A/N: I apologize deeply for the delay! I will spare you my list of excuses and promise a quick update for chapter 11! This chapter is a little less action, but the next chapter will have much more. And a big thanks to my beta taylor519!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders.

Darry hung up the phone without saying good-bye. Emma felt a little hurt when he did it, but she knew he didn't mean anything by it. He was probably just trying to rush over to her place, his presence and help was more important than phone call formalities anyway, she reasoned to herself.

She had to go say something to Johnny, she just wasn't sure how to handle the situation. She had no idea who this Tim character was or why he would want to beat up Johnny. She wasn't trying to baby him; she was just worried that one of the few people in her family of importance might get seriously hurt. Seeing him hurt was painful, it evoked memories of bruises on her own skin, born of violence fueled from hate. Seeing him hurt was like seeing herself hurt and alone when she was younger. Seeing him happy and full of life was like seeing herself that way too.

Emma took a deep breath and marched into his room with determination. She swung open his door maybe a little harder than necessary. "Johnny are you okay?"

She ran over to where he sat on the side of the bed and sat down beside him. She was looking at his face but he wasn't meeting her eyes. He continued to look at the floor just past his feet. "Johnny? Johnny, do you need anything? Wanna wash your face?"

He said nothing. Johnny seemed to be thinking hard about something. Emma wasn't even sure he was hearing her. She put a hand under his arm and pulled a little, "Johnny? Please say something!"

That time she was a lot louder than necessary for two people sitting mere inches apart. She couldn't help it; she was worried. How could she protect him? Why couldn't she better protect her younger self? Why did it take so long for her to get away from her parents? Why hadn't anyone helped her sooner? Why was coming back to Tulsa turning out to be so much harder than she had imagined? Why couldn't she be stronger like Darry? Did Johnny think she had let him down?

He didn't say anything, but he did look up at her. His eyes seemed distant, like he was a million miles away from her. His expression was unreadable. It was neither warm nor cold.

Emma's eyes pleaded with his but were met with vacant stares. They stared at each other like that until Emma's eyes started to water again. She quickly looked away. He wasn't going to see her cry too. She had to be strong for him, he deserved at least that much. She got up from the bed feeling completely defeated. She had her answer, she thought. She had let him down, she had said things were going to be better living with her, and now they weren't. She had lied to him, she thought to herself as she left his room.

"No, Two-Bit. Just stay in the house. You're too drunk." Darry was trying to close the front door to the Curtis residence but Two-Bit was trying simultaneously to come along.

"I wanna come too, Johnny is my friend too!" Two-Bit slurred at Darry.

"He don't need no drunk nurse!"

"I'm a great nurse!" Two-Bit yelled at Darry while pushing out his chest with his fists on his hips. Ponyboy started laughing, "Aw Darry while don't you let supernurse come along?"

Darry turned towards Pony in annoyance. Two-Bit took this moment of distraction to push his way out of the door past Darry. He was almost victorious until his drunkenness got the best of him and he stumbled down the front steps before pivoting in an attempt to save himself from the inevitable fall, which only resulted in him tripping over his own feet and landing flat on his butt.

Pony laughed even harder, but Darry furrowed his eyebrows. He grabbed Two-Bit off the ground roughly and said, "This is exactly what I'm talking about!"

Two-Bit's face fell comically and he started rubbing his bottom. "Okay, okay, I'm a little drunk."

"A little," snorted Pony as he put Darry's supplies into the car.

Darry pushed Two-Bit back up the stairs and into the house. Two-Bit slumped his shoulders and let him.

"Take whatever you want from the fridge, we'll be back soon."

"I always do," answered Two-Bit.

Once Darry was finally in the car they took off toward Emma's apartment. They rode in silence for a few minutes before Darry stated, "You gotta be careful."

Pony rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood for Darry's lectures. They had been having a pretty good night so far and he was already worried enough for his best friend.

"I mean it Pony, you were hangin' around with Curly the other day weren't ya? See what happened to Johnny? Those Shepherds are unpredictable. You gotta watch yourself in this neighborhood. You gotta use your head!"

Pony shoved his forehead up against the window. He didn't see why he was getting into trouble for something Johnny did. Pony was miles away when this happened. In fact, he was right under Darry's nose, Darry's favorite place for Pony to be.

"Are you even listenin' to me Pony?" Darry shouted and slammed his hands on the steering wheel.

"I wasn't even there! Why don't you yell at Johnny! He was the one who got himself mixed up with Tim in the first place!"

Darry sighed angrily. "I'm not gonna yell at Johnny, he's hurt."

Of course, thought Pony, no one ever wants to yell at the pet, but everyone was always ready to push him around.

"Plus, somethin' probably happened with them, a misunderstanding or somethin' or Tim's just crazy. Johnny uses his head most of the time. You don't. Remember when you and Curly were puttin' cigarettes out on each other!"

Pony groaned. That was literally a million years ago, he said to himself. He watched the houses turn into stores and other businesses as they got closer to the apartments where Emma and Johnny lived. Pony was fuming by the time they parked in the parking lot. He slammed the passenger door as they got out.

"Watch it," said Darry, who seemed to have worked himself into a rough mood too.

Pony marched quicker to get ahead of him, reaching the door first. He couldn't believe Darry was yelling at him for hanging out with Curly. He didn't even really want to hang out with Curly. Firstly, that was weeks ago, and it was only 'cause Johnny was nowhere to be found that whole weekend. Pony had gone to the movie theater and when he came out he saw some Socs cruising around. He didn't want to have another run in with them like when his neck got sliced so when he saw Curly at a hamburger place across the street, he went to join him and his friends. He walked with them back to the neighborhood, so he wouldn't have to go alone. He was using his head, but he couldn't tell Darry that. Then Darry would think he needed to be escorted everywhere and would just continue to treat him like the baby of the gang instead of just a regular member, like Soda. Soda was only two years his senior, but what a difference it seemed to make.

Darry seemed to only knock once when Emma answered the door, leaving Darry's hand in midair.

"Hey," Darry hurridly mumbled as he pushed passed Emma and into the living room. He seemed very distracted. He pecked her on the forehead and his eyes started scanning the room. "Where's the hole at?"

Emma pointed to a spot next to the door. Pony whistled and rubbed the edges of it.

"Ah, it ain't too too bad. I'll get to it once I see Johnny."

Darry made his way to where Johnny sat on the bed, leaving his bedroom door ajar. Pony strolled in after him taking a seat on the bed beside his friend. Emma stayed in the hallway, looking on from afar. She couldn't bear to be in there with him anymore. She leaned up against the wall in the dark hallway, letting disappointment in herself wash over her, and if she had had the energy, her anger at Dallas Winston.

Darry was feeling around on Johnny's face. Johnny wasn't making the slightest reaction to any of his touches. Emma wasn't even sure he was still blinking. "Does this hurt?" Darry asked while touching his nose.

"I'm fine," replied Johnny. He pulled his shoulders in closer to his body, hunching forward slightly. His body language was saying he wanted to be left alone. Emma felt like Johnny might as well have punched her in the nose. Darry seemed to completely ignore it or not even notice. Pony waved his hand awkwardly around behind Johnny, trying to decide if he should pat him on the back, hug him or leave him be. He decided on the latter.

"I think you're alright, kid, I don't think anything's broken."

"I'm fine," repeated Johnny.

Darry sighed loudly through his mouth. He'd heard Johnny claiming he was fine for nearly all his life, and never once had it been the truth. He patted Johnny's arm lazily and said, "Take it easy."

He exited the room, closing the door behind him. He gave a weak smile to Emma in the hallway. "Well, he's not talkin'. Guess I gotta hear it from Dally."

"You're gonna talk to Dally?"

"Well not right now, I'm gonna fix your wall for ya. Can't have you gettin' thrown out of your apartment."

"Dally was so mad," Emma whispered.

"He'll be alright. He gets like that sometimes. Ya'll have a fight?"

Darry didn't wait around for her response. He began working on fixing her wall. Emma slumped onto the back of the couch near the wall.

"Yeah, I mean no. I was just yellin' at him about Johnny getting jumped and then he was yelling back," Emma said as she started to remember her conversation with Dally earlier that night. Her anger towards him intensified. He hangs around her house all the time and the one time Johnny really needed him he let the both of them down. The anger spread from inside her mind to her face. Her expression darkened.

The couple didn't say anything for a while, until Darry broke the heavy silence when he was nearing completion on his late night home repair. "Dally wouldn't have let Johnny get hurt. I mean I know that's what seems like happened. But they musta not been together right when it happened."

Emma didn't care, or pretended not to, because if it wasn't Dally's fault at least partially, then it was her fault one hundred percent. She looked away and folded her arms.

Darry wasn't in the mood to argue with her, but continued, "Dally wouldn't knowingly let anythin' happen to any one of us, especially not Johnny. You gotta know that."

If it wasn't for the fact they were in complete silence, Darry would wonder if she had even heard him.

"So you gonna tell me what happened or what?"

Johnny didn't say anything for a minute. He wasn't sure how to answer. He wasn't even sure what exactly had happened until he got back to his room and could think things over.

Jeff had gone to the store, Dally took off running who knows where and Johnny was momentarily left with just Wayne. Johnny had pulled out a smoke and was just taking his first drag from it when Tim came from around the corner where Jeff had disappeared. Johnny had nodded a hello at him but in return Tim pushed him onto the ground. Wayne looked for a second like he was going to help Johnny out but then Tim yelled at him to stay out of it. He said it was personal business. Wayne stood awkwardly to side, as more people from inside the apartment building came through the door to gather around them. Tim was pounding hard on Johnny's face and Johnny was too surprised to even defend himself properly. "You think I'm a punk, kid? Huh? Think you can play me?" Tim asked between punches.

Somewhere in the commotion, Dally showed up and was ready to fight Tim. But then Dally looked over at him and Johnny figured he must have seen what a weak wussy Johnny was and decided they should just leave rather than take on Tim together. Johnny hated the idea of Dally thinking he was weak.

"Come on man, what happened? Why was Tim tryna fight you?" Pony asked again.

"It was nothing."

"Is nothing what you got on your face right now?"

Pony saw that Johnny wasn't going to answer so he continued on. "And then Darry was yellin' at me the whole way here cause he doesn't want me hangin' around with the Shepherds. He said I had been hangin' out with Curly. But that didn't even happen. I mean it did, but it was just that one weekend you weren't around and I needed someone to walk with."

A thought crossed Johnny's mind. He remembered why Jeff had seemed familiar. He remembered Jeff from that weekend where Emma Leah thought he was missing.