Pseudo-inspired by SMC36's Sophie Chronicles and my own experience hiding so the kids I work with don't cry when I leave the room.
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
When Ryan had agreed to take Sandy's Law and Politics lecture, he had a few stipulations to which the older man had to agree.
There would be no referencing him as an example, no calling on him more than he called on anyone else, no family pictures or anecdotes (at least not with names), and, well, no mentions of the fact that they were family.
It wasn't that Ryan was embarrassed; there was no teenage "my father is my teacher" angst motivating him. Rather, he wanted to avoid the theory that his grades were based on the familial connection. He knew Sandy would be fair, but he understood that others might not believe him. An 'F' would mean he was in trouble at home, an 'A' would be a shameless show of nepotism. And to be honest, he wanted to get his grades based on his merits.
He was sure no one would make the connection between "Sandy Cohen" and "Ryan Atwood-Cohen." After all, Cohen was a common last name.
So everyday, he came to class and took a seat in the eighth row of fourteen next to some guys from his dorm and a girl, Kelsey, who fawned shamelessly over Sandy each class.
It was both awkward and amusing for Ryan, hearing the girl gush about Sandy,
"Oh my gosh, for an older guy, he's so cute. He's got that Jon Stewart thing going for him. That older funny Jewish guy thing. Man, I wonder if he's married."
He grinned at the thought of possibly exposing Sandy's life at home to the girl,
He's happily married with three kids. The baby's eighteen months old. And you think he's cute? You'll think he's even cuter in ripped sweats singing show tunes to wake you up on a Sunday morning.
Instead he settled for pointing out Sandy's wedding ring.
With this complicated plot affecting his every Tuesday and Friday, he was understandably concerned one Friday morning when, halfway through the lecture, Kirsten came through the backdoor carrying Sophie.
Sophie, Ryan rubbed his temples. His little sister made him happier than most other people. She was his way of unwinding, and he spent many of his weekends at home, playing with the little girl. So it was only natural her second word be his name after 'daddy'.
Every time she saw him, Ryan knew, she couldn't help but become excited and yelp "Ayan! Ayan! Ayyyyy-an!" until he picked her up.
He sank down into his seat to avoid being seen by either his mother or his sister, both of whom would inevitably feel the need to sit with him and ruin his perfectly complicated double life.
Ryan was, at this moment, unconvinced that keeping his and Sandy's arrangement secret from Kirsten because "she would think they were being silly" was a good idea.
But he resigned himself to his fate and took to pondering why Kirsten and Sophie were there to begin with.
It took him a moment before he realized Seth was coming home that day. He wasn't sure how he'd forgotten as he'd been on the receiving end of several frantic phone calls from Kirsten about how the whole family was going on a field trip to greet Seth at the airport.
He stopped silently cursing Seth and his breath hitched in his throat when Sophie's voice was echoing through the room. He wondered how she'd seen him curled in his chair and was about to give up on hiding when he heard the words that allowed his lungs to again fill with oxygen,
"Daddy! Daaaddy! Daddy!"
He heard Sandy's chuckle and he heard his sister being introduced,
"Class, this is my daughter Sophie and my lovely wife Kirsten."
He suppressed a laugh when Kelsey let out a disappointed gasp,
"Wife and daughter?"
But Sandy resumed his lecture and Kirsten kept Sophie occupied in her seat with a bag of toys and Ryan counted down the minutes until everyone filed out of the classroom and he could finally sit up.
Fifteen minutes to go and he could hear Sophie naming colors she saw around the room.
Twelve minutes to go and Sophie was making kissing noises.
Eight minutes to go and Kirsten was singing softly to Sophie.
Six minutes to go and Ryan had a cramp in his back.
Four minutes to go and…
Ryan wished the crash hadn't startled him so much.
Sophie's tin box of miniature zoo animals fell to the ground with a resounding clatter and Ryan jumped up at the noise, turning around instinctively to see the cause.
Sophie, her bottom lip quivering, immediately caught sight of her brother and threw her arms up in greeting.
"Ayan!" she screeched, "Ayaaaan! Ayan!"
Ryan felt the class turn to face him and he quickly sank back into his chair, feeling guilty for ignoring Sophie repeated cries of "Ayan!"
"A, uh… a friend of yours?" Ryan's friend Adam grinned.
Ryan, resigned, covered his eyes with his palm,
"My sister."
"Your…"
He watched as his friends figured out what relationship those two simple words forged and cringed as his friend Matt drawled,
"So that would make Professor Cohen…"
"My dad, yeah."
"Oh."
Ryan's friends were quiet for a moment and Ryan looked from them, to Sandy, to Kirsten, to his sister still reaching for him. He hastily leaned over and took Sophie from Kirsten, patting her back gently as she nuzzled her face into his neck.
"Ryan?" Adam broke the silence.
"Yeah?" Ryan braced himself for the pseudo-good natured comments about his last 'A' and how he was never over-eager to participate.
"Why didn't you tell us?" He inhaled deeply and prepared to give a long-winded explanation,
"Well, it was just that…"
"It would've stopped Kelsey from talking about her creepy obsession with Professor Cohen."
"I… what?" He turned to face Kelsey, who was sitting red-faced two seats away, "Oh, right. Sorry."
Instinctively protecting Sophie's head with his free hand, he stepped back as Kelsey stood up and began smacking at him,
"What is wrong with you?! You just let me say all that stuff?! When he's your dad?!"
Ryan hastily apologized and Kirsten pulled Sophie from his arms,
"Ryan, sweetheart, I hate to pull you away from your… friends?" she said with a teasing grin, "But we've got to go pick Seth up at the airport."
"Eth!" Sophie smiled, throwing her arms in the air.
"You excited to see your other brother, little girl?" Kirsten tickled the baby's stomach and Kelsey groaned,
"There's more of you?! Ugh!"
She ran, head down, out of the room, and Adam and Matt followed her.
"Care to explain?" Kirsten intoned, looking from her son to her husband. Ryan sighed.
"In the car."
"So…" Sandy approached, carrying his briefcase, "What did I hear about some girl talking about me?"
"Well, Sandy, it seems that a friend of Ryan's has a crush on you."
"Really? Which one?" Sandy grinned, self-satisfied.
"Oh hey, let's go pick up Seth."
"We've got time, Ryan."
Ryan sighed and turned to Sandy,
"Let's just say I'm never taking one of your classes again. It's far too complicated."