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A huge, huge hug to Mel39 for her sound beta-ing - she's a hero!

A massive christmas hug to Raggerga for his help and input.

Disclaimer - I own even less than I did before

The Fourth Wheel

Chapter 5

Sandy smiled at Kirsten as she was devouring her third bagel. Talk about eating for two; she was eating them out of house and home.

"What?" Kirsten smiled. "Hey it's not my fault that this baby has a thing for bagels and cream cheese!"

Sandy looked over to where Ryan was sitting eating a bowl of cereal. Sandy still couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on with Ryan. Seth had tried to reassure them that everything was O.K, but the kid looked like he hadn't slept in days. Sandy sighed to himself. He never remembered worrying about Seth this much. Ryan was too complex sometimes.

Sandy got up from the table and kissed Kirsten on the cheek. "I'm going to make a move now Honey, I won't be long."

He had to check on the house. The contractors had assured him that it would be ready for them to move back into today, but he had heard that before from contractors. He just wanted to make sure everything was O.K before they started to bring their belongings back in.

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Sandy was pleasantly surprised with the house. Everything was perfect. The only glitch was a small cockroach problem in the spare room next to their bedroom. One of the contractors had bared the way when he had tried to enter, saying it was best to leave it until the fumes of the 'bug bomb' had died down.

Sandy got onto his mobile and gave the go ahead to the removal men; it would be good to get back to their own house. One thing he knew, he was going to have a serious talk with Ryan tonight. He wanted answers once and for all.

At first he was sure the whole baby thing had got too much for him, brought back too many memories, but now he wasn't so sure. He just hoped that he hadn't gotten involved in an 'Oliver' type situation again. Sandy gave a deep sigh. He wasn't surprised Ryan was shutting them out. They hadn't exactly handled that situation well.

Tonight he was going to do his best to make Ryan realise that they were here to help no matter what the problem was.

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They had all arrived at the house. All the furniture was in place; it was just a matter of putting away their personal belongings. Ryan mused that even moving was easy when you were rich.

Ryan had the easiest job, just putting his few bags in his room, as the pool house had been totally unaffected by the fire. Now he sat with Sandy in the kitchen drinking coffee.

Sandy noticed that Ryan had become almost mute since they had arrived. Hmmm… maybe time to bring that talk forward a few hours. Before he opened his mouth, Seth came hurtling in.

Seth was hyper; the thought of moving back in had sent him over the edge. He had just charged downstairs for about the sixth time to ask Sandy something.

That was when they heard Kirsten cry out.

Sandy and Seth rushed to Kirsten. She stood outside the spare room with the door open. They both looked in.

The room was breathtaking. Trees and foliage snaked up the walls, exotic flowers in every colour bloomed on every surface, the ceiling was now a vivid blue sky with white fluffy clouds, filled with birds and butterflies.

They entered the room, transfixed.

Seth's face adorned one wall, his arms flailing obviously, regaling a sitting Sandy and Kirsten with one of his witticisms. Stood slightly to one side an amused Ryan stood, arms folded. Sandy just stared at it, the detail was incredible.

Kirsten gave a sob as she gazed at the far wall.

Over the baby's crib, painted with arms outstretched as if to offer protection, was the most beautiful angel she had ever seen. Tears coursed down Kirsten's cheeks. The angel was a perfect likeness of her mother, not how she remembered her, pale and dying in the hospital, but as she had wanted to see her, young and vibrant.

"I didn't mean to upset you… I can paint over it if you want," Ryan spoke softly.

Three pairs of eyes swung his way.

"You did this?" Sandy was dumbfounded.

Ryan nodded.

"Holy Crap!... You did this Ry?" Seth was gazing at Ryan with unconcealed awe.

Kirsten rushed over and enveloped Ryan in a hug.

"Ryan, it's perfect. It's more than perfect, thank you."

" So this is what you've been doing these past weeks?" Sandy smiled. "And that's why this corridor was always mysteriously blocked when I came to check on things…I take it there were no roaches?"

Ryan smiled.

" No to the roaches, and I would have finished it sooner if you hadn't grounded me!"

"Oh Sweetie, we were so worried about you, and I gave you such a hard time about lying to us, and all the time you were doing this," Kirsten looked mortified.

"Hey, that was nothing, I accused him of doing drugs." Seth snorted.

Ryan gave Seth a half smile.

"Your powers of deduction were way off, Sherlock, that would have been paint remover you smelt on me, I'm surprised no one else commented on it. I couldn't come home covered in paint."

"I take it Lindsay was covering for you?" Kirsten grinned.

"Yeah, Seth overheard her saying I needed help and jumped to conclusions!"

Sandy had broken away and was looking around the room. He moved back to where Ryan had painted the family group.

God! His eyebrows weren't that bushy were they?

He continued to study it.

He realised what was wrong with the picture. He wondered if Ryan knew how telling the scene was. He had painted Sandy, Kirsten and Seth close together, very obviously a unit, but by putting himself slightly away, and the defensive posture of his arms, it was clear that Ryan still didn't feel like he truly belonged. Sandy realised that they still had a way to go with Ryan. Sandy smiled sadly. At least Ryan had painted himself, Sandy thought. If this had been painted a year ago, Ryan probably wouldn't have included himself at all.

His gaze was drawn to a corner of the room low down. He walked over to it and knelt down. Two tiny fairies danced mischievously, perfect miniatures of Hailey and Lindsay. And sat malevolently on a toadstool, half hidden by leaves, was Caleb, a ridiculous gnome complete with a pointy hat and a sour expression.

Sandy turned and saw Ryan grinning at him.

Hmmm. He'd leave Kirsten to find that one on her own. God, he could hardly wait until Caleb saw it.

He walked over to where the others stood, put his arm around Ryan's shoulder….

Now he knew why he'd brought the kid home!

FIN

Ohhh I feel like a bad date...I've led you all on. Then at the end of the evening I did'nt deliver quite what you wanted!..But hey its Christmas and I thought a mushy ending was in order! Note: to The Queen of Angst- Ms Brandywine I kept a tad of angst in just for you!!...Sorry Elzed,No hot naked Ryan goodness...But you have vivid your imagination to see ya though!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, I hope that Santa brings you all lots of groovey prezzies.