Thank you all so much for my reviews. millstone1005 thanks so much for the information. I'm going to stick with Ramona because that's what I called her for the first two chapters but I was all set to make up a last name as well so thanks for saying what it is. As that really helps

Right so here is chapter 3 I hope you like it.

Chapter 3

"Sandy? Oh my God! Where are you? Are you okay? Is Seth okay? Why didn't you call earlier? I was so worried!" Sandy listened to his wife's almost hysterical voice and immediately felt guilty.

He'd been so pre-occupied with Ryan that he'd forgotten to phone her. He and Seth were supposed to have gotten back hours ago. Time had just flown by but he couldn't leave yet.

"Listen Kirsten, I'm at a hospital in Chino…"

"What? What happened? Where's Seth? Is he okay?" Sandy could here the panic in her voice.

"No he's fine…"

"Is it you? Why are you there?"

"I'm fine. It's just while I was dropping one of my clients off there was a little boy…"

Kirsten interrupted him again "Ok so why are you in a hospital?"

So Sandy told her the whole story. From when the boy came in through the door till when the doctors rushed Ryan into the hospital.

"Where is he now?" She asked like Sandy she found herself completely shocked for the child.

"He's in surgery something about his cheek bone. It's been ages though. I don't really want to leave till I know he's okay…"

"Yes. Of course, I understand. Where's Seth?"

"Umm he's with Ramona and Theresa… Or he was!" A little boy came running up to him throwing his arms around Sandy's legs. Sandy looked up to where Ramona and her daughter sat. A nurse was talking to them.

"Oh, I have to go. I can see the nurse. I love you." With that he hung up and hurried over to where they were just as the nurse was leaving. Damn it! "Great timing!" He commented to himself. Seth looked up at him confused.

"Is he okay?" Sandy asked as they approached.

"He's still in surgery. He has three cracked ribs and one broken fully. His cheek bone is broken which is the reason for the surgery. The doctor is putting some metal plates in to hold the bone in place… The doctors noticed scars and scratches on his body… child services is getting involved…" She trailed off looking away from Sandy. "I promised him..."

"Well maybe that's the best thing for Ryan. It's not fair for him to go through all this." Sandy said gently. Ramona looked at him shocked.

"He wouldn't like it though he's always telling us how much he'd hate to be put into the system…

"But then what happens? He ends back in here or worse… I have connections I can get him in a home with only a few other kids. We can give him another shot at life."

Ramona looked across the room to where her daughter was playing with Seth. "Dawn will never agree…"

"His mom? Well seeing him like this is more than enough proof for child services plus his past visits in here. Dawn may not get a say,"

Ramona finally nodded giving her consent. "What about Ryan?"

"I'll talk to him." Sandy assured her and the two lapsed into silence.

AJ drove around like a lunatic looking for Ryan. Where the hell was he?

Wait, usually when he was wounded, Ryan went to that little girl's house. Why didn't he think of that before? He spun around quickly making cars honk wildly at him from behind. He stuck his middle finger up at them through the window.

It only took a few minutes till he reached the house. It was different from the other houses. It had flowers outside and no cracked windows or rusty hinges on the doors. The family actually liked each other! The mother even had a little affection for Ryan! What she could see in him AJ would never know.

He rapped his knuckled on the front door. There was a flurry of movement and finally the door knob turned and he was standing face to face with that chubby kid Trey follows around all the time.

"Have you seen Ryan?" AJ asked in a gruff, no nonsense voice.

"Uhh, no can't say that I have actually" But AJ could smell a lie a mile away. He turned as if to leave but immediately whirled around and planted his knuckles into Arturo's face.

"Let's try this again shall we!" AJ snarled "Where is he?"

Arturo looked wildly around for help. "I'm sorry I can't help…" His nose was on fire and he could taste something metallic in his mouth. AJ sighed why did people always have to do things the hard way?

He sauntered into the room and kicked the front door closed behind him and advanced up to the wide eyed child who was slowly backing away.

"If you'd like to follow me I'll take you to Ryan. He's been moved to recovery. You're his aunt right?"

Ramona nodded and Sandy looked at her confused. "Only way to get info on how he's getting on," she whispered. He smiled she really was smart.

The nurse led the adults down the hallway. A little while before they'd put Seth and Theresa in the kid's corner much to the children's annoyance.

Finally they came to a room. In it Sandy could see a number of beds lining the walls. Five children were in the room. All looked beaten and Sandy thought that this was probably the room where they put children believed to be being abused.

At the bottom of the room there was a curtained off bed that Sandy hadn't noticed. The nurse led them to it and pulled back the curtain. Sandy gasped at the sight before him.

Ryan lay sleeping on the bed completely pale. The bruises on his face stuck out strongly and the one on his eyes was now so swollen it looked like it would be days before he would be able to open it again.

His cheekbone was also completely swollen. A bandage covered it but the dark purple bruise was still visible making Sandy feel rather sick. His facial features looked peaceful however and he was wearing an oxygen mask. His bed was slightly raised and the nurse told them that it was to relieve some of the pressure off his ribs or something like that Sandy couldn't really concentrate on the nurse as he was having trouble keeping his eyes off the bruises.

"The doctor will come in later to check in ok?"

Sandy nodded and looked over at Ramona who was staring at Ryan as if she was in a trance. Sandy put his arm reassuringly on hers and her eyes locked into his and she gave him a vague attempt of a smile.

The two sat down in silence watching the small form on the bed. They sat for about an hour until the doctor came in asking for them to leave while he checked Ryan over.

To pass the time Sandy and Ramona went over to the pay phones and Sandy phoned Kirsten to get her to come to the hospital. He wasn't going to be going back to Newport very soon. He couldn't leave Ryan. Someone had to take Seth home. The nurse had agreed on Sandy or Ramona staying the night. Ramona had to go home to look after Theresa and Arturo so Sandy was staying. They were going to take it in turns each night so that one of them could actually sleep (if that was possible) and someone could look after Ryan. They couldn't leave him alone.

Sandy sat on a waiting room chair waiting for Ramona to come back or the doctor to finish Ryan's exam whichever came first.

It turned out to be Ramona but her manner had changed greatly. She now looked even more worried than before. "He didn't answer…" she whispered "God! He knows not to leave the house when this sort of thing happens. What if something happened? We should have brought him with us. Trey would have worked it out for himself…" Sandy could see tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm sure Arturo's fine he's probably just taking a shower or in the bathroom," Sandy soothed. Ramona sighed and leaned back arms crossed protectively across her body.

"I hope you're right…" she said so quietly Sandy had to lean in to hear her.

AJ strode out of the door cracking his aching fists. God it had taken him bloody ages to get that kid to talk.

On the way back to his car he saw the mouse again. He was pleased to see the cat that had been so stupid before had finally cornered the mouse again. He jumped into his rundown car He didn't look back to see if the mouse had escaped. The cat had to catch it otherwise it would be stupider than AJ had had first thought.

Right, off to the hospital. In the house the phone rang. Arturo looked at it but didn't have the energy to get up. He looked down at his aching finger and the distorted limb made his stomach turn. He rested his head against the cool fridge.

TBC…

Thanks for reading