A/N: Hey there! has it really been that long? I must have lost track of time or something. This chapter has been sitting in the doc manager since I posted the last chapter. Thanks for reviewing and reminding me that I needed to update. You guys are on top of your game. I"ll try to post twice this week.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Outsiders.

He hadn't really known if the events of last night had actually occurred. Everything was just so dream-like that he was sure that it had never happened. When he awoke, he felt her body pressed against his. Nothing unusual there. She slept that way every night. She looked down at her disheveled dark brown hair and the bare pale ivory skin of her shoulder. He was taken aback by the skin of her shoulder. She always slept with a shirt on, it was the way of her nature. The brunette shifted in her sleep, and the shift revealed more of her pale ivory skin. He couldn't help but wince at the still bruised, but rapidly healing, skin on her upper back. However, it was then that he came to the realization that she was naked, as was he.

Bits and piece of their dream-like night started to come back to him. Her pulling off his jeans. Him tugging off her pajama bottoms. Her slender fingers tracing across his skin. His hands sliding down her torso. Her moaning his name over and over, and his body reacting to it accordingly. Her nails sliding down his back, and him saying her name. For a long moment, he lay next to her. After his moment was over, he gently moved her smaller body away from his and then got out of the bed, careful not to make too much noise. He grabbed his pajamas that never actually made it to his body, and dressed in them before walking out of the bedroom.

The house was still spotless, and he intended to keep it that way. As he made the coffee, he made sure to go back after himself and wipe down the counter. He was pouring the coffee into the cup when he heard a floorboard creak behind him. He'd expected to see Soda or Ponyboy, but instead saw the brunette with the disheveled hair that he'd left in bed.

"What are you doing up?" he questioned.

"The bed gets cold when you leave," she told him as she walked over and took the mug of coffee before he could take a sip out of it. "Thanks."

He watched her as she walked out of the kitchen and sunk into the chair in the living room. Darry poured himself another mug of coffee and then tailed her into the living room. The brunette was almost asleep in the recliner when Darry took the mug from her hand and placed it on top of a magazine. She started awake as he picked her up from the chair, sat down, and allowed her to collapse on to his lap. She had acquired more clothing than she had when she was in bed. His University of Tulsa Football t-shirt covered her torso and most of her upper legs, and her flannel pajama bottoms covered her the rest of her legs. He bought his mug to his lips as she tucked her head under his chin. She reached over to grab her cup and mimicked his action of drinking the warm beverage.

"If you had just stay put, I would have brought this to you," he told her.

"Eh," she mumbled against the cup.

A door down the hall opened and a messy hair Sodapop Curtis appeared in the hall. He took a moment to take in the sight before him. His brother sitting in his chair. Nothing crazy there. However, the small brunette woman that accompanied him, sitting on his lap with her head tucked under his chin, made the sight a little odd. Not too odd though. The two of them had been skirting around this kind of action for as long as Jacquelyn had been back in Tulsa.

"Nice night?" Soda mused as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. Jacquelyn rolled her eyes at Soda, but didn't respond to him. Darry just pretended that he'd never said anything to him. Jacquelyn could see a smile forming on SOda's lips. "Well, I'll take that as a yes."

The brunette shifted as she finished her cup of coffee. Darry's eyebrow arched as he watched her. He'd never had much interaction with her before she had coffee in her system, and she'd often told him that she was nothing before her cup of joe, as she called it. She wasn't the same person that was for sure.

Lazily, she slipped from his lap to the floor. "Work," she moaned before she flopped over on to her side. Darry chuckled from his spot above her. "Idonwannago," she mumbled into her arm.

"You're doing a half day, Jacquelyn," he told her.

"Work," she moaned again as she rolled over on to her back. She turned her hazel eyes over to him and sighed. She then sat up and huffed loudly. "Work."

Darry rolled his eyes as he got out of the chair and stepped over her. The brunette followed suit and stood up. She then made her way down the hall back to the bedroom and grabbed her outfit for the day, a pink sweater and black pedal pushers. The brunette then made her way to the bathroom. "Out, Soda," she called through the door, "I swear you and Ponyboy take forever to do hair."

"Can't rush this beauty," he teased her though the door.

"Out!"

Soda chuckled as he walked out of the bathroom and bowed in front of her. "It's all yours, pretty lady."

"Gee, thanks," she teased as she walked in and closed the door behind her.

The work day was relatively slow. Few customers walked in and even fewer bought anything. The two girls and their boss had a quiet day. Gina worked the floor, straightening records and placing them back were they belonged. Jacquelyn spent the majority of her day reading a magazine that she'd plucked off the shelf with Gina occasionally stopping to read an article from the other side of the counter. During one of those points, the brunette moved her long hair from her shoulder to scratch the side of her neck, and Gina gasped.

Jacquelyn's hazel eyes snapped up to her friend as she paused her scratching motion. "What?"

"Your neck," Gina gasped as she pulled a small compact from her pocket and opened it, the mirror facing her friend. The look that crossed Jacquelyn's face was priceless. Her face turned a red color and her hazel eyes grew wide. Her eyebrows lifted and her lips frowning. "You wanna explain?"

On her neck, just above a thumb mark that was now possible to hide with makeup, was a red mark, not a large one and not noticeable until she moved her hair, but a red mark nonetheless. She ran her fingers over the mark, her thoughts traveling back to the night before. She honestly hadn't remembered him giving her that mark. If she had, she would have looked for it more carefully and covered it when she put on her makeup.

"Explanation?" Gina demanded when she closed the compact.

Jacquelyn rolled her eyes and covered the mark with her hand. "It's nothing."

"It's a hickey!" Gina informed.

"It's a red mark," Jacquelyn contradicted.

"On your neck, and that makes it a hickey."

Jacquelyn rolled her light eyes and exhaled. "I guess so," the brunette said, admitting defeat. "I'm pretty sure that there's no explanation needed. I'm sure you know how people get them." Jacquelyn's face was uncharacteristically red as she continued to speak, until she just let her voice trail off, her face too red to even continue speaking.

"Oh, my God!" Gina exclaimed as she slapped her palms down on the counter in front of her. The smile on Gina face only made Jacquelyn's face turn redder, and that only made the smile on Gina face grow. The cycle continued until Jacquelyn lay her forehead on the counter in front of her and felt like she wanted to disappear. "Oh my God!" Gina said again. "You slept with him?" Jacquelyn nodded against the counter. "Oh my God!"

"Shhh," the brunette hushed as she picked her forehead off the counter.

"Oh my God!"

"Stop saying that," Jacquelyn demanded.

"Was it good?" The brunette dropped her face the counter again to hide the blush that was covering her face again. Good would probably be a slight understatement. "Oh my God!" Gina repeated as Jacquelyn sank down to the floor behind the counter. "Jacquelyn! Oh my God!" Jacquelyn mumbled something from the floor. "Was it? Was it good?"

"Gina," Jacquelyn whined.

"Was it?"

Jacquelyn was quiet for a moment, trying to let the color settle on her face. However, as she started to think of a way to answer Gina's question the color started to return to her face. She remember her fingers tangling in his hair and tracing down the ridges of his muscles. Her lips on his and her skin tingling wherever he touched her. "Yeah."

"You have to tell me!" Gina shouted as she ducked under the counter and behind the register where Jacquelyn was sitting. "Everything!"

Jacquelyn lay her forehead on her knees and sighed, her face continuing to redden.

The brunette pushed open the door with her foot and pulled her shoes off and pushed them into the closet by the door. With her hands full, she made her way to the kitchen where she spotted Ponyboy sitting at the table. When he looked up, and saw that her hands were full he moved away from the table and grabbed one of the bags from her. She flashed him a soft smile as they started putting the groceries away. Nothing spectacular. Two dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, a block of cheese, mix for chocolate cake, frosting, a few oranges and apples, some chicken, and vegetables. When they finished unpacking, Ponyboy stored the bags under the counter and sat back down at the table.

"You look worried," Ponyboy noted as he watched her rub an apple on her pink sweater.

"Do I?" she questioned as she looked down at the apple before passing it between her hands. "I guess I am."

Ponyboy shrugged and leaned back in his chair. The blond was still prominent in his hair, but the red was making a comeback. "It's not that bad. She always talks to you wherever you feel the most comfortable, and she's not mean or nothing."

"Yeah?" Jacquelyn responded as she continued to pass the apple between her small hands. "I don't know, I just don't wanna screw up anything, ya' know?"

"What are you gonna screw up?" Ponyboy questioned as he looked at her over his shoulder.

The brunette shrugged and pushed her dark hair behind her ear. "I don't know if she's gonna like me being here, given what I got at home." Unconsciously, she made a gesture to the still fading, but nicely covered, bruise and cut on her face.

"We all got our issues," Ponyboy told her. Jacquelyn nodded. "She's talking to Soda now," he told her. "They always talk back in our room. I guess Soda feels better there."

"She talk to Darry?" she questioned. Ponyboy nodded. "Where at?"

"The living room."

"And you?"

Ponyboy shrugged as he pushed himself out of the chair. "We talked before Soda. We talked in the living room today, but sometimes we talk in our bedroom like Soda, or outside on the porch. It all depends."

Before Jacquelyn could say anything in respond, the door down the hall opened and the sound of clicking heels and a polite voice greeted her ears. Ponyboy nodded answering her unasked question. That was the voice of the lady from the state. Sodapop's voice greeted her ears as they neared the kitchen. Suddenly, she was no longer worried. She was just really nervous. Her heart was pounding under her pink sweater. Her hands were clammy as she passed the apple between her hands.

"Hey, there she is," Soda's voice said. "Jac." The brunette looked up into Soda's bright brown eyes as he addressed her as only he could. A soft smile played on his lips when he saw the look of panic that briefly etched across her face. "Jacquelyn, this is Miss. Newton. Miss. Newton, Jacquelyn Ross."

The brunette heard the woman's heels clicking towards her, and she took that as a signal to place the apple on the table and meet the woman halfway. Miss. Newton was a slender woman. Her red hair was cut short into something that resembled a bob. There were freckles on her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose. She had green eyes, piercing green eyes. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, as she approached the brunette in the small kitchen. However, when Jacquelyn shook her hand, a smile came on to her thin lips. She was dressed much like Jacqueline Kennedy, well at least that's what Jacquelyn thought.

"Jacquelyn," Miss. Newton greeted. "Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," the brunette answered as she tried to keep her calm.

"Where would you like to talk?" the woman asked.

"Here, I suppose."

Miss. Newton agreed and took a seat at the side of the table. Jacquelyn followed suit sitting across from her, with the apple in her hands again. Sodapop and Ponyboy exited the room, and went outside. With the boys gone, the air seemed to get heavier. The brunette started to push the apple around between her hands as she waited. "You don't have to be nervous."

Jacquelyn shook her head, "I'm not."

Miss. Newton nodded. "Well tell me about yourself."

Jacquelyn looked at the apple as she rolled it across the table. "Well, I'm Jacquelyn. I'm twenty. I'm from Wisconsin. My dad got transferred here five, six years ago, and we moved here. Um, I graduated from Will Rogers High School, and went to University of Tulsa for a few months. Then my parents were having some problems," she cleared her throat, "my dad had an affair and my mother thought that taking him away from it would solve it."

"He continued the affair?"

"No, just decided that he was going to be a full-time drunk instead of a part time drunk. So she kicked him out, and we moved back right at the start of summer."

"How do you know the Curtis'?"

Jacquelyn smiled a bit. "Darry and I go back to sophomore year of high school. We dated for three years in school, and then we both got accepted to University of Tulsa."

"Serious?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Was it serious? The dating?" Miss. Newton questioned as she watched the apple that Jacquelyn was rolling between her hands.

"I would say so," Jacquelyn responded, as she pressed her thumb against the apple to make herself stop pushing it around.

"So what happened?"

"Pardon?" Jacquelyn questioned, one of her dark eyebrows arched.

"Why did the two of you breakup?" the woman asked.

Jacquelyn arched her eyebrow again. What kind of question was that? She knew the answer to that. "His parents died."

"Right," the woman said. She'd known the answer to that question and Jacquelyn wasn't sure why she'd even asked. "Where do you work?" Miss. Newton asked.

"Penny's, its record store."

"Any criminal background?"

"No."

The woman leaned forward in her seat, placing her elbows on the table, before asking her next question, "What happened to your face?"

"My dad's a drunk and he was hitting on me for a few months," Jacquelyn said quietly, as she started to roll the apple again.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Why made him stop?"

Jacquelyn laughed softly. "Darry did. He came and got me," she told the lady in front of her. "I've been here for maybe five days."

"Your neck too?" Miss. Newton questioned as she gestured towards her.

Jacquelyn brought her hand up to her neck, apparently she hadn't covered them as well as she thought she had. Or maybe Darry had just told Miss. Newton about the mark and she knew exactly where to look. "Yes, ma'am."

Miss. Newton was quite as she looked at the brunette across from her. Her green eyes pierced Jacquelyn's skin as she watched her, and Jacquelyn shifted uncomfortable under her gaze. She pushed the apple between her hands, careful not to meet the older woman's stare.

"Would you like to know what the boy's said about you?" Miss. Newton asked. Before Jacquelyn could respond, she started speaking again. "Sodapop said that you were a real gem, one of a kind, and that you kicked his ass in poker. He says that you're like the sister he never had, or really wanted. Ponyboy thinks that you're kind to a fault. He said that you literally go out of your way to help people, and that someone like you doesn't deserve to have to deal with what you had to deal with." The brunette ducked her head to cover the still fading bruise on her cheek under her makeup. "Darrel had an interesting answer. He said that you grate his nerves and that your energy drives him up a wall sometimes," Jacquelyn frowned; did he really say that? "However, he said that the end of the day you're still one of the best things he has in his life. Now, you know Darrel as well as, or better than I do, that's not an easy thing for him to admit. So when I came to talk to you, I was excited to see the girl that has Darrel Curtis so smitten, but I'm not seeing that. You want me to like you, I get that, but I'm not the bad guy here. Okay?" Jacquelyn nodded. "Alright, so I'm just trying to talk to you."

Jacquelyn pushed the apple to the side and ran her fingers through her hair. "I don't want to mess up what they have here," she told Miss. Newton. "I'm trying not to interfere with their family dynamic."

"I understand that. I'm not trying to get you to say anything that would cause you to do that." Miss. Newton looked over the brunette. "You're not a violent person?" The brunette shook her head. "And you're contributing to the household funds?" Jacquelyn nodded. "How much?" The brunette's cheeks flushed and she told the woman. "Alright." Miss. Newton's eyes scanned over the brunette. "Are you and Darrel romantically involved?"

Honestly, she really had no idea how to answer that question. Last night had been beyond perfect for her. She was ready to put everything that she had into whatever it was that they had. However, she hadn't actually discussed it with him. She hadn't really had the chance to talk to him about it.

"Ponboy thinks that you are," Miss. Newton informed before she could answer. "He says that you look at him like he's the only person in the room."

"Ponyboy is much too observant for his own good," the brunette mumbled.

"Sodapop is convinced that you are."

"Sodapop is a hopeless romantic," Jacquelyn answered. "I believe that we are," she finally replied after a moment of thought.

Miss. Newton nodded. "I think that Darrel needs someone in his life. You seem like a nice young lady; more concerned with keeping them a family than your own needs. I'll be around sometimes two weeks from now. You know making sure the house is still running. We will talk at then."

"So I can stay?" she questioned as the red haired lady stood up.

The woman tucked a strand of her short red hair behind her ear and started out of the kitchen. As she did, the front door opened and closed, and Darrel Curtis appeared in the doorway. He greeted Miss. Newton as he walked in, shaking her hand. She said something to him quietly and he answered her at the same volume before his blue-green eyes turned to her. Jacquelyn in turn bit her bottom lip and flashed in a sideways smile. Darry then turned back to Miss. Newton and mumbled something else. It was Miss. Newton's turn to turn her piercing green eyes to her. The woman nodded and then took another step towards the door before turning to look at Jacquelyn.

"For the time being, you can stay."