(I thank all those who reviewed. I do not own the Outsiders or its characters.)

Chapter 6

A toe nudged me in the ribs. "Glory," said a rough but familiar voice, "I have never seen a lovely couple in my life."

Johnny stood in front of me, growling but stopped when he saw it was Dally, "Hey, Dally!"

"Hey, Ponyboy!" He grinned at me, "Or should I say Juliet?"

I never thought I'd see the day when I would be so glad to see Dallas Winston, but right then he meant one thing: contact with the outside world. And it suddenly became real and vital.

"How's Sodapop? Are the fuzz after us? Is Darry all right? Do the boys know where we are? What..."

"Hold on, kid," Dally broke in. "I can't answer everything at once. You want to get something to eat, Pony? I'm about starved." Dally licked his lips. I shuddered.

"Is it safe to go out?" I asked eagerly.

"Yep," Dally searched his shirt pocket for a cigarette, and finding none, said, "Gotta cancer stick, Johnnycake?"

Johnny tossed him a whole package.

"The fuzz won't be lookin' for you around here," Dally said, lightening up. "They think you're lit out for Texas, I may have used a little persuasion, but they are lookin' for you down there. I've got Buck's T-Bird parked down the road a little way. Ponyboy, I got you a letter, its from Sodapop." He unfold a piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to me.

"From Soda?"

"No the President, of course, stupid. He came over to Buck's a couple of days ago asking where you were. I told him I didn't know where you were, but he didn't believe me. He gave me this letter and half his pay check to give you. Kid, you ought to see Darry. He's takin' this mighty hard..." I wasn't listening. I learned back against the side of the church and read:

Ponyboy,
Well I guess you got into some trouble. Darry and I nearly went nuts when you ran out like that. Darry is awful sorry he scared you. I guess you know what we are now. We got scared when the police said there was a dead kid in the park. We were sure glad that it wasn't you. And when we also found out that you and Johnny ran away and Dally got hauled in it didn't surprise us. I just wish that you guys would come home, Dally made sure the police didn't go after you. Take care and say hi to Johnny for us, and please come home when Dally gets you. We got a lot to talk about.

Sodapop Curtis.

He could improve his spelling and grammar, I thought after reading it through three or four times. He lit a cigarette and gave me a sly smile, "Kid, I swear it don't look like you with your hair all cut off. It used to look tuff. You and Soda had the coolest- lookin' hair in town."

"Do you want somethin' to eat or not?"

I leaped up. "You'd better believe it."

"Gee," Johnny said wistfully, "it sure be good to get into a car again."

"Well," Dally drawled. "I'll give you a ride for your money."

Dally always did like to drive fast, as if he didn't care whether he got where he was going or not, and we came down the red dirt road off Jay Mountain doing eighty-five. I like driving fast driving and Johnny was crazy about drag races, but we both got a little sick around the gills when Dally took a corner on two wheels with the brakes screaming. I held onto Johnny, and blushed when I realized this. Johnny just smiled.

We stopped at Dairy Queen and the first thing I got was a Pepsi, barbecue sandwiches and a banana split.

"Glory," Dally said, amazed, watching me gulp the stiff down. "You don't need to make like every mouthful's your last. I got plenty of money. And I thought I was hungry."

"I didn't tell y'all something," Dally said, he looked around the parking lot making sure no one overheard, "The Socs and us are having an all out war fare all over the city. That kid you killed had plenty of friends and all over town its Soc against Greaser."

"They want to go to war, Soc against grease?" I said, as I swallowed my banana split.

"Yeah," Dally started the car, "we've need to go back. Darry wants to see yay and we need to talk about you and Johnny's relationship."

Johnny and I blushed crazy, but Dally didn't need to laugh at us.

We were pulling out of the parking lot and started home, halfway through the trip I fell asleep against Johnny, my head laying in the crook of his neck. His arm pulled me closer to him.

I woke up to the car coming to a halt. I saw it was dark, so the guys would be awake. The stars were scattered everywhere, and my porch light was on. Two figures were standing on the porch, Soda ran to me, gave me a bear hug and swung me around. Finally he put me down and looked at me. He pushed my hair back. "Oh, Pony, your hair... your tuff, tuff hair..."

Then I saw Darry. He was leaning in the doorway, wearing his olive jeans and black T-shirt. He was still tall, broad-shouldered Darry; but his fists were jammed in his pockets and his eyes were pleading. I simply looked at him. He swallowed and said in a husky voice, "Ponyboy..."

"Darry!" I screamed and the next thing I knew I had him around the waist and was squeezing him.

"Darry" I said, "I'm sorry..."

He was stroking my hair and I could hear the sobs racking him as he fought to keep back the tears. "Oh, Pony, I thought we'd lost you... like we did Mom and Dad..."

That was his silent fear then- of losing another person he loved. I remembered how close he and Dad had been, and I wondered how I could ever think of him as a monster. I felt Soda coming up to hug us both. Darry wrapped both of us in his arms, never planning on letting go. I had taken the long way around, but I was finally home. To stay.

Now, here we were, on the couch ready for Darry to start talking.

"Pony, you and Johnny can be together. You both have mine and Soda's blessing." Soda nodded, hugging his younger brother and smiling when his face light up. "But Johnny, if we see you feeding from him, I'm banning you from Pony and the house." He turned to me next. "Now you," I was nervous and the anxiety in the room was killing me, "you must always wear that charm at all times. With the rumble planned you are not aloud to leave this house when the sun is down or hidden by the clouds. And if you have to, take me either me or Dally or Two-bit, cause we're stronger than the others. So please try not to go anywhere for now." I guess they could sense my fear, Johnny grabbed my hand and gave it a soft squeeze. I looked at him and smiled at him.

"Johnny, I guess you and Dally need to go feed, so I'll set up your beds so when you get back you can rest. Him and Dally went toward the door, Johnny gave me a soft smile then left with Dally. I felt terrible, I knew something was going to happen, "You feeling alright?" Soda asked, his eyes were looking at me with concern. "Yeah," I said. "I'm just tired."

We went to our room, I crawled in and he was poking me in the side. "What?" I almost shouted.

"Don't go making babies you hear!" He laughed as my face got hot. I soon went to sleep. I forgotten how soft a bed really was.

(AN: I couldn't find a place here to put how Johnny became a vampire, but I promise to write a chapter on how Darry and Ponyboy will have a talk about the others turning. Please review and leave any ideas on who turns who.)