When the night falls on you
You don't know what to do
Nothin' you confess, could make me love you less
I'll stand by you, I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you
I'll stand by you
Walking into the room with the boys made things a little easier, no less real, but it was easier to deal with the horror and pain in front of me when I had one of my best friends and my little brother beside me.
As we crossed the threshold I heard Pony give a little gasp beside me, I had forgotten that he had yet to see Johnny since they had left the church. I turned and gave him a tight smile, hoping that he would understand that we all needed to be strong for Johnny; right now he was the only one that mattered.
Pony met my eyes before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, fighting for composure much as Two-Bit and I had the night before. We all looked back to Johnny, laying there with his eyes closed, his breathing shallow and painful sounding. The result of inhaling to much smoke I assumed.
"Hey Johnnycake" Two-Bit said.
Johnny's eyes slowly opened, focusing on each of us in turn. "Hey ya'll"
A nurse who was fussing with one of his IVs looked up at him and smiled. "So…you can talk after all."
Two-Bit smiled at the nurse, "They treating you ok kid?"
Johnny struggled to speak for a moment. "They…don't…let me put enough grease in my hair."
I smiled and laughed a little, "Well, I think you and Pony look very handsome without it. Maybe you boys will start a new trend."
"Naw" Two – Bit drawled out, "it'd never catch on, greasers like Tim Shepard are so greasy they slid when they walk."
We all laughed, Johnny losing his breath and starting to cough so hard that my heart ached for him as he tried to not look panicked. Once he had caught his breath we all sat down across from him.
"Look man, don't talk, just listen alright?" Two – Bit began. "We're having the big rumble tonight." Johnny's eyes darkened a little but he remained silent. "It's to bad you and Dally can't be in it. It's the first big rumble we've had in a long time – not counting the time we whipped Shepard's outfit."
"He came by."
"Tim Shepard?!" I asked surprised.
"Ya, he came by to see Dally and stopped in here to."
I knew Tim and Dally had always been buddies, but I was still surprised that Tim had taken the time to come down to the hospital.
"Did you know you got your name in the paper? For being a hero." Two – Bit informed him.
"That's tuff" He answered back with a grin. Behind the grin though you could see that he was in pain, he was paler then the pillow where his skin wasn't red and raw.
"Is there anything you want us to bring you man? Some hair grease maybe?"
Johnny looked to Pony, "The book, could you get me another copy of the book?"
"He wants a copy of Gone With the Wind." Pony said looking at me.
I reached into my purse and pulled out a few dollars, handing them to Pony. "Why don't you run down to the gift shop and get the book baby."
The boys left the room, shutting the door behind them. I sat down near Johnny and wished I could see a way to hold his hand or touch him without causing him more pain. As we sat in easy silence he suddenly tensed, his face screwed up in pain.
"You ok hunny?" My heart was breaking.
"Ya…it just hurts sometimes, not often though, I can't feel below the middle of my back…I'm pretty bad off huh?"
"No hunny…your gonna be just fine."
"I'll never walk again, busted my back…I won't even be able to walk with crutches."
"It'll be ok…we'll find a way to make it work." I was fighting a battle against the tears now, a battle I was quickly losing.
"I'm so scared Ali…I used to think about killing my myself…but now I've realized 16 years just ain't enough. I ain't seen enough, done enough. The time with Pony, in Windrexville…that was the only time I'd ever been outside of Tulsa. I don't want to die Ali…"
"Oh…baby…your not going to die…"
"It just hurts so bad Ali…" Johnny drew in a deep breath and passed out.
I had to get out of that room, I had to get control of my emotions so I headed over to Dally's room.
A/N – The song is Stand By You by Pretenders. Where do I even start? I haven't updated since November, which is sad as I have tons written all ready. I went to post this morning and realized I had left a hole in the story to be written later which I never did. I wrote the chapter and reread and worked on the rest of the story as well. I have no excuses…unless you want them, in which case my excuse is that I work at the kind of school where the freshmen beat a cop outside the building last week. Be my sanity, review! I don't deserve them, but if we can get 5 before Friday I'll post another chapter.
I do not own the outsiders…however I have made Soda do my bidding in upcoming chapters…
