Disclaimer: The OC and its characters belong to someone with much more
money than me.
Author's note: Real life has been so demanding. Ok, that's my excuse for not posting sooner. But I know it's a poor one at best, so I offer a very sincere sorry. I appreciate everyone's patience. Nod of thanks to Liz for beta duties. I re-wrote this 5 times since she beta'd, so any errors are all mine. (Hanging head down.) And a shout out to a certain someone who suggested more Ed/Ryan to spice this chapter up.
Last but not least, as always, many, many thanks to all who read and all who review. I still can't believe anyone is reading this, let alone taking the time to type!
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Thursday Afternoon
Chapter Nine
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Ryan snaps his seatbelt in place and arranges the bag he brought for Seth at the bottom of his feet. A few CDs fall out of the stuffed bag onto the car's floor and Ryan shoves them back in. He notices the Hertz sticker on the glove compartment door.
"Why do you have a rental car?" He asks Ed.
"Um..." Carden hesitates, "Mine's in the shop."
"Oh," Ryan shrugs a response, "Sorry."
"I'm not that familiar with Newport," Ed confesses. "Do you think you could get us to the hospital?"
"Sure," Ryan's answer is barely audible. He points which way Carden should go.
Ed turns a corner and stops at a red light.
Ryan looks out the window.
Carden throws out a random question. "So...do you like school?"
Ryan ignores the question, continues to look outside, into the growing darkness. Ed tries again.
"So Ryan, do you like school?"
"Huh?" the teenager asks dully.
Ed watches the light turn green, proceeds slowly forward. "I asked if you like school."
Ryan looks at him, shrugs, and turns back to the windshield.
"Do you like Newport?" Carden tries another approach, anything to get the kid to talk.
"Turn right," Ryan answers.
Ed gives it one more try. "I mean what a great house does Sandy have, huh? You must love it."
Ryan looks at his watch. "Can I turn on the radio?"
"Sure," Carden agrees happily. "What kind of music do you like?"
"Anything," the kid answers, flips on the radio and turns back to the window.
Ed gets the hint, shuts up, and drives.
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Kirsten is staring at him, waiting for answers. Sandy has no idea where to begin.
"Sandy, who were you talking to? Who was that man, in our home, with Ryan?"
Sandy leans back in his chair, cups his hand over his mouth, settles it on his chin. "That's...a little complicated honey."
"Ryan said he was a friend of yours from work."
Sandy nods yes but says, "Yep, that was a lie."
"Ryan's lying?" Kirsten asks, confusion evident in her voice.
"Nope." Sandy leans forwards, puts his elbows on his thighs. "The guy's not from work. He lied to Ryan, probably so Ryan would let him into the house."
Kirsten is getting frustrated. She wants information. "So some stranger is in our home with Ryan who thinks he's a friend of yours from work."
Sandy drops his head. "Yeah, basically."
Kirsten stands up quickly, digs her phone out of her purse.
Sandy looks up, "What are you doing?" he asks.
"What the hell do you think I'm doing Sandy? I'm calling Ryan. Is this guy dangerous? Aren't you the least bit concerned? Who is he? Why is he in our house? What did you mean by 'Don't say a word to Ryan'?"
Sandy reaches for his wife's arm. "Kirsten, put down the phone a second, just calm down, and let's talk about this."
"Talk about WHAT Sandy?" Kirsten voice is gaining volume. "You're not telling me anything!"
Sandy's thankful they are alone in the small waiting room. He looks up at Kirsten, defeated. He's just so damn tired of this day.
"Sandy," his wife prods, "What is going on?"
"Dawn called the office today."
Kirsten stares at him. "What did she want?"
Sandy considers the question. "Well...it's not so much what she wanted... as what she had already said. And to whom she said it."
Her irritation growing, Kirsten shakes her head. "Sandy I swear to God, if you don't tell me right now what in the hell is going on..."
"Kirsten. The guy with Ryan is most likely his biological father."
"Russell?" Kirsten asks confused. "I thought he was in prison."
Sandy looks up at his wife, traps her eyes, and speaks slowly. "Russell is in prison Kirsten."
"I don't understand," Kirsten comments, dazed, sits back down next to Sandy. "I thought you said Ryan was with his father."
"Honey," Sandy starts, "I don't even know where to begin explaining..."
"Just say it Sandy," Kirsten snaps.
Sandy gives up trying to find a tactful approach, takes a deep breath and turns to his wife. "The guy's name is Ed Carden. He and Dawn had an affair years ago. He came to California to track Dawn down and she springs on him that Ryan is his son. Today...she tells him this. So this afternoon he comes to my office, looking for, I don't know, answers, I guess. The guy's in shock Kirsten. He just found out he has a kid by a woman he hasn't seen in almost two decades."
Kirsten is dumbfounded. What the hell is Sandy talking about?
"Sandy! What? You just believe Dawn? Just like that? This guy could want to extort money from us. He and Dawn could be working together. This is nuts. You just believe her, him?" She holds out her hands to her husband, waiting for a response. "Sandy! Hello?"
He shakes his head, "You weren't there Kirsten. You didn't meet him. Ryan has his eyes, his mannerisms. He showed me a picture of his eight-year old. The kid looks like Ryan's twin. We'll do the tests, whatever. But I'm telling you right now there is no way in hell this guy isn't Ryan's biological father."
Kirsten stands up and begins pacing. "I don't believe this. I don't believe you Sandy. What? How long have you known about this? How long were you going to wait to tell me? How long are you going to wait to tell Ryan?"
"Kirsten," Sandy gets up, tries to calm her. "Be reasonable, for Christ's sake. I just found out this afternoon. He was in my office when you called about Seth. What was I supposed to do? Dump all this on you while you were driving to HOAG? Fill you in while we waited for the results of that goddamn spinal tap? When exactly was I supposed to tell you Kirsten? While you were sitting in our son's hospital room, watching his temperature rise? Be reasonable."
Kirsten has had a long day, most of which she has spent either feeling out of control, panicked or helpless. Reasonable is not really a priority at this moment.
"I'm sorry Sandy, did you just ask ME to be reasonable? I'm not the one who ignored phone messages for two hours. I'm not the one who was sitting in a car instead of by his son's bed while strangers jabbed a goddamn needle into his back. I think the last thing you need to do is accuse me of being is unreasonable."
Sandy throws his hands up in the air. "Well thank God we got that out in the open. This isn't about Ryan at all. You're pissed at me for not being with you and Seth. How do you think I feel Kirsten? Do you think I enjoy seeing Seth like this and knowing there is absolutely nothing I can do to help him? If I'd had known what was happening..." Sandy stops abruptly, tries to articulate his frustration. "I didn't know what was happening Kirsten. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to deal with this all by yourself."
Kirsten has waited half a day for this apology. But now that she has it, it's meaningless. She's not really mad at her husband; she's impossibly frustrated with the situation. One of her sons is sick and the other, alone, accessible to a stranger.
"Sandy. Ryan should be here. I want him here right now. I need to know he's safe. I can't deal with anything else right now."
Her husband nods. "Ryan should be on his way. I'm sure everything is fine..."
"I'm calling him." Kirsten decides. "Maybe he's having trouble getting a cab."
Her hands shake as punches Ryan's number into the cell phone.
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"Are we getting close to the hospital?" Ed asks.
Ryan nods, answers the question with a reserved, "Yes."
Carden is beginning to wonder if this kid can possibly be related to him. Josh and Brad never shut up. Ryan's lack of verbal communication is unsettling to Ed, feeding his guilt and paranoia over even having the boy in his car in the first place. The hospital can't be more than a few minutes away. Hoping that Ryan will open up a little, Ed attempts one more avenue of conversation.
"Is Seth doing better? What did they tell you at the house, on the phone?"
Ryan stops leaning on the window, sits up a bit, shoots Ed a side-glance, replies quietly, "He doesn't have meningitis."
Carden smiles, raises his voice above the radio, "Well, that's wonderful news, right? I mean you must be relieved to have found that out."
Ryan nods, "Yeah. Um, they don't know what's wrong. He's still sick. But they're gonna let me see him, so..."
"So he must be getting better, right?" Ed turns off the radio, hopes he sounds optimistic and not ridiculously cheerful.
Ryan answers with a short, "Yeah, probably," and turns back towards the window, pointing for Ed to turn left.
Carden takes the corner, sees a street sign for HOAG, and realizes he has less than two miles to be with the teenager. Ed wants more interaction, so he takes a chance. The kid can't be this quiet all the time, maybe he just needs a nudge.
"It's ok to be upset Ryan. It's perfectly normal to be concerned about a friend. And Seth's more than a friend, right? He's your foster brother. So if you're sitting in my car worrying that someone might think you are a whip for being emotional..."
"I don't care what people think," Ryan interrupts. "I don't give a shit what people think."
Despite the growing tension in Ryan's voice, Ed senses a vulnerability to the youth. He gently offers, "That works most of the time kid, but take it from me, you need to give a shit about a few people. And no matter what you may think about yourself, you do, or you wouldn't be in this car sitting on pins and needles waiting to get to the hospital."
Ryan brushes at his bangs, scratches the side of his face, looks down at the floor and then up at Ed. Carden sneaks a glimpse of Ryan before returning his eyes to the road.
"Let a few people in Ryan. Make sure you always have room to give a shit about a few. And allow a few people to give a shit about you."
Ryan listens, opens his mouth to respond but is silenced by the ringing of his cell phone.
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Suddenly Kirsten's desperate to find Ryan. Clutching the cell phone, she holds her breath, waiting for him to answer. On the third ring, he does.
"Ryan? Thank God. Where are you?"
Ryan replies with his usual reserve, as few words as possible to convey a message; he's on his way to the hospital.
"Did you have any trouble getting a cab?" Kirsten questions, struggling to make herself sound normal.
"Uh, no," Ryan answers hesitantly, "Sandy's friend from work is giving me a ride. He said it was no problem."
Kirsten's breath catches; she throws a startled look at Sandy, says into the phone, "Ryan, listen to me, this is important. Where are you?"
"I'm on my way to HOAG," he repeats.
"No!" Kirsten interjects into the phone, "Ryan, listen to me, look around you, are you absolutely sure you know where you are? Are you sure you are actually on the way to the hospital?"
She can feel his confusion through the phone. He probably thinks she's nuts. Sandy moves closer to the conversation. Mouths a silent 'What?'
"Kirsten, yeah, I told you, I'm on my way to HOAG. It's cool; we're like two blocks away. I'll see you in a few minutes. Ok?" Ryan hangs up.
Kirsten looks at the phone. "Sandy, he's with him. Ryan's with that man, he says he's giving him a ride here."
"That's it." Sandy reaches for his own phone. "I'm calling the police. Ed has no legal right to be near Ryan."
Kirsten puts her hand back on her forehead. Maybe she's getting whatever Seth has. Her head feels like it's going to explode. "No. Just... hang on. Ryan said they're almost here. I don't think he suspects anything. He sounded ...fine, given everything that's going on."
Sandy grabs his jacket. "I'm waiting outside. If they're not here in five minutes I'm contacting the police."
"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen?" A nurse pokes her head in the waiting room, interrupts gently, "Your son's awake, he's asking for you."
"Go," Sandy tells Kirsten. "Go to Seth. I'll wait outside for Ryan."
Kirsten looks towards Seth's room, back again at Sandy.
"Everything's fine Kirsten," Sandy tries again to reassure his wife. "Ed's not dangerous, just confused. I'm sure Ryan's not in any harm. I'll go meet them, bring Ryan here. When things calm down, the three of us will sit down...talk."
Kirsten remains hesitant but nods, begins the trek to Seth's hospital room.
Sandy reaches the end of the isolation corridor, gains access to the regular emergency room area and slams his way out of the hospital, into the cooling California night, just in time to see Ed Carden's rental car pull up.
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To Be Continued...quickly...I promise
Author's note: Real life has been so demanding. Ok, that's my excuse for not posting sooner. But I know it's a poor one at best, so I offer a very sincere sorry. I appreciate everyone's patience. Nod of thanks to Liz for beta duties. I re-wrote this 5 times since she beta'd, so any errors are all mine. (Hanging head down.) And a shout out to a certain someone who suggested more Ed/Ryan to spice this chapter up.
Last but not least, as always, many, many thanks to all who read and all who review. I still can't believe anyone is reading this, let alone taking the time to type!
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Thursday Afternoon
Chapter Nine
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Ryan snaps his seatbelt in place and arranges the bag he brought for Seth at the bottom of his feet. A few CDs fall out of the stuffed bag onto the car's floor and Ryan shoves them back in. He notices the Hertz sticker on the glove compartment door.
"Why do you have a rental car?" He asks Ed.
"Um..." Carden hesitates, "Mine's in the shop."
"Oh," Ryan shrugs a response, "Sorry."
"I'm not that familiar with Newport," Ed confesses. "Do you think you could get us to the hospital?"
"Sure," Ryan's answer is barely audible. He points which way Carden should go.
Ed turns a corner and stops at a red light.
Ryan looks out the window.
Carden throws out a random question. "So...do you like school?"
Ryan ignores the question, continues to look outside, into the growing darkness. Ed tries again.
"So Ryan, do you like school?"
"Huh?" the teenager asks dully.
Ed watches the light turn green, proceeds slowly forward. "I asked if you like school."
Ryan looks at him, shrugs, and turns back to the windshield.
"Do you like Newport?" Carden tries another approach, anything to get the kid to talk.
"Turn right," Ryan answers.
Ed gives it one more try. "I mean what a great house does Sandy have, huh? You must love it."
Ryan looks at his watch. "Can I turn on the radio?"
"Sure," Carden agrees happily. "What kind of music do you like?"
"Anything," the kid answers, flips on the radio and turns back to the window.
Ed gets the hint, shuts up, and drives.
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Kirsten is staring at him, waiting for answers. Sandy has no idea where to begin.
"Sandy, who were you talking to? Who was that man, in our home, with Ryan?"
Sandy leans back in his chair, cups his hand over his mouth, settles it on his chin. "That's...a little complicated honey."
"Ryan said he was a friend of yours from work."
Sandy nods yes but says, "Yep, that was a lie."
"Ryan's lying?" Kirsten asks, confusion evident in her voice.
"Nope." Sandy leans forwards, puts his elbows on his thighs. "The guy's not from work. He lied to Ryan, probably so Ryan would let him into the house."
Kirsten is getting frustrated. She wants information. "So some stranger is in our home with Ryan who thinks he's a friend of yours from work."
Sandy drops his head. "Yeah, basically."
Kirsten stands up quickly, digs her phone out of her purse.
Sandy looks up, "What are you doing?" he asks.
"What the hell do you think I'm doing Sandy? I'm calling Ryan. Is this guy dangerous? Aren't you the least bit concerned? Who is he? Why is he in our house? What did you mean by 'Don't say a word to Ryan'?"
Sandy reaches for his wife's arm. "Kirsten, put down the phone a second, just calm down, and let's talk about this."
"Talk about WHAT Sandy?" Kirsten voice is gaining volume. "You're not telling me anything!"
Sandy's thankful they are alone in the small waiting room. He looks up at Kirsten, defeated. He's just so damn tired of this day.
"Sandy," his wife prods, "What is going on?"
"Dawn called the office today."
Kirsten stares at him. "What did she want?"
Sandy considers the question. "Well...it's not so much what she wanted... as what she had already said. And to whom she said it."
Her irritation growing, Kirsten shakes her head. "Sandy I swear to God, if you don't tell me right now what in the hell is going on..."
"Kirsten. The guy with Ryan is most likely his biological father."
"Russell?" Kirsten asks confused. "I thought he was in prison."
Sandy looks up at his wife, traps her eyes, and speaks slowly. "Russell is in prison Kirsten."
"I don't understand," Kirsten comments, dazed, sits back down next to Sandy. "I thought you said Ryan was with his father."
"Honey," Sandy starts, "I don't even know where to begin explaining..."
"Just say it Sandy," Kirsten snaps.
Sandy gives up trying to find a tactful approach, takes a deep breath and turns to his wife. "The guy's name is Ed Carden. He and Dawn had an affair years ago. He came to California to track Dawn down and she springs on him that Ryan is his son. Today...she tells him this. So this afternoon he comes to my office, looking for, I don't know, answers, I guess. The guy's in shock Kirsten. He just found out he has a kid by a woman he hasn't seen in almost two decades."
Kirsten is dumbfounded. What the hell is Sandy talking about?
"Sandy! What? You just believe Dawn? Just like that? This guy could want to extort money from us. He and Dawn could be working together. This is nuts. You just believe her, him?" She holds out her hands to her husband, waiting for a response. "Sandy! Hello?"
He shakes his head, "You weren't there Kirsten. You didn't meet him. Ryan has his eyes, his mannerisms. He showed me a picture of his eight-year old. The kid looks like Ryan's twin. We'll do the tests, whatever. But I'm telling you right now there is no way in hell this guy isn't Ryan's biological father."
Kirsten stands up and begins pacing. "I don't believe this. I don't believe you Sandy. What? How long have you known about this? How long were you going to wait to tell me? How long are you going to wait to tell Ryan?"
"Kirsten," Sandy gets up, tries to calm her. "Be reasonable, for Christ's sake. I just found out this afternoon. He was in my office when you called about Seth. What was I supposed to do? Dump all this on you while you were driving to HOAG? Fill you in while we waited for the results of that goddamn spinal tap? When exactly was I supposed to tell you Kirsten? While you were sitting in our son's hospital room, watching his temperature rise? Be reasonable."
Kirsten has had a long day, most of which she has spent either feeling out of control, panicked or helpless. Reasonable is not really a priority at this moment.
"I'm sorry Sandy, did you just ask ME to be reasonable? I'm not the one who ignored phone messages for two hours. I'm not the one who was sitting in a car instead of by his son's bed while strangers jabbed a goddamn needle into his back. I think the last thing you need to do is accuse me of being is unreasonable."
Sandy throws his hands up in the air. "Well thank God we got that out in the open. This isn't about Ryan at all. You're pissed at me for not being with you and Seth. How do you think I feel Kirsten? Do you think I enjoy seeing Seth like this and knowing there is absolutely nothing I can do to help him? If I'd had known what was happening..." Sandy stops abruptly, tries to articulate his frustration. "I didn't know what was happening Kirsten. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to deal with this all by yourself."
Kirsten has waited half a day for this apology. But now that she has it, it's meaningless. She's not really mad at her husband; she's impossibly frustrated with the situation. One of her sons is sick and the other, alone, accessible to a stranger.
"Sandy. Ryan should be here. I want him here right now. I need to know he's safe. I can't deal with anything else right now."
Her husband nods. "Ryan should be on his way. I'm sure everything is fine..."
"I'm calling him." Kirsten decides. "Maybe he's having trouble getting a cab."
Her hands shake as punches Ryan's number into the cell phone.
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"Are we getting close to the hospital?" Ed asks.
Ryan nods, answers the question with a reserved, "Yes."
Carden is beginning to wonder if this kid can possibly be related to him. Josh and Brad never shut up. Ryan's lack of verbal communication is unsettling to Ed, feeding his guilt and paranoia over even having the boy in his car in the first place. The hospital can't be more than a few minutes away. Hoping that Ryan will open up a little, Ed attempts one more avenue of conversation.
"Is Seth doing better? What did they tell you at the house, on the phone?"
Ryan stops leaning on the window, sits up a bit, shoots Ed a side-glance, replies quietly, "He doesn't have meningitis."
Carden smiles, raises his voice above the radio, "Well, that's wonderful news, right? I mean you must be relieved to have found that out."
Ryan nods, "Yeah. Um, they don't know what's wrong. He's still sick. But they're gonna let me see him, so..."
"So he must be getting better, right?" Ed turns off the radio, hopes he sounds optimistic and not ridiculously cheerful.
Ryan answers with a short, "Yeah, probably," and turns back towards the window, pointing for Ed to turn left.
Carden takes the corner, sees a street sign for HOAG, and realizes he has less than two miles to be with the teenager. Ed wants more interaction, so he takes a chance. The kid can't be this quiet all the time, maybe he just needs a nudge.
"It's ok to be upset Ryan. It's perfectly normal to be concerned about a friend. And Seth's more than a friend, right? He's your foster brother. So if you're sitting in my car worrying that someone might think you are a whip for being emotional..."
"I don't care what people think," Ryan interrupts. "I don't give a shit what people think."
Despite the growing tension in Ryan's voice, Ed senses a vulnerability to the youth. He gently offers, "That works most of the time kid, but take it from me, you need to give a shit about a few people. And no matter what you may think about yourself, you do, or you wouldn't be in this car sitting on pins and needles waiting to get to the hospital."
Ryan brushes at his bangs, scratches the side of his face, looks down at the floor and then up at Ed. Carden sneaks a glimpse of Ryan before returning his eyes to the road.
"Let a few people in Ryan. Make sure you always have room to give a shit about a few. And allow a few people to give a shit about you."
Ryan listens, opens his mouth to respond but is silenced by the ringing of his cell phone.
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Suddenly Kirsten's desperate to find Ryan. Clutching the cell phone, she holds her breath, waiting for him to answer. On the third ring, he does.
"Ryan? Thank God. Where are you?"
Ryan replies with his usual reserve, as few words as possible to convey a message; he's on his way to the hospital.
"Did you have any trouble getting a cab?" Kirsten questions, struggling to make herself sound normal.
"Uh, no," Ryan answers hesitantly, "Sandy's friend from work is giving me a ride. He said it was no problem."
Kirsten's breath catches; she throws a startled look at Sandy, says into the phone, "Ryan, listen to me, this is important. Where are you?"
"I'm on my way to HOAG," he repeats.
"No!" Kirsten interjects into the phone, "Ryan, listen to me, look around you, are you absolutely sure you know where you are? Are you sure you are actually on the way to the hospital?"
She can feel his confusion through the phone. He probably thinks she's nuts. Sandy moves closer to the conversation. Mouths a silent 'What?'
"Kirsten, yeah, I told you, I'm on my way to HOAG. It's cool; we're like two blocks away. I'll see you in a few minutes. Ok?" Ryan hangs up.
Kirsten looks at the phone. "Sandy, he's with him. Ryan's with that man, he says he's giving him a ride here."
"That's it." Sandy reaches for his own phone. "I'm calling the police. Ed has no legal right to be near Ryan."
Kirsten puts her hand back on her forehead. Maybe she's getting whatever Seth has. Her head feels like it's going to explode. "No. Just... hang on. Ryan said they're almost here. I don't think he suspects anything. He sounded ...fine, given everything that's going on."
Sandy grabs his jacket. "I'm waiting outside. If they're not here in five minutes I'm contacting the police."
"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen?" A nurse pokes her head in the waiting room, interrupts gently, "Your son's awake, he's asking for you."
"Go," Sandy tells Kirsten. "Go to Seth. I'll wait outside for Ryan."
Kirsten looks towards Seth's room, back again at Sandy.
"Everything's fine Kirsten," Sandy tries again to reassure his wife. "Ed's not dangerous, just confused. I'm sure Ryan's not in any harm. I'll go meet them, bring Ryan here. When things calm down, the three of us will sit down...talk."
Kirsten remains hesitant but nods, begins the trek to Seth's hospital room.
Sandy reaches the end of the isolation corridor, gains access to the regular emergency room area and slams his way out of the hospital, into the cooling California night, just in time to see Ed Carden's rental car pull up.
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To Be Continued...quickly...I promise