The Distance Between Us
"If I could open my arms and spread the length of the isle of Manhattan…"
"Seth, pick up your phone!" Kirsten whispered in a demanding manner. "Georgia's asleep." It was 1:30am and the Cohen's were finally driving home from the hospital. All together. All 5 of them.
"Hello." Seth whispered. The three kids were together in the back of Kirsten's Range Rover. Georgia was sitting in the middle and had drifted off, leaning against Ryan who was almost out of it too. "Hi Summer…"
"Hey Cohen!" She screamed hyper.
"Shhh…"
"Why are we shosshing? Whatever! I'm in town; you're in town we so have to get together! I've missed you since college started…"Summer said.
"I know I've missed you too. How does tomorrow sound?"
"Great! Be at the diner for 12 and bring Ryan! Coop's here too. Mwa!"
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"Ahhhhh!" Seth screamed into his pillow.
Ryan knocked on his bedroom door. "Seth?" He gave him a confused look.
"Finally, you're here! I need advice." Ryan sat down on the bed, preparing himself for Seth's troubles he was going to be loaded with. "You know that girl, Fara Grace?"
"Senior, yeah…why?"
"I kinda, well not kinda I did, well she did, she started it, it was all her really-"
"Seth!" Ryan cut him off.
"I'm innocent really."
"Seth, what did you do?"
"Ugh!" He buried his head in the pillow. Ryan couldn't hear what Seth mumbled with his head down.
"Seth, take your head out the pillow."
"I kissed her alright!" Seth said with a cry. "Now stop patronising me!"
"So how are you gonna torment yourself this time?" Ryan asked.
"I have to tell Summer…God dam my conscience!" Seth screamed.
There was a loud shriek that echoed down the corridor. "SETH!"
Ryan and Seth frowned at each other. "Was that Georgia?" Ryan asked. The boys got up and went into her room.
"Oh man, Georgia!" Seth said panicky when he saw her having a fit. He went down by her bedside. He took her pillow away from under her head so she was lying flat incase she choked on her tongue.
Georgia was shaking so violently that Seth was afraid to touch her. "GG, you're gonna be fine, ok, just hang on. It'll all be over in a minute."
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Sandy climbed into his side of the bed beside Kirsten, who was reading. He switched off his bedside lamp, "Night hunny." He said kissing her cheek and tucked himself under the covers. Kirsten put her book down after a moment, turned off her light the rolled half of her body over Sandy and bent down, treating him with a passionate kiss.
A surprised Sandy pulled back. "What are you doing?"
"The book was boring." Kirsten said. Sandy kissed her again.
"You should read more often." He said before landing his lips on top of hers and sliding his tongue inside her mouth. He rolled on top of her and Kirsten was starting to lift off his shirt when…KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Sandy took a minute to pull away. "We're reading!" He yelled out. Kirsten grinned.
"It's Ryan." A voice came through the door. Sandy jumped off Kirsten onto his side of the bed just in time as Ryan walked in.
"What's wrong sweetie?" Kirsten asked.
"Georgia's having a fit." He said panting.
Sandy leaped out of the bed. "Get the medicine hunny." Kirsten said and Sandy diverted himself.
"I'll get it, you go, go!" Ryan said and Sandy ran out the room.
"Where is it?" Ryan asked Kirsten who felt completely hopeless; confined to the bed.
"Top drawer of my dresser." Kirsten said. Ryan scrambled through the drawer and found a clear bag with what looked like syringes in it. He held it up. "Is this it?"
Kirsten nodded. Ryan passed it to her. "Right, hold on." He said and scooped her up into his arms. Kirsten clinged onto his t-shirt tightly. "I won't drop you, you know." Ryan said as he ran down the corridor.
Kirsten smiled and loosened her grip. "I know, sorry." Ryan wanted to get upstairs fast for two reasons; 1) to help Georgia and 2) because Kirsten was wearing a nightie that was sliding down her legs and they were both getting embarrassed.
Sandy dashed in but Georgia was still fitting. He skidded down on the floor beside Seth. "How long has it been?"
"5 minutes 23 seconds. We were waiting to see if it would pass."
"That's ok." Sandy said. "You did the right thing."
Ryan came in and placed Kirsten on Georgia's bed beside her. Sandy signalled for her to give her the medicine. Kirsten took it out of its packaging and scooshed it up her nose with the inhaler. After 5 seconds Georgia's seizure finally started to wear off.
Seth sighed heavily standing up. Sandy stood beside him and patted his back. "You ok?"
"Yeah uh that was-"
"Frightening." Ryan finished. Seth nodded.
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Kirsten and Sandy stayed in Georgia's room that night just to watch her and make sure she was ok. However Kirsten fell asleep in the rested and familiar comfort of her husband's arms. She had that innocent smile that her face wore when she slept peacefully. Of all the things Sandy loved about Kirsten one of the things he loved most for sure was her smile.
Sandy watched her as she slept. He knew she hadn't got any sleep without him, because he knew he wouldn't sleep without her. In the 21 years they had been together the only nights that were restless for the both of them was on the off occasion when they were apart. But Sandy had slept enough hours for a lifetime and was much happier to just watch his two babies sleep.
Georgia stirred in her sleep. Sandy became aware and was afraid she was going to have another fit. She didn't but she did keep shifting. She called out "Dad! Dad! Dad!" and he realised she was having a nightmare. He gently slipped away from Kirsten and went over to his daughter.
When Sandy wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulder, she relaxed and went back to pleasant dreams. Sandy smiled but then Kristen started to moan in her sleep.
"No, no, no Sandy, no…" A tear fell down her cheek. "no…"
Sandy carefully slipped away from Georgia and went over to Kirsten. He scooped her up and held her to his body. "Shhh baby…shhh…"Kirsten stopped crying and cuddled closer to Sandy, and he reacted by holding her closer. She buried her face into his chest, still asleep.
Sandy looked over to Georgia and then back down at Kirsten. He laughed to himself. He carried Kirsten over to Georgia's bed and lay down between them. That night he watched his two favourite ladies sleep dreamlessly in his arms.
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Kirsten stood on the beach. A calm warm breeze blew stands of her hair across her face. She listened to the relaxing sound of the peaceful water as the surf hit the sand. She opened her eyes. The water was clear. Sunlight sparkled against its ripples but nothing was in it.
She then felt familiar arms wrap around her waist. She smiled and turned around. Sandy stood in front of her with the beautiful red rose in his hands. She took the rose from him. "I am never far away." He told her.
Kirsten fluttered her eyes open as she woke from her dreams. She smiled when she saw her hand rested over her husband's chest with his arm linked over hers. "Morning beautiful." She heard a familiar voice whisper. How wonderful it was to hear those words.
Kirsten looked up at Sandy with a glowing expression. "Morning baby." She said.
Sandy brushed a strand of hair off Kirsten's face. Kirsten was lost in Sandy's eyes; she wanted to make sure she wasn't still dreaming. Then she realised something. "Sandy, why are we in our daughter's bed? And where is she?"
"She's at school. The boys took her in 5 minutes ago."
Kirsten shifted herself up onto her elbow. "But she had a fit during the night; she should at least lie in."
Sandy laughed. "She did. It's 11:30."
Kirsten raised her eyebrows. "11:30!" She gasped."I haven't slept this late since college. Mind you, I haven't slept at all in the last 2 weeks."
"Well I'm home now so we can stay in bed and sleep all day if that's what you want."
Kirsten pouted. "As appealing as that sounds-" Kirsten started but was cut off when Sandy forced his lips on hers and kissed her passionately. They broke apart and Kirsten panted. "Mmm…suddenly I can't remember the end of that sentence."
Sandy grinned and kissed her again. He sat up on his knees, pulling Kirsten up with him and they never broke apart. As the heat rose he began to slide his hands under Kirsten's top but she slapped him and pulled away. "Sandy! We can't have" She whispered "sex" even though no one was around. As though even saying the word in her daughter's room was the devil's own luck. "in our daughter's bed!"
Sandy grinned slyly. "No!" Kirsten screamed. "Not in the bedroom, full stop! It's emotionally scaring even to think about."
Sandy rolled his eyes. Kirsten raised her eyebrows. "Well how would you feel if my dad and Julie had sex in our bed?"
Sandy cringed and covered his eyes with his hands. "Ah! Ok! Got it! EW! Emotionally scaring, yes. Right! Oh god, images!"
Kirsten laughed. Then she took Sandy's hands away from his face. "But uh we still need to get you clean of that hospital smell."
Sandy grinned. "Maybe I could ask for your assistance with those sensitive spots." Kirsten laughed as Sandy carried her into the shower.
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After Georgia signed in late in Dr Kim's office, it was just coming up for noon: the end of a period so she went looking for Braden because she knew he would be coming out of P.E theory. The bell rang as she was coming down the corridor and he was coming out of class. She yelled his name and started running up to him.
He turned around and caught her as ran into him and hooked leant on his shoulders and she jumped up and down. "My dad woke up! My dad woke up!"
Braden smiled. "Hey, that's great!"
"You wanna come back to mine after school today? You can meet my dad…and my mum too." She smiled giggling.
"Uh, sure great. Will that be ok?"
"Yeah! Of course!" Georgia said.
They started to walk down the corridor together to their next class. "So what are your parents like? Are they strict or cool?"
Georgia grinned. "They're very cool. But if you can't keep your eyes or hands off me, my dad will remove them."
Braden's eyes widened. "I'm kidding!" Georgia laughed.
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Summer frustratedly looked out the window. "Where is he!"
Marissa sipped on her milkshake. "He's only two minutes late Sum."
"He said they'd be here at twelve."
"They?" Marissa questioned and Summer turned around with a guilty look on her face. "Ryan's coming!"
"Sorry Coop." She said.
Marissa sighed. "You know we didn't end things well!"
"Yes, exactly, you guys totally have to make up. Cohen and I can't deal with this dark cloud hovering over our heads."
"And you think Ryan and I are that cloud? It's not that boy in Junior that you kissed and don't even remember his name?" Marissa emphasised.
"Who's name?" Seth asked walking in behind her.
"Uh Marissa's Sociology teacher." Summer stated with an innocent smile.
"You take sociology?" Ryan queried.
"Crash course." Marissa covered.
Things fell silent in the four. Seth nodded feeling the awkwardness. "Ah Marissa I didn't know you were going to be here. What a coincidence." He said unconvincingly. "Yeah…uh Ryan, come with me to order?"
They boys went to the counter. "That's very sly of you and Summer trying to set us up."
"Wha-Wh? There-there's no 'setting up'. No, no it's merely a uh a prearranged gathering of a couple of couples." Seth coughed. "Strawberry sundae please."
"Black coffee. That's fine but Marissa and I aren't a couple anymore. Or did you forget that part of the summer."
"I hear you buddy, I hear you but…the summer has past, you know, we've all grown up a little. Perhaps its time to pick up the scattered pieces." Ryan rolled his eyes.
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Sandy carried Kirsten into the kitchen as she laughed and he sat down on one of the kitchen island chair with her on his lap. "I like having you carry me around all day." Kirsten said with a smile. "Oh!" She grabbed the phone in front of her. "I should call the hospital; tell them Georgia had a fit last night."
Just then Georgia walked in. "Hey." She said.
"Hi princess." Sandy said. "How you feeling?"
"I'm fine.2 Georgia said. Kirsten smiled and hung up. "You feeling ok sweetie?"
"Yes, I'm fine mum." Then Braden walked in behind her.
"Mum, Dad, this is Braden. Braden my mum and dad." Georgia introduced.
Braden smiled. "Mr and Mrs Cohen."
"Please, Kirsten." Kirsten smiled sweetly from her husbands lap.
"And Sandy, nice to meet you."
"I'm glad to hear you're feeling better Mr Cohen." Braden said.
Georgia tugged Braden's arm before her dad started to open his mouth and long conversations would start pouring out. "C'mon Braden, I'll show you my room." And with that they both went upstairs. "You know you don't have to suck up to my parents like that." She said to him on the way up.
"Well he seems like a nice kid." Sandy said.
Kirsten smiled. "Yeah he does." She clapped her hands. "So, you want to carry me into the family room. Seth tells me the new Starship Troopers is good." Kirsten said laughing.
"Wait, wait honey, first I need to talk to you about something that I really don't think I can put off any longer." Sandy said kind-heartedly.
Kirsten turned herself sideways further to face Sandy. "Ok what is it?"
"Your legs." Sandy said. Kirsten took a small deep breathe; she saw this finally coming. "You haven't talked to me about it." He started.
Kristen shrugged slightly "Well I get the best parking spaces." Sandy forced a baby smile while Kirsten wiped off hers. "I was just so happy to have you back I kinda forgot all about it." She said.
Sandy smiled then gave her a compassionate look. "It's a huge life adjustment hunny…" He said, stroking a loose strand of hair off her face. "…I want you to know that you aren't going to have to 'adjust' by yourself." Kirsten smiled and nodded. "I know and you're right it is huge. And it's been terribly difficult to try and get used to not walking or standing up to get a book off the shelf. And it's wearisome but I'm not gonna keep questioning why it happened to me. I just want to concentrate on getting better and spending time with you and the boys and Georgia."
"Is there anything I can do?" Sandy asked.
Kristen lifted her head with a spring. "There is actually."
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"Alexis and Emily are going to be here soon so you want to help me out?" Georgia said as she led Braden away from her bedroom down the corridor.
"Who?"
"I told you about the little girls who I look after every now and again."
Braden smiled. "Oh yeah. I remember now. That'd be cool, yeah I'll stay."
Georgia laughed as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Ok, I'll just get us drinks."
Georgia went into the kitchen. As she went for the fridge she looked out the window and saw her mum and dad in the pool together. She grinned as she saw Sandy was helping Kirsten to swim.
"Ok now again." Sandy said to Kirsten as he swam slightly away from her but always looking at her. Kirsten grinned then slowly managed to swim to Sandy. When she reached him Sandy gave her a kiss as her reward. "Good." Sandy said. "Now if you swim a whole breadth I may have to reward you with a massage."
Kirsten raised her eyebrow. "What if I swim a whole length?" She asked slyly.
"Then…" He let his hands fall to her lower back. "then we'll see where the massage leads us."
Georgia smiled. "Kisses are better than cookies and milkshake." Georgia grabbed two cans of Coke and went back into the living room to Braden. "Hey you can switch on some TV cos I thought that…" She saw that Braden was already watching the news. The story being reported was about the search for Michael Hawk and the lack of the state's success. "…the news would be fun…" She trailed off sarcastically.
She walked up to him. "What'ya doin Braden?" She asked as he went through a file on the coffee table and watched the news.
"What's this?" He asked. "Sorry, it was open."
"That's ok." Georgia said. She sat down on the couch. "It's just a bunch of newspaper articles and info my mum found out about Michael Hawk."
Braden turned to her. "Michael Hawk?"
"Yeah…the guy who planned the bombing in Publix. Well one of the guys anyway. No such luck in finding him though. I think the feds pretty much suck at that."
Braden was staring into space. "Braden?" Georgia caught his attention.
He shook his head. "Sorry I uh…gotta go." He said standing up.
"But I thought you were going to help me look after the girls?" Georgia asked.
"I uh just remembered I have to uh…do something." He said agitated.
Georgia stood up and followed him to the door. "Oh ok. I'll see you tomorrow." She said with a smile. Braden half smiled at her ten ran out the house. Georgia frowned as she shut the door behind her. She shrugged to herself. "Humph…men."
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This chapter will be continued…I just thought it was gonna be too long plus I'm taking a while to update at the moment so I am going to break this down.
Thanks for all your reviews please continue!
And a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! To everyone if I don't manage to say it to you all before Sunday. I love you guys!
Kiki xoxo