Author's Note: This is probably going to be my first long fan fiction (longer than my poems and other stories) Dallas is my favorite character in The Outsiders, so most of my work is probably going to revolve around him. If I get plenty of good reveiws I'll keep this story going until Dally's death. It may skip around because there are some parts I don't think are necessary to talk about (like the movies and the fight with Tim Shepherd) because everyone knows what happens. I will however talk about his death, because...it's an important part of Dally's story. I made up Mr. & Mrs. Winston's first names. I chose Austin because Dallas's first name is a city in Texas and there's Austin, Texas...I don't know why I chose Alice as Mrs. Winston's first name...oh well, if you don't like it, you can subsitute different names. I made up the time Dally was born (late January, you don't like it, change it or tell me when he was born and I'll edit the story so it's acurate.)

Disclaimer-I don't own The Outsiders. It's not mine! No person, place or anything in the story of The Outsiders is mine! IT'S NOT MINE!

Chapter One

Dallas is Born

Mrs. Winston was a petite woman with blonde hair. Her eyes were a soft blue. She looked like the woman who you would expect to have an adoring husband who never argued when asked to take out the trash. But, if you were to ask her how her husband was doing she would reply, "Well…I thought he was going to quit drinking…but he says that my pregnancy is what drove him to the bottle in the first place. I say, men can't seem to understand that you can't have sex and not suffer the consequences!"

Mrs. Winston (whose name was Alice) would talk about her baby all the time to anyone who would listen. He would be the next Einstein…the next Pope…the next great author. And she knew it would be a boy. Ever since she had discovered her pregnancy she had known that it would be a boy. She had spent hours reading all the books she could find at the library about raising boys and name books. She finally had selected a name she liked, Dallas Austin Winston. Austin, after his father. Alice hoped that Mr. Winston would love their child once he saw the baby. She certainly loved the child, though she had only seen him on an ultra-sound.

Mr. Winston had blonde hair as well, but his eyes were green. They appeared to be the color you would think of on a Dragon's scales. He was a short man with a beer belly. He drank beer twenty-four/seven but all the doctors told him he should stop. He never once listened to any of them. And this is what caused Alice to pray often that their baby wasn't going to be born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

It was about supper time in New York City and Alice was preparing dinner. A chicken was in the oven and she was scrubbing potatoes for a side dish. She smiled to herself and began to hum a hymn. Alice was quite religious (Catholic in fact) and she had bought a few things for her son that would bring him to the Lord as well. She had a Bible and a St. Christopher necklace that would be just the size for a baby so he would choke on it. She placed the potatoes in the oven and reached for a glass. She poured some water into it when a pain seized her and she dropped the glass. It shattered into thousands of tiny pieces and she stooped down to pick them up. Another pain seared and she cried out to Austin.

"Damn it, woman, what is it now!" he demanded, walking into the kitchen taking a swig from a beer bottle. He saw the broken bottle and demanded of her, "Why the hell did you go and break a glass! You know we can't afford to buy new glasses all the time!"

"The baby…" she gasped, holding onto the chair for support. Her knuckles were whiter than the snow falling from the sky at that very moment. Mr. Winston swore, but helped her to the car and drove off to the hospital.

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Mr. Winston waited in the waiting room for his wife. He hadn't gone in to see his son when he was born. He just sat there, thinking about his beer and wondering why the blasted woman had to have the kid in the middle of winter. The end of January was approaching quickly, but it was still two and a half weeks away.

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(A few hours later)

Mrs. Winston wiped her tears from her eyes and extended her hands for her son. The nurse (named Marie) placed the boy into his mother's arms and Alice leaned back against the pillows, her son resting his head on her elbow. He opened his eyes to her, but did not cry. He was silent, just taking in her appearance.

"Would you like us to go fetch your husband?" they asked her. But Mrs. Winston said no, not until Dallas was all cleaned up. She filled out the birth certificate and the nurse wrote down Dallas's name on a wristband and placed it gently around his wrist.

"Would you like to know how long he is and what his weight is?"

"Yes, please," Mrs. Winston slowly handed her son to the nurse. She sat him on a scale and read, "Six pounds three and a half ounces," she smiled at Dallas while she unwound her tape measurer. She laid the ruler along his body and read off, "Seventeen inches exactly!" She handed the boy back to his mother and Mrs. Winston kissed her son.

"My baby boy," she whispered to him.

Marie took the baby to clean him up and she took the blue sleeper with puppy faces on the toes and looked at Dallas. His hands were curled into fists. His eyes were blue (but not the ice blue they would be when he died) and his head was covered in soft blonde hair. She had almost thought he had no hair because it was so white. He merely laid there while she placed a diaper on him. He kicked his feet when she tried to place the sleeper on him and glared at her. But he didn't scream or cry. He just wiggled around so that she had a hard time placing the sleeper on him and finally she sighed and held his fists down while she fought with his kicking feet. Dallas giggled at her. Marie shook her head and said to Mrs. Winston, "Your son is going to break a lot of hearts, I can just tell."

Alice smiled as Dallas was handed to her, "I know…just like his father."

"Oh? Is his father as handsome as little Dallas here?"

"No…he changed after we married. I'm glad that Dally here wasn't born with fetal alcohol syndrome. I was so scared…"

"Do you drink?" the nurse asked, astonished.

"No…but I wondered if my husband's drinking would have anything to do with it…" she trailed off as Austin Winston walked in the room. He looked at his son and shook his head.

Mrs. Winston wondered if the head shake was in wonder or amazement. She was wrong.

"He's so ugly! I can't believe you didn't have an abortion!" Marie leaped back in astonishment. Her eyes widened and she took Dally away, "Why don't I take him down to his crib so you two can talk?"

She held Dally in her arms and walked out. Dally didn't cry, but a few tears slid down his porcelain white cheeks. She held him tighter and laid him down in his crib once she got to the infant's room.

"It's ok, Dally, shhh," she dried his tears with a cloth. "You'll be all right…your father does love you." She smiled brightly to hide the fact that she was lying. One of the baby girls sat up and looked at Dally. He looked over at her and gave her the meanest glare that Marie had ever seen on a baby. She chuckled and wrapped the blanket around Dally, "You will break hearts, young man, you will."

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(Two hours later)

Mr. Winston had gone home. Alice had watched his car leave. She looked at the window and sat there thinking. Her breath caught in her throat and she struggled to breathe. What was happening? Pain seared throughout her body and she called for the nurse. Another nurse came running and couldn't understand what was wrong. She gave Mrs. Winston a breath mask and Mrs. Winston asked to see her son.

The nurse ran down all the stairs to the Infant's room and yelled at the top of her lungs (waking every baby, except Dally) "MRS. WINSTON'S HAVING PROBLEMS BREATHING! SHE WANTS TO SEE HER SON!" Marie grabbed Dally and took the elevator to Mrs. Winston's room asking the nurse, "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know! The doctor's looking her over and I could tell it's not good." She shook her head, "Did anything go wrong when she was giving birth to Dally?"

"I don't think so…I mean…" Marie shook her head and Dally gave a smile. It seemed to amuse him to see the nurses in an uproar.

Mrs. Winston took her son and took the breath mask off. She kissed Dally's forehead and slid the St. Christopher around his neck, whispering to him that she loved him and died.

Dally seemed to realize that his mother had died, and for the first time since he had been born he filled his lungs, opened his mouth and screamed.

Dally threw a fit, he was angry and sad, everyone could see that. He waved his fists in the air and kicked at invisible things. He continued screaming for as long as he could, then refilled his lungs and screamed again. Both nurses attempted to calm him down while the doctor picked up the phone and dialed a few numbers.

He told Mr. Winston that his wife was dead and that he'd need to come and pick up the child in three days time. The three days, he explained, was to ensure that Dally would be all right. He hung up the phone; his ear hurting from Mr. Winston's swearing and yelling.

So what, should I continue with the story? Please reveiw if you thinkI should, please no flames! After all, if you don't like it, why bother to reveiw it?