Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders. Sara Bareilles owns "Gravity."

Something always brings me back to you,
It never takes too long

September 25, 1969

It was getting late, and he had watched her mom come home from work and her step-dad leave. Silently, he listened through the closed bedroom door as a little kid ran up and down the hallway and eventually the bath water started running and her mom caught up to the little hellion and trapped him in the bathroom.

He didn't dare to move around her room, so he just looked from where he was sitting on her bed. It was still as neat and prim as ever. The whole room smelled like her and all he could think about were those nights he brought her to Windrixville. Years had gone by and he did everything he could to not think about her, but now he was sitting on her bed and waiting on her to get home.

Cautiously, he stood up and took one small, silent step at a time toward the vanity mirror over her dresser. In the dimming light he looked at the pictures, movie tickets, and scraps of paper. There were a lot of things going on with all of his friends, but he didn't have anything to do with them as far as he could tell. Not a picture or a memory. But when he looked down he caught glance of his postcard tucked under a small stack of books and opened letters. He left it there.

Through the barely parted curtains, he saw her as she came up the sidewalk and then up the front walk to the house. His palms started to sweat when he heard the front door open and she came in. He moved to the middle of the room and knew this was his last chance if he wanted out. He could just slip out the window he'd broke in through, and she'd be none the wiser.

Dally strained to hear, but she was quiet. It sounded like she was in the kitchen, but then she was closer. The bath sounds were louder, and he could hear her talk to her mom and the kid.

"Hi, buddy!" he heard her say.

"Hi Ellie!"

"Did you get your mail?" her mom asked.

"I got it. Thanks. I'm going to go work on some homework."

The bathroom door shut, and Dally braced himself as her bedroom door opened. She flicked on the light and shut the door before she looked up and noticed him. She jumped, the books and papers in her arms looked like they were going to fall out of her arms, but she caught them up and hugged them to her chest. Not much had changed on her in four months, except now she stayed away from him.

"Hey, doll face."

She looked over her shoulder and seemed to be listening for a second. When she looked back at him, her eyes were dark. She looked him up and down, anger in her eyes. Dally immediately tensed.

"You get my postcard?"

She shrugged. "I got a blank postcard."

This was not quite what he was expecting. Her lips were set in a firm line and her brows were knitted together. She was glaring at him. He knew she'd be mad at him, but he expected it to be the same way she was always mad at him. This time it was different. This time it was real, and there was no mistaking it.

"Yeah, I was in Texas for a bit."

"Well, that's real nice for you," she said with a shake of her head. She moved away from the door and set down her things. With her back to him, he noticed a white envelope in her hand. Dally sat back on her bed and she turned around, looking at him again. She made no motion to come closer.

"Why are you here?"

This was something they never had to talk about. He never had to explain anything to her. And if she ever asked, she never really pressed him for an answer. This was simple.

"Why do you have to ask?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I've barely seen you in three years."

Daggers seemed to be coming out of her eyes. She still stayed as far away from him as she could. Dally looked to change that, so he stood and closed the distance. She stayed where she was, and he stopped just in front of her. He reached into his shirt and pulled out his Christopher medal. Pulling it over his head, he offered it to her.

"I'm looking to make it more than that."

For a long time, she just stared at his hand and Dally started to sweat a little more, but he played it cool. It was supposed to be easier than this. It was supposed to be the way it was a long time ago. From the way she had begged him to leave Windrixville and come back to Tulsa, he expected her to fall to pieces as soon as she saw him. This was supposed to be what she wanted, and he was damned because he wanted it too. Months of living alone on the road forced him to realized he fucking hated being alone. He may as well be locked back up in jail or something.

He just couldn't understand, especially when she wouldn't look at him. He clenched his hand around the silver chain and couldn't keep the bite out of his voice.

"Did you go back to the boyfriend?"

She looked around him, but she made no motion to move by. When he inched forward, she stepped back.

"What was it?" he asked, letting a smirk play on his lips. "He wouldn't take you back or something?"

Now she looked at him. Narrowed eyes that glistened just enough to know that he had truly struck a nerve.

He lost the smirk and glared back at her. "Lucky for me that he didn't, huh?"

Again, she didn't answer him, and he wasn't feeling all that lucky anymore. She tried to pull away from him when he took her left hand, but he brought it up easily enough and laid the chain in her palm. When he let her go, she pulled her hand back quickly. There was the crunch of paper from her right hand. That envelope she had been carrying when she came in the room.

"What does this even mean?" she asked, the venom in her voice hissing through her strained whisper. "Because I can't believe this is a promise that you'll stick around this time."

She was putting him on trial, and he didn't know how to respond. He fucking wouldn't. Ellie must have known that, too, because she pushed around him and stood on the other side of the tiny room.

"You can't just come here after what happened and expect me to just put this on and act like it's all okay. I won't do it because it's not."

"I was in fucking prison, El."

"That was your own decision. You didn't have wave a gun in front of the cops. You could have come home with me." Her voice cracked, and she immediately looked away.

Those moments were so hazy to him he didn't even remember most of the events leading up to the point that he got shot. He remembered the hospital and Johnny dying and Ellie on his heels. There were flashes of images, smells, and sounds that reminded him, but there wasn't a clear picture of that night.

"It's not even you going to prison. It's what happened four months ago and how all you seem to know how to do is disappear on me."

"I came back, didn't I?"

She shook her head, eyes rolling back into her head, and the most disgusted look he had ever seen crossed her face.

"Oh, please. You used me, Dally. That's all you did."

"I fucking told you that I didn't."

"Oh right, your letter. Was that supposed to convince me after you took off without a word when I needed – " She stopped herself, covered her mouth with her wrist and looked away. There were actual tears falling down her cheeks now, and he was at a loss.

"All you were was bored in on your uncle's farm and knew that I would go with you," she said, her voice raspy. "You knew it, and I was stupid enough to think that maybe you actually gave a shit about me."

After all these years, he couldn't understand why she didn't have him all figured out. He didn't think he was all that complicated.

Slowly, he moved toward her. She dropped her arm and stared at him, eyes wide and wet.

"I don't got a lot of reasons to be here," he told her. And he didn't.

"Please don't make me the reason you stay," she said. Her voice quieted, and he could hardly hear her. "I don't trust myself with you."

Inside, he was smiling to himself. It felt like a victory. She could have told him flat out to just hit the road, but she didn't.

Because she wanted him there. Because she needed him there as much as he wanted to be there.

"That sounds like a pretty good reason to stay," he said.

She closed her eyes and turned away from him, tears on her cheeks. She was falling to pieces in front of him but not the way he had expected. Definitely not the way he wanted.

"C'mon, baby," he whispered, reaching for her arm to turn her back to face him. "I fucked up that bad that you don't want me back at all? You want me gone again?"

Her eyes were still closed, fat tears spilling out from under her lashes. He took a deep breath before he went on, ready to use what he knew would get the reaction he had intended to get.

"I can go, Ellie," he said, letting go of her arm. "If it's that fucking bad to have me back here, I'll go. I just thought you wanted me here, but I don't know what the fuck I was thinking."

He walked back to her door and put his hand on the knob.

"I got plenty of places to go. Got a whole 'nother side of the country I ain't even seen. I just wanted to see you, though. If you don't wanna see me, no big deal."

"Wait," she said, wiping at her face. Her eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot when she looked at him.

She hadn't come running into his arms or anything, not the way he wanted, but she didn't want him to leave.

He looked at her hand where she was still clutching his saint medal and nodded. "So that means you want me to stay?"

She was quiet so long that he didn't think she was going to answer him. Standing across from him, she had his medal held tight in one hand, a letter in the other, looking like she was weighing her options before she made her decision. He started to realize she wasn't the girl he used to know. She wasn't the way she used to be.

When she finally spoke, it wasn't the answer he was expecting, and it made him wonder what the hell he had expected in the first place.

She held his gaze as she gave him a small shrug, tears still on her cheeks.

"I don't know."

Dally knew then that if he stayed she would hate him as much as she would if he left. There was no right answer, and she wasn't going to tell him.

He was going to have to figure it out himself.

You're neither friend nor foe, though I can't seem to let you go,
The only thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down

A/N: And that's a wrap! Thank you so much for all of your reviews and time! We hope you've enjoyed! xoxo Kori and Katie