<Dallas's POV>

My heart stops and my blood turns to ice. The ache in my head grows stronger as the sound of her laughter runs through my mind. The image of her smiling is plastered onto the inside of my eye lids. The story of our future with the twins and Tibby is read repetitively in my head. A future that is never going to happen now.

The whole room is silent besides the loud shrills of our crying. I find myself unable to move. My eyes plastered to the sight of what used to be the living breathing, Skyler Elizabeth Winston.

Her eyes don't open but her mouth does. I hear a gasp and see Skyler taking in a breath of air. Only now do her eyes flutter open, revealing a magnificent steel gray. My breath escapes me and more tears run down my face. I tuck my head into her neck and take a few deep breaths, inhaling her familiar scent.

She was dead. She was not breathing. Her eyes were closed and she was not moving. Miraculously here she is catching her breath as she shakes slightly. I start sobbing in the crook of her neck. Pulling back a bit I cup her cheeks again. Her eyebrows are furrowed in worry, and her eyes scared. I let out another breath of relief. "You're okay, you're fine," I say in an effort to reassure Skyler, but I think the statement reassures me more than her that she is still with me. She smiles slightly as I rub her cold and pale cheek. "Do you... do you wanna try sitting up?" I ask breathlessly. Skyler nods quickly but in a faint way with that same small smile. I place a hand under her head and another under her back. Slowly, Skyler manages to sit up. She barely has time to blink before Pony throws his arms around Skyler in a fit of sobs. Skyler places a fair skinned hand on his back and holds him to her.

"You're okay! Thank god! I don't know what I would've done without you! I can't take any more death! And I especially couldn't stand never being able to tell you I got accepted into Harvard and I never thanked you for helping me fill out the application, and Dallas would never be the same because just your existence saved him in more ways than one. You saved him, you saved Dallas," Pony blubbers out in between his tears. Skyler is crying slightly now and her hand grasps Pony's back tighter. I try not to think about Skyler saving me to much. Mostly because I know it's true and I know if I lost her I would go insane. That's not something I want to think about.

I hear Steve kneel down onto the floor and place a hand over his heart. Turning my head more to him he smiles at me. Smiling back at him we just look at each other. Maybe it's because we don't know what to say or because we accept that we both love this girl in different ways. But I know that in this moment I accept that.

Pony releases Skyler and she nods to him as he goes over to Steve. Skyler merely looks at me with those cold steel eyes. But this is enough to set me over the edge again. Tears pour from my eyes and I pull her into my arms. Awful crying noises erupt from my mouth and I let it happen. Skyler's hand rubs my back as she cries lightly into my shoulder. "Johnny, where's Johnny?" She asks into my shoulder. I look back at Steve who is hugging a crying Pony. My eyebrows furrow.

"Johnny?" I ask with a hoarse voice. Steve points behind the couch. I look at where he is pointing before quickly kissing Skyler. Peeling myself from Skyler's side, I rush behind the couch to find Johnny, beaten and bloodied. His limbs twisted at odd angles and his skin ripped violently. His face swollen and clothes shredded. My breath hitches in my throat as I scoop Johnny into my arms gently. As I turn around Pony rushes to my side and looks at Johnny concerned. "Someone call Darrel," I demand coldly.

"Already here, Chris told me." The deep voice booms from the door way. I rush over to Darry and watch as Soda rushes inside to see Pony. Pony falls into Soda's arms in a quick and rushed hug. Then Pony runs over to Darry and I as I hold Johnny. Next thing I know Steve and Soda have Skyler's arms slung over their shoulders and are by our side. The six of us plus Johnny go to the running truck and I sit in the front with Johnny and Darry as everyone else gets into the bed of the truck. Darry speeds off towards the hospital.

"We um, we almost lost Skyler," I say breathlessly. Darry glances at me quickly.

"How?" Darry asks in surprise. I shrug.

"I don't know I wasn't there to see how she was knocked out," I inform Darry.

"When did you get there?"

"When she stopped breathing," I say with a single tear slipping down my face. Darry holds onto the steering wheel tightly, with white knuckles.

"Why weren't you there before?" Darry asks as a way to change the subject.

"We left Tibby at the house by accident and I didn't want to leave her alone so I went to bring her to your house with Chris and Lena," I explain. Darry nods slowly and then furrows his eyebrows suddenly.

"Why couldn't Lena go with you?" He asks curiously. I let out a long breath.

"I didn't want Chris to be alone."

"Why?" I debate in my head whether to tell him about my dad being in town or not. Eventually I decide it's better for Darry to be informed.

"Darrel, you can not tell Chris this but, our father is in town." He doesn't say anything for the rest of the drives and I don't question him. I get that the news is bad. I would know, I'm terrified.

We arrive at the hospital and Darry carries Johnny into the building. I would have done it but in need to be with Skyler. Soda, Steve, and Pony follow Darry and Johnny into the hospital. I climb into the bed of the truck with Skyler. The little light we have is the shining off the moon and the glistening of the bright stars. The sky lights cast odd shadows on our face and reflect off of Skyler's ink black hair. Her eyes mimic the light of the starts. Silver and shimmering.

There is a slight breeze on the winter night. It tousles her short hair around in swirls in front of her pale face. Her plush, pastel pink lips are chapped.  I rub my hand up her soft fair skinned cheek and smile slightly. She looks up at me with wide eyes. Prying and childish. Her small and frail hand grabs my large one and redirects it to her growing belly. Now I smile a bit bigger. I lean over and bring my mouth closer to the bump. "Hey Aiden and Shailene, your mommy and I love you very much and we are both fine. Your Uncle Johnny is going to be fine," I say in reassurance to myself. I look back up at Skyler and she is smiling. I just smile back at her, admiring the fact that she is still alive and with me. Luck has never been something I believe in, but today I feel like the luckiest man alive.

"C'mon, I wanna check on Johnny," Skyler says. I nod and help her get out of the bed of the truck. We walk hand and hand into the hospital. Quickly we spot Soda standing in the doorway of a room. There is a smile on his face and his hands are tucked in his pockets casually. The worry is washed away at the sight of Soda's positive attitude. He see us walking down the hall and stands up straighter.

When we reach his side he smiles brighter. "He is fine," Sods tells us. I smile back at Soda before leading Skyler into Johnny's room. There are neat stitches over the now clean cuts, a cast on his arm, and band-aids on the less harmful cuts. When Johnny sees us he smiles and tries to sit up a little straighter. Pony helps him a bit. I see even Pony has the cut on his jaw taped and the cuts on his arm cleaned.

"Dally, Skyler," Johnny says with his voice hoarse and scratchy, "I'm sorry to cause you all this trouble, my dad found me at the lake and wasn't to happy with me leaving and-"

"Shut it man, it doesn't matter, we are all fine," I tell him. He smiles brighter and his cheeks get a little flushed.

"Shoot man, when can I get home?" Johnny asks. We all laugh a little.

"I'll get your release papers, but I need to talk to Skyler and Dallas real quick," Darry says with a serious look. I nod as does Skyler and we follow Darry into the hall. Skyler squeezes my hand in anticipation. Darry rubs his forehead and holds his other hand on his hip before crossing both arms across his chest. "So apparently Johnny's mother died last month in a car accident, and tonight Steve killed his father," Darry says. I don't flinch. His parents got what they deserved. "So this leaves Johnny as an orphan, unless one of us takes on the role as his legal guardian, this doesn't mean parent, it just means guardian," Darry clarifies. I nod in understanding. "Now I don't want to put pressure on you two but I still have Pony and Soda and I-"

"Darry we'll do it, he lives with us anyways, Tibby loves him, it's perfect," Skyler says. Darry bites his lip.

"I didn't know if it would be a problem cost wise, with the chemo bills and all," Darry says. This time I speak up.

"Dar, it's going to be hard but this is Johnny, I'd pay-"

"Actually boys I was going to wait to tell you this but when I went for the ultrasound today I also checked in with my other doctor. That's why it took so long to get home Dallas, I didn't stop by Chris's," Skyler admits, "so when I went to see him he did a quick scan and found something a bit peculiar." My heart stops. I can't take any more bad new about Skyler's cancer. If she says something about how the chemo isn't working or the tumor grew I'm going to loose it. Skyler looks at me with a small smile. "The peculiar thing was usually chemo takes a lot longer to work, but apparently I'm a miracle... the tumor is small enough to be removed, I scheduled an appointment for next week. No more chemo. No more cancer."

A/N HAHAHAHA YOU THOUGHT SKYLER WAS DEAD BUT NO I TRICKED YOU! And THE CANCER IS GOING TO GO BYE BYE! I know I'm going to hear oh that's not possible or it wouldn't work that fast etc etc but look this is my story and I enjoy miracles get over it. Anyways sorry again for the scare. By the way now you have to wait ten days for the next update, your welcome ;)

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