Disclaimer: S. E. Hinton owns 'The Outsiders'.

It was one of few public displays of affection that Dallas had made with Kate in-front of his friends. Tim cleared his throat and Dallas pulled away, giving her another once over before turning back to Tim.

"She okay?"

Dal nodded and draped his arm across Kate's shoulders, "Yeah, she's a tough chick."

Tim nodded but he was eying her too. Kate stood a little straighter and stopped wringing her hands together. Dallas's arm was tight across her shoulders as she tried to stop shaking.

"Looks like we got here just in time then."

Dallas stiffened a little at that, he didn't quite want to think of what would have happened if they had been just a couple minutes later.

Tim turned toward his car as if the whole situation had never happened. Kate hesitated but felt her feet reluctantly moving along with Dallas's as his arm gravitated her to Tim's car.

Dallas and Tim were exchanging looks that she'd seen much too many times with Daniel and Bobby. Tim asked for Kate's address and Dallas reluctantly gave it to him.

Dallas turned to her once the car stopped in-front of her house, "Give me your keys."

Kate cocked an eyebrow before she realized what he was talking about, it hadn't even occurred to her that her car was still sitting in the Dingo parking lot. She handed the keys over and Dallas pocketed them, "I'll have it here before your shift tomorrow."

As far as Kate was concerned, that was her permission to book it. She heard Tim whisper to Dallas about whether or not he was gonna head inside with her and due to the lack of Dallas's reaction, Kate figured that that wasn't part of his plans.

Kate was closing the car door when she looked into Dallas's passenger window, "Thanks for the ride."

Tim nodded and she noticed how hard his hands were clenching the steering wheel, this must have been an awkward situation for him.

"Hey," Dallas called after her when she was halfway up the sidewalk, "We'll talk tomorrow, yeah?"

Kate sighed and nodded tiredly, "Yeah."

XXX

Much to Dallas's promise, Kate's car was parked outside of her house by the time she woke up the next morning. She didn't have to look far before finding the keys under the doormat.

Her hands were still shaking by the time her shift ended and Dallas was waiting in the doorway of the Dingo. When she got home the previous evening and found herself searching for some alcohol she immediately called Bobby before hanging up the phone dumbfounded, oblivious to why he hadn't picked up. It wasn't until she was lying in bed staring at the ceiling that she remembered why.

Her realization triggered something else. A bigger, more important, realization. With Bobby gone, there's not going to be anyone around to pick up the pieces if she loses it again. She had to make the decision right then that nothing and no one will come between her taking care of David. She can't ever pick up that bottle again because for the next 9 years she has to be all there, for David. There is no spiraling out of control this time because David's all she has left.

XXX

"They don't usually come after girls."

"So why did they this time?"

"Something went down with a bunch of Socs and the Shepard's gang a couple days ago. Let's just say the Socs ain't being very forgiving."

Kate began squeezing her arm, "What do you have to do with the Shepards?"

"We back them up, they back us up. Simple as that." Dallas didn't move his eyes off of Kate's arm, "I'm gonna have it out with them, Kate. They ain't gonna come after you again."

"That's not the point, Dallas." She waited for him to give her eye-contact. "If David was with me-" She trailed off.

"They've never come after kids, Kate. I can promise you that much."

"It's never too late to try something new."

"Babe-"

"Fix it, Dal. That's all I'm saying." She didn't ask him if he wanted a ride somewhere, she just slammed the car door in his face.

XXX

There were always downfalls with dating Dallas Winston but this was the first time that Kate ever had to constantly be looking over her shoulder. To Dallas's credit, he'd been around her as much as possible in the next two days trying to kiss up to her after the past event.

"You're overreacting, Kate. Just let the kid go hang out with his friends." Kate also hadn't let David out of sight in the past two days beside the mandatory 7 hours at school.

"No." She finished cutting the crust off of David's sandwich and called him into the kitchen to eat it.

"I'm not eating until you say I can go to Michael's!"

Kate slammed the refrigerator shut and turned to walk into the living room. Dallas grabbed her arm when she got to the doorway and stared at her.

"He's not going." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared back at Dallas.

"It's the weekend, let him go hang out with his friends and then you and I can head upstairs." He smirked at her and Kate narrowed her eyes, "Like hell we will, if you think I'm not still pissed at you you're wrong. And either way, I'm his boss and he's not going."

Neither of them had noticed David standing next to them now, "Oh my gosh, I hate you!"

Kate reached out to David but he turned away and went running for the stairs, "I want Danny back!"

I'm not too confident about this chapter but I worked pretty hard to get it up for you guys today so please leave me some lovely reviews and let me know how it was! I only got one review on the last chapter :/ But it's better than none so thank you Jas!