Author's Note: This chapter kinda came out of no where for me, which I always find fun! I mean I plan out my stories to an extent but every so often a small idea kinda runs away with me, haha. Originally the entirety of these two scenes were going to take up all of like three paragraphs as I skimmed over it to get to the next part… but I really really like where this chapter ended up going! I tried to keep the cheesiness to a minimum. Please let me know what you think! Also thank you to my reviewers!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hero

It had been a very bizarre evening, beginning with a stranger knocking on their door and ending with finding out that stranger had saved their brother's life. Pony had clearly been absolutely fascinated by Seth throughout the entire evening. Soda never talked about what happened while he had been deployed and although he would never push his brother to talk about it his curiosity got the best of him when it seemed this new person didn't mind talking about it.

They were all shocked when Soda reveled that Seth had dragged him away from danger when he couldn't walk and then helped to carry him to safety. None of them had seen that coming, though none of them had seen Seth appearance at all coming either. Suddenly they realized that they owed this stranger so much because without him Soda may have never returned home. Without him instead of relief when they read that letter so many months ago telling them Soda was coming home alive they would have been destroyed by the letter telling them that Soda would be returning home in a coffin. None of them would have been able to handle that.

"Where are you heading next?" Darry asked Seth as they cleaned up from dinner.

"Texas," Seth said. "I've got an uncle there I haven't seen in a while."

"Why don't you leave in the morning," Darry suggested. "The couch is pretty comfortable, you're welcome to it." They didn't have much to offer this person who saved their brother's life, but they could do that much.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Seth said, sounding a little surprised by the offer.

Seth insisted on helping Pony wash the dishes and then after that Soda took him outside to show him the punching bag that he used as therapy. When they came back inside all five of them sat around and played poker. Seth was a little thrown off by the cheating that was completely normal when Greasers played poker, but he quickly caught on and by the end of the night Seth appeared for all intensive purposes part of the gang.

Finally it was time for them to turn in. Darry went to grab an extra blanket and pillow as Soda and Pony headed to bed. As he reentered the living room he saw that Steve hadn't left yet.

"Before you leave tomorrow, stop over at the DX over on Sycamore," he was saying to Seth. He pointed in the direction of the gas station. "It's not far, you head down this road and take a right onto Broadway, take a left onto Sycamore and you can't miss it. I'm pretty good with cars so I can look over yours real quick and gas it up, make sure you make it to Texas okay."

Darry smiled. They all owed Seth a lot.

"You really don't have to…" Seth started but Steve cut him off.

"Just be there," Steve said shortly. And without any more pleasantries he turned and headed out the door.

Darry smirked as he entered the room. "That's about as sentimental as Steve gets," he commented with a laugh.

"I'll tell you what, I didn't expect all this when I came here," Seth said.

"Soda's real important to all of us," Darry said simply as he set up the couch for their guest.

"You guys are important to him too," Seth said. "I feel like I already know you guys from how much he would talk about you." He paused for a moment. "You know, Soda made it sound like I was some big brave hero. I really wasn't. Soda was always looking out for everyone else in our unit, he was always trying to make sure every one of us made it out of each battle alive. It was odd because he was one of the youngest among us. That's how he got hurt actually. He heard the ambush while everyone else was sleeping. He was yelling and he could have just run and been safe, but he was pulling guys up and covering everyone as they retreated. Even I ran." Seth looked ashamed of this as he slowly sat down on the couch. Darry slowly lowered himself into the recliner, his eyes glued to Seth, shocked at this news.

"I heard the grenade go off when I was running to safety," Seth went on. "That's usually a sign to keep running, but I looked back for some reason. I saw him go flying…" His eyes darkened as they stared off to some faraway place, as if he were watching the scene unfold before him. "I stopped and after a minute it looked like he was gonna get up, but then he fell back down, obviously in a lot of pain. It just… wasn't fair, you know? I just couldn't walk away, knowing that he wouldn't have. If it were anybody else… honestly I probably would have just kept running. But I just couldn't leave him after everything he had done for everyone else." He took a deep breath. "So you see, it wasn't me who was the hero over there."

There was silence for several minutes as Darry did his best to absorb this information. "You still made the decision," he finally said. "When you decided to go back for my brother, you didn't just save him. You saved all of us. And I can't thank you enough for that."

Seth took in a slow breath. "You're welcome," he said steadily, meeting Darry's eyes. "You're brother is a good person. You don't see much of that over in 'Nam. Too much chaos I guess."

Darry nodded. Then he stood. "I'll let you get some rest," he said. "'Night."

"Good night," Seth said as he got himself situated on the couch.

Darry headed back down the hallway, but instead of heading into his own room he stopped outside of Soda and Pony's room. He quietly knocked and then walked in. His brothers were already laying in bed, but they both looked over at him as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Something wrong, Darry?" Pony asked, sitting up.

Darry shook his head as he approached Soda's side of the bed. "No, nothing's wrong," he assured him. He crouched down as both Soda and Pony watched him curiously. Darry focused on Soda, who was still laying down, obviously too tired to bother with trying to sit up. Darry placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so proud of you, Pepsi-Cola," he said gently.

Soda looked up at him, confused. "What d'you mean?" he asked.

Darry just shrugged. "I just wanted you to know that," he said simply. He knew that Soda wasn't looking for recognition for what he had done, for all the people he had helped. That was why he never mentioned a word about it over all these months. But Darry couldn't help this amazing feeling of pride for his little brother at hearing how his fellow soldiers had seen him. Somehow, even stuck in the middle of a war halfway around the world, Soda had managed to keep true to who he really was. Darry stood back up. "Night," he said as he left the room, both his brothers staring confusedly after him.

XxXxX

Pony moaned lightly as he felt Soda shifting next to him. At first he thought maybe his brother was having another nightmare, but as his eyes blinked open, he realized that it was morning.

"Sorry Pony, did I wake you?" Soda said as he reached over and grabbed his cane from where it leaned against the wall. "You can go back to sleep for a while."

"S'ok," Pony mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "I gotta get up for school anyway." He rolled over and watched as Soda stretched out his bad leg, testing it. Some mornings it was pretty stiff. "You need any help?" Pony asked.

Soda smiled back at Pony. "I don't think so," he said. "Thanks though, Pony." Pony knew that Soda had been much better about accepting help when he needed it lately, but he still tried his best to do things on his own. It was a very delicate balance between letting Soda have independence and Soda not overdoing it with his handicap.

Soda slowly pulled himself to his feet, wincing only slightly. Pony wondered how long this pain would last for his brother. It had been months since his injury. Would he be in pain for the rest of his life? Pony could hardly stand that thought. Soda didn't deserve that.

Pony followed Soda out into the hallway and they made their way down to the kitchen. They were the first ones up for a change so they both started on breakfast.

"Well this is a sight I don't think I've ever seen before," Darry laughed as he entered the kitchen as they were setting the table. "You two sleep okay?"

"Yeah," Pony said, shifting a yawn. It was a little earlier than he was usually up, even on a school day.

Seth came in a few minutes later, yawning. They sat around the breakfast table eating their eggs and bacon with Seth and Soda chatting easily. It was strange how easily Seth had seemed to fit in to their group and it was even stranger to see how comfortable Soda was with this newcomer. Soda had never had a close friend outside of their group before. But at the same time it was so nice to see that relaxed smile on his brother's face.

After breakfast Seth helped out with the dishes again before he got ready to leave.

"It's about an eight hour ride from here, I think," Seth said. "If I leave now I should be able to get there at a pretty decent time."

"If you ever need anything, feel free to call us," Darry told him, handing over a slip of paper with their phone number on it.

Seth nodded. "Thank you," he said as he tucked it into his pocket.

"If you're ever in the neighborhood again, stop by," Soda said. He paused. "And thank you… for everything."

Seth gave him a sideways grin. "Nothing less than you deserved," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Soda and Seth embraced for several seconds. "I'll see you around," he said as he headed out the door.

"Drive safe," Darry said.

"Bye…" Soda said vaguely. He stood and watched as Seth made his way down the front lawn, got in his car and took off. He looked a little disappointed to see his friend go so soon.

"Are you working today, Soda?" Darry asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, but not until later," Soda said, tearing his eyes away from the window. "Two-Bit is workin' later with me, he's gonna come by and pick me up. Steve is workin' the morning shift today." He paused. "I'm gonna grab a quick shower."

"Okay, little buddy," Darry said as Soda limped to the bathroom.

"I think that was good for Soda," Pony spoke up after Soda had closed the bathroom door. "He seemed really glad to see Seth."

Darry nodded in agreement. "I'm glad he came too," he said. "He provided some good insight into what Soda went through over there."

Pony looked up at him and cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He wondered if that had anything to do with the strange visit Darry had paid to them last night before they went to bed.

Darry sighed. "Last night while I was getting Seth set up on the couch, he told me about the day that Soda got hurt," he said. Pony gave a start at this news. "Soda was helping everyone else get away from the ambush when a grenade went off and that's when his knee got torn up. He could have just run and saved himself, but Seth said that he was always lookin' out for everyone else."

Pony's eyes got wide and all he could do was stare, too shocked to react for a minute. He had always known that his brother was a good person. But this made him sound like so much more than just that. He wasn't just another soldier who was covering his own ass and just trying to make it home. He had somehow found the strength to look after his comrades even in the middle of the chaos of a war in foreign territory. He had been a hero.

Pony looked over at the closed bathroom door, listening to the water running. He knew exactly how Darry had felt the night before. He was so proud to be able to call Soda his brother.