After the near-disaster of the fire, we all were completely energized, including the kitten. After a good talking-to from Darry about the fact that it was he and Two-Bit who had nearly made us all homeless, Ponyboy went into the kitchen to start on dinner. He didn't bother arguing - he knew Darry was right, if the cat hadn't made me open the door the fire would have been well out of our control before we discovered it and we all would have been homeless. Two-Bit had no wise comebacks either. While Pony cooked, the rest of us sat around in the living room watching the new pet attack and chase everything with which he came into contact. He would disappear under furniture and reappear with newfound treasure - a bottlecap, a hair elastic, a penny.

"This cat certainly won't need us to be spendin' any money on pet toys," Soda joked.

"Yeah, and he's free entertainment, to boot!" Two-Bit joked, picking up the hair elastic and shooting it across the room. The kitten chased it, skidding to a halt against the wall and pouncing on it.

"I thought cats were supposed to be lazy," Darry said, looking a little bit fascinated.

"So what are we gonna call him?" Soda asked, still watching as he attached a string hanging from the couch. "He has to have a name."

"Yeah, and y'all can't give him some wussy name like Fluffy or something. He's a greaser cat, he needs a tuff name." Two-Bit seemed to be dead serious about the importance of him having a worthy name.

"Well, he ain't gettin' a person name either. I hate it when people name their pets with people names," Darry added. "They're animals. Ain't no giraffe named Bob or a Tiger named Gary. They get animal names. It's so stupid to give them human names."

"Kinda like when people name their kids after soft drinks?" Soda joked, teasing Darry and catching him in what he knew was a Catch-22.

"Yeah, kinda," Darry laughed, though we all knew they both were kidding. Soda and Pony's names were perfect for them – there was no way I could picture them as "Scott" or "Peter" or something. They were so very clearly a Sodapop and a Ponyboy.

"Well," since he's orange, maybe we should name him after something orange," I suggested.

"Oranges are orange," Two-Bit said.

"We're not naming him Orange," I interrupted.

"Pumpkin?" Soda suggested.

I laughed.

"You think Pumpkin's a tuff name, Soda?" Darry said.

"Carrot? Squash? Velveeta? Lava?" Two-Bit was naming everything he could think of that was orange.

"Velveeta?" Pony was choking with laughter.

"Tangerine?" Two-Bit continued.

"Hey, wait. Tangerine… isn't that where the name for Tang comes from?" I kind of liked the sound of that. And we all drank Tang like fiends.

"Tang…Tang Curtis…" Soda thought about it. "That's kinda tuff."

"Yeah, and Tang… they sent that stuff up with the astronauts. There ain't nothin' wussy about that," Two-Bit added. "Hell, I wouldn't have taken even a million bucks to get shot off into space like those Apollo guys. That's crazy!"

I agreed. I thought the whole idea of trying to send a man to the moon was just plain nuts.

"Tang Curtis… I can live with that," Darry said.

And so it was that our little lost kitten became known as Tang.

As was the case with most of us, though, within hours he had a million nicknames of his own. Soda and Pony had already converted "Tang" to "Fang," and it's natural extension – Count Dracula, and, after dinner, as Two-Bit headed out, he bade farewell to "Captain Tangeroo." Darry, always the minimalist, stuck to the simple and straightforward "Cat," and I had molded Tang into the slightly more feminine "Tangy."

Darry had dishes duty, so he stayed in the kitchen while the rest of us sat in the living room after dinner playing with the newest Curtis. Since we didn't have any cat food yet, Darry had reluctantly agreed to let me feed the cat a can of tuna, but "only because he kept the house from burning down," he had grumbled.

We were watching the kitten stalking and then attacking the shoelaces on Darry's workboots when the phone rang. Ponyboy grabbed it.

"Hello? Oh, hi Mr. Karis. Yeah, Scout's right here." Pony handed me the phone.

"Hi Coach."

"Hey, Scout. How's it feel to finally be home and healthy?" he asked.

"Great. I think Darry will let me come back babysitting on Monday."

"Well, that's great, but I wasn't actually calling about that. I just wanted to invite you and your brothers to our Fourth of July cookout. I know he's doing work for a lot of the families around here, since the storm, so I thought he might appreciate an opportunity to get his name out there even more. Not to mention that Laura misses you something awful, and we'd just love to have you and your brothers over. We still feel real bad about everything."

"Well, that's kinda silly. None of it was your fault," I assured him. "None of us blame you for anything. It was all just bad luck, really."

"Well, it was bad luck at our house, so we feel bad," he replied. "So… do you think you can make it on the fourth?"?

"I don't know- You should probably ask Darry… he kinda decides where we go. Want me to get him?"

"Sure, if he's not busy." I didn't consider Darry doing the dishes as being too busy for talking on the phone.

"Okay… Hang on." I put the phone down and went into the kitchen where Darry was just finishing up.

"Darry, Coach K is on the phone. He wants to talk to you."

He dried his hands and grabbed the kitchen phone.

"Hello? Oh hi, Coach." I stopped listening as soon as he picked up.

I hadn't thought about the fourth of July; in fact I didn't even know what the date was, though I did know it was a Friday, since the trash had been picked up that morning. After I handed Darry the phone, I walked over to the calendar. I stared at it a minute, realizing it was June thirtieth. It seemed like school had just ended, but as it turned out, I had been out of school for nearly a month. I turned the page. Fourth of July was the next Tuesday, and I noticed "Court" was written on Monday the tenth. I had forgotten all about the fact that that was coming up. I stared for so long that I didn't realize Darry had hung up the phone and was looking at me.

"You okay?" He broke my trance, and I snapped back into reality.

"Yeah… I just realized how much time I lost being in the hospital and all. I didn't even know what the date was."

"It's the last day of June."

"Yeah, I know. What did you tell Coach about the party?"

"I said I'd let him know. I wanted to talk to you guys about what you all wanna do."

He didn't have to say it; I knew he was thinking about the Fourth of July tradition we'd had with Mom and Dad. We'd always go out to Keystone Lake that day and spend the day relaxing - swimming, reading, tossing a ball around, listening to music, and just taking it easy and enjoying each other's company and our Dad's rare day off from work.. Then we'd come home and Dad would barbecue his famous ribs for us. We'd gorge ourselves on ribs, and mom's potato salad and cole slaw, then we'd all make s'mores over the grill while we watched the fireworks put on by the city. It had always been a family day – well, extended family, too. Johnny and Steve usually came out to Keystone with us, and Two-Bit, Dally, Ben and Kevin would usually show up for dinner and the fireworks.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I hated breaking tradition, but, then again, I think we'd all started to understand that things were different, and that it was time to start making some of our own traditions, just the four of us. Mom, Dad, Dally and Johnny were gone, and Steve was, well, complicated, and there was just no pretending that anything was the same.

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

"I don't know… it would be fun to go out to Keystone, but we could always just hang around here – go over to your coach's cookout. It would be good for me to do that – work-wise, I mean. People are more likely to hire and recommend you if they know you."

I nodded. I still had the calendar page in my hand and Darry looked over, noticing the big "court" written on the page.

"You still up for that? Court? I know this summer's already been pretty stressful for you."

I let go of the calendar.

"Yeah, I'm okay with it. I told you, I want to do it." I was still holding on to the hope that the lawsuit would give Darry the money he needed to go back to school.

Darry drew in a breath and it was obvious he wanted to say something but he didn't.

"What?"

"You and Soda have your first counseling appointment on Monday. I was planning to just drop you off and pick you up, but… do you want me to take time off for it, to go with you?"

I thought about it. He had already taken off so much time when I was in the hospital, and would probably have to take another day off for the upcoming court date. I didn't know what to expect, really, but he'd said if I didn't want to talk I wouldn't have to.

"No… I'll be okay."

"You sure?"

"No," I decided to be honest, "but I think so."

He stared me in the eyes. "Scout, just because I told you how strong I think you are doesn't mean I expect you to be fearless. It's okay to admit you need help sometimes."

"I know. But… I think I can handle it. Soda will be there, too, right? Do we have to go in together?" That didn't make much sense to me, especially if I was supposed to be there to talk about what I hadn't wanted Soda and Darry to know about.

"No, the appointments are separate but if you need him, he'll be there."

"Okay."

Darry didn't look like he believed me, and I wasn't sure how to convince him. Luckily I didn't have to, it was Tang who broke the silence, coming crashing into the kitchen at breakneck speed chasing after Pony's crumpled up cigarette package, which, it seemed, in his mind, was alive and an opponent that just begged to be subdued. He leapt after it, batted by his own paw, crashing into the lower cabinets and coming to rest behind the trash can.

"Meooooow?" His voice trailed out from behind the can, as the wrapper flew out again, Tang in hot pursuit as he barreled his way back into the living room.

Darry's and my gaze met again, both of us smiling.

"I think he's gonna fit right in around here," I said.

Darry just shook his head at me, rolling his eyes.

"He's certainly no less crazy than the rest of you," he said.

He was still smiling, though.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: I am really sorry for the delay in updating, and the fact that this one was short. I wish I had more time for writing at the moment - real life just gets in the way sometimes! I would really appreciate, if you are still reading, if you check in and let me know that. I still have a lot of plans for this story and knowing that I still have people reading and waiting for updates really means a lot. Again, I offer my most heartfelt appreciation to you for reading such a long fic, and I hope what I have in store for the characters doesn't disappoint those of you who still stick with me and Scout! I'll try for a Thanksgiving week update!