Love Who You Love

Chapter 33|| It's Been Too Long

Darry stood from the rocking chair in the nursery, laying his sleeping daughter in her crib as her small hand grabbed at the stuffed animal accompanying her. He checked on his son, making sure both babies were asleep before he got ready to pick Dally up from the hospital later. He kissed each of their foreheads, staring down at their perfect chubby faces. Slowly, Darry walked out of the room and softly shut the door behind him.

They were growing so fast. He couldn't believe it. The thought of the twins walking nearly brought Darry to tears, he was beyond happy how healthy and happy his children were. They had ups and downs but that never stopped them. They could get through anything.

     He smiled as he started walking down the hallway. Darry avoided the creaky spots in the floorboards as he made his way through the house. By now he was an expert at being quiet. Passing the empty bedrooms, Darry heard the Tv playing quietly. He continued walking and entered the living room where Ponyboy and his boyfriend sat. Darry sat down with them and watched the rest of the movie playing to kill time before he had to leave.

All throughout the last half of the movie however, Darry was hardly paying attention. He was too caught up in his own thoughts. He had missed Dally beyond words. He couldn't wait to sleep in the same bed again, to wake up looking into those mysterious blue eyes, to play with his blonde locks whenever Dally had a nightmare of his past, to do stuff again. He missed Dally. When noon approached, Darry turned to the younger boys.

     "I'm going to head out. There's everything the twins need here and if worse comes to worse then I'll be at Bucks with Dally, so don't be afraid to call if you need to." He explained. Johnny nodded to Darry as he held a softly snoring Ponyboy close to his side, one arm around his waist as Pony's head rested on Johnny's shoulder. Pony was awake from a terrifying nightmare and never fell back asleep, only Johnny could calm him down enough to sleep.

     "They'll be fine, Darry. Now go, have fun with your fiancé. If we need anything, we'll call." Johnny rested his head on top of Pony's head as a comedy show began to play from the small Tv. Darry stood slowly as his belly got in the way and grabbed his car keys off of the coffee table. He made his way to the front door and opened it. The heat from the July sun rushed over him, a sweat already forming on his forehead.

     He turned to face Johnny who was still on the couch. "I'll see you guys later." He waved. Knowing Johnny didn't want to wake Ponyboy by answering, he shut the door softly behind him without giving Johnny a chance to answer. Darry walked over to the old pick up and climbed in, thankful he wasn't too big to need any help just yet. Starting the truck, he drove the noisy vehicle down the road, turning onto a main room that lead to the hospital.

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Pulling into a parking spot, Darry turned off the ignition and let the feeling of deja vu wash over him. He hadn't seen Dally in a while due to the busy schedule everyone had developed and the complications with Dally's leg. Dally was lucky he still had 2 legs, especially since the last surgery was done to remove a major blood clot that had formed. The last time the pair saw each other, Darry was barely showing with their third child at 12 weeks pregnant, and now he was around 5 months along. The twins were 6 almost 7 months old when they last saw their father, and now they're turning a year old in exactly 1 month.

Darry had already made about half of the plans for the twins' party, leaving some of the decisions for Dally's help. He also refused to know the gender of the third baby until Dally was able to be at the ultrasounds with him, so until then he had no clue what the gender was. Even if he didn't know, he felt like it would be another boy. Though he could be wrong, he remembered Dally wanted a girl. He didn't care if they didn't agree on the gender. Darry just wanted Dally to finally be there for the soon to be 4 of them like he was before for him and the twins. He missed it. He wished that it had gone better. But what fun was that?