"Bitch!" the word flew out of her mouth with ease but she instantly regretted it and winced.

"Fuck you." Two Bit snapped back, a wide smirk on his face.

Maggie had just got done cussing him out for sitting on her legs, causing her great agony of course. And he had cussed right back at her, which caused an all out potty mouth war.

"You guys are both fucking idiots. Now shut up." Dally's chest rumbled underneath Maggie and she squirmed. She had been laying on his chest for the past 3 hours and he was now smoking a cigarette. She was actually kind of afraid he was going to light her hair on fire or something.

"Quit squirming." Dally snapped as he held her still by the shoulders. She sighed and leaned back into him, boredom once again taking over. She hated being couped up here with no knowledge of the outside world. No one told her anything anymore, afraid she would go mad about the whole rumble situation. She didn't even know if anyone had found the guys that had jumped her yet. That, of course, only angered her even more. She knew everyone in the gang had to be sick of her complaining by now but she wouldn't stop until someone told her what was going on.

She hadn't seen Val around in at least 2 days. Not since him and Steve had "taken it outside". She was a bit troubled but everyone else told her not to worry about it. Steve had come back in with a starting to swell eye and a split lip. She didn't know what to expect of Val.

"Dallas." she stated as she blew her hair out of her eyes.

"What?" he snapped, blowing smoke over her head. She waved it away with her hand and tried to look up at him.

"Why won't you guys tell me what's going on?" this had to be the fifth time she had asked in the past 3 hours and she could see the anger boiling up inside Dallas as he tried to keep it in check.

"Cause we're not, so quit asking." he stated coldly, taking a drink of the coke next to him. Maggie let a few curses fly under her breath and wished she could hit him right about now.

"You know, Dallas, I'm always stuck between hating you and loving you." Maggie bit back at him.

"There's a fine line between love and hate doll." a new voice said as someone new entered the house. Maggie lifted her head carefully off of Dally's chest and smiled easily at Eric, one of the new "leaders" of the Brumely boys. She hadn't actually met him before but Darry had told her he wasn't too bad of a guy.

"You're Eric I suppose?" she asked, her eyes watching him as she stepped over Two Bit and stuck his hand out to her.

"Yeah and you must be Maggie." he greeted. Her smile widened and she took his hand in a firm handshake.

"Darry!" Dally yelled down the hall, his chest rumbling against Maggie's back again. She squirmed and glared at him out of the corner of her eye.

"How you doin', Dal?" Eric greeted Dallas as his eyes searched the room, resting a few seconds longer on the pictures of the gang and of the family.

"Fine." Dal said as he him and Eric exchanged a look. Maggie guessed it was one of those 'we really need to go somewhere else' looks. She sighed, exasperated, and leaned up so Dallas could crawl from beneath her.

He nodded at Maggie as him and Eric retreated into what she could only guess would be Darry's room. Two Bit followed a few minutes afterwards, not able to keep his nose out of the so called business.

That left Maggie alone in the living room on the couch, looking like a dead potato. She sighed heavily and tried to twist into a better position but only proceeded in scratching her cuts on the rough fabric of the couch. She let out a shrill sigh and stopped moving, her eyes closed tightly shut as an attempt to hold in the pain.

After 2 days the stupid things hadn't even begun to close up and even the slightest pull of movement made her skin ache and whine with protest.

She just wanted to find those damn idiots. And she wished the stupid guys would share stuff with her. She hated everyone coming to the Curtis' to "converse" about the situation and keeping her in the dark about it the whole time. It just wasn't fair!

"Hey, Mags." Steve greeted as him and Soda walked through the front door.

"Hey." she said slowly as she tried to sit up. She gave up after a few seconds and stopped moving again, her arms falling limp at her sides.

"Hah." Soda laughed at her as he walked into the kitchen to get his regular glass of chocolate milk.

"Don't laugh at me." Maggie snapped, wishing she could swing at Soda's legs. She could still hear his laughter after he disappeared into the kitchen and she huffed with anger.

"Bad day?" Steve teased as he lifted her up and sat behind her. She snuggled her back into the warmth of his chest and closed her eyes.

"Long day." she corrected.

"How could it have been? You were couped up here all day." Soda joked again as he sat down in Darry's chair.

"You better be happy I can't move right now." Maggie threatened. Her eyes popped open and she continued to glare at Soda while carrying on a conversation with Steve.

"Oh, by the way, you guys are missing the council." Maggie said absent mindedly as if she didn't care about what was going on in the other room. She added a sigh though for dramatic affect and flashed Steve a smile. He grinned at her and shook his head.

"You go on, Soda, I'm gonna stay here." Steve coaxed his best friend as he wrapped his arms around Maggie's shoulders. Soda got up with a shake of his head and left Maggie and Steve alone in the living room. She snuggled even closer to his chest, if possible, and sighed with content.

"Don't get too comfortable." Dally's voice floated to her ears and she looked down the hall to see him coming her way.

"So what's going on?" she questioned him as she tried to turn her head all the way around without moving the rest of her body.

"We're still trying to catch the idiots. What do you thinks going on?" Dally let a few curses. "And that stupid idiot wants to use you as bait."

"You know that's not a bad idea." Maggie agreed with a nod of her head and a thoughtful look. Dallas glared at her and she had to suppress a giggle.

"It's a good idea." Eric yelled from Darry's room.

"No its not!" Steve and Dally yelled at the same time. Maggie sighed exasperatedly and collapsed back onto Steve's chest, giving up her questioning.

"Where's Tim when you need him?" he said to no one in particular.

"Maybe if you told me what's going on then you wouldn't have to have Tim." Maggie said sharply, not bothering to face him.

"You don't want to know." Dally said angrily.

"Try me!" she yelled back.

"They murdered a girl yesterday." he shot back slamming his fist into the wall.

Maggie gulped.

Had they seriously murdered a girl?

"Grease?" she squeaked out. Her voice didn't sound like her's at all and she thought maybe she hadn't spoken at all.

"Yeah." he answered. She nodded dumbly and stared off into space.

Could that have been her? Could they have murdered her just a few days ago?

Steve tensed underneath her as if listening to her thoughts.

"I'll do it you know." Maggie said finally, looking up at Dallas.

"No!" he said firmly, finalizing the argument.

Dallas paced the floor in the living room, muttering under his breath and hitting walls occasionally.

"What the fuck's going on?" Tim asked as he slammed through the door and stood in front of Dallas, his eyes glaring. His clothes and hair were disheveled and he had a bit of lip stick smeared on his neck. Maggie scowled and looked away hurriedly.

"Eric is trying to use Maggie as bait." Dallas yelled pointing his finger in the direction of Darry's room.

"Well that's stupid." Tim said calmly with a shake of his head, and then burst out laughing. Dallas glared at him.

"What the fuck is so funny?"

Maggie gulped again. Had they actually killed someone? That could have been her couldn't? She could have died. She found herself breathing heavily and wished she could make time stop. She just couldn't get over this.

"Come on, Maggie, let's get out of here." Steve urged over Dally's voice as he softly helped Maggie to her feet. Maggie nodded slowly to him and leaned on him as they walked together to the door.

She didn't want to stay here and watch as the "council" went ballistic. Actually, she was suddenly wishing that they had stuck to their guns and not told her anything about the current situation. She realized that Dally was actually right for once, she really didn't want to know.

She sighed and smiled slowly at Steve as she crawled into the passenger seat. She only had to glance at Steve to know where they were going. His secret spot. He had only told Maggie about it but she had never actually been there. She only knew that it was out in the country and he went there when he needed to cool off or if he needed time to think. She was glad he trusted her enough to actually take her there.

She stared out the window as silence filled the car and watched as they passed by the grease side and then through the soc side until they were finally in the country. The land grew green and a bit brown as they went on and a few trees lay here or there. Steve slowed the car a bit and turned down a rocky lane, a few rocks jumped up and hit the side of the car and Maggie winced, hoping the rocks hadn't dented his car. She loved his car with a passion, like it was her own. She sat straiter, almost like she was at attention as Steve made another left turn. They weren't on a road now, just flat dried grass. Trees stood on both sides of the car, leaves thick and green. She smiled a bit, happy to be out of the city for a short while. She hadn't ever been one to live in the country, but she liked to visit it once in a while.

Steve pulled over to the side of the little path and turned off the car with a sigh. Silence still filled the air as he leaned his head back against the cool leather and closed his eyes. Maggie could see all the tension and worry leave his face at once and she was in awe to see that he was at peace for the time being. A quiet smile filled her lips as she slowly turned around in her seat and crossed her legs in front of her.

"What would you say if I were to tell you that I'm in love with Val?" Maggie asked tentatively as she stared at Steve from the passengers side. Her voice seemed to shatter the air about ten minutes later and she cursed herself for ruining his peace. She frowned as she watched his head shoot up and turn to look at her. There was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite recognize and it scared her a bit. She could always read Steve. She knew him so well that they barely ever lied to each other. So what was this look in his eyes that she couldn't decipher?

"What's that look for?" she asked quietly, wondering he was going to say. The look quickly changed and he tore his gaze away from her's.

"I would say that you don't know what love is and that you need to rethink it before you do something stupid." he said, his voice as cold as ice. Maggie shivered at his harshness. A part of her said he was right, the other part didn't give a shit if he was right or not, just so long as she got Val in the end.

"Rethink it, Maggie. How could any girl love a bastard like that." he urged her. She shook her head, not wanting to believe him.

"How do you know Steve?" she asked him harshly, banging her fist on the dashboard. "What makes you so sure that I don't love him?"

"Because I know you, Maggie. I see the look in your eyes when you around him, and its not love. Passion maybe. Maybe even lust, but its not love." his voice was firm and his eyes held fast. He knew what he was talking about, she realized in dismay.

"Have you ever been in love, Steve?" she asked quietly as she stared at her black Converses. She was glad to have this cleared up now, but at the same time she was crushed. If she didn't love Val, then did that means he loved Dallas? She shook her head to herself, her eyes squinting with thought.

"Maybe. Maybe I am now." he muttered, his own eyes cast downwards. "I can't be for sure." he said louder this time. Maggie could tell that the first statement hadn't been meant for her ears. Her lips pressed tightly together as she ran it through her mind over and over and over again.

Maybe. Maybe I am now.

Was Steve in love? Was he not telling her that he was in love? Who was she? Had someone actually stolen the heart of The Steve Randle?

A sigh escaped her lips and she tried to shake off all the questions running through her mind.

"What?" she asked Steve, finally coming back to the present. She was just now realizing that Steve had been trying to talk to her and everything he had said had gone in one ear and out the other.

"Nevermind." he said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

Maggie gave Steve a fake smile and hoped he didn't know the difference. If he did notice he didn't say anything but turned back to looking out the window.

"I miss my parents you know." Steve said suddenly turning back to her.

"Yeah?" she asked sadly, thinking back to the time she had seen Steve's dad for the first time. She remember thinking about he was such a drunk and that he didn't deserve a son like Steve.

"Yeah, I do. I remember when I was little, how great they used to be. They actually used to take care of me and hug me once in a while. They didn't drink or pop pills back then." he shook his head, remembering. "Boy do I miss those days. My mother used to be the best cook around. Soda, Darry, and Pony would come over once in a while and we'd all pig out on my mum's cherry pie. I miss those days, you know?"

"Yeah, I do know." Maggie agreed with a slight nod. "It's hard. I'll admit to that much. I don't think I ever got over the day my parents died. I'm figuring that when Dal went into a coma and I'd broke down, that I was grieving for my parents and Dallas, all at the same time. It's like I shoved all the pain in the back of my head till the last possible moment." she sighed heavily and turned to look at Steve.

She still couldn't decipher that look.