One Step At A Time

Summary: When he was only two, a car accident took his leg, and his mother. Now, Ponyboy must learn to deal with life at fourteen with only one leg. With the help six brothers and dad, he's just going to have to take it one step at a time. (Mr. Curtis is alive!)

Disclaimer: No, silly, I never have nor will I ever own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders. *sighs* :( I simply borrow them for my own creative enjoyment purposes.

White collar black wolf: Thank you so very much for your review! :)

Kas3y: I'm glad that you thought so! Thank you so much for your review. I hope you continue to enjoy.

HappierThanMost: A little dose of heartbreak for your hopefully fabulous day. I'm really excited to have Mr. Curtis alive- he's a character I don't often get to explore. Thank you so much for your kind words, Happier. You are a fantastic reviewer and person. :)

Sofie (Guest): I totally will! Thank you so much for your kind review.

Amanda (Guest): Thank you so much for your sweet words, love. I am so glad that you enjoyed this story. And yes, it does mean Darry is in college, but he won't go back for another two and a half weeks. He's on summer break right now. :) Again, thank you so much for your review!

Outsiders-stories-forever: Thank you so much. You are so kind. :) Here is the second chapter!

Chapter 2: Flashbacks and Football

~ Friday, August 12, 1966 ~

Ponyboy limped into the house, his eyes downcast from his father, praying with all of his mighty that his father wouldn't notice the purple bruise beginning to form around his right eye.

"What happened, Ponyboy?" Mr. Curtis drawled, unaffected by his youngest son's hiring attempts. Ponyboy sighed, turning around to look directly at his father.

As soon as Mr. Curtis saw the bruises, he sighed. It was times like these that he wished the woman he was lucky enough to call his wife for ten years was still alive. He missed her with every ounce of his being everyday, but he felt sorry for his youngest son the most. Darry had gotten to know his mom, and Soda at least had a few real memories that melted together with what he had been told, but Ponyboy remembered nothing other than a song she used to sing to him to calm him down.

"I got jumped. Black Mustang," Ponyboy responded. Mr. Curtis placed a hand gently under his son's chin, examining the damage before deciding that Ponyboy was alright, besides just a nasty bruise.

"Did you give 'em hell?" Darry joked from the kitchen, downing a cup of milk in one easy gulp.

"Watch your mouth, Darry," Mr. Curtis lectured, but his tone was only semi-serious. Darry grinned, wiping off the milk that covered his upper lip.

"Hey, do y'all wanna play a game of football?"

Ponyboy nodded happily, while Two-Bit broke out in a wide grin.

"Heck yeah, Superman. Let's go. Kids on my team," Two-Bit declared.

"Alright. Me and Dally versus you, Soda, and Ponyboy. That's a fair stack," Darry decided. He heard his father laughing quietly as the boys ran outside in search of a football, eventually finding their usual football in the shed.

The five each respectively got into their positions, listening as Darry called, "Hike!" Ponyboy couldn't run as fast as the others, but he could get himself open by the touchdown line and almost always caught the ball when his teammates threw it. Two-Bit intercepted as Dally tried to throw the ball to Darry, and ran halfway down the lot until he saw Ponyboy was open. He threw a perfect spiral towards the youngest greaser, letting out a whoop when Ponyboy crossed the touchdown line without being tackled.

Ponyboy felt himself grinning. Some days, he wished he could do everything the gang could, but other days, he was perfectly content with the one leg he had. He knew how to make the best of it, and he hoped his mindset would stay that way.

~ Thursday, May 6, 1960 ~

Darrel lifted the pan of chicken from the oven, his stomach growling as soon as the smell hit his nostrils. He removed a knife from the drawer, cutting halfway through a piece of chicken to check for any pink. He sighed internally when he saw that a light strip of pink ran across the middle of his chicken. He set the pan back in the oven disappointedly before his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the screen door opening and shutting.

"Soda? Pony?" Darrel called out, but he received no replies in return. He turned around just in time to see Ponyboy disappear into his room, without Soda.

"Dad, he was crying on the bus. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong," Sodapop said sadly, concern filling the nine year old's chocolate brown eyes.

"I'll talk to him, Soda. Can you get Darry from outside? The chicken is in the oven, don't let him burn it," Darrel instructed. As a thirteen year old, Darry rode a different bus that got home before his younger brother's bus.

Darrel slowly turned Ponyboy's door handle, knocking lightly as he did.

"Hey, kiddo."

Ponyboy sniffed. "Hey."

Darrel sat down on the edge of Ponyboy's bed. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

Ponyboy shrugging, wiping at his eyes. "Mother's Day is soon. And my teacher is making me make a card! Even though it told her mom isn't here. And... I don't know, but I'm just sad. I don't know what card to make her, I don't even remember what she likes."

Darrel sighed sadly. "How about I help you with the card tomorrow night, and tonight I can tell you a story about her. Would you like that?"

A small smile tugged at Ponyboy's lips, a stark contrast to his tear-stained cheeks. The seven year old nodded lightly.

"Alright, so," and Darrel began recounting stories of the woman he married; stories of the times she sang to her kids, or the story of how Darrel proposed, and even the story of her favorite book that she used to reread all of the time (which Ponyboy decided to redraw the cover of for his Mother's Day card.) Darrel recounted stories that Darry and Sodapop eventually migrated in to hear, the family's dinner cold and forgotten on the counter.

A/N: Done with school! Yay. *Does Happy Dance* And I hurt my foot, again, so I can't work or train for my 5K, so all my time is being devoted to summer classes and writing for about another week or two. Should update at least probably two times a week during the summer! :) That's my goal, at least.

Stay Gold,

~ Alee XxX