Disclaimer: S. E. Hinton owns 'The Outsiders'. Hey guys, I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! Life's sorta been catching up to me and I've been really busy. I hope you're all still reading and I wanted to send another thank you to my guest reviewers, you guys make my day as well :) Anyways, I'm not really too confident about this chapter so I'd really appreciate some reviews! I hope you enjoy :)

He didn't like the way they got along and he was pretty sure that that had everything to do with the fact that Bobby was the only person who knew just as much about Kate as Dallas did. They still loved each other, he was sure of that, but Kate's eyes didn't glisten at Bobby like they did at Dallas. Kate explained it to him multiple times, there was a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone.

"Sissy?" David's voice came ringing through the living room and Dallas turned his head to wonder when Kate had removed herself from her spot next to him on the couch.

He turned around slightly and saw Kate running around the house like a mad woman. She was like supermom in action and he looked her over as he realized how she never failed to amaze him. Her hair was a mess and she was attempting to straighten out her uniform as she cut David's sandwich and talked to whoever was on the other line of the phone. She removed the phone from her ear slightly and gave Francesca another order to finish getting dressed so Kate could drop her off at her doctor's appointment on her way to work. Kate handed David his sandwich with the crust cut off and it was as if the burning smell registered with Kate at the same time it did with Dallas and she shuffled on her feet as she thought of how to get to the burning eggs in the kitchen and not hang up the phone.

Dallas caught her eyes and headed into the kitchen to turn the flame off and place the scrambled eggs onto a plate for her grandmother. Kate appeared in the kitchen moments later and grabbed the plate out of Dallas's extended hand. She kissed him on the cheek, "You sure you don't mind watching David?"

Dal nodded and David entered the kitchen with his toy cars as if on cue.

Kate hurried herself into her grandmother's room and grabbed Francesca's arm as she came back out. She called an 'I love you' to David and told him to behave. As Dallas caught the sight of Bobby leaning against Kate's car waiting to go to the appointment with Francesca he took in the sway of Kate's hips just a little bit more.

XXX

"Don't 'ya think you've kept the kid a little too sheltered?" Bobby was speaking what Dallas had been wanting to say for a while now.

The corners of Dallas's lips turned up at the glare Kate sent Bobby in return.

"Come on Kate, he can't keep calling you 'sissy' for the rest of his life."

"Why can't he?"

Bobby rolled his eyes, "Are you gonna go after every kid that makes fun of him for it?"

Dallas could tell by the flash in Kate's eyes that Bobby had phrased that all wrong. There was no doubt in his mind that Kate would go after any person, kid or not, he dared to mess with her brother. She already lost one, over her dead body would she lose another.

"If that's what it takes."

"It ain't." There was a tone in Bobby's voice that reminded Dal of one of the ways that the two of them were different. Bobby was always too nice, Kate was a stubborn bitch when she wanted to be and Bobby had never once pushed her up against the wall and told her how it was gonna be. "Just let him live a little Kate, have him hang out with his friends some more. One day you ain't gonna be around to follow in his footsteps and then he's gonna be knee deep without a paddle."

"He hung out with his friends at his birthday party." Kate was getting awfully defensive.

Bobby sighed, "Whatever you say, babe." Example number two, Dallas never would have gone down without more of a fight.

Kate was silent for a while before she gulped heavily. "What time do you have to leave tomorrow?"

Bobby avoided her eyes and Dallas got up to smoke a cancer stick. "One."

Kate nodded slowly and Bobby looked up at her, "I don't want you to come."

Kate was obviously taken aback as her face tightened and she let out a small gasp. "Why the hell not?"

"I don't want Francesca there either. She doesn't need to see me get on that train. I'll say goodbye before I leave."

"I'm not gonna let you do this alone, Bobby."

"I am doing this alone, Kate." His voice sounded exasperated. "I'm gonna be getting shot at in fucking Vietnam alone."

Kate frowned and nodded as if she understood. If this was the one thing that Bobby wanted to stand his ground about then she'd let him have it. Although it still wasn't clear to her how in the world she was going to get Francesca to stay home while her brother was getting on his death ride. "I'll write to you."

Bobby smirked, but not in the same way that Dallas smirked, he actually looked somewhat amused. "You ain't gonna write to me Kate, just like you didn't write to me when I got locked up."

It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to, Kate was just never one who could keep a conversation going among letters. "I will. I promise this time I will."

"'Cause chances are I ain't coming back?" The tone of Bobby's voice honestly terrified her. It wasn't even fear, it was complete acceptance of the situation.

"Don't say that." Kate's voice was low and not as stern as she'd like it to be.

Bobby kissed her on the cheek and told her to get some rest. Dallas planned on convincing Kate to let him spend the night in her room only to see Bobby's reaction the next morning but the plan didn't work out for all of two reasons. One, he knew that Kate would see right through him and cuss him out for even thinking of doing something like that the day before Bobby's departure and two, Kate was already fast asleep by the time he made it to her bedroom.

XXX

"This is bullshit." Kate was more pissed off than he'd seen her in a while. It seemed the fact that Bobby had gotten drafted was finally sinking in and as usual, her arm was paying for it. She released the hold on her arm and stared him dead in the eye. The red fingerprints were raging in the spot she'd left them. He processed the dark circles under her eyes and wondered if that was the result of worrying about Bobby, comforting Francesca, or explaining to David why Bobby wouldn't be back for a long while.

"Sure the hell is." She was ignoring the fact that he was smoking as he lay sprawled across her bed. He wasn't going to disagree with her because she was right, this was fucking bullshit.

Kate gave him a look that took him a moment to register. It'd been so fucking long he had almost forgotten but the moment he saw the way she was biting her lip he recognized it immediately.

There was no doubt in his mind that he'd been spending a whole lot more time with Kate since Bobby showed up but he realized now it wasn't only because he didn't want anyone else to have her, it was because he still wanted her as well.

He ground out his cigarette in the ash tray Kate had casually started keeping around the house and placed his hands firmly on Kate's sides as she straddled him.

The one thing he could always count on was the shine in Kate's eyes and the genuine happiness and concern in her smile. Even when she had bags down to her ankles, the rest of her face never faltered.

"Dallas?"

"Hmm?" He was sure that the top button of her shirt had been buttoned just a few minutes ago.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"How could I say no?" He liked the direction this conversation was going and tried to fight the smirk forming on his face.

"Tell me you want me." The amount of time it took for Kate's voice to go from motherly to completely seductive was amazing.

Dallas stared at her for a while before Kate began shifting on his lap. This wasn't the first time he'd heard this request from her but it'd been so God damn long that it had escaped from his usual routine and a small part of him felt that Kate knew that she was the only woman he'd ever admit he wanted, but so much had changed that he wasn't sure if he was the same person who was willing to admit that anymore.

Dallas comprehended that Kate was removing herself from his lap and he lifted her back into place. He caught sight of the lace trim at the top of her thigh-highs and kissed her hard. He waited until the moan escaped Kate's mouth and she backed away, breathing heavily. Her eyes were glistening even more than before and he trailed kisses across her jaw. He reached her ear and she shivered at his breath, "I want you." He breathed.