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

(Please read and review!)

Okay, short chapter here…I've gone brain dead on this fan fic…hopefully my brain will be returned! It's starting to piss me off, this writer's block, so I'll try my best and please; post any suggestions.

(There might be a few spelling errors because I wrote it fast, and I didn't get anyone to correct it. But at least it's up.)

Chapter Seven

"Marissa…" Ryan crawled into bed and wrapped his arms around her. "It's been two weeks since…" Ryan trailed off and nuzzled his face in the back of her neck. "Come on, this isn't healthy."

Marissa turned around and faced him. "It's okay, Ryan. I'm fine…I'm just tired."

"You've been tired for two weeks. You have to get out of bed. Besides, today is Monday."

"What's so special about Monday?" Marissa questioned.

"We have a meeting with Mrs. Flood, Ben and Conner's school principle." Ryan explained. "I told you yesterday, remember?"

Marissa nodded her head, even though she didn't remember Ryan telling her that. She was too caught up in her sulking. She had barley seen Ben and Conner all last week. They had started going back to school last week. Although, Ryan still stayed home from the office and kept on bugging her. Kirsten wouldn't let him come back. She knew that Ryan needed to be home to take care of her, even though Seth was there and Summer came by all the time.

"Come on, get dressed. Our meeting with her is at nine. So we'll drop the boys off at school, okay?" Ryan asked, getting off the bed and rummaging through Marissa's closet. He pulled out a dress and laid it on the bed. "Just put this on and come downstairs." Marissa nodded her head and Ryan left the room.

Ryan peeked into Conner's room. "What are you doing, Conner?" Ryan questioned. Conner was standing on top of books in his small closet, hanging onto the bar that held his clothes.

"Stretching." Conner replied, hanging onto the bar and stepping off the books. He dangled there for a few minutes, until Ryan came up to him and grabbed him off the bar.

"Why are you stretching?" Ryan asked.

"'Cause I want to be tall…" Conner replied, running out of his room and downstairs to his Uncle Seth. Ryan followed him downstairs and sat at the kitchen table with Seth, Conner and Ben.

"So, I was thinking," Seth explained, "If you and Marissa are leaving the house today, I could maybe fix up the place." Ryan gave him his look of confusion. "You're not the greatest house wife, Ryan. This place is a mess and with you, Marissa and the kids gone, I could clean up this place in no time."

Ryan shrugged. "So, you're turning into a house wife now? He asked.

"Dude, that's a woman job." Conner exclaimed.

"Oh, really?" Seth asked. "Well, then I will wait until you come home from school, to help me clean the house. How's that?"

Conner shook his head.

"Thought so." Seth said, laughing at Conner.

Ryan stood up as soon as he saw Marissa. She looked pale and sick. He walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Okay boys, let's go." He said. Ben and Conner grabbed their school bags and went to the car. "I scheduled a doctor's appointment for you at ten." Ryan told Marissa.

Marissa groaned. "I told you I didn't need a doctor, Ryan." She said, as she walked outside with him. He walked her over to the passenger door and opened it for her.

"I just want you to see your doctor." Ryan replied, as he shut the door.

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"Mr. and Mrs. Atwood, please have a seat." Mrs. Flood said, motioning to the two empty chairs in front of her desk. Ryan and Marissa both took a seat. "How are you guys holding up?" She asked, sitting down at her desk.

Ryan spoke first. "Good."

"Yeah, great." Marissa said, forcing a fake smile on her face. "So, what are we here to talk about?" Marissa wanted to skip the chit chat and go straight to the point.

"Well, Mr. Atwood, as you are aware, Ben is falling behind in his studies. I just have some concern for the both of them, especially Ben. I know it's been three weeks since his twins' death; it must be really hard on him. My concern is that he is struggling with his academic."

"What? You want to fail him?" Ryan asked bluntly.

"Well, as much as I don't want too, there's a possibility there." Mrs. Flood explained. "Or he can do summer school." She added.

"He'll do summer school." Marissa spoke up.

Mrs. Flood exchanged looks between Marissa and Ryan. "Do you have the boys in any counseling?" She asked.

"No." Ryan replied. Marissa shook her head. "They seem fine…" Ryan trailed off.

"I've spoken to both Conner and Ben's teachers and they don't seem to think the same. There is some concern for Conner." She explained, pulling out a colored paper. She handed it to Ryan. "He drew this the other day."

Ryan examined the picture. In the picture was a family; it was only of Ryan, Seth and the new baby. Ben, Aden and Marissa were not in the picture. "What does this having thing to do with…." Ryan couldn't say it. He didn't want to say, 'Aden's death.' He couldn't.

"Look, Mr. Atwood…Mrs. Atwood. He was asked to draw his family and he left out half of it. This leads me to think that there are issues at home. Are Ben and Mrs. Atwood around all the time for him?" She asked.

Marissa stood up. "I'm sorry; I didn't see 'doctor' on your desk." She yelled out, pointing to the Mrs. Flood embroiled name tag sitting on her desk. "Don't tell me how my child is 'supposed' to draw. He's a little boy, for God sake's! And as for Ben, yes, he did lose his twin brother. He lost his best friend! If you lost a child, a friend or a sibling, I'm sure you will feel the same thing!" Marissa stormed out of the office.

Ryan stood up, "You're lucky there is only a week left of school." Ryan said, and then continued. "Ben will go to summer school, but definitely not here." He said, and then walked out on her.

Ryan made his way to his car that was parked on the side of the school. Marissa was seating in the passenger seat, crying. Ryan got in and started the engine.

"Sorry…" Marissa mumbled.

Ryan pulled her close to him. "No…Shhh…." He said, trying to calm her down. "This is not your fault. She had no right to say any of that." Marissa nodded and wiped her tears away from her eye.

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Ben leaned in against the basketball pole, watching a game a couple of kids were playing at recess time. He was never into basketball, but he would always play at recess time with Aden. Aden was good at basketball, whereas, Ben wasn't really good at basketball. His game was baseball and soccer.

"HEY!" A kid yelled out from the court. "Want to play Ben?" Ben shrugged and lowered his head down to the ground, looking at his feet and started kicking around dirt. "Come on, don't you want—"

The school bully, Adam cut in and yelled out, "David, shut up. He sucks anyway, without his brother around. He's good at nothing but sulking his way out of stuff! Isn't that right, Ben?" Ben didn't look up from the ground. Adam grabbed the basketball from David and threw it at Ben's head. "What's the matter? You've gone deaf now?" He yelled out.

Ben looked up at the group of kids. They were all staring at him, waiting for something. But Ben didn't say anything. He started walking away. Adam trotted after him and caught up with him.

"What's the matter? Baby's gonna cry now?" Adam questioned, pushing Ben. Ben turned around and faced Adam. "What's your problem?" He asked.

Ben clenched his fists and then started hitting Adam left, right and centre. He started screaming out at him, as he jumped on him and hit him more. "You stupid – I hate you – Leave me alone!" He mumbled incoherently. The teacher's on duty in the school yard ran up to the two boys. Ben, sitting on top of Adam, took a hold of his head and started smashing it into the ground. He had to let go as soon as he felt big hands all over him. He had lost it. He didn't know where he was. He kept on hearing people shout his name, but he couldn't recognize the voices.

"Ben! Get off of him." A teacher yelled.

"What the hell's wrong with him?" A kid asked to another kid.

Ben could only hear whispers as he fell into a state of darkness. He was lost in himself. He didn't know what was happening. One second he heard kids shouting at him, then teachers calling his name. Then he heard Mrs. Flood's voice…then the rest was gone, just like Aden.

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