Not beta-ed - All mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer - I own nothing related to The OC sob

Accidental Hero

Chapter 8

"Why did you lie?" Sandy repeated again softly. "You know you can tell me anything?"

"I didn't lie…"

"Ryan…."

Ryan felt like a caged animal under Sandy's penetrating gaze. He knew that the chances of Sandy dropping this were zero and suddenly he felt angry, angry that he was in this position in the first place, angry that Sandy felt that he had to pry, angry with the fact that he lost no matter which way he turned. Sandy didn't understand how he felt…how this was already weighing on his mind.

He hadn't had time to process the information in his head yet. Something was nagging him…something he couldn't put his finger on. He couldn't tell the truth until he worked it out, he couldn't risk screwing it up when the Cohen's lives were maybe at risk and Sandy sitting there like he was able to make things O.K when Ryan knew that things were far from right just pissed him off.

Kirsten and Seth opened the door and entered the room. Kirsten looked at one then the other, taking in Ryan's tense posture on the bed and her husband's grim look of determination. They had waited for the police to leave, hoping that the visit hadn't upset Ryan anymore; Kirsten was surprised to see that Ryan with an attitude had replaced the down beaten boy on the bed.

"What's going on...Sandy?"

Ryan struggled to sit up. He figured now was a good time to use the anger he was feeling to good purpose.

"You want to know why I lied Sandy…you really want to know... I'll tell you, How do you think I feel knowing that after two years of living here people still see me as a fucking con, that I was someway part of this because fuck it I'm from Chino and that means I know every criminal in California. How should I feel when I hear that I'm someone not worth giving a shit about…how do you think I felt hearing those cops on the beach laughing and joking about finding my body and not even bothering with the search because they already had me pegged as dead…. I had a fucking gun at my throat Sandy…I thought I was going to die and they'd just confirmed it for me…"

Ryan's voice was rising with every word.

"Then I have to sit here speaking to those assholes as they question me about why I don't have more information …if they had just done their job properly in the first place I wouldn't be laying here after getting the shit kicked out of me… cops have never done my family any favors, so sorry if I seem a little out of sorts at the moment Sandy."

The nurse appeared in the room.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Sandy looked shocked.

"Ryan I'm sorry…"

"I'm going to have to ask you all to leave." Nurse Sandie leapt into action.

Ryan suddenly noticed that he felt light headed, the heart monitor next to him was pinging and he seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

Ryan looked up at Sandy as the nurse put an oxygen mask over his face, he felt like such a shit to have laid this at his door. Sandy looked crushed that he had caused this but Ryan suspected it was his own guilt and worry that was causing this panic attack.

He gulped the air from the mask but that made things worse until the nurse sat on the bed with him and calmed his breathing to slow, steady breaths. His vision cleared and the pins and needles in his arms receded.

"You feel better now?"

Ryan nodded at the nurse and went to take the mask off.

"Uhh uhhh, you keep that on for a while. Lay back and get some rest. You've been thorough enough and fisty-cuffs with your family isn't recommended quite so soon kid…"

Ryan laid back and shut his eyes …this day was definitely turning to crap but at least he hoped he had diverted Sandy's radar for the time being.

"How could this happen Sandy? …I'm going to get those cops thrown of the force…this is just incredible. No wonder Ryan is mad…I'm mad. How dare they not take his life seriously…"

"Mom calm down or you'll end up in a bed next to Ryan."

Seth was subdued again. He knew that acceptance was a big part of Ryan's insecurities, he had thought that after all this time Ryan had been embraced by the community and Ryan's little jibes to the fact he hadn't and would never be were just in his mind. Seth realized that Ryan was right…he would always be known as the kid who stole cars and burnt down houses. He'd just been too blind to see it.

"We can put a complaint in…" Sandy sat with his head against the wall.

"You know that Ryan won't want that, that's why he tried to keep it from you." Seth knew Ryan; he wouldn't want a fuss made, that wasn't his style.

Sandy wondered when his kid became so smart.

They all jumped as the nurse exited his room.

"How is he?" Sandy stood up.

"He's sleeping now. If you can't play nicely I'll have you barred from his room …he needs calm and rest at the moment and not family disputes. You are lucky that this was just a minor panic attack."

"I'm sorry…it won't happen again." Sandy didn't need to be told, he already felt as guilty as hell."

"You can go in now but don't disturb him or you'll have me to answer too." The nurse said sternly.

Seth made a salute to her back as she strode down the hall.

"Am I the only one who is scared of her right now?"

Ryan lay on his bed with Marissa curled up next to him. It was ten days after the burglary and he was pretty much mended. It still hurt his ribs when he coughed and sneezed but he could walk upright now and his body no longer looked like a Jackson Pollock painting.

He had started to let his guard down…any threat seemed far away now. There had been several more break-ins in the area in the last week but Sandy had fortified the house with extra security…the place resembled Colditz but it was safer. Ryan had had a stand up argument with the Cohen's when they said that they wanted him to move inside…his argument being that things could have been a lot different if he had been in the house that night, he had pointedly looked at Kirsten when he said this. They had backed down. At least Sandy was off his back now, he had bought his story about the cops as the reason why he'd hadn't been entirely truthful and they had obeyed his wishes that he didn't want to make a complaint, they weren't happy about it but Ryan had said he just wanted to put the whole thing behind him.

They were still treating him like a hero…he felt like a fraud, he had just been in the right place at the right time…it had all been an accident really, nothing remotely heroic in hitting a man on the head when he had his back to you.

Marissa had certainly treated him like a returning war hero, not that he was complaining…he grinned at the memory of his third night home from hospital; she had been amazingly gentle with him, which was no mean feat considering his body had been so bruised. Marissa shifted against him when the phone rang. It was probably Julie checking up on Marissa.

He picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello Ryan…how are you feeling now?"

Ryan froze and sat bolt upright. Marissa looked at him. He got up and went outside.

"What the fuck do you want?" Ryan felt sweat blanket his body.

He heard a soft laugh at the other end.

"I think you know Ryan, I'm pleased you kept our little bargain…very smart."

"Yeah I kept the bargain and that's it...Cody this is over…leave us alone."

"You know I can't do that Ryan. …You're too important. Meet us at the Blue Bear in one hour…I don't need to tell you what will happen if you don't comply."

"No…this is over."

"Ryan you have one hour."

The phone gave the ominous buzz, as the connection was broken.

Ryan slid his back down the wall. Of course this was happening.

­­---- ---- ---- ----- ---- ----- ---- ---- ----- ----- ---

Ryan dropped Marissa off at her house, she had kept asking about the phone call and why he'd come back in the room looking like a ghost. So he'd fobbed her off with the story that it had been Dawn. She seemed to buy that…she knew that speaking to his mom always freaked him out. He was getting to be quite the liar at the moment.

She looked worried as he had sped off but he had bigger things on his mind now.

He parked a few blocks away from the Bar; it was in the seedier part of town. He had made good time he had thirty minutes to kill, He pushed open the door and walked up to the bar and ordered a scotch. He looked around to see if Cody and Pete were here yet, the place was crowded but he couldn't see them. He knocked back his drink and then ordered a double. He was tempted to order another but he had already downed more than the legal drink limit for driving.

He kept checking his watch but time seemed to have slowed. He got up and got some cigarettes from the machine on the wall then made a trip to the bathroom but found the door locked…great. He went to the back door and walked outside, he parked himself in the shadows and took a piss up against the wall, the sound of a car entering the ally made him turn his head…the flash of the blue and red lights dimmed as the car shut off its engine…. shit, Ryan finished and zipped himself up, it would be just his luck to get pulled in for a public misdemeanour. He flattened himself against the wall and watched as two men approached the cop car.

The cops got out.

Ryan watched as Officers Parker and O'Farrell greeted Cody and Pete like old friends.

It had suddenly become clear in his head the all the things that had been bothering him. How Pete and Cody had managed to get past the security, why no car was found at the scene. It became clear why Cody had suddenly changed toward him…. it was only after Parker had said loudly on the beach that he wasn't a Cohen and that he'd been inside.

He was so fucking screwed.

Tbc

Now you're all slacking, the reviews are tailing off...don't make me get my whip out. This chapter is a long one...so make me happy!

I just want to say also if there is anyone out there who voted in this years Citrus Awards.

I'm so excited to have won the 'Best Parody' section with 'The Door' and to get an honerable mention for 'Best Original Character' for Missy from 'Come Undone' was fab. So thank you. big smoochie kiss