Broken Seatbelts

Chapter 5: The Feelings All Come Together

Seth felt high, not that he would know what being high felt like, but he guessed this would be what it would feel like. His eyes are open; but he couldn't see. He blinked a few times, his vision blurring, but at least he could see, somewhat, and as he moved his eyes back and forth, up and down, his vision came back fully, but part of him wished it hadn't; his head was dizzy. The room was spinning- Whoa, what room? Where am I? Why does it smell like … old people? That's when he noticed the IV beside the bed; he was apparently lying on; the tacky wallpaper; the really bad painting of a sailboat; the bright lights shining behind and above his head. He was in the hospital. The one thing he couldn't figure out was why. Why was he in a hospital bed and in pain? Sure, the logical answer would be that something had happened. But, what?

He heard a door open and saw a short woman with curly blonde hair in her mid-thirties step in. Seth guessed she was a nurse, seeing as she was wearing scrubs with little teddy bears on it. She didn't even look at him; she just checked his stats and was about to leave until Seth grunted, trying to say 'hi' but failing immensely. The nurse turned her head to look at him, a look of shock and surprise were shown on her face, but then were soon replaced with a soft smile.

"You're awake! I'll go get your doctor, you just sit tight!" She giggled, thinking her joke at his lack of ability to move funny. As soon as she left the room, Seth tried to move around; only realizing it pained him even more than he thought possible. He felt like someone chewed hole in his stomach and the soaked his muscles in acid and then wrung them out by hand. He didn't have much time to think about his pains; another person walked in the door, this time it was a man in his mid-forties and had a reciting hairline and Buddy Holly glasses.

"Well, Mr. Cohen, I knew you would wake just fine." The doctor said as he checked Seth's vitals.

"What…" Seth coughed and his voice was scratchy. "What happened?"

"You were in an accident, Mr. Cohen. I'll let your family fill you in on the details, but first we must check you over to see if you have any other injuries…" As the doctor spoke and went through the process of checking Seth over, Seth's mind was reeling. What happened? Were his parents okay? Ryan? The last thing he remembered was getting in the car with his dad and Ryan, his face hurt and all he wanted to do was lie down so he lied to his dad and told him he was exhausted, and got him to agree to allow Seth not to wear his seatbelt. He could be very persuasive when he wanted to be. He had lain down and he fell asleep within minutes, apparently he really was tired. But he couldn't remember what happened, he just hoped everyone was okay and that their situations didn't become any more telenovela-ish.

Ryan Atwood felt a wave of relief pass through him when the doctor told him and Sandy that Seth was awake. He just hoped they'd see each other before Seth turns into an old Jewish man playing backgammon by the pool with his dentures sitting in a cup of warm water. Sandy had called Kirsten, who was with Summer, and then left telling Ryan he'd be back later.

Ryan understood their exaggerated concern for Seth; he was their son. Something Ryan was not, although it did feel like he was. He knew they loved him, but sometimes he was envious of Seth, envious of the love of a family of his own. But Ryan Atwood was the plus one in the Cohen household, and he was okay with that, because some love is better than no love.

"Tell him I'm sorry." Summer bowed her head down in shame.

"No, Summer, it's not your fault."

"I know, I just can't…get everything out of my head." Summer paused, realizing that Kirsten's son just woke up. "Go see your son, Kirsten. He needs you." Kirsten nodded to Summer and leaned down to kiss the girl's forehead and give her a one arm embrace before grabbing her purse and leaving to see her baby boy.

Summer was so relieved Seth was okay. Even though Kirsten thought differently; Summer still felt, even if only slightly, responsible for the accident. And if anything worse had happened to Seth; she'd never forgive herself. If she and Marissa- Oh, my god! Marissa!

Kirsten walked up to the room Seth was in and saw Sandy leaning against the door outside looking distraught.

"Sandy? Is something wrong? Why aren't you in there?"

"I was waiting for you, figured it'd be less… intense if we went in alone, or something. I don't know." Kirsten understood how he was feeling; even though they knew their son was fine, or would be, the thought of losing him, and not just for the summer was in itself intense. She reached over to him and gave him a sweet kiss on the corner of his mouth and then moved towards the door.

As soon as they walked and saw Seth, with his eyes open, all their fears were instantly wiped away. Kirsten was first to reach him and embraced him so tightly that he had to shrug her off. Sandy was next, but at least he was a little more careful. A little.

"What happened? I don't remember. All I remember is getting in the car. Oh, my god, did we get hit by a monster truck? A bus? Mom? Dad? Is Ryan okay? Are you okay? What's going on?" Okay, the accident didn't change his ability to ramble at a dozen words per second.

"Well, we were in an accident-"

"Really. I hadn't noticed." Was Seth's dry answer. "Is Ryan okay?"

"Ryan's fine. Well, not fine, but… yeah, he's okay." Sandy paused to hear the sight of relief pass between his son's lips. "It was… a drunk driver." At Kirsten's look, Sandy just shrugged; he wasn't ready to tell his son who the drunk driver was. So Kirsten did.

"Honey, Zach was the other driver." For the first time in a while, Seth Cohen was speechless; shocked; scared.

"What… but… Sum…is she?"

"Summer is alright, just a few injuries. And Marissa will be okay." At this Sandy turned to her with a questioning gaze. "Julie called me before I got here."

"Can I see her?"

"Oh, sweetie, no. You're not in the shape to be visiting anyone, but she'll probably be out before you, so she could come see you, okay, baby?" Kirsten saw the flash of disappointment on her son's face and felt bad that she had seen Summer before he could.

"Has the doctor…?" Sandy asked.

"Yeah, guess I should have worn the seatbelt, huh?" He chuckled and saw the Jewish guilt seep onto his dad's face. "It's not your fault, dad. I wouldn't have worn it even if you had told me to." Sandy took a deep breath and decided not to pick it open; his son just woke up and he wanted some quality family hospital time.

"That is true." After a few minutes of small talk, Seth tuned his parents out, he didn't want to tell them but he was in pain. He chose to ignore it, though, because then it would make him sleep and he just wanted the company of his parents, consciously, even if he wasn't participating.

Ok, I want to get some SS interaction next chapter, so hopefully I'll get that up soon.