Author's Notes:

HPfreakout – Cho the Ho is an awesome name. Thank you.

m-fashion – I'm with you on the 'yay' part! Thank you.

x fever x – Thank you! Updating makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Contact Info: REVIEW or PM or e-mail or MSN or something.

Dedication: Everyone.

Story

The laughter in her eyes, the way she moved her hands when she talked, the way her mouth twitched when nobody was paying attention to her…it all fit…it all seemed so familiar. Keith Matthews was trying to make a decision on who he knew the girl across the room from. He was 36 years old, and he'd been through two failed marriages and fathered one child from his second wife and one from his first wife. He saw in himself nothing desirable left, every thing worth loving in him had been dried up, and he was too old for love yet this girl seemed to spark his interest, he found himself fascinated so he crossed the room to speak to her. A big step for him, he'd grown very shy in his later years.

He tapped the woman on the shoulder and she turned around to face him, leaving the man she had been talking to with an angry look on his face. She was very lovely, wearing a long black dress. She smiled delightfully and then stopped smiling abruptly, looking at him closely. After a moment he realized she was familiar for a reason. He looked down at her arms, full of very faded scars.

"Aubrey?" he asked his voice faint. Her eyes widened and she reached out impulsively and touched his cheek as if making sure he was real.

"Two-Bit?" she asked, incredulously. His smile widened greatly. It was definitely Aubrey, if she knew who he was. He was delighted to see her, and thought about possibly wrapping his arms around her but then he remembered they hadn't seen each other in years and it probably wasn't appropriate for a formal event. He was very surprised when she threw herself into his arms, wrapping hers around his neck very tightly and he felt tears running into his neck from her eyes. He cradled her, in the middle of the enormous ball room but nobody seemed to notice as they were all caught up in themselves.

Steve returned from Vietnam, and not in a body bag. He lost his right leg and was sent home with a purple heart. He became even more bitter and angry after the incident, but in a fairy tale romance a young girl named Elizabeth Crown from Montana opened up his heart and taught him to trust again. The two of them were married in 1975, and remained so until his death in 1993 from complications of his leg, it was 18 years of pure bliss for both of them. She died two years later, and the only way anyone could describe it was purely heartbreak. They had one child, Patrick Curtis Randle born in 1976. He became a horse jockey and died in 1998, his last words? "That was fun."

Darry's relationship with Caroline was somehow meant to last. The two lived happily together until she lost a battle to leukemia in 2000. They had three children, all girls who they both adored very much. They moved from Oklahoma in 1980, shortly after the birth of their second daughter, to Georgia where they lived for the rest of Caroline's life. When Caroline died Darry moved back to Oklahoma. His daughters: Rose, Katherine and Sarah are now 36, 26, and 23 respectively. He has 8 grandchildren between the three of them. He is the supervisor of a major construction company in Tulsa and is being remarried in 2007 to a lovely widow with no children of her own.

Ponyboy Curtis chose to put a career before a fairy tale/tragic romance and he moved to Chicago to pursue his career. He became a very famous journalist and later moved to Boston and is now known as "The most beloved English professor in Harvard University History!" It seems like love always follows the Curtis brothers like a puppy though, and he was married in 1990 to another journalist from Chicago. The two are absolutely love sick to this day, but they don't have any children nor do they want any, since they figure they got started later in life than most people.

Two-Bit Matthews, or Keith as he is referred to now has already been mentioned but it would probably be nice to go over his life in between the ending and the beginning of this chapter. Two-Bit never forgot Aubrey, but he did a good job of pushing her to the back of his mind. He was married in 1972 to a girl from the neighborhood and divorced in 1978. They had one child, Alexandra, (also born in 1972) who moved to Texas with Keith in 1980 because her mother was addicted to heroin. (It seems to be a pattern with Two-Bit's relationships). He was quite a curiosity there, and became somewhat of a ladies man but he settled down again in 1988 to an aspiring actress who left him for fame in 1992, leaving behind their son, Brent who was born in 1989. Keith began a successful career as a comedian and provided for his children splendidly which gets us up to date as far as the beginning of the story.

Aubrey became much happier after moving away from Tulsa, even though she missed her friends and family, especially Two-Bit. She, likewise, never forgot him and kept him in the back of her mind. She was never married although she did have many love interests, and men in her life. She adopted a daughter from Vietnam in 1984, Angel, who she loves more than anything in the world. She became a journalist as well as Ponyboy, but she never acquired fame until late 2004 when she wrote a piece on the Vietnam War, which affected her deeply. She kept her promise to herself and stayed away from Tulsa…until 2004 when she won awards for her novel and went back to visit Johnny, Soda & Dally in the Tulsa Cemetery.

As for the relationship between Aubrey and Two-Bit? It blossomed after their meeting in late 2004 and the two let it happen slowly, and unwind beautifully. Their marriage was in early 2006 and they are planning on traveling the world together and using their talents to help children and teenagers caught in negative backgrounds.

Their love story continues to be added to slowly and beautifully each day. The phrase that sums it up, "It took them long enough!"

The End