Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story! I hope you enjoy the final chapter!

Can't Hurt You

As it turned out, going back to normal was a lot harder than Ponyboy had expected.

The first day when he woke up, it was with a start and a gasp as the alarm went off. He sat upright almost before realizing he was even awake, immediately scanning the room for clues that it was actually the next morning. It should be Monday…was it? In the dim light, he could see that his room was clean. There were no clothes on the floor and when he turned to his desk, he could see where he'd tossed the book he'd been reading the night before when Soda had come in, looking more subdued than usual.

He'd been late, coming home after Pony and Darry had eaten dinner, but Ponyboy hadn't really minded. He'd helped Dary make dinner, the two of them working together in the kitchen with an easy camaraderie that hadn't existed between them in months, and Pony had begged and prayed once more to whoever had done this to let this be real…to let time work the way it should. To let the next day be another day.

He hadn't gotten out of bed when Soda had stepped into the room they shared, but he had thrown the book onto his desk, giving his brother his full attention.

"Hey, Pone. Darry make you clean the house?"

"Yeah," he'd grinned ruefully. "He helped me some though."

"Yeah? Good." Soda had dropped onto the bed beside him, leaning against the wall with a sigh.

"You okay?" Pony had asked.

Soda had been quiet for a minute, but Pony had just waited. Finally, Soda had shrugged a little. "I just…something's up with Sandy. She's acting kind of weird, you know?"

"Do you think something's wrong?" he'd asked, feeling like a jerk but not knowing how to break to Soda that his girlfriend had cheated on him…nor did he think he could explain how exactly he could have known that.

"I don't know. I'm gonna talk to her tomorrow after work."

Fighting the urge to warn him, Pony had just thrown an arm around him, squeezing him hard and grinning when Soda did, their heads knocking gently together.

"Hey, you sure things were okay with Darry today? I can try talking to him again…get him to ease up some."

He'd flinched at the thought of Soda worrying so much about him and Darry when he had his own stuff going on. "Don't worry about it. We talked. Me and Darry are good. Promise."

Sagging a little in relief, Soda had patted him on the back, grinning. "Good. I'm glad."

Now Soda looked up at him, blinking a few times before reaching over and shutting off the alarm. "You okay?"

"What day is it?" he demanded, almost sure he knew but afraid to hope.

"It's Monday." He sat up, rubbing his eyes and frowning a little. "You alright?" he repeated.

Nodding slowly, he gave the room one last once over, his racing heart slowing down some. It was Monday. That was twice now that time had worked the way it was supposed to after he'd gone to sleep. So…so it was real, right? "Yeah…I'm fine."

"You have nightmares again?"

He nodded again. He hadn't, but it was the only way he knew to explain how he was feeling.

"Darry might have to take you back to that doctor…not that he did anything the first time," Soda grumbled, throwing the blankets off and glancing back at Pony over his shoulder. "Come on, Pone. You've got to leave for school soon. If Steve stops by, I'll ask him to give you a ride, okay?"

Once he was dressed, Pony headed to the kitchen where he found Darry making them eggs and toast for breakfast, absently handing him a plate before getting back to it. He looked tired as he poured more eggs into the skillet to scramble for Soda, and Pony hesitated before speaking up. "You want some help?"

Darry blinked a few times like he was being pulled out of a trance, then turned to Ponyboy. "Huh?"

"You want me to do it?" he asked, nodding towards the skillet, and Darry shook his head and wiped a hand over his face, pushing his hair back.

"I got it. Eat. You've gotta leave soon." He didn't mention that Pony was grounded, or remind him that he'd better not go anywhere after school, and Pony was glad that their truce was lasting. So he nodded, sitting at the table and getting started on his breakfast.

Steve didn't stop by, but Two-Bit did, patting Ponyboy on the shoulder as he made his way through the kitchen and to the refrigerator, ignoring Darry's unimpressed look. "Hey, kid. Heard you got yourself into some trouble," Two told him, carrying a slice of cake to the table. Darry rolled his eyes, obviously biting back a comment about Two-Bit getting his own breakfast. Pony figured that if he'd gotten a beer too, Darry wouldn't have been able to help himself.

"Yeah," he told him simply, not sure who exactly had told but guessing that Steve was the most likely choice.

"How long you in for?"

Ponyboy had to grin. "A month."

Two whistled. "Damn, Darry. Ain't that kind of harsh?"

"He's lucky it ain't longer," Darry told him simply, putting Soda's plate on the table along with a jar of jelly, then went back to the stove to get started on his own breakfast.

"Come on, man. I know you did your fair share of staying out late when you were his age. And that wasn't the worst thing you were doing."

Ponyboy perked up at that. If Darry had been getting in trouble when he was Pony's age, he'd never really heard about it…at least, apart from fighting in rumbles and stuff like that. At the stove, his brother just rolled his eyes, but Two-Bit leaned in with a grin. "See, the trick is, you make sure you get home on time and then you sneak out the window after he goes to bed…"

He yelped when Darry snapped a towel at him, making Ponyboy laugh out loud. "Quit giving him ideas," Darry ordered, and Two-Bit held his hands up in surrender, but he was still grinning.

"Out the window," he mouthed, making Pony laugh again, and this time when Darry snapped the towel at their friend, he dodged just in time.

Two-Bit told him to hurry up and he'd give him a ride, so Pony grabbed his stuff and hurried after him just as Soda came out of the bathroom, calling after him that he'd see him later. He waved, wondering if Soda would tell Darry about his 'nightmare.' It was easier to remember that things were back to normal with Two-Bit around and back to his usual self, always laughing and goofing off, but he couldn't help the ever-present twinge of worry.

Time had stopped working right before. What if it happened again?

Pony wasn't sure exactly when the brakes in Two-Bit's car were going to go out, but he crossed his fingers and hoped that they didn't stop working as Two-Bit drove the two of them to school, speeding the whole time and asking Pony what had happened on Saturday night. He told him, trying to remember why exactly him and Johnny had sat down in the lot and how long they'd been asleep.

"Darry sure was scared," Two told him softly once he'd filled him in. When Pony gave him a confused look, he went on. "He called me at almost two in the morning, asking if I'd seen you. That sure sobered me up quick."

"Sorry," Pony murmured, and Two-Bit reached out to mess up his hair, grinning when Ponyboy tried to shove him away.

"Don't worry about it, kid. Just try not to fall asleep outside anymore, huh? You're going to give Darry a heart attack."

Johnny and Steve were hanging out by Steve's car in the parking lot, and a wave of relief made his eyes hot when he saw his best friend laughing at something Steve was saying, the two of them leaning on the car and talking to Evie and one of her friends. Two-Bit and Pony joined them, and it took everything he had not to grab his friend's arm to assure himself this was real. He was glad Johnny didn't ask if he was okay when they approached…he might have blurted out the truth. Instead, his friend gave him a look that told him he was still kind of worried, then nodded hello to Two-Bit.

School passed in a blur. It was so strange…it had been two weeks since he'd last been to school, and it was hard sometimes to remember everything they'd been learning. At lunch, he rode with Two-Bit and Johnny to the DX to see Soda and get some food, figuring that this wouldn't be breaking Darry's rule. It wasn't like he was going to eat in the cafeteria on his own. Soda kept shooting him looks while he drank his Pepsi and ate a bag of chips, and when it was time to head back to school, he caught him by the shirt, pulling him back before he could follow Two-Bit and Johnny.

"You alright?"

"Huh?" He blinked at his brother, pulled from thoughts about dying in the street and shooting himself on the couch. "Yeah…I'm fine."

"You don't look so good, Pony. You getting sick?"

He'd been thinking about his own death, or Johnny's, so he guess it made sense that he didn't look so good. "Nah, I'm alright," he assured Soda, trying to smile.

"You sure things are alright with Darry?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Somebody bugging you at school?"

Pony made himself laugh and push Soda off him…made himself act normal when he felt anything but. "I'm fine, Soda. You're getting to be like Darry, worrying all the time."

That, finally, made Soda untense a little, and he laughed, pushing Ponyboy back, telling him to go learn something, and Pony forced the smile to stay on his face all the way until he reached Two-Bit's car and climbed into the back.

Two-Bit gave him a ride home too, which wasn't all that unusual…sometimes he'd give him and Johnny a ride if he wasn't going out with Cathy. Pony thought once more about the brakes in his car and put his seatbelt on, ignoring Two-Bit grinning at him in the rearview mirror. "Worried about my driving?" he asked, speeding out of the parking lot.

"I'm always worried about your driving," he told him dryly, and Johnny laughed. It was the best thing Pony had ever heard. He wasn't wheezing in a hospital bed, fighting to breathe and stay awake. He wasn't scared about dying. He wasn't yelling at a nurse that he didn't want to see his mother and passing out from the pain that came from raising his voice. He was fine. All day, he'd been shooting Ponyboy weird looks when they saw each other, and Pony wondered if his own relief and fear was showing plain as anything on his face.

The next day was more of the same, but not exactly the same, which continued to be a source of both relief and fear. Tuesday came after Monday, and then Wednesday and Thursday. At school, he did his best to act normal, and he hung around Johnny whenever he could, trying to make conversation like he usually would. He had a feeling Johnny suspected something was wrong, but the closest he got to bringing it up was after track practice on Thursday, the two of them walking home together. Pony had a blade in his pocket, and he kept glancing around like Bob and Randy might show up out of nowhere and start all this over again. They hadn't bugged them at school, and Pony hoped that they'd been too drunk to remember exactly who had walked their girls home. He hadn't seen Cherry either, and he doubted he would…he remembered what she'd said…how she hoped he wasn't offended if she didn't say hi at school. So far, she'd made good on that promise.

"Pony?"

He turned from where he'd been staring at the road, keeping an eye out for tuff cars full of guys waiting to jump them. "Huh?"

"You alright, man?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ponyboy had thought about telling the truth, or even just asking if Johnny ever had nightmares about lying in a hospital bed, dying over and over until he was finally surrounded by all his friends. He'd thought about asking if Johnny remembered Gone with the Wind, or if he wanted to read it, or if they'd read it already, first sitting on the floor of an abandoned church and later in Johnny's hospital room. But those questions would make him sound crazy, and all he wanted to be was normal again.

"You still having those nightmares?" Johnny asked carefully, then went on when Pony's eyes widened. "You just seem…out of it. You know?"

"Yeah…sometimes," he answered simply, knowing he couldn't elaborate.

"Are things alright at home?"

Ponyboy wished he could take back everything he'd said about Darry that night…just the thought of what he'd said to his friends and those girls made his ears hot from shame. Darry had believed him! Darry had gotten him out! Darry worried about him and he didn't regret giving up college for him and every morning he got up early, despite looking so tired he could hardly focus, and he made them breakfast. "Things are fine."

"Darry still mad?"

He shook his head. Darry didn't seem mad at all anymore…not since they'd talked, and Ponyboy figured that as long as he kept staying out of trouble, they'd be just fine.

"Are things okay with you?" he asked, knowing that it was a dumb question…his parents were still awful and he still slept outside lots of nights. He wished there was something he could do…some way he could help. But, he thought, at least he wasn't dying in a hospital bed…at least he hadn't been crushed under a burning church.

"Sure, Pone. I'm fine," he told him, still looking worried.

Every evening he made dinner after he did his homework and tried to focus on reading or whatever was on TV. He cleaned the house. And he woke up most mornings with a gasp, sitting straight up in bed and looking wildly around, praying everything was the way he'd left it the night before. He always put his book in a different place at night, then looked for it in the morning to make sure it was still there…that everything hadn't reset. On Thursday night, he brought a glass of water into his room at night and almost cried when he didn't see it Friday morning, only to turn around and find Soda downing the last of it on his way to the kitchen.

He didn't see Dally around that whole first week, which made him kind of nervous although it wasn't out of the ordinary…Dally didn't come by the house all that often normally. But when he asked Johnny if he was alright as the two of them walked to class on Friday, his friend nodded slowly, giving him that same kind of concerned look he'd been giving him all week. "Sure. He's fine. I saw him yesterday…him and Sylvia are back together."

And, doing his best not to think about Dallas being gunned down in the middle of the street, Pony nodded. That made sense…of course he'd be spending more time with Sylvia. There was no reason to worry about him.

That weekend he spent mostly inside, which usually would have driven him nuts, but the novelty of time working correctly was still enough to keep him happy. He followed the list Darry left him, cleaning just about everything in their house, then did laundry. He did his homework and left it on the kitchen table to Darry to look at when he got home. And then, on Monday morning, he went back to school and felt himself relax just a little bit more. Time kept moving forward. Johnny was okay. Dally was fine. Soda seemed to worry about him more and more, mostly because as far as he knew, Pony was having nightmares just about every night, always looking around the room like it was all going to disappear or something.

It took three weeks before Darry finally had mercy on him.

It was Saturday afternoon, and Ponyboy was sitting in bed reading To Kill a Mockingbird, which he'd read what felt like a hundred times now. The house was clean, the dishes from lunch done, and his homework was done and checked and put away. He'd even seen Dally the day before when he'd given him and Johnny a ride home from school in the car he must have gotten fixed. Two-Bit's brakes had gone out that first Friday after time had gone back to normal, so Two was walking for the foreseeable future until he raised an arm and a leg to get it fixed.

Dally had seemed to be his usual self, but Pony had been so glad to see him okay it had been hard to keep a big grin off his face. He wasn't like Johnny, though…Pony couldn't throw his arms around Dal and ask if he was okay…Dally would probably be so surprised he'd throw a punch just for the hell of it. So he'd managed to act normal, and Dally had offered to sneak him to the movies before his brother got home, but Pony had told him and Johnny to go without him, not about to break his truce with Darry just yet.

Not to mention the fact that the thought of going to the drive-in with Johnny and Dal made his heart race with a fear that wouldn't have made sense to anyone else.

Their front door opened and shut, and Ponyboy checked the clock by the bed, figuring it must be Darry. He'd gone in real early so Pony guessed he'd go to bed. Soda had already left to meet up with Steve, throwing him a guilty look and promising to bring him a milkshake or something. His brother had been pretty down lately since Sandy had indeed broken things off, and in between nightmares and trying to tell himself that all of this was real, Pony had been trying to be there for him. Steve was doing a real good job of keeping him distracted though, and Pony was glad.

Pony couldn't focus on his book for nothing, so he dropped it on the bed and let his head rest on the wall, sighing softly. It was like he couldn't really relax…not when at any moment, he could be stuck back in that loop of watching Dally and Johnny die over and over and not being able to do anything about it. Everything was okay now…he wasn't fighting with Darry and Soda was doing better after Sandy and Johnny and Dally were fine…but he kept worrying. Because what if none of it was real? What if it happened again?

When he finally opened his eyes, he found Darry in his doorway, arms crossed, eyes narrowed in concentration as he stared at him, and he jumped in surprise. His brother looked real tired, like he had for the last three weeks or so, and Pony wondered if work wasn't going well or maybe he was worried about something.

"Hey," he greeted, hoping Darry hadn't been talking to him. But his brother didn't look mad or put out or nothing. He just stared at him for a second.

"The house looks good," he told him simply. "Soda go out with Steve?"

Pony nodded.

"Alright. Come on," he ordered, jerking his chin at the door, and, dumbly, Pony got up and followed him, putting his shoes on when Darry pointed to them.

"Uh…Darry?" he asked as Darry grabbed his own jacket and tossed Pony his.

"Yeah?"

"Where are we going?"

"The library."

"Why?"

"So you can get some books. You've got to be sick of reading the same ones over and over."

Darry wasn't looking at him, but Pony couldn't help smiling. "Thanks."

His brother ruffled his hair, then left his hand on the back of his head for a second before telling him to hurry up and grab the books he needed to take back.

Pony hadn't spent a lot of time with Darry over the last few weeks…mostly they just saw each other in the mornings at breakfast, and then at dinner before Darry went to bed early. Hell, he hadn't spent a ton of time alone with Darry at all since their parents had died…or even before that, now that he thought about it. He remembered telling the guy at the rumble that he ought to know Darry since he was his brother and he wondered if he knew him any better now. He knew that his brother loved him. He knew that he'd given up everything for Pony and Soda and that he didn't regret it. He knew that he looked tired all the time now…

More so than before.

His brother was quiet until they got to the library, waiting until Pony had returned his books and was looking for more to speak up. "You still having those nightmares?"

Pony didn't want to tell him that he was…didn't want his brother wasting money on taking him to the doctor when he already knew why he was having them. And no doctor was going to be able to fix this. But he didn't want to lie. So he nodded. "Yeah."

"You remember them now?"

Ponyboy nodded, not looking up from the books he was browsing.

"Are they always the same?"

"Yeah." They were…at least, they were all about the same two weeks that hadn't happened. He glanced up at his brother, only to find him staring down at the floor, brow furrowed, and even if this was real, Pony decided to risk asking. "Do you ever have them?"

"Everyone has nightmares, Pone."

"What are yours about?"

Darry looked at him for a long time then, seeming to be weighing his options. "You," he told him finally.

Ponyboy tried to smile. "What, that you get stuck with me forever?"

Darry rolled his eyes, smacking him gently on the back of the head and making Pony laugh as he tried and failed to dodge. But the smile on his brother's face was short-lived. "I keep dreaming about you…getting hurt. And I'm trying to save you but I can't."

Pony didn't need him to clarify. He could imagine those dreams as easy as anything. He could still see his brother's face when he'd held that gun to his temple, or when he'd laid across his lap on the street, gasping out his last breath and assuring his brothers that none of it was real.

He stepped a little closer to Darry who gripped his shoulder, looking him over like he was checking to make sure he was okay. "They ain't real, Dar," he told him, and the way his brother went absolutely still, his whole body going stiff was the last bit of proof he needed. He didn't want Darry to be upset though, and he didn't want to try and convince Darry that it had all been real after all…his brother had believed him one, and he liked to think that Darry would believe him again, but he wanted to leave all that behind. Things were back to normal now…he wanted them to keep being normal. "You'd always save me," he told him simply, shrugging a little and trying to smile, and Darry pulled him close, his hand resting on the back of his head.

For a minute, the two of them just stood there, Darry holding him and Pony closing his eyes and making another wish…that Darry would stop having those nightmares. That what hadn't been real wouldn't hurt them anymore. Then, Darry spoke.

"If something's going on…if you ever get in trouble or…or you need help, promise me you'll come to me," he asked in a whisper, gripping the back of his shirt as the two of them stood in the deserted aisle of the library. "No matter what…even if we're fighting or…or you don't think I can help…just…promise me, okay?"

"I promise." He meant it…this was real and his promises mattered and his brother had already proven that he'd come through when Pony needed him to. So it was an easy promise to make, and it was a promise he would keep for the rest of their lives.

Darry squeezed him one more time, taking a deep breath before letting him go, his hand still resting on his shoulder as he looked him up and down like he was looking for an injury or a lie, but Ponyboy wasn't hiding either, so he patted him on the arm, pushing him gently towards the bookshelf.

"Alright. Find some books and we'll get out of here."

So Ponyboy did.

When they left the library, Darry surprised him by pulling into the Dairy Queen parking lot, ordering chocolate milkshakes that the two of them drank on their way home. And Pony didn't even mind the fact that he was grounded for another week. Johnny was safe. He would keep living his life and one day, hopefully soon, he would get out of that house where he wasn't wanted, leaving only the people in his life who did want him…who would have gathered around his hospital bed so he didn't have to die alone. Dally was fine. He would always have Johnny, and as long as he had Johnny, he'd be okay. Ponyboy had his friends and he had his brothers, and, most importantly, time continued to work the way it was supposed to. So, despite being grounded, Pony didn't have any complaints.

But it was another three months before he was willing to risk going back to the drive-in with Dally and Johnny again.

The End

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