Sorry for the long wait but I couldn't think of any ideas for a chapter so I just wrote this about when Pony was born. Also, since this is a flashback chapter, everyone will be three years younger. (Darry-17, Soda-13, Steve-14, Johnny,12 Two-Bit-15, Dally-14)
"This is boring," Steve complained from the backseat of Darry's truck. The rest of the gang, except Dally who nodded in agreement, simply ignored him. They were all excited to get to the hospital so they could finally meet the newest edition to their gang. And of course Sodapop and Darry were just ecstatic about finally seeing their new baby brother.
"Darry are we there yet?" His impatient brother questioned for the fifth time since they left the house.
"What's it look like to you Einstein?"
Soda rolled his eyes. "Are we almost there?"
Darry sighed. He knew that Soda knew exactly how far the hospital was from their house. It was only a twenty minute drive but the gang was treating it like they were on a road trip to England or something, except for Johnny who was practically mute. It also didn't help Darry that he had only just recently gotten his drivers license and he wasn't used to driving with all of them in the car.
"Yes Soda, we're almost there." Now be quiet, he silently added.
"How much longer?" Of course. . .
"Probably about five minutes." He figured if he just answered the questions time would go faster. He could only hope.
"What do you think it'll be?" Soda asked only so it wouldn't be silent. Of course he and Darry already knew the baby would be a boy but no one told the rest of the gang. They wanted to keep it a surprise for whatever reason.
"Hopefully it's not a girl. We don't need two girls running around screaming like banshees," Two-Bit added. His Mom was also pregnant and found out she was gonna have a girl, which of course Two-Bit was unhappy about. How was he supposed to teach a girl how to burp the alphabet?
"I just can't wait till this is over with so your Mom will be normal again." Steve grimaced at the thought of Mrs. Curtis' mood swings that seemed to have occurred every ten minutes.
"You wanna talk about mood swings go to my house," Two-Bit piped up again. "Or you can just go there to try my Mom's latest cravings. Peanut butter and pickles." He grimaced.
"Mixed together?" Johnny spoke up for the first time since their drive.
He nodded.
"That actually sounds really good." Soda said, hoping he could try that as soon as they got to the hospital.
"How does that sound good?" Dally asked.
"Dally this is the same kid who used to eat glue and dirt- together." Darry reminded him, grimacing.
"I told you that was a dare! I couldn't just say no!" Soda looked out the window, hoping to find something to distract everyone from his childhood antics.
Steve smirked at him. "I remember quite a few times when you ate glue willingly."
"I thought it was vanilla ice cream!" Soda thought back to that day, crossing his arms when he remembered that it was Steve himself who had told him that.
"You hate vanilla," Steve pointed out.
"That reminds me. Soda, don't influence this baby. That's the last thing it needs."
"Oh look it's the hospital!" Soda pointed out happily. "And not a moment too soon," he mumbled to himself.
Darry still heard him but ignored him, looking for somewhere to park.
"Oh park there Dar!" Two-Bit yelled, jumping from the backseat to the front between Soda and Darry, causing the latter to promptly let out a low growl. Unfortunately for him he was ignored while everyone, minus Johnny and Dally, yelled out when they saw a seemingly good parking space.
Dally rolled his eyes. He was surrounded by idiots, except for Johnny.
"I don't see why you don't just park back there," Two-Bit huffed, leaning back into his seat.
"It's too far away and I don't feel like walking." Came the grumbled response.
"You should park in an employee's space. There's three empty spaces back there just being wasted," Steve pointed out.
Soda waved him off. "No just park in that handicap space. It's not like they're gonna check."
"Yes Soda, they'll check," Darry argued, finally finding a space he thought was good enough.
Once parked, Soda jumped out of the car, stretching. "Do you think Mom had the baby yet?" he asked Darry eagerly.
"Probably not Soda. It takes awhile."
"Well in that case I'm gonna see if they have any pickles and peanut butter." With that he ran off to the entrance, still running as if his life depended on it when he got inside.
Everybody else sighed, running in after him.
By the time they all got in they saw him sprinting off to the cafeteria. They ran off after him, except Darry who stayed behind to check what room his Mom was in and if she was okay. He even asked if she had the baby yet, even though he already knew that it was still too early.
When he entered the hospital's cafeteria he was greeted by the sight of his brother stuffing his face with pickles drenched in peanut butter.
"This is my new favorite thing ever," he mused. "Darry try it." His only response was a grimace.
They spent the next half hour in silence, with an occasional story from Two-Bit about how he jumped a group of Socs or how he hooked up with some blonde. Either way they all knew they were lies but it helped time pass by quicker.
"Darry, I need twenty dollars." Darry looked over at his younger brother, who had hopeful eyes and an exaggerated pout on his face.
"For what?" he exclaimed loudly, causing the other people in the waiting room to stare at them. "What makes you think I have twenty dollars anyways?"
"I saw Dad give you the money for food," Soda replied simply.
Darry sighed, reluctantly handing the money over, making sure Soda asked everybody else if they wanted anything.
xxxx
After they all finished eating they quickly became bored again. Two-Bit occupied himself by taking some of the stuffed animals they had all bought for the baby and threw them at Steve. Steve glared at him before throwing them back at him and he even threw his empty pudding cup at Two-Bit.
Sodapop watched them for awhile until he could no longer keep his eyes open. As soon as he let his eyes close he quickly fell asleep. Not too long after that the rest of the gang, one by one, began to fall asleep. Eventually Darry, Dally, and Two-Bit were the only ones awake. Two-Bit looked at Darry.
"Hey Darry, have I told you how I hope your Mom has a boy?" Darry sighed, ignoring him since he's only mentioned it about hundred times already. And that was only today. "Because I really hope it's a boy," he stated again loudly. Unfortunately for him a bit too loud for Dally, preventing him from getting some much needed sleep.
"Keep it down will ya, man?" Dally grumbled drowsily. Just before Two-Bit could make a retort, Mr. Curtis burst into the waiting room, with his usual happy go lucky grin on his face, clothed in hospital scrubs.
Almost instantly Darry sat up, nudging the still asleep Soda, who grunted in response.
"It's a boy," Mr. Curtis said happily to the boys, specifically Dally and Two-Bit since they were the only ones awake who didn't already know the sex of the baby.
"YES!" Two-Bit cheered loudly, waking everyone else up.
"Why are you so happy? He's my brother."
"Yeah but he may as well be mine too, as much I show up at your place."
Mr. Curtis grinned at him. "Maybe you can help out with changing diapers."
"Nah that's okay."
Grinning, Mr. Curtis shifted his gaze to his eldest son. "Wake up your brother and you two can come see your new baby brother."
A bit anxiously, Darry vigorously shook Soda's shoulder just as he was about to ease back into his sleep. "Soda get up."
"Noo..." he childishly groaned.
"Fine. I guess I'll just have to explain to our brother that you didn't want to see him."
Soda's eyes immediately snapped open. "Mom had the baby?" he questioned, his brown eyes filled with happiness and excitement. Before anyone had the chance to answer him he was already on his feet, rushing to his mother's room.
Darry and his father shared a smirk before they followed him in.
Their mother was laying in her hospital bed, holding her rosy cheeked newborn baby boy lovingly in her arms, their father gazing sweetly at his wife and baby.
Sodapop walked up to the bed, smiling fondly at his little brother. "Hi baby!" he said, thumbing the baby's slightly pudgy cheeks.
Darry grinned, full of emotions he didn't ever expect he'd have. "What's his name?" he questioned his parents, also walking up to the bed, rubbing his new baby brother's forearm gently.
Here, their parents share a glance before their mother good-naturedly rolled her eyes, smiling while their father smirked. Darry recognized the smirk from when Sodapop was born.
"Ponyboy."
"Well at least I'm not the only one with one of Dad's original name's anymore," Soda mused softly, his eyes never leaving Ponyboy.
"Can I hold him?" Darry asked his Mom. She carefully passed Pony to Darry with his Dad helped him properly hold Pony. He looked down at the baby's face, wishing he'd wake up so he could see the color of his eyes.
Surprisingly enough, Soda waited at least five minutes before he asked to hold Pony. A bit reluctantly, Darry tenderly handed the still asleep newborn to Soda, helping him hold Pony properly just as their father had done for him.
Once Ponyboy was safely positioned in his brother's arms, Soda lovingly cradled him, cooing softly to his brother.
As if on cue Pony's eyes slowly began to crack open, revealing to the family the most beautiful combination of green and gray any of them had ever seen. Soda stared into Pony's eyes, wondering how he ever spent thirteen years without him.
Darry and Soda were so caught up with Ponyboy that they almost missed their mother say, "You two should bring the boys in to see your brother."
Sighing, Darry nodded and walked out the door to get them. Soda made a move to follow but his Dad stopped him.
"Ponyboy needs to stay in here Pepsi Cola."
Reluctantly Soda handed Pony back over to his Dad before going back out into the waiting room, unaware of his Dad telling Pony, "Yes Pony, your brother is always like that."
"So how's the kid?" Steve anxiously asked his bubbly best friend.
"He's perfect. You have to go see him." Steve didn't even get a chance to respond, Soda was already shoving him into his Mom's room.
"Mom Steve wants to hold Pony," Soda said excitedly. Even though Steve really didn't want to be anywhere near this kid he let Soda put Pony in his arms anyway.
"His name's Ponyboy."
"Ponyboy?"
Soda smiled, reaching over to touch the little hair on his brother's head.
Steve stared into the newborn's eyes curiously, wondering how this one baby could change his best friend. Pony stared back up at Steve with his innocent green grayish eyes with the same curiosity he looked at everyone and everything else with.
"Here Two-Bit, wanna hold him?" Steve didn't wait for a response. He all but shoved, gently of course, Pony into Two-Bit's arms.
"So the kid's name is Ponyboy?" Two-Bit asked Soda.
He nodded, grinning widely.
Suddenly Pony started crying. Two-Bit, not wanting to hold a crying kid, handed him off to the person beside him, who turned out to be Dally. Just when he was about to give Pony back to Mrs. Curtis everyone realized Ponyboy had stopped crying as soon as he was given to Dally.
Two-Bit cracked a grin. "Aw Dal, he likes you."
Dally only glared at him, not wanting to make the kid upset again. Johnny walked up beside him to check out the baby. He smiled at Pony who gave a tired yawn in response, closing his eyes while cuddling closer to Dally. Dally noticed this and unconsciously clutched him a bit tighter. Once he realized what he was doing he shook his head and passed him over to Johnny. Dally didn't want to get attached to the kid. Almost protectively, he watched Johnny hold Ponyboy to make sure he wouldn't drop him or forget to support the baby's fragile head.
Dally continued to watch the newborn peacefully sleep in Johnny's arms, as did the rest of the gang, and couldn't help but feel a bit protective. No matter how much they tried to shake it off, they all knew if anything ever happened to Ponyboy there would be hell to pay.
xxxx
Thanks for reading! Reviews are always deeply appreciated!