Ryan woke up startled. Something was pulling at him. He tried to open his eyes but groaned and closed them quickly. He then decided to push away whatever was bothering him. Sandy moved quickly to the side of Ryan's bed. With a gentle pat, he said, "Hey. It's okay. They're just here to move you. That's all."

"Oh. 'Kay." Ryan immediately relaxed at the reassuring sound of Sandy's voice, giving the nurse the chance to finish disconnecting the machines and allowing the orderlies to begin to move Ryan.

As Ryan felt the bed begin to move, he heard Sandy say, "And someone will tell my wife where Ryan's been moved to?"

"Of course, Mr. Cohen. Good luck, Ryan. Take care."

Ryan only waved as he was pushed out of the room. "Kirsten home?"

"Yup. Somehow you actually managed to get her to go home for a couple of hours, a feat I've been unable to accomplish for days now. My guess? She's excited about having a little Chrismukkah tonight with the whole family. She went to go get everything together."

"Presents?"

"Seth took care of them. He'll bring them later. How you doing?"

"Tired."

"Well, don't let me keep you up. Once they get you settled in your new room, feel free to go back to sleep."

"'Kay. You home?"

Sandy patted Ryan's shoulder again. "Later."

Sandy walked behind the bed as the orderlies continued transporting Ryan. He knew the question was coming. He knew that Ryan being awake and Kirsten being gone meant the question was most definitely coming, so Sandy tried to quickly figure out what to say. He was mildly surprised that Ryan didn't say anything else as they continued to the Step Down Unit and into his new room. Ryan remained quiet even after he was moved, and the nurse got him settled. Sandy found himself relieved when it appeared Ryan had fallen back to sleep.

As he laid his head back in his chair, Sandy also began to drift off to sleep and barely heard "Sandy?"

"Mmm."

A louder "Sandy!" made him jump.

"What? What's the matter?"

"What happened?"

Sandy let out a sigh as he moved to the edge of his seat.

"Please. Kirsten home. Need know." Ryan waved his hand over his body. "What do?"

"I promise, Ryan, you didn't do anything wrong. It was an accident. A very stupid accident. An accident that was in no way your fault, but one that you ended up taking the brunt of. You're not in any kind of trouble – legal or parental."

Ryan frowned as he listened to Sandy stall. He waved his hand over his body again. "Accident happened?"

Unfortunately he yawned as he said it, giving Sandy the perfect opportunity to get out of the explanation for now. "You know if you're tired, you should really get some sleep, especially since we're going to keep you up tonight. You can't get too worn out. You'll never recover and Kirsten…."

"Sandy!" Ryan was too tired to continue to listen to Sandy ramble. He wanted to know what he did, and he wanted to know now, before he fell asleep.

Sandy sighed again as he moved to the side of Ryan's bed. "You and Seth were in an accident at home, and I promise you, just as soon as Seth gets here, he'll explain everything to you. Okay? Ryan?"

When he heard the sound of Ryan snoring, Sandy sat back down in his chair, knowing that Kirsten was right. Telling Ryan the truth was hard. Hell, it was damn near impossible. But as Sandy sat there watching Ryan sleep, occasionally moaning in pain, he knew it was time for the truth. Sandy could hear the pleading in Ryan's voice, desperate to know what he did wrong, believing that it was somehow his fault. Sandy knew it wasn't fair to make him wait any longer. As soon as Ryan woke up, Sandy decided they would talk, and he would tell Ryan the whole truth as gently as possible.

That plan was easier said than done. Ryan slept for about an hour and only woke up when the nurse brought his lunch. Sandy hovered over Ryan, despite reminding himself over and over that Ryan was old enough to feed himself. That didn't stop him from putting the straw in the apple juice, or dunking the tea bag in a cup of hot water, or even mixing the chicken broth to cool it down. Ryan watched wordlessly, only shooting Sandy a look when he handed Ryan a spoon.

"Sorry," Sandy said sheepishly. "Just thought maybe you could use some help."

Ryan smiled slightly. "S'kay. Thanks. Kirsten soon? Sunglasses?"

"It's still too bright in here even with the lights out and the shades down?"

"Yeah. Upsets stomach."

"She should be here soon. If she's not here in a few minutes, I'll call her. In the meantime, try eating something. The doctor said some of the nausea should go away when you eat."

"Or get sick."

"Well, there's only one way to find out. Just go slow."

Ryan nodded as he took the apple juice Sandy handed him and drank it slowly. He then took the chicken broth from Sandy and sipped that slowly too. He was just finishing the Jell-O that Sandy cut up, when Ryan realized which of the two options eating was going to have on him.

"Get sick," he sputtered as he threw the Jell-O container down. Sandy tried to move fast, but he wasn't fast enough as Ryan vomited all over his lunch tray. Sandy did manage to get the bowl under him as Ryan started round two. He hit the call button for the nurse as Ryan wrapped his arm around his middle and cried out in pain.

Sandy was glad to see the nurse respond quickly since all he could do was hold Ryan's throw up bowl, rub his back and mumble whatever comforting words he could think of. Unfortunately the nurse looked at Ryan's IV, muttered something about a blown line and walked out of the room.

"Stop pain," Ryan begged. "Please."

"Soon, kid. I promise soon." Sandy began to hit the call button non-stop, furious that the nurse could just leave Ryan suffering. He glared at her when she walked back into the room. "Are you going to help him now?"

The nurse didn't answer at first, only glared back before saying, "Help me roll Ryan onto his side."

"Why?"

The nurse stopped and took a deep breath. "Ryan's IV line is blown. He won't get any relief if I try to administer his medication through it. I have to do it Intra Muscular."

When Sandy stared blankly at the nurse and made no move to help Ryan, she added, "You know, inject it into soft tissue."

Sandy could only nod, as he finally understood what she was saying and quickly moved to the other side of the bed. He laid one hand on Ryan's shoulder and leaned close. "Hey, Ryan. Do you think you could roll towards me for a minute?"

"Why?"

"The nurse has to give you a couple of shots in your, um... A couple of shots."

Ryan opened one eye and looked at Sandy. "Why?"

"To help you."

Ryan looked over at the nurse. He opened his mouth again, but the nurse answered the impending question. "Your IV isn't working any longer, that's why."

"Just great," Ryan mumbled as he finally rolled towards Sandy and closed his eyes.

"This one is for the nausea." The nurse stuck Ryan with the first needle, and Ryan hissed.

"And this one is for the pain." With the second shot, Ryan groaned, and Sandy ran his hand through his hair.

The nurse disposed of both needles and came back to clean up. "You should feel better shortly. I'll just take care of this, and then I'll be back to start a new IV."

Ryan stayed curled up on his side as the nurse removed his lunch tray and well, his lunch, only mumbling a "sorry" as he heard her cleaning up his mess.

"No need for sorry. I should have warned you that the first time eating is usually the roughest. Don't worry, we'll try again later."

"Not likely."

Sandy opened his mouth, but the nurse beat him to it. "Sorry, pal, but if you don't eat, you can't get well enough to get out of here. Not that I mind having you here, but I think your family would prefer to have you home for the holidays. We'll try again later. I promise, it'll be easier next time. I'll be right back to start your new IV."

Ryan waited until he heard the nurse leave before rolling onto his back. He was starting to feel the effects of the pain medication and hoped he was asleep before the nurse came back. "No luck," he mumbled when he heard her return almost immediately. He felt a pat on his shoulder, but didn't bother to open his eyes. He knew it was Sandy.

He could also hear everything the nurse was doing without opening his eyes. He heard her wash her hands. He heard the cart being pushed up to the bed, and he heard the nurse say, "Mr. Cohen." He almost snickered when he heard Sandy say, "oh, sorry" because he knew Sandy was standing in the way. "Yenta," he laughed.

"Still with us? Okay, let's see if we can do this as quickly as possible, and then you can get some sleep." Ryan flinched when the nurse pulled out the old IV needle, and then tensed when she tried to start a new IV in the same arm, right next to the old one.

"Sorry," she whispered as she pulled out the needle. "That vein is no good."

Ryan flinched again the first time the nurse stuck the needle in his right hand. He hissed when she apologized again and stuck him the second time in the same hand. When she stuck him for the third time in the hand, he swore under his breath and began to wonder why the hell the medication hadn't put him out of his misery. Why was he still awake?

He groaned when she apologized yet again and reached for his left hand through his sling. That's when Sandy finally spoke up. "Come on! How many times do you plan on doing this to him?"

The nurse looked up at Sandy. "Believe me, I'm not doing this intentionally. I'm finding it difficult to get a good vein."

It was obvious that the nurse was upset so Sandy softened his voice. "Well, can you wait until he's asleep? He's almost out now. Can you please just wait?"

The nurse looked at the clock before looking back down at Ryan. "I can only wait for about five minutes. It's time to start his antibiotics."

By the time the five minutes was up, and the nurse tried again, Ryan could only whimper, too out of it to complain, but still awake enough to know that he'd been stuck yet again with another needle. Sandy sat and watched as the nurse finally got the new IV line started and hooked up Ryan's antibiotics. She tried to smile at him, but he wouldn't meet her gaze. He preferred to look at Ryan. Since she left without another word, Sandy didn't even notice at first that she was gone. All he knew was that Ryan was finally, thankfully asleep. But when Ryan shifted in the bed, Sandy leaned forward in his chair. When Ryan moaned in his sleep, Sandy jumped. By the time Kirsten got there a short time later, Sandy was standing next to the bed, gently stroking Ryan's head; full of that parental guilt he had already warned Kirsten about.

She smiled as she came into the room with her arms full of bags. "I'm glad to see there weren't any complications with moving him."

Sandy sighed. "No problems moving him, but definitely problems once he was moved."

Kirsten dropped the bags and moved quickly to the side of the bed. Ryan looked okay. Well, not okay but no worse than when she left. She looked at Sandy, confused as well as concerned.

Sandy put his arm around her shoulder. "Bad day. He got sick when he tried to eat. There was a problem with his old IV, so his shots came, well, the old fashion way. Then the nurse had a lot of trouble starting the new IV. He hasn't been asleep that long. Celebrating tonight probably isn't a good idea."

Kirsten nodded as she looked down at Ryan again, and then she broke her own bad news. "Mr. Greenberg called. He's returning Ryan's physics assignment un-graded. Seems not all of the data was correct. He said given the circumstances, he'd hold Ryan's grade until he's able to complete the project. But…"

Sandy finished, "But no physics fair."

Kirsten sighed, as she shook her head, "Not this year." As they both stared down at Ryan, she added, "He's going to be disappointed."

With that, there was nothing else to say, so Sandy and Kirsten both grew quiet and just watched Ryan sleep. After a few minutes, Kirsten finally said, "Have you eaten yet?"

"No, you?"

"Yes, I grabbed a bite at the mall."

"The mall?"

"Long story. Why don't you go get something to eat? I'll stay here."

Sandy only nodded as he patted Ryan on the shoulder and then kissed Kirsten lightly on the cheek. He needed a break as much as he needed a bite. After Sandy left, Kirsten quietly put the Hanukah bags to the side and began to unpack Ryan's stuff. For some reason, she began to talk, justifying everything she took out.

"I only brought three pair of pajama bottoms since they said you could probably come home by Sunday, but I didn't bring any tee shirts. I thought it would probably be too much trouble for you to get them on and off. Three pair of underpants, too. I've got your slippers. I know you only need one, but I brought them both just in case. I didn't bring any clothes for you to wear home. I figured I could bring them later. Um, here are your toiletries. I'll just put them in the bathroom…"

When Kirsten came back out of the bathroom, she was surprised to find Ryan staring at her through slights in his eyes.

"Hey, sweetie. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"No, s'kay."

"Are you feeling any better? Sandy said it was a pretty rough day."

"Yeah. Not fun."

"I know. It'll get easier though, I promise."

"Mmm. Kay. Sunglasses?"

Ryan opened one eye when he heard a 'clunk' on his tray table and found a rather large plastic bag from the 'Sunglass Hut.' He looked at Kirsten who suddenly looked embarrassed. "I couldn't find your sunglasses. That's what took so long. I had to stop by the mall and pick some up."

"Oh, sorry. Um, lost last summer." When Ryan didn't say anything else, Kirsten dumped the sunglasses out. Ryan watched as eight different pair of glasses fell out of the bag. "Few pair?"

Kirsten explained as she began to separate the glasses, "I wasn't sure what you would like. Plus I got various degrees of darkness. These two are really dark, for right now. Then they get lighter. See? Here, try these on. The ones you don't like, I can always take back."

As Ryan put the glasses on, he noticed the tags were conveniently missing. He then noticed the tags were missing from all of the glasses. He knew Kirsten had no plans on taking any of the glasses back. Almost everything she bought him always seemed to have the tags missing. He was keeping them, and she wasn't telling him how much she spent. Same as always.

"How I look?"

Kristin smiled. "You look good."

"Feel stupid."

Kirsten no longer smiled. "Why?"

"In hospital. Banged up. Can't talk. Wearing sunglasses."

"But do they help?"

Ryan looked around the room with both eyes open. "Yeah. They do."

"Then they're not stupid."

As Ryan yawned and stretched out in the bed, Kirsten said, "You can go back to sleep if you want."

"Nah, s'kay. Tired of sleep. All I do."

"There's a reason for that you know. Your body needs the rest so you can get better and come home."

"I fine. Wanna do something."

"What something do you want to do?"

"Don't know. Where Seth?"

"I'm not really sure. He said he had something he had to take care of before he came. He should be here soon."

"Sandy?"

"Went to get some lunch. What's wrong with me?"

Ryan ignored the question and kept talking. "Too quiet here."

"Really? I thought you wanted quiet. What about your headache?"

Ryan thought for a moment. "Headache not bad. Like stuff they gave me. Don't like how got it, but helps lot."

"It's supposed to help you get some rest."

Again Ryan ignored what Kirsten said and kept talking. "Wanna play poker?"

"Play poker?"

"Yeah."

Kirsten laughed. "I don't think you're really up for playing poker right now. Besides, I always lose against you."

"Now you have 'vantage."

"I don't want an advantage. I want to be able to beat you on my own."

"Never happen."

"I have a better game. It's called Sleep."

"Sleep?"

"Yup. The name of the game is Kirsten watches Ryan get some sleep."

"Been playing that for days."

"And you're winning!"

"Not funny." Ryan decided to change the subject. "What time we celebrate?"

"Sandy and I thought maybe we'd hold off on celebrating tonight."

"Why?"

"It's already been a really long day for you, and we figured it would be better…"

"No."

Kirsten raised her eyebrows at Ryan. "No?"

"Need something normal."

"Since when is Chrismukkah normal?"

"Cohen normal."

Kirsten again laughed. "Cohen and normal aren't two words I usually put together in the same sentence."

"Kirsten, please?"

It sometimes took Kirsten by surprise when Ryan sounded like a little kid. "I'll make you a deal. You get some rest now, and we'll see how you're feeling later."

Ryan mumbled, "We'll see? We'll see never good thing."

"I know, but it's just so much fun to say. And it's right out of the big book of parenting." Kirsten reached over towards Ryan's face. "Okay, I'm taking the sunglasses now so you can close your eyes and get some sleep."

Ryan rolled onto his side as Kirsten fixed the blankets around him. As she bent down to give him a kiss, he mumbled, "meany," causing her to laugh again.

"Yeah, and don't you forget it."

She was still giggling a short time later when Sandy came back. "Everything okay?"

Kirsten smiled. "Fine. He was awake for a while and in a really good mood."

"Good mood? Kirsten, the kid's had a really rough morning. How can he be in a good mood?"

Kirsten couldn't help but imitate Ryan, "Um, he 'likes stuff they gave him. Helps lot.' He was really cute."

"Sounds like he was really drugged. Did you tell him about Mr. Greenberg?"

Kirsten shook her head. "No. I just couldn't. Like you said, it's been a pretty rough morning. And he was pretty doped up. I just didn't. I couldn't…"

"That's okay," Sandy told her. "I kind of stalled when he asked about the accident earlier. I'd say we're both pretty impressive with our parenting skills."

"Well, I suggest we tackle this whole nightmare together from now on."

Sandy wrapped his arms around Kirsten. " Mmm. United front. I like that."

As Kirsten lay her head on Sandy's shoulder, she muttered, "This sucks."

"Kirsten, don't say sucks."

"Not funny. Help me get everything together for tonight."

When Sandy frowned, Kirsten continued, "He asked. He wants some normal. I told him if he got some rest, then we'd see. Well, he's resting, so I figured we could celebrate just a little. Then we'll talk."

Sandy laughed when he pulled the Menorah out of the bag. "Where did you find this old thing?"

"The attic. We can't use candles in a hospital, so the electric one will have to do."

Sandy examined his old tacky plug-in dime store Menorah. "I haven't seen this since the first year we were married. I figured it was long gone."

"I would never throw it away, but I certainly wouldn't make it part of our yearly decorations." Kirsten held up a box of light bulbs. "Look, I even bought the tacky yellow and orange bulbs that we used to use. I thought they'd be less irritating for Ryan."

Sandy smiled as he set up the Menorah and Kirsten set out the presents. When there was nothing else to do, they stared at each other and then at Ryan. They also talked quietly and waited – for Seth to show up and for Ryan to wake up.