I still own nothing to do with the OC, the characters, the actors -- zip except for the 2006 calendar, 3 CDs, Season 1&2 on DVD and I think that's it. But if Josh wants to give them up -- I'll take um!

Much, much thanks to finlee and joey -- now you both know what poor ctoan goes through. I'm sorry, but thank you.

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Kirsten and Sandy had been at the benefit for a while before Caleb called to say he was "too busy to attend." It was a temporary relief to only have to exchange the usual small talk with all the usual Mr. and Mrs. Newpsies. After a while, Sandy leaned close to Kirsten and whispered, "I need something stronger than the Merlot. I'll be at the bar."

Kirsten smiled as she finished her glass and listened to Tarin talk about the benefits of Sea Lion sterilization. Not exactly what Kirsten was in the mood to listen to. She excused herself, grabbed another Merlot from the waiter and headed towards the bar herself.

She was surprised to be stopped by Meredith Ward. Ever since Carson's 'coming out' and their much talked about divorce, Meredith had been keeping a very low profile. It was good to see her at a charity event again.

"Kirsten! You look beautiful."

"Thank you, Meredith. So do you. How are you doing?"

"I'm actually doing pretty good. I'm sure you've heard, the divorce is going about as well as could be expected. Carson is, naturally, being very generous."

"Well, if you need anything…" Kirsten wasn't sure how to finish that sentence since she wasn't sure what Meredith might need. But small talk being, well, small talk, it was all Kirsten could think to say.

"Thank you. I promise to call. But I wanted to ask, how's Ryan doing?"

"He's fine." Kirsten spoke slowly, unsure what Meredith's curiosity was for Ryan.

"I'm glad to hear that. When Luke said Ryan wasn't at practice today, I was worried that one of the gashes was infected. Did Ryan need stitches? Did the doctor say if he could play Monday?"

Kirsten could only stare blankly at Meredith as she tried to process what she just heard. Gashes? Infected? Stitches?

Meredith, no matter how nice, was still a Newpsie through and through, and she didn't seem to notice Kirsten's bewildered expression as she chatted on.

"I hope you and Sandy have filed a formal complaint. I mean, I don't exactly know whom you would complain to, but I'm sure the coach knows. Can you imagine - those horrible Pacific kids going after Ryan merely because he's one of our best players? Simply criminal. Now that's a thought. Maybe Sandy should look into criminal charges. After all, metal cleats were banned years ago and to intentionally drag them down poor Ryan's leg? That has got to be a crime, especially if it keeps Ryan out of too many games. That'll really hurt Harbor's chances of finally being ranked number one."

Kirsten took a considerable sip of her wine. She could literally feel her heart sink as it dawned on her that Ryan had been intentionally injured at a game two days earlier and never said a word. Hurt bad enough that Meredith was talking about doctors and stitches and missing games. Ryan never said one single word about it, and that just broke her heart.

"Will you excuse me, Meredith? I need another glass of Merlot."

Meredith kissed the air next to Kirsten's cheek. "I hope to see you and Sandy at the game. Give Ryan my best and tell him to rest that leg. We need him on Monday. It's against Del Vista, you know. We'll need all the strength we have to beat them."

Kirsten absentmindedly nodded at Meredith as she began to scan the bar for Sandy. They needed to go home and talk to Ryan.

Sandy, in the meantime, had run into Ryan's coach, and he too was being enlightened.

The coach started with a smile, a pat on the back and a handshake before launching into his much-rehearsed apology.

"Sandy, I'm really glad to see you. I only came in the hopes of running into you. Look, I just wanted to say I am really sorry about Ryan."

"Sorry?"

"I'm sure you can understand that I couldn't let him practice on Thursday. Not without the doctor's note. Then when he didn't show up today, I figured either the doctor or you and your wife wouldn't allow him to return. I was planning on calling you first thing in the morning to explain if I didn't see you here."

"Explain?"

"I don't want you to think we're not planning on some sort of recourse against Pacific. I was just waiting for their coach to contact me. He finally got back to me late this afternoon, and I can assure you the boy with the metal cleats has been kicked off the team and banned from ever playing any sport for Pacific. Additionally, the other players have been severely reprimanded."

"Reprimanded?"

"I plan on filing charges with the league, and I will support any additional action you and your wife want to take."

Sandy finally put his drink down on the bar, looked the coach square in the eyes and said, "Bill, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"Ryan didn't tell you about the game against Pacific?"

"Apparently not everything."

The coach inwardly groaned. He should have known. When the Cohens didn't immediately call, he should have known Ryan didn't tell them what happened. He took a deep breath before starting his explanation.

"From what I've been told, there was a list of our best players – those to be on the look out for during the game. Stevens, Nordland, Ward, Atwood. Stevens was benched with a hamstring pull, and Ward hasn't exactly been himself since that whole thing with his parents. That left Nordland and your boy. It was obvious from the start that Ryan was really on his game so he became the target. I allowed it to go on for too long, and I take full responsibility for that. But I'm telling you, Sandy, the kid really held it together. The harder they pushed him, the harder he played. It wasn't until after Ryan's third goal, when that kid gouged him that I finally came to my senses and pulled Ryan from the game."

The coach paused, with a slight smile on his face as he proudly said, "You know, your kid still argued with me after I pulled him. Kept telling me he was fine, that he didn't need to be benched, that he could still play. Even with all that blood gushing down his leg, he still wanted to be out there. Kid has a lot of guts."

"But sometimes I think not a lot of brains. At least not that he uses." Sandy wasn't smiling and the feeling he had definitely wasn't a sense of pride.

The coach shook his head, realizing the condition Ryan's leg must be in without proper medical care. "You need to get him to a doctor, Sandy. Dirty metal cleats could really cause a serious infection, especially with how deep Ryan was cut."

Kirsten joined them at the tail end of the conversation. "I've already seen Dr. Adams over by the ice sculptures. Ryan has an appointment for 8:00am tomorrow morning."

The coach tried to smile at Kirsten. "Glad to hear that. I am truly sorry about what happened. If you'd like to meet at my office after Ryan's doctor's appointment, we can discuss whatever recourse you would like to take."

"That would be fine, Bill. Thank you. If you'll excuse us, I think Sandy and I should get home." Kirsten didn't say anything else as she and Sandy made their way through the club or as they waited for the valet to bring their car or even as they drove away.

About a mile from home Kirsten finally said, "I knew we shouldn't have missed that game. One of us should have been there. I should have just told my father to run the meeting by himself."

"Funny, I was just thinking I could have sent someone else to the courthouse or tried to get an adjournment. But that's not really the problem here."

"I know. Why wouldn't he tell us?"

"Because he's Ryan. I'm sure he somehow feels this is his fault, and he didn't want to bother us with it."

Kirsten's voice rose in anger. "Well, I'm more bothered that he didn't tell us; that we had to find out about it at some Newpsie event. And I plan on telling him that, too."

"If you go into the house yelling at him, Ryan won't come to us next time either."

"I'm not going to yell at him, but we can't let him think that lying to us is okay."

Sandy pulled into their driveway, knowing that the short drive home was not enough to calm Kirsten down. "Ryan didn't lie to us. He just didn't tell us everything. I'll talk to him so he understands that we're here for him and that he's not bothering us. I'll make sure he knows that he needs to come to us when he has a problem."

"You mean we'll talk to him." Kirsten slammed the car door shut and went into the house. She heard the boys laughing and playing their videogame as she headed for the den.

The tone of her "boys" made Ryan look up, giving Seth the perfect opportunity to stab his ninja. "Ha! Got ya! Ready for the death match?"

Ryan continued to look at Sandy and Kirsten as Seth hit the reset button. They were home way too early. "Um… how was the thing?"

"Informative."

It was the way Sandy said it that made Ryan hit the pause button, surprising Seth. "Hey! What gives? You afraid of some more Cohen wrath?"

Even though Seth was obviously talking about the videogame, the looks Ryan was getting from both Kirsten and Sandy made Ryan more concerned about their Cohen wraths.

"Don't you think you boys should get ready for bed?"

Seth snorted as he hit the resume button. "Sure, Mom, just tell me where my Spiderman PJ's are first."

When he was the only one to laugh, Seth said, "You're serious? It's like 9 o'clock on a Friday night. I think we may be old enough to stay up until at least 9:30. Right, Ryan?"

Ryan didn't answer. It had been years since the last time someone had sent him to bed, and obviously never while living with the Cohens. He had no idea what was going on, and that made him uneasy.

It only got worse when Kirsten said "Good night, Seth." She then looked at Sandy. "I'm going to go change." She left without a word to Ryan.

Sandy followed. "Good night, Seth. Ryan, we'd like a word with you in a little bit."

Ryan nodded as he started out of the room. He was hoping to get out before Seth said anything. He didn't get far.

"Dude? What did you do?"

Ryan didn't bother to answer and made his way back to the pool house as quickly as possible. He changed into his sweats and wife beater but didn't bother to clean out the wound or change the bandage. He didn't want to make it worse by leaving the Cohens waiting.

He exited the bathroom, anxious to get back into the house and was surprised to see Sandy and Kirsten both waiting for him in the pool house. He knew that was not good. Oh yeah, that much he definitely knew.