Title: Unbalancing the Equation
By: SethCohenFan
Summary: Ryan is getting sick, but he doesn't admit it, and a family tragedy sends the entire Cohen family into a downward spiral. What will it take to get things back to normal? SS RM
Rating: PG-13 for now, because of language
Disclaimer: If I owned it... do you think that there would be a possible Summer/Seth break up in the future, didn't think so.
A/n: That was a great episode... even if Seth may be stupid and do something stupid to make Summer break up with him. Ah, who cares. This story will still remain a SS story and I just may throw in a bit of Seth/Theresa friendship in it.
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Chapter 3: Seth and Theresa
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I knew from the moment that mom walked into the kitchen that she hadn't gotten what she really wanted out of Ryan. Normally, I would have said something along the lines of, "Told ya so," but it didn't seem very appropriate, so for once in my life, I kept my mouth shut.
"Get anything?" I asked as she sat down, breaking the silence.
She sighed. "Nope." Was that it? Was that all she was going to say?
"Told ya so," I said, with a weak attempt to lighten the mood.
She stifled a laugh and I smiled. At least is somewhat worked.
We sat there in silence for sometime. Even though I knew it was impossible, I tried to read her mind. Unfortunately, although I knew it was impossible, I couldn't. After a few more seconds of silence, I broke it again. "You agree with me, right?"
She nodded. "He's hiding something, that much was obvious." she sighed again, obviously worried about him. Probably more worried than I was. Ha. How things have changed. "Why though? Why doesn't he trust me... us?"
I shrugged. "I don't know," and wasn't that the truth. Then again, Ryan was never one to spill his feelings out for everyone to see. "Maybe-"but I was cut off by Ryan walking into the door.
"Oh, hey Ryan!" I said with a smile, trying to sound calm and relaxed, although is came out sounding much more sarcastic.
Ryan said absolutely nothing as he walked over towards the fridge. He didn't even acknowledge our existence. Man, did he seem pissed off. Why would he be pissed? Unless mom-
"Theresa's back with Eddie," he said tonelessly. Good, at least he wasn't mad at me, and that was always a plus with Ryan. The guy could still kick my ass.
"You're kidding right?" I asked.
"No," he said simply. His words were forced as if he was thinking hard about what he was saying, "I called her, and he answered." He turned around and closed the fridge, obviously deciding on nothing.
"Why'd you call her?" I asked. Might as well just ask, I knew that mom was probably thinking that too.
He shot a glare at me, and I knew right away that that was an extremely stupid move. "Sorry," I muttered under my breath. I looked to mom, as if trying to ask her to get something out of him.
"Ryan," she said, obviously getting my hint, "She's back with Eddie? I thought that she had gotten over him, left him."
"I thought so too," he said, sitting down. The look in his eyes was one of combined trouble and exhaustion.
"There has to be a reason," I interjected. Sure, maybe I had been talking to Theresa on the phone, and she had never said anything about Eddie. Nothing at all. "I mean, she wouldn't just go back to him for no reason."
This time I got a double glare from both Ryan and mom. Jeeze, tonight just wasn't my night at all, was it? I might as well leave. The negative vibes from both of them were too strong.
The silence was so awkward as I stayed there. "Well, I'll be going now," I said nodding and getting up. Neither of them stopped me. Man that sucked. Talk about feeling unwanted.
I walked up to my room. The house was quiet, abnormally quiet. Silence was annoying.
I allowed my head to hit the door of my room. I didn't really want to move at all. So, I stood there, just like that, simply thinking of stupid things, but mainly three things. Ryan. Summer. Theresa.
Slowly, I opened the door and headed over towards my bed, flopping down on it, fixing my gaze to the ceiling. So quiet. Where was all the noise that seemed so necessary at the moment.
I closed my eyes, just letting myself fall back into the thoughts. How much things had changed since Ryan arrived. All the good things that had happened, and then there were the bad. I barley even noticed myself slowly drifting off into dreamland.
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I couldn't even remember falling asleep, or what I dreamed about. Yawning, I looked at my watch. Dang, I had been asleep for what, nearly ten hours, and it was still the middle of the night. Three o'clock on a Saturday morning. There has to be someone just coming home. Wasn't that normal for Newport?
I heard a soft beep and jumped slightly. Then I realized that it was just my cell. I reached over for it, feeling around, too tired to get up and get it. After a few missed tries, my fingers grasped it.
The screen read five missed calls. FIVE? Who the heck would want to talk to ME so badly?
I hit a few buttons, not even paying attention to what I was doing. It had basically become second nature for me. "Theresa?" I muttered out loud when I saw that the last five calls were from her. Maybe she was trying to get a hold of Ryan. But that couldn't have been possible. Our phone were so different that a dog could confuse them.
What the? Slowly, I got up and headed downstairs. Thankfully, everyone else in the house was asleep, like normal people.
On the way down the steps, I decided to check my voicemail. Maybe by some stroke of luck, she had left a message.
Luckily, she had. I pushed the button to play it. Her voice sounded so upset:
"Hey Seth. I know you probably think that I want to talk to Ryan, or Sandy. But if I told you that, it would have been a lie. Seth, I need to talk to you. Eddie told me what happened, and I need to explain. Please call me."
I heard the click that signaled to me that the message was over. She wanted to talk to me? I hadn't talked to her in the longest time. Of all people she wanted explain to, it was me, Seth Cohen. I mean sure, we talk, and are friends, but I'm not good at listening. I'm more of a talker.
Well, I might as well just call her back, it wasn't like I had anything better to do.
Dialing her number, I let the phone ring, fighting the urge to just hang up. This wasn't my area of expertise, that was comic books. And then there was Ryan. He would kill me if he found out.
"Hello?" asked a somewhat sleep voice on the other end.
"Theresa?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said, sounding as if she was still asleep.
"Sorry, maybe I should just let you go and call you back later, in the morning, alright? I said, somewhat quickly. Yet, there was a part of me that wanted to talk to her. She sounded so upset and miserable on the message.
"Seth?" she asked, after a loud yawn escaped her mouth.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Hold on," she said. I heard her put the phone down. What had she been doing? Was Eddie there? So many questions were running through my head. How was I gonna get them all out? Ambush her when she got back on the phone?
"Sorry, you caught me dozing there," she said with a small giggle. "So what are you doing up at this hour anyways?" she asked. She didn't sound upset or distressed. In fact, she sounded the exact opposite. Geeze, talk about a personality switch, what was she taking?
"Well, you know me. Out partying until the wee hours of the morning." I said sarcastically.
She laughed, "Yeah, that sounds just like you," she responded with a laugh.
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "So, what's up?"
"I'm moving," she said quickly, as if it was just bursting to come out.. I know it sounds weird, but I could hear her smile on the opposite end of the receiver.
To say I was confused was an understatement. Didn't Ryan say that Eddie answered. "Really?" I asked, trying to open up some sort of conversation.
"Yeah," she laughed, "You sound shocked."
"Well, I kinda am," I explained, "Ryan called you earlier for some reason and said that Eddie answered. Are you two-"
She laughed, "No. We're just friends. He was helping me pack my things. You know with my condition, heavy lifting is out of the question. But Eddie was helping me, that's all. He told me what happened, said it was an accident." I had completely forgotten that Theresa was pregnant. Stupid me.
Well wasn't that just Eddie like. "Yeah, he called and we pretty upset when Eddie hung up on him."
I heard her take a breath on the other end of the receiver. "What did Ryan want? I haven't really talked to him lately."
For once, I didn't have an answer to her question, "I really don't know. He hasn't been feeling really well, but he-"I stopped. I didn't know if I should say anymore.
"Sick?" she asked. The worry was evident in her voice. "What do you mean he's sick?"
"He just is sleeping a lot," I explained, not really going to far in depth.
She didn't sound very convinced over the phone, "Oh, well that's Ryan for ya," she said, attempting to make a joke out of it. "But, yeah. About Eddie. He was helping me move, but he left. Out somewhere with his new girlfriend."
"Oh," I said, not really knowing what else to say. "Well, that is interesting. So are you done packing?"
"No," she responded quickly. "I still have a few things left."
"Where are you moving to?"
"Newport," she said. Needless to say, I was once again shocked. She was moving here. Here? Of all places? Maybe she missed Ryan. Yeah, that was it. Or maybe there was a second reason. Was the baby Ryan's?
"Here? You're moving here?" I asked, not bothering to hide the shock in my voice.
"Yeah. Jimmy said that I could move in with him and Hailey. I'm surprised that he hasn't proposed to her yet," she said with a slight chuckle. Damn she was awake for this hour.
I couldn't help but laugh at this. What a shock. Jimmy and Hailey? I knew that Jimmy was planning on proposing, but letting Theresa move in, there was something weird about that. "And I told Eddie not to let Ryan know. I knew he wouldn't have a problem with that."
I laughed. "So when are you coming?" The sooner the better? Or maybe the sooner the worser. Worser isn't a word, but who really cares.
"That was what I called you about. Would you be able to come and help me?"
"Sure," I answered, before I could even think about it. The words just came flowing out of my mouth.
"Thanks Seth, you're a lifesaver." I could hear how happy she sounded over the phone.
"It's no problem really," I said, "So I'm coming to Chino to pick you or your crap up?"
"I guess," she responded. She obviously hadn't given this much thought.
"Just one problem, how do you get to Chino?"
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A few hours later, I found myself in the Range Rover. Theresa had given me directions, and knowing me I'd get lost no matter what. I left a note for mom and dad, not really explaining much, just telling them not to worry.
Geeze were car rides boring. There was nothing to do except stare blankly at the road. The only thing worse than car rides were car rides alone. Those were even worse. There were no distractions.
I turned the radio on. Stupid song. When will these radio stations play DECENT music? I glanced at the directions and then made the turn where I was supposed to. This was going to be interesting.
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A/n: Well, there is chapter 3. I love writing in Seth's POV. It is longer than my other chapters. Next chapter will probably be from Ryan's POV or Kirsten's POV, I haven't really decided yet. Now for the thanks:
HOTTERTHNU - I loved that part too. Thanks, but Seth is a lot easier to write in at least for me. Ha ha! biggestfan - I've been trying really hard to make the chapters longer, I really have been, it is just hard. I am one of those people who are quick and to the point. I've been trying to elongate the chapters, but there are some times when longer chapters don't always make them better. jagscapt13 - I love the sarcasm of Seth too, ha ha! Gator-Girl - Awwww, thanks. I just can't picture Ryan in my head very well, which may be why I think I am bad at writing it. Hmmmm. *thinks* Oh well. I'll try to keep pounding out the chapters! benzbabidoll The House - Glad ya liked the interaction scene. I liked it too. TeacherTam - Thanks. Hope that you liked the chapter! Lizzy tabitha5
By: SethCohenFan
Summary: Ryan is getting sick, but he doesn't admit it, and a family tragedy sends the entire Cohen family into a downward spiral. What will it take to get things back to normal? SS RM
Rating: PG-13 for now, because of language
Disclaimer: If I owned it... do you think that there would be a possible Summer/Seth break up in the future, didn't think so.
A/n: That was a great episode... even if Seth may be stupid and do something stupid to make Summer break up with him. Ah, who cares. This story will still remain a SS story and I just may throw in a bit of Seth/Theresa friendship in it.
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Chapter 3: Seth and Theresa
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I knew from the moment that mom walked into the kitchen that she hadn't gotten what she really wanted out of Ryan. Normally, I would have said something along the lines of, "Told ya so," but it didn't seem very appropriate, so for once in my life, I kept my mouth shut.
"Get anything?" I asked as she sat down, breaking the silence.
She sighed. "Nope." Was that it? Was that all she was going to say?
"Told ya so," I said, with a weak attempt to lighten the mood.
She stifled a laugh and I smiled. At least is somewhat worked.
We sat there in silence for sometime. Even though I knew it was impossible, I tried to read her mind. Unfortunately, although I knew it was impossible, I couldn't. After a few more seconds of silence, I broke it again. "You agree with me, right?"
She nodded. "He's hiding something, that much was obvious." she sighed again, obviously worried about him. Probably more worried than I was. Ha. How things have changed. "Why though? Why doesn't he trust me... us?"
I shrugged. "I don't know," and wasn't that the truth. Then again, Ryan was never one to spill his feelings out for everyone to see. "Maybe-"but I was cut off by Ryan walking into the door.
"Oh, hey Ryan!" I said with a smile, trying to sound calm and relaxed, although is came out sounding much more sarcastic.
Ryan said absolutely nothing as he walked over towards the fridge. He didn't even acknowledge our existence. Man, did he seem pissed off. Why would he be pissed? Unless mom-
"Theresa's back with Eddie," he said tonelessly. Good, at least he wasn't mad at me, and that was always a plus with Ryan. The guy could still kick my ass.
"You're kidding right?" I asked.
"No," he said simply. His words were forced as if he was thinking hard about what he was saying, "I called her, and he answered." He turned around and closed the fridge, obviously deciding on nothing.
"Why'd you call her?" I asked. Might as well just ask, I knew that mom was probably thinking that too.
He shot a glare at me, and I knew right away that that was an extremely stupid move. "Sorry," I muttered under my breath. I looked to mom, as if trying to ask her to get something out of him.
"Ryan," she said, obviously getting my hint, "She's back with Eddie? I thought that she had gotten over him, left him."
"I thought so too," he said, sitting down. The look in his eyes was one of combined trouble and exhaustion.
"There has to be a reason," I interjected. Sure, maybe I had been talking to Theresa on the phone, and she had never said anything about Eddie. Nothing at all. "I mean, she wouldn't just go back to him for no reason."
This time I got a double glare from both Ryan and mom. Jeeze, tonight just wasn't my night at all, was it? I might as well leave. The negative vibes from both of them were too strong.
The silence was so awkward as I stayed there. "Well, I'll be going now," I said nodding and getting up. Neither of them stopped me. Man that sucked. Talk about feeling unwanted.
I walked up to my room. The house was quiet, abnormally quiet. Silence was annoying.
I allowed my head to hit the door of my room. I didn't really want to move at all. So, I stood there, just like that, simply thinking of stupid things, but mainly three things. Ryan. Summer. Theresa.
Slowly, I opened the door and headed over towards my bed, flopping down on it, fixing my gaze to the ceiling. So quiet. Where was all the noise that seemed so necessary at the moment.
I closed my eyes, just letting myself fall back into the thoughts. How much things had changed since Ryan arrived. All the good things that had happened, and then there were the bad. I barley even noticed myself slowly drifting off into dreamland.
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I couldn't even remember falling asleep, or what I dreamed about. Yawning, I looked at my watch. Dang, I had been asleep for what, nearly ten hours, and it was still the middle of the night. Three o'clock on a Saturday morning. There has to be someone just coming home. Wasn't that normal for Newport?
I heard a soft beep and jumped slightly. Then I realized that it was just my cell. I reached over for it, feeling around, too tired to get up and get it. After a few missed tries, my fingers grasped it.
The screen read five missed calls. FIVE? Who the heck would want to talk to ME so badly?
I hit a few buttons, not even paying attention to what I was doing. It had basically become second nature for me. "Theresa?" I muttered out loud when I saw that the last five calls were from her. Maybe she was trying to get a hold of Ryan. But that couldn't have been possible. Our phone were so different that a dog could confuse them.
What the? Slowly, I got up and headed downstairs. Thankfully, everyone else in the house was asleep, like normal people.
On the way down the steps, I decided to check my voicemail. Maybe by some stroke of luck, she had left a message.
Luckily, she had. I pushed the button to play it. Her voice sounded so upset:
"Hey Seth. I know you probably think that I want to talk to Ryan, or Sandy. But if I told you that, it would have been a lie. Seth, I need to talk to you. Eddie told me what happened, and I need to explain. Please call me."
I heard the click that signaled to me that the message was over. She wanted to talk to me? I hadn't talked to her in the longest time. Of all people she wanted explain to, it was me, Seth Cohen. I mean sure, we talk, and are friends, but I'm not good at listening. I'm more of a talker.
Well, I might as well just call her back, it wasn't like I had anything better to do.
Dialing her number, I let the phone ring, fighting the urge to just hang up. This wasn't my area of expertise, that was comic books. And then there was Ryan. He would kill me if he found out.
"Hello?" asked a somewhat sleep voice on the other end.
"Theresa?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said, sounding as if she was still asleep.
"Sorry, maybe I should just let you go and call you back later, in the morning, alright? I said, somewhat quickly. Yet, there was a part of me that wanted to talk to her. She sounded so upset and miserable on the message.
"Seth?" she asked, after a loud yawn escaped her mouth.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Hold on," she said. I heard her put the phone down. What had she been doing? Was Eddie there? So many questions were running through my head. How was I gonna get them all out? Ambush her when she got back on the phone?
"Sorry, you caught me dozing there," she said with a small giggle. "So what are you doing up at this hour anyways?" she asked. She didn't sound upset or distressed. In fact, she sounded the exact opposite. Geeze, talk about a personality switch, what was she taking?
"Well, you know me. Out partying until the wee hours of the morning." I said sarcastically.
She laughed, "Yeah, that sounds just like you," she responded with a laugh.
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "So, what's up?"
"I'm moving," she said quickly, as if it was just bursting to come out.. I know it sounds weird, but I could hear her smile on the opposite end of the receiver.
To say I was confused was an understatement. Didn't Ryan say that Eddie answered. "Really?" I asked, trying to open up some sort of conversation.
"Yeah," she laughed, "You sound shocked."
"Well, I kinda am," I explained, "Ryan called you earlier for some reason and said that Eddie answered. Are you two-"
She laughed, "No. We're just friends. He was helping me pack my things. You know with my condition, heavy lifting is out of the question. But Eddie was helping me, that's all. He told me what happened, said it was an accident." I had completely forgotten that Theresa was pregnant. Stupid me.
Well wasn't that just Eddie like. "Yeah, he called and we pretty upset when Eddie hung up on him."
I heard her take a breath on the other end of the receiver. "What did Ryan want? I haven't really talked to him lately."
For once, I didn't have an answer to her question, "I really don't know. He hasn't been feeling really well, but he-"I stopped. I didn't know if I should say anymore.
"Sick?" she asked. The worry was evident in her voice. "What do you mean he's sick?"
"He just is sleeping a lot," I explained, not really going to far in depth.
She didn't sound very convinced over the phone, "Oh, well that's Ryan for ya," she said, attempting to make a joke out of it. "But, yeah. About Eddie. He was helping me move, but he left. Out somewhere with his new girlfriend."
"Oh," I said, not really knowing what else to say. "Well, that is interesting. So are you done packing?"
"No," she responded quickly. "I still have a few things left."
"Where are you moving to?"
"Newport," she said. Needless to say, I was once again shocked. She was moving here. Here? Of all places? Maybe she missed Ryan. Yeah, that was it. Or maybe there was a second reason. Was the baby Ryan's?
"Here? You're moving here?" I asked, not bothering to hide the shock in my voice.
"Yeah. Jimmy said that I could move in with him and Hailey. I'm surprised that he hasn't proposed to her yet," she said with a slight chuckle. Damn she was awake for this hour.
I couldn't help but laugh at this. What a shock. Jimmy and Hailey? I knew that Jimmy was planning on proposing, but letting Theresa move in, there was something weird about that. "And I told Eddie not to let Ryan know. I knew he wouldn't have a problem with that."
I laughed. "So when are you coming?" The sooner the better? Or maybe the sooner the worser. Worser isn't a word, but who really cares.
"That was what I called you about. Would you be able to come and help me?"
"Sure," I answered, before I could even think about it. The words just came flowing out of my mouth.
"Thanks Seth, you're a lifesaver." I could hear how happy she sounded over the phone.
"It's no problem really," I said, "So I'm coming to Chino to pick you or your crap up?"
"I guess," she responded. She obviously hadn't given this much thought.
"Just one problem, how do you get to Chino?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A few hours later, I found myself in the Range Rover. Theresa had given me directions, and knowing me I'd get lost no matter what. I left a note for mom and dad, not really explaining much, just telling them not to worry.
Geeze were car rides boring. There was nothing to do except stare blankly at the road. The only thing worse than car rides were car rides alone. Those were even worse. There were no distractions.
I turned the radio on. Stupid song. When will these radio stations play DECENT music? I glanced at the directions and then made the turn where I was supposed to. This was going to be interesting.
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A/n: Well, there is chapter 3. I love writing in Seth's POV. It is longer than my other chapters. Next chapter will probably be from Ryan's POV or Kirsten's POV, I haven't really decided yet. Now for the thanks:
HOTTERTHNU - I loved that part too. Thanks, but Seth is a lot easier to write in at least for me. Ha ha! biggestfan - I've been trying really hard to make the chapters longer, I really have been, it is just hard. I am one of those people who are quick and to the point. I've been trying to elongate the chapters, but there are some times when longer chapters don't always make them better. jagscapt13 - I love the sarcasm of Seth too, ha ha! Gator-Girl - Awwww, thanks. I just can't picture Ryan in my head very well, which may be why I think I am bad at writing it. Hmmmm. *thinks* Oh well. I'll try to keep pounding out the chapters! benzbabidoll The House - Glad ya liked the interaction scene. I liked it too. TeacherTam - Thanks. Hope that you liked the chapter! Lizzy tabitha5