A/N: Another chapter guys. This one is a little different, but you'll see what happens in the end. Yes it still has something to do with this story, you'll see. I hope you like it and don't forget to review! Please review! Sorry for any spelling or grammer mistakes that I have made.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders, the amazing S. E. Hinton.

Once upon a time, in a land far away from here, there lived a beautiful princess named Cherry. Well, her real name was Sherri, but peopled called her Cherry because of her red hair. Anyways, the princess was lucky, she had a large castle to live in, a loving fiancé Lord Robert, and everything a princess would want, yet she wasn't happy. She couldn't seem to find happiness anywhere, until she met the outlaw Dallas "Dally" Winston. That day changed her life forever.

She had been in her room when a young girl came to her door. She bowed and said, "His majesty wishes for your presents in the throne room, Princess." Cherry smiled at the servant girl.

"Thank you Alyssa. You may go," the young girl with the honey colored eyes bowed once more before she left. Cherry made sure that she looked presentable before she left her room for the throne room. When she arrived in the throne room, she was greeted by many guards and soldiers, all on high alert, this confused Cherry. She was about to ask about it until her mother forced her to take her seat on her own throne. There, in the middle of the room stood seven boys, peasant boys who needed a bath. Cherry recognized a few of the boys, Sodapop (what an odd name) and his friend Steve, the boys who repaired wagons and such for the royal family, Ponyboy the stable boy, and Johnny the kitchen boy. The other three she didn't know, but the elf-like blonde boy seemed a little familiar….

"It seems we have finally captured the outlaw Dallas Winston, and we have captured the boys who have helped him." The King, Cherry's father, sneered. Before of the boys could speak, a cry was heard.

"Ponyboy, no," Cherry turned her head to see the servant girl, Alyssa, running towards the stable boy. The guards acted fast and pulled her away from the boys, telling her to shut up. She didn't listen. "Please your highness, please don't kill my husband." Cherry was a little surprised to hear that little bit of information, but then again it was common for young people to get married.

"Silence, you foolish girl, this boy has committed a crime!" The king yelled. There was a torn expression on the Stable boy's face, making Cherry's heart break. She looked at all the boys, even Dallas Winston. Their eyes met for a moment. Cherry could tell that he had no fear of dying, no regrets, but for some reason she simply could not see him die.

"Father, wait," Cherry interrupted. All eyes turned to her, which made Cherry a little nervous, but she went on nonetheless. "Maybe you should give these poor boys a chance. They were just helping a friend." The king glared at his daughter.

"These boys are criminals, they must be punished." Normally, Cherry would never question her father, but she felt as if she needed to save these people (especially that outlaw Dally, but she would never admit that).

"But father, you can't kill these young boys! Most of them have wives and children, and maybe we can teach Mr. Dallas Winston how to act as normal member of society. Please father, don't kill them."

Dallas Winston snorted. "Ain't no way you're changing me." He told them, his blue eyes as cold as ice, almost telling Cherry that he didn't need her help or her charity.

"Fine, I will let them live, but only if the outlaw will give up his life of crime. He will stay in the dungeons for month or two for his crimes, but he will live. Will you give up a life of crime, boy?" Cherry could see in his eyes that he was about to decline, but then the dark kitchen boy, Johnny (Cherry remembered that he had a wife and son at home, and another one on the way. Gossip traveled quickly in the castle), whispered something to the outlaw. Whatever the boy said seemed to soften the harden criminal. He turned his gaze back to the king as he said, "Fine, I'll give up my life of crime." The other boys were free to go while Dallas was taken to the dungeons. For some reason it hurt Cherry to see them take Dallas away. She didn't know why, he was a well-known criminal in their country and in the neighboring country, but her heart couldn't help but to speed up when their gazes met.

That night, Cherry couldn't seem to get the outlaw out of her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about his eyes or his elfish features, nor could she forget the way he seemed to hate the world. It broke her heart to see him so hateful towards everything and everyone (well it seemed that he had a soft-spot for that Johnny boy). Finally, she couldn't take it any longer. Cherry threw back her covers and got up out of her soft, warm bed. She threw on a dressing gown before leaving her room with a small candle in hand.

The castle was cold at night; she could feel the coldness of the stones on the floor through her thin slippers. The only light in the castle (besides her dull candle) seemed to be coming from the large windows, outside the windows the moon hovered in the air, eerie and full. Cherry couldn't help but to think about all the ghost stories she had heard as a child, most having to do with the castle she called home. Slowly, the princess made her way to the dungeons.

Cherry had only been to the dungeons once, and after that first time she vowed to never go back to that horrid place ever again. At that moment she was going back on her words. Slowly, so she wouldn't trip, the princess made her way down the steep stairs that led to the dungeons. She could barely see, even with the candle it was almost pitched black.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she made it to the dungeons. Rats ran away from the little light that the candle provided. Cherry slowly and carefully navigated her way through the dungeons.

After a while, Cherry began to panic. She couldn't seem to find Dallas anywhere. Just when she was about to turn back, she could made out blonde hair through the dull candle light.

"What the hell do you want," Dallas asked. He already knew exactly who it was, even with the crappy lighting. "Princesses shouldn't be down here." He sneered. Cherry ignored his comment as she neared his cell. His cell was one of the cleaner ones, it wasn't littered with bones or rats, but it was still pretty crappy looking.

"Are you alright?" Cherry asked. Dallas laughed bitterly.

"I love how you act like you give a damn. Just because you saved a few peasants doesn't mean I have to thank you. You're still a no good blue blood." Cherry was beginning to get angry now.

"I don't want you to thank me, or do anything for that matter, but maybe you could speak with a little more respect." Dallas snorted at that.

"I don't show respect to nobody. So why don't you get your pretty little ass out of here before your daddy finds out that you're talking to a no good criminal." Cherry glared at him, but she stayed in place. They went on glaring at each other for about ten minutes before Cherry finally left, but it wouldn't be the last time that she would come to the dungeons. She would come every night, just to see Dallas. Of course she wouldn't admit this too herself, instead she told herself that she was trying to teach him how to act like a normal citizen. Dallas didn't speak to her, unless it was to insult her. This went on for two months, until the night before Dallas would be set free.

Cherry had been sitting in front of his cell, playing with a piece of sting when Dallas finally stood up and yelled, "Why do you mess with me like this?"

Cherry gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean by that, Sir?" She asked. Dallas glared at her.

"You know goddamn well what. Every time I see you my heart starts racing, I can't get you outta my head, and I can't fucking stand it! I can't stand feeling like this! What are you doing to me?" Cherry felt her heart swell. So he felt it too. It was sweet, yet sad. He didn't know what love was, he didn't know that it was love that he was feeling.

"It's love that you're feeling Dallas." Cherry told him simply. He glared at her.

"I don't love anybody!" He snapped. Cherry smiled at him.

"You love Johnny, and you love me, you just won't admit it. If it makes you feel any better, I think I love you too." Dallas seemed to be calming down, but he still looked confused. It broke Cherry's heart to see him like this. The poor boy never knew love.

"I-I can't love anybody. 'Sides you're getting married to that ass, Bob." He spit out the name as if it tasted bad. Cherry's heart stopped. She had forgotten all about Bob.

Dallas was sitting down in his cell now, his back to the wall. Cherry slowly moved closer to the cell, putting her arm through the bars.

"Dallas, you can love. Please just try to love, and maybe we can run away and get married. I don't know, but I do know that love is a beautiful thing that shouldn't be taken for granted or ignored. You have to cherish it." Dallas snorted halfheartedly at her cheesy speech, but he too moved closer. He took her hand in his.

"Fine, I'll try to love, but don't blame me if I'm not good at it." Then, they shared their first kiss in between the bars of his cell.

"Tell anyone about this mushy moment and I'll deny even knowing you," Dallas told her before he kissed her again. Cherry smiled into the kiss.

Dallas Winston was not the ideal lover. He wasn't the kindest or gentlest man nor was he the sweetest, but there were moments when he could be the sweetest man ever, and not ever try. He was also a very jealous man, not that he would ever admit it. Whenever she spoke (more liked complained) about her marriage to Bob, he would turn red with anger.

Dallas ended up becoming one of Cherry's personal guards, which gave them quite a bit of time together, unfortunately it also meant that Dally had to be around when Bob came to discuss wedding plans. They were still trying to make up a plan to avoid the wedding.

It's not like Cherry hated Bob, but she didn't love him. He was too in love with his wine and ale to ever love her, and his hatred for the poor really was a turn off. Bob often beat up or even killed peasants, saying that he was helping to clean their fair city's streets of filth. This angered Cherry, and it angered her even more when she learned that Bob and a few of his friends had beat the poor little kitchen boy half to death. That also happened to be a reason why Dally hated Bob.

Of course Dallas's friends and their wives knew about their relationship, and they knew better than to run their mouths, because Dallas would gladly break their jaws it they did (unless it was Johnny of course).

Now, Cherry sat in her room brushing her beautiful red hair. A knock came from the door.

"Enter," Cherry called as she set down her hair brush. Alyssa Curtis, the young servant girl, came into her chambers carrying a letter with her. Cherry noticed the slight swell to the young girl's belly. She must be with child, Cherry thought fondly.

"A letter from Lord Bob, Princess," Alyssa said with a bow. Cherry rolled her eyes at the bow. She didn't like the fact that her friends had to bow to her, it was quite annoying.

"Please do not bow to me, Alyssa. You are my friend, and I understand if you must bow in front of others, but in your condition it makes me nervous." The servant girl blushed at the mention of her pregnancy, but she nodded anyway.

"Thank you, your hi- I mean Cherry. It is an honor to be your friend." Cherry smiled.

"I hear you and your husband can read." Cherry commented. Alyssa blushed and nodded once more. It was very odd for a peasant or servant to know how to read. "Well I enjoy it myself, and I wish to give you a few of my books." Cherry quickly ran over to her bookshelf and pulled two nice sized books out from it and handed them to Alyssa. "Please have Dallas or one of the guards help you carry these. I worry for your health." Alyssa thanked Cherry many times before she left the room. Once she did leave, Cherry took the letter from Bob and opened it. He was away in the next kingdom doing business with her father, and he would be gone for another few months. This gave Cherry and Dallas much more time together and time to think about their plan.

My Dearest Cherry, She had to roll her eyes at that one.

We will be gone for a few months, and I hope that you don't become lonely. It is times like this that I wish that your noble friend wouldn't have married that filthy bartender with the bastard child. Cherry felt like throwing the half read letter away at that point. Cherry's good friend, Marcia, fell in love with Keith "Two Bit" Matthews, a bartender and father (he also happened to be one of the boys who helped Dallas). They began to have an affair (Keith's wife had died in child birth, but Marcia was to marry Lord Randy). It wasn't long before they couldn't stand being apart, and they secretly married. After hearing of this news, her parents disowned her and her father almost killed her unborn child by trying to punch her in the gut. Thankfully he wasn't a very strong man. I do miss you, and we shall be married as soon as I come home. Please stay away from those peasants, they are nothing but sum.

Love,

Robert

Cherry threw the letter in the trash. Well that was the most romantic letter she had ever received, not! Dallas was more romantic than Bob at times, and that was saying something.

A knock on the door brought her from thought.

"Enter," she called. Dallas entered the room without Cherry noticing, she was too busy trying to straighten her books. Dally wrapped his arms around her waist and began to kissed her neck.

"Miss me, baby?" He whispered husky into her ear. Cherry suppressed a shudder.

"Dallas, please don't, I've got something to tell you." Dallas ignored her pleads and went on kissing her neck.

"Can't it wait?" He asked. Cherry somehow found the strength to move out of his warm embrace, her eyes serious.

"Dallas this is about the wedding." This seemed to bring Dallas out of his lust (sort of). He's cold blue eyes turned colder at the mention of her wedding and his face grew serious.

"What about it?" Dallas asked her, his voice cold. He wasn't trying to be mean to her; he just hated talking about her wedding.

Cherry took a deep breath. "Dallas, I think we should get married and run away. The rest of the gang can come to. The problem is I don't know where to run to." She took a seat on her large bed. Dallas looked at her as if she were crazy. She would seriously give up a life of luxury to be with a guy like him? She couldn't be serious. But she was. He could see the determination on her green eyes. She wanted to be with him, she wanted to be his wife. The thought made him giddy and happy, but these emotions did not show on his face. No, he was still Dallas Winston after all.

"I know a place. It's a ways away, but it'll be perfect." Cherry's eyes lit up at his words. She stood up and ran over to Dallas, pulling him into a kiss. After getting over the wee bit of shock Dallas began to kiss her back. When they pulled away, their foreheads rested upon each other, and goofy smiles adored their faces.

"I'll pack tonight and we'll leave tomorrow night." Cherry whispered. Dallas nodded.

"I'll tell everyone to get ready. Two Bit can even start up a bar in the new place." He kissed her lips softly.

So it was decided, they would run away tomorrow night. They would marry before they left the kingdom, of course, and then they would set out to this new place.

The next day, Cherry acted as if everything were normal. Dallas had the day off, which he was using to get things ready for their long trip. Cherry was a little worried about Kelly (who was eight months pregnant) and the newly pregnant Alyssa. Would their bodies be able to handle the trip? She still worried about it, even after Dallas told her that they'd be fine.

"Mother, may I be excused." Cherry asked that night at dinner. The queen nodded before she went back to flirting with the young guard. The sight made Cherry sick, her parents were not happily married, which meant that they both had their fair share of lovers.

Cherry made her way to her chambers to make sure that everything was ready. She then set to work on writing a letter to her parents and to Bob telling them that she and Dallas were running away to be married, and that they weren't coming back. At midnight, Cherry snuck out of the castle and met Dallas at the back gate.

The trip to the preacher was a short one, and they were met by all of Dallas's friends and their wives and children. Cherry hugged her friend Marcia with tears in her eyes. Her friend was with child for the second time, with a toddler on his father's hip and a step daughter. She looked happy, as happy as Cherry and Dallas would be after they got out of the kingdom. The wedding didn't take long, and it wasn't long before Cherry was Mrs. Dallas Winston, a title she could call her own. After the ceremony, they all went to the Curtis cottage a little ways out of town, where their horses and buggies would be waiting to take them away. The men loaded the few things they needed and the bags before they set off. Cherry watched as the children fell asleep in one of the buggies, their mother's kissing them goodnight. She had to smile as Johnny fussed over his pregnant wife and his two year old son. He was a good father.

Cherry rode her own horse, Sting Ray. He was a reddish color, but at night he looked to be brown. Somehow Ponyboy was able to sneak him out of the stables earlier in the day.

After two days of nonstop travel, they finally made it to an old abounded church on a hill in the middle of the forest.

"This is it," Dallas said as he got off his horse. "We can use some of the good lumber to build our houses." It took a week to build the first house, Darry and Sophie's home. It was the largest because they all would be staying in the house until their own homes were finished. Two Bit's house was the next to go up, followed by Johnny's. The night before their home was finished, Kelly went into labor. Johnny stayed by her side the whole time, and at about six A.M. Kelly gave birth to a beautiful dark little girl. She had her father's eyes, large and dark. After the small celebration the men and women went back to getting thing ready. Ponyboy's home was next to be finished, followed by Sodapop and Anne's home, then Steve and Elizabeth's. After a month of work, they finally finished their own home.

Months went by peacefully, and before Cherry knew it she was pregnant with their first child, and not long after that she gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Austin. Everything was wonderful, until the night that her father and Bob found them.

It had been a normal for the Winston family, and it had even been a normal night. They ate dinner, cleaned up, Cherry fed Austin, they put him to bed and they too went to bed. It was normal, but just before Dallas and Cherry felt asleep, a loud crashing sound was heard. Dallas and Cherry both shot out of bed. Cherry went to Austin's basinet while Dallas got his pistol. He turned to his wife and child, kissed both of them and said, "Stay here." Then, he was gone. Of course, Cherry stayed put, until she heard a gunshot.

She ran out of her room, her crying son in her arms. The scene she found made her scream.

Her father and Bob stood in their small home; Dallas was on the floor in a growing pool of his own blood, groaning in pain.

Before anyone could do anything, Cherry began to wake up. She woke up in her normal bed in Tulsa Oklahoma, screaming her head off.

"What the hell woman?" Dallas asked groggily. Cherry said nothing as she tried to control her breathing. This worried Dallas a little bit. "Cherry?" He asked.

"Sorry honey. I just had the weirdest dream." She turned towards her husband. Dallas groaned, knowing that Cherry was going to talk his ear off about this dream she had.

"Okay," he said as he folded his arms behind his head. "Tell me what your dream was about." And she did. When she finished, Dallas snorted and said, "Of course you would be a princess." This caused Cherry to smack him over the head with her pillow.

"What was that for woman?" Dallas hissed out. It didn't hurt him or anything, it was just annoying.

"For being an ass," Cherry told him simply.

See, I told you that it had something to do with the story. Sorry for the crappy ending. Please review!