Two-Bit hadn't seen Soda all week. He hadn't returned any of his lover's messages or calls. He didn't want to be in contact after what he had seen in Soda's bedroom. Two-Bit couldn't face the fact that he had been cheated on. There was no possible way that that is what happened.

Steve didn't want to face Soda or Two-Bit, for he knew that he had done something wrong. The only way for things to be right again was for him to put everything back in it's place.

Soda was all alone again. He hadn't came out of his room every since he was caught with Steve. He had tried to contact Two-Bit to let him now what really was going on but his lover never answered.

All three of them was torn apart inside, conflicted with their inner selves. Their lives were slowly falling apart, piece by piece.

Steve handed a letter to Darry, "Can you give this to Soda, please?" He never even waited for an answer, he just walked towards Two-Bit's house next.

When Two-Bit's mother answered the door, they exchanged their greetings and Steve asked her to give a letter to her son. He walked away, preparing himself to do the ultimate crime.

Back at the Curtis house . . .

"Hey, Soda," Darry said at the door to his younger brother's room.

Like always, there was no response. He hadn't seen his brother this bad since Sandy moved to Flordia and even then, he had only let Two-Bit in because Mathews made him smile and lightened his mood out of despair. Now, Two-Bit was always busy and can't make time to come over and cheer Soda up. Odd.

"I have something for you." Darry slid it under the door and walked away. It was pointless to keep standing there.

A little after Darry's footsteps were out of hearing, Soda quickly got the letter off of the floor and opened it, hoping it was from his boyfriend. He was disappointed when he saw Steve's sloppy handwriting, but he read the note anyways.

"By the time you get this, I will be gone from your life forever. But before I go, I just want to tell you that I'm sorry and I tried to patch up the pieces of your life that fell apart. I hope that you and Two-Bit will be happy together and I wish you all the happiness that you deserve. Goodbye Sodapop Curtis."

-Steve

What did he mean 'gone forever'? 'Oh no. Did he mean that?' Soda ran downstairs, finally telling Darry about everything, from the scene in the woods to the note that he was given. Darry's features remain cold and mean, but Soda could tell that he hurt by all of it. "We have to go help him, Darry."

"Fine. But don't think that I'm not going to beat the living snot out of him, that asshole," Darry said. They went out to go look for him.

At the Mathews house . . .

Two-Bit read the note once, twice, even three times. Steve had carefully explain what had happened when he caught them two together. He was angry at Steve for what he had done but still, they had been friends forever and Two-Bit felt the need to find him. 'Maybe it's just because I want to be the one to kill him,' he thought as thoughts were running through his head about why he wanted to find this bastard.

Sodapop, Darry and Two-Bit were all looking for Steve. They all thought to check his house, all of them arriving at about the same time. They just let themselves in since no one was home. They checked all of the rooms and in Steve's bathroom was an unconscious body surrounded by pills, and alcohol.

Darry was the first one to make a move. Running cold water in the tub, Darry put Steve's body under the water, pumping his lungs, checking for signs of him breathing.

Two-Bit was going to call an ambulence, but Darry said that there was no need. Everyone in the gang hated hospitals. It brought up too many bad memories.

Sodapop just stood there. He was in shock. Looking at Steve's lifeless body reminded him of his parent's death. Their bodies, too, had been like Steve's - pale and lifeless.

As Darry was pumping Steve's body, Steve finally coughed up everything. Sputtering, Steve tried to gasp for some air. He finally was able to take a deep breath, and then he realized that he had these three people to face up to. The three people that he didn't want to face. Steve guessed that both Soda and Two-Bit had gotten his letters and Soda had told Darry about everything. That was probably why all three of them had these stone hard looks on their faces.

"Why did you save," he coughed, "me?"

"Well, maybe it just because we wanted to be the ones to kill you," Two-Bit said, threatenly.

"Or," Soda said, "it could just be that he is part of the gang and we save each other's butts."

"Yeah, but don't think that we aren't going to beat yours when you've recovered," Darry said. "Even that won't be enough. You'll owe us afterwards. Whatever we want, you do. Now, just change out of your clothes and rest."

Steve was glad that he was given a second chance because that out-of-body experience sucked.