Stranded Memories
Rating: PG-13 for language
Disclaimer: I own crap. They wouldn't even give me the bloody Lost poster at Disney, and that ruined my day. FOX owns all OC characters and OC related thingys… and ABC owns sobs all Lost related things… even my Charlie… Yellowcard owns the lyrics to "View From Heaven." Damn, what do I own?
Summary: Little things can push people over the edge. That very thing happens to Seth Cohen. When something happens to him that sends him into a crashing situation, who knows how he will survive. Seth-centric. Lost/OC Crossover.
A/n: I love how everything that I have worked so hard to put Seth through in the past few chapters, is all going down the drain. xD
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"Sethless Chrismukkah"
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It was the first Chrismukkah without Seth. Kirsten was taking it exceptionally hard. I tired to get through it, but we all missed Seth. It had been four months since he was missing, and six months since any of us last saw him alive.
The date was December 24th, only one more day of Seth's favorite holiday. Kirsten barely left her room and Sandy did all he could. They never went through with a gravestone. Kirsten had forbidden it. That was what they had been talking about before Aerin left.
Aerin had made it back to Sydney safe, and as far as I knew, she was living with her parents. I talked to her on the phone once and she told me that she couldn't go back to the apartment she shared with Seth.
Me, Summer, Lindsay, and Sandy were in the living room watching Over The Top, the family classic. Sandy had gone to get Kirsten a while ago, but the holidays really drained her.
Not a lot did we talk to Marissa, she had distanced herself from us. Sometimes I missed seeing her and stuff, but it was for the best.
The phone rang and I slowly got up to get it.
"Hello?" I answered the phone in the kitchen.
"Hi, Ryan," Aerin's voice came from the other line.
"Oh, hey. Merry Chrismukkah," I told her.
"Chrismukkah?" Aerin obviously didn't understand. Wow, I would've thought Seth would tell her.
"Mix of Christmas and Hanukkah. Seth made it," I explained to her.
"Oh. Then, Merry Chrismukkah," I laughed when I heard Aerin say it in her accent.
"So what's up?" I asked her. She called not that often, maybe every three weeks.
"Just seeing how everything was. You know, if there are any updates," Aerin answered.
"Well, no updates on anything. How's the baby doing?" Whenever I spoke about the baby, my mind went to Theresa. I hadn't seen her in well over a year. Not since she told me she lost the baby.
"So far so good. Four months. Only five more," Aerin joked. That was about how far Theresa had been.
"Any plans on coming back to Newport for a bit?" I wondered.
"Maybe. I want to visit before I'm too far into my pregnancy. So yeah, I might visit soon," It was nice talking to Aerin, I did miss her. I talked to her more on the phone than when she was here.
"That's cool," I commented.
"Yeah," She agreed and I felt a silence come on. We didn't say a word. Yep, I was right.
"Well, I'll let you go. Don't wanna waste your money for long distance," I broke it.
"Right, okay. Um, I'll call you soon. You know, about the visit. So, bye, Merry Chrismukkah," she said.
"Merry Chrismukkah," I hung up slowly and went back to the living room.
"Who was that?" Summer asked me warily as I sat down next to her.
"Aerin," I tried to figure out what I missed in the movie.
"How's she doing?" Sandy now questioned.
"Good. Four months in. She might visit soon," I finally noticed how much we were covering our real pain. The only person who wasn't was Kirsten. We all pretended to be happy, only we weren't. The holidays were sucking this year.
There wasn't a reason to be happy. All the holiday cheer that once was so memorable was gone. Seth kept Chrismukkah together. We barely even put up a Christmas tree.
The movie ended, and Sandy got up to get the DVD.
"So Ryan, do you wanna do something tonight?" Summer looked up at me.
"I don't know. Maybe. Doesn't matter," Obviously I wasn't paying attention.
"Well, you're really decisive," Summer said, getting angry.
"What? I don't know what to do. It's Christmas Eve, what can we do?" I explained.
"I know, but isn't there like a party every night?" Summer asked me.
"I don't know. I don't keep up with party schedules. You do," I really didn't want the holidays to happen. They pretty much sucked without Seth.
"How about we don't fight? It's Chrismukkah, we're supposed to be happy," My girlfriend looked at me.
"Sure," I didn't feel like fighting or doing much of anything.
We watched another movie, I had no clue what it was about. I was falling asleep through it.
"Ryan," Sandy's voice woke me up. I opened my eyes. When had I fallen asleep? "Can you get Kirsten? Dinner's almost ready."
I nodded and Sandy left to tend to dinner. But I was stuck. Summer had fallen asleep on me. I gently lifted her head and got up, then laid her back down.
All of us had fallen asleep so as I got up, I also saw Lindsay sleeping soundly. It made me think of the times I spent with her. I smiled.
I walked past Sandy in the kitchen and went to his and Kirsten's room. The door was closed and I knocked. There wasn't an answer. "Kirsten?" I asked.
"What?" she asked back.
"Can I come in?" My hand was on the door and she didn't answer. I turned the knob.
Climbing up the stairs, I saw her lying on the bed, her back to me.
"Dinner's ready," I commented and waited for her to turn over. She didn't.
"Not hungry," She mumbled to me. I walked over closer. I saw her face, with tears running down it. Her makeup was smeared, she was a complete mess.
"Are you sure?" I wondered.
"I'm sure," Kirsten had really lost it. I hadn't seen her this bad. I knew the holidays were taking a lot out of her, actually everyone, but I didn't know it was this bad.
"Aerin called," I knew Kirsten was sort of close to Aerin.
"Neat," Her face held no emotion. I felt so bad for her.
"You should get up, get out. I don't think Seth would want you moping around," At the mention of Seth, kristen cried harder. That was a really stupid thing to do.
"No, calm down. I'm sorry," I tried to redeem myself. It wasn't working.
"Just go away Ryan," Kirsten muffled through her pillow.
"Sorry," I told her before leaving. That went great. Yeah right.
I headed into the kitchen and found Lindsay setting the table and Summer was still sleeping.
"How'd it go?" Sandy looked at me hopefully.
"I think I made it worse," I answered and began to walk to the living room.
"How?" Sandy didn't understand.
"I mentioned Seth," I went over to the couch where Summer was sleeping. "Sum, wake up. Summer."
"Hmm?" Summer opened her eyes and stared at me drowsily.
"Time to get up," I informed her.
"Fine," She was still out of it, but she got up. Unlike Kirsten. We went into the kitchen and got dinner ready.
Kirsten never came out, and Sandy tried, but it was hopeless. She wasn't leaving that room. I think.
I looked around at the dinner table. There was four people. Usually, there was something around ten. The Coopers, and the Nichols would be there. Most importantly, Seth and Kirsten would be sitting there. Kirsten would be sitting next to Sandy, happy, and Seth would be rambling about some nonsense.
I missed those days.
We all ate in silence, there was nothing to say. Chrismukkah just wasn't really the same without Seth.
I never usually enjoyed the holidays, I used to despise them when I was younger. Christmas break especially. We'd have no tree, no presents, and my mom would be drunk, but on special, stupid occasions, my brother would be arrested.
Even though this was a depressing holiday, I'd take this one more than the ones I used to have. I wanted to say there's no alcoholism, but two years ago reminded me there was.
My thoughts drifted off to Marissa. For a while, she just avoided us. I don't even know if she went to college. Summer and I were taking a break before going off. I did because back when we had our graduation, I had a feeling Seth wasn't going to come back any time soon. How right I was.
I knew that Lindsay had decided to go somewhere in California, I guess to be by her family. I didn't know.
At that moment, Kirsten walked in. We never even heard her. Sandy just looked up and saw Kirsten standing there.
"Kirsten," Sandy said and I looked back. Kirsten looked worse than ever. She had lost a lot of weight. The bones were almost peaking through the skin.
"Do you wanna have something to eat?" Sandy asked and she nodded. He got up and led her to the table where we all helped get her ready. I grabbed her a plate and drink, Sandy got stuff from the grill, and Lindsay got the side stuff. Summer kept Kirsten company.
"So, how do you feel Mrs. Cohen?" Summer asked. Kirsten didn't answer at first.
"I haven't seen my son in six months and he has been missing for four. You dated him, and broke his heart by dating my other son and caused him to leave and you also put Ryan in a coma," Kirsten heartlessly told her. I couldn't believe she had just said that. That was so not Kirsten-like. She would never say those things to her. Kirsten wasn't thinking right.
"There you go," I quickly placed a drink in front of Kirsten to be by Summer. I could see she was nearly in tears, and I held her hand, which she squeezed hard.
"Thank you," Kirsten choked out. Sandy appeared and soon, everyone was sitting down, staring at Kirsten.
She stared down at her food. We all watched her as she picked up her fork and took a bite of her mashed potatoes. It was out cue for us to be able to eat.
After dinner, we all sat down to watch another movie. For a bit, we watched A Christmas Story, where Ralphie shoots his eye out. Summer used to watch it when she was little. There was a 24 hour marathon. I couldn't take hearing "You'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out," for another two hours. So we let Kirsten pick what to watch. She got up and disappeared for a good fifteen minutes. We didn't know where she went. Finally, she appeared with a bunch of videos.
"Honey, are you sure you wanna watch these?" Sandy asked her. She took a video out.
"Yes. I want to see him again," Kirsten put the video in.
"What are we watching?" I asked Sandy, confused.
"Home videos. I bought a camera for Kirsten a while back and she went nuts with it. Recorded our moving out of Berkeley. Seth's birthdays parties, everything," Sandy told me. Little Seth? That sounded funny.
Suddenly, a seven year old Seth appeared in an empty room. It was a much smaller room than he used to have here. He was curled up in a ball in the corner of the room.
"Come on Seth, it's time to go," Kirsten said on the video. She was obviously taping.
"No," little Seth told his mom. I couldn't help but laugh at how small Seth looked.
"Seth, it's time to go," Kirsten said on the video.
"No," Seth screamed at her. I looked over at Kirsten. She was crying again. I didn't understand why she was putting herself through this.
"Still won't budge?" Sandy's voice was heard.
"He refuses," Kirsten told him.
"Let me talk to him," Sandy came on screen, ten years younger, eye brows less full.
"Come on, Seth. Don't you want to go to Newport?" Sandy knelt down by Seth.
"No," Seth told him.
"Come on, it'll be fun. Meet new kids, new room..." Sandy was trying to get Seth to go. It was really strange to see the Cohens when they were younger.
"But you said Newport was full of rich, snobby, idiotic people other than Mommy," I couldn't help but crack up. Everyone else did, even Kirsten through tears.
That part ended and the next shot was an opening of the house we all were in, but completely emtpy. Everything was baron. Kirsten was videotaping a tour of the house. It showed where we were right now. It felt like someone was watching us.
Then that ended and the next was outside by the pool house. I could see a little Seth and a little Marissa sitting at the table, surrounded by Kirsten, Jimmy, and Julie. A banner by the door, said "Happy Birthday, Seth!" Seth didn't look quite happy, and Marissa looked annoyed.
"Seth, honey, open your presents," Kirsten sat next to Seth, who looked so unhappy. It was his birthday. Aren't kids in Newport supposed to be happy when it's their birthday? I mean, you get presents. Kids in Chino get a beating.
"There's only one," Seth commented to Kirsten and Marissa looked embarrassed. She was cute as a little girl.
"Why weren't you there?" I asked Summer and she looked over at me, thinking.
"Um, I had to...um, go somewhere," Summer didn't look at me. I knew she was lying. She didn't want to go.
"You didn't go. We invited you. I heard Marissa talking about how unfair it was that you got off and she didn't," Kirsten looked over at Summer. I didn't know why Kirsten was all of a sudden putting her anger out on Summer. I knew it wasn't right, as did everyone else. So why weren't they defending Summer? I mean, did everyone think that Kirsten could just start bad-mouthing my girlfriend?
"Let's go," I grabbed Summer's arm and left. Kirsten didn't say a word, and no one else understood it. Why was Kirsten doing this now? It was Christmas Eve, why the hell was she pissing me and Summer off? I didn't understand it. She was fine until today. Okay, not fine, but sort of fine.
"Where are we?" Summer was confused. So was I. I didn't know where I was going, I just needed fresh air.
Where we were headed turned out to be sitting on the front porch.
"I'm sorry," I apologized to Summer for Kirsten.
"Why?" Summer was confused with me. Weren't we always confused?
"Because of Kirsten. She had no right to say that," I explained to her as we looked out into the darkness. It was cold, colder than I had ever felt it in Newport.
"It's fine. I'm over it. I mean, I didn't go to Cohen's party. So what? I mean, I regret it. But we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that," Summer told me. I stared at her strangely. "Okay, so maybe I should've gone."
"No, everything happens for a reason...I think. If you went, we could be in a much worse state than we are now. So, let's just be happy with what we have," I added.
"Right. That works," We grew silent as it got colder. Summer shivered and sat closer to him.
"Holy shit," She commented out of the blue after a few moments.
"What?" I was confused, and she got up.
"It's snowing. It is snowing in Newport. Holy crap! This is amazing! It has like never snowed here," Summer explained to me as she looked up into the sky. I could see small flurries dancing down to the ground.
"Don't remember it snowing in Chino either," I got up and went next to her and we both stared up into the darkness.
"You know what? I think things might get better," Summer told me. I looked at her as she still looked up.
"How so?" I didn't get her anymore.
"Well, I mean, it could be like Cohen, telling us he's alive and that things are gonna get better. You know, like, it's just a sign. That good things happen at the least expected times. Like Cohen, will come back when we totally don't expect it," She turned to me. "It's a thought."
"Right," I assured her.
"You think it's stupid," She accused me. How did I know this was coming?
"I don't. For once, I think you're completely right," I looked back up as Summer pondered whether that was a diss or complement. I just watched as Newport was covered in the smallest blanket of snow.
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A/n: Still luv the crap outta y'all… and dude, what's with the new review layout, it is freaky… but so much easier… it'll just take some getting used to I guess…Thanks to the reviewers:
alexis - Haha…
Harper's Pixie - Uh… Ethan didn't hang Seth, he drugged the hell outta him then tried to drown him. :D xD. I think, Kim can't seem to remember what happened in Chapter 19… runs to check And thanks, I like Sawyer, I don't think he's that big of an ass, and that it is all a show. Which is how I am trying to write him. but thanks! Claire's Aerin's cousin? xD… DUDE! Do you really think I am capable of killing Charlie again? I liked the little amnesia bit with Claire, and wanted to add it in somehow… I'm glad that you got all caught up. How about an immediate update? xD
The Pirate Illusionist - I think I've set a time since I've started to write the next part. Down to an exact amount. I hope the show goes on forever, because those poor people are never ever gonna get resuced because "Lost" is the biggest hit ever!
