Darry POV

When I saw Pony at the hearing, I was so glad to see him. I just wanted so badly to run over and tell him how much we missed him and squeeze the daylights out of him, but I didn't. I just sat down next to Soda and waited for it to start. To tell you the truth, I was feeling a little nervous, and Soda gave me a reassuring smile. I could tell he was nervous too, though. Jamie, my brothers, and I all told the same story of what happened, and Brittany told the judge about the lie detector test. Boy, did that make Christine look bad. She looked really nervous and she had probably run out of ideas for lies to get her out of it. We explained that she had lied the whole time and that I made sure to take good care of my brothers and try my hardest to keep us together.

Well, when it came to Christine's turn, I knew as well as she did that there was absolutely nothing she could say to really defend herself at all. I knew that she didn't want to just give up, but she did. She admitted that we were right and that she lied. The judge said that I could have Pony back and is his guardian once again, and apologized for the mistake. We all walked out, and Pony immediately had me around the waist and was squeezing me to death.

"Welcome home, kiddo," I said.

"I missed you guys a lot." His voice was barely above a whisper.

"I know. We missed you, too."

"I love you, Darry." That took me off guard. He'd never said that to me before.

"I love you too, little buddy." He smiled at me, and then ran over to hug attack Soda. Then I walked over to Jamie.

"I could've never gotten Ponyboy back without your help. I can't thank you enough for this…" Before I could say anything else, she kissed me, on the lips this time. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment.

Then she pulled away and said, "You're welcome."

I guess Soda and Pony were watching, because Soda said, "Aw, Dar's first kiss." Ponyboy started laughing. I felt my face redden.

"Shut up, Soda." I looked back to Jamie. "So… I'll see you around?"

"Yeah. Goodbye, Darry."

"Hold on. Uh, do you want to go out sometime?" She smiled.

"We'll see." Then she walked off. I walked over to my brothers and drove them home.

When we walked in the door, they were still laughing about Soda's comment.

"I'll get you back for that comment someday, Sodapop."

"We'll see," He said, batting his eyelashes. That did it. I grabbed the nearest pillow and started chasing him with it. I finally caught up with him and grabbed his arm to pull him down.

"You better watch what you say, little buddy!"

I rose up my pillow to hit him, but he said, "Okay! I take it back! I surrender!" I got up and tossed the pillow onto the couch. I reached out my hand to help him up. He stuck out his tongue. I flicked my eyes towards the pillow and he took the hint. I laughed and ruffled his hair. Then Steve and Two Bit came in and saw Ponyboy.

"It's Pony! Welcome home once again!" Two Bit yelled and tackled him to the ground. Steve was laughing.

Pony said, "Darry, get him off!"

"Two Bit lay off the kid, please."

"Okay, I guess I can."

"Oh, yeah," Steve said, "I was gonna tell you guys to turn on the TV and watch channel 8."

"Why?"

"You'll see." I shrugged and grabbed the remote and went to channel 8. It was Christine. She was being arrested by the police. It wasn't announced how long she would be in jail, but I guessed that it would be a long, long time.

"You see that?" Two Bit said.

"Yep."

"Oh, any more news about your girlfriend?"

Before I could get one word out, Soda shouted, "They kissed!"

"Congratulations, Darry! You hit the nail on the head."

"What is this? A game show?" I asked. Everyone laughed. Well, I thought, this was the wildest part of my life for sure. I was just glad it was over and Ponyboy was home, and I had a new girlfriend, a good one this time. I hoped my problems were over, although they were probably far from it, but for the moment, life was good.

A/N: The End! That was my longest fanfiction story ever. I hope you enjoyed it. I think it really turned out great. Thank you to all of my reviewers! I did enjoy writing this, even though it took forever. Review, please! :)