Hey everyone! I wrote this while I was on holiday in Australia, the weather turned out to be crap so I had nothing better to do, it's pretty sad really! Anyway, I hope you enjoy and that it is up to standard!

Love is never easy

Sandy and Kirsten were scheduled for their second, well actually third session of couples's therapy and they were walking down the corridor towards the office.

"Sandy?"

"Yea honey?"

"What I say in there, I don't mean to hurt you. It's just that I've realised that for us to get back on solid ground we need to work through every little thing even if it means that I'm here for longer. I really want it to work and I'm sure it will, it's just not going to be easy."

"Sweetie, love is never easy. We'll get there, we always do."

They reached the room and Sandy led them in with Kirsten following behind, just a mere shadow of the woman she was a year ago. Before she was a high powered career woman with a perfect husband and family to go with it but with the events of the past year she had lost and gained both her sons, lost her sister and best friend, gained a new sister, semi-lost her husband and lost her father and gained a new step-mother who was her rival and now her boss. She sat down in the same chair as the other day and began absent-mindedly fiddling with the fraying material.

"Good afternoon. Kirsten, Sandy. Now last session was very crucial for the initial stages of the process and I hope that you will be able to continue on like last time. For today I would like Kirsten to continue to share her feelings about the past year. I have decided that what we should do is allow Kirsten to contribute her emotions from the past year and when we come to much larger scale problems than the ones already tackled we can face them then and see your views Sandy. Kirsten?"

She took a sharp breath in before returning to her trail of thoughts from the other day. Love is never easy. She had heard Sandy say that so many times before; to her countless times, to Seth, to Ryan and even to Marissa at the Valentine's Single Dance Gala. All those memories returning to her of last year; Valentine's Day particularly when Sandy had ruined her favourite holiday right up to the part at the end of the night when she heard his speech to Marissa about how you might be having the stupidest fight that you didn't even know what it is about but you stick in there because it's worth it. She could hear his hidden meaning; Kirsten is worth it. And our love is worth it, so I am going to do this. She thought to herself before the doctor interrupted.

"Kirsten? Can you please continue on from where you left off last time?"

"Okay… Well… By now we appeared pretty normal. We were being a little more physical with one another, certainly not as much as usual but we were getting there. My father's case with the D.A became fully fledged and started to take over everything. I supposed I partly blamed myself for not knowing that all this was building up, I mean I worked beside him for ten years, how could I not know that he was making all these illegal deals? I know that Sandy stepped in to be his attorney because it would mean a lot to me and I was so grateful for that but I didn't want him to get himself into trouble for me or my father. I know that last year we were in a similar situation with my 'Uncle' Shaun and Sandy put himself at risk to help me and I really do appreciate how generous he is, how much he helps people but I didn't want him to jeopardise himself for me."

Sandy just sat there listening to his wife go on about how much she cared that he wanted to help but didn't want him to put himself at risk for her. Doesn't she know that I would do anything for her? To help her? He thought to himself before speaking out in the silence.

"Honey don't you know that I would do anything for you and to help you?"

"I do Sandy, I know that you would and that you have but I don't want you to continually put yourself on the wrong side of justice to get me out of my father's mess."

"Kirsten? See this wedding ring of mine. I know that you don't have one right now but the plastic one is a substitution and I think of it as one, I hope you do too. But that's beside the point. These rings show that we are bound together. Meaning that whatever trouble you are in, I am in too and I hope that you can realise that there is no way I am ever letting you get into trouble if I can help it, and most of the time I say I can help it!"

"Sandy…"

"Nope, you may usually win but this is one topic that I am adamant on. Whatever situation you are in, I am always going to do my best to get you out of it and you should always remember that."

"Well continuing on from where I left off… I was concerned about my father's case. I felt that I was missing out on something and even though I knew that Sandy had attorney-client privilege and wasn't legally allowed to tell me anything I began to get suspicious when witnesses began turning up at the house wanting to speak to Sandy out the back. At that point all I knew was that my father was being charged for was bribing city officials to get building permits, I had no clue that he had another daughter to a lady he had an affair with while my mother was still alive.

"That's good. Keep on going." The doctor urged her to continue.

"And then Christmas came, or should I say Christmukkah. The holidays had come around so fast from the summer and as usual there was the normal pressure but along with the case it was extremely stressful. When I found out about his affair and the child they had I was so angry. I can remember realising that something was up when he came to me to tell me something and then that red-head lady came so tell me something too and they obviously knew each other. Of course I had no idea it was something so outrageous but I was still beginning to get angry when they were taking so long to tell me. I remember that once he told me I slapped him across the face before running off. I was upset, hurt, and angry but most of all I felt betrayed. I was so mad at Sandy for not telling me. The days leading up I knew that Sandy knew something that he wouldn't share with me and I was so hurt that he wouldn't tell me."

"Honey you know I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."

"Oh attorney-client privilege! Sandy he cheated on my Mom and I have a sister I had never known about until then."

"Look I wished I could have told you but I couldn't. Caleb told me not to and as much as I wanted to I knew that you had to hear it from him."

"I just wish that it didn't come out like that in front of everyone. I mean the way I reacted was scary, I scared everyone especially Seth when he saw me throw a vase at his head. The worst thing was the way that it made me think about Mom. It made me think how she might have known or had no clue at all. I locked myself in the wardrobe and took time to think by myself. I stayed in there until later that afternoon when Ryan got me out only to find Sandy there waiting for me. It truly felt like we were back to normal for that small moment – when he was comforting me like we used to whenever something horrible happened. He was there for me and I was so happy that he was."

The doctor interrupted as her train of thoughts dissipated. "So if this event brought you two together, how did it get worse?"

"I think it made a turn when Jimmy left. Jimmy was my oldest friend and closest after Sandy. I went out with him when I was sixteen and my father tried to persuade him to propose to me even. We were probably going to get married and live the perfect, boring life as the power couple of Newport Beach but then he got a girl from Riverside pregnant and being a spoilt Newport brat as Sandy likes to say, he had to do the 'right' thing and married her. This made me leave for Berkeley where I met Sandy and while I have had thoughts what it would be like if I married him instead I am happier this way. When I found out that he had fallen in love with Julie again I was worried. I mean I know that they were never going to last apart for longer than a year but all the damage she had caused I think would have driven Jimmy away but obviously not. And then when he told us that he was leaving, I was so upset. I knew that he had been there to turn to as a friend and losing my oldest friend was going to be hard. His departure made me reminisce about the old days and how things were so much simpler."

"And how were things with your father?" The Doctor enquired.

At first I didn't want to forgive him at all. I did my best to ignore him and at first it worked but eventually we got over it all and we went back to normal. He was my boss so I couldn't exactly be horrible to him at the workplace but I certainly could at home. On the other hand I wanted to help Lindsay, his illegitimate love child, and give her a family. I realised that it would be hard for her too so I wanted to be friends with her as well and we spent a lot of time together shopping and lunching and doing girly stuff, it was nice to do it all with someone other than Julie."

"Okay now that's nearly our time up for today so once again I would like us to all leave on a happier note. Sandy seeing you haven't had much to contribute today I would like you to finish by telling us one thing you love about Kirsten."

"I love the way you think too much. The way you read in between the lines but usually end up interpreting it in the wrong way and getting the complete wrong idea and I have to spend the rest of the day making up to you for something you think that happened when it didn't really but I know that once you get something stuck in your mind there is no changing it so I go through and find a way to make it up to you anyway because I love the look on your face once you see my apology."

"Sandy..." Kirsten replied recognising the hint of referral to the Rebecca situation reaffirming her trust in him that nothing did happen.

Sandy clasped her hand in his as he swooped down to kiss her before pulling her up and escorting her out of the room leaving the Doctor in awe to how they ever had problems.

Please review, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Next chapter will be about their wedding anniversary because I don't think that she got over him forgetting it just like that, I mean it was their twentieth! If you have any suggestions for the next chapter please tell me, I need all the inspiration I can get. Thanks!