnny smirked.

Pony clenched his fists, "This is all Steve's fault. Soda is a sensitive person. Steve knows that, and he knows how to get to Soda. That's why he's winning, he has the upper hand in this.

"If only we could turn Steve's new friends against him. Then we would have the upper hand. Steve would have no one," Johnny said. Pony thought about what Johnny just said. Steve had never had anyone to depend on, no one to ever trust. He was an only child, so he didn't have brothers like Soda. He only had Soda. He had the rest of the gang, but mostly Soda. When Steve kicked Soda out of his life, he had no one and found these new friends. He found his own little gang to have at his side.

"Turn his gang against him," Pony repeated.

"Yeah," Johnny said, "Steve is just barely holding on from losing it. He'll snap soon either way."

Pony sat up in his bed, "How can we turn them against him?"

"Pony it's just a fact. There's no way we could actually do it though."

"Why not?"

"We don't know anything about these guys. We don't know what Steve did to make them follow him in the first place," Johnny explained.

"So let's find out."

"Ponyboy that's insane."

"It's worth a try Johnny! At this point, I'm willing to do anything!"

"I know Pony, but if Steve found out, you'd get worse than what he already did to you in the first place."

"I don't care. If we can break Steve, we should."

Buck shook his head as Steve Randle walked in. Didn't he know 'kicked out' meant 'never come back?' It had been awhile since Dally left with his car though, so Buck didn't go up to Steve right away. This would give Dallas some time to find Soda, wherever he was. If Steve was here, he obviously didn't have Soda, so there was some relief. Buck watched as Steve went up the stairs. Maybe Buck could hold off Steve for awhile, as long as he didn't cause any fights. Buck shook his head against as Steve reached the second floor. "Damn kid."

"I didn't want to say this to Darry," Two-Bit began as Dally drove, "But...if Steve hadn't gotten Soda, what if he skipped town?"

"I thought of that too," Dally sighed.

Two-Bit wouldn't be able to help being mad if Soda hopped a bus. Their relationship was growing, slowly and secretly, but it was. He couldn't give up on that now. Although, Two-Bit didn't know all that Soda was going through. The distress from the harassment would be distracting from what was important and who would make everything okay for him.

"Hey look," Two-Bit pointed, "There's Tim. Let's ask him."

Tim Sheppard was walking down the sidewalk with a cigarette in his mouth. Dally pulled the car over.

"Hey!" Dally yelled as him and Two-Bit stepped out of the car.

"Hey Dal. Hey Two-Bit," Tim said, "I was just on my way to Curtis."

"Really? Why?" Two-Bit asked.

"Soda's at my house."

"What?" Two-Bit asked, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I saw him running. He was in a lot of distress, so I picked him up and took him to my place. I didn't want the wrong person finding him, you know?"

"That's a huge relief," Two-Bit said, "Come on let's go get him."

The three got into the car and drove to the Sheppard house.

"He was just running around really upset," Tim went on, "I asked him what was going on, but he didn't want to tell me. He hasn't said anything to me at all. I was going to walk and get Darry, because I figured you all were worried about him. I told Soda to stay put. He was definitely shaken up, so I'm sure he hasn't moved. I stood up for him at Buck's, but he sure still seemed scared of me."

"Have you seen Steve around?" Two-Bit asked.

"No, I haven't."

"Maybe he gave up," Dally shook his head, "He scared Johnny, so I'm not too happy with him."

"When?" Tim asked.

"Sometime while we were out searching. Johnny was waiting at the house and Steve showed up there."

"Damn," Tim muttered.

The three pulled up to Tim's house and got out. Two-Bit was anxious to see Soda, although trying not to show it too much,

"He's in my room," Tim said as they walked into the house.

"Dal, why don't you call Darry? I'll go check on him," Two-Bit said.

"Sure," Dally agreed.

Two-Bit walked upstairs alone. He opened the bedroom door, and saw Soda. He was curled up on the floor. He slowly looked up.

"Oh Soda," Two-Bit said closing the door behind him and rushing over. He pulled Soda into his arms and held him close. "Thank God you're alright. Thank God Tim found you."

Soda cried as he lay against Two-Bit, "I'm sorry..."

Two-Bit grabbed Soda's face and kissed him. It was a deep, passionate kiss. There was no experimenting with this one. Two-Bit went for it. He held Soda as he sunk into him. When they separated for a moment, Two-Bit ran his hand along Soda's face. "Come on, let's get you home, alright?"