Really long A/N - I last updated Fences over a year ago and I have finally come to the realization that I will probably never go back to it. I feel really guilty, but I just seem to have moved on and can no longer write those guys the way they deserve to be written. Luckily, I did have an ending (mostly) written and I thought I'd share it with you guys.

There's really not much of the remaining plot of Fences that comes into play - just that I intended for Dally to need to make a choice between doing the deal that was going to be set up with Tim or help Pony and Johnny who were inadvertently stumbling into danger because of Pony's friendship with Mark from TWTTIN. He does the right thing for once and decides to warn his friends, but that lands him on the bad side of the crime lord he'd been working with through Tim because Dally jeopardized his business. Realizing he'd painted a big target on his back, Dally decides to leave Tulsa. And that was the end. At least what I had planned ... I have a tendency to make things up as I go, but that was the general idea of how things would play out.

Epilogue: Part One

Ten Years Later

"Okay everyone, I need you all to read the first two chapters over the weekend." An exaggerated groan rose up in the classroom as their teacher held up the book they were starting that night. "It's good. Trust me."

"That's what you said about Tale of Two Cities. Man, was that boring. Who cares about some stupid French guy?" The teacher grinned - that was Tommy. He complained about everything.

"Hey, I liked it." And that would be Jen. She was always enthusiastic and one of his best students.

"You like everything," Tommy countered and the class laughed, right on cue.

"This one isn't about some stupid French guy. It's about a teenager, about your age. In fact, the author was a Sophomore when he wrote it for a class just like this one." The teacher made his way to each row and handed over a stack of paperbacks for them pass to the students behind them. "It's about trying to belong and trying to survive when all you have are your friends to help you out."

"Alright, sounds a little better than that French dude," Tommy joked, his face lit up with a grin. For a split second, the teacher pictured another guy who always had a joke for every situation. Every class had one, he'd quickly come to realize when he started teaching five years ago. He couldn't really laugh along; naturally that would encourage bad behavior. But he always welcomed every quip and joke with a small smile.

He stopped at the last row. The kid there was intently digging the tip of a paperclip into the surface of his desk, etching something into the cheap laminate. Probably his name. In his day, it would have been done with a switchblade, but things have changed since then. The kid didn't look at him, apparently ignoring him. But he could tell by the set of his shoulders, the tenseness of his jaw, and the fact that the paperclip was now making a grinding sound with each stroke that he was completely aware of his presence. This would be Kevin. He was angry at the world and didn't hesitate to let everyone around him know that. The teacher held back a sigh of frustration. The more things change, the more they stay exactly the same.

He dropped the books on Kevin's desk, right on top of the K he had been working so diligently on. He realized long ago that with kids like Kevin, you couldn't show any weakness. They didn't respect that. There was a good kid in there, he knew it. It was going to take a lot of effort to get Kevin to realize that himself. He was going to take his time, he vowed. That vow grew stronger every time he glimpsed fresh set of bruises on his wrists or a scrape on his cheek.

The other teachers argued that he was a tough kid who got into fights constantly. That might be true, but his gut told him otherwise. It was all in the eyes - he'd seen that haunted, scared look before. Tough kids who beat up other tough kids didn't look at the world that way. They gazed back with cold, steely determination, daring anyone to challenge them. Kevin looked like he wanted the world to look past him, not notice him. Those bruises on his wrist were achingly familiar, too - the types of marks that come from control and domination, not mindless violence and roughhousing. Seeing those bruises sent chills down his spine.

He'd had his share of bad kids in class, of course. He could pinpoint them the moment they strolled through the door for the first time when the new school year started. They weren't there to learn. Their futures had nothing to do with a diploma. They were just killing time until their real interests started to pan out. Gangs and crime. Even out here in the country, you came across that kind of stuff. The city was nearby and Kevin was dangerously close to being swallowed whole by that world. A world with no future. A world with no hope. He knew it well. He'd come damn close to it himself.

Kevin picked up a copy, studied the red cover and flipped the book over to read the back. "What the hell kind of name is Ponyboy?" he mumbled to himself, tossing the book onto the desk like it was an afterthought.

The teacher grinned in response. "Well, it's an original name. You see - his dad was an original person." Kevin just rolled his eyes.

He noticed that a couple of the other students had started paging through the books, hopefully interested. He knew that the minute something became "homework" it instantly became "boring".

"Just pass the books back, Kevin," he said calmly as he made his way back to his desk. The final bell of the day rang and everyone started gathering up their stuff and filing out the door. A few students nodded goodbye and he acknowledged them with a smile.

"Hiya, Mrs. C.," he heard one of the guys say and he looked over at the woman standing in the doorway - his wife.

"Hi, Jeremy," she replied wryly, a knowing glint in her eye. He remembered her telling him that she thought Jeremy might have had a crush on her in her English class last year. It wasn't hard to see why. She was beautiful. Her black hair fell in soft waves around her striking face and her blue eyes just pulled you in and held your attention like you were the only person in the room. He couldn't blame Jeremy - he had a crush on her too, since the moment he met her.

Kevin was the last student to file out and he noticed her eyes following him out the door. The kid walked with a hunched slouch that every guy in his neighborhood had when he was growing up. Like the chip on your shoulder was so big you could barely support it. Kevin had the book shoved in his back pocket, almost like a dare - knowing his teacher would notice it.

His wife looked back at him, slightly shaking her head. "Your newest project, right?"

He just shrugged and started aimlessly pushing papers around on his desk, trying to act nonchalant about the whole thing. "I told you, Cathy, my gut is telling me something isn't right with that kid."

"And nobody else picked up on it?"

"Well, nobody else has the experience with it that I have," he admitted quietly.

Her expression softened and she moved over to him and motioned for him to push his chair back to give her room. She sat on his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him quick kiss.

"You have a soft heart, Johnny Cade," she said, resting her head on his shoulder and aimlessly twirling her fingers in the dark hair that curled against the nape of his neck. He blushed. He couldn't help it. All these years later and she could still make him blush like he was seventeen again. He also couldn't think of anything to say, which was something else she was expert at - rendering him speechless.

She reached over and picked up the book on his desk. "I still don't understand why he had to kill you and Dally off."

"I told you - his editor said it needed a bigger emotional punch at the end."

She winced. "But still - why you? Dal, I'm fine with --"

"Cathy," he interrupted with a startled laugh.

She lightly punched him in the arm. "I'm just kidding."

He raised his eyebrow, mimicking Two-Bit's signature move. "Right," he said slowly, with an exaggerated drawl.

He took the book from her and turned it over, reading the familiar description on the back. The story was important - greasers and Socs may not be around every corner anymore, but kids still had to deal with the same problems he and his friends had to deal with back then. Again, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Maybe reading it would convince a guy like Kevin that just because he'd been labeled a bad kid, didn't me he had to define that label. Johnny was living proof of that.

Nobody was more surprised than him when he decided to go to college. There were times there when he was certain he'd made a bad decision and was going to drop out. But, with the help of his friends and Tom and Mary, he stuck with it and persevered.

Reconnecting with Cathy was just an added bonus. Freshman year, she was in a couple of his classes and they latched onto one another - thrilled to see a familiar face. Their friendship came back with a vengeance and they spent all of their free time together. It wasn't long before friendship became something more, something deeper. He couldn't even pinpoint when it happened - it just did. Maybe it was a look, or a meaningful laugh, or a touch that lingered longer than normal. All he knew was that one second they were friends and the next second they weren't. Thinking back, maybe it was the kiss - yeah, the kiss definitely had something to do with it.

Early on, he decided on teaching. Something drew him to it. The irony wasn't lost on him, though - the guy who barely spoke and was afraid of everything was now leading discussions at the front of a room full of kids everyday. But he loved it. Something about the act of teaching made him forget for a moment that he was painfully shy and stuck in a wheelchair. Those books Ponyboy had brought to him in the hospital had been like a lifeline, something to focus on through the pain and struggles. That made choosing a focus easy. English. Maybe he could pass on his love of books the same way Pony passed it onto him.

Despite the importance of Pony's book and the relevance to his students, Johnny still found teaching it in class a difficult decision to make. The conversations the book generated were sure to be interesting and definitely uncomfortable. But the incidents of ten years ago were no secret around here. Everyone - students, faculty, parents - knew what happened and what his involvement in it was. Garyville was only twenty miles outside of Tulsa and it had been a huge news story. He may have stopped greasing his hair years ago and wore it much shorter, but he still looked almost exactly like his picture that ran in the papers all those years ago.

Just last year, he had a student whose sister had been in the church in Windrixville. She spent the first two weeks of school staring at him all through class. It had been a bit unnerving, to say the least; but he finally figured it out. When he asked her about it after class one day, she'd broken down in tears and told him how much her family owed him. It was a humbling moment.

"So, what do you think Ponyboy would say if he knew you were teaching his book to your class?" Cathy asked.

"A little embarrassed at first, but I'm pretty sure he'd be flattered," a familiar voice answered from the doorway.

"Ponyboy, I thought you weren't due in until tomorrow," Cathy said excitedly as she jumped up from Johnny's lap and gave Ponyboy a quick hug.

"I got done with the meetings with the publisher sooner than expected and figured I'd fly in early, surprise everyone." Pony explained as Cathy moved back, standing behind Johnny, her hand on his shoulder. Pony squinted suspiciously and grinned. "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

It was Cathy's turn to blush.