Author's Note: This is my chapter! Finally! I will be writing from here on out. Hopefully there will be a new chapter every week, at latest 2 weeks.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders.

The phone rang. Emma excused herself from Darry's embrace on the couch to run into the kitchen.

"Hello?"

"Hey Em, its Johnny."

Emma got nervous. "Johnny is something wrong?"

"No, no. I was just callin' to say I'm with Two-Bit and Pony."

She let out a sigh of relief. "OK, thanks for callin' Johnny."

"I'm probably gonna crash at Pony's."

"Okay, Johnny, see you tomorrow then."

"Bye."

"Bye."

A smile crept up on Emma Leah's face. She leaned back against the wall next to the phone. She couldn't even stop grinning. It was just a phone call in someone else's eyes, maybe, but to her it meant that she and Johnny were like a real family now, not just roommates.

She smiled to herself all the way back to the couch where Darry was waiting for her. "Got some good news?" He asked.

"It was Johnny, he was tellin' me where he was. Said he was sleeping at your place tonight."

"You really like that, don't cha?"

"What?" She asked, almost in a daydream.

"Yeah, it feels real nice when you know where the kids are and you didn't even have to yell at anybody to get answers."

"I just think this is going to work. It's gonna be really good," she said while placing a hand on Darry's.

"With you and Johnny or you and me?" He asked, putting his arm around her.

She rested her head on his shoulder. "Both."

They didn't speak; they just enjoyed the moment. Emma pulled her knees up and rested her legs against Darry, tucking her cold toes under his strong thighs. He was so strong in so many ways. Emma really admired that about him. He was strong physically, mentally and emotionally. He worked in construction. He built things with his hands. He had played football. He became a parent to his brothers at age 19. He had suffered through losing his parents and was still able to be strong for his brothers and deal with all the paperwork and the state. He didn't even tell them all the details so they didn't have to worry. He gave up college for them. That was the kind of person Emma wanted to be around. Those were the kind of people she wanted as her friends. Those are the kind of people she wished she had had in her own family. It was the kind of person she wanted to be for what family she did have left. It was who she wanted Darry to see her as. She wanted to see herself that way too.

"Hey Em, you never went by Johnny's house huh?"

He eyes opened wide in surprise. "No why?" She asked in a higher pitch than usual.

Darry didn't seem to notice. He played with her hair a little bit before answering, "I was just wonderin' if Johnny had stuff from his house."

Emma eased up only the slightest. She thought for a minute that Darry knew about Uncle Jim or the guns. She couldn't have him know that. That wasn't strong. She needed to get through this alone and she didn't need Darry feeling like he would have to worry about her and Johnny too. He already had too many responsibilities. "I bought him some stuff after he decided to stay. I got him some clothes and stuff."

"You talk to his dad?"

"No." She said it too quick again. But again, he didn't notice, or if he did, he didn't say anything.

"I was only asking 'cause we got some stuff at the house too he can use if he needs it. It's been through all of us, but it fits."

Emma breathed easy again.

Emma was getting ready for work, or trying to anyway. She kept messing up her eyeliner. It had taken forever to get it straight and when she finally moved on to lipstick, arguably the easiest make up task, she couldn't even stay within the contours of her own mouth.

"Hey you almost ready?" Bill asked, poking his head in to check on her.

Emma's elbows were now on the vanity table and her forehead was pressed hard into her palms. She let out a deep frustrated sigh. "I'll be ready in a few minutes."

Bill started to walk in asking, "Is everything alright? You look upset."

"No, no. I'm fine, I'm fine. You can get back to work."

Bill stood in the center of the room a minute. He didn't believe her, but wasn't going to press it either. He turned on his heel and left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

When he was gone Emma Leah looked at herself in the mirror. Things had been going so well until now. She and Johnny's relationship was stronger than ever. They spent time together, he called in to let her know where he was and when he was going to be home, and she didn't even yell at him or set rules on him like Darry did with Pony. Her job was going well. Darry and her were developing arguably the best romantic relationship she had ever been in. With Darry, it wasn't just romantic attraction, he was her friend, they could shoot the shit together, they could relate to one another. She was even starting to become friends with the gang. Just the other day she went by the DX and hung out with Soda and Steve for a little while. It was only about an hour and it was the first time she had hung out with the gang without Darry or Johnny, but it was still nice. So what was wrong, she wondered.

All day, she had been having this feeling in her gut, the kind of feeling like when you leave the house and realize you forgot something important. It feels like your stomach has dropped and there is no relief. She was so worried she couldn't even focus.

But she hadn't forgotten anything. She even pulled off to the side of the road on the way to work to check her bag. Nothing was missing. Nothing seemed to be wrong. She couldn't find anything to be worried about but the feeling wouldn't subside.

Bill poked his head back in. "Hey you got a phone call, come out here."

A feeling of deep dread washed over her as she walked towards the phone. Who was calling? The hospital? The police? Her landlord?

Her mind eased somewhat when she heard it was Johnny on the other end of the line.

"Johnny where are you?"

"I'm downtown with Dal, just checkin' in with ya."

"Everything's ok?"

Johnny gave the slightest chuckle. "Yeah everything's fine. We might go over to Jay's later or somethin', but I'll be back tonight."

She hung up with Johnny and got ready to go on. She felt better, but there was something still clawing at the back of her mind, even when she got on stage, where she felt most comfortable, most at ease normally, it was still there, like a dark spot in her brain, a shadow creeping up her back.

"Come on kid," Dally said as he started heading towards the door of the dingy downtown apartment building where they had been visiting some of his friends. Johnny followed Dallas out the door and down the stairs of the building. Once back onto the street, Dallas suggested they try to hunt some action over at Jay's, but they ran into some greasers instead. They stopped to talk to them for a minute. Johnny recognized the taller, bulkier guy as having been at Will Rogers at one point, but had likely just dropped out when Johnny was starting his freshman year. He must have been eighteen or nineteen. His name was Wayne. They didn't know each other real well, but gave each other a nod. The shorter, scrawnier guy looked strangely at Johnny for a minute, Johnny squinted his eyes too. He felt like he remembered him from somewhere, but couldn't remember where. He figured they must just know each other from the neighborhood. "Jeff," the second guy said with a nod.

"Johnny," he nodded too. Jeff looked at him hard for another second before reaching into his pockets. He came out empty handed, patted Wayne on the back and said "I'm goin' to the store fer a minute fer some smokes."

He walked around the corner, leaving the other boys behind. Johnny looked over at Dallas, whose eyes were lingering somewhere else down the street. Johnny was trying to see what he was looking at when Wayne started asking him some questions. People usually didn't make a lot of conversation with Johnny; he was usually just a bystander when other people talked to the gang. Johnny guessed he'd never invited conversation before, but he had noticed people talk to him more now. He figured he must come off different from how he used to. He wasn't getting pushed around at home anymore and even though there were still Socs to worry about, it was nice being able to have a safe place to be that he could call his own. Since his relationship with Emma had gotten better, it didn't even feel like charity the way crashing on Pony's couch used to. He sure didn't miss the lot though. In the middle of Wayne's retelling of some rumble, Dallas slapped Johnny on the back and said he would be right back and to just wait for him. He ran off around another corner near a bar before Johnny could even get a word out.

Dallas had been eyeing a bar that was about a half block away from where they stood. It was a bar he never went into, not because he couldn't get in, but because it was an old timer bar. It was where drunken fathers from the East Side went to piss away their pay checks before their families could put food on the table. Maybe it wasn't all fathers from the East Side, it hadn't been Mr. Curtis, but it had been his own father and he was wondering if just maybe that was where Johnny's old man went too.

Then he saw him walk out the door and onto the next street. He told Johnny to wait there and took off sprinting after him. He didn't want Johnny coming along and getting hurt either physically or emotionally, but he had a chance to put an end to this tonight. He knew Emma had been worried about Mr. Cade coming around after them, and he wasn't going to let that happen. He had been sleeping there for just that reason but he couldn't be there all the time. This was going to end now. He rounded the corner but now Mr. Cade wasn't anywhere to be found. For a second Dallas wondered if he had even seen him. His eyes roamed the darkness. He started to walk to the next intersection, figuring maybe he turned a corner, when he heard some trashcans rattling around and knock over. He looked down an alleyway and saw Mr. Cade puking his guts out. He stood in the entrance of the alleyway. If he had only had one of those guns, he could just shoot him right now and figured he would even get away with it. No one would care that some old drunk was dead; the police probably wouldn't even investigate it. They would just think some young punks had robbed him or maybe he had brought the whole thing on himself from getting into a fight with someone at the bar. No one would care. But he didn't have the gun.

Mr. Cade still hadn't noticed him standing there and he contemplated what to do. He had made up his mind and figured he would just charge him. He would rough him up and scare him, scare him the way he had been scaring Johnny all these years. He would punch that look of fear into his eyes that Johnny still carried in his, even though it was lesser than before.

But then he heard yelling, he didn't know who was yelling but from the words he could make out it sounded like greasers. Normally, he wouldn't care but he had left Johnny back there and if there was some trouble and the cops came, he didn't need Johnny getting picked up. He had heard Darry bitch at Pony enough to know that for kids living without parents, cops could mean social workers and a social worker would probably take one look at this monster in the alleyway and throw Johnny into a boys' home. Even if they let him stay with Emma Leah, social workers would be breathing down her neck and she'd get really stressed out all the time like Darry. Dally ran from the golden opportunity and back towards the apartment building.

There was a crowd under the streetlight. He recognized Wayne in the circle but couldn't see Johnny. He shoved Wayne out of the way and saw Tim pounding on Johnny's face. Dallas lunged at Tim and tackled him off of Johnny and down on the ground. He wailed on him a couple times before some of Tim's gang joined in and pulled Dally off of him. They started fighting with Dallas, when Tim called them off.

"What the fuck is goin' on? Huh Tim?" Dallas spat blood on the ground.

"We ain't tryna have a rumble, Dal, but fair is fair." Tim pulled his shoulders back, pushed passed one of his own guys and got in Dally's face, challenging him again.

Dallas didn't back away. He just lowered his voice ominously and asked "What ya got against Johnny, huh?"

"Kid's been messin' with my money. Kid's gotta pay up," Tim offered almost nonchalantly.

Dally's jaw tightened and he looked at Johnny in the corner of his eye, he looked bad. Dallas, having missed his opportunity to beat the daylights of Mr. Cade, was more than ready to take Tim and his crew right there, but decided to take Johnny back instead. "You can settle this with me later," he spat at Tim and hauled Johnny passed the onlookers.

Emma pulled up to her apartment and headed towards the door. She swung open door 107 and called out for Johnny. There was no response. She turned on the lights and walked over to his room. No Johnny. The dread, the ill feeling she had been having all day, doubled. She tried to reason with herself. "He called, he said he was downtown, he said he was going to Jay's maybe, he's not alone, he's with Dallas," she mentally reminded herself.

It wasn't working. She was at the kitchen counter now, tapping her nails and staring at the phone. She didn't want to smother Johnny. He could take care of himself; she knew she sure could at his age. She was already in Vegas by then.

It must have only been a few minutes, but it felt like it had been at least an hour of dead silence. It seemed so quiet in the house, like it was ringing in her ears. She thought about calling Darry, but what good would that do? Johnny said he was with Dallas, not Ponyboy or Soda. She didn't even have a phone number for Dally's room at Buck's but knew he was unlikely to be there even if she did.

Just before her nail was about to dent the cheap counter, the sliding door opened. In came Dally with Johnny's arm over him. Johnny was walking but looked weak and was holding his stomach. His face was bloody and already swelling. She was about to launch herself at them when Dallas caught her eye and shook his head. His eyes were really dark and dangerous. With anyone else she may have ignored them but she stood still and mute as Dally helped Johnny into his room. A minute later Dally returned to the living room and closed the door behind him.

"What was that all about?" She hissed. She didn't need Johnny hearing this.

"Nothin', he'll be alright."

"That ain't nothin', Dallas Winston! He looks like he's been hit by a damn train!" So much for whispering.

Dallas was getting aggravated. He put his hands up to her face. "Hey, I ain't the one that did it. You should know when to thank somebody."

"Thank you? Thank you?! Hell should I thank you for? I thought you were with 'em tonight and then he comes back all roughed up! Who the fuck did this? Why didn't you stop 'em? Here I am keepin' guns in the house to protect us from Uncle Jim, thinkin' that's all I gotta worry about and then you go out and get him in more trouble? Who was it? If it wasn't Jim it musta been Socs?"

Dallas was really mad now. He was breathing hard. He wasn't going to be talked to like this. His voiced lowered menacingly and he said "Tim Shephard. I'm gonna deal with him tonight."

He pushed passed Emma and started towards the front door. Just before he got there she said "Of course it'd be someone you knew, this shit didn't happen when he was with Pony or Two-Bit, just you. He already got his dad and Socs to deal with, he don't need you causin' him all kinds of trouble."

BAM! Dallas swung hard and punched a hole right into the wall next to the door. Then he opened the door and slammed it so hard it almost flew off the hinges. Emma let out a cry of frustration into her hands. She was sobbing hard now, so hard in fact she didn't even hear Johnny's door open or notice that he was gazing at her through the crack in the door.

Emma's sobs eventually faded until they were just sniffles. She wiped her eyes on her shirt leaving some attractive black eyeliner marks. Johnny noticed she was getting up and closed the door just enough for it not to be noticeable. She picked up the phone and dialed Darry's number. She knew it was late, but she needed a friend right now, and obviously couldn't talk to Johnny. She hoped that since it was Friday night, someone would be up.

"Hello?" It was Ponyboy.

"Hey it's Emma, is Darry there?" She tried to control her voice so it didn't sound like she'd been crying.

"Hold on."

"Hey Emma?"

"Darry, hey." Her voice had cracked. She almost started crying again and bit down on hard on her bottom lip.

"Em, what's goin' on?"

"I just…I just wanted to talk."

"Okay what do you want to talk about?"

"What are you doing?" Emma thought she heard some voices in the background.

"Well, Pony and Two-Bit are here. Two-Bit's drinkin'. Me and Pony were playing cards, now we're just messin' with the drunk here."

"Where's Soda?"

"Oh, him and Steve went out somewhere with some girls."

"Oh."

"What are you doin' Em?"

Emma played with the phone cord, twisting it around her finger. "Johnny, he got jumped."

"What?!"

"He got jumped, Dar."

"No, I know he got jumped, I mean by who!?"

Now Emma could hear scuffling in the background, she distinctly heard Ponyboy's voice near the phone. Darry started running his hands through his hair, making his cowlick even worse. He got flashbacks of Johnny in the lot, of the gang after rumbles, and Ponyboy after those Socs had cut his neck, while waiting for Emma's answer. Ponyboy jumped over an ottoman and was now trying to wrestle the phone away from him. He swatted Pony's hands away. "Who was it Em? Who did it?" Even Two-Bit was breathing down Darry's neck at this point. He had to stand up to get some space since he was at least taller than them.

Emma's voice came out quiet and ragged. "I don't know. He was out with Dally. They were downtown I think, or at Jay's, I don't know. He said it was some guy, Tim something."

"Tim? Tim Shephard? Lord, what did he get himself into?" Darry closed his eyes. "Where's Dal now? He there with you?"

"No. He left. When he came back with Johnny, we got into a fight. He punched a hole in my wall and just left."

"He did what!? But he didn't touch you did he?" Now Pony was practically crawling up Darry's back to get the phone.

"No, he didn't hit me, just the wall."

"I'm comin' over. I got a first aid kit and probably some stuff for the wall around the house."

"No, Dar, you don't have to, it's late."

"I was already up. And this is what I do for a livin'."

Emma grimaced at the multiple meanings of what he said. But she was relieved he would be there soon.