In all her life, Tana never imagined herself where she was now: standing with one of the biggest delinquents of Tulsa, smiling wider than she ever had before, in front of the Grand Canyon. It was rather windy today, considering how dry and still Arizona usually was. Tana's long skirt swayed around her and she had to hold onto her hat to keep it from blowing away.

"Just take the picture already!" she laughed, trying to hold her hat and her skirt at the same time.

"I'm tryin'!" Dallas wailed, frustrated that he couldn't get a good angle of her. "I'm not a photographer like you are, doll." Finally, Dally snapped a good picture and the photograph printed out a couple of seconds later. Tana struggled to run over to see. It took a few minutes for it to develop, but once it did, Tana gasped.

"Oh my god, Dallas."

"I told you I wasn't no goddamn photographer."

"No, it's great! I love this. Dally, you're a natural."

Dallas held the picture up close and, sure enough, it was actually a pretty decent one. But it wasn't the photo itself that was good; it was the way Tana was posing: she was laughing and looked genuinely happy. She radiated warmth and happiness, a happiness that Dallas had never seen in anyone but Sodapop. He realized then that there was so much more to Tana than anyone knew, even her parents.

The cowboy couldn't help but smile.

"See? You agree. You take amazing pictures."

"No, it's not that," Dallas said.

"Let's get one of the three of us," Tana cried out excitedly. "Excuse me, sir?" The young girl turned to another tourist nearby, a father by the looks of it.

"What can I do for ya?" he asked.

"Would you please take our picture?"

"Certainly!"

Tana called Sunny and dragged Winston over. "Stand next to me." Without much of a warning, Tana slid her arm around Dally's waist, pulling him closer. Sunny stood obediently in front of the two, his tongue hanging out and genuinely looking like he was smiling as well.

"On the count of three. One, two, three!"

As the camera flashed, Dallas found himself actually smiling in a photo for once. And it was all because of this dumb girl he'd somehow gotten wrapped around. And his arm was wrapped protectively around her shoulders, holding her close. They looked like a couple.

"Quite a cute family ya've got there," the man commented, handing Tana back her camera. Before Dally could correct him, he was wondering off to rejoin his own family.

"We are pretty cute, aren't we?" Tana asked, giggling and showing the developing picture to the taller man.

"Yeah," he couldn't help but agree, smiling just a little.

It was late by the time the duo grew tired of staring out over the Grand Canyon, so they finally piled back into the Corvette and drove off in search of food and a place to sleep. They figured they'd probably have to find a fast food chain somewhere and they'd be left to sleep in the car. Dally didn't really mind the idea. Just being able to be near her was enough. He'd never felt so strongly for a broad before. Not Sylvia, not any other girl he'd been with or met or hooked up with. He didn't care about any of them.

But Tana.

There was something different there. Maybe it was her sense of adventure, maybe it was the fact that she was so warm compared to him and not cold just like him like most chicks were. Maybe it was because she was always there, always right next to him. They could go from arguing one minute to laughing about something stupid the next.

Sleeping in the car, eating nothing but fast food, seeing things he'd never seen before, experiencing the country with a girl he barely knew... None of that really worried him. He'd be happy to be sitting at a junkyard if it meant he could just be with her.

Tana's head leaned against the window and her bare feet were propped up on the dash as Dallas drove. What was left of the sun was casting shadows across her face. Her eyes were closed, her lashes fluttering lightly against her skin. She wasn't sleeping, but she was comfortable. Her hands were resting peacefully in her lap, her hair blowing gently across her shoulders from the breeze coming in through the cracked window.

To anyone else, she would have just looked like a normal person, resting after a long day of experiencing life as a tourist. To Dallas, she looked like the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

They were out in the middle of nowhere now, but they weren't too far away from Las Vegas now.

Hesitantly, Dallas reached over and took hold of Tana's hand. To his surprise, she didn't open her eyes in shock and jerk away like he thought she would. Instead, she moved her fingers around to intertwine with his and she gave his hand a light squeeze. A small smirk spread across his face and he relaxed considerably. He'd never done this before; he'd never held a girl's hand like this. With Dallas, his goal was to find a girl and sleep with her. Women didn't matter. Nothing in life mattered.

That was until he met Tana.

All of the events leading up to him saving Tana and all the events after were all happening for a reason, he was sure of it.  He was supposed to live that night he got shot by the fuzz. Because if he hadn't lived, Tana wouldn't be alive right now, either. They wouldn't be here, together.

All of this came rushing into Dallas' head at once and he shivered. Tana noticed and opened her eyes, then turned to look at the cowboy.

"What's wrong?"

"We're supposed to be here," he blurted out.

"Huh? What do you mean we're supposed to be here?"

"I got shot. And somehow I lived right? And if I hadn't lived, then you wouldn't be alive right now. And we wouldn't be here at all."

"Dallas, you need some sleep."

"No, I'm being serious. All of this-- all of life-- ugh, I can't get it out. But I know what I'm talking about. I'm supposed to be here with you, Tana. I belong here with you."

Tana was completely taken aback. No one had ever said anything like that to her. She'd never felt wanted or needed. She stuck around with people mostly because some people let her; her parents had money and desperate folks will do anything to get close to people with money.

"Tana," said Dallas. He took a deep breath. This was the first time Dally had ever shown any sign of being nervous. "I think I love you."

Tana's breath hitched in her throat.

I think I love you. The words kept replaying in her head like a broken record. She'd heard those words before, but they weren't as genuine as Dallas' sounded. The young woman turned her head to look at Dallas. 

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you think you love me?"

Dallas shook his head. "It's stupid."

"No. I want to know. If you're trying to bullshit me or, or--"

"No. I'm not bullshitting you. I know I'm an asshole but..." Dally rubbed his face hard with his calloused hands. "But I'm serious. I'm serious about this. I've never told a chick I loved her. Because why would you tell someone you love them when you don't mean it?"

Tana shrugged. "You're asking the wrong person. I have too many people tell me all the time they love me and they don't mean it."

Winston turned to look at Tana again. He made a quick decision and he whipped into a random parking lot. Sunny started whining, thinking they were going to get out and run around and play.

"I do mean it. I think I love you. I know we've only been out here two weeks, but in that short time, I've come to know you a lot better than any of those fuckers in Tulsa have. I've given you the time of day. I've told you thing I never wanted to talk about. I've listened to your sob stories and I've attended all your little pity parties. But I don't mind. For once in my life, I've found something to turn my life around for. And that's you.

"I could listen to you talk all day about things. I could sit here in this car and listen to your stupid music all night. I could watch you draw the same damn picture over and over again. And I'd never grow tired of it. Because you, doll, you're a little fighter. You may not see it, but I do. It takes a lotta nerve to keep your head up like you do and it takes a helluva lot of balls to run away from a toxic city like that.

"I would know. I tried to take the easy way out and I've got the scars to prove it."

"Do you really mean all that?" Tana asked, her voice, surprisingly, a lot louder than she intended it to be.

"Of course I do. Like I said, I may be an asshole, but I don't bullshit with things like this. You've got something to say to someone, you say it. Your days on this planet are numbered. Might as well pick up the courage and tell people how you really feel."

Tana's mouth tweaked up into a half-smile. What Tana hadn't realized until after Dallas admitted his feelings was that she loved him, too. A moment of silence passed. Dallas could feel his hands becoming clammy and Tana noticed. He couldn't look at her, even though he wanted to.

"I think I love you, too," she said after another long minute. She turned sheepishly toward the blond cowboy. His face was stoic, pensive.

"Don't say it just 'cause I said it," he said, his voice low and warning.

"I'm not." Tana leaned closer to him. "Like you said, why tell someone you love them if you don't mean it?"

Dallas smiled nervously like he couldn't believe the words coming out of the Soc girl's mouth. Tentatively, he reached forward with his free hand and placed it gently on her cheek. He'd never been so gentle with a girl before. Most girls he knew weren't delicate. They were greaser girls who could put up a fight if they needed to. They were wild and reckless just like him.

Tana was like a rose. Delicate with thorns. If he hurt her, there was no way he wouldn't get hurt, too.

"There's no going back," Dallas said.

"I don't want to go back," Tana replied.

And they kissed.

The lights of late-night Las Vegas beamed in through the windows of the hotel room. Tana sat on the floor, looking out over the city streets, the bed sheet wrapped around her. Her head rested against Dallas' shoulder. She grew up on the busier side of a city, but it was nothing like this. These people had no responsibilities. They had all the money in the world to waste.

Tana didn't care about that aspect of Las Vegas and she didn't think Dallas did either.

"Why'd you want to come here?"

Dally shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to see what all the talk was. People make it out to be this amazing place. I guess they were kind of right, but I don't think they had the same experience as I have."

"What's that?"

Dallas was quiet. Without much change in his expression, he said, "they didn't have you."

Tana blushed. 

"Don't tell me you're going all soft on me."

"I'm not going soft on no one. I'm just telling you what I think, doll."

"So..." Tana heaved a sigh, the goosebumps on her skin finally settling. "So, what do you think?"

"I think that I've never felt like this for anyone before. And it's weird. I'm starting to finally realize why Sodapop loved that Sandy so much."

Tana nodded. "I never felt like this for Marcus. I loved him... or, at least, I thought I did. But with you, I'm afraid of this ending."

"Who said it had to?"

Tana shrugged. "You know what Tulsa's like. If people saw us within five feet of each other all hell'd break loose. The rumbles might be over, but people still talk."

"Ta hell with 'em. They wanna talk, let 'em talk. If it makes 'em all happy. I don't give a damn. I know what I want and when I want somethin' I don't stop fighting for it. And you're worth fighting over. You're worth jumping in front of trains for."

"Am I?"

Dallas frowned. "Of course." He pressed a hard kiss to her mouth, knicking her lip with his teeth, but she didn't seem to mind. Once the two broke apart, Tana let a small smile form.

"So, where are we going to next?"