Sorry this took so long. It's not the best because I had my chapter all written out and then it was erased and it is actually really hard to re-write a chapter from scratch.

"So," he regarded the girl carefully, she was obviously a crafty one, "Ever played poker?"

Denise shook her head and Dallas stared down at the small child Steve had foolishly left in his care. What was he supposed to do with it? Should he do what Steve suggested and take her to poker with him?

No way, Dally thought. What was he thinking? He was Dallas-fucking-Winston and no way in hell was he going to show up to Buck's for poker with a six year old girl in tow, no matter how mischievous the girl proved to be.

"Scratch that," he said, and the girl nodded enthusiastically, eager to prove herself to her newest babysitter, "Are you, uh, hungry or something?" Dally asked uncertainly.

Denise nodded; it seemed that despite her earlier breakfast of stolen candy bars she still had room left for more, "Yeah."

"Okay, how about we head over to the—" Dally started to say Dingo, but suddenly figured that maybe that wasn't the best place to take a little girl out for lunch, after all some girl had gotten shot there once, "—the dinner," he decided on the safest location he could think of. Pony and Johnny ended up there all the time; it was one of the few places Darry didn't mind Pony being.

Denise grimaced, she knew where he was talking about and even thought the food was great the diner was all the way on the other side of the greaser territory, "That's' a long walk," she complained, as six year olds are known to do.

"Yeah well then we'd better get goin'!" Dally didn't think it was all that long a walk, but he forgot to account for the fact that one of his strides equaled about three of Denise's.

By the halfway mark Denise was struggling to keep up with the much older greaser, and it was showing. Her face was red and sweaty and her breathing was labored, what did Dally expect? It was an extremely hot day outside.

Dally crossed the street and turned to see Denise still on the other side of the road, "C'mon kid! Keep up!"

When Denise didn't move Dally sighed and rushed back across the street, it wasn't until Dally was face to face with Denise that he saw the toll the heat and walk were taking on her, "Jeez kid, what's wrong with you?"

Denise glared at him, "You're going…too…fast!" she puffed.

Dally's stomach grumbled and he eyed her warily. He was hungry and she was tired, all he wanted to do was get to the diner.

Contemplating their dilemma Dally came up with a quick fix, "Alright, kid, here's the deal; I'll carry you the rest of the way on my back, but if someone comes along you gotta' hop down real quick and you can't tell nobody about it, okay?" Dally said, always worried about his reputation. He didn't need people thinkin' that Dallas Winston was goin' around givin' free piggyback rides or some shit like that.

Denise, sensing she was being given a privilege never given before, nodded eagerly.

Dally bent down and she clambered onto his back. It felt odd to Dally, having Denise clinging to his back like a spider monkey, knowing that as of now she was his responsibility and if he fell she was goin' down with him.

Luckily the streets were nearly deserted and they made it to the diner in record time. Denise hopped down off of Dally's back outside the diner.

As they entered the diner Denise gave the hostess a big, toothless smile.

The hostess laughed as she led then to a table, which was odd as the diner was usually self-seating.

The hostess handed them menus and smiled at Dallas, "Is she yours?" the woman asked.

"Mine? No! No," Dally answered incredulously, though now that it was pointed out to him the two did look pretty alike, with their blonde hair and pale skin.

The hostess seemed extremely pleased with the answer and wrote her number on a napkin before handing it to Dallas, "Then call me sometime, handsome."

Dally gave her a roguish smile as she turned to leave. He probably wouldn't call her but she was blonde so he tucked the napkin away and made a mental note to give it to Two-Bit whenever Dally saw him next.

Denise watched the interaction, her expression annoyed. Some lady already took Steve when she was having fun and she sure wasn't going to let it happen again!

"You better be careful Dally," Denise said to him gravely.

"Why's that, kid?" Dally asked not taking his gaze from the menu.

"I think she's a whore, like Susan." Denise stated so plainly that Dally nearly choked on his laugh.

"You gotta' be careful who ya' go callin' a whore! And who you're callin' 'em a whore to, kid, or someday you'll get more than you bargained for," Dally told her.

Denise frowned; maybe it would be a good idea to find out what a whore was. Figuring she may get a better answer out of Dally than Steve she tried asking him.

Dally looked confused as where to begin. Denise looked up at him questioningly, "Isn't Susan a whore?"

"Yes," Dally said before wincing. He shouldn't have said that.

Well what the fuck did Steve want him to do? He wasn't some fucking babysitter; he didn't know how to deal with this shit. So he decided to lay it out simple.

"Okay, Denise, a whore it someone who likes to…play with a lot of boys and then when the boys are done…playing they forget her and she finds new boys to play with."

Denise listened to Dally's explanation skeptically, she didn't play with boys so she guessed she wasn't a whore. Denise, however, wasn't the only one listening to Dally's interesting description. A few tables over sat a familiar face, and Two-Bit, for one, had never heard of a whore described that way.

He looked over at the table that Dally sat at with a little girl, and wondered if he'd just walked into another universe. Since when did Dallas Winston take little girls out to lunch? He decided to find about a bit more about this phenomenon and left his table with the intent to join Dally's.

"So Steve will forget about Susan soon?" The girl asked hopefully. Two-Bit wondered what Susan she was talking about. Couldn't be Susan Channing, could it?

"Yeah," Dally said casually, "Steve never remembers a girl after he's fu—" Dally began before being cut off by a very confused Two-Bit who decided to attempt to salvage the last bit of innocence in Dally's dining partner.

"HEY, Dally! What are you doing?"

Hey, sorry if it's not what you expected but I figured it would be a bit out of character for Daly to bring Denise with him to poker. I hope you liked my substitute, I don't think this chapter was the best but I wanted to put something out there.