Author's Note: Okay, so those of you who follow any of my other stories, you may notice that I posted this chapter out of my usual rotation (I have a total of three multi-chapter fics in progress right now, two Outsiders fics and one Harry Potter fic, and I tend to rotate between them to keep my updates evenly dispersed). Well I read a vaguely similar completed fic to this one on this site over the past few days and got inspired, so even though this was the last of my stories that I updated I decided to go ahead and update again. For those of you who just follow this story of mine… well lucky for you! :) Please review!

And if anyone is interested, the fic that I just read that is vaguely similar to this one is called The Rites of Man and is by Steph36. It is really awesome and fantastically written, but be forewarned, if you do decide to read it the first couple chapters are pretty disturbing (which is saying something cause I am not easily disturbed).

Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders

Chapter Thirteen

Dangerous

Later that night Soda was heading to his bedroom after getting ready for bed. As he passed Pony's room he stopped short. The door was closed, but Pony had only gone to bed ten minutes before so there was a good chance that he wasn't asleep yet. He was still bothered by Pony's story about getting jumped after school. Something just wasn't adding up. It wasn't that it was odd for Socs to jumped Greasers. It happened constantly, especially when the Greasers walked alone. But there had just been something about how Pony had shifted uncomfortably and seemed overly defensive when he had told him.

Soda knocked lightly on the door.

"Huh?" he heard from inside.

He slowly eased the door open. "Pony?" he said. "You sleepin'?"

"No, not yet," Pony said, sitting up in bed. "What's up?"

Soda limped into the room and quietly closed the door behind him. Pony shifted over as Soda sat himself down on the edge of the bed, wincing slightly with the effort.

"You okay?" Pony asked with concern.

"I'm fine," Soda assured him. "It's just still really sore."

Pony nodded, frowning. "Did the doctor say how long it was gonna take to get better?" he asked slowly.

Soda shook his head. "He just said to take it slow," he said quietly, rubbing his thigh. "But I'm doing a lot better than I was. A few weeks ago I couldn't walk at all."

Pony's eyes got wide. He obviously hadn't known this. Soda had only confided in Darry and he felt a little guilty for leaving Pony in the dark.

"I'm glad you are getting better," Pony said a little awkwardly after a pause. Clearly he wasn't real sure how to respond.

"Me too, Pony," Soda said with a reassuring smile.

"Was there something you wanted?" Pony asked.

"Yeah," Soda said. He looked at Pony very seriously. "I want to know what really happened this afternoon."

Pony fidgeted. "I told you what happened…" he started.

Soda shook his head. "I don't think you told me the whole story," he said. When Pony remained quiet, he sighed. "Pony, I'm your big brother. I know that you're trying to hide something from me." It pained him that he had to drag the truth out of Pony like that. They used to be so close before he left. Pony used to tell him everything.

Pony bit his lip and cast his gaze down to the floor. "It really wasn't a big deal," he said slowly. "I don't want you getting upset…"

"Please, Pony," Soda urged. "Just tell me."

Pony sighed in defeat. "I found the Socs that gave you a hard time last week at the gas station," he finally said flatly. Soda gave a start. It wasn't what he had been expecting. "They go to my school. I overheard them talking in the hallways and figured it out."

"You were fighting in school?" Soda asked, feeling his stomach drop. Pony couldn't get in trouble at school, he needed to go to college.

Pony shook his head. "I wasn't gonna do anything at first," he said slowly. "But I saw them again after school and they said they were gonna go back to the gas station. I just… I just couldn't let them do that."

Soda sighed. "So you decided to take on a group of Socs by yourself?" he asked. "You couldn't have just run ahead of them and warned me?"

Pony paused, then gave a wry smile. "I suppose that might have been a better option," he admitted.

"Please, don't go picking fights because of me," Soda said, studying his little brother's bruised face and feeling a new sense of guilt. "I'm a big boy, I don't need you to protect me." The statement came out a lot sharper than he had intended it to.

Pony hung his head. "I just don't want to see you in any more pain," he said quietly, almost to himself.

Soda felt his chest tighten at the statement. He put an arm around Pony's shoulders and pulled him in closer. "Thank you, Pony," he mumbled. He didn't like that Pony had gotten beat up because of him, but he could at least understand why he had done it.

There were several minutes of silence. "Were you… were you scared?" Pony asked tentatively. Soda didn't have to ask what he was talking about. He tightened his grip on his kid brother.

"Terrified," Soda whispered, his voice shaking. His eyes unfocused and he could almost hear the sounds of gun fire and a distant explosion. "I thought… I was gonna die. I thought I'd never see you or Darry again."

Pony reached his arms around Soda and squeezed him. "They sent us a letter," he said. "After you had been hurt. A man in a military uniform delivered it. I was home alone at the time, everyone was working. I was convinced… that it was a letter telling us that you had died." His voice got small. "I wouldn't open it until Darry got home. I spent all day thinking that we had lost you." He sniffed as tears began to fall.

Soda felt his heart stop. He had no idea how the news had been delivered to his brothers. He ran a hand through his brother's hair comfortingly.

"Guess it just wasn't my time, kid," he said quietly.

"I'm so glad you are home, Soda," Pony said.

"Me too," Soda said, nuzzling his cheek on top of Pony's head.

They stayed like that for a long while before Pony finally pulled away, wiping tears from his eyes. Soda knew it was getting late and they both had to be up early in the morning. He shifted his weight and started to stand, but Pony put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"You know… you could stay here if you want," Pony said. "Just like you used to."

Soda hesitated, remembering his first night back. He had had nightmares since, though thankfully none that had been so vivid to make him forget where he was after he woke. But did he trust himself?

"If I have another nightmare…" Soda said slowly, letting the thought hang.

"It's okay," Pony said. "I woke you up enough times with my nightmares. It'll be just you getting even." He smiled.

Soda couldn't help but smile back. "Scoot over," he said, giving in. Pony crawled to the other side of the bed as Soda lifted his leg up onto the bed. As he got situated he threw his arm over Pony just like he used to. He smiled to himself, feeling that this was exactly where he was supposed to be.

XxXxX

Soda still had a very restless night, still haunted by nightmares. But every time he woke up he pulled his little brother closer to him and felt himself relax. He was glad that it seemed like Pony slept through the entire night.

Soda was awake early as usual, but felt contented with just lying there with his arms around his brother, watching him sleep. He couldn't believe that Pony had spent an entire day convinced that he had lost him. It just seemed so cruel. He couldn't believe there wasn't a better way to deliver the news. Even just a simple phone call to let his family know that everything was okay would have been better than one of those sealed letters. Was that really so hard? After everything the military had put them through didn't they deserve that?

Soda was so lost in thought that when he glimpsed a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye he jumped and tensed. He whipped his head around as he clutched to Pony protectively. He instantly relaxed his muscles as he watched Darry walk into the room, though his heart was still beating fast.

"'Morning," Darry said quietly when he saw that Soda was awake. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," Soda said, trying to sound calm.

"How did you end up in here?" Darry asked. There was something in the tone of his voice but Soda couldn't exactly place what it was.

Soda shrugged a shoulder as he slowly rolled away from Pony so he could look up at Darry. "I dunno," he said. "Pony just asked me to, so I did." He looked up at Darry curiously. "That's alright, isn't it?" He sounded unsure.

"Of course," Darry said. "Why don't you go get ready for work? I'll wake Pony."

Soda nodded as he slowly sat up. He grabbed his cane from where he had set it against the wall and heaved himself to his feet with a soft groan. His leg was always so stiff in the morning. He limped out of the room, putting as little weight as possible on his bad leg.

As he gathered his work clothes he decided to take a quick shower. Showering had gotten a lot easier since Darry had reinforced the shower rod last week. Soda could get in and out of the tub on his own and was able to use the rod to hold himself up while he showered. As he hobbled back down the hall he heard Darry and Pony talking in low voices in Pony's room.

"…uncomfortable with it right now," Darry was saying. "I think we need to give him some more time."

"He's been home for almost a week and he hasn't had a nightmare like that since the first night," Pony responded.

Soda froze, quickly realizing what the conversation was about. Darry was upset that Pony had asked Soda to stay with him. Suddenly Soda's knees felt weak.

"Have you noticed how tired he is all the time?" Darry asked. "It's obvious he's still not sleeping well. Maybe he has had more nightmares and we just don't know about them. If he panics he could accidentally hurt you."

Soda was suddenly remembering his first night back at home. The nightmare had not ended when he had woken up. Suddenly he had been aware that he was sitting in the corner of his bedroom, a shard of glass clutched in his hand. He remembered Pony standing in the doorway, looking frightened. He remembered Darry crouching in front of him, looking at him like he was dangerous. None of his nightmares had been that bad since… but would they stay that way? Or was he really as dangerous as Darry thought?

Soda desperately didn't want to hear any more of the conversation. Truthfully he had had the same concern as Darry when Pony had told him he could stay with him last night. But it just sounded so different coming from his big brother. He forced himself to move as he hurried to the bathroom and quickly shut the door behind him, thankful for the silence that it brought.

He took a long hot shower, doing his best not to dwell on what his brothers had said when they thought he couldn't hear them. He hated that everything felt different now that he had finally made it back home. All he wanted was for everything to be like it was before.

XxXxX

It was a very slow day at the DX. Soda spent most of the day inside the store with Two-Bit, but there wasn't a whole lot to do. He wasn't really in the mood for Two-Bit's humor after the conversation he overheard that morning, so finally he decided to head out to the garage to see if he could help Steve out. He needed something to occupy his mind because he really didn't want to think about what his brothers had said about him.

"Hey Steve," Soda called as he walked into the garage even though he didn't see Steve anywhere.

"Soda?"

Soda looked around and finally saw Steve's head pop out from under a nearby Ford. He limped over.

"It's really slow out there," Soda said, jerking his head toward the store and the pumps. "Is there anything I could do in here?"

"Sure," Steve said easily. He glanced around at the other cars in the garage and thought for a minute. He nodded at the car next to the one he was working on. "Check out the engine on that one. Driver said it's been jerking and stalling at red lights."

Soda hobbled over as Steve disappeared back under the car he was working on. He popped the hood and leaned his cane up against the bumper as he placed his hand on the edge of the car to support himself. After fiddling around for a few minutes he realized that he needed some tools from the workbench. As he turned he jerked in surprised, finding that someone was standing in the doorway of the garage watching him.

"Can I help you?" Soda asked, still hunched over awkwardly and hanging on to the car for support. He did his best to hide any visible signs of being shaken by the sudden intrusion.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," the guy said.

He stepped more fully into the garage and Soda's eyes widen as he recognized him. He had been with the Socs that had given him a hard time at work last week. Soda turned away quickly. Suddenly he didn't want to be there. He couldn't handle any more smart remarks about his injury, not today of all days. He quickly reached for his cane but in his haste he accidentally knocked it to the ground and it skidded just out of reach. He cursed.

"Here." The Soc hurried forward and for a moment Soda was afraid that he was going to take his cane and run, leaving him stranded. But instead he simply picked it up and handed it back to him.

"Thanks," Soda said, sounding unsure as he carefully took his cane back.

"Is there something you wanted?" Steve's voice was harsh. When he heard the commotion he had apparently scrambled out from under the car and had come over to stand next to Soda. Clearly he recognized the Soc as well. He crossed his arms over his chest, still holding the wrench he had been using to fix the car he had been working on. Soda suddenly felt small standing next to him, almost like a little kid. If this Soc had come looking for another fight Soda would be useless.

"Yeah, I was here last week with some of my friends…" the Soc started slowly.

"We remember," Steve said shortly.

The Soc paused, looking at Steve unsurely before turning back to Soda. "I just wanted to say sorry," he finally said. "I didn't realize that you were a veteran. I take it you got that injury over in 'Nam?"

Soda was taken aback for a moment, not sure how to react. "Yeah," he finally confirmed.

"So it's okay to poke fun at a crippled Greaser, as long as he's not a war veteran?" Steve demanded. Soda visibly winced at the word 'crippled' and Steve shot him an apologetic look. "Either way it's a pretty low blow."

"Yeah, can't say I'm terribly proud of it," the Soc said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "But… my brother Jeremy was over there. Over in 'Nam. It's just not a line I really want to cross."

"I didn't know Socs could get drafted," Steve muttered mostly to himself. He was clearly still angry, despite the apology.

"He enlisted," the Soc said shortly.

"He was over in 'Nam?" Soda prompted. It was highly possible that he had finished his tour and returned home safely. But somehow with how this conversation was going Soda figured that wasn't the case.

The Soc sighed. "We got the letter about two months ago. Killed in action."

"I'm sorry he didn't make it back," Soda said.

"Yeah, well, guess things are pretty rough over there," the Soc said.

Soda just nodded vaguely, trying to block out memories that were threatening to overwhelm him. Rough was certainly putting it lightly.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say sorry," the Soc repeated with a shrug after a minute of awkward silence.

Soda refocused on him. "Thanks," he said sincerely, meeting the Soc's eyes. He realized that he didn't even know the kid's name. "I'm Soda," he said, putting out his hand. The Soc just stared at him in confusion. "That's my name," Soda clarified, used to the blank looks. "My name is Soda."

The Soc nodded though he was still giving Soda a strange look. "Charlie," he said, reaching out and grasping Soda's hand.

"Thanks for stopping by, Charlie," Soda said.

"No problem," Charlie said. "See you around." And with that he turned and hurried out of the garage. Soda silently watched him go.

"Well that was weird," Steve said, breaking the silence. He dropped his arms to his sides and turned back to the Ford.

"What was weird about it?" Soda asked.

"A Soc apologizing," Steve said. "Ain't that a sign of the end of the world or somethin'?"

Soda just shook his head. It had been a rather awkward exchange, but he did feel a little better. At least him being shipped overseas meant something to some people. The other two Socs had been heartless. But Charlie had understood what it meant. One out of three wasn't too bad, he supposed.