A/N: I don't own the OC or any characters or actors. Do I really need to
say that anymore?
Seth drove fast down the highway going the opposite way the came. Ryan looked over at him. He looked so frustrated and flustered. "Dammit!" he would yelp every few seconds; he couldn't even dial his own phone number.
Ryan took the cell phone from Seth's hand who was surprised when he did. The phone rang in his ear. Kirsten picked up.
"Hello?!" she yelled excitedly into the phone.
"Kirsten? It's Ryan." Ryan said calmly taking deep breaths. Seth's eyes darted back and forth from the road to Ryan to the cell phone.
"Ryan.hi." Kirsten's excitement left her voice. She was obviously waiting for Ally. "Any leads on where she went?"
Ryan paused; he was terrified to tell her. It wasn't fair that he was ruining her life over his family, but he knew he had to tell her. "Kirsten you should sit down."
"Ryan? Ryan, what's wrong?" Kirsten was scared. He could tell by her voice. She had met Ally for about an hour and yet she was scared.
Ryan took a deep breath. He didn't want to say because if he said it, it would mean it was true, and he didn't want it to be. It was just a dream; a nightmare. He was really in the pool house. Ally was fine, in her bed dreaming sweet dreams. She didn't find Ryan and wasn't beat up by Jed. Seth and Kirsten and Sandy didn't even know about Allison or the song he sang to her when she was just a baby. He was just dreaming.
"Ryan! Ryan; talk to me!" Kirsten yelled into the phone. It was all real and he had to tell her.
Ryan swallowed. "Marissa and Summer found her on the side of Highway 5 and called us. They said she looked pretty beat up. They called an ambulance and making their way back to Newport." Ryan took a breath after blurting all that out. "We are on our way too. Get Sandy to come." Ryan didn't realize that tears were stinging his eyes.
"Okay." She softly stammered on the other end of the line. "Uh.Ryan?" She said suddenly louder.
"Yea."
"Are you ok?"
"No." He whispered wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "Kirsten I have to go." Ryan hung up quickly. He couldn't sit there and be asked questions like that. It was too hard everything was made harder at the Cohen's.
Seth looked over at him. "It's going to be ok. You know that dude?" Seth couldn't sit still. He was extremely jumpy also. It terrified Seth that Ryan could be so affected by something like this. Ryan had a barrier that separated himself from everyone else; whether it was from himself or Marissa, or even his own lawyer. Ryan was supposed to be untouchable. But the Ryan who was sitting next to him wasn't like that at all.
Summer rushed into the hospital. She couldn't believe the paramedics wouldn't allow Marissa in the ambulance with the girl. She didn't even catch her name. While sitting on the shoulder of the road with her the girl drifted in and out of consciousness. Marissa had become attached to her. Summer wasn't sure why. Maybe because she had been like that girl no longer than a month ago.
Marissa looked around not sure where to go; she looked like a lost puppy. They made their way to the front desk. "A girl about 14 or 15 just came in here. She was found by the side of the road beat up. An ambulance picked her up and she came here. Where is she?" Summer ordered from a large Mexican woman who sat behind it.
The woman blinked, as if she didn't understand or was weighing each of Summer's words carefully. "Are you a family member?" The woman blinked a few more times.
"No." Summer sighed. "But we found her."
"Well, I'm sorry but I can't help you. We aren't permitted to reveal any information about our patients to people other than family members. I'm sorry." The woman's gaze went back to the glowing computer screen in front of her.
"But." Summer started. She had never been refused anything, and she wasn't going to start here.
"I'm SORRY. But we aren't allowed to give any information on our patients. Please take a seat." The woman glared at Summer. Obviously she wasn't going to give in either.
Marissa bit her lip. "We are friends with her brother and we just want to be able to tell him when he arrives if she ok or not."
The receptionist looked at her, unblinking this time; she frowned. She typed on her keyboard. "It says that she may have a concussion and they are checking her out for it. They are doing X-rays to check for broken bones." The woman looked up at them both. "If anyone asks you didn't hear it from me."
Marissa nodded and turned and left dragging Summer along behind her.
Seth and Ryan slid into the hospital doors and the smell overcame them both. It was like rubbing alcohol, cheep detergent and possibly an anti- bacterial; it smelt like a hospital. They immediately saw the two girls, who both looked rather pale. Marissa's eyes immediately began to well up. It wasn't fair to Ryan; he had been at the hospital too many times this year. Once with Luke, another in Tijuana with Marissa, and now this. Ryan was terrified, Marissa could tell by his eyes.
They all sat in the waiting room. The blue-ish green chairs stood out against the stark white walls. For once Summer sat there completely silent, her head lay on Seth's shoulder. It was too much seeing that girl on the road. It reminded her of Marissa; it was too close to home. Ryan kept excusing himself to the washroom and every time he came back his eyes were redder and puffier. It was so obvious that he was crying.
Sandy and Kirsten were the next to arrive. It was lucky too; the doctor had just came out into the waiting room was about to speak to Ryan.
"Ryan!" Kirsten immediately pulled Ryan into her arms. She didn't care how much he pulled away; he needed someone and that someone was going to be her.
"Kirsten, its ok.I'm Ok.I swear." He said wriggling out of her grasp.
Sandy was the first to actually acknowledge the doctor. "What new do you have?" Everyone's attention flew to the doctor. He was a tall man, in his late forties to early fifties, had dark hair with a few grey streaks showing through. He looked weary and tired but his dark blue eyes shone, he was the bearer of good news.
He smiled at each of them. "My name is Dr. Morris, and I have been looking after....... I'm sorry I didn't catch her name. She is labeled as a Jane Doe."
Ryan immediately piped up. "Allison Rachelle Atwood." He swallowed, he was so nervous.
"Yes, Allison, well we have done a few x-rays and tests. She seems to have a concussion, fairly mild, her arm is broken; just a hairline fracture, no signs of sexual abuse, although she seems to have a few ribs that have been broken. The rest seems to be just surface scraps and cuts, nothing to be worried about." The doctor stopped and his eyes shifted from Sandy to Kirsten. "She does have quite a shiner on her right eye, and it seems to not come from the attack. Could either of you explain this?"
Ryan stepped forward. "She got into a fight at school. If you think that was bad you should have seen what she did to the boy." He laughed uncomfortably.
"Alright." The doctor didn't seem quite convinced. "I will need to speak to you two about payments. She didn't have any identification on her therefore I have no medical insurance." Sandy nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. He followed the Dr. Morris to the front desk and began talking in private.
"The rest of you can follow me and visit her." A nurse said making them all jump; no one had even noticed her.
Allison was lying in a bed, she was awake and looked rather pissed off and uncomfortable. "Ryan." She bit her lip as he entered the room followed by Seth, Summer, Marissa and Kirsten. He stood beside her and took the hand that wasn't in a cast.
"If anyone asks you about your black eye you tell them you got into a fight at school with a boy twice you size, got it?" he muttered giving her a hug. He felt her nod and he pulled away.
He looked her over. She had some scrapes on her chin and a big blue hand print on her arm. Other than the cast she looked ok, he had seen her in worse conditions.
"They say I can get out of here in about two hours, maybe less." She said excitedly.
Ryan looked at her solemnly. "What happened?"
She looked away. This was the second time in two days she had been asked that, and she had turned to hate that question. "Hitch hiking. The guy beat me up, took my cash and drove away. It happens." She shrugged, it could have been worse; he let her live.
Everyone stared at her, amazed at her calmness how she just brushed something like that off. It was crazy. "We aren't letting you go. We are going to get you to fill out a report and you will stay with us even if you are in the pool house with Ryan. You aren't going back home and you sure as hell not going to pull another 'I'm just going to San Francisco'." Kirsten finally said saying exactly Ryan was thinking of.
Allison woke up groggily, her arm throbbed and she had a slight headache but other than that she was ok. She rubbed her eyes with her good hand and propped herself up. She squinted as the sun streamed through the windows. She remembered hitch hiking and waking up on the ground with a pair of angels floating around her. The next thing was seeing Ryan, one of his guardians and few other people, but she was drawn to a blank on how she ended up in a bedroom that had posters of a few punk bands that she recognized and had shelves and shelves of comic books. Where the hell was she?
She quietly tip toed down the stairs thinking she could make it to the door without a sound. No one would notice her gone. much.
"Allison, good you're up!" Seth said from the kitchen, as she entered the hall.
She cursed under her breath and made her way to the kitchen. It was like the perfect family. Kirsten was leaning against the fridge sipping black coffee, Sandy stood at the kitchen table slowly packing his briefcase and Seth at the island eating corn pops with tousled bed-head.
Allison frowned. "Where is Ryan?"
Kirsten turned to her and smiled. "He's sleeping in the pool house. He was sitting in Seth's room watching you, making sure you were ok, but he kept dozing off. I made him."
Allison bit her lip. "Sorry about taking over your room. I think I'll go see Ryan."
She entered the pool house and sat beside Ryan, who was sleeping soundly. He took deep breaths; sighing. It was so peaceful. She had never known that. At her house she was scared to sleep. Afraid she would wake up in the night and have Jed hovering over her and slamming a pillow onto her face and beating her with his free hand and whatever was accessible.
Ryan's eyes fluttered open. "Hey you're up." he whispered groggily. "What time is it?"
She turned to look at the clock. "About 8:30. Are you doing ok?"
Ryan rubbed his eyes and yawned and sat up. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He ran his fingers through his blonde hair, brushing it out of his face.
Allison smirked. "I'm ok. I'm fine." She bit her lip and looked around the room, her eyes settling on the coffee table. "Do you have my necklace?" She asked completely out of the blue.
Ryan smiled and eagerly took off a silver chain with a long crystal hanging from the end. He remembered the necklace fondly. He gave it to her on her 10th birthday. He remembered the look on her face. He put it back on her. They were together again.
~ * ~
*
~
*
A/N: I know it's been a while. I have been busy with my Everwood Fiction and I should get to Degrassi one also. Don't worry this isn't the end yet seeing we haven't even MET Jed yet. We only have had references. So the story will go on. Oh! And I think I might have Ryan singing in the next chapter. (Don't worry, it's more like a lullaby than him just belting out in song in the middle of the chapter. which would be completely OUT of character for him) ~TOODLES
Seth drove fast down the highway going the opposite way the came. Ryan looked over at him. He looked so frustrated and flustered. "Dammit!" he would yelp every few seconds; he couldn't even dial his own phone number.
Ryan took the cell phone from Seth's hand who was surprised when he did. The phone rang in his ear. Kirsten picked up.
"Hello?!" she yelled excitedly into the phone.
"Kirsten? It's Ryan." Ryan said calmly taking deep breaths. Seth's eyes darted back and forth from the road to Ryan to the cell phone.
"Ryan.hi." Kirsten's excitement left her voice. She was obviously waiting for Ally. "Any leads on where she went?"
Ryan paused; he was terrified to tell her. It wasn't fair that he was ruining her life over his family, but he knew he had to tell her. "Kirsten you should sit down."
"Ryan? Ryan, what's wrong?" Kirsten was scared. He could tell by her voice. She had met Ally for about an hour and yet she was scared.
Ryan took a deep breath. He didn't want to say because if he said it, it would mean it was true, and he didn't want it to be. It was just a dream; a nightmare. He was really in the pool house. Ally was fine, in her bed dreaming sweet dreams. She didn't find Ryan and wasn't beat up by Jed. Seth and Kirsten and Sandy didn't even know about Allison or the song he sang to her when she was just a baby. He was just dreaming.
"Ryan! Ryan; talk to me!" Kirsten yelled into the phone. It was all real and he had to tell her.
Ryan swallowed. "Marissa and Summer found her on the side of Highway 5 and called us. They said she looked pretty beat up. They called an ambulance and making their way back to Newport." Ryan took a breath after blurting all that out. "We are on our way too. Get Sandy to come." Ryan didn't realize that tears were stinging his eyes.
"Okay." She softly stammered on the other end of the line. "Uh.Ryan?" She said suddenly louder.
"Yea."
"Are you ok?"
"No." He whispered wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "Kirsten I have to go." Ryan hung up quickly. He couldn't sit there and be asked questions like that. It was too hard everything was made harder at the Cohen's.
Seth looked over at him. "It's going to be ok. You know that dude?" Seth couldn't sit still. He was extremely jumpy also. It terrified Seth that Ryan could be so affected by something like this. Ryan had a barrier that separated himself from everyone else; whether it was from himself or Marissa, or even his own lawyer. Ryan was supposed to be untouchable. But the Ryan who was sitting next to him wasn't like that at all.
Summer rushed into the hospital. She couldn't believe the paramedics wouldn't allow Marissa in the ambulance with the girl. She didn't even catch her name. While sitting on the shoulder of the road with her the girl drifted in and out of consciousness. Marissa had become attached to her. Summer wasn't sure why. Maybe because she had been like that girl no longer than a month ago.
Marissa looked around not sure where to go; she looked like a lost puppy. They made their way to the front desk. "A girl about 14 or 15 just came in here. She was found by the side of the road beat up. An ambulance picked her up and she came here. Where is she?" Summer ordered from a large Mexican woman who sat behind it.
The woman blinked, as if she didn't understand or was weighing each of Summer's words carefully. "Are you a family member?" The woman blinked a few more times.
"No." Summer sighed. "But we found her."
"Well, I'm sorry but I can't help you. We aren't permitted to reveal any information about our patients to people other than family members. I'm sorry." The woman's gaze went back to the glowing computer screen in front of her.
"But." Summer started. She had never been refused anything, and she wasn't going to start here.
"I'm SORRY. But we aren't allowed to give any information on our patients. Please take a seat." The woman glared at Summer. Obviously she wasn't going to give in either.
Marissa bit her lip. "We are friends with her brother and we just want to be able to tell him when he arrives if she ok or not."
The receptionist looked at her, unblinking this time; she frowned. She typed on her keyboard. "It says that she may have a concussion and they are checking her out for it. They are doing X-rays to check for broken bones." The woman looked up at them both. "If anyone asks you didn't hear it from me."
Marissa nodded and turned and left dragging Summer along behind her.
Seth and Ryan slid into the hospital doors and the smell overcame them both. It was like rubbing alcohol, cheep detergent and possibly an anti- bacterial; it smelt like a hospital. They immediately saw the two girls, who both looked rather pale. Marissa's eyes immediately began to well up. It wasn't fair to Ryan; he had been at the hospital too many times this year. Once with Luke, another in Tijuana with Marissa, and now this. Ryan was terrified, Marissa could tell by his eyes.
They all sat in the waiting room. The blue-ish green chairs stood out against the stark white walls. For once Summer sat there completely silent, her head lay on Seth's shoulder. It was too much seeing that girl on the road. It reminded her of Marissa; it was too close to home. Ryan kept excusing himself to the washroom and every time he came back his eyes were redder and puffier. It was so obvious that he was crying.
Sandy and Kirsten were the next to arrive. It was lucky too; the doctor had just came out into the waiting room was about to speak to Ryan.
"Ryan!" Kirsten immediately pulled Ryan into her arms. She didn't care how much he pulled away; he needed someone and that someone was going to be her.
"Kirsten, its ok.I'm Ok.I swear." He said wriggling out of her grasp.
Sandy was the first to actually acknowledge the doctor. "What new do you have?" Everyone's attention flew to the doctor. He was a tall man, in his late forties to early fifties, had dark hair with a few grey streaks showing through. He looked weary and tired but his dark blue eyes shone, he was the bearer of good news.
He smiled at each of them. "My name is Dr. Morris, and I have been looking after....... I'm sorry I didn't catch her name. She is labeled as a Jane Doe."
Ryan immediately piped up. "Allison Rachelle Atwood." He swallowed, he was so nervous.
"Yes, Allison, well we have done a few x-rays and tests. She seems to have a concussion, fairly mild, her arm is broken; just a hairline fracture, no signs of sexual abuse, although she seems to have a few ribs that have been broken. The rest seems to be just surface scraps and cuts, nothing to be worried about." The doctor stopped and his eyes shifted from Sandy to Kirsten. "She does have quite a shiner on her right eye, and it seems to not come from the attack. Could either of you explain this?"
Ryan stepped forward. "She got into a fight at school. If you think that was bad you should have seen what she did to the boy." He laughed uncomfortably.
"Alright." The doctor didn't seem quite convinced. "I will need to speak to you two about payments. She didn't have any identification on her therefore I have no medical insurance." Sandy nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. He followed the Dr. Morris to the front desk and began talking in private.
"The rest of you can follow me and visit her." A nurse said making them all jump; no one had even noticed her.
Allison was lying in a bed, she was awake and looked rather pissed off and uncomfortable. "Ryan." She bit her lip as he entered the room followed by Seth, Summer, Marissa and Kirsten. He stood beside her and took the hand that wasn't in a cast.
"If anyone asks you about your black eye you tell them you got into a fight at school with a boy twice you size, got it?" he muttered giving her a hug. He felt her nod and he pulled away.
He looked her over. She had some scrapes on her chin and a big blue hand print on her arm. Other than the cast she looked ok, he had seen her in worse conditions.
"They say I can get out of here in about two hours, maybe less." She said excitedly.
Ryan looked at her solemnly. "What happened?"
She looked away. This was the second time in two days she had been asked that, and she had turned to hate that question. "Hitch hiking. The guy beat me up, took my cash and drove away. It happens." She shrugged, it could have been worse; he let her live.
Everyone stared at her, amazed at her calmness how she just brushed something like that off. It was crazy. "We aren't letting you go. We are going to get you to fill out a report and you will stay with us even if you are in the pool house with Ryan. You aren't going back home and you sure as hell not going to pull another 'I'm just going to San Francisco'." Kirsten finally said saying exactly Ryan was thinking of.
Allison woke up groggily, her arm throbbed and she had a slight headache but other than that she was ok. She rubbed her eyes with her good hand and propped herself up. She squinted as the sun streamed through the windows. She remembered hitch hiking and waking up on the ground with a pair of angels floating around her. The next thing was seeing Ryan, one of his guardians and few other people, but she was drawn to a blank on how she ended up in a bedroom that had posters of a few punk bands that she recognized and had shelves and shelves of comic books. Where the hell was she?
She quietly tip toed down the stairs thinking she could make it to the door without a sound. No one would notice her gone. much.
"Allison, good you're up!" Seth said from the kitchen, as she entered the hall.
She cursed under her breath and made her way to the kitchen. It was like the perfect family. Kirsten was leaning against the fridge sipping black coffee, Sandy stood at the kitchen table slowly packing his briefcase and Seth at the island eating corn pops with tousled bed-head.
Allison frowned. "Where is Ryan?"
Kirsten turned to her and smiled. "He's sleeping in the pool house. He was sitting in Seth's room watching you, making sure you were ok, but he kept dozing off. I made him."
Allison bit her lip. "Sorry about taking over your room. I think I'll go see Ryan."
She entered the pool house and sat beside Ryan, who was sleeping soundly. He took deep breaths; sighing. It was so peaceful. She had never known that. At her house she was scared to sleep. Afraid she would wake up in the night and have Jed hovering over her and slamming a pillow onto her face and beating her with his free hand and whatever was accessible.
Ryan's eyes fluttered open. "Hey you're up." he whispered groggily. "What time is it?"
She turned to look at the clock. "About 8:30. Are you doing ok?"
Ryan rubbed his eyes and yawned and sat up. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He ran his fingers through his blonde hair, brushing it out of his face.
Allison smirked. "I'm ok. I'm fine." She bit her lip and looked around the room, her eyes settling on the coffee table. "Do you have my necklace?" She asked completely out of the blue.
Ryan smiled and eagerly took off a silver chain with a long crystal hanging from the end. He remembered the necklace fondly. He gave it to her on her 10th birthday. He remembered the look on her face. He put it back on her. They were together again.
~ * ~
*
~
*
A/N: I know it's been a while. I have been busy with my Everwood Fiction and I should get to Degrassi one also. Don't worry this isn't the end yet seeing we haven't even MET Jed yet. We only have had references. So the story will go on. Oh! And I think I might have Ryan singing in the next chapter. (Don't worry, it's more like a lullaby than him just belting out in song in the middle of the chapter. which would be completely OUT of character for him) ~TOODLES