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

Author's note: Thank you to those who reviewed. It means a lot to me.

To add on to the already stressful situation the Cohens' were in at the time, two weeks before the trial, Caleb passed away. This only caused more emotional problems for everyone, especially Kirsten.

A week before the trial, Kirsten was drinking more than ever, not caring about anything. All she did was sleep and drink all day.

Sandy was starting to give up. He was tired of constantly babying his wife but at the same time couldn't bear to watch her fall apart anymore. He couldn't wait for the trial. This, he felt, was what Kirsten, and all of the Cohens, needed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kirsten opened her closet and grabbed one of her business suits. It had been a few weeks since she'd worn one as she wasn't in work in 4 weeks. She sighed. She should have been getting ready for work. Instead, she was getting day for the biggest trial of her life.

She hobbled into the kitchen, still in physical pain from the accident. Sandy eyed his wife over, noticing the differences in her appearance now that she was wearing a business suit, something she had worn countless times to work and looked great in.

Except now she didn't look great at all. Her hair looked matted and tangled, like it hadn't been combed in weeks, her face was still bruised, and her eyes looked bloodshot and glossy. The tight-fitting suit that used to flatter Kirsten in all the right places now hung loosely on her thin body like it was too big for her.

Not many words were exchanged between Sandy and Kirsten that morning, except when Sandy grabbed Kirsten's arm away from the fridge when he saw her reach for a bottle when she thought he wasn't looking. She made an angry face, but didn't yell this time. Sandy hoped that was a sign she realized that what she was doing was wrong.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kirsten stood nervously when the verdict was reached. She instinctively clutched her left ring finger, wanting to hold her wedding ring, only to find that they were missing. She looked down at her hand, remembering that her wedding set got cut off during the accident. She turned around and glanced at Sandy, who was sitting in the first row. As much as she was angry with him these past few weeks, she wanted nothing more than for him to be by her side right now.

Sandy nodded, as if to say, "You're okay, it's going to be okay." He hated to see his wife have to go through this. He never saw her look the way she did that day. She looked so fearful and scared. He wanted to go over to her and put his arms around her and hold her tight and tell her everything was going to be okay, but he couldn't. He knew she had to do this on her own.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kirsten stood in shock as she heard her sentence, staring straight ahead without moving one inch.

Meanwhile, Sandy breathed a small sigh of relief. All he heard was rehab and he was happy.

Kirsten kept hearing her sentence over and over again in her head.

$5000 fine. This wasn't a big deal. She had more than enough money to pay that.

1 year forfeiture of drivers license. This was a huge deal. How was she supposed to get to work? To the supermarket? To the mall? Anywhere, for that matter!

6 weeks rehab. This was the worst part of the sentence. Rehab? If enough people didn't know already, how was she going to hide her problem when she'd be at some clinic for 6 weeks away from work and the social activities of Newport!

She started feeling light headed and sick to her stomach so she clutched onto the table.

Sandy looked over at his wife with concern, hoping she'd be okay with the sentence. Deep down he knew she wouldn't be though. He started walking up to Kirsten after the judge adjourned court.

As she thought about what was to come, Kirsten started getting wobbly on her feet and started falling over. Her lawyer quickly grabbed her to prevent her from hitting the floor saying, "Kirsten, are you alright?"

Her lawyer sat her down in a chair as she replied loudly and angrily, "What do you think? What do you really, honestly think?"

Her lawyer tried to calm her down and remind her that she was in public, as she was starting to cause a scene.

Sandy quickly made his way up to his wife. He knew the lawyer was trying his best to avoid Kirsten any public embarrassment, but Sandy knew better. He knew that Kirsten was beyond caring. He knew that if she didn't care about her family, she wouldn't care what anyone else thought of her either!

Apprehensively, Sandy sat down next to Kirsten and noticed that she had started to cry. Softly, he said, "Hey honey."

"Leave me alone!" she replied as angrily as she could through her sobs. She hated that she was crying right now, but she couldn't control herself. She just wanted to be angry, but for some reason, tears were in her eyes. She turned her head away from Sandy so that he wouldn't see the tears that were now streaming down her face.

"Everything is going to be okay," Sandy said reassuringly. He'd said that countless times ever since the accident but for the first time, he sincerely thought that everything would be okay, given that Kirsten was going to rehab.

He was relieved that Kirsten was ordered to rehab because he wasn't sure he could take Kirsten's drinking habits any longer and he didn't want to think what that meant…although he did think of it…he had thought about it ever since Kirsten embarrassed their kids on the day of the Prom when she took pictures of them while she was drunk…just in case the court didn't order Kirsten to rehab and she wouldn't go on her own, he had an ultimatum for her.

He never thought it'd ever come down to an ultimatum in a marriage that was so strong, but it did. He had no choice. He couldn't keep running himself down as he constantly spied on Kirsten and kept fighting with her. He couldn't watch their kids get any more traumatized as they watched their mother hurt herself. He just couldn't do it anymore.

Thus, he would give her an ultimatum: "Either rehab or our family. If you refuse rehab, I'm taking the boys out of this house because I can't let them watch their mother do this to herself and her family. And I can't be in a marriage with you when I constantly have to watch you while you put nothing into our marriage anymore." Yeah, it was harsh, but Sandy was to the point where he couldn't take it anymore.

He was glad it hadn't come to that. He was glad that the court ordered Kirsten to rehab and he wouldn't have to put her in a position like that…a position he didn't want to put her in but had no choice but to do so.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sandy had called the kids at school to tell them Kirsten's sentence and told them that it was best if they hung out at Summer and Marissa's for most of the night while Sandy talked to Kirsten about everything.

It was now 10:00pm. Sandy hadn't said anything to Kirsten about the sentence yet. He didn't know how to bring it up. What was he supposed to say? "Hey honey, you all packed up for rehab? I hope you have enough outfits to last you 6 weeks!"

Kirsten got out of the shower and lied down in bed.

Sandy thought to himself, "It's kind of odd that she didn't pack anything up yet. What time is she planning on getting up tomorrow to pack? I hope she isn't going to resist going."

Now worried his worst thoughts were correct, he began nonchalantly with, "Hey honey, do you want me to pack you some clothes tonight?"

Kirsten sharply turned toward him and said sarcastically, "What?"

"I mean, it's a lot to do in the morning, so why don't I pack your bags tonight?"

"Sandy, I'm not going," she said defiantly.

"Kirsten! You have to! The court ordered you!"

"Sandy no doctor ever said I was an alcoholic. I don't need rehab!"

"Kirsten this is ridiculous! Yes, you're an alcoholic and yes, you need rehab!"

"And what if I decided not to go?" she said crossing her arms.

"I don't know, for one, the court could arrest you."

Kirsten just shook her head and turned over mumbling, "I'm not going."

1 hour later the lights in the Cohen bedroom were still on. Sandy was packing Kirsten's bags while Kirsten continued to tell him he could pack bags all he wanted, but she still wasn't going.

Sandy was frustrated. Even though Kirsten was an alcoholic, he never thought she'd resist a court order. Suddenly, he remembered his ultimatum. Would he have to bluff and give Kirsten an ultimatum in order to get her to go to rehab without being arrested or worse?

At this point, he was going to do whatever it took.

"Kirsten, you don't have to listen to me. You don't have to listen to the kids. But you do have to listen to the judge. You have to go to rehab. The court ordered you to it."

"Sandy would you stop already? I'm not going! I don't care who tells me I have to go!"

"Kirsten this is serious. If you're telling me that you're going to resist and force the court to take more drastic measures for you to get help, than let me tell you something." Sandy paused, "Was he really going to do this?"

Hearing this, Kirsten turned to face Sandy and said defensively, "Tell me what?"

"If you don't go tomorrow without force, then I'm taking the kids out of this environment."

"WHAT?" Kirsten screamed back at Sandy, unable to believe what he just said.

"You heard me Kirsten, I can't take it anymore. You've put me through so much. You've put your family through so much. Most importantly, you've put your kids through so much. The kids don't deserve to see you hurt yourself and your family like this. They need to have a stable environment, not one where at any second their mother will go on a drinking binge."

"So this is your answer to everything? To abandon me? Either way, I guess you're happy. I either get shipped off to rehab or shipped out of this house."

"You can have the house. I'll take the kids somewhere else," Sandy quickly answered back, wondering how much longer Kirsten would keep asking questions. He had no idea his ultimatum wouldn't scare Kirsten into going.

Sadly, Kirsten said, "If you actually do that, you're not the man I married."

"And if you actually don't go to rehab tomorrow and force me to do this, you're not the woman I married."

"Well then I guess we've finally come to an agreement that our marriage is through."

This threw Sandy for a surprise as he didn't expect to hear this out of Kirsten. He never thought the conversation would go this far as he thought threatening to take the kids into a new home would be a threat enough to make Kirsten comply with rehab. He never intended to really do that though. "Is that what you want?"

"Yeah, Sandy it is. Aren't you just thrilled? Now you can go back to that slt Rebecca!"

Sandy walked out of the room and into the kitchen. "How was he to respond to this? He never thought he'd be in this big a mess."

He decided to call the kids and tell them to come home now. He needed some company.

Meanwhile, Kirsten sat on the bed as emotions ran through her…shock…anger…grief…loneliness…sadness…and more than anything, guilt. She eventually got up and went into the sock drawer, where she secretly kept a hidden stash of vodka. After all, if she did decide to go to rehab, she wasn't going tonight, right?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That night Sandy slept on the couch, which wasn't that strange because he had been doing that for the last week. The first night he slept on the couch, Kirsten told him to leave her alone, the second night, Sandy couldn't bear to be in bed with his drunken wife, and eventually, it became a pattern of Sandy and Kirsten sleeping separately.

When Sandy woke up in the morning, he headed into the bedroom to get dressed only to find Kirsten not in bed. He started to panic as nowadays Kirsten always woke up later than Sandy as she was usually hung over in the morning. "Was Kirsten in the kitchen when I got up?" He frantically ran back into the kitchen only to find Kirsten not there.

While in the kitchen, it occurred to him that the suitcases he had packed for her last night were gone from the bedroom. He ran out front only to find both cars still in the driveway. He realized that this could either be very, very bad, or very, very good. Either Kirsten took off to where he had no idea or she checked herself into rehab.

Sandy got his keys and headed out the door, moving so fast that he missed seeing the letter that was on the kitchen table addressed to him.

Your reviews let me know that you're interested. If you don't review, I'll think you're uninterested, which is fine, I'll just end the story quicker, but if you want me to continue, REVIEW!