Disclaimer: I don't own The OC or its characters, etc.
Summary: One-shot Kandy fic. Sandy visits Kirsten in rehab. My interpretation of how Kirsten got her new set of wedding rings.
Just in case anyone cares, I've started a full time job now, so there will be fewer updates on my other fics, but I will be continuing them. I just don't have much time any more! Anyway, enjoy this one!
Sandy pulled into the grounds of Suriak, the smooth wheels of his new car crunching on the gravel. His heart thumped in his chest as his eyes swept over the building. It had been two weeks since he had been here last; two weeks since he had left Kirsten here: alone and abandoned. He was nervous about what he would find now.
Had she changed? Was she getting better? Had she forgiven him?
It was this last question that scared him the most. Would she be angry with him? He had defended his actions over and over again, in his own mind and to his sons, but he had always been haunted by the burning feeling that she wouldn't understand why he had done what he had done. They had spoken on the phone, of course, but she had been quiet and withdrawn. It wasn't the same as seeing her in person; reading her mind and knowing her thoughts by staring into her bright blue eyes.
Only he hadn't been able to read her mind in a long time and her blue eyes had lost their brightness over the last year. She had become a stranger to him. He missed his wife; he wanted her back. He wanted those moments when she would run her hand playfully through his hair; those moments when she would rub his shoulders after a long day at the office; those moments when she would call him in the middle of the day just to hear his voice. He wanted to see her smile and hear her laugh again. He even wanted to taste her cooking again.
Sandy climbed out of the car, breathing deeply to calm his nerves. It didn't help. Until they were in the same room and he was holding her in his arms again, telling her how much he loved her, his nerves would plague him. And then he saw her, stood at the top of the steps. She was thin and frail, her clothes loose around her tiny frame; her hair lank around her face; her face drawn and her skin pale. All these things would have made his heart sink if he hadn't noticed something else.
She was running towards him.
They met at the bottom of the steps and Kirsten fell into his open arms, burying her face into his shoulder. She inhaled deeply, smelling the mix of his aftershave and the scent of his clean shirt. She had missed that smell. She had missed the way his arms felt around her and the way he would lift her feet from the floor in his embrace.
"I'm so glad you came," Kirsten whispered.
Sandy placed her gently back on the ground and pulled back to look at her gaunt features. His heart broke at what he saw.
"How are you doing?" he asked apprehensively.
Kirsten dropped her gaze. "I'm ok," she shrugged her shoulders as she answered. She looked up, a forced smile on her face. "I'm better for seeing you."
Sandy smiled back, sadly. He cupped her face and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering for a moment. Kirsten gripped her hands around his wrists and leant into him, enjoying the familiar feeling of her body pressed against his. Sandy hooked his finger under her chin and lifted her face to meet his, dropping his lips onto hers.
Kirsten smiled, genuinely this time, her eyes finally falling on the black Lexus convertible that stood proudly behind them.
"You bought a new car?" she asked, her eyebrows arched in amusement.
Sandy shrugged his shoulders and grinned mischievously. "I need something to distract me while you're gone."
Kirsten dropped her head and Sandy immediately regretted his words.
"I'm sorry," Kirsten said. "I'm so sorry."
"It's ok," Sandy stopped her apologies. "I just want you to get better. I just want you to get better and come home, ok?"
"Ok," Kirsten's voice shook.
Sandy linked his fingers with hers and pulled her into a walk. Kirsten fell into step beside him and they walked in silence around the grounds of the rehab centre. Sandy looked around at the place Kirsten temporarily called home. It was a world away from the rehab centres he had seen before – they hadn't had the ocean backdrop or the plush interiors. But the niceties couldn't take away the underlying knowledge that Kirsten was in rehab, somewhere Sandy had never imagined she would be.
They came to a stop at a bench that overlooked the water and they sat down. Sandy wrapped his arm around Kirsten's waist, noticing how small it had become.
"Will you tell me what it's like here?" Sandy asked cautiously. He didn't want to put any extra pressure on her, but he wanted to know. He wanted to share this with her; to be a part of her recovery.
He waited patiently as Kirsten was silent for a moment, before she answered.
"It's…it's hard. I see a counsellor every week and I have to go to group sessions. They want me to talk a lot." She looked up at Sandy and smiled. "I think Seth must get that trait from you."
Sandy leant in towards her and kissed her temple, rubbing his nose against her cheek. "You can do this," he reassured her.
Kirsten nodded, a frown forming on her face. "Some days are easier than others," she admitted. "Most are hard. I mean, so much has happened and I feel so mixed up about so much. I miss you and I miss the boys, and sometimes I just don't know if I'm strong enough, you know?"
Kirsten let the tears fall down her cheeks. Sandy pulled her frail body in towards him and Kirsten rested her head in the crook of his neck.
"I'm trying. I promise I'm trying, but it's just so hard," Kirsten cried into his collar.
"I know, baby. But you have to do this," Sandy urged her gently.
"I just feel so alone here. I wish I could come home."
"Oh, honey, you're not alone," Sandy said. He pushed her back to stare deep into her eyes. "You're never alone."
He wiped the tears from her face with his fingertips, before kissing her flushed cheeks.
"I have something for you," he told her, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small square box.
Kirsten recognised it for the jewellery box that it was, curious as to what was inside.
"I love you," Sandy continued. "I love you so much, more now than I ever have. I want everyone to know that."
He opened the box to reveal 3 platinum rings.
"These are to replace the ones that broke. I hated to think that your finger was empty without them."
Kirsten smiled through her tears, watching as Sandy carefully slid each ring onto her left hand. An engagement ring, telling the world that he was the one she was meant to be with; a wedding ring, reaffirming the commitment she made twenty years ago to love him for the rest of her life; an eternity ring, symbolising the promise to spend forever with him – beyond death and into the next world.
When the rings were firmly on her finger, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. Kirsten took her hand away from him and cupped his face, her lips crashing against his and their tongues dancing together. Her hands raked through his hair as Sandy's lips grazed along her jaw line and he nuzzled her neck. Kirsten hugged him tightly.
"Thank you," she murmured.
"It's purely selfish," Sandy told her. "I just want everyone to know that you're mine."
Kirsten pulled back to face him. "How long can you stay?"
"I don't have to go back to the office if you don't want me to," Sandy answered. "Why?"
Kirsten smiled, her eyes twinkling with suggestion. "I wanted to show you what I did to my room."