NOTE: I do not own any of these characters… you can thank FOX. If you have any questions or comment you can e-mail me at liverbrain22@hotmail.com

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Chapter Nine

This empty room it fills my mind
Freedom it leaves me confined
Every single wall has cracked
But in this life you can't turn back

Alone – Ben Harper

Seth sat anxiously at the kitchen table with his dad. Sandy was reading the newspaper while Seth was babbling on about school gossip. Since Ryan wasn't home yet, he had to tell someone. Ryan was supposed to home already. He had been at the hospital for over a week and to Seth it felt like a year.

"…Dad are you listening?" Seth asked.

"No."

"Fine then…Okay, where's Ryan? He should be home now!" Seth got up from the table and passed the floor of the kitchen, contemplating on calling his mom. "Maybe I should call mom, maybe they got into a car accident or something."

Sandy laughed at Seth and didn't say anything. He knew Seth was overacting over nothing. Kirsten was only five minutes late, from when she said they would be home. It's not like they haven't seen Ryan at all for a week. Seth visited him everyday after school and begged to stay overnight, but was never allowed.

Kirsten and Ryan walked into the house and Seth smoothly walked into the foyer, not showing his excitement.

"Hey…You finally busted out of the place. Now we have some actual human intelligence in this household besides me, of course" Seth commented. Kirsten came up to him and smacked his arm. "Owww…" Seth over exaggerated, rubbing his arm.

Ryan laughed and walked into the kitchen with Seth trailing behind him. "Hungry?" Seth asked.

"Nah…" Ryan said, walking over to the patio doors. "I'm a little tired. I'm just going to go lay down for awhile."

Seth nodded his head and watched Ryan walked off to the poolhouse. Sandy and Kirsten then came into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"Seth, we need to talk to you, have a seat." Sandy said, motioning to the chair across from him.

"If this is about what happened last night, I swear I didn't know you guys were-"

"What? What happened last night?" Kirsten ordered.

"Oh, uh, nothing." Seth sat down at the table across from his parents. "So, what's up?"

Both Kirsten and Sandy eyed him suspiciously.

"It's about Ryan." Sandy continued as soon as he caught Seth's attention. "We need you to do us a favor."

"A favor? What kind of favor." Seth asked

"We need you to help Ryan with his arm. We can't keep our eye on him every second of the day so, we need you to make sure that he tries to use his arm."

"But I thought he couldn't use it."

"He can't. But he will be going to rehab and there someone will assist him to use his arm until he can use it himself. He needs to get his muscles working for himself again." Sandy explained.


"So how am I doing you a favor if he can't even use his arm, then?" Seth questioned, raising his eyebrow. "You're not suggesting that I use it for him, are you?"

"He will be less embarrassed if its you, Seth. Think of it this way; imagine your mother helping you cereal…I'm sure you'd rather want Ryan to help." Kirsten explained.

"Well to be honest mom, I don't think he'd want anyone's help."

"He doesn't have that choice, Seth. The more he gets help with his arm, the faster it heals."

Seth sighed. "Fine, but if I end up in the hospital, you know why." Seth said, then walked off to the den.

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Ryan sat up in his bed reading his history book. He knew that as soon as he got back to school he would be swamped with homework. Endless amounts. He didn't know when he was going to go back to school yet. Sandy and Kirsten wanted him to take it easy for awhile at home, but Ryan didn't want to stay home and do nothing all day. It would seem like he was suspended again. Ryan finally decided to go back into the house. He was dying of hunger. He hadn't eaten anything since last night's supper at the hospital, which wasn't filling to him.

"Hey, couldn't sleep?" Kirsten asked, as soon as Ryan walked into the kitchen.

"No."

"Hungry?"

Ryan was glad she asked. "Yeah, starving." He said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"What would you like? Sandy and Seth just had a sandwich for lunch. Want a sandwich, or I can make you some soup." Kirsten asked, rummaging through the fridge.

"I'll have some soup." Ryan replied. Seth walked into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table across from Ryan.

"You're not letting Mom cook for you, are you?" Seth questioned.

"It's just soup, Seth." Ryan shot back, sticking up for Kirsten.

"Soup can burn very easily, you know."

"I'm not cooking it on the oven, Seth. It's one of those microwave-able soups." Kirsten added.

"Ah, I see…So Ryan, when are you going back to school." Seth asked.

Ryan looked at Kirsten. "I don't know. I was thinking…tomorrow." Ryan replied.

"Tomorrow? Ryan, we agreed that you would go back when you are ready." Kirsten said, placing the bowl of soup in front of him.

"I am ready." Ryan said, grabbing the spoon from the bowl with his left hand. His right hand lay on his lap as he slurped in some soup.

"Well…If that's what you think, Ryan. I'll have to talk to Sandy about it." Kirsten said. She glanced at Ryan; his left hand was shaking. He still wasn't used to eating with his left hand, and he should get used to it, Kirsten thought. Kirsten sat down next to Ryan. "Here, let me help you…You know you should be trying to use your right arm as much as possible." Kirsten took the spoon from Ryan's left hand and placed it in his right hand.

"Kirsten…" Ryan started to protest, but it was hard to ignore her. Ryan couldn't pull his right arm away from her. So instead, he then pulled his whole body away from Kirsten, and the soup that had been on his spoon was now all over Seth's face. "I'm not hungry." Ryan said, then left and went back into the poolhouse.

Seth wiped the soup away from his face and stood up. "Just leave him alone Mom…He just got back from the hospital and needs some space."

Kirsten buried her face in her hands and Seth walked off to the poolhouse to go check up on Ryan.

Seth knocked on the glass door and there was no response, so he walked in. Ryan was sitting down on his bed starring at the wall ahead of him.

"You okay?" Seth asked, as he went and sat down on the end of Ryan's bed. Ryan didn't say anything. "You want me to go get you something to eat?"

"No, it's okay." Ryan said dryly, pulling himself off his bed with his left arm and walking over to the couch and sitting down. "So how's everything with Summer?" Ryan asked, changing the subject.

"Good…She was over last night and we were making out. Mom and Dad almost caught us too…but good thing I fell off my bed when my Dad came into my room—without knocking." Seth said looking at Ryan, who wasn't paying attention to him, but he didn't care. "So, you think you're going to school tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I'm fine…" Ryan said, looking down at his arm. "It's weird, you know, I can't feel it, yet I see it. It's freaky."

Seth didn't know what to say to Ryan. Ryan looked perfectly normal to him, not freaky at all. It didn't even look like he had gotten shot just over a week and a half ago. "Well, don't worry. You'll get the feeling back."

"Yeah, that's what they keep telling me…But to tell you the truth, Seth, I don't believe them. I mean, shouldn't I at least feel something already?" Ryan asked.

Seth hesitated, "Well, I'm sure once you start going to rehab it will help. You just have to make sure you use your arm as much as possible."

Ryan shot a look at Seth. "You know I can't use it."

"I know, and that's why I have to for you."

"What are you talking about, Seth?"

"Mom and Dad asked me to help you out…I know, I know" Seth said, throwing his hands up the air. "But dude, if you want to get better you have to let people help you." Ryan didn't say anything. "Hey, why don't we go do something to cheer you up."

"Who said I need cheering up?"

Seth laughed at Ryan and ignored him. "Come on, we could…" Seth thought for a moment. He wanted to show Ryan his new playstation game, but Ryan wouldn't be able to play it. So that was out the question. "Why don't we call up Luke and see what he's doing?" Seth couldn't believe that he actually wanted to hang out with Luke.

Ryan shrugged. "Sure, why don't you go ask your Mom if it's okay if we go out then, and I'll call him." Seth agreed and left the poolhouse.

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"You know Seth, you shouldn't really be drinking all that much. How many have you had?" Ryan questioned.

"Two, Mom. Anything else?" Seth asked, as he opened another beer. "Oh look, I'm going on to my third one." He pointed out and raised his third beer up at Luke's beer. Their beers met and smashed into each other, causing beer to go everywhere. Seth sat back and continued watching the baseball game that was on TV. "You know what…I don't even like baseball."

"Then why are we watching it?" Ryan asked, walking over to Luke's fridge and pulling out a beer for himself. He tried to screw open the top with his left hand. "Shit." Ryan mumbled to himself. He fumbled with the beer and it fell to the floor. The beer smashed to the floor and beer was everywhere. "Shit, sorry Luke…I'll clean it up."

"No worries, just leave it. Wouldn't be the first." Luke said, grabbing another beer from the fridge and opening it for Ryan. He handed it to Ryan. "Just ask when you want another one."

"Thanks." Ryan mumbled and went back to the couch. He didn't know why they were watching baseball in the first place. It was only a reason to get drunk. Ryan wasn't into drinking a lot, but right now it helped him relax. He could tell that it had a different effect on Seth. He was even more bubbly than ever, which was definitely scary.

After his first beer, Ryan grabbed another one from the fridge and Luke gladly opened it for him. Seth was going on his fourth when his cell phone rang.

"Hey—lo?"

"Seth?" He heard his dad's voice on the other line. "Where are you?"

"Uh, at Luke's." Seth began to laugh hysterically at the television. "Dude, I would have hit that one!"

"Hello? Seth, do you know what time it is?"

Seth looked at his watch. "Uh, it's seven…twenty, no…seven…"

"Seven-thirty. Seth, are you drunk?"

Seth laughed into his cell phone. "No."

"Can I talk to Ryan?" Sandy asked. He could hear Ryan and Luke in the background talking about baseball statistics.

Seth handed the cell phone to Ryan. "Hey."

"You guys forgot to call to tell Kirsten and I that you wouldn't be home for dinner. Have you had dinner yet?" Sandy asked

Ryan looked over at Seth. If beer and chips were considered dinner, yes. Ryan thought to himself. "No, not yet."

"Are you guys drinking there?" Sandy could hear Seth's laughter.

"No, comedy channel is on…You know how Seth gets."

"Okay…Well, I want you two to come home. We still need to discuss about you going to school tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, sure…We'll leave right now, Bye." Ryan said, then flipped the cell phone off and got up. "We've got to go."

"I'll drive you home." Luke offered.

"Uh, I don't think that's such a great idea…How many beers have you had?"

"Five."

"No, we'll just take a cab."

"No worries, Ryan. Chill…I actually drive better when I'm drunk."

"Whatever, let's just go." Ryan said. Seth stood up and stumbled back onto the couch. "Shit, Seth…I told your dad that we weren't drunk. You better sober up, and fast."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ryan ditched Seth as soon as they got home and went around back to the poolhouse. He didn't want to eat dinner with the Cohen's tonight. His two beers had filled him up a bit. He decided he just needed to lie down and listen to some music. He went over to his CD collection and picked out one of Seth's favorite CD's, Brand New. He plopped it into the CD player and the song Guernica played loudly throughout the poolhouse. He went back over to his bed and drifted off to sleep until there was a knock at the door.

Sandy walked into the poolhouse and stood there with his arms over his chest. Ryan opened his eyes and looked at him. Sandy was in one of his 'serious' moods.

"Dinner's ready." Sandy said.

"I'm not hungry." Ryan replied dryly

"Well, I heard you didn't eat lunch. And it's obvious you've been drinking, Ryan. Which isn't good on an empty stomach."

Ryan sighed. "Fine." He got up from the bed and followed Sandy into the dinning room, where Kirsten was waiting for them. Seth wasn't at the table.

"Where's Seth?" Sandy asked, sitting down next to Ryan at the table.

"Don't ask, Sandy." She said, raising her hand up at him.

Sandy let it go and helped himself to the roast beef, mash potatoes and veggies. Using his left hand, Ryan helped himself to some mash potatoes and veggies.

"You turning into a vegetarian, Ryan?" Sandy asked, looking down at Ryan's plate.

The only reason Ryan didn't have meat was because he didn't want to risk the embarrassment of trying to cut the meat. "No, I told you I wasn't hungry." Ryan said, picking at his mash potatoes.

Both Kirsten and Sandy looked at him.

Changing the subject, Sandy asked, "So, do you really think that you can go to school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ryan lied. He really didn't want to go to school, but he also didn't want to spend the entire day in the poolhouse alone.

"Well, I guess so." Sandy said, "I'll pick you up right after school tomorrow. I've already scheduled your rehab appointments. You go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from four to five."

Ryan was in disbelief. "Three days a week?" He asked, still picking at his mash potatoes.

"It's what Dr. Shorans suggested. He also suggested that you start using your arm as much as possible." Sandy added. "Like now…"

If Ryan could, he would yell at Sandy and tell him to just leave him alone. But he had already done that before and he knew that it had not gone too smoothly on his behalf. "I know." He looked at Sandy, who was looking at his right arm. He knew Sandy wanted to help him eat, but he certainly wasn't going to let him. "I'm really not that hungry, guys. Can I be excused?"

"Ryan I want you to use your arm." Sandy said, dropping his own fork in his plate. "You have to use it, Ryan."

"Okay, I know." Ryan said, raising his voice. "That's what everyone is telling me…I get it, okay." Ryan stood up and left the table.

As soon as Kirsten heard the patio doors slam she spoke up, "He's got to stop that, Sandy."

"I know, Kirsten." Sandy snapped at her.

"Sandy, don't…" Kirsten stopped herself before she said anything she would regret. She wasn't sure whose side she was on anymore. "I'm going to bed early." Kirsten said, walking off with her plate to the kitchen.

Sandy sat at the table alone, what the hell happened? He thought to himself, I guess I'm sleeping on the couch tonight.

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Okay guys'…short chapter I know, I'm trying to update every 2-3 days to keep you guys interested! Next chapter is going to be a good one, I promise. More of Ryan and Marissa in it…more school…. More Seth/Summer and Anna. Stay tuned…and please review! Thx.