Hello! Thanks for reviewing, and please do it again! So, I've never been to a will reading, so I was just going from my knowledge of movie and television will readings, if I've gotten something wrong, please forgive me. Okay? Thanks! I have to go read now for my night class, which sucks, but hey, it's stopped raining, and that's something. It hasn't stopped raining since last Wednesday. I need to seriously invest in a boat. Anyway, please review!
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine.
"Life is pain. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something". -The Princess Bride
Ryan shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He was sitting with the Cohens at Caleb's will reading. Kirsten had insisted that he come with them.
"You are family," she reminded him. Ryan had just nodded, and while he would have liked to argue with her that that didn't necessarily mean that he had to go to the will reading of a man who hated him, she was still crying at the drop of a hat, and Ryan didn't want to be the one who started the waterworks again. It was infinitely better to just do as she asked.
So there he was, sitting between Kirsten and Seth, wearing a suit and listening to the attorney, Mr. Harrison. Sandy was on the other side of Kirsten, holding her hand and every once in a while rubbing a hand over her back. Marissa had been forced along by her mother, and because Hailey was there as well, the attorney's relatively large office felt small and stifled. Marissa gave him a small smile when she had come in, and then rolled her eyes at her mother's antics. Julie was putting on a show for anyone who would pay attention, black veil and all.
"So, let's see here," Mr. Harrison said reading over the document in his hands. "The first thing that Mr. Nichol requested was two trust funds set up, one for each of his grandsons, Seth and Ryan." All seven exchanged confused looks. Caleb had set up a trust fund for Ryan? Ryan shook his head. There had to be a mistake.
"Can you repeat that?" Sandy asked. The attorney looked surprised at their reactions and repeated what he had just read. "Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure," Mr. Harrison said, amusement and confusion mingled together in his voice. "It says that Ryan Atwood and Seth Cohen, along with any other grandchildren born to either of his daughters, are to each have their own trust funds which they will inherit upon their twenty-first birthdays." Ryan felt an onslaught of emotions hit him at once. Caleb had set up a trust fund for him? Caleb had hated him. He had never made his feelings for Ryan private. He didn't like him, plain and simple. Ryan couldn't think of a time when he was Ryan, and not "that boy." And Ryan had been living with Sandy and Kirsten for quite some time.
And yet, he had set up a trust fund for Ryan, treated him as if he were his grandson. It was baffling to say the least. Kirsten's hand squeezed his, and he was at least glad to know that this was making her happy. His confusion over the trust fund aside, he was aware that she was relieved to find out that her father had a heart. She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"I knew you'd win him over," she whispered into Ryan's ear. Ryan had a feeling that Caleb had done this more for Kirsten than he had because he thought of Ryan as a grandson. But still, the fact remained that he had done something nice for his daughter and the boy that she thought of as her own.
"What about the rest of his things?" Julie asked. Hailey shot her a dirty look, but Julie didn't back down.
"Well, it says that the rest of his fortune, including the Newport Group, should be split evenly between his two daughters. There's some small items, a car that goes to his son-in-law, and a house in Hawaii that he wanted a, uh, Mr. Shaunessy to have, but other than that, the bulk of his estate is to be split between his children, " Mr. Harrison continued to read. He placed his glasses on the table and looked at the people in front of him. All seven faces registered some sort of shock. Julie was the first to snap out of it.
"What about his wife?" She managed to sputter out. "Didn't he leave anything to me?" Mr. Harrison scanned the will once again.
"No, sorry," he said. "There's nothing about a wife." Julie jumped to her feet and glanced around the room angrily.
"So the kid from Chino gets some of Caleb's money, but I don't get a single goddamned cent?"
"Mom," Marissa said grabbing her mother's arm and trying to coax her back into the seat.
"Do you understand Marissa? We have nothing again! No money, no place to live! We. Have. Nothing."
"Julie," Kirsten spoke up. "You have a place to live. You can stay in your house."
"How nice of you," Julie spat at Kirsten sarcastically. "I bet you are just so pleased. You never wanted me to marry him!" Kirsten stood up and tried to place a calming arm on Julie's arm.
"Julie, please. I never wanted this to happen. We'll get you a job at Newport Group. It's going to be okay," Kirsten tried to placate her, but Julie was having none of it.
"Please, keep your charity," Julie said bitterly. "I don't want to work for you."
"Mom, please, she's just trying to help," Marissa said.
"No, she's trying to rub it in," Julie commented. Kirsten shook her head.
"No, I'm sorry, Julie, I didn't want this to happen," Kirsten said calmly. Before anyone could react, Julie's hand went up and slapped Kirsten across the face.
"Liar," she seethed. Sandy and Ryan both jumped to their feet right away to defend Kirsten. As Ryan stood in front of Kirsten, Sandy pulled her back from Julie, taking her face in his hands and gently pushing the hair that had fallen in front of her face back so that he could make sure that she was okay. Tears glistened in her eyes from the stinging pain, and Sandy was sorry to note that a hand shaped bruise was already forming.
"I think you should go," Seth said finally. Marissa nodded, and grabbed her purse, and then her mother's arm and pulled her out of the room.
"I'm so sorry," Marissa said before the door shut behind them.
"Are you okay?" Sandy asked Kirsten, examining her face. She managed a nod, her hand reaching for his and grasping it.
"Wow. I mean, if I was going to bet on which one of us she was going to flip out on, it would have been me," Hailey said speaking up trying to bring some levity into the situation. "After all, she does hate me much more than she hates you." Kirsten gave a small disbelieving snort, and shook her head, slowly regaining her senses.
"I don't think right now she's a big fan of either of us," she said.
"I'll go get some ice," Mr. Harrison said leaving the room. Sandy wouldn't take his eyes off of Kirsten.
"You sure you're okay?" He knew that the emotional damage would far outweigh the physical damage. She squeezed his hand in response.
"Mom, if you wanted a bruise so that you could be as cool as Ryan, all you had to do was ask," Seth joked. Kirsten managed a small laugh as Mr. Harrison came back in with an ice pack that Sandy placed gently on his wife's face. She winced and sighed.
"Thank you Mr. Harrison, and sorry again," she said.
"Oh, it's no problem. If you and your sister could just come back in a few days and sign some paperwork, we'll be all set." Kirsten nodded again, and Sandy helped her with her coat as the five of them walked towards the elevator.
"So, when do we get to kick Julie out of her house?" Hailey asked gleefully.
"We're not going to," Kirsten said again.
"What? After she bitched slapped you Mom? She doesn't deserve that house," Seth argued, he was still a little bitter that Julie had made his mother plan the funeral, and the slap had just been icing on the cake.
"Seth, I'm not going to kick her and Marissa out of that house," Kirsten maintained. She removed the ice from her face and gingerly touched her cold cheek. They stood there in silence for a few moments before Sandy spoke up, trying to bring the attention away from Julie.
"So, Ryan, you some how squirmed your way into the old man's heart. How'd you manage that one? I'd been trying for eighteen years!" Ryan just shrugged.
"You can give that to Julie," he said. "I don't need it."
"No, it's yours," Kirsten said firmly.
"Dude, think about it! As soon as we're twenty-one, financial freedom! We can cut off all ties to the parental units!" Seth said. Sandy kicked his son on the back of the leg, and Seth sighed. "We'll still keep in contact. Maybe a letter once a month." Another kick. "Hey, Dad, seriously, knock it off, or I'll cut you off, and only love Mom." Seth got his desired response, which was to make his mother laugh.
Marissa showed up at the house a few hours later.
"I just came to apologize again to Kirsten for my mother," Marissa explained when Ryan opened the door.
"Oh, she's in the kitchen," Ryan said as Marissa stepped inside. "Where's your mom now?"
"She's passed out at home," Marissa said. "She drank her body weight once she had come home."
"Kirsten said that she's not going to kick you guys out of the house," Ryan said. He couldn't believe that Kirsten would still want to help out Julie after everything that he had happened. When he had mentioned that to Sandy, he had just shrugged.
"She's a much better person than I am, that's for sure," Sandy told him.
"I'm moving back in with my dad," Marissa said smiling slightly. "One good thing about all of this." Kirsten was sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking a cup of tea, and Marissa saw that a bruise had formed where her mother's hand had been.
"Hi sweetie," Kirsten said looking up from the paper she had been reading when Ryan and Marissa walked in.
"Hi Kirsten. I just wanted to say sorry again."
"Honey, it's not your fault," Sandy spoke up from where he had been sitting at the kitchen table.
"No it wasn't," Kirsten assured her. "But thank you." Marissa nodded and shifted uncomfortably. "How is your mother?" Again, Ryan was amazed at Kirsten.
"She's…drunk. And upset." Marissa sighed. "She pulled Kaitlin out of school, saying that we could no longer afford it. Kaitlin's on her way home now, against her will, and I for one, want to be out of the house when she arrives."
"Can't your father afford it still?" Sandy asked at the same time that Kirsten said,
"We can pay for her school." Marissa gave a small smile.
"Yes, he can, and thank you for the offer, but Mom's hysterical and did all of this before Dad had a chance to stop it. By the time he called the school and told them that Kaitlin would still be staying there, they had already placed her on a plane home. So, when she comes home, she's pretty much going to turn around and go back." Kirsten sighed and placed pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt a headache forming. Why had her father done this? Did he just forget to update his will when he married Julie? No, that wasn't right, he had to of, otherwise he wouldn't have added Ryan in. Kirsten's head was spinning.
And despite everything, she still felt badly for her stepmother. Julie was once again left with nothing. Except she wasn't left with nothing, Kirsten was willing and ready to help her out in any way that she could, and she was still willing, if Julie would only accept her help. And Kirsten felt badly for Marissa who had to put up with this, and poor Kaitlin who had no idea what was going on, and whose world had already been shaken up enough. Kirsten would have strangled her father, had he still been alive. A small laugh escaped her lips at the thought, and it quickly turned into a sob. Sandy moved closer to his wife, and she shook her head.
"I'm okay," she assured him. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry. Should I try to talk to your mom?"
"No way," Sandy spoke up. Ryan was also shaking his head.
"Once she calms down," Kirsten amended her offer.
"Maybe," Marissa said. "It's worth a try. I should go see if she's okay." Sighing, she grabbed her purse and headed towards the door. Not that she was a huge fan of her mother, but she was sorry that this had happened.
Damn Caleb, Marissa thought to herself. Even dead he managed to screw everyone over.
Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter, and if you want me to continue it. So um, get to it! I have to go to class. Blech. Leave me something nice to come back to.