Chapter 9 – Saved by a Stranger

A/N: Hi! This chapter is going to be longer than the past eight or so. I think there'll just be a few more chapters and this story will be finished. I am so grateful for all of the reviews, favs and follows. Thank you so much! I hope you will enjoy this chapter! Please R&R! Thanks!

Darry's POV:

My eyes flutter open and slowly register where I am. Apparently, I'm in a hospital. How the hell I got there, I have no clue. Ponyboy! God, I gotta find Ponyboy. Is he okay? Where is he?! I have to see him! Now! I roll out of the bed, or so I try before a nurse comes rushing in telling me to stay still. That ain't happenin', I gotta see my kid brother, I tell her. She asks for his name so she can check on him and when I tell her, she keeps askin'! She thought that wasn't his real name! Now I got a problem with that. She asked for a name, I told her and she thought I was lying about it. Who the hell lies about a d*** name? He's my brother! Anyway, she comes back and I'm out of bed struggling to get out of my hospital gown. I really don't want to walk around with my boxers on but I can't find my shirt anywhere. I just settle for my jeans, which looking at now, are pretty blood-stained. My back hurts and the stitches in my abdomen where the bullet went all the way through make me queasy.

"Mr. Curtis!" the nurse exclaims.

I turn around to face her and boy she doesn't look real thrilled with me.

"Sit down right now sir."

"How is he? Where's Ponyboy? Is he okay? Is he going to be okay? I need to see him!" I exclaim.

The nurse simply sighs begins to answer me. "Ponyboy Curtis is emitted in this hospital and is currently resting in the children's post-op ward."

"Post-op? As in he had surgery?" I ask mortified. My little Pony having surgery all alone with no one there to comfort him when he wakes up? That's awful!

"Yes, as soon as he was brought in we had to perform an immediate surgery to try to repair his broken ribs and the internal bleeding. After a few days, he should begin to recover." She says.

"Where are we? How far away from Tulsa are we?" I demand.

"Tulsa? Well honey, that's a good two hours away from here, darling." She states.

"Can me and my brother be discharged tonight and go into the hospital in Tulsa tomorrow morning? I really, really need to get home. I haven't had contact with my family for, for days and I really need to see them as soon as possible."

"Well Mr. Curtis, I wouldn't recommend it but if you absolutely promise to go straight to the hospital in the morning I suppose I could discharge both of you but how would you get back to Tulsa? You did not drive here." She points out.

"Uh, is whoever who brought us here still here?" I ask.

"Mr. Cathren? Yes, I believe he is still finishing the paper work the police gave him downstairs. Why?"

"Maybe he could spare us a ride home but if not, then I can call one of my friends and he'll pick us up." I say gingerly walking out into the hall shirtless off to find Pone.

"Well alright. I'll give you the discharge papers when you're downstairs. Your brother's room is 314. Hand the nurse at the door this and then come down to fill out the paperwork." She instructs handing me a piece of paper.

I nod my head and set off to fetch Ponyboy. I hand the paper to the nurse outside the door who looks at me in disapproval before letting me in. I can't help but gasp when I see my little Ponyboy. He look awful. Pale, limp and very small in the large bed. An I.V. is in his arm and he starts to wake when I gently tug some new clothes on him.

"D-Darry?" he stutters.

"Hey Pone. It's okay, sweetie. You're going to be just fine, baby. I love you so much Ponyboy. I'm going to take you home, okay?" I murmur, calming him down.

He settles limply into my arms when I pick him up and take him downstairs to finish the paper work and see if this Mr. Cathren can take us home. As it turns out, he lives right on the West Side and will be "happy to take you boys home". Mr. Cathren helps us into his car. Me in the front seat, Ponyboy in the back. We ride in silence for a few miles before I finally work up enough courage to ask what happened between this evening and midnight tonight.

"Well son, you sure you're up for a long story?" He asks.

I nod my head. "We have at least two hours, if you don't mind I mean."

"Alright, well I was driving down that road real set on getting back to Tulsa. But as I was lookin' out the window I saw some kid lying in the road. I drove right by thinkin' it was just some kid that had passed out from having an early swing at the beer can but I realized if that was true, you wouldn't have been by yourself. Your friends would've been around you or at least nearby. I turned around and raced back. I jumped out and found that there were two of you. Your brother was real sick but you poor kid had bullets in your back. I got you both to hospital as soon as I could. Tell you the truth, I wasn't quite sure that your brother was alive by the time a few nurses helped me carry you two inside. I'm glad you're both going to be okay. It's awful the things kids do to each other these days." He explains.

I nod again. "Thanks again. I don't know what would've happened to us if you hadn't turned around. Thanks." I say genuinely.

"Ah, it's no big deal. Hey how old are you anyway?"

"Twenty-one." I answer.

"Oh," he replies.

For the next hour he rattles on about his family, his kids, his job, and everything else that I don't really care about. I'm almost asleep by the time I realize we're almost at our house. I tell him when we're about to miss the driveway and he helps me carry Ponyboy up the porch steps.

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate it." I say taking Pone in my arms, opening the front door.

"It wasn't a problem, Darrel. I'm happy to help you kids out. Take care, ya hear?" he says nodding to me.

"Will do. Thanks again." I answer stepping into the house.

It's practically three in the morning and as soon as I open the front door, Dallas rushes up to me, glancing in horror at me and Ponyboy before dragging us in.

"Are you okay? Is he okay? God, what the hell happened to you two? Why didn't you call me?!" he exclaims sitting me down on the couch, Pony slumped beside me.

I just nod. I can hardly think I'm so tired! "I'm – We're fine for now. Just let me sleep alright?" I say standing and trying to carry Ponyboy to his room.

"Darry?! What the hell happened to you?! Were you, shot?" he asks pointing to the two sets of stitches on my back. "What the f***! Who were the son of the b*****? If they're alive by the time I'm done with 'em they sure as hell will wish they were dead." He growls with pure malice in his voice.

"Dallas, settle down. Just help me get Ponyboy in his bed please. Where's Sodapop?"

"He's in your bed. The kid was hysterical when you didn't come back. It took me half the day to get him back to sleep." Dallas answers taking Ponyboy from my arms.

I forget how strong that kid is sometimes. He practically picks me up too and get both of us to Pony's room, laying Pone on his bed and me beside him. He covers both of us up with the sheets and leaves the room to bring me some things I asked for. I notice that Dally shuts the door very tightly behind him. A few minutes later, I hear Sodapop's high voice whining and crying at Dally. Dallas says a few quiet things to him before there are footsteps leading away from the room. He opens the door a few minutes later with an armful of things.

"Dal you really didn't need to get all that."

"Really? So you were just going to get up and run a marathon to all this crap by yourself, right? I'd like to see you try Darrel." He states.

I can only sigh and let Dally take care of us for now. The next few days pass as a blur. I will not let Sodapop see either one of us and I'm taking care of Ponyboy pretty much by myself. He's woken up a few times and he seems to be getting better. I have to go back to the hospital in a week to have the stitches taken out but things change one morning. Dallas comes on to check on us and stop dead in his tracks in the doorway. Ponyboy is getting real sick again. His fever is high and I guess he looks real bad to Dal too.

"I gotta take him to the hospital." I say starting to scoop my limp, hot little brother up off his bed. Ponyboy moans but doesn't open his eyes.

"Take my car." Dally says helping me out of the house. Over the past few days I've told Dallas everything that happened when I was trying to find Ponyboy and bring him home.

"Which one?" I ask smiling a little bit. Dal has, oh I don't know, like twenty cars.

The kid flashes me a half-smile and says, "The one in the driveway, stupid."

I nod as he helps me and Ponyboy into the car. "Take care, ya hear? Call me if you need anything." He says shutting the door.

I nod again and pull out of the driveway. At the hospital, the nurses rush him into a room to start antibiotics and hydrating him. Poor Pone. I call Dallas that night and tell him I have to stay at the hospital with Pony for a few more days. He tells me that Sodapop is pretty depressed and really just wants to see us but I can't let him see me and Pone like this. I'm the one to blame for what happened to our little brother and I can't let him get hurt like this again. I have to protect him better. He could've died and it would've been all my fault! Three days later Ponyboy is discharged and feeling much better. They took the stitches out of my back while I was there too. I help Pony walk into the house and as soon as I step through the front door Sodapop rushes at us. Hugging and sobbing. Poor baby. I hug and kiss him while he cries and Pony does the same but he's a little too weak to keep standing.

"Hold on Sodapop. Let me get Pone to bed and I'll come out and be with you little buddy." I say.

I lay Ponyboy down into his bed and before I walk out of his room to be with Sodapop, I hear a knock on the front door. Who the hell knocks on our front door? It's always unlocked. A nervous feeling grows into my stomach as I walk to answer the door. I nearly choke when I open it.

"Mr. Darrel Curtis?" a woman asks.

I nod my head.

"Hi, I'm Mrs. Sleshinger. I'm with the State."

A/N: Cliffy! Sort of! One more chapter left I think! Thanks so much for reading! Please review! Also please keep everyone in the Palestine, Israel and Gaza area in your prayers as well as the Malaysian Boeing 777 that appears to have crashed near the Ukraine Russian border that was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Thank you!