Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. The song I've used for this chapter is "Child in Time" by Deep Purple, but I have taken some liberties with the lyrics. What I've used as my chapter title isn't in the original version of the song, but you will find it in some live recordings.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Wednesday, May 24th, 1967

Sweet child in time, you'll see the line.

It had been a shitty day. As far as Steve was concerned it was still a shitty day. Two-Bit, who hadn't been in a fight in weeks, had somehow managed to get his ass kicked the night before and turned up to school with a black eye and spilt lip; some idiot hadn't been careful when opening their car door at school, and Steve now had a real fucking nice dent in his passenger door; and, because of the shithead who didn't know how to open doors, the money he'd been putting away to get something nice for Anna's birthday would have to be used on his car.

Or not. Even as he thought about it he knew he'd spend the money on Anna, not his car.

But, worst of all on this shitty day, was Anna and Phillips who seemed to have some kind of friendship going on. She claimed it was nothing, and Steve knew it was nothing, but he didn't like it. Phillips was a jerk - very possibly the same one who'd dented his car - and Steve didn't want him around his girl. It wasn't Anna he didn't trust; it was Phillips.

Arguing with her about it was pointless. He knew that if he really put up a fight she'd stop talking to him, but there wasn't any point. There was nothing going on, and so long as it stayed as casual conversation in the school hallways, then Steve could deal with it. He stopped and talked to Evie and Joey on occasion, so there was no harm in Anna doing the same with Phillips.

He just wished she wouldn't.

She claimed he was jealous; he told her she was crazy. And he wasn't jealous, he just didn't like some other guy - especially Henry Phillips - looking at her the way he did. Anna seemed oblivious to it as she chatted to him before spotting Steve. Then she'd said a quick goodbye to Phillips, and thrown herself in Steve's arms. He hadn't been as responsive to her hug as she'd have liked.

"What's wrong?" she had asked, pulling back.

Still glaring at Phillips, Steve shrugged. "Nothin'."

"You jealous, Stevie?" She'd been calling him that more often than she used to, but not in the teasing way she used to. There was more to it and he kind of liked it.

He shifted his glare to her. "No."

"It's called friendship," she said. "And a very tentative one at that. Nothing more."

"I ain't jealous. You're just crazy." And then he'd kissed her, long and hard and right in front of Phillips. When he pulled back, she was blushing and breathing heavily.

"Well, you can get jealous more often if it means kissin' me like that."

So maybe her friendship with Phillips wasn't the worst that could happen. He hadn't liked it at the time, but it wasn't such a big deal now. He was pretty sure Phillips was just going to be one of those guys Steve never liked, and all because he'd dated Anna. It was probably stupid to Anna, but it seemed pretty reasonable to him. The more he thought about the two of them talking, the more he was almost okay with it. He had a temper, and his natural reaction was to get pissed off.

But it was hard to stay pissed off when Anna looked at him the way she did.

Pulling into his driveway, he smirked. She was obvious and he loved it. He knew she loved him, wanted him, possibly for as long as he wanted her. The ring he'd found was tucked in the back of one of his drawers. He'd use it one day, he knew that, but not until he was sure Anna wanted what he wanted. He knew how she felt, but the most they'd talked about a future was the few times always had come up in conversation.

He'd always want her, she'd always love him … but would they always be together? Yes. Forever. It was so firm in his mind that he couldn't imagine not being with her again. But he wasn't sure she was there yet. He had been more into their relationship since getting back together; now, however long it took, he had to wait for her to catch up.

Pushing the car door against the strong wind, he climbed out. The weather had been crap all day, and he smirked again, remembering Anna's windblown hair when he'd dropped her off at work. She was supposed to meet him at Soda's in a couple of hours, but had said Danny would drop her off.

He headed down the path, grabbing in the mail before heading inside. Slamming the door shut, he headed to the kitchen and chucked his books on the table. He didn't even know why they had homework; graduation was in a week. And then he'd be out of there. He had fulltime work at the DX, and all he had to do was find someplace to live.

He flipped through the mail, wishing he was already gone. Bills, bills, pay check, bills, bank statement, bills, and …

His heart thudded as he looked at the letter addressed to him. He stared at it for a long moment, already knowing what was inside it, but not quite willing to open it yet. Opening it made it real, after all, and he wasn't ready for it to be real.

But it was real, and after ripping the envelope open, he felt sick at the words he had known he would see.

You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States …

He didn't see much after that. There was a time and date and location, but he closed his eyes and sat in one of the chairs. Fuck.

XXXXX

It was cold, it was windy, and it was just supposed to get worse. Anna hated the stupid weather; she wanted sun and warmth and summer. She wanted days lounging on the front porch with Kathy, she wanted to go swimming in the lake with Steve again, and she wanted to not be shivering at the end of May. Stupid weather.

She sighed in relief as she reached the gate to the Curtis house. Danny had dropped her off, as promised, but a couple of houses down because he'd had to stop and see Jack Hennings about something. She wasn't sure because she made a point of not getting involved in the stupid gang stuff, but she had a feeling Jack was about to get his ass kicked. Rumour had it he'd screwed up big on some job Tim had going.

The gate was banging in the wind, and she slipped through as Ponyboy came storming down the porch steps. Anna paused; he looked furious.

"Hey," she said. "Are you okay?"

He ignored her, walking right past without even glancing in her direction, and she frowned. They'd never gotten along great before - she had a feeling it had more to do with her being with Steve than anything she might have done to offend him; those two used to clash more than they should have - but he'd never outright ignored her. She wondered if he was just in one of his moods or if something had pissed him off.

Shrugging, she made her way to the open door and poked her head in. Everyone was in there - Darry, Soda, Two-Bit … Steve. She smiled and stepped inside, but her greeting died in the back of her throat as she looked at him. Something had happened, and if the look in his eyes wasn't enough to tell her, then everything else sure as hell was - Soda's wide eyes when he saw her; Darry's pacing that quickly stopped; and Two-Bit, who was sitting on the couch, head in hands, and not saying a damn word. That in itself was enough to make her worry.

But then Steve … her heart thudded at the forced way he said her name. Something was wrong. Only once had any of his friends looked at her the way they were now; as though something was happening and, though she was going to hate it, she had no control over it.

"What's going on?" she asked, quietly.

Two-Bit stood then. Without a word or a glance in her direction, he pushed his way out the front door. She stared after him. The only time she'd seen him look like that was after he and Kathy had broken up for good.

Steve stepped towards her. "We need to talk. Let's go outside."

"It's terrible weather outside."

"I know, but we really need to talk."

Trying not to let her voice shake, Anna spoke. "I don't think I want to -"

Steve grabbed a hold of both her wrists and said her name. It was only then - when he was touching her and she could feel the roughness of the paper - that she noticed the rumpled letter in his hands. She looked down, unable to make out what it was or if it was of any importance. She had a feeling it was. A sick feeling came over her as she stared down at it.

"It's my draft letter," Steve said in the soft voice that might have been what she'd originally fallen for.

His words rang clear in her head, but she couldn't quite make any meaning of them. She knew what they meant, but fully understanding them seemed … impossible. If she didn't understand then they didn't have to be true …

There was an ache in her chest - a far too familiar ache that she hated - and she thought for certain that she was going to be sick. It was his draft letter, and, despite her attempts, she understood all too well what that meant. Taking a deep breath to calm her beating heart and twisting stomach - so much beating and twisting that it actually hurt - she looked at Steve. She wanted to tell him - no, beg him - to say he was joking, lying, anything. She simply wanted him to say it wasn't true.

She licked her dry lips. "Just tell them you can't go."

It sounded simple enough. Call them up and explain that his girlfriend wanted him to stay home. They had gone through too much damn to get each other, and having him leave now would just be unfair. People fell in love every day; they had to understand.

Too bad life wasn't that easy. Too bad that it wouldn't work. Too damn bad that she loved him.

Steve was staring at her, his blue eyes looking at her so damn intently. She looked away; it wasn't often that he had every emotion he was feeling written all over his face, but he did right then. Only problem was that there were so many she was having a hard time distinguishing all but one of them. The worst one. The one she wasn't sure she could bear to look at.

"Anna -"

"Please?" She met his gaze again, sounding pathetic. Her voice was choked, and the look in his eyes was killing her.

Darry spoke up from where he was watching them. "I'm gonna call everyone I can," he said. "I don't care what it takes, we'll sort this out."

A look of resignation came over Steve's face. He looked away from her and it was as though he already knew that it wouldn't matter how many people Darry talked to; he would have to go, there was nothing they could do, he would have to go to war.

… There was nothing they could do, he would have to go to war. War - where people killed and got killed; where Terry Armstrong had gone just a few days ago, missing his graduation and leaving his girl behind; where Steve was going …

The realisation hit Anna hard, and everything hurt. Her stomach clenched, her head throbbed, and everything else ached. She couldn't stand to stay there - not with Soda looking as distressed as he was, not with Darry already calling people, and especially not with Steve refusing to meet her gaze. So she did the only thing she could think of - the one thing she hadn't done in so long.

She ran.

Yanking herself out of Steve's grip, she turned to the open door and ran. Away from the Curtis house, away from Steve's friends who had already lost so much, and away from Steve and his stupid letter. After finding out about Terry, she had been worried about Danny, but had never once thought Steve would have to go. Never once thought he would be taken away from her again. But now …

Of course, she only made it out the gate before Steve caught her. Hand around her wrist, he held tighter than he usually would have. She didn't struggle; she looked at him through the hair blowing in her face. His damn hair was still perfect, his face was turned into it's usual scowl, and his eyes …

"Stop," he said, raising his voice to be heard.

Pulling her wrist free, she turned away from him. She didn't run off again, but she walked out the gate, the heels of her hands pressed against her forehead. She couldn't look at him; couldn't look in his eyes and see that he was scared. He had every right to be scared, she knew that, but seeing it for herself … it made her blood run cold. She had never seen Steve scared before. Every other emotion - angry, happy, hurt - but never scared. And it terrified her.

"Damn it, Anna," he yelled, following her. "I'm fucking sick of chasing you whenever something happens."

She whirled around to face him. "You're not even going to try, are you?"

He was silent, staring at her with that resigned look again.

"Darry is in there, probably calling places all over the damn country - which is going to wreck havoc on his phone bill - to try and get you out of this," she yelled, pointing back at the house. "But you've already accepted that you're going. You're not even going to try and find a way out of this, are you?"

"There is no way out of this!"

"That's crap! Of course there's a way out, you just have to be willing to figure it out. To think about things and try."

He glared at her. "I have thought about things. It's all I've been doing and there's nothing, Anna! Not a fucking thing!"

Her lip trembled, and sudden tears formed in her eyes at the knowing in his voice. He knew the score, and she was being an idiot. Everything he was saying was true, but she didn't want to accept it. Wiping her hands over her face, she pushed her hair back and let out a half-sob.

"Hey." Steve's voice was soft through the wind. "Let's go somewhere."

"What?"

"I don't want to argue with you in the middle of the street." He paused. "I don't want to argue with you at all, okay? Let's just go somewhere else? Please?"

This time it was a full blown sob that came out. "I'm sorry."

Steve stepped forward and quickly kissed her forehead. "Let's get out of here."

XXXXX

He didn't know anything - what to do, what to think, where to go. His mind was a huge fucking mess, and strangely enough, Anna being upset helped. He couldn't sort out his own shit right then, but he could help her. He'd always been able to help her, and this wasn't going to be any different. He'd help Anna - not that he knew how this time - and then he'd sort himself out later.

Pulling up to a spot at the lake, he parked his car. When he turned off the engine, howling wind was all he could hear, and he hated it. He took a breath, looking around the place he and Anna had spent hours making out. He wished it was just like any other time; that he would kiss Anna and everything would be okay.

Anna. He looked at her, surprised at just how pale she was. He reached forward, intent on pulling her close.

"I don't feel so good," she choked out, before throwing the door open and stumbling out.

Steve went out his own door, and headed around to her side of the car. She was bent over slightly, one hand resting on his car, the other on her stomach, but she wasn't sick. Her breath was coming in low, deep mouthfuls that seemed to be calming her. Just in case, he stepped behind her and gathered her hair in his hands.

"I'm okay."

"You sure?"

She stood straight. "Yeah. I'm sorry for getting so upset. You're the one who …"

Letting her hair flow through his fingers, he stepped closer and placed his hands on her hips. She still wasn't facing him, but he couldn't let it go on like this. He didn't know what he'd say or do - because there was nothing that would make this better - but he had to try. It was pointless to try and get out of being drafted, but he had to try and make Anna okay. She was his girl; he needed her to be okay.

"This isn't how it was supposed to happen," she said.

Steve sighed. Wrapping his arms right around her, he rested his chin on her shoulder. Her whole body was shaking, and he hated it.

"I know."

She turned in his arms. "This isn't how it was supposed to happen," she said again. "I love you, and you love me, and we've finally got our shit sorted. We're supposed to be together forever."

There it was. Forever. It was what he'd been waiting for, but now … well, now it was so fucking unfair.

He pressed his forehead to hers. "I know, and we will be, okay?"

She was silent a moment, and the fight inside of her was obvious. She was trying not to cry, trying to be strong, trying to fake optimism without actually speaking. All for him. He realised that suddenly, and wasn't sure what to think. He appreciated it, but she didn't need to do it. He'd sort himself out later. He was glad she wasn't crying, though. He hated when she cried.

"Everything will be okay," she said, voice firmer than he'd expected.

"It will."

"Just … promise me, Steve. Promise me we'll be together forever."

Any other time and she would've been making him promise that he really did want her forever. She either knew it, or was too upset to really think it through. He was pretty sure she knew; he was hardly closed off with his feelings these days.

"I promise."

And because he meant it, because he was leaving her, and because he couldn't stand to wait another goddamn second, he kissed her. He kissed her and kissed her until he was sure she believed him. Then, hidden away in the backseat of his car, he kissed her and touched her and didn't let her go until he was sure she'd never forget him.

XXXXX

"I'll be back later."

"You promise?"

"Yeah," he said, smirking. "I gotta go see the guys, but I'll be back."

She nodded. "Okay." But she didn't move to get out of the car; she didn't want to leave him, not for a second.

"I'll be back. I swear." He leaned over, kissing her softly.

"Okay." Her lip trembled, and she fought tears again. She'd been fighting them since leaving Soda's, and had done a pretty damn good job. She was hurting, and wanted to cry so damn badly, but she wouldn't. Not in front of Steve. The last thing he needed was to see her that upset. He had plenty enough to worry about without dealing with her.

He kissed her forehead. "Don't cry, okay? Just … don't cry. I hate seeing you cry."

She nodded again, blinking the tears away. "I'm fine. I ain't gonna cry. I'll see you later, okay?"

Climbing out of the car before he could answer, she ran inside. She slammed the door closed, breathing heavily. She felt sick, and as she leaned her back against the front door, she slid down and buried her face in her hands. It wasn't fair. In fact, it was so damn unfair she could barely believe it. More tears formed, and she pressed the heel of her hands against her eyelids. Bright colours burst against the black, but the tears stayed in.

"Anna?"

Danny was standing in front of her, but she said nothing. Taking a breath, she tried to calm herself. She didn't need him jumping to conclusions about why she was so upset. Not when she knew exactly what conclusions he'd jump to. Wiping her hands over her face, she looked at him as he crouched down.

"What happened, kid?" he asked, looking at her intently.

She burst into tears. After pushing them back all night, she couldn't help but let them escape when Danny sounded so sincere. He wasn't scowling, he wasn't cursing, and - most surprisingly and importantly - he didn't ask what Steve had done wrong this time. He was looking at her in concern, and he just … cared.

Still sitting against the door with her knees pulled up to her chest, she didn't pull away when Danny sat with her. He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight, and let her cry. And just as she'd done when Steve had cheated, she leaned into him. Steve was leaving, and she had tried to be strong for him all night, but Danny was once again the one person she could always rely on to be there.

XXXXX

He'd barely thought about the guys since Anna had turned up, but he remembered well enough. Ponyboy had taken it far worse than he'd thought. He and Steve had been getting along well enough lately, but his anger about the letter was still a shock. The only bigger shock had been Two-Bit, who had gone completely silent for a long while before taking off. Darry and Soda had reacted as Steve had expected … not that that was a good thing.

"Hey, man," he said, walking up the front path of the Curtises'.

Soda looked up from where he was sitting on the porch steps. It didn't escape Steve's notice that he was smoking.

"Hey. How's Anna?"

Steve shrugged and sat next to him. "'Bout as good as can be."

After her words at the lake, and the way she had touched him, kissed him, looked at him in the backseat of his car, he knew that she loved him more than he'd even realised. It was good, but so damn hard.

"Here." Soda handed him a lit cigarette.

"Thanks. Pony come back yet?"

"Yeah. He's still pretty shaken up, but I think he just needed a few hours to deal with it."

"What about Two-Bit?" He was really fucking worried about Two-Bit.

"I ain't seen him, but I called Kathy and let her know. Just in case he turns up there drunk off his face. At least if she knows then she won't throw him out."

"Good." He hoped Kathy had the sense to stay home and wait for Two-Bit rather than go to Anna's. He'd made sure Danny's car was in the driveway before dropping her off, and right then, Two-Bit would need Kathy more than Anna did.

He also hoped Two-Bit ended up at Kathy's rather than drunk in a gutter, beaten, or both.

"You know …" Soda paused for a second. "You know we'll look out for her, right?"

There was a tight feeling in his chest, and Steve nodded. He was going to war, and his best friend promising to look out for the girl he loved was doing what that damn letter should have. First he'd had to let it sink in, then he'd had to tell the guys, then he'd had to be there for Anna. Now, all he had to do was deal. And it was harder than he'd thought.

He didn't want to go. Not just because he was leaving his buddies, his brother, and his girl, but because it was war. He knew the kind of things that went on over there, and he wanted nothing to do with it. The fact that what he knew probably wasn't even half as bad as it really was sure didn't help.

They were silent for a few minutes. His chest was still aching, and his hands shook ever so slightly. Looking at Soda, he noticed his hands were doing the same.

"Hey, I finally asked Anita out," Soda said.

"About time, buddy."

"Yeah, she seemed real pleased."

Steve was pleased, too.

"What time you goin' back to Anna's?" Soda asked, stubbing out his smoke.

Steve shrugged. "Later." He didn't mean for it to come out as uncaring as it did. In truth, he couldn't wait to get back to Anna, but for the time being, he was content being with Soda.

Soda handed him another cigarette as Steve finished his first, but said nothing. Neither of them said much of anything for the next few hours. They sat on the porch steps, chain-smoking and making the occasional joke about something stupid, until it hit midnight and Steve left to go get Anna.

The line that's drawn between the good and bad.

A/N: Beta'd by RileysMomma. Happy good fic day!