Disclaimer: I don't own the OC, characters, etc. Thank you for the reviews! I decided to follow the request of bop1997, and give Dawn what she deserves. *grrr*. Enjoy!

A nurse helped Kirsten into a chair. "Are you alright, ma'am?" she asked. Kirsten nodded, sniffling. She heard a noise outside. "Ma'am, what are you doing?!" she heard someone say outside. She was no longer paying attention to the nurse, who was trying to get her to calm down. She got up and ran down the stairs. Her shoes clacked down the stairs as she shoved the door open. She saw Dawn running down the street as she passed the tired doctor who had stopped chasing Dawn a while ago. She got a sudden adrenaline rush and caught up with the woman. "Dawn! Wait!" she screamed. Dawn turned around, gave a smirk, and kept running. Her bad luck had caught up with her from her little trip to Mexico, and she ran into a telephone pole. Kirsten was worried for a moment, but then her overbearing hate for the woman seeped through. She leaned over her, conflicted. She decided to give her a small chance. "Dawn? Are you okay?" Dawn suddenly opened her eyes, startling Kirsten. She grabbed her ankle and pulled her down with her. Kirsten gave a little shriek as she hit the ground.

Dawn was a vicious attacker, especially when her victim was smaller than her. She wrapped her hands around Kirsten's neck, trying to strangle her. Kirsten wasn't going to be beaten easily, though, and she put her hands around Dawn's neck as well. Kirsten was a fierce fighter, and she kicked Dawn in the leg. Her pointy heels did more damage than she had intended, but Dawn hissed and kept on squeezing Kirsten's neck harder. By the time she had started seeing fuzzy dots, she had stopped fighting back.

Sandy saw Kirsten running towards something, but he didn't know what. He had gotten out of the car with Seth, and had chattily walked to where they thought they had seen her going. Sandy put his hand out to stop Seth when he saw a blonde woman strangling his wife. This time, he knew he could help. He ran over to her and pulled her away from Kirsten. The woman viciously kicked him in the shin. At the moment, there was too much at stake, and he tried to keep her still without hurting her too much. She scratched and kicked him until she had tired herself out. Seth was on his way to Kirsten, who stood up coughing. She looked at Dawn, who was pinned to the ground by Sandy. She was still kicking and screaming, and Sandy flinched as she kicked him hard in the leg. Seth hugged his mother, who was still coughing, and looked over at his father. "Seth, go get some help..." said Kirsten between coughs. Seth ran off energetically.

He returned with a few guards and a doctor or two, and ran over to his mother again. Dawn had kept on kicking and struggling, stopping every once and a while until she saw Kirsten again, and then she'd be as angry as ever. Sandy was gripping her shoulders down as hard as could, and he didn't even let go when the guards came. They had to pull him off by force, his hands shaking. He stumbled over to Kirsten to embrace her, and they both fell. They both kissed, and would have continued, if Seth hadn't fake gagged and said: "Ugh, gross, I think I'm gonna puke." Sandy turned to face his son, smiling. Seth's smile disappeared. His father's face had bruises appearing on it, and there was blood on his forehead.

"Sir, are you alright?" asked one of the doctors, seeing Seth's stricken expression at his father's face. "Oh, I'm fine! You should check on my wife though, she looks pretty haggard." Kirsten smiled and whacked him across the chest. He tried not to grimace as she hit him, but he didn't hide it well. She looked at him, concerned. "Sweetie, maybe you should get checked out." she whispered. He nodded. "Ok. If that's what you want." He smiled.

A few hours later, Kirsten sat next to Ryan. He was strapped to the bed. That was, apparently, because he had tried to escape, and he was being unruly, shaking uncontrollably and hitting nurses and doctors and nurses alike. Kirsten touched his head gently, and he stirred. His eyes suddenly opened wide, and he tried to sit up. Kirsten "shh'd" him again, and laid a hand on his forehead. He shook it away. He was struggling against the straps that held him down. "What happened? Wh-where am I?" he asked, confused. He didn't seem to recognize the room he was in. "Please don't hurt her, I'll tell you whatever you want...don't hurt them..." he whimpered, his blue eyes clouded with pain. "It's ok, Ryan. It's me. It's Kirsten." she said, trying her best to smile for Ryan. "Kir-sten?" he asked, as if he didn't know her name. "Yeah, sweetie. I'm Kirsten. Your mom, she's not here. She was arrested. You're still at the hospital." Ryan was visibly calmer, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "Why...why can't I move?" he asked, remembering the familiar sensation of bound hands.

"You weren't being very cooperative with the nurses, hon, so they had to strap you down. It's for your own good." Ryan struggled more at these words. His mother always said that when she hit him. "I won't do anything wrong, I promise, please, I'm sorry..." his voice cracked, and Kirsten touched his cheek. She was treating him like a toddler, but she didn't care. She pressed the call button, and Ryan shrank into the corner of the bed as far as he could, which wasn't very far. After Kirsten finished asking for someone to come help her with Ryan, she looked at him. He seemed so scared, shivering as she stroked his hair. "What is it?" she asked, seeing his frightened expression. "She'll be angry..." whimpered Ryan, his voice faltering. "She can't do anything to you anymore, Ryan. Don't worry. I'm here now." Ryan smiled a little. "What really happened with Seth's arm?" he asked. Kirsten smiled. "He attacked the man who shot you." Ryan tried not to look surprised at the fact that Seth had risked his life for him. "And...there were no more bullets left, thank god." She smiled.

The nurse walked in. She had a small bruise on her cheek. "I'm sorry." he whispered to her as she leaned in to remove the straps. "For what, Mr. Atwood?" she asked, feigning surprise. "If I hurt you. I'm sorry." he said, a half smile on his face. "You're very much forgiven." she said, smiling back at him.

Seth walked in. "Woah. Sorry, dude. Didn't know you were getting your mack on." The nurse looked bemused as she walked out of the room. Ryan rubbed his wrists. "Are you okay now, sweetie?" asked Kirsten. "I'm okay." lied Ryan. His hand hurt, a lot, and his stomach...well his stomach was too painful for words. Seth squinted his eyes at Ryan. "Man, you are so lying. Look! Right now! You're grimacing!" Ryan shook his head. "I'm grimacing because you're annoying me." he said quietly. Seth laughed. "How are you?" asked Ryan suddenly. Seth raised his eyebrows and squinted his eyes. "How are YOU?" Ryan shrugged. "I asked first." Seth sighed. "My war wound has become a very bothersome burden." Ryan laughed, but stopped when it hurt too much. He coughed. "Now how are you, really?" Ryan shrugged again. He gave Seth the look. "You know, dude, that doesn't work when your eyes are swollen and purple." Ryan smiled. Kirsten, in her chair, listened to the conversation.

"Who do you think would be a better super-hero? You, or me? I think you." Ryan shook his head, regretting it immediately as he suddenly saw four of Seth. "I think you." Seth made strange gestures with his hands. "Dude, you know it's you." This time, Ryan moved his head only slightly from side to side. "You threw yourself at a man with a gun to save me." Seth shook his head like a wet dog. "You saved my dad!" Ryan smiled. "And, mom almost got killed by Dawn and dad has an imprint of a heel from her shoe!" he covered his mouth at once. He hadn't meant to say that. Ryan switched his gaze from Seth to Kirsten. He gulped. "Is that-is that true?" Kirsten looked down. She turned to see Seth, who was hitting himself in the head. "DON'T tell him about his mom. DON'T tell him" he mumbled, seeming to have forgotten. "The one thing I told you not to say, and you say it." said Kirsten.

Ryan had just noticed the red marks on Kirsten's neck. He pointed at them. "Did she do that?" he asked. Kirsten nodded. Ryan lost his breath. He started coughing. Seth carefully walked closer to him. "You okay, man?" Ryan nodded in between coughs. His lungs and ribs seared in pain when he coughed, but he couldn't help it. He finally got control over his coughing, and was worried about Kirsten and Sandy. "Sandy? How's Sandy?" Kirsten smiled as her husband walked through the door. "I hear he looks very handsome." he said, as Seth rolled his eyes. He had small bandages on his forehead, and he had bruises blossoming on his face. "She did that to you?" asked Ryan, looking over disbelievingly at his adoptive father. "Well, yes...Seth, Kirsten, can you leave for a few?" Seth shrugged, mumbling to himself as he left the room. Kirsten just smiled and playfully wacked him on the head as she left.

"Well, Ryan. After a lot of bribing and some negotiating, I've gotten the hospital to release you in about three days. You'll have to do physiotherapy for that leg of yours and you'll have to answer a few questions from the police, when you're up to it." Ryan sighed. He hated hospitals. "Ok. I'm up to that." he held back a cough. "Now Ryan, this is between us two. You can tell me anything right now, and I promise I won't tell anyone." Ryan looked away. "What do you mean?" Sandy sat down. "I mean I think you should tell me what happened. I've been wracking my mind trying to figure it out, and I can't. You wanna help me out?" Ryan shook his head and shivered. Sandy shrugged and got up to leave. "Remember, kiddo. You can trust me." He opened the door to leave. "Wait." said Ryan. "I wanna tell you."