DISCLAIMER: I don't own The OC or its characters.

Author's note: Thank you to all those who reviewed the last chapter. Please let me know what you think of this one as I worked extremely hard on it and tried to take everyone's thoughts into account!

One would think that Sandy would have been relieved and happy to have Kirsten coming home from the hospital, but he knew what it meant. It meant that the pending court date till Kirsten was released from the hospital would now be scheduled since Kirsten was capable of attending court. It meant that Kirsten would be on trial for drunk driving. He didn't even want to think about all of the possible outcomes of whatever the verdict was. Sandy sighed as he thought these things over again and again in his mind.

Kirsten, on the other hand, was thrilled to be coming home. She couldn't wait to hit the bottle. How she missed her vodka. It had been a few days and she longed for it to relieve her stress, especially now that she had to face an upcoming trial.

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Sandy got Kirsten settled on the couch with her medications and some magazines. Unfortunately Sandy had to go in to work that day. He had cancelled appointments with his clients for the last 3 days because of the accident and he was afraid that if he didn't go in, he'd be out of a job. He sighed, that was the chance he took when he decided to open up his own law firm and have no secretary to help organize his schedule. He just hoped that Kirsten would be okay and wouldn't drink, although he had a pretty good system in place to see if she did drink anything while he was gone…he counted all the liquor bottles they had in the house before he left. He sighed, it was sad that it had come to this.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" he asked Kirsten, still hesitant to leave her alone.

"I'm fine," Kirsten said reassuringly, chasing him out of the house so that she could get a drink, "go, get your mind off me and my problems," she said as he walked out of the house.

"That's right Kirsten, let Sandy 'Get his mind off you and your problems', the problems that you have to deal with alone," Kirsten thought to herself. She really did feel alone. She sighed and got up slowly and went to the bar, grabbing her first bottle of vodka since the accident.

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Seth and Ryan were surprised when they saw Kirsten sitting on the couch in the tv room when they came home after school as they had thought Kirsten was getting released at around 5pm, not earlier.

"Woah!" Seth said surprised as he backed up when he saw his mother lying on the couch.

Kirsten didn't know how her kids would react to her being home after they, according to her, lashed out at her the day before.

"I'm glad you're home," Ryan said calmly as he looked Kirsten in the eyes, but with a hint of force in his voice and a glare in his eyes, as if he was saying, "I'm glad you're home and that you're going to get better for yourself and you're family."

"So tonight's the prom," Kirsten said lightly, trying to change the subject to about the boys.

Ryan looked at Seth, and seeing that Seth wasn't responding, said, "Yes, it is."

"Don't forget to bring the girls here before you go. I want to take some pictures," Kirsten said with a small smile.

"No, no, and no. I am not letting Summer see her like this," Seth said to Ryan. Kirsten frowned. Seth wouldn't even look at or talk to her.

"Seth, your mom wants to take some pictures. Its no big deal, we'll just pick up the girls a little earlier and come back here for a few minutes," Ryan said ignoring Seth's reason for not wanting to come back. As angry as Ryan was at Kirsten for turning to alcohol, he didn't want to see Kirsten and Seth's relationship fall apart. He knew Seth would later regret what he was saying to his mother during this difficult time. He himself had regretted thing she said to his mother when she had her bad alcoholic days.

"Please Seth, for me. I want to have some pictures of my babies going to their first prom, and it will take my mind off things," Kirsten said hopelessly.

Ryan gave Seth "the eyes," and Seth responded unexcitedly with, "Whatever, but do not, I mean do not even think about embarrassing me in front of Summer. You've embarrassed me enough already to last the rest of my high school years with your drinking." The boys then headed upstairs to get ready.

Kirsten frowned. Why did Seth have to keep bringing it up? She started getting the craving again. She stood up and headed over to the bar. She looked around the bar, remembering why she told Sandy she wanted to renovate the dining room in the first place. Not because she wanted to have a more accessible drinking area to drink more, but because she wanted something to keep herself occupied during the long summer without the boys.

She sighed, never in a million years did she ever imagine that things would turn out the way they were now. She opened the small refrigerator behind the bar and got out the opened container of vodka she drank earlier that day, and drank it straight out of the bottle, like usual. She contemplated opening a new bottle when she finished that one, and decided to, considering that Seth didn't want her to embarrass him when he brought Summer over so she thus needed to remain calm, therefore needing more to drink to prevent any outbursts.

After drinking, Kirsten went to the bedroom to freshen up a bit as best she could with her one hand since the other was in a sling. When Sandy arrived home and saw that she had left the couch, he worried that Kirsten had done more than just freshen up. Though Kirsten seemed to be acting normal, he still suspected she drank during the day. She was way too calm for everything she was going through. He didn't want to confront her before the kids came though, as he knew it would only cause the kids embarrassment, so he left it alone for the time being, and when Kirsten wasn't looking, he counted all the liquor in the house to see if he was correct in his assumptions and would therefore have a better case when confronting her.

The boys, Summer, and Marissa came back and Kirsten warmly greeted the girls, trying to hide from her sons the fact that she had been drinking earlier. A bit too cheerful and over-exaggerating about taking pictures, everyone quickly suspected that Kirsten had been drinking because there was no way Kirsten could have been so bubbly given the circumstances she currently was under. Nor would the normal Kirsten act like this.

Seth, and now even Ryan, were both frustrated with Kirsten. Seth nudged Ryan and told him it was time to go, and they left, rather suddenly. While Ryan didn't care if Kirsten embarrassed him in front of the girls, he knew it would ruin Seth's first prom and he didn't want that to happen. He would work on Kirsten and Seth's relationship tomorrow, but tonight, he wanted Seth to enjoy himself at the prom.

After the kids left, Sandy confronted Kirsten. "While you were taking so many pictures, I happened to notice that 2 bottles of vodka are missing."

Kirsten froze, unable to think of a response.

"I know you were drinking today. If it wasn't obvious from how you acted in front of the kids, I have other proof. I counted how much liquor we have in the house this morning before I left for work. 2 bottles of vodka are missing now. I didn't think I would have to throw out all the liquor. I thought that the accident and its consequences would be enough to get you to stop drinking. And even if you were going to drink, I didn't think you'd do it the day you got released from the hospital! How could you Kirsten?" Sandy asked with disgust in his voice.

"I…I…I just needed to. Okay? And besides, I'm not drunk!" Kirsten stuttered.

"I would think that you'd be pretty familiar with what the sensation of being drunk is, considering how often you are, but apparently not. You are drunk Kirsten!" Sandy said sarcastically, and then added in, "You need help!"

"I do not! Just leave me alone!" Kirsten screamed loudly as she walked out of the living room. She really had no answer for Sandy, or worse yet, for herself. She had no idea what to say for herself.

Sandy felt like drinking himself. He knew that Kirsten still drinking after the accident would do nothing for her case. That night Sandy slept on the couch. After Sandy told Kirsten she needed help, she ran into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. He figured it was for the best if he left her alone. He thought maybe, just maybe, some alone time would make her realize how bad she was hurting herself and how much she did need help.

The next two days not much changed…

Seth still wouldn't talk to Kirsten, or even look her in the eyes.

Ryan continued to try to talk to Seth and get him to work on his relationship with his mother.

Sandy continued to try and get Kirsten to stop drinking and convince her to get some help.

Sandy and Kirsten continued to fight with one another about Kirsten's drinking.

And Kirsten still denied she had a problem and snuck drinks in when she thought her family wasn't looking, but they were. They saw everything, and as she continued to hurt herself, they continued to get hurt by her as well.

On Monday Kirsten received a summons saying that her trial was in 3 weeks. She had 3 weeks to prepare a defense for herself, and right now, she had nothing.

When Sandy came home from work that day, he found Kirsten in the kitchen crying, something he hadn't seen her do in a long time. In fact, since before the accident, because ever since the accident all she did was yell at everyone. But not today. Sandy couldn't wait to find out what had made her open up like this and cry. He hoped she had come to a realization that she needed help.

"Kirsten? You okay?" Sandy asked rather coldly. As much as he tried to be compassionate, it was hard when all Kirsten did was snap at him.

Kirsten moved the letter toward him, which he read anxiously. When he finished reading it, he said more compassionately, "Kirsten, it's going to be okay," as he wrapped his arms around her rather awkwardly. Not only had he and Kirsten lacked emotional comfort recently, but also physical comfort. They hadn't hugged, or let alone kissed in weeks.

As he held her tightly, he started thinking about the case, and for the first time, he felt relieved that they knew when her case would be. Maybe this was just what his wife needed. Court ordered help…rehab. Because Sandy was tired of trying to convince his wife that she needed help, so maybe this would be what's best for her. Then maybe they could start rebuilding their family…and be hugging like this because they loved each other and were getting ready to make love…and not hugging because Kirsten was going on trial for drunk driving as she continued to battle alcoholism.

Let me know what you think!

The next chapter will feature the trial and the verdict. I guarantee you that you won't believe what the verdict is and what happens next. Review and I will have the next chapter up super fast!