O.C. Missing Scene Challenge S2 - -"The Way We Were"

Rating: PG

Pairing: Kirsten/Sandy

A/N: A Kirsten/Ryan discussion about the baby has already been done a few times, so I decided not to touch the subject. Instead, I put together a Kandy piece, who are trying to put the summer behind them. Forget Rebecca completely, since we don't know about her yet. And yes, I need a beta.

It was quiet throughout the Cohen household as Kirsten jogged on her newly purchased treadmill that she conveniently placed in the guest room of the house. Whether it was to avoid Sandy over the summer or to not disturb him--she didn't know, but she figured it was some type of internal representation of her feelings trying to climb its way out of her.

With loud music blaring through the headphones, she felt the numbness in her feet--over an hour on the treadmill will not only do that, but she knew first hand that it can also cause blisters to form in the worst of places.

Numb.

That was exactly how she felt throughout the entire summer. Two important people left the house vacant, only Sandy and herself were left to try and put the round pegs back into there holes, only to find out that they had square ones.

Focusing on thinking about her problems and less on where her feet were landing on the tredmill, Kirsten's right foot hit the mat unbalanced and caused her to double over in pain as she fell, letting a gasp echo throughout the house.

As the headphones fell off, she looked over to the bedroom door, her eyes locking with Sandy's, his face questioning what went on.

"Honey are you OK? What happened?" Sandy asked, walking over towards Kirsten.

"I felt like spraining my ankle Sandy." Kirsten replied, being defensive like she was all summer, as if trying to prove she could take care of her problems by herself.

"Sprained? It's just twisted. I'll get some ice for it." Before she could reply, Sandy went into the kitchen and returned with a ziploc bag full of ice cubes. Setting them on the bed, he placed his arms under Kirsten, not listening to her resist, he lifted her up and carried her onto the bed.

"Looks like you're not going into work today." Sandy said, holding the ice on her ankle.

"No, I'm OK Sandy. And I..have a lot of work to do. I think my dad is up to something. Mary, our secretary, keeps sending the same two men in suits away. Or, at least that's what I can tell through my office window."

"When is your dad not up to something?"

Sandy looked back down at the ankle, seeing it swell.

"Kirsten, if you can walk on this foot in heels, I'll put on my old toga outfit from college and walk across town." Sandy grinned, both ends of his lips practically touching his earlobe. Now that would be a sight, Kirsten thought.

After a few moments, Kirsten took a breath, hesitating to speak.

"Are you sure it's only twisted? Because it's starting to bruise." Kirsten absentmindedly asked

"Now Kirsten, you and I both know that I was the only pale Jewish lifeguard this side of the Indian Ocean. I had to take that uh, medical class about sprains, strains, fractures, the uh massaging of, and what not."

"Right Sandy. The same medical class that I was in. Didn't we meet about two weeks before that? You know, when you found my course schedule on the ground after I lost it twenty minutes earlier?" Kirsten began to toy with him. Knowing full well, or at least assuming, that Sandy had spotted her dropping it, eyeing her beauty, then switching a few of his classes so that he could be in hers.

"Kirsten, we've gone over this before, I found it and immediately gave it back to you. You can't blame me that you invited me to..what was it again? 'Larry's toga party on the beach..that will be filled with doobies and plenty of hash." Sandy chuckled, causing Kirsten's lips to curve upward.

They both sighed.

"Best time of my life.." Sandy said quietly, looking down at the bag of ice.

"Dating a rebellious princess who lived out of a mail truck and didn't shave for weeks at a time was the best time of your life?" Kirsten questioned, feeling Sandy gently run his thumb over the top of her hand.

"Well, yeah. You were you, Kirsten. Up until then, I hadn't found anything in California that was worth staying here for." Kirsten felt the warmth rush to her body, as her face flushed red as she began to blush. This was her Sandy. Not the one that was zombified, going to the office until the wee hours of the night and avoiding conversation.

"This summer..was horrible."

"Yeah, I know. I mean, you wanted eight coats of paint for the living room walls. What's next? Triple layered carpet in the pool house? Red dye number five for the pool water?" Kirsten bit her lip, not wanting to give Sandy the satisfaction of knowing that what he said had caused her to smile beyond belief.

As the laughter left her insides, she went serious once again.

"I'm serious Sandy, it's almost like, when they left, they broke our four piece puzzle that we worked on putting together all of last year." Kirsten quietly stated, as Sandy brushed her hair past her ear.

"Kirsten, what you have to realize is that they're back now. Things can and will go back to the way it once was. It's time we all start working on putting the pieces back together. Will it be easy? Probably not. Was it easy the first time? No. But we're a family, and families have to work together to stay together. We'll make it work this time." Sandy stated, looking at Kirsten straight in the eyes as he kissed her lips.

As Sandy gently kissed her forehead, Kirsten felt that familiar tingle that she hadn't felt all summerrun through her body. She leaned up, began to nibble on his ear lobe and whispered..

"So I guess I won't be going to work today..."

Maybe things will go back to the way they once were.

End.