Author's Note: I'm back! If I missed responding to any reviews, I'm sorry! All reviews are awesome. I'm a little jet lagged… so I won't ramble and I'll just say, please review! :)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sleep

Back in Soda's hospital room, Steve felt anxious. Soda had seemed so drained after the ordeal in the MRI machine. It really concerned him. He had no idea how to even begin to try to comfort his friend because he couldn't understand exactly what he had been through. Soda had been silent since leaving the room, offering up no explanation for his panic and Steve didn't have the heart to ask for one. He knew that Soda had relived memories from the war, but he had no idea what kind of memories those were.

Soda was laying heavily back on the bed that was tilted up, staring blankly ahead. Steve paced nervously, unsure what he should do.

"Steve?" Steve looked over at Soda in surprise, finding that he was focused on him for the first time since they had left the MRI. His gaze and his voice were both steady. "I want to go home. I don't want to stay here all day just to wait for results."

Steve nodded. He wanted to just be able to give Soda anything that he wanted right now. He knew exactly how Darry had felt now. Soda had been through so much and the military had controlled him completely for the past year. Soda deserved to be able to make his own decisions.

"I'll go talk to the nurses, see what I can do," he promised.

Steve headed out into the hallway and to the nearby nurse's station.

"My buddy Sodapop wants to sign himself out," he told the nurse at the desk. "It's been a really long ass couple days and he doesn't want to just hang around all day long just to wait for results."

The nurse gave him a skeptical look before flipping through a few charts. She pulled one out and studied it. "I'll have to go talk to the doctor," she said. "I'll be right back."

Steve rolled his eyes a bit, thinking there was no reason for them to keep him against his will. He really did seem fine. "Can I use the phone while I wait?" he asked quickly before the nurse could leave.

"Sure, help yourself," the nurse agreed.

As she hurried away Steve reached over and grabbed the phone, quickly punching in Darry's work number. He got the number of the site that Darry was working at today and hung up, redialing the new number. Luckily the site manager was quick to get Darry on the phone. Darry must have told them he would probably be getting a call.

"Hello?" Darry said.

"Hey Darry, it's Steve," Steve said.

"How'd it go this morning?" Darry immediately asked.

Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, he got through it," he said. "It was real rough though, he was starting to panic a lot by the end but he managed to hold it together until it was over."

"Well, that's something at least," Darry said. "Hopefully that's the last time they have to do that."

"Yeah," Steve agreed. "Honestly even if they do want him to do it again I don't think I have the heart to convince him to go through it again."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Darry said tiredly.

"I mean, I know he doesn't like talkin' about what happened over there," Steve went on. "But man, it must have been real bad. Soda's tough. Real tough. Whatever he saw over there must have been even worse than what we can imagine."

"Yeah, I came to that conclusion too," Darry agreed.

"Well, he doesn't want to stick around to get the results," Steve went on, remembering the reason for his call. "He just wants to go home. Given we get the clear from the doctor I figure I'll just take him home. He seems fine to me other than the panic attack in that damn MRI machine."

"I figured he wouldn't want to hang around," Darry said. "Thanks for helpin' out, Steve."

"Of course," Steve said, surprised that Darry even felt the need to thank him. Soda was his best friend. All he wanted was to help him get through this. Unfortunately it seemed like none of them knew how to really make this better.

"Give me a call if you need anything from me," Darry said. "Otherwise I'll just see Soda at home."

"Yeah okay," Steve said. "See ya."

"Bye."

Steve hung up the phone. It was a few more minutes before the nurse finally came back.

"The doctor said that he doesn't have to wait for the results," she said. "He can come out here and fill out the discharge papers and we will call him later today and let him know what the results were."

"Good deal," Steve said with a nod. "Thanks."

He headed back into Soda's room to find that he had already changed out of his hospital gown and back into his DX uniform which he had been wearing yesterday when he had fell. Clearly he wasn't planning on staying even if they had wanted him to.

"You're free to go," Steve confirmed. "You just gotta fill out some discharge forms at the desk and they said they'd call later today when they got the results."

Soda nodded, a faraway look in his eye as if he were barely listening. He heaved himself up to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane. As he watched him limp past him and out into the hallway, Soda suddenly seemed years older than Steve instead of months.

Steve followed Soda out into the hallway. When they reached the nurse's station they already had the papers ready for him and Soda leaned heavily against the counter as he quickly filled out the forms. As Steve watched he saw that Soda's eyes didn't seem to be focusing much on what was in front of him and he wondered if he even knew what he was supposed to be writing down. A few minutes later he pushed the papers back toward the nurse and turned and limped away without saying a word.

Steve followed him out to the parking lot and they found Two-Bit's car where he had left it the night before. Steve fished the key out of his pocket, watching Soda carefully as he climbed into the passenger's seat.

As they took off Soda was leaning heavily up against the back of the seat, a vacant look in his eyes. Steve kept on glancing over at his friend with concern.

"Soda…" Steve said slowly. He waited for Soda to look over at him. "You know… if you ever want to talk about it, you know you can talk to me, right?" He knew that Soda would understand that he was referring to the memories from the war that he had just been forced to relive.

Soda was quiet for several long seconds. "I just want to forget," he finally said quietly.

Steve sighed. "Yeah, I know you do," he said sympathetically. "But Soda, it happened. You can't just pretend that it didn't and hope it goes away."

"It's just… easier to deal with if I don't think about it," Soda insisted.

"I can understand that," Steve allowed. "I just want you to know, if you ever do feel the need to get anything off your chest, I'm right here."

"Yeah," Soda said absently. "Thanks…"

They reached the Curtis house in very little time. Steve parked the car out front and climbed out, walking around the car to help Soda out of the passenger's seat. After he pulled him up to his feet Steve allowed Soda to walk to the house on his own. They both paused at the bottom of the porch steps, eyeing the new railing that had suddenly appeared.

"When did Darry have time to fix that already?" Soda wondered, laying his hand lightly on the wood.

Steve shrugged. "Must have done it last night after he left the hospital," he said. He suddenly understood why Darry had sounded so tired on the phone. He had to have been up for a good portion of the night to get that done.

"He didn't have to do that…" Soda said.

But Steve knew that Darry did have to do that. He wanted to do everything in his power to make things easier for Soda. In so many ways none of them had any idea how to help him, but for this issue there was a simple, proactive solution: building a sturdy porch rail. Darry might not be able to understand or help with the mental anguish that Soda was still feeling from being on the battlefield, but he could certainly build a reliable railing.

Soda grabbed the railing and heaved himself up the stairs. As Steve followed him up he grabbed the railing too just to feel how sturdy it was. As he tugged on it, it didn't budge at all. It would definitely hold. He knew Darry would have made sure of that.

Inside the house was deserted with Darry at work and Pony at school. Steve felt bad, but he knew he couldn't hang around. He couldn't afford to blow off work.

"Sorry, Soda," Steve said as they stood in the living room. "But I gotta go get ready for work."

"It's okay," Soda said, though something in his voice sounded off. "I'm just gonna go lay down. I didn't get much rest last night." He turned and started heading for the bedroom.

Steve stood there a moment longer watching him, feeling reluctant to leave. "I'll be back later tonight," he said.

"Okay…" Soda said as he disappeared around the corner.

Steve sighed as he turned to leave. What he wouldn't give to know how to help his best friend.

XxXxX

Darry managed to get out of work a little early that day, anxious to get home to see how Soda was doing. Pony had told him that morning that he had to stay late after school for a group project and he didn't want to leave Soda alone for too long. He knew that Soda wouldn't like him thinking like that, but he couldn't help it. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Soda was handicapped and he was limited. And with all the stress from the past two days Darry was seriously worried about his mental stability. He felt that Soda really shouldn't be alone right now if they could help it.

Darry broke several traffic laws as he sped home, thankful to not pass any police officers on the way. He hadn't heard from Steve again so he assumed that Soda had left the hospital as planned. He really couldn't blame his brother for wanting to get away from there, all things considered.

"Soda?" Darry called as he entered the house, finding that the living room was deserted. There was no answer. He wandered farther inside, setting his tool belt down on the coffee table. He headed back toward the bedrooms. Soda's room was empty but as he nudged open Pony's door he found his middle brother sprawled out over the top of the covers, fast asleep.

Darry was about to turn and leave when something caught his eye. He stepped farther inside to investigate. On the nightstand next to the bed sat a bottle of pills. He picked up the bottle carefully to read the label. It was a bottle of over the counter sleeping pills that Darry had bought a few months back when he was having a hard time sleeping while Soda had been deployed overseas. He was sure that he had left them in the cabinet in the bathroom and he didn't think that Pony would have used them.

He looked back down at Soda, completely out like a light, and frowned. Why would he be taking sleeping pills in the middle of the day? He could understand taking them at night, after all that's what he had done a few nights, but this didn't make much sense. He popped open the lid on a whim and looked inside. He didn't know exactly how many pills should be missing… but he was at least grateful that the bottle seemed mostly full. Soda wouldn't go that far. Would he?

Darry carefully placed the bottle back on the nightstand as he crouched down next to the bed. He reached over, gently shaking Soda's shoulder.

"Soda?" he said. "Soda, wake up little buddy." Soda didn't move, he didn't so much as flinch. Darry shook him a little harder as he spoke a little louder. "Soda? C'mon Soda, it's time to wake up." This time he earned some movement as Soda moaned lightly and buried his face into the pillow. Relief washed over Darry at just this small sign of life. He shook him again. "Soda, wake up, c'mon now," he prompted firmly. Soda weakly swatted an arm at Darry as he mumbled incoherently into the pillow. "Soda!" Darry repeated loudly, getting impatient.

"I wanna sleep," Soda mumbled, not opening his eyes.

"If you sleep all day, you're not gonna be able to sleep tonight," Darry pointed out.

Soda moaned and rolled over. Darry sighed. Just then the phone rang and he was forced to leave Soda's side. He hurried out into the living room.

"Hello?" he said, after picking up the phone.

"Hello, this is Dr. Jones from Tulsa General Hospital," came a voice. "May I speak with Sodapop Curtis?"

"He can't come to the phone right now," Darry said, glancing back toward Pony's room. "This is his brother Darrel, I should be his emergency contact."

There was a long pause and Darry hoped that Soda had given permission for the hospital to give him information. He was family after all, even if he was no longer his legal guardian.

"Ah yes," the doctor finally confirmed after no doubt checking his paperwork. "I was just calling to inform Mr. Curtis that his latest MRI scan came back clean and there is no evidence that there will be any lasting side effects of the concussion."

"Good," Darry sighed, feeling relieved. At least something good had come out of this whole ordeal. "Thank you for calling."

"You're welcome," Dr. Jones said. "Have a nice evening."

"Yeah," Darry said, trying not to sound sarcastic. He heard a click before he hung up. He stood there for a moment, rubbing his temples lightly as he felt a headache coming on. One problem was solved, but there was still another to deal with. What was he supposed to do with this new situation?

He was startled out of his thoughts by the front door slamming. He looked up to find Pony dropping his backpack on the floor as he kicked off his shoes.

"Hey Darry," he said. "Is Soda back from the hospital yet?"

"Yeah, Steve brought him home earlier this afternoon," Darry said.

"So his tests came back okay?" Pony said with a smile.

"Yeah, the hospital just called and said everything was fine," Darry confirmed, though he didn't return the smile.

"Why don't you look happy about that?" Pony asked curiously looking up at him.

"You didn't touch my sleeping pills in the bathroom cabinet, did you?" Darry asked, though he already knew the answer. It would be one thing if Soda had stumbled upon the pills in Pony's room and decided on a whim to pop one or two. It would be something different altogether if Soda had gone searching for something to knock him out like that.

"No," Pony said, confused. "Why?"

"Soda's out like the dead in your room and the bottle is on the nightstand next to him," Darry said.

"Oh," Pony said, sounding a little surprised. "Well, that's not too big of a deal, right? You took them to help you sleep too."

"Yeah, but he took them in the middle of the day," Darry pointed out.

"Oh," Pony said, realization dawning on him. "Yeah, I guess that's a little odd." He started down the hallway toward his room and Darry followed him. As they entered Pony's room Darry saw that Soda hadn't moved at all since he had left him. "Soda?" Pony said, reaching over and shaking Soda's shoulder. Soda didn't budge. "Soda?" Pony said louder, shaking him again just as Darry had. Soda moaned and tried to shrug Pony's hand off his shoulder. "Wow, he really is out," Pony said, looking down at him worriedly.

"Yeah," Darry agreed. "I don't think we're gonna have any luck until some of that medicine works it's way out of his system."

"How long will that be?" Pony asked, looking up at him.

"I dunno," Darry said with a shrug. "I dunno how long ago he took those or even how many he took for that matter." There were several long seconds of silence as they both watched Soda sleep. "C'mon Pony," Darry finally said. "Let's get dinner goin'."

Pony nodded as he turned and walked out of the room. Darry started to follow him, but then paused. He turned and walked back over to the nightstand, picking up the bottle of pills and taking them with him as he left the room. He headed back to the bathroom, replacing them in the cabinet.

After everything they had been through in the last couple months Darry could only hope that with all the progress Soda had made there weren't about to take ten steps backwards again.