Ok well the Vietnam part is over but there is still a lot more angst and drama up ahead. Review and enjoy. –Kat

California-

Curtis Household-

The war was now over, the US had pulled out and no news had come about Ponyboy. The only hope that he was alive was slowly disappearing Soda thought. Darry was quiet, and so was I. Steve and Two-Bit came around now and then but things weren't the same. How could it be?

The phone rang. It was a wrong number, every time the phone rang my heart would skip a beat hoping that it was news about my little brother, but it never was. I stood up from the couch I had been sitting on for the last hour and walked towards the kitchen to get water. I used to love chocolate but now it was different, not as good.

As I was walking back to the couch I saw a car pull into the driveway. It was the same car as before only this time different men got out. I braced myself for the news I might hear. "Dar, come here." I yelled to my older brother. Darry walked out and saw the car, he got tense and then motioned for me to walk with him to the door.

The two men walked up to the house as we were walking out of it. "Hello" they said in unison. All we could do was nod.

"Are one of you boys Darryl Curtis?" The taller one asked.

"Yes, I am." Darry said as he walked in front of me.

"We have found two people; one of them could be your brother. There were no dog tags on them but they both fit the description. The only thing hat is bad about this situation is there were three men missing and we only found two. We are talking the two men to a military hospital in California; we are going to take you there now if you would like."

Darry and I both nodded as we followed them to the car.

California-

We arrived in California I felt like my heart was going a mile a minute. They took us to the military hospital and up to the intensive care unit.

"This way." A nurse led us down a hallway towards a room with the number 4222. "This is one of them; do you happen to recognize him?" She asked sweetly.

I looked down at the man and I instantly new that it wasn't Pony; he didn't look like Pony, at all. "No, this isn't our brother." I said as tears met my eyes. The man that lay before me looked like he had been through hell. He had cuts and bruises everywhere and he looked as though he hadn't eaten in weeks. "Is he going to be okay?" I asked.

"We don't know. He is a coma from the lack of nutrients and also the stress of what he must have gone through. We hope he will survive but we really don't know." She said. "Come with me the other boy is a few doors over."

We followed he to room 4224. As she pushed the door open and we walked in I knew it was Pony. He looked horrible. He was pale and skinny, huge cuts and a lot of bandages.

"It's him." I said and looked over at Darry. We were both happy but then it donned on us he was in really bad shape. "How bad is he?"

The nurse looked at me and then walked over to the bed and pulled out his chart. "He is in a coma like state but it isn't as serious as the other man. He is deprived of food and water and we are taking care of that. His left wrist was broken a while ago and he must have set it but it is still in horrible condition. His left knee is fractured but we hope it will heal. A minor head injury and a badly bruised back. What is his name so I can chart it?"

"Ponyboy Michael Curtis." Darry said before I could say anything.

"My name is Samantha and if you need anything just call." She said as she walked away.

"Dar, look at him he looks really bad." I said as I moved closer to my little brother.

"I know little buddy but he'll pull through, he always does." Darry said. We heard yelling from outside and of course we went to see what was up.

There was a woman who looked like she was in her late twenties or so and she was holding a small boy. Next to her were two people both were from Oklahoma. They were the Walkers, had gone to war and went missing like Pony. They were both yelling at Samantha.

"Calm down, this is the ICU and you need to be quite. We have one man who we aren't sure who he is. You can try to id him." She said as calmly as she could.

"What do you mean only one?" Mrs. Walker said.

"We learned the identity of the other boy a little while ago, Ponyboy Curtis. I'm sorry. Come with me" as she led the four people into 4222. There was a scream from the room as Mr. and Mrs. Walker walked out crying. Samantha followed closely behind.

"I am so sorry. The military is looking but until one of the men wakes up we will not know what happened to your son. What is his name" she said as she led them to chairs to sit in.

"Paul Walker, he should be twenty-one." Mr. Walker said as he held his crying wife.

"They are looking for him but because the war is over we may not find him. I'm sorry." She said as she walked to back to 4222.

I walked towards the room that we had first gone in. Samantha was talking to the woman about the man. She asked the same question she had asked us. "What is his name?"

"John Williams." The woman said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Samantha walked out and went to a desk and wrote down some things before returning to her patients.

I walked into 4222 and looked at the woman. "My name's Soda, my little brother was the other person."

She looked at me and smiled. "I'm glad that you found him. I'm Sheryl and this is my son Josh. John is my husband." She said as she pointed towards the man.

"Well I better get back to my little brother. I guess I'll see you around." I walked back to Darry and Pony. I sat down in one of the two chairs in the room.

A month later

Ponyboy still hadn't woken up and neither had John. Paul still hadn't been found. It was late February and Darry and I practically lived in the hospital. Darry left to go get something to eat when I noticed Pony moving.

"Pony. Pony, can you hear me?" I asked as I moved towards my little brother.

"Yeah." He said. A smile spread across my face as Ponyboy started to sit up.

"No, lay back down." I said but Pony was already getting up. "Pony you'll hurt yourself."

"Soda stop! Where is Williams?" He asked as he walked out into the hallway.

"Who is Williams?" I asked him. He spun around and looked at me, his face was white and he looked like he was mourning and really pissed off.

"Williams, the other guy with me through all of this. Where is he Soda?"

"Wait do you mean John, John Williams?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure where is he?" He asked obviously really angry that I wouldn't just tell him. I pointed towards the room and he walked that way slowly.

He walked in and stopped as he saw his best friend.

Ok, so Pony is awake and Williams is still in real bad shape. Ok review and stuff-Kat.