As quickly as Pony had come into my room, he was gone again, talking to someone in the kitchen. It took a minute before I worked it all out to understand that he was on the phone, talking to Soda.

"No, I'm not exaggerating," Pony said. "She's practically on fire… I didn't take it, but I'm telling you, she definitely has a fever. She sweated through her clothes. Hell, the whole bed's soaked with sweat." He paused for a moment.

I'm telling you, Soda, she's not right. She was asking for Dad when I came in."

Silence again, then,

"Okay. I will. Hurry up."

Pony came back in the room and turned on my fan, sitting with me on the bed.

"Scout?"

"Mmmm?" I was so very tired and confused. "Pony, where's Daddy?"

"He's uh… he can't come right now. Do you want anything? Water?" Pony sounded nervous.

"Water," I agreed.

I felt him get up and in a moment he was back, holding a glass of water to my lips. I tried to drink some but it just made me cough.

"Pony?'

"Yeah?"

"I don't feel good."

"Yeah, I can tell. Soda's coming home, we're gonna take you to the doctor."

"Can you just… don't tell Darry, okay Pony? He's really busy."

"Okay," he said, though it sounded like he was lying. The breeze from my fan had made me start shivering.

"Are you cold?" Pony asked. "Want me to shut off the fan?"

"I don't know," I answered. I was still sweating and felt like I was on fire, but I was shivering now, too. Pony threw the covers over me and rolled me up against him. I leaned into him and held on.

I must have drifted off again, and when I woke up again, Soda was sitting next to us, rubbing my head and feeling my forehead. His hand felt cool against my skin.

"Scout, you awake, baby?"

"I'm sick again, Soda." I could hardly open my eyes, and the talking made me cough again.

"I know. We're gonna fix you, okay? We're gonna take you back to the hospital, so they can make you better again."

"Where's Daddy, and Mom?"

I felt his body tense against mine and realized what I said.

"No, never mind, sorry… I just forgot. I know; they're gone. Darry?" I had already forgotten that I didn't want him knowing about this, that I didn't want him missing any more work because of me.

"He'll come, baby. He's working, so we can't get him yet, but he'll come, as soon as he hears."

I drew in a deep breath, bringing on another fit of coughing, and felt Soda's arms around me, replacing Pony's, wrapping my bedspread around me and lifting me up.

"You got her?" Pony asked, as my head settled against Soda's neck. He walked with me through the living room. I heard the front door slam behind us and Soda asking Pony to open a door, then sitting in the back seat of a car in Soda's arms. Pony's voice was next to us.

"You all set?" a voice came from the front seat and I was completely taken aback at it's owner: Steve.

I gasped, only making me start coughing again. Soda pulled me in close, whispering in my ear.

"You're okay, baby. He's just driving us… there was nobody else. I got you; you're okay. He can't hurt you."

I was still shivering, and my whole body was weak, but I forced my arms to move, to grab onto Soda. I was scared, knowing that, for him to let me be in a car with Steve, I must have really needed to go to the hospital.

"Am I dying?" I whispered in his ear. I wasn't thrilled at the thought of coming so close to death again, after the whole spider bite incident.

"No," Pony said, moving up against Soda and me. "No, Scout. You're gonna be okay." He grabbed my hand and squeezed, and I wasn't sure who he was trying harder to convince; me or him. "You're not gonna die. The doctors are gonna get you well."

Finally we arrived, and I was still shivering against Soda as he stood up and slid out of the car, carrying me into the Emergency Room.

"Pony, sit so you can take her," I heard him say, then felt myself getting passed off into Pony's lap. I didn't care, so long as I had a brother – any brother – to hold on to.

I leaned against Pony, half-heartedly coughing, but too sleepy to put enough effort into it, resulting in my wheezing more than breathing.

I felt Pony pushing my hair back off my face.

"You'll be okay," he said softly into my ear. "We'll make sure."

I snuggled up against him. I didn't want the hospital again: the tubes, the needles, the pain.

I heard Soda's voice returning, and felt Pony standing with me, then laying me on a stretcher. I held onto the blanket he'd had me in… a piece of home, but they stripped it away from me.

"You can't take that, baby," I heard a voice and immediately recognized it as Mrs. Cummings. "Well get you a hospital blanket, okay?"

"Ben?" I said, confused about her being there.

"No, honey, he's not here, but he'll come see you once we get you settled." I remembered then, that she was an ER nurse, and that I was, again, in an emergency room.

"Darry?" I was worried, that he wasn't there. He was always the one to look out for me.

"He'll come," Soda said, from somewhere in the background. "I'm here, and Pony. We'll take care of you. You're okay."

"You're going with me now," I heard Ben's mom say, as I felt myself getting wheeled somewhere. "I'll make sure you get back safe to your brothers." I knew I could trust her and was about to fall back asleep on the stretcher, as I managed to whisper:

"Where?"

"X-ray, honey. To get a picture of your lungs. Sounds like you might have pneumonia. I know; it hurts a lot, but we can fix it. Probably happened because of what the doctor had to do to open your airway the other day… you got some blood or water in your lungs. You didn't do anything wrong, hon."

Funny, I thought, how she knew without me ever saying that I was wondering if it was my own fault I'd gotten sick again. I guess Moms just know. I wondered vaguely where my own Mom was. As I was wheeled down the hallway I closed my eyes, just wanting to be back with my family in my own bed when I opened them.

………………

I woke up, again, in a hospital room. This was getting very old, very fast.

"Darry?" I called, again. He was usually the one watching for me to wake up.

"Scout." I was surprised to have Ponyboy be the one sitting by me. He took my hand.

"Pony," I managed to whisper.

"Sssshhh. Don't talk. You're okay. You got pneumonia, you just gotta rest," he said.

I was in no position to argue that. My chest was burning and I felt certain that they must have given me sleeping medicine; I was so tired. I closed my eyes and was out again right away.

Next time I awoke, I was a bit less confused. I sat up, expecting a brother to be asleep in the chair, but was surprised to find Two-Bit there.

"Two-Bit?" I called, in a raspy whisper. He didn't budge. "Two-Bit?"

Nothing.

"Keith?"

That caused him to jolt awake, looking around panicked until he saw me and realized where he was.

"You okay?" he stood up, coming over to my bed, then adding "And did you just call me Keith?"

"I'm okay," I whispered, my throat still sore. "And yeah, but only since you didn't wake up when I called you Two-Bit"."

"Glory, kid, you gotta stop scarin' us like this," he said.

"Thanks," I squeaked, my throat so dry, "your knife…" Who knew, I might have died if he hadn't had his switch with him that day.

"I'm just glad I had it," he said, staring down at me. "You might not be my sister by blood," he said, " but I'd never sit back and let you die, kiddo. You just about scared the shit outta me, I'll give you that, though. Then gettin' sick again, right after? Lordy, kid, you're due for some good luck. I oughta have you pick some numbers for me for the daily lotto," he joked.

I tried to thank him with my eyes. Hell, it hurt to talk.

"Darry…?"

I could hesitation in his voice as he answered.

He's real busy, Scoot… he's still at work."

I thought about what he said, knowing that Darry had a lot of work to do, with all the damage from the storm. Even so, it seemed strange that he wouldn't have been there either time I woke up.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"Since last night." That made it even weirder that Darry wasn't there. It was completely out of character for him to not be spending every non-work moment minute harping on us when one of us was sick.

"What time is it?"

"Six-thirty."

"Are Soda or Pony here?"

"Pony's here, and Ben. They just went down to the cafeteria to get some grub. I'll go get 'em," he said, and he left me alone in the room. It was a bit startling; I couldn't remember having been left alone in a hospital room since the last time I'd spoken to Dallas. And that had been because everybody was lying to me about the rumble. As tired and confused as I still was, I was getting the definite feeling that something was going on that nobody wanted to tell me about.

Pony and Ben appeared in the room a few minutes later.

"Where's Two-Bit?" I asked.

"He'll be back," Pony said. "He just ran into somebody outside."

"What, our company's not good enough?" Ben joked, and sat down on the bed. Pony dropped into the chair.

Ben took my hand.

"How you feeling?"

"Okay… Better, but not great. Tired." My chest didn't hurt as much, but I still felt pretty much like crap.

"I'm glad Dr. Bryant was there, the other day," he said, and I realized I hadn't seen him since before anything had happened – not since before the storm. I pulled myself up to hug him, his hand rubbing my back as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"It was scary," I whispered.

"I can imagine," he answered, "but luckily it all worked out. Except for the whole pneumonia thing you got now. But my Mom says it's not that big of a deal, you just need rest and you'll be fine."

"I hope so."

"You will." He smoothed back my hair and I realized how bad I must look. I hadn't showered after all that sweating I'd done, either. I tried to pull away from him.

"What's the matter?" he asked, looking concerened.

"I must look horrible," I answered, "and I probably smell, too."

Ben and Pony both laughed.

"You're in the hospital, Scout," Ben said, "you're supposed to look terrible. You're sick." I didn't miss how neither of them denied I looked bad.

"Is Darry coming after work?" I asked Pony and noticed how he immediately stared at the floor.

"I don't know, Scout. He's been really busy with work and was real tired last night."

"He hasn't been here at all?" I asked. Something was definitely up.

"Oh, no," Ben said, looking every bit as nervous as Pony. "He came last night, but you were already asleep, so the nurses told him to go home."

I stared at Pony, but he refused to meet my eye.

"Since when does Darry listen to what the nurses tell him when one of us is in the hospital?" I asked.

He didn't answer, and that only made me more worried.

"What is going on?" I said, louder than I probably should have and started coughing. I bent over as the stabbing pain came back in my chest.

"He wouldn't just leave me here, and we all know that," I said, through coughs, "So stop lying to me and tell me what is going on! Where is Darry? Is he okay?"

Pony looked at me, finally, and I stared him down. "Ponyboy Curtis, where is Darry?" I asked. "And don't you dare lie to me."

"He's…" he bit back his lip and Ben finished for him.

"He's here, Scout. He's been here, the whole time, checking up on you while you were asleep. He's just hanging out in the waiting room."

"Then why…?"

"He…" Pony started, but was clearly hedging on telling the truth.

"You don't have to lie for me, Pony." I heard Darry's voice before I turned to look at him. "I didn't want you to see me, Scout, and worry."

I turned and gasped at what I saw. Darry stood in the doorway, his hand wrapped in a bandage, two black eyes and a bandage on his cheek, as well as bruises all over his arms. His eyes looked sad and apologetic.

"Oh, God, Darry," I whispered. "What's happened to you?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: And the drama continues. Thanks for the ton of reviews last chapter (some of you I'd never heard from before, so thanks for checking in!