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

Author's note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it! Please continue to let me know what you think:)

Eileen led Kirsten out to the garden, which was in the middle of the rehab center. Kirsten welcomed the fresh air as she hadn't been outside since she arrived at rehab 4 days ago.

Sitting on one of the benches, Kirsten and Eileen talked about all different things…the type of flowers in the garden…hair care…fashion…hobbies. For the first time since arriving at rehab, Kirsten enjoyed herself and almost forgot that she was in rehab. After sharing a few good laughs, Eileen then asked Kirsten, "So, I see you're married?"

"Yeah, I am." Noticing Eileen staring at her ring, Kirsten explained the situation of how her ring got cut off and how Sandy gave her this one a few months ago, and how she decided to always wear this ring while she's in rehab as her commitment to it. She finished off the explanation with, "It's corny, I know."

"It's not corny. It shows your dedication to completing rehab and your love for your husband in such a trying time. Looking at that must motivate you."

"Well, yeah, it makes me want to complete rehab successfully, but he gave me the ring during a difficult time in our marriage. Yes, because its plastic it reminds me of the ring my husband used when he first proposed since that what he proposed with, so it makes me happy when I think about it in that respect, but this ring, well, the reason he gave it to me was because I wasn't wearing mine. I pretended it was lost since he was spending too many nights with a client of his who just happened to be his ex-fiancee. I think he caught on that I "lost" my ring out of jealousy, but I'm not sure. So, he gave me this till I found my real ring. And then, once I started wearing my real ring again, the accident happened and it had to be cut off," Kirsten said and shook her head at the end of the sentence, showing her frustration about her and Sandy's current relationship.

"What's the matter, dear? It sounds like your marriage is very strong," Eileen said comfortingly, seeing Kirsten was getting upset and doubting her marriage.

"It was, but not any more. I let Sandy down," Kirsten said starting to cry.

"No you didn't, I'm sure he knows that you didn't mean for this to happen."

"It's not just that though…I said some horrible things to him. I don't even know what I said half the times since I was drunk, but I know I wasn't a nice person. The worst thing was when I told him that our marriage is through."

The whole time, Eileen practically dismissed everything Kirsten said, saying that Sandy would understand everything, but when Kirsten said this, her eyes and mouth opened wide, as she said in surprise, "You did?"

"Yeah, I did. It was the night before I came here. I was really, really upset with my sentence. I was in shock. I kept refusing to go to rehab so Sandy told me that if I didn't go, he'd leave me and take the kids. I got really angry at him for threatening to take away my kids so I told him our marriage was through since we couldn't reconcile our differences." Kirsten paused, but the look on Eileen's face told her to keep talking and come up with an explanation for saying that so, she continued, "I never meant to say it, but at the time I wasn't in the right state of mind to think about what I was saying. Do you think he'll ever forgive me?" Kirsten said sadly as she looked down, ashamed of herself.

"He will," Eileen said nodding. "You've definitely made some mistakes and caused your family some hurt, but I think he probably realizes that you didn't mean it. It's great that all of these feelings are coming out only 4 days into rehab. I can only imagine how healthy you'll be after 6 weeks!"

Kirsten smiled through her teary eyes and mumbled, "Thanks," unconvincingly.

"Seriously, your marriage will be fine. It might take some time, but Sandy will forgive you. He knows you didn't mean it."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at the Cohen house, Sandy kept himself busy with disassembling the bar. It was his way of relieving the pain of missing Kirsten.

He smiled to himself as he took out the glasses from the cabinet, thinking that Kirsten would be so proud of him, that he was doing the renovations himself, as the Cohens always hired a contractor for renovations. "Or would she be happy he was renovating? Maybe she'd be angry with him that he did this without asking her? What if she went back to her old ways with the bottle when she came home? What if she really meant that their marriage was over when she hurtfully said that they were through?"

He tried to flush those "What ifs" out of his mind and focused on removing the glasses from the cabinets.

Later that day, Sandy kept thinking about his conversation he had with Kirsten the day before. He was worried about why she cut him off so abruptly. He debated about calling her just to make sure she was okay, and quickly came to the conclusion that he was going to call.

"Hello, can I please speak to Kirsten Cohen? She started…umm…rehab on Tuesday."

"I know who she is. Actually, she's eating dinner right now. Can I give her a message?" the receptionist said sweetly.

"Yes, tell her to call me. She kind of cut our conversation short yesterday and I'm worried about her. She didn't say when she'd call again," Sandy said worriedly.

"Oh, well I'll let her know you called. Patients aren't allowed to make more than 1 phone call a week, so she won't be calling you till sometime next week."

"Is she okay?"

"She's doing fine," Eileen said as she smiled to herself.

Sandy breathed a sigh of relief. At least he had confirmation that Kirsten was okay. He headed back over to the bar and continued taking everything out of it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning Kirsten woke up and turned over to the other side of the bed, reaching out for Sandy. When she didn't feel him, she said "Sandy?" in a panicked voice. She opened her eyes and looked around, not seeing Sandy in the room. She quickly got out of bed and started yelling, "Sandy, where are you?" in a frantic voice. Not finding him in the room, she opened the door and went out into the hallway, continuing to shout his name.

The nurse came running over to Kirsten, calmly telling her that she was in rehab and that Sandy was home.

"No, I'm not in rehab, I'm in the hallway to our bedroom. Where is my husband?"

"Kirsten, you're in rehab. Your husband is home," the nurse kept saying as she put her arms on Kirsten, trying to calm her down.

Kirsten, now crying hysterically, said, "Where is he? Sandy! Where are you?" as she tried to push past the nurse.

"Kirsten, calm down, you're just experiencing withdrawal."

"All I know is that I can't find my husband and you won't tell me where he is!"

"Kirsten! It's Eileen. Remember me?" Eileen said calmly.

Kirsten stopped struggling to get past the nurse and stared at Eileen in confusion and surprise. "Maybe."

"Remember we had our talk last night? Out in the garden."

Kirsten nodded and continued to sob and said, "What happened? I'm so confused!"

"I'll handle it from here," Eileen told the nurse. Then to Kirsten, she said, "Honey, you're experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Your body isn't used to not having alcohol in it yet, it'll take a while to adjust. Confusion is one of the symptoms."

"Really?" Kirsten said as she started to come down.

"Yeah. That will go away in a few weeks."

"It scared me."

"I know, just relax. I'm here for you," Eileen said sweetly as she pulled Kirsten in for a hug. Kirsten accepted the hug gratefully and rested her head on Eileen's shoulder. Eileen patted her back, saying, "Its okay sweetie."

When they broke apart from the hug, Eileen told Kirsten, who was still in her pajamas, to go get dressed and she'd take her into the cafeteria for breakfast. Kirsten agreed. She walked back into the room and started to cry again. After her scare of not finding Sandy in bed with her, it made her realize how much she missed him. She wished she was home with Sandy and her family. She sighed, it was going to be a long day.