Discl.. I don't own anything related to the O.C., not even Ryan's hottness, damnit!
My thank yous go to Rainygal for checking the grammer and the spelling, katwoman76 for cheking the continuity and the logic and to cheekymice for the encouragement and thumps up, we're a fab team, aren't we!
The Alps
Prologue
Carrying two large bags of food, Sandy fumbled with the key lock at the entrance door, before managing to push it open, growling angrily. Kicking the door shut with his foot he turned to walk to the kitchen but stumbled and nearly fell over Seth's skateboard, which was carelessly leaning against the commode. Sandy sent a silent curse to the ceiling, before making his way towards the kitchen, roughly placing the bags on the counter, not without noticing the unpacked rucksack's on the table and Ryan's black boots laying abandoned besides the chair.
After having spent the whole day in meetings with nagging clients, Sandy's mood was below cero, the anger that had been simmering inside of him for a few hours now was coming close to surface. Neglecting the food bags, which were waiting to be unpacked, he stomped into the den where he could hear shouts and laughter coming from.
After watching for a few seconds as Ryan and Seth were hammering onto their playstation controllers, he surveyed the floor which was scattered with games and snacks. When they didn't even seem to notice him, Sandy's patience was coming to an end.
"Boys!" he boomed, his eyes narrowing slightly.
All he got was "Dad" - "Hey Sandy" from both sons, with a quick turn of their head to greet the parent, before fixing their eyes on the big screen again, continuing to fight each other virtually.
Taken aback first, it didn't take Sandy long to recover and stomp across the room, bending down and pulling the plug out of the socket.
For a second it was silent in the room, the two boys too surprised to react. But when the first shock was absorbed, Seth and Ryan glanced at each other before bolting up from the couch and shouting tirades of denegation as a reaction Sandy's recent act. It wasn't though, as if Sandy had not been waiting for such a moment to gladly release all this anger and frustration, so he didn't hesitate one second to join his two boys in their loud protest.
"GUYS!"
Startled, all three turned their heads to a shocked looking Kirsten, who was standing in the entrance, hands on her hips, anger playing around the corners of her mouth.
"What's wrong with you?" she then asked gentler, glancing at each one of them.
When Sandy and Seth were about to release another stream of words she stopped them by raising one finger, dangerously looking at them. Ryan gave his brother an amazed side glance, surprised that it took only one small gesture from Kirsten to shut him up.
"Couch. Sit. Now!" the blonde woman demanded with a stern expression on her face and again, Ryan was surprised at how fast Sandy and Seth obeyed, so he joined them silently, curious as to what was going to happen now.
"That's it! I've had enough! The arguing, the shouting and screaming, the silent family dinners, the glances and looks all three of you have been exchanging recently, it's over! I won't live like this any longer!"
The boys looked embarrassed, neither of them had realized that their releasing of stress and frustration by picking at each other had been bothering Kirsten, how their bad moods and problems from work, school or their dates had been influencing their behavior and that obviously Kirsten had been suffering from their constant fights.
Sandy was about to get up when Kirsten threw him an angry glance, asking:
"Where do you think you're going? I'm not finished!"
The boys watched as Sandy slowly sat down again, his eyes and mouth wide open, somewhat scared at the outbreak of his wife.
Ryan realized that Seth was mouthing something to him and he grinned slightly at the look of horror on his brother's face.
"So, I've decided that it's time for a family holiday" Kirsten suddenly blurted out.
Ignoring the groans from the boys and the shocked look of Sandy, she continued.
"Christmas holidays have just started and I'm not going to spend this years yule listening to you three fighting. We need to figure things out together, talk about this! So I booked a skiing trip to Switzerland, we're leaving in two days."
Realizing that she was dead serious about this, neither Sandy nor Seth dared to object. Only Ryan's low voice invaded the silence in the large room:
"But… I don't ski"
TBC