A/N: This was a story request by SimonaK1. Here is a small intro for it. Hope they, and all of you, enjoy this!

"Come on Pony, hurry up!"

Ponyboy Curtis, a scared 14 year old boy, slid through the door to exit his room. It was a room he shared with three other boys. Four beds squished in a room. Neither of the occupants had a lot of items. They were only allowed to bring essentials. Pony's older brother, 16 year old Sodapop Curtis, quickly and quietly pulled the door closed.

"Soda," Pony whispered, "I'm not sure about this. What happens if we get caught?"

"We can't think about that right now," Soda grabbed his little brother's hand and hurried down the hall, "Let's go."

"I can't believe we have to leave all of our stuff behind," Pony whispered with a sad tone.

"We can't risk taking anything along, buddy," Soda stopped and looked at Pony. He caressed his cheek, feeling a damp spot where a tear may have fell. "We're going to be okay."

Darry Curtis was up late that night, again. He took a marker, and wrote a big, red X on the current day on the calendar. It was a Thursday, with a 144 written on it. That was 144 days left. It was 144 days left until the big court date. That day was when Darry would have to go to court to determine if he got his little brothers back, or if they'd spend another year in the boy's home. Just under 5 months away. It was 5 months too long. One day of them being gone was too long, and Darry was suffering through it all. It was 221 days ago that the Curtis brother's lives changed forever.

Johnny Cade sat on Two-Bit Mathews' couch that night. He had gotten kicked out again, as usual. Two-Bit's house had become his new go-to house for those nights. It was hard going to the Curtis house now. Ponyboy wasn't there to talk to or just hang out with. It wasn't that Johnny minded Darry, or vice versa, but Johnny just felt out of place and in the way. Darry had been working his ass off figuring out how he was going to get his little brothers back, and Johnny didn't want to distract him. He wanted Darry to focus if that meant a chance at getting his best friend back home. Johnny worried about Pony. He knew Pony wasn't going to be the toughest kid in the boy's home. Thankfully Soda was there to watch his back. Darry had filed many motions to try and get Soda and Pony back home early, but there had been no success. Johnny was worried they'd have to wait the entire year Pony and Soda were set to be away. Even then, there was no definite answer if they'd come home. Johnny may only get to see Ponyboy for a short time at the court house for the hearing, and he could be taken away again. It wasn't fair, and Johnny didn't know if he could handle it any longer.

Steve Randle tossed on a fresh t-shirt for the night. He was going out with Dallas Winston that night. Dally was going to the stables to ride, and Steve didn't have anything better to do, as that was his new normal. He had hung out with Dally a lot the past 7 months. Unfortunately, that had driven Steve to drink a lot more, get into more trouble. He got brought into the slammer with Dally a couple of times now. Ever since his best friend, Sodapop, got taken away by the courts, Steve had no one. He didn't care what he did anymore with how helpless he felt. The boy's home was strict. Steve hadn't gotten to see Soda ever since that day in court they took him and Ponyboy away. They only let family visit. Darry tried fighting with them that Soda needed to be able to see Steve, Ponyboy needed to see Johnny, and Steve and Johnny needed to see them too. They needed each other just as much as Darry needed to see them, but the home wouldn't budge, so they only got to see Darry. Even that wasn't much since Darry only got to visit for a couple hours once a month. The courts really didn't think Darry was good for Soda and Pony. Steve knew that was bullshit, and it was pissing him off. The sooner the court date was approaching, the more sour Steve was getting about life.

Darry lay in bed wide awake. He was restless, as usual. After a long talk with his lawyer earlier that day, it sounded a little promising that their new motion may get them somewhere. Darry wanted to be optimistic, but he also had to expect the worst. It would kill him if he had to get another denial. He couldn't live without his little brothers much longer. He knew he was being watched under a magnifying glass. He had done everything the courts wanted him to do, and it pissed him off he still had to wait for his brothers to come home. It pissed him off that what he had done still might not be enough to bring them home anyway. Darry knew he messed up. He knew he was the reason Soda and Pony were gone, but he fixed it. It wouldn't happen ever again, and he felt he had proved that.

Soda and Pony stepped outside in front of the boy's home. The building that held boys taken from their homes. There were ten other boys living in that building, cramped within a few bedrooms. They were all there for similar reasons. Some were real tough teens too. They were raised in harsh homes and would get in fights if you just looked at them wrong. Soda and Pony didn't belong there. It should be obvious that them staying there was only going to rough them up. Soda couldn't let that happen to Ponyboy. He couldn't watch him become a real gang member. Pony needed to be at home with his brothers and friends.

"Do you remember when Darry visited last week?" Pony asked as the brothers began walking down the street.

"Yeah, what about it?" Soda asked. He knew they couldn't stay on the streets too long. As soon as the sun would rise, the police would be called and it'd be a manhunt to get the boys back. They'd have to take a more cautious way to get home. The only problem was Soda wasn't confident in how to get home. This boy's home was hours away from their home. Taking an off-road way would be hard, but Soda felt he didn't have any other choice. They had to get home.

"He was working on something with the lawyer again. I think they were going to court to hear it in a couple days. Are you sure you don't want to hear on that first?"

Soda turned towards his little brother, "Ponyboy, look, I know now that we are doing this it seems very scary and stupid, but we have to go through with it. I can't stand it there anymore. We weren't taken care of at all, and you know it."

"I know," Pony said, "What if we get caught though? Then we may never get to go back home to Darry."

"I won't let that happen. That can't happen."

Out of habit, Pony reached into his pockets and sighed, "Damn I'm going to need cigarettes." While at the boy's home, smoking wasn't allowed. Pony would find ways to sneak it though, but it still wasn't enough for what he was used to.

"Maybe we can find a 24 hour gas station for some before the word gets out," Soda suggested.