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

Author's note: Huge thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really appreciate it! Thank you for taking the time to let me know what you think. Please continue to let me know what you think, it inspires me to continue writing this fic! xoxo

"Hi," Kirsten whispered through a shaky voice. Although she'd been looking forward to calling Sandy ever since she arrived at rehab, all of a sudden she didn't feel like talking. There was so much she needed to explain to him but she didn't have the courage to do it yet.

Sandy, too, felt awkward. He didn't know if he should even say anything about rehab in fear that it was too sensitive a subject to talk about. If he did bring it up, what would he say, "Hey Kirsten, so how is rehab going?" He didn't think that sounded right so instead he said, "It's nice to hear from you." It was something simple and non directive about any particular subject, and yet at the same time caring.

After a somewhat long pause, Kirsten said, "How are you and the boys? I miss you all," as she held back tears. It was painful for her to ask that when had it not been for her stupid problem, she'd know how her family was for herself.

"Okay," Sandy said as he looked over at the boys. "Seth's trying to force Ryan to help him develop a new comic idea. Ryan isn't budging, but Seth's luring him by offering to give his ticket to some concert at the Bait Shop to Marissa so that the she and Ryan can go together."

"Sounds typical of Seth," Kirsten said smiling. For a second, it almost seemed like this was just like any other telephone conversation when Kirsten would call to check up on Sandy and the boys when she was going to be home late from work. Then, she remembered it was not a typical phone conversation when she heard Sandy say that Seth was willing to give up his ticket for Marissa. To her knowledge, Ryan and Marissa were not together before she came to rehab. Inquisitively she asked, "Oh, are Ryan and Marissa back together?"

"Well, Ryan doesn't want to admit it, but Seth and I think they are."

"Oh." An awkward silence was brought on. Kirsten grimaced as she considered explaining everything to Sandy. She couldn't find the words to say it yet. Not because she didn't want to, but because it was too painful…too shameful for her to do right now. She needed more time.

Sandy sighed. There was so much he wanted to say, but he didn't know how to approach the subject, nor did he know if would be appropriate to bring up.

"You know, I miss you," Kirsten said nervously. She hoped that Sandy wouldn't ask her anything about rehab as she was already on the verge of tears and she knew that if he asked her anything about it, she'd start crying hysterically. "I wish it didn't have to be this way."

"I know, me too. How are you?" Sandy asked, hoping that was a general-enough question to ask.

"Okay, I could be better…but I know that I'm a lot better now that I'm here. I need this. I feel terrible and ashamed for everything I did. I'm sorry," Kirsten said as she started to cry. She had a feeling this phone call would bring out the worst of her emotions.

"Honey, please don't cry. I just want you to get better. That's all I've wanted all along," Sandy said sympathetically. "Are you okay? Please stop crying."

"I'm okay," Kirsten lied. The truth was that a craving was starting to come. Those always scared her. She didn't want to be talking to Sandy during one. She tried to end the conversation as quickly as she could without sounding too panicky, "I'm glad I got to talk to you."

"Likewise. "

Kirsten looked down at her hand as it started to shake and said, "I'll talk to you soon".

Sandy looked at the phone a bit surprised. The conversation had gone quite well, except for the end of the conversation, which he thought Kirsten had rushed suddenly...he had been hoping to hear an "I love you" from her. Even if she didn't say it, he wanted to say it to her. He knew that it would make her feel better.

He would have to settle for this. He decided to look at the bright side, thinking "at least Kirsten recognizes that she needs rehab".

"So, how was she?" Ryan asked when Sandy retuned to the table.

"Okay, she recognized that she needs rehab, so that's a start."

"It took her long enough," Seth said sarcastically.

"She asked about you two," Sandy said ignoring Seth's sarcastic comment, hoping this would touch him a little.

"She did?" Seth asked surprised.

"Yeah, she wanted to know how you two were doing. She misses you both."

"She said she misses us?" Seth asked surprised.

"Yeah, of course she does. I could have told you that, Seth!"

"Well, I don't know, I mean it didn't seem like she missed us when she went out drinking at the bar all those nights she claimed to be working late."

"Seth, lets forget about that. Your mom made mistakes. I'm sure she realizes that now," Ryan said slightly frustrated. He was getting tired of hearing Seth complain about Kirsten. Ryan saw that Kirsten was doing way better than his mother was at this stage of overcoming alcoholism.

"Well she should have realized it a long time ago! How could a mother forget her son's comic pitch?"

Ryan couldn't take it any longer. He never spoke about his past, but this time he had to let it out. "Seth stop thinking about yourself! You should be thankful that your mom is making such good progress. You want to know what my mother was like in this stage of rehab? She told me and my brother that she'd never speak to us again for turning her in to rehab. At least your mom knows she needs help."

With that, Seth kept quiet and pondered on those thoughts.

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After dinner, Sandy wandered over to the Cohens' relatively new bar. It hadn't been touched since Kirsten last swamped through all the alcohol that was stored in it. He decided that over the next few weeks, he'd remove the bar and renovate it back to a dining room. He didn't know what Kirsten would want to do with the bar once she got home, and frankly, he didn't care if taking this initiative on his own would annoy her or not. All he knew was that it would definitely be awkward for Kirsten to see the bar when she got released from rehab. This way, there'd be less memories of what she used to do for hours a day.

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Back in rehab, Kirsten eventually got through that craving. She thought it was a good sign that the cravings now scared her, whereas just a few days ago, the cravings were almost a relief because she knew that she could reach for the bottle and drown out her problems the wrong way. At least now the cravings scared her because she knew it meant she wanted alcohol and she didn't want to want alcohol anymore.

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The rest of the week went by a lot more quickly than the earlier part of the week, as Sandy kept his time away from the office busy with disassembling the bar. He wondered when he'd hear from Kirsten again, as he was going to ask her when she'd be calling again in their conversation earlier that week but Kirsten hung up too quickly before he could say anything.

The week didn't go by quick for Kirsten at all. She dreaded everything about rehab: going to her one on one counseling sessions as she wasn't one to open up about her feelings, especially considering how ashamed of herself she was; going to the group therapy sessions as she was embarrassed to publicly state her problems; how slow time passed, as had she been home, any Friday night would have went by way too fast, as both Kirsten and Sandy always complained to each other that on their only night for "alone time", as Monday-Friday was work, Saturday was a social event, and Sunday they had to get ready for the work week, but in rehab, time went by a lot slower. Kirsten felt extremely lonely on her first Friday night in rehab.

Things got better on Saturday night. Kirsten was on her way back from eating dinner in the cafeteria when she heard someone say, "Kirsten?"

To her surprise, it was the receptionist who first comforted her when she checked herself in. "Hi," Kirsten said a bit embarrassed.

"How are you dear? Getting better?" the receptionist said sweetly.

Kirsten shrugged.

Patting Kirsten's shoulder, the receptionist said, "It takes time dear, but I have faith in you."

Kirsten just nodded. She got nervous when people told her that she'd overcome this. She always had worries that she'd never get over alcoholism and that scared her. Changing the subject, she said, "I'm sorry, what is your name? I don't remember…it was kind of a bad day when I first met you."

"That's totally understandable for that to have been a bad day for you. I guarantee you you'll only have better ones. Every day will be a better one for you. You're getting better every day. My name is Eileen Smith," Eileen said and smiled warmly, shaking Kirsten's hand, "it's such a pleasure to meet you again. You look much better already."

Kirsten tried to smile as best she could. She certainly didn't feel any better. Yeah, she was relieved to finally be in rehab to overcome alcoholism, but her pain went from hiding her alcohol problem to shame about what she had done.

"Why don't you come with me to the garden. We could chat for a while, it'll get your mind off things," Eileen said sweetly.

"Don't you have to stay at the reception desk? You know, to watch out for people like me coming through the door saying they need help," Kirsten said shamefully. She wasn't sure about the idea of talking to anyone in rehab more than she had to already in the counseling sessions.

"I'm actually done with my shift now."

"Oh, then I don't want to hold you up," Kirsten said apologetically.

"You wouldn't be, I'd love to chat with you."

Seeing Kirsten's hesitation, Eileen grabbed her arm and said, "Come on, it'll be fun. We don't have to talk about why you're here. We can talk about anything you want. Friend to friend."

Kirsten smiled a little as she remembered that she could be stuck in her room right now, fighting off a craving, but instead, this kind woman was willing to talk to her about anything but rehab. The idea suddenly sounded very appealing and Kirsten said, "You lead the way. I've never been to the garden here."

"Well there's a first time for everything, isn't there," Eileen said cheerfully.

Kirsten followed Eileen to the garden and wondered how Eileen could be such a positive person when she was constantly in an environment of people, who were not only alcoholics, but usually sarcastic, unwilling, depressed people.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the conversation that Kirsten has with Eileen. I'll give you a hint: Kirsten recalls some sweet memories in it and for the first time since being in rehab, considers where her relationship is with Sandy. Meanwhile, back at home, Sandy continues the house renovations as Ryan continues to try and open Seth's mind to the fact that Kirsten didn't mean to hurt them.

Please review! I'd really appreciate it!