AN: I don't know if I'm going to make this story last until November 4th. I have other stories to finish and other things to do and a 15 page finale for this fic already written so expect a few more scenes (2?) and probably the finale to be posted on Thursday afternoon.

Teresa smiled at Sandy as he stepped into the house.

"Thanks for coming, Mr. Cohen," She said, clearly surprised to see him alone.

"It's Sandy, you know that." He gave her a tentative hug.

"Ryan will be home soon, I've almost got everything ready," She said nervously.

Sandy wished Kirsten would have come with him. He didn't want to have to tell Ryan that Kirsten was too upset to ride out to celebrate his birthday. She'd been crying since Teresa had invited them a few days before. She'd gone into the office to take her mind off her crumbling family. It was like she lived at the office now.

"I'm sorry Kirsten couldn't make it…"

"It's okay. Ryan will be glad to see you," Teresa smiled.

The kitchen was decorated with balloons and streamers. A homemade cake was on the counter and three presents set on the counter beside it.

"Um…Mr…I mean, Sandy…this might be a little weird. I mean, my mom's not even here, she had to work and none of the guys from the site wanted to come down here right after work, they bought him lunch to celebrate…"

"You mean…it's just you and me?" Sandy asked, surprised.

"Yeah. It is. He works so much that he hasn't really reconnected with any of his old friends…not that they're the kind of friends he needs anyway, but with Seth gone…this was supposed to be just family." She glanced over at Sandy. "Maybe it should be just me."

"I'm sorry, Teresa. I know you worked really hard planning this…"

"It's okay. Ryan hates celebrating anything. I shouldn't have tried…" She sighed, clearly disappointed. "But he loves to see you and Kirsten."

"I'm going to stick around until he gets here, okay?" Sandy said quietly.

"This isn't the birthday he wants. Turning seventeen and having a baby on the way and having to work a full time job in this place…but I'm trying to make it better for him…I'm trying, Mr. Cohen."

"I know." But Sandy didn't know. He didn't understand why Teresa was forcing Ryan to stay in a place that was sucking everything good out of his life. He knew Teresa loved Ryan. He'd never doubted that since the first time she'd shown up for dinner.

He didn't know how Ryan felt about Teresa. He thought that Ryan loved her. He knew that he cared about her, but he didn't think Ryan loved her. He didn't know why Ryan was willing to give up everything that he could give him to support a girl that wasn't his responsibility.

He didn't like this situation but he couldn't do anything about it.

The phone rang and Teresa hurried over to get it. Her face lit up when she answered and Sandy could tell she was talking to Ryan.

"You're going to the store? Ryan, we have…oh. You can't go out later for those? Oh…okay, honey. I'll see you when you get home." She hung up and her face was drawn with disappointment.

"He's not coming?"

"He ruined his pants. They're his only pair of work pants, the rest of the stuff he brought with him are too nice to pour concrete in…he has to get a pair before tomorrow," She said. "Kip's giving him a ride."

Sandy didn't know Kip. He hadn't considered that the wardrobe Kirsten had provided for Ryan would be a negative thing in Chino.

"Thank you for coming, Sandy. I'll make sure he knows you were here," She said.

"I can wait…"

"No. It's fine. He'll call you tomorrow and tell you all about the great presents we got him," She said sarcastically.

"Teresa."

"Just go."

He didn't want to watch her cry, so he left. He couldn't comfort her. Ryan was turning seventeen and he was too trapped in this farce of adulthood that he couldn't even celebrate. Sandy didn't want to wait and see the pieces fall. He just had to be there to pick them up.