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Chapter 7

Johnny babbled something unknown to Darry as he shifted restlessly in the bed. Darrel sat next to his own bed holding his head up on his hands. He watched the boy long and hard. He felt like he had let his little brother and his brother's friend down also. It continually nagged at him that if he had just done something when Ponyboy said something that he could have maybe stopped some of this or maybe ended this before it got the better of Johnny.

"Dally _ I didn't mean too…" Johnny whispered listlessly.

"Shhhh…" Darrel soothed softly.

"Please dad… no…"

Darrel took a cold wet cloth and dabbed it gingerly across the boy's cheeks. He couldn't help but notice the spackling of bruises and cuts on his face. The bandage across his forehead reminded him of what the boy had endured. Johnny had to go through more than anyone should have. His father and mother never treated him right. He was such a good kid. Darrel reached across the boy and gently pulled the sheets up tighter around his neck. He sat back down on the chair watching intently. It was nearly midnight by that time and the emotions of the day and the stress of work was really starting to wear Darry down a lot. It would soon be six in the morning and he would have to go to work in the hot sun and not have any real rest.

"Is he gonna be alright?"

Darry nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned to see Ponyboy walk slowly through the door. He wasn't sure what to tell his younger brother.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, little brother?" Darry asked avoiding the subject.

"I'm fourteen years old, Darry, I think I can decide when I need to be in bed." Pony snapped back.

Darry sighed as he looked up at the now free thinking boy. His brother was almost getting too big for his britches.

"He'll be fine." Darry replied stretching his whole body out.

"Do you want me to watch him for a while?" Ponyboy asked leaning against the chest of drawers and looking down at his obviously exhausted brother in the chair next to the bed.

Darry let his eyes dart from Johnny to his youngest brother. He rubbed the sleep from his blood shot, glassy eyes; he felt so tired. He really wished he didn't have to go to work in the morning. Unfortunately, he didn't have a choice and there was not a choice for Ponyboy either, he had to go to school. He couldn't afford to have him missing a whole slew of days all of the sudden and have the Social Workers poking around their house again. That was just one nightmare he didn't need right then.

"You need to get some rest, Pony. I'll be fine." Darry replied softly.

Ponyboy shook his head in frustration. He was hurt as he watched his brother continue to fight sleep next to his best friend. He wanted to snap at him, but knew better than to do so right then. He decided maybe he was going to go to bed, but he wanted so badly to be useful right then.

Darry watched as Ponyboy turned and sulked towards the door. He watched the kid closely. He knew that this was weighing heavily on his younger brother. He wanted so badly to protect him from the turmoil that this situation had put him through. Sometimes he forgot that Ponyboy was getting older. He turned his gaze back to Johnny who was sleeping somewhat soundly again. The teenager was in such rough shape. Darry shook his head as he jumped up and went after Ponyboy.

"Hey, Pony." He whispered loudly.

Ponyboy stopped just outside of the doorway and looked back at his older brother. His features were handsome, they always had been. His brother was just looking more and more different to him. It was his eyes; they looked so much older than his youthful twenty years.

"Yeah, Darry?" Pony replied softly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Maybe… maybe I could use some air. Would you mind watching over Johnny for a few minutes?" Darrel asked raising one eyebrow?

Ponyboy smiled.

"Yeah." Ponyboy almost ran back to his brother's room.

"I'll be back in about fifteen minutes. I'm just gonna go outside and try to wake up a little bit. If you need anything at all, I'll be out there." Darry sounded like an overprotective woman leaving her children in the care of a first time babysitter.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Pony replied coyly sitting down in the chair next to the bed his friend was sleeping in.

--

Darry walked into the living room. On the couch was Two-Bit Mathews asleep with a half consumed beer in his hands. On the arm chair was Steve Randall, also asleep with his feet propped up on the edge of the coffee table. Sodapop was curled up on the floor next to the couch, the remnants of chocolate cake on his face and on the plate next to his head. Darry shook his head and sighed loudly as he looked down at them. There was one more bed in the house and the three of them were asleep on the floor, couch and chair. He quickly turned his attention to the porch when he heard a noise. He walked out the door and looked at the back of a dark leather jacket overtop of a young man sitting on the chipped surface of the concrete stairs leading up to the porch.

"Dallas?" Darry asked as he pushed the screen door opened.

Dallas Winston didn't say anything as he sat on the stoop. He was holding a beer in his right hand and a half smoked cigarette in his left. The night was chilly. It had been starting to cool down since fall was rolling in.

"Everything alright?" Darry asked sitting down next to the trouble teen.

Dallas still didn't say anything as he stared down at the red embers at the end of his cigarette. Darry watched him flick the ashes onto the concrete and then take a long swallow off of the brown bottle in his hand. It took a long time for him to say something but then he finally turned to Darrel.

"How's the kid?" He asked taking another drag off of his cigarette.

"Pony's with him. He's sleeping. I'm not sure other than that." Darry responded rubbing his tired eyes again.

"What the hell am I supposed to do about her?" Dallas asked flicking the cigarette away from him and looking over at Darrel.

Darry didn't know what to say. He couldn't imagine what Sylvia had been thinking.

"I don't know Dally. She's always been a hundred percent trouble." Darry shook his head as he ran his hand over his face.

"I mean, if she was a man, I would know exactly what to do with her. But, this is different. What kind of a person makes a deal like that, that involves a kid? She knew… she fucking knew what that man would do to him and she did it anyways." Dallas stood up and threw his bottle against the fence. He turned around and looked back at Darry. His eyes were ablaze with tension.

"Dallas, you need to calm down before you do something stupid." Darry warned rising to his feet.

"Stupid?" Dallas's eyes were wild. "She's the one who did something stupid!"

Dallas turned his back running out the gate to the car. Darry quickly shot down the steps behind him.

"Dallas!" Darry shouted as Dallas ran down the sidewalk and jumped into Buck's car.

The engine revved to life and the tires squealed as he tore down the block without regard to what could be in his path.

Darry flinched and sighed loudly as he stood by the gate in front of his house. He leaned heavily on the metal frame and rubbed his head. He gritted his teeth as he felt a knot growing in his stomach. He just knew that Dallas was going to be in the slammer come morning. He only hoped that the mess he made wasn't of Sylvia.