I went through the front door into the living room to find Two-Bit making up stories about what we had done all day.

"… yeah, so then I took her for a short ride in the country, we got some ice cream, then after that we took turns reading to each other from the New Yorker…"

"Shut up, Two-Bit," I said, throwing the couch pillow at him and turning to face Darry.

"He sat on his butt all day and watched TV while I took a nap. Then I made him lunch and listened to him talk my ear off until Ben came over and rescued me."

Two-Bit pouted and attempted to look hurt. "You just don't appreciate my stories," he said.

"Nice, Two-Bit, you couldn't even make lunch for her?" Soda tried to sound serious. "Some babysitter you are. You're fired."

"You ain't payin' me, so you can't fire me," he pointed out. Just then the phone rang. Darry went into the kitchen to get it, smacking Two-Bit on the head on the way by.

Soda came over and messed with my hair. Now that it was short it was always falling out of the elastics I used to tie it out of my face. "How're you feelin'?" he asked.

"I'm OK. Think you can convince Darry to let me go back to school tomorrow?" I asked, out of Darry's earshot.

"I don't know…" Soda looked skeptical. "Are you sure you're ready for that?" Dr. Bryant had recommended a few days off after I got home.

"If you make me stay home again, I want a new babysitter," I said. Two-Bit immediately grabbed me and flung me down on the couch, pinning me. I didn't even try to free myself, what with my wrist in a cast, and all.

"Let her go, Two-Bit," Darry said, coming back into the room. "That was the hospital." Two-Bit immediately released his hold on me. I wish I could get people to follow my orders like they do Darry's.

"Is Pony okay?" I asked, standing up, swatting away at Two-Bit behind my back.

"He's fine. They want to release him. They said there's nothing medically wrong with him anymore."

"Is he still hallucinating?" Soda asked.

"I don't know, but I guess we're gonna find out," Darry said. "Two-Bit, can you drive me? I don't want to hafta make him squeeze in the truck."

"Sure, Dar," he said.

"Soda, you stay here with Scout," Darry ordered. "There's no need for all of us to go. Start something for supper and if I'm not back yet, just go ahead and eat without me."

"OK," Soda agreed, though something in his tone was off.

"Scout, you go easy on that foot, hear me?"

"I will. Just go get Pony." I just wanted everybody home again. I didn't even realize how much I wanted it until I had said it. I ached for my family to be whole again, almost as much as when I lost my parents.

Two-Bit and Darry left, and, not long after, Soda surprised me by going out onto the porch and lighting up a cigarette. I was puzzled for a minute: Pony coming home was certainly good news, and I was home now… I guessed it must have been losing Dally and Johnny that was upsetting him, which was more than understandable. I went out on the porch after him. He was leaning against the railing, looking up at the sky. This was the Tulsa night sky that I remembered: hazy and indistinct, not anything like the sky I had seen at the church. Thinking of that only made me want Pony back home even more.

"Are you okay, Soda?" I asked quietly, not sure he wanted me out there with him.

"I don't know," he said, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Come here." He gestured to me to stand next to him, and when I came over he gathered me in a sideways hug.

"I miss them too, Soda," I offered. "All of them." The fresh pain of losing Dallas and Johnny had only reopened the wound of losing our parents, for me, anyway.

"It sure does suck," he said, squeezing me tighter. We stood there like that for a moment, when suddenly I felt his body shaking and I was surprised to hear him crying. I pulled him over to the couch and sat him down so I could sit with him. He tossed his cigarette over the railing and when he sat down, I was stunned to find him burying his face in my neck and sobbing.

"Oh, Soda…" I said, rubbing his back. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't even pretend that I could make everything better. But it turned out I didn't really get it anyway, at all.

"I loved her," he whispered between tears. "I loved her, Scout. Why did she leave me?" Sandy. I had forgotten all about her, and the fact that Soda was dealing with that on top of everything else.

"I don't know, Soda." This was awkward; I was practically rocking him in my arms, and he was way too big for me to be doing a very good job at it. "I don't know. It wasn't your fault, I'm sure." I wasn't, of course; I had no idea what had happened, but I had no idea what to say. To be honest, I hadn't known how much he cared about her. The boys had each other to talk to about girls; they never told me much of anything. All I know was that, besides losing our parents, I had never seen Soda so upset about anything. I definitely didn't feel very well-equipped to help him with the situation, either – what did I know about love? That kind of love, anyway…

He pulled back and looked at me.

"I wanted to marry her, Scout. I told her that. After you and Pony got out of school, I wanted us to get married. I thought she wanted us to too. How could she just leave?"

I had no idea what to say, except that any girl who would run off on Soda must be out of her mind. I could only hope to find a guy as good as him, someday. I knew there were people out there who, because he was a dropout, just wrote him off as no good- but anyone who actually knew him would never think that. I didn't know Sandy all that well, but I started to wonder if I had misjudged her, by thinking she was real nice. I couldn't help but feel angry toward anyone who would hurt Soda like that.

"I don't know… Soda, I wish I knew." I just rubbed his back. He was starting to recover, he had stopped crying and I think he was feeling a little embarrassed. I don't imagine he had planned to open up to me about any of this.

"I'm sorry, Scout… I mean… this has nothing to do with you. You shouldn't have to put up with me like this."

"Actually, it does have to do with me, because you're my brother. You have to deal with me crying all the time." That wasn't true, I didn't really cry all that often, but it was certainly more than he did.

"I am really sorry, Soda. I don't know why anyone would hurt you." I didn't. "I know you were real good to her. You don't deserve to get treated like that."

"Look, don't tell Darry about this, okay? He has enough to deal with right now."

"I won't."

"Thanks. I really missed you Scout. You and Pony both."

"I missed you too." I hugged him again.

"Let's go make some dinner, before Darry gets back and starts barking at us." He pulled me up off the couch.

We had just finished with the American chop suey when we heard Two-Bit's car pull in. Soda and I ran out the front door in time to see Darry lifting Pony out of the backseat. He carried him through the door and into Pony's bedroom. I followed him in and saw Pony's eyes open as he lay on the bed.

"Hey Pony," I said. "Welcome home."

He looked at me but didn't answer. I looked questioningly at Darry.

"Sedatives," he said. "They want him to sleep through the night."

"But he's okay?" I asked, worried. I didn't like the blank look in his eyes.

"He's still confused, but he's okay," Darry said. "He just needs sleep. Soda, can you get him into bed?" Soda started pulling off his hospital gown and I went back in the living room. Darry followed me in.

"I'm gonna take off work to stay with him tomorrow," he said, resignedly.

"You don't have to Darry. I can stay with him." I wanted to, actually.

"You can't keep missing school, Scout."

"I don't get paid to go to school, Darry. I can make up the schoolwork. You're gonna make me do it, anyway. Ben already brought most of it home for me. I can work on it while I'm home with Pony."

"I really shouldn't take any more time off."

"You don't have to. I'll do it. Let me do something to help out, Darry. I want to."

He didn't argue with me, but he didn't agree either.

"I'll stay with them again, Darry," Two-Bit was more than happy to volunteer again, of course. I immediately threw another pillow at him, but he ducked and it hit the wall behind him.

"Well, let's see how he is in the morning. You guys make dinner?"

"Yeah," Soda said, coming back into the room. "Chop suey. You stayin, Two-Bit?"

"You ever know me to pass up a free meal?"

"Two-Bit," Darry said, "Someday you are gonna realize there's no such thing as a free meal."

____________________________

The next morning Pony was groggy but lucid enough that Darry agreed to let me stay alone with him. He was still talking some nonsense, but, for the most part, he just slept.

"Scout, you call Soda at the DX if Pony seems like he's getting worse. And I expect you to have most of that math done when I get home."

"I know, Darry. We're not treating me like a five year old anymore, remember?"

"Right," he actually almost cracked a grin as he headed out.

"Bye Scout. Call if you need me," Soda called back.

"I won't," I answered.

I wandered into Pony's room and sat at his desk while he slept. I worked on some of my math, but it seemed endless, and after a couple of hours I needed a break. Finding nothing better to do, I went into the kitchen and started to clean up. It was obvious that nobody had paid much attention to the housework while Pony and I had been gone. I gathered a week's worth of paperwork from the counter and picked it up to take over to the desk where Darry kept the bills until he sat down to pay them. Then I grabbed a bunch of beer and Pepsi bottles and carried them over to the trash. That was when I noticed the stack of newspapers that had been shoved into a bag between the trash and the wall. It was fairly obvious that Darry had not wanted them lying around for me to find. I pulled them out and sat at the table with them. There it was, laid out before me: the newspaper version of the entire week that Pony and I had been gone.

First I read the articles about the night in the park. Nobody had ever actually told me the whole story of what had happened that night; that Pony and Johnny had seen those guys earlier in the night at the movies. I didn't know there were other people who were going to be testifying, either. It made me angry how the newspaper made out the victim- Robert, it turned out, had been his name- to be a fine, upstanding young man, while Pony and Johnny were characterized as lowlife hoods out looking for trouble. I had been there- I knew the truth. Pony and Johnny were just minding their own business- it had been the Socs looking for a fight. They had been the staggering drunks.

The more I read, the angrier I got. The next day's paper talked about how now I was missing too, and Social Services would be reviewing our case to determine whether custody had been mistakenly granted to an unfit guardian. I kept reading and was fuming by the time Two-Bit walked in the door at eleven-thirty. Apparently he had decided to sleep in. He froze in the doorway when he saw me at the table.

"What the hell are you doing, Scooter? You're supposed to be doing homework."

"Have you read this bull, Two-Bit?" What the hell is wrong with these newspaper people? They think Darry's not good enough for us?" He realized immediately that he had come upon me in a dangerous mood.

"Darry doesn't want you reading that, Scout." He stepped toward me.

"Why? What's really going on here, Two-Bit? Are they gonna take me away from Darry? And Pony too? Both of us?"

Two-Bit was a deer in the headlights.

"Answer me, Two-Bit! What is going on with this?"

"I don't really know. Darry doesn't tell me that much."

"Well whatever you DO know, you're gonna tell me, right now. This is about me, Two-Bit! I deserve to know!"

"They came to the hospital."

"Social services?"

"Yeah. To talk to Darry. While you and Pony were both there."

"What did they want?"

"I really don't know. I swear. He wasn't happy about it though."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"I'm telling you now."

"Cut it out, Two-Bit, I'm serious! They might split us up and nobody was going to mention it? When were you all going to tell me, when the police car pulled up to take me away?" I was starting to really yell now.

Two-Bit came over to the table and folded up the papers, taking them away from me. "Look, I don't know the whole story. Only Darry does. But I do know that what they write in the newspaper isn't always the truth. And you're plenty smart enough to know that, too. It ain't worth getting all worked up about."

I did know that. I was more upset about Darry not being straight with me than what I had read in the paper, actually. I guess I should have figured that Social Services would get involved, eventually; I just figured I'd be part of it when it happened. Just after our parents died, we had met with the agency, both separately and together, and they had agreed to Darry's guardianship without too much debate. Since then they had come around the house a few times to check up on us, but things had been going pretty smoothly, so they hadn't had much to complain about.

Now, however, things were clearly different. Pony and I had been missing for a week, we were witnesses to a murder, and two of our best friends were dead. I was the first to admit, things didn't look good.

"This is bullshit, Two-Bit!" I couldn't seem to calm down. "Darry's just as good of a guardian as our parents were! None of what happened with me and Pony was his fault!"

"I know," he said. He put his hand on my shoulder in a failed attempt to calm me down.

"So what happens now? When are they coming back?"

"There's a court hearing…"

"When, Two-Bit?"

He hesitated. "Friday."

"In three days? Why didn't anybody tell me about this? God, what do I have to do to get somebody to talk to me around here?" I could feel my control slipping away.

Darry was lucky to be at work where I couldn't reach him by phone because if I could have, I would have laid into him right then and there, even harder than when I heard about the rumble. Lucky for him, Two-Bit was around to take one for the team. I'm not sure Two-Bit had ever seen me as angry and upset as I was right then. It was as though somebody had pressed a button to release the pressure on an air tank: everything that I had been holding in came out in a jumbled rush of emotion- exploding, unfortunately, onto Two-Bit. I started yelling, kicking, even grabbing things and throwing them. He tried to restrain me the best he could, though he took more than a few good hits for his trouble.

"It's not fair. It's not fucking fair, Two-Bit. Why does all this have to keep happening to us?" I was lashing out with everything I had at him, just because I needed a target for my anger. I was half-crying, half-screaming and I remembered Pony, at the church, after Johnny cut his hair. I was acting in the same irrational manner and, while I realized how pointless it was, I didn't care. I just didn't care. I yelled and cried until finally, much to his relief, I'm sure, I just had nothing left. I sat on the couch and pulled myself into a ball and cried, quietly. He sat beside me but didn't attempt to comfort me. He just gave me my space.

"I'm sorry, Two-Bit," I said, eventually. "You know it's not you I'm mad at."

"I know," he said, apprehensively, not sure if I was going to go off on him again. "And you're damned right, kid. It isn't fair."

"They can't split us up. They can't. It's the worst thing they could do."

"I know."

I finally looked up to see him looking at me. He was bleeding from a cut on his chin. I reached up to wipe the blood away.

"Your cast," he said, motioning to my hand. I could see blood on my cast where I must have hit him. I couldn't have felt worse.

"Sorry," I said again.

"That's OK. I'm glad I was here for that instead of Darry. You falling apart like that isn't gonna help anything. He's trying the best he can."

I thought about what he said and knew he was right.

"You know, he's not trying to keep stuff from you because he thinks you're a kid. It's just how he is. He feels like he has to be the one to take everyone's troubles and fix them. He just doesn't want anyone else to have to worry. It's how your folks were, too."

I didn't answer, though I knew he was right. I was exhausted, and suddenly it occurred to me that even through the commotion of my tantrum, Pony hadn't woken up.

"I'm gonna go check on Pony," I said. Two-Bit just nodded.

_____________

Pony lay still on his bed, breathing lightly and evenly in that way that indicates the deepest kind of sleep. I sat down on the bed and looked at him. We were different people to each other now than we had been just a few weeks ago. Finally I pulled back the covers and slid into the bed next to him.

He stirred. "Soda?"

"No, Pony. It's me."

"Scout…" He didn't sound disappointed. He threw his arm over me and settled back into sleep.

They can't spilt us up, I prayed. They can't.

A/N: Longest one in a while… Wouldn't you rather everyone fall apart before the court hearing than during it, though? Thanks for reviewing, as usual!