Thanks to all who have taken the time to review. I appreciate the
feedback. This is my first fan fic. I still don't own the characters. I
just got paid (not from this, but my job in my real life) so I now have a
toonie to my name after taxes ($2.00 Canadian equals $1.40 American.
Canadian money may not be worth much but at least we have funny names for
it..)
Again, characters are not mine. Props to the creators of the OC and special thanks to jZzRgRl13 for starting this story and allowing me to move ahead with it.
Chapter 7
Sandy rubbed his eyes and stared at his glass. The sun was starting to set, painting the sky a magical red, gold and orange. The sound of the ocean added to a soft chorus of birds and breeze. In the midst of all this beauty, Sandy thoughts were on the evil that held on to Ryan, it's tendrils grasping at him, trying to pull him back into its' depths.
Sandy became aware of Seth standing there...his eyes still displaying both the overwhelming fear and sadness he was feeling.
"Hey son...did you get any sleep?
Seth shook his head.
Sandy motioned for his son to sit beside him. When Seth didn't move, Sandy stood up and pulled his son into a hug. Tears welled up in Seth's eyes as he buried his head in his dad's shoulder. Sandy held his son for a few minutes as Seth regained his composure.
Seth drew a shaky breath and sat down.
Sandy turned and looked at the pool, the colours of the sky bouncing off the water.
"Have you talked to Mom?"
Sandy came back to the table and sat down.
"She called a little while ago...Ryan's sleeping.."
Seth quickly wiped at the tears that had started to form again.
"If they sedated him, why did they have to restrain him...?"
Sandy closed his eyes for a second and then re-opened them, looking at his son.
"The doctors aren't sure if Ryan is going to have another episode like he did this afternoon. He could have seriously hurt himself when he fell out of bed. He's lucky the only real damage he did was the 5 stitches in took to close the hole in his chest where he ripped out his I.V. It could have been a lot worse.."
Kirsten made one more phone call to Sandy before he went to sleep for the night. She informed him that Ryan was still asleep and the doctors weren't expecting him to wake up until the morning. Kirsten expressed her love to her husband and told him to give Seth a hug for her. As she hung up the phone, she worried about Sandy and Seth, wondering how much more they could take. She had buried her own fears and stress, determined to stay strong for her family.
Kirsten pushed the recliner closer to Ryan's bed. She sat down and pulled the lever on the recliner, easing back into a more comfortable position. Paul had insisted that he bring it to her after he was unable to convince her to go home and rest. Kirsten maneuvered in the chair until she could lean back and still hold Ryan's hand, held immobile by the restraints. Although she fought it, she fell asleep, her rhythmic breathing falling in sync with Ryan's.
Wednesday, January 7
Kirsten woke with a start. The morning light filtered through the blinds covering the window. She looked over at Ryan and was surprised to see a pair of red and blue eyes staring intently at her.
"Ryan...Hey....You're awake..."
Kirsten disengaged the recliner and leaned into her foster son.
"You had us worried sweetie..How are you feeling...?"
Ryan closed his eyes for a moment as Kirsten gently stroked his bruised cheek.
His voice was just barely audible, his throat sounding raw and painful.
"...'m'okay.."
He pulled his hands slightly, his arms still held immobile by the restraints.
"No...move arms....Why..?"
Kirsten's fingertips moved to Ryan's left wrist, rubbing small circles on the back of his hand.
"You climbed out of bed yesterday and fell..."
Kirsten chose her words carefully, unsure of how much, if anything Ryan remembered of the previous afternoon.
Ryan tried to lift his head but the pain reminded him that it wasn't a good idea. Kirsten pressed one of the buttons on the side rail and raised the head of the bed.
"Is that better?"
Ryan gingerly nodded his head and looked at Kirsten.
"Seth...comics...Minty.."
He looked down at his wrists.
"...Why...? I..h-h-h-hurt Seth...?"
Kirsten took his hand in hers.
"No sweetheart..You had a ...I guess we could call it a panic attack and you jumped over the rails..You tried to make a break for it..Dr. Meyers was worried you might try it again.."
Ryan looked puzzled.
"No remember.."
At that point Dr. Meyers entered the room with a medical resident who identified herself as Dr. Berg.
Kirsten left Ryan's side and spoke to the doctors.
"He seems better this morning...Ryan doesn't remember all of what happened yesterday afternoon, but he does remember Seth being here..."
Dr. Meyers nodded.
"Okay..We'll examine Ryan and talk to you in a few minutes. Why don't you call your husband and let him know Ryan is awake..."
Kirsten quickly gave Ryan a kiss on his forehead and told him she'd be back in a few minutes. She gave him a smile and admonished him to be good.
Seth sleepily answered the phone, rubbing his eyes and wandering through the house looking for his dad.
"Hi Mom..." his voice sounding deep and gravelly.
"Hi sweetie..how did you sleep?"
"Okay I guess..How's..how's Ryan....?"
Kirsten took a deep breath.
"Well..he's awake...Dr. Meyers is in with him right now...He doesn't remember all of what happened yesterday, but he does remember that you were there."
"Can I come and see him this afternoon? I was thinking of bringing Marissa with me. I finally got a hold of her last night. She's at her dad's place and Mr. Cooper said it would be okay with him if she saw Ryan.."
Kirsten hesitated for a second, unsure if Ryan was ready to see someone other than family.
"You know what Seth..? It might be a good idea if Marissa came by for a few minutes. I know I'd like to see her and I'm sure Ryan would too. Is your dad around..?"
Seth picked up a piece of paper left on the kitchen counter.
"No...he left a note saying that he had to go out and he'd be back this afternoon. There's like 5000 messages from his office, but I don't think that's where he went.."
"Oh.." Kirsten sounded puzzled. "Okay..Why don't you call Jimmy and ask if he can drive you and Marissa to the hospital and I'll see you this afternoon...I love you Seth.."
"Right back at 'ya' Mom..."
Sandy waited in the visitors lounge for a guard to bring Trey in. His mind was working overtime as her tried to formulate his chaotic thoughts into coherent questions. When Trey was finally brought in, Sandy noticed that Trey and Ryan had the same deep blue eyes, but while Ryan's eyes were expressive and spoke volumes, Trey's were like ice, cold and unmoving. They both moved to a table and sat in the metal chairs, the bases bolted to the ground.
Trey looked at Sandy.
"How's my brother...?"
Sandy looked down at his hands for a split second before answering.
"He's getting better. After I talked to you last, he woke up and he does recognize us..."
Trey nodded.
"I read in the paper they arrested the fucker that ran into him..."
Sandy shook his head.
"I wasn't aware of that..we've been at the hospital with him so much, we kind of lost track of the outside world..."
As soon as Sandy finished that thought he realized how stupid it must have sounded to someone in prison.
Trey had no comment but Sandy saw his eyes flicker.
Sandy continued.
"Like I said to you on the phone..I have some questions about Ryan's past..There was an incident at the hospital yesterday..He..uh...uh, had a flashback.."
Trey looked intently at Sandy, his eyes still flickering.
"What kind of flashback...?"
Sandy swallowed.
"My father in law Caleb, went to visit him. My son was there and Ryan....he...freaked....I guess that would be one way of putting it. He was screaming at Caleb to get his money back from your Mom.."
"SHIT..!!!!" Trey yelled, getting up from the table, clenching his fists and pacing.
A guard took a few steps towards them but Sandy raised his hand to him, signaling that everything was fine.
Sandy waited for Trey to calm down. Ryan's older brother sat down in the chair again.
"What can you tell me..?"
Trey put his head in his hands, his icy resolve melting. He regained his composure, but the coldness in his eyes was replaced with pain.
"Ryan was 10 when our dad got locked up. Mom found herself a boyfriend...He seemed okay...He liked mom, but he liked Ryan better. Mom caught him coming out of Ryan's room one night...and then mom didn't have a boyfriend anymore..."
Trey paused and took a shaky breath.
"Mom..Dawn...started drinking a lot more after that..I mean she was always fucked up, but then she started doing crack...She was seeing some loser...Phil...Bill..I don't know...I wasn't spending a whole lot of time at home ya know...Anyway this fuck wit bled her dry...We'd live on peanut butter for months while they would drink away the welfare cheques. After him there was Gavin..He was a real piece of work. He convinced mom that he had a good way of bring in some extra money...He had a friend... Some old guy who liked boys...."
Trey looked down, unable to look at Sandy anymore.
"Gavin would dope Ryan up and this pervert would come over and pay mom to let him...uh..mess with Ryan..I don't know how long it had been going on for, but one night I came home early. Mom and Gavin were wasted...I heard noises coming out of Ryan's bedroom..sounded like a fight. I guess Gavin didn't put enough drugs in Ryan's food that night....That's how they did it...The only nights mom would try to make a decent dinner would be the night Ryan would be...."
Trey looked back at Sandy.
"Anyway....I break down the door and there's this freak on top of Ryan..Ry's begging this guy to stop...screaming at him to get his money back..."
Trey sighed and spoke softly.
"I pulled him off Ryan...I just about killed the sleazebag..I threw the guy out of the house and I went back into Ry's bedroom. He was all scrunched up in a ball..He didn't say anything..He didn't cry...He just rocked back and forth. I stayed with him, but he wouldn't let me touch him. Mom threw a fit 'cuz I kicked Gavin to the curb....I warned him if he came back I'd kill him..After a couple of days, Ryan got out of bed and acted like nothing happened..He didn't talk about it, so I didn't ask...It didn't take mom long to hook up with A.J...I guess you know how well that worked out.."
Trey's eyes turned cold again and he stood up.
"You got what you came for....Go take care of Ryan ..Tell him that...that..I'm sorry...Be good to him...he deserves it..."
With that, Trey motioned to the guard to leave the visitors lounge.
Kirsten watched Ryan sleep. She still hadn't been able to get a hold of Sandy. He didn't go to the office...Rachel had been very sympathetic towards her and told Kirsten to let Sandy know that continuances had been granted on the cases going to trial and lawyers from the firm were covering his other cases.
Seth's voice brought a smile to her face.
She got up and embraced her son. She gave Marissa a hug, being careful of the girl's broken arm. Jimmy stood awkwardly in the doorway, watching his daughter step towards Ryan's bed.
Marissa leaned in and gently touched Ryan's battered face, startled when he opened his eyes.
"Hey.." She said softly.
Ryan's eyes searched for Kirsten.
Kirsten quickly moved back to Ryan.
"It's okay Ryan...Seth, Marissa and Mr. Cooper dropped by to visit you."
Ryan looked back at Marissa.
" 'Rissa..friend....girl..."
Marissa stepped back, confused by Ryan's speech pattern.
Kirsten put her hand on Marissa's shoulder.
"Marissa honey..Ryan's speech aphasia should only be temporary. He can understand everything you say..."
Kirsten stopped, seeing that Marissa had focused on the restraints on Ryan's wrists.
Ryan looked at his wrists and back at Marissa.
"I...try...fly..'Rissa..."
Seth broke in.
"As you can see..he didn't succeed. It wasn't quite as bad as Icarus' crash landing, but the doctors are keeping him tethered and I'm not supposed to read Batman comics to him for a while.."
Kirsten moved to where Jimmy was standing.
"Why don't we go down to the cafeteria and let the kids visit for a little bit..I'm dying for something caffeinated... preferably high test..."
Sandy pulled into a restaurant. He was still trying to come to grips with what Trey had told him.
He sat at a booth in a corner and perused the menu. He became aware of someone standing in front of him.
Sandy looked up.
"Shalom Sandy.."
Caleb sat down, not waiting for Sandy to invite him to join him.
"You look like hell...Have you spoken to Kiki..?"
Sandy shook his head..
"Not since last night....I had some things to take care of...."
"You went to see Ryan's brother...."
Sandy smirked.
"Am I that predictable...?"
Caleb smirked back.
"It's what I would have done...Did you find out what you wanted to know...?"
"I found out what I didn't want to know...."
Again, characters are not mine. Props to the creators of the OC and special thanks to jZzRgRl13 for starting this story and allowing me to move ahead with it.
Chapter 7
Sandy rubbed his eyes and stared at his glass. The sun was starting to set, painting the sky a magical red, gold and orange. The sound of the ocean added to a soft chorus of birds and breeze. In the midst of all this beauty, Sandy thoughts were on the evil that held on to Ryan, it's tendrils grasping at him, trying to pull him back into its' depths.
Sandy became aware of Seth standing there...his eyes still displaying both the overwhelming fear and sadness he was feeling.
"Hey son...did you get any sleep?
Seth shook his head.
Sandy motioned for his son to sit beside him. When Seth didn't move, Sandy stood up and pulled his son into a hug. Tears welled up in Seth's eyes as he buried his head in his dad's shoulder. Sandy held his son for a few minutes as Seth regained his composure.
Seth drew a shaky breath and sat down.
Sandy turned and looked at the pool, the colours of the sky bouncing off the water.
"Have you talked to Mom?"
Sandy came back to the table and sat down.
"She called a little while ago...Ryan's sleeping.."
Seth quickly wiped at the tears that had started to form again.
"If they sedated him, why did they have to restrain him...?"
Sandy closed his eyes for a second and then re-opened them, looking at his son.
"The doctors aren't sure if Ryan is going to have another episode like he did this afternoon. He could have seriously hurt himself when he fell out of bed. He's lucky the only real damage he did was the 5 stitches in took to close the hole in his chest where he ripped out his I.V. It could have been a lot worse.."
Kirsten made one more phone call to Sandy before he went to sleep for the night. She informed him that Ryan was still asleep and the doctors weren't expecting him to wake up until the morning. Kirsten expressed her love to her husband and told him to give Seth a hug for her. As she hung up the phone, she worried about Sandy and Seth, wondering how much more they could take. She had buried her own fears and stress, determined to stay strong for her family.
Kirsten pushed the recliner closer to Ryan's bed. She sat down and pulled the lever on the recliner, easing back into a more comfortable position. Paul had insisted that he bring it to her after he was unable to convince her to go home and rest. Kirsten maneuvered in the chair until she could lean back and still hold Ryan's hand, held immobile by the restraints. Although she fought it, she fell asleep, her rhythmic breathing falling in sync with Ryan's.
Wednesday, January 7
Kirsten woke with a start. The morning light filtered through the blinds covering the window. She looked over at Ryan and was surprised to see a pair of red and blue eyes staring intently at her.
"Ryan...Hey....You're awake..."
Kirsten disengaged the recliner and leaned into her foster son.
"You had us worried sweetie..How are you feeling...?"
Ryan closed his eyes for a moment as Kirsten gently stroked his bruised cheek.
His voice was just barely audible, his throat sounding raw and painful.
"...'m'okay.."
He pulled his hands slightly, his arms still held immobile by the restraints.
"No...move arms....Why..?"
Kirsten's fingertips moved to Ryan's left wrist, rubbing small circles on the back of his hand.
"You climbed out of bed yesterday and fell..."
Kirsten chose her words carefully, unsure of how much, if anything Ryan remembered of the previous afternoon.
Ryan tried to lift his head but the pain reminded him that it wasn't a good idea. Kirsten pressed one of the buttons on the side rail and raised the head of the bed.
"Is that better?"
Ryan gingerly nodded his head and looked at Kirsten.
"Seth...comics...Minty.."
He looked down at his wrists.
"...Why...? I..h-h-h-hurt Seth...?"
Kirsten took his hand in hers.
"No sweetheart..You had a ...I guess we could call it a panic attack and you jumped over the rails..You tried to make a break for it..Dr. Meyers was worried you might try it again.."
Ryan looked puzzled.
"No remember.."
At that point Dr. Meyers entered the room with a medical resident who identified herself as Dr. Berg.
Kirsten left Ryan's side and spoke to the doctors.
"He seems better this morning...Ryan doesn't remember all of what happened yesterday afternoon, but he does remember Seth being here..."
Dr. Meyers nodded.
"Okay..We'll examine Ryan and talk to you in a few minutes. Why don't you call your husband and let him know Ryan is awake..."
Kirsten quickly gave Ryan a kiss on his forehead and told him she'd be back in a few minutes. She gave him a smile and admonished him to be good.
Seth sleepily answered the phone, rubbing his eyes and wandering through the house looking for his dad.
"Hi Mom..." his voice sounding deep and gravelly.
"Hi sweetie..how did you sleep?"
"Okay I guess..How's..how's Ryan....?"
Kirsten took a deep breath.
"Well..he's awake...Dr. Meyers is in with him right now...He doesn't remember all of what happened yesterday, but he does remember that you were there."
"Can I come and see him this afternoon? I was thinking of bringing Marissa with me. I finally got a hold of her last night. She's at her dad's place and Mr. Cooper said it would be okay with him if she saw Ryan.."
Kirsten hesitated for a second, unsure if Ryan was ready to see someone other than family.
"You know what Seth..? It might be a good idea if Marissa came by for a few minutes. I know I'd like to see her and I'm sure Ryan would too. Is your dad around..?"
Seth picked up a piece of paper left on the kitchen counter.
"No...he left a note saying that he had to go out and he'd be back this afternoon. There's like 5000 messages from his office, but I don't think that's where he went.."
"Oh.." Kirsten sounded puzzled. "Okay..Why don't you call Jimmy and ask if he can drive you and Marissa to the hospital and I'll see you this afternoon...I love you Seth.."
"Right back at 'ya' Mom..."
Sandy waited in the visitors lounge for a guard to bring Trey in. His mind was working overtime as her tried to formulate his chaotic thoughts into coherent questions. When Trey was finally brought in, Sandy noticed that Trey and Ryan had the same deep blue eyes, but while Ryan's eyes were expressive and spoke volumes, Trey's were like ice, cold and unmoving. They both moved to a table and sat in the metal chairs, the bases bolted to the ground.
Trey looked at Sandy.
"How's my brother...?"
Sandy looked down at his hands for a split second before answering.
"He's getting better. After I talked to you last, he woke up and he does recognize us..."
Trey nodded.
"I read in the paper they arrested the fucker that ran into him..."
Sandy shook his head.
"I wasn't aware of that..we've been at the hospital with him so much, we kind of lost track of the outside world..."
As soon as Sandy finished that thought he realized how stupid it must have sounded to someone in prison.
Trey had no comment but Sandy saw his eyes flicker.
Sandy continued.
"Like I said to you on the phone..I have some questions about Ryan's past..There was an incident at the hospital yesterday..He..uh...uh, had a flashback.."
Trey looked intently at Sandy, his eyes still flickering.
"What kind of flashback...?"
Sandy swallowed.
"My father in law Caleb, went to visit him. My son was there and Ryan....he...freaked....I guess that would be one way of putting it. He was screaming at Caleb to get his money back from your Mom.."
"SHIT..!!!!" Trey yelled, getting up from the table, clenching his fists and pacing.
A guard took a few steps towards them but Sandy raised his hand to him, signaling that everything was fine.
Sandy waited for Trey to calm down. Ryan's older brother sat down in the chair again.
"What can you tell me..?"
Trey put his head in his hands, his icy resolve melting. He regained his composure, but the coldness in his eyes was replaced with pain.
"Ryan was 10 when our dad got locked up. Mom found herself a boyfriend...He seemed okay...He liked mom, but he liked Ryan better. Mom caught him coming out of Ryan's room one night...and then mom didn't have a boyfriend anymore..."
Trey paused and took a shaky breath.
"Mom..Dawn...started drinking a lot more after that..I mean she was always fucked up, but then she started doing crack...She was seeing some loser...Phil...Bill..I don't know...I wasn't spending a whole lot of time at home ya know...Anyway this fuck wit bled her dry...We'd live on peanut butter for months while they would drink away the welfare cheques. After him there was Gavin..He was a real piece of work. He convinced mom that he had a good way of bring in some extra money...He had a friend... Some old guy who liked boys...."
Trey looked down, unable to look at Sandy anymore.
"Gavin would dope Ryan up and this pervert would come over and pay mom to let him...uh..mess with Ryan..I don't know how long it had been going on for, but one night I came home early. Mom and Gavin were wasted...I heard noises coming out of Ryan's bedroom..sounded like a fight. I guess Gavin didn't put enough drugs in Ryan's food that night....That's how they did it...The only nights mom would try to make a decent dinner would be the night Ryan would be...."
Trey looked back at Sandy.
"Anyway....I break down the door and there's this freak on top of Ryan..Ry's begging this guy to stop...screaming at him to get his money back..."
Trey sighed and spoke softly.
"I pulled him off Ryan...I just about killed the sleazebag..I threw the guy out of the house and I went back into Ry's bedroom. He was all scrunched up in a ball..He didn't say anything..He didn't cry...He just rocked back and forth. I stayed with him, but he wouldn't let me touch him. Mom threw a fit 'cuz I kicked Gavin to the curb....I warned him if he came back I'd kill him..After a couple of days, Ryan got out of bed and acted like nothing happened..He didn't talk about it, so I didn't ask...It didn't take mom long to hook up with A.J...I guess you know how well that worked out.."
Trey's eyes turned cold again and he stood up.
"You got what you came for....Go take care of Ryan ..Tell him that...that..I'm sorry...Be good to him...he deserves it..."
With that, Trey motioned to the guard to leave the visitors lounge.
Kirsten watched Ryan sleep. She still hadn't been able to get a hold of Sandy. He didn't go to the office...Rachel had been very sympathetic towards her and told Kirsten to let Sandy know that continuances had been granted on the cases going to trial and lawyers from the firm were covering his other cases.
Seth's voice brought a smile to her face.
She got up and embraced her son. She gave Marissa a hug, being careful of the girl's broken arm. Jimmy stood awkwardly in the doorway, watching his daughter step towards Ryan's bed.
Marissa leaned in and gently touched Ryan's battered face, startled when he opened his eyes.
"Hey.." She said softly.
Ryan's eyes searched for Kirsten.
Kirsten quickly moved back to Ryan.
"It's okay Ryan...Seth, Marissa and Mr. Cooper dropped by to visit you."
Ryan looked back at Marissa.
" 'Rissa..friend....girl..."
Marissa stepped back, confused by Ryan's speech pattern.
Kirsten put her hand on Marissa's shoulder.
"Marissa honey..Ryan's speech aphasia should only be temporary. He can understand everything you say..."
Kirsten stopped, seeing that Marissa had focused on the restraints on Ryan's wrists.
Ryan looked at his wrists and back at Marissa.
"I...try...fly..'Rissa..."
Seth broke in.
"As you can see..he didn't succeed. It wasn't quite as bad as Icarus' crash landing, but the doctors are keeping him tethered and I'm not supposed to read Batman comics to him for a while.."
Kirsten moved to where Jimmy was standing.
"Why don't we go down to the cafeteria and let the kids visit for a little bit..I'm dying for something caffeinated... preferably high test..."
Sandy pulled into a restaurant. He was still trying to come to grips with what Trey had told him.
He sat at a booth in a corner and perused the menu. He became aware of someone standing in front of him.
Sandy looked up.
"Shalom Sandy.."
Caleb sat down, not waiting for Sandy to invite him to join him.
"You look like hell...Have you spoken to Kiki..?"
Sandy shook his head..
"Not since last night....I had some things to take care of...."
"You went to see Ryan's brother...."
Sandy smirked.
"Am I that predictable...?"
Caleb smirked back.
"It's what I would have done...Did you find out what you wanted to know...?"
"I found out what I didn't want to know...."