Author's note: I'm so sorry for the VERY long delay. It has been hard for me to find time and inspiration to write further on this story, and again I apologize. I have to admit that the reviews and all the followers I got after stopping had me going again, as I don't want to disappoint you.
But finally, here is chapter 6! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the outsiders.

Chapter 6

Darry walked through the corridors back to the recovery room where his baby brother was laying. Both his bosses, at the warehouse and the construction site had been quite sympathetic when it came to their situation. They had both given him maximum seven days off, with payment and all, as thanks to all the extra hours Darry had put in.

He stopped short at a coffee machine. He felt incredibly tired since he hadn't got any sleep during the night, plus he was exhausted after the rumble and last night's events. He poured two cups of black coffee. He figured that Soda could definitely use one too. Coffees in hand, he entered the recovery area and found Soda holding Pony's hand while gently stroking his hair.

Darry approached the bedside and handed Soda his cup of coffee, seemingly unaware of the now almost empty bedside. He knew that the boys had to leave sooner or later, since they heavily needed a shower. Darry thought that he and Soda could use a shower and some grooming themselves, but didn't want to leave Pony's side once again.

Soda sat in the same position, slightly bend over while having one hand on Pony's, while the other held the untouched cup of coffee. Darry debated whether he was going to drink it, since he was always high on energy, and rarely had a moment where he could sit still. That wasn't the case now, but Darry still doubted it.

Darry gulped down the last of his own coffee, and threw the empty cup in the trashcan. They hadn't exchanged a single word since he had arrived, as they didn't know what to say to one another. Neither of them felt hopeful of what was probably going to happen to Ponyboy. The thought that Pony might suffer from sepsis made his stomach cringe even tighter, and he felt the sandwich mixed with the coffee make their way up his throat. He hated the feeling of not being able to do anything but wait for the nurse to come back with the test results.

Thinking of the nurse. Didn't she say that it would only be a couple of minutes before she had the results?

Darry felt alarmed by the thought and looked at the small clock hanging behind him. He doesn't remember the exact time he went to make the phone calls, but there had definitely gone at least thirty minutes. Was there something really wrong with Pony that they had to confirm or discuss before informing them?

He pushed the cringing thought away, and took Pony's hand in his and squeezed it carefully . God forbid it if there was something seriously wrong with him.

They sat there for what seemed like hours, before Abby returned with the results in hand.

"I apologize for the delay, but we caught sight of your friends on their way out, and we offered to deal with their wounds before they left."

Darry felt relieved by her explanation for taking so long, and ran a tired hand across his face. Then there might be a bigger chance that Pony didn't suffer from anything serious after all. He didn't want to get his hopes too high though, as the possibility was still there. Sodapop looked a bit relieved as well. He still hadn't touched his coffee at all and Darry couldn't remember if his brother had ever looked that tired and worried before. He barely took his eyes off Pony, even when Abby had returned.

"Good news boys. Ponyboy hasn't developed sepsis" she said, and both Darry and Soda sighed in relief. They grinned at each other, both felling that it's all going to be alright. But that made Darry wonder, and he couldn't help but ask:

"If it isn't sepsis that is causing the fever, then what is?"

"That question leads to something that we want to ask you" Abby said, pulling out a pen to get ready to write down on her chart. "Because in the blood samples, we discovered something else. Ponyboy has a high level of carbon monoxide in his blood, which means that he is suffering from a minor smoke inhalation instead which means he must have been near or involved in a fire recently. Is that correct?"

Darry had completely forgotten about the fire Ponyboy and Johnny had been involved in. It felt like months ago but he knew that it was only a couple of days ago.

"Yes a couple of days ago" Darry answered avoiding going into details about what happened at the abandoned church.

Soda looked worried and very tense, as he didn't know how serious this 'smoke inhalation' was. He hadn't heard about it before. Was she trying to say that Pony was dying?

"Does that mean he is going to die?" Soda asked in a quiet voice and squeezed Pony's hand even tighter. Darry was glad that he distracted the nurse from questioning about the fire.

Abby looked a bit surprised by his question. "No, no of course not. The amount of monoxide in his blood is not high enough to cause too much concern, but above everything else his body is dealing with right now it will affect the healing process as it might slow it down a little bit. It can also cause deliriousness, as you have already experienced, and also the slight fever. We are already giving him oxygen, so there is not much more we can do about that other than wait for his body and the extra oxygen to do the job."

Soda nodded satisfied with the nurse's answer. Though he wasn't good at understanding all that medical stuff, he understood that his little brother wasn't in any imminent danger. Without really noticing what he was doing he took a sip of the coffee that he was still holding in one hand, and grimaced as it had become lukewarm. He gulped it down anyway, finally feeling the exhaustion and fatigue after the rumble and all those events after that. It felt like he hadn't slept for days.

"Do you know how long he has to stay?" Darry asked, thinking about the hospital bill. He didn't want to rush Pony out of the hospital as he deserved all the medical treatment that he needed, though he was concerned of how many extra hours he and Soda had to work. If that's all they had to do for Pony to get better, they did it with pleasure.

Abby looked down at her chart. "That depends on how fast his wound heals considering everything else his body is going through. If the wound heals as it should we would say that he has to stay for approximately a week."

Perfect, Darry thought. His boss had given him exactly seven days.

They both thanked her and she turned to leave as she had other patients to check, leaving the Curtis brothers alone once again.

Soda looked at his little brother with a relieved smile. "You hear that Pone? You are going to be alright little buddy. 'Just too bad that you are missing out on all these hot nurses. I tell you even you would be interested" he added and gave Pony a light pat on his shoulder.

Darry couldn't help but laugh at Soda's comment. He put his face in his palms welcoming the feeling of utter relief. He felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders and he could finally breath normally again. Pony was still not out of the woods but the road there seemed so much easier now as if several obstacles had been removed. For a moment he had to fight tears that threatened to spill. He felt so relieved and exhausted.

He looked at Pony and once again took his little brothers cold hand in his and slightly bent over so he could press Pony's hand against his chin. He wanted Ponyboy to know that they were there for him and wouldn't leave his side unless it was complete necessary.

oOoOoOoOoOo

The next time Pony woke up it was only Darry who was at his side. Soda had gone to talk to his boss at the DX station to hopefully get the next days off, as he also wanted to be at Pony's side through all this. He couldn't stand the thought of not being there for him.

Darry had felt a light a light squeeze on that hand that held Pony's hand. It caught him off guard and he quickly stood up from his chair, slightly over so Pony could see his face should he notice his surroundings this time.

Pony again started tossing his head from side to side while murmuring words Darry couldn't hear or understand. The oxygen mask probably still annoyed him.

Darry carefully put his calloused hand on his baby brothers chin hoping to calm him down and making him open his eyes at the same time.

Pony leaned his head into Darry's hand, welcoming the comforting feeling.

Darry noticed that the bruises on Pony's face had faded a little as Pony had gotten some color back in his cheeks. He didn't look quite as sick as he did when he just came out of surgery.

"Can you hear me Pony?" he asked gently while stroking his baby brother's cheek with his thumb.

"D-dad?" Pony stammered almost inaudible.

Darry leaned in closer. Did he say Darry or dad this time?

"Yes Pony?" he asked, hoping that Pony wasn't as delirious this time. He hated seeing his little brother not knowing what was going on or what had happened, and he wanted nothing more than to get him out of there or at least take his place in the hospital bed. Darry felt that he had failed to protect his beloved brothers. He had come way too close to losing Ponyboy and he couldn't forgive himself for not locking the door after they had come home from the rumble. This was all his fault.

"I-it h'rts dad" Pony murmured grimacing. Darry felt his heart sink to his stomach. How long had he been hurting?

As he pushed the call button Soda returned. He immediately knew that Pony was awake.

"Hey Pone" he said, once again taking his little brother's hand in his stroking it gently.

"He says he's hurting" Darry said waiting impatiently for a nurse to arrive. It couldn't take so damn long could it?

Soda was about to say something when a nurse appeared through the ICU curtains. It wasn't Abby this time.

"What is the matter?"

"He says he's hurting" Darry said with an angry tone in his voice. Didn't they give him something for the pain? Has he been hurting all this time? What kind of hospital was this?

"I'll go get something for the pain" she said hurrying out to get some for the patients pain.

Soda looked worried at Pony. "Where does it hurt little buddy?"

"I don't k-know, everywhere" Pony said frustrated and became more and more restless. He looked around with bewildered eyes, not really seeing anything. "Darry? Where is D-Darry?"

They both looked at him shocked. Did he just ask for Darry?

"I'm right here little buddy" Darry said gently stroking his brother's hair, trying to make Pony look at him.

When he did look he didn't seem to notice him. He just stared right through him.

The nurse came back with two small pills in one hand and a cup of water in the other. "I suppose he can swallow these as he is awake". She approached Pony and tried to give him the pills.

"Here take these, it will help the pain go away".

When Pony noticed that someone was trying to make him eat something, he immediately turned his head and tried to shove the hand away.

"No please, I hate b-baloney."

Darry and Soda looked at each other confused. Pony had always liked baloney. Why did he say that he hate it?

"Ponyboy this is not baloney" she tried to reason with him. "These are pain killers, they make the pain go away."

Pony didn't seem to hear what the nurse said as he kept shoving her hands away.

Soon the nurse gave up, and went to get some pain relieving that she could inject into his IV drop instead. When she had injected it she left once again.

As the pain killers started to take effect, Pony started to relax. His eyes became heavier and soon he felt asleep again.

Darry felt his tense muscles starting to relax, not noticing that they were that tense in the first place. Now that his baby brother wasn't in pain anymore he felt that he could relax a bit again. He looked at Soda and noticed that he didn't look as tense either. He looked dead tired though.

"Don't you think you should get some sleep little buddy?"

Soda looked a bit offended at him. "Yeah like I'm the only one who could use some shut eye. Besides, I don't think I can sleep right now. Not after this."

Darry knew what he meant. He had a hard time processing what just happened as well. He hadn't imagined Pony would be this delirious. And did he really call his name? He looked at the clock to get an idea of how long they had been there. It was only a few hours after noon. Almost twenty four hours ago they were all preparing for the big rumble. It didn't feel like twenty four hours, he thought, more like a week. He couldn't for anything in the world have prepared himself for what was going to happen to his baby brother after the rumble. Not in his wildest dreams.

Soda tried to position himself in a more comfortable position in the hard plastic chair. This was going to be a long week.

oOoOoOoOoOo

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it!