Thank you once again for the wonderful reviews. I'm so happy that you like this story and it makes me feel all warm inside when I read all the great feedback you've given me. Also a big big big thank you for Misty who have edited this chapter as well as the next one...Yup there is another one that is done hehehee...but I wont post that baby today ;). Keep the reviews coming and here you go...another chapter of Sick day!

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to OC. This is purely fiction and not intended to hurt anyone.

Chapter 4

Ryan returned back to bed after yet another meeting with his porcelain friend. His stomach felt so cramped and he wondered what he'd done to deserve such a miserable feeling. Another thought that crossed his mind was what the heck it was that kept coming up every time he heaved. He hadn't eaten much yesterday so his stomach had been far from full, yet the stuff just kept coming and coming, he was really burning the candle at both ends.

As if things weren't bad enough he also felt like his head would explode at any given second and his throat burned from all the heaving. There was also that uncomfortable feeling that came with the territory of a sore throat as well as a fever on the rise. Not to mention the coughing that sneaked up on him when he'd lest expect it. It was safe to say that staying out in the rain yesterday, while waiting for Lindsay to show up, was what resulted in this illness.

And what did he get for it?

Nothing.

As far as he knew Lindsay was on her way to Chicago and the fact that he felt too sick to even call her made him feel even more miserable than before. Every time he'd picked up the phone he had either been wracked with a hard cough or his stomach had sent him the signals that he needed to be close to a bathroom. Luckily he'd made it in time but there hadn't been much time to spare. It was like there was a higher force making sure that he wouldn't be able to stop Lindsay from leaving. He had to accept the fact that she was on her way, leaving him for good.

The mere thought of loosing her made Ryan's stomach cramp up again and he rolled into a ball. He couldn't believe that he had to be sick at a time like this, a time when he had so much to do and couldn't afford another sick day. Truth was that even though he'd been staying with the Cohen's for more then a year and half there wasn't many days that they'd had to call in sick for him. A few colds, some flues and a couple of cases of food poisoning, one that might just as well been a case of drinking too much since he'd been a bit wasted the night before at one of Newport's fancy parties. He'd also had a bad case strep throat which left him home for a week, other than that he was healthy and had stayed home very few times school. The same couldn't be said for Seth who was the weakest link in the family and seemed to attract more easily the Newport germs. Ryan hadn't said it out loud but he figured it was because he was used to it from his childhood, growing up in rough conditions. Where he came from you couldn't complain about a stuffy nose or a stomach ache. You only stay home from school if you were in the hospital or maybe if you had O.D on an illegal substance.

Those days when he was sick for real he rarely wanted to stay home anyways and therefore he hadn't had many sick days at all. Staying at home usually meant that he had to spend more time with his mom or even worse; AJ. He preferred being at school even if that meant that he would fall asleep in class or had to go throw up in the boy's bathroom. The teachers never said anything when he was in one of those conditions. Ryan was certain that they knew about his family life or lack there of but they never said anything to him about it. He never thought that the teachers cared if he was there or not, his mom certainly hadn't, and as far as he could remember there had only been one occasion that a teacher had really cared for him. It was John Cleve, his teacher for Art, who had thought that he had the skills and should spend more time at school instead of hanging out with the "boys".

Another chill wracked his body and he couldn't say if it was from the memories it all brought up or for the fact that his fever was on the rise. Whatever bug that his body was harbouring made him feel really bad and when it was at its worst he'd even contemplated on calling Kirsten or at least Seth to help him out. Yet he'd done his best to tough it out, just like he'd done so many times in the past.

Closing his eyes he waited for sleep to come when suddenly out of nowhere Seth's voice cut through his head like a sharp drill. "Ryaaaan man, how are you doing?" Before he had a chance to answer his brother bounced in doing his best impression of Tigger

Ryan groaned. The last thing he wanted… needed was to have Seth bursting into his room like his pants were on fire. He'd also thought that Summer was here and therefore Seth would be occupied for the rest of the day, but nope here he was ready to baby sit him.

Ryan however didn't think he needed babysitting. As far as he remembered there had been no one caring for him when he was sick from the age of four up to now. That is if you didn't count Trey who had been more like his parent than his own mom and dad.

"I just came to see how you're doing? You feel any better?" Seth was so close to him that he could smell his breath and if he hadn't been so tired and exhausted Ryan would have clocked him.

Now he just settled for an annoyed, "Seth get out of my face."

"And if I'm not? What you going to do? Barf?"

"Don't temp me." Ryan hissed. He loved his brother but sometimes Seth could simply be too much.

"I take that as a challenge!" Seth grinned.

Ryan sighed. Apparently Seth was in a very good mood and Ryan had his ideas what had caused this sudden change in appearance. If he knew Seth he would soon be told what had went on inside the main building while he'd spent his time hugging the throne. Not that he wanted or even cared to know, especially not now when it felt like his head would roll off his shoulders if he didn't get knocked off with another Tylenol or even better; a sledgehammer.

"So what do you want?" Ryan rubbed a hand over his stomach. "You just going to stand there or tell me why you're here?" He gritted his teeth.

"I told you. I came here to keep you company so you wouldn't have to be alone." Seth sat down at the end of the bed. "You still feel sick?"

"You could say that, yes." Ryan knew his tone was a bit whiny, yet he didn't care. The nausea washed all over him again but this time he had mentally decided that enough was enough. He would not throw up again or at least he intended to stall the procedure as long as he could. His stomach still ached from his last trip. Rolling to his side he did his best to find another, more comfortable position. When it didn't work he ended up on his back again.

"You look pitiful."

Ryan rolled his eyes. The last thing he needed right now was to hear Seth telling him how bad he looked. "I don't know if you notice Seth but I don't feel that talkative right now."

"You never do," Seth informed him, making no move to get away from his bed. "I wouldn't know the difference."

Ignoring that last comment Ryan swallowed hard. "So why are you here then? Why aren't you with Summer? Or in bed, resting?" He did his best to refer to the scam that he knew Seth had so brilliantly plotted.

"I was in bed." A large grin appeared on his face. "And I tell you bro the last thing I did was rest." Before Ryan had a chance to object Seth told him about his morning in bed and Ryan listened with half an ear. So Summer was with him again. Big deal. It had only been a matter of time before those two would be a couple again.

"So you're back together then? I mean definitely?"

Seth smiled widely. "I guess you can say that. Yup."

"So why are you not with her then?"

"I am. She is in the kitchen."

"Oh?"

"Yup. She is making you chicken soup."

Upon hearing the mention of food Ryan swallowed hard. "She is?"

"Yes." Seth seemed serious. "Dude it's almost lunch time and you need to get something in that stomach of yours. Mom has always said starve a cold, feed a fever."

Ryan sighed. "I'm not hungry besides the saying's "Feed a cold, starve a fever."

"Ok whatever." Seth shrugged. "Anyway it's good for you to eat something or else you might dehydrate."

Ryan looked up with surprise. "Seth, I thought you didn't do sick."

"I don't," he grinned. "But I just passed my doctor's exam."

"Huh?"

"An inside joke."

"Okay." Ryan didn't feel like telling jokes or even understanding them. Feeling yet another nausea attack creep up on him he grit his teeth. God when would this ever stop? He couldn't remember the last time he felt this sick and part of him started to think that either he had become the victim of a particularly nasty stomach bug or this was the pent up emotions that he felt about Lindsay. He'd heard that someone could get sick if they didn't let out the feelings they carried inside and if that was true, this could be the reason why he was feeling so shitty. The fever however was harder to explain.

Seth must have sensed or noticed that colour or lack of colour there was on Ryan's face since he suddenly blurted out, "You're not going to puke again, are you?"

Ryan, who had no idea if he would or would not get sick, waved his hand in a dismissing gesture before weakly adding, "I don't know."

"You want me to get you the bucket?"

It was too strenuous to talk so Ryan just kept quiet. This had Seth pushing on the subject. "Dude you better run for the bathroom since cleaning up your chunks is the last thing I'm doing. There I draw the line on this "taking care stuff"

Groaning, Ryan looked away. What did he do to get stuck with Seth all day? His brother's bedside manner stunk and the last thing he wanted to do was to have him hovering beside him while he was fighting the battle of hell in his gut.

Just when thing's couldn't get any worse, he was still hanging onto his contents by sheer will, a girl voice could be heard from the door opening. "Seth! Your mom is on the phone!"

"What?" Ryan noticed Seth do a double take and then jump up from the bed and then run to take the phone that Summer was holding in her hand. "Oh crap now she's gonna know," he moaned as he took the phone. Meanwhile Summer stepped up closer to Ryan's bed.

"Hi Chino, how you're doing?"

"Shitty." What else was there to say?

"That's too bad." Summer was still standing a careful distance from him, obviously afraid to catch the bug that was eating him alive right now. "Seth is sick too so I decided to come here to comfort him.

"Yeah I know."

"I can see that Seth didn't exaggerate when he said that you were feeling bad. You about to get sick?"

"I don't know," Ryan answered honestly and moved closer to the side of the bed in case he would start feeling worse, and now he regretted deeply that he hadn't let Seth fetch the bucket. At least then he would have felt on the safe side. Feeling that it was better to change the subject he said to Summer, "So you decided to get back to Seth after all."

"Yep." There was a large smile on her face. "You know what they say; Old habits die hard."

"So you feel that you've made the right choice then? Dropping Zach for Seth?"

"I guess." Summer looked at him. "You and Lindsay still dating?"

The question had Ryan a bit knocked back. He'd thought that Seth would have filled her in on Lindsay earlier and that Summer would have understood that it was a hot topic. "Seth didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" She frowned.

"That Lindsay and I aren't a couple anymore." He paused briefly as the realisation sank once more into his brain. "She is leaving for Chicago today. Going to move there." Feeling another lazy roll inside his stomach he put his hand up to his mouth while mentally debating whether or not he should get into the bathroom before it was too late.

Summer caught his discomfort. "Ewww Chino…you're not gonna puke, are you?" There was genuine fright in her voice and he wished he could have given a negative answer but honestly, he had no idea if that would happen or not.

"You don't look so hot."

"I don't feel that way either." To his relief the worst bout of nausea died down and Ryan could breath normally again.

"I'm making you chicken soup."

"Yeah, Seth told me. But I'm not that hungry."

"You sure? I make the best chicken soup there is. At least Seth thinks so…it's Campells; fresh out of a can."

" Nah…I'm fine. I think I'll pass if that is all right with you. Another time maybe, when I'm better." Ryan smiled palely at her even though he was certain that it came out more like a grimace.

"Okay suit yourself. Your loss." Before Ryan had a chance to apologize Summer picked up a blanket and threw it over him. "Just in case you get cold."

This action caught Ryan in for a loop. This was not a side he'd seen that often in Summer. She could be a big surprise. He had no idea if this was because she felt bad for him being sick or for the fact that Lindsay had just dumped him. To tell the truth he was too tired to care whichever it was. It just felt good that someone was caring for him, even if it was a bit surprising that the person was Summer. Lifting his head to tell her thanks he was instantly met by Seth calling from the kitchen door. "Summer come on over here. I need to talk to you." Seth sounded so upset that Ryan guessed it had something to do with the phone call he had earlier on. Kirsten had probably chewed his ear off for lying to her.

"Cohen! What's the hurry?" Even though Summer questioned his actions it was very clear that she was more than happy to find an excuse to get out of the Pool house where all the germs were flying around. Not that he blamed her either. He guessed that it both looked and smelled disgusting in here. She broke into his mind by saying, " Sorry Chino. I got to go. Seth is calling me." She gave him an apologetically smile. "I hope you feel better." With those words she was out off the pool house faster than Ryan could blink.

As soon as he was alone again Ryan sank down into his pillows. It felt a bit chilled in the room and he was actually grateful that Summer had covered him up with the blanket. To his relief it felt like the worst bout of nausea was passing away and for the moment all he felt was a bit unsteady, but nothing that he couldn't handle. Closing his eyes Ryan willed himself to go to sleep. He was starting to get really tired and decided that it was best to try and get a couple or more hours of sleep before the next person would come in and disturb him. With that in mind he let exhaustion take over him and soon his eyelids were so heavy that it was impossible to hold them up and soon Ryan was fast asleep, trapped in a restless feverish state.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Cohen! Why did you tell your mom that I was here? Now my parents going to know that I ditched school today. " Summers voice had reached a level that Seth didn't even think was possible. They had been arguing for quite a while now and the tension was more starting to become hot. With anger.

"I wasn't the one that was stupid enough to answer the phone in the first place." Seth shook his head. "Gawd how could you do that Summer? If you hadn't done that everything would have been calm right now and she would never have found out that you were here."

"You call me stupid?" Summers eyes flashed with anger. "If it wasn't for your little stunt of wanting to play sick then we wouldn't be in this mess. Now Kirsten will call my dad and he will pull me out of my allowance and I need to shop new clothes for next weekend's party."

Seth bit his lip. He had seen Summer upset many times but never this angry for something that he didn't think was that much of a deal. So his mother had called and now they were both going to get a chewed out, but that was about it. It wasn't like it was the first time either one of them had played hooky. Moving towards Summer he placed a hand on her arm. "I'm sorry," he said. He was never the one to stay upset for long.

Summer pretended that she didn't take notice of him but he could see that she was starting to loosen up and he moved his hand up her arm in a comforting gesture. "Come on Sum, let's leave this behind us. After all we have the whole day to ourselves and we can do so much more fun things then fight." He waved with his hand towards his bedroom. "Come on nurse, this doctor needs a backrub."

"Too bad because you won't get any." Summers voice was cold and Seth sighed. She was so complicated and there were times when he really wondered what he saw in her. In the past as it was in the present Seth's and Summers relationship built on emotions. Strong emotions that could fit into both categories as love and hate. This was no exception.

"Besides I'm making chicken soup for Ryan."

"Oh yeah. Did he want any?"

"No."

There was a brief silence when they just sat down on the kitchen counter, eating the chicken soup and staring at each other. For a moment Seth felt like they were an old couple that had been married for ages and had nothing to talk about. He hoped that this was not how his newly found love with Summer would turn out to be and he couldn't help to start thinking about what she and Zach had done when they had spent time together. Hopefully this was just a phase and the silence was just a result of them feeling tense with each other.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Summer suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Huh? Tell you what?" This girl was so hard to understand sometimes and Seth really had to clear the cowebs out off his brain to follow her. "What did I or didn't I say?"

"That Ryan and Lindsay aren't a couple anymore."

Seth about choked on the soup. "They aren't?"

"No." Summer shook her head. "Ryan didn't tell you?"

Seth thought for a while, then shook his head, "Not that I remember...No."

"Wierd, I got the impression that you already knew."

"Well I don't." He felt a bit upset over the fact that Ryan had told Summer and not him about his love life or lack there off. Didn't Ryan trust him as a friend? After all they were brother's, weren't they?

"Ok then... It's probably the fever doing a number on his brain," Summer said noticing how silent Seth had become after being told about the break-up.

"Maybe but I..."

Seth didn't have a chance to end his sentence before the door suddenly opened and Ryan came shuffling into the kitchen. He was dressed in his pyjamas bottoms, a pale blue tee and barefoot in his slippers. His whole appearances was dishevelled, with a serious case of bed hair, and if it wasn't for the bleary eyes and the red feverish tint on his cheeks one might have thought that he was suffering from a serious case of hangover.

Not wanting to press the issue any further, he would as soon as Ryan stopped looking like an seasick tourist on a Tuna boat, Seth called out, "Dude, what are you doing up? I thought you were ill." Not getting any answer he watched Ryan walk over to the refrigerator, open the door and pull out a bottle of Gatorade. "Shouldn't you be in bed? Man,you look like crap!"

Ryan glared at him. "I'm thirsty and wanted something to drink." His voice was hoarse and he coughed harshly as he with shaky hands fumbled with the bottle, trying to pull the cap off. Exhaustion had clearly taken it's toll.

"You could have given me a signal and I would've come out with water for you." Seth shook his head. "Here let me help you." Jumping off his high chair he walked over to Ryan, grabbed the bottle and twisted the cap off in a swift move. "There you go."

"Thanks." Ryan was pale, face drawn. His body was in a hunched over position and they could tell that he wasn't feeling well at all. He grimaced widely as he took a sip from the Gatorade.

"It hurts your throat?" Seth asked as he studied his brother.

"Mmmm." Ryan had a hand on his stomach.

"You feel up to eating something?" Summer asked as she gestured towards the bowl of chicken soup. "It's really good, isn't it Seth?" A punch in his side and Seth nodded as in automatic.

"Sure. You know what they say. Chicken soup will heal your soul."

"Nah thanks." Ryan paled and he stumbled like he was feeling dizzy.

"Whoa, there bro." Seth was instantly there with a helping hand. "You feeling dizzy? You shouldn't be up if you feel this sick." He took notice of the alarming heat that radiated from his brothers skin.

"It's nothing. I just moved too fast. That's all." Ryan mumbled as he steadied himself against the counter, Seth still keeping his steady grip on Ryan's arm.

"You still feel sick to your stomach?" Summer asked.

"A little, but I think the worst have passed. I haven't puked in an hour or so.. Ryan smiled weakly. "That's always something."

"Yeah it is.I'm sure you start feeling better in no time".

"I hope so. This sucks." Ryan didn't spend much time talking. He stood up straight to move when Seth was at his side again.

"You going back?"

"Mmmm."

"You want me to help you? Out to the poolhouse?"

"Nah. It's ok. I can manage."

Seth sighed. Ryan could be so stubborn at times and to be honest he felt sick and tired of his brother always being the one that didn't need help. Especially since he, Seth, was the one that often needed help.

"Ok." Seth let go off his arm. "Just let me know if you need any help."

"'kay."

They both watched their friend walk on shaky legs towards the pool house and when he was out of their sight Summer said. "You know what Cohen? I think I need to go back home. I have to start unpacking my stuff and you need to be with Ryan."

At first Seth started to object then he nodded. Sometimes it was better to call it day, especially when all they seemed to do was to argue and then they could meet again later on and be in good terms with each other. Later on when Summer had left Seth sat down in the sofa and picked up his video games. Starting the game he decided that he could at least entertain himself with something he liked. After all he was home "sick" too.