Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders

Sorry this took longer than it should've but thankfully I only have 12 more days of school, which means quicker updates!

Darry's POV

Eventually Two-Bit came back with his gifts wrapped, no doubt done by his mom, and with his kid sister, Amanda, in tow. She was about three months younger than Pony and even though he was in the whole 'girls have cooties' phase they were still good friends.

She glanced around for a moment before taking off to the kitchen, nearly crashing into Soda on the way.

"Manda," Two-Bit groaned as Soda greeted, "Hey Mandy."

She turned slightly before simply skipping off into the kitchen.

Soda laughed as Two-Bit groaned again, clearly a bit embarrassed by his sister's behavior but I didn't mind. Kids will be kids. And as long as they don't break anything they'll be okay.

Before anyone could say or do anything else Steve came out of the kitchen, shooting daggers at Two-Bit, still slightly miffed at him. Two-Bit tried to grin innocently at him but Steve shook his head and yanked his gift for Pony out of his hands, hiding it behind the tables legs.

I shifted my gaze to the kitchen when I heard something that sounded like a pan hit the floor. I sighed when I saw Pony and Amanda trying to climb on the counter where the cake was sitting.

"Soda get them." He looked somewhat confused but did as I asked. The rest of us simply watched as he grabbed Pony off of the counter, placing him back on the ground and picked up the mess of pots and pans and other silverware that were carelessly thrown to the floor. Pony and Amanda just watched him, looking a bit guilty. When everything was back where it belonged Soda motioned for them to follow him to the living room. He, once again, lifted Ponyboy up to sit on the couch and handed him the remote, hoping to distract him from the cake. Thankfully, it worked.

Amanda hopped on the couch beside him and raucously called, "Soda!"

Once she had his attention she immediately patted the seat beside her enthusiastically. Soda cocked his eyebrow and glanced at Two-Bit questioningly.

"She likes you," he whispered as if it were obvious and gestured to her outfit, which was a white dress with white flats and her light brown hair was in pigtails with pink ribbons in the hairbands, like it should have gave it away.

Soda mouthed, "Oh," then turned back to Amanda. "Sorry kiddo, I gotta help them get ready for the party." He sounded a bit relieved.

Smirking, Two-Bit shook his head. "That's okay. We can take care of it. Right guys?" In response Steve gave a nonchalant shrug and I reluctantly nodded. We didn't really need any extra help.

"We can take care of it." With a grunt Soda plopped himself on the couch, propping his feet up on the table and rested his head in his hand. Amanda sat up taller and smiled at him admiringly. Pony looked at him too and jumped off the couch and walked over to where he was sitting.

"Soda can I open my presents now?" Pony even threw in a perfect pouty expression.

I gave him a stern glance when I noticed that he had a look of consideration on his face. For a moment he shifted his gaze from me to Pony before finally resting his eyes on Pony.

"Why don't we wait for everyone else to get here so you can open all of them together?" Soda offered carefully.

Pony's pouting only got worse until Soda said, "How about I let you open mine?" His face lit up when Pony grinned fondly at him.

Soda got off the couch, tousled Pony's hair and walked over to me.

"Top shelf in my closet," I told him before he could even open his mouth. He grinned ingenuously and headed upstairs to retrieve it.

I looked over at Pony and sighed, sometimes Soda really spoils him.

After another moment I could hear Soda's loud footsteps running back down the stairs, holding his present with both hands. I watched him as he placed it on the floor, wondering what was in it. I remembered when I was putting it away it was heavier than it looked.

Soda walked over to Pony, grabbed his hand and lead him over to where his present lay.

I chuckled a bit when Pony tried to lift it up but couldn't since it was too heavy for him.

Soda got down on his knees beside him. "Need any help Pone?"

He shook his head and began tearing threw the wrapping paper, throwing it every which way. Gee, I can't wait to clean this up, I thought sarcastically.

He tilted his head when he saw the dominoes. Soda and Two-Bit looked more excited than Pony did, that was until Soda took the tin lid off of the box and poured the dominoes out. That attracted Amanda, Two-Bit and Steve, who was trying to look bored but was just as excited.

I grinned at them, hoping that they'd be distracted for awhile. I went to check on the cake to make sure it was still intact then went back into the living room, where I saw the dominoes scattered all over. I shook my head, it hasn't even been five minutes.

Before I could say anything to them there was a slight knock on the door before it swung open revealing Dallas and Johnny.

Pony turned around and squealed, "Johnny!" and hugged his legs,

Johnny smiled and rubbed his head. "Hi Pone. Happy birthday!"

Pony smiled then ran over to Dally and hugged him too.

He didn't hug him back, he wouldn't do that in front of us, but he just patted his head and told him, "Happy birthday kid."

Pony smiled again and grabbed their hands and pulled them down to sit with everybody else. I sighed, seeing that they were all still preoccupied with the dominoes. I'd doubt if any of them even knew that Johnny and Dally were here.

"You know you can actually play a real game with those, right?" I told them, looking at the tower they were trying to build.

Two-Bit shook his head. "I don't like that game though."

"It's too complicated," Soda agreed with him.

"And pointless," Steve piped up.

Finally Soda glanced around the room, noticing that everyone was here, and stood up and walked towards me, grinning.

"Are you finally going to tell me where this little 'surprise' is gonna be?"

He shook his head. "No. It's not only Pony's surprise it's everyone's surprise."

I only gave him a look to continue, groaning when all he asked was when we were going to have dinner.

"What? I'm hungry.." he mumbled innocently enough with a grin.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes I just said, "I'll get started on it now."

He just grinned wider, if possible, and went back into the other room to play with the mess of dominoes.

After taking a quick glance at the seven of them I started on dinner.

XXXXXXXX

Well dinner was almost a complete disaster, thanks to Two-Bit. Speaking of which, I sent another sharp glance in his direction. He just grinned with an innocent expression on his face that said 'don't kill me'.

I averted my eyes toward the door when it swung open without a warning knock.

"Hello Darrel." I breathed a sigh in relief when I saw Tim and Curly Shepard standing at the door. I moved over to the side when Curly ran passed me.

"Hi Tim," I said, staring curiously at the bag in his hands, which he seemed to notice.

Always the one to cut to the chase he assured me that there was nothing bad inside of it. "It's just some dumb puzzle Angela picked out for the kid."

I shook it a bit when he handed it to me and heard the pieces of the puzzle. Satisfied, I handed it over to Sodapop who had Ponyboy in his lap, helping him open his presents. I didn't know why but it always seemed when one of the Shepards came over he would baby Pony more than he already did.

I heard a weird noise escape Steve's throat when Tim left, leaving us stuck with Curly. Again.

"Cake time!" Two-Bit shouted as soon as Pony opened his last present, which was the puzzle.

Pony looked up at me with a pleading kind of smile. I sighed, giving in. It was his birthday after all. I nodded at him and grinned when his face lit up like a Christmas tree. He hopped off of Soda's lap and ran into the kitchen with Two-Bit excitedly.

"Darry hurry up!" Two-Bit shouted, staring intently at the cake.

"In a minute," I told him, picking up the mess of wrapping paper.

"I don't think he's gonna last that long," Steve gestured to Two-Bit who was now pulling the lid off the cake.

"Two-Bit Pony's supposed to have the first piece!" I irritatedly yelled at him.

He sighed and set the lid back down. "Fine. But I call the second piece."

"I'll be sure to give you the last piece."

He pouted as everybody else tried to stifle their smug laughter.

"And we still have to sing happy birthday to him," Steve said just to irritate him even more.

A groan and then, "Happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear Ponyboy happy birthday to you!" Two-Bit sang-yelled as quickly as he possibly could.

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed at once.

"I sang. Where's my cake?"

I shook my head, I was definitely right about today being a long day.

Soda's Pov

I watched Two-Bit, amused to see what lengths he would go to just for a piece of cake.

After placing a slice on a plate I held it towards his direction. "Here."

"Finally!" When he reached out for it I hurriedly pulled it back away from him, handing it to Pony.

Pony, now realizing what we were doing, stuck his tongue out at Two-Bit and ran off into the living room.

"Pone come back in here. You know you can't eat in there," Darry called out to him. Once he was seated at the table, with Two-Bit looking on jealously, Pony picked up his slice of cake and shoved it in his mouth, getting it all over his face.

"Pony we don't eat like that," Darry chided him, trying to wipe his face off.

"Steve does," Pony told him, pointing at Steve who was, lo and behold, currently shoving his own slice in his mouth.

"What?" Steve asked when he noticed us staring at him. With a sigh I grabbed a fork and handed it to him, hoping that if Pony saw everyone else using forks he would too.

Embarrassed, Steve took the fork and stabbed it into his cake, hastily taking another bite.

I smiled when Pony reached out for a fork and handed one to him.

After grabbing myself a piece I checked the time and gawked. I walked over to Darry and tapped him on the shoulder impatiently.

"We gotta go," I told him as soon as he turned around. "For Pony's surprise," I clarified when I saw that he had a confused expression on his face.

He nodded and got up to get Pony's shoes after he finished his cake.

"Come on guys we gotta go!" I told everybody else.

"Where?" Steve asked, chocolate covering his face.

I just smirked and shrugged. "You'll see." I picked up a napkin and wiped the chocolate off of Ponyboy's face.

"What about the cake?" Two-Bit, who had finally gotten his piece, asked with a concerned look etched onto his face.

"Eat in the car. I don't really care," I replied, unconcerned.

"What if I want seconds?"

I ignored him and focused on getting Pony ready to go.

"C'mon guys hurry," Darry said, passing us quickly.

Checking the time again, I grabbed Pony's shoes off the floor and held them in one hand while lifting him up with the other, deciding it'd be quicker to put them on him in the car.

I didn't look behind me but, thankfully, I heard everybody else walking behind me.

When I got to the car I saw Darry staring at the truck, exasperated. I walked over to him.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think everyone's gonna be able to fit."

"Throw Curly in the bed of the truck. There's one less person to worry about." I heard Steve mutter.

"Well while you guys figure this out.." Two-Bit hopped into the truck, sitting in the middle seat in the front. I shook my head but followed him in. I didn't care how they figured this out just as long as it gets fixed.

In the car I worked on getting Pony's shoes on him while Two-Bit finished his cake. By the time I got his shoes on Two-Bit was finished with the cake. We made small talk, there wasn't really much we could talk about with Pony with us.

Eventually Darry came up with a solution, like I knew he would, and made Two-Bit hold his sister in his lap and made Dally hold Curly, how he managed that I'll never know.

Just as he was about to get into the drivers seat I placed Pony back down in the seat and ran over to the other side of the truck.

"Dar you can't drive if you don't know where we're going," I said a bit smug, taking the car keys from him with a smirk. I hopped up into the drivers seat while he took my previous spot on the other side of Two-Bit.

I tried not to speed, even though I was excited about seeing Pony's reaction to his surprise, but I especially didn't wanna go too fast with all of the kids in the car.

It was only a fifteen minute drive there but it felt like hours. I think Darry knew where we were going after about ten minutes but he didn't say anything.

When we got there I think everyone was surprised. Smirking a bit, I parked the truck and pulled the keys out of the ignition and got out. Everybody else followed my action and I walked over to Pony when Darry put him down.

"C'mon Pone." I grabbed his hand and led him down a yard I've come to know real well. Once we made it to the backyard I was greeted by a familiar face.

"Hello Sodapop," Mr. Johnson said with a smile on his face. He then noticed Pony, who was trying to use my legs as some sort of protective barrier, and kneeled down in front of him. "And you must be... Ponyboy?" He looked back up at me for confirmation. I just nodded, running my fingers through Pony's hair.

Mr. Johnson was a friend of mom and dad's. He also lived on a farm which of course was littered with animals, and my personal favorite- horses.

I turned around and saw the gang finally making their way over.

They looked like they were out of breath. I sighed and shook my head. How were they already worn out? It wasn't like they had to run to get over here. I just shrugged it off. It didn't matter. What really mattered, apparently, was getting Pony home in time for his bath, which according to Darry was really important.

My attention averted back to Pony when I felt him tugging on my pant leg. I kneeled down beside him. "What's the matter?" I asked him even though I already knew that he was a bit frightened of Mr. Johnson. I remembered when I first met him when I was about six or seven. It took awhile for me to get used to him.

Pony didn't answer me, instead choosing to hide behind me some more. Chuckling, I lifted him up and shot Mr. Johnson an apologetic glance. He waved it off, stating that "Boys will be boys. You know he reminds me a bit of you." He chuckled and reached out to ruffle his hair. Thankfully Pony didn't pull away.

I looked at the gang and saw that they had increasingly bored expressions on their faces as Darry went up to Mr. Johnson and instantly became immersed into conversation. Knowing this would be awhile I walked over to the stables. They'd know where to find me anyways.

When I stepped inside I saw a bowl of sugar cubes lying on a table. I picked up two and held onto them until we got to the horses. I took one of the sugar cubes and gave it to the horse.

"Here Pone." I handed the other one to Pony and gestured to the horse. While he fed the horse I adjusted him in my arms to wipe the horse slobber on my jeans.

I hadn't even noticed that everyone else had followed us until I heard Two-Bit and Steve's raucous bickering.

Rolling my eyes at their antics, I opened the stall, quickly stepping inside and closing it slightly. I put the saddle in place and sat Pony on top of it, handing him the reins before I hopped up with him, wrapping my arms around him to keep him from falling off and holding the reins in my hands.

"Are you sure about this?" I looked behind the stall and saw Steve.

"Sure. I started riding when I was his age. Plus we can't do any worse than him." I gestured to Two-Bit who was trying to get on a horse. Once he was finally on he was sitting sideways with both of his legs on the same side.

Nodding, he agreed.

"Open the stall will ya?"

He pushed it the rest of the way open and looked back at Two-Bit who had somehow managed to actually stay on his horse with a smug expression on his face. Annoyed, Steve walked to his stall and opened it and moved out of the way as the horse slowly walked out.

I looked at him, a bit impressed, as he managed to stay balanced, even if the horse was walking a bit slow.

Even more annoyed, Steve turned back to me. "Can you make it go any faster?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure." I patted my horse's mane so it would stay calm and clucked my teeth as Two-Bit's horse walked by, making it go into a quick trot. And of course his legs were swinging around, kicking lightly at the horse's side, making it go even faster.

"Unbelievable.." Steve muttered as Two-Bit still managed to stay on the horse.

I shook my head and signaled my horse to go.

XXXXXXXX

When it was time to go Pony was complaining and fussing until we finally told him that we'd take anytime he wanted. Hopefully that won't become a problem..

"Okay Pony, bath time," Darry told him, taking him into the bathroom, ignoring the complaints that came with it.

The rest of us made small talk until Two-Bit had to take his sister home and, thankfully, Tim finally came to pick up Curly, much to Steve's fortune.

By the time Darry was finished bathing Pony it was almost an hour passed his bedtime. He drowsily gave Steve and Darry a hug and walked up to me with his arms outstretched. Smiling, I lifted him up and hurried to get him to bed since he was practically falling asleep in my arms.

When I got to his room I tucked him into his bed and softly kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight baby." He didn't respond. He was already out cold.

XXXXXXXX

The next morning I woke up to Pony jumping on my bed and nudging me. Groaning a bit, I groggily opened my eyes and glanced over at the clock and saw that it wasn't even five in the morning yet. I sat up a bit, hoping he didn't have another bad dream or something.

"Can we ride the horses?" He asked happily without any trace of tiredness in his voice.

I fell back against the bed, inwardly groaning.

Oh Pony.