Josh is quite the genius, isn't he?
Sorry for the short chapter, but the next one will be up by Thursday. Oh, and look out for a new chapter of The Ex.
The phone rings and Sandy jumps. It's the second day in a row he's sat by the phone all day, reading the paper but not focusing on the information. It's just something to pass the time, the time until Seth calls.
Kirsten comes into the room with an expectant look on her face just as Sandy picks up the phone.
"Hello?" he says, trying not to get his hopes up. After all, there are about a hundred people that could be calling him right now. The chances that it's Seth are...
"Sandy, it's Ryan." Ryan. Ryan! Ryan. Kirsten still hasn't told Ryan the truth about his lineage. That Dawn is his adoptive mother, not his biological mother. Sandy tries to contain his excitement. This boy is part of his family.
"Hi, Ryan. How are you?" asks Sandy. Kirsten's face falls slightly, but in the next moment she's breaking out into a smile. My son, she mouths happily, and Sandy can't help but agree.
"I'm at the hospital."
"Are you okay? Ryan, what happened? Which hospital?" He's at the hospital, mouths Sandy to Kirsten, whose happy face is immediately replaced with a mask of concern.
Is he hurt? Oh, please don't let Ryan be hurt. Not now, not when she's just learned of his relation to her.
"I'm at Chino Memorial," Ryan tells him. Kirsten snatches the phone out of Sandy's hands and before Ryan can continue she's babbling incoherently.
Is he hurt? What happened? Kirsten goes on and on and repeats herself until Ryan's more than a little confused. Why is she acting...all motherly...not that she didn't before, but Kirsten is a little crazier than normal.
Ryan supposes she's just upset because he left, although he just couldn't be a bother to the Cohens anymore. She's forgotten that he's not Seth, that he's not her child and he's certainly not a child. Ryan decides he'll have to let the Cohens know, in the nicest way possible, that he isn't coming back and they don't need to worry about him.
He really shouldn't have called. They have their own lives to live and he's no longer a part of their lives.
"Kirsten, calm down," Ryan finally manages to say. "I'm fine. Something's wrong with the baby, Theresa's baby, that's all." Maybe he shouldn't have called them. But he has no one else, he needed someone to turn to. He's too much of a bother, though. "I'm sorry I worried you. I'd better go."
"We're on our way." A breathless Kirsten hangs up on a surprised but secretly happy Ryan. They're coming. He can't do this to them though, can't just expect them to drop everything and come to his rescue. But once Kirsten's made up her mind... Ryan will handle it on his own next time. He's not a child, he tells himself, he's a soon-to-be father and needs to start acting maturely.
Kirsten runs into the kitchen. She tosses the keys to Sandy when she comes back into the living room and runs out the door. "Come on, Sandy! We're going to the hospital."
The car ride to Chino Memorial Hospital is tense. Both Cohens are worried about Theresa's condition but they can't help thinking about Seth. "What if he calls while we're at the hospital?" Kirsten finally breaks the silence, voicing her concern.
She doesn't want Seth to call and think that no one's home, that no one cares enough about him to stick around for his call.
"Kirsten..." Sandy begins, "We have an answering machine. We'll check for messages every hour." It's not ideal, but Ryan is their son too, Kirsten's son actually, but he's like a son to Sandy. They need to focus on him right now, for he's done the right thing and come to them for help. It's very unlike Ryan, and Sandy likes to think that Ryan's maturity and level- headedness is due in part to his influence on the boy.
Kirsten smiles and tries to erase the image of Seth burning in her mind. She has to help her other son now. She likes the sound of that. 'Yes, I have two sons, Ryan and Seth'.
She'll tell Ryan as soon as she sees him. Yes, that's what she'll do. A hug and kiss and a revelation.
Kirsten takes a deep breath as they approach the hospital. Sandy parks and they rush into the hospital. "What's Theresa's last name?" Sandy asks Kirsten as a nurse approaches them. For the life of him, Sandy can't remember the girl's last name and he assumes they'll need it to be granted permission to see her.
Before Kirsten can answer, the nurse comes up to them. "Hello, can I help you?"
"We're here to visit a Theresa..."
"...Gonzalez?" The nurse cuts in cheerfully, and helpfully. "Yes...well she's in surgery right now, Mr...."
"Cohen." This time Sandy interrupts. He's liking this nurse a lot right now, right now he could actually kiss her. He knows how much Kirsten wants to see Ryan, and Theresa as well.
"Mr. Cohen. Right. Well, I'll send you up the waiting room." The nurse walks away and Kirsten and Sandy follow her after exchanging glances. Yes, Sandy has to resist the urge to hug this nurse.
Once they reach the waiting room, they see Ryan pacing around nervously. Hugs are exchanged all around, and Kirsten feels tears of fondness spring to her eyes, for right before her is her son, her firstborn son, the son she never knew was actually hers before. He's here, in the flesh.
"How is Theresa?" Kirsten asks dutifully, hugging Ryan for the third time. He hugs her back—again, slightly confused as to why she keeps insisting on squeezing him. She's acting motherly, well, more motherly than usual, but he suspects it's part nerves and part hormones.
"I don't know," shrugs Ryan. The doctors haven't come out of surgery yet. All he knows is that she was lying on the floor, writhing in pain, when Ryan woke up this morning. He turns around and stares at the doors to the operating room, as if by sheer willpower he can make the doctors appear.
Kirsten, she won't stop staring at Ryan, and to tell the truth it's making Ryan uncomfortable. He's not going to disappear if she blinks her eyes, and he wants to tell her this but doesn't think it to be the wisest decision he can make. So instead he keeps his eyes on the doors. Still, he can feel Kirsten's eyes practically boring holes in the back of his head. It's very, very uncomfortable for Ryan and he's beginning to regret phoning the Cohens.
He can't depend on them like this. They aren't his to depend on anymore.
Kirsten's so happy to see her son. She can't keep her eyes off him. Of course, Ryan has become like a son to her over the past months, but not like this. He's hers, he's actually hers. Part of her is living in him, and Kirsten thinks it's the most beautiful thing.
She loves Seth, of course she does, but part of her always wondered what had happened to that first-born child. Now she knows, and she's quite upset with herself, for she's read snippets of Ryan's folder and some of the details sicken her. She put him through it, and she knows it.
But she didn't know it then. She was young and stupid and now she can only hope to start making up for his less than perfect childhood right away.
She wants to tell him that she's his mother, his real mother, but is not sure now is the right moment, not with Theresa on the operating table...But she must tell him, sooner or later, before he finds out from another person, though Kirsten's not sure who. If she waits too long he'll be angry that she kept the truth from him for so long.
"Ryan, there's something I've been meaning to tell you." Kirsten's shaking; she doesn't want to tell him now, it's not the right moment...he doesn't even know about Seth's disappearance.
She resolves to tell him now that she's started, and he looks expectantly at her...but just then the doors swing open and two scrub-clad doctors set foot into the waiting room.
"Mr. Atwood?" The shorter doctor approaches Ryan. "Theresa's in recovery now."
A sigh of relief escapes Ryan, and he looks happily at Sandy and Kirsten. Unbeknownst to him, they are really Sandy and Mom.
"Is she awake?" Ryan asks hopefully. Delight dances into his eyes and Kirsten is proud of him, proud of the man he's become even since last summer, proud of the good he's trying to bring into Theresa's life.
"Yes," the shorter doctor says, drawing out a clipboard and consulting it.
"She's been asking for you," adds the taller doctor. "Right this way..." Ryan turns and smiles apologetically at Sandy and Kirsten and follows the doctor's to Theresa's room in recovery.
"Well," says Sandy, as the doors close and Ryan disappears from sight, "I'm starved."
They go down to the cafeteria, although Kirsten's not really hungry at this point; her nerves have quelled her appetite. She was so close to telling Ryan the truth, but it obviously wasn't the right moment. Now she'll have to gather up enough strength to tell him again.
Maybe she'll tell Ryan about Seth leaving, and then break the news about his relationship to her. Or should she give the good news first? Kirsten knows, deep down, that there isn't really a right way to go about this. It's going to be hard for Ryan and she knows this too, and is willing to admit it, ready to deal with it.
She only hopes he understands why she gave him up. She hopes he won't feel neglected or unloved, because he was prevented from living the life his first sixteen years.
Kirsten can hope all she wants but Ryan is unpredictable and it's best to hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Kirsten's grabbed a yogurt—the one thing she knows is safe to eat, and Sandy's tray is empty. They pass a display of some sort of meat. It reminds Sandy of his school food from the Bronx, the mystery meat he and his friends were never quite sure of.
"This food looks almost as bad as yours, Kirsten," Sandy jokes, then regrets it. He shouldn't be joking with her, not at a time like this. She's already worried about Seth and about telling Ryan the truth.
But Kirsten laughs appreciatively, the first genuine laugh he's heard her laugh since the night she told him about Ryan.