"No, put that ornament over there," Claire told Greg. "It's got all three of us, it should be at the front."

"Candice, I can't believe you kept all our old ornaments."

"Well, I wasn't gonna throw them away. We handmade all of them." I sent my brother and sister a smile.

Claire continued to reprimand Greg for putting ornaments in the wrong spot until, finally, he just gave up and she got busy perfecting the tree herself.

"Well now what do I do?" Greg complained.

"You can help me make lunch," I suggested. He gave me an "are you serious?" kind of look. "Or don't. Whatever."

"What are you making?"

"I was just gonna make grilled cheese and soup." Greg and Claire both perked up. "You both okay with that then?" I asked.

"Of all the things we disagree on, the one thing we have in common is our love for grilled cheese," said Claire.

"Aren't twins supposed to be alike?" Soda laughed.

"They've never been alike," I said. "Even when they were babies. It was like they tried their best on purpose to be polar opposites."

Greg and Claire both shrugged. "Not all twins are perfect," said Greg.

"I am," Claire chimed, making our brother roll his eyes. Soda and I just chuckled and I got up from the couch to go and start on lunch.

"Perfect princess, more like."

"Glad you agree, Gregory."

I could imagine Greg glaring at Claire. He never liked being called by his whole name.

After lunch, we all were lazy on the sofa. There were a bunch of Christmas films playing on TV, so we sat around and watched and ate popcorn. I leaned my head on Soda's shoulder. Before I knew it, I was passed out.

Christmas was the next Monday. The four of us slept in until nine before we even got up and opened presents.

"Wait, Candy, I want you to open that last," said Soda, stopping me from opening a questionable-looking small box. I gave him a weird look and he just shrugged, that same shit-eating grin on his face that he'd get when we were younger and he and Steve were about to plan a practical joke on me.

I carefully set it down next to me and went for a large, flat parcel from Claire.

"Ooh, I hope you like that," said Claire, setting down her half-unwrapped present from Greg.

I unwrapped it, excited to see what it was.

"Oh my god, Claire," I said, gawking at the canvas. It was a painting of the three of us from when we were little. I was maybe fourteen while they were five. Down at the bottom, Claire had signed her initials CBJ in tiny, neat letters. I hadn't seen the real picture in years: I had thought it had been lost when my mother had burned a bunch of stuff in one of her Jack-induced fits of rage. I felt tears brim my eyes.

"It took me forever..."

"Claire, I don't know what to say. It's so beautiful." I moved it so Soda could see it better.

"Oh wow," he said. "This is gorgeous, Claire. Candy, I remember that crazy, mini afro of yours when you were little."

"Stop teasing," I giggled. "Thank you so much, Claire." I sniffled, wiping the underneath of my eyes.

"Well, now I feel like my present for you isn't as cool," said Greg, laughing. I watched Claire unwrap a sweater she'd been eyeing in the mall and Greg got a new Pink Floyd record.

"Sweet!" he exclaimed. "I've been wanting this since forever."

Sodapop unwrapped his gift, a little collage I made of old pictures of us. There were pictures of us from elementary school all the way up until high school.

"This is so sweet, Candy," he said. "Where did you find all these?"

"I had to ask Darry if there were any pictures of us and he pulled out a giant box full. I guess your mom was quite fond of us two together."

He looked at me and smiled. "Well, it's time for your present now."

I saw Greg and Claire exchange looks and I suddenly felt nervous. Them exchanging looks meant that they probably knew what was in that small box. Soda picked it up and handed it to me.

I opened it with heart racing and stomach doing somersaults. I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't a key.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"You wanna go see it?"

"Go see what--?"

"Everyone get your coats on."

"Sodapop--"

"Honey, just get your coat on. Hurry. I need to blindfold you."

"Whoa, that turned kinky."

Soda howled with laughter. "No, it's not like that, I promise."

"Hurry and get ready, Candy," said Greg.

I finally obliged, not understanding why everyone knew what it was and I didn't.

We went out to Soda's car and I climbed into the passenger seat. He handed me the blindfold.

"Put that on, please," he instructed. I did as told and Soda started the car. It seemed like he drove forever before he finally stopped. Sodapop helped me out of the car and I heard all the doors slam closed.

"Oh, she's gonna love it," Claire squealed.

"Shut up, Claire, you're gonna ruin it," Greg's voice scolded, but he sounded just as excited.

Soda led me down the sidewalk a little way before he led me up some stairs. He held me still to keep me from walking any further.

"Key?" I reached into my pocket and pulled the key out. He took it and I heard a door swing open.

"What is this?" I asked. "Can I take the blindfold off?"

"Not yet." He helped me inside wherever it was we were and the door closed a few seconds later. "Okay," he said. "You can take it off now."

I removed the blindfold to find we were in a house. A really nice house. It was very open and bright with purple walls and hardwood floors. It was single-story, but it seemed huge. The only thing was that it was totally empty.

"Where are we?"

"Welcome home," he grinned.

My jaw fell straight to the floor.

"You didn't--"

"I did. I was talking to my boss about how cramped the apartment is and how we were talking about some other stuff and he said that his brother-in-law is a realtor and so I called the guy and he found this one. And, because I'm such good friends with the boss, he gave me a steal price. I gave him a down payment using the money I had saved up before I went to 'Nam and money I had saved up from the new job."

I walked further into the house, taking in the kitchen and tiny dining room next to it. I could see at least two bedrooms.

"It's four bedrooms, two bathrooms. It's one of the nicer houses on our side of town, which is why I think it was so cheap in the first place..."

I turned to Greg and Claire. "You guys knew about this?"

"He brought us on Wednesday while you were at work," said Claire.

"It was soooo hard not to spill the beans," said Greg.

"Sodapop Patrick Curtis, I cannot believe you went and bought a house."

"Do you like it?" he said, his voice sounding a little scared.

"Of course," I said, still taking in how big the house actually was. "I love it. It's gorgeous. I just-- Wow, Soda."

"I figured it would be nice to have an actual house. This way, you know, we can have more people over. We can finally get a dog..." His voice sounded hopeful as if the whole reason he even bought a house was so he could get a dog. "We could have a family."

I turned to him with a smile. I couldn't help but throw my arms around his neck and kiss him hard on the mouth.

"Ew," Greg complained.

"Quit, they're cute."

"When can we move in?" I asked.

Soda's eyes lit up. "Anytime after the New Year. There's still some paperwork to finalize and you'll have to sign some stuff, too. But aside from that, it's ours."

"I don't deserve you," I muttered before kissing him again.

Once we left the new house, we went back to the apartment to get ready to go have Christmas at Darry's. I put on a comfy sweater-and-jeans outfit and gathered up the presents to take over. Hannah met at the apartment at a quarter to one to carpool.

Hannah had a tough relationship with her family. She hadn't had Christmas with them in years and, since this was her first Christmas after breaking up with her douchebag of a boyfriend, Stanley, she had no one to spend it with.

I told her to come with us to Darry's, where everyone and their mother was welcome over. She seemed a little hesitant, but after a little persuasion, she finally agreed. "You don't even have to bring anything," I had told her, to which she responded that she'd bring wine.

"Hey girl!" I greeted as she walked through the front door.

"Hey! I brought wine."

"The good kind, I hope," said Soda as he lugged a giant box full of presents into the living room.

"Of course," Hannah grinned.

"Everyone ready?" I asked. Claire walked in, dressed in her new sweater and Greg entered soon after, fixing the collar of his flannel.

"Um, Candy, what's for dinner?"

"I told Darry you didn't eat meat and he said he had it handled." She gave me a smile.

"Are we ready?" Soda asked again. After going over my mental checklist twice, I nodded.

"Okay, let's head," I said. I helped Soda carry some boxes and Hannah locked my apartment door after us. After getting everything loaded into Soda's Galaxie--which he got through working at a Ford dealership across town from the dealership I worked at--we headed out toward Darry's.

There were already a couple of cars parked next to Darry's in front of the house when we arrived: Ponyboy's truck, Steve's Impala, an unfamiliar little beat up Dodge, and Darry's girlfriend's car.

"Who's car is that?" I asked Soda.

"Ummm... It looks like Curly's but I'm not sure."

"Curly Shepard? That kid's still bumming around?"

"Yeah, he and Pony are still pretty close."

We all got out of the car and unloaded stuff before carrying it in.

"Hey, everyone," Soda called out.

"Hey!" I heard Darry shout. He ran to help me with the box.

"Thanks, Dar," I said. He sat the box down by the Christmas tree before turning to give each person a hug.

"Wow, you guys are so big!" Darry gushed at Claire and Greg. "Last time I seen y'all, you were so little."

"Good to see you again, Darry."

"Oh, Darry, this is my best friend Hannah. Hannah, the man who's the reason I never went to juvy as a child."

Darry and Hannah both laughed before shaking each other's hands. Tasha, Darry's girlfriend, wandered over from the kitchen and I gave her a wide smile.

"Hey, Tash. How are you?"

"Oh, good," she said. "Tired. I've been cooking all day."

"Darry, you didn't help her?"

"Hey, she kicked me out of the kitchen and told me to decorate."

I laughed at this. I wondered how the poor guy was getting along now that he was the one getting bossed around and him not having any kid brothers to parent.

"Well, it smells great, Tash," I said.

"Thanks. Dinner will be ready soon. We're waiting on Two-Bit, Mikey, and my cousin Ally. Mikey had been put under Two-Bit's guardianship after Mikey's parents, who were good friends of Two's, died suddenly a few weeks before in a car accident. For some reason, they had deemed Two-Bit Mikey's godfather instead of a more responsible adult. However, from what I had seen, Two-Bit was doing great as a fill-in parent.

"Sounds great."

"Oh, and Claire, I did make you some food with no meat. I didn't want anyone left out or starving under my supervision."

"Thanks so much," said Claire, smiling kindly at Tasha.

We all shuffled over into the kitchen where Steve, Evie, Ponyboy, Cathy, and Curly were sitting at the table. It appeared that Darry and Tasha had had to locate random chairs for everyone to be able to sit. I took the seat next to Ponyboy.

"Merry Christmas, y'all," said Steve. "Man, I don't think there's been this many of us at Christmas since '64."

"That was insane. I don't even remember how we fit everyone in this tiny ass kitchen," Soda laughed.

"Yeah, there had to have been at least thirty of us."

"At least," Darry emphasized from across the room.

"Wanna beer, babe?" Soda asked as he got up to grab a drink from the fridge.

I shook my head no. I wasn't much of a drinker anymore, and if I did decide on an alcoholic beverage, it was usually just wine or something.

"We don't have any, anyway," said Tasha.

"I brought some wine," Hannah offered.

Tasha looked uncomfortable.

"We weren't gonna do alcohol this year," Darry said.

"Uh-oh. What's Two gonna say?" said Steve.

"He's got Mikey now. He stopped drinking so he could be a good dad for him. And, in support, we decided we wouldn't drink as he's only been totally sober for a few weeks."

"Well, damn," Hannah sighed. "Sorry, I didn't realize."

"It's okay. I'll hide it under the sink with the dish soap. I don't think he'd accidentally stumble upon it there," Tasha grinned.

"Even if he did, I think now that he's got Mikey to take care of, he wouldn't drink it. He's got something more important than getting drunk," said Ponyboy. Seeing Two go from an avid fan of beer to a sober man with a kid to raise in a matter of just a couple of weeks was a shock to all of us. We kept a close eye on him, but for the most part, he did pretty good.

We made small conversation for a while, Steve and Soda eventually finding a deck of cards for us to play rummy.

Ally, Tasha's cousin, arrived at about one-forty-five and Two sauntered in about twenty minutes later, a little four-year-old Mikey on his shoulders.

"Hey, family!" he shouted.

"Hey, Two!" we all replied in various responses.

"Hi, Mikey!" we greeted the little boy, who screamed "hi!" in response.

"Oh my god, Candy," Hannah whispered to me. "That's him."

"What?"

"He's the guy I met at the bar a few months back."

"Oh my god."

"I bet that's why I never saw him there again. He stopped drinking."

"Holy shit, Hannah, you gotta go talk to him."

"I can't. He's probably forgotten all about me. We were both pretty drunk when we met."

"He's usually pretty good at remembering pretty girls," I teased and she rolled her eyes.

Two set Mikey down, then handed him some toys from the diaper bag he had to play with. Mikey busied himself with his little wood blocks while Two came over to sit down. Hannah blushed as he gazed at her. It took him a moment, but the look of recognition eventually struck his face and he grinned brightly at her.

"Well, hey, there," he said. "I do believe we've met before."

"I do believe we have," said Hannah, her cheeks as red as a fire truck.

I glanced at Soda and sent him a grin. He caught this and returned it. We watched in amusement as Two-Bit shamelessly flirted with Hannah.

By three, dinner was completely done and we all helped ourselves to Tasha's delicious cooking.

"Mm, Tash, this is amazing," Evie commented.

"Thank you!"

No one really spoke too much as we ate. We couldn't get over how good Tasha's cooking was.

"Please cook for our wedding," Ponyboy said.

"Ponyboy, don't chew with your mouth full," Darry scolded.

"Lay off him, Dar, he's twenty years old," I chuckled. He sent me a playful glare in return, but he just smiled and got back to eating.

"Please eat your beans, bud," Two, who had barely touched his food, begged Mikey. Since there was no highchair available, Mikey sat in Two-Bit's lap.

"NO!"

"Come on, they're good!"

"Mikey, I don't like beans either, but I'll eat them if you do," Hannah offered.

Mikey seemed to consider this.

"Ready?"

Mikey and Hannah both picked up their forks and, on 'Go', they both ate a forkful of green beans.

"Yummy!" Mikey exclaimed, making us all laugh. Two relaxed, relieved that the kid was finally eating.

Hannah leaned over to Two and whispered, "I actually really like beans. I just figured if he saw me brave through it, he could, too."

Two smiled at her. God, was he lovesick for her! You could usually tell when Two had hots for a girl because nothing else in the world mattered. It didn't matter if he had known her for years or just a couple of minutes. He usually pined after blondes, but I could tell he was really into Hannah regardless of her hair color.

"All he wants to eat is cheese. Man, parenting is so hard. How did you do it, Dar?"

"Sometimes, I don't even know. I hardly had to look after Soda, but it seems I still gotta get after Pony," he teased, nudging Ponyboy, who rolled his eyes in return.

"Quit worrying about me, Darry. I hardly run into walls anymore." We all chuckled at this and continued to talk and eat dinner.

Steve was excited to inform us all that he was finally going to college to major in automotive engineering since he loved cars so much.

"I'm so proud of you, buddy!" Soda exclaimed, giving his best friend a congratulatory back pat.

I can't write down in words how much I had missed this. All of us over at the Curtis' eating dinner and teasing each other relentlessly. It was like good old times. Nothing had changed...

Except everything had.

Dallas and Johnny were gone.

Ponyboy was getting married.

Darry was in his first serious relationship in years.

Two-Bit was basically a dad now.

Sodapop and I were together.

And Steve was going to college and was getting serious with Evie again.

Even Curly Shepard had changed a lot! He hadn't been in any major trouble since his last time in juvy when he was fifteen or sixteen and was now getting his GED at college like I had done.

It was nice to see that we all were finally piecing together our lives. Even though we weren't as young and carefree as we used to be when we were nothing but a bunch of troublemaking greasers, we were growing so much as people, as adults. I was proud of all of us.

I don't know what came over me, but I clanged my glass with my fork like they do in movies when you're real fancy.

"I'd just like to say how proud I am of us all. We've all grown up so much and we're all doing amazing things with our lives and I couldn't be happier seeing the rest of you so happy and content. So, with this new year upon us, I'd just like to say that I hope it continues to go uphill for us."

"Well said, Candy Cane," Steve said and we all toasted with glasses of milk and pop.

After dinner, we all migrated to the living room to exchange gifts.

At nearly eight, Soda, Greg, Claire, and I decided we were tired, but it seemed that Hannah wasn't ready to leave. I had never seen two people more infatuated with each other than her and Two-Bit.

"We're thinking of leaving," I told Hannah. "You ready to go?"

"Um, no, it's okay. I don't live too far away, I'll walk home."

"Your car is at my place," I chuckled.

"That's fine..." It was like she could hardly hear me. She was more interested in her new love interest.

"Well, call if you need anything."

"I can take her home," said Two in the same tone of voice as Hannah. Mikey was passed out in his lap.

I shook my head at the two. Everyone else ignored them as they continued to talk like they were two teenagers ready to take on the world. Hell, maybe they were.

"Let's go, babe," Sodapop said and the four of us bid everyone goodbye and a Merry Christmas before we headed out.

"I'm not ready to go back to New York," Claire sighed as we got in the car. I glanced at Soda, who was already looking at me.

"What if you got to move here?" I asked cautiously.

"I wish."

"Greg?"

"I don't know. I have all my friends back in New York."

"What about your friends, Claire?"

"They all left me to be cheerleaders while I stayed behind in art. I wish I was here closer to what seems like family."

"Hm," I said.

"What?"

"Nothing," I said, but I had a smile on my face. I turned to Soda, who was grinning as well but had his eyes on the road.

'''

Hi, sorry it's been a few days since I've updated. I had no idea how to write this chapter and I guess it ended up being kind of a filler, but tbh I'm so excited about the new house and I really hope you guys liked this chapter.

also, some stuff coming up soon. I was thinking on making this the same length as GDC, but I think I'm going to end up making it longer just so I can fit everything that I want to in without having too many time hops or anything.

xJ