Slow Descent

Part Six.

The end of week two of Seth Cohen's hospital stay was no different from his first, except now he knew the routine. A 7 a.m. wake-up call from Nurse Knowles, would get him ready for Summer's visit before she had to leave for school, which was followed by the interns round at nine. A couple hours of reading would be followed by a mid-day visit from Kirsten or Sandy, when they would often sneak him some edible food that he could never keep down, but he thanked them anyway.

By three, he had already seen two sappy soap operas, which led up to waiting for his time with Ryan. They would sit and make fun of Oprah, but more often than not Seth would end up crying at whatever sob story she was profiling that day. This was always interrupted by his hour-long rehab session with Dr. Hines, who had seemingly become less annoying, so Seth extended her the same courtesy and nipped the feistiness in the bud.

He would undergo his treatments for the chemotherapy after his time with Dr. Hines, which always lasted longer than he wanted. On the lucky days, Seth would share his dinner in the company of his parents, but for the last couple of days, he ate alone because his treatment was lasting longer.

He would watch the activity outside his room; bustling nurses, scurrying interns, and the occasional doctor examining a clipboard. He always wondered what was written on those clipboards, what other people's ailments were. Were any of them going through what he was going through?

It was around 8 a.m. and Seth's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. He hoped it was Summer, who hadn't been by that morning, but instead Sandy and Kirsten walked in.

"Wow, is this a two for one deal, or what? What do I owe the pleasure?" Seth asked, pleased to see his parents.

"Just thought we'd drop by," Kirsten said, smiling down at her son and giving him a kiss on the forehead. Then Seth noticed they were dressed up,

"You guys didn't have to go all out for me, I don't think the hospital has a dress code," he laughed, looking up at his parents and placing his comic book across his lap.

"Oh, he must have forgot," Kirsten said, looking to Sandy.

"It's graduation day," Sandy explained simply, which brought a sad look to Seth's face.

"Right, right, I totally spaced it. Nobody's talked about it, that's weird. How's the gang, all ready for that walk? All ten feet of it?" He tried to joke, but his parents took note of his dismayed demeanor.

"We dropped Ryan off at the school, he needed to be there a couple hours early," Kirsten explained. "But we wanted to come by and see you first, how are you?"

"I'm fine. So what's the deal with the ceremony, who's speaking anyway?"

"Seth, we don't have to talk about it, we just wanted to see how you were," Sandy said, not wanting to upset his son.

"I said I'm fine," Seth said with an aggravated tone. "Every time you ask me I say I'm fine. We finally have something better to talk about other than me, so let's talk about it," he said, not regretting a word and looking to both of his parents to supply him with answers about his friends' big day that he would be missing.

"All right, well, Taylor Townsend is speaking, she's valedictorian I think. You know Taylor, right?" Kirsten asked.

"Yeah, I know Taylor. That'll be good. She'll be…inspirational, I'm sure," Seth offered.

"Look, Seth, we tried to get you out of here, I talked to Dr. Hines and Dr. Jameson, but they said it wouldn't be good for you to leave," Sandy explained.

"Yeah, I figured. That's why I never bothered to ask. Thanks for trying though," Seth looked down.

"They just—they thought it'd be better if you didn't go back in that environment. And with your treatments increasing, it'd be better--"

"Yeah, dad, I get it. It's fine," he said, followed by a short pause. "Look, I'm sure you have a lot to do, you'll want to get good seats, so I'm good with my comic book. Ya know, it's the whole good versus evil plot, I'm wondering who'll prevail," he said, looking down at his book.

"Oh, ok. Sure, sweetie. That's fine," Kirsten said, leaning in to give Seth a hug, not before she gave Sandy a worried glance.

"I'll see you guys," Seth gave a short wave as his parents left the room. Sandy stood by the door once he shut it and crossed his arms,

"There's got to be a way to get him out of here. It's two hours, what's the harm?"

"Sandy, you talked to the doctors yourself. If they think it's best he stay, maybe we should listen."

"It's not like we don't have control over him. We'll sign some papers if that's what they're worried about," he rubbed his temples, trying to conjure up a plan. "Think we could bust him out of here under the radar?"

"Sandy! Are you kidding? That would be the most immature thing for us to do…" Kirsten said, but with a slight hint of consideration.

"But not too immature for a group of his high school friends…" Sandy said.

"I'll call Ryan," Kirsten said, showing a smile.

Back in Seth's room he leaned against his pillows, arms crossed behind his head. He had become more tired lately and a simple walk to the door was getting to be a bit of a burden. He had started out walking to the second floor for his treatment, but now they wheeled him away in a chair.

The thought of missing his graduation made Seth feel even more depressed about his situation. He had already started to experience a few bouts of nausea and he had been sick a few times the last couple of days, but this feeling was so much worse, it seemed. Missing seeing his friends graduate. Mostly he wanted to be there for his brother. Graduating from high school was always the obvious end to his career at Harbor High, but that wasn't always the case for Ryan.

He considered going AWOL for a moment, but decided once was enough, his parents would never understand. He would just have to settle for a crappy video recording of the ceremony and relive it vicariously through stories from his friends. He decided to call Summer and wish her luck, he grabbed his phone and dialed the number from memory. No answer…

"Hey Summer, so I just heard it's graduation day. Wow, time flies, right? Sorry I forgot about it, I wasn't really sure what day it was—well hey, it doesn't matter. What matters is you're graduating, yay. Ok…that was lame. Anyway, I want to say congratulations. And with Brown coming up for you, this is just great. I mean really, it's really really awesome. And now I'm rambling. Ok, so call me after the ceremony? Once the pictures are snapped and the tassels are pushed to the other side. Is it the left or right side? You might want to ask, I never remember, those mortar boards are tricky…one means something and the other…ok, I'm done. I love you and good luck."

He snapped his phone shut and sat back against his pillows again. He thought of his time spent with Summer over the last few years. Watching her from afar and then actually being with the girl of his dreams. The girl of every high school boy's dreams. And as if on cue, his door opened and there she was. Dressed in a white spring dress dotted with purple flowers.

"Summer…"

"Hey baby," she smiled and went over to him, giving him a kiss.

"I just called you, no love."

"Yeah, I was already on my way here. I'm not alone," she looked back and Ryan and Marissa entered the room.

"Hey man, how's it going?" Ryan asked.

"Couldn't be better now that you guys are here, are you gonna be late for the ceremony?"

"Well, I have a feeling things are going to get a little better…we're busting you out of this joint," Summer said with a devilish grin, holding his hand.

"What?" Seth asked, confused about the plan.

"I'll go keep lookout," Marissa said and left the room.

"Come on, get up," Summer tried to pull Seth forward but he leaned back again.

"Wait, what about my parents, they'll go postal,"

"It was mostly their idea," Ryan admitted. "We were already on our way to do it, but then Kirsten called with the go-ahead."

"Wow, talk about unexpected. This is all very cloak and dagger, I like it," Seth said, swinging his legs over the bed.

"I don't have clothes--"

"Got you covered," Ryan handed him a shirt and pants, along with a tie. "Cap and gown are at school. You ordered it in December, I picked it up with mine last week."

"You kids really planned this one out, huh?" Seth said with a smile. "Just hold on, I'll change." He slowly walked to the bathroom with his clothes in his hands. Summer sat down on his bed and whispered to Ryan,

"Think this is a good idea?"

"Good? No. But we're doing it anyway."

"All right, it's not like that's stopped us before in any of our wacky plans. Think he'll be ok?" Summer asked.

"He wants this, he needs this." Summer nodded in response and then Marissa busted through the door.

"We've got a problem, guys."

"What is it?" Summer jumped off the bed,

"That counselor is on her way down the hall, I think she's headed here." Ryan went to the door,

"I'll handle it," and with that he walked into the hallway and nearly bumped into Dr. Hines.

"Hi Ryan, you're here early today." She greeted him with a handshake.

"Um, yeah, hi. So are you," he answered.

"Well, I know today is your graduation, so I just wanted to make sure Seth was all right," she smiled.

"Why would you care? You wouldn't let him leave for two hours to enjoy it himself, so of course he's not all right."

"It's hospital policy, I wish I could make an exception, but it's really best--"

"—for him to stay here, yeah, I heard the spiel."

"Ryan, I know you're upset you won't be able to share this day with your brother," Dr. Hines started, but Ryan interrupted.

"Do you even know what we've been through for the last three years?" Ryan asked and was answered by a blank look from the doctor.

"It's a long story, one that Seth can tell you another time, but not today," Ryan said. "You've only seen this side of him. He's really not an asshole," he went on.

"Ryan, I know. This is a difficult time for him, I understand…"

"No, you see, you don't. Because if you did, you'd know that letting him graduate would be the best thing for him."

"How so? Putting him back in that environment…"

"That environment? Come on, do you really think Seth Cohen is going to snort another line of coke?"

"Would you have expected him to do it a month ago? Because he did." Ryan paused and looked down and lowered his tone.

"He's pulled away from everyone. You usually can't get the kid to shut up, but ever since—well, ever since this all happened, he's changed. And the one thing he needs to get back on track is normality. Friends, family, graduation. It's not just a ceremony and cap and gown for him, it's feeling like himself again," he paused and waited for a response from the doctor, who seemed to realize where Ryan was coming from but didn't offer a reply. So Ryan continued,

"So I'm gonna go back in there with my friends and we're getting Seth and the four of us are going to our high school graduation. We'll be gone for two hours and then he'll be right back here, I can promise you that. Because it might just be a stupid graduation ceremony to you, but for us? It's the culmination of four years that we'll never get back." Dr. Hines nodded and looked at her chart,

"You know? I am a bit early for our meeting, could you tell Seth I'll be back around four?" Ryan showed a smile and then turned serious,

"Of course, I'll let him know." She walked away and he opened the door to see the three of them looking anxious.

"Come on, let's go graduate," and with that, Ryan held Seth up with one arm and guided him out of the hospital, and they made their way to Harbor High one last time.