Chapter 8

Chapter 8

• A week later •

We brought Baby home from the hospital today. Ponyboy, Darry, Soda, and I walk in the door as I hold Baby in my arms. This is my first time being back. I've been in the hospital somewhat in recovery, but that doesn't matter. I'm home now. We're home.

I walk in to see pink everywhere. Pink bags with pink clothes. Pink, pink, pink. Good lord.

"Now who brought all this pink in here?" I ask.

"Ask your co-workers," Soda says from behind me.

"You mean they gave me all this stuff?"

"Yup. All Baby's."

"Hey, looky here," Steve says. "They found this crib to give you."

"Here's a bunch of diapers. You'll need 'em for sure," Dally adds negatively.

"You're overwhelming me. Hang on, and I'll go through everything here," I tell them.

"That is if you can walk through the living room," Darry tells me, moving things out of the way. I step over little things and sit on the couch.

"Look, Baby. All your uncles," I say quietly. Her little eyes are open again. They're such a vibrant green with gray speckled in the middle of them. She's got her dad's eyes. She really does look like a doll.

"Does anyone want to hold her?" I ask. They all step back a little. Expect Pony. He sits right next to me. I think he's getting the hang of this dad thing. It'll get more challenging though. He just doesn't know that yet.

"Dang, my little brother with his own kid. I can't get over it," Darry mumbles.

"Yeah, neither can I," Soda agrees.

"Shoot, think how I feel," Ponyboy argues. I laugh.

"So how does this baby thing work?" Steve asks.

"Well she eats, sleeps, and does pretty much everything else we do. She just needs a little extra help, don't you sweetheart?" I reply, beginning to talk to Baby. She looks like she's smiling up at me.

"Hey JT, can I hold her?" Soda asks. I nod and gently place her in his arms. She immediately falls asleep.

"Looks like someone likes you already," I tell him. He laughs quietly.

"No kidding. She's so little."

"I know. I guess she'll end up that way," I tell him. He smiles widely down at her.

"Oh well."

"Oh and whoever she wakes up on, they have to deal with her," I say. Baby reaches her arms in the air, and it looks like she's reaching for me. Soda gently places her in my arms. I sit on the couch again.

"JT, do you want me to move that crib in your room?" Darry asks.

"Would you mind?" I ask. He shakes his head. Pony and Soda help carry it into the other room. It was so nice of Carol and Ms. Hazel to give it to me. And that includes everything else too.

"Alright, y'all hungry?" Darry asks as he comes out of the room. He claps his hands together.

"I'm starved. Hospital food is gross," I complain. Everyone laughs a little.

"Y'all clean up that mess in there, and you can stay for supper."

Even though I feel alright about this, I'm still so confused. So many questions are running through my mind at the moment. What if I don't take good care of her? What if I'm not a good enough mom? What if...? I could go on and on. I guess I should just trust myself for once.

I feed Baby and lay her down to go to sleep. She looks so sweet and peaceful when she sleeps. It's like she really is a baby doll, perfectly molded to look so real that it's scary.

Her light colored eyelashes flutter as she dreams. She has a pacifier in her mouth, and it bobs up and down while she moves in her sleep. I never thought this day would come, having someone who loves me as much as I love them hold my hand as we look down at our little girl... It's almost like a dream.

"Ponyboy?" I say gently, looking at our daughter. "Do you think we'll be good parents?" He puts his arm around me and hugs me.

"I'm already looking at one great parent. We'll be fine, JT."

"I sure hope so..."

•••

"JT, wake up," Ponyboy says quietly, shaking my arm.

"I don't wanna," I mumble.

"C'mon, baby. We gotta wake up."

"Nooo... Baby kept me up all night."

"Me too," he says. He kisses my cheek. "C'mon now."

Baby starts crying. "Now I have to get up," I complain. I roll out of bed and pick up Baby. I hold her, rocking her and singing to her, until she calms down. For some reason, singing works on her. I'm not sure why.

"I'll get her bottle," Ponyboy says. I nod as he walks out of the room. I change her, all the while she stares at me with that baby smile on her face.

"You meanie. You think it's funny, huh?" I ask. She starts whimpering. I take her into the living room. Pony takes her and gives her the bottle.

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" he asks. "Maybe I can skip school today."

"No I'll be fine. Honey, cradle her head."

"Sorry." He adjusts his arm. Soda walks in with a huge smile on his face when he glances at Ponyboy.

"Good morning," he says happily.

"Morning," I answer.

"Did y'all sleep any?"

"No," Pony says. "All she does is cry."

"Good to know you got some sleep, Soda," I tell him. He laughs.

"Need me to take a shift, I can." I shake my head.

"Oh great..." Pony boy says. I look and see that Baby spit up on him. I laugh and cover my mouth with my hand.

"Here let me have her," Soda says, taking Baby. Pony goes to take a shower.

"Morning," Darry says as he walks into the kitchen. Soda and I say "Morning" at the same time. We then look at each other and laugh.

He begins making breakfast, and when it's done, we all sit down together. I put Baby back in her crib though. She fell asleep. How I'm not sure.

"Man, she is out like a light," I say.

"She sure is a heavy sleeper though," Ponyboy adds.

"Are you feeling alright?" Dark asks. I nod.

"I'm pretty tired. Who ain't?"

"Me," Soda says. Ponyboy and I glare at him.

"You're lucky."

"We'll be lucky if we get to work on time," Darry informs us. "We best be going. Ponyboy, come straight home from school, alright?"

"Yeah, alright."

"Bye you two. Be good, you hear?" We nod as they rush out the door. I take the empty plates and put them in the sink. I turn in the water to wash them. Ponyboy comes behind me and places Baby'a empty bottle in the soapy water.

"Are you gonna come home for lunch?" I ask.

"Yeah, but I won't have much time."

A car horn sounds from outside. I look out the kitchen window and see Two-Bit's car sitting in the rain. That's funny because I didn't even hear rain.

"I gotta go. I'll see you later." He kisses my lips quickly before running out the door. I stand on the porch and wave as they leave. I find myself leaning against the post and smiling. I love that boy.

I go around the house, picking up things and trying to straighten up. Then I lie down for a nap while Baby's asleep. That way, she won't be awake when I'm asleep.

She wakes me up to her screaming about half an hour later. I sigh and get out of bed to feed her. She looks up at me with those wide green eyes.

"You're wearing mommy out, Baby," I tell her gently. "Maybe I shoulda let daddy take care of you for the day, huh?" She burps, and I sigh. "Yeah. That's what I thought."

I rock her back to sleep. It seems like that's all she can do. I guess it'll be awhile before it gets real adventurous.

The front door opens. Ponyboy smiles when he sees me. I do the same.

"How are my girls?" he asks.

"Tired." He laughs a little.

"I wouldn't doubt it."

"Fix you what you want. I'm not putting her down just yet."

"Alright."

"How's Johnny?" I ask.

"Fine. Why?"

"I don't know. He's just so quiet. I can't pull a word out of him sometimes."

"He's always that way. It's just Johnny. If you were him, you'd understand too."

"I guess so. Well you'd better get going. Can't skip class!" I tell him.

"Yeah, yeah. Bye, JT." He kisses my cheek and runs out the door quickly.

After he leaves, I lie back down while I can. I'm so exhausted from Baby keeping me up. I guess that's what comes with being a mom. All I want to do is sleep though. Maybe it'll get easier when she's older. Oh well. For now, we're pretty cool.

•••

(short but necessary!)

Ponyboy's POV

"Pony, wake up!" Two-Bit says, nudging my arm. My eyes snap open, and I look at him angrily.

"What?" I ask with obvious irritation in my voice.

"You fell asleep again."

"I'm sorry I-"

"Be quiet!" the librarian snaps. She walks the opposite way.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I'm so tired."

"Baby?" I nod. "She's a handful ain't she?"

"She's two handfuls actually." Two-Bit laughs quietly.

"I bet."

"I'm gonna go back to sleep or something."

"Alright, Sleeping Beauty," he whispers.

"Shut your trap," I mumble. I fall asleep and don't remember much of the rest of the day. But I remember dreaming about Baby and JT and how we're gonna be a great family. It'll be fun. I'm sure of it.

•••

JT's POV

I wake up to the sound of someone barging through the front door. I'm surprised it wasn't Baby this time. I jump out of bed and check on her. She's fine. Not much time has passed anyway.

"JT? JT!" Dally's voice calls. He sounds so freaked out. I run into the living room and almost knock him over.

"What's wrong?!" I ask.

"I've got a big problem," he says urgently.

"Wait. Why are you holding that blanket?"

"That's what I'm about to tell you. Look, I don't even know what's going on either. Sylvia just came by Buck's and talked to me about some stuff. Then she told me she was leaving and all, and-"

"Dally! What's your point?" He shoves the blanket into my arms. I remove a loose corner to reveal the face of a little baby.

"I've got a kid," he says.

"Oh my gosh! How could you not know?!" I yell.

"She never told me! We split up before she ever found out! She was two-timin' me. It probably really ain't mine! I don't even know what to do! I've got a son and not a clue how to deal with him!"

"How old is he?"

"She said six months old."

"Name?" I ask.

"Tucker Austin. How are we gonna tell everyone?"

"Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna straight up tell them. I'll help you take care of him."

"Help me? No! I can't take care of a drooling, screaming kid!" he says.

"Dally, you're gonna take care of your kid or god so help me-"

"Alright! Fine. I'm just... mixed up. We don't even know if it's mine!"

"Dally, look at him. He looks just like you." He sits on the couch and runs his fingers through his wet hair.

"Oh my gosh. She never told me nothing. She's moving away and ain't ever coming back, JT. She dumped the kid on me."

"Looks like your days of responsibility have come. You have diaper duty," I tease. He rolls his eyes.

"I ain't had the kid five minutes. Give me a break."

"Will you quit calling him 'the kid'? He has a name. Right, Tucker?" I ask, looking down at him. I tap his nose. "Boop!" He smiles. "Dal, it won't be hard."

"Easy for you to say." Baby starts crying in the other room. I had Tucker back to Dally.

"Take him and be nice." He sighs heavily. I walk to the crib and pick Baby up. I walk into the kitchen to make her bottle. I sit beside Dallas and feed Baby. He holds Tucker up while he sits on his lap.

"Did she leave you with anything at all?" I ask.

"Everything she had. Food, clothes, and all that."

"Where are you gonna stay?"

"I don't know. I can't just take him wherever. I was thinking here, but there ain't a whole lot of room for two more people."

"I'm sure we can work something out," I assure him.

"Yeah. Whatever. It'll be pretty tough."

I study Tucker's appearance. He's the spitting image of Dallas with those dark brown eyes and hair. Speaking of which, his hair sticks out in all directions. It's pretty wild. But he has a tough look to him already. It's got to be the shape of his eyes or something. I don't know. He just looks so much like Dallas that it's scary.

"Jeez, JT. I can't do this."

"Sure you can! I said the same thing, but we're making it okay. Look, we're all friends. Any of us would help you with Tucker."

"Good 'cause you might have to help me the most. You think they know what they're doing?" he says.

"I know they ain't got a clue. I won't care at all."

"I just don't know how we're gonna tell everyone."

"Tell everyone what?" Two-Bit asks as he walks in the door. He stumbles back in confusion. "Well now. What do we got here? Either JT's got a second kid or you're starting a babysitting service."

"Neither," I answer.

"Then why does Dally have a- Wait a second."

"Yeah. It's mine, but don't say nothing or I'll kill you!" Dally says angrily.

"Woah, woah, woah. Yours? Sylvia?" he asks.

"Yeah. She never told me, and now she's moving away."

"Wait. Where's Ponyboy? You're supposed to bring him home," I scold.

"He's walking since it stopped raining." I sigh.

"As long as he makes it back okay."

"Trust me darling. He's fine. Johnny's got that blade, remember?" he asks. I nod. Then everyone comes home at once. Everyone stares at Dally like he has three heads. He rolls his eyes.

"I think you have something to say, huh Dal?" I prod.

"I didn't know till now either, but I've got a kid. His name's Tucker," Dallas says. Steve curses loudly.

"Well ain't this a surprise?!" he adds.

"Shut up, Steve," Dally mumbles in return.

"What're we gonna do about this, Darry?" Soda asks. He storms off. Oh great.

"Pony, hold Baby," I tell him, quickly passing her off. I chase Darry into the other room. "Darry, now wait a minute."

"What?" he asks, stopping and turning around angrily.

"We gotta help him, don't we?"

"It's his problem this time. He messed up. Not us. You think we can afford one more screaming kid in this house? No! We already got enough on our hands. We can't help him!" he says hastily.

"That's real shallow, Darry. Dally can't take care of Tucker by himself! He needs help. Our help."

"We just can't, okay? Drop the subject," he says.

"No, I won't."

"You think just because you and my kid-brother are together that I have to go by your rules? No. I'm not gonna do it this time. I've given into you every single time. Go back to your kid, JT. I'm done talking to you about this."

I turn around and walk angrily into the living room. I sit on the couch practically fuming.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Soda asks. I shake my head to prevent saying something. I get back up and grab a quilt from mine and Pony's room. I lay it out on the floor and motion my arms out to Tucker. Dally, without hesitation, hands him over, and I set him in the floor with me.

"Did she leave you with any toys?" I ask him. He goes out to his car and brings back a stuffed teddy bear. He tosses it to me. Tucker claps his hands together when he sees it.

"I can't tell if this is a dream or not," Two-Bit says.

"Welcome to my world," Dallas mumbles back.

I smile when Tucker smiles at me. I take the bear and act like it's tickling him. He giggles this cute little giggle that's so precious. He starts garbling and babbling since he can't speak clearly yet.

"You know, he's a sharp kid. Most babies take a couple extra months to be able to sit up on their own and babble," I say.

"How do you know?" Steve asks.

"I took a class back home." I poke Tucker's nose, and he laughs like it was the funniest thing ever. Darry walks into the kitchen and starts making dinner. We're not exactly on good terms right now.

I continue to play with Tucker and then show Dally how to feed him with the little spoon. He looks disgusted.

"C'mon, Dally. It can't be that hard," I tell him.

"You know what you're doing!" he complains.

"Excuses, excuses. Now try." He reluctantly takes the spoon and scoops the food from the jar and to Tucker. He cringes. "Yay! Now you take over."

"What?! No!"

"Dallas," I warn. He sighs and frowns.

I eat my dinner with his complaining in the background. I begin thinking of things to say so he'll shut up already and just do what he's supposed to.

"I can't do it," he finally says. "I don't want to deal with this drooling thing."

"What do I hear? Is that the sound of Dallas Winston, the toughest greaser in Tulsa, giving up? I'm in shock!" I say dramatically.

"Hell yeah. It is me giving up." He stomps outside and slams the door. I know he'll come back though. He's never gonna learn. I'll teach him though. He'll get it one day. Tomorrow if he'll listen to me.

"C'mon Tucker. You can share a crib for the night," I tell the bubbly little boy. I rock him to sleep then take care of my own.

Ponyboy walks in our room with her in his arms. He looks down at her softly, thinking about her. I can tell.

I hear the front door open and close, and I know Dally's probably asleep on the couch. Pony weakly smiles at me. I smile in return.

"Hey," I say quietly.

"Boy you look tired," he says, sitting on the bed beside me.

"You're telling me." He looks at Baby again. I study her sleeping figure. "Would you look at her, Pony? I swear, this is a dream."

"Nope. It's pretty real. All these diapers are proof enough." I laugh quietly.

"We ought to go to bed too."

"Yeah," he says in agreement. He gently puts Baby in her crib. I change and climb in bed. Pony lies beside me. I stare up at the ceiling and sigh.

"What's on your mind?" he asks, grabbing my hand.

"What's Dally gonna do? I mean, really. He's gotta realize that he's gonna have to sacrifice a whole lot more now that he's got Tucker."

"I bet it'll hit him sooner or later when he's in the cooler worried sick about his kid."

"Yeah... And Darry too. Me and him argued earlier about whether Dal should stay with us or not. We can't just leave him."

"Darry's just got a lot on his mind. I don't know what it is either, but it's sure bothering him. He's not trying to be that way. He's just thinking hard about something," he says.

"I guess so. Baby's made a lot of things change. I guess for the better. We'll never know unless we keep going."

"Yeah... Shoot, I can't believe it."

"Believe what?" I ask.

"In just a month, I'll be graduating and home a lot to help take care of Baby. And where'd you think of the name Babydoll anyway?"

"Well when I looked at her, she looked like a little doll I saw before. She just looked so perfect. Besides, it was original like you wanted."

"I'm glad you thought of it. I was so struck dumb, I couldn't even think straight."

"You still can't," I tease. We laugh.

"But anyway. If I get to go to college, I'm gonna wait for a while."

"Why? You should go."

"School can wait. I got other things on my mind too. Baby's gotta have two parents around, don't she? Or at least that's what you told me," he says.

"I've just made it a personal thing to not be like my own parents."

"I'm with you, but my parents were good. I just don't want to start bad habits I guess." I smile at him.

"Out of curiosity, would you ever leave me?" I ask.

"No. I ain't running off."

"Me either. Most people get scared, like Sylvia, and leave their problems on someone else. I kinda feel bad for Dallas because he never knew. Now she's leaving and never coming back. What kind of mother is that?"

"Not the kind you'll turn out to be. You're a great mother so far. I know my mom would be proud of you, and she'd love you and Baby to death. I miss her a lot," he says.

"I miss her too, though I've never met her. I guess it just feels that way when you talk about her. I bet she would've been crazy about Baby."

"She would've, but her and dad wouldn't be so happy about me being sixteen with a kid. It's alright though. It was with someone I love."

"Ain't you sensitive?" He laughs. "My mom would love Baby too. And you. Dad might've. I was never so close to him anymore before he died."

"I'm sorry, JT," he says empathetically.

"It's alright. Well, we better get some sleep. I've got one and a half kids to take care of tomorrow."

"One and a half?" he asks puzzled.

"Baby and half of Tucker. I'm making Dally do the rest. And just because he complained, he gets the dirty work."

"You're crazy," he says, kissing my lips. "But I like it. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Pony."

And before we both actually fall asleep, there's a silence that feels almost comfortable. In the still of the night, I barely hear him mumble almost inaudible words. I listen carefully when he says my name.

"I love you."

And I'm too tired to even reply back, but I smile. He puts his arm around me, and I know this is where I belong.