Thanks to Kerschi-Puky for sending be a message and getting me motivated to finish this one. Hope you like it!
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Ryan woke up in a hospital bed when his aching ribs wouldn't settle. It was dark with only the lights over the sink and by the monitors on. Ryan turned his head to see Kirsten asleep in the reclining chair between Ryan's bed and another. She had one hand on Ryan's leg and the other on the other bed. Ryan looked up at the occupant of the bed next to him. Ryan's breath hitched at seeing Seth in bed next to him asleep as well. Ryan had forgotten about Seth for a moment. Seth didn't look too great but Ryan betted that he didn't look too wonderful either because he sure as hell didn't feel wonderful. Seth had gauze wrapped around his head and Ryan could just make out the top of thick bandages around Seth's torso.
Ryan sighed and then decided that was a bad idea when his ribs protested sending pain throughout him. This was his fault, he should have kept his mouth shut and this never would have happened. Seth wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed; his worst nightmare had come true. He was sure the Cohens wouldn't want to adopt him now, not after putting Seth in the hospital. Ryan had really screwed up this time.
Before he could think much more, the door opened quietly and in walked Sandy. Ryan felt even guiltier at seeing his foster father looking so worried and frazzled. He looked utterly exhausted.
Sandy looked up at him and smiled, he walked to the side of the bed where Kirsten wasn't.
"Hey kiddo, how ya doing?" Sandy asked, patting Ryan's leg.
"Sef" Ryan cleared his throat, "Seth?"
Sandy followed Ryan's gaze to his other son, "He's going to be okay, Ry, you both are. Everything will be alright."
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry," Ryan apologized as tears welled up in his eyes.
"No, kid, you did nothing... you did everything right, exactly right... you did great, kiddo. I know you think this is your fault but it's not, Ryan, it's not. You did great! Don't apologize, you did the right thing, those men have been arrested and have confessed to it all, it's not your fault," Sandy tried to make Ryan understand.
"B-but Seth... Seth is hurt, he's hurt badly, all because of me," Ryan pleaded, still with tears.
"Seth will heal, Ryan, he's going to be okay, I promise" Sandy urged as he ran a hand through Ryan's hair.
Ryan sighed and again regretted it.
"What's the matter, kiddo?" Sandy reacted quickly to the painful expression on Ryan's face.
"Hurts," Ryan replied through gritted teeth.
"Hold on, I'll call the nurse," Sandy said quietly as he pushed the call button.
A couple minutes later, a nurse peeked her head in the room, spotting Sandy by Ryan's bed and Ryan awake she came in all the way.
"Well hello there, sleepy head, nice to see you awake finally. I bet you're in a fair amount of pain, huh?" the nurse said as Sandy moved out of her way but didn't lose contact with Ryan.
Ryan nodded.
"I'm just going to check you over real quick and then I'll take care of the pain for you. Do you know how long you've been sleeping?" the nurse asked as she started the exam.
Ryan thought but then shook his head, "no".
"Three days. Can you tell me why you're here?" the nurse asked as she checked his vitals and IVs
"Was attacked," Ryan replied.
"Good, ok, now the not fun part, I have to check your injuries, I'm sorry, I'll be as careful as possible, promise," the nurse said sadly and Ryan just nodded.
She started with his arm and the deepest wound, taking off the bandage and making sure it looked okay. It didn't bother Ryan except for the fact that it was extremely tender as she re-wrapped it. After his arm she moved to his torso, pulling the blankets down to his waist and starting to take off the bandages.
"We can't wrap your ribs just yet, we don't want any of them to hit a lung and cause more damage. And your breathing is a little more abnormal then we would like and wrapping them would make it worse so we just covered the knife wounds," the nurse explained as she worked.
Ryan was just staring at his torso, every inch of it was black and blue and purple. It looked gross especially when you added the knife wounds to them. Ryan was not a fan of her messing with his chest and stomach at all as he hissed in pain.
"I know, honey, I'm sorry, let me just get these new bandages on and then I'll get you some pain meds."
Ten minutes later, Sandy was back in place, running his hand through Ryan's hair.
"Has Seth been awake?" Ryan asked looking over at Seth and then back at Sandy.
"Not yet, they say it's because of his head wound, they couldn't guess when either of you would wake up," Sandy replied sadly as worry covered his face again.
Ryan just nodded, he was getting tired again, and the medicine was kicking in.
"Sleep, kiddo, we'll be here when you wake up, promise," Sandy said still running his hand through Ryan's hair.
Ryan nodded and closed his eyes.
Sandy continued the motion until he was sure that Ryan was asleep, and then he kissed his forehead before sitting back in the chair.
The next time Ryan woke up, the room was empty and still dark except for the evening sun seeping through the blinds. Ryan's arm was throbbing and his chest hurt badly, he wanted the pain to be gone, he didn't want to hurt anymore.
"Hey man," Seth said quietly from the bed next him.
Ryan turned to Seth, he still had a bandage on his head, it was smaller but it was still there.
"Hey," Ryan said in a pained voice, "how you doing?"
"Sore, but I'm okay, gotta a head ache that won't give," Seth shrugged, "You?"
"Sore too, arm hurts… Seth, I'm-"
"No, don't… you don't have anything to apologize for," Seth cut him off.
Ryan just nodded, "How long you been awake?"
"Since yesterday," Seth replied, "Yeah buddy, you've been sleeping for two days, Dad said you woke up on Monday but you've been sleeping since then. Mom says it's because you haven't been sleeping lately, that you're catching up," Seth added, reacting to Ryan's confused look.
"Speaking of parents, where are they?" Ryan asked.
"Getting something to eat, dad had to get mom out, into fresh air; I guess she hasn't left the room in awhile. They said they'd be back by 7," Seth replied as he casually flipped through the comic in his lap.
Ryan nodded and laid back to get his mind off the pain as Seth flipped through the comic book that he had read a thousand times.
Ryan watched Seth from his bed, thinking about the events that had put them there, as much as they said it wasn't his fault; he knew it was.
"Hey Seth," Ryan said and then waited for Seth to look at him.
"Yeah, buddy?" Seth replied looking up.
"We're okay… right? I mean yester… urrrr… Saturday the whole reason we went to the pier was to talk… we're okay right?" Ryan asked, nervous.
"Of course, we did talk remember… we'll always be okay, buddy," Seth replied with his goofy grin.
"Good," Ryan said smiling too.
"We really screwed up though, huh?" Seth said after a moment of silence, "I mean with lying to Titus, we should have let him come… that's why he's there, to protect us."
"Yeah, wasn't our greatest idea ever," Ryan agreed.
"I feel like a lot of our ideas aren't the greatest ever, they always have a way of getting us into trouble," Seth said again with his goofy grin.
"Yeah, they don't always work out," Ryan said.
"Even when they do, they still have a way of getting us in trouble," Seth said with a chuckle but regretted it quickly when his ribs ached.
Seth's whimper cause Ryan to laugh which made his ribs jump in pain and soon both boys were wincing in pain.
"Seth, no laughing until our ribs are totally healed, got it," Ryan ordered through gritted teeth.
"I'm with you on that one brother," Seth agreed and just then a nurse came in to do her dinner round.
"Hey boys, nice to see you both awake… I'm Paige; I'll be your nurse to night… right now I'm going to check your wounds and then administer your medication… now, who's first?" the nurse started with Seth and then went to Ryan, a half hour later both boys, were pain free and about to fall in to dreamland, once again.
The next day, Ryan woke just in time to see the morning nurse stick a vile of pain medication into his IV, he was grateful, to say the least.
"Good Morning, Blue," The nurse, who was an older lady, said when she saw that Ryan was awake. Her greeting alerted Kirsten that her son was awake.
"Hey sweetie," Kirsten said when she arrived on the other side of Ryan's bed, she took to running her hand through his hair.
"Hey," Ryan gave a small tired smile, "How long have I been sleeping this time?"
Kirsten chuckled, "Just the night, sweetie, you didn't miss anything."
"Good," Ryan said and then yawned, "Can I sit up a little, please?" Ryan was tired of lying flat.
"Sorry, blue, with your ribs and your other wounds, it's best if you stay lying flat," the nurse replied before Kirsten had a chance.
Ryan wanted to sigh but learned that lesson when he woke up the first time, "When can we go home?" Ryan whispered so only Kirsten could hear.
"Dunno, sweetie, you two have pretty significant injuries… my guess is when you are awake more than you are asleep and right now neither of you are able to do that," Kirsten replied sadly.
"He still okay?" Ryan asked turning his head towards Seth, who was asleep.
"Yes, honey, he woke about an hour ago in a some pain but nurse Kathy gave him his meds and he fell asleep about fifteen minutes ago, he's doing good," Kirsten replied.
Ryan nodded, "Where's Sandy?"
"He had to go to the station, Detective James wanted to talk to him about the case, then he had lunch with Jeff to talk about the adoption case, he should be here very soon," Kristen replied and saw the hurt and guilt in Ryan's eyes.
"I understand that you guys don't want to adopt me anymore, I understand, I hurt Seth," Ryan tried to hold in the tears but wasn't very successful.
"Oh, baby, no… we do you want to adopt, that hasn't changed and you didn't hurt Seth, those men did, not you. If anything, Ryan, you saved Seth," Kirsten replied, not skipping a beat.
"Saved him? How? He's in the hospital because of me and he fought those men, I didn't… I didn't save Seth," Ryan asked thoroughly confused.
"Baby, you called Detective James, you called him and you kept him on the line… you did great, baby… who knows what would have happened if you hadn't called detective James, you did the right thing, Ryan… you have to believe us honey, when we tell you that this was not your fault," Kirsten replied as she continued running her hand through his hair.
"B-but if I hadn't told the police in the first place, those men wouldn't have come back, Seth wouldn't be in the hospital… I shouldn't have said anything," Ryan cried.
"No, kiddo, you did it right," Sandy said from the doorway, "Listen, Ry, those men had been watching you since they killed Trey, they were just waiting for the right time to attack again, you didn't do it kiddo… they planned on coming back the whole time. You and Seth going to the pier was their opportune time and they took it. None of this was your fault," Sandy said when he walked up on the other side of the bed.
"Ryan, please believe us," Kirsten cried.
Ryan nodded, "is it all over then?"
"Not quite, you'll have to testify and Seth too… we still have court, so no, buddy, not yet," Sandy replied sadly, "But I'm going to talk to the Judge to see if he can just take your guys' statements in his chambers, save you from having to face those men again."
"That would be good," Kirsten agreed.
Ryan nodded, "I just want it all to be over with,"
"I know, honey, and it will be soon," Kirsten said and then kissed Ryan's forehead.
Ryan yawned; his pain medicine was kicking in.
"Sleep, Ry, its okay," Sandy said patting Ryan's leg.
"I don't want to though; I've been sleeping forever… I want to go home," Ryan's eyes betray him though as they slid shut with the smoothing motion of Kirsten's hand still combing through his hair.
Kirsten and Sandy smiled up at each other and then went to sit in their chairs that hadn't moved from their spots all week. They sat with their boys and talked quietly about what Detective James had said and what Jeff had. Life seemed to be looking up.
PLEASE REVIEW! I'll try to work on the next chapter and get it up as soon as possible! Thanks for reading! and again, please review!