A/N: I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

It has been sooo long, most of you probably forgot this story even existed. I was supposed to have the next chapter of this story posted like two weeks ago, and obviously that didn't happen! I deserve to be beaten! I know you guys probably hate excuses, but I'll throw one out there anyways. My life, in the past two months, has been a crazy cycle of busy-ness! I don't even really know why. Gah!

But enough of all this bad news, how about some good news! First of all, my life seems to be finally slowing down again. Ah, relaxation! Even better, I'm (finally) posting this new chapter! :) And even better than that (I think) is that, since I've finally made my way through this dreaded chapter, I know where the rest of this story is going! Which means...next chapters will be up much much much quicker than this one was! I promise.

But until then, please enjoy (finally) Chapter Ten!!! And again, I'm sorry! ;)

Dedicated to: chiclete for her never-ending support. I hope you like this chapter.

Disclaimer: The OC and its characters do not belong to me, but rather Josh Schwartz and the like. Lyrics at the start also do not belong to me, but instead belong to The Fray. Thanks, guys!

"Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend / Somewhere along in the bitterness / And I would have stayed up with you all night / Had I known how to save a life" – How To Save a Live, The Fray

Ryan decided not to tell the Cohens about what he and Spadie had talked about. He chose to keep that to himself. But the next week, when it was coming time for his chemo treatment, he asked Sandy and Kirsten if he could go alone. He wanted some time to hang out with Spadie again.

Much to Ryan's surprise, the Cohens protested.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" asked Sandy worriedly.

"You know it's no hassle for us to come with you," Kirsten told him, just as worriedly.

"Dude, are you crazy? I'm not leaving you alone in that place again," Seth informed him, not sounding very worried, but more commanding.

Ryan appreciated their concern, and it almost made him feel guilty for asking, but he knew inside him this was what he really wanted. Fortunately for him, Seth was back at school by his next chemo day, and he had eventually persuaded Sandy and Kirsten to let him go alone.

"I promise to call you to come pick me up as soon as it's time to come home," Ryan recited to Kirsten as they stood by the front door, preparing for his departure to the hospital.

"Good," Kirsten praised, before pulling him in for a quick hug.

Sandy stood beside Ryan, getting ready to drive him to his destination. "You ready to go, Kid?" he asked.

Ryan nodded, and the guys turned to walk out the door. Before he stepped out, however, Ryan turned back around and asked quietly, "Um, Kirsten, could you, ah-" He pointed to the coffee table by the couches.

Kirsten's gaze followed his finger until she saw what he was pointing at. "Of course," she answered, before dashing to the coffee table. She returned seconds later, and, very motherly pulled his new bright red toque over his bald head. Ryan smiled a little as she pulled it down perfectly on all sides. "Good luck," she smiled back at him.

The new toque the Cohens had bought him to wear to his chemo treatments had an "RC" label on the front. Ryan knew it stood for some company, like the "Rock Club Co." or something, but he liked to pretend it stood for Ryan Cohen. Because that's how he felt whenever he put it on.

Ryan climbed into the passenger seat and Sandy started the car. They drove along in silence for awhile before Sandy spoke. "So, I was actually thinking about something Seth said awhile back, about how we should go on a trip somewhere. We used to always take family trips back in the day, when Seth was younger. I don't know, what do you think?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Might be fun."

"Ya," Ryan answered quietly. "Maybe."

XXXXX

Eventually, Sandy pulled the car up beside the entrance to the hospital, and Ryan started opening the car door.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you, just to sign in?" Sandy asked the teen before he could climb out of the vehicle.

"Ya, it's okay. I'll be fine," Ryan declined. He looked up into his guardian's eyes, and realized Sandy was probably more nervous about this than he was. To help reassure him, Ryan threw a crooked smile on his face. "Don't worry. I'll call you when I'm done."

"Okay," Sandy said, looking through the open car door at the boy who had finally slid out and was now standing beside it. "But listen, I know there must be some reason you don't want us with you. And that's okay. Just remember that no matter what, Kirsten and I are here for you."

"I know," Ryan answered, "that's why I love-" he stopped himself, and stared, shocked, at his guardian still in the car. "Uh, I should probably go in now," and he slammed the car door shut, and quickly shuffled into the building.

Sandy smiled at the boy's back as it got further away. "I love you, too," he said into the empty car, before starting the engine and driving off.

XXXXX

Ryan still had a little while before his chemotherapy session started, so after signing in, headed down to the Kids' Zone, hoping to catch Spadie.

He was in luck. As soon as he opened the door and stepped in, he heard a voice call out, "Ryan," and he looked over to see the familiar girl seated on one of the small beds in the corner. He quickly walked over to her. "Hey. I thought you'd had enough of this place," she said jokingly.

"I could say the same about you," he smiled at her. Spadie was the one part of the hospital that actually made him feel less scared, less sick.

"What can I say?" she shrugged, then laughed lightly. "So, where's your family?" she asked, looking around.

"They just dropped me off today," Ryan answered.

"They didn't!" Spadie said, shocked.

"No, it's okay. I asked them to," Ryan smiled and sat down beside her. And they talked. And it didn't even really matter what they were talking about, because they could say anything to each other.

Right before Ryan had to go for his chemo shots, Spadie made a disgruntled sound and buried her face in her hands.

"Are you alright?" Ryan asked worriedly.

"Ya," Spadie replied quietly, clearly in great pain. "I just, uh, got a headache. A pretty bad one. Don't worry, I get them all the time. Just not like...this." Ryan stared at her, still very worried. "I should probably go lie down for awhile." She stood up, tears of pain in her eyes. "Good luck with chemo." Ryan nodded, and she left the room.

Only moments later, Dr. Armstrong entered to bring Ryan to chemo. Ryan followed him, thinking about Spadie the whole time.

XXXXX

The Cohens decided that Ryan wanting to go to chemo alone was probably just a phase, so the next week they agreed to it again.

After his chemotherapy injections, Ryan put off calling Sandy and Kirsten to head down to the Kids' Zone to see Spadie. He entered the room, and his eyes scanned over all the kids playing on the floor, looking for his friend. He felt panic fill his stomach when, after multiple looks around the room, he couldn't spot her.

Hoping for the best, Ryan headed to the hospital's front desk, and caught the woman behind it's attention.

"Um, I was looking for a patient. Uh, her name is Spadie," Ryan said nervously.

"Does the patient have a last name?" the secretary asked, rather rudely, to the frail boy standing in front of her.

"Um, yeah. I just...don't..." Ryan trailed off quietly. "But, I do know she's here because of a brain tumor." Ryan hoped that would be enough.

The secretary began typing something into the computer beside her. After a moment, she looked up. "Would you be looking for Spadie Ellis?"

"That's her," Ryan said, assuming there couldn't be too many Spadies in this hospital.

"She's in room 212."

"Thanks," Ryan said, before heading for the elevator.

XXXXX

Ryan lightly knocked on the door to room 212, before slowly opening it. Inside, he saw Spadie lying in one of the all-too-familiar white hospital beds, with a doctor standing over her. When Ryan entered, both of the room's occupants turned to look at him.

"Ryan!" Spadie called excitedly. The doctor nodded and smiled at her, then turned to leave them alone. As he walked past Ryan, he was stopped.

"How is she?" Ryan whispered to the doctor.

"Honestly, not good. But we are hoping for the best," the doctor answered, also in a whisper. "She is receiving emergency surgery this week."

The doctor left, and Ryan walked over and sat in a chair beside Spadie's bed. He could see the tubes sticking out of the small girl, and it made him feel sick. Or maybe it was the chemo doing that.

"I didn't think I'd see you today," Spadie said, her voice sounding tired and weak. Ryan noticed she wasn't wearing the green bandana she sported the last two times he saw her. For the first time he could see all of her bald head. Like him, she had no hair left on top at all, and Ryan realized he didn't know what color of hair she once had.

"Of course I'd come see you," Ryan smiled at her, blinking back tears. "And after your surgery, we can hang out..."

"Ryan, they can't get a hold of my parents," Spadie interrupted sadly. "They left a number to reach them, you know, on their trip. But the doctors can't get a hold of them."

"Spade, it's okay," Ryan tried to calm her down.

Eyes filled with tears, Spadie looked into Ryan's deep blue eyes. "I don't want to die alone." Ryan felt his heart drop out of him. He could clearly remember speaking those same words to Seth that one night. Could remember how he had felt when he said them, how Spadie must feel now. So...lonely.

So Ryan took her hand in his. "I won't let you. You were there for me when I needed it. Now I'll be there for you. I'll always be here for you."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

XXXXX

Ryan sat in the passenger seat of Sandy's car on the way home that night, with Seth in the back seat since they picked him up from school minutes before.

"So," Sandy began, to break the silence. "I was giving more thought to this trip idea. What do you boys think of Bahia?"

"Road trip to Bahia, Dad?" Seth asked sarcastically. "Exciting!"

"I thought so," Sandy answered, ignoring his son's obvious sarcasm. "What do you say, Ryan? A little sun and surf. Some Mexican food."

"Ya, because we can't get any of that here," Seth continued from the backseat. "We live beside the beach, Dad. And there's a Mexican restaurant on every street here."

"I thought you were kidding about the road trip," Ryan said quietly.

"I don't know about you guys, but I could use some time out of Newport," Sandy said, pulling into the Cohen house driveway. "What do you guys say?"

"Ya," Ryan said, staring out the car window. "I could use some time away from all this."

XXXXX

Two days later, Ryan decided he was going to visit Spadie. He had promised to be there for her, and he intended to keep his promise.

Recently, Caleb had commanded that his daughter, Kirsten, stop taking so much time off work, so Ryan was at home with only Sandy. He peeked into Sandy's room, and could see him packing some clothes for their up-coming road trip. Ryan didn't bother asking his guardian for a ride to the hospital. He didn't want to be a distraction. So he slipped out the door, and caught the city bus to the hospital, vowing to be back before any of the Cohens noticed he was gone.

He finally made it to the hospital, about a half hour later. He walked in the front entrance, and walked up to the front desk, where the same bitchy woman from the other day still sat.

"Hi," Ryan greeted quietly. "I'm here to see, uh, Spadie Ellis."

At the mention of this, the woman's eyes got big. "One moment," she squeezed out, before dashing away. She came back seconds later with a doctor. Ryan recognized him from Spadie's room the other day.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Fox," the doctor greeted solemnly, leading Ryan to a secluded chair in the waiting room. "You're here to see Ms. Ellis?"

"Ya. Is everything okay?" Ryan asked, worry bubbling in his stomach.

"Well, you see, Son...Ms. Ellis...she passed away last night, during her surgery." Ryan suddenly found it hard to swallow over the lump that had formed in his throat. "She was under anesthesia at the time, so we can only assume she didn't suffer." Ryan curled up into himself on the waiting room chair, and put his face down into the crook of his arm. "I'm so sorry." And Ryan cried. Because he knew Spadie suffered so much more than the doctors, or her parents, would ever know.

And he continued to cry for his lost friend, while other patients and their families walked back and forth around him. While the rest of the world went on without him.

"Ryan?" he heard someone say over him. He felt a warm, comforting hand on his arm. He peeked out to see who it was with him, and recognized Dr. Armstrong. "Hold on, Ry. Stay here." And the doctor took off.

About fifteen minutes later, he heard a different voice over him. "Kid?" And Sandy crouched down to Ryan's eye level while in the chair. "Sh, it's going to be okay."

"No it won't." Ryan looked up and stared into his guardian's eyes. "No one should have to die alone."

These words hurt Sandy more than he could ever explain, and he impulsively stood up and grabbed Ryan's arms, pulling him up as well. "Let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's get out of Newport."

And that's just what they did.