Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders.

Darry's POV

"Darry." I groaned and reached for my pillow and put it over my ears. I thought I told Soda to get to work already.

"Darry!" C'mon Soda I'm tired..

"Fine. Have it your way," he sighed and I heard the door creak as he left. Finally..

My peace and quiet was interrupted when the door creaked again. I opened my eyes a bit and saw a grinning Soda looking suspicious.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" He just grinned wider.

"Shouldn't you be up already?"

"No.. That's the point of a day off."

He sighed again. "Alright Dar you win. Go back to sleep.." I happily complied and heard some rustling around as soon as my eyes closed but just ignored it.

A few seconds later I felt a soft pressure land on the bed and opened my eyes again to see Pony grinning just as wide as Soda.

I looked back up at Soda, sitting up waiting for an explanation.

"What? Pony's hungry and wants to play and someone has to watch him. And that someone would be you."

Shaking my head I lifted Pony up and sat him in my lap. "You couldn't make him breakfast?"

"I gotta go to work!" Just as he was about to leave Pony motioned for him so Soda leaned down so that his ear was in level with Pony's mouth as he whispered something to him. When he finished Soda stood back up straight and grinned at me.

"Who's supposed to make dinner tonight?"

"You." I told him a bit frightened at what it would look like.

"How does green eggs and ham sound?" Pony giggled and I instantly knew that's what he wanted. Not only is it his favorite dinner, or breakfast, but it's his favorite book as well.

I grinned too. "Fine Soda." He flashed his movie star-like grin and reached over to tousle Pony's hair and kiss his head then turned to walk out and just about ran into Steve.

"You coming Soda? We're gonna be late." He tapped his foot impatiently while trying not to laugh at his friend.

"What?" He looked back and forth between us with a confused expression on his face.

"Soda you do know your shirts on backwards don't you? And where're your pants! Do I have to remind you every single morning!"

His face instantly turned red. "You didn't have to tell me for the past three days!" he still managed to retort, rushing out of my room and into his to fix his attire.

"What're we gonna do with that kid?" Steve asked me, shaking his head.

"Don't you mean what are you gonna do with him? You have him all day," I tried to keep my tone even but I could feel an arrogant smile tugging at my lips.

He opened his mouth to make a smart ass remark but Soda burst into the room, shirt fixed and pants and shoes on thankfully. Since he was standing by the window I got a better look at him and noticed the small dark spots under his eyes and looked at him questioningly. He looked away from me and I set Pony down and gave Steve a look to watch him. He nodded slightly and I pulled Soda out into the hallway.

Before I could even start he defended himself. "Look Dar I know what you're probably thinking and I'm not sneaking out at night." I shook my head, to be honest I did think about it and the way he worded it made me a bit more suspicious.

"Then what are you doing at night then?" I eyed him carefully.

"Sleeping, I swear." He shrugged it off.

"Yeah it sure looks like it," I said sarcastically.

He glanced through the crack of my bedroom door and sighed. "Pony's been sleeping in my room for the past few nights because he doesn't want to be alone in the dark so I leave the lights on so he can sleep."

"But why aren't you sleeping?"

He looked at me amazed. "Darry have you ever seen how bright the lights are in there? Just a bit too bright for me.."

I thought of what to do before looking back up at him in a rush. "I'll take him to the store today and get him a nightlight."

Soda just stared at me like he thought I was an idiot. "But he'll still be alone."

"But it won't be dark."

"He'll be alone." I resisted the urge to repeatedly hit my head against the wall.

"Soda if there's light in there he won't care if anyone's in there."

"There's a light in his room now and he doesn't wanna be in there by himself."

"Because he can't reach the switch Soda. Look I'll take care of it, okay?"

Grumbling a bit he responded, "Fine. I just feel like I'm abandoning him."

I smirked playfully at him. "You don't need to worry about that little buddy. He'll be the one abandoning you."

Before he could say anything else I hurried back to my room to retrieve Steve so they wouldn't be late and was shocked to see Steve actually playing with Pony.

"I told him he was getting soft." Soda told me with a huge grin on his face. I silently groaned, his face is gonna end up freezing like that. But he wouldn't mind he'd somehow manage to make an even bigger smile.

Steve nearly jumped out of his skin when he noticed we came back. "Took you long enough," he grumbled and left the room, Soda trailing behind him like an expectant puppy.

I looked back at Pony and walked over to him. "C'mon little man, we gotta go shopping." He at least looked excited, probably because he knows that he'll get to ride in the shopping cart.

"Okay Darry!" he said happily and held up his arms, waiting to be picked up. Grinning, I walked closer to him and lifted him up.

When I looked at the clothes he was wearing I was surprised to see that Soda actually dressed him.

"Darry?" I glanced back down at him and waited. "Can I ride in the car-cart?" I smiled at him and nodded.

"Of course you can baby. As long as you don't drive into anything." I always liked to tell him that so he'd think that he was the reason that the cart moved.

"I won't! I never do!" he grinned up at me and I smiled back at him.

When I pulled up at the store I grabbed Pony's hand and walked over to find a cart. Once I found one Pony immediately crawled into it and started playing with the steering wheel as I wheeled it into the store.

I went to get his nightlight first. He didn't notice so I just tossed it in the cart and went to stock up on food that will hopefully last at least until the end of the month, especially with someone like Two-Bit around all the time.

"Darry are you done?" Pony whined, I wondered why. He always loves going shopping with me. I looked down to check my watch and realization hit me. We've been in here for an hour, almost two. I looked in the cart and also noticed how full it was and groaned. How am I gonna pay for all of this? Sighing, I turned the cart around and went to check out.

"Yeah Pone. We're almost done." I groaned again when I saw how long the lines were. I drummed my fingers on the cart impatiently.

Pony was a bit impatient too but he just played with the steering wheel on the cart to amuse himself. I smiled as the line inched forward. The best thing about this was that the people in front of me didn't have a lot of items in their carts but this was still taking longer than it should. I sighed again and scanned the other lines. They were all moving slow.

While we were waiting I heard the sound of paper unwrapping. I moved to the other side of the cart and crouched down in front of Pony. He hurried to hide something from me but I already knew what it was.

"Ponyboy what was that?" I wasn't mad at him, this is what kids do. I just wish they wouldn't..

He hesitantly pulled out an unwrapped chocolate candy bar and handed it to me. I glanced at it and saw he already took a few bites then looked at him and gave it back to him and smiled.

"Don't turn this into a regular habit baby, cause when you get older you definitely won't get away with it." I told him in a low tone so no one else would hear. He grinned and took another bite as I stood up and ruffled his hair and quickly went back to the front of the cart to push it closer to the front of line.

I breathed out a sigh in relief. There was only one more person in front of us, a plump woman with a blond bob and she didn't have a lot of stuff, thankfully. But, unfortunately for me and everyone behind me, she decided to start up a long conversation with the cashier.

I began tapping my foot impatiently. Why can't you just ask for her phone number? I thought a bit heatedly.

Suddenly she turned around and eyed Ponyboy.

"Oh what a cute little boy! Is he your son?" I resisted to roll my eyes and snap 'can the small talk lady!' but held it together and politely told her,

"No he's my baby brother Ponyboy."

Ponyboy must've looked frightened of the woman because she just smiled kindly and pushed her cart out of line and was off.

Finally..

After Ponyboy and I finally got out of the store I lifted him out of the cart and strapped him into his car seat and packed all of the groceries into the truck then hopped in the drivers seat and started the car.

He practically played twenty questions with me on the way home. Asking things like "why is the sky blue?" and "why is grass green?"

When we finally got back home I packed all of the groceries away then put Pony to bed for a quick nap while I took a much needed shower.

After my shower I made a quick lunch, sandwiches with turkey, ham, and cheese knowing how much Pony hates baloney. Once I finished mine I made my way into Pony's room, that now had the nightlight plugged in, and shook him awake gently.

"C'mon baby. Time to get up." Nothing. "It's time for lunch little buddy." At 'lunch' Pony was sitting up with the sleep out of his green eyes and was holding his arms up. I laughed and picked him up taking him to the kitchen. He smiled at the sandwiches' lack of baloney and started reaching for one.

"Hold on Pone," I laughed, "we need to wash your hands."

He grinned and nodded. I took him into the bathroom and washed his hands under warm water for a minute. After about another minute he was seated at the table happily munching on his sandwich.

Not too long after I heard the front door slam and rolled my eyes when Two-Bit came charging in Johnny in tow.

"Hey Dar what's for lunch?" Not waiting for a response Two-Bit moseyed his way over to the table and grabbed a leftover sandwich.

"One? One sandwich is not going to fill me up Dar! I'm a growing boy! I need my nutrients!" Two-Bit complained. Pony giggled and Johnny and I just rolled our eyes at his antics.

"Why don't you make one yourself?"

"C'mon Superman, cookings not good for my rep!"

"Didn't you cook when you watched Pony?" Johnny questioned with an amused smile tugging at his lips.

Two-Bit blanched. "Who told you that Johnny? Whoever it was lied!"

"Dally told me."

"I didn't think Dally was the type to lie. Well except to the fuzz." I mumbled, amused.

"He must've been mistaken. It wasn't me who cooked. It was... Ponyboy!"

"And how did he manage that? He's three!"

Two-Bit avoided the question and went into the living room and I heard Mickey Mouse blaring on the TV.

I shook my head and looked at Johnny. "Can you still watch him tomorrow?"

He grinned and nodded eagerly. "Yeah." He walked over to Ponyboy and ruffled his hair, earning a giggle from him. I smiled too, happy someone normal will be watching Pone and happy he won't be influenced by Two-Bit's antics.

A/N: Brooklyn25, I think you should definitely write! Can't wait for the summary! Happy writing!