Kirsten slowly opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times to focus her vision

Kirsten slowly opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times to focus her vision. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand and sat up quickly. She had been asleep over ten hours and it was now late in the evening – Ryan! She shot out of the bed and threw a robe around herself as she hurried out the door and down the stairs to the master bedroom.

The sound of retching could be heard from behind the closed door and Kirsten didn't waste a moment throwing it open and rushing into the room. Her heart broke at the sight of Sandy helping Ryan lean over and throw up into the waste basket without pulling at his back. Despite Sandy's assistance, Ryan moaned in pain as he tried to catch his breath.

"It's going to be OK. You're doing great Kid." Sandy soothed. "I'm right here Son. I've got you."

Kirsten scurried over to the other side of Ryan and sat on the side of the bed so that she could reach him. She rubbed her hand over the upper part of his back and gently rubbed his leg in an attempt to comfort him. Ryan glanced at her for a second before his entire body contorted and his stomach once again attempted to empty itself of everything it had consumed for the last five years.

Sweat dripped down Ryan's pale face and the bedclothes were damp. Kirsten reached up and felt his forehead. She was alarmed to feel the heat radiating from there.

"Sandy, have you taken his temperature?" Kirsten asked urgently.

"I haven't had the chance. He suddenly woke up and he hasn't stopped vomiting for the past half hour." Sandy winced as Ryan's body once again began to spasm. The scent of bile was strong in the air now. He didn't know how Kirsten could stand it.

Kirsten was too worried to think about what the smell was doing to her own stomach. She could be sick later. Her son needed her now. "Why didn't you come get me?"

"I couldn't leave him Honey. I was planning to as soon as he got through this." Sandy replied bracing Ryan as the teen threw up again.

"I'm calling the doctor. This isn't even normal for antibiotics, and I know that he's running a fever. Something's wrong. Have you looked at the wound?" Kirsten declared.

"No Sweetheart. I haven't had the chance. I think you should go ahead and call. You're right, Ryan is too sick." Sandy told her as Ryan seemed to finally pause long enough to attempt to catch his breath.

Sandy helped him settle back against the pillows and placed the basket beside him on the floor before wiping his forehead with the towel again. "Are you still with us Kid?" He asked the panting teen.

"Yeah." Ryan whispered softly. "Hurts."

"What hurts Honey?" Kirsten asked, already reaching for the phone.

"Back – hurts." Ryan croaked out.

"Sandy, check his back." Kirsten ordered.

She bit down on her lip as Ryan groaned in agony as Sandy rolled him over slightly so he could see the wound. Sandy's grimace was enough to alarm her.

"Kirsten go wake up Seth. I'm going to help Ryan get some clothes on. The wound is dark red and hot. I think it's infected. We need to get him to the hospital."

Kirsten's heart broke at the helpless look of agony on Ryan's pale, sweaty face. She would give anything for him to be healthy again. "Hang on Sweetheart you're going to be OK."

Ryan nodded weakly as Kirsten ran out of the room. Kirsten ran quickly up the stairs and pounded on Summer's door. "Seth!" She shouted as she threw the door open. Kirsten absently noticed that Seth and Summer were in bed together and neither was wearing anything.

"Mom! I…" Seth stammered.

"Get dressed and get downstairs! We have to get Ryan to the hospital." Kirsten exclaimed.

Seth and Summer were both silent as they rushed to put on clothes, but Kirsten didn't notice. She was too busy hurrying back to her own room to throw on the first outfit she could find. She threw her door open and rushed out to the hall and straight into a robe-clad Julie.

"Kirsten? Are you OK?" Julie asked.

"We're taking Ryan back to the hospital. He's got an infection." Kirsten hurriedly explained as she rushed around Julie.

"Do you need us to come?" Julie shouted, following her best friend down the stairs.

"No stay here. I'll let you know what the doctor says." Kirsten replied quickly as she reentered Ryan's room.

Ryan was bent over the waste basket again, but there was nothing else to come out. He was just dry heaving by now. Sandy was holding the pail and helping Ryan stay vertical. The teen was unable to even sit up straight he was so weak.

Seth and Summer burst into the room. "Oh God." Seth exclaimed as he hurried over to his father and brother. He got on Ryan's other side and took more of his weight.

Ryan gasped for air as his stomach let up for a moment. "Thanks." He rasped.

"OK Ryan, Seth and I are going to help you to the car. Kirsten, go warm it up. Summer make sure there's nothing blocking our way." Sandy ordered, putting down the garbage can and bracing himself on Ryan's free side.

Together, Seth and Sandy worked to lift Ryan off the bed. He was so weak that they were practically carrying him. He just didn't have the strength to support any of his own weight. Summer stayed ahead of them, opening doors and verbally guiding them up and down the landings that filled her home. She wrapped her arms around herself as she stood next to Kirsten and watched Sandy and Seth work to get Ryan into the back of the SUV. This was the first time she had seen Ryan since they left the hospital that morning. Summer hurried back to the house to grab her cell phone and keys. Taylor had stayed with her mother, but Summer knew that she would want to be there for Ryan.

As soon as her son was settled, Kirsten crawled in on the other side and put the plastic bag she had grabbed on the way out the door beside her. Ryan was leaning against the door and panting from the exertion of moving to the car. He fought a whimper as he felt Kirsten's cool hand caress his face. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so sick, but he took a lot of comfort in the fact that he wasn't alone. He had parents that were actually taking care of him. Ryan found himself believing Sandy and Kirsten when they told him that he was going to be OK. Just like a normal mom and dad would tell their kid.

It was these thoughts running through his mind and the heat of his fever that Ryan blamed for the words out of his mouth as he fought not to retch again. "Mom, I can't – please make it stop."

"We're going to make it stop Honey, don't you worry. Just hold on a little longer." Kirsten comforted Ryan as she fought back tears at the precious words that he had just spoken.

Sandy and Seth glanced at each other as they heard what Ryan called Kirsten. They were both wondering if he was delirious and thought he was speaking to Dawn. They were quickly disabused of the fact when Ryan retched once again.

"Thank you Mom. Dawn would never do this for me." Ryan whispered as Kirsten wiped the sweat off of his face.

Kirsten did sob at that point. "Oh Ryan, I love you Sweetheart. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Do you understand? I'm going to make sure that you are safe." She informed him. She was urgent that he knew he wasn't alone.

"I love you too. You aren't mad if I call you Mom?" Ryan asked hesitantly.

Kirsten laughed and sobbed. "Oh Honey, I would love it if you called me Mom."

Ryan smiled a bit and closed his eyes. It was then he lost consciousness.

"Ryan? Ryan can you hear me?" Kirsten's voice was becoming frantic as her son's head bobbed loosely. He didn't stir. "Hurry Sandy, he passed out!"

Sandy's foot pressed down harder on the gas. He couldn't take it if they lost Ryan now, just when he had finally accepted them as his own family.

The line of cars in front of the emergency room had disappeared overnight, and the parking lot looked more normal for HOAG. Sandy pulled right up in front of the doors and Seth ran in to get some help. Sandy got out and went to the back door. He carefully opened it and caught his son in his arms when Ryan, who was slumped against the door, almost fell out.

Seth came running back out leading a couple of nurses and what looked like at least one doctor with a gurney between them.

"How long has he been unconscious?" The doctor asked as they loaded Ryan on the gurney and hurried towards the doors.

"Ten minutes at the most. He was talking to us right before then." Kirsten reported, rushing to keep up with them. "He was here last night with glass in his back. The wound looks infected and he was feverish and vomiting."

The doctor checked his pulse and grimaced at the boy's racing heart. "What's his name?"

"Ryan, Ryan Atwood." Kirsten replied, tears running down her cheeks. She was standing just inside the trauma room where they were beginning to run all sorts of tests on him in a carefully orchestrated chaos.

"Ryan? Ryan can you hear me?" The doctor shouted in a futile attempt to awaken his patient. When Ryan didn't even flinch, he turned to the nurse standing next to him. "Get me this kid's records. If he was here last night, there should be a chart. I need to know exactly what I'm dealing with here."

The nurse nodded and hurried out of the room. The doctor turned to the others in the room. "OK people, what have we got?"

Kirsten couldn't make any sense of what the different doctors and nurses were shouting out, but from their grimaces and urgency she knew that the numbers were not good. They were so busy working on Ryan that they had forgotten she was there. Not wanting to be asked to leave, Kirsten posted herself against the wall and out of the way of the fury of work going on in front of her.

Finally the nurse that was supposed to get Ryan's chart came running back into the room. The lead doctor took the file and studied it thoroughly. He frowned angrily. "Damn this earthquake." He growled. "This kid should have never been sent home. He should have been on an IV and this would have never happened. OK people we need blood tests to see how aggressive this infection really is. I need those labs ASAP!"

The doctor handed the chart back to the nurse and strode over to Ryan's side as he pulled on latex gloves. "Roll him. I need to see this wound." The doctor ordered.

Kirsten swallowed a gasp when she saw how bad the wound looked. It was a dark red, almost purple, with angry red lines darting out from the center.

"Damn, this is beginning to look like blood poisoning. Set up a central line. We need to get antibiotics in this kid immediately." The doctor growled.

Just then Ryan groaned.

"He's coming around Doctor." One nurse called out.

"Ryan? Ryan can you hear me? Wake up kid!" The doctor called out. He smiled when Ryan's eyes opened slightly. "Hello Ryan. Do you know where you are?"

Ryan's mouth moved slightly as he tried to form words. He was too weak and exhausted and soon slipped off to sleep.

"Poor kid." The nurse declared.

"OK people lets get those IV's set up!" The doctor instructed.

The others rushed around doing his bidding. Soon things began to slow down as the medical personnel finished their assignments and moved on to other patients. A nurse came in and handed the doctor a piece of paper. He grimaced as he read the results. "OK, keep pushing the antibiotics. Go ahead and set up a morphine drip. I want him monitored closely while his temp is this elevated. Is the family in the waiting room?"

Kirsten spoke up. "I'm his mother."

The doctor and remaining nurses startled. The doctor was the first to recover. "Would you like to go outside to the waiting room? We don't normally allow family in these rooms." He told her politely as he led her out of the room.

Sandy and Seth stood up when they saw Kirsten come into the room with the doctor.

"I'm Dr. Lyons." The doctor introduced himself.

"How's Ryan?" Sandy demanded, looking between the doctor and a visibly upset Kirsten.

"Your son is very sick. His wound has become severely infected and he has blood poisoning. His blood pressure is high and he is running a fever of 104. I am admitting him and we are treating him with IV antibiotics until the fever comes down. We are also giving him morphine for the pain."

"Is he going to be alright?" Seth asked.

Dr. Lyons smiled. "We've caught it in time. I'm being very aggressive with the antibiotics. It will take some time, but Ryan should be fine. Give us a few minutes to get him settled, and you can see him."

After the doctor left the room, Kirsten burst into tears. "Thank God." She whispered.

Sandy gathered Kirsten into his arms. "He's going to be fine. We're all going to be just fine." He reassured her.

"I know. I was just so scared." Kirsten mumbled into his chest.

"I think we all were." Sandy replied.

"Am I the only one who thinks we should wrap Ryan in bubble wrap and lock him up?" Seth exclaimed.

Sandy and Kirsten laughed at their precocious son. "Great idea Seth. Why don't you take care of that? I'm sure Ryan will be all for it."

Seth cringed at the thought of his brother's reaction. "Or maybe not." He mumbled.