The phone call he makes when they reach the hospital is the hardest thing he's ever had to do.
The screen on his cell phone is smashed beyond repair and he doesn't know either of her parent's numbers off by heart so he calls home.
Kirsten answers and she can barely tell what he's saying because he's crying so much, sickening sobs that make him catch his breath.
"Ryan? Ryan, sweetie, what's wrong?!" She demanded, as she listened to her son weep and choke out various words on the other end of the line.
Her outburst caused her husband to look up from the TV in concern.
"What's the matter?" He asked, but she waved her hand to tell him to be quiet.
"What do you mean 'There was a crash?'" She continued. "Which hospital?! OK, it's gonna be OK, honey, we'll be there in thirty minutes! OK, hang on, we'll see you soon!"
"Kirsten, what's happened?!" He demanded, as she paused for a micro second, her mouth open in horror. "KIRSTEN!"
"There's been a crash!" She responded, finally coming back to life. "We have to get to Fairmount hospital, Ryan's OK but Marissa's it pretty bad shape,"
"I'll get the keys, ring Julie, Jimmy and Seth!" He answered, hurrying towards the stairs to get dressed.
He was playing the last half hour over in his head repeatedly as he sat in the waiting room.
Volchok's face as he ran into them.
Her face as he carried her from the car.
How weightless she'd felt as he cradled her in his arms.
The stench of blood that he thought he'd left behind in Chino.
How her expression had gone blank as she'd slowly begun to slip away.
How he begged anyone anywhere for a miracle.
How out of nowhere, one came in the form of an off duty paramedic who was driving his son home from a soccer game.
He drove them to a hospital not five minutes away, which Ryan didn't even know existed, as she drifted in and out of consciousness. He held her hand tightly as she was immediately placed on a stretcher and rolled to surgery.
She looked at him vaguely as she was being taken away, she was almost grey, her eyes blank and he didn't think he even knew where she was.
"I'm... scared," She whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Don't be I'm right here!" He insisted, walking beside her.
"I love you," She murmured, so quietly he could barely hear her.
"I love you too," He responded, "I'm gonna be right here when you come out!"
She smiled weakly, before her eyes drooped closed and what tiny grip she had on his hand dropped.
She was gone.
The surgeons took her to surgery, screaming about CPR as he was left in the corridor and he slowly sank down against the wall, head in his hands, sobbing.
He opened his eyes in time to see the concerned faces of Kirsten, Sandy, Seth, Summer, Julie and Kaitlin hurrying through the doors.
He shook as they sat in the waiting room; Summer was curled up in Seth's lap, her head resting against his chest as he gently wiped away the tears that had gathered there, Kaitlin had fallen asleep with her head against Kirsten's shoulder and Sandy had gone out to update Jimmy on his daughter's progress as he had landed in the airport in Mexico waiting for his transfer. Julie had been called in by a doctor some twenty minutes earlier and they still had no news on her progress, hell she could have been dead for all any of them knew.
There was suddenly the noise of an opening door and they looked up to see Julie stood there, her face pale, but she wasn't crying.
"She's out of surgery," She announced, to the awaiting silence. "She had a collapsed lung, internal haemorrhaging and they've had to remove one of her kidneys, but she's alive," That final statement resulted in a resounding breath of sheer relief from everyone.
"The doctors say it's a miracle," She added, "I need to go and sort out some insurance, so someone needs to sit with her... Ryan?"
He looked up, his eyes raw, his face pale.
"Come on," She turned and walked from the room and he hurriedly stood and followed her.
They walked down a corridor, along another, up a flight of stairs, through a ward, up a floor in an elevator and down a final corridor before she finally spoke and came to a stop.
"Do you love my daughter, Ryan?" She asked, staring him straight in the face.
He nodded.
"No, Ryan, I mean do you love her?" She demanded, "More than just a high school romance, love her so much that you would die for her?!"
"Yes!" He insisted, his emotion finally breaking. "I have never loved anyone as much as I love her, a high school romance doesn't even come close, if it could be me in here instead of her I would switch with her in a heartbeat, if you could tell me where that bastard is right now I would go and quite gladly beat him to death!" His final exclamation caused the nurse at the station to momentarily glance up.
"Then prove it," She responded, in a much gentler tone. "No more running off back to Chino to play Daddy to some other girl's kid, no more going out with long lost relatives or dalliances with the backstreet population of Newport – this is it!" She paused again. "By the grace of God we have been given one more chance so take it, for the love of God, take it!"
He glanced through the window panel of the door and caught sight of her in bed, his breath caught in his throat as she was covered in wires, bruised and bandaged but the monitor beside her registered she was breathing regularly.
"You'll have to fight to get it off me," He murmured and for the first time in the two years that they had known each other, something happened, they hugged.
"I used to think you were the worst thing that ever happened to her," Julie stated. "When actually you're the best," Slowly, they pulled away and Ryan leant his head against the doorframe.
"I'm sorry," He offered. "I should have been more careful, I should have pulled over,"
"Ryan, it was not your fault!" She insisted, "Now listen to me, the police are gonna find that asshole and we're gonna go to court and we're gonna nail to bastard that nearly took her from us! Do you understand that?" She asked and slowly he nodded. "Good, now I need to go and sort out this insurance and then I need to ring my husband,"
He looked at her in confusion for a moment.
"When you see your daughter on her deathbed, you realise things like money and a big house have no matter whatsoever and you need your family, I have the job of bringing mine back together," She stated before slowly turning and walking back down the corridor.
Hours passed by as she slept Seth and Summer came in after a while, she cried first into Seth's shoulder, then into Marissa's bedside as she held her hand tightly, then into Ryan as she thanked him over and over for saving her, then back into Seth, who then decided to take her home and much to her objection but Ryan swore he'd ring if there was any change.
Sandy and Kirsten came back after that, both proclaiming how proud they were of him.
Then no one else came after that, he sat for hours watching her sleep, the whole time it seemed surreal, this could not be happening, his life had never known luck.
She was going to die. She had too, there was no way she could survive.
xxxxx
It was nearing four in the morning when her eyelids began to flicker and she moaned weakly.
"Hey," He murmured, sitting up in his chair and gently brushing hair out of her face. "Marissa?"
She slowly opened her eyes, blinking wearily a few times. She struggled to speak again, whimpering something that sounded like his name.
"Shh, shh, shh," He responded, taking hold of her hand and kissing it gently. "Don't talk, it's OK, you're OK, I'm here, I'm right here,"
"Where am I?" She asked, looking around.
"You're in hospital, they took you into surgery, you need to rest, your Mom's here, Kaitlin's here, your Dad's on his way, Summer, Seth, Sandy and Kirsten have all been to see you, you just need to sleep, I'm not going anywhere,"
"What happened?" She asked.
"Volchok ran us off the road, we fell down that hill and the car crashed, and that paramedic found us and brought you to hospital,"
A look of realisation slowly filled her face as her mind began to work again. "You've been crying," She observed, gazing up at him.
"You scared me pretty bad," He answered, stroking her hand with his thumb. "And I am never letting you out of my sight again, you know that right?"
She smiled and that caused him to smile and release the first easy breath for the past eight hours.
"But you need to sleep, OK?" He repeated. "You've got to rest,"
"Will you be here when I wake up?" She asked, her eyes pleading.
"I won't be going anywhere," He promised.
"I don't think I'm gonna go to Greece anymore," She murmured, closing her eyes and he laughed, relief flooding through him because for once luck seemed to be on his side.
xxxxxxxx
She was released from hospital a week and a half later, she had to go through physical therapy for the rest of summer but by September she was back to her old self.
The police caught up with Volchok in the August and he was held in custody until his trail.
Neither wound up going to Berkley in the end.
Ryan transferred his place to the California State University, forty minutes away.
Marissa joined him in the January, having finally received a placement in the new semester.
They moved in together in the February.
Volchok's trail was in the May and he was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to ten years.
Her parents got remarried in the June.
All four of them went away to Hawaii for the summer in the August and struggled to believe how much had changed in a year.
They returned to college in the next semester and their lives were the definition of normal until graduation.
Seth graduated first after a three year degree in Graphic Design, he went on to buy back the rights of Atomic County and it became one of the best selling teen comics of all time after it was published into a Graphic Novel.
Summer graduated Brown University with a degree in Political Science but a passion for animal rights, after actively protesting the rights during college she went on to join GEORGE, where she travelled around the country speaking about animal treatments and organising peaceful demonstrations until she retired and worked in the local headquarters after she and Seth finally settled down.
Marissa graduated California State with a degree in Journalism where she related her past experiences of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, rebellion, angst and stress into her section in an upcoming magazine that she and some friends had started in college which became one of the most popular magazines of that decade.
Ryan graduated last after a five year degree in Architecture and went on to join The Newport Group and became one of the most popular and up and coming architects on the scene with his buildings appearing all over the country.
Seth proposed to Summer on the Christmas Eve of 2010, they married the following June.
Ryan proposed to Marissa in the Best Man's Speech of Seth and Summer's wedding, they married on the day before Christmas Eve of 2011.
xxxxxxx
Their luck ran out in late 2012, they decided to try for a baby but after three months of nothing, they went to see a specialist and it was discovered that the accident had destroyed one aspect of their life they hadn't realised.
Due to major internal injury, her reproductive organs had shut down in a 'form of hibernation to protect itself' and had never turned back on.
They sat together on the sofa, uneaten Chinese food on the table in front of them.
"I'm sorry," She repeated for the hundredth time that night as she lay in his arms, her head resting against his shoulder.
"Don't even say that!" He responded, hugging her tightly as her tears his t-shirt. "It is not your fault! None of this is your fault!" When his words offered her no solace, he lifted her face to look at him. "Right, you listen, OK, how is any of this your fault?" He demanded, "We both know whose fault this is and he's rotting in jail right now! This is just another thing that we have to overcome, we have taken all the shit that this world has thrown at us and we've thrown it back twice as hard, haven't we?"
She nodded.
"Exactly, now we will be parents!" He insisted, "Whether it be through a surrogate or through adoption whatever, we just need to sit down talk through our options, yeah?"
Her lower lip trembled slightly. "They said I had an 'Inhospitable Womb' that's the world's way of saying I'd be a crap mom!"
He closed his eyes for a moment before pulling her into his lap, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and wept into his shoulder.
"It's gonna be OK," He swore, kissing the side of her head and rocking her gently. "It's gonna be OK,"
xxxxxx
They begin to get it back together in the following weeks and it was totally out of nowhere when Ryan got a phone call from Sandy at his office as he was drawing up plans for a new development in Ohio.
"Hello?" He said upon answering his phone.
"Hey Ryan, it's me," Sandy replied.
"Hey, Sandy, what's up?" Ryan asked, turning away from his monitor to talk to his Father.
"Ryan, can you talk? Because this is pretty serious,"
"Why, what's up?" He checked, his jaw tightening. "Is everyone OK?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's not that, we're all OK, you and Marissa still coming over for dinner on Sunday?" He checked quickly before he darkened the mood.
"Yeah, we're really looking forward to it," He responded, "Sandy, seriously, what's the matter?"
"I got a phone call from my old friend Sean who works down at the Public Defender's Office, there's a woman who got pulled in for neglect and abandonment as well as Drug Possession," He stated.
"And?" Ryan asked, confused.
"It's your Mom, Ryan we found her, she's living down in Pasadena," Sandy concluded.
There was a pause.
"Is she OK?" He queried after a moment. He hadn't heard from his Mom in eight months after she'd rung him asking for a handout after he signed the Emmerson deal, he refused unless she'd see him and she was clean, something she hadn't been since she'd got back with an old boyfriend and had fallen from the scene, almost three years ago.
Something suddenly dawned on Ryan.
"Hang on, what do mean abandonment? Who did she abandon?!" He asked, suddenly.
That was when Sandy let out the biggest sigh Ryan had ever heard him utter.
"Your brother, Ryan," He explained. "She had a son four months ago, he's called Parker and they found him in a skip three weeks ago,"
Silence followed.
"Where's his Dad?" He asked, "Who's his dad?!"
"I don't think even your Mom knows," Sandy stated.
"Where is he? Is he OK? WHAT?!" He asked quickly, not quite believing it.
"He's currently in Foster Care in Pasadena, your Mom's put him up for adoption, he's OK, he was severely malnourished when they found him but he's recovering, luckily he's not a Crack baby,"
"Where is she?" He asked, quietly, his blood raging.
"She's in jail, right now... Fennington County," Sandy responded.
He was physically shaking, anger pulsating through him.
He wasn't sure if it was because he was unable to have his own baby and someone could so cruelly discard theirs, or if it was because it was his Mom and his brother but he had only ever been this angry once in his life.
"Ryan?" Sandy asked, "You still there?"
"Has anyone had any interest in him?!" He asked, quickly.
"I don't know," He answered. "But I can find out I have a few friends at Social Services,"
"Sandy, I need you to stop any proceedings that might be going through, OK, any possible families. Can you do that?" He begged, grabbing his jacket whilst holding his cell to his ear.
"Ryan, what are you gonna do?" Sandy checked apprehensively, knowing his son.
"I need to talk to my wife, Sandy can you do it?!"
"Yes, I can try," He responded, with a sigh. "Ryan,"
"Sandy, I've got to go," He answered, "I'll call you as soon as I can!"
xxxxxxx
He could barely think as he drove towards Marissa's office, all he could picture was a baby that was his flesh and blood in the world all alone.
He pulled up outside and locked his Range Rover.
When he arrived she was in a meeting with new publishers.
When he insisted she come out of said meeting she was pissed.
When he made her go to the Deli down the street with him she was confused.
When he sat her down his a coffee and explained what Sandy had told him she cried.
When he told her about him being up for adoption, she reached the same conclusion as he had done in the same amount of time.
Their luck hadn't run out just yet.
xxxxxx
They drove down to Pasadena on the Monday and met first with the social worker and then with his foster parents and then with him.
As Marissa and Ryan sat in the home of Parker's foster parents, they couldn't quite decide what they were feeling, it was a mixture of anguish, apprehension, excitement and to put it quite plainly downright about-to-shit-themselves-fear.
His Foster Mother brought in two cups of coffee, staring quite plainly at Marissa as she did so.
"Have we met before?" She asked, handing it to her.
"Erm, I don't think so," She answered, "Thanks," She added accepting the coffee.
"Are you sure?" She checked, "You look really, really familiar,"
She shook her head, "I'm pretty sure, I'd remember your hair – I love the color!" She smiled, causing Joy to smile and blush in response.
She handed the other coffee to Ryan and sat in the chair opposite them.
"Peter's just changing him, he's bringing him down in a second,"
"So Ryan and... I'm so sorry," She apologised.
"Marissa," She put in.
"Marissa... Marissa Atwood?! THE Marissa Atwood? As in the writer for Speak Easy? The Magazine?"
She smiled and nodded.
"I LOVE your articles so much! I knew I recognised you! Typical Joy, I'm so forgetful!" She sighed and laughed at the same time.
There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs as her husband came down, Marissa suddenly gripped Ryan's knee in nervousness.
He gently slipped an arm around her waist as Joy turned to take the baby from her husband who was still in the hallway, blocking him from their view.
It was as she lifted him into her arms that they finally caught sight of the little boy they hoped would be their son.
He was the image of Ryan.
"And this is Parker," Joy announced, carrying him over to them and placing him into Marissa's arms, what she felt was completely indescribable.
"Hi," She greeted, holding him gently.
He looked at her, then at Ryan then back, then he smiled, his pacifier nearly falling out of his mouth as he did so.
"Hey, buddy," Ryan inputted, causing him to look back at him and reach out his arms, wanting to be held by him now, Marissa passed him to him and Ryan sat him in his lap, pulling down his dinosaur t-shirt that had ridden up slightly as he was passed between the adults.
"We'll give you some time to yourselves," She stated as she and Peter left the room leaving the three of them alone.
xxxxxx
He'd cried as they'd left, loud, anguished sobbing as they'd tried to pass him back to his foster parents.
Crying that stuck with them both as they drove back to Newport.
"You wanna stop for dinner on the way back?" Ryan asked, dropping her hand that he'd been holding onto to change gear.
She turned to look at him and nodded, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"Hey," He murmured, "What's wrong?"
"It feels like I've actually left something behind," She confessed. "It hurts,"
He sighed. "I feel exactly the same way,"
"I just want to bring him home," She stated.
"Me too, honey, me too,"
xxxxxx
He went to see her shortly before they were due to bring him home; he wanted to do it himself.
Dawn was sat at a table in the middle of the room in an Orange jumpsuit as he walked in in his designer suit with the documents in his hand.
He sat at the table opposite to her in silence for a few minutes before she finally spoke.
"Hey, Ry," She murmured, but he just continued to stare at her. "How you been?"
He bit his bottom lip before he finally opened his mouth. "You know, the usual: Married, working, about to adopt the son you abandoned,"
"I'm..." She began, about to recite the excuse she'd been practising since she got the request to visit him.
"Don't bother, Mom," He spat. "I'm not sixteen years old anymore, you can't bullshit your way out of the second child you abandoned,"
"I didn't abandon you!" She counteracted.
"This isn't about me, Mom, it's about Parker!" He snapped.
"I mean I always tried to love you, boys, all three of you, but I was on my own... I had no one, I had nothing!"
"Absolute crap!" He scoffed, "You had me, you had the Cohens, you had Social Services, you had any other option that to leave him in a skip!"
"If you can remember, Ryan, I tried to get help from you!" She counteracted.
"No, you rang me after two years wanting a hand out," Ryan deadpanned. "Never did you mention the words: 'Hey son, by the way I'm six months pregnant,'"
"I read that my son had signed a multimillion pound deal and you were in that magazine with Marissa and you looked so..."
"So what?" He demanded, but he could have guessed before she finished.
"Newport, so rich and hang me out to dry because I wanted to borrow a couple of hundred dollars from my millionaire son!"
"It was ten grand," He corrected her.
"What?!" She asked, as he caught her off track.
"You rang and demanded ten thousand dollars!" She opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out.
"I'm done here," He snapped, opening the envelope and placing the documents on the table.
"Sign here, here and here," He ordered, placing a pen in front of her.
"What is this?" She asked, staring at them then back at him.
"This is you doing the first good thing you've ever done for him," Ryan explained and from the look on his face she dutifully picked up the pen and signed her rights to her baby away to her son.
He watched as she finished all three pieces of paper and then placed them carefully back in the envelope.
"Why you doing this, Ry?" She demanded, suddenly. "Why do you want my kid?"
"Because I love him, Mom. Because from the moment I met him I knew we couldn't leave him to be raised by strangers, because it's like he's ours, because Marissa cried for three hours when we came home after the first time we met him," He paused his jaw set. "Because if I didn't want him, there's no one else in the world who does,"
She just looked at him before he realised, there was no point in being there anymore.
"Bye, Mom," He said, suddenly standing up.
"You're gonna come and see me again, though, aren't you, Ry?" She asked, but he ignored her.
"Ryan?"
"You see Mom, this is me abandoning you except I'm not leaving a note and I'm not dumping you like garbage," He stated and with that he turned and walked away.
"Ry? No, Ryan! RYAN!" She called after him, but he didn't even look back.
xxxxxx
When Ryan arrived home at half six, Marissa and Summer were sat in the living room, surrounded by about fifty Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bloomingdales bags.
"I guess I missed the shopping trip," He joked.
"Ha Ha," Marissa responded, sarcastically, as she hopped over the bags to greet him at the door.
"Hey Atwoods, enough with the kissing, you have company!" Summer mock scolded.
"Sorry Roberts, I didn't see you down there, you blended in with the bags," Ryan replied, with a smile.
"Very funny," She responded, glaring at him.
"I know, aren't I?" He winked.
"He learnt from the best," Seth interjected, coming through from the kitchen, beer in hand.
"That is down to a matter of opinion," Ryan stated, sitting down beside his wife on the floor.
Seth stood there holding his chest, mock gasping. "I think something inside me just died," He choked.
"Get a grip, Cohen," Summer said, slipping herself under his arm and taking his beer off him.
"So go on, what did you spend my wage for the past three years on?"
"Just a few things," She smiled, "Just look how cute these little overalls are though!" She insisted, reaching into one of the Neiman Marcus bags and pulling them out. "They're adorable!"
"Look at the price tag – that's twice as adorable!" He interjected sarcastically.
"Ryan, there will be no expense spared on our child!" She insisted, poking him in the chest.
"I'm kidding," He smiled, "It is cute, Orange, but cute,"
"Orange is in right now, anyway, you wouldn't happy unless we dressed him in jeans and a wife beater every day," She digged.
"Ha," He replied, "I wear clothes other than wife beaters,"
"And that is why we bought some white t-shirts and shirts," She smiled.
"That's my girl," He grinned, kissing her.
"Hey, my little peanut," Seth muttered to his wife.
"Yes, my big Macadamia," She replied, smiling.
"I think that our babies are ready to have their own baby," He stated.
"I believe you may be right," She answered.
xxxxxx
They picked him up a week later.
He fell asleep in Marissa's arms as she rocked him in the chair in his nursery.
"Hey, I wondered where you got to," Ryan murmured from the doorway.
"I can't put him down," She responded, kissing his head gently.
Ryan smiled and walked over to them both before crouching down beside the chair. "I guess everything worked out in the end then," He commented, stroking Parker's hair.
"I guess we were pretty lucky in the long run," She smiled.
"It's no more than you deserve," He replied, then added. "Come to bed, you've been sat here for about an hour and a half,"
"Can I bring him?" She joked.
"I don't see why not, do you Mom?" He said, cocking his head to one side.
"You're such a dork," She laughed, "But no Dad, I don't see why not,"
"Well then, welcome to the family Parker Atwood,"
I was off College with a sprained ankle and I was watching The OC all day and I just started writing and this came out... hope you like it 3 Please let me know!
Preston101 xxxxxxx