A/N fun riddle: who's terrible at updating a story on a regular basis? Answer, me. lol anyway sorry, life gets in the way sometimes. The disclaimer is the same as always.

"Catie?"

"Hey," I respond, somewhere between being awake and being asleep. "What time is it?" I ask, opening my eyes. Darry is sitting at the end of our bed.

"Just after quarter past one," Darry response.

"The afternoon?"

"Yeah."

"You let me sleep all day?" I ask, sitting up more.

"It looked like you needed the rest," Darry says, "I…, You really scared me, us last night."

"I'm sorry," I say, looking away, I can remember some parts of last night very clearly, but between those spots it's very blurry.

"It's not your fault, at least I don't think so. I think something happened on Tuesday, and its spooked you real bad. But I also think that I can think as much as I want, but no one knows what happened except for you."

I move out of bed, going around the room, looking for something to wear. I wasn't avoiding Dary's unasked question, but I was.

"Catie, can we please talk about this?" Darry asks, not moving from the bed, just watching me.

"Not right now," I answer.

"Why not?" Darry asks, following me into the bathroom.

"Darry."

"Catie."

"Pause," I tell Darry. He looks up, surprised. When we were in highschool, and fought all the time, we had this rule that either of us could pause the fight at any time. This was handy when we had a football game, or a class presentation, or were just tired of fighting right now.

"You can't pause, this isn't something you can pause."

"I said pause Darry, I need to shower, so you need to leave the bathroom," I say, pushing him out of the bathroom. I strip quickly, getting into the shower and turning on the hot water.

"Unpause," Darry says, opening the bathroom door and coming back in.

"Darry, I'm in the shower!"

"You can still talk about this."

"I really don't want to," I tell him, pouring shampoo into my hands.

"Well I really want to."

"Right now?"

"Neither of us is busy right now."

"I'm in the shower," I argue, rinsing my hair.

"You can still talk."

"You're being impossible."

"So are you."

"How am I being impossible?" I ask, "Pause, I need to get out and get dressed, so shoo for a moment," I tell Darry shutting of the water.

"Fine," Darry agrees leaving. I step out of the, and put on the clothes I brought it with me. "Are you done?" Darry asks.

"I guess," I say, working on towelling dry my hair. Darry comes back into the bathroom. He takes the towel from my hand, and starts moving in down my hair, drying it.

"Unpause," he says, still helping me with my hair. "I think this is something we should talk about."

"I agree, but not right now," I say, grabbing a hairband to tie my hair back.

"Why not?"

"Because, I don't want to, I already said this."

"That's not an answer Catherine," Darry says, following me out of the bathroom and into our bedroom. I begin collecting the dirty clothes from our hamper.

"It's the answer I'm giving right now."

"What does that even mean?" Darry asks, carrying the dirty clothes from our room into the laundry room as I grab Soda's and Pony's hamper from their room.

"It means I don't want to talk about this," I say, moving clothes from hampers into the washer. "Pause, do you need anything else to go in this wash?" I ask.

"Let me ask Soda," Darry says, walking to the living room. "Hey little buddy, do you need anything washed besides what's in your room?"

"My DX shirt, wait I left that it Steve's car."

"Of course you did, anything else?"

"Nope, are you and Catie do that weird fighting, not fighting thing?"

"None of your business," Darry says before returning the laundry room.

"Fighting not fighting thing?" I ask smirking slightly.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about, that boy is crazy," Darry shrugs.

"No crazier than you," I reply, putting the last of the clothes in the washer, and starting the load.

"Unpause?" Darry asks. I nod, heading into the kitchen.

"I just want to know what happened last night," Darry says.

"You know more than I do, I can barely remember last night!" I lean against the kitchen counter, Darry across the kitchen leaning against the doorway.

"What do you mean I know more?"

"I can't remember what happened last night! Maybe bits and pieces, but not everything!"

"Fine this is what happened; you cut your hand cooking, Soda went to help you out, and next thing I know is you are sobbing on the bathroom floor, not looking at anyone, no responding to anyone, not saying a thing! No one has any idea what happened that has you all shook up, and you're not talking!"

"That's not true!"

"Oh, so you're going to start talking now?" Darry asks expectantly.

"No," I answer stubbornly.

"Then what isn't true? The fact that you completely broke down, because I'm pretty sure that happened."

"Darry," I say warningly.

"Tell me what part I have wrong about last night."

"Somebody knows," I say, less heatedly.

"What?" Darry asks, looking confused. "Who knows?"

"I have other friends."

"Wait! Catie has friends?!" Soda shouts from the living room.

"Pause," Darry and I say at the same time.

"Sodapop Curtis, I can have friends if I want to," I scold, going into the living room where he and Steve were sat playing cards.

"I'm not saying you can't, I'm saying you don't," Soda says smirking.

"Besides us of course," Steve adds.

"I have other friends, tell them Darry."

"I'm going to have to side with Soda on this one babe, you haven't talked to anyone from high school, since high school."

"That's not true."

"When was the last time you saw Baby?" Darry asks.

"I, umm, well, you see, it's been a while, let me think," I stall, trying to remember the last time I saw Baby. The guys start laughing. "No, I got it. It was Right before Christmas."

"Two years ago," Darry adds.

"Shut up, maybe I've made friends."

"Why haven't we met them?" Steve asks.

"Maybe I don't want them to meet you fools."

"Fools, who you callin a fool?" Soda asks, jumping up, but tripping over the coffee table and landing on his face.

"You," I say looking down at him. "You're the fool I don't want my secret friends meeting."

"Come on Catie, the ladies find me charming."

"Sure, charming's the word they use," Steve adds sarcastically

"The ladies love me," Soda argues, grabbing Steve's ankle and dragging him into a wrestling match.

"Who's this friend?" Darry asks as we watch the boys wrestle.

"Really?" I ask. "I'm allowed to have my own friends."

"I'm not saying you're not. I just want to know who."

"You don't know her," I assure him, moving slightly as Steve and Soda roll towards us.

"Can I meet her?"

"Maybe, but I think we have a lot going on right now, I don't think you want to add socializing to it."

"You had time for it, apparently."

"Well, I'm unemployed now, remember?"

"Is this why you're so upset?"

"We are paused right now," I remind him. Darry grabs my hand and brings us back into the kitchen. I take up my post next to the sink, and he goes to the opposite wall.

"Unpause; is that why you're so upset?"

"No."

"Than why?"

"I don't want to talk about it, can we just doubt it."

"I'm not just bringing this up because I love fighting with you. I'm worried about you. I don't know what got you so upset, and I have no idea if it's going to happen again, or even what to do if it happens again."

"Do whatever you did last night, it seemed to help, even if I can't remember it," I shrug.

"That's what scares me, you were so upset that you can't remember anything."

"I'm fine Darry, I promise," I say, trying to placate him.

"Like hell you are! Catie, I just want to know how I can help!"

"I don't know if you can!"

"So I am just supposed to let you be haunted by whatever it is that's bothering you! That's bullshit, and you know it!"

"I don't know what you can do!"

"Tell me what's wrong!"

"That's not going to fix things!"

"It might, you never know!"

"I know!"

"How?"

"I know you Darry. I know you better than I know myself at times, and I know that you don't want to hear this."

"Hear what?"

"Please just forget about it."

"I don't think I can ever forget seeing, that."

"Well try all right?" I ask, pushing off from the counter and walking away. I didn't want this conversation to continue.

"Where are you going?" Darry asks. I shrug, not saying anything. I know that giving Darry the cold shoulder was immature, but I just needed a minute to think, and take a break.

"Oh come on Catie, don't do this."

I shake my head, sitting down on the couch next to Soda. I lean against him, looking at his hand of cards. Not bad, but if Steve's cheating, Soda has no chance of winning.

"Catie?" Darry asks. I don't look up, or reply.

"You're gonna end up killing him," Steve comments. Darry has left the room, I don't know where.

"I-" I stars but Soda cuts me off.

"Catie, we know you don't want to talk about whatever happened, we just want to know how we can help."

I bite my lip, contemplating if I should be saying anything.

"Just don't leave me alone," I say finally. Soda and Steve look up, surprised.

"Okay, okay," Soda says, going back to the card game. Steve follows his lead, and I continue resting my head on Soda's shoulder.

The boys play through five or six games, all while talking about some car that just came into the shop.

The phone starts ringing, and both Soda and I rise to go answer it, but Darry beats us there.

"Hello?" Darry says. Soda positions himself on one side of Darry, and I take the other. "Pony? Pony where are you? Are you okay? Are they okay?"

Soda and I share a look, wishing we knew the other half of the conversation.

"Okay, okay, we'll be right there, just stay there okay?" Darry says before hanging up.

"He's at the hospital with Johnny and Dally," Darry says, walking past us, locating his car keys and jacket. Soda springs into action, asking a million questions as well as running around the house looking for socks, and shoes and his jacket.

"Johnny?" I ask, thinking back to something Ponyboy said the other week. Johnny's phone got turned off when his folks didn't pay the bills. If Johnny was injured and the hospital tried to call his parents, they wouldn't know.

"Yeah, all three of them got themselves into the hospital, we got to go," Darry says, walking back into the kitchen.

"Johnny mention that his phone line got turned off, his parent's aren't going to know. Someone should go and tell them."

"Catie, that's sweet and all, but we really need to get to the hospital."

"I'll take her," Steve volunteers. "We'll be right behind you guys, we can swing around and see if they're home."

"You sure?" Soda asks.

"Yeah, it won't take long."

"Be careful," Darry adds before rushing out the door with Soda.

"You ready?" Steve asks.

"Yeah," I say, following Steve outside. We get into his car and head over to the Cade's house. I have only seen Mr. Cade once or twice, and I had never seen his wife.

"We have to say something, right?"

"If it was me I wouldn't bother with these lowlifes, we are more of family for Johnnycakes then them."

"But if something was wrong, I would like to know if it was you guys."

"Well, there you go, go and do you good deed," Steve says parking the car.

"Oh, you're not coming with me?"

"Of course I'm coming with you, with your luck that bastard would end up knocking you out."

"You're a real knight in shining armour aren't you," I joke, walking up the steps of the porch. The house is obviously rundown. Paint is peeling on the walls, and a piece of cardboard fills one of the window pains.

"Let's get this over with," Steve says, banging on the front door, then taking a step back.

"No one here," Steve says, pulling me away from the door.

"Wait, just one more minute?" I ask.

"Catie, there all at the hospital by now."

"Who's at the hospital?" Mrs. Cade asks, opening the door. She was just in a bathrobe, with her dark hair that matched Johnny's piled loosely on top of her head. Her skin was paler than Johnny's, making the dark bruises even more prominent.

"Oh, hello," I start. "My name's Catie, and we just found out that Johnny and Ponyboy are in the hospital, and-"

"You liar!" Mrs. Cade shouts, swinging out at me, but Steve reacts faster, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me backwards.

"Catie let's go," Steve says, grabbing my wrist and guiding us down the porch.

"But-,"

"Shhhs," Steve interrupts, pushing me towards the car and going around to the other side. I get in a wait for Steve to explain.

"Parent's like that, once they get started, they just want something to hit, doesn't matter what, or who," Steve explains, driving towards the hospital. He's gripping the steering wheel so hard that I can see his knuckles turning white.

"I know that, and I think I can stand up for myself."

"Just let this one go, okay?!" Steve asks, sounding agitated. I nod, looking out the window as we speed towards the hospital. Darry didn't exactly say what happened, so I needed to prepare myself for the worst. Johnny could be dead, and Dallas could be alive. Don't think like that, don't wish people dead, I scold myself.

"Here we are," Steve says, putting the car in park.

"Here we are," I echo.

"No matter what is going on in there, we have to keep the brothers together," Steve adds. I nod, getting out of the car. We walk towards the hospital entrance, not know what we would see inside.

Inside it is easy to find Darry, as he is shouting at one of the nurses. I break away from Steve, who is heading towards a cluster of chairs. I walk up to Darry, placing my hand on top of his.

"I'm sorry, I can only let family members into the intensive care unit."

"Dar," I say, breaking Darry's focus. He nods, and walks away from the nurse. "How bad is it?" I ask as we walk towards the other boys.

"Pony's okay, maybe a little shaken up from the fire but okay. They aren't saying anything about Dally or Johnny."

"Oh."

"Catie?" Pony asks, standing up. He was covered in ash and his hair was now blonde, but he seemed to be mostly okay.

"Oh baby," I say, wrapping my arms around him. I think of Soda, Steve and Two-bit as friends, or Darry's friends, but Pony has always been a little brother to me. When Darry and I first started dating, Pony was still in elementary school, unlike all of the other boys who were scattered throughout junior high. He's always going to be the baby of the group even if he hates it.

"Family only, that's what they're saying," Darry says sitting down. I sit down next to him while Soda, Steve and Pony sit across from us.

"But we are their family, that's not fair," Soda argues.

"I know that little buddy, but they're insistent, family only."

"They won't know if one of us is actually family though," Steve says, looking directly at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Oh Catie, please, you have to," Soda begs.

"What?" I ask again.

"They're not going to ask for a driver's license, you have the blonde hair like Dal, I'm sure you could go up and say you are his sister and they'd have to let you in," Steve says.

"Oh no, I couldn't," I counter when I want to say I can't. There is no way I can go in there and check up of Dallas.

"It's not a bad idea," Darry agrees.

"I doubt it will work," I argue, but from the looks on the boys faces, especially Pony's I'm going to have to.

"Just give it a try Catie," Soda encourages.

"They aren't going to let me see Johnny."

"Dally knows what happened," Pony says, "He went in after Johnny, he'll tell you."

"Fine," I agree, standing up. Do it for Ponyboy, do it for him, I tell myself while walking to the nurses station. "Excuse me? Excuse me? Miss, I'm looking for my brother? His friends said he was here?" I ask one of the nurses.

"What's his name sweetheart?" she asks.

"Dallas Winston," I say, hating myself.

"He's in room 0107, in the ICU."

"Can I see him?"

"Sure, just follow me." The nurse walks out from behind her station and leads me through a set of doors. "Here he is, the doctor should be in soon, but maybe you can get him to settle down."

"I can try," I say, walking into the room. "Hey brother," I force out, waiting for the nurse to leave. Dallas looks up at me sharply, then smirks.

"Sneaking in to see me now Catie? I knew you would come around, come closer babe."

"I'm fine here," I reply, staying close to the door.

"Come on baby, I'm injured, you wouldn't want me to get even more hurt."

"What's wrong with you?"

"Burn my damn arm pulling the idiot kid out of the fire," he shrugs.

"And Johnny?"

"A beam fell on him," Dallas says, looking genuinely concerned for the first time. "He had a lot of burns too, I ain't too sure if he's going to make."

"Pony's okay, I think."

"Only because I saved his ass, now come over here and make me feel better," Dallas demands.

"I think I'll pass," I say, walking out of his room. I take a moment out in the hallway to calm down. He didn't touch me, I remind myself, he didn't hurt me this time. And I said no, and didn't cave, or cry. But Johnny's not okay, people don't fully recover from injuries like that. He's never going to be the same.

I head back towards the waiting room, and Darry meets me somewhere between the doors and the rest of the gang.

"How bad?" Darry asks.

"He's going to be fine, if he's nice to the nurses," I add.

"Johnnycake?"

"It didn't sound that great."

"Just tell me."

"He probably has serious burns, and a beam fell on him. What happened to them?"

"Pony hasn't said anything about what happened, he's mostly been asking about what's been going on at the house."

"What have you said?"

"Don't worry, Steve and Soda have just been talking about the DX, nothing serious. What do we do now?"

"I think we should all go home, I can't imagine what Ponyboy has been through."

"Let's come and talk to them," Darry decides, walking over to the boys. I trail behind. I listen as Darry explains to the gang what's going on with Johnny and Dallas, and that we're going home.

"Catie can ride with me again,"Steve volunteers. "We'll meet you guys back there."

"No detour this time," Darry jokes as we all head for the parking lot. Pony was being uncharacteristically quiet, even for himself.

"No promises," Steve replies. The brothers break away to go to the truck and I continue following Steve to his car.

"How was he?" Steve asks once we are on the road.

"He was himself, just a burn on his arm, nothing big."

"He's going to give those nurses hell tonight."

"I'm sure he is," I agree.

"Can I ask ya something Cate?"

"What is it?"

"You don't want to be alone because you're not safe when you are."

"That's not a question," I point out, avoiding answering. Steve drums against the wheel waiting.

"It's true."

"I don't know Steve, honestly."

"It should get easier now, with Pony back."

"Social workers are going to be on them like crazy," I point out. Pony being back was a blessing and a curse, but at least Darry and I have a backup plan.

"More lying for you then," Steve adds, laughing.

"Yup," I agree. The social workers weren't too fond of the idea of nonfamily living with the boys, especially me. It was easy back when everything first happened, I didn't have a lot of stuff at the house, but now, it's going to be a nightmare to try and hide everything. Hopefully they didn't try and do any surprise visits.

"You coming Catie?" Steve asks getting out of the car.

"Oh, yeah," I say, snapping out of my thoughts. I follow Steve up the driveway and into the house. Soda and Darry were sitting across from eachother at the kitchen table.

"Where's the kid?" Steve asks as we join them.

"He fell asleep on the way back."

"What happened to him?" I ask.

"He hasn't said, he just wants to know what's been happening here."

"Well nothing exciting has been happening here," I reason.

"Sure Catie, nothing exciting at all as happened here," Soda says sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Well nothing Pony needs to know about," I amend.

"I agree with Catie on that point," Darry says finally, "Pony's still a kid, and he's been through a lot, he doesn't need more on his plate."

"What about the rumble?" Steve asks.

"He's not going to fight," Darry decides.

"He's going to want to fight," Soda argues.

"He's in no shape to fight."

"We don't know that yet," I point out. "He could be just fine."

"You want him to fight?" Darry asks, turning to me.

"What? I didn't say that! I said we don't know how bad off he is, so we can't say he can't until we have more information."

"The rumble isn't until tomorrow night, we can watch him tomorrow and see how he is," Soda suggests.

"We all have work Soda, we can't afford to take a day off to babysit him."

"I can watch him," I volunteer. "I'm not going to be doing anything tomorrow anyway."

"Oh, no secrete friend visits?" Soda jokes, leaning back in his chair.

"You just wish you had other friends," I retort.

"He don't need other friends," Steve argues.

"I don't know little buddy, you might want to look for some new ones," Darry joins in.

"You just wish you had friends like me," Steve points out.

"I got friends better than you, plus my friend lives with me," Darry points out.

"Who?" Soda asks.

"Me, you fool," I chip in.

"What, you two are friends? I thought you guys hated each other with all of you're fighting."

"Well you thought wrong little buddy."

"Wait, shut it for a minute," I interrupt. I thought I heard coughing, or something, coming from Pony's room, but I wasn't sure. Until it happened again. "I got it," I say, standing up and going to the boys room. Pony was on his side, still asleep, but coughing. I sat on the edge of his bed, as he tossed and turned.

"Shh, baby, it's okay," I hum, reaching out to check is temperature. He's burning up, and as I pull my hand away I notice my fingers are covered in soot. Of course the boys didn't think of getting the ash off of him once he fell asleep. I make my way quickly to the bathroom and grab a damp washcloth. I go back to the boys room, taking post on the bed next to Ponyboy. I work on cleaning, and cooling his face, all while humming a tune. I don't really remember where I learned it, but it somehow felt appropriate now. Pony stops tossing around eventually, but he still seems distressed.

"Oh baby, what happened to you?" I ask quietly to me self. Pony just turns over, making a small noise. I wish I knew what happened to him and Johnny, it would make it so much easier. We could have helped them so much if they just came back here. Or if Pony didn't run. We could have taken some time and talked things over. He's not going to tell us about what happened up there anytime soon, I can just tell. It's going to be like pulling teeth, just to get something out of him.

"Catie, do you want anything to eat?" Darry asks from the doorway.

"I'm fine, do you need me to get you guys something?" I ask, standing up.

"We ate whatever was in the fridge from the past few nights," Darry shrugs.

"You should've let me make something."

"But then you could be down a couple a fingers," Darry points out grabbing my bandaged hand. "How is your hand?"

"It's fine, we've all slipped up with a knife before."

"I feel like our definition of slipping up with a knife, and yours is very different."

"Is it?" I ask, following Darry back to the kitchen.

"Are you sure your hand is okay?" Darry asks again.

"It's just a cut."

"It was a deep cut, I think I saw bone," Soda adds.

"Let me see it," Darry says, holding out his hand.

"It's nothing to worry about," I say while showing him my hand. There really is no point on fighting Darry on the little stuff, and if Soda and Pony could learn that the house would be ten times quieter. Darry takes it, and starts unwrapping the bandage.

"Jesus Soda, what did you do to her hand?" Darry asks.

"I didn't do nothing," Soda defends.

"Apparently, it's still bleeding,"

"No it's not," Soda and I say at the same time. I look down at my hand, and it is still bleeding a bit.

"Oh, well it's still bleeding," I say, moving my hand this way and that.

"You should let me stitch that up," Darry suggests.

"You are horrible at stitches, I'm not going to let you take a needle to my hand."

"Come on Catie."

"Give it another day Darry, it will be fine," I assure him.

"Are you sure?"

"Ehh," I shrug, looking at my hand.

"Catie?"

"It should be fine in a day or two," I reason, "Right?"

"Right," Soda agrees.

"Thank you Soda, see Darry it's fine."

"Whatever you think," Darry sighs.

"Darry?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Can you get me a new bandage?"

"Yeah, no problem," Darry says, walking to the bathroom.

"Where'd Steve go?" I ask Soda.

"Home, I think," Soda says, looking through the fridge.

"What are you looking for?"

"Food," Soda says, taking some chocolate cake out.

"If you finish that, you are making the next one," I warn.

"Don't say that Catie, if he makes it, we all suffer," Darry comments, coming back in.

"It ain't that bad when I make it."

"Yeah, but for some reason when you make it, there's no sugar left in my kitchen," I add, holding out my hand for Darry.

"Is this too tight?" Darry asks while wrapping my hand. I shake my head no.

"After that, you should get to bed Soda," Darry says.

"What why? It's still crazy early."

"You two are going to work tomorrow, and none of us have slept much this week," I respond, starting the dishes the boys left in the sink from their dinner.

"What are you doing tomorrow? With Pony?" Darry asks.

"I think we will stay around the house, but it all depends on how's he feeling."

"You think he will be able to go to school on Monday?" Darry asks.

"Don't push him to go back if he's not ready." Soda points on, handing me his plate. "Plus, Catie is here anyway, so we wouldn't have to miss work."

"He can't just skive off school because something happened."

"You can't make him go back before he's ready."

"I can make him do whatever I want," Darry says.

"Guys, guys, let's take it back a minute," I intervene. "Darry, Soda's right, if he's in no shape to go back on Monday for whatever reason, we shouldn't force him to go. But Soda, Darry has a point, getting back into a routine might be beneficial for Pony. We won't know what Pony will need until he talks to us okay? Now, let's all try and get an early night because you two have work in the morning," I finish, hanging up the dish towel. Soda nods, and then makes for his room.

"Thanks," Darry says, grabbing the last cups and putting in the cabinet.

"You two can't bicker like that over Pony, especially when Pony's around."

"I know, it just-" Darry starts, but I cut him off.

"I know, let's go," I say grabbing his hand and turning off the kitchen light. I lead us to the bedroom.

"Are you okay?" Darry asks suddenly, as we are getting ready to sleep.

"What do you mean?" I ask, turning around. Darry is on the left side of the bed, like always.

"You know what I mean," he counters, pulling me closer. I rest my head on his chest.

"Let's not right now, please Darry."

"I worry about you."

"I know," I sigh, intertwining my hand in his.

"Can you tell me something? Anything?"

"What do you want to know?" I ask.

"Was it something that happened at the funeral?"

"No, the funeral went okay, may better than I expected," I answer truthfully.

"Did-?"'

"No more, okay?" I ask, racing patterns on his hand. "Not tonight."

"Tomorrow?"

"Maybe, depends on how the days go."

"We will see how it goes then," Darry says, sitting up slightly to turn off the light. We settle back down, his arm around my hip, and my head on his chest.

His brothers, especially Ponyboy, might not think that Darry is understanding or even kind sometimes, but he truly is. Darry has always been extremely understanding, always listening to me or his team mates without pushing too far. It's one of the things I've always admired about him, especially when I was trying to wrangle the girls on the cheer squad. Its surprising how far listening can get you.

A/N Reviews make me happy, and make me write faster, so review, favorite, follow and review again.