A/N: I bring you, Chapter Six! I know I am pretty unreliable when it comes to getting updates out when I promised to get them out by, but I have an excuse this time! I was going to get this chapter posted sooner, and I left my notebook at school in my locker. Oh, the drama! But it is here now, and I hope you enjoy! Please tell me what you think. Warning: This one is pretty sad!...As if the other ones weren't! Ha Ha! I've already begun writing the next chapter, and will hopefully post it very soon. Until then, Latro!

Disclaimer: Not mine. Josh Schwartz's, Fox's and all those other wonderful people's and companies'! Lyrics are written by, and belong to, Metro Station.

"Just take my hand / I'll never let go. / I love you and I hate you / Now I'm dying and I'm crying. / But I kiss you and I hold you, / And you hold me closer / You scream at me and say, / I wish we were older!" Wish We Were Older, Metro Station

Sandy stared out the kitchen window towards the pool house. Ryan had been keeping all the blinds pulled down, and now Sandy knew why. Ryan had tried so hard to keep everything away from the Cohens. But that's Ryan, Sandy thought, always thinking about everyone but himself.

Sandy had believed the chemo was going so well. Sure, he had figured Ryan had started losing his hair a little bit; they had been warned that would happen, and Ryan persisted on wearing a hat everywhere. But Sandy never suspected it had gotten this bad in the past few months. Who knows what else Ryan had been keeping from them; had he been vomiting or passing out in secret as well?

As Sandy thought about this, he heard the front door open and then slam shut. Knowing Kirsten was at work, just as he was supposed to be, he took an educated guess, and called out, "Seth, get in here!"

He heard the lanky teen's footsteps enter the kitchen door behind him, but he didn't bother to turn around. "Dad, what are you doing here?" the confused boy asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Sandy replied. He had noted something off with Seth's voice, but decided to ignore it. "What happened at school today?" When Sandy's question was answered with silence, he sighed. "Fine. You won't talk to me, Ryan won't talk to me..."

"Ryan is bald," Seth interrupted.

"I know Seth. I know Ryan is bald," Sandy said angrily, as he finally turned away from the window to look at his son, "but that doesn't mean..." Sandy stopped and stared at Seth. The teen's dark eyes were red, bloodshot and puffy, and it was obvious he had been crying. Sandy felt his heart drop.

"What did he do wrong?" Seth asked his father.

"What do you mean, Seth?" Sandy asked, confused.

"What did Ryan do wrong to deserve this?" Seth demanded.

Sandy slowly shook his head back and forth. "I don't know, Son. I don't know why this is happening."

Seth stared up at the ceiling to keep the fresh tears from falling down his face, and his chin quivered. "It's just like Grandma all over again."

Sandy's heart shattered, and the thing he wanted to do most was to hold and comfort his upset child. But before he could make it around the island to get to him, Seth slipped out of the kitchen and disappeared upstairs to his room.

XXXXX

Kirsten burst in the door later that evening, and dashed over to the couch her husband was sitting on, mulling over how to tell her of the day's events.

Sitting down beside him, she looked him in the eyes and asked, "So, how was his first day back?"

Taking her small, delicate hand in his, he replied honestly, "Not good."

Kirsten collapsed backwards onto the couch. "I knew it! I knew something would go wrong. Why did we let him do this?"

"Because he asked us to," Sandy answered, leaning back so he was face-to-face with his wife. "Honey, Ryan's still here. Don't take away his whole life yet." He instantly regretted the "yet" as a look of sadness flashed over her face.

"I know. I just worry about him. What happened?"

Sandy kept perfect eye contact with his wife as he answered her. "He's bald."

"What do you mean bald?" Kirsten cried out.

"Sh," Sandy soothed her. "Under his hat, he's got almost no hair left. Because of the chemo." He had been wondering how to tell Kirsten all day, and had decided the straight-forward approach would be best. "I'm not exactly sure what happened today, but Seth took off from school, and I went and got Ryan because he wasn't feeling well." He decided to leave out the graphic bits of the story.

"What happened with Seth?" Kirsten wondered.

"I don't know. No one's talking to me in this house," Sandy exclaimed.

Kirsten rested her head against Sandy's shoulder, and sighed. How did they get into this mess?

XXXXX

That night, Sandy had to use every threat he could think of to get Seth to come down for dinner. Seth finally agreed, but he warned he wasn't in the mood to talk.

As Sandy carried a plate full of chicken wings to the table Kirsten and Seth were already seated at, Ryan walked in through the back door wearing his old grey toque.

Everyone looked up at Ryan, and he flushed and looked down at the ground, avoiding all three gazes. Sandy set the plate of dinner down on the table, then stood beside Ryan.

In his ear, he quietly told him, "No hat tonight, Kid."

After a moment's hesitation, Ryan slowly reached up and pulled off his toque, while keeping his eyes on th floor.

Kirsten had to hold back a gasp once the hat was finally removed. But she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of her foster son. Meanwhile, Seth had to look away.

Ryan took a seat at the table as Sandy began scooping food onto his plate, then passed the bowl of mashed potatoes to Ryan. The teen finally looked up, and saw Kirsten staring at him.

"What?" he asked, rather rudely.

"It's...nothing. I'm sorry Sweetie," Kirsten said, quickly looking away.

Ryan glanced over to see Sandy now watching him, shocked at the attitude he had given Kirsten. Ryan grabbed his toque off the table, and brought it back up to his head. Sandy gently stopped his arm halfway to his head, and whispered, "You don't need it."

Ryan just stared at Sandy for a moment, then he looked away and discovered Kirsten watching him again. He pushed his chair back and jumped up. "Stop looking at me like that!" he yelled at her, startling her.

"What do you mean? Like what?" Kirsten asked, almost in tears.

"Like that! Like I'm a freak! Like...like I'm not Ryan!" he yelled at her, before storming out of the house towards the pool house.

And as Kirsten put her face in her hands and let the tears fall, and Sandy went over to comfort her, Seth got up from the table and went up to his room, without a word.