(Soda's POV)
"Darry!" I shouted, jumping to my feet.
I moved faster than lightning and made it to my brother's side before Steve or Two-Bit moved a muscle. In their defense, it was the middle of the night, we were taken off-guard, and I doubted any of us had seen Darry in such a horrible and vulnerable condition. He was also the tough, strong one that had everything under control, and to see him so awful made my stomach twist.
I knelt down next to Darry, rubbing circles on his back as he struggled for air. "Darry? Come on Dar, breathe." With Pony, I had a routine and could easily comfort my kid brother, but it was such a rare occurrence with Darry that I felt myself start panicking.
I heard Two-Bit say something, but I ignored him as I watched Darry slowly come out of his coughing fit. Eventually, the coughing and wheezing eased up, but he looked completely exhausted. He slumped against the wall and let his head hang low.
"Darry, what's goin' on?" I asked. He didn't respond right away, likely because his breathing still wasn't quite back to normal, so I reached forward to feel his forehead. "Jesus Darry, you're burning up. You're sick."
"I'm fine," he finally mumbled.
"No, you're not," I said sternly.
"What's going on in here?" a new voice asked. I looked up a saw Dr. Ferguson, followed by Two-Bit, and a nurse I recognized from all the nights we had stayed in the hospital.
"He just dropped to the floor, coughing and practically suffocating," Steve said. I could hear the concern in his voice, but I kept my eyes on the doctor that was standing in front of me.
"I'm fine, sir," Darry said. Stubbornly, he pushed himself up to his feet, and I followed suit. It was a good thing too because as soon as we were both standing, he started swaying and I heard him wheezing again, so I stood at his side and wrapped an arm around his waist.
"Darry, you're so warm that you're sweating, and it ain't even hot in here," I said, my concern growing rapidly.
The doctor glanced at Darry, and after a moment of consideration, he took the stethoscope from around his neck, walked up to Darry, and put the listening part to Darry's chest. After only a few seconds, the doctor straightened and looked right at my brother. "Son, you should come with me. You need to get a thorough evaluation."
Darry shook his head. "No sir, I'm-" he couldn't even finish his lie before he had to stop and catch his breath.
"Darry, you need to get checked out," I said, leaving no room for argument, which was weird since I had almost never used that tone with my older brother before.
Darry glanced at me, then nodded silently, and the fact he didn't argue anymore made me more anxious. Still, he found the strength to unwrap my arm around him and straighten a little. "Okay."
I glanced at Pony, who looked terrified in his hospital bed, then back at Darry, who looked like shit and was about to get looked at by a doctor. Who do I stay with?
Sensing my dilemma, Darry put a hand on my shoulder. "Stay here with Pony, Soda. I'll be fine."
I nodded, but I still felt uneasy letting Darry go alone. Sure, he was the oldest in our gang and he was an adult, but I didn't like the idea of him being alone in such poor physical condition.
Dr. Ferguson led the way out the door, and Darry followed, but he only took a few steps before he swayed again. This time, Two-Bit flew to his side and put an arm around Darry's waist and kept Darry's arm across his shoulders. "Whoa there, Superman. You ain't gettin' far by yourself." Then Two-Bit looked back at me. "I'll go with him, Soda. You stay here with the kid." I nodded and gave him a thankful smile.
Once Darry was out of the room, my attention went right back to my other brother. I returned to the chair I was previously sitting in and looked at Ponyboy, who was obviously shaken by what had just happened.
"Soda? Is he gonna be okay?" Pony asked in his tired, childish voice.
I gave him my best attempt of a reassuring grin. "Of course he is, honey." I reached forward to ruffle his hair, and I realized he felt almost as warm as Darry. "Glory, you're almost as warm as Darry. And you were just coughing too, maybe I should-"
"Soda, I'm fine," Pony whined. He closed his eyes, apparently thinking he was going back to sleep, or at least pretending. I replayed the coughing sounds Pony was making that woke me up in the first place, and I knew he was lying to make me feel better.
"Kid, first you were hackin' then your big brother was hackin'… neither of you are fine," Steve shot back.
"Excuse me, I could check Ponyboy's vitals if you'd like," a sweet voice said. I turned my head and found that the nurse that came in with Two-Bit and the doctor hadn't left the room.
"Yes please, that'd be great," I said before Pony could argue. Even though he didn't say anything, he groaned a little. "Pony, you're not fine, and after Darry just… it's better to be on the safe, savy?"
Pony rolled his eyes, but after a moment, he replied. "Yeah, alright."
The nurse gave him a smile and quickly took a look at Pony, then she glanced at the machines he was attached to. After she was done, she grabbed the clipboard that I assumed had Pony's medical information on it, and then she frowned a little. "It looks like your temperature has been rising, and your pulse it increased as well."
"Dr. Ferguson said it might be normal for him to be warm after everything," I said, hoping that the information would suddenly make it so the nurse looked happier about Pony's condition.
She nodded a little, but she still didn't look happy. "That's true, but the decrease in oxygen levels may indicate something else is going on."
Alarm bells were ringing in my head. Something's wrong. Something's wrong with both of my brothers.
"What are you saying?" Steve asked carefully.
The nurse looked between me and Steve. "I'll let Dr. Ferguson know and we'll discuss what could be going on." She looked at Pony and gave him a smile as she but a hand on his arm in a display of comfort. "Don't worry, hon, it could be nothing. You have been through a lot, and your body could just be trying to recover, but I want to make sure." With that, the nurse left the room to go talk to Dr. Johnson.
I looked at my brother, who was pale and visibly shaking. "It's okay, Pony. You'll be alright."
"I'm not worried about me," he muttered. He was blinking a lot, and I immediately wiped the tear that fell on his cheek. "What's wrong with Darry? I ain't never seen him like that." His soft cries turned into coughs.
"Oh honey," I said. Without thinking, I climbed onto the hospital bed to sit next to Ponyboy. I was being careful not to move him around too much since he was still fragile and had several broken bones, but he didn't seem too worried about it because as soon as I was next to him, he leaned into me and put his head on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around him to comfort him as much as I could. "It's Darry. He'll be okay."
Pony nodded into my shoulder, but he didn't say anything.
In an apparent attempt to relieve any tension, Steve spoke up. "Anybody else get the feeling Dr. Ferguson lives here? The man's been here every time I've been here."
Pony and I both chuckled at Steve's comment, but his coughing cut him off.
"Just relax, Pony," I said, rubbing up and down his arm. "Just focus on breathing. We'll get some answers soon."
"Pneumonia?"
About an hour after the night nurse left Pony's room, Dr. Ferguson returned to give us an update. "How does Darry have pneumonia?" I asked, trying to make things make sense. "He doesn't get sick, and he hasn't been around anyone who's sick."
"Pneumonia is sometimes contagious, but not always," Dr. Ferguson explained. "I believe that not only does Darrel have pneumonia, but I'm diagnosing Ponyboy with pneumonia as well."
Pony shifted in the bed next to me at the news of his new diagnosis. He's the last person on Earth that needs another diagnosis right now.
It was almost four o'clock in the morning, but after everything that had happened, nobody was falling asleep, which was unfortunate for Ponyboy because he could really use the rest. On top of being hurt and recovering from the accident and surgeries, Pony's illness was taking a toll on him.
"How?" Pony asked with a thick layer of exhaustion in his voice. "Why are we sick but nobody else is?"
Dr. Ferguson gave him a small smile. "Like I said, some kinds of pneumonia are not contagious, including aspiration pneumonia. That's when a person inhales liquid into their lungs, leading to inflammation and infection. The day of your traumatic event, it was raining, correct?" Pony and I both nodded our heads, and the doctor continued. "From what I understand, you were unconscious for a period of time. During that time, you could have unknowingly inhaled rainwater while you were breathing."
"But what about Darry?" I asked, not wanting to picture Pony unconscious anymore. "He wasn't unconscious or anything that day and he's real sick."
"That's true, but he exerted a lot of effort and energy that day in the rain, and it's possible he inhaled water without noticing it." The image of Darry searching for Pony, finding him, then bringing him to the ambulance went through my head, and I knew he would be so focused on our brother that he could've easily breathed in water without noticing.
"How is he?" I asked tentatively. "How's Darry doing?"
"He's resting in a room not too far down the hall."
"He's sleeping?" I asked, utterly shocked. I can't imagine Darry sleeping away from Ponyboy right now. He hasn't slept in days, and in his own hospital bed on top of it… things are wild right now.
Dr. Ferguson nodded. "In addition to being given oxygen, he's on antibiotics and muscle relaxers." I must've given him a weird look, because the doctor explained further. "Upon my evaluation, and despite how much he tried to hide it, I discovered he was in quite a bit of pain and his muscles were fatigued." I remembered how Darry had been wincing and the massage I gave him, and suddenly everything was making more sense. "The muscle relaxers made him drowsy, and he fell asleep quickly."
I sighed, not knowing if I felt relieved because Darry was finally getting some sleep, or worried because he had been in such bad shape that he somehow landed in a hospital bed.
"How come I'm not as bad off as Darry?" Pony asked quietly.
I didn't think about it until Pony mentioned something, but it was really strange that my kid brother didn't seem to be as sick as Darry, who was our strong older brother who was rarely sick.
"Everybody is different, so the same illness can affect people differently," Dr. Ferguson started. "However, I believe since you had two surgeries, and you were already on antibiotics, the pneumonia never got as severe for you as it did for your brother. We'll increase your dose to make sure it doesn't get any worse, as well as increase your oxygen."
Good, I don't want to see Ponyboy get any worse.
"In addition," Dr. Ferguson continued, addressing all of us. "Stress, lack of sleep, and nutrition also play significant roles in disease progression. It may not my place to say, but I haven't seen Darrel sleep or eat hardly at all, and that could have impacted how sick he got."
I knew he wasn't looking good. I should've tried harder to get him to sleep.
"Anything else we need to know?" Steve asked the doctor on my behalf.
I was glad Steve was there to help ask and remember things because I was starting to feel overwhelmed. Both of my brothers are in hospital beds, both have pneumonia, and Ponyboy is still so fragile, a gust of wind could knock him down like a house of cards.
"No, that is all the information I have for you. Your friend is with Darrel right now. Visitors are allowed, but like I said, he's sleeping," Dr. Ferguson said. "I encourage all of you to rest and take care of yourselves as well as you take care of each other. I don't think you all are trying to get sick."
We thanked the doctor for the update, but the moment he walked out of the room, I felt Ponyboy shaking next to me, and when I looked at him more closely, he was breathing real hard. "Pony? What's wrong?"
"Darry's sick because of me," Ponyboy said. His voice sounded like a child, and even though he was sixteen, an image of a six year-old Ponyboy flashed in my mind. He's still just a kid. He's sixteen, but he's still my kid brother.
"Oh honey, it's not your fault," I said, giving him a small squeeze so he was closer to me.
"Soda, he went lookin' for me in the rain," he said, his voice raspy. "He's been worried, not eating or sleep-" he was cut off by his own coughing, then wheezing. I rubbed up and down his arm, not sure what I could do to make him feel better.
"Looks like I'm here at the right time," the nurse said as she walked back into the room. "Dr. Ferguson said we're increasing your oxygen so it should be easier to breathe. I'll also give you some more antibiotics." She immediately when to some sort of device, turned a dial, then checked the tube that went under Pony's nose. Next, she did something with Pony's IV, but she was so fast that I missed it. When she was done, she gave him a soft smile. "There, you should be feeling better soon."
The three of us mumbled our thanks, and as soon as the nurse left, Pony spoke softly. "I'm sorry, Soda."
I looked at him, and I wondered where his mind went because he had certainly lost it. "For what?"
He looked defeated, like he had gone ten rounds with a group of Socs and barely had the strength left to speak. "For the wreck, the bills, and for gettin' Darry sick."
"Pony, listen to me," I said sternly but gently. "None of this is your fault, and don't even think about the bills."
"And Muscles was too stubborn to fall asleep. He probably made himself sick," Steve added.
"Because he was worried about me," Pony stressed, coughing a little at the last word.
"It's what brothers do," I said with a smirk. "And sorry to break it to ya, but we're always worried about you."
Pony rolled his eyes and groaned. "I'm not a kid, Soda."
"No, but you are our kid brother, so it comes with the territory… deal with it," I shot back with a grin. I could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to keep arguing, but his energy was fading fast and his eyelids looked like they were getting heavy. "Now shut it and get some sleep, okay? It's still too early to be up."
He let his eyes close, and not long after he tried mumbling something, he nodded off.
"Is he out?" Steve whispered.
I nodded, looking at my baby brother, who was resting his head on my shoulder as he slept. "He, he'll be sleepin' for a bit." I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the wall. "Glory Steve, my brothers are gonna be the death of me."
"You and me both," he said. "Kid about gave me a heart attack when you guys were gone. One minute he was sleeping, and the next, he was trying to get out of bed by himself. I don't know who's gonna give the doctors more of a problem staying in bed, Pony or Darry."
I laughed a little at that. Both of my brothers were stubborn, which was one reason why it used to be so hard for them to get along.
"You want to go see Darry?" Steve asked after a few minutes of silence.
I sighed. I wanted to see Darry, but then neither of us would be with Pony. Both of my brothers were sleeping, so I wasn't sure either of them would know where I was anyway. I was debating, and I was about to get up to visit Darry, but then his words rang through my head: stay here with Pony, Soda. I'll be fine.
"Soda?" Steve asked cautiously, then he put a hand on my shoulder, like he wasn't sure if I was all there or not.
Reluctantly, I opened my eyes. Pony was still asleep against me, and along with Darry's parting words to me, there was no way I could sneak out form underneath him to leave. I looked over at Steve, who I noticed looked about as tired as I felt. "I need to stay here, but would you mind going to see how he is?"
Steve gave my shoulder a squeeze and stood up. "Sure thing, Soda." Then he pointed a finger at Ponyboy. "Don't let him out of your sight. I think the kid's a flight risk."
I grinned at him. "Got it. Thanks, Steve."
As soon as Steve left the room, I closed my eyes again, and joined my brother in slumber.