It was just an idea I had, I'm still working on my other fic, but this one came to me when we were discussing The OC in one of my clases (yes, it was a class wide discussion in Shakespeare. Isn't that funny?) So review and let me know what you thought. It's just a one- shot. The song is by Guster. Please review!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.
It was late when Sandy arrived home from the police station where he had been all night with his father-in-law. The light in his bedroom was off, and he could see his wife's form huddled under the covers on her side the bed. He thought she was asleep, but then he saw her body begin to shake, and he realized that she was crying.
It occurred to him that he hadn't stopped to make sure that she was okay when he had bolted out of the house after the police and Caleb. He didn't hold her in his arms and tell her that he would make this better for her, for all of them. He didn't think of the damage that seeing her father arrested and taken away would have on her.
Despite that they knew it was coming, and she knew it was coming, it still must have been hard on her. And he felt awful all of a sudden. Sure, they were having their problems at the moment. The summer had been hard on her, and she had taken it out on him, and the house, actually. It had been at least a month since they had made love, which was a long time for them. And even the last time, she had been emotionally distant, and when she thought that he was asleep, she slipped out of the bed, and he watched her from the window as she made her way to the pool house where she stared out the windows at the ocean and sobbed.
While things had certainly gotten better since the boys return home, they weren't completely back to normal. Their family had been ripped apart, and slowly they were trying to piece it back together, and it was working.
Well, it had been working. At least until Caleb had gotten hauled off to jail opening a whole new can of worms. But even before this, Sandy had his doubts that they could ever really go back to normal. Kirsten had lost both her sons in one swoop, and that had broken her heart, but Seth's refusal to come home had done more damage than running away had. She started to drink again, and thought that Sandy didn't notice that. Well, he had. He could smell the alcohol in her coffee mug every morning. He noticed how many glasses of wine she had at night.
Woke up today
To everything gray
And all that I saw
Just kept going on and on
Then there had been his almost fling with Rachel on the fourth of July. There had been a fight, a huge one between him and Kirsten. She had been drunk and blamed him for everything that had gone wrong. Then she had uttered words that broke his heart,
"Maybe I should have married Jimmy," she whispered harshly. "Maybe I would have been happier. Maybe my children wouldn't have disappeared because they hated their parents so much." Sandy hadn't known what to say, so finally he shook his head.
"Maybe you should have then," he told her sadly and slammed the door behind him. He had gone to a bar and drunk himself stupid, and found himself highly intoxicated and standing in front of Rachel's door.
"Sandy?" She asked when she finally came to the door. He leaned over and placed a sloppy kiss on her mouth. While she looked taken aback, she stepped back and allowed him in her house. After all, she had been waiting for this. And he knew that, that's why he had showed up there. It was his form of revenge. He would sleep with someone else because his wife had wished she had been married to someone else. It was a twisted version of an eye for an eye. Jimmy could have her.
As he kissed Rachel, he thought about the way that Kirsten smelled, and tasted, and felt. He thought about the way that she looked on their wedding day, and the day that she had told him that she was pregnant. He thought about the morning that Seth was born, and the day that Kirsten came into the kitchen and announced that Ryan would be staying with them.
And then he thought about how she sat on the bed in the pool house clutching the sheets to her chest and sobbing. He heard her panicked cries when she realized that Seth was gone.
His phone had rung and he picked it up and it was Kirsten. He motioned to Rachel that he had to take the phone call and heard her tear-filled voice over the phone.
"I'm so sorry. God, I'm so sorry. I'm such a mess. I don't wish I was married to Jimmy, I don't know why I said that. I think it was because I needed someone to blame....I love you. I love our life. I love our sons. I just...I can't deal with this Sandy. I need them home. I need you. I'm....sorry." Sandy had apologized to Rachel, made some excuse, and had carefully driven home to Kirsten.
She had met him at the door, and enveloped him in a hug. She had smelled so good that night, he remembered how good she felt when she pulled him into her arms.
"I'm sorry," she kept repeating in his ear. "I'm such an idiot. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," he whispered back. "I know. I'm sorry too. This is hard, it's hard on all of us. They'll be okay, they'll come home." Actually, he didn't know if they were going to come home. Eventually, he assumed that Seth would return, but he wasn't sure about Ryan. After all, Ryan had Teresa and the baby to take care. She had cried in his arms that night. It was one of many nights that summer that she had cried in his arms.
Sweep all the pieces under the bed
Close all the curtains
And cover my head
And what you wish for
Won't come true
You aren't surprised love, are you?
And now here she was, crying again. Sandy crossed over to her side of the bed and knelt down so that he could see her face. It was streaked with tears.
"Baby," he whispered running a hand over her cheek. "It's going to be okay." That was what she needed to hear. She needed him to tell her that it was going to be okay. Just like he always did. Lately it seemed like that was his role in life, to tell her that things were going to be okay.
"Oh Sandy," she wept and sat up. He climbed to his feet and she buried her face in his shirt and within seconds, he could feel the wet seep through to his skin.
"I'm sorry, I should have made sure you were okay before I went with him," he apologized.
"No, you did what you had to do," she told him shaking her head. She was calming down, Sandy seemed to have that effect on her. He slipped into their closet to change. When he reappeared, she whispered, "Thank you."
"For what?" He asked slipping in next to her.
"For defending him," she replied. "I know that you didn't want to..."
"I did it for you," he pointed out. "I would do anything for you. You know that right?" She nodded, and he took her face in his hands and kissed her mouth. "I love you so much. Everything's going to be okay." We're going to be okay, he wanted to add. And for the first time all summer, he actually believed that he and Kirsten might be okay. He held her for a little while longer before she reached up and kissed him again. Their kisses became desperate and he lifted off her nightgown and tossed it onto the chair next to their bed.
"We should really do this more often," she said between kisses. "I'm sorry I've been so distant."
"I know, and I understand. It's okay. Really, it's okay."
Afterwards, he held her in his arms and whispered over and over again into her ear.
"It's going to be okay. I promise. I'm going to make it okay. For you. I'll make it okay for you."
Keep all the secrets under the bed
Open the curtains, forget what I said
And what you wished for
Could come true
You aren't surprised love, are you?
So what you wished for, could come true
You aren't surprised love, are you?
Okay, so like I said, it was just an idea that I had. I hoped that you enjoyed it, and please review and let me know! Thanks!