Another wonderful chapter by firebunee........

Chapter 6

Ponyboy jumped from Buck's convertible before Soda had even had a chance to stop. He shot over to the door and ran through the glass entry way into the emergency room. His chest was heavy as he approached the first nurse he could find. He started to ask for his friend when he heard a voice behind him.

"Pony!" Darry was there with his hands to his sides.

"Where…" Pony asked in a shaky voice.

"He's with the Doctor now, their checking him out." Darryl answered softly. His older brother looked at the ground and then back up to him.

Ponyboy opened his mouth to say something but nothing would come.

The doors to the emergency room opened again with Steve and Sodapop screeching to a halt just inside the door. Dallas followed by Two Bit soon emerged from the waiting area to watch the two brothers.

"Pony… I'm so sorry." Darryl looked like tears were about to fall.

"Darry…"

"No, Pony. You knew something wasn't right. And, I…"

Ponyboy looked down at the ground. His guts hurt. He knew that it was bad by the way Darry was acting. His best friend had to be in really bad shape. He should have done something when Peter had told him that Johnny wasn't there. If only he hand pushed the door open. He should have gone and gotten Dallas. Dallas would have gotten in there. He wouldn't have waited a night and then gone and knocked on the door, he would have just broken the door down. Then again, they might have been visiting Dallas in state prison for years to come also.

"It wasn't your fault, Darry." Pony hadn't even stopped to think of what he was saying before he said it.

Darryl Curtis took a deep breath and closed his eyes looking down at the floor. He felt horrible on the inside. He opened his eyes when he felt the two arms snake around his waist. Ponyboy hugged his brother tightly.

"I love you, little brother." Darryl wrapped his own arms around Ponyboy and held him tight.

Soda watched his brothers intently. It made him feel good to see them actually getting along. He had watched them fight and bicker so often that it hurt him badly. They always seemed to pull him into the middle of it and it was hard for him to handle at times. This felt good to watch.

--

"Family of Jonathon Cade." A tall man with a thick foreign accent walked into the waiting area where the boys were congregating waiting on word on their friend.

The man must have thought the flood gates had broken because all but about three people in the room stood up and rushed at him.

"We're his family." Dallas declared standing eye to eye with the man.

The Doctor couldn't have been more than bout five years older than Darry. He had blond hair that was kind of long and he had piercing sea green eyes. His face was rather handsome with a square jaw line and a small cleft in his chin. He had a spackling of freckles across his evenly tanned nose. His accent was something none of the boys had ever heard before.

"All of you are his family?" The Doctor raised his eyebrow looking at the sea of faces.

"Yeah, is there a problem, Doc?" Dallas asked stepping closer to the man.

"I don't figure any one of you is his father, are you?" He asked hesitantly almost taking a step back from Dallas's intimidating frame.

Ponyboy furrowed his brow as he looked at Darry.

"His father, he's… outta town." Darry responded stepping between Dallas and the Doctor and what could have been a potential thrashing for the poor man. "My name's Darryl and he's staying with me."

"Uh, well, you're…"

"Little brother, he's my little brother." Darry completed.

"Okay…" the Doctor nodded his head. Ponyboy knew from his raised eyebrow that the Doctor knew Johnny wasn't related to them at all. At the same time it also appeared that he knew that there was something more to the father thing. Fortunately it appeared that he wasn't going to pursue the matter any further at that moment. "My name is Kevin Campbell. You're brother has a major concussion. It's apparent that he hit his head on something. He has a broken rib and a couple of cracked ribs. In a word, well, he's a mess, but he'll recover. He's resting right now. He did ask for, Ponyboy." He looked up at the faces hoping one of them answered to what could only be a nick name. "Maybe, you would want to go back and see him?"

"Yeah, Pony…" Darry looked down at his brother and was then interrupted by the doctor.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Darryl turned to look at the gang but they were already making a bee line to go see the kid.

"Sure." Darry turned his attention back to the Doctor. "I'll be back in a minute." Darryl assured Ponyboy as he turned back to Doctor Campbell.

"His father did this to him, didn't he?" The Doctor asked abruptly.

Darry sighed loudly. He was really uncomfortable all of the sudden. He wanted to jump up and down and say, "Yeah, the bastard beat him so that a little tramp could pursue Dallas." It all just sounded like a bad soap opera to him. He looked down and pinched his nose with his thumb and forefinger. He was getting a splitting headache and really didn't want to have to deal with this right then. He looked back up and swallowed before he responded.

"Yeah." Darry replied uncomfortably.

The Doctor gritted his teeth and then looked down at his clipboard. He was very nervous as he looked back up at the man in front of him. He was young, too young to have to deal with what he was dealing with. Kevin could sense the fact that the boy in front of him was way too grown up for what his age had to be. He couldn't have been much over about twenty-one. He was way too young and obviously not the boys brother.

"I can't keep him here. They informed me there was no room to keep him in this hospital."

Darryl's expression turned stormy. "What do you mean… have you looked at him? He's been beaten half to death by his father. He has a concussion, broken ribs. You're supposed to insist that he stays. You're a damn Doctor…"

"Listen! I'm not a Doctor; I'm a medical student at the University of Tulsa. I'm finishing my clinical time in the ER. Nothing I can say will change their minds. This is one of the most prejudice towns I have ever seen. Besides, I could read you like a book, his father did this, didn't he?"

Darry looked down at the floor. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah. I've only seen one other abuse case worse than this."

"Where was that?" Darry asked.

"Back home, in Sydney. My brother." Kevin replied.

Darryl flinched at the comment. He wondered silently what his brother had been through that was worse than what Johnny had been through.

"Look, if they keep him here his father can get in to him. If you take him with you, he'll be able to heal. I've already mentioned to the Doctor here that he needs to report this, but the line I was given was; the Social Workers in this town have enough to do without dealing with every greased up hoodlum that comes into this hospital after getting a well deserved beating from his father. There's not much more I can do. I was able to get these for him. He's got a kidney infection, so give him one every four hours." Kevin handed Darryl a bottle of pills.

"What are they?" Darry asked looking at the orange bottle.

"Sulfa tablets; make sure he eats and drinks plenty of fluids. He has some bruising on his kidneys so don't get too alarmed if he passes a little blood. Use ice to help with swelling on his wrists. There is some bruising there; he has a slight sprain in his right wrist. Wake him every couple of hours. He took a pretty good hit to the head, he complained about some double vision, but that will go away as he recovers. He's had a shot for pain, but it'll ware off by morning. I have a Doctor friend who owes me a favor. I'll get you some pain meds for him, but I'll have to bring them to you tomorrow. If you'll trust me with your address, I'll bring them to you and check up on him then and later this week as well." Kevin made eye connection with Darryl.

Darry nodded his head. He looked back down at the pill bottles and then back up at the student doctor in front of him.

"Look, write your address down here and I'll be out tomorrow." Kevin took a deep breath and tried to offer a reassuring smile.

"Thank you." Darry nodded pocketing the tablets.

"If you have any trouble at all, call me at this number." He handed him a slip of paper with a phone number written on it.

Darry turned to walk away when Kevin stopped him.

"Darryl, once the scars have healed, there's a lot more emotional healing for him to go through. It's gonna be a hard road for him."

Darryl nodded his head.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Kevin added.

"Thank you again, Doc…" Darry nodded and then turned to walk away.

Darry's head was abuzz with so much at once. He was worried about having to deal with Johnny's father. He was concerned with the constant care that Johnny was going to require for some time. He wasn't sure if the student Doctor had another agenda but he wasn't in any position to turn down help for Johnny. He was just grateful for the fact that there was a group of people, a gang of hoods as everyone referred to them, who would be there to help each other at a moments notice.