A/N: Happy Holidays everyone  Update as a present.
Disclaimer: Don't own The Outsiders.
Dedication: To everyone who has less during the holidays than we've come to know.

The chilly air nipped at Johnny's skin as he ran home, glad school was over for the holidays. It was the first day they got off for Christmas break- two weeks without school! Things hadn't been too great at home the year before for him during the break, but he was sure this year would be different- it was almost Christmas! How could anyone be in a bad mood? Maybe he'd go home and help his mother bake cookies- he'd heard Suzie say that's what she does over the holidays, or maybe he'd help his dad pick out a Christmas tree- Dave had said he does that as soon as he got home from school. He'd never done anything like that before with his parents, they'd always just sat around watching television, and last year they hadn't even done that- but maybe this year would be the year when things would change for Jonathon Cade.

By the time he stepped into the protection of his house, he was out of breath and his skin was red from the cold. He was safe from the weather inside, but he had the feeling he wasn't safe from the impending danger that lurked inside the walls of his house; sometimes it came out during the night, sometimes during the day. He could smell what he had came to associate with danger in the air- thick smoke mixed with the stench of alcohol. As soon as the putrid smell hit his nose, he knew that things would be different this year, but he had been wrong to think that they'd be for the better.

Johnny could hear his parents in the living room, but for once they weren't arguing. They'd been doing that a lot lately, especially when he was around. Deciding he didn't want to get them going, he thought he'd go upstairs and get his homework done, so that he wouldn't have to worry about it later. Once he got upstairs and opened his books, it was a different story entirely. He was supposed to read chapter 7 of his reader and answer the questions on the next page, but his eyes kept scanning over the first sentence, unable to make any sense of what it said.

'Then… the man named… Joe came out… side…' Johnny started to read half out loud but half in his mind, thinking it might help him concentrate. 'Outside. He was… marred... mar… He was marr…' With a sigh, Johnny put his head down on his book and before he knew it, he was catching up on some of the sleep he'd been missing at nights while laying awake in bed, listening to his parent's argue…

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Johnny woke up some hours later, rubbing his sleep out of his eyes and wondering why he fell asleep with his head on the desk. It ached something awful and his whole body felt stiff from the awkward position it had been bent in since earlier that day. He stiffened even more when his ears picked up his fathers loud angry voice, and his mothers answering back in a voice shaking with rage. He didn't want to be in the house; his father had been getting fonder and fonder of coming up to Johnny's room to vent his rage on him. Picking up the book off his desk, Johnny decided he didn't want to be in the house any longer.

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Johnny gulped, his heart racing and his fingers clutching his book so hard that his knuckles were white as he stood outside the door. He knew the Curtis family fairly well, and they had told him he could go over anytime he felt he needed to; even the thought of that couldn't chase away the feeling in his stomach that he was intruding on something important. Swallowing hard, he reached out his free hand and knocked on the door.

Mrs. Curtis answered the door a few seconds later; her hair was askew, she had flour on her face and a white apron tied around her waist.

"Johnny!" she said with a smile on her face, reaching out her hand covered in some kind of goop to his and bringing him inside the house, shutting the door behind them. "I haven't seen you lately! You haven't been coming around…" She briefly stopped her chatting to give him a quick one armed hug. "Come, come! We're making cookies in the kitchen, you can join us if you would like…" She didn't wait for an answer before taking him into the kitchen and putting him in a chair.

It was true, he hadn't been coming around lately. He'd been trying to please his father; trying to get him to treat him differently… But it hadn't worked. All that happened was that he suffered alone, without any friends.

"Hi Johnny!" Johnny looked around and saw Ponyboy sitting on the counter, crayon in hand, staring at him and waving. Johnny waved back, smiling. Beside Ponyboy was Darry, standing as though he was making sure Ponyboy didn't fall off the counter.

"Johnny!" someone else said, and Johnny looked up to see the boy from detention sitting beside him. "Long time no see!"

Johnny nearly blushed at that. They'd met once and now he was acting like they were long lost best friends. "Yeah… Long time no see." Johnny wracked his mind trying to remember the boy's name, but he was saved when Mrs. Curtis spoke.

"Keith, you know Johnny?" she asked with a smile.

"Of course I know Johnny!" Keith said, and Johnny thought he was going to be in for another little outburst, but then Keith stood up and walked to the other side of the room, sat beside Steve and started harassing him. Johnny could hear him on the other side of the room, teasing him about everything from his hair to his jeans.

"Yeah, well at least my parents aren't fighting so I have to go somewhere else, Two-Bit," Steve shot back after a particularly nasty remark, and Johnny thought he felt the room fill with a little tension.

Two-Bit hit Steve across the back of the head. "Only because they aren't together enough to fight," he said with a goofy smile, and all was forgiven and forgotten as the playful teasing resumed.

Johnny remembered they were supposed to be making cookies, but looking around he saw that Mrs. Curtis was the only one doing any making; everyone else was either doing nothing or being destructive; eating dough or throwing bits of it at each other when Mrs. Curtis wasn't looking. He felt something hit him in the head, and saw a very happy looking Sodapop looking right at him with a smile on his face. Johnny reached back and pulled a gooey chunk of sugar cookie dough out of his hair and without thinking threw it back at Soda, hitting him in the nose. Soda reached up and put it in his mouth, eating it, not seeming to care that it had been in Johnny's hair.

"Soda!" Mrs. Curtis said with an air of impatience, looking up from where she had been cutting shapes out with cookie cutters. "Stop eating the dough, I don't want to make more! But it look's like I'll have to…" With that, she turned her back to her son to make another batch since a good deal of the first one was already eaten or on the floor. Soda grinned at her back, and stuck out his tongue before reaching out and grabbing the last handful of dough, stuffing it into his mouth. He resembled a squirrel with nuts in its mouth by the time he had gotten it all in.

Mrs. Curtis turned around, bowl in hand, mixing something with a spoon. She made to put it in the bowl on the table that had been holding the other dough only to realize that there was none left.

"Who took the rest of the cookie dough?" she asked, looking around, her eyes stopping on Soda and his pudgy cheeks. Soda met her eyes.

"Wasn't me!" he said thickly, although his words could hardly be understood. Little bits of dough came out his mouth when he opened it.

"Soda!" Mrs. Curtis said crossly, but before long she joined in the laughter that filled the kitchen.

For the first time ever, Johnny had a Christmas memory worthy of remembrance. How was he to know that somewhere in the city of New York a boy was having the kind of Christmas even worse than the one Johnny usually experienced?

A/N: That's four day's worth of work right there, as opposed to the usual hour. Was the quality any different than normal?

Jingle Bells

Sarah Updated

It was her present for you

Now be nice

And give Sarah

A nice gift and review.