Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C. or its characters. And like I mentioned before, this story overlooks Marissa shooting Trey.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed!
Seth and Ryan were sitting in the living room watching Sean of the Dead while Seth was contemplating where Sandy could be.
"Maybe he got attacked by killer zombies," Seth suggested, taking inspiration from the movie.
Ryan threw Seth a glance, his eyebrows raised. Seth didn't often lack originality.
"Yeah, I know," Seth replied to Ryan's glance. "A bit too trite, huh?"
There was a silence as Seth thought up other explanations for his father's whereabouts.
" Maybe," Seth begun, the speed of his voice increasing, "he met his favorite singer in rehab and they've been seeing each other secretly but then today, they decided to run away together and now they're headed for the Vegas to make a fortune through karaoke and musicals."
Ryan shook his head.
"Celine Dion's married to that old guy and has a kid," Ryan reminded Seth, whose ideas seemed to be growing more nonsensical.
"Oh, yeah," Seth remembered.
Silence reigned for several moments until the sound of the front door opening carried through to the living room.
"Or maybe he's just got back," Ryan decided.
"I do believe you're right," Seth agreed as they continued to watch the movie and footsteps approached the boys.
"So father," Seth begun as the footsteps entered the room, not looking up from the TV, "how is mother?"
Ryan looked up to see Sandy and Kirsten, a look of surprise apparent on his face.
"You're back," Ryan stated with a smile.
"What do you mean-we heard him come in," Seth said, before finally looking up. Upon seeing Kirsten, Seth's facial expressions were ten times as extreme as Ryan's.
"Hi," Kirsten said with a smile, trying to control the swelling of happiness that came with seeing the boys.
Seth stood up and hugged Kirsten, followed by Ryan. For the first time in so long, it felt like they finally resembled something like a family again.
Sandy smiled as he looked over at Kirsten, who Seth and Ryan were trying to explain a movie plot to. She looked more alive and happy than he had seen her in months. He took his time clearing the table and cleaning up: he wanted to give Kirsten as much time with the boys as possible. Since she'd returned, the boys-Seth in particular-had hardly let her out of their sight. They'd all missed Kirsten while she had been gone, it had made them realise how instrumental each member of the family was.
Sandy glanced over at Kirsten again, realising that with her hair and body positioned the way they were, you could just make out the cut on her forehead if you looked hard. Sandy looked down at the plate in his hand, remembering how Kirsten had spent a couple of hours crying on the beach. She hadn't cried like that since last summer, when they'd realised that Seth- and not just Ryan- had left Orange County. Kirsten had felt better afterwards, but Sandy just felt so damn helpless. It was like there was absolutely nothing he could do.
"Hey," Ryan said, interrupting Sandy's train of thought and taking him by surprise.
"Hey," replied Sandy. "You're not hanging out with Seth and Kirsten?"
"I figured they needed some time with each other," Ryan explained. There was a slight pause before he added, "Is Kirsten okay?"
"Why wouldn't she be?" Sandy asked quickly, wondering what Ryan had picked up on.
"I dunno, she just seems…jumpy, I guess," Ryan begun. "And unsettled. I mean, it seems like it's more than leaving rehab and Charlotte's. When you called out from the kitchen if we wanted anything, she jumped a mile."
Ryan saw a frown of concern crease Sandy's forehead.
"What is it?" Ryan asked, as Sandy cursed Ryan's innate perceptiveness.
"It's nothing," Sandy claimed.
"Kirsten left Charlotte's suddenly," Ryan pointed out. "She was there for what, two nights?"
"Something happened there," Sandy admitted, after a long pause. "It's nothing you need to worry about. She's fine, but it was enough to give her a hell of a scare."
Ryan looked at Sandy for several moments, as if he was awaiting a further explanation.
"And she is okay?" Ryan asked, when it became clear he wouldn't get told more.
"Yeah," Sandy answered. "Don't worry."
Sandy watched as Ryan headed out to the pool house before sitting down and reading the newspaper. He'd been reading uninterrupted for close to an hour when Seth passed through the room.
"Going to bed," he told Sandy. "Night."
"What happened with the movie?" Sandy asked.
"The usual," Seth explained. "Once Mom gave up on trying to understand she fell asleep."
"Night," Sandy smiled, folding up the newspaper as Seth left the room.
Sandy crept into the living room. Sure enough, Kirsten was sprawled across one of the couches, her mouth open slightly and snoring softly. From the sound of things the snores would escalate into freight train levels in a matter of minutes.
Lifting Kirsten up into his arms, a quiet, sleepy voice protested, "I wasn't asleep. Just resting my eyes."
"Of course," Sandy said with a grin, walking towards their bedroom.
By the time they'd reached the bedroom, Kirsten had woken up but kept her eyes close, not wanting Sandy to let her go. He lay her down on the bed and set himself next to her. Kirsten rolled over on top of him and placed her head on his chest.
"It's so good to be home," she mumbled.
"We've all missed you," Sandy told her. "So you're done with resting your eyes?"
"I think so," Kirsten decided, looking up at Sandy, smiling.
Kirsten leaned up and kissed Sandy, feeling his arms tighten around her. Sandy breathed in her scent, unable to express his happiness at her being back where she belonged.
"I'm not letting you go again, you know," Sandy said.
"Good," Kirsten smiled, running her hands up his arms. "Coz I'm not gonna let you let me go."
Sandy grinned and kissed Kirsten, sitting up taking her with him. Kirsten worked her way down the buttons of Sandy's shirt, Sandy busy trying to remove Kirsten's top at the same time. They were both lost in each other's embrace-in each other.
Kirsten nervously paced the bedroom floor. She'd woken up with that lethal combination of craving and guilt-guilt at what she had put her family through. She was pretty sure that she could overcome this, but it was just a matter of trying to figure out what to distract herself with in the meantime.
Sandy woke up to the sound of footsteps padding up and down the room. Reaching his arm across the bed, he realised it was Kirsten. Using all of his energy, Sandy opened his eyes to see Kirsten fiddling with her hair and walking around the room. There went Sandy's idea of surprising her with breakfast in bed and the replacement wedding rings he'd picked up for her.
"What's wrong?" Sandy asked, causing Kirsten to jump a foot in the air, reminding Sandy of what Ryan had told him the night before.
"Nothing," she said, unconvincingly.
She stopped pacing the room and sat down next to Sandy.
"Most days I'm fine," Kirsten explained. "But sometimes I get these guilt attacks-over what I put you all through. And then I get cravings…That's what's happened today."
"Okay," Sandy said, pulling Kirsten down next to him and pulling her in close.
"I'll get over it," Kirsten promised, taking Sandy's hand. "I can resist the temptation. And it's getting better all the time."
"It's okay," Sandy reassured her quietly. "I know you can. It doesn't make it easy for you, anyway."
Kirsten leant her head against Sandy, closing her eyes and wondering what she ever did to deserve someone so amazing.
"Can we go out today?" Kirsten asked. "Do something just the two of us? Or do you have work?"
"I've taken the next week off," Sandy told her. "So we can do whatever you want. Are you still going to take the next fortnight off?"
"I think so," Kirsten said. "I want to get everything else under control. Why?"
"I was thinking-only if you wanted-that I could extend my time off," Sandy suggested. "Then we'd have this time together."
"I'd like that," Kirsten said instantly.
"I didn't think we'd be going grocery shopping when you suggested doing something together," Sandy whined, later that day.
"Well, I didn't realise you'd been stuffing the boys with junk food and soft drink," Kirsten responded.
"And bagels," Sandy protested. "Bagels have nutritional value."
Kirsten smiled and shook her head, thinking of the lone, mouldy apple sitting in the fruit basket. It wouldn't have surprised her if that apple had been there since before she'd left.
Kirsten and Sandy made their way up to the checkout aisle, stuck behind a long que.
"At least we picked a good time," Sandy said cheerfully, to which Kirsten smiled and rolled her eyes.
"It means more time together," Kirsten pointed out.
"Kirsten?" came a voice from behind them.
Kirsten turned, her heart sinking upon seeing Taryn-the biggest gossip out of all of the "Newpsies" as Sandy called them.
"Taryn, hi," Kirsten said, forcing a smile. Her suspicion of the whole town knowing she'd been in rehab was instantly confirmed by the look in Taryn's eyes.
"Oh my God, I thought it was you!" Taryn exclaimed. "I didn't know when you were coming back. How was your 'trip'?"
"Fine, thank you," Kirsten said, trying to stop herself from wincing at the emphasis Taryn had put on the word "trip" and the group of people who had glanced across when they'd heard that word. "How have you been?"
"Oh, the usual," Taryn said. "Run off my feet by the kids."
Kirsten forced another smile and surreptitiously counted four customers in front of her. It was going to be a long wait.
"Well, I'm impressed," Sandy told Kirsten that evening, walking along the beach. "Normally it's a struggle to get you out on the beach twice in a year."
"I'm not going swimming," Kirsten warned him, glancing out cautiously at the ocean. "And I'm out here more than twice a year."
Sandy smiled: it was so easy to stir Kirsten; wind her up. And she looked so cute when she was defensive.
A young family came into view: a couple and a boy who was maybe about two. The sun was beginning to set, and the parents were trying to pack everything up while keeping an eye on the boy who kept trying to run back into the ocean.
"It seems like ages ago since Seth was that age," Kirsten noted, somewhat sadly.
"You normally hear parents saying the opposite," Sandy commented. "Seth never reacted that way to the ocean. Not the first time we took him, anyway."
"That's right," Kirsten remembered, looking at the boy who was now being carried away crying, and holding outstretched hands towards the water. "He cried-but it was because he was scared of the ocean. He kept on running away from the waves screaming. Poor thing."
"Sounds like his mother," Sandy teased.
"Hey, I did not run away from the waves screaming in fright when I was little!" Kirsten defended. "It was a game. And there was no screaming."
"Of course," Sandy agreed unconvincingly. "Well, at least Seth came around eventually."
"And we all know where he gets his mocking from," Kirsten pointed out.
"Oh really?" Sandy asked in mock seriousness.
"Really," Kirsten replied, emulating Sandy's seriousness.
"Well, if that's the way you think," Sandy said before scooping Kirsten up and carrying her out in the ocean.
"Oh, no, Sandy-don't!" Kirsten protested, hovering a few inches above the water. "My shoes will get ruined."
"Now they won't," Sandy declared, taking them from Kirsten's hand and throwing them to safety.
"But my top!" Kirsten complained. "It will go see through."
"I don't mind," Sandy promised with a smile.
"I know you don't, but I do!" Kirsten laughed. "We have to walk back to the car."
"It's dusk," Sandy told her, "No one will be able to see."
Sandy dipped Kirsten slightly, so the tips of her hair were trailing the water.
"Don't you dare drop me in that water, Sandy!" Kirsten warned, unable to suppress a giggle.
"What are you going to do about it?" Sandy asked.
"Grovel?" Kirsten suggested. "Beg?"
"Go on," Sandy said.
"If you take me back to the beach," Kirsten begun, "dry and free of whatever's in the ocean-we can spend the rest of the night doing whatever you want."
"That's tempting," Sandy admitted. "But so's the idea of dropping you in the ocean."
"What about threats?" Kirsten said wickedly. "If you drop me in that water or get me wet in any way; nothing will happen between us for the next week."
"You wouldn't!" Sandy exclaimed, feigning shock.
"Oh, I would," Kirsten said with a straight face. "But if you take me back to the beach, I can promise you that the next week won't be spent doing nothing."
Sandy considered this for a moment before lifting Kirsten clear of the water.
"You made the right choice," Kirsten assured him smiling, wrapping her legs around his waist and locking her arms around his neck.
"I thought so, too," Sandy agreed, before kissing Kirsten, carrying her back to the beach and setting her down. "You know how to tempt-or threaten-me."
Kirsten smiled and collected her shoes before sitting down next to Sandy and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Have you ever wondered what it would have been like if we'd've had another child?" Kirsten asked, her thoughts returning to the young family they'd seen before.
"Yeah, I've wondered," Sandy admitted. The truth is; he would have loved another kid. They'd been going to try when they found out Kirsten's mother had cancer. The whole ordeal had been too stressful so they'd put the baby idea on the back-burner. When they'd moved to Orange County, Hailey had been thrust in their care. Raising a thirteen year old and a six year old pushed the idea of another baby back even further.
"Why didn't we?" Kirsten asked. "I mean, why didn't we try after Mom died and we weren't taking care of Hailey anymore?"
"I suppose we got caught up in our careers," Sandy realised.
"Well, I'm glad we have Ryan," Kirsten decided. "It's like he's given us all a new lease on life."
"I guess you could say we have three kids, then," Sandy concluded.
"We're an odd family," Kirsten said, happily.
"Yes, we are," Sandy agreed.
Well, that was a long chapter. The next few chapters won't be too long and all of what's happening-and what will happen in the next few chapters-is leading up to one major event.