September 8, 1972

"You have no idea how great it feels to be outta there," I smiled as Two-Bit drove out the parking lot.

I heard him chuckle, "Yeah? Not that it was a bad thing- how's it feel not having a tiny person in you no more?"

I smiled and looked at KJ. "As good as it does seein' him in front of me."

We got back to the house a little while later. I took the carrier out the car gently, trying not to wake up KJ. Two-bit took my duffel bag and the newly purchased baby bag and opened the door. Mrs Mathews and Keilah were inside when we opened the door since they were still staying at the house until KJ was born. From what I could tell, Mrs Mathews was cleaning around the house while Keilah was at the table with a large book in front of her and a few other objects placed around her on the table.

"Don't take this the wrong way," I said quietly, "But what're you two still doing here?" I sat down on the couch and set the carrier gently on the small coffee table.

Keilah got up and walked over to us. "We wanted to greet you three when you got home," she answered, "And I wanted to give you guys this." She held out the book that was in front of her on the table and her brother took it.

It was a medium sized book. The cover was a cream color with a gold square painted on it and written inside the square was Keith Mathews and Raina Johnson in the same paint but in cursive writing. When you opened the cover the first page had Married August 30, 1969 printed on it in black letters that were somewhat curved but not exactly cursive. When you went throughout the pages, it had pictures all the way from when we were kids- along with everyone else- all the way to when we started dating to when we got married. Then pictures started again from more recent events, like the ones took when KJ was born… nearly every picture had at least one of our friends in them.

"We got some of those from Soda," Keilah said, "cause we all know how much that boy loves to take photos."

She did have a point there. When Sodapop Curtis was around, there was a camera not too far and it was almost always in his hand.

"Oh man," Two-Bit laughed and pointed to a page full of newspaper articles, "That's when you won that horse race… remember that? Soda basically made you."

I laughed at the memory. To be honest, I'm pretty sure the horse I rode- Sport- at that rodeo was probably dead by now since he was somewhat old ten years ago, if he wasn't dead by now, he was old as dirt. It was a fun day, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to that- especially since I got to basically beat up that guy James… plus I was the first girl in Tulsa to enter the horse race and win the same day, and everyone was freaking out about it for nearly two weeks.

"We got those articles from Sodapop too," Keilah said.

I laughed, "I'm not surprised one bit."

"Alright," Mrs Mathews laughed, "Keilah, we should get going. You two: settle down, look through the book, whatever the heck you wanna do. If you two need anything, you know where to find us." We both nodded as the two bid us goodbye then walked out.

KJ was still asleep so we went to go put in the crib in the room we had set up a few weeks ago. The room wasn't big but it wasn't small either, but it was big enough so that as he got older, we would be able to change the room all the way to when he was a teenager and however he wanted the room. It was painted a shade of yellow- not too bright, not too dark. Somehow when Two-Bit, Darry and Danny painted it they painted little stars all throughout all four walls of the room.

I turned in the room and saw a small dresser that we didn't buy. "Where'd that come from?" I asked Two-Bit and pointed toward it.

Two-Bit placed KJ in his crib then looked to where I was pointing. "Oh that," he said, "It's from Rusty. When I told him that KJ was born, he said he had something for us so while you were in the hospital, I went over to his house with him and he said that was it."

Two-Bit still worked at Rusty's garage. Believe it or not, he paid enough so that he could keep that job, but about two months ago, Rusty gave him a slight raise in pay. Another thing was that, when he found out the real reason that I quit working there when we were teenagers, he said that if I was ever in need of a job, I could go there- and apparently he still had my shirt in his office.

The doorbell rang, cutting our conversation short. "I'll get it," I said, left the room and went to the front door. When I opened it, a man who looked to be in his late forties to mid-fifties stood there looking both slightly guilty and nervous. He had blondish hair and light eyes. "Um, hello… can I help you with something?" I asked.

He glanced down at the floor then back at me. "Uh, yeah," he said with an unsure tone, "Can I come in?" I hesitantly let the man in. "Is Keith here?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Yeah, why?"

"I just really need to talk to him." I went to KJ's room and got Two-Bit, telling him about the man then followed him back to the living room as he whispered, "Stay behind me and listen for KJ." When we got to the living room, he froze when he saw the man.

"Hello Keith," the man said, "Do you remember me?"

Two-Bit nodded and crossed his arms, "Unfortunately, yeah.

"Who is this guy?" I leaned up and whispered to him.

"My dad." His tone was dry and flat as he continued to stare at the man and my eyes widened.

The man sighed, "I came here to apologize to-"

"You should've done that fifteen years ago."

"I know… that's why I'm here. I… I wanna make things right with you, Keilah and your mother."

"You can't, especially with my mom. You left her alone with two kids- a ten year old and a two year old. Keilah doesn't even remember you but always would blame herself for you leaving all the way till she was sixteen last year. To be honest, I blamed myself for nearly all my life."

"It was never either of your faults-"

"That's right, it was your own damn fault!"

He sighed again. "I just didn't think I could handle taking care of the three of you like I-"

"Couldn't handle it? You thought you wouldn't be able to handle it?! And you thought my mom could handle two kids on her own? I remember her crying nearly every night for a month when me and Keilah were supposed to be asleep, but I couldn't fall asleep, cause I was always wondering- when's Dad gonna come home? And you have the nerve- fifteen years later- to just show up again and act like nothin' ever happened?!" He stopped when we heard KJ crying.

"I'll take care of him," I whispered and he nodded. I walked out the room, but not without turning on the baby monitor so I could hear what the two were saying.

"I'm guessing she's your wife?" I heard in his father's voice.

"Yeah,"Two-Bit answered, "Yeah, she is."

"And that's your baby?" I guess he saw the picture that Mrs Mathews put up from the day KJ was born.

"Yeah, my son."

"You have a beautiful family."

"Yeah… yeah, I do. And I want you to stay away from them. Stay away from my wife, stay away from my son, stay away from my mom, stay away from my sister, and stay away from me. If I hear that you went near any of them, I'm callin' the cops and having you arrested," I heard Two-Bit growl at him, "Now get out of my house and get outta Tulsa."

My eyes widened a bit at what he said to his dad. I heard some sort of sound that sounded like the door then heard something that sounded like a sigh. About five minutes later, I heard footsteps coming to the room and Two-Bit opened the door and walked in. He chuckled a bit, "I know you were listening through that monitor thing." I couldn't help but return his slight smile as he came and sat down next to me next to the crib.

"I'm proud of you," I whispered and leaned my head on his shoulder.

He kissed my forehead then looked at KJ, "I'm never gonna leave you two, I promise."

I nodded. "I know you won't… cause Darry and Soda would probably hunt you down and kill you." I remembered what they said when the two of us started going out.

He chuckled again and nodded. "Probably… by the way, remember when I asked you if you were alright when your parents came that day, and you asked how I would feel if it happened to me?"

"Yeah…?"

"I think I know how you felt now."

"And I know how you felt with wanting to kill them so badly," I teased and laughed.

Awwwwww how cute… by the way, I've been planning for his dad to come around since we all know that in the book, his dad left.

"Dr Pool!"

"Dr Pool?!"

"HELLOOOOOOOO"

"Get back in the room!"

XD sorry! But I'm watching "Oscar" as I type and that scene just happened (I love Sylvester Stallone ok? Way before I ever knew about the Outsiders). Anyway, how's life? My life is actually picking up somewhat- I'm almost done with school, my expendables fanfic is nearly done (like I said, I love Sylvester Stallone), my mom is gonna buy me books from amazon. com instead of making me pay for them, I'm almost done with reading "Heaven and Hell", plus I started watching this anime show called "Clannad" and according to my friend Alex (andra) I'm an official Otaku! (anime fan) it's the only show I've watched most of it (so far- not including Chi's Sweet Home) but she said if I can handle that show, I can handle nearly any anime so yeah.

Anyway, peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^=