A/N: Wow, everyone who reviewed has been so great. I never thought I'd get so much positive feedback from this, my first fic. Swenglish, man, let me say I'm a fan, and for you to review the way you did was awesome to say the least. Same goes for everyone else who bothered with me. You guys are the best. Keep reviewing, it feeds my writing hunger. Cheers.

FADING – Chapter Two

Monday

To Ryan's relief, when he woke up the next morning his headache had gratefully relented somewhat. Breathing deeply and feeling refreshed for the first time in days, Ryan got out of bed, raised the blinds, and looked out at a sun-filled, cloudless sky. When he glanced at his watch, however, his jaw dropped: It was three o'clock in the afternoon.

"What the hell?" Ryan asked himself aloud as got dressed quickly, throwing on a pair of jeans and a wife beater. Quickly he left the pool house, wondering why no one had bothered to wake him up.

Marissa, Seth, and Summer were in the living room looking bored. Marissa and Summer sat on the floor painting their nails while Seth was on the couch submerged in a game of Playstation, narrating annoyingly as he went.

Seth glanced at Ryan briefly when he noticed his foster brother for the first time, his eyes narrowed in concern. "Well, if it surfaces." He said dryly, his attention focusing back on the game. "What's up, Sleeping Beauty? Thought you were planning on napping your way through vacation."

Giving him a glare, Ryan crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked as he sat down beside Seth on the couch and Marissa gave him a kiss.

Summer rolled her eyes. "Chino, don't you think we tried? We wanted to go down to the pier, but some of us wouldn't leave without you." She took a seat beside her boyfriend and elbowed Seth in the ribs. "Cohen was practically jumping on top of you and you didn't wake up. I've never seen anyone sleep like that." She allowed Seth to drape an arm across her shoulders.

"Yeah, dude. Since when do you sleep like the dead, anyway?" Seth questioned, turning to give Ryan an incredulous look. "Usually you're up at the crack of dawn, now you're sleeping practically all the time, and when you're not, you look exhausted."

Ryan ignored his questions. "Why the hell is everyone on my case these days? I've just been tired, give it a rest." He snarled, his tone unintentionally harsh. Marissa reached for his hand, but he pulled out of her grip and walked away from the group, down the hall to the kitchen.

He wasn't surprised a few minutes later when Seth appeared behind him as he stood cutting an apple at the counter. "What's with you lately, man?" Ryan's foster brother asked, his tone a mixture of concern and irritation. "Is something up? Like, your mom, Trey, whatever it is you know you can tell me." Seth insisted, coming a little closer to stand beside Ryan, leaning against the counter top so that he could see his face.

Avoiding Seth's eyes, Ryan focused on the knife slicing cleanly through the flesh of the apple and tried to keep his anger under wraps. All this concern and questions from everyone was beginning to get on his nerves. "Nothing is wrong, Seth." He said lowly.

"Really? 'Cause you could have fooled me."

"Seth, it's nothing, okay?" Ryan snapped, shooting the other boy a warning look. "I've just been tired lately, that's all."

Seth sighed. "Okay. Then how about you explain where all these bruises came from?" he challenged, pointing to Ryan's upper arms.

When Ryan followed his gaze, he noticed for the first time the assortment of purple bruises that dotted his arms, ranging from the size of a dime to as large as a fist. Some were faded, but some were quite vivid and new. Swallowing hard, Ryan tamped down a fleeting stab of shock and continued cutting his apple. "I don't remember. I must have fallen or something." He said lamely.

With a snort, Seth shook his head. "Right. You fell." He stood up and walked to the fridge, getting out a couple cans of soda before turning to go back into the living room. "I don't know what's up with you, dude, but I hope you tell me soon, that's all I have to say."

Before Ryan could reply, a stab of pain assaulted his senses and he looked down at his index finger in shock, realizing that he had cut himself with the blade of the knife. "Shit!" He exclaimed as blood began to seep from the deep cut. Dropping the knife, he clamped a fist around the wound.

"What's the matter?" Seth asked, suddenly appearing beside him again. "You cut yourself?" He asked casually, leaning over to inspect.

Ryan nodded. "Yeah." Suddenly he felt light headed. The overhead lights suddenly seemed very bright, and his knees seemed to be shaking. Plus that damned headache was back full-force. Ryan gripped the counter with his good hand and realized that blood was beginning to pour down his wrist and forearm at an alarming rate. "I think it's bad." He mumbled.

Seth had paled considerably. "Oh my God." He murmured, reaching blindly for a dish towel and wrapping it tightly around Ryan's hand. Seth grabbed Ryan's shoulder and led him to a chair at the breakfast table. "Here, sit down. Hold onto that towel tight." He instructed.

Marissa and Summer entered the kitchen and stood in shock, taking in the scene before them. The towel Ryan struggled to hold against his hand had once been white and now was almost completely red. "Oh my God, Cohen! What did you do?" Summer gasped.

"Very funny." Seth muttered as he sat across from Ryan and studied his face carefully. "You okay, dude? Does it hurt a lot?" He asked worriedly.

Ryan swallowed hard, trying not to let the slight spinning of the room register on his face. "It's not that bad." He said slowly, wondering why his voice sounded funny to his own ears.

Marissa was kneeling in front of him. "Not that bad?" She reached for another towel on the counter and wrapped it around the already drenched one around his hand. "Ryan, you're bleeding all over the place. What the hell happened?" She asked, brushing Ryan's bangs out of his eyes.

Ryan didn't answer, so Seth spoke up, his eyes never leaving Ryan's suddenly pale face. "He cut himself on a knife." He answered, his voice shaking. "I think we need to take him to the hospital. He needs stitches or something."

Trying to be of some use, Summer reached for the keys to the Cohen's Range Rover that were sitting atop a pile of newspapers on the counter. "We're taking your car. I don't want Chino's blood all over my upholstery." When Ryan shot her a withering look, she ruffled his hair and smiled sweetly. "Just kidding."

"Come on, Ry." Seth put a hand under his foster brother's arm and pulled him to his feet, but once in a standing position Ryan's vision swam and he swayed, tilting forward. "Hey, hang on, buddy. Don't keel over on me now." Seth told him as he draped Ryan's arm across his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist. Marissa did the same and together the foursome walked out of the house.

Seth deposited Ryan gently into the back seat and then climbed into the driver's side with Summer beside him. Marissa sat in the back with Ryan, worry and fear lining her features. "Ryan, hang on, okay?" She soothed softly, her fingers carding gently through his hair. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

Once they were on the road, Seth found himself unable to take his eyes off the sight of Ryan's sheet-white face in the rear-view mirror, and unconsciously stepped on the gas pedal harder. "Ryan, you still with me, man?" He asked worriedly.

A small nod was his only reply.

Marissa was gripping the towel around his injured hand tightly. "There's so much blood, you guys." She said shakily.

Turning in her seat, Summer studied Ryan's face. "Hold his hand up, Coop." She told her friend. At the surprised looks she got from both Seth and Marissa, Summer shrugged. "What? You think I'm a candy striper for nothing?"

For several minutes the tension inside the car grew, at which time Seth spent anxiously trying to reach his parents at work, Summer tried to keep everyone calm, and Marissa desperately coaxed Ryan to keep his heavily-lidded eyes open. His blood now soaked through both the towels and dripped steadily onto the denim of his jeans. Marissa's hands were stained red as well, and Ryan's condition was quickly decreasing. His breathing was shallow and his skin was deathly pale. He was losing too much blood.

When Ryan's eyes slipped shut and his head fell to rest on Marissa's shoulder, she turned to Seth, panicked. "Seth, go faster!" She begged.

Something was really wrong.

"We've been here forever, isn't a doctor or someone supposed to come out and tell us how the hell our friend is doing?" Seth complained for what seemed like the millionth time. They had been sitting in the waiting room of the hospital for almost two hours now, and still no word on Ryan's condition.

Summer watched her boyfriend pace. "Cohen, it hasn't been that long. I'm sure he's fine, they just need to stitch him up and top off his blood supply, I guess." She shrugged and looked wearily at Marissa. Her friend was in just as bad condition as Seth; both were miserable.

By the time they had arrived at the hospital Ryan was almost completely unresponsive, having practically passed out in the back seat. The only responses he gave were moans as he thrashed and shivered in a cold sweat. They figured he had gone into shock. When they arrived at the hospital, orderlies met them in the parking lot and Ryan had been whisked off on a stretcher.

Marissa shifted nervously in her seat. "Did you call your parents?" She asked Seth.

With an absent nod, Seth continued pacing. "He was losing way too much blood. I mean, Rosa's kitchen knife collection is sharp, I've cut myself more times than I care to remember on those damn things, but never was it this bad, this is really, really, really bad, right?" He shook his head to himself, walking faster. "I don't know. Maybe he hit like a freakin' central line to his heart or something…"

Marissa rolled her eyes. "In his finger? Seth, spare me."

"Well I can't just sit around and do nothing!" Seth shouted. "Something is really wrong!"

Summer caught his hand and stopped him. "Seth, cut it out!" She begged, and finally Seth's movements stilled and he came to a stop, sitting beside her on the small couch. Resting his elbows on his knees, Summer watched as her boyfriend rested his head in his hands and sighed. She rubbed his back reassuringly. "I'm sure Chino will be fine. I'm sure a doctor will be here any second. And then your folks will come and we'll all go home. You'll see, Cohen. I'm sure everything will be fine." She said softly.

Rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, Seth let out a long breath of air. "Yeah?" He asked rhetorically. "Then why do I have the feeling that something really bad is going to happen?"

Summer didn't know how to answer that one

Suddenly the familiar click of high heels sounded down the hall and Seth looked up to see his Kirsten and Sandy walking quickly towards them, matching looks of fear written plainly on their faces. Seth had never been so happy to see his parents.

"Seth? I picked up your father from his office as soon as I got your message and we got here as quickly as we could." Kirsten explained quickly as Seth got to his feet. She took in her son's clearly distraught expression and the looks on the faces on his friends and her stomach sunk. "What happened, Seth? You were pretty vague on the phone." She demanded.

"Ryan cut himself on a knife in the kitchen. It didn't seem so bad, but…" his voice trailed off, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest, defensively, his eyes staring at the floor. "There was so much blood, mom." He said softly.

Pushing aside her fear for the time being, Kirsten put an arm around her son and kissed his forehead. "I'm sure he'll be fine, honey."

Sandy began looking around anxiously. "And no doctor has come out to see you yet?" He demanded angrily. "What kind of hospital is this?" He wondered aloud.

"I guess I am to blame for that." Came a voice from behind them, and everyone turned to see a doctor wearing scrubs standing a few feet away holding a clip board. "I'm Dr. Collins, I've been monitoring Ryan Atwood's condition. I assume that you're his parents?" He asked, extending a hand to first Sandy, then Kirsten.

Sandy nodded. "Yes, we are." He answered quickly, not even hesitating to correct him. Ryan was as much a son to them as Seth was. "How is he?"

Dr. Collins smiled. "Ryan's doing just fine. We got his bleeding under control, we're just treating him now for shock, and watching him closely. He had a mild fever when he was brought in." He explained warmly. "We took a look at his preliminary blood work and noticed that he's a little anemic, which probably explains why he lost so much blood. It's probably nothing more than an iron deficiency, but we're just going to do a few more minor tests to be sure. But not to worry, your son should be ready to go home by this evening with nothing more than a few stitches." He nodded confidently at the Cohen family and watched them breathe a sigh of relief.

Summer stood up and smiled at Seth. "See? I told you." She said, swatting his arm playfully. Then she turned to Marissa. "Come on, Coop, I'm hungry. Let's find a vending machine."

Dr. Collins focused his attention on Kirsten and Sandy once more. "I can take you back to see him right now if you like." He suggested.

"Thank you, doctor." Kirsten breathed a sigh of relief. "That would be great."

"Not a problem. Just be warned, he's still a little shaken. He did lose a lot of blood today." Dr. Collins forewarned. "I'd just like him to stay put until we get that blood work back. Then he'll be free to go."

As they followed the doctor down the hall, Sandy couldn't help but notice the look of worry that marred his son's features. It was obvious that something was still on the boy's mind and bothering him a good deal. Sandy slowed down and put an arm around Seth's shoulders. "Cheer up, son. Didn't you hear the doctor? Ryan is going to be just fine." He assured him.

Seth didn't look convinced. "I'll believe it when I see it." He muttered.

A/N: I didn't want to end the chapter here, believe me. But much more would have been overkill. Plus what comes next is going to be pretty intense, I figured this was about all the drama this chapter could handle. With all the positive feedback I've been getting, another update is just around the corner!

Vancouverite