Oh, you are the best. The very, very best. Here's the next chapter, I hope you guys still are enjoying it! Please let me know if you are. I had the longest day today, and tomorrow is going to be even longer because I have Shakespeare and Statistics back to back. How much does that suck? Anyway, please review and make me feel better. Thanks!

Disclaimer: The characters are not so much mine. I won't hurt them though, I swear!

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Ryan felt someone's hand on his back as he leaned over the toilet and continued to throw up. Sandy, he thought. Sandy must have followed him in there after he had identified his father and bolted to the nearest bathroom to allow the contents of his stomach to once again see the light of day.

"It's going to be okay, Ryan," Sandy said. "I swear, it's going to be okay." Sandy didn't know if it was going to be okay. He didn't know how it could be okay, really. Ryan's father was dead, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Caleb had a hand in it.

"How did he die Sandy?" Ryan asked collapsing onto the cold ground, and leaning his head back against the wall.

"I'm not sure kid," Sandy told him truthfully. "They'll tell us I guess."

"What about my mom?"

"What about her?"

"Where is she?" Sandy hadn't even thought about Dawn, if he was going to be honest. His thoughts had mostly been consumed by Kirsten all night. Well, Ryan and Kirsten, but mostly Kirsten once he had found out that Ryan was okay. But now that Ryan mentioned her, where was Dawn?

"I'm not sure," Sandy admitted. He helped Ryan to his feet and Ryan splashed some water on his face and then sighed.

"He's dead," he said softly. "I thought to myself, I hope he gets what's coming to him, but I didn't expect him to actually turn up dead."

"I know."

"I wanted him to hurt, like he had hurt Kirsten. What kind of kid wishes that on his father? What terrible person wishes that their father feel pain?"

"It doesn't make you a terrible person to think that," Sandy assured him. "He hurt you. He hurt someone that you loved."

"Did you?" Ryan looked at his foster father and Sandy was surprised.

"Did I what?" Sandy asked.

"Did you want him to hurt? Did you want him to die?"

"Did I want him to die?" Sandy repeated. Did he tell Ryan the truth? That, yes, when he first found out that Ryan and Kirsten had been taken to the hospital, when he found out that Ryan had been hurt again by his father, and that his wife had to be taken into surgery to control internal bleeding caused by Dave, yes, Sandy had wished him dead.

"Yes, after what he did to Kirsten, did you want him to die?" And you, Sandy added silently. What he did to Kirsten, and you. "Tell me the truth Sandy, please."

"Yes," Sandy said finally. "I wished that he was dead." Ryan nodded and closed his eyes.

"I did too," Ryan's voice was soft. "Does that make me a terrible person?"

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Dawn was, while all of this was going on, holed up in AJ's apartment. When she heard the sirens, she had panicked.

"Shit Dave! What did you do?" She dropped her hold on Ryan's arm, and watched him crawl over to Kirsten's motionless body. Dave looked down at his son and the woman lying on the ground, her breathing labored.

"I don't know," was Dave's reply. "Oh shit. Oh shit. We need to get out of here."

"What about her?" Dawn asked pointing to Kirsten. Ryan was holding her in his lap, one hand stroking the hair off of her forehead, and the other lying uselessly at his side.

"Mom, she's not breathing very well," Ryan said looking up at Dawn. He never looked at her like that. He never looked to her to solve anything. But he was looking at her. He was asking her to help him. Dawn looked from Dave to Ryan. Dave was heading towards the door.

"Dave....she's really hurt," Dawn said stepping to take a closer look.

"The police are on their way Dawn! We need to go!" Dave said not daring to look at Kirsten's body.

"Dave! You really hurt her!" Dawn yelled.

"Jesus, Dawn, I don't have time for this. Are you coming or not? The police are on their way, they'll take care of her," Dave said running a hand through his hair. Dawn looked again at Ryan and Kirsten lying on the floor. When she turned back around Dave was gone, the door slamming behind him. Her son looked up sadly at her from his position on the floor.

"Go," he said. "I'll take care of her, it's the least I can do for her." Dawn felt ashamed and it was this embarrassment that led her to flee from the house. She made her way to AJ's house and knocked on his door.

"What?"

"It's Dawn."

"What are you doing here?" He asked throwing the door open. "Didn't you go back to your husband?" AJ said the word husband with great disdain.

"It didn't work out," Dawn mumbled.

"What?"

"It didn't work out," she said louder. Why had she thought that it would turn out okay? She wasn't cut out for a family. As she had told Kirsten Cohen on that morning when she had left Ryan, she was a mess, not a mother.

Kirsten Cohen. Dawn was certainly having regrets about leaving her there on the floor. Why had she been struggling to breathe? What had Dave done to her? Dawn's head spun.

"And you think that I'm just going to take you back in?" AJ sneered. Dawn looked up at him surprised, she hadn't thought about what would happen if AJ wouldn't take her back. She was quiet. "Fine, get in here." AJ held the door open wider and allowed Dawn to slip in.

She immediately went for AJ's stash. Anything to make her stop thinking about what had gone on at her house. To stop seeing her son in her head holding his arm and his lip bleeding. Anything to stop the sound of Kirsten trying so hard and painfully to take in another breath.

Anything to make her mind shut off.

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Kirsten had fallen back asleep and Caleb was now sitting by her bed watching her. He wondered where Sandy had gone, and why he wasn't back yet. Not that he wanted to leave his daughter's side, but he had figured that Sandy would be back any minute demanding time with Kirsten.

Caleb was exhausted. As much as he hated to admit it, he was getting old, and the lack of sleep and the nerves of the day were beginning to wear on him. He wouldn't forget the phone call that he had gotten earlier that day, and in the silence it replayed over and over again in his head.

"Caleb?" It was strange that Sandy had called him. Sandy never called him. Not voluntarily anyway.

"Sandman," Caleb had answered. He had just arrived at the Cooper's to pick up Julie for their date. "To what do I owe the displeasure?"

"Caleb," Sandy said again, and this time Caleb heard the exhaustion and fear creep through Sandy's voice. Caleb could always sense fear, it was one of the traits that made him such a cunning businessman. "It's Kirsten." Kirsten. Caleb's stomach dropped.

"What happened? Is she okay?" Julie had been pointing to her watch subtly hinting to Caleb that they were going to be late for their reservations, but she stopped when she saw Caleb turn pale.

"I don't know," Sandy said. Caleb could tell that he was on the verge of tears. "She went to check on Ryan and things got out of hand. She's in surgery right now."

"We're on our way," Caleb told him. Julie looked at him questioningly.

"What's the matter?" She asked when Caleb hung up the phone.

"Kirsten...that was Sandy....Kirsten's in surgery."

"Oh my God, what happened?" Julie asked. Caleb didn't answer. He was in some sort of fog. He felt Julie take his arm and lead him to the car.

Now, Kirsten was okay, and Caleb was feeling the effect of the long night. He reached out and placed an arm on his daughter's arm. He needed to touch her. He needed to make sure she was still real. Her breathing was even and he closed his eyes listening to it.

He wouldn't think about what would happen in the morning. He wouldn't think about what had transpired in the hours since he had gotten that phone call. He would just close his eyes and try to get at least a little bit of sleep.

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"How did he die?" Sandy asked the question that he knew that Ryan didn't want to ask.

"Two gunshot wounds to the chest. He was dead when the paramedics arrived. Apparently some officers came to arrest him, because he was in violation of his parole. But when they came to get him, he refused to go and then pulled out a gun on the officers. He fired a few shots at the officers as he tried to run, and the officers had no choice but to fire back," the officer explained. Ryan shook his head. He didn't think that his father had a gun. And there was no way that his father would have shot at cops, he wasn't that stupid. Then again, he also thought that his father had changed his ways, so maybe he didn't know as much about his father as he thought that he did.

Sandy just nodded. So did that mean that Caleb hadn't done this? That it was just a coincidence? Sandy decided that there would be no more mob movies for him. His imagination had run away with him. Of course Caleb didn't hire a hit man to kill Dave. Sandy wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it. He would have to tell Kirsten later when it didn't hurt her to laugh. She would get a kick out of it.

"My father? A ruthless killer?" She would laugh. "Oh come on Sandy. That's just crazy." Sandy placed a soothing hand on Ryan's shoulders and led him out of the morgue. There was no need to stay there any longer than they had to. It was a depressing place, and Sandy sincerely hoped that he would never have to step foot in there again.

"Come on kid, let's go see Kirsten," Sandy said soothingly. Ryan nodded, he felt numb. He let Sandy lead him out of the room and down the hall to the elevator. When they stepped in there was already another man in there. He was tall, and he had a black eye. The three rode in silence, but when they reached Ryan and Sandy's floor, the man reached out and took Sandy's arm. Ryan had walked on ahead, unaware that Sandy had stopped.

"Tell Mr. Nichol that it's done," he said softly. With that, the elevator doors slid shut quietly leaving Sandy staring at the place where the man had been.

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Hmmm....now how exactly did Caleb pull that one off? Leave me a review and I'll let you know! I'm not opposed to blackmail, really I'm not. I hope you guys aren't getting bored with this. My ego is fragile, so please reassure me. Oh and Famous99, no Dawn being the killer, but I hope this is soapy enough. HateToSayIToldYouSo, your friend being a hit woman....she is in therapy right? Otherwise...well, she really should be. Oh and a final note this just really needs to be said, Brenda Osler, Henry V a good book? Are you high? I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.