Cinnamon & Rubies // The Outsiders

twenty-two

"Darrel Curtis, don't you touch me like that," Caroline snapped, wrenching her hand out of his grasp. "And lower your voice before you wake up Teddy and Louise."

He moved his hands away from her as if he'd been scalded but followed quickly on her heels as she walked calmly towards the kitchen. Helen looked up from the bills she had spread out on the table, her eyes following the young couple before returning to the papers.

"What in the Sam Hill was he thinkin' bringing you there?" Darry demanded. "He knows I'll skin him alive and leave 'im for the buzzards?"

"You can't blame Tim," she said plainly as she grabbed a glass and filled it with lemonade. She took a long drink and then set it down on the counter. "I made him bring me. It was either I go alone or he take me. You'd've rather I gone alone?"

He let out a sound that was akin to choking and shook his head rapidly. "You gotta be out of your damn mind. What could you possibly need at Buck's?"

Caroline finally turned to face him and crossed her arms over her chest, her chin lifted up and her dark eyes boring into his. "Mary Raleigh, you know her?"

"Know of her," he replied. "Her reputation, that is."

"Her daughter's been beating on my Louise."

Darry ran a weatherbeaten hand over his face and let out a deep exhale. "And why couldn't you have just told me and let me handle it, huh?"

"Because I don't need you fightin' my battles. Because I've been handlin' this myself long before I met you. And because I-"

Darry slid one arm around her waist and drew her in against his chest, his other hand sliding into the pinned mass of her curls as he captured her lips in a searing kiss. She sighed against his touch, the fight deflating out of her shoulders as her hands came up to settle on his chest. He pulled away with a small smirk on his face and she blinked up at him with a dazed look in her big brown eyes.

"Well, boy howdy. Why'd you do that?" Caroline murmured.

"That's how my pa would always stop fights with my ma," he replied. One of his shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Wanted to see if it worked. I think it did."

A throat clearing had the couple separating in seconds. Caroline flushed bright red at the realization that her momma had been sitting there the whole time and saw everything. She hurriedly grabbed one of the rags and started wiping down the counters so she could avoid Helen's careful gaze.

"Sorry, Ma," she whispered.

"That girl gonna keep hurtin' Louise?"

"No, Ma. I made sure of it."

Helen picked up another bill and nodded. "You're a good girl, Caroline. I trust you. Now I'm gonna head to bed. Got work early in the mornin'. I expect Darrel to be on his way home by midnight. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Ma." "Yes, ma'am."

Helen rose from the table and left the room. Darry and Caroline stood stock still until they heard her footsteps on the landing above them on the second floor. Caroline turned and launched the rag in her hand at him. He neatly caught it, a grin spreading across his face at the sight of her flaming red cheeks.

"Gonna help me with the dishes?" she teased.

"Yes, miss." He moved behind her and gently shifted her over with the soft touch of his hands to her hips so that he was standing at the sink. "You dry."

Caroline didn't refuse his order and instead gratefully took the sud-covered plate he offered her. She dried it off and turned to put it back on the shelf. "Darry, why don't you want me around your folks?"

"Whatcha mean by that? The boys don't mind ya bein' around."

"Not your boys. Greasers. Why don't you want me around greasers?"

Darry set the cup he was holding back into the sink and turned off the water. He dried his hands on the towel that draped over his shoulder and turned to lean against the sink. Caroline tilted her head in response and he held out his hands, beckoning her forward. She stepped closer and he slid his hands along her waist, caging her in against his body.

"Greasers ain't good people, 'Line. We fight and cuss and drink. You saw it first hand. I don't want you in that because I don't want it to ruin you."

"Ruin me how?"

"You're good. You make me feel good. I don't want to lose that."

He searched her face for her reaction. A slow smile spread across her lips and she shrugged. "Well, you're in luck, Mr. Curtis. I ain't wanna be like that at all. I jus' wanna be me."

Darry slipped his hand into her hair and she sighed as he released a few pins from her hair. She shut her eyes as he slowly and methodically pulled out every pin from her hair, the cinnamon curls tumbling down. Caroline rested her head on his shoulder as he brushed his fingers through her hair.

"So you don't want me to be like Mary Raleigh?" she joked.

"Hell no, you little rascal."

"Are ya still mad at me?"

"Ain't mad at ya to start with. I was worried. Your ma had to basically tie me down to stop me from going after you and Shepard."

"I ain't gonna apologize," she said in a quiet voice.

"I know." He pulled her as close as possible and settled a kiss against her hairline. "I'd do the same if it were me. Just next time, you ask one of me or the boys. Ya get?"

Caroline nodded and sighed. "Sometimes I forget that I ain't gotta do this all on my own, y'know?"

He understood perfectly. After taking care of his little brothers and the gang on his own for so long, it was strange to see someone else in that life, taking care of him and the boys. His chest tightened at the thought of her in Buck's smoke hazed, drug filled house with someone as trustworthy as Tim Shepard guarding her. He rubbed his knuckles up and down her back and found himself needing this moment. He needed to hold her close and assure himself that she was safe.

He couldn't say the three words that clung to the edge of his mouth. It seemed too soon, too early, and too much. What if he said them and it all fell apart? Lose her like he did his parents, Johnny, and Dallas?

Darry squeezed her just a little bit tighter at the thought of losing her. Sometimes, he had found, it was just easier to say nothing at all.