AN: I know it's been awhile since my last update for this, but I hope you like this chapter. PLZ R&R!

Disclaimer: See earlier chapters.

Chapter 14: Home Sweet Home

Ryan awoke one morning and looked around at the same hospital room that he had been in for the past week. Today was different, though. Today was the day that everyone had been anxiously waiting for. Today Ryan was coming home. They weren't exactly sure what it would mean when he arrived back at the Cohen house, but they were all getting ready for his homecoming.

Sandy walked into the room as Ryan was attempting to climb out of bed. He knew how anxious he was to get out of this place; he didn't really blame him.

"Hang on, kid." He rushed over to help him.

"I can walk the few feet to the bathroom." Ryan grumbled.

"What have we been telling you? You need to put your pride aside and ask for help. No matter how you feel about us right now."

"Mark told me that I can walk a few feet unassisted."

"That's fine, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to hover."

"Whatever," Ryan took his change of clothes from him and hobbled to the bathroom as Sandy followed very closely.

Sandy started packing up all of Ryan's belongings while he was in the bathroom. It hadn't gotten much better these past few days between Ryan and Sandy and Kirsten. He was more open with Seth, which they took advantage of. Ryan would still have to come back to the hospital twice a week for his physical therapy, but he was put on bed rest; only allowed to get up for ten minutes at a time, until Mark told him otherwise. He also had to wear a leg brace except for when he was in the shower or doing his therapy.

The bathroom door opened and Ryan shuffled out as Sandy rushed over to assist him back to the bed. He slowly sat down and glared over at him as they lapsed into silence. The door finally opened and Dr. Graham came in and smiled at him.

"Looks like someone is ready to go." He smiled at them.

"Definitely," Ryan stated.

"Well everything looks good, so I'll sign off on your release. Just remember to keep that brace on as much as possible."

"Got it." Ryan got off the bed and reached for the crutches. "Can we go now?"

"Don't I need to take him out in a wheelchair?" Sandy looked at the doctor.

"I think it should be fine. Just watch him until you get out to the car."

"All right. Come on, kid." Sandy grabbed his bag and they started out of the room and towards the elevators.

The car ride home was awkward to say the least. Ryan sat in the front passenger seat just staring out the window. Sandy was trying to drive as he kept glancing over at Ryan and attempting to start a conversation with him.

"I bet it feels good to be out of the hospital finally." Sandy broke the silence.

"Mmm." Ryan responded.

"Well, Kirsten is getting the house ready for your return. And Seth is getting all of his video games out. So the rest of your day is all planned out for you."

"I just wanted to lay down."

"I don't think you'll have time for that. Besides, that's all you did in the hospital."

"Why can't I go to bed?" Ryan looked at him as they pulled up the Cohen's slanted driveway. "Why are all these cars here?"

"Kirsten called everyone-"

"She planned a party?"

"It's a small one, with just your friends. Besides, it's what she does." Sandy turned off the car and went around to Ryan's side of the car. "Come on. You can suffer through it. All your friends are waiting for you inside."

"One hour. That's all that I'm promising."

"Good luck with that." Sandy told him as they walked into the house.

Ryan struggled with the crutches as Sandy held the door open for him to walk through by himself. Ryan made to go towards the stairs, but Sandy firmly took hold of his arm and steered him towards the kitchen.

"You promised an hour." Sandy told him as Kirsten came out to greet them.

"Hey. I'm glad you're finally home." She smiled at Ryan. "Your friends are in the den with Seth. Why don't you go join them and I'll bring you something to eat."

"Fine." He started into the den and spotted Luke and Seth on the floor in front of the TV battling each other, while Anna and Summer sat on the couch. "Hey."

"Dude, you're finally home." Seth dropped his controller, giving Luke the opportunity to gain control of their game.

"Here," Anna got up from her spot and helped Ryan sit on the couch.

Summer got up and placed a couple pillows under Ryan's knee to elevate it as Sandy and Kirsten came in with plates of snacks for everyone. Kirsten had a plate with a sandwich and some chips and a can of iced tea and offered it to Ryan.

"Some nutritious, non-hospital food." She smiled at him. "You need to eat."

Ryan wordlessly took it from her and started eating. They both left again and Anna sat in the chair beside the couch that was near Ryan. Seth and Luke resumed their video game as Summer opened up a magazine to keep her occupied.

"So how's it going?" Anna looked at Ryan. "I bet it feels great to be out of the hospital finally."

"For the most part." He spotted Sandy and Kirsten glancing into where they all were as they talked quietly at the kitchen counter.

"I told you, you'd miss it if you didn't have it."

"Right," he put his plate on the coffee table and lay back as he watched Seth and Luke continue their game.

Luke, Summer, and Anna left a few hours later. Ryan remained on the couch as Seth continued playing video games. Sandy went to pick up their supper as Kirsten got Ryan's medication for him. He swallowed them down and started up off the couch.

"Stay where you are." Kirsten stopped him. "We're going to eat in here once Sandy gets here with supper."

"Fine." He relaxed against the cushions again as he heard the door open.

"I got us some Chinese." Sandy's booming voice echoed into the den.

Ryan sighed as he watched Sandy bring in all the bags of takeout and he handed one of the cartons to him, along with a pair of chopsticks. He slowly opened it and started eating as the three Cohen's joined him in front of the TV.

"It's good to have you home finally." Kirsten smiled at him.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

"So what should we do these next few weeks?" Sandy asked. "Would you like to do anything, Ryan?"

"I'm not supposed to do anything." He mumbled.

"You can do some things." Kirsten told him. "We can go places where you don't have to move around so much."

"I'll do whatever you want me to do." Ryan mumbled.

"Well we'd like to do what you want to do as well." Sandy told him.

"I don't want to do anything." He stated.

They all continued to eat in awkward silence with Ryan brooding as he slowly ate out of the carton in his lap. After they cleared all the cartons when they were all done eating, they all settled in around the TV to watch a movie. Ryan faced the back of the couch and closed his eyes to block it all out.

"Ryan, if you're tired we can get you upstairs." Kirsten told him.

"I thought I was being forced to spend time with you." He mumbled.

"What makes you think that?"

"Every time I attempt to get up, one of you stops me and tells me to stay put."

"He's right." Seth spoke up.

"We can help you up to your room." Sandy told him.

"I have crutches." Ryan sat up and grabbed them as Sandy attempted to help.

"You can use them. We'll just follow you up to make sure that you don't have any kind of accident."

"Fine." Ryan walked up the stairs with Sandy and Kirsten hovering nearby the whole time. "I'm fine. You can go now."

"We'll be back in a while with your next batch of pain killers." They left his room and Ryan got changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and climbed into bed.

Kirsten walked into her bedroom after giving Ryan his pain killers for the night. Sandy was already in bed waiting for her to come in.

"How'd it go?" he asked her as she got ready for bed.

"He didn't say a word to me. Just took his pills and fell back asleep." She sighed as she climbed into bed beside him. "I'm getting tired of all this. I thought that after we all talked with Nicole, it would start the ball rolling."

"One step at a time." Sandy wrapped his arms around her. "Hopefully, tomorrow we'll be able to start breaking down those walls of his."

"You know it's not going to be easy." She looked up at him. "He's going to fight us with everything he has."

"Can't wait." He smiled at her as they turned out the light.

Ryan turned over in bed when he heard a knock on his door. He started to sit up as Kirsten came in and smiled at him as she placed a tray of eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee over his lap.

"Good morning." She smiled at him.

"Morning," he mumbled.

"Seth has already left for school." She informed him. "Sandy made breakfast. He's going to take you to rehab in a little while. So you should eat up and get ready."

"I don't think I'll be able to eat all this."

"Just eat what you can." She smiled at him. "If you need anything, just call."

"Got it." He watched her leave as he slowly started eating.

Ryan slowly walked out of the rehabilitation room after his grueling session. Sandy was waiting for him in a chair just outside the door and stood up as he hobbled towards him on his crutches.

"Hey, kid. How'd it go?" he started to follow him out to the parking lot.

"Fine. Mark said I'm doing better than he expected."

"That's good news." Sandy helped him into the passenger side of the range rover. "What do you say that we pick up some lunch to take home to Kirsten?"

"Sure." Ryan shrugged.

They reached the house and Kirsten met them in the kitchen as she got some plates out. She smiled at them as she greeted Ryan.

"How was rehab?"

"Fine." He sighed.

"Come on and sit down." She started to help him to the table.

"Can I just eat upstairs? Please? I'm tired."

"Sure, kid." Sandy smiled at him. "We'll help you up."

"Uh, Ryan." Kirsten started. "There are a few additions to your room."

"Like what?" he looked at her.

"Why don't I go show you?" she followed them up and rushed ahead of Ryan as she opened the door.

"What is all this?" he looked at all the new additions to the room.

The bed was bigger in size with new bedding. There were bookshelves with books lining them and a desk with a desktop computer. In the center of the room against the one wall was a big screen TV with a media center full of DVDs and an XBOX with games.

"We thought you deserved some amenities if you're going to be stuck in here for the next several weeks." Kirsten told him.

"And we wanted you to know that we hope you'll make this your permanent place in the house." Sandy added.

"I'll think about it." Ryan sat down on the bed as Sandy distributed the food.

"Why don't we all eat up here together?" Sandy suggested. "Is that all right with you, Ryan?"

"Fine." He rested back against the pillows as Sandy distributed the food.

"What are we having?" Kirsten sat beside Ryan on the bed and Sandy sat at the end of the bed.

"Ryan wanted a burger from the diner, but I got you a garden salad with a deli sandwich." Sandy handed her a bag.

Ryan slowly ate his lunch as he listened to Sandy and Kirsten's banter. Ryan glanced around at everything that Kirsten had gotten for him while he was gone that day. Truthfully he liked that they wanted to make him feel more at home in the house, but he wasn't ready to let his guard down. Not yet.

After they were all done eating lunch, Sandy and Kirsten left Ryan alone so that he could rest some more. Seth got home from school and immediately went to see Ryan.

"Wow." He looked around. "Mom really went all out for you."

"Yeah." Ryan mumbled as he looked up from doing some of his makeup work for school. "It's all great. It's just-too much. It's like she's trying to impress me or something."

"Nah, that's not her at all." Seth sat on the computer chair. "Besides, this is nothing. You should see what she does when you're sick. She likes to shop."

"So anything interesting happen at school?" Randy closed his Calculus textbook.

"Not really. Same old, same old." He told him. "But Anna wanted me to tell you that if you needed any help catching up with all the work, she can come over and help you."

"I might need her help." Ryan agreed. "I have a lot to catch up on."

"So are you and Anna-" Seth started.

"No." Ryan said quickly. "But-"

"What?"

"I think I might be starting to like her." Ryan revealed. "And I wanted to know how you would feel if I asked her out."

"Why?"

"I know she's not your girlfriend anymore, but she is your ex. I just thought-"

"Dude, I have Summer now. We made it official. You and Anna have the right to do whatever you want to do. So just go for it if you want to."

"Thanks, man." Ryan smiled at him.

"Hey, fellas." Sandy came in after briefly knocking. "We all need to be downstairs right now."

"Why?" Seth looked at him.

"We called Nicole." He looked at Ryan. "She agreed to come over for a family session tonight."

"What?" Ryan stared back at him.

"We need this." Sandy stated. "We all need to talk to Nicole. So why don't you guys get cleaned up and meet us down in the living room in ten minutes."

Sandy left and Ryan sighed deeply. Seth gave him a sympathetic look as he left the room and Ryan went into the bathroom to change.

AN: So what'd you all think? I believe that this story is almost completed. Just a few more chapters. PLZ R&R!