Darry's POV

I woke up feeling a slight pressure on my chest. Opening my eyes, I saw Ponyboy curled up on me, fast asleep. I sat up slowly and let his head fall onto lap. He smiled in his sleep and snuggled into my stomach.

After a few minutes of me brushing through his hair slowly, I saw Pony's eyes flutter open. He looked around room all confused like and yawned.

"Morning, Ponyboy." I said as I picked him up and carried him to the kitchen. He climbed out of my arms and sat at chair, studying the kitchen. "What do ya wanna eat for breakfast, Pones?" I asked him.

Ponyboy mumbled something to me. I bent down so I could hear him. He pointed to the chocolate cake that was sitting on the counter. Smiling, I cut him a big piece, put it on a plate along with a fork, and slid it in front him.

Even though Ponyboy's mute and is shyer than before, he still loved the same things as before, like chocolate cake. He giggled and happily ate it. When he finished, he had frosting all over his mouth. I chuckled and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

Ponyboy climbed down from the table and was and was about to go back to his puzzle when he suddenly he stopped his place. I felt as if I knew what was happening; panic attack. His face contorted and he started breathing rapidly. Tears quickly filled his eyes.

I sat Ponyboy on the floor and gently squeezed his hands. "Shh..." I said softly. "Ponyboy...it's me, Darry.....Soda and I ain't gonna let anyone hurt ya.." I titled his chin up so he could look at me. He looked at me with fearful eyes and started bawling. He crawled into my lap and gripped my shirt.

I held Ponyboy close to me and rubbed his back. He now has random panic attacks on top of his nightmares. Pony usually has about 5-7 a day, which is surprisingly an improvement. When he first came home, he had about 10-12 a day.

A few minutes later, Pony just was letting out whimpers here and there and was letting out shaky breaths. He hugged me tightly and I kissed his head.

Later on, Pony climbed out of my lap and ran to Soda's bedroom, probably to wake him up. Seconds later, I heard loud giggling from Soda's room. I walked in and saw Sodapop tickling our youngest brother who was squirming and his face was bright red from laughing so hard. Ponyboy loved being tickled. He was always the happiest then.

Pony eventually got tired of being ticked, and he wiggled out of Sodapop's grip. He grabbed our hands and pulled us to the living room, probably wanting to play or something.

Soda and I played with Ponyboy for a little. We helped him with his puzzles and we let him draw us.

He was coloring something with his blue crayon when he snapped in half. He started whining and pushed his paper and coloring stuff off of the table. Sometimes, when things don't go Pony's way, he gets really upset. It ain't his fault, apparently. His therapist said it's from the abuse. We aren't sure why. If we punish him when he has these fits, it might lead to a panic attack.

Soda began to pick up everything as I tried to calm Pony down. I rubbed his back and firmly, but not too firmly, grabbed his arm. "Ponyboy, it's okay." I told him calmly. "Your crayon just broke, that's all. There's probably another one somewhere in one of these drawers."

That was enough to calm Ponyboy down. He stopped struggling and climbed down from the chair. Ponyboy proceeded to search every drawer in the house.

As he looked, I helped Soda clean up the mess. "Do you think he gets away with too much?" Sodapop asked me. I rubbed the back of my neck. "I guess..." I admitted. "But if we punish him, then he'll have a panic attack. Remember what happened that one time?" Soda sighed and nodded.

Suddenly, Ponyboy ran back to us. He had something in his hand. I knelt down and smiled at him. "What's in your hand, honey?" I asked him. He showed me. It was a dream catcher that our mom made a few years ago. Pony looked at it confused.

"That's a dream catcher Ponyboy." Sodapop said. "The bad dreams get stuck on the string while good dreams go through."

Once Soda told him that, his eyes lit up and held the dream catcher close to him. "Do you want to use it tonight?" Soda asked. He nodded. I smiled, hoping that maybe this would solve the nightmare issue.