"Damn, this place feels dead and empty without ol' Sodapop around. Good thing I'm here to liven it up a little."

Pony gave TwoBit a shove, the pair sitting out on the back porch as morning became afternoon. "Yeah, you make it really bright with your presence."

TwoBit shoved his younger friend back half-heartedly, pulling him into a headlock. "Say 'uncle,' kiddo."

"Kiss my ass, TwoBit." Pony used every ounce of strength he had and got free from the older man's hold.

"Hey! Look at you! Man, my buddies just keep surprisin' me this week."

"Huh? Who else surprised you?"

"Steve-O, of course. Do you know he's nothin' but a big teddy bear now?"

"Yeah. He definitely has that facet to him. But I think he always did. He just didn't let us see it."

"Facet, huh? Nice word there, Pony. I like seein' different facets of my friends."

"You're not the same all the time either, you know. You get more serious than you used to. Everything's not just some joke."

"True. Guess I'm growin' up a little bit."

"I hope so. You're almost twenty-one and a half. But, really, give yourself plenty of credit here. You're a well-rounded guy a lot like Steve is. Soda too. You know that's something I had to learn about with him."

"Aw, don't forget Superman. He's got the whole package for sure. And when the hell did this turn into some kind of pep talk?"

"I don't know. I guess when you started sounding like you only see that stuff in us. You have some depth too though. You've shown me that every time I've needed it."

"My wisdom's stayed with you, huh?"

"Sure has. But not just that. The times you've listened and comforted me, those have stuck too."

TwoBit put his arm around Pony's shoulders, pulling him close. "Holy moly, kiddo. Sodapop and Steve must've rubbed off on us a little. Heart-to-hearts are contagious."

Pony also put his own arm around TwoBit. "Maybe they are. But I like to think it's something more. Something strong. Like we look at them and at each other, and we understand that there's a lot of power in just being kind."

"Cannonball!"

Steve stood back as Soda ran across the concrete, then jumped off the edge of the pool, making a huge splash when he landed in the water. "Nice, man. How cold is it?"

Soda swam despite the goosebumps that had popped up on his skin, the chill making him shiver. "Oh, it's freezin', Stevie. Come on in!"

Steve dipped a toe in the pool, which was enough to tell him the water was cold as ice. "I don't know, buddy. Maybe I should just watch you."

"Just watch? Come on, you've gotta get in and swim with me. It ain't that bad."

"I can see you shivering from here." Steve sat down on the edge, letting his legs dangle in the pool. "How about this? I'm in."

"Aw, you're such a smartass."

"Better than being a dumbass."

Soda swam over to where Steve was, contemplating a way to get his best friend in the water.

"Don't you dare."

"What, Stevie? I'm not going to do anything."

"You can't fool me with that innocent voice, man. I know you inside out and upside down."

Soda lifted himself out of the pool and sat down beside Steve. "Well, I can say the same."

Steve raised his eyebrows at Soda, able to see the goosebumps on his skin and hear his teeth chatter. "How about we make a deal? I'll get in for a few minutes if you swear to me you'll get out when I do. I don't want you turning into a damn icicle and getting sick."

"Deal! I'll get out when you do, I promise." Soda slid back into the water, his limbs moving quickly to help him warm up.

Steve stood to his feet, knowing that jumping in would be the only way to go. "All right, here I come."

"Such great enthusiasm there, Stevie. Can you bundle it in a jar and save it for me?"

"Yep. Right there next to that sarcasm." Steve closed his eyes as he jumped, the coldness of the water enveloping his body when he landed. "Shit, man! We must be out of our minds."

Soda only laughed as he did the backstroke. "Maybe. But it's better if you keep swimmin' and movin' around."

Steve swam beside Soda, his feet kicking in an effort to get some warmth. "I think we'll have to go find somewhere that has hot chocolate after this."

"Perfect suggestion. So we can drink that when I explain how I got you in the pool."

"We made a deal. What's to explain?"

"Oh. You'll see."

Steve watched as Soda swam, a smug expression on his best friend's face. "You look like you're holding in quite a secret there, buddy."

"Not a secret, just an insight."

"And you can't tell me right now?"

Soda grinned at Steve, enjoying the moment as the sun shone on his face despite the freezing water. "Nope. You've gotta wait, and I'll let you in on it after a while."

"I hope I'm doing okay at this. I've never had an anniversary before."

Maryanne was quick to reassure Darry as she unwrapped the gift he'd accompanied with flowers and a card. "Of course you're doing great. To be honest, you're doing much better than I am."

Darry watched the wrapping paper fall from the glass angel he'd picked out for Maryanne to add to her collection. "Why do you say that? You didn't need to get me anything, if that's what you mean."

Maryanne smiled as she looked at the angel's wings, their blue and green sparkling in the light of her living room. "What I meant is I forgot. I forgot about it being our anniversary."

"Oh. Well, that's all right. It's probably just easier for me to remember because of what was going on in my life at the time you came into it. I could never forget when Soda had the seizure, and you and I went out just two days after he was released from the hospital."

"So I became your angel then?"

"You did. You walked into one of the scariest days of my life, and you made it into something beautiful."

Steve sat with Soda at the coffee shop they'd found, both men now dried off and clad in jeans, mugs of hot chocolate in front of them. "So let me get this straight. You're telling me you knew that once I saw how cold you were, I wouldn't let you swim by yourself?"

Soda stirred his still-steaming hot chocolate, his lips taking small sips from the spoon. "Yep. And I knew you'd find a way to get me to come out of the water, even if it meant you'd be gettin' in the pool too."

"That is quite an insight. You definitely weren't wrong either."

"Of course I wasn't. I knew what I was doin'. We both had fun too. Even though we were on the verge of freezin' to death."

Steve picked up a spoon and started to stir his hot chocolate, his eyes looking down as the liquid swirled. "Did last night really happen?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so. Why? Is there somethin' that didn't feel real?"

"No. It felt real all right. I just feel weird about some of it."

"It's fine that you woke me up, if that's what's on your mind. Especially since it ain't like we had to be up early or anything."

"I know. It's not that."

"So what is it then? If it helps, I can't even think of anything you should feel weird about."

"That kind of helps. But, I don't know, I guess I feel funny about being there and watching you sleep, then getting in the bed with you."

"Aw, you've even slept beside me before, Stevie. There's no reason to feel funny about that at all."

"Maybe. But you asked me to then. It seemed different last night."

"Well, sure it was. 'Cause you were the one needin' some comfort. But it was just us. Nobody else. So that meant we could be open any way we wanted."

"Yeah. It did. Those moments mean everything to me too. I think I know why I had that flashback yesterday."

"You do? Why?"

"Because of all the emotions I've had lately. Like the ones I told you about last night. Plus, being in the hotel room with you, my brain knew it was safe to let the walls down, so to speak."

"Yeah. Of course it knew that."

"And I think maybe part of me wanted to have the time we did. That's something else I feel weird about. 'Cause I was sort of craving anything that would show me we're still what we've gotten to be in the last couple of years. Obviously, I couldn't have a flashback on purpose, but maybe it's this kind of subconscious thing that set out to help me get what I was looking for."

"Sounds like it. What you said about me openin' up when we get further away turned out to be the most true for you, huh?"

"Yeah. For the record, getting to be there for you when you talked about Emily last night touched just the right place too. I even almost told you that then."

"So why didn't you?"

"Because that was your time, not mine. I didn't want to take the attention away from you. Besides, I wasn't ready to go there yet when it might mean I'd get into what I ended up telling you later. You know, about being angry and hurt. But, anyway, being there for you helped a lot. Kind of like what I've said before, it was healing for me too."

"You know what? This moment feels like somethin' to me. Maybe like the one I had with Darry a few nights ago. Except we toasted with beer." Soda reached for his mug of hot chocolate and lifted it up. "To healing?"

Steve picked his mug up and clinked it against Soda's. "To healing. And to all the best moments that make up our friendship. Especially when things aren't easy. I know I don't have to say this, but thank you, my brother. For always hearing me. For being kind. And for just being the best guy there is."

"So when's the wedding date, Superman? I need to know when to pick out my tuxedo."

"There is no date, TwoBit. I haven't proposed to Maryanne. Not yet anyway."

"Which means you will. Probably in the near future. I think that even more 'cause you didn't knock me upside the head just now for askin 'about it and even assuming I'll get to be one of your groomsmen."

"That's not exactly a big leap. It's not like I have buddies banging down my door every day. Or a bunch of relatives. Anybody who would get to be in our wedding passes through this house on a daily basis."

"Aw, look at that! I got you thinking and planning. Let me know when you want to propose, and I'll help plot the whole thing."

"I'll buy a ring and ask her. What's to plot?"

"Everything, Superman! You want the best time and place."

"I never realized you were such a romantic, TwoBit."

"I can be when I want to. Just call me TwoBit Mathews, Romance Extraordinaire!"

"You brought your Bible, Stevie? I didn't know that."

Steve took out the Bible his dad had given him two Christmases ago as he and Soda got ready to leave the hotel for the evening. "Yeah. I like to read it at night sometimes, so I brought it along."

Soda reached for the familiar Bible, turning through some of the pages. "You know what I still think about sometimes, even though it's been a while since we talked about it?"

"What?"

"Elijah. I remember you tellin' me about him the night we camped out in my backyard."

"Yeah. I'm not surprised that stuck with you, man. Elijah's a tuff guy, and it's not like relating to people in the Bible happens with every story in it. Just a few. At least that's how it's been for me anyway."

Soda placed the Bible back on Steve's bed, his finger tracing the gold letters that engraved his best friend's name on the front cover. "I used to think I'd never even understand anything in the Bible. Like it had to be too much or too big for me since I was lousy at school. Believin' in God and sayin' a prayer was easy enough, but anything else besides seemed like more than I could do."

"I know what you mean, buddy. Yeah, I was good at school, but I still thought of God as this big guy in the sky just looking down at us. I didn't think of him as somebody I could be close to or understand in any kind of personal way. I'd heard stories from the Bible as a little kid, but those didn't give me much. It's not like I could relate to a guy building an ark or one swallowed up by a whale. I get why they're important, but stories like that feel like they happened in some other world. Maybe they sort of did though since it was before Jesus."

"Yeah. That's part of the point, right? Jesus changed everything."

"Sure. But it's different with Elijah somehow. I sure can't relate to him running away because he thought he was about to get killed, but the feelings he had, well, we can both dig those." Steve reached for the Bible again, his hands automatically turning to 1 Kings Chapter 19. "It's this story right here, man. I don't think I told you where it was before." He put the red ribbon bookmark in place, leaving the pages for later. "We should read it together tonight. Especially since we won't be at church tomorrow morning."

"Yeah. Sounds good, Stevie."

Steve stared at the scripture, his eyes easily finding the words of Elijah when the prophet had asked God to take his life, the prayer one that would always resonate with his heart.

"Hey, are you okay? We ain't going to try toppin' last night with sappiness, are we?"

"Nah. I don't even think we could." Steve closed the Bible he'd come to cherish for reasons that went far beyond religion, setting it on the table between the two beds. "Well, what are we standing here for, buddy? We've got places to go and stuff to see, and it's all out there just waiting for us."

"Would you stop staring at the phone, Dar? He's not going to call every day. It's long distance from a hotel."

Darry nonchalantly looked in another direction as he pretended not to know what Pony was talking about. "I'm not staring at the phone. I'm just eating my dinner."

Pony watched as Darry twirled his fork around, completely missing the spaghetti on the plate in front of him. "Yeah. Looks like you're really devouring it."

"I'm fine, Pone. Just a little bit distracted. That's all. I can't exactly quit worrying totally, even though I do realize Soda will be back here before I know it."

"You used to go on ski trips with your buddies when you were younger than he is. Does that help?"

"Maybe."

"And you went farther away too. I don't remember you calling home much either. You'd check in once or twice just like Soda's doing now."

"All right. I get your point, little brother. Not to step all over it, but Mom and Dad didn't spend a year worried to death about my mental health, which is pretty much what you were talking about last night as far as Soda goes."

"I didn't say anything about Soda's mental health."

"Well, you didn't use that same phrase, but-"

"You shouldn't be talking about our brother like that. It makes him sound like there's something wrong with his brain, and there isn't."

"Of course there's nothing wrong with Soda's brain. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant he struggled a lot with the things he was going through, and not all of it was physical. It was mental and emotional."

"I know that. You don't have to talk to me like I'm stupid or something. I get it. I just don't like the way 'mental health' sounds when it's about Soda. It makes him sound ill or insane or like there's some label on him now."

"I'm just calling it what it is, Ponyboy. Soda has struggled with his mental health, and that's not a label. It's just something that tells you where the problems have been and what they looked like."

"Which is the definition of a label, Darry. The problems were in his head, and they looked like him talking about killing himself!"

Darry pushed his plate of spaghetti away and took a deep breath, silently counting backwards from ten as he sensed the tension in the conversation growing higher. "All right. I hear what you're saying. But I don't see that as labeling Soda himself. Those struggles aren't who he is. They're just something that happened because he went through particular situations. Also, there's plenty that came before him talking about suicide. That part was his reaction to how bad he was feeling because of the flashbacks and a lot of other things. It was never the center of the problem."

"No, but it was the worst symptom of it. I still hate remembering that. I hate knowing that he even thought dying might be what he wanted."

"I know that, Pone. I feel the same way. But do you know how you come to terms with it?"

"No. How?"

"You accept the issues Soda has had for what they are: trouble with his mental health. Maybe you don't like that phrase, but it's still the truth. It doesn't make him ill or insane, and nothing about it is his fault either. He's been through a ton of trauma, and anybody would have a hell of a time after all that. So, accept the reality and let it make you proud of him. He overcame things that take plenty of people down, and you can look at that fact as a reason to be even more grateful that he's here. I know that's what it's done for me."

"Move just a little to the left, Stevie. So I can get that big building that's behind you too."

Steve shifted to his left as Soda kept the camera focused on him, the pair in a park that was leading them on a loop through the center of the city. "Is this better?"

Soda gestured with his hand. "No. I meant my left, not your left."

"All right, all right." Steve moved in the other direction, hands in the pocket of his jean jacket. "You got your perfect photo now, man?"

"I will when you smile."

Steve grinned, the camera finally flashing. "I should've known you'd bring that. Honestly, I'm glad you did. We'll need pictures from our trip."

"Yeah. Of course. I even snapped a few of the hotel room."

Steve started to walk along the brick path, Soda following close behind. "I'm glad we came, buddy. It's nice to be off and about just the two of us with no schedule or anything like that."

Soda slipped the camera into his jacket pocket as a trio of bicycles zoomed past them, the sky above just beginning to show signs of darkness. "Me too. It feels good to just be and go with the flow for a while. No pressure. No rules. Nobody expectin' anything of us."

Steve approached the bridge that stood above a creek of flowing water. He put his elbows on the railing as he looked over, feeling Soda come to stand beside him. "That's one way of looking at it. We can just be spontaneous. Live life on the edge."

"The edge of what? We ain't exactly out bein' reckless here, Stevie."

"Nah. But we don't have to be on the edge of danger. That'd just take us out of our element." Steve's eyes moved up from the water, all of his weight braced against the railing of the bridge as he looked off into the heart of the city they'd chosen to visit. "There doesn't need to be a risk because we have nothing to prove, and the only edge we're living on is one of purpose."

"I'm sorry to come by so late. Is Emily still awake?"

Samuel invited Penny inside, the young woman's visit unexpected but welcome, nonetheless. "She is. Please come in."

Penny walked into the Evans' living room to find Emily in a wind-up infant swing that was rocking her back and forth. She paused just long enough to stare at the child she'd given birth to nearly four months ago. "Can I- I mean, she can't really know me, so..."

"Go talk to her, Penny. She's actually pretty social for a baby."

Penny went and kneeled down beside the swing, her hand reaching out to touch Emily's. "Hi. I'm-" What am I? she thought. I can't say I'm your mommy. "I'm Penny, and I've missed you so much."

Samuel stayed some distance away, both love and respect making him decide to give Penny plenty of space as well as some semblance of privacy.

Penny stared at Emily's face, as if memorizing the features that she and Soda had passed on to their biological child. At the same time, the baby looked back at her with the brown eyes that remained innocently unaware of how much her life meant. "I'm so glad to see you, baby, and someday, I hope you'll get to understand how happy I am that you were born."