Maggie and Pete sat in the dinner talking when the door ringed for about the millionth time, but something about this time made Pete look up. He smirked when the whole dinner was filled with sounds of yelling and howling and cat calls.

"Here comes Val, Saul, and Bennie." Pete commented as he nodded towards the door. Maggie looked up to see Val, Saul, and another boy making their way over to their table.

"Good mornin', Maggie." Val said cheerfully as he sat next to herand swung an arm around her shoulder. Maggie watched closely as they other guy sat down next to Pete and smiled at her warmly. Maggie returned the smile, her's a little colder then his had been.

"This is Bennie, Val's half brother." Pete said as he patted Bennie roughly on the back and chuckled as Bennie punched him playfully. Maggie studied him a bit, taking in his darker complection and his jet black hair. He looked to be around 16 and very mean, though not as mean as his brother.

"He's 16." Val confirmed. "And he's got no book smarts what so ever. Its all street smarts." Val continued. Maggie nodded towards Bennie and smiled a little.

"This is Maggie, Bennie. We don't know too much about her, only that she's cool enough to hang with the Tigers." Val said as he smiled at Maggie. Maggie laughed a little, her voice unsteady and unsure. She really didn't know if she wanted to be excepted in to someone else's family so soon. She really didn't know if she wanted to let go of the old gang so soon.

"You guys seen Dwain or Carson around? Maggie still has to meet them." Pete asked as he downed a gulp of bitter black coffee. Maggie shuttered just thinking about the taste.

"Nah." Bennie and Val answered at the same time and laughed.

"Dwain was over at our house, but then he went out partying, so who knows what happened to him." Val added and Bennie nodded.

Maggie, some how, finally took the time to look Bennie over. He was much like Val except the fact that his eyes were less cold and a blueish green color. His hair was cut short and was what looked to be a dirty blond color. He had nice pearly white teeth that showed when he smiled. Maggie came to the conclusion that he was the type of person that would keep you safe and had seen a lot in his life. Maggie realized that when they said he had a lot of street smart, they weren't joking. Bennie smiled to her, realizing what she was doing. It was one of those cocky type of smiles that said he knew he was pretty and you couldn't deny it. Maggie just shook her head and smiled back. A playful glint in her eye.

"Is there a Maggie Lee Curtis here?" a woman's voice boomed from behind a bar. Maggie's head snapped up and over to look at the woman. She was holding a phone to her chest and searching everyone in the dinner, an annoyed look on her face. Maggie shuttered. It had to be someone from Tulsa. Her last name wasn't Curtis of coarse, but whoever it was knew that Curtis would get her attention.

"Yeah, I'm right here." Maggie yelled out shakily as she got out, stepping over Val, and made her way to the woman. The woman handed her the phone roughly and Maggie brought it to her ear with a shaky hand.

"H-h-hello?" she asked, her voice quiet and shaky. She could feel tears stinging at her eyes and she didn't even know why.

"Mags?" a voice rung out on the other end. Maggie closed her eyes, a few tears seeping out from behind her eyelids. She almost dropped the phone as she took in a sharp breathe.

"How'd you get this number?" she asked Darry, who was on the other line.

"That's not important right now. Are you ok?" Darry asked hurriedly. Maggie nodded to herself, Darry was the same worry wart he had always been.

"Fine." Maggie answered softly, her voice breaking again.

"You need to come home, Maggie." Darry stated firmly. "We all need you."

"I can't do that, Darry. I have a life here now. I have friends and a place to stay. I'm getting along just fine, Darry, don't worry about me." Maggie insisted. Darry sighed in frustration on the other end.

"Johnny's all torn up, Mags. He's got no one left. Dal...well, you know. And you, you left for New York. We all need you, Maggie. Please, come home where you belong."

"I don't belong there anymore, Darry." Maggie snapped harshly. "You know I don't."

"No, you know you do. You belong here, Maggie. No matter how much you want to deny it, you know you belong here. With us, with the gang."

"Pony's a junior now, Maggie. He's moving up there you know. And Steve and Soda, I don't know how but they practically own the DX now. Its not official but they really do. We really need you back, Maggie. Nobody can live without you. Its like 2 big pieces of our world is missing. You there in New York, and Dally..." he trailed off.

"It sounds like you guys are getting alone fine without me." she bit out while trying to keep in sobs.

"Maggie, don't be like this."

Maggie looked up when she felt a soft but firm hand on her shoulder, Val stood behind her, confusion and worry in his eyes.

"Darry, please don't do this to me. I just...I can't deal with it right now. I've been working so hard to get over it, so hard you know? I just can't go back, not without knowing if Dally's going to wake up and be ok. I just can't do it. There's no way." Maggie said, looking away from Val.

"The piece is missing from me, too, Darry." she added. Darry sighed heavily in defeat.

"Hang on, then. Someone wants to talk to you." Maggie nodded to herself, knowing it was going to be someone from the gang on the other end.

"Maggie?" a deep gravely voice asked questionably. Maggie froze, her face blushing red. This time she really didn't drop the phone, but picked it back up quickly. She pressed it to her ear, her whole body felt like it was numb and limp. Memories rushed before her eyes one after the other, over and over again.

She felt Tim's cold stare on her and looked at him suddenly. There eyes met for an instant before his eyes started to travel down her body just as hers had done to him 20 minutes ago. They slowly went over her torso, lingering on her breasts and flowing down to her flat stomach that was being hugged by the tank top. Then they slowly traveled over her legs from her hips to her thighs and downward to her boots.

She blushed a little as his eyes traveled back up again and traced over her arms and her neck before resting on her face again. She turned away from him and reached for her still wet coat and shivered. She could still feel his gaze on her as her back faced him, probably checking out her butt.

She looked back out of the corner of her eye and watched as he slowly stepped toward her, his eyes still tracing over her and his feet making small creaking sounds on the floor. She took in a shaky breath as she looked over his still bare chest and stomach and then his arms. She slowly let it out and turned her gaze back to the wall.

She listened as she footsteps came even closer until she could feel his hot breath on her neck. She shivered a little bit and waited, not knowing what to expect.

Tim reached his hand up slowly and ran it down her smooth arm and then back up. She shivered at his touch and her knees felt weak. She turned her head towards him a little bit and looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. He quickly drew away and walked back upstairs. Maggie sighed and relaxed, her knees still weak. She had never felt so drawn to anyone before. She pulled her cold coat over her shoulders and put her books back under her coat. She had come here for nothing, but at least she had gotten to interact with Tim the way she did. She was still going to have to walk home though.

Maggie shook her head, tears in her eyes yet again. This time a few spilled over her invisible barrier and slipped down her cheeks.

"Yeah?" she asked finally, her voice barely above a whisper. She moved over a bit and slumped down on to a bar stool.

"You ok?" Tim asked, his voice as cold and calm as ever.

"I'm fine." she snapped, suddenly wondering why he was caring for her now when just a little while ago she had been laying a hospital half dead and he hadn't bothered to help her or even come and see her. She heard Tim sigh on the other end and more memories flooded back to her in a hurtful tide.

"Look, Tim-" she started to whisper but was interrupted by his lips softly pressing against hers. She was stunned for a minute and didn't know what to do for a couple of seconds. Finally she pressed up against him and started to return his kiss, opening her mouth a bit and letting him slip his tounge inside. She shivered some as he grabbed her waist roughly and pushed her up against the wall, their tounges still locked in a secret battle. She slowly moved her hands to his back and ran her fingernails against his bare skin. He deepened the kiss and pushed her more against the wall, their bodies touching roughly. She could feel his lower package as he pressed up against her and it gave her a weird thrilling feeling.

------

"See ya around." he said, just like before. Maggie nodded slowly, a little bit hurt. She started to get out of the car. "Hey, Mags." Tim said before she was all the way out. "About tonight..." he trailed off. Maggie's heart fell, he didn't even have to finish his sentence she already knew what he meant.

"I get it." she said, trying not to let the hurt show. "You were drunk and way out of line it should have never happened." she chocked out before slamming the door and running as fast as she could inside. She stormed in and slumped down on the couch, either the only one home was Darry or everyone else was in bed.

Maggie shook her head more violently this time. She couldn't stand the pain right now. She just couldn't put up with it.

"Tim?" she asked, wondering if he was still on the other end.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice low and barely audible.

"Did you mean what you said?" she asked suddenly. That memory that had come back to her had made her wonder if he really meant what he said about that night not meaning anything. She heard Tim sigh on the other side of the phone again. He knew which night she was talking about, even though there was more than one.

"I dunno, Maggie. I've thought about that night every day since it happened, I still can't figure it out." Maggie sighed heavily, her heart sinking.

"I have to go, Tim. The guys are waiting for me." she told him as she turned towards Val and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Tell me where you're at at least." he said hurriedly before she could hang up the phone.

"Brooklyn." she answered simply. She heard him cluck his tounge a bit.

"Dallas will beat your ass if he wakes up." he told her. Maggie froze, the same old 'if' again. She was tired of the word 'if'. She let the phone slowly drop on to the counter before turning and following Val back to the table to eat.

Character Review:

Val Fields- Leader of the Tigers

Saul England- Smart, big brother of the group. Like Darry in his own way

Pete Alford- The Sodapop of the group. He's drop dead gorgeous, a bad boy, and he's really smart

Bennie Fields- The cocky 'i'm good lookin' guy. Half brother of Val