A/N: So I got this idea as, well, I'm really interested in pre-series peeks. I've seen a lot of stories focusing on Sandy and Kirsten during and after Berkeley, and plenty of pre-series Ryan peeks, but I don't think I've ever seen anything dealing specifically with Sandy, his relationship with the Nana and his upbringing. And honestly, I feel like if I'm interested, I feel like there might be some of you that are as well, so I figured I would share this, my own little take. A bit about this. I'm trying to make this as compliant as possible based on what we're told in the series about Sandy's background, but it's been a few months since I've actually watched so little details not all be in order, so I'm giving it the canon-compliant AU tag, it definitely will be as far as the present is concerned as I've taken some liberties as far as the beginning of the episode The Truth is concerned. Since this is mostly a prequel, I've taken some liberties there as well, but I will try to keep it in the spirit of the show. As far as the story goes, it will go back and forth between the present, which is mid season 1 right in the middle of the Oliver situation after Ryan's suspension, before the truth is revealed and before Ryan meets the Nana, and the past, which will be the bulk of the story which is Sandy's freshman year of high school. Anyway as per usual I own nothing. The O.C. and all related characters belong to Josh Schwartz. The only characters I own are my versions of Sandy's siblings and father, and Jacob Hill. This prologue will be purely the present.

Prologue: Troubled Waters

"What am I gonna do with you? I can't ground you or chain you to a wall. There's the door. You want to go after that poor Oliver kid? Go ahead. But if you want to stay, if you want to be a part of this family, you are NOT going to go anywhere, you're not gonna see anyone or talk to anyone unless Kristen and I say it's okay. That's the deal. Take it or leave it." Sandy reentered the house as those words reverberated. He knew there had to be a reason. As long as he'd known Ryan, the kid hadn't lied. Lost his cool a bit maybe, but lied never. For one, he simply couldn't. Those little tells that a parent has to know when their kid is lying, well Ryan had about ten to Seth's three. Whereas Seth could ramble on and on to cover a slip, Ryan clammed up. The truth, well when it came to the truth, Sandy had found in just these past several months that the truth produced the opposite effect. If there was even a bit of doubt, Seth would back away and study the moment in question often with questions of his own, but Ryan, he was resolute.

As Sandy sat at the island with a cup of coffee, he let the question join him. What do you do when there's nothing to do? Ryan's handling of the situation, well that's what was being examined here, at least in his eyes. They didn't know the whole story. The Trask kid, well maybe there was something wrong. Maybe it was just jealousy. They didn't know, and neither did Ryan, at least not completely. Punching first and thinking later, well that had been stupid. And Ryan wasn't stupid, hadn't he told him as much?

"How'd it go?" He heard Kirsten before he saw her sitting across from him.

"He knows what he did was the wrong way to go." Sandy said. He'd made sure of it, even if the way Ryan looked made him think the kid knew that already. Which returned Sandy to his current dilemma, there had to be a reason. "We'll see what he does with it."

"So he's not joining us then?"

"No." Sandy shook his head.

"I'm sure he'll come around." Kirsten's hand covered Sandy's. Sandy noticed as her expression changed. "Oh, a call came for you." She stood and grabbed the piece of paper from the notepad on the fridge. "Jacob Hill," She raised an eyebrow. "Friend or client?"

Any reply that Sandy was going to make suddenly got stuck in his throat. Jacob Hill, he hadn't spoken to Jacob in a long time. The fact that he'd even gotten Sandy's contact information, much less his home number, was a surprise, though wholly unsurprising if this was the same Jacob Hill that Sandy recalled. "No, not a client." Sandy blinked away the confusion to the best of his ability. Yet was the foregone conclusion.

It was time for Sandy Cohen to deal with his own Oliver Trask.

How Jacob Hill had ended up in their living room was a spiral effect that Sandy was all too familiar with. And yet, he hadn't quite been able to pin it as such until it was too late.

"Thanks for this San, I, I know it's probably kind of crazy. But like I told you, this is kind of a big deal. I mean when he called, I, I would've half expected him to call you."

Sandy clasped his hands and listened trying to bite back the many questions. Why now, being number one. He wasn't exactly in the best state of preparedness for a visit after almost twenty years. Why do you still insist on referring to me as San being number two. And why didn't you give my brother my number if you had it all this time being number three. But what he said was "Crazy doesn't even begin to describe it Jake, but I'm happy to help. So what exactly did Paulie say?"

"He just gave me a number and told me to give it to you." Jacob dug out a piece of paper, yellowed and damp handing it to Sandy. "That's the number where he's staying. Uh…mine's there too." Sandy glanced over and noticed Ryan had entered the house. Apparently Jake had noticed as well. "So I won't keep you. Just call him when you get a chance." He held out a hand for Sandy to shake.

Sandy did, giving a single nod and letting go rather quickly, which didn't go unnoticed by his foster son as the man left.

"Who was that?" Ryan's expression didn't change, nor did he truly look at Sandy as he asked the question. Pissed. Clearly. Sandy noted. But he was here, and he was talking so Sandy would take what he could get.

"An old friend."

"You seemed like you wanted to get rid of him pretty quick." Ryan said. And the question was there in Ryan's eyes. How good of a friend is he really? It was intermingled with the same look he'd given in the poolhouse, and Sandy again wondered was the reason Ryan did what he did the same reason Sandy had let go so quickly when Jacob shook his hand? Was there something more there?

"He usually means trouble." Was all Sandy said in response.

The boy nodded raising his eyebrows a fraction of an inch, but didn't say anything more getting up from the couch and going into the kitchen.

A/N: So, that's the prologue. Um, I've decided that I'm going to try to bookend present moments, so we will still see Kirsten, Ryan and Seth, but as I said before this story will mostly be dealing with Sandy's freshman year of high school with present moments occasionally being sparse. I'm kind of experimenting a bit with a different style of writing overall, the use of the present to frame the past, so it, being the present, may not always be involved. If interested Jacob Hill is portrayed by Ian Harding.

A bit of a factoid, this idea actually comes from three separate er questions, instances, one of which is referenced above, the scene where Sandy is talking to Ryan in the poolhouse, that whole exchange. I just have this feeling that Sandy could be speaking from experience especially with what he told Ryan in the pilot. Another is of course that bit of dialogue in the pilot which is in the summary of this story. I just generally wished to know more as the Sandy Cohen we meet in the first episode doesn't seem the type to be pissed off and stupid, and of course The Nana. That whole dynamic, I just wanted to explore a bit more. So...I hope this isn't totally odd or off putting as far as an O.C. story goes:) Please let me know if you're interested in seeing more and of course if you have any facts to share, particularly about the time period ( 1970s-ish?) as I'm not particularly familiar or about any little details I might be overlooking related to canon, review or PM. I've watched the whole series so I know a lot I'd like to think, but as I said it's been a while and little details can be forgotten. Anyway, please do tell me what you think. And for those of you who follow my other stories, I'll be getting around to updating those soon. It's my last crazy few weeks of classes so updating is going to be slow for a while.

Next: In the present, Sandy calls Paul and is taken back as we get our first glimpse into Sandy's family as he prepares for his first week of high school.