DISCLAIMER: I don't own The OC or the characters from The OC

Author's Notes: As promised, this chapter is fluffy. I wasn't planning on including all the events in the flashback as I did, but I started writing it and couldn't stop, so you guys got some extra Kandy backstory. I really hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think! I tried to update fast since everyone reviewed so fast! Thank you for reviewing, I appreciate it! Enjoy!

Kirsten walked into the bedroom a little while later. "She can really handle her liquor," Sandy thought to himself as she walked without a bobble to the dresser to get some pajamas, "you'd think she never even had a glass of wine, but she drank an entire bottle." As Kirsten went into the bathroom, Sandy quickly changed into pajamas and got into their bed, wondering if Kirsten would join him there.

To Sandy's surprise, she joined him in their bed, but turned her back to him, an awkward silence filling the room. Sandy wanted to explain himself, but he wasn't sure what to say. At the same time he didn't want to just turn his back on his wife and lay there in silence all night long. What he did know was that he wanted to feel connected to his wife, so he turned over and reached out to touch Kirsten's hand softly, hoping she'd touch his back, as if to say, "I don't want to talk now, but we're going to be okay."

While Kirsten didn't make an effort to hold his hand, she didn't move her hand either, letting his fingers graze the top of hers. She closed her eyes, trying to forget the awkwardness between them and just enjoy Sandy's soft touch on her skin. She wanted to hold his hand and turn to face him and cuddle and be close to him like they always did but she just couldn't bring herself to feel that way tonight. She closed her eyes and suddenly a thought crossed her mind. She was feeling similar to how she felt the first night they shared a bed together. "What a weird parallel," she thought to herself, thinking about how awkward it was the first time they shared a bed and now, over 20 years later, it sort of felt the same way. She let her mind drift back to that first night…

They were studying together that night for mid terms, if studying meant talking, watching a movie, eating dinner, and enjoying each other's company. Ever since they'd met a few months earlier they'd seemed to have hit it off. They were opposites who somehow conversed for hours and really enjoyed each other's company. You'd think they'd be dating already, but they weren't. Sandy was still getting over his ex-girlfriend running away and Kirsten was still getting over ex-boyfriend breaking up with her because she moved to Berkeley. They both agreed that they weren't ready for a relationship in fear that their good friendship would be ruined by a commitment. So, they'd just been hanging out with one another as friends. Never even kissed…until…

Sandy's roommate and friend walked in to grab some protection. He was sleeping over his girlfriend's apartment that night. "Kirsten, hi! I didn't expect you to be here this late, you staying here tonight?"

Sandy and Kirsten looked at the clock, both surprised when they read that it was 11:30. Sure, it wasn't late, but they both had midterms the next morning at 8am.

Kirsten looked at Sandy, taken back when she heard Sandy's roommate say that…what if she did stay the night with Sandy? That thought never crossed her mind but for some reason it sounded like a good idea. She was lonely in the apartment she had been renting all by herself.

Sandy got up off the couch and nudged his friend out of the apartment, a little embarrassed by his friend's question. He didn't want it to be awkward between him and Kirsten.

"You know it is getting kind of late, I should probably take you home," Sandy said to Kirsten with concern in his voice.

"Sandy, I drove, I can handle myself this late," Kirsten replied laughing while rolling her eyes.

"You know if it wasn't for that interruption, I don't think we would have ever noticed the time. I mean you don't have to go now if you don't want to. I want you to stay. It's just that I don't want you to drive home so late. I know, if you want to stay, I'll take you home later and you can pick your car up in the morning," Sandy rambled, something he was known for doing. He was hoping the night wouldn't end now.

"Okay," Kirsten said smiling back at him, not wanting to leave.

So, they went back to hanging out. Around 1am, they started getting a little tired. Kirsten sprawled onto the couch, Sandy sitting on the floor next to her. Sandy noticed Kirsten yawn and took that as a clue that they should call it a night.

"I'll take you home now," Sandy said, so protective of Kirsten.

"He'd make a great boyfriend," Kirsten thought to herself, "he's so protective and caring". To Sandy she replied, "No, I can drive. You have an exam at 8am too, by the time you get back it'll be around 2. I'll be fine."

Sandy thought about what his friend had said earlier. "You know, if you want, you could just stay here tonight? It kind of makes sense now that it's already after 1. If you want to that is," Sandy said, hoping he didn't sound like he wanted to get into Kirsten's pants. While he did have the hots for Kirsten ever since he met her, like Kirsten, he didn't want to ruin their great friendship with a relationship. He knew from experience that that could lead to feeling hurt later on. He didn't want that for either of them. But man, he was finding it really hard to resist his feelings for her…especially tonight...they were all alone...having a good time…Kirsten looking so beautiful in her tight tank top and jeans.

"Really? Okay, if you don't mind," Kirsten said a little awkwardly. Like Sandy, her heart was winning the race against her mind which said to be nothing more than friends but her growing feelings for Sandy were starting to take over.

Sandy lent Kirsten some sweatpants to accompany her tank top. They both stood there awkwardly, not knowing who would sleep where. Sandy went over to the bed and fluffed the pillows and blankets, saying, "Here, you take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch."

"No Sandy, this is your apartment. You take the bed, I'll take the couch," Kirsten insisted.

"No, I want you to be comfortable."

"And I want you to be comfortable."

This argument went on for a while until Sandy came up with a daring idea. "We could both sleep on the bed," he stammered out nervously, "I know its small but that way neither of us can say we lost the argument of who sleeps where," he joked.

"Umm…okay. As long as you don't mind. Don't worry, I don't take up a lot of space," Kirsten said smiling.

"I can tell," Sandy replied, motioning at Kirsten's hands that were holding onto Sandy's sweatpants. If she took her hands off of them, they'd have dropped to the floor exposing her thong.

They slowly got into the small twin bed together. They hadn't even romantically kissed and here they were sharing the same bed. Sandy turned off the night light, the apartment only lit by the light of the moon.

"Good night," he whispered, smiling at Kirsten. He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

She turned her head to face Sandy's, and, being so close together, her lips lightly brushed past Sandy's as she kissed him on the cheek and said, "Good night." Kirsten looked back at Sandy, who looked deep within her eyes.

He pushed her hair out of her face and lightly touched her cheek. Seeing that she wasn't resisting, he leaned in and lightly kissed her on the lips, relieved to find Kirsten's lips reciprocating the kiss. They pulled apart, looked at each other and smiled. Kirsten closed her eyes and softly moaned as Sandy leaned in to kiss her again, this time more passionately, to which Kirsten responded back with a more passionate kiss. Sandy's arms made their way around Kirsten's body and pulled her close to him, holding her tightly. Kirsten pulled up the covers to cover their bodies and wrapped her arms around Sandy's back as the kissing got more intense. They had been holding their desire for one another inside for so long that when it finally came out they couldn't stop the kissing.

After a few minutes they were out of breath from all the kissing. They stopped kissing and moved away from each other, both realizing what it was leading to. Kirsten said, "You know, if we do this it will change our relationship forever."

"I know. If you want I'll sleep on the couch," Sandy said concerned, hoping that Kirsten didn't think he wanted to have sex. The last thing he wanted was for a few innocent kisses to lead to something that could ruin their relationship. What he really wanted her to know was that he liked her. That he liked her a lot and was willing to take things slow.

Suddenly, Kirsten starting laughing hysterically, "Sandy! I meant if we…you know...took our relationship further than just friends."

"Kirsten I want to give it a try. We can take it slow. I really like you, a lot. Ever since I met you I thought you were beautiful on the outside, but over the past few months I've come to know the person on the inside and she's even more beautiful. You don't know how many times I've wanted to take you out on a date."

"I feel the same way about you. You've brought joy and laughter back into my life, Sandy, and if we don't give this a try I know we'll regret…everything tells me that this relationship would work," Kirsten said smiling, "and I'm longing to call you my boyfriend."

"Okay…Kirsten Nichol, would you go out with me tomorrow night? How about dinner and a movie?"

"Certainly…but I think we could consider this our first date," she said laughing, hoping that Sandy would agree.

"Without a doubt. We had all the makings of a date…dinner, a movie, a first kiss," Sandy said touching his hand to Kirsten's cheek.

They sat in silence taking in the events of the evening, gradually letting their bodies find one another again, Sandy wrapping his arms around Kirsten as she snuggled up to Sandy.

Sandy looked down at Kirsten, noticing that she had fallen asleep on him. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, then smiled as he closed his eyes, happy he finally got what he had wanted for months.

Kirsten woke up to find Sandy not in bed with her. "This is a lot different than how I woke up after we first slept together," she thought to herself. She was referring to the fact that on that morning, she awoke to find herself still in Sandy's arms with Sandy lightly rubbing her back. Not today. She got out of bed and found a note on the dresser from Sandy that said he'd be out for the day on business but would be back before dinner.

She wondered where he could have gone. She doubted he went out on business this early before his usual morning surf. She picked up the phone and began dialing his cell. Suddenly she stopped dialing, wondering what she was doing calling him. She thought to herself, "Remember last night? He wasn't honest with you. He kissed Rebecca." Kirsten frowned and was about to hang up the phone, but then started dialing his number again and said to herself, "I just miss him. I miss the Sandy that told me that night in his apartment that he liked me and wanted to be more than friends. The Sandy who held me tight that first night we slept together. The Sandy who's been just as romantic as he was that first night for the last twenty years. I miss him. I just want to hear his voice and make sure he knows that I will forgive him, and that I love him."

Sandy saw that Kirsten was calling. He didn't want to lie about where he was going, but he didn't want to spoil the surprise either. Although he wanted to talk to Kirsten and apologize again, he opted to ignore her call. He'd explain everything later.

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