Hey everyone, sorry this took forever! But I didn't know where I was going
with this and school started again and Physics is killing me!
Anyway this might be the last chapter, I have two other ideas for O.C
stories and they might just continue off this one, but we'll see how fast I
get them out.
Okay so far Luke and Ryan are still enemies, even though in the show I love
how they are friends now. Also Luke's dad has not been found out.
So enjoy and let me know what you think as always.
CH 10
The next morning dawned with Sandy waking up at his normal time. He instantly felt the urge to surf but the pounding in his head quickly squashed the thought. His arm was asleep and his hand clammy from being held all night. He trailed his eyes down to Ryan's sleeping form next to him. The boy was sleeping soundly with his jaw completely relaxed.
Sandy was about to turn over and go back to sleep when he noticed Ryan shivering. Slowly, as to not aggravate his head, he reached over to pull one of Ryan's many blankets up. He brushed Ryan cheek in passing and felt immediate heat.
Now concerned Sandy checked Ryan's forehead and felt the heat radiating from the boy, even though he was shivering. And listening carefully to Ryan's breath he could hear the strain in his lungs.
With surprising agility and strength Sandy bent down and scooped Ryan up, cast and all. Carrying him quickly through the house, Sandy carefully deposited him on the bed in the guestroom. Immediately he set about raising Ryan's casted leg, putting a pillow behind his head and wrapping him in many blankets to stop the shivering the had increased during the short trip.
Ryan woke as Sandy finished tucking in the blankets around him.
"Hey kiddo." Sandy whispered when he saw blue eyes. He was still quiet because his head was pounding from the movements and sounds he had made moving Ryan.
"Hey" Ryan whispered.
Sandy lifted Ryan's head and gave him a drink of water from the cup that had been placed nearby earlier by Kirsten.
"How ya feeling?"
Ryan graced him with a half smile. "Like crap. You?"
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about. You want anything?"
Ryan wiggled around until he was able to get his hand out of the blankets Sandy had wrapped around him. Reaching out he patted the side of the bed.
"Sit with me."
Sandy looked surprised at this.
"You look like crap. Sit down before you pass out." Ryan said with the same half smile on his face.
Sandy broke out in a real smile. "Thanks you always know how to make me feel better."
This was Ryan's way of welcoming Sandy back to the house and Sandy took it for what it was.
Kirsten came down a few hours later to find Ryan and Sandy gone from the couch and floor but now comfortably, well in Ryan's case, lying on the guestroom bed. Ryan was squashed into the corner while Sandy was laying half on, half off the bed. She covered Sandy with a blanket and checked Ryan's temperature.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sandy was surprised when the doorbell rang. Seth was entertaining Ryan while he was laid up in bed with the virus. Kirsten finally relented and returned to the office to get it back up and running. Caleb could do nothing with out her. Sandy expected her home with in the hour. She never left for long in fear of losing all three of her boys again.
Sandy slowly made his way to the door. It had been three days since the incident and his head still hurt. Ryan, thankfully was nearing the end of the virus, but was still on complete bed rest.
Sandy did a double take when he saw look standing on the stoop.
"Come in, come in. What can I do for you? You want anything to eat or drink?" Sandy babbled unable to find a way to thank the kid who saved his and his sons lives.
Luke was also flustered.
"No thanks, Mr. Cohen. How's the head? It looked painful the other day."
"My head is better...Luke I can't thank you enough for saving Ryan and I... If you hadn't been there..."
Luke held up his hand to stop Sandy from saying anymore.
"We were lucky we were there." Luke quickly changed the subject before anything else could be said. "Is Ryan around? Last night were the sports awards ceremony and-"
"That was last night!" Sandy interrupted, smacking his head and quickly regretting it. "I totally forgot. I planned on taking the day off and taking Ryan out. Some sailing, lunch, dinner with everyone then the awards. Kind of a reward, I totally forgot!"
"It's okay I'm sure Ryan forgot too, a lots happened..." Luke trailed off not sure of what else to say. He still didn't know the complete story with why Ryan looked so bad.
Sandy just nodded and led Luke to Ryan's downstairs bedroom. As expected Seth was talking nonstop and Ryan was propped up by pillows doing his best to feign interest.
Sandy cleared his throat, Seth stopped and looked up glancing suspiciously between his father and Luke.
There was an uncomfortable as Luke shifted from foot to foot.
"Luke's here to see Ryan, Seth why don't you and I start lunch before your mom gets back." Sandy said ending the silence.
Seth nodded and followed his father out of the room.
Luke stepped in the room and took Seth's vacated seat, slinging his backpack to the ground.
"How are you doing?" Luke asked because of complete lack of anything else.
Ryan shrugged. "Better" thinking more he started again.
"Luke, thank you-"but he was cut off the same way Sandy had been by Luke raising his hand to stop whatever else he was going to say.
"Your dad already said it along with Seth and your mom. Don't worry about it. It's not like were friends or anything because of it."
Ryan smiled at the typical Luke comment. "Yeah, but that's the second time you've saved my life."
"Don't worry I'll find a way for you to pay me back."
Ryan snorted.
There were a few moments of silence between the two until Luke opened his bag and pulled something out.
"Last night was the soccer awards."
Ryan smacked himself much like Sandy had earlier. "I totally forgot."
"I figured, Sandy did too, he was really disappointed."
Ryan looked surprised. "I didn't know he knew we had awards."
"There's a lot you don't know or realize. Sandy was really disappointed you two missed it. He had a whole day planned. He was going to take the day off and everything. Your dad's pretty cool."
Ryan looked even more surprised at this. He never thought of Sandy as Dad, he was just Sandy.
Luke saw Ryan's surprised look and elaborated. "You might not have been lucky before the Cohen's but now you are. Everyone knows Seth has the best parents. Just don't tell him I said that. Sandy and Kirsten are involved. In elementary they came to all those stupid track and field days that every student had to participate in. Even though Seth sucked Sandy or Kirsten would be there cheering like he was the best. I bet they framed his participation ribbons."
Ryan knew exactly what Luke was talking about. In the den was an entire wall of Seth's accomplishments, from the ribbons, to his articles in the school newspaper to all of his A+ school papers.
"You hit the jackpot with the Cohen's. Everyone wants parents like them." Again at Ryan's surprised look Luke sighed and continued. "Look at the people you know at Harbor. Marissa's parents-divorced, her mom acts like her sister. I've never even met Summer's parents and I've known her for ten years. They're divorced too and everyone knows she practically lives alone with the maid. Trevor watches medical shows to show off for his dad whose a doctor but is never home long enough to notice. Mark's mom and dad live on separate coasts. He only sees his mom two weeks in the summer and his dad stays at his other house in Malibu. I never see my dad, he's always on business trips. I think he knows his partner better then he knows us. So compared to the rest of Newport you have it good. It might have been bad in Chino but here you hit the jackpot."
Ryan sat stunned at Luke's long revelation, speechless.
Luke was a tad embarrassed at all he had said, so he moved onto why he was there in the first place.
"So all the awards are voted on by the entire team, except for a few Coach gives out. So everyone voted this-except you and by a landslide you got this."
Luke handed Ryan the frame that housed his award.
Ryan did a double take at the award and then looked at Luke waiting for him to shout surprise, he didn't.
"You're kidding me. I got Mr. Congeniality? Is this a joke? Everyone hates me, you included."
Luke didn't smile. "Not a joke, dude, even Coach voted for you."
Ryan still looked utterly confused.
"Think about it...yeah everyone hated you but at the end of the season you were always the last player to leave because you were helping everyone else. By the end of the season everyone was asking you for help or advice. Wally even thanked you in his speech."
"What award did Wally get?" Ryan asked, Wally was a nice guy in Ryan's book.
"Most improved."
Ryan smiled at that, the kid deserved it. "Thanks man for everything."
Luke smiled and slapped Ryan's casted leg. "Coach says once this heals and you get back in shape you'll probably take MVP home next year." Luke grabbed his bad and started towards the door. Ryan was still gawking at his award.
Luke smiled he hadn't even noticed the other part of the award.
"Hey Luke." Ryan called and Luke turned at the door. "What did you get?"
"MVP" he said before leaving.
Luke waved goodbye to Seth and Sandy who were still in the kitchen and let himself out.
Ryan skimmed over the award again, stopping when he reached his name. His mouth dropped open, how he had missed the error before he did not know. But right in the center and big, bold letters it said:
Ryan Cohen
Ryan was still staring when Sandy walked in. "Whatcha looking at? Oh, did you get an award?" He came around to Ryan's bed and sat down on the side of it.
Glancing over Ryan's shoulder he read and immediately tried to contain his laughter. No wonder Ryan looked in shock. Him getting Mr. Congeniality, who would have thought.
"They gave you Mr. Congeniality, interesting." Was all Sandy could manage.
Ryan still looked in shock so Sandy continued to read. He immediately noticed the Ryan Cohen.
Sandy took the award out of Ryan's hands. "We can fix that. I'll call Coach Peterson or take it to the shop. I'm sure it's no trouble." Sandy babbled sounding a lot like Seth.
"No, it's okay, you don't have too." Ryan said softly.
"You sure?" It shouldn't be a problem."
It's not a problem now. Can you put it in my room?" He asked waving upstairs in the direction of his new bedroom.
"You sure?"
Ryan nodded.
"Can I put it somewhere else?" Sandy asked carefully.
Ryan's eyes narrowed in confusion.
"In the den there's a spot I could hang this at."
Ryan looked surprised. "But that's Seth's space..."
Sandy sat down next to Ryan, he looked at Ryan carefully before responding. "I wasn't completely out of it when you asked me what my son's names were. I knew what I was saying when I said it. You're my son Ryan and you always will be." Changing the subject before either of them could get too emotional, Sandy went back to their original conversation. "There's plenty of room on the walls for this. Do you mind?"
Ryan shook his head, he was still in shock at what Sandy had said.
"Great, I'm gonna go put a hole in the wall. I'm not good with a hammer which is why all of Seth's stuff has stayed up as long as it has." Sandy confessed.
A few minutes later Ryan could hear pounding and that night after having a family dinner, Sandy had them all troop to the den to see Ryan's award displayed on his own wall.
CH 10
The next morning dawned with Sandy waking up at his normal time. He instantly felt the urge to surf but the pounding in his head quickly squashed the thought. His arm was asleep and his hand clammy from being held all night. He trailed his eyes down to Ryan's sleeping form next to him. The boy was sleeping soundly with his jaw completely relaxed.
Sandy was about to turn over and go back to sleep when he noticed Ryan shivering. Slowly, as to not aggravate his head, he reached over to pull one of Ryan's many blankets up. He brushed Ryan cheek in passing and felt immediate heat.
Now concerned Sandy checked Ryan's forehead and felt the heat radiating from the boy, even though he was shivering. And listening carefully to Ryan's breath he could hear the strain in his lungs.
With surprising agility and strength Sandy bent down and scooped Ryan up, cast and all. Carrying him quickly through the house, Sandy carefully deposited him on the bed in the guestroom. Immediately he set about raising Ryan's casted leg, putting a pillow behind his head and wrapping him in many blankets to stop the shivering the had increased during the short trip.
Ryan woke as Sandy finished tucking in the blankets around him.
"Hey kiddo." Sandy whispered when he saw blue eyes. He was still quiet because his head was pounding from the movements and sounds he had made moving Ryan.
"Hey" Ryan whispered.
Sandy lifted Ryan's head and gave him a drink of water from the cup that had been placed nearby earlier by Kirsten.
"How ya feeling?"
Ryan graced him with a half smile. "Like crap. You?"
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about. You want anything?"
Ryan wiggled around until he was able to get his hand out of the blankets Sandy had wrapped around him. Reaching out he patted the side of the bed.
"Sit with me."
Sandy looked surprised at this.
"You look like crap. Sit down before you pass out." Ryan said with the same half smile on his face.
Sandy broke out in a real smile. "Thanks you always know how to make me feel better."
This was Ryan's way of welcoming Sandy back to the house and Sandy took it for what it was.
Kirsten came down a few hours later to find Ryan and Sandy gone from the couch and floor but now comfortably, well in Ryan's case, lying on the guestroom bed. Ryan was squashed into the corner while Sandy was laying half on, half off the bed. She covered Sandy with a blanket and checked Ryan's temperature.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sandy was surprised when the doorbell rang. Seth was entertaining Ryan while he was laid up in bed with the virus. Kirsten finally relented and returned to the office to get it back up and running. Caleb could do nothing with out her. Sandy expected her home with in the hour. She never left for long in fear of losing all three of her boys again.
Sandy slowly made his way to the door. It had been three days since the incident and his head still hurt. Ryan, thankfully was nearing the end of the virus, but was still on complete bed rest.
Sandy did a double take when he saw look standing on the stoop.
"Come in, come in. What can I do for you? You want anything to eat or drink?" Sandy babbled unable to find a way to thank the kid who saved his and his sons lives.
Luke was also flustered.
"No thanks, Mr. Cohen. How's the head? It looked painful the other day."
"My head is better...Luke I can't thank you enough for saving Ryan and I... If you hadn't been there..."
Luke held up his hand to stop Sandy from saying anymore.
"We were lucky we were there." Luke quickly changed the subject before anything else could be said. "Is Ryan around? Last night were the sports awards ceremony and-"
"That was last night!" Sandy interrupted, smacking his head and quickly regretting it. "I totally forgot. I planned on taking the day off and taking Ryan out. Some sailing, lunch, dinner with everyone then the awards. Kind of a reward, I totally forgot!"
"It's okay I'm sure Ryan forgot too, a lots happened..." Luke trailed off not sure of what else to say. He still didn't know the complete story with why Ryan looked so bad.
Sandy just nodded and led Luke to Ryan's downstairs bedroom. As expected Seth was talking nonstop and Ryan was propped up by pillows doing his best to feign interest.
Sandy cleared his throat, Seth stopped and looked up glancing suspiciously between his father and Luke.
There was an uncomfortable as Luke shifted from foot to foot.
"Luke's here to see Ryan, Seth why don't you and I start lunch before your mom gets back." Sandy said ending the silence.
Seth nodded and followed his father out of the room.
Luke stepped in the room and took Seth's vacated seat, slinging his backpack to the ground.
"How are you doing?" Luke asked because of complete lack of anything else.
Ryan shrugged. "Better" thinking more he started again.
"Luke, thank you-"but he was cut off the same way Sandy had been by Luke raising his hand to stop whatever else he was going to say.
"Your dad already said it along with Seth and your mom. Don't worry about it. It's not like were friends or anything because of it."
Ryan smiled at the typical Luke comment. "Yeah, but that's the second time you've saved my life."
"Don't worry I'll find a way for you to pay me back."
Ryan snorted.
There were a few moments of silence between the two until Luke opened his bag and pulled something out.
"Last night was the soccer awards."
Ryan smacked himself much like Sandy had earlier. "I totally forgot."
"I figured, Sandy did too, he was really disappointed."
Ryan looked surprised. "I didn't know he knew we had awards."
"There's a lot you don't know or realize. Sandy was really disappointed you two missed it. He had a whole day planned. He was going to take the day off and everything. Your dad's pretty cool."
Ryan looked even more surprised at this. He never thought of Sandy as Dad, he was just Sandy.
Luke saw Ryan's surprised look and elaborated. "You might not have been lucky before the Cohen's but now you are. Everyone knows Seth has the best parents. Just don't tell him I said that. Sandy and Kirsten are involved. In elementary they came to all those stupid track and field days that every student had to participate in. Even though Seth sucked Sandy or Kirsten would be there cheering like he was the best. I bet they framed his participation ribbons."
Ryan knew exactly what Luke was talking about. In the den was an entire wall of Seth's accomplishments, from the ribbons, to his articles in the school newspaper to all of his A+ school papers.
"You hit the jackpot with the Cohen's. Everyone wants parents like them." Again at Ryan's surprised look Luke sighed and continued. "Look at the people you know at Harbor. Marissa's parents-divorced, her mom acts like her sister. I've never even met Summer's parents and I've known her for ten years. They're divorced too and everyone knows she practically lives alone with the maid. Trevor watches medical shows to show off for his dad whose a doctor but is never home long enough to notice. Mark's mom and dad live on separate coasts. He only sees his mom two weeks in the summer and his dad stays at his other house in Malibu. I never see my dad, he's always on business trips. I think he knows his partner better then he knows us. So compared to the rest of Newport you have it good. It might have been bad in Chino but here you hit the jackpot."
Ryan sat stunned at Luke's long revelation, speechless.
Luke was a tad embarrassed at all he had said, so he moved onto why he was there in the first place.
"So all the awards are voted on by the entire team, except for a few Coach gives out. So everyone voted this-except you and by a landslide you got this."
Luke handed Ryan the frame that housed his award.
Ryan did a double take at the award and then looked at Luke waiting for him to shout surprise, he didn't.
"You're kidding me. I got Mr. Congeniality? Is this a joke? Everyone hates me, you included."
Luke didn't smile. "Not a joke, dude, even Coach voted for you."
Ryan still looked utterly confused.
"Think about it...yeah everyone hated you but at the end of the season you were always the last player to leave because you were helping everyone else. By the end of the season everyone was asking you for help or advice. Wally even thanked you in his speech."
"What award did Wally get?" Ryan asked, Wally was a nice guy in Ryan's book.
"Most improved."
Ryan smiled at that, the kid deserved it. "Thanks man for everything."
Luke smiled and slapped Ryan's casted leg. "Coach says once this heals and you get back in shape you'll probably take MVP home next year." Luke grabbed his bad and started towards the door. Ryan was still gawking at his award.
Luke smiled he hadn't even noticed the other part of the award.
"Hey Luke." Ryan called and Luke turned at the door. "What did you get?"
"MVP" he said before leaving.
Luke waved goodbye to Seth and Sandy who were still in the kitchen and let himself out.
Ryan skimmed over the award again, stopping when he reached his name. His mouth dropped open, how he had missed the error before he did not know. But right in the center and big, bold letters it said:
Ryan Cohen
Ryan was still staring when Sandy walked in. "Whatcha looking at? Oh, did you get an award?" He came around to Ryan's bed and sat down on the side of it.
Glancing over Ryan's shoulder he read and immediately tried to contain his laughter. No wonder Ryan looked in shock. Him getting Mr. Congeniality, who would have thought.
"They gave you Mr. Congeniality, interesting." Was all Sandy could manage.
Ryan still looked in shock so Sandy continued to read. He immediately noticed the Ryan Cohen.
Sandy took the award out of Ryan's hands. "We can fix that. I'll call Coach Peterson or take it to the shop. I'm sure it's no trouble." Sandy babbled sounding a lot like Seth.
"No, it's okay, you don't have too." Ryan said softly.
"You sure?" It shouldn't be a problem."
It's not a problem now. Can you put it in my room?" He asked waving upstairs in the direction of his new bedroom.
"You sure?"
Ryan nodded.
"Can I put it somewhere else?" Sandy asked carefully.
Ryan's eyes narrowed in confusion.
"In the den there's a spot I could hang this at."
Ryan looked surprised. "But that's Seth's space..."
Sandy sat down next to Ryan, he looked at Ryan carefully before responding. "I wasn't completely out of it when you asked me what my son's names were. I knew what I was saying when I said it. You're my son Ryan and you always will be." Changing the subject before either of them could get too emotional, Sandy went back to their original conversation. "There's plenty of room on the walls for this. Do you mind?"
Ryan shook his head, he was still in shock at what Sandy had said.
"Great, I'm gonna go put a hole in the wall. I'm not good with a hammer which is why all of Seth's stuff has stayed up as long as it has." Sandy confessed.
A few minutes later Ryan could hear pounding and that night after having a family dinner, Sandy had them all troop to the den to see Ryan's award displayed on his own wall.
