"Jo!" I heard a very familiar, very welcomed cry. I knelt down, just as Michelle, who had been trying to run up to me, stumbled and nearly fell face first into my chest.
"Hey baby!" I laughed, pulling her in for a hug. She grabbed onto my shoulders, which resulted in me hissing with pain when she landed heavily on my bad shoulder. "Watch the shoulder, sweetheart," I said gently as I picked her up with one arm, resting her naturally on my hip.
"Jo!" Again, another very welcomed cry. Mary ran to me, but unlike her sister, she carefully hugged me. "I can't believe you came!"
"Well, darlin', when someone calls looking for me at this time of night, you bet your britches I'm gonna come when called," I laughed, sounding just like my mother had. "What's all this about, Judith?"
"Well," she smiled up at Darry, slightly intimidated by how close he stood to me and the girls. "Seeing how you're currently staying with Darrel and his brothers, and seeing how you're getting the keys to the house behind theirs tomorrow morning, and what with the girls crying something awful all night, we decided to release them to you, under one condition," she said brightly.
"What's the condition?" I asked, alarmed.
"That you all remain at Darrel's house until you fully move into the new house, just to be on the safe side, with your shoulder still healing and all," she said carefully, smiling at Darry. "With that said, we've talked it over with the Curtis' worker, and she also agrees that the arrangement seems fair enough, s'long as everyone agrees."
"We agree," Darry and I both said at the same time. Judith laughed at that, smiling brightly.
"Now, this is not to say you're gaining full custody of the girls just yet – there will still be a hearing, and you'll still have to prove yourself to the court, but given the circumstances, and given that you and the boys have a similar situation, we decided that it might be best to have you all together. Under normal circumstances, this would be unheard of, but you had quite a few people pulling strings for you, myself included," she said with a sly smile. "Now go on and drive carefully. The roads are horrible tonight," she said as she handed Darry the two bags that had the girls' few possessions in them. "Goodnight!"
"Bye!" Mary said eagerly rushing ahead of us. Michelle remained silent, her hands locked tightly to my shoulder. I wrapped her jacket tightly around her, before heading outside. The temperature had dropped again, and as soon as the cold air hit me, I shivered.
"C'mon, I've got Mickey," Darry said. I nodded and handed her over.
"That was…unusual," I chuckled as we packed into the truck.
"Tell me 'bout it," he laughed. "We gotta rethink the sleeping arrangements…"
"We'll sort that out when we get to the house," I said, stifling a yawn.
"Who do you think pulled the strings?" Mary asked, hugging me tightly.
"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say Two-Bit's mom prolly called, and I know a few girls at the diner were set on helping out," I said, thinking it over. "But what I don't understand, is why she was so willing to practically hand you both over, s'long as Darry was there."
"Maybe she's convinced Darry's been a good enough guardian to Soda and Pony, and that he can teach you a thing or two?" Mary said sheepishly.
"Or maybe Darry's Superman after all," I said, throwing him a sideways glance. There was something he wasn't telling me, I just knew it.
Michelle cuddled into my chest, her tiny hands still tightly gripping my shoulder. It was like she didn't want to let go.
"Hey, babygirl, you good?" I asked, pulling her back a little so I could study her face. She shook her head and did the one thing I wished she hadn't. She sank her teeth into my arm. "Ouch, no biting," I said gently, pulling her back. "What was that for anyway?"
"Mama," she said, tears slipping down her cheeks. Suddenly it all made sense. Michelle was barely a year old when our mother died. I was the closest thing to a mother she knew.
"Hey, shh, it's okay," I said, rocking her back and forth, my eyes locked on the road. "Darry, pull over a sec," I said, not daring to take my eyes off the road.
"Why?" he asked. He sounded exhausted.
"You're swerving too much," I said simply. He didn't argue with me. He pulled up to the curb, and turned off the engine.
"Mickey, if I sit you on Mary's lap, will you be okay?" I asked gently. She shook her head wildly. "What if I have Darry hold you? Darry's nice and warm, and you'll prolly fall asleep before we reach the house." Again, she shook her head. I didn't want to let her go, but Darry was practically falling asleep at the wheel. "Mickey Mouse, I need to switch seats with Darry, and I can't drive with you in my lap."
"Mama," she said again. I pressed my eyes shut, too tired and cold and quite frankly, I wasn't feeling too awesome, though it was amazing to have my baby sister back in my arms.
"Mickey Mouse, if you listen to me now, I'll warm you up a nice cup of milk when we get home and we can spend all night reading one of Pony's books, how does that sound?" I bribed.
"I'll even bake cookies," Mary said sheepishly, opening her bag to show me that she had the ingredients, minus the eggs.
"How's that sound?" I asked, looking into my sister's sad eyes.
"Kay," she said with a nod. I smiled and passed her to Mary, before nudging Darry softly.
"Hey, sleepyhead, we're trading seats," I said softly. He groaned, but pushed the door open. I was too cold to go back outside, instead, I crawled over Mary carefully, taking Darry's seat while he went to my side of the truck.
"Mary, give Mickey to Darry and buckle up. The roads are slick tonight," I said as I fastened my seat belt. Mary didn't complain like she normally would. She knew as well as I did, just how dangerous a slick road could be.
I pulled off the curb and got us home with no problem at all. By the time we reached the house, Darry was snoring softly, Michelle sleeping soundly in his lap.
"You gonna wake them up?" Mary asked with a yawn. She looked exhausted.
"Let 'em sleep for a few more minutes," I said tiredly. "I wanna get the living room all set up for you two before I bring 'em in."
"Where're you gonna sleep?" she asked, giving me a funny look.
"It wouldn't be the first time I crashed on the floor of Soda and Pony's room," I laughed. "Besides, I'm pretty sure we've got a full house tonight," I added as I noticed Two-Bit's car in the driveway.
Mary and I both walked inside, shivering against the cold wind.
"Where's Darry?" Soda asked as soon as he saw us.
"Sound asleep," I chuckled. "Michelle's all snuggled up to him. It's too precious," I added. "We'll wake him up when I get the sleeping arrangements settled."
"Taking charge like always, huh?" Steve teased.
"Shh, it's that older sister slash almost mother thing," Mary laughed.
"Mar, go dig out some blankets, would ya? It's gonna be a cold one tonight," I instructed. "Everyone crashing here tonight, I assume?" Steve nodded and so did Two-Bit. I thought about it for a moment, then smiled. "Steve, you're on the couch, Two-Bit, you get the recliner. I'll set something up for the girls on the floor, but lord help me, one of you set on either of them, and I'll skin you myself," I decided.
"What about you?" Pony asked.
"Permitting there's not a layer of dirty laundry on your floor, I'm camping out in your room. Besides, I can almost guarantee that by halfway through the night, one of the girls are gon' wake me up anyway," I laughed tiredly. Mary came back, struggling with three blankets and four pillows.
"I sort of raided the closet," she laughed, dumping the linens on the floor.
"Try to find another blanket, the last thing I need is one of you catching a cold," I laughed. She wandered back to way she came, returning a moment later with a thick quilt. I passed out the blankets to the guys, before tossing the thicker of the two blankets down on the floor, away from the draft the door produced. I tossed the pillows down before carefully spreading the quilt out.
"Mar, go get Michelle, and try not to wake her," I said once I was done.
"What about Darry?" she asked, giving me a look.
"Darry's too old to be carried. Tell him Soda set the house on fire, that'll wake him up," I winked.
"Hey!" Soda exclaimed before cracking up.
I walked into the kitchen, where I carefully removed the sling, trying to rotate my shoulder. The cold air had made it hurt worse than before.
"How's the shoulder?" Steve asked, having seen me struggling to move it.
"Sore," I sighed. "The doctor said it might take some time to get it back to normal." I hadn't told anyone about that conversation. My hand was numb and that was scaring me, but I didn't say anything, instead, I forced my fingers to flex, grimacing at how much effort that simple task took.
"You mind?" Steve asked, coming up beside me, gently placing a hand on my shoulder. I flinched, but forced myself not to pull away as Steve straightened my arm out. Before it was perfectly straight, that pain got to be too much.
"Stop," I gasped, pain clouding my vision. Steve's hand reached up to steady me, a look of concern crossing his face.
"That bad?" he asked as he carefully helped me put it back in the sling.
"You ain't a'woofin'," I groaned, sitting down heavily, my head spinning. I took a few deep breaths, trying to settle the uneasy feeling in my stomach. I felt a cool hand on my forehead, almost jumping outta my skin when I realized it was Darry.
"Don't sneak up like that," I snapped.
"I didn't. You were dozing off," he said gently. He looked exhausted himself. "You're warm, you feeling okay? Steve told me about your shoulder." I looked up, but Steve was nowhere in sight.
"Just exhausted," I admitted.
"Head to bed," he said, his tone gentle. I grumbled but got to my feet anyway. On any normal day, sleeping on a floor wouldn't have been an issue, but that night, I was just too sore and too cold to really appreciate it. I was too tired to move the dirty laundry, so instead, I threw the blanket down, along with the pillow, before carefully lowering myself to the ground. It wasn't until I was almost comfortable, that I realized I was laying on a pile of dirty jeans.
"Don't you ever clean?" I muttered to no one in particular as I drifted off into a restless sleep.
It seemed way too early when Greaser's wet nose pressed into my side. I groaned and rolled over, totally forgetting that I was sleeping on a pile of jeans. I yelped when one of the buttons pinched me.
"Sis, wake up," Mary's voice pleaded.
"Shh, don't want the boys, what's wrong?" I said sleepily.
"Mickey won't go back to sleep," Mary said with a yawn.
"Bring her here," I said, not daring to try and make my way out of the messy room. I wasn't about to wake up either of the guys either.
I heard Mary walk back down the hall, returning a minute later with Michelle in her arms. I sat up and pulled Mickey towards me, pushing some of the clothes aside to make room for her. She curled up next to me, pushing her head into my chest. Greaser laid down across my legs, which was a welcomed sense of warmth.
"Go back to sleep, Mar, I've got Mickey now," I said gently. I saw her nod in the dim light before listening to her walk back down the hall. I pulled Michelle towards me, stroking her hair gently.
A sudden scream made me shoot right up. I glanced at the bed and saw Ponyboy thrashing in his sleep. Groaning, I stood up, careful not to step on Greaser, and shook Pony's leg.
"Pony, wake up," I said in a hushed tone. Soda was still sleeping soundly – probably too tired to have even noticed if the room fell in around him.
"Wha-," Pony sat upright, panting hard.
"Shh, calm down," I said gently. Michelle was staring at me, her eyes wide.
"Everything okay in here?" Darry's tired voice came, his tone hushed when he realized Soda was still asleep.
"Yeah, go back to bed," I said gently. Darry leaned against the doorframe, making no move to leave.
What Michelle did next, will forever surprise me. She came over to where I was standing and pulled herself up onto the bed, before crawling over to Pony, wrapping her little arms around him, smiling up at him with those big, beautiful eyes.
"S'okay Ponyboy," she said sweetly, resting her head on his arm.
I smiled at the sight, even after Pony laid back down, throwing his arm around Michelle protectively. I only turned when I realized I might as well let the dog out since I was up anyway.
"That was new," Darry said, following me into the kitchen.
"I know, of all the guys, I never knew Michelle was that comfortable with Pony," I laughed softly as I flipped on the light. Greaser went to the door and sat down, waiting for me to let him out.
I opened the door and let Greaser out, actually welcoming the cold breeze. I shut the door quietly, before carefully stepping into the living room, grabbing the first coat my hands touched. It just happened to be Steve's. I pulled it on, before grabbing my back of cigarettes off the end table.
"Where're you going?" Steve asked tiredly, looking at me in the dim light.
"Just for a smoke. Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," I said with a smile.
"You didn't, Pony did with all that shouting," he yawned, sitting up. "Is that my jacket?"
"I didn't want to knock anything over looking for mine," I said sheepishly. Steve stood up and grabbed the blanket off the couch, wrapping it around himself as we both walked back through the kitchen and out the back door. It hadn't started snowing yet, but the cold air proved that it would soon.
"Glory, it's cold," Steve said, pulling the blanket tighter around himself.
"Mm," I said tiredly, pulling my knees up into the jacket after I lit the cigarette.
"Did Mary wind up bringing you Michelle?" he asked, throwing me a look.
"Yeah. But she ended up curling up between Soda and Pony after he woke up," I smiled. "Did she wake you up?"
"Sorta, heard her crying in her sleep," he shrugged.
"I'm surprised Mary's sleeping so soundly," I laughed. I blew out a puff of smoke, staring up at the overcast sky.
"You want help moving stuff into the new house later?" Steve offered. "Soda and me are off tomorrow."
"Sure, that'd be great," I nodded. "I figure we'll have to see if Darry can spare the truck. Other than the beds, I really wanna get the living room set in the new house before anything else."
"I'm off tomorrow," Darry said, coming to sit with us.
"Good," I nodded. Greaser came up and sat across my feet, making a purring sound, his tail thumping on the stairs.
"Greaser, you're wet," I laughed, pushing him away. His fur was wet from running in the grass.
"Thinkin' of keeping him?" Darry asked, petting the dog's head.
"Might as well," I nodded. "He's good company. That house is gonna be awful quiet."
"What are you gonna do about the fence," Steve asked, motioning to the old, rusted fence that separated the properties.
"Thinkin' about tearing it down. We always left our back doors unlocked, and I figure, why not keep that habit with the new place," I shrugged. "This way, no matter what, we're still not more than a couple leaps and bounds away."
"You think the new house needs any repairs?" Darry asked, eyeing the roof of the house across from us.
"I'm sure the roof needs fixing," I said with a yawn. "If I remember correctly, it hasn't been replaced since I was born. I'll see how bad it is before I talk to your boss though," I laughed.
"Why talk to my boss?" Darry asked, giving me a funny look.
"'Cause you ain't working for free or working on that whole roof on your lonesome!" I laughed. "'Sides, my dad had money put away to get our own roof fixed at some point. I have it in the bank still," I shrugged.
"Really?"
"Yeah, we were meaning to get it fixed for a while now," I shrugged. "But seeing how everything just kept getting all messed up, we never managed to remember."
"What are you doing out here?" A small voice chimed. I looked up to see a very sleepy Mary standing inside the screen door.
"Go back to sleep, we'll be in in a minute," I shooed her away.
"Where's Mickey?" she asked, looking between the three of us.
"With Soda and Pony," I smiled. "She decided she liked them better than me."
"Smart kid," Mary laughed before closing the door behind her.
I laughed at that, then pulled myself to my feet, knocking Greaser over in the process. I went towards the door, but had to stop when Greaser tried pushing past me.
"Not so fast big guy, you're not about to track mud through the house like a teenage guy," I laughed, grabbing hold of his collar. "Kitchen only until you dry off." I walked him in, tying him to the leg of the table. He whined when I turned to walk away, but before I was completely out of the room, I caught Darry throwing him a piece of leftover hotdog. I shook my head and slipped out of Steve's coat, placing it gently on the back of the recliner, where Two-Bit was snoring loudly. Mary was curled up in a ball, the blanket wrapped tightly around her.
I wasn't too tired, so instead, I walked back to the boys' room, to check on everyone. I was surprised to see Ponyboy sitting up with Michelle in his lap, reading her a book quietly.
"Hey," I smiled as I stepped in, pulling a few pairs of dirty jeans off the floor. "Don't stay up too long, we've got a lot to get done tomorrow," I said as I went over and planted a kiss on Michelle's head.
"Pony's reading," she beamed brightly.
"I see that," I chuckled. "Don't wake Soda, alright?" I said, more to Pony than Michelle.
"He's dead to the world," Pony laughed.
I went over to Soda's side of the bed and knelt down, brushing his hair out of his face. He didn't even so much as twitch. I gently touched his forehead, letting out a soft sigh.
"Keep an eye on him, wouldya? He's a little warm," I said, turning to pick up the jeans again. After I had as many pairs as I could carry in one arm, I walked into the bathroom and piled them into the hamper.
"You've really got that mother thing down, huh?" Steve joked when he saw me walking back down the hall, picking up stray socks and shoes in the process.
"Guess so," I laughed softly. "Go back to sleep, otherwise, no one's gonna wanna get up in the morning." He nodded and went back to the couch, laying down heavily. I flipped off the light and smiled when the sound of three snoring people hit my ears.
"Everyone asleep?" Darry asked from where he sat at the table, slouched over a pile of bills.
"Except Pony and Michelle," I nodded. "Can't those wait till morning?" I asked, motioning at the bills.
"I guess," he said, stifling a yawn.
"Go back to bed," I said with a smirk. "I'll clean up the kitchen then head back myself."
"You sound like a mom," he teased. I smiled and shook my head. "Someone has to," I laughed softly as I pushed the dirty dishes into the sink. I wasn't going to bother with washing them tonight. Instead, I went back into the bathroom and grabbed the hamper, balancing it skillfully on my hip, much like I did with Michelle, before turning to the laundry room, where I threw a load of jeans in the wash. I made a mental note to have someone hang them out to dry in the morning, permitting the air wasn't too cold. Otherwise, I would string a line in the kitchen and let them dry there, much like my own mother did so many times in the colder months.
"Can't sleep, huh?" a familiar voice jerked me from my thoughts. I saw Soda standing in the doorway.
"Pony finally wake you up?" I asked sheepishly.
"Naw, I have to pee," he laughed, heading towards the bathroom.
"Then go back to bed," I scolded gently.
"Why?" he asked, giving me a funny look.
"It's been a long day," I laughed. "Anyway, I'm making those two go to bed as soon as I'm done here," I added, making another note to scold Pony for letting Mickey stay up this late. Maybe I would decide against it though, since she seemed real happy that Pony was reading to her, something I never had time to do anymore.
"Mkay," Soda said tiredly, slipping into the bathroom. I walked back into the boys' room, happy to see that Pony had turned off the light. Michelle was curled tightly into his side, sleeping soundly. I smiled at the scene, before moving the blankets on the floor again, so that they were a little less bunched up.
As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out. Until a few moments later when Greaser's wet nose pressed against my neck as he slid under the blankets with me. Soda must have unleashed him. I smiled fondly as I rolled over, curling up next to the big, furry dog, letting sleep finally take over. Glory, it had been one long ass day.