A/N at the bottom! Enjoy.

Chapter 12

I awoke the next day in much the same fashion as I had the other day. By myself, in a dark room that had a little bit of sunshine peeking through the only window. Yawning, I sat myself up in the bed, my muscles aching more than they did yesterday. However, I was relieved to notice that my headache was completely gone. I was brought out of my thoughts as my stomach gave a noisy growl. I realized then that I did not eat at all yesterday and was starving.

Sighing, I heaved myself out of the bed with less difficulty than I expected. Walking towards the door, I noticed that the house was quiet. Dead quiet, and from what I had gathered about the Curtis household, it was rarely ever this quiet. Curious, I poked my head out of the door and glanced down the hallway. Not a soul in sight. My stomach gave another rumble before I remembered what I had originally got up for. So I tipped-toed towards the living room, being as quiet as possible. I had no intention of alerting the whole house, if anyone was here, that I was awake again.

The living room appeared to be empty and I was about to make my way into the kitchen before I noticed the youngest kid asleep in the arm chair with a book in his lap. I had two options. Be rude and riffle through the kids' kitchen. Or I could be polite and ask him. I really didn't want to wake him up, but with my luck as of late, ever since I was born really, I would probably make too much noise and wake him up anyway.

"Hey, kid" I spoke to him as I nudged his arm. He awoke with a start and swiveled his head to look at me at a break neck speed.

"…Hey." He replied after his heart calmed down.

"So…ah, where is everyone?"

He stretched his arms before answering. "Everyone's at work, 'cept Dally got hauled into the cooler and Two-Bit, well I ain't got a clue bout him but he ain't here."

I watched a car drive by though the window. "How's Johnny doin'" I asked after a while.

Ponyboy got out of his seat, throwing his book back into the chair, before glancing down the hallway and eventually resting his eyes back on me. "He's doin' better. He woke up for a bit yesterday and Darry says he'll be okay."

I nodded my head in understanding, not bothering to say anything else. Ponyboy on the other hand was a little put off by my silence and started nervously running his hands through his hair.

"You hungry or anything?" He asked glancing at me quickly before looking in the other direction.

Smiling, I ruffled his hair before replying, "You bet kid. I'm about to pass out from hunger." I laughed at my own dramatics and even drew out a laugh from Ponyboy as well.

"Come on. I'll see what we got. It might not be much though cause I think Steve an' Soda cleared out the fridge last night."

He led me into the kitchen and went straight to the fridge. I looked over his shoulder and saw that he wasn't making up no lie about the boys last night. All that was left in the fridge was a couple of beers, an egg or two and some jam. "I can make you some eggs?" he questioned, "I'm sorry we ain't got nothin' else. Darry was supposed to go get groceries the other night."

"Don't sweat it kid. You got any bread?" I asked as I took out the glass of jam.

"Yeah, I think so." He opened a cabinet near the fridge and pulled out a loaf of bread.

"Jam sandwich it is. Ya want one kiddo?" Ponyboy shook his head no as he handed me a knife to spread the jam. I shrugged my shoulders before biting greedily into the rather bland sandwich. Hey, food is food; it was better than nothing.

The kid just gave me a kind of disgusted look as he watched me eat. "Ain't that gross?"

"Eh, I've had worse before. Ain't you hungry?" As I finished my snack and looked at the kid expectantly. He was nearly as thin as Johnny.

"We ain't got much to eat. Nothin' sounds too swell." He answered, leaning up against the counter.

I sat there thinking for a few seconds. I really should help these people out. I mean, jeez, they sure as hell helped me. "You got the time?" I shot at Ponyboy.

He turned his head and looked out into the living room before turning towards me again. "A bit past 1, why?"

Nodding my head, I slowly got up and cleaned my mess up. "Well, kid. How'd ya fancy goin' to the store with me?" I asked, watching as he face went from confused to curious.

"You're gonna buy food? Like, for here?" He questioned.

"Like, totally." I laughed at his face. "I owe you guys a lot. It's the least I could do. 'Sides, I work at the store we're gonna go to so I get a discount."

"Yeah, okay. Cool." He answered before heading towards the door before I could say anything else.

"Where's the fire kid?" I asked as I followed at a much slower pace.

He looked up at me with a wondering face as he continued to ties his shoe laces. I chuckled quietly to myself before gesturing to myself. "You got maybe a pair of pants and a coat I could borrow to go out in?"

Looking over me quickly, he shot up and raced down the hall. "Yeah, hang tight for a sec."

I couldn't help but smile at the kids antics. I definitely understood why he was Johnny's best friend. He was back in a flash with a pair of jeans in one hand and a leather jacket in the other.

"Sorry, forgot about, your, ah, clothes and what not." He said, shoving the clothes at me.

"You're a pretty sweet kid there, Ponyboy." I ruffled his hair again as I made my way to the bath room to change.

I changed into the jeans and they surprisingly fit me well around the waist. They were way too long, so I had to guess that they belonged to his middle brother, Sodapop. I laid the shorts I was wearing on the edge of the tube before throwing the jacket on and looking at my reflection in the mirror. I still had a pretty nasty bruise on my face, and besides from being a little paler than normal, I looked pretty decent. Then again, most of the damage was done to my stomach, which was covered by the shirt and jacket. I pulled the jacket closer to my body and couldn't help but notice that it smelled like Darry's bed. A soft smile escaped me as I left the bath room.

I walked back into the living room and found the kid standing by the door, picking at a hole in his jeans.

"Ya ready to go, kid?"

He turned to face me with a shy smile, "You bet."

~x~

It only took us maybe fifteen minutes of walking, at a slow pace because it still hurt me to move too much, to reach the grocery store that I worked at. We walked in and were immediately greeted by Anna, one of the cashiers that normally worked on my days off. She smiled at us and did a double take when she saw it was me that walked in.

"Kim?" she questioned as she moved to walk towards us.

I waved and pushed a cart to Ponyboy. "Go fill that up with whatever you want. And go easy on the junk food!" I added as an afterthought as he started towards the first aisle.

"Yeah. Yeah. Ya sound like Darry." He sassed.

I smiled before I turned to meet Anna and tried my best to look as nonchalant as possible.

"Hey…" I started, but was quickly cut off.

"Girl, where have you been?" She asked, snapping her gum and pulling me into a quick hug before releasing me. "What the hell is this?" I stood still as she ran her fingers over the bruise on my cheek.

"I got in a bit of a scuffle." I laughed off then took a step back to get out of her reach. "Is Richard or Lucy in by any chance?"

"You're a shit liar. But Richard just left to the bank an' Luce is in the office." I smiled and was thankful that she didn't push the matter anymore. Sending one more look of gratitude her way, I made my way towards the back of the store, where the main office was.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. A throaty voice answered and called to come in. I opened the door and was greeted with the sight of Lucy siting behind her desk, going through her never ending pile of papers.

She looked up from her papers and smiled when she registered that it was me.

"Kim, my dear. Where have you been? You were supposed to work yesterday." She spoke as she motioned for me to take a seat in front of her. The situation reminded me briefly of high school, sitting in front of the Principal. "What happened to your cheek?" She added and sat forward in her seat to get a better look at it.

"I, ah, was trying to break up a fight and got caught in the crossfire." I hated to lie. Especially to the people I cared for and Lucy and Richard where pretty high on my list. But what I told her was not a complete lie, just not the complete truth either.

"I see…" I could tell she saw straight through my façade. "Am I to guess that this is why you did not show up to work the other day?" She questioned in an offhand manner.

I relaxed a little at her words and took a deep, calming breath. "Yes. I was pretty out of it all day, yesterday. And I really am sorry for not phoning in or anything."

"You seem to have quite the exciting life here all of a sudden." She replied as she swept a piece of her greying hair behind her ear.

"Tell me about it." I agreed with her. Ever since I had met Johnny, my life had gone from monotonous to a whirlwind of stress and excitement.

"Well, I suppose I can pardon the mishap from yesterday. You will be able to work tomorrow, correct?"

My nerves immediately vanished at her declaration. "I will be here. And I really am sorry about yesterday. You know it isn't like me to do something like that."

"I know, dear. Why else would I let you off so easy?" She chuckled as she got up from behind her desk to show me out of her office. "Now run off before I have the mind to set you to work."

"Yes ma'am."

I walked out of the door and said my goodbyes to Lucy before making my way to find what the kid had gotten himself into.

"And tell Anna to get her nose out of that magazine!" I heard Lucy call before I heard her door close.

Laughing to myself, I kept walking and eventually found Ponyboy in the cereal aisle. A glance in the cart told me that the kid didn't heed my words very well.

"That don't look like much food, kid."

I must have spooked the poor kid cause he turned around all quick like and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Geez, man." He muttered.

"Cool it kid. But seriously, I thought I told you to fill this thing up." All that was in the cart was a couple of boxes of cereal, hamburger meat, and a box of cocoa. "Come on. You are obviously not very good at grocery shopping." With that I pulled the cart from him and started going through all the aisle's again. Ponyboy followed silently behind me and every now and then he would throw in something he wanted, but not without a quick glance at me first. I would just smile in encouragement each time. I understood why he was hesitant. I would be embarrassed too if someone else was buying my groceries for me.

About twenty minutes later found us at the checkout with a full cart. I made small talk with Anna as she rung up all of our items.

"Alright dear, the total comes out to be $19.80." Anna smiled at us.

"Sure thing." I reached into my pocket before remembering that I wasn't wearing my own clothes and that my money was at home. "Shit, I ain't got the money on me right now. Will ya put it on my tab and I'll pay it tomorrow when I come into work."

"You got it. You two need help taking this out to the car?" Anna asked as she looked at collection of paper bags.

"Shit. We walked, and there's no way that we can carry this all home." I grumbled, cursing my own stupidity. I was normally more prepared than this.

"No sweat, chick! I gotcha. I can give yall's a lift. My shift ended five minutes ago. Let me go grab my jacket and tell Luce I'm takin' off." Anna exclaimed as she rushed out from behind the counter.

"Hey throw me the keys and we'll get everything loaded up!" I hollered to her. She threw the keys and I was for certain that I was going to drop them but Ponyboy caught them before I could blink. "Show off." I muttered before loading the bags back into the cart. "Let's get these in her car."

~x~

Anna gave Ponyboy and me a lift back to the Curtis household and we were able to get all of the food unpacked and put away before the clock struck three. Pony informed me that Soda and Steve normally came home around four or after, depending on how much horsing around they did, and that Darry was always home a little after five.

I fixed Ponyboy and Johnny some potato soup before kicking the kids out of the kitchen so that I could start fixing dinner, my way of showing my appreciation to the Curtis brothers. I had decided to make a meatloaf with mashed potatoes, biscuits, and, after being informed by Ponyboy, the very traditional chocolate cake that the boys were used to.

After slaving away in the kitchen for what seemed like hours I went to go check on Johnny. I hadn't seen much of the kid since I had woken up and it made me feel guilty. I was surprised to find both of the kids in the living room watching some game show. Pony was sitting on the floor with his back up against part of the couch, whereas Johnny was sprawled out over the couch.

"Hey, kiddo." I whispered to Johnny and nudged him to move over a bit. I watched as he painfully lifted his top half up and allowed me to slide in behind him, allowing him to lie partially on top of me. I wrapped one arm around him and let the other glide through his hair. It desperately needed cut but I knew he would never cut it.

"How ya feelin'" I asked him quietly. Ponyboy was either ignoring us or completely enthralled with the show that was on.

"I'm okay, I'm tuff. You should be more worried bout yourself than me" He replied with a huff.

I flicked him in the back of the ear and he flinched in pain. "Yeah, well quit acting tuff. You're in much worse shape than me."

"That hurt," He whined and rubbed his ear. "And if ya woulda kept your trap shut, they would've left ya alone."

The little brat was getting sassy with me, so I flicked his ear again. "What did I tell you bout taking your sass?" He whined again in response and I started again in a softer tone. "Trust me, I learned my lesson."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved me off before focusing on the TV once again.

We all stayed in the living room for another hour or so, just enjoying the peace and quiet before anyone decided to show up. The first to show up was Two-Bit. He came trotting in a little after half past four. He didn't even bother to knock, just came barging right in. I guess Johnny and Pony must have been used to it as they didn't even bat an eyelash when he came bouncing in the living room talking about only God knows what.

"Hey, good-lookin', whatcha got cookin'?" He asked as he plopped down into the old arm chair, beer in hand.

"Food." I answered in as serious of a tone as I could manage as I looked exuberant teen.

"Come on now baby, don't play me! Whatcha got a cookin in there for me? Fit for a King, yeah?" He ended with a loud laugh.

If he wanted to play, I could play along. "That food in there is for the Curtis brothers, but I do believe I saw a pile of dog dirt outside that would be just fit for you, yeah?" I mimicked him with a slight smirk. I heard both Johnny and Pony try and stifle their laughs.

"That's cold baby, real cold." Two-Bit emphasized by holding a hand over his heart before taking a swig of his beer.

"A little early for drinkin' ain't it?" I questioned while giving a pointed look at his drink.

"Darlin', it ain't ever too early to start drinkin'" He drawled before taking another swig.

"He ain't lyin'. Two-Bit here will drink beer for breakfast." Pony threw in from his position on the floor.

Two-Bit was about to say something but was interrupted by the front door being slammed open once again. Steve and Soda walked in, arguing over what I could only guess was some sort of car.

"Mhm, what smells good?" Soda asked as he kicked off his shoes.

"Food." Two-Bit answered, trying to beat me at my own game.

"It's meatloaf." I cut Two-Bit off before he could say anything more.

"Score!" Soda exclaimed, "We ain't had meatloaf in forever."

"What's all the noise about?" A new voice asked and I craned my neck to see who was standing behind Steve.

"Little Kimmy home maker over here made us dinner" Two-Bit threw in as he got up to go and see what Steve and Soda where getting themselves into in the other room.

Darry gave me a questioning gaze and I just shrugged my shoulders. "It was the least I could do."

"You really didn't have to do anything." Darry tried to come back with but I wasn't having any of it. I slid off the couch; gently lay a sleeping Johnny on the arm rest, before patting down my shirt, well, Darry's shirt really.

"I wanted to though. So no arguing. I'm gonna go ahead and head home though."

"Stay for dinner at least. You did cook it." Darry cut me off.

I smiled at the gesture but shook my head. "I can't. I've got work tomorrow and I ain't very hungry anyway. But if you don't mind I would like to come over tomorrow. Check on Johnny and stuff, ya know?" I asked nervously, hoping that he wouldn't say no. I mean, he didn't seem like the type of person to forbid me from coming over again, but what did I know?

"I don't mind. You know you can always come here if you ever need anything." He said as more of a statement to me than a question.

I smiled sincerely at him. He was just like Sodapop, but in a rough around the edges kind of way. But in all honesty, this whole family was so kind and inviting and made me miss what I used to have.

"I appreciate the offer." I said, moving towards the door. "Well, I hope everything tastes good." I had my hand on the door knob and was in the process of turning it when Darry interrupted me again.

"At least let me walk you home." I was going to say no, that I would be fine, but he had already shoved his jacket back on and was on my heels, obviously leaving me no question in the matter.

"Sure. I'd like that." I smiled at him and he returned it with his own. A real smile, not a forced one I had seen him give Pony or Soda on occasion.

~x~

The walk back to my apartment took no longer than ten minutes. Darry and I made small talk and I found him just as easy to talk to as I had with Soda and Ponyboy. I would even go as far as to say that I enjoyed our walk back to my home. I don't think I would be too wrong in saying that Darry enjoyed it a little as well. He seemed a lot less tense and even let out a hearty laugh a couple of times.

As we reached my apartment building I bid him goodbye before making the lonely trek up the stair cases and to my apartment door. I was relieved to find that no one had bothered to steal any of my things in my absence. I locked the door behind me and let out a long sigh when I suddenly felt very lonely. My apartment was a lot colder than the warmth that Curtis's house had given off, even with the heater turned on at full blast.

~x~

Holy shit! It has been more than a year since I have updated this story! I apologize! But in all seriousness, I just haven't been into the outsiders for a long time and then out of the blue a couple of days ago I found the enthusiasm to write again. That being, said, I literally wrote this monster of a chapter in like 6 hours. So, what do you think? Questions? Concerns? Comments? Give em to me!