A/N:Here is Chapter Thirteen everyone! :D Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews. This story is coming very close to the end, and I already have new story ideas floating around in my head, so this will not be the last of me! Anyways, my personal goal is to finish this story before Southland starts on April 9. Will I make it??? We shall see, but until then, enjoy Chapter 13. Warning! This one is intense!!!

Disclaimer: The O.C. characters and all that belong to Josh Schwartz and Fox, not me. Lyrics at the start belong to Modest Mouse, and also not me. Thanks!

"The remainders of a shooting star / Landed directly on our broke down little car / Before then we had made a wish / That we would be missed / If one or another just did not exist / Cause that's what we're waiting for" --Little Motel, Modest Mouse

The constant high-pitched beeping echoing throughout the little room was enough to drive any normal person mad. But Sandy Cohen was not a "normal person"...he was a dad. And he was well aware of what it meant should either of the heart monitors hooked up to each of his sons stop beeping. And he was not ready to face that.

Although Sandy and Kirsten had upgraded to a larger hospital room to accommodate both Ryan and Seth, as well as all the machines and I.V.s that went where the teens went, it still felt small and cramped. Kirsten had pulled a chair in between the two patient's beds, and sat between them, tears constantly sliding down her cheeks as her arms kept flinging up from her lap to hold her sons' hands or slowly stroke their arms.

In the beginning, Sandy had attempted to comfort her, but it quickly began sounding too awkward and forced, so he decided to keep his mouth shut. He and Kirsten had gone from having only one child to having two so quickly, and it almost seemed like a miracle how fast they fell in love with their new son, and how easily he seemed to fit in with the family. But now, for some cruel and unknown reason, it looked as though they may have to pay the ultimate price, lose both their kids. Maybe it's true, that nothing is free.

They had thought it would be too risky to try airlifting the boys back to Orange County, but Kirsten and Sandy were not prepared to go through with this without a familiar face by their side. So over the phone they managed to persuade Ryan's Newport doctor, Dr. Armstrong, into flying out to Baja, Mexico to help them out. It didn't take much to persuade him, especially with all of Kirsten's connections, and he was now currently on his way. Sometimes it helped being one of the most powerful women in Newport.

Sandy started to wonder if all the pacing back and forth he was doing while waiting for the doctor could wear a hold right through the floor, but he continued doing it anyway, until he heard his wife's quiet and distraught voice. "Sandy?" she asked, and continued once he halted pacing, "What if one of them doesn't wake up? What if neither does?" It was then that the silent tears began turning into full on sobs, making it hard to understand the rest of what she said. "I like my life. I love my life, how it is, my family. And I love my children. I don't want to lose them."

"Of course you don't," Sandy said sympathetically, making his way across the small room to stand behind his wife, wrapping her into a tight embrace. "This is a parent's worse nightmare."

"Then just let me wake up," Kirsten wailed, leaning back in the chair and resting her head against her husband's soft chest, faintly feeling and hearing his familiar heart beat. "Because I have never had a nightmare as horrible and scary as this."

"Trust me when I tell you, that this is going to be okay. Dr. Armstrong will get here, and will tell us exactly what to do."

"He said five more years," Kirsten spat out angrily. Her head hurt from her face staying scrunched up from crying, but she didn't care. Her eyes kept filling up with tears, and she would push them out, so they rolled down her face, came streaming down her face, often accompanied by a throaty, animal-like yell. But she needed to do this, she needed to let this all out. So her face was red, so there was snot sneaking out of her nose, so her face was drenched and the tears were slightly darkened from day-old eye liner and mascara. So she didn't look perfect, like all of her Newpsie friends. So what? She had never felt so miserable and scared in her life, and who cares if the world knew? Through her sobs she tried to continued, "He said Ryan could have up to five more years. We haven't had enough time."

"Well, there was never any guarantee we would get five more years, but-"

"We haven't had enough time with Ryan in our family," Kirsten wailed. "We have only just started to get to know him. We have only just started to get to love him. This isn't fair! And if Ryan wasn't in the hospital, this would have never happened to Seth, and-"

"Okay," Sandy replied, taking a couple of steps backwards away from the chair his wife occupied, and she turned slightly to look at him. "Okay, so life is a bitch, it leaves no one unscathed. And once it gets you in its cross-hairs, it is relentless. And now we have to pay the price. Maybe we should have realized this was coming long ago?"

Kirsten was angry, and it felt like the whole world was against her. All she wanted was someone on her team. "Shut the hell up, Sandy," she hissed at her unsuspecting husband.

"I'm going to go see if Dr. Armstrong is here yet," Sandy responded firmly, and exited the hospital room, leaving Kirsten alone with the beeping machines.

XXXXX

Sandy had never dreamed of anything like this ever happening to him. Seth had always been such a healthy kid growing up, save for a hernia operation in about second grade and the occasional cold and flu. And before Ryan had been diagnosed with this cancer, it seemed as though he couldn't even get sick. And Sandy couldn't blame those diseases for being scared off, he wouldn't of wanted to face off against Ryan Atwood back then either. Back when he was a tough as nails kid from Chino, before lung cancer whittled him almost all away.

Why Sandy and Kirsten had to argue now, at a time like this, was beyond him. It was times like these when they really needed each other the most. But maybe it was just human nature to pull away from the ones you love, right when your whole world is falling apart around you. Sandy felt like no one on Earth could possibly understand what he was going through right now, waiting for his kids to get better. And he also knew Kirsten felt that exact same way.

His cellphone began to vibrate and ring in his pants pocket, and he pulled out the old, silver mobile phone. He instantly wondered if it was Fred, the Private Detective he and Kirsten had hired to find Ryan's biological mother, Dawn, shortly before they went on vacation. The Cohens had no idea how Dawn would react to the news that Ryan had cancer, and as his legal guardians they did not have to even tell her. But they knew she was Ryan's mom, and that in her own strange way she did love him, and so out of courtesy they had hired a PD to track her down. They had opted not to tell Ryan they were doing this, for fear they would let the poor boy down if they couldn't find her, but they promised to warn Ryan in advance if they got a hold of her, and she wanted to see her son.

Sandy checked the number on the caller ID before flipping open and answering the phone, and he recognized the number right away. But it wasn't Fred's, the PD. "Ma?" Sandy answered, surprised.

"Hello, Sandy," the Nana's recognizable voice said back. "How are you?"

"Uh, I'm okay," Sandy said, sounding unsure. "How are you?"

"I'm alright. I've been trying to get a hold of you and Kirsten all week, though." Sophie Cohen sounded concerned, not something you hear in her voice very often. "I've been calling the house. Where are you?"

"Oh, Ma, we...ah...we are on vacation, in Baja. And...uh, it's just..." Sandy tried to get out.

"Is everything alright, Sandy? What's going on?"

"Oh Ma, I lied. I'm not okay. Nothing's okay." And for the first time since this crazy roller coaster of Ryan getting sick had started, Sandy's real emotions all began coming out, for the world to see. The tears he wouldn't show in front of Ryan, Seth and Kirsten, for fear it would scare them when they needed him to be their safety net. The sobs and wails he would not show himself in the mirror, because it would make everything suddenly so much more real. And here they were, coming now. He was alone in the hallway, but his mother was there for him, on the other end of the phone, hearing those tears, sobs and wails surround his words, as he slumped down against the wall, let himself slide to the floor, and told his mom everything that was happening.

"I need you," Sandy finally choked out at the end of his story. "I need you to be here." Sandy knew a Mom was supposed to be able to make everything okay. This had not been the case for him while growing up, and he assumed Ryan would deny the statement as well, but he needed that symbol of hope, the thought that everything could be okay. To no longer have to be the one telling everyone it was going to be okay.

"I'm on my way," the Nana said, before hanging up.

Sandy just stayed in the hallway for a few minutes, wiping his eyes. He had to get back his strong appearance before joining Kirsten in the room again.

XXXXX

But Sandy wasn't the only one receiving a phone call from a parent. Kirsten had stepped into the hospital room's bathroom as her father, Caleb Nichol, blabbed into her ear over the phone.

"KiKi, what is going on over there? I've sent you at least three emails about that new housing development in the north end," Caleb complained to his daughter. "And you haven't responded to a single one."

"Dad, something's happened," Kirsten sniffled, finally able to get a word in. "Ryan and Seth are both in the hospital."

"Oh my god, what happened?" Caleb demanded, it being one of the rare times he cared about someone besides himself.

"Well, the other night, Ryan collapsed due to the cancer. And then yesterday..." Kirsten began crying again, making it hard to squeeze out, "and yesterday, Seth got...got hit by a car, or...whatever. Neither has woken up since."

"My god!" Caleb said, his voice sounding considerably different due to his concern. "Well, I'll make some calls. I will find Newport's best doctors, nurses, surgeons, whoever we need. We can fly Seth back here, and he can be looked after by the best."

"What about Ryan?" Kirsten asked, trying to regain control of her tears long enough to listen to her father.

"What?" Caleb asked, then his voice changed from confused to disbelief. "KiKi, you can't be serious."

"Of course I am." Now it was Kirsten's turn to be confused. "I am not walking out of here without both my boys in tow. We already have Dr. Robert Armstrong on his way down to see Ryan. He is one of Orange County's finest doctors."

"Even when he's dying that boy is trying to milk us for what we're worth," Caleb muttered quietly. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't quiet enough to slip past Kirsten.

"Excuse me?" she yelled into the phone at her father. "When are you going to understand that Ryan is a part of my family now? He is just as much a son for Sandy and I as Seth is. He is not some mastermind scam artist. He is Seth's brother, and my son!"

"KiKi, when are you going to see that that homeless boy just marched into your home, burned down one of our housing developments, and has caused nothing but trouble since? I will never consider him part of your family!" Caleb yelled back.

"Fine," Kirsten said, much more quietly and calmly. "Don't accept him into my family. But know this. No matter what happens to Ryan and Seth here, you are the one who just lost a kid." And with that, she flipped closed her cellphone, sat down on the toilet lid, and cried herself all out of tears.

XXXXX

"I am so glad you came," Sandy greeted Dr. Armstrong, as they met in the hospital's waiting room. Dr. Armstrong noticed Sandy's very red and blood-shot eyes. He knew too well the physical results of the combination of lack of sleep and crying - he had seen it far too many times before on both patients and their families. But that didn't mean it got any easier to take.

"Of course," Dr. Armstrong replied, shaking Sandy's outstretched hand. He then followed the senior Cohen up to the room Ryan and Seth lay unconscious in, as Sandy filled him in on everything that had been done to, hooked up to, and injected into his sons while in this particular hospital.

The men soon reached the room, and Sandy opened the door. Dr. Armstrong entered, and his eyes fell on Kirsten Cohen, sitting in a chair and staring towards her children, although what exactly she could see was a mystery. "Mrs. Cohen," the doctor said sympathetically, shaking her hand. He noticed her eyes appeared just as red as Sandy's.

"Thank you so much for coming," Kirsten said, returning the handshake, as a couple fresh new tears rolled down her cheeks.

At a lack of words, Dr. Armstrong repeated, "Of course," before releasing his hand from Kirsten's, and walking over to check the boys. After checking out all their vitals on the beeping monitors, he walked back over to where Sandy stood by the door. "Um, who are the main doctors overseeing Ryan and Seth?" he asked.

"Uh, Dr. Juarez and Dr. Epstein," Sandy answered.

"Okay, thanks," replied the familiar doctor. "If you could just excuse me, I will go have a word with them, and I'll be right back to let you know where we stand."

"Thank you," Sandy said, as Dr. Armstrong squeezed past him out the door. Once the doctor was gone, Sandy looked over at his wife. She had yet to say a word to him since their blow out earlier so he hesitated before walking over to her. "Kirsten?" he said quietly.

After a moment, she slowly stood up from the chair and turned to her husband. "Oh Sandy," she said, her voice breaking as the rest of her body lost control and she began sobbing again.

Sandy pulled her into a tight hug. "I know," he whispered through her blond hair into her ear. "No parent should have to bury their child." And it took everything he had to not break down and lob the chair out the window at the thought that they might have to bury two.

XXXXX

Quite a while later, after Kirsten was all cried out, Dr. Armstrong returned, along with Dr. Epstein, one of the doctors helping to take care of Seth and Ryan. They entered the room, both looking somewhat fazed. Finally, Dr. Armstrong said, "You may want to sit down for this."

Both suddenly a million times more worried, Sandy and Kirsten sat side by side on the love seat-sized couch against the hospital room's wall, and took each other's hand. The two doctors stood in front of them and looked down on them.

"As you obviously know, Ryan has lung cancer. By now, the cancer has spread and affected many of Ryan's important arteries, liver, his bones, etcetera. And you know there is no current cure for lung cancer, except chemotherapy, which is not one hundred percent effective," Dr. Armstrong explained. The Cohens were becoming annoyed, wanting to hear what was going to happen with their sons rather than hear what they already knew. "Anyways," the doctor continued full of honest sympathy, "the horrible truth is, Ryan is very sick. And there is a big chance that he is not going to wake up from this."

Kirsten let out an audible sob. She wanted to scream at Dr. Armstrong, yell 'why are you telling us this?!' But she knew inside of her that her and her husband needed to hear this, needed to be prepared.

Dr. Armstrong inhaled deeply, and let Sandy have a moment to put his arms around his wife, pulled her close, and comfort her, before continuing, "Ryan may wake up, but it is unlikely. Either way, he does not have much time left."

It was now time for Dr. Epstein to take over. "As for Seth, there are three possible scenarios I can see happening. Number one, Seth awakens from this coma, and apart from physical injuries, like a few broken bones, he is alright. Number two, he awakens, and has a deeper form of injuries. Anything from not being able to walk or talk, right up to being full vegetable, basically only a shell of himself. Or number three, he just doesn't wake up." Sandy wrapped his arms tighter around Kirsten.

"But," Dr. Armstrong started quickly, "there is a somewhat plus side to this, although it may not seem like it. They are experimenting at this hospital, and all the surrounding ones, with a new idea I hadn't heard of before. It's, uh...well, Dr. Epstein will explain."

"Well," Dr. Epstein picked up for Dr. Armstrong, "basically, the reason cancer patients, like Ryan, don't make it is because the cancer and chemo has wiped out all their good cells, and important body parts. And, the majority of damage to Seth is in the upper half of his body. Which means he still has many working organs and arteries in perfect or near-perfect shape in his bottom half."

Sandy and Kirsten both stared up into Dr. Epstein's eyes. "You don't mean..." Sandy began, but trailed off.

"We ran some tests with their blood samples. They are a match," continued Dr. Epstein.

"Simply put, you aren't going to lose both sons," Dr. Armstrong concluded. "Now, we just have to wait and see which one wakes up first."