I climbed into bed content that night, well past midnight, despite knowing I was going back to babysitting Laura the next day. We had all stayed up late, taking advantage of Darry's good mood, even after Sandy, Ali, Anna and Tricia had gone home. My brothers and Kevin and Ben and I had all sat up late after the fireworks watching the grill fire die out and talking. It was well after eleven before Darry came to his senses and scurried me off to bed, along with Pony and Soda.

"Jesus, Scout, first day back to work, you don't wanna be fallin' asleep," he warned, trying to get me to go inside.

"You gotta work too," I countered, "and you walk around on roofs all day. Least I'm not gonna fall to my death if I get tired."

Yeah, we all better get to bed," he grinned. I could tell it had been a good night for him – all of us had behaved, he and Alison had some serious make-out time – I had checked them out a few times during the fireworks, kissing – and the night had ended with all of us safe and sound.

"We should get goin', Ben," Kevin said, taking Darry's cue.

"Okay," he said, turning back to me. "Night Scout. Happy Fourth."

"Night, " I answered, kissing him on the cheek. I wanted to kiss him on the lips, but with all three brothers watching, it wasn't worth the teasing.

"Tomorrow," he whispered in my ear and I giggled, as he let go and hurried off back to his house.

"What'd he say?" Soda demanded, seeing me blush and laugh.

"Nothing," I replied, as we all headed back into the house. Darry dumped water on the grill as a final farewell to the year's Fourth festivities, then followed us in and shut the front door, locking it. I collapsed onto the couch along with Pony and Soda, and Soda turned on the TV. I think we were all trying to see if Darry would remember how late it was. He did.

"You guys get to bed," he called out from where he was cleaning up in the kitchen, not five minutes later.

"Guess that didn't work," Soda said, snapping the television back off.

"Night Scout," Pony and Soda both tapped me on the head as they headed off to their room. I followed, changing into my pajamas while I could hear Pony and Soda talking non-stop in their bedroom – about Pony's new girl, I assumed, though I couldn't hear much.

It didn't seem fair that Darry should have to clean up alone, so I wandered back out into the kitchen in my pajamas and startled him as he stood washing dishes at the sink.

"You want some help with that?"

He jumped.

"Christ, Scout, you gotta stop that."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to. Just… why don't you leave it. I'll help you with it tomorrow. You hafta work tomorrow morning too."

"I'm okay." Looking at him, however, he was clearly exhausted.

"Darry." For the first time ever, I think he knew that I knew he was lying.

He hesitated, but gave in, throwing the dishtowel into the sink.

"Okay," his face softened. "You win, this time." He threw his hand around my shoulder and walked me back to my room.

"Thanks for your help tonight," he said, "you know, with Pony," he added, quietly.

"Did you have a good time?" I asked, "with Ali?" I knew the answer but wanted to hear it from him.

"Real good," he smiled.

"I'm glad," I said, squeezing him around the waist. "Go to bed, Darry. Don't clean up, or fight with us, or anything. Just go to bed, with happy thoughts, for once. We're all home, we're all safe – just go to bed."

He stood there staring, for a moment.

"After you," he smiled, pointing toward my bed.

"Okay," I smiled back, "but I can hear everything you do, so if you go back to washing dishes, I'll hear it and come out and make you stop."

He laughed out loud, something I loved to hear.

"You go to bed, and so will I. I promise."

"Okay. Night." I turned and headed into my bedroom.

"Night," he squeezed my shoulder as I headed into my room and he passed by on the way to his.

I threw back the covers and settled in, running over the events of the day in my head… Pony seeming happy, watching Darry with Alison and Soda with Sandy… feeling the warmth of Ben's arms around me as we all watched the fireworks. I heard Pony and Soda's voices trail off as they descended into sleep and, not long after, heard Darry's low snore through the wall.

"Happy Birthday, America!" I whispered… It was the toast our Dad had always offered at our barbecue, but nobody had remembered to say it this time. Despite that, I fell asleep nothing but glad for Ben and my brothers, the girls that made them happy, and the fact that we all seemed to be doing the best we could, despite the circumstances. It was a sound sleep, and early in the morning, as I felt the sun coming through the window, and became aware of my surroundings, I wished I could sleep like that every night. I rolled over and fell back asleep, smiling.

I awoke with a start, to Soda yelling from outside the front door.

"Shit, Dar. Come out here. We got trouble."

I struggled to wake up as fast as I could, shaking the disorientation away even as I tripped over my sheets getting out of bed. Trouble was the last thing we needed. And the last thing I wanted to see, though something in me told me I had to find out what was going on.

By the time I made it into the living room, everyone else was outside. I was totally confused. Soda was rarely the first one up – most of the time it was Darry – so I couldn't understand how Soda would know there was any sort of trouble before Darry would. But I followed the voices, and was heading out the front door as Pony joined me. I pushed open the screen door, momentarily blinded by the morning sun, feeling Pony's hand around my shoulder.

I couldn't see anything, blinded, but I could hear Darry, cursing to beat the band.

"What the hell?" Pony must have been shielded from the sun, and he ran down to join the others, as I waited for my eyes to adjust.

Finally, as I grabbed onto the porch railing, the glare subsided and my gaze settled on Darry, Soda, and Pony, surrounding a truck with four very flat tires.

It wasn't that I was stupid, but it took a good minute or so for me to get it, that all four tires don't just go flat at the same time naturally – someone had flattened them, intentionally. Somebody who was out to get Darry. Any calm I had felt watching the fireworks the night before immediately dissipated.

"You guys hear anything last night?" Darry asked Soda and Pony.

"No," they answered in unison. He looked up at me and I shook my head.

"Goddamn it," he slammed his hand down on the hood of the truck.

"Relax… It's no big deal, Dar," Soda approached him. "I can set you up with spares from the DX."

"That ain't the point," he snapped. "Somebody came here and did this. In my space. MY goddamn home, for Christ's sake!"

I got what he meant. I knew what it felt like to be hurt in your own territory.

"It's alright," Soda was trying to calm him down. "It's fine. I'll get you a ride to work. I'll take care of it." He wasn't fooling anyone – it was clear that Soda was just as upset as Darry was – he was just trying to hide it, and failing terribly.

"It ain't the point," Darry argued.

"It's okay," I spoke up, from the door. "Don't worry Dar – I can call and Coach can pick me up." I was worried he was upset about me being late for babysitting.

Darry looked up, seemingly shocked at hearing my voice, and I saw his gaze soften. Of course – he didn't want me worrying any more than I wanted him worrying.

"It's fine, Scout. I'll borrow Kevin's car. You get inside – start the eggs for breakfast, okay? I'll be there in a minute."

I hesitated, knowing he didn't want me to see him upset, but trying to think of something I could say. I came up empty.

"Go ahead, Scout," Soda said. "Pony, help her out, 'kay?" It was annoying sometimes, how they acted like we didn't know they were trying to get rid of us.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever," Pony answered, obviously as knowing as I was.

"What's going on?" I demanded, as soon as Pony and I were both in the kitchen.

"I don't know," he answered, grabbing the egg carton out of the fridge. "Who's out to get Darry?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I don't like it though… people coming in our yard at night."

He turned to face me and I knew he knew what I was thinking.

"Nobody's gonna hurt you in this house, Scout. I swear it. You're super-safe here. We can all hear into your room."

I drew in a breath and bit my lip. It was stupid, I knew it, but I said it anyway.

"It's not me I'm worried about… I know who hurt me – and he won't any more… I'm worried about Darry."

"What? You've got to be kidding me. Darry's fine. He's like, Goliath."

"Pony…" Apparently he had forgotten how things went for Goliath.

"Oh, right. You know what I mean though – anybody'd have to be crazy to mess with him."

"One on one, maybe," I answered. "but I just think…" I drew in a deep breath, shuddering despite myself.

"What?"

"I just think," I repeated, " there's more than one person after him. Darry's more than capable by himself, but against a whole bunch of guys… that's not fair."

"What makes you think there's more than one guy behind the tires?" he asked. "I know guys who've slashed tires by themselves. It ain't that hard, if nobody's around." I knew he meant Dallas, but I didn't bring it up.

"Pony, you were there, when those guys came after him…and he dealt with at least three of them without any help… If you were after him, would YOU do it alone?"

He looked me in the eye.

"No. No way. And to be honest, I'd put those guys out of my mind, but you're right. It was most likely those guys. Dar's been getting a ton of the tornado repair work – they must be pissed."

It all made sense. I felt sick, knowing anyone wanted to do something to deliberately hurt him. He didn't deserve it…but I was sure that there was a whole posse of guys after Darry.

And it scared me.

It scared me, a lot.

Darry wasn't supposed to be vulnerable. He was supposed to be my rock - the wall separating me from any harm. I always assumed if he was there I was safe – and now somebody had slashed his tires – pierced his armor – and I was stuck in the kitchen wondering how I was going to get to work babysitting Laura.

"Good job guys," Darry broke through my haze, coming into the kitchen and squeezing my shoulder.

I turned, confused. Had he heard us talking? He recognized my confusion.

"The eggs," he clarified. "Good job."

Pony had been cooking while we'd talked – I hadn't even noticed. Darry and Soda both sat down and ate as though they hadn't a care in the world. I sat at the table but couldn't really eat much. That worried, sick feeling had come back and was settled into the pit of my stomach. Eventually I got up and put my dish in the sink.

"Ten minutes, okay?" Darry asked. "Kevin loaned me his car."

"Okay," I replied, and went to change into my clothes and pull myself together. It amazed me how quickly things could change – from the feeling of calm I'd had falling asleep the previous night to the feeling of sheer panic I felt right then. I was sitting on my bed thinking about it when Darry called.

"Scout, let's go!"

"I grabbed a bag I'd packed with a few things to do while Laura napped and followed him out the front door as we headed over to Kevin's car. I climbed in and sat in silence as Darry started it up and pulled out onto the street.

"OKay... Spill it," he said, after a minute or so, not even looking over at me.

"What?" I lied.

"I know you're upset about things, so what exactly are you worried about?" he asked.

"I don't want you getting hurt," I said, staring down at the floor. "Obviously people are out to get you."

"I'm fine. Slashing tires is a coward thing. They won't even confront me to my face. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

I thought about that. I guess that made Dallas a coward too, for slashing tires. I wasn't so sure about that. Dallas always was kind of scary to me. And I felt kind of bad – that I hadn't been able to take care of myself, and had gotten hurt. I wondered if Darry judged me for that, or if the rules were different for girls. I didn't really have a response for him, and, as I thought about it, we pulled up into Coach K's driveway. I reached for the door handle, still no response ready.

"Scout?"

"Yeah?" I looked over at him, opening the truck door at the same time.

"Have a great day. And don't worry about me, okay? I'm fine." He smiled and I wished more than anything that I could believe him.

"You have a good day, too," I tried to smile back at him. Remembering how much I had regretted not saying it the last time he'd dropped me off, I had to say it… "Love you, Dar."

I shut the door.

"You too," he winked at me, and in a flash, he was gone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: I know, right? I'm sure you thought this story would never be updated again. I was starting to worry myself. Scout and her saga still live on SO actively in my head - it's getting the time to write her that is so hard! One of my new year's resolutions is to try to update more frequently this year. If anyone is still reading, please let me know, though I can't blame you if you have all abondoned me!