Outsiders-Sick ponyboy

chapter 8

A/N so rainy day and I'm on vacation so instead of starting my college application...i decided to update! so please enjoy

Darry's POV

Soda dozed off leaning on my shoulder and Johnny stretched out across the seats and was lightly snoring. I had tried to tell Johnny to go back to our house and at least crash on the couch, but he refused to leave. He just kept saying how it was all his fault Pony was in the hospital. Both Soda and I tried to console him, but nothing we said helped.

finally after a few hours of waiting, the doctor came out "Curtis?" he called.

Soda and Johnny both sat up suddenly alert. We stood up to follow the doctor. He spoke rapidly as we walked, twisting and turning in the hospital.

"He's stable now, but he still has a dangerously high fever. The dehydration is what made him collapse so suddenly. The IV in him is helping to replace electrolytes. All we can determine is that he has a nasty case of the flu. You can see him, but only family" The doctor said, eyeing Johnny with his darker features suspiciously.

"He's our cousin, but he lives with us" Soda answered quickly and the doctor nodded.

"I'd be careful he's still highly contagious, but I guess you have all been exposed." The doctor turned and started walking down the hall to another room.

I nervously swallowed before pushing open the door and seeing the most pitiful sight in my life. Pony was hooked up to a few machines, including the IV. His complexions were pale, almost greyish actually. He was currently asleep, but his face was twisted in pain. I sat down in an arm chair and began to wait, Soda and Johnny did the same. Hours began to slip away into the night. Soda and Johnny both fell asleep agian, but I refused to shut my eyes until I knew my baby brother was okay. The doctor checked in around midnight and then a nurse came in an hour after that. She was much younger and in a better mood than the doctor.

"He's going to be fine"She tried to reassure Darry. "You guys should go home and sleep there. He'll be awake in the morning and you can come see them then."  She said gently. "Hopefully he'll even be ready to go home tomorrow night. He's fevers already down considerably and if he can hold down solid food he'll be all set to leave"

I thanked her, but said I wasn't leaving.

At around two in the morning, Pony began to stir. I shot up from my seat and kneeled next to the bed, stroking his hair.

He turned to look at me. "D-darry? Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital baby, but don't worry, doc said your getting better already"

"What happened?" 

"You got dehydrated and passed out" I was choking back sobs at this point. "Johnny brought you here"

Pony tried to sit up, but I pushed him down. I didn't want him to accidently unhook any of his machines.

"Darry" He said suddenly, eyes wide. "How are we going to afford this?"

"Don't worry about that. I bet we'll think of something. For now, I just want you to rest and get better"

"I'm so sorry" He whispered.

"Just go back to sleep okay? They said if you're feeling up to it, you can go home tomorrow. That's all you need to think about, feeling better." I then leaned over and kissed his forehead, happy to find his temperature was much lower. "Get some rest"

After knowing Pony was okay, I leaned back in my chair and got a little bit of sleep. 

Soda's POV

I woke up confused and disoriented. The room was dark, but I could feel something heavy leaning against me. When the sleep finally cleared from my brain, I remembered we were in the hospital and Darry was leaning against me. I was glad he was finally able to get some sleep. Johnny was on the other side of me, sitting on the floor, leaning against my chair. He also appeared to be asleep. The clock read 4:30 meaning I'd been asleep for over 5 hours now. My neck ached and I had a slight pounding sensation behind my eyes. I figured it was a combination of stress and lack of a proper bed.

Pony was sleeping soundly on the bed, looking much better since this time yesterday. I was just glad he was able to sleep through the night. I shifted my position a bit, trying to get more comfortable before sleeping once again.

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The next time I woke up, it was light in the room and there were voices. The only thing was, I didn't want to open my eyes. The slight headache I had this morning had turned into a full blown migraine and I knew if I opened my eyes, the light would make everything worse.

"they'll be here in an hour to interview you. We just want to make sure that Ponyboy and Sodapop are in fact receiving proper care"

"Ponyboy was sick. It could have happened to anyone!" Darry was starting to sound angry. I was having a real hard time processing what they were talking about.

"Our concern is that your younger brother was left in the care of a sixteen year old boy with a dangerously high fever. We just need to follow protocol"

"He convinced me that he was fine to stay by himself. We had someone there to look after him"

"Mr. Curtis, we just ask that you do this for us before we release Ponyboy into your care"

My heart sank. His words finally made sense and I began to panic again. I tried to calm my breathing like Darry always told me to. Now was not the time to freak out again.

I heard the doctor leave so I opened my eyes. Darry was kneeling next to the bed with his hands in his head. Pony was still asleep. I realized that it was only 7. I thought I had slept a lot longer. Johnny was no longer in the room.

Darry looked up at me. "Golly Soda, are you alright, you're looking kind of pale" He sounded worried.

I swallowed hard, kind of feeling nauseous and shaky after hearing that.

"It's child services isn't it?" 

Darry nodded. "so you heard that didn't you"

"mmm" I replied. I didn't want to talk about it. "How's Pony?" 

"Oh he's much better. His fever's down to 101 and he drank some water an hour ago. If he holds it down once he wakes up again he's going to eat a few crackers and then we can go home if..." He didn't need to finish. I knew what that if meant.

"And Johnny?"

"He ran across the street to get us some breakfast. He'll be back any minute."

I nodded and so we sat back to wait for the worst.

A/N okay so here's my idea, let me know what you guys think: my plan is that Soda gets sick too (not as sick as Pony, but pretty sick) and he tries to hide it from Pony and Darry because he knows he can't miss any work because they have to pay for the hospital visit, but he works himself too hard and gets worse. Does that sound good...? I kinda just came up with it...