December 25, 1998. 20 years later. Christmas.

Keith and I walked up to the familiar house and rang the doorbell. As soon as the doorbell rang through the house, we could the dog yapping away as she ran to the front door. I couldn't tell if the miniature dachshund could tell it was us, or if she was just excited that there was something or someone on the other side of the door. The two of us let out amused laughs at the dogs as we continued to wait for the door to open.

About a minute later the door swung open, revealing Mariah. She smiled an excited and greetings mile as she quickly hugged the two of us and let us inside the house. Jazzy, their miniature dachshund followed behind us excitedly, her tail wagging so much that it could make someone dizzy if they tried to follow it. Once we all walked in, we could see that Darry and Mariah had already gotten to the house.

As the years went by, Christmas traditions changed as our group all grew. Other family members started new traditions and events for the holidays. We all got together as often as we could, taking advantage of the fact that all our kids were friends- and some of them even related in one way or another- as they all grew up. That was definitely a help and a factor for all of us to stay together. There was also the fact that a few of the kids had started to date each other, and even get married- like KJ and Mariah did- as they got older.

Once everyone was inside, we all exchanged warm greetings with one another. It was only the six of us this year, since everyone else was temporarily dispersed for the holiday season. It was KJ and Mariah who invited the four of us and just the four of us over. They'd never done that before since they got married in 1996. They always invited the four of us, obviously, but they always tried to have as many people over as physically possible, so it was a bit weird.

"So, I have to ask," Marilyn began, "How come it's only the three of us?"

KJ and Mariah looked confused. "What do you mean?" Mariah asked.

"Well you guys just invited the four of us," I pointed out.

"No one else could make it," KJ shrugged nonchalantly.

Keith gave a suspicious look. "Oh really?" he tried, unconvinced.

KJ just nodded, but looked unsure to me. "We tried everyone. They're all doin' their own things this year."

We all decided to just give up for the moment and take their word for it. It was obvious that the two were hiding something from us- but we weren't exactly sure what it was just yet. I shared a look with Marilyn that said: We gotta figure out what it is before the nights over. Honestly, I don't know if Keith and Darry caught this look between us, but I know they had the same thing in mind, based off of the facial expressions that they were wearing.

When KJ and Mariah left the room, the four of us got together and spoke quietly so they couldn't hear us from the other room.

"Something is goin' on with the two of them," Darry announced quietly.

"KJ's lying," I stated, "He didn't look at me when he was talking. He looked past me. He always did that when he was hiding something from me."

"What do you think they're hidin' from us?" Keith wondered aloud.

Marilyn shrugged. "Could be anything," she answered, "The question is: is it something they're gonna tell us or not?

KJ and Mariah re-entered the room, both carrying a carefully wrapped box- one in her hands, the other in his hand. The four of us quickly stopped talking and looked up at the two with confused looks on our faces. They sat back down with us, both with eager smiles on their faces.

"Cause you four are so impatient," Mariah chuckled, "We decided that we'd give you your gifts now."

"They're nothin' fancy," KJ clarified, "And they're one of those couple's gifts things. But we know you'll all like them."

KJ handed Keith and me the petite box, and Mariah handed hers to Darry and Marilyn. As the four of us began to open the boxes, KJ wrapped his left arm- his only arm after losing his right arm in battle while he was in the military- to hold Mariah closer to him. They both watched us closely and eagerly until the gifts were both unwrapped and revealed. In Darry and Marilyn's box was a pink knit square with a patch that read "Persephone Rose Mathews", and in ours was a similar patch but instead was blue and read "Arthur Keith Mathews".

"I don't get it," Keith said hesitantly, and I nodded in agreement.

Marilyn gasped in sudden realization. "I think I do," she said, looking up at her daughter with a smile.

"Then can you explain it to me, babe?" Darry asked confusedly, "Cause I'm still in the dark here."

Mariah chuckled as she rolled her eyes. "It's a name, Dad," she informed.

"They both are," KJ added.

Mariah nodded. "Persephone Rose is the name we chose if it's a girl, and Arthur Keith if it's a boy."

It took a minute for the three of us to finally comprehend what they were trying to tell us.

Darry looked the most shocked, but still happy for his little girl. "You're sayin' that you're…"

Keith tried to finish. "You two are gonna be…"

"You're pregnant," I finally got out, half stating, half questioning.

"Yeah," Mariah breathed out happily, "I'm pregnant. I'm just at nine weeks."

"Merry Christmas!" KJ laughed.

"I'm just curious," Keith started, "Where'd you get the names?"

"From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series."

That next year, in the first week of September, the first of the third generation of all of our families was born, and named Persephone "Percy" Rose Mathews.

-/-/-

Family trees.

Keith "Two-Bit" Mathews Sr. and Raina "Rain" Johnson Mathews, married 1969.

Keith "KJ" Mathews Jr., born 1972.

Skylar "Sky" Keilah Mathews, born 1976.

Andrew "Drew" Michael Mathews," born 1980.

Sodapop Patrick Curtis and Candice "Candy" Ramos Curtis, married 1974.

Patrick Michael Curtis, born 1975.

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Michaela Curtis, born 1975.

Katharine "Kitty" Candice Curtis, born 1978.

Darrel Shaynne Curtis Jr. and Marilyn Davis Curtis, married 1970.

Mariah "Maya" Curtis, born 1972.

Darrel "DT" Shaynne Curtis III, born 1974.

Steve Randle and Evelyn "Evie" Williams Randle, married 1980.

Rachel Evelyn Randle, born 1982.

Stacy Esther Randle, born 1987.

Ponyboy Michael Curtis and Sherri "Cherry" Valance Curtis, married 1977.

Jonathan Ponyboy Curtis, born 1978.

Dallas "DC" Cooper Curtis, born 1979.

Beth Marcia Curtis, born 1981.

Emmett Washington and Keilah Mathews Washington, married 1979.

Greyson "Grey" William Washington, born and adopted in 1981.

Taylor Julia Washington, born and adopted in 1983.

Miracle "Myra" Natalie Washington, born in 1984.

Lucas Randall Washington, born and adopted in 1988.

Eric Johnson and Annabella Oleksy Johnson, married 1981.

Nicholas Halbrook Johnson, born 1986.

Bella Holly Johnson, born 1992.

-/-/-

Keith "KJ" Mathews Jr. and Mariah "Maya" Rose Curtis, married 1996.

Persephone "Percy" Rose Mathews, born 1999.

Gwenyvere "Gwen" Lily Mathews, born 2000.

Dorian Keith Mathews, born 2003.

Fenchurch Daisy Mathews, born 2005.

Patrick Michael Curtis and Skylar "Sky" Keilah Mathews, married 1998.

Dwayne Lee Curtis, born 1999.

Greyson "Grey" William Washington and Rachel Evelyn Randle, married 2012.

Rebecca Nicole Randle-Washington, born 2000 and adopted by Greyson in 2012.

Robert "Rob" Greyson Washington, born 2014.

Renee Taylor Washington, born 2016.

Andrew "Drew" Michael Mathews and Anna Crawford, married 2005.

Julie Nathalia Mathews, born 2008.

John David Mathews, born 2010.

Darrel "DT" Shaynne Curtis III and Milly Teeger, married 2000.

Darrel Shaynne Curtis IV, born 2005.

Layla Milicent Curtis, born 2010.

Lucas Randall Washington and Stacy Esther Randle, married 2011.

Adriana Nicole Washington, born 2015.

Nathaniel "Nathan" Daniel Washington, born 2016.

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Michaela Curtis and Elijah Nyland, married 1999.

Wilson Elijah Nyland, born 2004.

Gabriel Andrew Nyland, born 2004.

Brandon Michael Nyland, born 2007.

Katharine "Kitty" Candice Curtis and Oliver Whitley, married 2007.

Thomas "Tommy" Oliver Whitley, born 2008.

Noah Russel Whitley, born 2012.

Chrissie Leah Whitley, born 2014.

Dallas "DC" Cooper Curtis and Georgia DeOliviera, married 2006.

Jackson Conrad Curtis, born 2011.

Brooklyn Charlotte Curtis, born 2011.

Sydney Carolyn Curtis, born 2014.

Austin Caleb Curtis, born 2017.

Jonathan Ponyboy Curtis and Delilah McClanahan, married 2006.

Zoey Nicole Curtis, born 2012.

Benjamin "Benjy" Jonathan Curtis, born 2014.

Deborah Abigail Curtis, born 2015.

Savannah Avery Curtis, born 2015.

Taylor Julia Washington and Jonah Erickson, married 2012.

Charlotte Genesis Erickson, born 2014.

Beth Marcia Curtis and Alan Robertson, married 2006.

Alexander "Alex" Brandon Curtis, born and adopted 2009.

Andrea "Andi" Bethany Curtis, born 2010.

Angus Bryce Curtis, born 2013.

Anthony "Tony" Barry Curtis, born in 2015, adopted in 2016.

Nicholas Halbrook Johnson and Susanna Scelfo, married 2016.

Grace Annabella Johnson, born 2017.

Madeline "Maddie" Raina Johnson, born 2017.

Clarissa Susanna Johnson, born 2017.

Dustin Eric Johnson, born 2021.

Russel Nicholas Johnson, born 2021.

Bella Holly Johnson and Jacob Havilland, married 2015.

Rowland Kevin Havilland, born 2020.

Bridgit Raquel Havilland, born 2025.

Sadie Isabella Havilland, born 2025.

-/-/-

"I had to accept that everything and everyone around me was changing, whether whatever changed was a good thing or bad thing."

-/-/-

"I've seen how you two are when you're together, Rain. Your faces light up like Soda's would when he was with Sandy. You even get pink in your cheek sometimes when he makes you smile."

-/-/-

At some point, we just walked through the city together. I stopped walking and looked over at Keith. He gave me a questioning look as he asked, "Somethin' up?"

I shook my head carelessly. "Nope," I answered then gave a serious look, "I just wanna say thank you for everythin'."

"For today?"

"No, I mean for everything."

The End.

This is the end of the Rain Johnson trilogy. Thank you to those who read "Before the Love", "To Love A Greaser" and finally, "The Power of Love". I hope you enjoyed it all.

If you want to read anymore Outsiders fanfictions by me (which are all better), here is the list of stories you can read:

Cherry Flavored Soda (almost complete)

Loyalty (Completed)

A Mother's Love (one-shot)

Who Won? (one-shot)

And the upcoming story in January 2017, spin off from Loyalty… Layla.

Thank you, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever else you celebrate, and peace from all the hippies of the world. =^-^=