DISCLAIMER: I don't own The OC or its characters.
Author's note: Thank you to those who reviewed! Please continue to let me know what you think as I'm not writing this story for myself. Well, partially I am writing this to practice writing and perfect my writing skills, but you get what I mean. Review!
The day Kirsten went to rehab, Sandy awaited the kids arrival home from school at the kitchen table, ready to tell them that Kirsten was all situated in rehab. Sandy was disgruntled when he heard Seth storm into the house yelling loudly, "I don't care if she willingly went Ryan, the fact that she didn't bother to say good bye to us. That says everything."
Sandy immediately got up and went into the foyer, interrupting the conversation with, "Boys, please, let me explain everything."
Despite numerous attempts to get Seth to listen, Sandy, unwillingly, decided to show Seth and Ryan the letter Kirsten had left him. He wasn't planning on showing them as it was a personal letter between husband and wife and he had hoped that by his explaining that it was too much for Kirsten to handle in saying goodbye to the kids would be enough to make them understand, but apparently not, so he told the kids to sit down at the table and handed the letter over to them.
Ryan quickly read the letter and nodded his head to Sandy. Ryan could relate better to what Kirsten was going through since he saw his mother go through it, and despite all that Kirsten did to hurt the family, Ryan wasn't willing to give up on her.
Seth, on the other hand, read the letter more slowly. When he finished, he looked up at Sandy and said, "Well I'd say that you wrote this just to get me to believe you, but I know you don't know how to write like mom."
Sandy wasn't sure if Seth was joking around or not, but he thought it was a step in the right direction since Seth smirked a little. Sandy said, "Boys, your mom didn't mean to hurt you. I know it's not the same since I'm saying it, but I'm telling you the truth. She would never intentionally do anything to hurt either of you."
"Why she didn't come to us before her drinking got so out of control?" Seth asked with frustration.
"Alcoholics don't like to ask for help. They try to hide their problems," Ryan said bluntly.
"Well said," Sandy said approvingly, "and your mom didn't want you kids to see her like this. She's ashamed of what she did."
"Have you spoken to her today?" Seth asked his dad.
"No, the receptionist told me that your mom can't speak to any outsiders for 3 days."
"Really?" Seth asked surprised. He had no idea how strict rehab would be. He softened a little when he heard this.
Sandy nodded sadly.
Ryan, having been through this before, saw that Sandy and Seth were getting really down and knew that he had to change the subject, so he asked, "What do you guys want for dinner?"
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Somehow, Kirsten made it through the first night of rehab despite numerous cravings that scared her so bad that she started to cry hysterically. The next morning she was okay until after the group broke for lunch, when she was alone again. The craving came back again with more shaking, along with an additional symptom, vomiting. Scared, Kirsten called the nurse, who told her that it was common for ex-alcoholics to have side effects to initially starting detox. "It'll get better," she promised Kirsten sweetly. Kirsten only hoped it would get better really soon, because between missing alcohol and her family, she was starting to feel extremely hopeless.
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On the second day without Kirsten, the Cohen house was a mess. Everyone tried to act like it was a normal day when they knew it wasn't.
Breakfast wasn't the same without Kirsten's morning ritual of making coffee, pouring the kids their orange juice, and chasing them out of the kitchen when she kissed Sandy hello when he came in from surfing.
Lunch time wasn't the same for Sandy without Kirsten's usual phone call asking him if he wanted to meet her for lunch at the Crab Shack and his telling her that he's already waiting for her in their usual booth.
Dinner wasn't the same without Kirsten claiming to have cooked when everyone knew it was takeout.
And for Sandy, sleeping wasn't the same without Kirsten. He missed his and Kirsten's usual bedroom activity: sitting at the table and chairs by the bay window and talking about the events of the day; taking a shower, sometimes together; getting changed for bed, sometimes, that just meant unwrapping their robes; making love, which they did at least 4 times a week; kissing each other good night; Sandy holding Kirsten tightly as she made herself comfortable on him; and Sandy waking up to find Kirsten still in his arms from the night before, looking forward to kissing her good morning and watching her get ready for work.
But that had all changed. What Sandy and the boys didn't realize was that all of this hadn't just changed since Kirsten went to rehab. It had been like this for a while, it was just that nobody had noticed the gradual changes in Kirsten's behavior – or didn't want to admit that she was changing.
The Cohens were lost without Kirsten. They began to wonder if Kirsten was having an easier time in rehab then they were having at home missing her.
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Kirsten wasn't having an easier time though. Her side effects from detox were doing a number on her. Her wound from the accident was starting to hurt from vomiting so much. She was starting to find it very annoying that she couldn't take a shower yet since it'd be too hard to keep the cast on her arm dry. Yet. despite all of those physical symptoms, they were nothing compared to how she was feeling emotionally.
Devastated – she still couldn't believe that her dad passed away. Even though she and her dad had their share of arguments, Kirsten loved her dad and looked up to him more than anyone else in Newport.
Drained – she was tired of the daily schedule rehab already. She longed to go back to her normal routine of work, social events, and fun time with her husband and kids.
In Denial – she still couldn't believe she was in rehab and was an alcoholic. She still couldn't say the word out loud. It just seemed too unreal for her to be in this position.
Hopeless – she had moments when she thought she'd never be able to complete rehab and put her life back together again.
Embarrassed – when she did feel that she would make it through, she wondered how she'd face her family, friends, co-workers, and the Newpsies after all that had happened.
Ashamed – she was ashamed of herself and what she had done.
Lonely – she missed her family, and even the Newpsies, more than anything. She longed for a Cohen breakfast or to help plan a social event. And, she longed for a romantic date with her husband. It'd been months since they last had some "alone time".
Guilty – she was starting to realize how hurtful she was to her family after spending so much time alone at rehab. She longed to go home and apologize for everything she did to hurt them.
These thoughts clouded her mind as she attended therapy on her 2nd day of rehab. Something that made things a little bit easier was that the following day, she could call Sandy.
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This had been the longest amount of time that Sandy and Kirsten hadn't spoken to one another. Anxiously awaiting Kirsten's call, Sandy, on his first day back to work, decided to work from home just in case Kirsten called the house phone. He put his cell phone onto the kitchen table. He wanted to be ready to answer when Kirsten called.
When it was 5:00pm, the nurse told Kirsten she could call Sandy. Although Kirsten had been looking forward to calling Sandy ever since she got to rehab, she suddenly got nervous and hesitated, not sure of what to say to him. With some encouragement from the nurse, Kirsten slowly picked up the phone and dialed Sandy's number.
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Sandy cell phone suddenly rang as the Cohens were deciding on what to eat for dinner, as they had a hard time deciding now that Kirsten was gone since they didn't want to order take out because it reminded them too much of normal, happy Cohen family dinners. Everyone stopped once the phone rang. Sandy quickly picked it up and walked into the family room, and he too, suddenly got nervous as he answered with "hello".
Review! Now that I can see how many "Hits" are on each chapter, I know how many of you didn't review but yet read my fic. Don't you feel kind of obligated to review if you read now that you know that I know your reading my fic? Let me know what you think!