Author's note: I was gonna publish this tomorrow because my mom wanted me to babysit today, but she changed her mind and now I'm babysitting tomorrow instead, so here I am. Too many siblings. Just... too many. Either way, here's the next chapter. Enjoy please.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 5: But Not With Soda There

PONYBOY'S POV

I looked wildly around my room, panting and screaming. A shape seemed to suddenly pop upright in Soda's bed, and I screamed again. The shape hopped out of Soda's bed and hurried over to mine. I scooted as far away from it as possible, breathing heavily, until I ran into the wall (my bed was in the corner).

That's when I realized the shape was Soda. Not dead. Still alive. Living breathing Soda. Or was it…?

"Pone." He looked freaked out.

I started trying to scoot even farther back, wall or no.

"Hey, it's okay kid." he whispered. "Whatever it is can't get you here. You're safe now." He reached out towards me.

This sparked a memory in me. Had he said those words to me before? I felt like I should know this, it was on the edge of my memory, but right as I began to get a grasp on the answer, the door slammed open, and another shape came running in.

I gave another shriek and jumped into Soda's arms. Then I saw that it was Darry, and just broke down sobbing, half from relief, half from the still present terror I was starting to think would never go away. I wrapped my arms around Soda, clutching him tightly, my one anchor to sanity, and bawled into his shoulder.

Soda wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly, seeming to understand how much I just needed something I could trust to love and to hold, something set in stone, that wasn't gonna come crashing down under me at any moment.

Something solid to stand on.

SODAPOP'S POV

Pony trembled, shaking with sobs that racked his whole body. He was so scared. It tore at my heart to see him this way. He shouldn't have to feel like that.

I just sat and clutched him to me, whispering that it was okay, that everything was gonna be alright now, that whatever it was couldn't get him here. That he was safe, because I was here, and there was no way in hell anything would ever hurt my baby brother.

At least, not if they still wanted to have a face.

Darry sat down on the edge of the bed.. "What happened?" He looked as freaked out as I'd felt when I'd first woken up to Pony's petrified screams. Screams that also seemed to contain a real physical pain I could never understand. I had never heard any human alive make that sound, let alone my kid brother.

"I ain't sure." I said in answer to Darry's question. "I think he had a nightmare or somethin'." I looked down at Pony, who was still shaking and sobbing in my arms. "Was that it, kiddo?"

He just nodded and clutched me tighter, like he was afraid something was gonna take me away and leave him here all alone.

I held him tighter too in response, letting him know that I wasn't going anywhere. "What ya dream about?" I asked, stroking the back of his head.

"I-I don't remember." he muttered.

"What?" Darry asked.

Pony's voice came again, this time much more quietly, but also much more scared and confused. "I can't remember." He looked up at me. "Why can't I remember?" he whispered, giving me those big sad eyes, begging me to explain what was happening.

I just held him close, letting him sob into my shoulder. Wearing no shirt and everything, I felt like I was taking a very slow shower.

I wish I knew, kid." I whispered. "I wish I knew."

XxXxX

This went on for a while. Night after night, for weeks on end, Pony would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat or screaming. He was absolutely traumatized and didn't know what to do. None of us did.

Dally's court date came and went, he did about thirty days, then they made the mistake of turning him loose again. You'd think they'd have figured out by then that it wasn't gonna do them any good.

Life went on as close to normal as we could get it to.

For me, anyway.

Darry was pretty strict with Pony, and I'm pretty sure Pony woulda hated it if he'd been awake enough to register what was going on. Thing is, he wasn't.

And that was the problem.

When he did manage to sleep, when he was so tired lying in bed at night that he couldn't help but drop off, he would wake up screaming. And he was never able to remember what he'd been dreaming about.

Just that it scared him out of his damn mind.

XxXxX

This night was one of those nights. When Darry sent us to bed, Pony took off his shirt, flopped on his bed, and passed out cold. He just couldn't stay awake anymore. When you're working on two hours of sleep in the whole week, it's gonna catch up with you at some point.

I smiled sadly, knowing that soon the wake up call would be my kid brother screaming his head off in the middle of the night.

You should never try it. It's not fun.

But hey, you never know. Maybe tonight...

I jerked awake to the sound of Pony screaming, just like I knew I would. I hopped out of my bed and hurried over to his, where I found he'd backed himself into the corner again, shaking and crying. I sat down, grabbed him, and pulled him in, stroking his hair softly and making soothing noises.

The door gently opened, and Darry's head poked in. I waved him away, communicating with a gesture that I had this under control and he could go back to bed. He nodded and left quietly.

"Shhh, Pone, it's okay. It's okay, you're safe now." I whispered. I hated that I couldn't make this go away, I hated that Pony had to be so scared and tired. It just wasn't fair. He was one of the best kids I knew, sweet and quiet and smart and kind. He'd definitely never done anything to deserve this, unless being amazing and adorable was a crime all of a sudden.

Finally, Pony spoke. "Will you stay with me?"

"Sure kid." I whispered. "Anything."

XxXxX

The next morning, I woke up in Pony's bed, holding him. He was sleeping calmly in my arms, and I smiled quietly. He was so cute when he was asleep, and he looked younger than thirteen. More carefree. Glory, had things changed.

I slowly got out of bed, not wanting to wake him up, and snuck out to the living room. I was so glad it was Saturday. Maybe Pony would finally get a chance to sleep.

Darry was already in the kitchen getting breakfast ready. Just 'cause it was Saturday didn't mean he didn't still have work. He looked up as I sat down at the table. "Hey."

"Hi." I muttered, rubbing my eyes.

"How is he?" Darry asked, and I knew he was talking about Pony.

"Sleeping." I paused. "Hey, Darry." I started hesitantly, not sure exactly what he'd think of my idea.

Hearing the change in my tone, Darry looked at me, interested. "Yeah?"

"You don't think… well… what I mean is… you think maybe… maybe we oughta take him to… take him to go see somebody?"

"You serious? You think it's that bad?"

Relieve he hadn't just laughed off my suggestion, I said, "He doesn't really sleep anymore, Dar, and he always has those dreams, and I've heard you can take people to the doctor for these kinds of things."

Darry paused, thinking about it, then said decisively, "Here's what we'll do: he seemed to calm down when you slept with him, right?"

I nodded carefully, not sure how Darry knew I'd spent the rest of the night in Pony's bed, wondering where this was going.

"Then you two can start sharing a bed. Is that okay with you?"

I nodded quickly. I loved that little kid, and it had seemed to relax him. Anything to help him sleep better, help him be happier.

And besides, if I'm being honest, I was always a little nervous when I went to bed, almost scared that I'd wake up in the morning, and just like that morning that changed everything, somebody else would be dead. Darry, Pony… what if I woke up dead? I'd feel more secure knowing somebody else was there too.

"Okay." Darry said. "If that doesn't fix the problem, then we'll take him to go see somebody."

PONBOY'S POV

When I woke up, I felt better rested than I had in weeks. I thought back on it, trying to remember why I would've slept better. Then I remembered.

I'd asked Soda to stay with me instead of going back to his bed as per usual, and I hadn't woken up again. Usually I woke up screaming just the once, and that was all Darry and Soda knew about, but I woke up too scared to move or scream several times throughout the night. That is, if I ever bothered to go back to sleep. I sat up the rest of the night a lot of the time.

But not with Soda there.

I got out of bed and headed out to the living room. Darry was gone, I guess at work, and Soda wasn't there either, probably somewhere with Steve. They'd been spending even more time together than usual lately.

If that's even physically possible.

Two-Bit and Johnny were sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV. They looked up at me when I walked in. Johnny smiled at me and patted the couch next to him. I walked over and sat down.

Two-Bit smiled at me. "Hey Pone. You sleep okay?"

I nodded. "Alright."

He smiled sympathetically. "At least that's better than usual though, right?"

I nodded tiredly and rubbed my eyes. It was better than usual. That was something.

"How about we go to the Dingo or the movies or something?" He suggested.

"Sure." For once, I actually felt up to going someplace instead of just tagging along after everyone and hoping I didn't fall flat on my ass. "Just let me eat some breakfast."