Family Drama

Author's Note: As you can tell, I am a big lover of Ryan Angst. This is my newest addition to fanfiction, hope you enjoy. Thanks for all of the future reviews that I hope will fill my review box. This follows the pretense that Ryan had joined the soccer team during the second season.

I have no idea of the points system for soccer, so please bare with me. Also, I have no idea what an asthma attack is like since I don't have the condition, just to warn you.

For those of you who are waiting for my other story Chances, I am not sure where I am going with it, so it may be a while before I update, but I will update!

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with the OC.

Chapter One

"What time is your game tonight, Ryan?" asked Sandy while standing at the counter schmearing cream cheese on a bagel. Ryan's head popped up from his bowl of cereal at the mention of his name. Swallowing quickly, he attempted to answer.

"Uh...cough...3:30 I think," he finally managed to get out after Seth had nonchalantly patted him on the back after nearly choking on his Captain Crunch.

"I'll have to get off work a little early, but it's no biggy, I'll definitely be there," stated Sandy.

"If it cuts into your work, you don't have to go," insisted Ryan quickly.

"Not at all," reassured Sandy patting Ryan on the shoulder," I love your games, I wouldn't miss one for the world."

"Same here," cut in Kirsten as she walked into the kitchen. Her hair was pulled back in a stylish ponytail and she wore a comfortable worksuit in anticipation of a another run-in with her father, Caleb Nichol.

"I'll be there too, man. Just you wait, a Cohen wave," started in Seth with a flit of the arms that must have been a wave. When Ryan continued to look at everyone sceptically, the three Cohen's shared looks of amused exasperation. "You'll see, Ryan. A big wave. Not like one you've ever seen before. It will be spectacular."

"Yeah, cause it's going to be so big with the three of you," said Ryan sarcastically. Getting up, he grabbed his bookbag and walked out of the kitchen.

"We'll cause a sensation! It will begin with the three of us, then continue down the bleachers until everyone is participating in a giant wave for Ryan Atwood. You see..." trailed Seth's voice as he followed Ryan out of the kitchen to go to school.

"He is your son," commented Kirsten with amusement. Sandy took on a pained look and placed his left hand over his heart.

"You wound me darling," said Sandy dramatically. Swatting his arm playfully, Kirsten left the room to go to work. With a huge grin on his face, Sandy lifted up his briefcase and followed the path his family had followed before him.

For the rest of the day before the first game of the season, Ryan had to endure Seth's embarassing waves in between classes. Ducking his head quickly so the other students might think this weird and embarassing display was not for him, Ryan would quickly move into the nearest restroom or classroom so no one could see his red tinged cheeks.

And so the day quickly passed and it became hotter and muggier with each passing second until it seemed the game might be cancelled because of the amazing heat. But 3:30pm came without a hitch, so Ryan moved from his last class of the day to the boy's change room to get ready for the first and most important game of the season. They were playing their biggest Rivals, the Pacific Wolves.

Quickly changing into his uniform, Ryan made his way out onto the field. Most of his teammates were already on the field. Some of them were kicking balls at the net while others were stretching in anticiaption of a tough game.

Looking into the stands, Ryan quickly spotted Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth. When Seth saw him looking, he immediately broke into an impromtu wave that caused everyone around him to give him queer looks. Even Kirsten had to look away, slightly embarassed at her son's antics. Sandy, however, seemed to enjoy Seth's behaviour since he quickly joined in much to the chagrin of Kirsten.

Smiling slightly at his new family, Ryan turned and started to perform stretches along with his teammates. The heat was pretty much unbearable, but he, as well as everyone else, had to continue on as though there was nothing wrong.

Within fifteen minutes, everyone was on the field or seated in the appropriate spots. The referee blew the whistle signalling to the players that the game was about to begin. Getting into a tight circle, they received a pep talk from their coach then jogged out to their respective positions.

The ball was dropped and play began fiercely. Moving up and down the field, the ball was passed, spun, kicked, and airborne with people running this way and that in the hopes of getting the black and white ball. Harbour scored twice within the first fifteen minutes of play with Pacific scoring once. The two teams were sweating and panting due to the exertion in the stifling heat.

Ryan had scored the second goal and was quickly gaining ground on the field to score the third. The cheers rose in the stands as he neared the other teams goalpost. He distinctly heard Seth shouting apart from the fray. Breathing heavily with sweat pouring from his hairline into his eyes, Ryan got lost in his goal to kick the ball into the white net only feet in front of him.

Kicking with all his might, he watched the ball soar through the air in a great arc. He saw Pacific's goaltender leaping into the air in the hopes of stopping the sweat blurred ball. And he saw the ball slip through the goalie's fingers and heard it hit the net with a satisfying swoosh. The sounds of the crowd cheering was the next thing to invade Ryan's senses as his teammates ran up and patted him on the back. He had scored. He had placed his team ahead of Pacific by two points.

It was during the free moments only found after a goal that Ryan noticed something else. He couldn't breathe. His chest was expanding greatly in the effort of bringing air into his demanding lungs, but not enough was going in. Grabbing onto his chest, he took great heaving breaths in the hopes of relieving the awful sensation that was not being able to breathe properly. Breathing quickly became his top priority.

He was so focused on tryng to breathe, he didn't notice Thomas asking him if he was alright, or hear the coach blowing his whistle to call for a time out. Suddenly, there were hands on his back, faces surrounding his vision as he fought for the wonderful sensation of air leaving and entering his lungs freely.

His knees hit the green grass in one jarring impact. He was forced to lay on his back on the hot grass even though the position made it even harder to breathe. Seconds seemed as long as minutes. Minutes seemed as long as hours. There was no reprieve from the harsh intakes of what little air he could manage. Then, a familiar voice joined the thousands speaking above him; Kirsten.

"Ryan?" she asked panicking, "Ryan, what's wrong?" Her soothing hand found it's way to his cheek, cooling the heat that was there.

"C...can't breathe," Ryan forced out which only made his problem worse. He felt her hand slide reassuringly into his. Felt a rough hand that could only belong to Sandy fall gently on his shoulder. Seth's voice also became disjointed from the jumble of noises above him, but he could no longer pick out what anyone was saying. He couldn't hear Kirsten's reassurances that the ambulance would be there shortly or Sandy's gentle voice reassuring him that everything was going to be all right. All he could hear was his harsh breathing and his heart thudding loudly in his chest.

After what felt like hours, new hands replaced Sandy and Kirsten's. A light was shone into his eyes. A clear mask was placed over his mouth making his laboured breathing just a little bit easier. Questions were being asked of the people around him, but Ryan couldn't pick out the answers.

Suddenly, he was rolled onto his side and rolled back onto something soft and cool against his skin. His body was lifted up on this cool reprieve from the hot ground and he could feel himself being moved along roughly. Kirsten's soothing hand once again found his as the world became black.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but it must have been a while because he was now in an all white room. The sunlight was filtering in through the white blinds. He was laying on a rather hard mattress with blindingly white sheets covering his lower body. After a few moments of looking around, Ryan finally realized he was in the hospital.

He couldn't remember what had happened. Taking stock of any injury he could find, he was shocked to find none. The only thing that would say anything about why he was here was the little clear tube that was tickling his nose.

Lifting his hand to remove the offending object, Ryan was shocked to feel a hand clasp onto his to prevent him from doing so. Looking over in shock, he was startled to see Kirsten sitting in what looked like a rather uncomfortable chair beside the bed.

"Welcome back," she said to break the intense silence that had overtaken the room.

"Why am I here?" asked Ryan. He was shocked to find his voice was kind of hoarse. What had happened?

"You had a pretty bad asthma attack. Don't you remember?" asked Kirsten now sounding worried. Ryan shook his head in confused silence. "We didn't know you had asthma Ryan, why didn't you tell us?"

"I hadn't had an attack since I was seven, I thought I had grown out of it," answered Ryan as he racked his brain for any reason as to why he would have an attack now. Then he remembered what he was doing before the attack. "Did we win?"

Kirsten smiled slightly. "Yeah, you won. Harbour fought for the game pretty hard after the ambulance had left. They even signed the game ball," she said displaying a ball that seemed to have come out of nowhere. Black signatures adorned all of the white spaces on the ball.

"Where are Sandy and Seth?" asked Ryan after a moment of silence.

"They just left to get some food. You should be discharged shortly, so I think they might be meeting us at home," she answered. "What do you think caused you to have an attack now?" she asked out of curiosity.

"I guess it was the heat and how I ran practically the entire field to get a goal. Although I haven't had an attack like this in a really long time, so I don't really know what caused it. Some mornings I get a kind of whistle in my breathing, but it wasn't anything to be worried about...until now," he responded. Kirsten glanced at him worriedly, but before she could say anything else, the doctor walked into the room.

"It's nice to see you awake. I'm Dr. Johnson, how are you feeling now?" he asked.

"Alright, I guess," answered Ryan after glancing at Kirsten momentarily.

"Good, that's good. You gave this lady quite a scare," said Dr.Johnson motioning toward Kirsten. "We pulled your health records. So, you haven't had an attack of this callibre since you were seven?"

"I haven't had an attack period since I was seven," said Ryan.

"Okay, well, this one as you know, was quite severe. It was caused due to a mixture of heat, exertion, and the amount of pollen in the air today was quite enhanced. We are prescribing an inhaler to be used whenever necessary for the next three weeks, okay? As soon as the paperwork is signed, you may leave. Happy health," finished Dr. Johnson as he left the room as abruptly as he had entered it.

Ryan looked at Kirsten in shock to find here staring at him in much the same manner.

"Well, uh, I'll just go sign those papers while you get changed. You uniform is on that chair over there okay, sweetie? I would have brought your regular clothes, but I didn't have time," said Kirsten as she kissed Ryan on the forehead and left the room to sign whatever paper needed to be signed.

Ryan took a deep breath and was concerned about the prevalent whistle as he climbed out of bed to change. This did not seem good, he thought to himself, not good at all. He didn't want his asthma to return, it only dampened the amount of fun he could have, especially since the soccer season had only just begun.

TBC