A/N: Chapter four is here! I'm slowly warming up to the characters again, so hopefully the story becomes better quality from here on out!

Please let me know what you think and leave a review. All thoughts are welcome! Whether it be positive or negative, I would appreciate any sort of feedback!

ENJOY and REVIEW!

Ponyboy

The first two weeks of living together, Scout and I were perfectly happy. It took a few days to adjust and move all of our things in, but the waking up with one another every morning and going to bed with one another wasn't something we were new to. Scout had often stayed the night at my house when I lived with Darry, so waking up with my arms around her wasn't unfamiliar. However, the feeling when I woke up, knowing that when I walked into the kitchen for breakfast, Darry wouldn't be there with Hal. It was a nice feeling.

"Pony, you ever gonna get up?" Scout asked as she walked into the room. She looked like she had just gotten out of the shower and was in a nice looking shirt and jeans.

"You look nice." I commented, sliding out of bed and pulling jeans over my boxers. "What for?"

"Can't I just dress up?"

"You're Scout...of course not," I laughed.

"I guess that's true," she shrugged. "I'm going to see my mom today. Thought I'd show her what kind of woman I am without her screwing me up."

"I forgot about that." I frowned. The last time Scout had seen her mother was four years ago, and the man that had driven Scout to leave in the first place was still in her mother's life. Once Scout tried explaining again to her mother what a sleeze-ball the guy was, her mother had gotten angry and stormed off. Since then, Scout's avoided ever going to that side of town at all, not wanting to chance an encounter.

"Want me to come with you?"

"No, I'll be fine. You have to work!" Scout replied, smiling and putting her arms around my neck. "But thank you for offering."

"You know where to find me if anything happens," I told her seriously, hugging her around the waist and kissing her neck once before pulling back. "Guess I better get ready for work. Good luck with your mom."

"No luck needed. I'm going to make her apologize!" Scout winked, kissing me quickly and then sweeping out of the room. I heard the front door open and then close. With a sigh, I gathered a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt and went to get ready for work.

Later that day, after I had gotten off of work, I had planned on going straight home. However, when I stopped by Buck's to visit Soda - who still worked there, why give up a good job? - Two-bit was there and convinced me to go out with him. I knew that I should have stopped by the house and let Scout know (if she was home), but really, I didn't think it would hurt anything to just hang out with Two-bit for a while. We did the usual, and about halfway through the afternoon, Tim joined us and we all three went to the drive-in. I wasn't a big fan of Tim's, but I had a lot of respect for him. He was a decent enough guy...well, unless you went up against him or his family. He and I had a lot of problems after I had got into that fight with Curly a few years back, but we'd both gotten over it after a while.

"Hey, Curtis, take a look at those gals," Tim smirked, nudging me in the arm and pointing to a group of three women standing against a corvette. I glanced at them then back up at Tim with raised eyebrows.

"Do you remember who Scout is?" I asked him. "Short, black hair, my girlfriend. Ring any bells?"

"That still goin' on?" Tim nodded, stuffing his thumbs into his back pockets. I felt a sting in my gut at how much it reminded me of Dally. "Alright then, what about you, Matthews?"

"Now, now, Shepard! Kathy'd have my neck if I went flirtin' with some nice ladies." Two-bit replied with a wink, pulling out a pack of cigarettes.

Tim shook his head in disapproval. "That's why you don't let ladies hold you down. Can't ever have any fun."

"What about Cherry?" I asked. The last time I'd seen Tim, he'd been cruising around town with her in tow. The last time I'd actually spoken to Cherry or Tim, they had been dating - so I thought, anyways. I didn't know what Cherry saw in Tim, but she had always seemed to like the mysteriously bad ones.

"That broad?" Tim jerked one of Two-bit's cigarettes out of the pack and lit it with jerky motions, and I sensed that I may have made him a little mad. "She's gone. Lives somewhere South of here. She visited a couple weeks ago for her parents. Thought she could...could goody up to me and make me move out with her. What a joke."

"Tim-"

"I'm going to have some fun. See ya later, Mathews...Curtis." and with that, he walked off, throwing the barely smoked cigarette to the pavement and approaching the girls with a sly grin and a wave.

Two-bit and I walked around for a bit, but once it started getting later, I decided it was best if I went on home. Scout really liked to eat dinner together since we lived together now, so I knew if I wasn't home soon, she'd be pretty mad. So, the two of us parted ways and I went back home. As soon as I opened the front door, I knew something was wrong. There was nothing going on in the house.

There weren't any smells from the kitchen, no sound of Scout mumbling to herself as she shuffled through cabinets or cleaned up the house. Everything was just still. Feeling worried and scared, I closed the door slowly behind me and headed into the kitchen. In there, I found out what was wrong. Sitting at our table was Scout, her hands folded tightly on top of the table, and her eyes went to me when I walked in. Across from Scout was the woman that I had grown to really hate. It was Scout's mother.

"Hey." Scout said tightly, standing up and looking between me and her mom. "You remember my mom…"

"Mrs. Jenkins," I nodded to the woman curtly.

"Please, call me Mary-" she tried for a nice smile, but I shook my head, glaring at her.

"I only use people's first names when I respect them,"

"Ponyboy!" Scout snapped, grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the kitchen and into the hallway, where she looked at me sternly. "That's my mother!"

"Yeah, I noticed. Why is she in our house?"

"Well.." she shifted a little on her feet. "She realized what a jerk Brett is...and she had to leave...and when we met up today, I offered for her to stay in the guest room."

"Scout!" I shouted, putting a hand to my head. "You didn't even think about talking to me first, huh? You just thought that I'd love to have that woman - who yelled at you and accused you and made you miserable time and time again - just come in here with no discussion?"

"It's not that, it's just-"

"What, Scout? Please explain how you made such a huge decision without me!" I yelled. "We may not be married or something, but this isn't just your house, Scout. You can't just go and make decisions like that."

"What's the big deal? We let the others stay whenever they want!" she yelled back at me, looking as though she were getting angry now.

"Yeah, want to know the difference?"

"Yeah, I do!"

"The others don't make a habit of hurting you!" I snapped at her, turning away from her and gritting my teeth. We both stood in silence for a few minutes before I finally just let out a grunt of frustration and went for the front door.

"Pony, where are you goin'?!" she called, stopping me at the door.

"Somewhere else." I said coldly, turning away and leaving quickly before she could reply.

Maybe I was overreacting a little bit, but I didn't really think so. That woman had tortured Scout for too long, chose a guy over Scout more than once, and then suddenly bursts in needing help? I wasn't going to have that. Scout had come to my window too many times because of that monster. If that was the case, why had I left then? I had just left Scout alone with that woman. I wasn't there to protect her from the hurt that her mother always seemed to make. But how was I supposed to go back now?

I just needed to cool off.