Reham: I can't believe it!
The Gang: Neither can we!
Reham: I was so caught up in this story that I didn't realize that this is the LAST CHAPTER!
Two-Bit: Woot! We get to see Steve die!
Steve: Why does everyone keep thinking I'm going to die! -tackles Two-Bit-
Soda: Helloo! Don't you think we should be worried that this is the LAST CHAPTER EVER?
Reham: Yeah, this is my best (and favorite) story! It's gotten so much progress! (Over 100 reviews - one of my firsts!)
Pony: Okay, okay, enough chitter-chatter! I wanna see Steve die!
Soda: I'll miss ya buddy!
Steve: I'M NOT GOING TO DIE!
Johnny: Too bad!
Dally: Get on with the stinkin' story!
Reham: I'll put everything at the bottom. Please review!

…:Waking Up:…

:Steve's PoV:

Everything was just so cold. Everything. My arms, my chest, my legs, my feet. I couldn't move. I didn't even want to move. For some reason, I couldn't even breathe correctly. My breath came out in rapid gasps. My heart felt like it was beating faster than it should be. I tried opening my eyes, but I failed miserably. And that's when I felt the sensation of water all around me. I thought I was drowning, so I screamed.

I heard feet around me, but that didn't stop me from screaming. I could still feel the water around me. I tried opening my eyes again, but I still couldn't.

"Calm down, son. You're alright," I heard an unfamiliar voice say. Who the hell was saying that? And how could I calm down? I couldn't move, I couldn't feel my muscles at all, and I was drowning! No way in hell was I going to calm down, but I stopped screaming.

For some reason, I still couldn't control my breathing, and my heartbeat just got faster and faster. I felt someone's hand on my chest and I wanted to lash out on it, but I couldn't move a muscle. And that hand was giving me a slight sensation of warmth, but whose was it?

"Steve?" came a quiet voice. I knew that voice, but I couldn't quite place my tongue on it. "Steve, it's okay. It's me, Ponyboy. Can you hear me?"

Ponyboy! I had never been so glad to hear him in my life. I tried opening my eyes in a last attempt and finally managed to pry them open. The room was blurry and there were three outlines in front of me. I noticed that I was in a bathroom and I wasn't drowning at all – I was just in a bathtub filled with water. I saw Pony smile, but I couldn't return it.

"P-Pony . . . I c-c-can't m-move," I said. My voice sounded distant to me, and I couldn't say a straight sentence without stuttering because I was shivering so badly. Why couldn't I stop?

"Why can't he move?" I heard Pony ask someone. I think he was asking the other two outlines behind him.

"That's what happens when you have hypothermia. Because he's so cold, he lacks the ability to move his body," someone said. The voice was deep, so I recognized it as a man's.

"Can we get him out of the bathtub?" asked Pony.

"Not until he can move."

Dammit, I could have beaten these peoples' head in if I was able to move, but seeing as I couldn't, I just sat there. The two unfamiliar outlines left, so all I was able to see was a blurry outline of Ponyboy. His hand was in a sling.

A sense of warmth flooded around me and the coldness started to go away. At first, the water had seemed cold, but then it was slowly becoming warmer and warmer. I relaxed slightly, but I was still shaking, breathing hard, and my heart was still beating 100 miles per hour.

"Those people saved us," said Pony. I blinked a few times to show him that I was listening and let him continue. "They patched me up and that guy, he's a doctor. Martha told me while I was eating. They won't let you eat, though, because they say that it's bad for someone who has hypothermia. I called Darry and he said that he's going to be here anytime soon."

"Y-y-you aren't h-hurt bad, a-are you?" I asked, immediately slapping myself mentally for asking such a question.

"Thanks to you I'm not. You saved my life out there," he said to me. I grinned on the inside, a sense of triumph overcoming me. I had wanted to save him because his life was worth more than mine, and that's exactly what I did. We sat in comfortable silence for a while. My breathing started to ease, as did my heart, but I couldn't help myself with the shivering.

I heard a doorbell ring and Pony exclaimed, "They're here!" before running out of the bathroom. I heard several voices outside, then someone whooping. There was more talking and I knew that the entire gang had come, probably because I heard Two-Bit's maniacal laughter.

A few minutes later, I felt the sensation come back in my hands. I clenched and opened my hands several times, but I couldn't do it too quickly. I let my head fall under the water, just to calm myself down. My breathing had returned to normal and my shivers subsided slightly. The door opened while I had my head underwater, and I heard Soda's voice say, "I don't see him."

I put my head up as quickly as I could, glad to see my friend again. I had regained the feeling in every area of my body, so I was able to turn my head to look at him. He grinned and said, "Stevie!" I could see dry tears glittering on his face from the light.

"H-hey Soda," I said. My voice was still harsh and raspy.

"I was so worried about you guys! Pony's doing fine, but what about you? You don't look too good!" he said, taking a seat on the floor beside me. I tried standing up, sick of the bathroom. My clothes stuck to me, but I didn't care. Soda helped me out, knowing that I wasn't one and all for the thought of being in that bathtub all day. I could tell he was resisting the urge to hug me or something like that because of the way he kept rocking back and forth on the heel of his toes.

He set me down on the edge of the bathtub and told me to wait right there. I rested my body against the wall and kind of zoned out for a minute or two. Soda came back in with a pile of clothes in his hand. He handed them to me and said, "Darry said that we should bring a change of clothes for you and Pony. Here's yours. Call if you need anything."

I nodded in appreciation and he left the room. I struggled to put on my clothes because my muscles ached so horribly and I couldn't help but make my movements slow. I wondered if I still had hypothermia or if that guy had cured it. I wondered what hypothermia was in the first place!

I opened the door slowly and walked out . . . slowly. Everyone was sitting in the living room, chatting with one another. Ponyboy was wrapped around Darry like he was holding onto him for dear life. I wish I had a brother like that to look up to, but all I had was a drunken dad and a mom that walked out on us when I was too little to remember her.

"Stevie-boy!" said Two-Bit as he came flying off of the couch. He was about to run up to me and tackle me, but Dally tripped him and he landed flat on his face at my feet. We all burst into laughter, even me. Two-Bit looked up from the ground and said, "How ya been lately?"

"I'm just fine," I said, glad that my voice had regained its posture.

"You had us all real worried," said Darry.

Wow – the gang had actually worried about me. I bet they were worrying about Ponyboy more, though. I didn't really matter to them.

"We should be going now," said Darry, getting up with Pony still hooked onto him.

"No, I insist you stay," said the unfamiliar lady. I walked behind the couch and leaned forward onto it.

"We really must be going. We've got a lot of packing and cleaning up to do because we've only got a day left at the cabin," Darry insisted.

I really didn't care whose cabin we were to go to – I just wanted to sleep. Being unconscious wasn't the same as sleeping. The entire gang said goodbye and Darry thanked them for the thousandth time (Soda had told me) and we were on our way to the cabin. The large mounds of snow had melted slightly, so it was easier to walk on. I had to lean on Soda a bit as I walked. He had one of my arms around his neck. We were the last ones in the line of walking. Darry was carrying Pony because he had fallen asleep.

"Hey Steve," said Soda as we walked.

"Yeah?" I asked quietly.

"I wanna thank you for taking care of my little brother, you know? He told us all about how you'd given up your jacket and sweatshirt for him, and how you'd made sure he was out of harm's way, so thanks."

I grinned sincerely as we kept walking. Every time I took a step, a sharp pain would crawl up my chest and I'd wince slightly, but Soda wouldn't notice. I had forgotten that I had broken a few of my ribs.

After a while of walking, Soda finally noticed me wince. "Are you okay?" he asked with genuine worry on his face.

"I just busted a few ribs back there – did Pony tell you about the leopard?" I told him.

"Yeah, and it got you good, didn't it? When we get back to the cabin, I'll make Darry wrap you up and then you can get some rest, okay?"

I nodded my head, zoning in and out. When we had made it to the cabin, Soda helped me up to my bed and set me down on it. He ordered Darry to come and have a look at my ribs. Darry told me that my sides were bruised purple and black and that I'd broken four ribs. I cursed a string load as he wrapped me up. It was painful, but he was out the door before I knew it.

Ponyboy was on the other bed. I turned my head to him and I noticed that he had been watching me. I grinned at him. We'd finally been able to get along.

In unison, we said, "Thanks."

:Narrator's PoV:

That was the blossoming of a new, firmer friendship. They didn't have to pretend to like each other because they were in Soda's presence. They liked each other just because of their experience in the snow. They were friends now, and it would only take death to change that.

Pony had learned that Steve wasn't as bad as he thought. He learned that Steve was hard as a rock because he didn't have anyone that cared about him but the gang. He didn't have anyone to look forward to everyday but Soda, and so he wanted all the time in the world he could have with Soda. Pony learned to give Steve some of that time, but in the future, Steve began inviting Pony with him and Soda instead of Soda giving the invitations.

Steve had learned to be kinder to Ponyboy. He didn't get out much because Darry had always wanted him to be perfect, so he looked forward to Soda's invitations. He learned that he was jealous of Pony all along because he had an actual future, but Pony loved his brother so much that he wanted to spend every waking moment with him.

And that's when it hit them both. Without Soda, they'd both have nothing to look forward to. Their lives revolved around the care for one person:

Sodapop Curtis.

I see them everyday

We get along so why can't they?

If this is what he wants

And it's what she wants

Then why's there so much pain?

So here's your holiday

Hope you, enjoyed this time

Gave it all away

- Stay Together for the Kids – Blink 182

…:PAU:…

Reham: -wipes away tears- That was beautiful!
Soda: Aw, Steve didn't die . . .
Steve: What's that supposed to mean?
Soda: Nothin' buddy . . . hehe . . .
Reham: I hoped you guys learned that just because Pony said he DIDN'T like Steve in the book, doesn't mean everyone in the world should hate him
Pony: Yeah, I said I didn't like Dally much either
Dally: Really? I'll have to read that book sometime
Two-Bit: Yeah, Stevie-boy ain't that bad of a character -puts one hand on Steve's shoulder-
Steve: -flips Two-Bit- I can be!
Reham: I'd like to thank my reviewers . . . all of you guys are so loyal! Thanks a bunch! Seriously! As saddened as I am to see this go, I'm going to have to. And I'll probably be off of the Outsiders for a week or so, thinking of stuff and waiting for those cute little plot bunnies to reproduce! But for those of you that care, and are as big of a Boy Meets World fan as I, then you should probably check out my New Boy Meets World Story called Death Toll. Peace n' Mahalo, ya'll!