Sorry this took so long. I went to Florida, and I meant to update before I left, but then real life interfered, and I had to get my study abroad application in, and finish a paper, and take a test, and well…here we are. Hope you enjoy! Please review!
Disclaimer: After a week in Disney, I am broke, and own absolutely nothing…with the exception of a Mickey pen that I bought for like a billion dollars.
"Summer?" Seth's voice called out shakily. "Are you okay? Ryan? Marissa?"
"I'm…I'm okay," Summer said as if she was trying to decide whether or not she really was okay. "My leg kind of hurts, but I'm okay. Are you okay?"
"My arm hurts, I think it's broken," Seth said. After years of skateboarding, he considered himself an expert on broken bones. And his arm, hanging dementedly at his side, was most definitely broken. "Ryan? Marissa?"
"Hmm," Marissa's eyes fluttered open and she remembered suddenly what had happened. They were in a car accident. She had been driving. She had been drinking and driving. Oh God, this was all her fault.
"Coop?" Summer asked in a tearful voice. "Are you okay?"
"I'm…my head hurts, and my ribs hurt, but I think I'm okay," Marissa said and then she looked over at Ryan, whose eyes were still closed, his head slumped against the window. "Oh God! Ryan! Oh God…" The Jeep had remained relatively intact, and was right side up. She knew that the front was totaled. But as she peered out the broken windshield she could see that the car that she had hit had not faired so well. It was flipped upside down, and there didn't seem to be any movement from inside. A knock on the window made all three awake jump.
"Hey, kids? I called an ambulance. They're on their way…" A man stood there with a phone in his hand. Marissa could now see people moving over towards the other car. Good, she thought, go help them. She wanted the world to open up and swallow her whole. She had taken that bottle of vodka from her parents' liquor cabinet. A master at drinking fast, she had done shot after shot, until she had heard Ryan's voice. She had slipped the bottle in her purse and met him at the door. And now, she had just caused this accident. Suddenly, she was very sober, and she wished Ryan would wake up. She hoped the people in the other car were okay, that it looked worse than it actually was.
Seth tried his door handle, and it opened and cradling his arm, he climbed out of the car. He went to the other side, and opened Summer's door and helped her out. Her leg was cut, and she had a few bruises on her arm, but she seemed okay. Now Ryan, Ryan did not look okay.
"Don't move him, in case something is wrong with his neck," Seth instructed Marissa, who nodded tearfully. Seth looked over at the other car, it was a black BMW. His father had a car like that; Seth shook the thought and turned his attention back to Ryan. The paramedics had arrived, and were hurrying over to the two cars.
"He's hurt the most," Seth said moving aside so that they could get to Ryan. Seth turned back to the other car, the paramedics were getting out the driver of the car, and suddenly a chill ran down Seth's back. A familiar voice was crying out from the car.
"My wife, you need to get my wife out of the car. She's bleeding. She's hurt more than me, don't worry about me, get my wife out of the car!"
That was his father's voice.
"Dad!" Seth cried out hurrying over to the stretcher where they had placed his father.
"Seth?" Sandy looked up at his son. Sandy had looked better, a bruise was already forming on his head, and he too was cradling his arm. "Oh my God, Seth, are you okay?" Seth nodded.
"It's just my arm," he said. "Is Mom…" He trailed off. She obviously wasn't okay. He glanced into the car, and saw her in much the same position that Ryan was in, only she was upside down, and her neck was at an angle that Seth would have preferred it not been at.
"I don't know," Sandy said. "Is Ryan okay? Was he with you? Who was driving?" The paramedics started moving Sandy towards one of the waiting ambulances.
"Ryan's…I don't know," Seth answered. "Marissa was driving…Summer was in the car too, her leg is hurt, other than that…"
"We need to get her out," he heard from the paramedics working on his mom. "There's a gas leak."
"Oh God," Sandy murmured. "Kirsten…oh God."
"Sir, we need you to calm down…son, why don't you ride with us and have your arm checked out?" Seth didn't want to leave the scene yet, his mother and Ryan weren't safely out of the cars yet. He looked torn, and the paramedic put his arm around Seth and led him into the ambulance. The last thing that Seth saw before the doors shut behind him was Ryan out of the ambulance on a stretcher, and Summer and Marissa both being taken in another ambulance.
Sandy had a concussion, and his arm was definitely broken, and he was a mess. He had sat patiently, or at least tried to sit patiently, while they set his arm, but they had not told him anything about his wife or Ryan, and his patience, what little he had to begin with, was wearing thin. With every second that passed where he didn't know what was happening with his wife, he was growing a little more anxious and going a little crazier.
Seth was doing the same, but they had already set his arm and he was now sitting in the waiting room with Summer, whose leg was in a cast and definitely broken. The only thing that they would tell him was that both his mother and Ryan had been brought in, and his mother was still in trauma, and Ryan had been taken up for some tests.
Julie Cooper had burst into the waiting room, Jimmy hot on her heels, only a few moments earlier, looking for Marissa.
"Summer!" She had cried out and hurried towards Summer. "What happened? Where's Marissa? Seth, what are you doing here?" Clearly, Julie had not been filled in on many details.
"Marissa's talking with the police," Seth said quietly, even though Julie was looking towards Summer for answers. "She was driving and she swerved into the other lane, and hit my mom and dad's car." Julie's mouth dropped open.
"What? Is your mom okay? Is Marissa okay? Your dad? Who else was in the car?" Jimmy asked.
"My dad's okay," Seth said. "A broken arm. He's getting it set right now…and my mom….we don't know, they haven't told us anything. She looked…it was…bad I think…" Seth shuddered. His mother would be okay. Summer surprised both Seth and herself when she reached over and grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "And Ryan was in the car with Marissa, we don't know if he's okay either."
"Ryan?" Julie repeated. "Who is Ryan? The kid that's staying with you? Your cousin or something?" So they were telling people that Ryan was Seth's cousin. That was fine by Seth, whatever made things easier.
"Yes, that Ryan," Seth said sighing.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cooper?" A police officer appeared in the door and both Julie and Jimmy whipped around. "Your daughter is waiting." Julie nodded and grabbed Jimmy's hand and began to pull him out of the room. Jimmy turned around before he left, and called out to Seth,
"Let me know if you hear anything about your mom." Seth slumped back against the seat.
"She's going to be okay, you know?" Summer said softly. "And Ryan too. They're both going to be okay." She hadn't let go of his hand yet, and she found it reassuring and nice, and didn't want to let go. A minute later, Sandy, complete with a sling and some pretty nice bruises burst into the waiting room.
"Have you heard anything about your mom?" He asked Seth crossing to where he and Summer were sitting in a few short strides. Seth had never seen his father like this. Sandy Cohen was always calm and in control, and this wild-eyed man was not acting like the dad that Seth knew and loved. "Ryan? Have you heard anything about either?" Seth shook his head, and Sandy ran a hand through Seth's unruly hair, and sighed, keeping his fingers intertwined with Seth's curls. Seth would have thrown his dad's hand off if it had been any other circumstance, but for the same reasons as Summer, who was still clinging to his hand, he needed his father's touch. He needed someone to step in and let him break down. Let him cry and scream, and plead for his mother.
"Mr. Cohen?" They turned to see a doctor standing there, a clipboard in hand.
"That's me," Sandy said.
"I'm Dr. Thomas. I've been working on your foster son? Ryan Atwood?" Dr. Thomas extended his hand, and Sandy shook it, feeling like he might be sick at any moment.
"Is he…is he okay?" Sandy asked. The doctor nodded, and Sandy felt relief wash over him.
"He should be just fine," Dr. Thomas replied. "He has a pretty severe concussion, and some broken ribs, but other than that, he should be fine. We're going to keep him here to keep an eye on the concussion, but he's awake and talking, and asking for you and your wife." Wife. Kirsten. Sandy had been so relieved that Ryan was okay, that for a moment he forgot that he still hadn't heard anything about her. The sick feeling returned. He closed his eyes for a second and heard her scream, felt her hand grasp his right before the collision. "If you want, I can take you to his room?" Sandy nodded numbly, and felt Seth's hand on his shoulder.
"Can we come Dad?" Seth asked. Summer was still clinging to his hand.
"Yes," Sandy said. "Dr. Thomas? My wife was brought in here too…I just need…no one has told us anything about her..." Dr. Thomas gave Sandy a sympathetic look.
"I'll check for you," he offered and then began to lead the way to Ryan's room. Sandy numbly followed until they stopped in front of a closed door. Sandy opened the door slowly, and Ryan's eyes fluttered open.
"Sandy," he said hoarsely.
"Hey, kid," Sandy said crossing over to the bed. Ryan took in Sandy's bandaged arm and head, and frowned.
"What happened to you?"
"That car that Marissa collided with? It was my parents'," Seth spoke up bluntly.
"Cohen, we were going to ease him into that information," Summer said hitting him on the arm. Seth shrugged, he saw no need to sugarcoat it, Ryan would find out sooner or later.
"Are you okay? Is Kirsten okay?" Ryan asked trying to sit up.
"I'm okay," Sandy said. "I have to lay off the surfing for awhile, but I'm okay."
"Kirsten?" Ryan asked again. No one said anything, and Ryan felt his stomach drop. "Sandy, what's wrong with Kirsten? Is she okay? She's okay, right?" Kirsten was the whole reason that Ryan was off the streets, she was the whole reason that he was here in Newport, she had taken a chance on him.She had to be okay. Ryan would not forgive himself if something had happened to her because he had let Marissa drive when he knew that she shouldn't be.
"We don't know anything about her yet," Sandy said gently. "But as soon as we know something, we'll tell you." Ryan's eyes started to droop, and Sandy ran a hand through his hair as he had done with Seth. "Get some rest kid."
"Marissa?" Ryan asked sleepily. "She was…is she okay?" Sandy fought the urge to shake his head. Ryan certainly had a hero complex. Marissa was the whole reason they were in here. Marissa was the reason that his wife was hurt, and the reason that Sandy was going crazy thinking of all the things that could be wrong with Kirsten. Marissa had spiraled down, and taken all of them with her. But Ryan was worried about Marissa.
"She's fine, she's with her parents," Summer spoke up. She silently added, and the police, but figured Ryan didn't need to worry about that. What a fine mess her best friend had gotten herself into this time. She suddenly remembered Kirsten. If she died, Coop could get vehicular manslaughter, or worse. Summer watched enough Law and Order in her day. Coop was in some major shit already, and if, God forbid, Kirsten would have gotten killed, Coop was in a world of trouble that not even Julie Cooper would be able to talk her out of.
Ryan nodded, and drifted back off to sleep. Sandy was torn between staying here with Ryan, and going to find a doctor to find out something at least about his wife. As if his son was a mind reader, Seth said,
"I'll stay here with Ryan, Dad, if you want to go find Mom." Sandy couldn't help but crossing to Seth, taking his head in his hands and placing a kiss on his forehead.
"Thank you, Seth," he said. Sandy left and Seth sat down in a chair next to Ryan's bed.
"You don't have to stay here," he said to Summer.
"Are you kidding?" She asked incredulously. She took a seat and then gave him a small smile. "I'd like to stay here, if you don't mind."
"I don't mind," Seth said shaking his head and giving her a small smile in return. "I don't mind at all."
Okay, so review and let me know what you thought. I'm very sad about the lack of OC tonight. This whole waiting a month thing isn't going to work for me…someone needs to talk to Josh about it.