Hey I am back!! I hope you guys are still hanging there, and still reading this. I only got two reviews, out of five reviews that makes me sad. I need to know what you guys think of this. Anything helps out!! Please Review.

Another note is that if you see writting like this, it's like her own personal beliefs like a voice over, I dunno just trying it out. Tell me what you think.

The song Bit for this is "Light On" By David Cook. This is an amazing song. I love it. He is a great artist and this fits with the story.

Thanks to you guys that did review: harprani, and MyBrokenMask

Thanks to my amazing Beta Samatha, she is amazing.

Disclamer: I do not own The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Nor do I own the song "Light On" By David Cook.

Enjoy!!

Chapter 12: Time

Try to leave a light on when I'm gone

Something I rely on to get home

One I can feel at night

A naked light, a fire to keep me warm

Try to leave a light on when I'm gone

Even in the daylight, shine on

And when it's late at night you can look inside

You won't feel so alone

You know we've been down that road

What seems a thousand times before

My back to a closing door and my eyes to the seasons

That roll out underneath my heels

And you don't know how bad it feels

To leave the only one that I have ever believed in

David Cook

Time flies by. People fly by. However, there are times when everything stops. Time stops. Talking stops. People explain it as a daze. As a defense mechanism in our minds. Where we shut down to protect ourselves. In some cases, time just slows down. In my opinion, time just likes to kick us around for a bit.

"So let me get this straight. There is a war council between two of the biggest gangs and we are involved." Darry's voice boomed trying to make sure he understood.

Yep that's right Darry. We got involved into gang warfare. Shocking isn't it. Not our fault trouble follows us everywhere. I swear by it.

The whole gang was here, listening to the reenactment of what had happened today. How I reacted, the unexpected backup, everything. I was silent the entire time; just flipping the silver falcon in my hand.

"Dally, can you call the Shepards to have them come with us, so if something happens we will have them backing us up?" Darry told Dally.

"Nothing will happen." I broke my silence while still looking at the coin. I continued. "The Rattlesnakes entire outfit will be there. Falcons wouldn't dare an attack after what happened today. Unless they want a death wish." I looked up to see Dally and Darry looking at me.

"Call them anyway, it won't hurt anyone." Darry said after a couple of seconds.

Truth and lies, they coexist together. They balance each other out. Over time we tell the truth. And over time the lies unravel to where we have no secrets; nothing to hide. Just our true selves. However, human nature was not made to follow that. So for most people they hide the truth and let the lies come out. And most of the time that process, doesn't work out and we just make things worse.

I heard Dally's steps as he passed me to get to the phone. I heard Darry's heavy sigh, and started to mentally prepare for what was to come.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I just know."

No need to tell him that I personally knew that fact, because I was a member of the Rattlesnakes.

His voice then turned flat and icy. "One more time. How do you know this?"

I finally stop playing with the coin and looked up. I met his tone with one of my own. "Trust me. I know." We stared at each other. Each set of eyes locked the other. I broke his stare feeling the guilt in my stomach. This shouldn't have happen. Not to them, not to any of them.

And it was all my fault.

I took a quick glance at my family and friends. Each face showed a different emotion. Soda's and Pony's face showed sadness, which I would not tell them what was going on. The others showed distrust and curiosity of how I was involved. I settled on the last face, Two-Bit's face. I remembered his promise, what he wanted. He wanted me. His eyes searched my eyes, and I felt for a moment that he was looking into my soul. That at that very moment I wished I could tell them everything.

Sighing I got up and went into the kitchen and leaned against the counter closing my eyes. In the distance I heard Dally's voice.

"They'll back us. They'll be there," he said.

"Good," Darry's voice boomed. "Let's get ready then." He continued.

There was then a flurry movement as everyone started to get ready. However, I couldn't go to join them. I couldn't move. I was stuck in my thoughts.

Time has a way of getting to us. Time can go slow, making us realize our failed logic. Making us see every single mistake we ever made. Time makes us see who we really are.

"Natalie." Pony's voice broke through my thoughts.

"Yea?" I turned toward him opening my eyes.

"You coming?" He asked, looking at me strange.

"Yea, just hold on one second." I left the kitchen and went directly in my room. I saw my leather jacket on my bed from when I came in just hours before. I reached under my bed, to get the photo box. Once inside and I took out all the pictures, at the very bottom was a flap-like handle. I pulled it up to reveal a secret department. In it was a black handled switchblade. On the black handle was gold writing. On one side it said Rattlesnake, with a sign of a snake at the end. The other side was my nickname Shadow. I had gotten it as a welcoming gift to the gang. It was one of my pride and joys. I already had my butterfly switch in my back pocket so I settled for putting in my front pocket. I quickly stuffed the photos back in and put the lid on the box. I grabbed my jacket and ran out of the room to join the guys.

As soon as I got out there they all started off to the front door and went outside hooting and hollering. Everyone had cleared out except Two-Bit who was waiting for me.

"Hey," I said, suddenly becoming shy.

"Hey. You ready to go?" He asked, and again I felt that at that moment he was looking inside me.

"Yea, I guess." Along with my shyness, came another set of emotions I wasn't used to. Nervousness. I normally wasn't nervous; I was normally hyped up, but tense. So this was different. Maybe because I was allowing my brothers to enter a dark world. One that I had once called home.

He held open the door again just like that afternoon. I couldn't help but let small giggle escape me as he used this gesture.

"What's so funny?" He asked, eyebrow cocked as we went outside.

"It's just….I don't know. It's stupid, forget about it." I stumbled on my words. By now we were behind the others.

"Come on tell me! Please!" He had a childish pout on his face. "You better tell me or else." He teased, his eyes dancing in the night.

"Or else what?" I teased back.

"Well this." He quickly went behind me and tickled me.

"Two-Bit," I said trying to escape. "Please stop, all right I'll tell you." I was laughing hard enjoying the time I had with him.

He stopped tickling me, but kept behind me holding me. "Well," he said expectly.

I sighed. "It was just cute and nice to see. At the same time we are going to a serious council. I told you it was stupid." I stopped looking at his eyes and focused on the moving ground.

"Hey." Still with his arm around my waist, he used his free hand to lift my chin so I could see him. "You are smart, not stupid. You just see things differently than most of us. You dig?"

I couldn't speak for what seemed like the hundredth time this week, so again I settled for a nod. He kissed my cheek and we walked side by side, his arm still around my waist as we walked to catch up. I noticed that my brothers weren't watching our conversation, so they didn't see that kiss. Good, I didn't need another thing on my mind tonight.

"Hey, there are already people." Steve's voice rang out, ruining my happiness.

All of a sudden everyone stopped and became quiet only hushed tones. Two-Bit turned me to face him, forcing me to look into his eyes.

"Promise me." His voice firm.

"Promise you what?" I asked quietly, while my nerves were slowly eating away at me in my stomach.

"Promise me that sometime after this meeting, you'll tell me everything."

"Two-Bit…I-I can't…" I broke his stare and looked at my feet. This was what I feared the most.

He took his hand and gently forced my chin up to meet his eyes.

"Promise me." His firm voice taking my focus.

"They ain't Shepard's boys." Dally called out at the same time.

I sighed. "Alright I promise." I took his strong plea hesitantly.

I got out of his grasp and quickly walked to the head of the group where Darry and Dally were. Out in the distance, over at the lot was indeed a group of greasers. Whether they were Falcons, or Snakes I didn't know. There were laughter and excitement in some of the guys. Separate from the group was another, only a few were in that group.

I knew the only way we would find out anything would be for me to take a look. I took a deep breath and slowly started walking. I had only taken a few steps when a strong pair of hands grabbed my forearms causing me to stop.

I knew by the pair of hands who it was that stopped me.

"Soda, you gotta let me go. You have to trust me. Please Soda, don't make this any harder than it has to be." I pleaded quickly to him.

"Soda." Both Soda and I turned to the bearer of the voice.

It was Pony.

"Soda, you got to let her go. We all have to let her go and trust her."

I saw the fight go out in his eyes and his shoulders started to sag. I mouth 'thank you' to Pony, only to have him just nod. I saw in his eyes this was just as hard for him to say. I pulled away from Soda and grabbed his hand giving it a quick squeeze. Before I turned around I looked at Darry. His face spelled toughness, but his eyes spelled concern. I passed him, only to see his hand I grabbed it also squeezing it for a second then letting go. Letting him know I would be ok. I turned around and starting walking away from my family and friends.

I walked to an old faded out light post. Underneath it, I let the dim light illuminate me. I took a deep breath trying to calm myself down. I then whistled quickly and then holding out the last note in a high pitch. Most of the guys turned toward me. This told me they were snakes. Then one of the guys walked toward me. As he got closer I saw that it was Mikey, which caused me to relax even more. I noticed that my brothers and friends edged toward me protectively.

"Hey, Natalie." Mikey said to me once he was beside me.

"Hey." I continued. "Thanks for backing us."

"Of course, you're a snake, always will be. No matter what. Are those your brothers?" I turned slightly to see them continuing to edge toward me trying to hear us.

"Yep." I chuckled at their attempts.

He chuckled with me. "Come on let's join the others." I looked behind me and smiled.

"Come on." They started walking with us toward the group of greasers.

"We have another gang coming and joining us, just for their benefit." I told him while we were walking.

"Who?"

"Shepard gang, headed by Tim Shepard."

"Alright, no problem. I wouldn't put it past them to call witnesses; well we are the most feared gang."

By that time we had reached the group. "Ah, I almost forgot. Mikey meet my brothers and friends. Guys meet Mikey, leader of the Rattlesnakes." Both groups nodded at each other.

"Of course only you would almost forget introducing the leader of the most feared gang in Tulsa to your brothers." Blade stated.

"Hey! I have a lot of things on my mind. And this has been a long day." I replied playfully.

And I wasn't talking about the fight.

"Maybe that hit on your head was more severe than we thought." He again playfully bantered back to me.

I strided over to him and playfully punched him, he dodged me easily returning with a punch of his own.

"Alright." Darry shook his head. "Let's get back to business. What is going to happening tonight?" He folded his arms across his chest, and stood straighter.

"Well once your other gang and the Falcons come we will get started. This is just a war council, no fighting happens, it is just our words. We decide when the rumble will happen, and the conditions of the fight." Mikey was saying. I was across from my brothers, watching their reactions closely. Blade had slinged his arm over my shoulder and Wes had joined my left side.

Darry turned to face me. "And where will you be?" He asked.

I pushed Blade's arm off my shoulder and stood straighter, facing the challenge head-on. "I'll be here, standing with them." I looked him in the eye, hoping that he would get my message:

That I wasn't going to back down.

"I don't know if you should-..." Darry started but someone interrupted him.

"Curtis! Your sister will be fine, I know her and I know her well. She'll be fine. I have seen her in a fight, and she can handle herself well. She can get herself out of anything. So she will be standing with us whether you like it or not." Rod's powerful voice ranged out smoothly.

I didn't know who was shocked more: me or Darry.

I looked over at Rod who caught my glance and smirked at me. He was a lot like Dally in a sense.

He was lean and tough, lived in the moment. Wild and careless, reckless too. I bet he could even compete with Dally in police records. He was tough, cold and mean. However, he was different in a sense. There were times he truly did have a heart, only a few knew of this. He had a particular soft side for only two of us: me and Alex, his little brother.

Everyone was still silent since Rod's outburst. Rod and Darry kept giving glares at each other. I wondered if one would step out and then we would have ourselves a mini-rumble. I really hoped that wouldn't happen

That would be the last thing we needed.

The tense silence was soon interrupted by a set of cars stopping in the lot. Out of some of the cars came out some of the Shepard's boys that I recognized. Some more cars arrived and I saw Curly and Tim step out of a car. They started towards us.

Once they were near us, the talking started.

"Tim Shepard, meet Mikey, leader of the Rattlesnakes. Mikey meet Tim, leader of the Shepard gang." I stated smoothly.

"At least you didn't forget this time." Blade mumbled under his mouth. I quickly elbowed him in his ribs. I looked over and he gave me a small smile and winked at me. I knew he didn't mean any harm by it, only trying to lighten my spirits up.

They did the same thing my brothers did; just nodded.

"Hey man. Let's go and talk about what will go on." Dally pointed to an area of the lot that was empty. I was personally very happy that they were moving to that area. I couldn't take this tension any more.

I saw Soda and Two-Bit both glance at me before they went. I could see they were wondering, why I wasn't going with them. But I stayed where I was. Not moving.

Letting my brother's move on without me.

Once they were in their corner, we all started to relax. And we started talking.

"What the hell did you do that for?" I glared at Rod.

"What's your problem? I defended you." Rod bantered back at me, still smirking.

"Not that, I meant the mini-rumble that almost happen between you and my brother." I explained shortly.

"Oh…that." He shrugged, he smirked again. "I wanted to see how far I could push him."

I looked at him strangely. He was crazy, like mentally crazy.

"I...I umm…never mind." They all were laughing. I looked around and noticed some people missing. "Where are the girls?"

"Cara is at work, and Crystal is picking her up and they'll be here in a couple minutes." Charlie told me. "What's wrong, you're holding onto something. I can tell."

"It's something that I found after the fight." I took the coin out of my pocket. I tossed it to Mikey who was waiting for it. He looked at it then back at me. I continued on. "I thought it was a warning." He tossed it back to me.

He nodded at my assumption, confirming my prediction. "Bring it up tonight. See what they say."

And that was that, cause Rod started talking about a party that happened last night. I lost my focus and didn't pay attention. I saw Alex at the outskirts of the gang. He caught my glance and came over.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey kid." I jokely smiled at him.

He had clear, ocean blue eyes like his brother. They playfully glared at me. He and his brother looked similar. They both had the same facial features. Their jaws shaped the same, the bone feature prominent. The only difference between the two of them was their hair. Rod's hair was dirty blonde, more brown. While Alex's hair was wheat-colored blonde, no brown evident.

We always joked about us being kids; he was just a year younger then me.

"Yea, yea you're a kid, too." He pointed out. Still smirking at me.

"Aren't we all?" I quietly said the joke fleeting away.

The playful glare in his eyes softened. "It all will be ok." He put his hand on my shoulder.

"How do you know?"

"We always survive, we come back. Everything falls in place. The pieces to the puzzle fall in place." He squeezed my shoulder.

I really hoped that was true. That everything will be okay. That things will fall into place. That we will survive.

Only time can restore us.

Soon another member came up to us and started to talk to Alex. I again wasn't paying attention. My focus was caught onto something else.

My focus was on Danny. His eyes caught my glance and they showed something that I wasn't used to.

They showed trust.

I felt myself starting to walk, just looking toward his eyes. I moved to an empty area, and Danny met me there.

"Hey," I whispered.

"Hey," he returned. "Why are we whispering?" He smirked

I giggled. "I don't know."

He laughed softly. "Well that's good excuse."

"Ah...shut up" I playfully slapped his shoulder. He grabbed my hand, and I gasped.

"Not so fast." He kissed my hand. I looked into his eyes and I saw something else: worry.

I sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." He denied.

"You are a bad liar you know. I think acting is out of the question for a career." I told him.

"Oh darn, that was what I wanted to do in my life." Danny sarcastically replied.

"Seriously, what is wrong?" I told him.

"I was worried about you today." He confined in me.

"You shouldn't worry about me. I'm tough." I told him.

"I know you are. But I still can worry." He pulled me forward, and hugged me tight. I wrapped my arms around him. In the distance I saw Crystal's car pull up and both her and Cara get out. Crystal looked at me and her eyebrow lifted at where I was. She nodded at me, giving me a signal that she would talk to me later about Danny.

Danny pulled me away from me, and kissed my forehead. "Did you think about what I said?"

Oh boy.

I swallowed hard. "I need more time."

He nodded. "All right."

Then I saw more cars coming, from the opposite side of the lot. I heard Mikey yell out to everyone. "It's time." I saw everyone moving together. Everyone formed some sort of a line. I saw my brothers; looking at me, waiting for me to join them. I saw Two-Bit look at me with concern at what was about to happen. I then turned to see Rod and Wes both looking at me, waiting for me to join them.

And I didn't know what to do. I was in a daze.

I knew I had to start walking. I had to take a stand. But which stand should I take?

I took a glance at Alex, and he gave me a small smile. His words echoed in my head; that everything would work out. That in the end, it'll be ok.

I finally started to walk with Danny by my side, and took my place with Danny on one side with Wes on my other side.

They started to get out of their cars and come toward us. I saw Billy and Travis together smirking toward me once they got to their line of guys. My eyes traveled along the line trying to find Joey, the leader. My eyes found him standing next to Trent who was another right hand man other then Billy and Travis. Joey stepped out of the line and out in front. Standing with pride and certain aura that gave the impression that he was tough, cold and mean.

And I realized this was where we were going to find our fates.

"Let's get started."

Well was that long enough for you guys? What will happen at the council? I hope it is not a bad cliff hanger. Let me know. Please Review this. Pretty please with suger on top.

Please Review and thanks for reading.