Well, I had seven pages of this chapter ready to go before I totally hit a writer's block on it and got bored and thus there was a huge update gap - a embarrassing one... So I took a page from Tolkien and decided to start all over again. Looks like the man was brilliant…But I will not be starting this story from the beginning again 'cause that would be too much like work. He was a little insane when it came to that…Anyways, without further adieu, the next chapter!

Diclaimer: I own the Texan Curtises! And S.E. Hinton owns the Oklahomin Curtises!

Warning: some slight language and mention of adult situations. Oh, and it's Looong - Just thought y'all should know.

On with the shoe!

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JC's POV

The next morning I woke up early and sighed. Well, I would have been waking up early if I had have actually fallen asleep. I guess I was just acknowledging that I needed to get off of the bed and check on things. I'd taken a couple hours to myself, but when you're a parent that's about all you can ever hope for. It was one of the things about being a parent that sucked. Like how you have to go and clean up your kids' messes. I was actually glad that River had called me instead of Bran. It was the first time in a long time that she had done that. It was a night for firsts. River had actually called me Daddy on the phone. She hadn't done that since the day her mother died. And Ponyboy…What was I going to do about him? What did Darrel do with his boys in these situations? I wondered about him a lot lately. I guess I was actually admitting to missing that pain in the ass brother of mine and not for the first time. How would Darrel have handled last night? For some reason I knew it was probably nothing like I would have done.

After I got off the phone with River, I'd bundled Summer up and set her in the back seat of the car, still asleep. It was twelve thirty in the morning. I didn't try to get a hold of a babysitter at the time because I knew no one who would come all the way out to the ranch at that time. I doubted I would have waited for one to get there anyways. When I'd pulled up into the driveway of James Harris and family last night, I was reminded that he and Shari weren't home. There where cars everywhere, partying kids roamed the lawn like cattle and blasting music came from somewhere too near for it to be that loud, excusably so. If the local cops would ever go out there, they might have tried to break it up, but I found nothing accomplished this faster than a parent. So I wasn't surprised when I'd got out of the car that some of them started leaving. More of them started leaving when I'd went into the back seat and picked up Summer who was still sleeping peacefully. I'd sighed, laying her head against my shoulder, before wandering into the house and sending the partygoers there dirty looks that had them scrambling to get out off the property. Like I said, nothing breaks up a party faster than a parent with a little kid.

After that it was like playing hide and seek to find the rest of my children and Darrel's children. The whole process had taken over half an hour. Then there was getting them all home and arguing with Brand…It was a wonder that I wasn't nursing a bigger headache than a few of the kids would be.

Darrel, on the other hand, would have gone in there, commanded the kids to him and not put up with any nonsense when it came to getting them all home and to bed. He would have even had the sense to get some sleep himself once things quieted down. But he wasn't me and he was dead. And it was up to me to take care of his boys now. He'd never have the chance to take care of them and get them through occasions like these again. And I wished I could change that.

I sighed heavily, feeling like I could use a strong cup of coffee before finally hauling my butt out of bed. The clock on the wall read 7:34. The kids were lucky it was Sunday or I would have had all of them out of bed and off to school by now. Instead I had lazed about and now it was coffee time.

I made my way through the silent halls of the house and downstairs into the kitchen where I wasn't surprised to find Rain. That boy had always been the early riser in the family. It was rare when he didn't have the first cup of coffee and the newspaper spread out in front of him when I got up. Most days he got Summer up and going for the day, but after his late night, I knew he would leave her sleeping for as long as possible. He glanced up when I walked in, but aside from that I got no recognition. I didn't deserve that and I didn't try to reason that into some weird guilt. If he had have acted this mature last night maybe his girl friend wouldn't have broke it off with him and he wouldn't be in this situation. He was my boy, all right. We loved them, but never could keep them for long. And yes, they left us, not the other way around. Corrine was the only exception.

"Morning, Rain," I greeted, helping myself to the coffee pot "Looks like a nice day is coming."

No answer.

"Anyone else up yet?" I asked

No answer yet again. Well, maybe I'd try again later.

"Nice talking with you, son."

I walked out of the kitchen with the coffee cup I'd poured and made my way across the hall to the office. There was a stack of work to get done on the desk, but I just didn't feel like it right then. I had hired good people who could easily do this for me, but it never ended up happening that way. I was far too much of a one-man team type guy. Always had been. I'd learned to share over the last few years. Well, after Summer was born. This was my first, and hopefully last, attempt at raising a young child on my own. I didn't know what I would do without Rain and River helping out, maybe become a complete figurehead to the company or something boring like that. Not that staying at home all day with Summer didn't have its pluses. But sometimes a man had to do what a man had to do and find a way to support his family.

"Daddy?" Speak of the little angel

"In my office," I called back

"River is sick," she informed me, clinging to my leg like an overgrown fridge magnet "She wouldn't let me in her room to help her. I'm a good helper!"

"I know you are. She's just feeling a little sick. It's called a hangover," I explained, not getting into everything else it was, "And she'll be fine."

"What s'at?" she asked and I frowned

How did you explain a hangover to a five year old? I sighed and rested a hand on her sleep-tangled hair. She'd pulled it back into a hair tie without combing it. Oh, it was going to be a joy when I had to finally work out all the tangles…

"It's what happens when you drink too much of Daddy's special drinks and spin around for a while."

The spinning was all in your head, but that was another can of worms I wasn't willing to open up until she was old enough for the sex talk. Then I would pass her off to someone unsuspecting, like Ponyboy. That would be a show to see.

"Why is River getting special drinks?" she asked and I shook my head

"Don't ask me where she got it; I don't quite know for sure. But she was very bad for getting into it. You won't get into my special drinks, will you?" I asked

"No Daddy!" She shook her head and I grinned at her

"Have you had breakfast?"

"No. Rain wouldn't get me my cereal. He sick, too?"

"He's just sad."

"Why?"

"Because Hilary doesn't love him anymore."

"Why?"

"It's complicated," I sighed, sitting down in one of the leather chairs and sitting her down on my knee

"Why?"

"It just is."

"Daddy, you're really bad at the 'why?' game," she informed me, looking up at me with those baby blues "You're p'usposed to say 'Because'."

And here she was making life easy for me and I never even caught on. I smiled at her.

"Why?" I asked

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because, Daddy. Just because." She rolled her eyes at me "Can we have some cereal now?"

"Sure, Princess."

"Daddy?" she asked as I set her on the floor

"Yes, Summer?"

"Did Rain an' Hil'ry get a divorce?"

"Kind of, honey," I answered, taking her hand and going towards the kitchen

"That's sad."

"He'll get over it. It wasn't like when your mom and I got divorced."

"So she didn't throw the coffee pot at him and call him bad words?"

"No. She just told him it was over and that was that."

"That's not so bad," she said pulling away from me as we got into the kitchen and running over to where Rain was still crouched over his coffee. "It's not so bad, Rain."

Rain sighed and looked at his sister critically. "Summer, you don't understand."

"I do too!" She told him adamantly "Daddy's had lots of divorces!"

Rain looked at her for a long moment before turning back to his coffee. Summer sank into her chair looking hurt, so I hopped to get her cereal before the waterworks could start. I sat the bowl down in front of her and smacked Rain upside the back of the head for being such a brat. He glared at me and I gave him a pointed look.

"I'll be fine, Summer. Just give me time," he bit out

"Ok." She sank her spoon into the cereal and started munching happily

Well, that was one crisis averted. I looked of towards the stairs to the basement and sighed. I hadn't gone down there to check on River since I was sure she was going to be fine. I was going to check in on her in another half an hour or so. After last night I was going to be more prominent in her life, whether she wanted me to or not. I guess it took a good scare to make that clear.

I glanced up the stairs and wondered how the boys were fairing. I didn't want to be Ponyboy anytime in the near future. He'd gotten pretty piss drunk last night and I thought it was better to leave the yelling up to his older brother. There was something about the Darrels in this family that automatically gave them yelling power and the scare factor to make it even worse. Don' get me wrong, I was a Curtis – we can belt it out with the best of them – but I was willing to give Darry that much responsibility. He had been willing to take on a lot more before I came along and it was only fair. Well, I reasoned it out that way.

A minute later Sodapop came down the stairs looking at his feet until he got to the table and sat down. Rain didn't bother to look up and Summer was busy humming to her Cherrios. Soda looked pretty uncomfortable just sitting there and I wondered what was up with him, aside from the fact I had come and got the kids last night and declared him grounded along with River, Rain and Ponyboy. That's when the yelling started. Soda flinched, Rain looked up and Summer stopped eating – spoon midway to her mouth. I took a calm sip of my coffee and nodded. Darry was a Curtis, all right.

"Daddy, why is Darry yellin'?" Summer asked and Soda seemed to sink even further into his chair

"Ponyboy did something he shouldn't have," I answered "And Darry's letting him know he's not happy with him."

"Aren't you going to yell?" she asked

"Do you think he deserves me yelling on top of his brother?" I asked and she thought as seriously as a five year old could on something like that

"If I was Pony, I wouldn't want you to," she told me "You yells loud."

Rain nodded in silent agreement and I pet Summer's hair again

"You know, neither would I. I'll let Darry yell this time." I set my empty coffee cup down and started towards the back door where my ranch shoes were and the coat I threw on when I had something to do around the place.

"Are you going to work?" Summer asked and I shook my head

"No. I want to go and have a word. Rainian, Sodapop; you two better get something in your stomachs. When I come back, I'll have chores for the pair of you," I warned them

They both nodded, one more tersely than the other, and I threw on my jacket before heading out the back door.

The ranch was, to put it simply, a piece of heaven on earth. We were settled on the top of a hill not too far from a small river that ran back behind the house and the stand of trees that knew to grow around it. You couldn't see anything but grass and hills for miles and the sun was always showing us amazing skies. I'd done something right when I'd picked it. The land was a great deal when I had first started drilling for oil on it. I had planned to just get the oil out of it and sell it again but Michaela had been prodding me to get us moved out of crowded and bustling Dallas and this looked like the perfect place. The price was right – I already owned the land- and there wasn't another neighbor in either direction for five miles. So we built the house, garage and the barn before bringing the kids out here. They'd loved it and as anyone with eyes can see, they grew like weeds out here. Of course it wasn't the same after Michaela died, but I never thought much on that if I didn't have to. You generally try not to when someone you love dies. Like I said, they leave us, not the other way around.

I shook my head a little and told myself to stop stalling. So I put one foot in front of the other thinking I had every right to stall. Tackling BJ was like taking on a bear with cubs, but with a lot more profanity. It was only because I was the bigger bear that he ever listened to anything I had to say. I sighed and pushed open the door into his domain. He'd wanted to move out here since we moved in and I only held off about six months before I let Michaela talk me into it. It was a good solution for all of us. BJ had hit ten and figured I was the enemy; staring any fight he could think to start with me. I never did understand that one. It had been him and me his whole life. He was two before he met Michaela and before that it was really just he and I. His mother and I got divorced a week after he was born and he'd never so much as seen a picture of her outside the news paper he managed to dig up somewhere around the time he was fourteen. As far as he was concerned Michaela was his mother – he called her Mom – and he ran to her enough when I wasn't giving into him. He missed her just as much as I did.

"Close the door."

I glanced at where BJ was bent over the truck he'd traded the last piece of junk he'd brought home for and closed the door. He didn't look up at me and I wondered when he'd gotten so rude. He could have at least said something in form of a greeting.

"Brand," I started and he looked up with a glare

"What do you want, old man?" he asked and I set my jaw against what I wanted to say back to that. I wasn't going to let him turn this conversation into an argument before I had said anything.

"We need to talk about last night."

"So talk."

At least he hadn't told me there was nothing to talk about. The last time a conversation had started out on that note I had nearly smacked him silly. Fifteen is a hard age, but I figured he would have at least grown out of the sass. Yeah, my luck wasn't spectacular on that one.

"I want you to know I'm disappointed in you. You let me down. You let her down and you let yourself down," I told him leaving no room for interpretation

"She's sixteen! I can't watch her every moment of every day, especially at a party," Bran replied, turning from the vehicle so he could look at me "Even if she had have been glued to my side, there was no way I could have stopped what happened."

"I'm not saying you could have. I doubt anyone could have, to tell you the truth," I told him evenly "What I want to know is where you were while she was alone and needing you."

"I was –"

"You weren't there. She had to find a phone and call me." I was trying not to growl at him at this point "How she managed that is still beyond me."

"And everything turned out ok," he ground out

"And what if it hadn't? What if she couldn't dial the number? What if she had have had a stronger dose of that downer put in her drink?" I asked "You and I could be discussing baby arrangements or worse funeral arrangements right now."

"I know!" He growled

Bran threw me a seething look and went back to working on his engine. I knew he cared – I could see the tension in his shoulders, but he wasn't getting off that easily.

"When Mom died," I started and he stiffened "You and I made a deal. We were going to be partners and take care of your sister and brother the best we could, regardless if I found another wife or not."

"Don't bring Mom into this. Mom is dead and she wasn't even my mother. And since when have we been partners? When was the last time you asked me about my opinion or what I wanted?" he demanded

I wondered what he was talking about – I asked him all the time, he just never answered. He was too busy being angry to even think beyond his lot in life. Up until last night he had always taken care of River, though. I had trusted him to do that much and that was why this conversation was so difficult. He wasn't done talking, though.

"You didn't even bother to tell me when those people moved into the house. I had to find out over breakfast the day they moved here!"

"Those people are your cousins," I told him "Your only family beyond me and your brother and sisters."

"Family? You didn't even mention you ever had a family before they got here. You could care less about that stuff, so don't tell me to take an interest in them."

"What do you have against them?" I asked, getting frustrated with him and the way this conversation was diverging

"Everything!" he snapped, "Why the hell do you suddenly care? You haven't given a shit since Mom died. And even then, she was the only reason you even pretended to. So why don't you go back to whatever the hell you've been doing and leave me the hell alone!"

And that was when I lost it. It took four steps exactly to cross the room to where Brand was closing the lid on the car he had been fiddling over. He turned just as I got in his personal space.

"Are you sure you want to go there with me, boy?" I asked, deadly serious and I could see him contemplating it both ways. He was a Curtis, though, and stubborn is as stubborn does in this family

"Go to hell, old man."

Before he had a chance to move I had him shoved up against a wall with my hands fisted in his t-shirt. We stared at each other for a full minute and he looked madder than ever. I was madder than ever, so I wasn't surprised. We hadn't fought like this since he was fifteen. We were eye to eye now.

"If you ever use that tone with me again, I will not hesitate to throw you over my knee. Understood?" I asked him and he looked away, ignoring me. I shoved him against the wall a little harder "Understood?"

He nodded and I let go of him. We were both glaring at each other, but I could tell he was more upset with me than I was with him. I'd been through this stage with my own father and worse – my big brother. I would get over it and he would, too. Until then, life was going to be more bearable between us.

"I'm sick of this attitude. You've had a stick shoved up your ass for the last five years and I'm sick of it. The next time we talk you'd better have your act sorted out."

There was no 'or else' and there was no need for one. He knew exactly what would happen if he didn't and his life was a little too comfortable right now for him to think about going it on his own without a dime or possession to his name. He didn't even like his name. I sent him a tired look, wondering where the hell I went wrong with him, and turned to leave. There were no tears and there would be no 'Daddy, I'm sorry' like when he was ten. I missed that more than I was willing to admit.

I definitely needed to have that word, now.

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Soda's POV

We sat at the table for another twenty-five minutes and J.C. never showed. Rain finally got up to do the dishes and pour out the cold coffee, so I picked up the towel to dry and went over to the sink with him. We were nearly done when Rain looked out the window and sighed.

"Must have been a bad fight this time."

"With Bran?" I asked and he nodded "How can you tell?"

"See that hill out there near the only tree in the field?" Rain asked and I spotted the tree he was talking about pretty fast

"Yeah, I see it."

"Dad only goes out there on three occasions; my mother's birthday, my mother's death day and when he's fought with Bran worse than usual," he supplied

"What's so special about the tree?" I asked

"My mother's buried under it," he answered before leaving me at the sink "You have another hour before he comes back with those chores."

I nodded and finished drying the last dish. It was better not to say anything when people like Rain changed the subject like that and then just plain left the room. So I set the coffee pot on to make more and looked through the fridge for something Darry wouldn't mind eating. One of our crazy sandwiches looked out at me from where it sat on a plate and I frowned again. River and I had had a blast making them. The whole night had been a blast. We'd ended up mixing and mingling and just having an all around good time. Then I had lost track of River when she said she was making a trip to the bathroom and the next thing I know J.C. is there breaking up the party and telling us all to get home. Summer had been deposited in my arms and Rain had given Darry his keys before helping Ponyboy into the back seat. The kid could barely walk after all the alcohol he'd gotten into his system. There had been bigger things going on and I was personally glad Darry thought it was better to get us home. I was worried about River, but I knew when I was in the way and when I wouldn't be. I would have been in the way. I'd seen girls who got drugged before and it made me mad as hell, but J.C. seemed to know what he was doing. River had told me once Bran's mother had been a druggie before she got pregnant. He probably knew how to take care of a lot worse.

I was thinking on that and cooking some eggs up the way Darry liked them when he popped into the room looking like he had been through a bad fight himself. I handed him a cup of coffee and he nodded to me before sitting down at the table and enjoying the hot brew. I had breakfast in front of him, but he just looked at it like it had run over his dog or something. I felt for him. No one liked yelling at Ponyboy. But it had to be done and J.C. had let him pull the short straw while he dealt with his own battle.

"You did right, Darry," I told him

"Then why do I feel so awful?" he asked

"Because it hurt you just as much as it did him and me," I told him "And this way y'all won't be quick to repeat the process."

"I don't want to ever have to do that again. He looked like he was going to cry the whole way through and I just kept on yelling at him." He took a long sip of his coffee "I don't want him to hate me because of this, but what else could I do?"

"He won't hate you," I assured him "He'll probably be grateful it was you and not J.C. doing the yelling."

"Like how we used to prefer Dad over Mom when we got in trouble."

I bit my lip, trying not to think about Mom's disappointed look and how much it killed when you were on the receiving end of it. Dad at least just grounded you after a stern talk. All it took was that one look from Mom and it was ten times worse than anything Dad could throw at you.

"Do you think they would have handled that differently?" he asked, not looking up from his cup

"Of course, but you're not them, Darry. You did your best and they know that," I told him, working not to get all choked up

"Thanks, little buddy," he told me with a small smile "Breakfast looks normal. Were you feeling ok?"

I laughed and shook my head. My kid brother had a hangover bigger than the state of Oklahoma, my older brother thought he was doing wrong by Mom and Dad, my guardian was hiding out by his wife's grave, the cousin I did the most with was going to be miserable for a few days, and to top it off, I was grounded for the next two weeks for no reason but I wasn't going to argue and I thought Ponyboy needed the company, along with River and Rain. Strangely, I was feeling ok. Darry and I hadn't had a talk like this since we left Tulsa and I knew Ponyboy and I would be having one of our own once his hangover was gone. I guess it took one out of control party to set everything in your life a little straighter.

"Yeah, I'm feeling just fine. Now, eat your breakfast before it gets cold on you."

Darry smirked at me and took a bite of his bacon and tomato sandwich. I smiled back and for the first time felt like this place could actually be home at some point.

Yeah, everything was going to be just fine, for all of us.

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Well, another chapter bites the dust. It certainly didn't help me to write this instead of my analysis that's due tomorrow, but I think this was much more fun than anything else I did tonight.

Thankies to all my wonderful reviewers and I really miss not answering the individual review thankies. But I love getting them and I love you guys! Ok….no more mushy stuff…

Any comments at all are welcome and flames are accepted.

See ya in the funny papers!!!

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