Strawberries and Cigarettes (Jally)

Fighting, Pt. 2

🚬Dally🚬

Johnny's been in a coma for a week. The longer he was out, the less hopeful I was. What if he never wakes up? I thought to myself as I held him close to me. This is what I've been doing the entire week. Holding Johnny, praying he would wake up. I hadn't left the hospital. I still remember the day we were told he was shot...

We were all sitting around, waiting for Johnny to come back all cooled off and calm, back to his normal self, but he never did.

We saw a cop car pull up in front of the house, and all of our emotions shifted. We knew then that something had happened. My heart dropped. Please no... I begged. Darry opened the door before the cop got to it.

"Officer Hall? What are you doing here?" He stepped aside, letting Officer Hall in. I stood up.

"Wyatt, what's going on?" I asked. There was clear panic in my eyes, and I could see fear in Wyatt's.

"Johnny..." he started, seeming like he was having difficulty saying it, "He's been shot."

My heart stopped and my eyes widened. I felt weak.

"No..." I whimpered, sticking my hands in my hair. Tears rushed down my face and it started getting harder for me to breathe, "No no no no no..."

"Dally...Dally!" Soda yelled.

"What?!" I snapped.

"Calm down! Is he okay?" he asked Wyatt.

"Yeah, luckily I got him to the hospital in time. Dallas, you can come with me, the rest of you can follow behind if you want," he said. I instantly ran out the door and into the front seat of the cruiser. Wyatt got in the driver's seat, Darry, Pony, and Soda got in their truck, and Steve and Two-Bit got in Steve's car. Wyatt sped to the hospital, knowing how much I was panicking. "Dallas, breathe. He's still alive. The worst that'll happen is he'll just be in a small coma. Don't worry," he told me, trying to calm me down.

"You don't get it, man...I don't care about anyone like I care about him. He's the only one that means anything to me, and if I lost him..." I didn't tell him about us being together, because I didn't really think he'd be supportive of that.

"You won't lose him. I promise you he's alright. He might not look all that good when we get there, though." God, I hated that thought. I hated seeing Johnny in any kind of pain, or anything other than healthy. It broke me. But I know I broke him. That's why he left. He needed to get away...from me.

I jumped out of the car the second we pulled into the hospital and I ran inside as fast as I could.

"Where's Johnny Cade?" I frantically asked the nurse behind the desk.

"Room 212."

I rushed to the room, not caring how far behind the others were. The second I got inside, that's when I saw him. He was pale, his heart rate was slow, he looked dead. I could feel my heart breaking. I walked up to his bed and took his hand. It was cold.

"Johnny..." I whispered, my eyes welling back up with tears. I gently lifted him, and got on the bed beside him, laying him on me, his legs crossed over mine. I held onto him, making sure to be careful with his wound. I started petting his hair, tears fogging up my vision, "I'm so sorry, Johnny...I'm sorry for hurting you, I'm sorry for not being there when you needed me the most, I'm sorry I let you down...I love you, Johnnycake..." The others had walked in right then, and I heard Ponyboy start to get sick.

"Oh my God..." he said.

"Johnny..." Two-Bit whispered just like I did. 

"Oh please no..." Darry mumbled. I looked at them.

"H-He's cold...I don't think he's okay.." I said, shaking.

"Dally, you gotta remember, he just got shot and probably lost a lot of blood. He's gonna be out for a while. Of course, his body temp is lower than usual." Steve said.

"I'm staying here until he wakes up..."

"Dal, you gotta shower and eat and everything, you can't just stay in bed with him and not do anything," Darry said.

"I'll shower here, and I'll have Soda bring me food. But I can't leave Johnny here by himself. He needs me now more than ever, and if I'm being honest, I need him too. I fucked up so badly last time...I can't hurt him again. I need to stay here and fight for him, for us. Don't make me leave...please."

"Dal..." Darry sighed, "Alright. I'll have Two-Bit come tomorrow since Soda has to work, he'll bring you something to eat and he'll watch Johnny while you shower. Just don't do anything stupid and be careful with him."

"I will," I said, "Thank you, Darry."...

As I remembered that day and the majority of the week, I felt movement. Johnny was moving. My eyes shot over to him, and I saw his hand slowly go up to my side.

"D-Dally...?"