I do not own The Outsiders. Enjoy :)
The train whistle sliced threw the air beckoning for it's guests to
come aboard.
Darry looked down at Jess and wrapped his arms around her in a big
bearhug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a quick
peck on the cheek. "So I guess this is it huh?" she smiled.
He grinned back. "Yeah, but let's get together a little quicker than a
year. I missed my best friend too much."
She smiled happily at him and agreed. She was sorry she wasn't here
for him during probably the roughest time of his life, but she made a
promise to herself that she'd be there for him the next time. Her eyes
danced happily and she said, "You never gave me an answer. Do you
think marrying Kyle is a good idea."
Darry grinned down to her. "Well from what I've seen, yes, but," her
grin faltered for a second, "if you want a real opinion ask Dally, I
trust him to tell yah the truth." She nodded a thanks and hugged him
once last time before saying goodbye and walking over to where Dally
and Kyle were.
Hey kid," Kyle began but quickly fixed his mistake after Dallys sharp
look."I mean hey Dally, I'm real sorry I wasn't here for you."
Dally rolled his eyes. "Kyle, it's cool. I don't blame you the least
bit. And I wished you'd stop too."
Kyle lowered his eyes and gave up on the subject. After a moment he
looked back up. "I can't believe how long your record is," he said
shaking his head.
Dally smirked happy to be on less foreign ground. "Well, I started
pretty young," he laughed.
Kyle grinned as he remembered the ten year old Dally getting led into
the police car. It wasn't funny then but it sure was now.
Kyle nodded his head bye when Jess appeared by his side. Even once
Kyle had left Jess remained. Dally shuffled his feet. What did she want?
Finally she spoke.
"Dally, I wouldn't usually be asking this, but I'm real nervous and
Darry said you could help."
He remained quiet but wondered what he could ever help Jess with.
"Do you think that marrying Kyle is a good idea? And don't just say
yes cause he's your friend." she finally blurted out.
He cocked one eyebrow, a habit he picked up from Two-Bit, and thought
about it.
Kyle was a tough guy, she would have to learn not to push too far or
nag. He would probably be sloppy. A high paying job was out of the
question, so was a nice house. If they had kids, he might not seem to
love them, but he sure as hell would.
But, he said he loved her. And she loved him. Growing up a hood, you
learned to hide your feelings. To just go out and say that, then it's
real. He looked at her and in the most sincere voice he could manage
he said, "Yes. If you love him, then it's the best idea you'll ever
have."
Relief flooded into Jess' body. "Oh thank you Dally, thank you so
much." With that she grabbed the back of his head and kissed him on
the forehead before hurrying off to the train.
Darry saw Dallys expression and burst out laughing. Dally growled
trying to get him to stop but with no abdue.
It was gonna be a long car drive
. . .
It was the next day at 7AM but Dally was already awake and taking a
shower. Katie had awoken him a few minutes earlier so that they could
go to Animal Ark and he could do his hours. He wanted to finish them
in one day so he'd have the rest of the week to himself before his
trial.
Later that day Dally found himself introduced to cats and dogs and
horses and every animal he could think of. In spite of all his groans
and complaints he actually was enjoying himself. All he had to do was
play with a few animals here and feed a couple there and he was done.
He had just finished feeding Pete, a blind mutt when Alex, one of the
workers, like Katie, asked him to play with some of the dogs in the
'Barn', which was literally a barn with some cages in it, where the
dogs would stay of they were hurt or too mean. Dally found the name
stupid, and didn't think twice about telling them that when he first heard
it.
As he walked towards it he grabbed a ball and some dog treats from the
main office for the dogs. Once inside the 'Barn', he flicked on the
light and looked around. There were about ten cages in there, but only
three were filled.
In the first one there was an old golden retriever who didn't so much
as flinch when he threw the ball so he just patted his head and have
him a treat.
In the second one there was three puppy bulldogs, who were too young
to play with the other dogs. He didn't bother throwing the ball,
seeing how the ball was about the size of them. He rubbed their
bellies and laughed at their fail attempts to hit his hand with their
little paws.
The dog in the last cage Dally wouldn't have noticed because it was so
deep in the shadows if it hadn't had let out a deep throated growl. He
looked at the dog with new interest. He unlocked the cage and stepped
inside slowly which cause the dog only to deepen it's growl and shrink
further into the shadows.
He got down on one knee and held a treat out in one hand. The dog slowly
crept forwards and nibbled tenderly on the treat. After a few seconds
it became more courageous and stole the treat from Dallys hand and
began biting on it.
Dally slowly brought his hand forwards and place it on the dogs scruff
only to retract it quickly when the dog took a snap at it. "Feisty
little feller ain't cha?" he said quietly.
He held his hand out again with new treat to the dog who had retreated
in the corner. After a few seconds it crawled back out and stole the
treat. Dally reached his hand out and hovered it just above the dogs
head.
The dog froze for a second and then began biting the treat agian and
Dally set his hand on it's neck again. This time it didn't attack him.
Feeling more confident Dally slid his hand along the dogs silky but
rough black fur. He studied the dog for a minute. Both it's ears were
perked up listening for the slightest sound. It was small, still a
pup, but it moved like it was old. It's entire body was covered with
black fur except it's white stomach and spot on it's forehead.
Done with the treat the dog rubbed it's head in Dallys hand begging
for more but Dally didn't have any. He tickled it's sides and it
rolled over showing it's stomach so Dally rubbed it's stomach
enthusiastically.
After a while Dally laid down and the dog flopped down on his chest
with it's nose touching Dallys chin. He glared at at him. "You like
this don't you, you little devil."
The dog let out a little yap as if agreeing and Dally laughed quietly.
A wave of tiredness washed over him and all his sleepless nights caught
up to him. The dogs dark brown eyes were the last think he saw as he
fell asleep.
. . .
Katie glanced up from the desk to see the gang walk in. She smiled and
greeted them. She had invited them to come if they wanted, but she
wasn't sure of they'd take up the offer.
"So how's Dal taking all the hard labour?" Steve asked sarcastically.
Katie laughed. She noticed Alex shuffling some papers in a cabinet.
"Where's Dally?"
He looked up over the cupboard. "Last I saw him he was heading to the
Bran but that was a while ago. You might as well give it a shot though."
Katie nodded and led them to the Barn. The light was still on in it
so she went in.
She quickly scanned the room and almost missed Dally because he was
lying on the ground but noticed him at the last second.
Two-Bit laughed from outside the cage. "Sleepin on the job are we?"
Dally jolted awake, waking up the dog on his chest in the process.
"Well I think you should get fired. Don't you agree Kate?" he asked
jokingly. After getting no response he looked over to see Katie
staring intently at Dally. "Katie?" Darry inquired further.
She looked at Dally even harder. "How'd you get it to do that?"
Dally sat up pushing the dog of his chest. "Do what?"
Just then Two-Bit took a step closer and was attacked by a mess of
black fur. He leapt a foot in the air then retreated back out of the
cage.
Dally laughed at the dogs fierceness and congratulated it by patting it on
his head.
"Not do that! How'd you make him not attack you." she exclaimed. Dally
shrugged and patted the dogs head carelessly. "I dunno."
Alex walked in with some forms for Katie. He looked at Dally with
interest. "Wow, I've never seem him do that with anyone since he came
in."
Dally just grinned. "Must be a good judge of character."
"Or a really bad one," Two-Bit muttered under his breath still a
little sour from before.
"What's his name?" Dally asked watching the dog as it crossed the room
and sniffed the air cautiously before sniffing the gangs legs.
"Shadow," Alex said watching with high interest.
Dally made a face. "What kinda name is that?" Who'd want to be named
after dark patches that followed everyone.
Katie shrugged. "Its old owners named him that, we never bothered to
change it. Why don't you?"
Dally looked up with his eyes gleaming. The dog was obviously abused,
why would it want it's old name. All that name had was bad memories.
"Alright... how about Dally Jr."
Soda snorted. "You can't name a dog after yourself."
Dally rolled his eyes. "Fine. How about.." he shut his eyes as he
thought about it. His eyes snapped open as it hit him. "Texas. Tex for
short."
Everyone tried to stifle a laugh but failed.
Dallas glared. "What? Don't like that one either?"
Pony smiled. "Nawh, that's good."
Two-Bit looked around confused. "What? I don't get it."
Darry rolled his eyes. For someone who has been in school that long he
sure was stupid. "Dallas, Texas you dumbass. Dallas is a sity in Texas."
Two-Bit glared for a second then looked to the ground unhappily. Wasn't
his fault he didn't rememberize every frickin city in the US.
Pony watched as the dog sniffed his leg, then happily sat beside him.
Dally grinned. "He likes yah Pony."
Pony smiled and squatted down and let it sniff his hand. He moved to
pet it but the dog shrunk away back to Dally. Dally couldn't help but
smile. He picked up the little pup and craddled it in his arms.
He was scratching its neck when he heard some small snickers
to his left. He glanced over to see Steve covering his mouth and
everyone else gaping at him. "What?" he snapped. The dog whined at
Dallys sudden mood change so he rubbed it's side reassuringly.
"Dal," Darry started slowly, "Your rocking it like a baby."
Dally looked up shocked. "No."
"Yeah." Steve and Soda fought.
"No."
"Yes." Two-Bit laughed in clearly enjoying the argument.
"No!" Dally growled. No one argued against it.
Katie smiled as he watched the dog snuggle up to Dally. "Dally, would
you like to adopt him?"
Dally looked up dumbstruck. "I can't. I'm in jail half the time, and I
ain't got a real house." he determined.
Katie smiled. "I know, but until your trial he can stay with us, and
for your jail time, he can stay here, but he'll be your dog. No one
could adopt him. And once you get out, you could visit him whenever
you'd like until you get a real house."
Dally looked at the now sleepy bundle of fur in his arms. "Yeah, I'd
like that. It'd be pretty tuff."
Dally spent the rest of the day with Texas and Pony, who Tex was
warming up to quickly.
Soda and Darry were sent to get them so that they could go home. On
the way there Soda looked over to his older brother. "Don't you find
it funny, that the dog that just happened to be abused warmed up to
the same two people a certain kid did too."
Darry looked over at Soda shocked, but the more he thought about it
the more he agreed. "If the certain kid your talking about is Johnny,
then I agree."
Soda smiled to Darry and playfully hip checked him. "Pepsi," Darry said in
a warning yet joking tone, "Don't start with me, we both know who'll win."
Soda grinned and began walking normally. Suddenly without warning he
ran his body into Darrys with all his might then took off running.
"Pepsi-Cola!" he heard Darry roar as he gathered himself and took off
after Soda.
Soda let out a loud whoop as he ducked behind a barn. Darry couldn't
help it, he let out a laugh as he chased him.
Katie grinned from the top of the hill. It was good that Darry let
loose a little, cause sometimes if you don't laugh you just might cry.
So thats that, yup so Dally got a dog, and Pony got a new BFF. Jk
he's not that lonerish...
So thank you to my reviewers, and guess what I just realized! I
have 41 reviews! Thats over 40! WOOT WOO! Props to
all of you :) Way to go :) ILY!