Ice Cream, Take Two
A/N: I never write OC fiction, but I was really into the show when it was on, and this just sort of wrote itself one day. It's a couple years old, actually, so I don't think my writing is as good as it is now, but…hey. I just thought I'd put it out there. It's another story about Marissa and ice cream cones, much different from Kaitlin's anecdote about Marissa needing to make choices. Seth's thoughts at the hospital, post third season finale. Read and review, please.
Seth looked up when his father came out of the hospital room. "How is he?"
Sandy sat down next to him. "Out cold. They gave him pretty strong painkillers, and sedatives, too."
"Is he okay, like…otherwise? No broken bones or anything?"
"He's got a few cuts and bruises. Other than that, he's physically fine."
They were quiet for a couple minutes. Finally, Seth managed to ask, "But mentally?"
Sandy waited a moment before replying. "This has to be the worst thing he's ever gone through, and he know he's been through a lot. But he'll be okay."
Seth glanced down the hall, where his mother sat with Julie Cooper and a soft-spoken nurse. Julie had been in hysterics for the first couple hours. Seth had stared at the floor while she screamed and sobbed about her baby. He didn't know where Summer and Dr. Roberts were, or, come to think of it, where Kaitlin was. He wondered if they knew.
Sandy placed his hand on his son's knee. "What about you? Are you okay?"
Before Seth could reply, Kirsten came rushing over. She kissed the top of Seth's head, and he knew she was thinking about how glad she was that he hadn't been in that car. "How's Ryan?" she asked.
Seth avoided her eyes. They were red and still full of tears. He realized, as he looked at the floor once again, that he should probably just keep his gaze there.
He remembered the phone call. It had happened about two and a half hours ago, but it felt like years. He'd been sitting in front of the TV, watching movies. His father had asked, "Hey, Seth, want some popcorn?"
The phone rang, and Kirsten called, "I'll get it!" Seconds later, she whispered, in a small and devastated voice: "Sandy." And somehow, both her husband and son heard her.
Seth had paused his movie and stood up, curious. He wandered into the kitchen, where his mother was frozen in place. He watched as his father took the phone, and asking, "What happened? Is he okay? What about… Okay. We'll be there soon." He had hung up and looked at the two of them, looking a little stunned. "That was the hospital. Ryan got into a car accident."
That was bad enough. They'd arrived at the hospital to see Julie Cooper screaming at a doctor. But she was crying, pleading, begging. Kirsten had rushed over to her and the doctor had asked, "Mrs. Cohen?"
"Wait here," Sandy had told him, going over to talk to the doctor, too. Seth sat and strained to hear. Finally, through the sounds of Julie's sobs, he caught, "…nothing we could do…by the time we got there…too late…"
A string of profanities flew through his mind before he allowed himself to wonder: Was Ryan dead?
His mother had an arm around Julie and was trying to comfort her, along with a couple of nurses. Sandy turned back to him. He sat down next to him. But he stayed silent until Seth couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Dad?"
"Seth," Sandy began, and then stopped. "Seth," he tried again. "Ryan and Marissa were driving to the airport when they got into an accident. Right now, we don't know what happened; Ryan hasn't been able to talk about it. But…"
It all registered about a second before his dad actually managed to say it.
"Marissa didn't make it, Seth."
In the waiting room, in the present, Sandy said, "He's out cold, probably will be for a while."
A couple tears spilled down Kirsten's cheeks. "Is he going to be okay, Sandy?"
He stood to hug her. "He will be."
Kirsten wiped her eyes. "I have to call Jimmy, Julie can't do it."
Sandy nodded and handed her his cell, in the rush to get to the hospital she'd left her purse at home. "What about Kaitlin, does she know?"
"What about Summer? And her dad?" piped up Seth.
Kirsten looked down at him sadly. "Do you want to call Summer, sweetie?"
"He can't do that, Kirsten," Sandy inputted. "That's not fair to either of them. Let her dad tell her. This shouldn't be done over the phone."
"No," Seth interrupted. "I want to talk to her." Jimmy had to find out over the phone, and for some reason it made sense to Seth that the same should go for Summer. It would be better; he felt that he needed his space right now, and thought that Summer probably would, too. And of all people to tell Summer, he felt like he should have been the one to do it.
His parents looked at each other for a long moment before they both finally nodded. "I'll give you the phone in a minute," his mom told him.
Sandy went off to talk to the doctor, and Seth was left to listen to one side of his mother's phone conversation.
"Jimmy? Hi… What's wrong? Um, I just…Maybe…are you sitting down?" She paused. "Okay. Jimmy…Marissa's not coming." Pause. "I know, she did want to…No, she didn't change her mind…" Kirsten sighed. "Jimmy, I'm only doing this because Julie can't…" she took a deep breath. "Marissa and Ryan got in a car accident, Jimmy." Pause. "No, she's not alright. She…Jimmy, I'm so sorry," Kirsten was crying by them, and Seth was staring at the floor once more. "She's gone, Jimmy. She didn't make it. I'm so sorry." Kirsten sat down, and Seth could hear the other side of the conversation with the phone so close to him. Jimmy was crying, too. Soon, Kirsten promised to call him back, and told him to take care, asked him to come to California as soon as he could. She hung up and handed Seth the phone, which shook in her hand. "Good luck, honey," she said tearfully, dropping another one of those grateful kisses on the crown of his head.
"Hey, Cohen," Summer's playfully authoritative voice chirped when she answered the phone.
"Summer. Hi."
"What's up?"
"A lot, actually."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Listen, Summer, could you tell your dad to come down to the hospital? Now?" he asked quietly, swallowing hard.
"Cohen, what's going on?" she demanded.
"Just tell him, okay? And then I'll tell you everything."
"Dad! It's Seth. He says you need to get to the hospital, now. I don't know why. He said he'd tell me once I told you that. Okay." She came back on the phone, "Okay, what's going on, Cohen?"
"Ryan and….Ryan and Marissa got into a car accident."
"Oh my God, Cohen! Are they okay?"
Seth suddenly wondered why the hell he'd agreed to this. "No, Summer, they're not."
"Cohen." Her tone was firm and controlled. If he didn't tell her soon, she'd be screaming at him.
"Marissa didn't make it, Summer," he blurted.
"What?" her voice dropped about two octaves. "What?"
"I'm sorry, Summer, I…"
She started crying. Loud, heart-wrenching sobs. "This isn't funny, Seth. Tell me you're joking. Tell me it's not true. Don't be an idiot, not right now. Please."
"I can't," he whispered
"No, she…no," she sobbed.
"Summer…" he was desperate for something to say. "She didn't suffer." He had no idea
whether or not this was true, but it sounded like the right thing to tell her. He got no reply, only sobbing. "She loved you, Summer. She loved you so much. She was happy." This last sentence was definitely part lie. For the years he knew Marissa well, she had spent most of the time miserable, drunk, or both. But as she sat there in the car with Ryan, she must have been happy. Earlier that day (was it the same day that they'd spent playing around in a pool? Those hours felt so far away.) she had been happy.
That brought up memories. As neighbours and the kids of good friends (Kirsten and Jimmy, at least) they'd been shoved together a lot. "Seth, sweetie, why don't you and Marissa play together?" She'd been friends with Summer, Luke, and Holly, who all generally ignored him, but occasionally, it'd been just the two of them. She'd never made fun of him. She didn't exactly make an extra effort to be friendly, but then again, no one did. When they were really little, they'd probably crawled around together. When they were older, ten or eleven, she'd play Spit with him, or even agree to watch a movie or play PlayStation. But what he really remembered was the day when they were about seven, and had gone for ice cream with Kirsten and Jimmy. They walked behind their parents, who were involved in their own conversation. He'd dropped his ice cream cone, and she'd given him hers. He still remembered that day vividly, looking up from his ice cream on the ground to see her holding hers out.
Summer was past conversation. Anything that got through the sobs was too mangled for Seth to understand. "I'm sorry, Summer," he told her again. "I love you. Call me when you're ready, okay?"
She muttered some form of 'yes' and he waited for her to hang up before he flipped the cell phone closed.
"She took it hard?" Kirsten asked sympathetically as she walked back over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. She shook her head. "Of course she did."
"Yeah. Dr. Roberts is on his way."
"Oh, good. Maybe he can get Julie home. She's a mess. Not that I blame her," she added hastily. "If it had been you, or Ryan…I'd be the same way. What a nightmare…" she trailed off and didn't complete her thought. "I love you, sweetie." She kissed the top of his head again and headed toward Ryan's room.
"You too, Mom," Seth told her earnestly, his voice weary. Those words had taken on a new preciousness with the day's events.
Sandy returned to sit beside him. "Is Summer okay?"
"Not really."
Sandy nodded. "Ryan can go home the day after tomorrow. They just want to keep him under observation to make sure he's okay."
Seth nodded.
"Hey," Sandy said. "You never answered my question."
"What question?"
"Are you okay? There's a lot going on and we haven't had a chance to talk."
Seth sighed heavily. "The thing is, Dad…Summer had to tell me to hug her goodbye."
"Ah, Seth. That's not your fault. You thought you'd see her again soon enough. I know that…you and Marissa weren't as close as you and Ryan, you and Summer…but I know you'll miss her. We all will."
"Is her mom going to be okay?"
"It'll take time."
Words slipped from his lips; he felt like he had to keep talking or everything would fall apart. "When we were seven, I dropped my ice cream and she gave me hers."
"See, that's a nice anecdote," Sandy told him, trying to lighten the mood.
Seth felt tears burning in his eyes. "It'll be weird. Without her."
"I know," Sandy told him softly. "Look, Seth…your mother doesn't want me to tell you this, but I have to."
"Okay."
"She…Ryan…she died in his arms, Seth. He carried her away from a burning car, and she died. This is going to be hard on him."
Seth sifted through the horrific shock and the grief, and got the message. "No jokes."
"Just…" Sandy gave him a half smile. "Tell him about the ice cream, instead."
A/N: Let me know what you think. :)