"How ya feeling?" Lori asked.

"Tired."

She smiled. "I'll bet."

"How long have I been here?"

Brian answered. "A couple of days, sweetie."

"Really?"

"Oh, I just can't get over it." Lisa, teary eyed, reached down for probably the sixth hug in less than five minutes.

"Momma," Carly complained, but there was a grin on her face as she said it. She was finally out of danger. Her liver was stabilized and functioning. She was fine, except of course for the two broken legs, five bones total from that, her right wrist broken from trying to catch herself as she fell, and several broken ribs. Not to mention the bruises and scratches. But she was alive. And that was enough.

"Hey, kiddo," Jason leaned forward after several heart warm minutes had gone by. "Dallas is outside, and he"

"I don't want to see him." Carly's curt voice cut him off.

"Carly," Jason intoned, "he really wants to see you."

"I don't want to see him," she repeated, staring at an invisible speck on the wall.

Jason sighed, but acquiesced to the little girl. Lori shrugged her shoulders in helplessness as his gaze drove into her.

Outside the door, hidden from view, Dallas Winston stood. He heard Jason make the offer, and he heard Carly's flat refusal. He took a slow, ragged breath. He exhaled, and walked away quickly, making sure no one could see him as he fought to control…

..everything.

xxxxx

"Pony! Where have you been?" Darry exploded the moment he walked through the door. Pony leaned exhaustedly against the doorframe. He didn't want to go through this again.

"I'm sorry, Darry, but I just had to get out for a while."

Darry stopped his tongue lashing in surprise. Pony had…apologized? That happened very little, and it was shocking enough to give him pause. Darrel squeezed his fist as he struggled to control his temper. After a minute he was calm. Well, calmer.

"All right, I understand. I understand your need to get out. But let's stop the running off. Okay? You've already gotten in enough trouble, let's not add onto it."

Guardedly Ponyboy nodded his head in agreement. Was this Darry talking? Darry, the one who always blew up at him?

"All right Pony, I think you need to go to your room. We'll talk more about this tomorrow."

Pony quietly did as he was told. When he was almost there, however, he turned around. "Darry?" he asked. "Have you heard anything from Dallas?"

Darry straightened from where he had been picking up the discarded newspaper. Ponyboy read his expression: Here we go again.

"No, I just want to know. I'm not going to go tearing out of here. I just wanna know. Really."

"Pony…" Darrel watched his brother's face fall. Quickly he walked over to the boy and gripped him gently by the shoulders. "Pony. No matter what happens, no matter if Dallas does come back or not, you have to move on. Okay Pone? You have to move on."

"I know, Darry."

xxxxxx

"Hey, there you are."

Jason came into the waiting room, and sat next to Dallas. Lori sat on the chair opposite. Dal didn't acknowledge their entrance, but they were too worried about what they were going to say to notice.

"Hey, Dallas, um, well, Carly's doing fine, real fine." Jason looked down at his hands. Deep breath, then, "Well, she just, she just doesn't want to see you, Dallas."

Dallas turned his head away.

"Now she's going to change her mind. You'll see Dallas. She's a little confused right now, that's all."

Dallas answered, his head still turned away. "No, she hates me."

"Naw, man, she doesn't hate you. She's just not-"

"Jason, stop it!"

Dallas and Jason both glanced in surprise at Lori, who had risen from her chair.

"I mean it, Jason. Stop defending him! Carly has every right to hate him!"

"Lori!" Jason exclaimed, astounded by his sister's outburst. "How can you say that? Carly doesn't have a right to hate him."

"She does too!" Lori's green eyes flashed. "He's the reason Carly's hurt!"

"It was an accident. An accident with a car, not Dallas!" Jason defended.

"Dallas made her run. He went tearing after those hoods- and he's a friend of theirs! I can't believe you," she wrenched her gaze over to Dallas. "You should have told us," her voice accusing, "you should have told us you were friends with those…aahh," she grimaced, "At least you should have admitted to being a hood."

Lori paced away, but swiveled around when she saw the two boys exchange glances. "Jason? You knew, didn't you?" Jason's silence was all the confirmation she needed. "You knew that Dallas knew those..freaks!"

"They're not freaks," Dallas finally spoke up. "They're hoods, that's all they are. Don't go blasting off at them like they're nothing. They're people, same as you." The girl was sounding like a soc!

"Like me? You think that I would rob people and attack them? They did that to me. They came at me and Trey. You know how scary that is?" Her voice broke on the last couple of words. She struggled visibly to control her tears. When she spoke again, her voice was dead calm.

"And I bet you've done it too, haven't you, Dallas? You've probably robbed people and never given it a second thought. But you have no idea how it is to be on the other end. Well I'll tell you right now. You never want to be on that other side. It hurts." She stated the last in a sharp, cutting voice. She didn't wait around for a response from Dallas; she spun on her heel and stormed out.

Dallas stood as she left. He took a few steps toward the door, but stopped short of the doorway. He walked to side seemingly in a daze. He turned back to Jason. "She's wrong. It's not…I'm not…I mean…" his hands whirled through the air as he groped for the words.

"I mean, she's right. She's right. I never thought about it before, being on the other side. Guess it is scary."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, when I was with you and those guys, your friends, came at us, I was scared stiff."

"You? But you were so calm and cool."

"Just instinct. That's the only reason Lori fought them, too. She was probably terrified, but instinct kicked in." Jason paused for a moment. "Have you ever done it?" He didn't need to say what it was.

"Yes."

Jason merely nodded his head in understanding. There was no judgment in the expression, but it still cut through Dallas like a knife.

Dal collapsed in the chair Lori had vacated. "I'm sorry for all this. I stayed friends with those creeps, even after they you told me not to and then they did that to Lori." He ran his hands through his hair. In a whisper, "Sorry for what happened to Carly."

Uncomfortable Jason tried to reassure, "It's all right."

"It's not all right. I've jumped people thousands of times just like Cliff did to Lori. I put a little girl in the hospital. And now she's so scared and angry at me that she doesn't want to ever see me again. Aww, I'm so sorry." He buried his face in his hands.

"I'm so sorry. I feel so awful. Can you ever forgive me, Jace?"

"It's not my forgiveness you should be wanting, Dallas," the boy replied gently. "The only way you can ever truly get rid of your guilt and find some peace is to confess it to the Lord."

"I don't believe in that God," Dallas's response was muffled through his arms.

"It's the only way you'll come to terms with Carly's accident…and that Johnny's death."

Dallas's head shot up. And for the first time in sight of others, Dallas's eyes glistened. His blue eyes grew brighter; a droplet trekked its way down his cheek and splashed on his hand. Winston's eyes traveled down to his hand. "Johnny," his voice quivered.

Johnny screaming in the fire. His fault.

Carly yelling at Dallas to stay away from her. His fault.

Johnny dying in the hospital. His fault.

Carly collapsed like a rag doll on the ground. Fault.

Johnny dying.

Carly collapsing.

Johnny.

Carly.

Dying.

Collapsing.

Peace.

The only way.

Dying.

Johnny screaming.

Carly backing away from Dallas.

Only way.

His fault.

Carly collapsing.

Johnny dying.

"Johnny."

The only way.

His fault.

The only way.

"God."

"God."

"Help me."

A sob tore through his body. He whispered a prayer that even he didn't understand the words he muttered, but the meaning was clear. He felt a hand on his shoulder; that was when he realized he was on his knees. Jason was kneeling next to him, gripping his shoulder as he prayed with Dallas.

They stayed that way for several minutes, all alone with themselves and the Lord. Finally Dallas looked up, wonder in his expression.

"I feel so…different. Like a big load's gone. Just like that," he said in amazement.

"You did it Dallas. You did it."

"Yeah," Dallas said softly, his expression filling with happiness as realization struck. "I did it. He did it. God did it." He smiled.

xxxxx

The hospital door opened. A man appeared, in crisp blue jeans, and an ironed white shirt. The man searched the room, and finally found the object he was looking for. He wandered over to the end of the room where the brown-haired girl was standing.

"Ahemm." He cleared his throat.

The girl turned, and gasped in shock. Involuntarily she jerked back. "What are you doing here?" she snarled out.

Cliff dug his hands into his pockets. "I was wondering how the little girl was doing," he said quietly.

"She's alive," Lori spat out, as she looked around for an ally in the room and finding none.

"That's good." Cliff couldn't find anything else to say.

"And I guess I have you to thank for that," Lori's voice had everything in it but that, "because after all if you hadn't come and gotten us when you did, she probably wouldn't have made it." Her voice softened a fragment, but only a fragment, as she realized what she was saying.

The hood shifted from one foot to the other, seemingly enthralled by the dirty speck on the floor. "That's good," he repeated.

"Now if you don't want the police on ya right now, I suggest you get out the same you got in here." Lori whirled around, trying to control her instinctive fear and hatred as much as possible.

"Yes ma'am." He circled around, but paused, and circled back. "Look, ma'am, for what it's worth, I wouldn't have done it if I had known it was you."

Lori's green eyes coolly surveyed the young man before her. "Should that matter?"

The hood lowered his eyes as red crept up his cheeks. Lori saw the red and recognized it for what it was, even though she didn't believe it. Shame.

Cliff rubbed the side of his nose, a nervous habit. "Well, I just wanted to know about the girl. I'll be going now." He looked her in the eyes again. "I am sorry."

Lori watched him leave, but instead of the satisfaction she thought she would have felt at putting him in his place, she only felt emptiness. Only emptiness. Lori rolled her eyes at what she was about to do.

She strode briskly to the door before she could change her mind and pulled it open. "Hey mister." The hood was just about to start off down the block. He looked up in surprise.

"Cliff," he told her.

"Cliff. Well," Lori paused for a second, and swallowed, "well, you did help save my sister's life. What I'm trying.. trying to say-"

"No," Cliff interrupted her. "You have no need to say anything. That was nothing, I shouldn't have-"

"It was something," Lori spoke again. "It was. But now I need to get over what's happened to me right now…or there's no way I'm ever going to get over it. So…thanks for my sister.."

He dipped his head in acknowledgment, a slow nod.

Lori swiveled to look back at the door. "I'm kind of thirsty. It's been a hectic day," here Cliff gave a little smile, "you want a cup of coffee with me?"

The hood glanced at her in surprise, as if to say, Who me? But then he dipped his head again. "Yes, ma'am. I would very much like to."

xxxxx

Tap tap.

"Come in," Carly called without glancing up from the book she was reading.

The doorknob turned, and the person made his way to the foot of her bed. She tilted her head up, and leaned warily back when she saw who it was.

"Can we talk?" Dallas asked her gently.

Carly measured him for a second, glanced at the door, willing somebody else to enter. But no one came. Cautiously she nodded. Dallas took a seat, and right then and there he poured out his apology.

xxxxxx

"Hello Lisa, Brian."

"Good morning, Will," Lisa replied. She had a cup of coffee in her hand.

"I heard Carly was better."

The door opened up behind them, and Lori and Cliff entered to get their own cups of coffee from the machine.

"Yes sirree," Brian grinned.

"Well, I'm so glad for you, but that's not exactly what I came for."

"Oh?"

"No, see I've been running some checks on some people, and a couple of days ago I got an answer. But it didn't feel like the right time, so I waited. But I have to tell you."

"Well, spit it out," Lisa encouraged him.

Roberts sighed. "It's about the kid you've been taking care of. He's what people nowadays call a hood."

"We know that."

"Yeah, but you don't know he's wanted for robbery."

The couple drew in deep breaths. Off to the side, Lori and Cliff exchanged meaningful glances. Cliff nodded his answer to the question in Lori's eyes. Here was a way he could repay her for all the hurt he had caused.

Roberts continued, "Winston first told me his name was Mathews and that he was a nephew of yours. But that Mathews didn't fit Winston's description. So I did some more checking, and it turned out Mathews was a friend of his."

Brian turned to his friend. "So I guess you want him?" he stated bluntly.

"Yeah, I'm going to take him into custody now. Waited long enough. Know where he is?"

"No, I haven't seen him for a while."

"Lisa?"

"I haven't seen him ever since I went in to see Carly. But I think Lori might have seen him. Lori?"

The three adults turned to Lori, who was standing by the coffee machine. She looked up. "Oh, did you say something?"

"Have you seen Dallas?"

"Not recently."

"Any idea where he is?"

She shrugged her shoulders noncommittally.

All of them left to go in search of Dallas, Lori trailing along behind. After a while they made their way to Carly's hospital room. There they asked Carly the same question. And Carly, with a total blank expression, told them she had no idea where Dally was. Lori was the only one who saw the crossed right index and middle finger.

xxxxxx

The car pulled up to the curb, slowly and quietly. Dallas sat in the passenger seat, staring stonily at the stereo system.

Jason caught the stare, and grinned. "Okay, okay," he said and flicked off the radio that was playing the second rendition of Hey, Good Lookin'.

"Thank you." Dallas unbuckled his seat belt (Jason had insisted) and opened his door.

"Wait." Jason reached into his back pocket and slapped the object into Dallas's palm. Dallas opened his fist. It was Two-Bit's blade. He had completely forgotten.

"Preacher gave it to me. Found it when he was in the restroom. Seemed to figure it was yours."

Dallas smiled gratefully. He got out of the car, and stepped out onto the curb.

"Dallas, wait." Jason stepped out of the car. "Got something for you." He handed Dal an envelope.

Winston slit it open, and took out a check. "What's this?"

"Your payment for all the hours you worked in Mom's store. She said you did a great job."

"But this is too much. I could never have earned that much." Dallas protested.

Jason waved the comment away as he leaned against the car. "Well, you're gonna need a good lawyer." He gave a knowing grin.

"Guess I'm gonna." Dal smiled back.

"Anyway, it should help."

"Thank you."

There was silence. Dallas stared at the Curtis house, but he didn't want to go. Not yet. But they couldn't stop the inevitable.

"Well, Jason, have a safe trip back."

"I will."

The pleasantries had been said, but still they stood. And stood, each shifting their gaze around the street. Finally Dallas knew it was time.

"Look Jason, I better get going. Man, thanks. Thanks for everything. You and your family…were what I needed. You-" Dal swallowed. "Thanks. You brought me to God, and I found a peace I never thought I would have." Looks like I'll be joining Pony in the church going thing.

"Take care of yourself, Dallas." The soc held out his hand, and the hood heartily accepted it. "You know you're always welcome back. Anytime."

"I'll visit as soon as I can." Dallas smiled. They both knew.

"See ya later, Jason."

"See ya. Stay out of trouble."

Dallas grinned. He opened the swinging gate, closed it, then walked up the steps. He reached the door. He paused, gathered his strength, and pushed open the door.

"Dallas!" Instantly a chorus of voices echoed the cry. Dallas yelled back, "Steve! Pony! Two-Bit!" in turn. To which Two-Bit immediately asked the question:

"Boy, you better have my blade, or you can just git yourself back to wherever you came from." Peals of laughter echoed this statement. Cries from Soda and Darry entered the fracas a moment later.

Outside, Jason chuckled as the voices carried down to the curb. After a moment, he opened his door. He flicked on the motor, he let it idle for a moment. The cries still poured out through the half open door. Jason put the car in gear and drove off, leaving no trace behind as he left the street, and then the city. Not a trace behind, except in the heart of one certain hood. Jason smiled and muttered a prayer, as he headed off through the interstate, the glittering twilight deepening into a certain night. He flicked on the radio.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well, that's the end. Gosh, how long has it been? It took a while to get this one up, but it's hard letting go of something. But now it's finished. Whew.

nighttime writer- Thanks for reviewing all those chapters. They all meant a lot. Hope your report went all right! Hope you enjoy this last chapter!

MissLKid- I didn't have another dream about you. Sorry. How's your cold…now? ) I hope it's better. Thanks for all the reviews. Love 'em!

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies- I don't know what you would characterize this chapter as being. Hopeful? Well, hope you like hopeful as well as depressing. The two are so alike!

Lintucuiel- Thanks for reviewing, no matter how short they were I appreciated every one. Hope you like it.

Oblivious Misconception- Well, you were right! I'm sorry if it offends anybody, but I don't think a family can change a person that much unless they had Him to help them. I just don't think it's possible. Scene in a movie? Thanks. You know, that's what I always try to aspire to. I try to make the story seem like a movie in your head. Those are always the best books. For me at least. Anyway, thanks for all the long reviews! They were always fun to read. I hope you had as much fun writing them!

Cinderbrat- Yeah, everyone is right. I hope this chapter's okay. I take your opinion very seriously. You are one of my best critiquers. (My computer is still telling me that

critiquer is not a word!) Anyway, thanks for all the help you gave me. I really needed it. Hope I can have you there to help when I write another story (which might be a little bit). Thanks again!

Scarlett7- Thank you so much for helping me get started with this story. You really inspired and motivated me, and gave me some really great ideas for the story. Thanks. And sorry, I forgot about the cat thing. No no, I remembered. I just wanted you to get a little annoyed at him. Yeah, that's it. It was all planned. Well, hope it didn't offend you too much! Thanks again! And good luck with the rest of your story. I'll try to review more often, because I'm still keep up with you story. Great so far! And destined to get greater!

Sully- So you agree with me about the Sox? Cool. Well, I hope you didn't cry because it was a long time between updates. Thanks for your review, please tell me what you think of this chapter!

Jessie13- Don't worry about it. I have trouble myself keeping faithful to my favorite authors. I always mean to review, and then I just can't find the time. Thanks for all your encouragement. Thank you for putting my on your favorites list. I can't tell you how much that means to me!

Tensleep- Yeah, I do incorporate a lot of God into this story. Just what I wanted to do for this story. You're right; he is wanted both places. Tough decision, but really it wasn't a decision. He had to go back to his real family, and help them. The Mathews had their own little niche within themselves. The gang had to have Dallas. Give my brother's my condolences. (I like the Astros too.) But just remember, you always want the guy you lose to to win the entire thing. Then you can walk around and say my team only lost to the best team in the entire world! Well, about politics, all I'll say is I'm very happy right now. ) Thanks for reviewing I think every single chapter. That is amazing! Thank you so much!

steves-girl- Thanks for reviewing all the chapters too. You are awesome! I haven't even done that to any single story yet! Man! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Goldengreaser- Well, thanks for reviewing this story. I'm glad you've enjoyed it. Well, the Mathews aren't related to Two-Bit, I just kind of goofed when I was figuring out a name to call these people. I stink at names.

Beth- Thanks for all the reviews and all the e-mails. It's been such fun! You've really motivated me and kept me going with this story. I have to thank you probably most of all. So thanks, and let me know what you think about this chapter! )

Okay guys, I want to thank you again, both reviewers and non-reviewers. I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed creating it.

I don't know for certain what I'll do about responding to the last reviews. I know fanfic doesn't like authors posting chapters full of reviews. So please leave me your e-mail address so that I can respond to you properly. If you don't, I'll just post replies at the end of the first posting of my next story.

My next story will most definitely not be until the end of this year. At the very least sometime in January. I have some ideas, but they still need some tweaking.

And some people have asked if I'd planned a sequel to this. My answer is no, I had planned for this to stand by itself. But, I will leave that up to the fans. If enough of you push for a sequel, I will do one, unless I feel that it is going to hurt the story rather than help it. But if you guys want a sequel, I'll be happy to do one, I just never planned on there being one.

A late Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, and Happy November 25, 2004 for everybody else!

And Merry Christmas to everybody! It's almost here! ) ) Yeaaaaa!

So thank you for reading this story. And please drop a review. Even if you have never reviewed before, I want to know what you think! Even if you hate it, still send a review! I'll still love it! So, I think I've said everything. Thank you again for taking the time to read On the Run. It's been a wonderful experience, I hope you have enjoyed it also, and once again, have a great day!